by Leah Silver
Then his face turned serious, and I was back to square one. “I’m concerned, Merry.”
“You’ll have to be more specific. There’s a lot of shit flying around to be concerned about, and not enough crap bags to clean it up.”
“What if I can’t help you? Or worse, what if I make a sticky situation worse with a misstep?”
“Any of us could do that, Levi. I’m the only one with real demon-hunting experience. I imagine Ike has some general hunting background, but demons are different than hunting birds or whatever werewolves eat.”
“You don’t know what werewolves eat?” Levi asked.
“Well, I mean, I don’t spend a lot of time studying the habits of other supernaturals.”
“You should. Since you’re in such close proximity with four of them. And we might be around for a while.”
I snorted. “What makes you say that? As soon as this is resolved, I’m sure you guys will be out of here. I know you don’t have a coven, but I am sure you have a life of charming to return to.”
“I think we all like it here. With you.”
He looked down at me. Suddenly, I realized we were very close. Too close. He reached out, slipping a loose hair behind my ear. I swallowed. “We agreed you wouldn’t charm me anymore.”
“I’m not,” he whispered, looking into my eyes.
Before I could stop it, he was leaning down. Time slowed as he did something I hadn’t experienced in centuries. Men had tried with me, but I’d always pushed them away. When I was human, my husband had been kind, but chosen for me. I didn’t want that chain wrapped around my life again. I didn’t need it.
As he closed in on me, I knew I had a choice. I could let it happen, or step back. It seemed simple. I should step back. My mind automatically knew what to do. My life was built to make it an automatic response. But my heart held my feet firm. I wanted this. But not just with Levi … with all of them. And that was what I didn’t know what to do with. I could handle this, though. The one-on-one contact.
His narrow lips were softer than I thought they would be. They made it natural to part mine. When his tongue flicked my fangs gently, I gasped with surprised pleasure, snuggling even closer into him. One of his hands went to the back of my head, tangling in a possessive hold in my hair, while the other pressed against my back, holding me firmly against him.
Time lost all meaning. The only things that mattered were the stroke of his tongue, the heat swirling in my belly and lower, and the proof of his need for me hot and hard against my front. With effort, I dragged myself back to reality, to my responsibilities. I realized the porch light was on, and it had gotten dark at some point.
“We should—”
“Indeed, we should,” he finished in a throaty growl, yanking me even tighter against him.
“I meant we should probably stop and go back inside,” I said through a throat that was suddenly dry, gently pushing him away even though it was the last thing I really wanted to do.
“You’re probably right,” he said, though his face was disappointed. Reaching out, he slid a tender finger down my cheek, giving me goose bumps, then held out his hand. Feeling a little silly, but liking it anyway, I took it. We walked back to the house in companionable silence, letting the cool air lower temperatures raised by the passion between us.
Contemplating what just happened, I realized I trusted him. Somehow, this man I’d just met had wormed his way past my defenses. I knew he wasn’t charming me. What I felt for him was real. And going by that kiss, he clearly felt something for me. Oscar had shown interest in me, too. And Ed. Heck, they all had. And surprisingly, I trusted them all. Wanted them all … and not just as friends, either. How would I juggle this?
I couldn’t think about it. When that occurred to me, I pulled my hand out of Levi’s. He turned to me in confusion.
“I can’t do this right now. Not with any of you. Or all of you. We need to think about Sara.”
“All of us?” he questioned, that shit-ass grin I was coming to enjoy sliding over his face.
“You heard me. You want me. They want me. And for any of that, you’ll have to share.”
He took my hand again, despite my protests. “Believe it or not, but I kinda like that idea.”
It wasn’t unusual for supernaturals to be polygamous. What was odd was the interracial part. Vampires rarely had relationships, or even friendships, outside of our race. Let alone with so many different creatures. Hell, even rarer than that was so many different male supernaturals involved with only one woman … without trying to tear each other apart.
