Ravyn was kicked so hard, he swore he heard three ribs crack.
Before he could regain his senses, Menkaura was flung down on top of him. The weight from him was enough to finish breaking Ravyn's ribs. His breathing labored from the pain, he caught the man's look of panic as Menkaura realized the same thing he had.
They had no way to escape.
Ravyn pushed the larger man off his chest and tried to breathe past the awful pain that seemed to seep into every part of him.
"Summon Stryker," one of the Daimons called out to the others. "He'll want to be here to see them die."
"Yeah," a deep, angry voice said, echoing off the brick walls around them, "summon the bastard. I'd really love to get my hands on him right now."
Ravyn held his breath as he heard the last voice he'd expected.
Susan hesitated as the Daimons froze in the middle of their attacks. They were all staring at the bottom of the hill.
She turned to see what had them transfixed and felt her own jaw drop.
Yeah, that'd do it.
Highlighted by the bright moonlight, the man there was incredibly tall, with long black hair that had a red stripe in the front. A strange ethereal fog swirled around him as if it were caressing his entire body like a lover. Dressed in black leather pants and a long leather coat that had its sleeves pushed back to expose his forearms and fingerless black leather gloves, he looked like the typical Goth who hung out around Capitol Hill. But as he walked slowly up the hill with a long, predatorial lope there was an aura of power so dangerous that it made every hair on her body stand up on end.
The Daimons summoned their bolt-holes.
"I don't think so," the newcomer said as each hole fizzled shut before they could use it.
A powerful boom rent the air. It emanated out from the man like a sonic wave. She felt it go through her and chill her very soul.
And as it touched each of the Daimons, they screamed out in pain, then burst into a colorful dust.
Damn, they could have used some of that themselves.
Not completely sure this man was a friend, Susan ran over to Ravyn, who was clutching his ribs and bleeding profusely from his leg, shoulder, brow, and mouth. Menkaura lay beside him, also badly hurt. Menkaura's brow was laid open and by the way his arm was twisted it was obviously broken. She knelt beside Ravyn and helped him to sit up.
"It's about time you showed up, asshole," Zoe snarled as she wiped the blood from her own chin. "Where the hell have you been?"
The man ignored her as he went silently to where Belle had been killed as if he knew exactly what had happened before his arrival. His features tormented, he knelt down on one knee and picked up a small silver necklace that had been around Belle's neck. He clenched it tight in his fist before he bent his head as if in prayer and held it to his forehead.
Susan was held transfixed by the agony he betrayed. It was obvious he mourned the loss of Belle.
He moved the necklace to his lips to kiss it before he rose slowly to his feet and faced them. He slid the necklace into his pocket.
Susan was going to take a wild guess that this was the mysterious Acheron who led the Dark-Hunters. But dang, who knew the big bad was going to be a child, and not some ancient wise man? Even though he was completely ripped, he couldn't be any older than his early twenties.
Still, there was something powerful about him. Something compelling and terrifying. Like Savitar, it was obvious he wasn't human and that he commanded primal powers no one should possess.
And it was then as he looked around that she saw his eyes. Susan actually fell back onto her butt on the street at the sight of them. They were unlike anything she'd ever seen before and they held so much power, so much wisdom and pain, that it sent a jolt through her.
Those weren't the eyes of a human. They swirled like silver mercury as he took in the scene around him. And as those eyes went to each Dark-Hunter, the Dark-Hunter's injuries instantly healed.
"Thanks, Acheron," Dragon said irritably as he wiped his bloodied hands off on his coat. "But couldn't you have gotten here a little sooner?"
Anger bled from every pore of Ash's body as he held his hand out to help Dragon regain his feet. "Trust me, I got here just as fast as I could."
Ravyn pushed himself up from the street, then turned to help Susan up. "I heard you were tied up. Double-knotted to a bedpost as I recall."
"Excuse me?" Ash asked as if offended. "Who told you that?"
"A big, angry birdie on a surfboard."
Ash gave a painful grimace. "He knows? Great. That's all I need."
Zoe curled her lip at that. "We've been dying because you were making time with your girlfriend?"
Ash cut a nasty glare at Zoe. "Mind your own business, Amazon. I'm really not in the mood for your sniping." He looked around at the others. "How are the rest of you?"
"Other than pissed off, with severely damaged egos, we're fine," Cael said. "Why haven't you been answering our calls?"
"I wasn't able to."
"Uh-huh." Cael looked less than impressed by that answer. "Well, welcome to Seattle. We have a major situation with the Daimons. They're in league with the police force and are kicking our asses all over the streets. We've lost Troy and Aloysius and now Belle."
"Thank you for the recap, Cael. But I already got the picture."
"Good, 'cause I'm heading home. You can get your ass kicked for a while."
Menkaura walked over to Ash. "I'm glad you made it, but I really wish you'd been here sooner."
As Menkaura left, Susan heard Ash whisper, "Not half as much as I do."
He looked around at the others. "Anyone else have a complaint?"
Zoe opened her mouth.
"Don't start," Ash snapped. "I'm already hearing the entire tirade in your head, Zoe. I did the best I could, okay?"
"Yeah, well, your best sucks." And with that, she turned on her heel and left, muttering about her spilled coffee and worthless men.
Ravyn patted Susan on the arm, before he walked over to Ash. "You okay?"
"No. I have people who are dead and an extremely limited amount of time before I have to leave again. As Zoe says, it sucks."
"You know how Zoe is." As Ravyn clapped Ash on the back, he hissed and stiffened as if he were in an incredible amount of pain.
"Are you all right?" Susan asked.
Ash recovered himself almost instantly. "Fine. We've got bigger problems right now. "
She looked over her shoulder to see what he was staring at... It was a police car.
She held her breath until after it'd rolled past and vanished. She looked up at Ravyn. "That was close."
"We need to get the two of you back to the Serengeti."
Susan was baffled by Acheron's words. "How do you know where we're staying?"
"I'm omniscient, Susan."
A chill went down her spine because he knew her name. "Uh-huh. There seems to be an abundance of that going around." She glanced to Ravyn. "You ever feel left out?"
"All the time."
Well, that answered that.
As the men headed back up the hill, Susan couldn't help looking around the alley. There was no sign of a battle having been fought here. Not one. Not even dust from the Daimons, not a trace that Belle had ever lived...
A gentle breeze stirred down the narrow alley and everything looked oddly peaceful and quiet. This was a tragic life the Dark-Hunters lived. They gave their lives for mankind and no one even knew they were here. And when they died, they vanished into nothing.
It brought everything home to Susan with painful clarity. How many battles like this had Ravyn fought over the centuries? How many injuries had he tended without Acheron there to fix them? He really was alone with no one there for him.
Good God, Ravyn would have died had she not gone to the shelter and taken him out. That thought made her ache for him.
"Susan?"
She looked up at Ravyn.
"You okay, babe?"
Nodding, she headed for them and took his hand, needing to feel a physical connection to him while her emotions were so raw.