Releasing the Hunter (Harlequin Nocturne)

by Anna, Vivi

  Reggie chuckled. “You’ve been doing your homework.” He pointed at Ronan. “Let me guess? Quianna Lang?”

  Ronan didn’t say anything.

  The sorcerer shook his head. “She’s always been meddlesome. Doesn’t know her place.”

  “You can’t control them,” Ronan said.

  “Of course we can. The cabal’s power is limitless.”

  “I imagine Solomon thought that, too.”

  “Yes, well, he was one man. We are many. And we have been training for this for centuries. Now is the time to fulfill our destinies.”

  “You’re delusional, Reggie. No one can control that many demons. Not even if there were one hundred of you. Which I know for a fact, there aren’t.”

  He moved a little closer to Ronan. “There are enough of us not to be trifled with.” He held out his hand. “Now, give me the key.”

  “I just have a few more conditions first.”

  “You’re changing our arrangement.”

  “Yes, I am.”

  Reggie shook his head. “I don’t like changes, Ronan. I really don’t.”

  “First off, I want you to make a pact that you won’t ever harm Quianna Lang. Or Ivy and Quinn Strom.”

  The sorcerer clapped his hands together and laughed. “Oh, dear boy. That’s what this is about? Ivy Strom? You fell for that bitch. I can’t believe it.”

  Ronan took a step toward him. “Better watch your mouth, Reggie, or I’ll knock all your teeth out.”

  “Testy, testy. Doesn’t look good on you, Ronan. I thought hellspawn didn’t have feelings.”

  “I’m only half hellspawn.” In a single second, he’d breached the short distance between them and grabbed Reggie around the throat, lifting him off the ground. “And our deal is off.”

  Reggie flung out his hands to the sides. Blue light ignited from his fingertips. Ronan could feel an electric sizzle in the air and knew he was about to get an enormous shock to his system.

  He dropped Reggie and ran toward the water just as the other two sorcerers rushed out of the darkness. They also had blue sparks bubbling on their fingertips. Ronan drew his gun and fired on the one closest to him. The bullet grazed the sorcerer’s arm. Crying out, he grabbed his arm. It was enough for the magic blue sparks to disappear.

  Ronan swung around to the other one, but it was too late. The sorcerer let go with a blast of magic. It hit Ronan in his left side. It was like being electrocuted. He dropped to one knee, gritting his teeth as pain shot through his body. Thankfully, the water had dampened the effects. He imagined that burst of magic should’ve stopped his heart.

  The one sorcerer advanced on him, likely thinking he had put Ronan down. Pity for him. Ronan swung his gun up. This time he didn’t miss. The bullet took the sorcerer in the gut and he dropped to the ground.

  Ronan pushed to his feet and started for the water again. If he could jump in, he would be safe. He could hold his breath for a long time. Besides that, the cabal’s magic couldn’t touch him in the water.

  As he sprinted, he could hear Reggie running behind him, his breath coming out in harsh pants. “You’ve doomed yourself for her, Ronan.”

  I know, he thought, but she’s worth it.

  A blast of magic erupted right behind him. Bits of dirt and rock hit him in the back of the legs. But he didn’t slow.

  “You’ll never be human again. You’ve lost your one and only chance for a cure.”

  Another blast, this one a little closer. The blue bolt zipped across his right leg. It burned a hole in his pants. Luckily, it missed his skin.

  He was a foot from the water’s edge. Another blast came. This one grazed his left arm. Agony seared through him and he dropped. Right into the water.

  Ronan pushed with his legs and went under. There was instant relief on his singed arm. He kicked hard and dove down deep. He swam out a ways, and then came up to the surface. He spied Reggie and his injured minion glaring out at him from the shoreline. He lifted his arm out of the water and gave them the finger.

