Releasing the Hunter hn-168 Read online

  “Yeah, both ladies look hooked. Do you think he’d take both?”

  “I wouldn’t put it past the bastard. He’s in show-off mode now that he thinks he’s escaped us twice.”

  “Maybe we should wait until he makes his move out of here. By the way those two are looking at him, and their body language, I would say that will be very soon.”

  “When they go, you slap him with the trap and I’ll make sure the women are removed from the situation.”

  “Now, be nice.”

  She smiled and it was sexy and wicked and made his stomach clench. “I’m always nice.”

  “No, you’re not,” he said, but he smiled in return.

  For the next thirty minutes, Ronan and Ivy drank their drinks and watched Sallos as he seduced the two women. It wasn’t long before the three of them stood, giving each other those knowing looks. The looks that said they had made the decision to leave together and finish their evening in privacy.

  Ronan and Ivy waited as the trio passed them to head toward the bank of elevators. They set their empty drink glasses on the bar, then slid off the bar stools. Ivy slipped him one of her devil’s-trap stickers, then started for the elevators.

  Tucking the decal in the palm of his right hand, Ronan wrapped his other hand around Ivy’s waist. She didn’t protest when he pulled her closer. They needed to keep up the pretense as a happy couple just until they reached the elevators. Also, he liked having her close. Her scent, mixed with the vanilla she’d bathed in, wafted to his nose and he inhaled it deep.

  As they neared the little elevator lobby, Ronan sensed something was wrong. He paused and pulled Ivy tighter to him.

  She frowned at him. “What are you doing?”

  “Something’s off.”

  Before Ivy could respond, the two older women came flying out from the enclave, teeth bared, fingers twisted into claws. They shrieked like banshees as they attacked Ronan and Ivy.

  Ronan blocked his face from nails tearing him apart. He pushed one woman away but she came back, just as fierce, eyes wild, foaming at the mouth. Ivy was having just as much trouble with the brunette attacking her.

  “What the hell?” She grabbed the woman’s wrist. “Why are they attacking us?”

  “They’re enchanted. Powerful demons can sway people to do their bidding without a spell or possession.” Ronan shoved the woman spitting and clawing at him into the wall.

  “How come I’ve never heard of that?” Ivy had the brunette pushed against the wall with her arm twisted behind her back.

  “It’s a rare power and it’s not common knowledge.”

  By now, they had garnered the attention of the other patrons in the bar. And the big, burly bartender who was approaching Ronan with fury in his fists.

  “What is going on here?”

  “Where’s your security man?” Ronan asked.

  The bartender shook his head, then ran over toward the entranceway. He stopped midstride. “He’s down.”

  The woman attacked Ronan again. This time he grabbed her wrists and, binding her arms together, subdued her. “I think they are both very drunk,” he said to the bartender.

  “Should I call the police?” he asked Ronan.

  “Actually, if you have a small locked room, we could just toss them in there until they sober up.”

  By the way the bartender frowned, Ronan guessed he didn’t much like the idea.

  “Where’s Sallos?” Ivy asked, still trying to keep the brunette pressed against the wall.

  Ronan looked around in a panic. “I don’t know. I don’t see him.”

  “I’m right here, Ivy, my dear.”

  Both Ronan and Ivy swung around. Sallos stood grinning by the picturesque floor-to-ceiling windows. He had another patron, a young woman, in his clutches. His hand was around her slender throat and she was dangling above the floor, her feet kicking from the lack of oxygen.

  The other patrons moved away from him, eyes widened, hands to mouths, shocked by what they were witnessing. The bartender went to move toward Sallos.

  Ronan grabbed his arm. “Don’t. He’ll kill her.”

  The bartender stopped, but Ronan could see that it was difficult for him not to try and help. Ronan commended him for that, but his help would surely only kill the woman and most likely him, as well.

  Keeping the brunette’s arm twisted behind her back, Ivy pulled her over to Ronan. “Here. Take her.”

