Bound By Vengeance

by Shannon K. Butcher

  “You’re only saying that to gain my cooperation. And I don’t even know exactly what it is you want from me.”

  Forever.

  “You want revenge for your brother’s death. I can make that happen. I want to live. You can make that happen.”

  “I can’t.”

  His head bowed in defeat. “I understand.”

  She saw pain tumble through him, and couldn’t stand the sight of it. He was a good man. He’d risked his life to help Jake more than once. Jake was family—the only family she had left who would speak to her, who didn’t blame her for Daren’s death.

  Dakota knew the odds of winning this war were slim. There weren’t many of Liam’s kind left in the world, and the humans who fought were not nearly strong enough to beat back the demons alone. Hell, she wasn’t even able to kill one lone demon by herself, and she’d been armed. If Liam and the other Sentinels were to fight the evil that had invaded their world, they needed help.

  Liam needed help.

  He rose and turned his back, pulling a tissue from the box to wipe away his blood. He disappeared into the bathroom. The toilet flushed. Water ran in the sink. She could see his shadow moving across the hallway carpet, his movements sluggish with defeat.

  Dakota didn’t move. She couldn’t. What he was asking of her was too big an obstacle to get around. It loomed in front of her, large and imposing. Like her brother’s death.

  She hadn’t been able to get past that. And now he was asking more of her. Didn’t he realize how weak she was? How broken?

  He came out of the bathroom, his wide jaw bunched, his shoulders square. In that moment, she realized that he’d keep fighting no matter what she said or did. He wasn’t going to give up because she denied him what he thought he should have. He was a true fighter, the kind she wanted to be.

  Dakota stared at him for a prolonged moment, trembling on the edge of indecision. She wanted to help. She wanted to avenge her brother’s murder. But there were things she wanted from life that went beyond demons and killing. If she got any more tied up with the war, it would consume her life. She’d seen it happen before.

  But if she didn’t help Liam fight, then the blood of whoever was slaughtered next would be on her hands. More blood. More death. More guilt. That wasn’t something she could live with.

  Dakota pulled in a long, shaky breath, praying she wasn’t making a huge mistake. Her whole body trembled with a mixture of fear and excitement, and a cold sweat broke out along her palms. “If you help me kill the demon, I’ll give you whatever you want—wear this necklace for as long as you want.”

  “Forever,” he said without hesitation, his eyes glowing with hope.

  “Fine,” she agreed. “Forever. But I won’t wait around. You’ve got two nights to make it happen or the deal’s off.” She could only see the trail for two more nights, and then it would be gone again for another month. She couldn’t stand to let that demon roam the earth any longer.

  His gaze snapped up to meet hers, victory brightening his pale eyes. “It’s enough. I’ll make sure of it.”

  His words must have been enough to trigger some kind of magic, because the luceria reacted to her vow, shrinking to fit her throat. The familiar walls of her home began to warble and fade. And then they disappeared completely, and she fell into a sea of violence and chaos.

  Chapter Three

  Dakota’s vow had worked. Liam could hardly believe it, but the shifting power within him couldn’t lie. His pain was gone now, freeing him and making his head spin with its absence. He felt young again. Reborn.

  He saw her face go chalk white and her sweet mouth began to tremble. Her vivid blue eyes were wide as she stared off into space.

  Liam started to go to her and comfort her, but before he’d finished taking his first step, something happened. The room changed around him. A glass appeared on the coffee table, along with a newspaper. The TV was on. There was a pair of men’s boots by the front door that hadn’t been there earlier, and through the window he could see leaves on the bushes outside—those that had been bare when he’d approached the house earlier.

  Dakota was missing.

  He panicked and spun around to see where she’d gone. Seated on the couch behind him was a young man who looked to be in his late-twenties. He had a thin build and the same bright turquoise eyes that Dakota had.

  Her brother, Daren, complete with the same strawberry blond hair and freckles Liam found so charming on Dakota.

