Seducing the Hunter (Mills & Boon Nocturne)

by Vivi Anna

  He walked around the motel trying to shake the images Daeva’s words had planted in his mind. In his lifetime, he’d seen a lot of death and destruction and horror but nothing compared to what she’d experienced every day of her life. For more years than he could even comprehend. To be forced to live with that, in that, and have no escape.

  He stopped walking and took in another deep breath. Would he do whatever he could to escape that situation? Lie? Cheat? Steal? Possess? Hell, yeah. He had no doubt.

  And the only escape afforded a demon was possession. He understood that now. He understood why Daeva had chosen to possess Rachel for so long. Like a woman in hiding from an abusive husband, she had escaped and hidden from her tormentor. Which was her origin. Hell.

  By the time he made it back around to the motel room, he was tired. The last few days were catching up with him. Daeva had been right that he needed rest, as well. But he couldn’t go back into the room. There was this needling sensation in his gut. And he was pretty sure it was guilt. A feeling he didn’t really want to deal with right now.

  So, instead of facing it, he opened the car’s back door and crawled in. He settled his head on the armrest and shut his eyes. He’d deal with it all later, but right now he just wanted some peace.

  Chapter 11

  A knock on the car window jolted him awake. Stretching, Quinn sat up and looked at Daeva, who was smiling at him through the backseat window. He bounced across the seat and, opening the door, slid out of the car.

  She handed him a coffee she’d obviously gotten from the restaurant. “Morning, sunshine.”

  He just grunted at her and took a needful sip of hot coffee. It chased away some of the haunting images he still had in his head.

  “You don’t look so good. Did you get any sleep?”

  “Some.”

  “Why didn’t you sleep in the room?”

  He gave her a look. “You hogged the whole bed.”

  “Oh.” She shrugged. “Sorry about that.”

  “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you’re not too sorry.”

  She gave him a saucy grin. “You’d be right.” She went around to the trunk, popped it and tossed their bags inside. “I already checked us out. So we’re ready to go.” She opened the passenger door and slid in.

  After three hours on the road they’d edged closer to the border crossing. Quinn looked at Daeva casually flipping through a fashion magazine she’d gotten earlier at the motel shop.

  “You never did explain to me how you plan to get across the border without a passport or any type of ID.”

  “Drop me off before the border crossing. I’ll get across.”

  He was silent for a moment, considering that. Was she trying to ditch him? Trying to wiggle her way out of their deal?

  As if reading his thoughts, she said, “I can’t leave you, remember? I’m bound to you.”

  “How are you going to get across?”

  “I think I can still be invisible. No one will see me. I’ll meet you on the other side. Just pull off the road about half a mile from the crossing.”

  Quinn wasn’t so sure about the plan but he couldn’t think of an alternative. He had to trust that she would do as she said. He did bind her to him during the ritual, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t take her sweet time in showing back up.

  “Okay. I need to eat and use the bathroom, anyway.”

  “We should probably fill up, too.”

  After another ten minutes, Quinn pulled the car off the road and into a gas station. As he went inside, she pumped the gas.

  He used the facilities, thankful for a reprieve from Daeva. He had a lot of conflicting emotions racing around inside. It proved difficult to consolidate the woman he’d loved for years with the demon-ness he’d vowed to hate. That hate was quickly fading away.

  So used to everything being black and white, Quinn only saw human good, demon bad. There was no middle ground. But that had started to change when his sister, Ivy, had fallen in love with a cambion. Ronan was half-human, half-demon and completely in love with Ivy. He’d sacrificed everything he’d ever wanted in life for her.

  Quinn had even grown to like the guy, for that sacrifice alone. He’d never admit it to Ronan or Ivy, but he wouldn’t put up a fight at all if they decided to get married.

  He was starting to realize that just because someone was a demon didn’t automatically make them evil or bad or wrong. And that thinking messed up everything he’d worked out about Daeva over the past few years. Seeing her, being with her, respecting her, messed it up even more.

