Hunted tgl-3 (11 page)

“The assistant manager.”

“Well, Mr. Assistant Manager.” Bran casually reached out and flicked imaginary dirt from the shoulder of the demon’s jacket. “We are here to see my brother. So why don’t you run along like a good minion and fetch him?”

Confusion flashed across the demon’s face but he recovered fast. “Your brother?”

“Tall, gray eyes, silver hair…otherwise known as your boss. Meanwhile, we would like a table for,” Bran glanced at us and grinned, then faced the demons and added, “six, preferably away from the Nosferatus. My friends have a problem watching them feed.”

The demon’s eyes changed from gray to red. “You cannot be in here. Take your friends and leave, before someone gets hurt.”

“And guess who that someone will be. You or your minions.” Bran turned his head and surveyed the customers seated to our left then those on the right before adding, “or them. Tell my brother we are here.” He nudged the demon out of his way and the other two stepped aside. He waited for us to walk past him, then he joined Remy in the rear. “We’ll start with some drinks, please.”

We headed to the bar, a heavy silence falling over the restaurant. Bran was spoiling for a fight. From the smirks on Sykes and Remy’s face, they were feeling exactly like him.

The customers around the bar abandoned their stools when they saw us coming, even though only four of us sat. Sykes and I flanked Kim and Izzy. Remy and Bran remained standing, and faced the assistant manager and his bouncers. We watched the room through the mirror behind the bar, our bodies tense, eyes not missing a thing.

We were not wanted here. Hatred twisted their faces and flowed to me.

“Your brother is not here,” Mr. Assistant Manager said between clenched teeth. “He’s on Mount Hermon.”

Mount Hermon? The cluster of mountains in the Golan Heights in the Middle East? When the Principalities rebelled against their directive to guard humans and chose to marry human women instead, they met on Mount Hermon. Was it really the same one?

“Then we’ll wait while you send for him. May we see the menu now?” Bran asked, his voice carrying in the quiet room.

“I don’t know where Mount Hermon is located,” the assistant manager snapped. “He told me he was headed there a week ago.”

We looked at each other. Gavyn hadn’t been seen in a week and we first saw the lightning demon a week ago.

“Find him,” Bran ordered.

The assistant manager dismissed his minions with a flicker of his fingers.

“Hey,” a female shouted, drawing our attention to the left side of the room. “You have some nerve showing your faces here in our club after you kidnapped our brothers and sisters.”

“We haven’t kidnapped anyone,” Bran called back. “We haven’t even bothered you for months. You should be thanking us.”

The female hissed, a row of teeth like a shark’s elongating from her gums. Her male companion gripped her arm as though to calm her down, then he said, “Her sister disappeared last week. Who else could have taken her except your people?”

Bran shrugged. “She must have done something really bad to be dispatched to Tartarus. Unfortunately, it wasn’t by
us.”

“She’s not in Tartarus,” the female retorted, the shark teeth sinking back into her gums. Her voice shook, then she added, “I’d know.”

Bran frowned. “How?”

“We are twins and I’ve been able to feel what she feels since we were children. She’s alive. What do you want with her?”

We glanced at each other.

“Sorry, we can’t help you there, lady,” Bran said with indifference. “We didn’t touch her. Now if you’ll excuse us. We’d like to eat lunch in peace.”

“You won’t be served until we get some answers,” a male voice snarled and slowly got to his feet. Dressed in an expensive suit, his eyebrows connected above the bridge of his nose. His lunch partners got up too, and the four of them left their table and closed in on us. “My two sons were taken two days ago from their apartment.”

“My neighbors’ daughter is missing too,” his buddy on the right added.

“There will be no fighting in here,” the assistant manager yelled. “You know the rules.”

“To Tartarus with the rules. They are kidnapping our children for some secret agenda and we are supposed to let them?” Uni-brow lashed out in an angry voice. He jabbed a hand in the direction of the assistant manager. “And now you let them walk in here like they own the place.”

“I didn’t,” the assistant manager protested. “They just appeared.”

“Why would we kidnap your people?” Bran asked.

“To turn them into Guardians the way they turned you,” Uni-brow added.

“No one turned me,” Bran snapped. “I chose to be a Guardian.”

“Then you are a traitor,” Uni-brow yelled.

“Traitor,” his buddies echoed.

The room erupted as more voices joined them. A prickly feeling of imminent danger shot up my spine and I whipped around to see a knife sailing toward me. I froze as it inched closer and closer as though someone had slowed down time. It stopped a few inches from my face. The room grew silent, eyes on me and the knife. Then Izzy appeared beside me.

