She didn’t like committing a crime to cover her Hunting. She didn’t see the Hunting as a crime. It was justice. Vigilantism, yeah. But still, it was justice. And the police would have been slaughtered if they had gone after Cooper. And Declan wouldn’t burn the whole building, just the body.
“Well, well, well, what have we got here, boys?”
In her thoughts, Tori hadn’t paid that much attention to what lay outside the warehouse where they had cornered Cooper. The stink of his blood on her clothes, and in her mouth had tricked her nose a little, though not that much.
The only thing she could blame it on was sheer distracted. She hadn’t been paying attention and now…she was smiling angelically into the eyes of three very big, very brawny men, dressed in worn biker-style jeans, one in a leather jacket.
He had spoken, eying her with hot, hungry eyes. The rag on his head held back oily hair from his face, and he stank from a body not washed in several days. How she hadn’t smelled it, well, Tori would now have her own ass to beat. And Declan would enjoy yelling at her thoroughly over this one.
“Looks like a little lady, all alone. Are you lonesome, sweet thing?” the second asked, laughing a little as he jabbed one of his friends in the ribs. His eyes had fastened on the breasts showing under her tank, the smooth expanse of naked skin, and as she met his eyes, he licked his lips and winked at her, reaching down to cup his crotch.
“No. Not at all. Why don’t y’all go on about whatever you were doing and I’ll finish up my business as well?”
“Business, huh?” Tall, Oily and Ugly asked, grinning nastily.”We’re here on business, too. Meeting a friend right in there. You oughta come with us. We can have a…get together.”
Oh, shit.
They had been meeting up with Cooper.
The third one still hadn’t spoken. Meeting his glittering brown eyes, Tori felt a shiver run down her spine.
Not human…and as she watched, one lid dropped in an easy, friendly wink, as his mouth curved up in a smile. His body, tall and rangy, powerful, was clean under the rather ragged, filthy clothes, and as she took a deep breath, she scented it on him. Magick…and…inherent…narrowing her eyes at him, he mouthed the words, Hello.
Well, either they had a new friend, or more formidable foe than they had been expecting. Smiling in challenge, she lifted her chin before looking back to Tall, Oily and Ugly before saying in a falsely coy voice,” I’m sorry but I’ve already got a date. I’m afraid I’ll have to decline that charming offer.”
Turning on her heel, she swayed back into the warehouse, ears pricked. She heard two sets of footsteps. The third, she did not. Of course, she really didn’t expect to.
Declan didn’t like the glitter in his wife’s eyes. So he wasn’t surprised to see there was no petrol in her hands.
She hadn’t even moved five steps into the warehouse when he heard the others. Oh, he had heard them outside, and kept a good ear on the conversation, but, bloody hell, Tori could handle it. He was busy stripping the signs of Tori’s fight away from Cooper. The skin under his nails, hair, all of that had to go.
But when two men rushed his wife…well, that was just more than a man could tolerate. Even when she did pivot, delivering a swift sidekick into the solar plexus of the first before squaring off with the second. A third hung back in shadow, not even glancing at the one who lay semiconscious on the ground.
“Now come on...didn’t I tell you that I had a date?” she demanded, her voice impatient. That was his Tori, charming to fault.
The second one eyed her narrowly, slowly his rush as he took stock of the situation.
So far, Declan hadn’t been noticed. Why in the hell did he fade into the background around her, he wondered.
Of course, Tori was also pretty good at commanding attention. Since one of her would-be attackers lay eight feet away, Declan didn’t rightly blame the man for giving Tori a bit more attention.
Tori had also pulled her kick. She could have killed him.
“Mouthy little bitch, ain’t ya?” he asked, sneering a little as he eyed her. In her tank and form-fitting pants, Declan knew she was a very delectable looking mouthful. But, well, the fucker had just called his wife a bitch.
Moving away from Cooper’s corpse, Declan rolled his shoulders and suggested, “I’d be watching my tone if I were you, mate. That’s my wife you’re talking to.”
Tori’s lashes fluttered and she pressed her hand to her half-naked breast.”Oh, be still my heart. He always gets me weak when he gets protective.”