  “It doesn’t matter, Ronan,” Reggie shouted at him. “You’ve done all this for nothing. You’ll never be with her, hellspawn. You think I’d let the Stroms live? They know too much. They are too much of a liability.” Reggie’s laughter echoed off the water’s surface. “While you bob up and down in that water, my people are stripping the flesh off their bones.”

  Ronan’s heart thumped hard and his gut roiled at the thought. But he didn’t believe it. Both Ivy and Quinn were too smart and too careful to be ambushed by some cabal sorcerers. Still, dread filled him and he had to swallow down the fury that bubbled up inside him.

  If he found this to be true, there would be no place for Reggie and his ilk to hide. Ronan would hunt them all down and kill them, nice and slow. He had a lot of talent with a knife and oodles of patience.

  Ronan turned and dove back down into the water. He had parked his stolen car about a mile down the shore in the event of something going wrong. Like it had. He would swim there, get in and find Ivy. Just to make sure.

  Chapter 29

  Ivy unlocked the front door of the old bungalow and walked into the foyer. It had been over two years since she’d been in the house. It was the house that Quinn and she had shared with their father before he died. After his death, she and Quinn had lived there until Quinn did a runner. Then she’d stayed for maybe a year before forging her own path into the demon-hunting world.

  But it felt good to be back. She flicked on the hall light. Everything was as she’d left it. All the furniture had been covered with sheets. The place had a musty scent, though, but nothing some open windows and air freshener wouldn’t cure.

  She dragged her bags into the living room, then dropped them onto the hardwood floor. She whipped off the sheet from the sofa and collapsed onto it. She was exhausted.

  The trip back from Sumner was long, hard and trying on all her emotions. She’d driven straight through without any long stops. The only time she did stop was to use the facilities or to get coffee and food.

  Quinn had asked her to come with him to track down Ronan. But she’d refused. He’d left in another vehicle intending to find the cambion and kill him. Ivy didn’t want to be a part of that. No matter what Ronan had done, she couldn’t see him harmed. Well, maybe just a little. But by her hands, and no others.

  She didn’t want to know what Quinn planned on doing. It was out of her hands. Her brother would do what he wanted. He would do what he had to, to retrieve the key. She understood that. The connection to honor and loyalty and a person’s word. It had been ingrained in her, as well. Their father had been huge on doing whatever it took to do the job. The job was the most important thing. Nothing else mattered.

  Ivy ran her hands over her face and sighed, leaning her head back on the sofa pillows. She used to think that, feel it, live it. But after meeting Ronan and falling for him, she realized that there was so much more than following a path, adhering to a code. There was great sex and love and all the messed-up crap that came with it.

  She looked at one of her bags on the floor and reached over with her foot, hooked it and dragged it over. She unzipped it and took out the white envelope with her name written across it. She had yet to open it. She was afraid to.

  What if Ronan took the key and left because he’d been using her this whole time? What if he truly didn’t have any feelings for her? Then her ideas that she’d never truly been worthy of being loved would be confirmed. She didn’t know if she could face that. Sometimes she liked her delusions. They were safe.

  She tore open the envelope and slid out the plain white piece of paper. She unfolded it and read.

  Ivy,

  I could say I’m sorry, but I know that doesn’t cut it. I imagine nothing would make what I did okay. To know that I have been searching for a c
ure for years, that I loathe the blood inside me, wouldn’t be enough. But do know and believe this...

  That I didn’t fall for you because of the key. I fell in love with you because of you.

  Ronan

  She read it twice, then crumpled it up into her fist and tossed it across the room. Tears stung her eyes and she was about to wipe them away when she heard a noise at her window.

  She jumped to her feet and rushed to the big bay window. She pushed the drapes aside and looked out into the yard and onto the porch along the side. There was no movement. But she sensed someone was out there, watching her.

  Unsheathing one of her blades, she moved to the front door, quietly turned the knob and stepped out onto the porch. A cool light breeze blew her hair around her head and over her face. She looked to the right and then to the left but didn’t see any movement. A dog barked in the distance and she could hear the faint revving of a car engine nearby.

