Bone Hunter

by Thea Atkinson

  I studied the Morrigan and the stiff way she held herself, no doubt remembering the stasis, the feeling of being frozen, at the mercy of a dark angel and the whims of a mortal. I wondered if she recalled that one moment when one of us had the chance to escape and I'd sacrificed my own because I wanted my pain to be worth something.

  Her eyes lingered too long on Chu Chulain's jawline, a little too softly for her to be upset at the way things turned out.

  She was a fate, the fate, according to Lucifer. Able to intervene, knowing the outcome even before it was set in motion.

  "Oh my God," I said with a gasp and she turned that black gaze to mine. "You knew all along, didn't you?"

  A slow smile threaded onto her face. "Fate is a curious thing," she said.

  She had known. Since the day she used a blood connection to get me into the Shadow Bazaar, she had known. She might even have known before then.

  The truth of it was she wanted that connection because she knew it would allow me into Hell to seize her, to bring her back, to allow herself to repay a debt of shame she owed this warrior.

  Maybe she had been the one to put it all into motion.

  Looking at her, I had no doubt she had even shown me a teenaged aspect of herself because she knew I'd connect with it in a visceral way, the lost Isabella who still had a hope of being undamaged before she'd chosen a man who would damage her in ways she would never be free of.

  The parallels to my time in Hell were too close for comfort.

  I looked at her again, this creature I'd thought was a runaway teenager. This runaway god. She'd played a long game, maybe one she'd set in motion the day she'd tricked Chu Chulain into eating dog flesh, sealing his fate to Lucifer's hounds, and sealing her own.

  She smiled wanly at me. "Thank you," she said. "For being willing to save me for love instead of favor."

  She pressed a velveteen pouch into my hand and closed my fingers around it. "Keep it always in this enchanted bag," she said, and just like that, she was gone. She didn't fade. She didn't blur out. Just disappeared as though she was never there.

  I turned to the sidhe, feeling less than charitable. I was exhausted and spent and sore everywhere and yet this was still far from over.

  "Well, I did what you wanted," I said baldly. All emotion had left me except for the flavor of rage that was encroaching up my throat. "My debt to you is done."

  He inclined his head. "Of course."

  I eyed him.

  "What will it cost to keep the portal live?" I said.

  He grinned. "You catch on quickly."

  "I wouldn't say quickly," I said, thinking of the events of the last few days. But it was the slant of his head, the way he wouldn't look me in the eye that was the most telling.

  He wasn't about to guarantee not to strong arm me again. He wanted me to owe him indefinitely and that portal shift between worlds meant he had a perpetual debt.

  He wouldn't absolve the Morrigan; he wouldn't absolve me.

  "I've paid," I said. "Now take it off. I don't want your magics anymore."

  He lifted a silvery brow and hefted the spear in his hand, flexing his fingers around it. "Are you sure?" he said. "You do still have enemies."

  I heaved a long sigh. "I can't rely on magic anymore. It comes with too big a price tag."

  This time when he smiled, there was no malice in it.

  He looked relieved.

  "It took me a century to learn that," he said. "In gratitude, I'll let you leave through the door before I destroy the portal. Give you a head start on the man whose waiting for you."

  I nodded with a tight throat. Scottie. Of course he would still be there. He was a bulldog.

  I took a step toward the door and realized I was bare foot. And that the vinyl sheathing and studded collar might be hard to blend in my neighborhood. Chu Chulain must have noticed because he reached down toward the sofa arm and lifted the green dress from its arm.

  "She left this," he said and proffered it.

  I took it without a word of thanks.

  "Goodbye, Ms. Hush," he said softly. "You might not think so, but you are a warrior."

  With that, he turned heel and left me alone to strip out of the leather and vinyl and pull on the dress. It smelled of sunshine and clothes dried on an old-fashioned line.

  I was barefoot and clad in a gown far too elegant for what I was about to do, but at least it didn't stink of blood and smoke.

  I shook my hands out at my sides and with a deep breath headed for the front door.

  I still had to face Scottie.

  Chapter 37

  It was a great leap of faith to step out onto the Brownstone stoop and know that behind me, within the confines of my apartment, the portal that had kept me safe over the last few weeks was gone and would never return.

  I felt something warm and fuzzy curling around my calf. Soft and padded feet touched down on my instep. I looked down to see my cat twining around my ankles. Next to her sat a hefty duffel bag. I didn't need to unzip it or look inside to know that it was filled with clothes and equipment.

  Somehow Colin had given me one last gift. The ability to walk away from Scottie with everything I needed.

