Chapter 6
Cassandra was so angry that she didn't know what to do. Actually, 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 all 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 all 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 illuminated 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 yelled at me for being an Apollite."
"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. All he could focus on was Cassandra and the betrayal he felt.
"It figures," he snarled. All this time and he had finally found an eligible woman to remember him only to have her turn out to be an Apollite-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 really angry, he reverted to his Atlantean accent.
Wulf decided to play ignorant. "What?"
"I just got a call 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 pulled 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 pull 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 pulling his crap now. He knows I'm distracted."
"Yeah, well, 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 spilling. Of course, the man was good at that. Acheron kept secrets from all 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 all turned to for information and advice. For two thousand years, Acheron had fought the Daimons all alone without any other Dark-Hunters. Hell, 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."
"Bullshit," 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 Apollite."
"I know what she is and she has to be protected at all costs."
"Why?"
To his amazement, Acheron actually answered. "Because she holds the fate of the world in her hands, Wulf. If they kill 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 really 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 Hellmouth to guard. I'm up to my armpits in Armageddon down here in New Orleans and not even I can physically 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 usually found where and when you least expect it?"
He frowned at Ash's esoteric words. The man was really, really strange. "What the hell does that mean?"
"You'll see." Ash hung up.
"I really 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 Apollite. And for the last twelve hundred years, he had spent his life pursuing her kind and killing them.
And yet the woman called 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 all he really 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 allowed 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 telling 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 still wasn't sure why Kat had pulled her away from them.
Neither one of them cowered from anyone or anything.
Not until now.
"So what should we do?" Cassandra asked.