Immortal Hunter

by Kait Ballenger

  “What was the tip-off?” Shane asked. “What made you think she’s possessed?”

  “A bunch of things. But the most obvious one was her complete lack of reaction to the crime scene. Although you’d think even a demon would have some kind of reaction. Maybe glee, but still...a reaction.”

  “Maybe it didn’t react because it’s already seen it. Maybe it’s its own work.” Shane gave David a questioning glance.

  David immediately went on the offensive. “You’re suggesting Allsún killed those people?”

  “No, not at all, I’m suggesting that the demon inside her killed them.”

  David tried to think of Allsún committing murder, possessed or not, but he just couldn’t picture it. Shane interrupted his thoughts.

  “I know someone I think can help us. She can look at the scene and envision exactly what happened. She’s a witch.”

  Jace looked toward David. “I think that’s the best option we have right now.”

  David nodded. Though he didn’t want to admit it, Jace and Shane were right. This was their only choice. It wasn’t as if he had a better plan. He could barely think straight at the thought of Allsún being possessed. “Yeah, okay,” he agreed.

  Shane nodded. “All right, I’ll go track her down.”

  * * *

  SHANE STARED AT the screen of his laptop in disbelief. He just couldn’t catch a break, could he? He glanced at the profile again. Nope. Definitely not. If there was one thing he didn’t want to do, it was introduce David and Jace to Vera. In a strip club.

  Which was exactly what he was going to have to do.

  “Did you find her?” David’s deep voice rumbled from over Shane’s shoulder.

  Shane jumped. Damn it. He reached forward and slammed his computer shut. “Uh, yeah...I found her.”

  “Then, what are you waiting for? Let’s go.” David clapped Shane hard on the back before he grabbed his leather jacket and headed for the door. Jace was close on David’s heels. Shane let out a long sigh. Pulling his coat off the back of the chair, he stood, slipped the coat on and followed his fellow hunters down three flights of stairs to David’s Escalade.

  The three men got into the vehicle, David in the driver’s seat, Jace riding shotgun, and Shane behind them. A minute later they were on the road, speeding down the street in response to Shane’s directions. The multicolored lights of Rochester flashed past them.

  David kept his eyes focused on the road. “Where to, Shane?”

  “Turn right.” Shane pointed at the next stoplight.

  The look on David’s face was grim, and Shane could tell from the slight tension in his posture that David was in rough shape. Shane knew his friend well enough to understand that he wouldn’t be himself again until Allsún was safe.

  David turned right and raced down the road. Music from the satellite radio pounded through the car, Asia singing “Heat of the Moment.” Shane grinned. David was a classic rock fan, and somehow the song seemed fated.

  Jace turned the sound down. “So, where the hell are we going and who are we going to see?”

  Shane bit his lower lip. Damn. Might as well get this over with. He knew the heckling was going to come sooner or later. “Her name is Vera Sanders. She’s one of my students, and like I said, she’s a witch. We’re going to see her at her job.” He knew his face was giving him away. His fellow hunters were perceptive, and he could tell from their knowing expressions that they’d figured out just how he felt about Vera.

  “Which is where?” Jace asked.

  When Shane didn’t answer, Jace twisted in his seat to look at him. “Come on. Spit it out, kid.”

  Shane covered his face with his hand and muttered the name under his breath. “Soft Tails.”

  Jace chuckled. “Holy fuck.” He let out a long, low whistle. “Damn. Shane, you dog. Your girl’s a stripper?”

  David pushed down harder on the accelerator and raised a brow at Jace. “Why am I not surprised you know it’s a strip club?”

  Jace rolled down the passenger window as he pulled his pack of Marlboro Reds from his trench-coat pocket. He lit up and took a long drag before blowing the smoke out the window. “Frankie may be the only woman on my mind now, but I didn’t magically grow balls the night I found her in that alleyway. A man’s got his needs, and the girls at Soft Tails really know how to show a guy a good time.” He flicked ashes out the window.