  But it was the sight of my cat and the sound of her purring as she touched my skin that decided me. She was a scrapper. She had always been one since the time I'd met her as a kitten. She was small and skinny and as full of piss and vinegar as a full-grown alley tomcat.

  If I walked away now, Scottie would always follow me. If I went back inside and faced him, he would undoubtedly drag me back with him to the safety of his gang. And then as promised, he would show each and every one of them who was boss. He would reclaim his dignity and I would lose mine.

  And he would think that an even bargain.

  I bent to scoop the cat from the step and rubbed my face in her fragrant fur. She smelled of toffee and lemons. She batted at my cheek with her paw but kept her claws pulled in.

  I'd suffered a moment of defeat in Hell. I'd forgotten I was strong. A warrior, the Morrigan said. So had the sidhe. Maybe I was and maybe I wasn't, but one thing was for sure: I couldn't live with the constant dread of Scottie's specter over me, waiting to touch down at any time like a bomb.

  I needed a clean slate.

  I heaved a sigh and spun on my bare foot to push open the door. I tossed the cat into the foyer and dropped the duffel bag down at the bottom of the stairs.

  At first, I thought perhaps the apartment was empty. I heard no sounds coming from within. But as I turned to look inside, I noticed that the entire apartment had been ransacked. I usually left socks and shoes and clothes and dishes lying around, but this was nothing like that.

  Every single drawer was upended onto the tiles and then dropped atop the contents. The cupboard doors were flung open and dishes pulled out onto the floor. I winced as I remembered my bare feet and knew that glass shards were no doubt sprayed everywhere.

  The cat streaked for my bedroom, leaving me alone to face the man sitting on the sofa the way the Fae had done. His arms were stretched across the back and he settled into the cushions on the only place in the entire apartment that was free of debris.

  My hands curled into fists against my dress and knotted up the material. I could do this. He was just a man after all.

  "Where the hell have you been?" he said.

  If only he knew how close to reality that question was.

  I bent quietly to scoop things from the floor, gathering shoes and socks and underwear the way I was gathering my thoughts.

  How far did I want to go? How badly did I want to be removed from the thing that was Scottie? I had the talisman. I knew exactly what it did. I could pull it from its pouch and pass it to him as though I'd found the greatest treasure. He would take it, no doubt. Entitled to whatever was mine.

  But was he really that bad after all? Did he really deserve to go to hell? I had been lucky to get out. I'd had Kassie. Scottie would have no one. And he would be everything Lucifer
would want. A living mortal with a penchant for violence and anger. Scottie himself was a warrior. Built for it, he would give Lucifer hell of a run for his money.

  Scottie had no idea of the other world. I had no doubt Scottie would waste precious time trying to figure out where he was, and even if he began to believe the evidence of his senses, he wouldn't be prepared to spar verbally with the devil. I had no doubt that Lucifer would run out his time the way he'd almost run out mine. And then the talisman would go back to wherever it came from and Scottie would be left there for an eternity.

  I didn't care how bad he was. No one deserved that.

  "Well?" he said and this time there was no patience in his voice.

  I could feel him standing up from behind me. I knew that if I turned he would be clenching his fists, his fair face flushed with anger. His fury was echoed in the way every piece of my belongings was broken or strewn carelessly about the room.

  No mention of how I must have just simply disappeared in front of his eyes. I wondered if the talisman had some power to wipe a memory clean, or to show someone exiting the building as though they had just spun on heel and left. How had he explained my disappearance to himself?

  I turned around slowly, all the better to make sure he didn't think I had a weapon of any sort. I held my hands up in front of me, supplicating and surrendering. Just the way he would like it. If there had been room on the floor, I would have fallen to my knees. Kiss his feet the way any arrogant god would like.

  "Where do you think I went?" I said. I took a tentative step forward.

  "I'll be damned how you got out of my grasp and into the bathroom," he said. "But I have to give it to you, Sis, you're good at squeezing in and out of tight places."

  I looked over toward my bathroom door which was ajar. The curtains fluttered in the breeze inward. He must've thought I'd got away from him and crawled out the window.

  "I needed some time to think," I stammered out.

  His face looked like a boiled ham. "Think?" He said. "You left me here for hours. What is there to think about? You're coming with me."

  "I had a lot to think about," I said. "Us, for example."

  "You're as slippery as an eel," he complained, ignoring my comment. "But I'll be fixing that when we get back."

  "That's what I was thinking about," I said. "I have a proposition. One I think that will be very useful to you, to us."

  "What kind of proposition?"

  "One year," I said, holding up my index finger. I noticed his glance went to the black velvet pouch clutched in my palm, held immobile there by the other three fingers. He wanted to ask me what it was. I needed to lay the groundwork before he asked.