As the six foot ex-cop moved into the light, the shaggy looking biker’s face tightened, moving away from the lone woman. She wasn’t looking like such a fun target anymore, but he still had four guys here, didn’t he?
“No, you have three. And one of those three is just about unconscious, with broken bones,” Tori supplied, smiling.
“Stop showing off, sweet,” Declan said, shaking his head.
Now, confusion was starting to enter the man’s eyes as he looked at Tori, and then looked beyond Declan and saw the corpse of Cooper. His eyes narrowed. “Was that your business partner for the night?” Declan asked.”I heard you talking. Sorry. We had a meeting with him before you did. It didn’t end well for him.”
Tall, Oily and Ugly was now getting pretty pissed, Declan decided. He slid his eyes to the man still in shadow. Nostrils flared as he studied him. There was something almost…familiar about that scent, the slant of those shoulders, the build. Friend or foe?
“C’mon out, Ben,” Tall, Oily and Ugly shouted over his shoulder as he reached behind his back. But his hand never touched his gun. Of course, Declan never got close enough to stop him either.
He was at his shoulder, but Tori was behind him, with his arm shoved high between his shoulder blades, as she purred in his ear, “Don’t. That would be such a bad, bad idea.”
Menace was rolling from her now, and the man’s eyes were wide with fear and confusion as he rolled his head over his shoulder, trying to see her face. But she was so small, he couldn’t. Turning, he faced Declan.
Obligingly, Declan grinned, flashing a toothy display of his canines, much, much longer than they had been only a second earlier.
“Ben!”
“Oh, shut up,” a deep, almost growling voice said from the shadows. Moving away from the door, and into the light, the third man said, “I’ve really no desire to help you get yourself out of this mess. Especially since the entire reason I was following you was to find Cooper. And he’s dead as a doornail now.”
Declan cocked his head, studying the man before him and feeling like he had been flung through time. Michael Cross…but no…his father, second lieutenant to Connor Reilly, had been one of the men who had been killed protecting him. Narrowing his eyes, he studied the powerful, rangy form, trying to remember. There had been a boy, just a babe, really, that William had secreted away to another pack. Where he’d be safe, both the boy and his mother, a pretty fae-looking witch who used to tell Declan stories.
“Benjamin Cross,” Declan said quietly, shaking his head.”What a small, small world we live in. I’d heard you had joined the Council.”
Lowering his head, the inherent nodded in acknowledgment to Declan as he moved around Tori, aware of how nervous he was making her by being at her back.”Yeah, a few years back, a big eerie vamp tracked me down. Malachi. Don’t suppose you’ve heard of him, have you?” he asked drolly.
“Bastard,” Declan replied affably.
Ben chuckled.”Yeah. Well, I told him to go fuck himself. Then they sent this pretty little witch, Kelsey…well, her…I had a harder time saying no to. That, and duty called.” With a sigh, he rubbed his hand over his chin and studied the sweating, swearing man as Tori forced him to the ground so she could glare at them without the big, ugly bastard blocking her view.
“He looks a little petrified,” Ben decided.
Declan laughed.”Why don’t you put him out of his misery? You probably know his crimes bet
ter than we do, and my Tori still has a soft stomach.”
“I do not have a soft stomach,” Tori said as Ben and Declan later put out the flames.
“Of course, you do. That’s one of the things I love about you,” Declan whispered against her neck. Then he turned his eyes back to Benjamin and said, “We have to get out of here. We need to make some calls—but I would like to have you come. It’s been a while…since I’ve talked with people who knew of my father.”
Benjamin nodded as he scuffed the ashes with his shoes. “I was hoping…” he smiled rather sadly.”I don’t remember Dad. I was too young to remember much more than how big he was, how full of life.”
“He was an honorable man, big and funny. He loved you, I remember that. And he took me for rides on his back,” Declan said as his eyes grew distant. Tori lay a hand on his arm, rubbing it gently.
Ben closed his eyes and sighed, shuddering faintly as he scrubbed his hands up and down his face.”The bastards that stole our fathers from us, all of them are dead, I know. But it isn’t enough.”