  Then she spied it. A glint in the cypress tree in the yard. There was something hanging from one of the branches. Glancing around cautiously, Ivy stepped off the porch and crossed the lawn to the tree on the far corner.

  Each step grew heavier and heavier as she drew closer to the tree. She knew what was hanging there and it formed a lump in her throat.

  When she was right under the branch, she reached up and touched the thing hanging there. It was her cross necklace. It was the key.

  She pulled it down, and gripping it tight in her hand, she twirled around the yard. He was here somewhere. She knew he’d watch her retrieve it. She knew he’d been at the window watching her. She could always feel when his gaze was on her. It made gooseflesh rise on her skin.

  “Ronan,” she called.

  A dog barked. Wind chimes tinkled somewhere nearby. But there wasn’t any answer.

  She returned to the porch, and instead of going back inside, she stood there and waited and watched. Maybe if she stood there long enough she would see him flit through the shadows. Maybe he would come to her, himself.

  “Ronan,” she called again. “I know you’re there.”

  Still no answer. Just the rustling of the leaves in the tree.

  But after an hour of standing there, her legs cramped and her stomach grumbled reminding her that she hadn’t eaten in over eight hours. She went back inside, the key still clutched tight in her hand.

  * * *

  Ronan watched her go back into the house from his perch on the roof of the neighbor’s place. He’d been tempted to go down and talk to her. She’d been waiting for him to, that was obvious. But he hadn’t been ready, and neither had she. The anger of his betrayal would’ve still been fresh in her mind. She would’ve acted on it, he knew. And he really wasn’t up to fighting with her. He was still sore from his encounter with Reggie and his cabal goons.

  She was safe; that was all that mattered right now. Reggie had been lying about sending someone to take care of her. He should’ve suspected as much, but he had to be sure. The thought of something happening to Ivy, especially because of him, made his gut clench and his heart ache. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself.

  He also needed to give her time. Time to think, time to heal, time to forgive. He needed that time, too. To reconcile the fact that he’d never be fully human again. That he would always be a cambion, always have demon blood flowing inside him.

  He had to see himself as Ivy had seen him.

  As a man.

  Until then, he wouldn’t be good for her. And he really wanted to be good enough for her. She deserved that. She deserved the best he could be.

  Once the door was shut and he heard the lock engage, he jumped down from the roof, walked down the street to his car and got in. He couldn’t go back to his apartment. The cabal would be all over it. So this was his chance to make a clean break from everything he used to be. And become someone different. Someone better. Someone worth Ivy’s love.

  But first he had to stop the cabal from doing anyone else any harm.

  Chapter 30

  Ronan tossed the chalk to the side after drawing the sigil in the pentagram. He picked up his knife and drew the blade across his palm. Blood dripped onto the chalked hardwood floor of his newly rented apartment, activating the “call.” It wouldn’t be long before Daeva appeared. She was always prompt when he called her.

  A minute passed before there was an audible pop and the scent of cinnamon filled the air.

  “Hmm, twice in one week. That is some kind of record.” Her grin was warm and friendly.

  He didn’t return the smile; this was all business. “I need another address.”

  “Well, I know it isn’t for Sallos, because I saw his sorry ass down here. You really pissed him off.”

  “I need to know the headquarters for the Crimson Hall Cabal.”

  Daeva tapped one long finger against her lips. “I see. That’s quite the task you’re asking of me.”

  “Why?”

  “The cabal is powerful. They have a lot of magic able to block out any unwanted attention.”

  “I believe in you, Daeva. I wouldn’t have called you if I didn’t think you were the woman for the job.”

  She preened at his use of the word woman, instead of calling her a demon. He understood wanting that distinction. He lived it every day, as she did.

  “Of course I am.” She tapped at her lips again. “Give me some time.”

  “I need it sooner than later.”

  “It’ll cost you.”

