Night Pleasures (Dark-Hunter #2)(32)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Kyrian grimaced. "It’s all right, Amanda. I’m just glad you found me. I didn’t want to die alone… again."

Her heart lurched at the words as tears fell down her face. No! The scream reverberated through her soul.

She couldn’t let him die. Not like this. Not after he had protected and cared for her. Not after he had come to mean so much to her.

Over and over in her mind, she pictured her precious Dark-Hunter roaming the earth trapped between worlds. Forever hungry. Forever alone.

She couldn’t allow that to happen.

Nick returned with a crowbar in his hands.

"What are you doing?"

Nick gave her a hard stare. "I’m not going to let him die like this. I’m going to get him free." He tried to pry the nail out of Kyrian’s hand.

Kyrian drew rigid from the pain.

"No!" Amanda shouted.

Nick went flying. "What the hell?"

Before she knew what she was doing, she felt her powers well up inside her. They surged forward like a waterfall, out of her control.

In that instant, the nails came free of Kyrian’s body and he fell into her arms. "Help me, Nick," she breathed, trying to stay on her feet and hold him up.

Nick was aghast.

Shaking off his stupor, Nick picked Kyrian up in his arms. He staggered from the weight of him, but made his way to the car as fast as he could. "We still don’t have enough time to get him home before sunrise," he panted out in broken syllables.

"We can take him to my sister’s. She only lives a block over."

"Which sister?"

"Esmeralda. You met her earlier, the one with the long black hair."

"The voodoo high priestess?"

"No, the midwife."

Without another word, Nick drove them to Essie’s house in record time. It took some doing, but they managed to get Kyrian to the porch just as the sun started to rise over the roof opposite them.

Amanda pounded on the door to her sister’s narrow Victorian home. "Esmeralda? Hurry! Open the door."

She saw her sister’s shadow through the Victorian lace curtain an instant before the doorknob turned. Amanda shoved the door open and Nick carried Kyrian into the foyer without a second to spare.

"Pull the shades down," Nick ordered Esmeralda as he laid Kyrian on the dark green contemporary sofa.

"Excuse me?" Esmeralda asked. "What is this?"

"Just do it, Essie, I’ll explain in a minute."

Reluctantly, Essie followed Nick’s orders.

Amanda touched Kyrian’s face. "They made a terrible mess of you."

"How’s Tabitha?" Kyrian asked weakly. Amanda was touched by his concern for her sister when he was so hurt himself.

"I’m calling an ambulance," Esmeralda said, picking up the phone from the end table.

Nick grabbed the phone from her hands. "No."

The look on Esmeralda’s face would have quelled most men. Nick just glared back at her without flinching.

"It’s all right, Essie," Amanda assured her. "We can’t take him to a hospital."

"He’s going to die if you don’t."

"No," Nick said, "he won’t."

Esmeralda cocked a disbelieving brow.

"He’s not human," Amanda explained.

Esmeralda narrowed her eyes suspiciously. "What is he, then?"

"He’s a vampire."

Rage suffused her face as she railed against them all. "You brought a vampire into my house? After what happened to Tabitha? My God, Amanda, where was your brain?"

"He’s not going to hurt you," Amanda insisted.

"You’re damned straight. I’m going to call-"

Nick stepped between Esmeralda and the phone. "You call anyone and I’ll rip the phone out of the wall."

"Boy," Essie said in a warning tone, "don’t think for two seconds you-"

"Stop it!" Amanda shouted. "Kyrian needs your help, Esmeralda, and as your little sister, I’m begging you for it."

"Do you-"

"Essie, please."

She saw the indecision warring in Essie’s eyes and knew the thoughts in her mind. On the one hand Esmeralda didn’t want to help the evil undead; on the other, she couldn’t really say no to her sister.

"Please, Es, I’ve never before asked a favor of you."

"Not true. You borrowed my favorite sweater in high school to wear to that game where Bobby Daniels was playing."

"Es!"

"All right," she relented, "but if he bites anyone in this house, I’m staking him."

Kyrian lay still while Esmeralda and Amanda peeled his bloodied clothes from him. He hurt so badly he could barely breathe. Over and over, he saw the Daimons attacking him and he wanted blood.

"Let the sun have him." Desiderius’s mocking voice rang in his ears.

That bastard would pay. Kyrian planned to make sure of it.

Amanda’s heart wrenched at the wounds on Kyrian’s body.

His forearms and hands were covered with nail holes.

Never in her life had she hated anyone, but right then she hated Desiderius with so much passion that if he were here, she’d rip him apart with her bare hands.

She left Kyrian only long enough to call her parents and check on Tabitha.

While Essie bandaged Kyrian, Nick paced the floor.

"What do you want me to do about Desiderius?" Nick asked Kyrian.

"Stay away from him."

"But look at you."

"I’m immortal. I will survive this. You wouldn’t."

"Yeah, well, had we taken another three minutes to get there, you wouldn’t have survived it, either."

"Nick," Amanda warned. "You’re not helping. He needs to rest."

"I’m sorry," he said, raking a nervous hand through his tousled dark brown hair. "I attack when I’m worried. It’s a defense mechanism."

"It’s all right, Nick," Kyrian said. "Go home and get some sleep."

His jaw rigid, Nick nodded. He looked at Amanda. "Call me if you need anything."

"I will."

As soon as he was gone, Esmeralda finished tending Kyrian. "That really must hurt. What happened?"

"I was stupid."

"Okay, Stupid," Esmeralda said pointedly, "we’re going to have to set those legs and I don’t have a splint."

"Can I borrow the phone?" Kyrian asked.

Frowning, Esmeralda handed it to him.

Amanda carefully bathed the blood from his face as he dialed. "How can you be so lucid?" she asked him. "This has to be excruciating for you."