You okay?
she asked

She had just saved my life by stopping time. Unlike humans and inanimate objects, Nephilim didn’t freeze when time stopped.

No, but thank you
. I reached out and gripped the handle. There was a collective gasp around the room as though I’d done the unthinkable. It was beautifully crafted, the black blade gleaming under the artificial light, the handle curved perfectly for a small hand. A woman’s weapon. I’d never held a demon’s blade before. A strange energy vibe came from it.

The thing about my heightened senses was I didn’t just feel others’ emotions, I could separate them. There was so much hatred toward us in the room, but mingled with it were guilt and fear. I weeded through the emotions until I locked onto the guilty party—three of them—father, mother and son. My gaze locked with the boy’s. He looked young, probably early teens, maybe a tween. His mother gripped his arm as though to keep him in his seat.

The father stood. “I threw the knife.”

“No, you didn’t,” I said, speaking slowly. My hand tingled. The ancient writings appeared around my wrist and the back of my hand. The lettering was faint, but whatever power that accompanied them was strong enough to ignite the knife. I opened my hand and let go of the flaming knife. By the time it reached the floor, there was nothing left but a pile of ashes. “Your son did.”

“I will take his place and fight you,” the father said, starting toward me while the son struggled against his mother’s grip.

“No. I don’t want to fight you. We are here on personal business. Like my friend said, we
have
not taken your friends and relatives, and fighting us will not bring them back. When we finish our business here, we’ll leave. Oh, good luck finding your missing friends and family.”

The demon didn’t mask his surprise. Slowly, he moved back to his chair and sat. Murmurs rippled across the room. Even demons seated on the balcony moved inside and inched closer.

“What business could you possibly have with one of us?” someone asked.

“We are looking for the Summoners,” I said.

The murmuring stopped.

“We know that some of you summoned the Tribe, malevolent minions who love to hide inside clouds and play with lightning, break rules and hurt humans,” I added.

Two things happened simultaneously—there was mass teleporting from the restaurant and thuds came from behind me. I turned and blinked. Bran, Remy, and Sykes were fighting Uni-brow and his men. They weren’t using their weapons just open-hand strikes and well-aimed kicks guaranteed to cause maximum pain.

The assistant manager, sprawled on one of the chairs, watched them with a defeated expression on his face as they broke tables, plates and glass, spilled leftover food and spilled drinks.

“I guess no one wants to discuss the Summoners or the Tribe,” Izzy said.

“I guess not. You think they’d want to gloat. Demons can be so weird sometimes. Should we help them?” I asked, nodding at the guys.

“No, they’re having fun,” Kim said.

“How did you ignite the dagger?” Izzy asked.

“I don’t know. It just happened.” I checked my palm and the back of my hand. The writings were gone. I winced when Uni-brow landed a blow on Bran’s chin. He staggered backward, recovered and went after the demon with a kick, followed by a well-placed jab between his neck and shoulder. The demon dropped to his knees.

“We might as well get something to drink while we wait for them to finish,” Kim said and teleported behind the bar. She got three glasses, made eye contact with the assistant manager and added a fourth one.

A groan drew my attention back to the fighters. They all had bruises on their faces, more on the demons than our guys. Bran was so caught up in the moment he’d forgotten I could feel his pain. Two more minutes was all I would give them, then I was stopping the fight. It was one thing to let out steam and quite another to pound each other into pulp.

“Here you go,” Kim said.

I accepted the red liquid in a wine glass with a lemon wedge on the edge. “What is it?”

“Cranberry juice for you and something else for us.” She took a sip of her drink and looked at the assistant manager, who had moved to the bar. “So, do you have a name, Mr. Assistant Manager?”

Kim grilled the demon about the Summoners and the Tribe, threatening him with instant decapitation if he lied. When she realized he was clueless, she changed the subject to managing a restaurant. I shook my head. Kim was a class act.

The guys staggered to the bar, bruises and broad grins on their faces. The demons teleported one by one while Kim passed out drinks. I touched a cut on Bran’s forehead and froze when the cut just closed up and healed without leaving a mark or redness. I looked at my hand and frowned. The writings weren’t there, yet I’d just healed him.

“You okay?” he asked, peering at me.

I opened my mouth to tell him about the markings and what just happened, then decided against it. “Yeah. You?”

“I feel great.” He glanced at Sykes and Remy. “Guys?”

Remy stopped dabbing a cut on his lip and grinned, his eyes going to Kim. I’d noticed the way his eyes kept straying to her when we were at his place. She, on the other hand, seemed oblivious. Could he be into her? Sykes stuck up his thumbs, his knuckles red, showing off as usual.

