She glanced around, always on guard. Just because St. Augustine’s Elysian Bed and Breakfast spoke of understated luxury in every way, it did not guarantee her safety from Arardo’s henchmen. They always managed to find her wherever else she went. As far as she knew, no one had followed her here, though.
Anitra stepped up to the desk, careful not to sound as desperate as she felt. The same man who checked her in, Dyson, smiled. “Ms. Washington. How may I help you?”
She smiled, surprised he actually remembered her name. This place served as a secret vacation spot for many of the rich and famous. “Hi. I, uh, shared the suite with a man, and wondered what information you have about him.” Wow! She could hardly believe her own boldness, let alone explain why suddenly, no one else’s opinion mattered. All she cared about was finding Hunter.
Dyson’s eyes crinkled, but he was obviously too classy to laugh in her face. “Such as?”
“I forgot his last name.” She smiled, shifting her gaze. “I, it’s just, it’s just that he has a key, and I need—"
“Actually, Ms. Washington, he returned his key.” He smiled, his gaze warming. “I’m very sorry, but we cannot divulge information about our clients, but perhaps he left something behind in your suite.”
She sighed, backing away from the desk, then mumbled. “I understand. Thank you.”
Shit, shit, shit! “I should have known they couldn’t tell me anything.” I’m sure I sounded like a stalker. “I can’t believe I didn’t ask his last name, but then he didn’t ask me mine either.” Okay, stop talking to yourself. Now! The voice of insecurity yelled loudly, always strongest when she already felt defeated. He didn’t ask for yours because he had no intention of seeing you again.
Something about Hunter spoke to her, though, and she knew her voice of doom was wrong. He needed her as much as she needed him. She felt it strongest when he was inside her, a silent plea for…something. Something more than sex. She had no idea why, but she felt his pain, his soul-deep despair.
She returned to the suite, heartbroken until she got her first look at the room. Blush-colored tulips were set in strategic places, each one in a crystal vase of its own, and even Rumor sported a tulip necklace. She gasped, placing both hands over her mouth. “Oh my God!” She took a few more steps, the scent of the breathtakingly beautiful flowers permeating the room as the sun struck them, giving off a white light.
She could not help speaking aloud. “No one even knows! No one knows how much I love tulips! Who could have... Who would have done this?” As far as she knew, only two people even knew she was here. As much as she wanted it to be him, Hunter could not have had access or time. He returned his keycard, plus she had only been gone a few minutes. It would have taken more than one person to do this in such a short period of time.
She moved closer to the flowers, but there were no tags on any of them, nothing to tell her who was responsible for the creative arrangement. “I was only gone a few minutes. Rumor? What do you know? Who did this?”
Rumor shook, dislodging his adornment to make circles around her legs. Puzzled and a little paranoid, she checked each of the flowers and vases for bugs. Maybe she was being bugged, but even then, Rumor would never allow anyone inside the room without getting a piece of them. Although none of Arardo’s henchmen were supposed to know where she was, and Rumor was an excellent guard, experience had taught her many lessons, and one was to never underestimate her opponent.
She had no idea how the tulips got there, but their beauty lightened her heart. Hunter. As much as she wanted it to be him, logic reminded her he could not have given her the flowers. What would be the point, anyway? Why leave, then give her flowers? Still, her heart insisted he must have. Intermingled with his darkness, he exhibited incredible perceptiveness and thoughtfulness, and he was the only one Rumor would have allowed inside the room.
The moment Hunter set foot in the pit, something felt off, different – not necessarily in a bad way, but different nonetheless. Kushiel stood in his usual spot, waiting, but he held up the heavy chains and smiled, beckoning for Hunter to approach.
Kushiel never smiled.
A knot formed in Hunter’s belly.
