The Dark-Hunters (354 page)

He dropped his gaze and took a deep breath. Deep sadness darkened his eyes as he rubbed his right biceps. “I probably shouldn’t tell you this since it’ll only scare you, but what the hell? If I’m right, you need to know.” He paused a few seconds as if he were gathering his thoughts before he spoke again. “We had a bad situation about eighteen months ago in New Orleans. A
real
bad situation. We lost a lot of good people in one night, including one of my best friends and his mother.”

It was obvious that he was still haunted by that night and her heart went out to him. There was nothing worse than trying to deal with tragedy.

“And you think this is going to be the same?”

His gaze burned her. “It’s just a feeling I have. I know it sounds hokey. But I’m a Creole with a long line of people who know the mojo. As my grandmother would say, ‘I can feel the evil on the wind.’ It’s the same feeling you get whenever someone steps on your grave.”

Okay, now he was really beginning to freak her out.

All of a sudden, there was a loud crash outside that sounded like someone trying to break down a wall.

Susan jumped as her heart lodged itself in her throat. Good grief, what was happening now?

Kyl dashed from his seat, out of the room. Susan followed hot on his heels as he led her back toward the loading dock where there was a red Saleen S7 that someone had crashed into a Dumpster.

The door of the expensive sports car lifted open to show a young woman around the age of twenty, dressed as a Goth. Wearing all black except for her bloodred stockings and biker boots that had flames on them, she was cute enough as she leaped out of the car with bright blue eyes that were round in terror.

“Dammit, Erika!” Ravyn shouted from behind Susan as he joined them. “What have you done to my car?”

Susan put her finger in her ear and cringed as Ravyn bellowed as if he were in pain. She turned to see that he was dressed in a pair of black jeans, with a loose button-down black shirt that was opened at the neck. The look on his face promised Armageddon to the girl who’d damaged what appeared to be a prized possession.

Erika was completely undaunted by his rage as she ran up the dock and tossed her fuzzy black scarf over her shoulder before she confronted him. “Screw your car, Rave, straight up the sphincter. You can buy another one.
I,
on the other hand, am completely irreplaceable.”

His eyes actually turned red as a fierce muscle worked in his jaw. “Not to me you’re not. I’m not your daddy, little girl.”

“Oh, shut up,” Erika said in a way reminiscent of some vintage 1980s Valley girl. “Why don’t you ask me why I’m driving the seven-hundred-and-fifty-horsepower car and not my adorable little Beetle, huh?”

Ravyn ignored her as he went to his car, which had the entire left bumper caved in. He raked his hands through his hair as if he were trying not to wrap them around her skinny little neck and choke her. “Why the hell were you in my car?”

Still on the dock not far away from Susan, Erika put her hands on her hips as she glared at Ravyn, who was now inspecting the inside of his car. “’Cause Daimons tried to eat me, okay? Someone came to the house and rang the bell only a few minutes after the sun set. I thought it was you, so I opened the door, and there they were, so I slammed it shut, turned around, and there were three of them. In. The. House.” She punctuated each word with a smack of her hands together.

Closing the car door, Ravyn stared at her.

“Did you hear me, Rave?” Erika asked when he didn’t respond. “They were in your house.
Your. House.
And just how the hell did they get there, huh? I thought they had to be invited in.”

She looked at Susan, then Jack, before she returned to Ravyn. “You invite one in and forget to tell me about it? I know I didn’t. I’m not
that
stupid. But they got in and I want to know how.”

Ravyn was aghast as he headed back up the metal stairs. “How did you escape?”

“I grabbed that round weapon thing you have on the wall and threw it at the one closest to me, then I ran screaming like a demon for the garage. You’re lucky you still have me!”

Susan felt the grisly pain that Ravyn had on his face as he gave Erika a look that said he didn’t think himself particularly lucky that she hadn’t been eaten.

“Question,” Susan asked Ravyn. “Is this the same Erika who’s Dark Angel?”

Erika gave her a look that confirmed it.

Rage, dark and forbidding, came over Susan instantly. If not for this little Goth hoyden, her life wouldn’t have taken the off-ramp to hell this afternoon. “Oh, forget it, Ravyn. I’m going to kill her for you!”

Kyl grabbed her as she started for the girl.

