Immortal Hunter

by Kait Ballenger

  He ran full-speed ahead toward Lilith and tackled her to the ground. She fell into the grass beside him, the demon inside her cackling with laughter.

  “Silly exorcist, do you really think you can stop me? Think again. Try to exorcise me from the one you love and see what happens. I’ll kill her. You’re too weak to touch me.” Lilith forced Allsún’s body to stand, returning to her incantations and ignoring David as if he were nothing more than an ant beneath her shoe.

  “That’s where you’re wrong,” he said. “See, the problem with you demons is you have no loyalty. Not a single one of these cronies of yours will give themselves up to save you. We have you beat there.” He lifted the blessed blade in his right hand. Before he could think twice, he slashed it across the skin of his left wrist, then quickly switched hands and slashed the right in turn. He had to hurry before he lost the strength in his fingers. Blood poured down his arms in thick, warm streams as he sank to his knees, lifting his arms into the air and reciting the ancient ritual in Latin.

  Suddenly Lilith paused mid-chant.

  “What? No!” Allsún screeched in the demon’s voice. Veins began to bulge at her ankles, snaking up her legs and undulating up her body.

  David continued to chant, though his words grew sluggish as the blood drained from him.

  “No! Don’t!” Lilith yelled.

  She fell to her knees, writhing in pain, as David reached the last lines of the exorcism. Black dots floated in front of his eyes, and his vision began to blur, but he kept chanting. He needed to do this for Allsún, for the love of his life.

  As he reached the last words of the ritual, they fell from his lips in a barely intelligible mumble. He was losing blood so quickly. And the cold... He felt so cold, as if his insides had been drained of every ounce of warmth. His vision remained clear long enough for him to see the bright flash of white light as Lilith exited Allsún’s body and was sucked back down into the pits of hell. He smiled. He’d done it, he’d saved her. All in all, his death had been worth it because he had given her life. His vision continued to blur, until finally the world faded to black.

  * * *

  THE ELECTRONIC HUMMING and beeping of machines pounded in David’s head as his eyes slowly flickered open. Bright white light blinded him. He blinked several times, waiting for his pupils to adjust. This was some weird-ass heaven. He stared up into the light as his vision cleared—overhead fluorescents, hardly warm and welcoming. Holy shit. Was he still alive? Immediately he sat up, eyes scanning the room. Panic rushed through him. Allsún. Where was Allsún?

  A small hand pushed against his chest, “Whoa, easy there, tiger.”

  He allowed the gentle touch to push him back. Thank God. He knew that gentle touch and allowed himself to relax.

  “I thought you were going to be out for a couple more hours.”

  He turned to find Allsún sitting beside him, a closed book resting on her lap.

  “What happened?” David asked.

  “I think you know perfectly well what happened, since you were the one who caused it, after all.”

  David thought back. It only took him a few minutes to remember what he had expected to be his last moments on earth. “But why am I here? I slit my wrists in order to save you.”

  “That’s right.” She set her book to the side before reaching out to grab one of his hands. “Thank you for that.”

  David shook his head. “You must have known I would. I’ll always come for you.”

  Allsún nodded. “I know that now.”

  “When Lilith possessed you, you present after that? You know, like awake?”

  “Some of the time. I was fighting my hardest to get it out of my head. Believe me. I didn’t make things easy on it.”

  David gave a single nod. “Good, that’s my girl.”

  “I’m sorry about our fight. I know we’ve already talked about it a little, but I shouldn’t have sprung the news about the miscarriage on you like that. It wasn’t fair. You couldn’t possibly have known I was pregnant, much less that anything was going to happen to me that night. Maybe if you’d been there things would have been different, but it’s not your fault you weren’t there. You didn’t know.”

  “I’m so sorry for everything I said that night. I’ve always wanted a family with you, Allsún. I just didn’t feel that I would be able to protect that family. But if I had known you were already pregnant, I would have done everything in my power to keep you and the baby safe. I realized I was wrong to think that way. There are no guarantees in life. I shouldn’t have denied you what you wanted out of fear of losing it. I’d love to have children with you someday, if you’ll let me back into your life.”

  “I did a lot of thinking while Lilith possessed me. I thought I was going to die, so it was like my whole life flashed before my eyes, all my mistakes and shortcomings. One thing I couldn’t let go is the fact that you would never again hear me tell you that I love you.”

  Before David could reply, a knock sounded from the doorway. Jace poked his head around the corner. At the sight of David a wide grin spread across his face. “Hey, hey. Look who’s awake.”

  David smiled. “Come on in.”

  Jace motioned over his shoulder, and within a few seconds the whole team was standing in David’s hospital room. A chorus of “Glad you’re awake, man” and “So happy you’re okay” created a buoyant energy.