I shook my head, trying to clear it as we went back into the house. This wasn’t something I was prepared to tackle right now—even as much as I wanted to tackle every last one of the men who sat patiently in my study.
They eyed my hand in Levi’s, mischievous grins crossing their faces. “Well, well. It seems you cheered him up,” Ed said, sparing no innuendos for my girlish disposition.
“I can cheer the rest of you up anytime,” I fired back.
He raised his chin and watched me, clearly intrigued. “I can’t speak for the others, but I’d like that quite a bit, I think.”
I eyed the other two, who watched me eagerly. Oscar even swallowed hard. I chuckled quietly. “You guys are too easy.”
“Those leather pants don’t help your case, hunter,” Ike said, hunger filling his eyes.
In what I hoped was a sultry voice, I murmured, “They get the job done, but I imagine they’d look even better on the floor.” Ike’s eyes widened, and he shifted on his seat. The heat that flared between us was white hot, almost palpable. When I turned my gaze to take in each man, it was my turn to swallow hard. Their gazes were intense, devouring me as if they were the hunters … and I was their prey.
Not quite sure how to handle the tension in the room, I turned away, tossing a throaty, “Come on, boys. I believe our hunt is on,” over my shoulder as I left the room.
The Baddies
The hive was supposedly in a rural part of town. Suburbia. Nestled between two four-bed, two-bath homes with big backyards and two-car garages. Perfect for a young family, as long as they didn’t mind having demons for neighbors.
Demons lived all over the place. In the woods, in caves and caverns, in cities, and in suburbia. In fact, they often liked to blend in with their surroundings, so the more unlikely the location, the more difficult they were to discover.
I hadn’t heard any complaints about this hive, other than Devlin’s, so I figured they’d done well for themselves until they made enemies with the wrong vampire. What we needed to know was what kind of demons they were and how many they had in their hive?
Not knowing what I was up against—besides an archdemon was involved, which could really mean anything—wasn’t my favorite way to start a hunt, but I wasn’t exactly in unfamiliar territory. Hunting demons almost never went according to plan. They were their own variable, often with unpredictable behavior. They were also smarter than most supernaturals would give them credit for. And to underestimate them was foolish.
The neighborhood was well manicured, and protected by a guarded gate. I used the word protected loosely. They did let demons into their neighborhood, after all.
Levi was driving when we pulled up.
“How can I help you today?” The older man, a human, eyed all of us crammed into the car, Levi and Ed up front, Ike, Oscar, and me in the back.
“We’re visiting 780 Palmetto Lane,” Levi answered, laying the charm on thick.
“Wonderful. Are they having a party tonight? Will there be others I should let in?” the guard asked as he opened the gate without further question.
“Nope. Just us. It’s game night. We’re playing D&D,” Levi said with such confidence I was sure he wouldn’t have needed his charms.
The older man chuckled. “Is that on one of those new game systems? I can’t keep up.”
Levi laughed. “No, it’s a card game.”
“Oh, it�
��s nice you kids still play cards. Well, have fun,” he said, holding his hand over the gate button, keeping it open for us.
“Will do. Thank you, sir,” Levi said. He raised his window and drove through.
“Not sure what the humans think they’re keeping out with that gate, but it’s not the baddies,” Ed said, examining the neighborhood.
“Baddies? Is that what we are?” I asked, amused by the term.
“I suppose so, yes. We are the creatures of their nightmares,” Ed replied.
We stopped a few houses down from our target. No need to be terribly obvious.
“Only because most of them don’t know what real nightmares are made of,” I said.
“True enough,” Ed said. He got out of the car. “I’d like to keep it that way.”
“What’s the play here?” Ike asked. “Are we just going to ring the doorbell?”
“No. Not yet at least. I like to stake out the place first. See if I can get a feel for what we’re looking at. If you guys want to stay here while I do that, I’ll be right back.”
“What? No. We’re sticking together,” Levi said.