  Ronan tried to grab the squirming woman but she managed to get out of Ivy’s grasp. She flew at Ivy again, but this time Ivy’s patience was gone. She reared back and punched the brunette square in the jaw. It sent the woman to the floor, unconscious.

  She then pushed the woman he had under wraps backwards and knocked her in the chin. She went down like a sack of potatoes, too. Problem solved.

  “Nice,” Ronan said but he suspected Ivy wasn’t listening. Her attention was all on Sallos.

  She took a few steps toward him. “Let these people go and we’ll have a nice long talk.”

  The demon chuckled. “Oh, is that the part when you kill me?”

  “I won’t kill you,” she mumbled under her breath.

  One of Sallos’s eyebrows quirked up. “I’m sorry? I don’t think I heard you right.”

  Ronan stepped in beside Ivy. A united front. He hoped it was enough to best this demon. He wasn’t so sure, though. Sallos was notorious for his viciousness and manipulations.

  “You heard plenty.”

  “Hmm.” Sallos tapped his lips with his finger. “I see a bargain in the near future.”

  “Whatever,” she grunted. “Just let everyone go.”

  Ronan leaned into her ear. “Are you sure about this? He’s a sneaky bastard.”

  She shook her head. “No, but it’s all I got right now.”

  “If I let everyone go free, Ivy Strom, will you refrain from killing me?”

  Ronan could practically hear her teeth grinding. She sighed, and then said, “Yes.”

  “How about you, Mr. Ames? Care to bargain again?”

  Ivy glanced at Ronan, a question on her lips. He shook his head. “You only get one bargain, Sallos. That’s the rules.”

  “Rules, shmules.” He smirked. “So be it.” Sallos released his hold on the young woman. She dropped to the floor. She didn’t look that good. Ronan could see the shallow rise and fall of her chest, but he wasn’t sure if that was enough to keep her alive.

  He looked over his shoulder to the bartender. “You can help her now. Get her out with the rest of these people.”

  The bartender nodded, then rushed to the young woman on the floor. He picked her up in his arms and hurried back to the elevators. “Come on! Everyone out!”

  That started a stampede for the exits. It wouldn’t be long before more security showed up, as well as cops. After a loud, bustling five minutes, Ronan, Ivy and Sallos were alone in The View Lounge. They had to work quickly now.

  The demon sat down in the one of the vacant orange chairs and crossed his legs, as if having a casual visit with friends. “So, what shall we talk about?”

  Chapter 10

  Ivy wanted nothing more than to breach the distance between her and the demon and fry his ass back to hell. But she had made a bargain that she wouldn’t kill him. She’d think of a way to get out of it later. In the meantime, there was nothing in there about not hurting him an awful lot.

  Sallos gestured to the other two vacant chairs. “Sit. We can talk all night if you’d like.”

  Ivy moved toward the empty seats but she didn’t sit. Ronan moved with her.

  Sallos narrowed his eyes at Ronan. “It’s been a while, Ronan. You look good.”

  “How do you know each other?” Ivy asked, curious and suspicious.

  “Oh, we go way back, don’t we, boy? In fact, I was there at his birth, so to speak.”

  Ronan stiffened, his hands clenched. “I’ll kill you, Sallos. Your bargain isn’t with me.”

  “No one’s killing anyone until I get som
e answers,” she said, glaring at Ronan. But she could see the anger and the pain on his face. An urge to console him swept over her, but she tamped it down. At least until their business here was concluded. Obviously, there was a long, painful story there, and surprisingly, she wanted to know it.

  Sallos waved his hand. “Ask.”

  “Where is my brother, Quinn Strom?”

  “Ah.” He smiled. “There it is. The driving force behind everything you do. The prodigal brother. The chosen one. The great, mighty Quinn Strom.”

  “Where is he?”

  “Why do you want to know? Why do you want to find him?”

  “Because he’s my brother.”

  “Yes, but if you find him, wouldn’t that mean the reign of Ivy Strom, feared demon hunter, would be over?” He ran a finger over his mouth as if in contemplation. “You’d be number two, once again.”