  Jace walked over to David’s bedside and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. “Well, if nobody else is going to say it, I will.” He fixed David with a pointed glare. “You ever do that again and I’ll kill you myself.”

  The whole group chuckled.

  “Consider yourself officially warned that Damon will have you in therapy so fast your head will spin,” Trent added.

  Damon nodded. “He’s right.”

  Ash ran his fingers through his mane of blond hair. “You came pretty damn close to meetin’ your maker there, bud.”

  Jace nodded. “I’d ask you what the fuck you were thinking, but I think we all know where your head was at.”

  They all glanced at Allsún and she blushed under the weight of all their combined gazes.

  David waved his hand in dismissal. “All right already. All you idiots get out of here and find out how soon I can get out of this damn bed.”

  “Since when do you give orders?” Shane joked as they all moved toward the door.

  “Since I want to be alone with the woman I love and you all won’t leave. Get your sorry asses out.” David winked at them as they exited.

  Once his fellow hunters had left, he turned back to Allsún. “Back to our conversation.” He reached out and took her hand. “I was terrified, Allie. I kept worrying I’d never hear you say those words again, too.”

  She smiled and leaned in closer to him. “Well, now you don’t have to worry about never hearing them again before you die.”

  He squeezed her hand. “I know this is kind of spur of the moment, but, Allsún...” He took both her hands in his. “...will you love me again?”

  A smile lit her face as she leaned in to kiss him. “I never stopped.”

  EPILOGUE

  Two years later

  THE SMELL OF fresh flowers delivered from friends and family filled David’s nose as he held tight to Allsún’s hand. She smiled at him, glancing around the hospital room at all the colorful arrangements before her gaze dropped back down to their little miracle. She held their tiny newborn daughter to her breast. At the sight of his two girls, tears clouded David’s eyes. He’d never seen a sight more beautiful. The love of his life, the woman who, despite everything they’d been through, had agreed to become his wife, nursing their sweet baby girl. He couldn’t think of a happier moment in all of his life.

  After a moment’s silence Allsún sighed. “I’m so happy, David
.” She stared into their little girl’s wide blue eyes, and he could practically feel the warmth, pride and love radiating from her. She would be a perfect mother. “I’m so happy,” she said again, “but I’m still so scared.”

  He shook his head. He’d already told her she didn’t need to be scared, but he would always be there to reassure her. He moved his chair closer to the hospital bed and squeezed her hand. “Allsún, we’ve already talked about this. There’s nothing to be scared about. Everything is going to be fine. Jessica’s here now. She’s safe in your arms, and I’m going to keep you both safe. I’ll be by your side the entire time. I won’t let either of you out of my sight. You’ll be safe and so will she. I won’t let this happiness be taken away from you.”

  Allsún smiled. She released David’s hand and ran her fingers over Jessica’s cherubic cheek.

  When Allsún didn’t speak, he gently placed his forehead against hers. “She has your eyes, and your nose, and your lips.” He kissed each body part as he named it. “And, well...your everything, which means she’s perfect.”

  Allsún laughed quietly before reaching up and touching the memorial necklace David had bought her two years earlier, a pendant with what would have been their son’s birthstone. “I miss him.”

  David nodded. “I know you do. Even though I didn’t know him the way you did, I do, too.”

  Another silence passed between them before Allsún spoke again. “Thinking about him still makes me sad sometimes, and I miss him every day, even though we have our sweetheart now.” She glanced down at Jessica still suckling on her breast.

  David placed his hand on Allsún’s arm in reassurance. “Tell me something about when you were pregnant with him that you’ve never told me before, something happy.”

  A small near-smile crossed her lips, though it wasn’t enough to reach her gorgeous emerald eyes. “Well, the reason I kept ordering carryout from that seafood place that used to be around the corner wasn’t because I loved their fish so much. I was craving tartar sauce with lots of pickle in it. When you weren’t home, I’d eat it on everything. Whenever I would eat it, I’d talk to Michael out loud and say, ‘When you come out, your skin is going to smell like pickles from all of these crazy cravings you’re giving me.’”

  David chuckled. “That sounds like a nice memory.”

  She nodded, though he could see tears gathering in his eyes. “Even though they’re happy memories, they’re sad to think about, because of how things ended, because I never got to hold him in my arms, like I can with her.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I’m so excited and happy Jessica’s here now, but I just can’t help but miss Michael. I feel like I’ll always be sad over him.”

  Jessica unlatched from Allsún’s breast and began to coo, sweet happy noises that melted David’s heart. She was so beautiful, just like her mother. Allsún wiped the tears from her eyes and kissed Jessica’s forehead with a smile.

  “You’re my little miracle,” she whispered to the baby.

