Night Pleasures

by Sherrilyn Kenyon

  Or ripping that tiny, frail piece of silk away from her hips and burying himself deep inside her while her silk-clad legs wrapped around his.

  Hunter shifted in his seat and remembered too late he should have bought himself a pair of baggy pants.

  Touching her would be paradise.

  If only paradise were a possibility for a creature like him. He tightened his grip on the gear shift as the thought tore through him.

  "No woman will ever love you for anything other than your money. Mark my words, boy. Men like us will never have that one basic need. The best you can hope for is a child to love you."

  His breath caught as the repressed memory flooded back to him with total clarity. And hard on its heels came the final words he'd spoken to his father.

  "How could I ever love a heartless man like you? You mean nothing to me, old man. And you never will."

  The pain of it stole his breath. Words he'd spoken in anger that could never be retracted.

  How could he have said them to the one person he had loved and respected most?

  "So," Amanda asked, distracting him, "what happened with Desiderius last night? Did you get him?"

  He shook his head to clear his thoughts and focus on the here and now. "He went into a bolt-hole after our confrontation."

  "A what?"

  "A bolt-hole. Sanctuary for the Daimons," he explained. "They're astral openings between dimensions. The Daimons can go in for a few days, but when the door opens, they have to leave again."

  Amanda was aghast at what he was describing. How could that be possible? "I can't believe the powers that be would give the Daimons such a haven to escape justice."

  "They didn't. The Daimons discovered bolt-holes on their own." He flashed a wicked smile at her. "But I'm not complaining. It makes my job infinitely more interesting."

  "Well, just so long as you're not bored," she said sarcastically. "I would really hate for your job to ever get dull."

  He cast a glance at her that set her on fire. "Chere, I have a feeling being bored around you would be an impossibility."

  His words struck a painful nerve in her. "You're the only one who feels that way," she said as she remembered her conversation with Selena. "I've been told I tip the scales way into Boredom City."

  He stopped at a light and gave her a penetrating stare. "I don't understand that comment since I've been nothing but amazed by you ever since the moment I woke up to you calling me 'Mr. yummy leather guy.'"

  Her face on fire, she laughed at the memory.

  "Besides," Hunter continued, "you can't blame people for saying that when you're the one who puts up the shield."

  "Excuse me?"

  He shifted into first and headed down the street. "It's true. You bury the part of you that craves excitement underneath a career guaranteed to one day replace tranquilizers. You wear drab colors and turtlenecks that hide the passion you keep harnessed."

  "I do not," she said, bristling with indignation. "You hardly know me well enough to say that. And you've only seen me in one outfit of my choosing."

  "True, but I know your type."

  "Yeah, right." She mumbled her denial.

  "And I've sampled your passion firsthand."

  Amanda's face flamed even more at that one. She couldn't deny the truth. However, it didn't mean she had to like the way he seemed to see straight into her heart.

  "I think you're afraid of that other half of yourself," he continued. "You remind me of the ancient Greek nymph Lyta. She was two halves of one person. The two pieces warred with each other, making her--and anyone who knew her--miserable until one day a Greek soldier came upon the two halves and joined them. From that day forward she lived in harmony with herself and others."

  "What, are you saying I make you miserable?"

  He laughed. "No. I find you amusing, but I think you'd be much happier if you would accept your true nature and not try so hard to fight it."

  "This coming from a vampire who doesn't drink human blood? Tell me, aren't you fighting your nature, too?"

  He smiled at that. "Perhaps you're right. Perhaps I too would be happier if I turned the wild beast inside me loose." He glanced askance at her. "I wonder if you could handle that part of me."

  "Meaning?"

  He didn't answer. "Where do I need to take you? Julian's, your mother's, or your place?"

  "Well, since you're headed toward my house, I suppose there. I live a few blocks over from Tulane."

  Kyrian did his best to stay focused on traffic, but over and over he kept seeing flashes of his dream in his mind. Damn, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a vivid dream. He'd awakened early in the morning, hard and aching for her. And he could have sworn her scent was on his pillows. His skin.

