Page 58 of Night Embrace (Dark-Hunter 2)
His heart broken, Vane blinked back tears.
Anya looked up and licked his face.
"You like the gumbo, huh?" he asked, stroking her ears with both of his hands.
He heard her laughter in his head. "Thank you for getting it."
He nodded. For her, he would walk through the fires of hell to claim a simple drink of water.
She sank down beside him and rested her head on his lap. "You should take wolf form before the others grow suspicious."
He watched the way her fur cradled his fingers. How he was going to miss her when she was gone. She was the most beautiful wolf swan he'd ever seen, and he didn't mean her looks. It was her gentle heart he would miss most of all. The way she always worried after him.
"I will, Anya. I just want a few more minutes."
He sensed Fang coming up behind him in wolf form. His brother butted him in the back with his head, then nipped playfully at his shoulder.
A flash of light appeared to the right of them. Vane looked up to find Acheron standing in the swamp. The Atlantean glanced around to make sure they were alone, then spoke quietly. "Can I have a minute?"
Fang growled.
"It's all right, adelfos," Vane said, pushing his brother back. "Watch over Anya."
Vane rose to his feet and walked Acheron into the woods, away from the den. If any of his pack learned he had brought a Dark-Hunter into it, his life was over.
"You should have called me, Ash."
"This couldn't wait. I have a problem and you're the only one I trust to help me."
Now that shocked him. Immensely. "You trust me?"
Ash gave him a wry look. "No, not really. But I have a renegade who is pretending to be me and threatening my Hunters."
"What's that got to do with me?"
"You owe me one, Vane, and I need you and Fang to act as backup. I need some muscle that they won't see coming."
"When?"
"Now."
Talon paced the floor of Sunshine's loft. He'd quickly showered the blood from his body and changed into the clothes Nick had brought. He was staying calm, but it was a real challenge.
"She is unharmed, Speirr," Ceara said. "I swear it."
He let out a long, weary breath in relief. He was grateful Ceara had managed to come to him this time, but it was a hard struggle for her to stay with him. The power that was blocking her was one they had never before encountered.
He only hoped Ceara could battle it a little longer and continue to help him protect and watch over Sunshine.
"Can you tell me where she is exactly?" he asked his sister.
"Oh jeez," Nick said from the breakfast counter where he sat, waiting for Ash to return. "You're not talking to the dead again, are you? I hate it when you do that."
"Shut up, Nick."
Nick curled his lip. " 'Shut up, Nick, heel, sit, fetch.' Love you too, Celt."
Talon glared at him. "Why don't you go scrounge up something to eat so that your mouth is occupied?"
"That I can do." Nick scooted off the bar stool and headed into the kitchen.
"Nae, I can't find her," Ceara said. "I can't pinpoint her exact location. I told you, something powerful protects her. Something that is beginning to feel like a god's power to me."
"Camulus?"
"I'm not sure. Part of it feels like it could be a Celtic god and yet there is something more."
"What?"
"It's more like powers are commingled. Like two gods are protecting themselves."
"Why?"
She shrugged.
Nick cursed. "There's no food in here. There's nothing but grass and tofu and shit. There's not even a Coke. Man, T, your girlfriend is whacked."
Nick pulled out the block of soy cheese and smelled it. "This looks kind of edible though. I mean, you can't really screw up cheese, right?"
"Yeah, Nick. Eat the cheese." He turned back to Ceara. while Nick searched for a knife to slice it. "Will they free her?"
"I can't tell you the future, Speirr, you know the rules."
"I have to know she's going to live."
Ceara hesitated before she answered. "Today, she will."
"And tomorrow?"
Ceara looked away. "I can't tell you that."
Talon cursed.
Suddenly, a bright flash of light entered the room. Talon shielded his eyes from the glare and watched as Acheron and two men appeared just inside the doorway. He'd never seen the two men before, but one look told him they were Katagaria. The air around them was rife with animalistic, psychic power.
"Oh man," Nick snapped. "I hate that pooling shit. You scared me so bad, Ash, you made me eat this crappy cheese." He looked back at Talon. "What is this stuff anyway?"
"Soy cheese."
The Katagaria exchanged a disgusted look.
"So much for my dinner," the taller Katagaria said. "Now his whole system is polluted. Be at least a week before it leaves his cell tissue and he's edible again."
Nick paled considerably.
"You ready to go after Sunshine?" Acheron asked Talon.
Steeled with determination, Talon nodded. "Let's do it."
Acheron glanced to Nick in the kitchen. "Nick, I want you to head over to Zarek's and keep him out of sight for the time being. He's under house arrest, so if I catch him out and about, he's in deep shit and so are you."
Nick grimaced. "Okay, but for the record, I want you to know that if a woman's life wasn't on the line, I'd tell you to stuff that order."
Nick walked out the door, past the Katagaria, mumbling all the while. " 'Nick, fetch my car, fetch my clothes, sweep the chimney, make my bed, watch my psychopath, fetch my slippers.' Yeah, I'll fetch those slippers and stick them someplace real uncomfortable." Just when Talon thought he was through, he heard one last parting comment. "I swear, my mother should have named me Fido."
"Hey, I'll have you know my best friend is named Fido," the taller Katagaria said over his shoulder.
The other Katagaria shoved him lightly. "Would you stop?"
Acheron indicated the taller Katagaria with short black hair who had made the first comment. "Talon, meet Fang." He motioned to the one with longer hair and green eyes. "And his brother, Vane."
"Why are they here?" Talon asked Acheron.
"Let's just say that if the bad guys are armed with halogen lights again, they won't have the same effect on the Katagaria that they had on you."
