by Jayce Carter
“Get what over with? Oh,” I said as though I’d just remembered. “You mean the conversation about how you lied to me, betrayed me and stole my blood to run tests on it? That?”
He huffed. “Yes, that. You yelled at Kase already, but you haven’t said anything to me.”
“So? If you just want someone to yell at you, I bet you could find something like that here in hell. Seems like a kink you could pay someone for.”
He sat beside me, right up against my side. “Silence is far worse than yelling. People don’t yell unless they give a damn. Silence comes after that, when they don’t give a fuck anymore.”
“Speaking from personal experience?”
“More than I’d like to admit.” The way he said it told me the conversation was over, and yet there was far more to it then he’d let on.
Which again reminded me how little I knew about him. He was a mystery. Funny, charming, but with a darkness inside him that ran deep.
“I don’t know what you want me to say. You had every chance to tell me the truth, but you didn’t. I know you’d prefer not saying anything that might get you into trouble, but there are limits. It makes me wonder just what else you’d do if the paycheck was right.” I frowned for a moment. “Is that sort of behavior what got you kicked out of the guild?”
He snorted. “No, trust me, morals in the guild are a joke. They don’t kick people out because of a lack of ethics.”
“So what was it? You want me to forgive you? To move past this? You’ve got to give me something, show you want to change things. Tell me what exactly you did that got you kicked out.”
He tipped the waterskin back and gulped like it was a bottle of liquor and he needed to wash away the taste of the unpleasant question. Finally, he dropped it in his lap. “I killed someone. No, that’s not right. I killed quite a few someones. The entire council and the Magistrate. It seems that while there aren’t a lot of lines that can be crossed with the guild, that’s one they don’t take lightly to.”
“All they did was kick you out? Seems like a pretty light sentence.”
“They didn’t even kick me out,” he said. “I left. I walked away, but you know me. I don’t like to cross any bridges unless I burn that bitch to the ground.”
“How many did you kill?” A sickness in the pit of my stomach made me swallow hard.
“Fifteen, not including the Magistrate.” He said it like he was counting fence posts, as if they weren’t people he was admitting to killing.
Yes, I knew the four men I’d ended up spending time with had killed people. I chose to ignore it most of the time, but I wasn’t stupid. It wasn’t that he’d killed, it was how little he seemed to care, as if those people’s lives meant nothing.
How can someone be so callous?
“And you don’t care at all?” The whole forgiving-him thing had gone out of the window. I had no intention of forgiving him, let along ever trusting him again. “None of them bothered you?”
“One,” he admitted, voice soft. “It shouldn’t have, but I guess even I’m not quite as heartless as I like to pretend. The Magistrate was harder to accept. Not that hard to kill, not for me, but there? At the end?” He let out a soft sigh. “Yeah, I hesitated.”
“What was so special about him?”
Grant rose from the boulder, hopping to his feet and brushing his hands off on his jeans. I didn’t think he’d answer at first, as he readied himself to get back to the trek, but then he turned toward me, an expression on his face so unlike any I’d seen on him before. Regret? As close to it as I could guess.
“The Magistrate was my father,” he said, then handed me the water. “Drink up. We’ve got a long day ahead of us still.
His answer didn’t make me feel any better about him…
* * * *
Something moved just outside the edge of the campfire light, where everything went from an orange glow to the dimness of the realm.
Whatever it was shifted around like a creature stalking prey.
How did no one else notice it? How did they not see it? I didn’t have the same predator senses as they did yet I sure as fuck saw it.
Hunter wasn’t at the campfire, but the other three were pressed in tight, as though we were on some wonderful camping trip—one big, happy, dysfunctional family.
I opened my mouth to mention what I kept seeing, the rustling of twigs and leaves that was barely audible above the crackle of the fire.
Kase cut me a sharp look with an almost imperceivable shake of his head.
So maybe I wasn’t the only one to notice.
