The Immortal Hunter
"Dani?"
"Nicholas?" she gasped in shock, recognizing his voice from their first call. Her eyes flickered to Decker as he moved in closer, and then to Mortimer as he suddenly paused and turned back. Both men looked grim, and she could feel the tension filling the air.
"I'm sorry I didn't call sooner," Nicholas said. "I know you've probably been worried sick, but I didn't want to call until I had some good news for you."
"My sister?" she asked eagerly, encouraged by his mention of good news. "Do you have her?"
"No." He sounded apologetic. "But I know where she is and that she's alive."
Dani closed her eyes. Alive was good. She'd take alive. Everything else could be repaired either with counseling, or by having Decker or one of the other men wipe Stephanie's memory.
"I imagine you aren't alone?" Nicholas asked.
Dani opened her eyes. Judging by their expressions, Mortimer and Decker could hear both sides of the conversation. It was that nano-hearing of theirs, she supposed as she admitted, "No. Decker and Mortimer are here."
Both men looked put out, but she ignored them.
"Does your phone have speakerphone capabilities?"
"Yes," Dani said, for the first time grateful that she'd allowed the salesman to talk her into getting it.
"Put me on speaker then," Nicholas requested.
Dani did, then held the phone out in front of her. "Go ahead."
"Decker?"
"Yeah?" he asked grimly.
"The Four Seasons Hotel, room 1413," Nicholas said. "I'll give you five minutes to get on the road and then I'll call back." The phone clicked as he hung up.
Dani was moving before the sound died, hurrying down the hall toward the kitchen and the garage beyond. She was aware that Decker was on her heels and that Mortimer was following him, but her mind was on getting to the garage and a vehicle.
"We can take one of the SUVs," Mortimer suggested.
"A van would be better," Decker said quietly, and then added, "We don't know what shape Stephanie is in."
"He said she was alive," Dani announced, almost smiling with relief.
Her desire to smile died, however, when he pointed out gently, "Alive covers a whole lot of ground, Dani."
The image of the women in the ravine immediately rose up in her mind, and Dani bit her lip, her worry pouring back through her. Stephanie's mind could be healed or her memories erased, but she might still bear scars from this experience.
"We don't have a van," Mortimer pointed out, tugging them back to the matter at hand.
"I do."
They all paused and swung back at that announcement as Lucian stepped off the stairs and turned into the hall.
"What's happening?" he asked, moving toward them.
Dani continued on into the kitchen as the men paused to answer. She didn't really care if they took a van or a go-cart as long as they got to her sister. Her gaze landed on Justin as she entered the kitchen. The man was just closing the refrigerator door, a disgusted expression on his face. Turning to see her, he said, "We don't have a single thing to eat in this house. I should-"
He paused abruptly as he noticed her expression and then glanced to the men when they entered behind her. "What's up?"
"Nicholas called. We have to move," Decker announced, catching up to Dani and taking her arm to usher her to the door to the garage.
Justin nodded, all thoughts of food apparently driven from his mind as he fell into step behind them.
Dani thought Lucian would drive since it was his van, but he tossed the keys to Decker and then paused to open the passenger side door, gesturing for her to get in. "You can ride up front with Decker."
She didn't hesitate. By the time she'd fastened her seat belt, Decker and the others had climbed in. She watched Decker push the button on the remote to open the garage door and start the engine, and then turned in her seat to glance curiously into the back of the van. Her eyes moved over several custom-built cupboards and chests lining the side walls in the back. The men had no seats, but it didn't seem to bother them; they were busily flipping up chest lids and pulling open cupboard doors. At least Lucian and Justin were; Mortimer had stopped to pull out his cell phone and was making a phone call. Probably sending the other enforcers and volunteers to the hotel, Dani thought, her eyes sliding to the other two men as they began retrieving weapons. Lucian's van was a rolling arsenal, she saw with amazement... and wardrobe, she added as Lucian drew a long leather coat out of a cupboard and began to shrug it on.
"Isn't it kind of hot for that?" Justin asked, loading bullets into a gun. Dani had no idea what the gun was, but it certainly looked impressive.
Dani understood what he meant when she saw him shift to a chest to pull out a small one-handed crossbow that he then tucked into the inner left side of his coat. A quiver of arrows followed and was installed in the inner right-hand side. While Justin was going for guns, it seemed Lucian, like Nicholas, preferred the old-fashioned weapons.
