“Are you serious?” asked Tryst. “I thought they’d become nothing more than legendary trinkets, ruined over time. Worthless, even if they still exist.”
“They are real—I’ve seen them in my mind’s eye,” said Lumen. “And I believe the Controllers want to gain access to them before we do. This man, Umbra—he knows something. Too much for his own good. He’ll be one step behind us, if we’re lucky. If we’re unlucky, he’ll find his way to them before we do.”
“But this is sudden,” said Tryst in response. “If you’re right, it will require a good deal of work—not to mention the bonds that need to be established.”
“I know. The search will be difficult, to say the very least.” Lumen looked about the table at the others. “Kabal. Kliev. Minach. You know what this means. We will need to do some hunting of our own. The search won’t be a simple matter.”
The three shifters he was addressing looked solemn. Minach, if possible, looked even more stern than before, his features hardening into a stony tension. The other two shared his expression, determination taking them over. Something told Neko that fear lay inside them, as well—fear of failure, or perhaps even of success. Whatever was happening, it involved a power even greater than that which existed within this room. Something all-encompassing. Exciting and dangerous at once.
The men’s eyes moved back and forth for several seconds, as though the four of them were communicating silently about the secret that everyone in the room knew about.
Everyone but Neko.
Into the Line of Fire
“Our tasks are clear,” said Kabal, the man with the reddish hair and copper eyes. His voice, like Lumen’s and Minach’s, was deep, dark and smooth. “We will, each of us, do our part when the time comes. The Four will come together, and we understand all that the Seeking entails.”
“The Seeking?” said Neko, who had now managed to remain silent for what felt like an eternity. Lumen had referred to her as a Seeker when she’d first met him. She’d assumed that it was simply an archaic term for a Hunter, but now she was beginning to have her doubts. The word seemed filled with ancient meaning that went far beyond the slaying of the occasional Lapsed.
Lumen turned to her as the others watched. No doubt they wondered how their leader would address the young woman without giving their long held secrets away.
“I’m afraid that some secrets need to remain just that, for a little at least,” he said. “What we divulge to you will depend on your desire—and willingness—to work with us. For now, trust simply that we are looking to protect London’s inhabitants, not to harm them.”
“I see,” said Neko. “And I’m to have utter faith in a room full of Dragon shifters, then?”
Minach opened his mouth to speak but Lumen raised a hand, silencing him.
“I will only tell you this, Hunter: if Controllers such as the man who hired you find a way to what we’re seeking before we do, they will become incredibly powerful. And that would be disastrous—not only for the Dragons, but for everyone. The Lapsed are nothing in comparison to the enemies you’d face then.”
Neko looked into his eyes, as always searching out answers that never quite came. The one thing that she knew—that she’d always known—was that he was sincere. More and more she was learning to trust him, difficult though it was to accept that he was on her side.
Faith in others did not come easy to the Hunter; it never had. But her instincts were good and she knew that he was what he said he was—a protector. It was in his very blood, just as her own dictated what she’d become.
“I’ll begin to look for answers today,” said Lumen, turning back to his Guild. “And the first step is to find this Hash, Vail, who took a few poorly aimed shots at Neko and me. And so I’ll be heading back to London as soon as this meeting ends.”
Neko’s eyes locked on his face, her mind reeling.
London? He’s going back into the line of fire?
“Do you intend to leave me here?” she choked, unwilling or unable to take her eyes off of him.
“Of course. You’ll be far safer here, underground, than with me. You’re part of all this now. The Guild will protect you from harm. They will keep you safe, for me as well as for you.”
For me as well as for you. He was doing it again; claiming that she was to be kept safe for his sake, as though she were his possession. And much as they should have infuriated her, the words flowed through her like melted chocolate. Delicious, smooth and dark.
“Well, I have very little desire for protection,” she said. “I want—need—to come with you to London. I insist, in fact, that you bring me with you.”
“Insist? One doesn’t insist to the leader of Dragons that he do her bidding,” shot Tryst, her words hitting Neko like daggers in the chest. “You are in no position—”
In spite of the knowledge that it could get her killed, Neko interrupted the woman. “I know Vail. I know how to deal with him one on one. I know his weaknesses. I can help.”
“I don’t need help,” said Lumen. “Or have you forgotten that I can breathe fire, Neko?”
“You’re not going to want to try flying around London’s narrow streets and back alleys with your wing span, not to mention a flame-thrower mouth,” Neko retorted. “Trust me. If you want to remain invisible—unthreatening—to the human population you’ll let me come with you. London’s citizens won’t be able to ignore you for long if you destroy their ancient buildings by clobbering them with your giant wings, leaving behind evidence of your destruction.”
Minach had been watching them interact, an amused smile on his lips. “Bring her with you, then, Lumen,” he said, “unless you think she’ll try and do you in again, of course.” With that, he chuckled.
Lumen’s eyes locked on Neko’s face, softening, a look of pure affection occupying his features. “I don’t think she’d hurt me for anything,” he said, his voice clothing her in a soft robe of syllables.
