Hunted (War of the Covens 1)

Ryder nodded. “And what goddess should bless a union between a lykan and a faerie, Artemis or Hemera?”

“Exactly.”

“Hemera.” He smiled. “She has precedent, since she’s all primordial and shit.”

“So they can have children?”

“Yeah. In that circumstance, their children will be faeries.”

Wow. “But, if a vampyre and a lykan mate, then who …”

“Well, there’s the thing. Vampyres can only have kids with their own kind. And to be honest, they don’t view mating the same way we do. Hades doesn’t bless the union or anything, you know. He didn’t exactly expect his nasty little undead to refine their ways and start living like humans. Apparently, the story goes that Demeter, the Goddess of Fertility, granted the vampyres the ability to give birth to their own kind, in vengeance against Hades for kidnapping her daughter Persephone and making her Queen of the Underworld. With this gift, vampyres became even more human.”

Caia shook her head, astounded by all the new information. Ryder grinned.

“You want to hear some of my personal stories?”

Caia nodded enthusiastically and leaned back to enjoy Ryder’s colorful storytelling. They were interrupted a few times as customers came in, but for most of the morning, he held her enthralled. He told her about a group of vampyre hunters he’d lived with for a few weeks, how—although many vampyres were able to sustain themselves on blood bought from butchers and slaughterhouses—these hunters preyed on animals to hone their skills for hunting the rogue vampyres that killed humans for pleasure.

“So,” Caia said, searching for clarification, “it’s against the law to hunt a supernatural that isn’t of your race?”

“Completely.” Ryder was suddenly deadly serious. “If I were caught hunting a rogue vampyre, I could be pulled up before the Council. It’s a huge breach of coven laws.”

“Vampyres …” Caia went on. “What are they like? I mean, we don’t die by silver bullets so what’s the true story behind them? Do they sleep in coffins?”

Ryder smiled at her innocence. “No. They walk in daylight, they’re not afraid of crosses or holy water—”

“I didn’t think they were, considering they’re pre-Christian.”

“Smart-ass.” He teased. “Basically, they look like humans, just like us, except they move faster, they’re stronger, and they live on blood. To kill them, you’ve got to cut off their heads.”

“What about the heart?”

“Well, unlike the myths, vampyre hearts actually do beat, but they’re encased in thick bone, so … you really have to cut off the head to end the bloodsuckers.”

“Wow. Their hearts beat. I feel like I’ve been lied to my whole life.”

Ryder chuckled. “Yeah, well, I love the movies, but they certainly have a hell of a lot of misinformation to answer for.”

She smiled, but then promptly frowned. “What’s up with the bone encasement around the heart?”

“Don’t ask me, ask Hades.” Ryder shrugged. “Oh, and they have this thing for coins.”

Caia screwed up her face in confusion, reeling from these newfound facts. “Coins?”

“Yeah.” He grinned. “Think about it. The only reason they’re here at all is because Hades sent them back after they crossed without coin into the Underworld.”

“So, big coin collectors, huh?”

“Huge. Don’t try to touch any of them either. They do not like that.”

Caia tried not to laugh and failed. “We belong to a world that is just …”

“Just what?”

“Amazing. And I know nothing about it.”

His expression was sympathetic. “You’re getting there. You want to hear about this faerie I met in Italy? She was the first faerie I’d ever met, and boy, did I learn my lesson …”

Ryder amused her as he regailed her with a story about this gorgeous woman who had stolen from him not once, not twice, but three times when he was on a job in the southern climes of Italy. She had disguised herself as three different people—all women he couldn’t resist, apparently. He said it was a big turning point for his hunting career. Now he learned to trust no one outside the pack until he was certain of them.

“And I especially don’t like faeries,” he finished.

“I thought some faeries worked for the good guys?”

“Of course.” Ryder leaned back lazily as he looked at his watch. Caia could hear his stomach growling. “The Daylight Coven employs them, just as the Midnight Coven does. Marion has her very own personal faerie … now she is annoying.”

Caia liked the sound of Marion. “Will I get to meet her—Marion, I mean?”

“Sure. Probably pretty soon, actually—”

“Ryder.” Lucien appeared at the doorway to the workshop. The pack leader’s expression was stony. “I need your help back here with something.”

Ryder stood slowly, rubbing his nape in a sheepish way that suggested he’d been caught doing something wrong. Caia’s eyebrow quirked in curiosity as he strolled after his friend. Lucien shut the door behind him, and Caia tiptoed over to press her ear against it. She had a feeling Ryder was in trouble.