“Liars,” Izzy retorted. “You look like something Tartarus spit out. Do you want me to take care of your wounds or what?”

“We’ll be fine,” Remy said. Sykes nodded.

Bran was busy fingering his forehead as though he just realized I had healed him. He caught my gaze and cocked his right brow.
Did you…?

Don’t ask
, I shot back.

His expression said he intended to discuss it later. “Anyone hungry?” he asked.

Everyone nodded.

“But not the food from here.” Kim exchanged a knowing look with Izzy. “Let’s go to Kieran’s.”

“Again?” Remy asked and scowled.

“It’s the only place you can walk in looking like a road kill and get a hero’s welcome,” Izzy said.

“And waitresses inspecting our battle wounds,” Sykes added with a grin then tried to bump fists with Remy. Remy glared at him. I had no idea where Kieran’s was, but it sounded like a Guardian restaurant, which shouldn’t bother Remy. What was his problem?

“Kieran’s it is,” Bran said then glanced at the assistant manager. “Tell my brother we’re looking for him. We’ll be back.”

W
e materialized inside a large office, where a Guardian was hunched over a computer while telekinetically pounding on the keyboard. On the screen, two warriors dueled with swords, a Werenephil and the other, going by the halo above his head and the self-righteous smirk on his face, an archangel.

He’s Keiran
, Bran telepathed me, then added aloud, “You know the real thing is nothing like that,” Bran said mockingly.

The Guardian lifted his middle finger, then he rotated his chair around and studied us with a lopsided grin. “Cardinals, nice of you to drop by looking so…presentable.”

“Just open the damn door, Keiran,” Bran said testily.

Keiran ignored him. Tall and slender, Keiran had a dimpled chin, chiseled features and wavy brown hair with highlights. Alchemy Gothic earrings looped around his ears and a silver full-finger armor ring gleamed on one of his fingers. But his most striking features were his eyes. They were a deep shade of violet. They twinkled as his gaze swept us and zeroed in on Kim, a slow smile curling his lips.

Kim blushed.

Interesting. I’d never seen Kim blush before.

His smile deepened as though her blush pleased him, then he got to his feet, waved and a door appeared on the wall beside his computer desk. Bran, Remy, and Sykes made a beeline for it. “I’ll start charging.”

“You already do,” Bran said. “Your food is outrageously expensive.”

“That’s because it’s the best in town.” He turned and smiled, his gaze locking with Kim’s again. “What is it going to be? Something heavy or light?”

She smiled. “We had lunch in Bermuda earlier.”

“Light it is. The usual Lil…Izzy?”

Izzy nodded, and so did I, even though I had no idea what my usual was.

“I’ll see to it.” He teleported to the door, opened it and winked at Kim. “You want to sample something new? I know you like variety and I saved something just for you.”

Kim sashayed to where he stood by the door and whispered as she brushed past him, “And here I thought you couldn’t surprise me anymore.”

As the door closed behind them, I turned and faced Izzy. “Is Kim…?”

“Dating him?” Izzy finished. “Oh yeah. I thought it was the excitement of a forbidden love, but I think she might actually be in love. Don’t tell the guys though. It’s supposed to be a secret.”

“Why? They wouldn’t care.”

“Her family would if they found out. He’s a member of the Brotherhood, hardly what her family considers ‘suitable’. Her parents want to choose a mate for her.” Izzy rolled her eyes.

“That’s so archaic and…” my voice trailed off when her glance shifted to the guys as they re-entered the room. They were blood-free, the cuts on their faces and knuckles already healing but still visible.

“Are we eating in here or out there?” Izzy asked.

“Out there,” Sykes said, cutting across the room. “I’m starving.”

Remy and Izzy followed him.

“We’ll catch up,” Bran called out and walked to where I stood. He pushed his hair away from his face.

I touched the bruise on his lower lip. It closed up nicely. Funny, I was used to being awed by Izzy as she healed us, yet because of my new, temporary powers, I could do it too.

Bran touched his lip and smiled. “How’s your head?”

“Not so bad.”

He cupped my face and studied my face as though searching for something.

“Don’t do that, please,” I whispered.

He cocked his right eyebrow. “Do what?”

“Look at me like I’m, you know, different.” Then a thought occurred to me and I reached up to touch my forehead and hair. “I
am
the same, right? No horns or weird things growing out of my head?”

He chuckled and pressed his forehead against mine. “Of course you are the same…physically. Your psi energy is off the charts. I can take care of the headache if you like.”

Doing it once was enough. “No, I’ll be fine. The writings appeared on my hand when I touched that boy’s knife.”

