Destiny: A Hunter's Novel, Book 3 (2 page)

“Let me guess…it was when he lost his Mate?” I said, finishing Az’s thought. Az sat up on the floor, resting his forearms on his bent knees.

“Yeah.” He said.

“Even though you don’t play for Mastema anymore, you can still feel his emotions?”

“Delaney, anything within a thousand miles felt that.”

“Why isn’t Mastema here?”

“I’m trying to block him by thinking you’ve gone somewhere else. It’s a trick that’s messing with his tracking abilities. It won’t last for long, though.”

Right, I had forgotten what I’d unleashed. I walked over to my closet, grabbed a duffle bag and started throwing clothes into it. I could still feel Mastema’s power pouring over everything. I knew I didn’t have much time.

“Az, I am going to find where Anie is and you teleport to her,” I was trying to keep Mastema from being able to track Az. I was hoping Mastema would have a harder time finding him if I was the one that located Anie. “He can’t find you yet, but he knows I put a protection on you all. Won’t take long before he figures out how to break it.”

“Where’re you going?” Az asked quietly.

I stopped packing and dropped my duffle on the ground. I stood in front of Az. Close enough so I could feel the heat coming off his body. I put my hands on the sides of his face. He closed his eyes. In that moment, even though I had been struggling with the way things were between us, I knew, without a doubt, that not all hope was lost. We may have lost the battle, but not the war. At least, that’s what I told myself. Because with everything that was going to happen and had happened, I needed hope like I needed air.

I leaned in and while Az’s eyes were still closed and he was still absorbing my touch, I pressed my lips to his. Az didn’t hesitate, he kissed me with passion and need, want and lust…but not love. It was strange how I could tell the difference. I pulled back. Az was breathing hard, his heat flaring.

“I’ll be okay. I always am, right?” I said, running my thumbs over Az’s cheeks, memorizing his face. Not knowing the next time I would see him. “You tell the group that I’m fine and I will come back when I know it is safe…for all of us.”

I pulled my sleeve up and rubbed where the mark of the spell sat. I could feel where all of the people I protected were. Anie was with Fitzwar, of course. They were in Az and I’s apartment. They had better not gotten any fluids on our bed. I looked up.

“Anie and Fitz are at our apartment on Main Street. Go now.”

“What apartment? What aren’t you telling me!”

I hadn’t meant to slip up.

“Azrael, we do not have time for this.”

I grabbed the pen and paper I kept next to the bed and wrote the address to our apartment as well as the address to the convenience store down the street from our place. “Teleport to the store, then walk to the apartment.” Az was conflicted, I could tell, but he nodded and went as I told him to.

I closed my eyes and called the book to me. This was a trick I’d taught to myself. Well, it was actually an accident. I had been having a particularly horrific dream one night in which I saw the book being torn away from me and burned. I had felt like I was burning too. Apparently, that was something that scared the crap out of me. In the dream I had called the book to me and once it was in my hands, the dream changed to being a very peaceful scene of running creeks and mountains, very Coloradoesque. When I woke up, I was calm and had the book clasped in my arms lying across my body. I still hadn’t figured out why the book and I had this special bond, but we did and I couldn’t say that I minded. I always knew where it was. It was like having a piece of me outside my body – weird but also immensely handy.

I held my hands out and the book landed in my arms. I put the book in my duffle and swung it over my shoulder. I could still feel Mastema’s anger and it was getting closer. I racked my brain for a place that no one would look for me. There was only one place I could think of. Somewhere only one person knew I had visited one time. I could barely remember the place, but I still had the plane ticket to Ireland and a vague memory of a man with wild black hair and eyes that looked like mine.

I ran out the front door, my feet pounding on the snow and packing it down with wet thuds that were too loud. I still wore my snow boots so running at all, let alone quietly was difficult. Azrael’s trick must’ve run out because I could hear Mastema’s rage from the woods I was beating my path through.

I prayed. I prayed I would make it out before Mastema got me. I prayed I’d make it safely to where I needed to be. I prayed I’d get a tomorrow.

As I prayed, and waddle-ran, I had a weightless feeling and a tightness around my chest. I looked down at my feet moving, but nothing under them. I found a pair of arms wrapped around my chest. I looked behind me and found Serafine. This was Angel Serafine. She had a white light around her, as well as expansive red wings jutting from her back that matched her hair perfectly. She was magnificent.

