Getting the attention of the bartender, I ordered a scotch, neat. I nodded gratefully when he placed the drink in front of me and downed it in one long gulp, enjoying the burn as it slid down my throat with purpose. Only when I’d placed the empty glass back on the bar did I turn to face the man next to me. He had his head cocked to the side and was regarding me with marked interest. I didn’t like it.
“What do you want from me, Malaki?”
“We have a favour to ask of you.”
Cold seeped into my bones, in complete juxtaposition to the warm numbness the whisky was spreading through my veins. “I have no interest in serving angels.”
Malaki shrugged. “Personally, I prefer the term ‘messenger of God’ and technically you are on our side.”
“I’m not on anyone’s side but my own.” I knew I was fighting a losing battle because Malaki’s favour didn’t sound like a request, it sounded like an order.
“I’m not sure the hunters’ council would agree with that.”
I ignored the comment and stared into his steely grey eyes, refusing to look away even though holding his gaze was as difficult as swimming against the current in a heavy storm. “I repeat, what do you want from me?”
Power oozed out of the angel’s every pore, making my skin prickle as it trickled over me, raising goosebumps on my arms. “We’re having a little problem with a demon in Dallas,” Malaki said conversationally, as though he was discussing something as innocuous as the weather.
I shook my head. “I don’t get involved with demons.” On the few occasions I’d crossed paths with them in the past, I’d barely escaped with my life.
“No, but this one has aligned himself with some powerful supernaturals, specifically of the furry kind, and I believe those do come under your jurisdiction.”
Crap, he had me there, but, if I was smart, the situation could work to my advantage.
“Okay, so let’s say I help you with your little demon problem. Would you be willing to do something for me in return?”
“If you’re referring to the infamous partner in crime that has recently gone missing, I’m afraid there isn’t a lot I can do about that.”
My ears pricked. “How do you know about Matt?”
Malaki lifted one perfectly shaped brow, his smug grin returning. “I have my sources.”
“If you know that he’s missing, then you also know who took him and where he’s being held.”
Malaki nodded and the self-satisfied grin that I was so used to seeing on his face became wider. “I do, as it happens. I also know why he was taken and I have it on very good authority that he is not being harmed. I’ll be more than happy to give you his location when you’ve helped me find the demon in Dallas.”
I scowled. “Does the man upstairs know about your penchant for blackmail?”
“Needs must,” he returned with a shrug.
“Fine, give me the damn details.”
I didn’t like my position one little bit, but Malaki had me boxed into a corner and he knew it. I could have just waited to see if Connor could come up with the goods, but it didn’t pay to get on the wrong side of angels. Besides, Malaki would owe me a favour. Even though I disliked him, he would be a good person to have fighting in my corner. Angels were conniving SOBs and would do almost anything to achieve their objectives, but if they owed you something, they always paid up.
The demon, as it turned out, was no small fry. I hadn’t crossed paths with him personally, but I had heard of him. Barbatos was apparently working with a pack of were-shifters in Dallas. Together, they had stolen a sacred book from a witch in a local coven. Malaki didn’t know all the details or what the shifters had offered as compensation for helping them, but demons didn’t come cheap. Neither did they accept money as payment. Souls were of far greater use to them and a more common bargaining tool.
When I’d learned everything Malaki intended to tell me about the demon, which wasn’t a lot, I left him at the bar. He’d been eyeing up a pair of blondes during our conversation and was already making his way over to their table before I was out of the door. Malaki told me to call him when I’d located the demon, or more specifically, the book that the demon had stolen. He seemed more eager to get his hands on that than the demon himself. During the cab ride back to the motel, I got a call from Connor. I checked my watch, surprised to be hearing from him so soon.
“Meet me at Oakwood cemetery as soon as you can,” he said, then promptly hung up.
With a roll of my eyes, I gave the cab driver my new destination and ten minutes later we were pulling up outside the front gates. It sure was turning out to be one shitty night.