  Ronan looked at her, knowing full well that he’d pay whatever she asked for. He had to stop the cabal at any price. Reggie wouldn’t quit until Ronan was dead, as well as anyone involved with the key. And that included Ivy and Quinn. Ronan would sacrifice his own life before he ever saw anything terrible happen to them.

  “I know.”

  Daeva studied him for a moment, and then lifted one elegant eyebrow. “You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

  He dropped his gaze, uncomfortable with the way she saw right through him. “Does it matter?”

  “Oh, Ronan, of course it does.” She tsked, then snapped her fingers and disappeared.

  Ronan walked down the corridor to the bathroom and stuck his hand under a stream of cold water. He kept it there until the blood oozing from the open wound gelled. He dried it carefully and then wrapped it up in gauze, taping it tight.

  He didn’t know how long he’d have to wait for Daeva to come back, but he sensed it wouldn’t be too long. She was reliable and something in her eyes told him that she understood his feelings for Ivy. That somewhere and sometime she’d possessed those same feelings for someone.

  True to his assumption, Ronan didn’t wait long for Daeva’s return. After two hours, she popped back into his living room with the information he needed.

  She handed him a small piece of paper. He took it and said, “Thank you.” He unfolded it, read the address, and then slipped it into his front jeans’ pocket.

  “That’s why you called me.”

  “Name your price, and I’ll pay it.”

  Daeva eyed him for a long while. So long he began to feel uncomfortable and shifted from foot to foot. Those gray eyes of hers were strange and unnerving. Finally she said, “All I ask is that you take care of her.”

  That surprised him. “What?”

  “Look after Ivy Strom and love her like she deserves.”

  He still didn’t get it. “That’s all you want?”

  She nodded.

  “Why? What’s Ivy to you?”

  “Nothing. It’s what she means to you.” Then her eyes sparkled and a sly grin spread across her comely face. “Oh, and send a message to that brother of hers.”

  “What message?”

  “That I’m waiting.” Her eyes bled black, and then she wa
s gone, in a puff of dark smoke.

  Ronan didn’t have time to dwell on that last bit about Quinn. He’d deliver the message sometime and let Quinn worry about it. Right now, he had to prepare to take down the Crimson Hall Cabal or at the very least, kill Reggie.

  As soon as the sun set, Ronan set out on his way. The address Daeva gave him turned out to be smack in the middle of Pacific Heights. Not far from Lafayette Park, Ronan stood on Gough Street and stared up at the huge Victorian mansion looming in front of him.

  He shouldn’t have expected anything less from the cabal. They were entrenched in money. Reggie alone was probably worth at least several million. Ronan imagined most of the cabal members came from wealth. Bunch of sorcerer snobs.

  By looking at the big house, he also knew there were likely wards on every entrance. Luckily, Daeva also gave him the one window to go through that was lacking any security. He looked down at the paper she’d given him again. Second story, third window from the right. Smiling, he slid the paper back into his pants pocket and crossed the street.

  Getting up to the second floor proved far easier than he thought it would be. Ronan slid open the unlocked windowpane and climbed into the dark room that just happened to be a bedroom. Reggie’s bedroom, to be exact. And the sorcerer was sound asleep under the covers, like a gift-wrapped present.

  But Ronan didn’t believe in easy.

  Pulling his gun out from his shoulder holster, he flicked off the safety. He aimed and fired off three rounds. All three bullets hit the sleeping form. The big problem was, no blood splattered from the holes.

  A blast of magic hit him in the side. He stumbled to the left and smacked into the wall, the breath knocked out of him. His fingertips tingled from the electrical power of Reggie’s magic.

  “Did you think it would be that easy?”

  “I was hoping,” Ronan grunted, as he pushed off the wall and swung around to face his attacker.

  Reggie stepped out of the shadows; his hands were alight with the glowing blue of his magic. He lifted them towards Ronan. “After I kill you, I’m going to torture and kill your girlfriend.”