Squeaking, Erika took three steps back. “Who are you?”

She fought against Kyl’s hold, but the little bugger was stronger than he appeared. “Psycho Susan and I have an ax to grind against your little selfish head.”

“Take a number,” Kyl growled in her ear.

Erika screwed her face up as if she smelled something really rotten. “Psycho Susan? The lunatic who e-mailed me earlier? Was that
you?
”

Suddenly a whistle rent the air. “Ladies,” Leo snarled from where he stood beside Jack and Patricia. “Focus a minute. Ravyn, screw the car. We have a bigger problem here. How did Erika, Ms. I Can’t Drive a Car If My Life Depended on It, elude a group of Daimons?”

Kyl finally released Susan. “She couldn’t.”

They all cursed as they realized it was a setup.

“Get inside,” Leo said quickly.

“It’s community property,” Kyl snarled. “We have no protection here. They can get inside.”

Leo glared at him. “You got a better idea?”

“No.”

Erika and Jack were already running for the door that Patricia held open for them.

As Kyl and Leo made to join them, Susan, who noticed the look on Ravyn’s face, paused there on the dock.

Patricia closed the door.

“What?” Susan asked as Ravyn turned his head as if he was listening for something.

When he spoke, his voice held a distant tone. “There’s something strange here.”

Now that had to be the understatement of the year. “You think? FYI, I haven’t seen normal since I left my house this morning.”

He gave her an irritated smirk. “No. I mean there’s something really wrong with this—”

Before she could ask him what he meant, a bright ball of light flashed near his car. Two seconds later, a dozen men and women stepped out of it like some bad alien movie.

They were all tall, all blond, and all breathtakingly beautiful. Dressed all in black, they looked like angels except for the fact that they immediately attacked Ravyn.

“I’m assuming those are Daimons.”

Ravyn grunted as he flipped the first one to reach him onto the ground. He pulled a knife from his boot, then stabbed the Daimon in the center of his chest. Screaming, the Daimon burst into an odd, gold powder that dusted the tops of Ravyn’s boots.

He gave her a dry stare as another Daimon was headed for his back. “No, they’re Avon ladies.” He elbowed that one in the throat, then turned to confront him.

Susan started to run inside to get help, only to find her way blocked by another Daimon. He opened his mouth and hissed at her.

“Oh, get some Listerine,” she growled before she drop-kicked him as hard as she could where it would do the most damage.

Cupping himself, he staggered back.

Relieved that maneuver worked on the undead as well as the living, she started for the door only to realize that Ravyn was in trouble. They had him pinned against the wall of the alley. His mouth and nose were bleeding profusely.

“Hold him still,” one of the women said gleefully as she pulled out a hilt. She pressed a button and it extended to a sword.

Reacting on pure instinct, because if she’d thought about it for one instant she would have run the other way, Susan rushed the Daimon female. She knocked her away from Ravyn.

Cursing, the woman swung the sword at her. Susan jumped back, into the arms of another one.

She heard a fierce growl before she was released. Ravyn shredded the Daimon who’d been holding her, then he went for the woman with the sword. The female Daimon swung and missed. As she tried to recover the move to swing at him again, Ravyn caught her forearm and backhanded her.

The sword flew from her grip and rattled onto the pavement not far from Susan’s feet. She quickly picked it up and turned toward the man who was rushing toward her. She twirled the sword, and planted it straight into his heart. He burst into a golden powder.

Her heart hammering, she turned to confront the next one.

“Retreat!” a second female shouted. She waved her hand to form another ball of light.

The remaining Daimons rushed into it.

Susan started to run in after them but caught herself as she realized that Ravyn wasn’t so concerned about following. “Shouldn’t we go after them?”

Shaking his head, he wiped at the blood on his lips as he faced Susan. “No. Trust me. You don’t ever want to follow a Daimon into a bolt-hole. That takes you right into a banquet hall at Daimon central, where the poor fool who follows is quickly served up as an appetizer.”

“Oh,
that
would be bad.”

“Yes. Yes, it would.” Ravyn smiled in spite of the fact that his entire body ached. He had to give her credit, she’d handled herself really well and even managed to maintain her humor. “Where did you learn how to sword fight?”