  He had heard stories of the visions that the luceria chose to show to newly bonded couples, but he’d never expected them to be so . . . real. Even the air had changed, growing warmer and more humid. He could smell something spicy cooking in the kitchen and hear a woman’s voice coming from down the hall.

  Liam moved toward that voice, drawn to it. He found Dakota in her bedroom, talking on her cell phone while she painted her toenails. She wore shorts and a tank top that revealed more of her body than he’d seen before. Her slender arms and legs were graced with enough muscle to make his hands itch to glide over her skin. Her nose was pink from too much sun, and the scent of her skin filled this space, pulling him inside.

  His whole body went tight with need as he watched her. He knew this was just a vision—a moment from her past—and that she couldn’t see him. The voyeuristic aspect of it gave him a forbidden thrill, drawing him closer to her.

  Glass crashed in the front room. Daren screamed in panic.

  Liam drew his sword and rushed back into the hall. Even as he moved, he knew any effort he made would be useless. He couldn’t fight here. He couldn’t affect the vision in any way. What was past was past, and all he could do was witness it.

  Dakota raced down the hall, moving right through Liam as if he were vapor. A pistol was in her hands. The barrel trembled as she aimed it toward the ceiling.

  Daren screamed again, only this time it was filled with less fear and more pain.

  In front of Liam, Dakota came to a dead stop. Over her head, he could see Daren in the jaws of a sgath, its teeth digging into his thigh, its muzzle wet with his blood. He slammed his fists into the beast’s head, but it did no good.

  “Hold still!” shouted Dakota. She steadied the weapon and fired.

  The sgath growled and tossed Daren around like a stuffed animal. Daren’s head slammed into the wall and only then did his screams of pain finally stop.

  Dakota fired again and again, emptying her weapon into the demon. It flinched as each bullet hit, but that was all. It never slowed as it dragged Daren out through the broken window and into the night.

  She stood there, staring in shock for a moment before she burst into action, grabbing keys from a hook by the door. She hopped up into a red pickup truck.

  Liam was right behind her, but she was gone before he could come along for the ride. An instant later, he was sitting on the seat next to her, as if the luceria had shoved him into the truck.

  Dakota sped over the ground, hitting ruts hard enough to slam her head into the roof. A low, throttled cry spilled from her lips. There were no words, but the sound was filled with fear and fury.

  The grass ahead of them parted as the sgath hurried away. Dakota hit a slight ridge and the truck went flying. She lost control and it skidded into a shallow ravine, slamming the front bumper hard into the ditch.

  Her head hit the steering wheel. Liam was unaffected by the crash, his body weightless and insubstantial. But he could feel fear. Even though he knew she survived, terror swelled inside of him as he watched Dakota lay slumped over the wheel. He reached for her, but his hands passed through. He tried to speak, but no sound came out. He couldn’t even tell if she was breathing.

  Finally, after what seemed like hours, she slowly sat up, groaning in pain. There was a lump on her forehead, but fortunately no blood. If she’d bled, the demons would have smelled her and she might never have had a chance to wake up.

  She looked around in confusion for a moment, and then he saw understanding dawn on h
er. She remembered where she was and why she was here. “Daren,” she whispered, and in that single word, Liam could feel the scalding heat of her grief. She knew he was gone.

  Dead.

  Huge tears rolled down her cheeks. She shoved the door, but it didn’t open. Reaching through Liam, she tried the other door, but it was stuck as well, held in place by the bent frame of the truck. She climbed out a window and landed on the ground, in a ribbon of mud that ran along the bottom of the ravine.

  With shaking arms, she pulled herself up the shallow side, and collapsed next to the truck’s rear tire. She stared out in the direction that her brother had been dragged, her whole body trembling. Faint moonlight shone down on the slick path of blood he’d left behind.

