Retribution (Dark-Hunter #20)(32)
Author: Sherrilyn Kenyon

Everything.

Sick to his stomach, he went to Buffalo and knelt beside him to whisper a small prayer over his body.

A shrill scream echoed. Looking up, Ren saw Butterfly as she ran to her Buffalo. She sobbed hysterically, throwing herself down on top of him.

"Why? Why? Why would you hurt me so?"

Coyote curled his lip. "You tore my heart out."

"And you killed mine." She laid herself over the Buffalo and wept.

Ren rose to his feet and left her there to grieve while he confronted his brother.

That was his mistake. He didn’t think about what would happen if Butterfly was allowed to cry her misery out to the gods and spirits. To wail and shriek for her lost Buffalo.

But it was too late now. A howling wind came screaming through the woods, dancing around their whitebuckskin-covered bodies. Those winds joined together to form two trumpeters who blew their horns to announce the most feared creature of all.

The Avenging Spirit. Something that could be summoned only by the cries of a wronged woman who wanted vengeance against the ones who’d hurt her.

Nebulous in form, he was bathed all in white. His hair, the translucent skin that covered his skeletal features. His feathers and buckskin. The only break from the color was the dark blue beadwork along his neck.

"Why was I called forth?" he demanded.

Butterfly looked up. Her beautiful face contorted by grief, she looked old and haggard now. Her hair blew around her body as her gaze pierced them with her fury.

"The Coyote killed my heart. So I want his as payment for what he took."

The Avenging Spirit bowed to her. Then he turned toward the men. His face changed from an old gaunt man with stringy hair to the face of ultimate evil. He opened his mouth and it dropped to the floor, contorting and elongating his features. Abigail shivered in terror.

Out of his mouth flew a giant eagle with a lone ghostly warrior on its back. The warrior lifted his spear.

Ren stepped back to give the warrior room.

With a discordant cry of vengeance that shook the very fabric of Mother Earth’s gown, he let fly his spear at Coyote’s heart.

One moment Ren was standing out of the way. In the next, he was across the room, where Coyote had been a heartbeat earlier. Before he could gather his wits and move, the spear flew through the center of his chest, piercing his heart. The force of it lifted him off his feet and pinned him to a tree.

Pain exploded through his body as he gasped for breath. The taste of blood filled his mouth. His eyesight dimmed.

He was dying.

The warrior turned his eagle around and flew back into the Avenging Spirit’s mouth. As quickly as they’d come, they were gone.

His breathing labored, Ren stared at his brother. "I would have given you my life had you asked for it."

"You taught me to take what I wanted." Coyote closed the distance between them and snatched the bone necklace from Ren’s throat that held his Guardian seal. He untied the pouch from Ren’s belt where he kept his strongest magic. "And I want your Guardianship."

"You weren’t chosen."

"And neither were you." Coyote seized the spear and drove it in even deeper. He laughed in triumph as Ren choked on his own blood.

With one last gasp, he fell silent.

The pride on Coyote’s face was sickening as he turned his attention to Butterfly. "I’m a Guardian now. You can love me again."

She curled her lip in repugnance. "I could never love you after what you’ve done. You’re a monster."

He snatched her up by her arm. "You are mine, and I will never share you. Make yourself ready for our wedding."

"No."

He slapped her across the face. "You do not argue with me, woman. You obey." He let go of her so fast that she fell back across Buffalo’s body, where she wept until she had no more tears.

She was still there when the maids came and dressed her for Coyote.

At sundown, he returned for her. But before they could begin the ceremony that would join them together, the Keeper appeared in the middle of the meadow. His dark eyes radiated fury.

"I am here to claim the life of the one responsible for killing two Guardians."

Coyote gasped in terror. His mind whirled as he tried to think of some trick that could save his life. And while his brother’s magic was powerful, it wasn’t enough.

