No Mercy (Dark-Hunter 18)

She forced herself to look while Ethon continued berating Dev. To her complete shock, he had the whip and was trying to pull him up.

Fang and Scorpion grabbed Ethon by the waist and added their power to his.

She bit into her knuckle so hard, it bled. Please, please, please...

For the first time in centuries, she felt like the gods were on her side as they hauled him up.

Dev slung his leg over the edge. Ethon grabbed him by the shirt and hauled him clear of the ravine. Then all of the men sprawled out on the ground.

Ethon let out a sinister laugh. "I think I need a vacation."

Fang groaned. "I need a new backbone that doesn't feel like someone did a two-step down it with steel-plated razor cleats."

Scorpion sucked his breath in sharply between his teeth. "I need a belleza well tutored in massage."

Dev rubbed his bleeding wrist. "I'm going with Scorpion. Except my bonita is unfortunately intangible at the moment, which doesn't do me any good."

Everyone went silent as they became aware of the fact that Dev had just proclaimed her his. Publicly. Sam was stunned by his words.

"Oh, c'mon, people," Ethon said in a mocking tone. "We're all adults. Not like we didn't know what was going on between them. You know Dev isn't risking his jewels 'cause she plays a mean game of pool, for Zeus's sake."

Fang turned his head to pin Ethon with a gimlet stare. "That explains Dev. I'm here to keep his sister from beating on me if I let him get hurt. Neither of those explain why you two are signed up for this."

Ethon scoffed. "Mine's simple. Brain damage."

Scorpion shook his head. "I just like to kill things."

Ethon rolled over and pushed himself to his feet. "But not dogs."

"Si. No dogs."

"Why?" Sam asked.

Scorpio didn't answer as he flipped straight up into a fighting stance.

Dev got up and helped Fang to his feet. "You think there's a rhythm to when the ground breaks on us or not?"

Sam shook her head. "It's random."

Ethon wiped at the blood on his forearm. "At least it got rid of our four-legged piranha problem."

Yeah, but Sam wasn't so sure it was a good sign. She glanced around the overexposed landscape. It had such a weird orang-ish hue to everything. It looked like hell had been superimposed over New Orleans. She could see the street that had surrounded their circle. Only instead of a road, it was a burned-out hole. A blistering wind swept against them, making her hair sting her cheeks as it slapped against her face. Weird that she could feel that when she could feel nothing else.

The men were on their feet now, moving toward the bank where water boiled against a dark purple shore. She had an overwhelming urge to hum a spooky tune. But she didn't think the guys would appreciate it. Plus, they were a little jumpy and on edge as all of them waited for the next attack.

A whistle rent the air.

Dev reached out toward her instinctively. It was an action that made her heart catch. But she wasn't the one in danger.

He was.

And all she wanted to do was wrap her body around his and shield him from harm. If only she could.

Fang turned around looking for the source. "What is that sound?"

Scorpio tucked his whip back around his waist and pulled out his swords again. "Is it just me or does that sound like wings?"

Sam fell quiet to listen.

He was right. It did have that swishing wing sound. Only these had to be huge wings to make the noise she heard.

This wasn't good.

Dev ground his teeth as he looked for the next threat that was coming for them. His entire body was aching all the way to the marrow of his bones. All he wanted was to find the damn girdle and get out of here before one of them was killed. Most of all, he wanted to go back to when it'd been just him and Sam in her house. To that moment of perfect bliss when there had been no danger. No goal. And they'd been naked in each other's arms.

Weird how he didn't want to leave anymore and start over. He was perfectly content to stay, so long as she was with him.

But then life was insidiously evil in that it seemed to always be a study in how hard it could kick you down. Like the king Tantalus that Ethon had mentioned earlier. Life dropped you neck-deep into the water you craved most, then the minute you stooped to drink, it evaporated. It let you starve while succulent grapes hung over your head, so close your fingertips could brush them, then the instant you reached out for one, a phantom breeze would blow them right out of your grasp. All the while you could see your desires so clearly, you could reach out and almost touch them, but you could never have them.

That was what he hated most about it. Life was anti-happy.

He glanced to Sam. Right now, he couldn't even touch her. She was completely intangible and yet there she shimmered in all her beauty. Calling out to him when he knew he couldn't have her, couldn't touch her. And right now, her features were pinched and strained with worry. Of everyone here, he knew exactly how much torture it was for her to not be able to really help them, and all he wanted to do was make it better.

"Mommy? Mommy? Where are you?"

Dev felt sick as he heard the voice of a little girl and saw the devastation on Sam's face.

"Mommy? I'm so scared. Why did you leave me?"

She started forward.

"Sam!" he snapped at her. "It's a trick. You know it is."

Sam wanted to believe it, but the voice...

It was Agaria. She would know that sweet, precious voice anywhere.

"Sam? Is that you? See, Ree, I told you Mommy hadn't forgotten us. I told you she'd be back."

Dev's heart clenched, especially when he saw the pain etched on Ethon's features. "Damn you, bastards!" Dev roared. "Stop with the cruelty."

"Devereaux? Is that you, brother?"

Pain lacerated Dev as he heard Bastien's voice in the strange shadows around him. Before he could stop himself, he'd taken a step toward it.

"Fang? Is that you?"

Fang swallowed hard. "Anya?"

Dev cursed at the name of Fang's sister who'd been killed by Daimons....