  “He wasn’t blooded!” she shouted, anger radiating out into the night. “I’m the one you want, you fuckers! Come get me!” Her voice lost its fury and a sob caught in her chest. “Come get me.”

  Behind her, lights bobbed over the ground. Liam turned around to see another vehicle approaching. It skidded to a stop and an older man got out. He raced to where Dakota stood and took her by the arms. “Are you okay?”

  She nodded. “A demon took Daren.”

  The man paled visibly in the beam of the headlights. “Took him? I saw the blood. Was he . . .?”

  Her head bowed in guilt. “I tried to follow them, but it was too fast.”

  “It’s okay. We’ll find him. Go get in my car.”

  She looked up at the man. “It was my fault, Dad. I cut myself cooking dinner. I didn’t think it was a big deal. Such a small cut, and I glued it shut before dark and burned the bandage. I thought it would be okay. I’m so sorry.”

  His face crumpled before he pulled himself back together. When he did, the look he gave Dakota was not that of a loving father. It was hard. Cold. “Get in the car. We need to go find my son’s body.”

  Liam watched the world change, brighten. The walls of Dakota’s home came back. The TV was off. There was no glass on the table. Everything was as it had been before.

  Dakota swayed on her feet, staring at him as if she’d just seen a ghost. She was pale and trembling, just as she had been in his vision.

  The luceria had shown her a vision as well, and whatever it had been had shaken her.

  “What?” he asked. “What did you see?”

  She shook her head and swallowed, regaining her composure. “It doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I now know what you’re capable of.”

  Liam had been capable of many things in the centuries he’d been alive. Dire situations had forced him to take drastic measures on more than one occasion. He had no idea which one of those things had made her look at him like he might turn on her.

  “I’d never hurt you,” he told her.

  She nodded. “I know. I also know just how good you are with that sword. You and I are going hunting. Right now.”

  “No. It’s too soon. You don’t even know how to tap into my power.” And the luceria had shown him that she was more than willing to run toward danger, even without a weapon in hand. He wasn’t letting her take chances like that again. He only had two days to find her brother’s killer, but he wasn’t going to risk her life by rushing things. Her safety had to come first, even if it meant he lost his chance to live.

  “Then teach me fast,” she said. “I want the demon that took my brother dead. Tonight.”

  Liam was a freaking superhero. Dakota was still shaking from her mental journey at his side. She felt like she’d been by his side for years, and yet her house looked exactly the same, as if only seconds had passed.

  If anyone could help her kill the demon who’d murdered Daren, Liam could. He was a lethal force of nature, power incarnate. She’d never seen a man fight like he could.

  Maybe because he wasn’t human.

  Even so, his emotions were definitely human. She’d seen him in quiet moments, felt the ache of loneliness beating out of him. He’d watched his brothers find their mates, year after year, and he remained alone. Unfulfilled. She didn’t understand how the magic of those unions worked, but she’d seen it, experienced it.

  She touched the luceria around her throat and felt it hum with power, just below the surface.

  “It won’t come off,” said Liam as he closed the distance between them. “Not unless we fail to fulfill the terms of your vow.”

  Dakota looked up into his face—so familiar to her now, as if she’d known him all her life. She traced the scar along his jaw and remembered the family he’d saved the night he’d earned the mark. The wife had looked so much like Dakota’s own mother that she was sure the family had to be a branch on her family tree.

  “I’m not trying to take it off,” she told him. “I want the power it holds. I saw what other women who wore the luceria could do. Teach me how they do it.”

  “Not here. We can’t risk staying here now that I’ve bled. But I know a place where we can practice. It’s not far.”

  “How long will it take me to learn?”

  “I don’t know. I’ve never done this before.”

  For some reason, that pleased her. He’d lived a long time. He was too hot not to have had countless women. The fact that there was anything left that he hadn’t done with one of them thrilled her. “Good. I like being your first.”