  He'd spent the rest of the day trying his best to sleep, but it had been fitful at best. He wanted this woman with a need so profound that it made him shake just to be near her.

  Never in his life had he wanted anything more than to do what she suggested: to turn himself loose on her and devour her.

  If only he dared.

  As soon as it had turned dark, he had gone hunting for her.

  It was the first time in his Dark-Hunter life that he'd pursued a human.

  "You know," she said, that soft, lilting drawl sending an electric charge down his spine straight to his groin. "You didn't have to pick me up. You could have just called the office and checked on me."

  Kyrian cleared his throat as he felt heat creep over his face. Dammit! She had him blushing? He hadn't blushed since he was a callow youth over two thousand one hundred and sixty years ago. "I didn't have your number."

  "You could have gotten it from any phonebook or information. And of course, Grace has it."

  He felt her smiling at him.

  "Heck, you could have probably picked it right out of my brain." Her look turned devilish, suspicious. "I bet you just wanted to see me again, didn't you?"

  "No," he said a little too quickly.

  "Umm-hmmm." Disbelief echoed in her tone. "Why don't I believe that?"

  "Probably because I never could lie worth a damn."

  They both laughed.

  Amanda watched him while he drove. He had his small round sunglasses back on and looked more dashing than any man had a right to.

  "Tell me something?" she asked.

  He arched a brow expectantly, but didn't say anything as he kept looking straight ahead.

  "Do you really like being a Dark-Hunter?"

  He glanced at her and smiled a smile that actually showed his fangs. "Tell me how many jobs are out there where you get to play hero every night. My pay is astronomical and I live forever. What is there not to love about this job?"

  "But don't you ever get lonely?" she asked.

  "You can be in a crowd and be lonely."

  "I guess so. Still..."

  He looked sideways at her. "Why don't you ask me what you want to know?"

  "Since you can read my thoughts why don't you answer it?"

  His smile widened hungrily like a wolf that had just found its next meal. "Yes, sweeting, I think you're incredibly sexy. And I would love nothing more than to take you back to my place and make your toes curl."

  Heat consumed her face. "I hate the way you do that. You're worse than Tabitha. Good Lord, do all Dark-Hunters have that kind of power?"

  "No, baby, just me." Then he added, "Each one of us has our own set of abilities."

  "I have to say, I really wish you had a different one."

  "All right, love. For you, it's gone. No more mind reading."

  As Amanda watched him, she realized that even though he was blustery and macho, there was still a decent heart underneath it all. "You're a good man, Hunter."

  "I'm a good vampire, you mean."

  "Yes, but you don't suck blood."

  One corner of his mouth quirked at that. "So Julian told you that, did he?"

  "Yes, he did. He said Dark-Hunters, unlike Apollites, were spared

that part of Apollo's curse."

  "For the record," he said ominously, "we don't need blood to live, but there are some Dark-Hunters, called Feeders, who do drink it." He shifted gears. "I think you and Julian spent entirely too much time talking last night."

  "Perhaps." But then Hunter had become her favorite topic. She'd kept poor Julian awake half the night asking things about Kyrian and the Dark-Hunters.

  "Is it true Daimons only live twenty-seven years?"

  He nodded. "That's why they're so dangerous. Most Apollites will do anything to buy themselves another day."

  Which was why the Dark-Hunters, according to Julian, were soulless. It kept the Daimons from taking the most powerful souls of all. And the more powerful the soul the Daimons took, the longer they lived on borrowed time.

  "Someone like you," Kyrian said, "is prime Daimon bait. When they take your soul, they take all your psychic powers with it."

  Amanda scoffed. "I have no powers."

  "Whatever lie makes you happy."

  "It's not a lie," she said defensively. "I have no abilities whatsoever. At least not unless it involves crunching numbers."

  "All right, number-cruncher, I believe you."

  His words might say that, but his voice didn't. Narrowing her eyes on the stubborn man, she directed him toward her house.

  As they drew near, she saw clouds of gray billowing smoke against the night sky. "Is that a house fire?"

  "Yeah, it looks like a big one, too."