"I was tortured by the Romans for over a month, Amanda. Believe me, this is nothing."

Still, it made her ache for him. How could he stand it?

She listened while he talked to whomever he’d called.

"Yeah, I know. I’ll see you shortly."

Amanda took the phone from him.

Kyrian closed his eyes and rested while Esmeralda motioned her into the kitchen.

"Now I want an explanation. Why is there a wounded vampire on my couch?"

"He saved my life; I’m just returning the favor."

Esmeralda glared at her. "Have you any idea what Tabitha would do if she ever found out?"

"I know, but I couldn’t let him die. He’s a good man, Es."

Her cheeks paling, Esmeralda’s jaw dropped. "No, not that face."

"What face?"

"That weepy, Brendan-Fraser-is-on-the-screen face."

"Excuse me?" Amanda asked, offended.

"You’re infatuated with him."

Amanda felt her face turn red.

"Mandy! Where’s your brain?"

She avoided her sister’s probing stare by looking back to the couch where Kyrian lay. "Look, Essie, I’m not stupid and I’m not a child. I know there can never be anything between us."

"But?"

"What but?"

"You look like there should be a ‘but’ on the end of that sentence."

"Well, there isn’t." Amanda pushed her gently toward the stairs. "Now go on back to bed and get some sleep."

"Yeah, right. Are you going to make sure Mr. Vampire doesn’t snack on one of us while I sleep?"

"He doesn’t suck blood."

"How do you know?"

"He said so."

Essie folded her arms over her chest and gave her a piqued stare. "Oh well, that makes it official, then, doesn’t it?"

"Would you stop?"

"C’mon, Mandy," she said, gesturing toward the couch. "The man is a killer."

"You don’t know him."

"I don’t know any alligators, either, but I sure as hell wouldn’t leave one in my house. You can’t change the nature of a beast."

"He’s not a beast."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Still she saw the skepticism in her sister’s eyes. "You damn well better be, little girl, or we’ll all pay a foul price."

While Esmeralda dressed for work several hours later, Amanda made a small breakfast for Kyrian.

"I appreciate the thought, but I’m really not hungry," he said gently.

She set the plate on the coffee table. Tenderly, she traced her hand down the bandage on his arm where blood had already seeped into it. "I wish you had listened to me and stayed home."

"I can’t do that, Amanda. I have an oath and a duty to fulfill."

The job. It was all that mattered to him and she wondered if he protected her because he cared, or if she were just part and parcel of what his duty entailed. "Still, you tell me you believe in my powers and then when I tell you-"

"Amanda, please. I had no choice."

She nodded. "I hope you kill him."

"I will."

Amanda squeezed his hand. "You don’t sound quite as sure as you did before."

"That’s because I spent the night nailed to a board and I don’t feel very well this morning."

"You’re not funny."

"I know," he said. "It just bothers me that he really did know where to strike to do the most damage. Right down to-"

She waited several minutes, but he didn’t elaborate. "To?" she prompted.

"Nothing."

"Kyrian, talk to me. I want to know how he got you into this condition."

"I don’t want to talk about it."

Before she could press him, someone knocked on the door.

"Please," he said quietly, "go let D’Alerian in."

"The Dream-Hunter?"

He nodded.

Curious, she got up and opened the front door, then stepped back. The man on the porch was nothing like she’d expected. Towering over her, the Dream-Hunter had hair as black as night and eyes so colorless and pale, they seemed to glow. Dressed all in black like a Dark-Hunter, the man before her would command attention if not for the strange tendency of her eyes to want to look away from him. It was weird. Really weird. She had to force herself to look at a man who should make any woman gape in lustful awe.

Without a word, he stepped past her and went to Kyrian. The door jerked itself out of her hands and slammed shut to keep the daylight out of the room.

D’Alerian had a sleek, graceful walk as he moved toward the couch where Kyrian lay. He shrugged his leather jacket off and pulled the sleeves of his black shirt back on his arms.

"Since when do you knock?" Kyrian asked.

"Since I didn’t want to scare the human." D’Alerian swept a gaze over Kyrian’s body. "You’re a mess."

"That’s what people keep telling me."

There was no humor in D’Alerian’s face. Nothing. He was even more serene and calm than Talon. It was as if he had no emotions whatsoever.

D’Alerian held his hand out and one of the armchairs moved to rest beside the couch.

Without paying her any heed, he touched Kyrian on the shoulder. "Sleep, Dark-Hunter." And before he finished the words, Kyrian fell soundly asleep.

Amanda watched as the Dream-Hunter kept his hand on Kyrian’s shoulder and closed his eyes. Only then did she see emotions cross D’Alerian’s face. He gasped and tensed as if he were the one being tortured. In fact, he showed all the pain she would have expected from Kyrian.

After a few minutes, D’Alerian pulled his hand away and leaned forward in the chair, his breathing labored. He covered his face with his hands as if trying to banish a nightmare.

When he looked up at her, the intensity of his stare made her jump.

"I’ve never, in all eternity, seen anything like that," he whispered hoarsely.

"Like what?"

He let out a deep, ragged breath. "You want to know how Desiderius got to him?"

She nodded.

"His memories. I’ve never felt such agonized pain in anyone. When they come upon him, they weaken him. And so long as they do, he will always lose his battle calm."

"Is there anything I can do?"

"Not unless you can think of some way to erase those memories. If they continue to plague him like this, he’s doomed." D’Alerian looked at Kyrian. "He will sleep until tonight. Don’t disturb him. When he wakes, he’ll be able to walk, but he will still be weak. Try not to let him go after Desiderius for a few days. I will speak to Artemis and see what can be done."

"Thank you."

He nodded and was gone in a golden flash of light. Two seconds later, his jacket evaporated, too.