Her gaze slid to the guns the other two men were tucking into their jeans out of sight. The crossbow wasn't really necessary this time. While Leonius had been resistant to the tranquilizer on the bullets, his sons hadn't been. The guns would do.
"What do you want in the way of weapons, Decker?" Mortimer asked, putting his phone away and glancing in their direction.
"My usual," he growled.
"Use silencers," Lucian ordered, and then the phone rang and an expectant silence filled the van.
Dani glanced down, automatically answering her phone and switching to speakerphone before saying, "Hello? Nicholas?"
"Yes." There was a pause, and then he apologized. "I'm sorry he got away with your sister at the airport, Dani. It's my fault. An enforcer SUV was one car behind me when we got off the ramp. Unfortunately, I thought they could handle it. I parked to watch what unfolded to be sure." His voice was angry as he added, "It was stupid of them to leave the girl behind. As enforcers they should have known better."
"The men who reached the airport first were volunteers, not enforcers," Lucian said, and then asked, "Did you take her?"
"Well, hello to you too, Uncle," he said dryly. "No I didn't take her. What were you thinking, Lucian? That I killed the security guard?"
"Did you?" Decker asked grimly.
"No." The word was short, and then he continued on topic, "Apparently the sixth rogue didn't go into the airport."
Dani immediately said, "Stephanie told the men that he jumped out as she turned into the parking garage."
Nicholas grunted. "That makes sense. They were out of my sight then too. He apparently picked a vehicle with an older woman in it. He must have taken control of her and then watched when your men arrived." Nicholas continued, "As soon as the enforcers left, Stephanie and the security guard walked to a car. I saw the girl get in the passenger side. The guard walked around to the driver's side and then he bent out of sight. A moment later the car backed out... There were three people inside, and I thought it was the girl, the guard, and Six, and knew he'd pulled a fast one. I started my engine to follow and saw the guard lying on the ground as I drove by.
"I followed them to the hotel in the city. He was three cars ahead of me when he turned in. He didn't bother to park, just left the car at the entrance. By the time I pulled in he was out and was ushering Stephanie and an older woman inside. When I hurried into the lobby he and the women were already on a packed elevator and the doors were closing." The frustration in his voice was palpable. "The damned thing stopped on eight floors. I couldn't search any of them without risking their being on one floor and slipping away while I searched another, so I've sat in the damned lobby watching that elevator ever since."
"Without blood?" Lucian asked.
"Oh, heck no, Uncle, I've been biting every mortal who's walked past," Nicholas said sarcastically. "That's what we rogues do for fun."
"You should have called me, I would have brought blood over for you," Decker said silkily.
"I just bet you would have, cousin." There was a dry chuckle, and then Nicholas said, "I was about to give up on watching this morning and try searching the floors the elevator had stopped at when the sixth rogue walked right past me and got on the elevator."
"He got past you to get out and then returned?" Lucian asked.
"Yeah. Though I don't know how. I didn't take my eyes off the damned elevator," Nicholas muttered with obvious irritation. "He had to have slipped out using the stairs."
All four men grunted at this suggestion.
"Fortunately there weren't many hotel guests around at that hour and there was only one person on the elevator with him and they went to the same floor; fourteen. I took the same elevator up when it came down. There was a maid setting up for the day in the hall. She'd seen him come up, and I managed to read her mind to get what room they're in."
"1413," Dani said, the number burned on her brain.
"Yes. He's probably down for the day. But I'd still hurry. He wasn't alone when he came back. He had a blond with him," Nicholas announced.
"You haven't approached the room?" Decker asked sharply.
"I haven't eaten in two days chasing this bastard, cousin. I've done the hard work. Now you get to do the cleanup... Are you downtown yet? You should be. I imagine you took the Gardiner Expressway. Where are you?"
Dani quickly blurted the intersection ahead, gaining a glare from Lucian. She ignored him.
"Turn right, Decker," Nicholas said quickly.
Decker cursed and cranked the wheel, tires squealing as he took the corner at the very last possible second. Teeth grinding together, he said, "You're not at the Four Seasons, are you? You're at a different hotel."
"Very good, cousin. Nice to see you're as sharp as ever. You should see the correct hotel up ahead. I realize you probably have a small army of men already circling the Four Seasons, but you didn't really think I'd stand here waiting to be captured by one of the enforcer teams, did you?"
There was a grim silence in the van.
Nicholas continued, "I wouldn't wait for the men to make their way from the Four Seasons to here. I suggest you hit the room at once."
