Kiss of the Night (Dark-Hunter 4)

"What a night," she said quietly as her thoughts cleared and she remembered everything that had happened in the apartment. Once more, panic consumed her as she remembered Kat hadn't shown up. "Wait! We have to go back."

"Why?"

"My bodyguard," she said, gripping his arm. "I don't know what happened to her."

He kept his gaze on the road ahead of them. "Was she in the apartment?"

"Yes... maybe." Cassandra paused while she thought it over. "I'm not exactly sure. She went to make a phone call in her room and then she wasn't in there when I went to see if she'd go with me to the door." She released his arm. Fear and grief warred inside her heart. What if something had happened to Kat after all these years they'd been together? "Do you think they killed her?"

He glanced at her, then changed lanes. "I don't know. Was she the blond woman in the bar?"

"Yes."

He pulled his cell phone off his belt and made a call.

Cassandra chewed her nails as she waited.

She heard someone's faint voice on the phone.

"Hey, Binny," Wulf said. "I need a favor. I just left the Sherwood student apartments over by the University of Minnesota and we may or may not have a casualty there..." He glanced at Cassandra, but his eyes betrayed no clue as to what he was thinking or feeling. "Yeah, I know tonight's been a real freakfest. You don't even know the half of it." He switched hands with the phone.

"What's your friend's name?" he asked Cassandra.

"Kat Agrotera."

He frowned. "Why do I know that name?" He relayed it to whomever he was speaking to.

"Shit," he said after a brief pause. "Do you think they might be related to her?"

Once again, he glanced in Cassandra's direction. Only this time, his scowl was most sinister. "I don't know. Ash told me to guard her and now her bodyguard holds a last name that ties her to Artemis. Could it be a weird coincidence?"

Cassandra cocked her head at that. She'd never before thought about the fact that Kat's last name was also one of the many epithets the ancient Greeks had used for Artemis.

She'd met Kat in Greece after she had fled from Belgium with a load of Daimons hot on her heels. After helping her out in a fight one night, Kat had told her she was an American come to touch base with her Greek heritage that summer.

It had been a bonus that Kat had said she was a martial arts expert with a knack for using explosives. Cassandra had explained to her that she was looking for a new bodyguard to replace her old one and Kat had signed on with her immediately.

"I just love to put a hurt on evil things," Kat had confessed.

Wulf sighed. "I don't know either. Okay. You go look for Kat and I'll take Cassandra home with me. Let me know what you find. Thanks." He hung up, then returned his phone to his belt.

"What did she say?"

He didn't answer her question. Not exactly anyway. "She said Agrotera is one of the Greek names for Artemis. It means 'strength' or 'wild hunter.' Did you know that?"

"Sort of." A drop of hope welled inside her. If that were true, maybe the gods hadn't abandoned her family after all. Maybe there was some hope for her and for her future. "Do you two think Artemis sent Kat to protect me?"

His grip tightened on the steering wheel. "I don't know what to think at this point. I was told by Artemis's mouth-piece that you are the key to the end of the world and that I had to protect you and-"

"What do you mean, 'key to the end of the world'?" she asked, interrupting him.

He looked as surprised as she felt. "You mean you don't know that?"

Okay, so it was obvious Dark-Hunters could get high and delusional.

"No. In fact, I'm thinking right now that one, if not both of us, needs to put down the crack pipe and start this night over."

Wulf gave a light laugh at her comment. "If it wasn't for the fact I can't get high, I might agree with that."

Cassandra's mind raced. Was there any truth to what he had just said? "Well, if you're right and I'm key to the world's destruction, then if I were you I'd be making out a will."

"Why?"

"Because in less than eight months, I turn twenty-seven."

Wulf heard the catch in her voice as she spoke those words and he more than understood the doom she was facing. "You said you were only half-Apollite."

"Yeah, but I've never known a half-Apollite to survive the curse, have you?"

He shook his head. "Only the Were-Hunters seem immune to the Apollite curse."

Cassandra sat silently, watching the traffic out the window while she contemplated what had happened tonight.

"Wait," she said as she remembered the Daimons coming into her apartment. "How did that guy get into my house? I thought Daimons were forbidden to enter your home without an invitation."

Wulf's answer was far from comforting. "Loophole."

"Excuse me?" she asked, arching both brows. "What do you mean, 'loophole'?"

He turned off the expressway onto an exit ramp. "Got to love those gods. The same loophole that allows Daimons to enter malls and public areas allows them to enter condos and apartments."

"How so?"

"Malls, apartments, and such are owned by one entity. When that person or company allows their building to openly serve for multiple groups of people, they essentially put out a cosmic welcome mat to everything, including Daimons."

Oh, this was un-friggin-believable! She blinked in shock. "Now you tell me this? Why didn't someone tell me this before? I thought I was safe all this time."

"Your bodyguard should have known better. If she really is tied to Artemis."

"Then maybe she's not. You know, she could just be a normal person."

"Yeah, one who holds her arms out and scares off Spathi Daimons?"

He had a point there. Sort of. "She said she didn't know why they ran."

"And later she left you there alone to face them..."

Cassandra rubbed her hand over her eyes as she caught his implication. Could Kat be working with the Daimons? Did Artemis want her dead or alive?

"Oh, God, I can't trust anyone, can I?" Cassandra breathed tiredly.

"Welcome to the real world, duchess. The only person any of us can trust is ourselves."

She didn't want to believe that, but after tonight, it seemed to be the only real truth she had.

Could Kat really be a traitor after all they had been through together?

"Lovely, just lovely," she breathed. "Tell me something, can I go back to bed and have this entire day be a do-over?"

He let out a short laugh. "Sorry, no do-overs."

She gave him a peeved glare. "Boy, you're just all chock-full of comfort, aren't you?"

He didn't respond.

Cassandra watched the oncoming cars as she tried to think of what she should do. Where she should even begin to try to understand what had happened tonight.

Wulf drove them out of the city to a massive estate outside of Minnetonka. All the homes in the area were owned by some of the richest people in the country.

Wulf turned into a driveway that was so long, she couldn't see where it ended. Of course the five-foot-high snowbanks didn't help with that.

He pressed a tiny button in his visor.

The iron gates opened wide.