“It can never be enough. But we do what we can to keep people from poisoning other packs and robbing more children of their fathers, Ben. That’s what we do.”
Ben nodded slowly.”Duty, that’s what called me here.” He met Tori’s eyes over the distance and studied her.”The Scythe—they thought they would gather before you came.”
Tori eyed him narrowly.”What are you?”
He smiled, a rather, grim disturbing smile.”Something that the Scythe really didn’t want running around. Any more than they wanted you.” Lifting one hand, he stared into her eyes as a gleaming ball of fire formed, spinning rapidly in his hand.”For some reason, when a witch mates with an inherent, it seems to cancel out one gift or the other. But not always.”
Tori stared, mesmerized, into the gleaming ball, as the fire seemed to thin out and become transparent, until she was staring into a golden orb, filled with faces of children, of women with lost, broken eyes, of young boys who wandered the streets, homeless, and then a place she knew. Excelsior.
Where the young and gifted went to be trained.
Then the Hall of the Hunters and Malachi, and another Hunter, vaguely familiar, Byron. Eli, so many faces. Agnes, Kelsey.
Then she and Miguel, the bloody bastard who had sired her, as he stalked the streets, taking down his prey and laughing at their terror. Swallowing, she tore her eyes away from the gleaming orb that had grown and grown until it was nearly half the size of a VW bug. “A witch. How can you be both a witch and a wolf?”
Through the gleaming golden-orange glow, she could barely make out his outline, though his voice, that deep growling voice, was powerful, almost palpable. “How can a woman be human and vampire? And smell of wolf as well?” he asked as the orb started to melt away.
“I am what I am. What the Council needs me to be. God has a habit of sending down what is most needed, when it’s needed,” he said, lifting one broad, heavily muscled shoulder as he studied her face, which Tori was certain was even paler than normal.
“God?” Tori repeated.”How quaint,” she mocked lightly as she tried to steady herself. Hell, she was being a bitch.
“Yes, God. You believed in Him a few years ago,” Benjamin said softly as he moved a little closer, studying her face with penetrating eyes. “Has a few years of Hunting changed that?”
Sliding his eyes to her husband, Benjamin said, “I think I’m disconcerting your wife.”
“I’m thinking that you have a habit of doing that to many folk,” Declan said, moving up behind Tori and stroking his hands up and down her arms.”Tori doesn’t…care for expediency. Tonight has been a night for it, and we’ve more yet to do.”
“Hmmm. Indeed.” Benjamin smiled slowly, almost sadly. “I lost that innocence a long time ago.”
Chapter Six
Erika cuddled up in the limo for the drive, nibbling at the cinnamon roll Sheila had cooked during the night. Though the vampire no longer ate, she still loved to cook, and Erika was a big fan of her cooking.
A crumb fell onto the romance novel she had sneaked out of Sarel’s room and Erika flicked it away, glancing to make sure Mike wasn’t paying attention. Her eyes caught something and her breath lodged in her throat. Mike glanced up, ever alert. “Okay, brat?”
Just before the silver bullet ripped through his shoulder. If he hadn’t shifted position, it could have been his head. As they slowed at the intersection, Erika had seen somebody in the car next to theirs lower the window and aim…and now, they were rushing the limo.
Mike bellowed with rage, leaping for her and tucking her body protectively under his as he shouted to Brad, “Take off!”
But the bullet aimed at him hadn’t missed, and he lay slumped over the steering wheel as his heart’s blood pumped out of his chest.
Drawing from his boot the gun Eli had ordered all to carry, Mike rolled, working them back against the seat, waiting and calling out to Eli. But it appeared there wouldn’t be enough time.
And Erika had no bond with any of them. No blood bond, no soul bond. She was just a sweet, innocent kid.
As the exotically beautiful face swam into his vision, he raised the gun.
“Put the gun down, wolf. I’ll let you live, so you can tell Jonathan where to be finding the girl. It’s him we want.”
“Fuck you,” Mike rasped as he pulled the trigger.
Leandra swore into the darkness of the alcove as one of the clumsy idiots pressed too hard on the bullet wound in her side, tearing it and causing more blood to flow.