“It’s hard to keep quiet with five people tromping around. I’ll just be a second. I do this on every hunt. Before I even get the client, I stake out the target. In this case, the hive. Just let me work. I’ll be right back.”
Oscar leaned against the car with a smirk.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“I can tell you how many are in the house if you let me go with you. Get me in range, and I might be of service.”
The idea was intriguing. But gargoyles weren’t exactly light-footed. “Can you be quiet?” It was an honest question, not a snotty challenge.
He shrugged. “I don’t think I need to get close enough that they would hear me.”
“Fine. Let’s give it a go,” I relented. Nothing wrong with using the tools at my disposal. Adapting was always a good idea, right? It better be, since I was taking another person into the blind strike zone for the first time.
We walked side by side along the sidewalk. “You know what? We should’ve brought Ike, in his were form. Then we could have looked like we were walking a dog.” I shook my head, ticked I hadn’t thought of that earlier. He probably could’ve sniffed out who was inside, too.
Oscar laughed as we approached the neighbor’s driveway. He had hooked his arm through mine before jamming his hand into his jacket pockets, seemingly protecting himself from the cold, although I wasn’t convinced gargoyles got cold. I imagined he just did it because it kept me flush against his side. “I don’t need to get any closer than this. Besides, not sure Ike could ever be mistaken for a dog. Werewolves are too big.”
“We can’t just stop walking, though. We need to blend in. Keep going. We’ll circle round the block. Maybe we can get something from the back.”
“Can we walk slow?” he asked.
“No. Keep your pace. If you can’t get anything, I’ll come back alone.”
He nodded, and we crossed the front of the house in less than a minute. By the time we were at the next neighbor’s driveway, he had a deep frown on his face.
“What?” I asked.
“Either no one is home, or they have some pretty impressive shields around the house. I didn’t get a read on anything. These two houses next to it are teeming with activity.” He glanced over at me. “Collateral damage.”
I nodded. I’d been here before. And with less help. This would be fine. Or so I told myself. Something about this felt different. Dire. But I shook my head. That was just me being paranoid. The stakes were higher this time, which was why I felt that way. I’d been hunting more than a million times. A suburban hive wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.
“Fine. We’ll go around the block, and you’ll keep walking back to the car. I will cut through the yard and try to get closer.”
“Are you sure? Do you want me to send Ike over?”
I considered for a moment. His nose might be helpful, but he might attract extra attention. “No, but have him get ready. And get a read on me. If I need anything, I’ll let you know.” He nodded. When we rounded the second corner, I was ready. This was my element. Get close, go in, finish the job. No problem. We walked to where I thought the house should be, although I couldn’t see it from this side of the street, and I nodded for Oscar to go on without me.
He let go of me, and I felt a bit cold and lonely for it, but pushed the emotions from my mind. This was no time to be clingy. It was time to work.
The houses had a fair bit of bushes and trees around them, fitting of the Connecticut landscape, as well as helpful to make a stealthy approach. I disappeared in the bushes easily as I drew closer to the house, if not entirely silently. Bushes were nearly impossible to navigate without some noise. I cringed every time I bumped into the bushes, hoping no one noticed the movement.
My target home had a tall hedge around the backyard, along with several shade trees I could just barely see the tops of. My best bet was to slip between the two hedges, and then climb one of the trees for a better vantage point.
Getting into the hedge would be the easy part, or so I thought until it scratched the dickens out of me. “Son of a motherless gravedigger,” I whispered. When I popped out the other side, I didn’t even look at my surroundings. I was too focused on the hedge. What kind of hedge, this side of the void, could scratch a vampire?
I took a branch in my hand, examining it closely. Somehow, bits of silver tipped each maddening point.
“Well, isn’t that convenient for them?” I tried to dab at my face, but the shallow cuts were too plentiful. It was a losing battle. The hedge was clearly meant to weaken an intruder. While the cuts weren’t deep enough to kill me, they were certainly an annoyance. I decided to ignore them and get up the tree. But when I turned around, a hulking beast of a man stood behind me.