“Only you. Only you would piss him off this badly. We’re going to be picking up the pieces from this for years.” She shook her head in disapproval.

“You were his Mate! Can you honestly tell me that you
never
pissed him off that bad?!”

Serafine mulled that over for a moment. I could see the moment that the memory returned to her.

“Tangshan, China, July 27, 1976.” Serafine became somber. “632,421 people died because of the earthquake my loving Mate caused.”

“Was the fight worth it?” I asked, intrigued to find out.

“Always was…until I couldn’t fight anymore.” I wasn’t really sure what that meant other than the fact she was referring to when she had died and become an Angel, at least I thought that was how you became an Angel. I could tell though, from the look on her face, this part of our conversation was over.

“So, where are we going?”

“We’re going to Ireland, Dublin, to be precise.” Serafine had heard my thoughts, obviously, because that is what I’d just been thinking.

“Please stay out of my head.”

“I only get your thoughts when you’re screaming them. Everything else in that jacked head of yours is a mystery.”

“That’s good. No one wants to be in there anyway. Sometimes not even me.”

“Amen to that.”

“If we’re all just cynics come undone, All just waiting for the gun, We are tied to the truth, The tie that binds me to you, I’m acting on my words, With all that I have heard…”

-
Hudson Taylor
, Battles

After hours of being in the air with Serafine, you would think I’d be freezing cold. About half way through the trip, I noticed I hadn’t once gotten cold. I figured it was either an Angel thing or a me thing. As I was pondering all of this, the ground came rushing at us and Serafine dropped me unceremoniously on the ground. I guess I should've at least been thankful that it was on wet grass and not hard cement or a body of water. I stood up and looked down at my feet. Instead of the ski boots I’d had on, I now had a pair of hiking boots covering my feet. Then I looked around me.

It was breath-takingly beautiful. I was surrounded by green. There were rolling hills all around us and a faint smell of the sea. I vaguely remember thinking when I was younger that there was so much green and wondering how it had gotten so green. Now, instead of questioning it, I relished in it. I loved to see the green; to see life leap from the earth and coil forward without apology. It was so different from what I was used to. Miami had the ocean, but it was a concrete paradise and the ocean had a completely different smell. The sea here was fresher somehow, less tainted.

"It's magnificent here." I said, still feeling Serafine's energy behind me.

"Yes, it is. Ireland is home,"She sounded sad, and I found her staring out at the rolling hills, lost in a memory that had nothing to do with the life she led now.

"Is this where you were born?"

"Not here. A few miles that way." She pointed to the hills she was looking at.

"I'm sorry." I was apologizing to her for some unknown event that had brought her such profound sadness.

"For what?" Serafine shook her mood off and put the edge back in her voice. "It was ages ago. So many I can barely remember any of Ireland." I think it was the first time she’d lied to me. I let it slide because what could I do? I couldn’t change the past.

"I appreciate you bringing me here."

"How would you have gotten all the way to Ireland in the time you needed to? Take a plane?" Serafine scoffed. Given, I had not thought about how I would've traveled. I normally loved a good dose of sarcasm, but it rubbed me the wrong way when Serafine used it. I didn’t like it when she was disappointed in me. So, naturally, I got defensive.

"Yes, a giant red angel is much less conspicuous." I turned my back to Serafine and heard a pop. When I turned back, she was gone. I wondered why she hadn't used that trick instead of flying me here. I guess everyone liked to spread their wings sometime.

"Time to figure out where dear old Granddad is." I said to myself. I set out to find the man I had only met once in my life but he’d left enough of an impression that I’d never forgotten him.

********************************************

I decided to take the route over the hills since that was where Serafine had pointed. I figured civilization had to be there somewhere. I thought maybe she was trying to help me indirectly. In reality, I’d hiked for miles over those rolling hills in the distance: nice to look at, time consuming to walk over.

As I pulled myself up to the top of the fourth hill, I found a little village below me. It looked sleepy and quiet, just what I needed right now. The drop down the other side was steep, but at least it was my last one and a down slide instead of a climb up.