  Shane could feel himself blushing several shades of crimson. He tried not to imagine how tempting Vera would look nearly naked, stiletto heels accentuating her long legs as she swung around a stripper pole. Or better yet...

  Nearly naked wouldn’t cut it. He wanted to see her topless, but for his eyes only. He damned himself for thinking that way. It was wrong on so many levels. Vera was his student, for fuck’s sake.

  Shane straightened his glasses nervously. “No, she’s not a stripper. She’s the bartender.”

  Jace scoffed and glanced back at Shane again. “The bartender at a strip club, who—judging by the look on your face right now—is smokin’ hot, and you think she never takes a ride on one of those poles?”

  Shane shook his head. “I checked the place out online. Her uncle owns the place. No way would he let her get up on that stage.”

  Jace flashed Shane a look that said Maybe in a more decent world.

  A few minutes later they wheeled into the parking lot of Soft Tails. The neon pink sign blazing the club’s name glared against the darkness of the winter night. Another flashing sign out front declared 24 Beautiful Girls...and 1 ugly one! Shane frowned. Bartender or not, Vera certainly wasn’t the one ugly one. David pulled the car into an empty parking spot and switched off the ignition. The three men exited the car on the run and headed toward the entrance.

  Jace clapped Shane on the back. “I have to hand it to you, man. Finding a woman who not only bartends, but at a strip club? Daaamn. That’s impressive.”

  Shane blushed again. “She’s not my woman. I already told you. She’s one of my students.”

  Jace dropped his cigarette on the ground and ground it out with the heel of his boot. “Who gives a flying fuck? Student or not, you’re interested in her, right?”

  Shane knew his blush was all the answer anyone needed.

  David’s and Jace’s eyes widened as they stepped into the strip club. The place was packed, busy even for a Saturday night. Loud bass-heavy music thumped from the speakers, and a round of cheers rang out as a stripper on the main stage slowly slid down the pole headfirst. She reached the bottom and flipped herself over again. Her see-through platform heels enhanced the length of her legs and angled her ass provocatively as she shook her long red hair over her shoulders. Sliding down into a split, her back to the audience, she bounced her ass cheeks up and down, her firm flesh barely covered by her hot pink G-string.

  Jace elbowed Shane in the ribs. “Twenty bucks says she’s a natural redhead.” He chuckled.

  Shane couldn’t really say he was impressed. After spending most of his evenings throughout his childhood and teenage years backstage in Las Vegas, with naked women surrounding him as far as the eye could see, it took a lot to get him riled up.

  “Where’s your girl?” David asked.

  Shane scanned the club until he spotted the polished wood bar. Vera was standing behind it, a bottle of Absolut Citron in one hand and a bottle of Jack Daniel’s in the other. She poured the whiskey into a customer’s glass as she poured the Citron into the mixer. He pointed in her direction.

  David and Jace turned toward the bar and paused. “Holy shit,” they said in unison, and Jace let out a low whistle.

  He shot Jace and David a look and said, “Behave yourselves. She’s my student.”

  Jace shook his head as if he wasn’t certain what to say. He cleared his throat. “She’s your student who work
s in a strip club, bartends and gives Marilyn Monroe a run for her money—a student who you want to jump into bed with. I think she’s the exception to a lot of rules.”

  David shrugged. “Or she’s the reason rules were made in the first place.”

  “Would both of you just try and keep your mouths shut and follow me?” Shane snapped, then ignored Jace’s and David’s laughter and made his way over to the bar. He snaked his way through the groups of drunken patrons and watched Vera as she poured a shot of Bacardi into a mixer.

  One of the dancers approached Vera and spoke into her ear, then pointed to the table where she’d been entertaining. The men raised their glasses, beckoning Vera for another drink. Shane walked closer to the bar and called out her name, but she didn’t hear him over the thumping beat of the music. She nodded to the stripper, abandoned the bottle of Bacardi and snatched a silver bottle of Patrón from the liquor shelf, then headed to the table.

