Hellhound (13 page)

He did a number on me, but at least I broke his jaw
and hurt his back just the same. I never fought such a worthy adversary, and I
hadn’t been prepared. Next time, I would be. Next time I would use the crescent
and get the undiluted, unadulterated story. His priceless gift to me would be
used against him.

Leaning in on my hands, planted against the edge of
the counter, I puffed. The remainder of the smoke in the room returned to me
and re-entered my body. The blackness in my eyes disappeared, as did the
birthmark.

I thought I was this bad-ass hunter, but I couldn’t
get even get the upper hold on Demetrius.

My head jerked toward the front door. Someone knocked,
and I went through a very short list of who it could be. I swung the door open
and crossed my arms.

“What?” I barked.

Ashton looked up at me through dark eyes and inhaled.
His eyes flickered and he licked his lips. “Were you in a tussle?”

I scoffed. “Who
says
that?”

Ashton straightened up and looked inside my apartment.

“What do you want, Ash?”

“I was sent to help you on your assignment.”

I gawked at him, baffled.

With a small amount of frustration, I stepped aside
and allowed the man to enter my home.

Ashton walked in, glanced around with a rigid back, as
his flared nostrils sniffed the air. I locked the door, and moved past him into
the main bedroom.

“As long as you’re here, help me clean up, will you?”

“Entering the lovely Selene’s bedroom with an
invitation?” he growled, stepping over the threshold between rooms.

“Such words when you’re with Lydia?”

He stiffened. I said something that wasn’t common
knowledge. I wasn’t sure where that came from. I didn’t see any of Lydia’s
memories prior to the start time in Danther’s eyes. Perhaps I channeled
something else from her through the mysterious cerebral chamber. This was a strange
concept. I didn’t know I could do that.

“How’d you know?” His question confirmed it.

“I didn’t, but I do now.”

He cursed under his breath.

“Relax. What do I have to gain by telling anyone?
Besides, look at who my lover was! I would be the last person to tell you that
you two aren’t right for one another and shouldn’t be together because of status,
blah, blah, blah. It’s a mess in here. Flip on the switch, will you?”

He illuminated the room and sucked in a breath. “So
you
were
in a fight? I thought I smelled remnants of something smoky.”

I pulled out the vacuum. “Demetrius was here. He
barely got away from me.” I jerked my chin toward the broken window where the
cold night air wafted through. “Pick up the glass around here and vacuum the
rest.”

If he was here, I might as well make him clean
everything when I hurt so bad. There wasn’t anything that could be done about
the broken walls.

I slumped down on the edge of the bed and silenced a
moan. Ashton looked at me, halfway bent over with the wastebasket in one hand
and larger pieces of glass in the other.

“Like watching me?” he asked with a hint of sarcasm.

“I need rest. Our fight wasn’t clean and nice, as you
can tell.” I pointed at the walls behind me and in front of me at the same
time.

He winced. “Only you, Selene, could take a beating
like that. I think most of our women are high maintenance and expect very
lady-like care.”

“I’m not like most. I can give a beating and take one,
which both occurred tonight.”

“What was he doing here?”

“He wanted to talk.”

“About what happened?” Ashton returned to cleaning.

“Yes. There wasn’t anything to discuss as far as I was
concerned. So we brawled and he jumped out the window.”

“Took to the skies, I assume?”

“Oh yeah, he transformed before his body splattered
across the pavement.”

“He didn’t say anything else?”

“No, not even if he killed them or not.”

“Really?” He seemed surprised. “Usually a man claims
innocence, even if he’s guilty.”

“Well, he wasn’t much of a liar with me, which helps
to confirm that he did it. What are you going to do for me? Other than turning
into smoke and flying, what can you do that I can’t?”

“Nothing other than that. We all know that you’re the
best, no one’s saying otherwise, so chill on your pride. But Demetrius is a
pretty good tracker, which means he’ll cover his tracks to the last drop of air
molecules. I can’t even see the cobalt trail in here, he’s that good. It
doesn’t hurt to have two people in on it. Having to evade both of us will cause
him to slip up somewhere. With you on the ground, as relentless as you are,
he’ll have to move fast. With me in the air, he’ll have to try to disappear at
the same time.”

“I’m guessing that’s not easy.”

“Nope. I can smell him. And I can tell if that’s a
cloud or his smoke out there.”

With the two of us, importunate and unrelenting,
Demetrius could be caught.

“Well, where do you suppose he’ll go? He won’t hang
around here. I’m sure he’ll know that you’re tracking him now,” I commented on
the obvious.

“I thought that you could answer that question. Does
he have a secret hideaway place out there, friends on the outside, acquaintances?”

I shook my head despairingly. “It was just the two of
us in this world, as far as I knew. Any other friends whom he had are in the
domicile, and he won’t return there.”

“You don’t think that he will.”

“Why would he? And how could he? The archers may not
be able to drive an arrow through his ethereal heart, but they would warn the clan,
and everyone would be able to tell where he was. Who would he risk visiting
that he would endanger their lives? I hope we have more help, more than just
you.”

“All the trackers are out there after him, except his
sister for obvious reasons. She’s been ordered to stay at home, under watch.”

“Damares is a mess as it is. She’s not good to anyone
right now.”

“The trackers will report to me, and I report to you.”

I laid down against my will, which hurt. With a groan,
I lazily rolled over and stared at the wall. My left cheek rested against the
cool covers, my arms straight at my sides, and my legs hung off the bed.