  The smile that stretched across his face was dark, tempting and sexy as hell. She went up on tiptoe to kiss him, just to see what that smile tasted like, but he covered her lips with his fingers, stopping her. “If we do that now, I’ll forget all about the demons that may have smelled my blood. I can’t risk your life like that.”

  He was right. She’d lost her head for a moment, but they both needed to focus. The trail leading to the demon was only visible to her on nearly moonless nights, and she only had two of those left. If she missed her chance to avenge Daren’s death while Liam was at her side to help, she’d never forgive herself.

  Liam put his shirt and jacket back on, but now that she knew what he looked like half naked, how hot and smooth his skin was, he was going to fill her dreams, both asleep and waking.

  “I’m packed and ready to go,” she said.

  “Let’s move your stuff to my truck. It’s prepared for combat, complete with supplies and a tracking device if we get into trouble.”

  She nodded.

  They worked fast, reloading her weapons into his truck. He didn’t say another word about how ineffective they might be, even though she had seen enough visions of his battles now to realize that the only truly effective weapons were blades and magic. She needed the normalcy of human weapons. They were comforting to her, giving her a feeling of control, no matter how much of an illusion it was.

  But she wasn’t going to be powerless forever. Tonight Liam would show her what she needed to know to unlock the power she felt hovering just above her throat. Once she had that, her guns would look like toys by comparison. And then the demons would pay for what they’d taken from her.

  The chance of finding one specific demon in two days was slim, but Liam couldn’t bring himself to dampen Dakota’s spirits or his own by saying so out loud. He had two days to either find the demon or convince her that they belonged together—that while she had been raised as a human, she had been born to be part of his world.

  How the hell was he going to do that?

  He glanced her way as if looking at her would provide some answer or at least give him a place to start. But rather than finding a clue to winning her over, he found that she’d fallen asleep.

  It was probably for the best. His mind was still reeling from realizing what she was, from having her take his luceria. His body ached with need, and while he could and would ignore his lust for as long as necessary, that didn’t make it easy. And looking at her made the task that much harder.

  Liam forced his gaze back to the road and gripped the wheel so he wouldn’t reach out for her.

  Gerai houses—safe places imbued with protective magic—were sparser in south
western Kansas than they were closer to Kansas City. There were fewer Sentinels in this part of the country. Fewer Gerai. Their ranks were thin enough as it was; spreading them even thinner in areas with fewer demons was a waste of resources. Unfortunately, that meant he had to drive farther to reach a safe house, wasting precious hours he could have used to teach her how their magic worked.

  The link he had with her now—the fragile connection the luceria offered—allowed him to feel her fatigue. He wasn’t sure how long it had been since she’d slept last, but it had to have been a while.

  Jake had been right to be concerned about her.

  Dakota was new to all of this. Sure, she knew about Synestryn and maybe she’d heard stories about the Sentinels, but Liam doubted she knew much. He and his kind kept things as secret as they could in an effort to protect the innocent. The demons seemed to be drawn to human knowledge of them, perhaps as some kind of defense mechanism. And while it was possible to erase the memory of brief encounters with Synestryn, that was a delicate and sometimes risky procedure. More than one human had been left damaged due to efforts to protect them.

  Liam still didn’t know what the luceria had shown Dakota, but whatever it had been, she didn’t seem upset by it. If anything, her vision had strengthened her resolve to take her place by his side—at least for the time being. Right now she was only interested in revenge, but he could change her mind given enough time. He had to believe that.

  He pulled into the driveway of the isolated Gerai house and killed the engine. The porch light was either off or burned out, but the security light posted high on a nearby barn was more than enough light for him to see the house. Like most Gerai houses, it was small and unassuming—the kind of place that no one would notice or remember. This one was older than most, showing the wear of age in its faded paint and sagging porch roof.

  Dakota hadn’t stirred. She leaned against her door, her head cradled on her arm. The smooth lines of her neck were visible, along with the band that had been a part of his life for as long as he could remember.