  As Vera walked around the bar, confident in her fire-engine red stilettos, a man nursing what appeared to be a gin and tonic reached out a single sleazy paw and hooked it through her belt loop. He wrenched her backward, pulling her off balance, and she fell into the bastard’s lap. She elbowed the asshole in the gut and was on her feet again before the drunkard knew what hit him.

  Red clouded Shane’s vision, and without thinking, he suddenly found himself standing behind the offending patron. He gripped a chunk of the bastard’s greasy brown hair and pulled his head back.

  “Hey, what the—”

  Shane cut the man off midsentence by slamming the dickhead’s forehead into the bar with an audible crack. Then he watched as a trail of blood oozed down the guy’s temple.

  Shane growled, “Touch her again and I’ll cut off your balls slowly with a dull knife. Got it?”

  The man groaned in pain. Without another word, Shane released him. The idiot crumpled on to the bar in a bloodied drunken heap. Shane glanced at Vera. She was standing completely still, shock written on her face. He could have sworn that the look in her eyes was one of awe and admiration.

  “We need to talk,” he told her.

  As gently as possible, he reached out and took her hand. Goose bumps prickled up his arm at the feel of her soft skin against his. She was like a live wire. The electric current she sent through his body was indescribable. Still holding her hand, he led her out the front door of the club and into the cool Rochester night. She didn’t say a word as he led her out to the car. When they reached the vehicle, he slipped off his coat and placed it around her bare shoulders. “I need your help.”

  “Dr. Grey, I don’t know what you could possibly need my help for but—”

  “Call me Shane. This isn’t school-related.”

  “Okay...uh, Shane, I don’t know how—”

  “I know you’re a witch, Vera.”

  She paused. Her eyes widened, and she bit her lower lip, then glanced away. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Listen, I’ve worked in the occult long enough to know a witch when I see one. I didn’t realize until after you made that comment about Lilith, but it all makes sense now. And that comment really helped me, by the way.”

  “I have to get back inside.” She moved to step around him. “My customers are—”

  Shane blocked her path. “All I’m asking is for you to listen to what I have to say.” He stared straight into her eyes. “Please, I’m desperate.”

  Footsteps sounded from behind them. Shane glanced over his shoulder to see David and Jace approaching. He quickly turned back to Vera.

  Her eyes widened, and she took a step back. “Oh shit. You guys aren’t what I think you are, are you?”

  Apparently she took his silence as a yes, because her eyes widened even more, and she said, “Oh, no. Not again. You’re not dragging me in for questioning again. I—”

  Shane stepped toward her, and she swung at him. He ducked out of the way. When she swung again, he grabbed hold of both her wrists.

  He held her still and tried to keep the frustration from his voice. “Listen. I don’t care whether you practice light magic or dark magic. That doesn’t matter to me right now. I just need someone who has magical abilities. A friend of ours is in danger, and without the help of a witch we won’t be able to save her.”

  Vera stared at him suspiciously, clearly still uncertain.

  Jace stepped closer and cleared his throat. “The incentive for you is that none of us will haul your ass into headquarters right now if you help us.”

  Shane shot him a look.

  Jace shrugged. “What can I say? I know that look when I see it. That look says what the fuck’s in it for me?”

  Shane ignored Jace and turned back to her. “Vera, please. We really need your help.”

  She bit her lower lip and met his gaze. The streetlights highlighted her green irises, and he saw just the smallest hint of fear there. She glanced back and forth between him, David and Jace. “You really won’t collar me?”

  David nodded.

  Vera let out a long sigh. “Okay, I’ll help you. Just let me tell my uncle that he needs to get someone to cover my shift. I’ll tell him I’m not feeling well.” She brushed past Shane and walked back toward the strip club. She paused halfway and turned back to them. “I just want to say, Dr. Grey, that if you hadn’t brought hunters with you, I would have helped you without asking for anything in return. I’m not heartless enough to ignore someone in need. It’s hunters I don’t like, not helping people.”