Ignoring it seemed stupid, especially from men who were more than capable of doing something about whatever it was, but what did I know?
I could play their little game, too, and somehow act as if I didn’t notice the massive thing shifting around, readying to strike, to devour one of us.
Probably me, with my luck.
The thing was big, whatever it was. It crept along the darkness, a smoothness to its movements that screamed danger.
“You should eat,” Grant said, though an odd tone in his voice said he paid little attention to me despite speaking to me. “You don’t want to lose your strength. There’s still a long walk ahead of us.”
“I think I’ve had all the hell critters I can stomach.”
I expected a snarl before the thing in the dark attacked. That was how it always happened in the documentaries.
However, as was often the case, reality was a lot different than the shows. Something dark and shadowy came barreling at me without the decency of a warning.
Before it struck me, however, Grant lifted his hands, those strange words falling from his lips. The creature stopped mid-air, but it wasn’t the shadow I’d dealt with, the one that plagued my every step.
Instead, this thing was better formed, like a creature combined with smoke rather than made of smoke. It wasn’t a dog, and light hit the edges of the creature and reflected like…scales?
Kase grabbed my arm and yanked me backward, tucking me behind him with a hold that couldn’t be broken.
Not that I was planning on breaking it. Troy could say all he wanted about my lack of self-preservation, but I also knew when I was outmatched. I wasn’t about to try and face off against some sort of…smoke creature.
Whatever it was wouldn’t be held by Grant’s spell, though. It twisted, horrible sounds coming from its writhing body.
It broke free, but before it could strike me—and why I was its target, I had no idea—another flash of black and red struck it. The two figures tumbled to the side, the smoke combining so it was impossible to tell where one creature ended and the other began.
Well, other than the snapping fangs.
As the smoke creatures moved, striking trees and rocks, I managed a better look.
Dragon was the best I could come up with to explain them. Black smoke covered their bodies, and sharp white fangs lined their long muzzles. Huge hands tipped with gleaming claws slashed, and red flames danced in their eyes and along their spines.
One pinned the other, but I couldn’t tell which had won.
Did it really matter? I didn’t feel much like trusting either of them.
The one trapped beneath spoke in a gravelly voice that could have come from no human. “I yield. You were always quicker than me, Hunter.”
Hunter?
They broke apart, the shaking of the ground beneath their massive weight making me cling tighter to Kase. Once they’d separated, the one who had triumphed shimmered, the smoke twisting until a human form swallowed up the massive body of the dragon.
Standing there was no monster—at least not the kind that could be seen—but Hunter.
I’d recognize that ass anywhere…
His words came back to me, when he’d said his true body resembled a dragon—I just hadn’t believed him.
The other creature rolled and rose to its feet, standing far taller than Hunter.
“What are you doing here, J
errod?” Hunter asked.
The creature stretched, then shook its head like a dog. “I was tracking that.” It gestured at me. “What have you brought here, brother?”
“I didn’t bring anything. Lucifer summoned her here.” Hunter turned to peer at me, then back. “And she isn’t used to hell or our other form, so why don’t you change?”
Jerrod—or at least I assumed that was his name, given the conversation—made an unhappy sound before doing as Hunter asked. When done, he stood around six feet, covered in thick muscle much like Hunter, and with the same tattoos wrapped around him. However, his hair was shaved off, and he had an unhealthy, pale glow to his skin. He had eyes that were almost yellow, close enough to amber that a person wouldn’t immediately assume they were fake but far enough that anyone would take notice.
He was naked and had the same ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude as Hunter.
It seemed modesty wasn’t an issue for hellhounds.
“Why do you like to look like this so much?” Jerrod asked, his lip curled up as if it was all together unacceptable. “It’s small and weak and soft.”
“It has its advantages,” Hunter said, and I could hear his smirk even without him turning toward me. No doubt he was talking about advantages that I didn’t care to discuss with company around. He moved on before I could scold him. “Besides, it isn’t like our other form can go inside.”
