The Dark-Hunters (671 page)

Screeching, they retreated.

His face a mask of utter irritation, he pulled a small cell phone from his right greave and held it like a walkie-talkie. “Break them down and send them back.”

“Do we have to be nice?” a thickly accented male voice asked.

“Hell, no. Make them suffer.”

“Thanks, boss.”

The man returned the phone to his armor and met Fang’s baffled expression. “Oh. Sorry about the muzzle. But it was necessary to protect you from your own stupidity.”

It vanished from Fang’s face. He rubbed his jaw where it had been while he glared at the stranger who was too at ease with banishing demons. “Who the hell are you?”

The man laughed. “That’s a little more astute than you realize. The name’s Thorn and as I said, I’m the only friend you have right now.”

“No offense, Misery told me that too and you can see how well that’s turned out.” He gestured toward the wounds that marred him from head to toe.

Thorn took the sarcasm in stride and returned it with some of his own. “Yeah, well, in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not Misery. At least not unless you get on my bad side. Then … well, let’s just say those who go there don’t enjoy the experience.”

Fang ignored his warning though he could tell by his demeanor that being on Thorn’s bad side could be dire indeed. “Then what are you?”

He lowered his cowl. There was an incongruous air around him. One of power and complete cruelty. Yet at the same time, it was as if he kept that under a tight leash. As if he were at war with himself.

How strange.

“Think of me like a governor or a wrangler. It’s my job to make sure that the inmates here obey the laws, especially when they go out on parole.”

“What laws?”

He smiled evilly and ignored Fang’s question entirely. “You’ve surprised me, wolf, and not many people do that … at least not in a good way.”

“How do you mean?”

Thorn clapped him on the back. One second they were in the cave and in the next inside a grand obsidian hall. Light glowed from iridescent sconces that were shaped into the twisted faces of gargoyles and skeletal hands. The ceiling arched up a good thirty feet with buttresses that had been carved into the shape of human spines. Opulent, huge, and creepy as hell, it was cold and completely uninviting.

The only thing even remotely appealing here was the giant hearth where a massive fire blazed. A hearth that was flanked on each side by the winged skeletons of two Reapers. Both of which still had a dagger wedged in their rib cages.

Fang grimaced at the sight, wondering if they were real or nothing more than morbid decoration.

Or maybe both.…

“What is this place?”

Thorn whipped his cloak off with a flourish. The black armor gleamed in the low light that highlighted the deadly spikes on it. “Stygian Hall. Stupid name, I know, but to my credit, I didn’t come up with it. I’m merely the current fool watching over it.” A goblet of wine appeared in his hand. He held it out to Fang.

Fang declined to take it.

Thorn laughed evilly. “Afraid I’ve poisoned or drugged it? Trust me, wolf. I don’t need a liquid to do either. If I wanted you dead, I’d be feasting on your meat right now.” He took a deep swig of the wine.

Fang was losing patience with all the cryptic bullshit. He’d never had patience for such. “Look, I’m not really chatty and your dramatics are boring the crap out of me. Who are you and why am I here?”

Thorn tossed the cup into the hearth, causing the flames to explode. As those flames curled toward him, his clothes changed from armor into a modern beige suit with a light blue shirt. Instead of an ancient warrior, he looked like a billionaire CEO. Except for his left hand, which was still covered with the metallic claws that had been part of his armor.

“I’m the leader of an elite group of warriors known as Hellchasers.”

Fang arched a brow at the name. “Hellchasers?”

Thorn inclined his head. “When demons violate the laws that govern them or decide to skip out on their parole, we’re the ones who deal with them.”

“Deal with them how?”

Thorn spread his hand and an image flashed up on the dark wall to Fang’s left. Misery and her crew were being hauled back into their realm in chains. Bloody and bruised, they looked like someone had used their bodies as target practice. It was obvious the two men bringing them back had been anything but gentle. “In short, we’re bounty hunters without a bounty.”

“Then why do it?”

Thorn clenched his fist closed and the image faded. “Mostly for shits and giggles. But if we didn’t do it, the demons would overrun the human realm and it would quickly look like this one.”

“Scary thought.”

Thorn inclined his head. “Luckily, we think so too, which is why we do what we do.”