She twirled the sword around her like an expert, and since he’d once lived in the Middle and Dark Ages, he had plenty of firsthand knowledge of sword afficionados. “Society for Creative Anachronism. I lived in the Kingdom of Meridies for six years.”

He scratched his jaw as he recognized that area of the southern U.S. There were a lot of Squires and even a few Dark-Hunters who were members of the SCA. “Yeah, but An Tir kicked their asses at Pennsic.”

“Not while I was fighting for them, they didn’t.” No sooner had she spoken those words than she slipped with the sword and almost sliced a chunk out of her leg. She straightened up immediately and held the sword still in an indignant way that said,
I meant to do that.

He laughed in spite of himself. She certainly had a lot of salt and vinegar in her personality, and it captivated him. There was nothing he appreciated more in life than someone who could maintain their spirit when all odds were against them. “C’mon, Xena Warrior Princess, we need to get you inside.”

She blew him a raspberry before she rested the sword on her shoulder and moved to join him. He opened the door and let her enter first.

No sooner had they entered the building than they heard the screams and sounds of people fighting inside.

Ravyn rushed past her, toward the command room. There were Daimons everywhere. He grabbed the one closest to him, who was fighting Jack, spun him around, and slammed him back against the wall. Ravyn manifested a knife in his hand so that he could stab the Daimon.

Then he went for the one with Patricia. Before he could reach her, the Daimon sank his teeth into her neck and ripped it open. Cursing, Ravyn shot a psychic blast from his hand to knock the Daimon back. Patricia fell to the floor as Ravyn launched himself and caught the Daimon about his waist.

The two of them went tumbling.

As they wrestled, the Daimon sank his teeth into Ravyn’s shoulder. Hissing, he stabbed him, then kicked him back. The Daimon began spitting out the poisonous Dark-Hunter blood, but it was too late. The Daimon was dead three seconds later.

Ravyn turned just as another Daimon exploded behind him. His gaze met Susan’s. “Thanks.”

She inclined her head to him.

Ravyn’s eyes flared as he saw another Daimon heading for Susan. Reacting on instinct, he tossed his knife, straight into the Daimon’s heart.

Susan turned around with a gasp just in time to see the Daimon explode. “Thanks to you, too,” she said in a breathless tone.

“Anytime.”

All of a sudden, Erika launched herself at Ravyn, who caught her against his body as the Daimon who’d been chasing her skidded to a halt. Setting her aside, Ravyn lunged for him, only to have him vanish into another bolt-hole. All of the remaining Daimons followed suit.

“How do they do that?” Susan asked.

Ravyn tucked his knife back into his boot. “Magick. Certain members can summon or request a bolt-hole from Kalosis and if the keeper likes them or believes them worthy, they get in.”

“I’m picturing this decrepit old man who’s in charge, laughing at them.”

Ravyn snorted. “No. Imagine a beautiful ice goddess who decides whether or not she wants them in her realm.”

Somehow Susan liked the idea of the old man a lot better.

Ravyn frowned as he caught sight of Patricia, lying on the ground while her son, Jack, was trying to staunch the blood flow at her neck. He made his way over to them.

“We’ve got to get all of you to safety.”

Jack looked at him doubtfully. “Where’s safe? They came in here like we were nothing.”

Ravyn’s face turned to stone. “The Serengeti. As a sanctuary, it’s the only place that they can’t breach.” He picked Patricia up in his arms. “I’ll meet all of you there and if I were you, I’d hurry.”

“You need any help?” Susan offered.

Ravyn hesitated. “It’ll be a tight squeeze, but yeah, someone needs to keep pressure on her wound.”

“I’m not claustrophobic.”

By his face she could tell he was grateful. “Then retract that sword and let’s go.”

Susan did as he said, then followed him out to his trashed car. She got in first. Ravyn carefully set Patricia in her lap. “Don’t press too hard.”

Her heart lurched at the sight of the unconscious woman’s neck. Honestly, she didn’t know how the woman could still be alive. “Is she going to make it?”

“I hope so for her family’s sake. The Addamses are one of the most prominent of Squire families, and she’s their grand matriarch.”

Ravyn dashed to the other side, got in, and started the car. He certainly knew how to handle a crisis well. And he could rival any race car driver’s skill as he whipped his car in and out of traffic.