My eyelids fluttered as I strained to remain awake and
alert. I considered getting a glass of water and downing a few painkillers, but
I couldn’t manage to move.

Ashton spoke from the doorway, “I guess that’s all I
can get out of you? I’m going after him and see if I can’t pick up a scent or
something. I just came by to let you know that I was in on this so you didn’t
annihilate me if you saw me, or other trackers, sniffing around all the time.”

“Hmm.” I didn’t bother turning my head to look at him.
“Who sent you, anyway?”

Ashton didn’t respond. The front door closed a second
later. I presumed that he hadn’t heard me, or just didn’t want to tell me. I
wanted to ask if he’d seen Lydia’s memories, but that sentence was beyond my
capability at this particular moment. I would maunder in both speech and action
if I tried my efforts at anything other than sleep.

In this awkward, ridiculous pose, I drifted off into a
pain-induced slumber. I knew that I would suffer cramps and aches the following
late afternoon when I awoke, but I didn’t care enough to crawl to the head of
the bed. Besides, there was a heavy sprinkling of paint chips and sheetrock in
that general vicinity.

Chapter Eleven

I dreamt about Father. I strolled through the halls of
the domicile and approached him while he ranted about the decision to mate with
Demetrius.

“You disappoint me so much,” he said. “Worthless
daughter, I’ve given you everything, and this is how you repay me?”

His words sliced through me. I shook and raised a hand
out to him. My lips moved, but I couldn’t speak.

Demetrius dropped in behind Father and changed from
smoke to man. His eyes were blank, his face emotionless. He pulled out a
dagger, but Father didn’t notice him. He was too busy yelling at me, at my
insolence.

I panicked, and moved my legs to run toward them. I
could stop Demetrius, except my body didn’t move forward. My legs ran in place
and felt heavy, lethargic. The harder I tried, the thicker the air seemed,
trapping me.

Father howled when Demetrius stabbed him.

“How could you do this to me?” Father bellowed, his
eyes on me.

His skin tightened around his bones, and he paled as
black blood stained his clothes.

I awoke, drenched in sweat, my clothes clinging to my
sticky body. Tears stained my face.

I wept. Had I taken his memories, it would have been
worse. Flooded with constant reminders of his life, his expectations, his
disappointments.

I leaned over and grabbed the crescent and glanced down
at the silver weapon in my hand. It patiently waited for my beckoning. I would
have to use it on Demetrius at first chance because that was the only way I
could defeat him and bring him in for execution. He could run forever, and he
could fight forever, but once the crescent locked onto his wrists, he would bow
to me. Not even my former lover could fight off the maddening effects of having
my essence inside of his mind. Why hadn’t he taken this?

The phone rang. I checked the name before answering,
and then groaned. Nothing good ever came from receiving a call from a council
minion.

“What, Danther?” I asked, annoyed.

“Well, good morning to you, too.”

“What do you want?”

“Do you think that I only speak with you when I want
something?”

“Yes,” I replied bluntly.

“Well, there are many things that I want from you,
Selene.”

I growled. I was certain that he heard the low sound
of a rumble because he changed the subject. Sometimes I wondered if killing him
would be worth the consequences.

“I’m calling on behalf of Elder Claudius. He wants a
progress update.”

“For the love of the Greek gods, it’s been two days.
He can help by getting off my father’s throne and dragging Demetrius down from
the sky. He has that power, right?”

“Your progress, Selene? Or does the hunter have
nothing to report?”

“I didn’t realize I had to report to him.”

“His son was killed. He’s very anxious.”

“He’ll know when Demetrius is back at the domicile, or
if I need something. Goodbye, Danther.”

“Goodbye, Selene.”

Danther’s call had me thinking about the events of
that day, better now that I had a clear head. Demetrius had been targeted
quickly, news spread fast for an order to go out. How did they know to go after
him? But, how did he know to run unless he did it. Archers possessed deadly
precision, and could kill a rodent from half a mile away in a tourist-heavy
city at night. That wasn’t exaggerating things, either.

 The notion of archers returned my thoughts to
Demetrius. When he escaped their arrows, and somehow evaded the sentinels and
keepers, that was assuming that they were all in on the stop or kill order, it
only proved how skilled Demetrius was. His escape was almost legendary, and was
done so in broad daylight when he was at his weakest.

I wanted to strive for rationality. I saw the murder
weapon, which belonged to Demetrius, and I saw the first-hand memory of an
eye-witness which clearly marked Demetrius as the criminal. I believed that he
killed my father and Nathanial, right? I believed this to be the truth without
a doubt in my mind, right?

So why did I feel as if I had to convince myself of
these things, and that I had to fight warring emotions?

A nagging thought hovered over the circumstances.
There was at least ten minutes between the moment the Elders and sub sentries
found me with the bodies to when I met Demetrius in my apartment. This meant
that someone had jumped the gun and ordered a search for Demetrius before
knowing that he was the accused.

Demetrius warned me that the sentries were after him,
that he didn’t have time to explain things. Who jumped the gun? Who pointed the
finger? Or, should I asked who set him up?

I called Mother. “Who called for the search order on
Demetrius before any of us were interrogated?”

She replied in a calm tone, “I think that you’re
paranoid, or that you desire his innocence.”

“I desire the truth,” I rebuked.

“When you love someone and wish their innocence,
you’ll find anything to support your reasoning.”

“You misunderstand me, Mother. I want things to make
sense, fall into line, and fill every void to erase the doubts that he did
this. Who gave the order to shoot at him, to hunt him?”

She paused, as if she deliberated on providing an
answer.