  Shane sighed. “I am a hunter. It’s part of my job.”

  “What? You’re kidding me?”

  Shane almost swore. Just because he had a lean build instead of being some over-muscled slab of beefcake... “What’s so unbelievable about it?”

  Vera crossed her arms over her chest and shrugged. “Simple. You never struck me as a douchebag.” She looked straight at David and Jace, her mouth drawn into a tight line, before she turned and walked the rest of the way into the club.

  “A douchebag, huh?” David smiled grimly. “She can call me a douchebag all she wants, as long as she helps me save Allsún.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  DESPITE EVERYTHING THAT was running through his mind, David had to admit he was impressed by the way Vera dealt with the crime scene. She’d admitted to them in the car that she’d never seen a murder victim before, much less one whose end had been so gruesome, yet she handled it quite well. Sure, she gasped and tears filled her eyes for a moment, but once she’d taken in the scene, Shane set her straight to work.

  He cleared his throat, as if he were lecturing, and turned to David and Jace. “What I’m going to have her do is a projection spell. Basically, it’s going to allow us to see how the murders occurred. If Allsún was the killer, we’ll see her image committing the murders.” He flashed David a concerned look. “You might want to leave the room for this. It may not be something you want to see.”

  David shook his head. “You’re right. I don’t want to see it, but if that’s what happened, then I have to see it. I have to know without a shadow of a doubt.” If Allsún had been possessed and murdered the family, he had already mentally played out what the possibilities for dealing with the situation looked like. He would have no choice. If Allsún really was possessed by a demon as strong as Lilith, he would be forced to either kill the demon and kill Allsún in the process or sacrifice an innocent in order to save her, because a demon as strong as Lilith could withstand a regular run-of-the-mill exorcism. No matter how he looked at it, the thought of having to hurt, let alone kill, the woman he loved tortured him inside.

  He prayed and prayed that she hadn’t actually committed these last murders. He knew he wasn’t strong enough to handle that. But even if she hadn’t, she was almost certainly possessed now, which meant his choices were still the same. />
  “I don’t know if I can do this.” Vera’s words jolted David back into the moment.

  “I know you can,” Shane said. “I can feel the strength of your powers.”

  David stepped between them, towering over her. “Look, the woman I love is in danger. If you don’t do this, if you can’t help me find out what happened here, I can’t save her. So, either you tell me, or I’ll drag your magic-practicing ass back to Execution Underground Headquarters.”

  Vera sighed. “Fine. But don’t blame me if you don’t like what you see.”

  “I’m sure I can handle it.” David’s eyes were unflinching and confident.

  “Suit yourself.” Vera shrugged, then she raised her hands. A fluorescent purple light formed around her fists as she repeated a series of incantations. Slowly the light grew, gaining more and more strength, until a blast of it filled the room. When it faded, an ethereal image of Allsún sat in the middle of the room as if on a chair. David watched in horror as slowly, her image stood. The look on Allsún’s ghostly face was horrifying—one of evil and demented anger. David had been wrong. He couldn’t watch. He knew from that look alone that his suspicions had been correct. Allsún was possessed by a demon he wasn’t sure he could exorcise. David turned and left the room. He couldn’t watch, he just couldn’t. He’d never be able to look at Allsún the same if he saw her image commit those crimes. He heard the sounds of Shane gasping and Jace swearing behind him and knew he had made the right decision when he had turned away.

  A moment of silence passed, before Jace called out to David. “You can come back in.”

  “Thanks, Vera,” Shane said when it was over. He had gone pale and tried to shake off what he’d seen.

  Vera, visibly moved by the experience, started making her way toward the door. “Can you take me home now, please?”

  Shane nodded. “Yeah, we’ll take you home.” He turned to David. “Allsún didn’t kill them.”