Hunter removed the top from the flask, releasing Arardo’s soul. The living soul immediately reclaimed its earthly form and Sidney Arardo stood trembling beside Hunter, the demon a cloud of shimmering darkness around the body. Souls claimed by Kushiel always retained the memory of their body’s death, and Kushiel made sure they recalled every sin as part of their torment. Sidney was no exception. Hunter heard the creature’s cries, but they meant nothing to him.
Kushiel chained Sidney, then spoke into Hunter’s mind, his voice booming. “Remain here. We must speak.”
Hunter nodded as a whimpering Sidney stumbled along behind Kushiel. He glanced around, propping his back against a stone wall to stay out of the way. Every time he returned to the pit following a Beltane or Samhain mission, memories flashed before him just like the first time, perhaps to remind him that his punishment was just. He thought about Lenora. It had all seemed so simple at the time. Hunter returned from an errand for his father, only to be forcibly shoved into his cage.
“Get rid of it!” Azazel yelled, his usual imperiousness plunging Hunter into a nightmare. One of Hunter’s many responsibilities was to get rid of the bodies of women his father murdered, but this time he refused, unable to continue the mindless complicity with his monstrosity of a father. He could still hear her labored breathing as she bled out on the cold, hard, concrete floor of his cage.
“Lenora? Why?” Hunter’s question came out as a wail, his own deep voice easily likened to a wounded animal, but he could not control it. His pain over her senseless mutilation was too great.
“That’s exactly why! Did you really think I wouldn’t find out about your little…relationship?” Azazel made the innocent affection Hunter felt for Lenora sound sordid and dirty. He tilted his head to the side and sauntered over to Hunter’s cage, obviously assuming he was safe.
The demonic monster had never been more wrong.
Hunter remembered going into a rage, bending the bars of his cage with his bare hands. The next thing he knew, Azazel was screaming and writhing in pain. He heard a roar and realized it was his own, then…nothing, as his heartbeat decelerated to normal again. His father’s blood dripped from his hands as he slowly dismembered him, one limb at a time, the accompanying crack bringing a smile to his face, cementing his belief that he, too, was, and had always been a monster.
He had wanted his father gone, foregoing the use of his gift to tear him apart with his bare hands, the need for the physical infliction of maximum pain too powerful to ignore. Seconds later, Hunter blinked. Just the thought, and his demon father was nothing more than remnants of his broken body dissolving into black ashes, then, nothing.
Then, just as he turned, averse to leaving Lenore to die alone, he had fallen, literally, simply arriving in the pit. Despite his father’s evil deeds, patricide, no matter how just, was still an unforgivable sin, and his abilities rendered him too dangerous to be left on the surface unchecked.
From the time he lost his temper, everything happened so fast. He had never lost his temper like that before or since, always controlling his power with tightly coiled care, but Lenora had been the closest to a mother he had ever known.
As his thoughts returned to the present, he took a shallow breath, doing his best to avoid the stench of the pit, and wondered absently why Kushiel had not chained him yet.
Chapter Ten
The wait for Kushiel’s return seemed endless. Hunter had always been patient, but after spending time with Anitra, he had once again been exposed to hope. At the moment, he wasn’t sure whether that was good or bad.
“What do you think about me bringing Anitra down here for a visit so you can see her more often?” Kushiel’s booming voice cut through the constant screams, noises, and stenches accompanying pain and burning flesh.
“No. She do
esn’t belong here.” The thought of Anitra being subjected to this horrible, hopeless place filled him with dread.
“I thought you’d want to see her though. Seems you two hit it off.”
“No.” He knew that defying Kushiel was the equivalent of suicide, but he’d rather die than subject Anitra to the Hell he’d lived in for centuries.
“This is the appreciation I get for attempting to reward you for good work?” Kushiel’s voice sounded even deeper now, more ominous.
“Will you please stop toying with him?”
Hunter heard laughter in the familiar female voice, but couldn’t see her right away. When she rounded the corner and stepped around Kushiel, his heart leapt for joy. “Lenore! But you were dead!”
