DH 05 Kiss Of The Night (13 page)

He found his mother in her sitting room with two of her Charonte demons flanking her couch. Xedrix, her own personal guard, was to her right. His skin was navy blue in color, his eyes vibrant yel ow. Black horns stood out from his equal y blue hair and his wings were a deep blood red. He stood unmoving with one hand near the Destroyer’s shoulder.

The other demon was of a lesser order, but for some reason his mother favored Sabina. She had long, green hair that complemented her yel ow skin. Her eyes were the same color as her hair and her horns and wings an odd deep shade of orange.

The demons watched him closely, but neither moved nor spoke while his mother sat as if lost in thought.

Her windows were open, looking out onto a garden where only black flowers grew, in memory of his dead brother. The Destroyer’s other son had perished untold centuries ago and to this day she mourned his death.

Just as she rejoiced in Stryker’s continued life.

Her long white-blond hair fel around her in waves of perfection. Even though she was older than time, Apol ymi had the face of a beautiful young woman in her mid-twenties. Her black gauzy gown blended into the black of her couch, making it hard to see where one ended and the other began.

She was motionless as she stared outside, holding a black satin pil ow in her lap. “They are trying to liberate me.”

He paused at her words. “Who?”

“Those stupid Greeks. They think I wil side with them in gratitude.” She laughed bitterly.

Stryker smiled wryly at the very thought. His mother hated the Greek pantheon zealously. “Wil they succeed?”

“No. The Elekti wil stop them. As he always does.” She turned her head to look at him. Her pale, pale eyes had no color. Ice glittered on her eyelashes and her translucent skin was iridescent, giving her a delicate, fragile appearance. But there was nothing fragile about the Destroyer.

She was as her name declared, destruction. She had consigned every member of her family to the death realm from where they would never return.

Her power was absolute and it was only through betrayal that she had ended up imprisoned here in Kalosis, where she could see the human world, but not participate in it. Stryker and his fel ow Daimons could use the bolt-holes to come and go out of this realm, but she could not.

Not until the seal of Atlantis was broken, and Stryker had no idea how to do it. Apol ymi had never disclosed that to him.

“Why did you not kil the heiress?” she asked.

“The Abadonna opened the portal.”

Again his mother was so stil as to not appear real. After several seconds, she laughed. The sound was soft and gentle, ringing through the air like music.

“Good one, Artemis,” she said out loud. “You’re learning. But it won’t save you or that scabby brother you protect.” She pushed herself up from her couch, put the pil ow down, and walked over to Stryker. “Were you hurt,
m’gios
?”

He always felt a rush of warmth whenever she referred to him as her son. “No.” Xedrix moved to whisper into the Destroyer’s ear.

“No,” she said out loud. “The Abadonna is not to be touched. She has torn loyalties and I wil not take advantage of her kind nature, unlike some goddesses I can name. She is innocent in this and I wil not have her punished for it.”

The Destroyer drummed two fingers on her chin. “The question is, what is that bitch Artemis planning?” She closed her eyes. “Katra,” she breathed, cal ing out to the Abadonna.

After a few seconds, Apol ymi let out a disgusted noise. “She refuses to answer… Fine,” she said in a voice Stryker knew could transcend this realm and be heard by Katra. “Protect Artemis and Apol o’s heiress if you must. But know you can’t stop me. No one can.”

She turned back to Stryker. “We wil have to separate Katra from the heiress.”

“How? If the Abadonna continues to open the portal, we are powerless. You know we must step through it whenever it opens.”

The Destroyer laughed again. “Life is a chess game, Strykerius, haven’t you learned that yet? Whenever you move to protect the pawns, you leave your queen open to attack.”

“Meaning?”

“The Abadonna can’t be everywhere at once. If you can’t get to the heiress, then attack something else the Abadonna cares for.”

He smiled at that. “I was so hoping you would say that.”

Cassandra was so angry that she didn’t know what to do. Actual y, she did. But that involved having Wulf tied up in a room and her having a very large broom in her hands to beat him with.

Or better yet, a stick with thorns!

Unfortunately, it would take more than her and Kat to tie up the obnoxious oaf.