  As he stood in line to pay for the gas and two sub sandwiches, he watched Daeva as she finished filling the tank and set the nozzle back in the cradle. The light played across her hair, making it shine like newly minted copper pennies. She lifted her face to the sun and a smile spread her lips. Not for the first time, Quinn thought about capturing those lips with his own. He wondered if she would taste the same, feel the same in his arms.

  She turned her head and their gazes met through the window. Her smile widened. His gut churned and he returned his focus to the cashier ringing up his purchases.

  He had to force himself to remember that this was not a road trip to Vegas. Daeva was not the woman he fell in love with six years ago. This was strictly a business arrangement. He needed the chest and she knew where it was. It was that simple. He had to stop his emotions from complicating the situation.

  Just because he sympathized with her desire to be out of hell didn’t absolve her from past mistakes. He supposed it wasn’t her actual possession that had angered him, it was that she never trusted him enough to tell him.

  Resolved to keep his emotions about the past and present in check, he grabbed the subs and headed back to the car.

  They ate and drove in silence the rest of the way. About a half mile from the border crossing, Quinn pulled over to the side of the road.

  “I’m not keen on this plan,” he said.

  “Neither am I. I’m not a big fan of hiking through the wilderness. But it’s not like I have Jedi mind tricks. I lost my mind mojo when you bound me to this plane and to you.”

  “But you still have your invisibility cloak?”

  Friday nights had been their movie night. Daeva had a penchant for sci-fi films and Harry Potter.

  She smiled. “Sort of. Enough that I can get by unnoticed. If someone was specifically looking for me, a demon named Daeva, well, then I’d stick out like a sore thumb.”

  “Okay. Once I’m through, I’ll pull over to the side of the road. I’ll pretend I’m having a picnic in the great Canadian outdoors.”

  She went to open the door, then looked at him. “You know, I’m more worried about how you’re getting across. Last time I remember, Quinn Strom had a warrant or two out for his arrest.”

  He held up a passport. “That’s why I’m Todd Sheppard today.”

  She laughed. “You stole that sorcerer’s identity?”

  “Yup. Years ago. Believe it or not he’s squeaky clean and even pays his taxes ahead of time.”

  She shook her head, but he could tell she was extremely amused by the turn of events.

  “Stay safe,” she said.

  “You, too.”

  She slid out and shut the door. Before any of the people in the other vehicles coming up the highway could spot her, she dashed into the thicket of trees. He saw one flash of red through the greenery, and then she was gone.

  The line of vehicles at the border stop wasn’t long. Twenty minutes and Quinn was pulling up to the guard post. He rolled down his window and handed his passport to the uniformed woman inside.

  She took it, scanned the number, looked at the computer screen, then at him. “Where are you headed, Mr. Sheppard?”

  “Kelowna.”

  “What is the purpose of your visit?”

  “Pleasure. Taking a little vacation. Going to do some camping.”

  She glanced into the back of the vehicle, likely spying the backpack and gear. She loo
ked back at him for a long moment before turning back to the screen. She typed for a minute, then with his passport in hand, she stood.

  “Please pull up into one of those stalls, sir.”

  “Is there some problem?”

  “Just do it, sir.”

  Heart thudding, Quinn drove the car forward and parked in front of a long glass-and-brick building. Something was definitely wrong. He could’ve been pulled out randomly from the long line of cars, certainly, but he didn’t think so. There was something in the way the officer had looked at him. And he’d swear he saw a slight smirk on her lips and a flash of inky black in her eyes.

  Chapter 12

  Daeva was wearing the wrong footwear for hiking through the woods. Already her feet hurt and she’d only been walking for forty minutes. Through the trees, she could see the immigration building and the lineup of vehicles leading to it.

  She looked for Quinn but couldn’t see the car. He’d probably already gone through. She just hoped his passport held up. Using another person’s identity was risky, to say the least. Maybe that person had just gotten arrested for assault or murder. Using their ID then would be a huge mistake.