"Why?" Decker asked sharply.
"I told you, he had a blond with him, and judging by his pissed expression, she's not in for a good time."
"Then perhaps you should go in there right now," Lucian suggested.
"I'm too weak, I need blood," Nicholas growled. "I've been standing at the end of the hall listening ever since I found the room. There have been no sounds to suggest he's started in on her yet." He paused and then added, "By my guess you're pulling up to the hotel now."
"Yes," Dani said, glancing out the window to see they were pulling in.
"Good. It shouldn't take you long to get up here. I guess I'll head out." There was a brief pause and then he added, "And Decker?"
"Yeah?" he asked as he pulled up to the doors.
"If you don't save this girl after all the trouble I've gone to, I'm going to kick your ass."
"Anytime, cousin," Decker said grimly as he threw the van into park and shut off the engine. He was out of the van with Dani and the rest of the men following before the click sounded, ending the call.
She slid the phone into her pocket and then jogged the few steps to catch up to Decker and took the hand he was holding out behind him. The moment her fingers slid into his, he glanced back and said, "I. think you should wait in the lobby."
"She's my sister," Dani said grimly. "Besides, I'm an immortal now too, right?"
Decker's mouth compressed, but he didn't try to argue with her.
"Do you want Mortimer and me to look for Nicholas while you and Decker go after the sixth rogue?" Justin asked the question of Lucian, but it was Decker who answered.
"No. Getting Dani's sister back comes first. We'll just have to go after Nicholas later."
Dani hardly heard Lucian's grunt of concession. Her eyes were on Decker as he pulled her through the lobby, and she thought she must love him after all. How could she not? This immortal had taken a bullet for her before even knowing her name, had driven her to heights of passion she'd never imagined, had watched over and nursed her through the turn, and then comforted her afterward. This was an immortal who had been tortured by guilt since the events resulting in Nicholas's escape, and yet was putting the life of a young girl he'd never met ahead of finding a rogue he'd been hunting for fifty years. He was a good man, an immortal. Her immortal if she wanted him... and she did, Dani acknowledged, and then glanced around when Decker slowed and drew her closer to his side.
They'd reached the elevators and were pressing their way through the large crowd of people gathered there waiting to take the lifts up. Dani was quite sure they'd be waiting a while, but when an elevator arrived and the people began to crowd toward it, the ones closest miraculously stopped, blocking the others from entering so that Decker could lead their party through and get on board. As the doors closed on the disgruntled people trying to get past the human blockade, Dani decided she couldn't wait until she could read and control minds. It had certainly come in handy just now, she acknowledged, wondering which, or how many, of the men had caused that little miracle.
"Find a maid and get a pass key," Lucian ordered Justin as they headed out of the elevator and turned into the hall holding room 1413. The younger immortal nodded and turned away to accomplish his task as the rest of them continued forward for several feet, but then Decker paused and turned to her.
"She's my sis-" Dani began in a whisper, but he cut her off in a whisper of his own.
"You can come in as soon as we subdue the rogue."
Dani hesitated, but then nodded reluctantly.
Relaxing, Decker pressed a quick kiss to her forehead and then turned to follow Lucian and Mortimer. The three men reached the door and paused to pull out their weapons as Justin raced past Dani. She saw him hand Lucian something and then reach for the gun he'd slid into the back of his jeans.
Heart in her throat, Dani watched as Lucian unlocked the door and swung it open, and then Decker pushed past him to charge into the room with the other three men following. She heard a woman's screaming first. It was followed by several muffled popping sounds that she thought must be gunshots filtered through the silencer, and couldn't stop herself from rushing up the hall.
"This one's alive," Mortimer said, and Decker glanced up from the older woman he'd been checking.
"So is this one," he admitted, and then straightened to frown at the couple on the bed; an older woman with salt and pepper hair, and a younger man with dark hair. The woman was probably the one taken from the airport garage, but Decker had no idea who the man was. Both of them were pale, unconscious, and had been cut several times.
His gaze slid to the blond Leonius's son had been feeding on when they'd entered, the woman he'd brought up in the elevator that morning. She'd been shrieking hysterically as they entered and struggling to escape the man sucking at the wound on her arm, but she was quiet and blank-faced now as Justin wrapped her cut to try to stop the bleeding.
"Neither of the women is Dani's sister," Lucian growled.