As Kat drove her back to her apartment, she fought against screaming and railing at the imbecile who had al the compassion of a leek pea.

She hadn’t realized just how much she had opened herself up to the Wulf of her dreams. How much of herself she had given to him. She had never been the kind of woman to trust anyone, least of al a man. Yet she had welcomed him into her heart and body.

How much more—

She paused her silent tirade as her thoughts shifted.

Wait…

He remembered their dreams too.

He had accused her of trying to—

“Why didn’t I think of that while we were at the club?” Cassandra asked out loud.

“Think of what?”

She looked over at Kat, whose face was il uminated by the light of the dashboard. “Do you remember what Wulf said in the bar? He remembered me from his dreams and I remember him from mine. Do you think our dreams could be real?”

“Wulf was at the bar?” Kat asked as she frowned at Cassandra. “The Dark-Hunter you’ve been dreaming about was there tonight? When?”

“Didn’t you see him?” Cassandra countered. “He came right up to us after the fight and yel ed at me for being an Apol ite.”

“The only person who came right up to us was the Daimon.” Cassandra opened her mouth to correct her, then remembered what Wulf had said about people forgetting him. Good grief, whatever it was had made her bodyguard completely forget him too.

“Okay,” she said, trying again. “Forget about Wulf being there and let’s go back to the other question. Do you think the dreams I’ve been having could be real? Maybe some kind of alternate consciousness or something?”

Kat snorted. “Five years ago I didn’t think vampires were real. You’ve shown me differently. Honey, given your freaky life, I would say most anything is possible.” True. “Yeah, but I’ve never heard of anyone who could do this.”

“I don’t know. Remember that thing we saw online about the Dream-Hunters earlier today? They can infiltrate dreams. You think they could have had something to do with this?”

“I don’t know. Maybe. But the Dream-Hunter.com site said that they infiltrated dreams themselves. It didn’t have anything on there about them putting two people together in a dream.”

“Yeah, but if they are sleep gods, it only stands to reason they could put two people together in their own domain.”

“What are you saying, Kat?”

“I’m just saying maybe you know Wulf better than you think you do. Maybe every dream you’ve had with him
has
been real.”

Wulf had no real destination in mind as he drove through St. Paul. Al he could focus on was Cassandra and the betrayal he felt.

“It figures,” he snarled. Al this time and he had final y found an eligible woman to remember him only to have her turn out to be an Apol ite—the only kind of woman who was completely taboo for him to interact with.

“I’m such an idiot.”

His phone rang. Wulf picked it up and answered it.

“What happened?”

He flinched as he heard Acheron Parthenopaeus’s thickly accented voice on the other end. Anytime Ash became real y angry, he reverted to his Atlantean accent.

Wulf decided to play ignorant. “What?”

“I just got a cal from Dante about the attack tonight in his club. What exactly went down?” Wulf let out a tired breath. “I don’t know. A bolt-hole opened and a group of Daimons came out. The leader of them had black hair, by the way. I didn’t think that was possible.”

“It’s not his natural hair color. Trust me. Stryker discovered L’Oreal a while back.” Wulf pul ed off the road as that tidbit went through him like a hot-bladed knife. “You know this guy?” Acheron didn’t respond. “I need you and Corbin to pul back from Stryker and his men.” There was something in Acheron’s tone that made Wulf’s blood run cold. If he didn’t know better, he’d swear he heard real warning there. “He’s just a Daimon, Ash.”

“No he’s not and he doesn’t come out to feed like the others.”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s a long story. Look, I can’t leave New Orleans right now. I’ve got enough shit to deal with down here, which is probably why Stryker is pul ing his crap now. He knows I’m distracted.”

“Yeah, wel , don’t worry about it. I’ve never met a Daimon yet I couldn’t take.” Acheron made a noise of disagreement. “Guess again, little brother. You just met one, and trust me, he’s not like any you’ve ever met before. He makes Desiderius look like a pet hamster.” Wulf sat back in his seat as traffic raced by him. There was definitely something more to this than Acheron was spil ing. Of course, the man was good at that. Acheron kept secrets from al the Dark-Hunters and never revealed any personal information about himself.