I reached the middle of the village about twenty five minutes later. I took my time on the last hill down. I didn't want to look like I was in a hurry, which I was, or stand out, which I did since I was still wearing my ski pants and it felt like spring. There was a place called The Wet Mug on what seemed to be the main street in the village. Strangely enough, no one seemed to notice me as I walked by their houses, even the people gardening and children out playing. Not one person said hello,
bad cess to you (one of the only things I’d learned when I’d visited Ireland as a child, a common curse used in my Granddad’s village
)
or even acknowledged my existence with a nod. This place may work out better than I had hoped.

I pushed my way into the front entrance of The Wet Mug. The heavy wood door swung shut behind me. The bar was quiet, as you'd expect mid-day. The entire room and everything in it was fashioned mostly from a worn light wood that had to be old. I wondered how long this tavern had been standing.

There was a large bar with twelve stools at the back which I made my way toward. I was starving. I checked my pocket and found a little wad of cash.
Thank you Serafine
. It had to be her because it sure wasn't me. I pulled it out and found it was about a grand in Euros. Generous.

"What can I get you Lass?"

I jumped a little when I heard the voice, my hand automatically going to the duffle bag I carried, where the book was hidden. Finding it there calmed me. I looked up to find a giant of a man standing behind the bar. He had snuck up on me, which was weird because I was hard to sneak up on. Not only because I was a Hunter but because I had emerging powers as well. It was also strange considering his size. He had to be around 7 feet tall with dark brown hair.

He was imposing, visibly muscular but I also felt warmth and comfort radiating from him. I felt comfortable where I sat. He smiled widely with a set of perfect straight white teeth. After I took in his size from the bottom moving up, I was surprised to find swirling blue eyes. They were a moving color, dark and light blue, so at odds and yet so perfect on him. 

"Michael Donovan! You best keep to yourself son!"

I heard the booming voice from behind me and turned to find the last person I thought I would. The very man I’d been there to see: my Grandfather, on my mother's side, stood in the open doorway. Wind blew around him viciously. He was a little over six feet tall with jet black hair. He was good looking, with square features. He looked exactly like I remembered him. No really, he couldn't have aged a day since the last time I’d seen him, at least twenty three years ago.

I was frowning, when he took a deep breath and all the punishing wind around him stopped. He opened his eyes, my blue eyes staring back at me, a shrewdness emanating off of him that couldn’t be taught. He studied me for a moment longer, then smiled.

"Get your arse over here my little grandbaby!” He opened his arms. "Give me some love!" I got up from the bar and walked quickly into his embrace.

He wrapped me in his strength and warmth and at that moment I knew I was not alone. He pulled back, arms still wrapped around me, and looked over my face.

"God, ye look like your Ma," He said.

My hair was dark like my Mother's and my eyes clearly came from her side. But my height and build I got from my Dad. I blushed and pushed my face over his shoulder to hide it. My Grandfather released me and bellied up to the bar next to the stool I had just vacated, and shook the bartender’s hand.

“Two pints and two pies,” He said to the behemoth.

There was no exaggeration. The guy was massive. I looked up to his face and found the bartender smiling down at me again. Then as though the scowl on my face wasn’t even there, he wagged his eyebrows at me.

I instinctively leaned forward, I didn’t like being flirted with, but I wouldn’t back down from a perpetual flirt. Az wasn’t mine, but he was the only one I wanted. Yes, the bartender was attractive. I could appreciate his good looks. I was committed not dead. But I also didn’t want to encourage him, either.

“Donovan is it?” I asked him. He nodded. “Keep your eyes to yourself or I will take them. Are we clear?”

He threw his head back and bellowed his laughter. I didn’t see what he found funny.

“You’re truly your mother’s daughter.” Donovan looked over at my Grandfather, sobering in the moment. “You’re definitely your Granddad’s, too.” And with that, he disappeared though a door next to the bar. Maybe he was bipolar. He had gone from laughing to somber in the blink of an eye.

I was jealous this bartender knew more about my family than I did and I was determined to change that. My Father and I had not really spoken of my mother in much detail while I was growing up, since the Black Shadow had not been interested in talking, just punishing.

I knew I looked like her because the pictures on the walls of the Hunter’s HQ had told me so. I looked very much like her these days. My Granddad cleared his throat and I turned to him.