The Keeper crossed the room in a determined stride that promised retribution. From his belt, he drew the Dagger of Justice and without hesitating, plunged it straight into the heart of the one who’d caused such turmoil and misery.

Butterfly staggered back as blood saturated her dress and ran across her braids. Instead of showing pain, she sighed in relief. Blood ran from her lips as she turned to Coyote. "I will be with my love now. Forever in his arms." She sank to the ground, where she died with the most blissful of looks on her face.

Coyote sputtered. "I don’t understand."

The Keeper shrugged. "You were the tool. Butterfly was the cause. Had she not been born, you wouldn’t have acted."

"No, no, no, no. This isn’t right. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end." Raking his hands through his hair, he went to his one true love and cradled her in his arms one last time. She was so tiny and light. Her blood stained his wedding clothes, and he wept at the loss of her.

And it was his loss.

She wouldn’t be waiting for him on the other side. Not now. The pain of that knowledge tore him apart. She would greet Buffalo.

Throwing his head back, he screamed in outrage. No, it wouldn’t end like this. He’d been a good man. Decent. And one by one, all of them had killed that. His brother, Buffalo and Butterfly.

They’d ruined his life. There was no way he would let them live a happy eternity. Not after the way they’d tortured him. He reached into his pouch and summoned the strongest elements there.

"I curse you, Buffalo. You will live a thousand lives and never be happy in any of them. You will walk this earth, betrayed by all who look upon you. There will be no one place you call home. Not in any human lifetime. And you will never have my Butterfly." He blew his magic from his palm into the air so that it could be carried to the spirits who would make it so.

Then he looked down at the serene beauty of the Butterfly. So gentle. So sweet. The thought of cursing her stung him deep.

But she had scorned him.

"Because of what you did to me, you will never marry the one you love. He will always die on his way to unite with you, and you will spend your life mourning him over and over again. No peace. Not until you accept me. And if you do marry another, he will never trust you. You will never be happy in any marriage. Not so long as you have human blood within you." He reached into his pouch and drew the last of his magic, then sent it into the wind.

"Do you know what you’ve done?"

Coyote looked up at Choo Co La Tah’s approach. "I settled the score."

Choo Co La Tah laughed. "Such magic always comes back on the one who wields it."

"How so?"

He gestured toward the sky and the trees. "You know the law. Do no harm, and yet you have done much harm here today."

"They hurt me first."

Choo Co La Tah sighed. "And you have sown the seeds of your ultimate demise. When you curse two people together, you bind them. With that combined strength, they will have the ability to break their curse and kill you."

"You don’t know what you’re talking about."

"Arrogance. The number one cause of death among both peasant and king. Beware its sharp blade. More times than not, it injures the one who wields it most of all."

Coyote dismissed the Guardian’s words. He had no interest in them. He would never suffer.

But he would ensure that they did.

* * *

Abigail came out of her trance with a full understanding of everything around them.

Ren and Coyote were now in full combat mode, and they were going at it like nobody’s business. They took turns pummeling each other through the tunnels of Coyote’s den. She’d never seen a bloodier fight, which given the number of fights she’d been to over the years said a lot.

Glancing around, she looked for a weapon she might use that could help them.

Unfortunately, there wasn’t one. But if arrogant belligerence could take down an opponent …

There was no telling who would win. It would definitely be close. But she knew which side she was pulling for.

Go Red Sox.

"Abigail?"

"I’m here, Jess."

"So are we."

Now, that was the best news she’d heard in days. Leaving Ren and Coyote to their bashing, she ran for the opening. At least she hoped that was where she was headed.

She knew she was going in the right direction when an explosion echoed and blew pieces of rock everywhere.

Yeah, her boys had arrived. Leave it to them to make a grand entrance.

She ran to launch herself at Jess.

Jess smiled as he felt her soft curves pressed up against his hard body. And when she kissed him, he held on to her tight. Until he sensed something that shouldn’t be here.