  So I hurried on, holding up the pouch so he could get clear view of it. "This," I said. "This is the key."

  "What is it?" He wasn't softening but he was interested. His greed always won out.

  "A weapon," I said, letting my experience with the fae guide me. Tell him some. Leave out the details. "One the right people will pay dearly for."

  He squinted at me, suspicious. "What kind of weapon would fit in a little bag?"

  "A powerful one," I said. "But my contacts are still working on its trigger and how to harness it properly. It's all in research. I promise you. I haven't just been sitting on my hands out here."

  I took another step closer, letting it dangle from my fingers. "I can't leave now. I'm too close. Made too many contacts."

  "You think I'm stupid," he said.

  "No," I hurried. "Never. You just don't have all the contacts. Alvin found me here with one of them. He was the one who hurt Alvin. Not me." I held out the pouch. "For this. That's how valuable this is."

  He didn't believe me, but he wanted to. Thought of a valuable item that might be within his reach was just too good to let go without consideration. He didn't want to make a mistake he'd regret.

  "You need a year to figure it out?" he said.

  "Yes. It's deadly secretive stuff I've got myself into and I need time to get my affairs in order, to finish up the last of the negotiations. These people won't deal easily or with someone they've not met. What do you think I've been doing here for three years?"

  He inhaled deeply, and I thought perhaps he was considering it. Then he shook his head no.

  "No," he said. "You're mine."

  "I'm not disputing that," I said. "But think about it. You can tell your people you have me stationed here. I'll send you tributes to prove it."

  His jaw seesawed back and forth. He might not have believed me if I hadn't thrown in the bit about Alvin. He knew I couldn't do that sort of damage to the thug, and he knew I'd had help.

  He would want to believe the person who did it was greedy rather than laying me down in bed each night. His ego didn't want to believe it.

  I could see him shifting his thinking. He stared at the pouch with a greedy eye.

  "I want possession," he said.

  I shook my head slowly, as though to dissuade him. "I don't know..." I said, letting it trail off.

  "Give it to me, Sis. If we're going to do this, I need to have possession."

  I let go a long-suffering sigh and held it out into the space between us.

  "Don't open it," I said. "I mean it. The results could be disastrous, and we have no idea how bad yet."

  He eyed it with a gleam in his eye.

  "One year," he said, lifting the pouch from my fingers and pocketing it. "You report once a month, not quarterly, through Skype so everyone can see you."

  I nodded, not wanting to look too eager.

  "And you pay me 75% of what you bring in."

  I opened my mouth to protest as he expected. He glared at me, expecting me to wince under his gaze. "Seventy five percent."

  "Alright," I said. I didn't want to heave a relieved sigh. It was too soon. I waited until he approached the door and pulled it open before I collapsed onto the sofa.

  I'd taken my life back in hand. I'd left Scottie's fate to his own choices. If he opened the pouch, he'd bring whatever hell had onto himself. If he trusted me, at least I'd be living on my own terms.

  And anything could happen in a year.

  I lay back on the sofa with my arm flung over the arm, thinking about dealing with the devil and wondering how I was going to earn enough in the next month to persuade Scottie, if he lived that long, that I was doing exactly what he wanted.

  And as fate would have it, I looked up to see Maddox peering down at me.

  "Hello, Kitten," he said. "How was your nap?"

  "Was I sleeping?" I said, not concerned that he'd walked into my apartment in the least. In fact, I rather enjoyed waking up to that face.

  He smiled down at me. "Snoring," he said.

  I sat up. Stretched.

  "What time is it?" I said.

  He pushed beside me on the sofa, shooting me a heart-stopping grin.

  "Time to offer you a proposition."

  <<<<>>>>

  Dear Reader:

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  Did you love Bone Hunter? Then you should read The Priestess and the Vampire by Thea Atkinson!

  From NY Times and USA Today Bestselling Author, Thea AtkinsonA "...uniquely dark, naughty, evil, sassy,& sarcastically witty vampire romance series" that some readers compare to Charlaine Harris' Southern Vampire Mysteries Meet Magnus and Jade. He's an ages-old vampire who owns a recruiting club and she's a snarky human
suffering flagging self-esteem. When a voodoo priestess sees a chance in Jade to revive a dead lover, her life really starts to suck.The Priestess and the Vampire is the first installment of the urban fantasy series Vampire Addictions that some readers are comparing to Charlaine Harris. If you like your UF filled with action, twists, surprises, fantasy, lust, and a bit of romance then you will want to sink your teeth into Vampire Addictions BUY THE PRIESTESS AND THE VAMPIRE and see what it's like to be recruited.

  Read more at Thea Atkinson’s site.