  David wrapped Allsún in an embrace and cradled her and Jessica close. He laid a kiss on Allsún’s cheek before she nuzzled her head onto his shoulder. “I know it may not feel like it now, Allie, but soon, even though you’ll always miss him, you’ll be able to remember without being sad. One day you’ll even look back on the memories of carrying him and be able to smile.”

  * * * * *

  Look for MIDNIGHT HUNTER the next novel of THE EXECUTION UNDERGROUND coming soon from Kait Ballenger and Harlequin HQN.

  Acknowledgments

  Some books flow easily from a writer’s fingertips. Immortal Hunter was not one of them. This novel was created from blood, sweat, lots of tears and an overwhelming amount of heartache, and it has more connections to my own life than I care to admit. At its core, David and Allsún’s story is about fighting personal demons, not the physical demons they battle in the book, and for me, this book was exactly that, a fight against my own demons.

  Because of that, this book took shape courtesy of my personal support network. If it weren’t for the following people, I might have given up on writing it. I’d like to extend a huge thank you to the following people:

  To my editor, Leslie Wainger, for helping take this story to the next level and giving me the guidance needed to make David and Allsún’s story something worthwhile.

  To my agent and friend, Nicole Resciniti, for her constant support of me and this series, for being my plot buddy when I was stuck, for being a great editor, and for telling me it would all be okay, even though I wasn’t certain it wouldn’t be.

  To all the readers and the Execution Underground Street Team for promoting this series and helping build a fan base. Special thanks goes to Carla Gallway from Book Monster Reviews for her never-ending kindnesses; to Jenese Leon from Readers Confession and Laura Moore from Little Read Riding Hood for helping me get my promotional start; to Sabina at Sabina’s Adventures in Reading and Jenese (again) for being great beta-readers; and to my friend and fellow author Gena Showalter for taking a chance on this newbie as both a friend and a writer, and for being a beautiful person, a fellow sister in Christ.

  To my dad, for sitting me in front of him on his Harley long before I even started preschool, and for always being a great provider. To my mom, for keeping on me about my deadline, even when I didn’t want to hear it, and for always being my best friend, the one person I can count on and my biggest fan.

  To my husband, Jon, for being the true unsung hero of this story, for making me believe in happily-ever-afters, for always being both the man I need and the man I want, and for holding me close every time I need it.

  To my aunt Cindy, for understanding my pain and for telling me that though it would always hurt, I’d look back someday and smile. You were right.

  And lastly, to you. You know who you are. You shaped this story, even though we never found our happily-ever-after. For a long time, I wished you could have been the kind of hero David Aronowitz is, but now, I know better. I’m glad you weren’t. Thank you.

  Dear Reader,

  Thank you so much for picking up this book and for taking a chance on me as a writer. I hope you enjoyed Immortal Hunter, and that David and Allsún’s story stays with you long after you’ve finished reading the novel. The content of these pages is dark, particularly in its themes of child loss, miscarriage and grief, and I want to share with you part of my own story and my connection to the material.

  When I first began writing David and Allsún’s story I knew there was an element I hadn’t quite figured out yet. Allsún was hiding something from both me and David, and I had no clue what that secret was. It wasn’t until I reached the midpoint of the first draft of the novel that I realized what Allsún had been hiding: a tragic miscarriage she’d experienced years earlier. At the time, from an author’s perspective, the pain her character had to endure seemed to fit seamlessly with the main plot of child loss in the story. Strong, craft-focused writers know that putting our characters through hell is the only way to allow them to really shine and show their true selves. And losing a child was the worst kind of hell I could imagine for poor Allsún, or for anyone, especially considering I was pregnant with my own first child at the time I was writing this book.

  Four days after I finished writing Immortal Hunter I experienced the hell I had written about firsthand. My husband and I lost our first baby. Even now, months later, it seems like a cruel twist of fate that the worst kind of trauma I could imagine for my fictional character would become my own struggle, but unfortunately, that’s the way things turned out for me.

  There is no greater pain in the world than that of a mother losing her child, no matter whether they are a beautiful and sweet infant, a curious toddler, a rebellious teenager, a full-grown adult with a family of their own or a small still-growing baby in the womb. I wanted to take this space in the novel to say to every mother rea
ding this who has ever lost their baby, their whole world, that I understand your pain and that I hope you feel that in this novel I’ve managed to accurately portray the grief you and so many others have had to suffer through. This book is not intended to trivialize your pain, but to recognize it.

  With love,

  Kait Ballenger

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  ISBN-13: 9781460325391

  IMMORTAL HUNTER

  Copyright © 2013 by Kaitlyn Ballenger

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  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental. This edition published by arrangement with Harlequin Books S.A.

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