  But it wouldn’t have surprised Daeva if Quinn had kept records on the sorcerer. The exorcist was usually thorough when it came to his job, which really was his life.

  Because of that, it had always surprised her that Quinn had never realized she’d been possessing Rachel’s body. It had taken her moment of truth to reveal her secret to him. Maybe love had blinded him to the truth.

  She supposed, in retrospect, she shouldn’t have been surprised when he reacted the way he did. She’d been foolish to think that he’d loved her enough to overlook the fact that she was a demon living in a human vessel. Obviously, love had made her delusional.

  Daeva kicked a rock out of her way as she tramped through the trees. She stepped onto a rotted log and got stuck, her boot heel wedged inside. Frustrated, she wrenched her leg, trying to pull her foot out. It didn’t come at first, then let go with an audible snap. She looked down and saw she’d broken the heel right off her boot.

  “Perfect,” she grunted.

  She continued the trek through the trees, limping on the broken heel, which made it that much more difficult to walk through the brush. As she passed, the tip of a gnarled branch snagged a strand of her hair and pulled it from her ponytail. She stopped to put it back in place.

  As she pulled the elastic from her hair, a sense of dread washed over her. Swinging around, she stared into the woods. Was an animal stalking her? She felt as though something was deathly wrong. Her gut clenched into a tight ball.

  Her gaze moved over the trees, stopping briefly on a chipmunk chattering and a robin feeding her young in the nest she’d built high in the trees. Then she looked at the building separating the two countries. A cold fist wrapped around her heart and squeezed until she couldn’t breathe. Something was wrong. Quinn was in trouble. Like the cold, she could sense it all the way to her bones.

  She smoothed her hair back into a tight ponytail and stepped out of the trees. After mumbling a quick incantation, Daeva moved out onto the road. The quick spell made her unseen. Not quite invisible. She could be seen if someone was looking for her. But to those who weren’t, she was like a shadow that moves in the corner of a person’s eye. There, but not quite.

  Before she made her way across the tarmac, she took off her boots. It would be easier to go barefoot. She moved around the vehicles slowly creeping forward to the crossing gate. A young child in a baby seat reached for her through the open window as she passed. Children could see more than most adults.

  “Hi.” The little boy waved as she went past his window.

  Daeva turned to him and put her finger to her lips. “Shhh.”

  His smile faded and he tucked his arm back into the car.

  As she neared the gate, she spotted their car in the lot. So Quinn had obviously been stopped. But why? She knew he would’ve been extremely careful when talking to the immigration officer. So that meant either Mr. Todd Sheppard had done something wrong and his passport had been flagged, or worse, someone knew where they were headed and why.

  When she reached the car, she opened the back door and grabbed both of Quinn’s bags. They instantly became as invisible as she was. She was surprised they hadn’t been confiscated. If this had been a normal inspection, the officers would’ve taken them inside to be searched. Obviously, this wasn’t a normal inspection.

  Bags in hand, she went around to the side of the building. She unzipped one. There had to be something inside that could help her. There were clothes, two knives, some holy water ampoules and what looked like two smoke bombs. Perfect.

  She snagged the holy water and the canisters, settling them into her jacket pockets. She had a feeling they would come in handy. Setting her shoulders, she took a deep breath, opened the door to the customs building, determined to find Quinn and bust him out.

  Chapter 13

  There were only two pieces of furniture in the small, dreary room: the folding metal chair Quinn sat in and the cold metal table in front of him. The chair was uncomfortable, but he figured that was its purpose.

  Without any explanation, he’d been led to the room, told to sit and wait. He’d asked a million questions, like why was he being detained, and what was this was all about. But the officer remained stoic and tight-lipped.

  Basically he knew he was up shit creek without a paddle. He didn’t even have his bags. The only thing on him was a small silver knife strapped to his ankle and a small ampoule of holy water in his front pants pocket. He sensed he’d need both of those things soon enough. Because he was pretty certain the officer in charge was possessed.