“Who wants to go inside? Give me the open air anytime.” Jerrod leaned to peer past Hunter, and the moment those freaky yellow eyes landed on me, I pressed closer to Kase. “Lucifer wants her? What for?”
“I don’t ask things like that,” Hunter said. “But more importantly, she’s under my protection.”
Jerrod snorted, as if that meant nothing. “Keeping a mortal alive here is a losing feat, even for you.”
“Maybe, but I have a feeling that anyone who fucks with Lucifer’s guest will have problems even bigger than me. He wouldn’t call a mortal down here unless he wanted something from her pretty badly.”
Jerrod huffed and crossed his arms. “Lucifer is fickle. He may want her now, but give him a few days and he’ll have moved onto something else. You’re away too much, brother. Lucifer is always bored now.”
“Maybe, but you remember the time he had that pretty girl here? The one with the white hair?”
Despite the fair complexion, Jerrod paled as he gulped. “The girl caught a portal topside.”
“The idiot who let that happen didn’t get off too easily, did he?”
I didn’t need to hear exactly what Lucifer had done to the poor person. Even without all the knowledge, I could venture a guess based on the fear in Jerrod’s eyes.
Which made me wonder, yet again, just what the fuck I was doing in hell headed toward the very person who had put that fear into a hellhound’s eyes.
Some rules people had to be taught, but some should have been basic knowledge.
One of those had to be that if a hellhound was afraid of something, maybe don’t go looking for it.
Of course, that implied I had a choice in the matter, and I wasn’t foolish enough to think that.
Jerrod smiled, all sharp lines. “Where are you headed? The Court?”
Hunter nodded, though he hadn’t relaxed. He might know the other hellhound, but he didn’t seem willing to let his guard down just yet.
“Are you going through Styx or taking the pass?”
Hunter’s jaw twitched, as if he didn’t like the question. “Styx.”
“Good idea, because I’ve heard the pass is awfully dangerous. Creatures there will tear apart anything for a meal, and that girl looks delicious.” Jerrod shimmered and his other face, the one of a dragon with dripping fangs, stared at me.
Hunter made a sound that was so much like the one Jerrod had, an answer but with far more aggression. “Do you need another lesson about looking at her like that?”
Jerrod shook his head, turning from me. “No. I’ve never bested you before, and I doubt I’ll start now. I like to exploit weaknesses, and you’ve never had any.” Jerrod lifted his eyebrow. “At least, you didn’t used to…”
The speculation in Jerrod’s gaze couldn’t mean anything good, and a furious snarl from Troy said he’d read it for what it was.
Then again, even if Jerrod wanted to attack me, he had four ill-tempered males between us, and that made me feel far more comfortable.
“So I’ll see you in Styx, right?” Jerrod tore his gaze from me and looked at Hunter again.
Hunter rolled his shoulder before he nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
Jerrod offered up a smile that chilled me, one that made me try to take a step backward, before he shifted into that smoke form again and left.
And when Hunter turned back around?
Well, having him look nervous wasn’t something I liked…
Chapter Three
“So that’s what you really look like?”
Hunter chuckled, dressed in a pair of pants, though I wasn’t sure where he’d gotten them from. I’d accepted that he had to be stealing things, and while maybe it should have bothered me, thief-Hunter was the least upsetting thing in my life. At least this time he didn’t have to squeeze into a pair of my sweatpants.
We’d started to climb a mountain, though this one having a path was a nice change of pace. Troy, Kase and Grant remained at the camp we had set up at the base, since Hunter said our little trip wouldn’t take long. No doubt, he’d planned for it to just be us so I could ask about what I’d seen.
“Yeah, that’s me in all my glory.” Even though his words held a shadow of self-deprecating humor, it was different than with Troy. Hunter seemed aware I might not love his other form, but nothing in his tone implied he hated it for any reason.