He checked my hands to see if they were back. “So that’s why it caught fire. Master Haziel was right.”

I made a face. “It’s kind of scary not knowing what they can do.”

Bran gripped them and pressed them against his lips. “We’ll deal with them as they come,” he whispered. “Come on, I’ll escort you to the others.”

We walked down a broad hallway toward double doors. Before we reached them, they swung open and Kieran walked out. He was alone.

“You are at your usual table,” he said. “Cook has his orders, so the food should be there soon.”

Bran stopped. “Are you very busy?”

Keiran gave him a lopsided grin. “That depends on what you want, Llyr. I’m on level eighty-two of a new game.”

You bragged it was faster than the humans’ best system and that you have programs that can get you in and out of places undetected.”

Keiran chuckled. “What I have are mad skills, Llyr. And yes, it will take humans a decade to catch up. What do you want help with?”

“I’ll explain when I come back. Right now, I need to show Lil where the others are seated.” He pushed the double doors but Kieran spoke.

“Just one second.” I thought Keiran would ask why I needed to be shown to our regular table, but all he said was, “Tell your friends to stop hitting on my girls. I’m tired of mediating fights every few weeks because they keep flirting with them.”

Bran laughed. “Sure, but do you really want to get between them and women?”

Keiran’s expression became thoughtful then he made a face. “I guess not. Who am I to kill some girl’s dream of mating with a Guardian? Not that you guys have anything we don’t have.”

“Uh, we travel in style,” Bran said. “We have a license to kill and we make black look good.” Bran stared pointedly at Keiran’s pants, matching shirt, and studded boots.

Keiran rolled his eyes. “I was rocking this look way before you were born, Llyr, so don’t even go there. Your favorite dish is coming up, Lil. Extra cheese?” He touched his brow in a salute and turned.

“Yes. Thanks, Keiran,” I said. Bran groaned.
What?

Do you even know what he’s talking about?
he asked as we cut through the busy kitchen.

No. What is my favorite dish?

He laughed.
You’ll find out soon enough
.

“So? What do you want with his computer? You once told me you had no need for modern technology because you keep everything in here.” I tapped his head.

“You don’t remember
our pactus
, but you do the day I was being a jackass.”

“I know I said I didn’t want to mind-blend, but that’s one memory I want back.”

“We can mind-blend when we get home. As for Kieran’s computer, I want to track down Gavyn and to do that I have to find Mount Hermon.”

We entered the main floor of the restaurant, which was L-shaped, and wove our way past booths and couples lost in their little worlds. With the menu from clairvoyant crystals, floating drinks and beautiful décor, it looked like Gavyn’s restaurant, except it was spacious and hatred-free.

Bran led me past a set of doors and onto the balcony. The view of downtown L.A. was spectacular, but my eyes were drawn to Kim, Izzy, Sykes, and Remy. They were having a heated discussion at a corner table. Six glasses of water with bobbing chunks of ice sat untouched before them.

“No, no, the senior Cardinals must know what’s going on because the Tribe has been going after Damned Humans since last week,” Kim said as we got closer.

“You can’t know that,” Izzy protested. “You think the worst of them all the time.”

“Are you listening to yourself? Fact, ever since we started hunting, they’ve hidden things from us. Case in point,” she jerked her head toward me, “they knew about Valafar’s existence and never told Lil. When Bran’s feathers started to fall, they never told us. They’ve known about the Tribe since last week, maybe even longer, but once again, they…never…told us. They keep treating us like children,” Kim added through gritted teeth. “We face demons every day, just like them. We should demand equal access to information.”

“On with the revolution,” Sykes said, waving an imaginary flag. “Downtrodden junior Cardinals demand equal access to intel and a pay raise.”

“Pay raise?” Izzy asked.

Sykes shrugged. “I need a new car, preferably a new model of—”

“The Mustang you totaled last year,” Izzy cut him off and shook her head. “We know. You’ve been singing about it the entire summer. Your obsession with fast cars is senseless. Now if you don’t have anything to contribute to the discussion…”

“Lil made a demonic weapon catch fire and spooked an entire restaurant of demons,” Sykes said then spread his arms to indicate the table. “Discuss.”

All eyes turned in my direction. I kicked him under the table.

“Ouch!” He glared at me, then spoiled it by smirking.

“I’ll be in Keiran’s office,” Bran said and squeezed my shoulder.

“Why?” Remy asked before Bran could leave.

“Keiran is going to help me find Mount Hermon, which could lead us to Gavyn and the Summoners. I’ll fill you in when I get back.” Another gentle squeeze of my shoulder and he added telepathically,
if that headache is still bothering you when I come back, I’ll take care of it
.