Enigmatic, cocky, and powerful, Acheron was the oldest of the Dark-Hunters and the one they al turned to for information and advice. For two thousand years, Acheron had fought the Daimons al alone without any other Dark-Hunters. Hel , the man had been around since before the Daimons had even been created.

Ash knew things they could only guess at. And right now, Wulf needed some answers.

“How come you know so much about this one when you didn’t know much about Desiderius?” Wulf asked.

As expected, Ash didn’t answer. “The panthers said you were with a woman tonight. Cassandra Peters.”

“You know her too?”

Again Ash ignored the question. “I need you to protect her.”

“Bul shit,” Wulf snapped, angered over the fact that he already felt used by her. The last thing he wanted was to give her another shot at messing with his head. He’d never liked anyone toying with him, and after the way Morginne had used and betrayed him, the last thing he needed was another woman out to screw him to get what she wanted. “She’s an Apol ite.”

“I know what she is and she has to be protected at al costs.”

“Why?”

To his amazement, Acheron actual y answered. “Because she holds the fate of the world in her hands, Wulf. If they kil her, Daimons are going to be the very least of our problems.” This was not what he wanted to hear tonight.

Wulf growled at Ash. “I real y hate it when you say things like that.” He paused as another thought occurred to him. “If she’s so important, why aren’t
you
here guarding her?”

“Mostly because this ain’t
Buffy
and there’s not one single Hel mouth to guard. I’m up to my armpits in Armageddon down here in New Orleans and not even I can physical y be in two places at once. She’s your responsibility, Wulf. Don’t let me down.”

Against his better judgment, Wulf listened to Ash give him Cassandra’s address.

“And Wulf?”

“Yeah?”

“Have you ever noticed that salvation, much like your car keys, is usual y found where and when you least expect it?”

He frowned at Ash’s esoteric words. The man was real y, real y strange. “What the hel does that mean?”

“You’l see.” Ash hung up.

“I real y hate it when he plays Oracle,” he said between clenched teeth as he turned his SUV around and headed toward Cassandra’s.

This sucked. The last thing he wanted was to be near a woman who had seduced him so completely.

A woman he knew he could never touch in the real flesh. That would be an even bigger mistake than the one he’d already made. She was an Apol ite. And for the last twelve hundred years, he had spent his life pursuing her kind and kil ing them.

And yet the woman cal ed out to him in a way that tore through him.

What was he going to do? How could he uphold his code as a Dark-Hunter and keep away from her when al he real y wanted to do was take her into his arms and see if she tasted as good in real life as she had in his dreams…

Kat thoroughly searched the apartment before she al owed Cassandra to lock the door.

“Why are you so nervous?” Cassandra asked. “We defeated the Daimons.”

“Maybe,” Kat said. “I just keep hearing that guy’s voice in my head tel ing me that it’s not over. I think our friends are going to be back. Real soon.”

Cassandra’s nervousness came back with a vengeance. It had been way too close tonight. The mere fact that Kat had refused to let them fight the Daimons and had opted instead to hide in a corner of the bar told her just how dangerous these men were.

She stil wasn’t sure why Kat had pul ed her away from them.

Neither one of them cowered from anyone or anything.

Not until now.

“So what should we do?” Cassandra asked.

Kat triple-locked the door and pul ed the gun from her purse. “Put our heads between our knees and kiss our butts good-bye.”

Cassandra was stunned by the unexpected words. “Excuse me?”

“Nothing.” Kat offered her an encouraging smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’m going to go make a cal , okay?”

“Sure.”

Cassandra went to her room, and did her best not to relive the night her mother had died. There had been a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach al day long. Just like she had now.

She wasn’t safe. No Daimon had ever attacked the way they did tonight.

The Daimons at the club hadn’t come out to feed or to play. They had been special y trained and had come out as if they had known exactly where she was.

Who she was.

But how?

Could they find her even now?

Terror fil ed her. She went to her dresser and pul ed open the top drawer. In it was a smal arsenal of weapons, including the dagger of her mother’s people that had been handed down to her.

She didn’t know how many people had a dagger for a security blanket, but then there weren’t many people who grew up the way she had either.