Decker didn't need his comment to realize that. A quick glance at everyone in the room as he'd entered had been enough for him to know the girl wasn't there.
"What do you think he did with her?" Justin asked.
Decker shook his head even as Lucian did and then glanced to the younger immortal to see he'd finished bandaging the blond, and was now scooping her up to carry her over and set her on the bed with the other two mortals.
"Dani's not going to take the news well," Justin said unhappily.
"No," Decker agreed quietly, and didn't know how he was going tell her. Rubbing the back of his neck wearily, he turned to take the few steps to the door out into the hall, thinking the sooner he got it over with the better. She was probably driving herself crazy with worry out there. He was rather amazed that she wasn't already banging on the door to be let in, and could only think she was afraid of what she might find.
As it happened, she had a right to be afraid, Decker thought grimly as he pulled the door open. His gaze slid to where he'd left her, and Decker paused with one foot still inside the room, surprise widening his eyes when he saw she was no longer there.
"What is it?" Justin asked, moving up behind him.
"She's gone," he said with disbelief and then started up the hall, eating up the distance with long, quick strides.
"I know."
"She was too worried about her sister."
"I know," he repeated grimly.
"Someone must have taken her," Justin added, speaking Decker's fears aloud. "Do you think it's Leonius? He could have been following us again."
He didn't comment, but quickened his stride, trying to think how much time had passed since he'd left Dani in the hall, and how far she could have been taken. They turned the corner, and both came to an abrupt halt as they saw the bank of elevators ahead and that there was no one in front of them. Decker cursed and turned back.
"What are we going to do?" Justin asked quietly.
Decker thought and then said, "The men should be here by now. They're probably stationed at the exits. We'll have to start searching the hotel."
"I'll tell Mortimer to start calling the men and put them on the alert," Justin said.
When he nodded, the younger enforcer burst into a run and raced back up the hall to 1413. Decker continued at a quick clip, but didn't try to keep up. He was trying to coordinate things in his head, trying to think of every possibility and ensure they didn't miss something. Justin disappeared into the room where the other men waited just as Decker was passing the door to the room next to 1413. Moving fast, Decker almost missed the sound of something hitting the floor that was almost completely muffled by the carpet and door. But he did hear it, and instinctively stopped and moved closer to listen.
Dani couldn't move. Leonius held her completely immobile with one hand covering her mouth, the other at her throat, almost choking her, and his body pinning hers to the wall. He'd been holding her there like that ever since he'd reached out into the hall and yanked her into the room as she'd run past.
She had no idea why he wasn't just controlling her with his mind as she knew he could, but supposed it was because he took such great pleasure in the physical act of terrorizing her. However, she was grateful he wasn't, as she shifted her eyes sideways to try to see into the room.
Leonius looked in that direction too, she noticed, his mouth turning down with displeasure. He then dragged her away from the wall and forced her the few steps out of the hall and into the open bedroom area.
Dani spotted Stephanie at once. The pretty young girl was seated half bent over on the edge of the bed, swaying and trying to get to her feet, but she appeared too weak to manage it. What looked to have been a full glass of water now lay on the floor, and a clear liquid was soaking into the carpet in a wide puddle. Dani supposed its hitting the floor had been the thud she'd heard.
She looked over Stephanie quickly, relieved to see that there didn't appear to be any cuts or bruises on her, at least not on the parts she could see. Dani had feared that when they found her, Stephanie would be covered with them as the bodies in the ravine had been, but she was remarkably free of such injuries, her skin pale and perfect. However, Dani couldn't see her wrists or the insides of her arms the way she was clutching herself, and Stephanie definitely wasn't all right, Dani realized when Stephanie raised a sweating, too pale face to peer blearily at her.
"Dan-?" The name was cut off at once, and Dani knew Leonius had slipped into the girl's head to take control of her and shut her up. In the shape she was in, it apparently wasn't a pleasant experience for him, because his face contorted with pain. She didn't know what he did, but after a moment, Stephanie's head drooped and his expression began to ease. Sighing with what sounded like relief, he glanced to Dani.
"I had just given her my blood and was about to tie her down when I heard the shots from next door," he said in a hushed voice, and then commented, "Those silencers don't work nearly as well in reality as they appear to on television, do they?"