“So how do I play into this?”

Thorn approached him slowly as he raked a speculative glance over his body as if judging every molecule of his being, inside and out. “You’ve got certain talents that appeal to me. A wolf who’s survived with demons on his own and without his powers … impressive.”

That did nothing except ignite Fang’s anger. “Yeah, and why didn’t you step in before now?”

“Because I thought you belonged here. That you’d been consigned to this realm for past deeds. It wasn’t until you started to offer your soul up to protect Aimee that I realized you’re here by mistake.”

“You’re not very intuitive, are you?”

Instead of being pissed, Thorn took the insult in stride. “Let’s just say I seldom see the good in others. It’s such a rare commodity in the world that I don’t even bother to look for it.” Thorn spread his arm out and a banquet of food appeared on the table. “You must be hungry.”

“Yeah, and I don’t eat at anyone’s table I don’t know.”

One corner of his mouth lifted in bitter amusement. “You’re wise to think that.”

“I also know nothing comes without strings.” Fang jerked his chin toward the table. “What’s the price of that food?”

“I would say it’s a gift to ease my conscience for leaving you here so long when you didn’t belong, but I have no conscience and honestly don’t give a shit how much you’ve suffered.”

“Then why do you corral the demons to protect the human world?”

Thorn let out a long-suffering sigh as if irritated that Fang had brought the subject up. “So apparently I do have a conscience after all. Damned thing that. I keep denying it, but it won’t go away. However, that’s not the point. On Mardi Gras night, a few hundred demons were let loose from Kalosis. Ever heard of it?”

“No.”

Thorn shrugged. “In short it’s the Atlantean hell realm. The demons ate a couple of my men and I now find myself rather shorthanded in New Orleans.” He opened his mouth as if he were shocked. “Oh, wait! That’s where you’re from … now do you see?”

“You want me to help gather them.”

“Not exactly. More you’re to help keep tabs on them and if they step over the line, you bring them back over it … or kill them.”

“And if I refuse?”

Thorn gestured toward the door where the outside winds howled. “You’re free to leave my hall and fend for yourself anytime you want to.”

The idea of leaving was less than appealing, but Thorn knew that as much as Fang did. “If I stay?”

“We’ll help your girlfriend and her brother hunt down those Daimons and set you free from here.”

Fang wasn’t quite sold on this. There had to be more than what he was relaying. There had to be. “With all your powers, it seems to me you could recruit hundreds of people to do this. Why do you want me?”

Thorn laughed. “There is a certain breed, a certain tiny handful of people who can do what we do and not get slaughtered three seconds out the gate. It’s not about fighting skills or even survival. It’s about character.”

Fang scoffed at the mere idea. “I have no character.”

Thorn sobered as he closed the distance between them. Those ice blue eyes cut through him as if Thorn was looking deep into his soul and psyche. “There you’re wrong, wolf. You have loyalty and courage. Unrivaled. Two things that are damn near impossible to find. Have you any idea how many people would have allowed Aimee to die rather than offer up their soul to save her? That, my friend, is the rare, rare quality that I can’t teach anyone. You either have it or you don’t. And you happen to have it in spades. That ability to sacrifice yourself for someone else. Priceless.”

It didn’t feel priceless. At times it felt more like a curse.

Thorn held his hand out to him. “So will you join me?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“Of course you do. I would never impose on your free will.”

Funny, it didn’t feel that way. There didn’t seem to be much choice in this at all. He took Thorn’s hand into his. “You keep Aimee safe and I’ll give you my soul.”

Thorn’s pupils flashed red so fast that for a moment, Fang thought he might have imagined it. His features stone, he released Fang’s hand. “Boy, I need to teach you to take those words out of your vocabulary. Believe me, they’re not child’s play and neither is what you’re about to join.”

*   *   *

“Dev?”

He pulled Aimee behind him as he faced the demons coming out of the shadows. “We need to get out of here.” He shoved her toward the street.

Aimee started to run, but didn’t make it far before another demon cut her off. She tried to flash and couldn’t. “Dev? Can you get us out of here?”

“That power appears broken.”

She put her back against Dev’s as the demons drew so close, she could smell the sulphur on them. “What’s going on here?”

“I have no idea. But they don’t look like happy demons.”