“No, I was unconscious. Like you, my beautiful boy, I do not die. I was sent to look after you, but I got careless and allowed that bastard of a father of yours to get the drop on me. It was a lesson I never forgot, and a mistake I never made again. I am called Ms. Lillian, now.” She smiled warmly, then stepped closer, hugging him.
“You, all of this…” He glanced from Lenore, or Ms. Lillian as she called herself, to Kushiel, then back again. “Why would you risk your life for a jinn?”
“I did not risk my life for a jinn. I risked my life for you. Despite the circumstances of your birth, your upbringing, and every negative influence you were exposed to, you maintained goodness. I know you can be ruthless, and that, of course, is true of all of us, but we have great plans for you and Anitra. She, too, is one of my favorites. Kushiel was just testing you when he threatened to bring her here, but I already knew how much you loved her before you returned. I also have it on the best authority, my own…” She stopped, laughing lightly, the comforting sound like a waterfall in the desert. “I have it on expert authority that she loves you in return.”
“Enough rambling,” Kushiel cut in. “Apparently there’s some prophecy the two of you are supposed to fulfill, and that means you’ll need to leave here and stay with her. She’s already looking for you.”
Hunter opened his mouth to ask questions, but stopped himself. The thought of Anitra wanting him, looking for him, sent an electrical jolt through him and he couldn’t wait to touch her again. Instead, he watched the two of them, hoping Kushiel would grant him freedom to leave sooner than later.
“I will be in touch to help both of you when the time comes to fulfill the prophecy, my beautiful boy. Just as I always knew, you have grown into a strappingly handsome young man.”
“Yeah,” Kushiel sneered. “So, we’ll tell you more about it when you need to know.” He handed Hunter a wallet with a license, social security card, and other necessary documents he’d never had a need for until now. “Parting gift. There are no more chains holding you here, so you’d better get moving.” That was the extent of his reprieve and his goodbye from Kushiel, all rolled into a few unemotional words.
Hunter was cool with that. He thanked them quickly, hugged Lenora again, then took off as if hellhounds were at his heels, just as he had three days ago. Now, the challenge was to reach Anitra before she gave up on him and left the bed and breakfast, and same as always, it would take him nearly an entire day to climb out of Hell.
Anitra grabbed a tote with her cell phone and went down to the lobby, hoping people-watching would take her mind off missing him. She glanced down the corridor at the boutiques, remembering a time when shopping cured all ills, but that time was long gone. This time, she needed a tall, gray-eyed hunk who made her feel like he belonged to her. She needed Hunter, and the thought of never seeing him again made her nauseous.
She sat in the lobby, settling into one of the plush sofas facing the elevators. Her mind kept telling her she should not, could not, feel this way, but she did, and apparently waking to find the object of her affection AWOL could not harden her heart. Somehow, she had managed to fall for Hunter whatever his last name was in less than twenty-four hours. A humorless laugh sounded in her head. Everyone else she loved was gone, so why should Hunter be any different?
She sighed and stood, preparing to go back to her room and be miserable in private when she heard a familiar voice with a musical accent. “Did you like the tulips?” His deep, gravelly bass rumbled through her, a rush of heat like he evoked on the elevator.
Anitra inhaled sharply, her heart racing as she turned to see Hunter. She barely managed to respond, her brain in shock. “Y-yes, but how…?”
As soon as he got within arm's reach, she reached for him, her question forgotten. He lifted her from the floor and carried her to the elevator. “I’ll explain everything upstairs.”
Anitra was so elated at seeing him again, at being in his arms, that she would have agreed to anything. She wrapped her arms around his neck, gazed into his eyes and placed her index finger at his jaw. “I’m glad you came back.”
“I never wanted to leave you. There was…something I had to take care of.”
Moments later, they stood facing each other in the suite's living area. “Thank you for the flowers. They’re my favorite, but I get the feeling you already knew that.”
