Dark Side of the Moon (Dark-Hunter 9)

As Susan tried to guide him back to their room, Ravyn caught the door frame with his hand and refused to enter. He gave her a harsh stare as she tried to push him forward. "I have to get back home."

"Yes," she said slowly, "it's right in this room."

"No!" he growled in a ferocious tone. "Zatira needs me. I have to go to her."

Who was Zatira? Susan exchanged a look with Erika, who looked every bit as baffled by the name as she was. "No, you don't."

He pushed her away and he started down the hallway. "I have to save her." He took three steps before he froze. He stared at the floor as if it were a TV screen. Unbelievable pain twisted his brow as if he was reliving some kind of nightmare. She'd never seen a more tormented expression.

"No," he growled, punching at the wall. "Zatira! Mom! God, no! No more blood. They're not dead. They're not!"

He raked both hands through his hair before he threw himself against the wall and slid to the floor.

Susan went to him. Taking his hands into hers, she forced him to unclench them from his hair. "Ravyn, look at me."

He did, but she could tell he didn't see her. He was still being tormented by something in his past. "Zatira?"

"It's Susan."

He rolled away from her. "I have to save her. I can't let her die. I can't."

Susan tried to hold him back as he struggled without hurting her.

Suddenly, a shadow fell over them. Susan looked up, expecting it to be Erika.

It wasn't. It was either Dorian or Phoenix.

"Get up," he snarled at Ravyn. There wasn't a trace of compassion or sympathy on his face.

"Fuck you." Ravyn tried to crawl past him, only to have his brother grab him roughly by the arm and haul him to his feet.

"Not so rough," Susan snapped. "There's no need to hurt him."

Ravyn leaned back against the wall as he stared at his brother. His face was angry and feral, but his eyes spoke volumes of pain and hurt. "You going to kill me again?"

For once, his brother's expression softened. "It's Dorian, Rave. Not Phoenix."

"Dori..." The anger faded from Ravyn's face and was replaced by a profound agony. "I didn't mean to, Dori. I didn't. You have to believe me. I didn't want them hurt." He grabbed his brother by the shirt and held tight. "I didn't mean for anyone to die."

Dorian wrapped his hand around Ravyn's wrist before he removed his grip. "I know."

Ravyn snapped his head back so hard into the wall that it actually broke the Sheetrock. "We can save them," he said, taking a step toward the door that led upstairs. "We can go back and make it right."

"What is he talking about?" Erika asked.

Dorian didn't answer. Instead, he snapped at her. "Go upstairs, Erika."

It was obvious by her face that she wanted to argue, but for once she obeyed.

"We have to go," Ravyn insisted.

But there was no reprieve in his brother's stern expression. "Don't be stupid again." He shoved Ravyn away from him.

Susan glared at Dorian as Ravyn staggered and almost fell. "You asshole," she snarled, barely catching Ravyn against her.

Ravyn paused as their gazes met and held. For the first time since this episode had started, he saw her and not Zatira. His features relaxed. A small smile hovered on his lips. "You look like an angel..." His eyes rolled back in his head before he collapsed.

Dorian let out an aggravated breath as Ravyn hit the floor. None too gently, Dorian picked him up and carried him back to the mattress. Susan wanted to protest his help, but there was no way she could move Ravyn by herself. Damn his brother for being so cold.

"How long has he been like this?" Dorian asked as he straightened up.

"About two hours."

Dorian shook his head as he looked back at Ravyn, who lay silent and still. "You need a breather?"

She crossed her arms over her chest as she gave him a suspicious once-over. "It depends. You gonna beat on him while I'm gone?"

The look on his face said he wasn't amused by her question, which was okay by her since she wasn't joking. "No."

That made her feel a little bit better... but only a little. She still didn't trust Dorian. From what she'd read in the handbook, Dorian was an Arcadian Were-Hunter. Human in theory, he was able to shift into an animal. There were other kinds of Were-Hunters who held animal hearts. They were called Katagaria. Unlike Ravyn and his family, they were truly animals who could take human form. But from where she stood, she didn't see much difference since the so-called "human" branch seemed to be as cold as any animal she'd ever met in the wild.

Then again, as a reporter, she'd met plenty of humans whom she would definitely classify as animal. Some were even amoebas.

And the reporter in her had something else it was extremely curious about. "Who was Zatira?"

Pain darkened Dorian's eyes before he answered. "My sister."

"I assume she was Ravyn's, too?"

He cut her a look that said yes, but that Dorian didn't want to admit to it.

Which begged the next question. "What happened to her?"

The pain from his eyes seeped over his entire being. It was obvious that he felt her loss every bit as deeply as Ravyn did. "She was killed three hundred years ago."

Susan winced at that. "Killed how?"

"By humans." He snarled the word as if being human was the worst thing he could think of. He gave her the harshest, most hate-filled stare she'd ever seen in her life. "They brutally slaughtered her... our mother, Phoenix's wife and children, and our entire village."

Susan covered her mouth as the horror of that overwhelmed her. But then what had she expected? Dark-Hunters were created out of men and women who'd suffered unjust tragedy and who wanted revenge on those who'd wronged them. It was the screaming of their souls that summoned Artemis to them, and if they accepted the bargain, Artemis would bring them back to life and give them twenty-four hours to exact their revenge. After that, they became soldiers in her army that was dedicated to protecting mankind from the Daimons. The nature of their creation guaranteed that all of them had at least one major tragedy in their past.