The cemetery was huge. Forty acres, to be precise. I knew because I’d spent countless hours pacing it while waiting for the newly undead to rise. Not one of my favourite pastimes, but when you’re a vampire hunter, cemeteries are undoubtedly the best places to catch your quarry.
The cab driver had raised his eyebrows when I told him where to drop me off, but he knew better than to ask questions. He probably assumed I was a junkie looking to score my next fix. Why else would a woman be visiting a graveyard in the dead of night?
When the tail lights of the cab had disappeared, I trudged on to my destination. Two years had passed since I’d last visited the cemetery, but I retraced my steps as though I’d made them only yesterday. I knew where Connor would be waiting. We’d hunted together a myriad of times before I’d left Texas and we’d always met in the same place—a large grey tombstone that towered above its neighbours and sat about five hundred yards in to the east.
I snaked my way through countless graves, some of them large and overly ostentatious, others a breeding ground for weeds and not even a simple wooden cross to mark the occupants’ time on earth. Those graves always reminded me of how small and insignificant I was, and how quickly a person could be forgotten if they left no legacy behind or had no family to grieve for them.
“I need that information,” I greeted when I reached the tombstone that Connor was leaning against. “I don’t have time to hunt, Connor. Matt needs me.”
Connor lifted his head and met my gaze. Even in the moonlight I could see the regret flickering in his eyes, the slight downturn to his mouth.
“I’m sorry, Raven,” he whispered.
No. The blood in my veins turned to ice. There was no time to run. When I turned, wolves were closing in on me from every direction. Why the hell hadn’t I sensed them when I entered the graveyard? My instincts were usually spot on, even when I had a lot on my mind, which was most of the time. I tried to slip around two very large and snarling grey beasts, but the growls that ripped from their throats stopped me in my tracks. They had me surrounded. Connor’s betrayal cut me to the quick. I had a fair idea of how much I’d hurt him, but I had never expected him to turn on me in this way. Had I really wounded him so much that he wished me dead?
As I looked around for an escape route, a tall, burly figure stepped out from behind a tree and strode towards me. He was wearing a self-satisfied grin that widened when he stepped up next to me.
I shook my head and let out a long sigh. “I should have known it was you. You always did have a taste for the dramatic, Darius.”
The alpha let out a low chuckle. “And you always had a death wish. Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t I warn you not to set foot on pack land again?”
“Oh! You were serious about that! I thought you were just blowing steam out of your ass.”
The growl that tore from Darius’ throat was low and menacing and his eyes flashed with fierce hatred before shifting to their wolf form. I should have been afraid, but I’d learned a long time ago that there was no point to fear. It only clouded your judgement—made you weak. I thought about running, but there wasn’t any point. Besides, the three inch stilettos on my feet were hardly conducive to running for your life. Even without them, I couldn’t have outrun a pack of wolves. I wouldn’t have made it five feet. Suck it up, Raven, he’s got you beat.
There’ll be other chances to escape.
Darius clearly didn’t want me dead because I was still breathing, although he had always struck me as the type of man who liked to play with his food.
“So, how are we going to do this?” I asked, silently weighing up my options.
“You’re going to come with us and answer a few questions I have about the watchers’ council. If I like the answers, I might let you live.”
I snorted. “Sounds reasonable. Why don’t you name the place? I’ll meet you there.”
The cold glint in Darius’ eyes made him look even meaner than usual and when he chuckled there was little humour to the sound. It sent icy cold shivers down my spine.
“Oh you’d like that, wouldn’t you?” he said wryly. “Unfortunately, this is something that won’t keep.”
Darius’ menacing grin was the last thing I saw before a sharp blow caught me on the back of my head. As I fell to the ground, the darkness consumed me and I could have sworn I heard Connor calling out my name.
