Embraced By Darkness (Riley Jenson Guardian 5)

He chuckled, and it was a cold, inhuman sound. "Of course. All hunters do. The heads of all our prey line the walls of our lodge, so we and others can admire the beauty of their death. Although Adrienne has not yet joined them. Our taxidermist went on holidays."

Oh God, that was just... beyond sick. These weren't just animals we were talking about, these were people.

Living, breathing human beings. Or rather, nonhuman beings.

And how in hell did they find a taxidermist who'd even do such a thing?

"You will pay for those trophies," I said, my voice flat, devoid of the anger that was running through me. Just like Rhoan, when he stepped into his guardian shoes and became the efficient killing machine he'd been trained to be.

A shiver went through me, and deep down something screamed no. But I had to wonder how much longer that voice would last if I kept getting thrown up against the psychos of this world.

"That's the whole idea," he said cheerfully. "We hunt. You try to make us pay. Of course, there are rules."

I snorted. "Like I'm actually going to obey any of your rules once I'm out of here?"

Perhaps not the wisest thing to say, but hey, if he knew anything about guardians, then he knew rules didn't often figure in our actions.

"You will obey, or your partner pays."

Yeah, like that was a surprise. And of course, I would obey their rules because there was no way on this earth I'd risk my brother's life. "The problem you're faced with is the fact that if you do manage to kill me, there is nothing left to make my partner obey your rules."

"There is no if in the equation." He dug into his pocket, and pulled out what looked like one of those keychain garage doors openers. "And we have this as our security on your partner. He has a miniature bomb planted in his armpit. If he disobeys the rules, the top half of his torso will be blown apart. Hard to get revenge when you only have half a body and no brain."

I stared at him, wondering what was worse - his matter-of-fact tone or his obvious delight at his handiwork.

"The first thing any sensible person would do is rip the device out of their body."

"The device's power is sourced from the body's heat. Disconnect that source and it will instantly detonate."

"That's not very friendly."

"We may enjoy our hunt, but we are not fools." He glanced at his watch then pushed away from the bars. "We will release you at five. Walk down the path and out the red gate. Go anywhere else but out that gate and your partner will lose his life. We will give you a ten-minute head start."

"Gee, thanks," I said dryly.

"Use the time wisely."

He turned around and walked out of the barn. I flicked to infrared vision, watching his body heat push through the thick shrubbery to the left of the path before disappearing from my line of sight.

So the hunter had become the hunted. Nothing new in that situation. Question was, why was he so damned confident?

Granted, he and his twin had a good number of kills under their belts, and those kills were either weres or shifters who were traditionally stronger and faster than humans.

But Rhoan and I were guardians. Trained killers. Well, Rhoan was. I was still very much the new kid on the block, and more than happy to stay that way. Yet Jorn had showed no fear of either of us. Had absolutely no doubt that he could track me down and kill me.

Why?

He obviously knew what guardians were capable of - they'd moved out of England to get away from Directorate interest there.

So why the confidence?

Was it just another pointer to their obvious insanity? Or had they done to me what they'd done to Rhoan?

I felt under my armpits, but there didn't seem to be anything foreign there. Which didn't mean there wasn't a bomb somewhere inside me, just that I couldn't feel it. And I couldn't remove something I couldn't feel. Though if what Jorn had said about its power source was true, then removing it wasn't the best option right now anyway.

Which left me with only one thing to do - nothing. Just wait for the hunt to begin.

Another hour went by. I rose and began stretching, readying muscles but trying not to think about the hunt that was coming.