  The door opened and said officer walked in. She still had that little smirk on her ruddy, pinched face. It was the kind of look that said she knew everything and that he’d better be afraid.

  She stood on the other side of the table and leaned forward, leering at him. “So, Mr. Strom, where exactly are you going?”

  “I’m sorry. I think you have me confused with someone else. My name’s Todd Sheppard.”

  Smiling, the officer shook her head. “I don’t think so.” She leaned even farther. “You see, I know the sniveling little sorcerer. And you ain’t him.” Inky black bled into her brown eyes and her wide grin grew maniacal and grotesque.

  Yup, she was definitely possessed.

  He had to play it cool if he wanted to get out of here unscathed. As if interested in what she had to say, Quinn also leaned forward. The movement gave him a better chance to get the holy water ampoule out of his pocket unnoticed.

  “I told you, I’m just going camping.”

  She sniffed. “You don’t really seem like the outdoorsy type.”

  “Oh, I am. I love it. Clean air, surrounded by nature. It’s awesome.”

  “We know you recently summoned Daeva, the Seductress of Shadows, and temporarily released her from hell. For what purpose?”

  Quinn smiled. “We’re in a relationship. Didn’t you know? Have been for years. I missed her, is all.”

  This had the guard straightening. She almost looked nervous. “Then where is Daeva?”

  His fingers gripped the ampoule in his pocket. He slowly drew it out, careful not to give his intentions away. “Oh, she’s probably around here somewhere.” He hoped.

  He didn’t want to entertain the thought that Daeva may have tried to bail on him. But it was there at the back of his mind, regardless. She’d have reason to. He hadn’t been the kindest person toward her. He wouldn’t blame her if she wanted to leave him here to the torturous hands of these demons. She couldn’t, of course, because of the binding. She would be compelled to stay close by. Whether she did anything to get him out would be another thing altogether.

  “If you don’t tell me why you are crossing into Canada, I’m going to hurt you.”

  He grinned. “Do your worst.”

  But when the officer produced a taser from
her belt, his smile faded. That was the last thing he’d expected. A few well-placed punches to the face and body he could handle; even a few deep cuts were tolerable. But electricity running through his body was a whole different matter. He’d been tasered before and it was awful.

  “Last chance, Strom, to be reasonable.”

  He palmed the holy water then spread his arms out wide to the sides. “Hey, I’ve never been a reasonable guy. You should know that by now.”

  She picked up the taser and aimed but Quinn was faster.

  He threw the glass vial hard at the officer’s face. It broke on impact, splashing holy water into her eyes and across her cheek. Tendrils of black smoke instantly rose from her burning flesh.

  Shrieking, she raised her hands to her eyes. This afforded Quinn time to bolt from the chair and get to the door. But when he cranked on the handle it was locked.

  “Shit!”

  He looked back at the possessed officer as she continued to screech and wipe at her burning eyes. She had to have a key.

  Heart thudding, he raced back to her and pulled at her belt, trying to get it off. She slapped and clawed at him as he unbuckled the strap.

  Nails raked across his cheek and forearm, leaving deep divots. He worked past the pain and continued to struggle with the clasp until he had it undone and was pulling the belt out from the loops. The keys hung from a ring latched to one metal ring.

  “You’re dead, Quinn Strom,” she shrieked, her voice guttural and deep. The demon inside was pissed off and trying to get out of its host.

  Instead of staying to debate that statement, Quinn found the right key and unlocked the door. He bolted out into the corridor just as a smoking metal canister came sailing through the air toward his head.

  “Duck!”

  Quinn dropped to his knees. The canister skimmed the top of his head. It landed just outside the interrogation room door, billowing thick white smoke into the air. Hand over his nose and mouth, he jumped back to his feet and ran down the corridor toward Daeva, who waited for him, the second smoke bomb in her hand ready to go.