“So Lass, what brings ye back? Not that I’m complaining mind you – I’ve missed ‘ya. But why now?” And, like the Hoover Dam had busted, every confusing emotion I had been suppressing since I had learned I was some sort of supernatural cocktail came rushing forward. I was still working through so much – too much, if I was being honest.

“I needed a place no one would think to look for me.” I said, as a single tear rolled down my cheek. That was the sum of emotion I allowed myself, swiping it away quickly.

“Tell me all of it, Love. I need to know.”

“Is it safe?” I asked, looking at the walls of the old tavern. There were no symbols etched in the walls that I could see. My Granddad waved his hand, and like a drop of water ripples a lake, the walls of the tavern pub came to life with symbols, some familiar and others I’d never seen. But they weren’t Hunter’s symbols, they were Wiccan marks.

“Okay, you’re going to have to teach me that. That was awesome.” And for the first time since I had placed the protection spell on my inner circle and lost Az in the process, my face split with a smile of excitement, pleasure, and anticipation.

“First things first. Spill.”

I studied his face. Looking for a hint of deceit, a lie, a hidden Black Shadow, and found none. It didn’t mean it wasn’t hiding – I couldn’t be too careful. My life had been one long learning experience and I’d be damned if I was going to learn some lessons twice.

But since I had no one else I could trust, I dove in head first, starting from the beginning, when my father had been taken over by the Shadow, and moving forward. Telling him everything about how I grew up and my life. The Black Shadow, Az, Anie, Cade, Fitz, Nolito, Alewar – every detail I could recall I gave him willingly. We had only paused to get our beer and food, but I continued to talk after Donovan had left us again.

When it was all said and done it was three hours, eight beers (each), two pies and two bowls of pretzels later. I was exhausted, full and a little buzzed.

Eight beers was nothing for a Hunter to drink. Our systems worked faster than normal humans. The only reason I had a buzz at all was because I had chugged four of the beers over the last twenty minutes of our conversation.

I took a deep breath when I was finished and watched my Granddad’s face. He kept it carefully blank. I guessed hiding feelings ran on my mom’s side of the family. After what felt like an eternity, he turned to me.

“I’m sorry. The last time I saw you I felt darkness around you, but I couldn’t place where or what it was. I told your Da but he cast it aside.”

“Wasn’t me he was shadowing – it was Dad.”

“Perhaps.”

My Granddad was right. I didn’t know what the Black Shadow’s purpose had been in my life all those years. Was it to control the Hunters? Control me? Both? Neither?

He ran his hands over his face then clasped them in front of his mouth. I could see he was struggling with what I’d told him.

“Look how well you turned out. I’m surprised. And verra proud.” My Grandfather beamed at me.

“Some kids grow up because of their parents, and some kids grow up in spite of them.”

“Truer words were never spoken.” Donovan said from behind the bar. I jumped, grabbing my chest where my heart should have been, but since he was so damn quiet, my heart was now in my throat.

“Jesus you giant! I need to put a bell on you,” I said.

“Might work on him, the bell. But I doubt it.” My Granddad said, “He’s a shifter.” I turned and looked at Donovan again.

“A Were?” I asked, dreading the prospect of having another wolf in my life.

“No.” Donovan said. Now I was thoroughly confused. I only knew of Werewolves and Drovers being able to shift. There were myths about other shifters but none had ever been confirmed.

“A Drover?”

“No.”

“A bat?”

“No.” I figured I may as well roll with the twenty questions.

“A bird of some sort?”

“Nah.”

“A snake?”

“No.”

“Warm blooded or cold blooded?”

“Hot.” I could tell by the suggestion in his eyes, there was a double meaning in his answer.

“A flying squirrel?” He just smirked at that. “A kangaroo?”

“Nope.”

“A kitty?”

At that, my Granddad laughed. I then watched, wide eyed, as Donovan shifted into the biggest lion I had ever seen. I had seen Fitz shift into a wolf, it was seamless and easy, but with Donovan’s animal being a giant lion he seemed to need a few more seconds to shift.

Of course, he was the first lion I had seen that wasn’t in a cage, but that was beside the point. He leaned his paws up against the bar, standing on his hind legs, and roared in my face.