“I wouldn’t,” said Neko, her voice gentle for once. It was a promise, but also a plea to help her out of their underground fortress. Surrounded as she was by the intoxicating scents that filled the room, she felt like a Vampire in a blood bank. It was torture to be so over-stimulated, and she was desperate to free herself of the weakening spell.
“Fine. Then come with me, little one,” said Lumen, pressing his hands into the table in preparation for his departure. “Off to London we’ll go.”
“All right,” she replied, rising to her feet. “But call me ‘little one’ again and my knife at your throat is the last thing you’ll have to worry about.”
“A feisty Hunter,” said Tryst. “I suppose I have to offer my approval. Do us a favour, then, both of you. Find out what’s been going on, and why. Only then can we proceed. In the meantime, we’ll discuss our options here.”
“I will tell you when I know anything for certain,” Lumen said. “And I believe we’re done here, for now at least. Neko and I will head to the city and sort through this mess, with the Hash’s reluctant help. And I intend to begin showing the Hunter around the passages. They may be useful to her in future.”
“Passages?” Neko asked. “What do you mean?”
“You’ll see. Come, let’s head out and we’ll talk on the way.”
She was about to follow him when she stopped in her tracks. “My weapons,” she said, turning to Minach. It was almost an afterthought; she hadn’t considered them since he’d taken them from her. “I’ll need them.”
Lumen nodded towards the dark-haired shifter, who handed the bandolier, jacket and harness back to Neko.
“Try to harm this one, and your death will be unpleasant,” Minach growled, nodding his head towards Lumen.
“Don’t worry,” she replied. “He hasn’t irritated the shit out of me in at least five minutes. He’s safe.”
She and Lumen left the room, the stone door shutting behind them as though of its own free will. The underground was as magical, it seemed, as the Dragons who inhabited
it.
* * *
Neko had wondered if Lumen intended to fly to London with her on his back once again, and if she’d be going for another chilly ride over the English countryside. But when they left the chamber, the shifter turned right, leading her down a narrow hallway that they hadn’t yet been through. He opened a large wooden door at its end.
“Another dark passage. Fantastic,” said Neko as she stepped through.
“We’ll be out of the dark soon enough, Hunter.”
“I don’t know if you’re speaking metaphorically or literally. But either way would be a nice change. I’m not accustomed to feeling…” She stopped herself, realizing that she’d been on the verge of uttering the word helpless. But the two syllables refused to come. She’d never confessed such a feeling to anyone.
“I’ll do my best today to show you our world,” said Lumen, ignoring her quasi-confession. “I want you to experience it as an insider. And I wish very much to let you in on some of our secrets.”
“What, not all of them?” She very nearly cracked a smile again.
“When—if—you and I are together, we will have no secrets,” he said, his voice devoid of humour. “Until then, however, there are certain things that you will struggle to understand.”
When we’re together, as in the biblical sense? Here he was again, implying that they were destined to play the horizontal mambo for eternity. Of course, that was hardly a repellent thought—it was only the seeming lack of choice in the matter that stuck into Neko like a sharp pin. He could at least pretend that it was up to her.
“You do realize that I have a say in this…this relationship that you keep predicting, don’t you?” she asked. “I told you that we can’t be together.”
“You did. And yet you didn’t offer me a reason for it.”
“My reasons are my own.”
Fear, apprehension, scars. So many reasons that when you get to know me, you’ll no longer want me, Dragon.
“Yes they are your own. And as for having a say, you don’t yet seem to grasp that you have all of it,” said Lumen. “If you decide that you want to be with me, then we’ll be together. It’s really quite simple—I know what I desire.”
“Oh, yes. It’s all so simple. If I come to the realization that I want to be with you. Jesus, it’s like a bloody line out of a Shakespeare play. To fuck, or not to fuck…”
The large man stopped and turned to face her. Once again she found herself staring up at him, doing her best to make eye contact in spite of a shyness overtaking her. His eyes were so bright in the dim light, so penetrating. Looking deep inside her, reading her soul.
“Fuck is a harsh, ugly word,” he said. “A word better reserved for prostitutes and drunks. I would make love to you, Neko. Caress your white skin with my fingertips. Treat your body as the beautiful sexual temple that it is. I would coax you to orgasm over and over again, with my tongue, my fingers. The swollen tip of my cock, stroking you as you watched, seeing how very, very hard you make me. Until you had no choice but to cry my name, to beg me for more. And I would slip inside you, tearing you apart—oh, but you’d enjoy it. You’d be mine then, forever. Because you would understand at last what it is to have a true bond with another.”
“I…” she began, crimson heat invading her face and neck. Damn him. How could she possibly respond to such a proposition without a resounding yes?
Delicious, cocky, infuriating man. Yes, I want you more than anything.
But she didn’t have to reply, as it turned out. Lumen spoke again, relieving her of the words that had caught in her throat. “But none of that should happen until you know your feelings, and can confess them. At least to yourself. I’m not here to take advantage of you.”
Her eyes went to the stone floor, the silence around her palpable, interrupted every few seconds by a slow drip-drip-drip sound in the distance.