  “I don’t care.” But deep down inside, Ivy did care just a little. She liked being the toughest, most feared hunter around. Quinn had been that guy before he disappeared. And Ivy had sort of inherited the title because of her last name.

  She’d earned it, she reminded herself. Over the past three years she’d earned every drop of blood to be called the best. She might have learned her skills from Quinn and her father, but she’d honed them, expanded on them and even perfected them in Quinn’s absence.

  “Now, I know why Ronan wants to find Quinn Strom, but you, Ivy, my dear, are a different matter altogether.”

  Ivy glanced at Ronan. “What’s he talking about?”

  “Nothing. He’s trying to manipulate you. He’s messing with you.”

  Sallos waggled his finger. “Now, now, Ronan, don’t be lying to the girl. I can tell how much you really like her. Lying is not a good way to start a relationship.”

  Silver blade in hand, Ronan rushed the demon. He was aiming for Sallos’s throat, but the demon was faster and he tossed Ronan across the room like a feather-filled pillow.

  Ronan landed on top of the bar, glasses and bottles breaking under and over him until he was lying still in a pool of shattered glass.

  “Idiot,” Sallos growled. “I’ll always be faster than you. You’d think you’d know that by now.”

  Brushing at the glass, Ronan sat up. “And you should realize by now that I’m smarter.”

  Sallos went to laugh but then looked down at himself. A devil’s trap was stuck to his chest and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t tear it off or even touch it, for that matter. He was now bound to the spot and had to, by creed, answer Ivy’s questions truthfully.

  She grinned. “Looks like you’re screwed, Sallos.”

  The demon glared at Ronan as he stumbled his way back to Ivy’s side. There were little cuts on his face and hands. But nothing too serious that would keep him out of action. She imagined it would take a lot to put Ronan down.

  “Anything to keep your secrets, hey, boy?”

  “Enough of your double-talk, demon,” Ivy spit out, “I want to know where my brother is.”

  Standing, Sallos turned his angry red glare onto her. She could see the fires of hell in the round orbs. He wasn’t even bothering to hide his true nature any longer.

  “Know that he wasn’t taken. He chose to disappear. He chose to leave you, Ivy. He chose to abandon his baby sister for his own design.”

  She didn’t want his words to matter to her, but they needled her regardless. She’d always wondered how he left, and why. Her biggest question, her deepest hurt, was how he could’ve chosen to leave her completely alone to battle the monsters on her own.

  “I don’t care. I just want to know where he is. I command you to tell me.”

  The demon’s face began to twist and grimace. “He doesn’t want you to find him. Can’t you understand that? He doesn’t want to see you.”

  “Tell me!” she yelled.

  She knew he was fighting the compulsion. Most demons couldn’t fight it. But Sallos was more powerful than that. He was, or had been, a great duke in hell. He commanded legions of demons. So she should’ve known he would fight it to the end.

  And that was when she realized what he intended to do.

  She was moving forward even as Sallos turned and ran into the glass window. The force of his motion shattered the glass in front of him and in seconds he was falling to his death.

  Ivy jumped across the room, her hand reaching for him. Her fingertips brushed the cotton of his shirt, but when she landed on her stomach, her hand was empty. She’d missed him by a measurement she couldn’t even fathom. She’d failed.

  But the momentum of her jump had her sliding towards the gaping hole in the thick glass window.

  Flailing her arms to stop her fall, she could feel the glass cutting into her skin. Her head was over the edge, and she thought she was going to go over. But she stopped falling.

  She looked behind her and saw Ronan with a firm grip on her legs. He had her. By the look in his eyes, he wasn’t letting her go for anything. She thanked the Lord for that or she would’ve been Ivy cream pie on the sidewalk.

  He pulled her back a little and she was able to release her grip on the edges of the window. Her hands were bleeding, as were her forearms, but she was alive.

  She flipped over onto her back and stared up at Ronan. Tears pricked her eyes, not because she’d almost died, but because she had lost her last chance to find her brother. She’d waited three years for this one, and it had jumped out the window.