Chapter Four
When I opened my eyes, I was lying on a small cot in the corner of a cold, damp room. The smell of mould and decay was so overpowering that I couldn’t get a bead on anything but the stale, musty air. My windowless prison was evidently supposed to rattle me, but Darius didn’t know me as well as he thought he did. I’d been in worse places, the last just a few hours before.
When I got to my feet, my legs shook and my head felt fuzzy like it had been stuffed full of cotton candy. I took a few calming breaths and put a hand on the exposed brick wall to steady myself. When the wooziness passed, I stretched my arms above my head and arched my back, the bones in my shoulders cricking ominously. My entire body felt stiff and sore, but a quick inspection revealed my injuries to be far from life threatening. I had a large bruise on my thigh, possibly from where I had hit the ground in the graveyard, but I couldn’t be certain.
The throb in the back of my head was a minor annoyance and when I touched the tender spot, there was a small lump, but the blow I’d taken hadn’t broken the skin. The cuts on my chest were very nearly healed, which told me I’d been unconscious for longer than I’d first suspected—at least a couple of hours, maybe more. I checked my watch. Damn it. Over three hours had passed. Time was fast running out. Neal wouldn’t spare me a minute more than the seventy-two hours he’d promised. I had to find Matt.
Crossing the small space, I put my ear to the room’s only door. Silence. What the hell was Darius up to? After listening for a minute and hearing nothing but my own breathing, I tried the doorknob, unsurprised to find it locked.
“Darius!” I shouted. “Is this your plan? You figured you’d bore me to death!”
No reply. With a frustrated sigh, I paced the room for what felt like a couple of hours, but couldn’t have been more than ten minutes tops. My purse wasn’t in the room, but then my stake was inside it and Darius wasn’t stupid enough to leave me with a weapon. When the sound of raised voices neared the room, I turned my attention back to the door. It sounded like there was an argument going on out there, no—a fight.
“Hey! What the hell are you playing—?”
With a loud creak, a bolt slid free, cutting off my words right before Connor swung open the door and stepped into the room.
I put my hands on my hips and scowled at him. “You? He sent you to do his dirty work?”
Connor rolled his eyes. “If you want to get out of here, I suggest you come with me.”
“Huh?”
“Now would be good. We’ve got about another five minutes before Darius’ men discover the guard I just knocked unconscious.”
“Right. You think I’m falling for that?”
Another roll of the eyes. This time, Connor didn’t reply, just strode farther into the room, grabbed my arm and dragged me out into a dimly lit corridor that looked to be part of a network of underground tunnels. We stepped over a wolf, who was indeed unconscious, his body as still as a waxwork dummy. Without pause, we hurried along the windy narrow length to what I hoped was the exit.
“Why are you helping me?” I asked. “It’s a bit odd after telling Darius where he could find me, don’t you think?”
Connor stopped abruptly and pushed me up against the cold, damp wall, pressing his firm, muscular body against mine. His eyes looked wild, and, as I stared into them, the irises flickered, changing to their wolf form before returning to their usual shade of blue.
“You think I’d do that to you?” he all but growled. “Is that what you really believe? I didn’t tell Darius shit, okay?”
“Then why—?”
Connor didn’t allow me to finish the sentence. He leaned in and kissed me roughly, thrusting his tongue into my mouth. I meant to protest, I really did, but the kiss surprised the hell out of me and I could do nothing but hold on for the ride, and kiss him back. Connor’s hands slid down my sides until they reached my hips. With bruising strength he yanked me to him, letting me feel every inch of the hardness in his pants. His evident arousal fuelled mine and I grabbed a handful of his firm ass as his tongue reacquainted itself with my mouth, making me breathless and desperate for more. God, but I’d missed his kisses, his touch. It had been too long since I’d felt his body moving against mine, felt the arousal in his pants or heard him call out my name as he came.
It was Connor that pulled away first. He was breathing heavily, his beautiful eyes shifted to their wolf form, and, though perhaps it shouldn’t have, the sight aroused me. I loved it when Connor lost control like that.