  "Oh no," she gasped as they got closer and she saw her house on fire.

  But Hunter didn't stop there, he went down the street to Tabitha's where another blaze was roaring.

  Tears filled her eyes as she fumbled for the door latch. "Tabitha!" she screamed, terrified her sister might be inside the house.

  Faster than she could blink, Hunter got out of the car and ran into the burning house.

  Her heart hammering, Amanda scrambled from the car.

  After kicking off her high heels, she ran to the porch, but didn't dare try to run inside with her bare feet.

  "Hunter?" she called, trying to see through the flames. "Tabitha!"

  Please be okay, Tabby. Please still be at work!

  As she waited for sight or sound of Kyrian, a motorcycle flew through Tabitha's yard and slid to a screeching halt next to the walkway.

  Moving like lightning, a man pulled his black helmet off, tossed it to the ground, then ran toward the house so fast she couldn't even make out his features. He went around back at the same time Hunter came out the door, carrying Tabitha's roommate.

  Amanda followed Hunter to the lawn where he laid Allison down on the grass.

  "Tabitha isn't in there," he said. He inclined his head to Allison's unconscious body. "She inhaled a lot of smoke." He scanned the street around them; several neighbors stood nearby, but none of them came forward. "Where's the damned ambulance?" he snarled.

  Terminator came running up to them. He licked Allison's face, then Amanda.

  Patting the white and black dog, Amanda looked up to see the man who had arrived on the motorcycle. He was every bit as handsome as Hunter, yet there was something ethereal about him. Mystical.

  His blond hair was cut short except for two long braids that fell from his left temple down to the middle of his chest. He wore a zipped-up black motorcycle jacket that had red and gold Celtic scrollwork painted all over it and a thick gold torc around his neck.

  He knelt beside Hunter and passed his gloved hand over Allison's body about an inch above it.

  "Her lungs are singed," he said quietly.

  "Can you help her, Talon?" Hunter asked.

  Talon nodded. He removed his gloves, then placed his hands against Allison's ribs.

  After a few seconds, Allison's breathing became slow and steady.

  Talon met Amanda's gaze. She shivered as she saw that he had the exact same eyes as Kyrian.

  There was something very unsettling and strange about this new Dark-Hunter.

  He was stillness, she realized. Like some bottomless pond. There was a calm serenity to him that was both beguiling and frightening.

  And it dawned on her that something really bad must be going on. Why else would another Dark-Hunter be here at the same time?

  "Desiderius set the fires, didn't he?" she asked.

  Both of the men shook their heads no.

  Hunter looked to Talon. "Your target?"

  "My guess would be they've teamed up. Mine is trying to flush you out while yours is in hiding."

  At last the fire crews arrived. An EMT team took over with Allison while the three of them moved to stand to the side.

  "Well, damn, Talon, this is new," Hunter said as he raked a hand through his hair. "It leaves us completely vulnerable."

  Talon inclined his head toward Tabitha's burning house. "Yeah, I know. It sucks that they can combine their strengths while we can't."

  "Why can't you?" Amanda asked.

  Talon turned to Hunter. "How much does she know?"

  "A lot more than she should."

  "Can we trust her?"

  Hunter looked askance at her; the uncertainty in his eyes hurt her. She would never do anything to harm the man who had saved her life.

  "I had a voice mail from Acheron this evening that said to give her whatever information she wanted."

  Talon frowned. "That doesn't sound like T-Rex to me."

  "You know, Acheron really hates when you call him that."

  "Which is exactly why I use it. And I find it hard to believe T-Rex would give her carte blanche."

  "Yeah, but you know Acheron. There must be a purpose to it, and in his own, decrepit time, I'm sure he'll get around to enlightening us."

  "So tell me, then," she prompted. "Why can't you guys combine your strengths?"

  "It's to keep us from cockfighting or using our powers against the humans or gods," Hunter explained. "As a result, as soon as we get together, we start draining each other's powers and dampening them. The longer we stay together, the weaker we become."

  Amanda gaped. "That's not fair."

  "Life seldom is," Talon said.

  Hunter turned to Talon. "Any idea where your target is?"