“I need to love you, you mean,” she said at last. A man she’d only met a few days before. A man she’d been hired to slay.
“No. There’s no obligation to use that word.”
But for a moment she considered telling him that she could see herself, feel herself, falling so hard for him that she might shatter into splintering shards when she hit the ground. That she was at his mercy, almost ready to surrender her life of solitude to experience a life with him.
Mad a thought though it was.
But instead she turned her eyes towards their destination and walked.
Journey
Neko went silent for a time. As they walked she searched for a way to change the subject; to move away from the intensity of what had been growing between the two of them since the moment they’d met.
Confusing thoughts drove through her in a flurry, her mind too overwhelmed by desire to think straight. But she needed to get back on track—after all, a few days earlier she’d been a simple Hunter. Her life had been easy, more or less. No complications; only tasks. Jobs. And now she found herself torn between two lives; the one she’d always known and a strange new one—more exciting, more dangerous.
All this upheaval didn’t suit a solitary life.
She wanted to ask where they were headed, but the truth was that she wasn’t overly concerned at this point with their destination, so long as they eventually left the windowless dark of the underground.
And as long as he remained at her side.
“Vail, the Hash,” said Lumen eventually, his eyes focused ahead. “Tell me more about him.”
Neko was relieved at the opportunity to talk business rather than dwell on emotions. “Well, he’s good at what he does, which is assassinating unwitting victims. He’s accustomed to easy kills and oblivious targets. But he’s never gotten the upper hand on me; he’s not a fighter. He doesn’t do well when his victim knows he’s coming.”
“Good. And I imagine that he does even less well when he doesn’t know he’s being hunted.”
“Probably not. He’s not the most clever man in the world.”
Neko wasn’t afraid of another confrontation with Vail, at least not really. Even if she were alone, she could likely take him on. Her reflexes were quicker, and she had the advantage of being a born predator. It was second nature to her to take on her prey, as it was to a cat to hunt mice.
“Are there many of you?” asked Lumen. “Hunters, I mean—and Hashes.”
“There are probably twenty or so Hunters who work for the Syndicate. And an equal number of Hashes, though we don’t exactly keep tabs on one another. Hashes tend to be avoided. They’ll do anything for coin, and that includes taking us down if we’re perceived as threats to their livelihoods.”
“I see.”
“So, where exactly are you taking me?” she asked. “For all your talents, I can’t imagine that you know where to find Vail.”
“You’ll see in a moment,” Lumen said, his eyes fixed on something up ahead, a smile spreading across his lips. It must be nice, she thought, to be so excited about the prospect of a miserable, potentially dangerous day ahead. All these heavy thoughts tearing destructively through her mind, and he was looking as though they were about to enter a candy shop.
“We’re nearly there, in fact,” he said.
When the Dragon shifter stopped, Neko looked first at him then at their bleak surroundings. All she could see were more stone walls, the arch still strong and confining above them. But now, to make things even less promising, they seemed to have arrived at a dead end.
“I don’t get it,” she said. “There’s nothing here.”
Lumen placed a gentle hand on a section of the large stone wall next to him and pressed. Under his strength, the wall gave way, opening outward as though it had always intended to do so. An invisible door that somehow only he could see. Yet another of the legendary powers of the Kindred.
“Go ahead,” he said, ushering her through.
Gentle light flowed through the temporary doorway and Neko stepped into its beams, followed by the shifter, who somehow shut the
wall silently behind them—or more accurately, it shut itself. More magic.
“And here we are, in yet another passage,” Neko sighed, disappointed not to be reacquainting herself with the concept of sunlight as she looked around.
This hallway was different, however; modern light fixtures flanked its sides, and pipes hung from the ceiling, running parallel to the walls. The area looked like it could be a part of the Tube, London’s system of underground trains, or else a tunnel running beneath some industrial building.
“We’re coming up to the train station,” said Lumen. “We’ll take public transit into town, like civilized people.”
Neko couldn’t help herself and let out a chuckle. What a strange thought, after all she’d seen and done that morning. “What, I won’t be riding on your back again?”
“Not today, at least not yet. We need to keep a low profile for now, as you pointed out earlier. No sense in drawing eyes—particularly those of Umbra or the Hash.”
Before long they came to another door, a metal one with a stubborn handle, and he pushed it open before guiding Neko through. They stepped into a dank concrete stairwell and climbed upwards, eventually coming to a room that was very far removed from the ancient passageways where they’d been a few minutes earlier.
A large space unfolded before them, open and airy. People milled about, reminding Neko of the reality of the lives of most humans. They knew nothing, of course, of what was going on beneath them. Of the Guild of Dragons who were looking to protect their well-being, conspiring in hushed tones under their homes and places of work.
“We’ll pick up Vail’s trail once we’re in the city,” said Lumen, “and pursue him. We need answers, and the sooner we find them the better. Much as I may be starting to understand a little of Umbra’s actions and motives, we need to be certain before we go any further.”
“None of what Umbra has planned is good, from what I can gather,” said Neko.
“No. None.”
Dragon Hunter Box Set: A Dragon Shifter Serial Page 9