“Let’s get out of here.” Connor’s voice was gravelly and dangerously low. “Then I’ll tell you everything.” The growly, animalistic cadence was like a hit of adrenaline in my veins, sending my need spiralling, but this wasn’t the time for us to play catch up and it certainly wasn’t the place.
When I nodded in agreement, we got moving again. The passageway widened as we ran on and the air, which had been thick and oppressive, soon became cleaner, the freshness indicating we were nearing the tunnel’s end. But as we reached the door I assumed led to freedom, Connor changed direction, veering right.
“Where are you going?” I demanded. “We’ve just passed the exit.”
Connor shook his head. “That door leads into the garden right in front of Darius’ mansion. There are guards stationed outside. I know another way out.”
I hesitated, wondering if I should trust Connor a second time, but it wasn’t like I had a whole bunch of options. I’d been to Darius’ mansion and I knew how heavily guarded he kept his home. Darius had already captured me so he would gain nothing from having Connor pretend to free me—unless it was to gain my confidence. But every fibre of my being told me that Connor wouldn’t stoop that low. The truth was, I still trusted him and could only hope that he wouldn’t prove me wrong.
“I can practically hear the cogs turning in your head,” Connor said quietly. “Quit thinking and have a little faith in me.”
I grabbed his arm and made him meet my eyes. “I trust you,” I said with conviction. As I spoke the words, I realised that they were true. I did trust him.
The look in Connor’s eyes was difficult to decipher, as were the expressions that flittered across his face. My hunter instincts picked up on pain and sadness, but there was another emotion present—something that looked a lot like hope. Did he still love me? No. That was too much to hope for—stupid of me to even entertain the idea. His eyes flickered again, shifting to their wolf form and back in a matter of seconds. When he opened his mouth to speak, his incredibly sharp incisors tore through his gums.
I drew in a sharp breath. “Connor, your teeth.”
He tore his gaze away and pulled back. “Don’t worry about it. Let’s keep moving.”
As I followed in Connor’s wake, I knew I had to ditch him as soon as we got out. Being around him again was too difficult—too confusing. It made me want things I couldn’t have. If Connor didn’t have the information I needed to find Matt then I’d just ha
ve to search for him on my own. And if I helped Malaki find the demon in Dallas then he’d help me locate Matt. I didn’t need Connor.
That I wanted him was beside the damn point.
We passed many more windowless rooms as we snaked through the winding tunnels, and most had what looked to be reinforced steel bolts on the doors.
“What is this place used for exactly?”
Connor sighed. “Darius keeps his pack mates down here during the full moon. They’re too dangerous to be left around humans—at least for their first few shifts.”
“Were you kept down here when you first shifted?”
“We all are,” Connor said simply.
I didn’t ask any more questions. We stopped when we came to a crossroads in the tunnel system. Connor frowned and scratched the back of his head and, as he looked from left to right, a frustrated growl left his throat.
“You don’t know where you’re going, do you?”
“Sure. Sort of. It’s just been a while since I was down here last.”
After a moment’s deliberation, Connor decided on the tunnel to the left. I hoped he’d made the right choice. The last thing we needed was to get lost. We’d be sitting ducks. Darius wouldn’t hesitate to kill me if he found me and, by helping me escape, Connor had just painted a big old target on his back too. Darius would never forgive Connor for betraying him. He’d make an example of him.
“You know Darius is going to come after you for helping me, right?”
When Connor turned and met my gaze, the intensity in his eyes was fierce. “What? Did you think I was going to leave you down here to rot? Besides, I’ve spent too many years playing the good little lap dog. If he wants to come after me, let him.”
I shuddered. The tone in Connor’s voice left no room for misinterpretation. If Darius came after him, they were going to fight and there were few wolves stronger than the alpha or any brave enough to even attempt to take him on. That Connor would put himself in such a dangerous position was not a welcome thought, but it confirmed one thing at least. Connor still cared for me—a lot.
A Demon in Dallas Page 3