“Hello, there, demon hunter. We’ve been expecting you.”
I wasn’t ill equipped, but I was caught off guard. Still, I fought hard. I got him on the ground, slicing the back of his calf up pretty good, which made him laugh, like he enjoyed it. What kind of creature was this? He was wearing a human disguise, like many demons did, but he’d eventually take it off. If I hurt him enough, he’d need his energy to heal, and the disguise would come down. But I never got that far. In the end, he won.
Two lackeys emerged from the back of the house, just as I was gaining the upper hand. They came at me from both sides. I threw one of my daggers at the one on my left. It hit him in the shoulder, but wasn’t enough to stop him. After I slashed at the one on my right, he gave me a wide berth.
The big man clapped massive hands together, ignoring the blood pouring from his wounds.
“All right, hunter, you’ve had your fun. Let’s go inside.”
I could only hope Oscar was listening to this, and that my men were closing in on the house. “I’d rather not.”
“Oh, really? Then what were you doing in my backyard?”
I eyed the lackeys as they closed their perimeter around me, now staying just out of my reach.
“I’ll tell you one thing, I’m not here by choice.”
A big, booming laugh echoed through the neighborhood. Startled, I looked at him. He was a fun-loving demon, that was for sure. But I was willing to bet his definition of fun and mine were vastly different.
A noise caught my attention, and I shot my gaze to a woman exiting the house. She walked down the steps of the back deck, crossing the yard as if she were one with the grass beneath her feet. A Fae. But how could that be?
As she got closer, recognition tugged at me. Her eyes sparkled just like…
“You’re one of Tempest’s.” My mind struggled to comprehend exactly what that meant. A child of the queen working with the demons? Was she a prisoner? In spite of the questions, one piece of the puzzle clicked into place. “There is no archdemon is there. This is about you.” Shit shooters. What wasn’t clear was if Devlin wanted me to
take her out, or if I was supposed to be her pawn.
“My mother’s time is over. A new age is rising. One you will usher in, hunter. You and your friends.” Her voice was breathy, like the wind that picked up in that moment, rustling the fallen leaves around my feet. Pawn it was.
It’s not the trap. It’s the spring. Tempest’s voice echoed in my mind. Or was she speaking to me? It was impossible to tell with her kind of magic.
Wasn’t this a pile of goblin shit? Somehow, I’d wandered into a massive conspiracy I wanted no part of. All I wanted was my daughter back. Which brought my mind back to Tempest. Did she have any idea her own daughter was part of this, and was conspiring against her? Was she part of the plot to kill Tempest? I couldn’t imagine Sara doing anything like that. Then again, I only had one daughter, while Tempest had thousands, and just as many sons. Nearly every Fae could trace some kind of bloodline back to her. It was one of the reasons Fae considered themselves a superior race. They were all royal.
But this was new. None had ever risen against her before. She was well loved, fair, and kept a good balance among her people. Her children fawned over her like she was their god. And she sort of was, in a way.
“Tell me your name,” I demanded of the young-looking girl in front of me.
She flipped her silvery-blond hair away from her shoulder. It shimmered as it went, catching the light in just the right way, making her look completely unearthly. The filmy material of her sleeveless sheath dress only added to the image. It was almost translucent, a pearl gray color that reflected rainbows when she moved. It slid over her skin like silk, clinging to all the right places. If there was ever a time I felt inadequate in looks, it would be compared against her. She was ethereal in her beauty. At least until I noticed her eyes—hard and calculating.
“What’s a name to you, hunter?” she asked.
“Demon’s breath. I don’t tolerate this kind of back talk from my own daughter. What makes you think I’ll take it from some snot-nosed Fae?” I took a step toward her, but the men at my sides seized the opportunity to close in on me.