“So, you still going to let me take off your pants after seeing it?” He lifted an eyebrow and gave me one hell of a smirk.
And just like that, I remembered why he got away with so much.
Though, to be fair, he’d been the only person in my life so far who hadn’t lied to me, not even once. He’d not explained what he was at first, probably so he didn’t freak me out, but he hadn’t ever told me something that wasn’t true. He hadn’t betrayed me, hadn’t gone behind my back.
Boy, have my standards gotten low.
“I’m harder to scare off than that.” I bumped my shoulder against his, trying for flirty-playful.
Hunter twisted, and before I had a chance to even squeak, he had my back against a rocky wall and his lips to mine.
After being in hell for…well, however long it had been already, I understood his taste. It wasn’t just flames. It had a hint of the ash that coated my tongue from the air, the hellfire that moved across the landscape like living creatures, the smoke that swirled over his body, especially when he was angry or distracted. Hunter wasn’t just something that came from hell—he was hell, all wrapped up in a body that was nothing less than sinful.
When I grabbed him behind the neck and leaned up, pressing against him, the tattoos on his skin swirled and moved beneath my palms. Then, something pinned my hands to the rock wall despite his hands being busy slipping up the front of my shirt, slowly and teasingly.
I was ready to yell at Grant—who else would do that?—when I broke the kiss and glanced up.
It wasn’t the empty space I expected, the muttered words from somewhere else as Grant held me in place with his magic. Instead, it was smoke. Tendrils of black stretched from Hunter’s skin and held me still. They were warm and strong and I gave myself a moment to see if I’d freak out.
Even Hunter paused, waiting.
Rather than my lust drying up, instead of letting myself worry about how this was extraordinarily weird, I went to my toes and bit softly at his full bottom lip.
It seemed my perversions were more than even I expected, because there was something unfailingly hot about this.
Maybe it was the surprise, maybe it was the fact that it showed, in no uncertain terms, that Hunter wa
s not even close to human. I’d known it, of course, but seeing it this way made me desperate to have him.
Which was strange, since I’d spent so much of my life wanting what was normal. I’d craved the boring, human life, the human boyfriends, the whole package and yet the moment I was confronted with how not human Hunter was, I was smitten.
Hunter chuckled, though an edge to it said he hadn’t been as confident as he’d appeared. “You know,” he whispered as he moved his hand up again. “I have extraordinary dexterity with my smoke.” The words didn’t quite sink in, but leave it to Hunter to throw subtlety to the wind. “If you’re ever feeling unsatisfied with just me, don’t worry. I can fill you up all on my own.”
Those words I got. When Hunter rumbled that, low and promising, I pictured it. I thought about how the smoke would heat against my skin, how it would glide along me, how helpless I’d be against anything he wanted.
I lifted one of my legs to wrap around his, to pull him closer since I couldn’t move my hands still. Yes. He wasn’t asking me for anything, but my answer was an absolute yes.
Something touched my hand, and for a moment I thought it was more of his smoke. Soft, featherlight touches, a bunch of legs.
Legs?
I jerked my gaze up to find something that looked like a spider on acid crawling on my hand.
Whether I said something or he spotted my fear, I wasn’t sure, but Hunter’s smoke released me. I jerked my hand, the creature flung to the ground. It reared back on a few of its legs, and large, dripping fangs bared toward me.
Why does everything here have fangs?
When it charged, Hunter brought a booted foot down on it, the squish turning my stomach.
He twisted toward me, ready to take another kiss, to get right back to it, but this time I shoved his chest. “I don’t think so, buddy.”
“But…it’s dead.”
Goo leaked from beneath Hunter’s shoe, a sickly, green color, and I gagged. “Nope. Sex is not happening out here with things like that around.”
Hunter scraped what was left of the creature from his boot on a rock. “Cock-blocker,” he snarled at the body.
I shuddered, reminded that maybe hell wasn’t the place for crazy outdoor sex, what with creatures after me and everything wanting to eat me.