“You are more than welcome. Thank you for caring for me.” Hunter smiled tentatively, evading her insinuation and tilting his head to the side.
She had missed it before, so enthralled by everything he made her feel, but vulnerability suited him well. She smiled. “Thank you for making it so easy to care about you.”
His chest rose and fell slowly as he took a deep breath. “This is a lot for you to take in, but I just received word from Kushiel and Ms. Lillian that you wanted to keep me with you.”
What an odd statement, and who’s Kushiel? Anitra’s mind raced until she remembered sending Ms. Lillian the text asking for Hunter’s last name. She had said she wanted to find him.
“Who is Kushiel?”
Hunter frowned and rubbed the back of his neck. “I think of him as my boss.”
His answer left Anitra with more questions, but she decided there would be time later to learn everything she needed to know about him. Right now, it was more important for her to be honest with him. The last thing she wanted was for something to happen to him because of his relationship with her. Relationship. It felt good to actually care about someone else again.
“So, all this time I thought this was about me, wondering what my father could have done or what I could have done to deserve all of this, but it wasn’t about me at all. It was about you. Ms. Lillian did this for you?”
Hunter’s smile widened. “She has done me a great service, finding you, but she, they, Ms. Lillian and Kushiel, did this for both of us. So, you do want to keep me with you?”
“Yes, of course, if that’s what you want. I mean, it would be more like us keeping each other, but yes. Yes, I want you with me. I was frantic when I thought I might never see you again.”
“I didn’t want to leave you.”
“Where did you go? I mean, when we met, I thought that all we could have was one night together, and I trust Ms. Lillian so I thought I’d be okay with that, but when you took me to dinner, and for the romantic carriage ride, I started to hope for more. Now that I know we really can have more, I want to know more about you.”
“I had to do a job for Kushiel.”
The fact that his response was limited didn’t escape her, but he didn’t seem to be a man of many words anyway. Knowing that he could choose to walk away, she took a deep breath and prepared for her own confession. “Hunter, I need to tell you something, but we should probably go back upstairs first.”
Hunter had no idea what she had to tell him, but as long as she wanted a relationship with him, he knew he could deal with it. They sat side by side in the sitting area of their suite, and he barely breathed until she finished sharing her secret. Her concern for his safety was touching, but quite unnecessary. He wasn’t the least bit threatened by her father’s enemies, but her confession served to clarify their connection. Arardo, the very enemy she spoke of, was the same creature Kushiel
had ordered back to Hell. He was no longer a threat to anyone.
“My father was a good man, but he never had anything growing up. He thought the best he could do for us was to give us things and make sure we never had to worry about money, but he lost sight of what was most important. After Arardo had my family killed, I started running and never stopped.”
“I’m sorry you’ve had such a troubled life, Anitra. You deserve so much more. I hope it will at least lighten your burden to know that Arardo is no longer a threat to you.”
“How do you know?”
“I killed him.” He waited to gauge her reaction before continuing.
“Killed him? How, and how did you know?”
“You might consider me a special agent of sorts. My employer sends me to save people like you from people like Arardo.”
“So, I was just a mission to you?”
“No! No, you were, you are…I didn’t know there was a connection between you and Arardo until my employer told me after the job was done, but I am happy that you no longer have to be concerned about him. Ms. Lillian sent me to you.”
When Anitra simply blinked twice and continued to watch him expectantly, he offered more details. “You will never have to worry about your safety again. I am not like other men, Anitra.”
“I could have told you that much, Hunter.” She offered him a tempting smile. “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”
“There is no one else like me. I was born with the ability to rearrange matter based on my thoughts. For instance, I can make an inanimate or animate object appear simply by thinking it.” He waited, again, gauging her reaction.
“You mean like a magic trick?”
“I think you know that I would never waste your time with magic tricks. The best way for me to explain is to show you.” He stood and formed a diamond necklace designed especially for her, then held it up, dangling it from his fingers so that she could see it.
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