“You still have the headache,” Remy asked after Bran left.

“It’s nothing,” I mumbled, picked up a glass of water, took a sip, and pressed the cool glass against my throbbing temple.

Remy frowned. “How bad is it?”

I shrugged, hating that everyone’s attention was on me and that I could once again hear their thoughts. “It comes and goes, and ‘going home so I can rest’, as some of you are thinking, will not make it go away.”

“Are your powers on and off, too? Is that why you didn’t stop the knife when that child tried to kill you?” Izzy asked.

“See? I knew we’d come back to the knife,” Sykes said, smirking. “Glare at me all you want, Lil, but something is happening to you. You’ve held demonic weapons before and never destroyed them. And your eyes glowed like they did when you fainted on the island.
And
you healed the cut on Bran’s brow with just a touch.”

“She did?” Izzy asked.

Did he spend time watching my every movement? “What else can you do?” he added and leaned forward. The others leaned forward, too.

I sighed and put my glass down. “I don’t know. My powers and new abilities come and go.” I covered Sykes’ hand with one of mine and waited. When I lifted my hand, the red bruises on his knuckles were still there. “See? I can’t do it now. The writings from the Kris appeared on my hand just before the knife went poof. I healed Bran afterwards, but there were no ancient writings on my skin then. They must come out when I’m in danger.”

“Should we test that theory?” Kim pulled out a dagger from inside her boot.

“I think she meant danger from a demon.” Remy glanced at the Brotherhood men and women at the nearby tables, then added, “Let’s talk about something else.”

“Like what?” Izzy asked but her gaze was on my hands, as if staring at them would force the markings to appear. “This is much more interesting. It’s like having a human Kris Dagger.”

“Lil the lethal weapon,” Sykes added.

I winced at the word “weapon”. My gaze connected with Remy’s. He was scowling.

“Seriously, guys,” he warned sharply. “Change the subject.”

The others didn’t mask their surprise at his sharpness.

“Okay, let’s talk about Bran’s brother,” Kim said, “And how I’d like to send him to Tartarus piece by piece.”

“Brutal,” Sykes said, smirking.

“Don’t you want to see him suffer?” Kim asked.

I tuned them out as they discussed everything they hated about Gavyn Llyr. Finally I couldn’t take it anymore. Gavyn was Bran’s brother, and whether he should be sent to Tartarus or not depended on Bran.

“You know there’s no proof he helped summon the Tribe,” I said when there was a pause in their rant. “We can’t just jump on the bandwagon because Bran thinks he’s guilty.”

“Why are you giving that fiend the benefit of doubt?” Sykes asked. “He’s never done anything to deserve it. Come to think of it, Valafar would not have known of your existence if it weren’t for Gavyn.”

“I don’t understand why Bran keeps hoping he would change,” Kim added.

“Gavyn wasn’t always evil,” I said.

Sykes faked shock. “You mean he wasn’t born with a trident, horns and a red skin?”

I laughed. “Before his father tried to escape with them from Coronis Isle, Gavyn was your typical big brother. He watched out for Bran and Celeste. In fact, he was the family jokester. Their mother hated being mated with a Guardian and took it out on them.” I explained everything Bran had told me about their upbringing, then the attempt to escape with their father and what happened afterward. “Their mother torched the Guardian amulet Bran wore and tortured them for weeks.”

“You mean the scar…” Izzy touched her chest.

I nodded. “You asked about it before, but I couldn’t say anything because you guys weren’t exactly crazy about him joining the Guardians, but things are different now. He’s one of us.”

“What did the mother do?” Remy cut in.

“She kept Bran in a shack somewhere in the forest and made sure he couldn’t self-heal, so that the burn scarred.” I’d never forget Bran’s pain when he’d narrated the story. “Celeste found him, sneaked him food and nursed him. Gavyn wasn’t so lucky. Their mother and her guards kept him somewhere underground and tortured him. Before, he had black hair like Celeste and Bran. When they finished with him, it was all white.”

There was silence.

“He became a carbon copy of his mother after they finished with him,” I continued. “Cold and ruthless. Bran sees the brother he once was, not the soulless jerk he’s become. That’s why he will do everything in his power to help him.”

“Poor Bran and Celeste,” Izzy said.

“I’ll try to be nicer to her from now on,” Kim added.

“As long as you don’t feel sorry for Gavyn too,” Remy said in a hard voice. “He’s had a chance to change and chose not to.”

Keiran appeared beside our table, a weird expression on his face.