  "I lost the tracking signal here. So I'm guessing there must be a bolt-hole close by."

  "Great," Hunter said, "just friggin' great."

  Talon concurred. "I'm thinking we should call in Kattalakis to flush both of them out."

  "No," Hunter said quickly. "This isn't the typical Daimon we're dealing with and something tells me siccing a Were-Hunter on Desiderius would be like tossing a grenade on a keg of dynamite. The last thing we need is for him to grab one of their souls. Can you imagine the damage he could wreak with that?"

  "Were-Hunter?" Amanda asked. "Is that like a werewolf?"

  Talon cleared his throat. "Not exactly."

  "We protect the night," Hunter said. "Hence Dark-Hunter. And they..." He gave Talon a searching gaze.

  Talon took up the explanation. "Were-Hunters are..." He looked to Hunter as if seeking the right word, too.

  Hunter shrugged. "Sorcerers?"

  "Works for me," Talon said.

  Well, it didn't work for Amanda, who had no idea what they were talking about. "Sorcerers? Like Merlin?"

  "Oh hell," Talon muttered. He locked gazes with Hunter. "You sure about what T-Rex said?"

  Hunter unclipped his cell phone from his belt, scrolled through his saved messages, then handed it to Talon. "Listen for yourself."

  Talon did. After a brief wait, he handed the phone back to Hunter and faced Amanda. "All right, then, let's explain it this way. There are four basic kinds of Daimons or vampires: bloodsuckers, soulsuckers, energy/dreamsuckers, and slayers."

  Amanda nodded. That made sense to her. "You guys are the slayers."

  Hunter snorted. "What? Were you born with a remote in your hand?"

  "No," Talon corrected her while ignoring Hunter's sarcasm. "Slayers are the nastiest of all the vampires because they don't want anything from their victims. They merely destroy for the sake of destruction. Not to mention, they are the strongest of the vampires."

  A shiver went down her spine. "Is Desiderius one of them?"

  Hunter shook his head negatively while Talon continued to explain it to her. "To protect the world as we know it, there were three races of hunters created to police and destroy the Daimons. We are called 'the Pyramid of Protection.' Dark-Hunters pursue those who feed on human blood and souls. Dream-Hunters go after the energy-and dreamsuckers, and Were-Hunters stalk the slayers."

  Amanda frowned. "I guess what I don't understand is why you don't have one group that does it all."

  "Because we can't," Hunter said. "If one person or group was strong enough to walk all four realms of existence, they would be able to enslave the world. Nothing and no one could stop them. And the gods would be greatly pissed."

  "What four realms?"

  "Time, space, earth, and dreams," Talon said.

  Amanda let out a deep breath. "Okay, now that is scary. Some of you guys walk through time?"

  "And space and dreams."

  "Ah." Amanda nodded. "So Rod Serling was a Were-Hunter?"

  They didn't look particularly amused.

  "Okay," she said. "Bad attempt at humor. I'm just trying to figure all this out."

  Talon laughed. "Don't. I've been trying to understand it all for over fifteen-hundred years and I'm still learning things."

  Hunter grimaced. "You? Every time I think I have it pegged someone like Desiderius comes along and completely alters the rules."

  "True," Talon said with a short laugh. He rolled his shoulders. "And speaking of scary things, I need to leave. My guides are fading even as we speak."

  Hunter faked a shiver. "I hate when you commune with the dead in front of me."

  Talon gave him a droll, unamused stare. "Are you the asshole who sent the 'I See Dead People' T-shirt to me?"

  Hunter laughed. "That would be Wulf. I thought he was joking about it."

  "He wasn't. I got it three days ago. I am going to get him back for that." Talon looked at Amanda. "Keep her close."

  Hunter nodded.

  Talon glanced over his shoulder at one of the fire crews. "Is it just me or is the Apollite fireman behind me paying a little too much attention to us?"

  "Yeah, I caught that, too. I think I should question him."

  "Not tonight. Secure her first. I'll interrogate the Apollite."

  Hunter cocked a brow in amusement. "Don't you trust me?"

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