Pulling back, he cocked his head to listen.

"What’s wrong?" she asked.

"There are Daimons here."

She scowled. "No. Why would there be?"

"I don’t know. But I can feel it. It’s like a nest of them are nearby."

But that didn’t make any sense. Why would Daimons be here with Coyote?

Unless …

"Coyote’s a trickster."

Jess cursed as he came to the same realization she did. How could they have been so ever-loving stupid?

This was a trap, and they’d just barreled right into it.

Chapter 18

Jess would laugh if it weren’t so damn ironic. One of his powers was the ability to know when he was about to be ambushed. And the den they were in had a damper on psychic powers. Not that he and Ren needed that right now, since they’d been draining each other for the last few days.

At best, his powers were working only at half-mast. And it wouldn’t have mattered if they hadn’t been. He still would have walked right into this.

For one simple reason.

He’d been so fixated on getting to Abigail and making sure she was safe, that he’d have been blind to everything else.

Oh, well …

Die and learn.

Cupping her face and soaking in that gleam in her eyes, he leaned his forehead against hers and took a moment to inhale the sweet scent of her skin. Yeah, this gave him strength.

"Um, guys?" Sasha said from beside them. "I hate to toss ice water on your mood, but we have a situation here, and you might want to look up and prepare or sneeze or something. Just saying."

Jess didn’t have to look up. He could feel every pair of eyes on him. The three of them were standing in the center of a large round room deep inside a cavern. Pristine white and trimmed in black, the walls around them reminded him of a palace. Kind of place he’d never thought to see in real life back in the day when he’d been human.

Things changed. Not always for the good and not always for the bad.

Sasha stood on his left and Abigail in front. Because of his injuries, Choo Co La Tah wasn’t with them, and Ren seemed to have disappeared entirely.

Again.

There were six Daimons coming at them. Three to his right, four to his left. And a herd of them in the back tunnel.

Ah hell, he’d had worst odds.

And that was just yesterday.

Abigail took a second longer to stare into those dark eyes that haunted her. Rising on her tiptoes, she kissed the tip of his delectable nose. "Thank you for coming for me."

"My pleasure."

She hugged him close. "And in case we don’t make it out alive … I love you, Jess Brady. I just wanted you to know it."

Jess felt his heart swell over words he’d never thought to hear from another pair of lips that set his world on fire. "I love you, too."

She smiled.

Until Sasha barked. "They’re attacking."

Jess savored the sensation of her skin against his for one second longer. "Aim for the heart."

Inclining her head to let him know she understood, she reached around his waist to pull the two weapons he had on the back part of his holster. He drew the ones in front.

They turned in synch and opened fire on their enemies. The first one he struck, flipped and landed at his feet. It didn’t explode, so he took that to mean it wasn’t dead or it was one of the new breed of killing machines.

Daimons were coming at them from every direction. It reminded him of the Alien video game. The more he shot, the more they grew. Only difference? Daimons didn’t drop from the ceiling.

Yet.

Who knew what power they might develop at a later date. Every time he got it halfway figured out, they discovered something new-like eating a gallu to augment their powers. Who the hell thought of that?

Probably the same sick SOB who saw a chicken shoot an egg out its nether region and said, "Hey, y’all, I think I’m gonna fry that up and eat it. Wish me luck. If I get sick from it, someone fetch a doctor."

Abigail fired her last round and blew one of the Daimons into dust. She was having a serious crisis of conscience about killing people she’d have died to defend a week ago. But the fact that they were so determined to kill her if she didn’t kill them made it a little easier to do.

She pivoted to her right and froze as she caught sight of Jess fighting. He fired a round from his shotgun, then used the stock to swat another. Turning in a graceful arc, he fired again at a new target, then ducked, slid along the ground on his knees to reach another bad guy that he slugged with the gunstock, then stabbed. He moved so fast that he was already two steps ahead of her before she’d done anything at all.