  Without words, Ronan reached down and helped her to her feet. He nestled her into the crook of his arm. Sirens could be heard from down below on the street. The cops would be here any moment.

  “We need to go,” Ronan murmured to her as he led her out of the lounge and to the stairwell.

  She let him lead her through the hotel. She felt numb, and for the first time in her life, lost. What was she going to do now?

  Chapter 11

  After he got Ivy out of the lounge and into the stairwell, she perked up and did what needed to be done. Ronan knew she was operating on autopilot but maybe that’s what she needed to do to function and survive.

  The cops had been swarming up the elevators and stairs when Ronan and Ivy popped out on the twentieth floor and picked up their bags, which had been cleverly hidden near the exit. They cleaned up a bit in a public washroom and wrapped coats over their ruined clothes before heading down in the elevator to the lobby. Still masquerading as the happily married rich couple, they swept through the lobby and out of the hotel without anyone calling foul.

  They made it to the truck, parked several blocks away. Ronan took the keys from Ivy, put her in the cab and drove out of the downtown area. She needed a safe place to let go and to finally gather her shit together. So he opted for his place.

  It was small, quiet, unassuming and so tucked out of the way that no one would ever even consider that he would live there. Plus it was heavily warded. Nothing could get in. He had some tricks that even Ivy didn’t know. Things he’d learned from demons themselves about the art of being invisible.

  “Where are we going?” she asked after they were out of the downtown area.

  “My place.”

  “What if it’s compromised?”

  “It won’t be. I fly under the radar. There isn’t a target on my back like there is with you. Every demon within a hundred miles of San Francisco is out for your blood. The Stroms have been killing demons for a long time.”

  She didn’t say anything after that, just looked out the side window watching the world zoom by, contemplating her own personal demons, he suspected.

  Another ten minutes passed, and she spoke again, still without looking at him. “What did Sallos mean, he was there at your birth?”

  “Ten years ago, I was coming out of a bar, drunk and stupid, thinking I was tough shit, and I was jumped by two men in the alley. Except they weren’t men.”

  She turned and looked at him.

  “That was the night I was turned into what I am n
ow. Sallos was there with the other demon. Sallos held me down as the other nearly ripped my throat out.” He pulled down the collar of his shirt to show her the six-inch scar that started in the middle of his neck and arced to the left over his thorax. “Instead of killing me, the other demon thought it would be fun to feed me his blood. I was helpless to stop it. It tore open its wrist and held it to my mouth. I tried to spit it out but Sallos made me swallow.”

  She studied him for a moment. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t aware of how it worked. I didn’t know that’s what happened to you to become a cambion.”

  He rubbed his face. His skin was clammy from talking about it. “Yeah, you can be born one or made one. Either way you have demon blood racing through your body. Demon blood that won’t ever go away.”

  She stared at him for another few minutes and then turned back to the window. He thought he saw her shiver once, but it could’ve been from the cool night air circulating through the cab.

  After another thirty minutes in the truck, Ronan pulled to the curb and parked. Ivy opened the door and slid out. He came around, grabbed their bags from the bed and led her to his four-story apartment complex.

  Without speaking, they climbed the three flights of stairs to the third floor, then walked down the dimly lit corridor. Ronan unlocked his door, threw it open and gestured for her to enter.

  His apartment was small and cramped, but it was home. At least it had been for the past year. He tended to move around a lot, as did most people who worked in the dark shadows of life. He wasn’t a hunter by trade. He had other qualities that suited him for other lines of work.

  Ronan set their bags down near the worn but comfy sofa that dominated the living room. “Sit anywhere. I’ll get us some food. There’s a great Thai place on the corner.”

  “I need to shower and change.”

  He nodded. “You should probably let me look at those cuts on your hands and arms, too.”

  She shrugged but didn’t say anything. He gestured to the short hall off the main room. “It’s the first door on your left. There are clean towels under the sink.”