No Mercy (Dark-Hunter 18)

He held his hand up to stop her protest. "It's all right, Samia. Scorpio and I have run it past Ash. The Dogs stand together. You know this. Warriors to the end."

"Fools to the end," she snapped.

Ethon's grin widened. "Always."

Sam wanted to argue with him, but she knew it would only waste time they didn't have. Ethon was every bit as impossible and stubborn as Dev. "Fine. Make sure you keep up."

Fang stepped toward Ethon. "I'll take this one."

"I got the other." Dev met her gaze. "I'll see you in a minute."

Sam watched as they teleported from the hallway to the park. She took a moment to glance around the old house as she felt a strange tremor of foreboding go down her spine. Evil was at play here.

She only hoped she was the sole target of it.

Closing her eyes, she teleported to where Fang and Dev were standing in the fading sunlight. There was no sign of the Dark-Hunters.

Her heart stopped beating. Had they burst into flames?

"Did you get hungry and eat my colleagues?"

Dev pointed down to the dark green wool blanket at his feet that she'd somehow missed seeing. "There's still enough daylight to blister you guys so we hid them fast."

But oddly the sunlight wasn't hurting her at all--most likely because of her ghostlike form. Amazed, she watched the first sunset she'd seen in over five thousand years. The sky was absolutely breathtaking with ribbons of pink and orange twisting through the darkening blue.

If only she could feel the rays on her skin.

But seeing it was enough. She wanted to cry over the sight she'd missed all this time. "It's beautiful." But that tender swell in her breast died as she glanced down to the blanket and realized what it looked like spread out over the grass.

Two dead bodies.

And it was painfully obvious there were bodies under that blanket.

A car slowed down as it drove past them, raising the hair on the back of her neck. The driver stared at them until Fang looked over at her. Then the driver gunned the engine and sped away as fast as she could.

Sam let out an elongated breath. "Sheez, guys, I think we better hurry before someone calls the cops and tells them you're trying to hide bodies in the Pontchartrain."

Ethon's laugh rang out from under the blanket.

Dev kicked him. "Sorry. Accident."

Ethon growled low in his throat. "You better be glad I'm pinned, Bear."

Dev flashed her a grin before he turned his attention back to their task. "Sun's setting. Anyone see anything?"

Just the research building and Lake Oaks Park across the street. The parking lot on her left for the university and fitness center and the houses behind them. It all looked completely normal and the traffic was getting heavier.

We are so going to jail....

Would Ash bail them out?

Fang turned around slowly.

And true to her prediction, she heard police sirens in the distance, drawing closer.

Crap.

"Gods, I hope that's not for us," Fang mumbled.

Dev snorted. "Oh, you know it is. That's our luck, mon frere." He glared at the horizon. "C'mon sunset. Don't fail us."

Fang scoffed at his words. "Fail us, hell. The police show up and I'm flashing home. I say we leave the Dogs here to get their own butts out of the sling."

"Screw you, Wolf," Ethon snapped.

Dev held his hand up to silence them. "Look."

Sam didn't see anything until the last ray vanished. Then there was a slight shimmering just a few feet in front of them. The kind that most would dismiss as a summer haze. Heat coming off the pavement.

But it wasn't that.

"Dev..." Fang's voice was stern as the sound of speeding cars drew closer.

Sam saw the police lights.

"Hunters, rise!" Dev ordered.

Ethon and Scorpio rolled out from under the blanket at the same time the police shouted at them to freeze. Ignoring them, they ran forward.

Sam heard the sound of guns firing. One second she was shouting at Dev to dodge the bullet headed at his back, the next everything was different.

The terrain remained the same. But the street and buildings were gone. A bright, piercing light bathed everything in an overexposed glow. What ever the source, it obviously wasn't sunlight since neither Scorpio nor Ethon were blistering from it.

Sam lifted her hand to shield her eyes as she looked over the men to make sure they were all right.

They stood like fighters in front of her. Dev with his hip cocked and the others ready to battle. Only there was nothing to fight.

Dev walked a slow circle, taking in their new landscape. "Anyone want to hazard a guess as to which way we should try?"

Ethon wiped his hand over his chin. "I'd say we try GPS tracking, but I'm going to bet we don't get any satellite reception here. What do you think?"

Scorpio answered by releasing the spikes in his vambraces so that they stood out like a porcupine's quills. Without a word to any of them, he headed for the black water that lapped against a light gray beach.

"Guess we're going north," Dev said slowly. "Everyone, follow Lassie. Timmy's in the well."

Scorpio raised his left arm. Interesting that with the blade extended, it looked like a vicious "FU" to Dev.

Ethon clapped Dev on the back. "Careful, Bear. I think you made Lassie mad. Remember in his case the bite is definitely more fatal than the bark."

Just as they neared the water, the ground under their feet started shifting. Fang cursed as it split apart and he started to fall into a ravine. Shifting forms from human to wolf, he leapt clear while Dev and the others ran to stable ground.

With her current form, Sam was in no danger. She floated over the shifting ground to hover near the men who were watching their feet suspiciously.

"That was close."

The men ignored her.

Frowning, Sam waved her hand to get their attention. They all four acted like she was invisible.

What in the world?

Irritated at them and scared that she was becoming even more of a ghost than she'd been before, she opened her mouth to chastise them. But the moment she did, she heard a deep, vicious growl coming toward her.

Turning her head, she gasped. It was a herd of leucrotae. Ferocious wolf-dogs who could feign the voice of people in order to lure their prey into closer range. The Greek historian Photius had once described them as "brave as a lion, swift as a horse, and strong as a bull. They cannot be overcome by any weapon of steel...."

And they were headed straight for them.