“You should have let me kill him.”
“No. He is a warrior, protecting his charge even in the face of death. No warrior should be killed like a sick dog. He deserves to die in battle,” Leandra said, lifting her gaze back to Vincent and staring him down.”And he will tell the tale to Jonathan. He’s the one we want...not some innocent girl.”
“The girl is a pain in the ass, too much trouble. When can we dump her?”
Leandra narrowed her eyes.”She goes back to her home when Jonathan turns himself over. I fight honorable battles.”
“You cling too much to honor. We are the Scythe, not the Hunters.”
“I am a warrior,” Leandra said, rising slowly. Rage pulsed inside her as she glared at him. He towered over her, but she didn’t care. His face was pale, tight and angry as she glared up at him.”I fight with honor. I don’t care what side I fight on and you don’t tell me how I fight.”
Slowly drawing the long wicked blade from the sheath at her back, she cocked her head, studying him, her amber eyes flashing in the flickering light.”Do you understand me? I’d hate for there to be a misunderstanding between us,” she said.”I don’t want that.”
“Don’t threaten me, Leandra. I don’t care what kind of Voodoo shit you know—”
A slow, cool smile curved her mouth up and she flexed her free hand, before curling the fingers in a slow, easy fist.”I am no Voodoo priestess, Vincent. Being from Jamaica doesn’t make me a Voodoo priestess. I am a witch, born in the blood of it.” As she spoke, she watched with clinical eyes as his face grew paler and paler as his air supply was cut off by the slow flexing of her hand.
Finally, as he started to get first red, and then blue, she opened her hand and he fell, gasping, to the ground.”Make no mistake, Vincent. I am a warrior, a witch. And I don’t make threats. I do not need them. And you will not touch that girl. If you do, or if anybody else does, I’ll kill you, nice…and slow,” she purred.
Turning on her heel, she stalked away, catching the eyes of two of her ladies and nodding to the girl.
“Poor thing,” she murmured, stroking her forehead as they brought the terrified little hellcat over.”It will be over for you soon. Jonathan will come and I’ll send you home.”
“Liar. Why would you?” Erika spat, struggling even though it was useless, jerking her arms, kicking at the knees of her captors and damn near catching one of them.
Leandra ey
ed Constantine narrowly when the woman went to jerk on the girl’s hair for insulting Leandra. “I do not blame you for not trusting me. I wouldn’t, either.” Inclining her head regally, Leandra walked a slow circle around them, careful not to let them see how much the wound in her side bothered her. “But I’m not a liar. You’ll go home, kid. My fight isn’t with you. It’s with those hypocritical Hunters and their pathetic Council.”
Erika shook her head forcefully.”The Hunters are brave, and strong, and proud, you stupid…stupid…bitch.” The word popped out and seemed to surprise the child as much as it surprised the women holding her, but Leandra just laughed. But she didn’t stop her tirade .”Hypocrites? If it wasn’t for them, my father would have raped me. You kidnapped me. And you call them hypocrites? You’re the pathetic one.”
And Leandra could only stare at her in shock when the girl had the nerve to spit at her.
Jonathan’s hands were flexing, the nails darkening to black as the claws slid out from under his skin.
Mike lay pale on the bed, in pain, suffering, but not dead.
The silver was slowly working out of his system, and he would recover.
Brad was dead.
And Erika was missing.
Lifting his head, he met Malachi’s gaze for one brief second before he rose, leaving the room.
Lori took a deep breath before turning and meeting Kelsey’s eyes.”I’m going with him. If he does this alone, he won’t come back alive. Erika will, but he won’t. My gut is rather insistent on that,” she said quietly as the other witch mixed up yet another poultice to press to the wound on Mike’s shoulder to leech out the poison.
It had taken them far too long to get Mike out of the hospital. Far too long to convince them that he would recover better at home. Even the inherent Doctor who had taken over the case had had trouble convincing the emergency room physician who’d admitted Mike that he was an old family friend. Their network of people was vast, but sometimes…hell, the verbal acrobatics they had to perform to get one of their people out of a place was nothing short of mind-boggling.
The Hunters Series Page 39