No, they didn’t. In fact, they looked like they intended to make nice bear meals out of them.

Aimee manifested her staff. “Any idea how to kill them?”

Dev shrugged with a nonchalance she knew he couldn’t possibly feel. “Beheading works on most things and if it doesn’t work on these, we are seriously screwed. I’d put away the staff and draw a sword.”

“Or you could just stand there and stay out of our way.”

Aimee scowled as two men flashed in beside them. Not demons, they appeared human, yet they moved with a speed that belied that designation. Before she could even put her weapon away, they had the demons cuffed and on the ground in nice bloody heaps.

She shook her head as she tried to run through the events, but honestly, it’d happened so fast, all she’d seen were streaks in the air. “What was that action?”

Dev flashed a grin at her. “Chuck Norris meets Jet Li.”

The demons growled and thrashed while the men beat them down.

“Shut up already.” The taller man jerked the female demon up. “Just once, could I get a demon with no vocal cords?”

The other man laughed bitterly. “At least they’re not puking on us this time.”

“Small favor that.”

And without acknowledging them at all, they were gone.

Aimee exchanged a perplexed stare with her brother. “That is totally out of my realm of experience. And given the freaky stuff we deal with, that says a lot.”

“Yeah, I’m trippin’ myself.”

Aimee shook her head, trying to make sense of all of it. “Did Tony sneak the special herbs into our food again?”

Dev laughed. “I don’t think so. But we’ll definitely have to ask him when we get back.”

“I wouldn’t do that.”

They separated to find a woman in the alley, right where the others had vanished. Her dark red hair was braided down her back and she wore a skintight black leather halter and pants. She was absolutely stunning and made Aimee feel rather lacking in comparison.

Dev flashed his most seductive smile. “Hello, gorgeous. Where have you been all my life?”

She rolled her eyes. “You are very handsome, bear. But no. You’re not my type.”

Aimee stifled a laugh at her putdown that Dev took in good-natured stride. “And you are?”

“Call me Wynter.”

Dev chuckled. “Nothing like a fire on a cold Wynter’s night.”

Wynter gave him a droll stare. “Do those cheesy lines work on other women?”

“You’d be amazed.”

“If they ever do, then yes, I would be.” She walked past him to address Aimee. “Thorn has sent me here to help you find the Daimons who have Fang’s soul.”

Aimee frowned at the name she’d never heard before. “Thorn?”

“My boss. We don’t question his orders. We simply obey. He wants the wolf saved, so here I am.”

“We?” Dev asked, looking around to see if anyone else was lurking in the shadows.

Wynter gave him a tight-lipped smile as she ignored his question. “So the Daimons vanished while you were chasing them?”

Aimee nodded. “We think they went into a bolt-hole.”

“That could be tricky.”

Dev shifted his weight to his right leg as he leveled an irritated smirk at Aimee. “I still say we should hand it over to the Dark-Hunters. This is their job, not ours.”

Aimee was growing tired of having this argument with him. “They can’t identify the right ones and they can’t go into a bolt-hole to flush them out.”

“And neither can we. In case you haven’t noticed, we’re special treats for them and I don’t want to end up like Fang, lying in my bed in a coma … or worse, dead.”

“Then go home, Dev.”

“‘Go home, Dev,’” he mocked. “Like Maman wouldn’t skin me alive if I left you out here and you came home in a coma. It gets back to that whole ‘I don’t want to die’ scenario that I’m trying so hard to avoid.”

“Then back off me, or I’m going to put you in a coma myself.”

Wynter sighed. “Do you two fight like this all the time?”

“Yes,” they said in unison.

“But she’s the one who always starts it.”

Wynter rolled her eyes and made a sound of supreme disgust. “Thanks, Thorn. I really needed this and I intend to make you pay for it.”

*   *   *

“Fang?”

Fang opened his eyes to find Aimee leaning over him. It’d been weeks or months since he last saw her. Relief filled him at the sight of her whole and unharmed. Somehow Thorn had actually done what he’d promised. “Hey.”

She smiled a smile that radiated through every part of his body and when she spoke, her tone was light and teasing. Most of all, it made him feel almost normal again. “You look a lot better than you did the last time I saw you. Maybe I should leave you here after all.”