Dani flinched at this news, worry for her sister immediately rising within her. There was no time for that now, however, and she forced it down, concentrating on how she could make more noise and, she hoped, attract the attention of the men in the room next door... If they were still there. She'd heard Justin and Decker talking as they walked past the room moments before the thud had made Leonius move her out of the hall. They had been talking about her, and the fact that she was missing and she'd wanted to scream, but hadn't been able to with Leonius holding her as he had.
"I know you want to make noise to draw your friends, but I'm afraid I can't allow that," Leonius said by her ear. "It's all terribly exciting to be hiding just feet away from where Lucian and his men are standing, but also fraught with danger. If you make a sound, I shall have to silence you."
He moved her closer to the bed so that they stood in front of Stephanie, and then shifted Dani, turning her toward the bedside table so that he could look the girl over. The teenager was rocking where she sat, her hands clutching at her stomach, but she wasn't making a sound, and Dani didn't know if it was because he was still controlling her or not.
"Twenty-one hadn't yet turned her when I got here an hour ago," Leonius muttered quietly. "Oddly enough he argued with me about doing it. He seemed to want to keep her as some kind of mortal pet. He hadn't even fed on her." He paused and then added, "I did before I gave her my blood... as I did you."
Dani glared at him over his hand, and he smiled widely. "The two of you share a common temperament. She tried to fight me off just like you did." The smile faded as he added with displeasure, "And Twenty-one was moved to try to stop me. He made such a nuisance of himself that I had to send him into the next room and lock the doors to get it done without interference. A fortuitous occurrence for me as it turns out, but not so fortuitous for Twenty-one."
He turned to glance at Stephanie again, and then said, "Of course, I have bigger plans for Stephanie than keeping her as a mortal pet; for both of you actually." He smiled cruelly and added, "Someone has to bear me more sons to replace the ones I've lost this week."
That was too much for Dani. Rage roared up through her like a tidal wave at the prospect of either her or Stephanie being broodmares for this animal. Leonius had moved her close enough to the table that she could reach the bedside lamp, and before Dani quite knew what she was doing, she'd grabbed it and was swinging it up over her head and back. There was a sickening crunch as it slammed into Leonius's head, and then he released her to stumble back.
Suddenly free, Dani staggered a step forward, banging into the bedside table, and then caught herself and turned to grab Stephanie by the arm and yank her to her feet. The confusion on the girl's face and the way she was shaking her head suggested to Dani that the blow to Leonius's head had sufficiently set him aback enough that he'd lost control of Stephanie. She knew that wouldn't last long, though, and pushed Stephanie ahead of her toward the small hall leading to the door, desperate to get her out of the room.
They had to pass Leonius to get there. He was upright, but looking dazed and clutching his head, and Stephanie stumbled past him all right, but as Dani followed, one of his hands shot out to seize her by the arm.
"Run," Dani screamed at her sister, struggling to break the hold Leonius had on her. Much to her relief, Stephanie staggered the few steps up the hall and managed to grasp the doorknob. She turned it and started to pull it open, only to stumble back as it was suddenly thrust open from the other side.
Dani could have sobbed with relief when she saw Decker appear. He took in the situation at a glance, and started to raise the gun in his hand, but then suddenly grabbed Stephanie and turned his back to the room, sheltering her as an explosion went off beside Dani's ear. She didn't recognize it as a gunshot until she saw the blood blossoming on the back of Decker's shirt.
A scream of horror was ripped from her throat as Dani noted the position of the wound. She knew at once that if it hadn't lodged in his spine, that it had probably hit his heart, and watched in horror as he crumpled forward, taking Stephanie with him to the floor in the doorway. Once on the ground, neither of them moved.
"Time to go," Leonius said, or she thought that's what he said. There was a ringing in her ears from the loud gunshot that made hearing difficult. He then began to force her forward and Dani lurched toward the hall, aware that someone was pounding on the connecting door.
"We shall have to leave Stephanie for now, but I'll fetch her later," Leonius assured her as he forced her around Decker's legs and up the hall.
Dani stared down at Decker as they moved past him. He lay on his stomach, his head next to Stephanie's feet, and was so motionless that, were he mortal, she'd fear he was dead. Then they were past him and moving into the hall.
Leonius had just turned her to force her up the hall toward the elevators when a series of pops sounded. When he suddenly released her and fell into the opposite wall, Dani whirled to find Lucian standing in the hall outside room 1413, arm raised, weapon in hand. In the next moment, she realized the weapon Lucian held was the crossbow, with an arrow notched, but not released. She whirled to peer at Decker as he lowered his gun and laid his head on the floor.