Chapter Seven

R yder swore under his breath. The hunters had been skulking around in the black night for several hours now and he hadn’t heard or seen any demons. Lou hadn’t commed about any appearing through portals—hot spots in the ground signaling the sudden arrival of demons.

Nothing. Nada. Zero. Waste of fucking time. And mother of Christ, it was hot out here. Worse than that island in the Pacific. Sweat poured down his brow, his neck, and his back. He’d already downed two full bottles of water and he was thirsty again.

The group had split up, getting nowhere bunched up together. Ryder had moved north, following an arcing monolith shadowed against one of the taller sloping hills. Even with the night-vision shades that made it seem almost like daylight, it was still dark and things weren’t as clear. Though no way in hell could the hunters do this during the day. As hot as it was now, they’d be toast trying to hunt when the sun was out.

Not that there’d be anything to hunt for. He was in the mood to kill, and that meant demons and that meant nighttime.

The itch to kill had been strong lately. It had been almost two months since he’d last fired his weapons. The urge was getting as bad as it had gotten during his time in the military, one of the reasons he’d gotten out.

He was good at killing. No, he was a goddamn expert at it. And he liked it way too much. He’d been getting just like his father, and he hated it. The last thing he wanted to do was turn into a mirror version of his old man, the heartless bastard.

Then again, maybe it was already too late.

He wiped his brow to keep the sweat from dripping onto his specs, took another long draw of water, and headed straight toward the cave. Thick brush impeded his progress but he pushed through the bushes, slugging through the undergrowth like he was wading waist-high through water.

Something drew him to the cave. Maybe because it was a clear-cut destination instead of wandering the area chasing his own ass with no result. Demons? Maybe. He hoped so. Funny how he’d been so reluctant to enter this whole Realm of Light thing in the beginning. But now it was in his blood—a part of him. And it was a reason for killing, for getting those urges out of his system. A good, valid reason. Demons were the ultimate bad guy. And there were more demons that needed destroying. Hopefully he’d find them ahead.

As he drew near, a flash of light within the cave caught his eye. He stilled, frowning, not sure he had really seen it. Demons sure as hell didn’t wander around with lights. They hated light.

But then he saw it again. That was no mirage.

He slung the UV laser rifle over his shoulder, then released the sonic guns from their holsters, ready to pull them and fire if necessary. He approached the entrance, crouching down when another light zipped along the walls deep inside.

He heard voices now. Whispers. More lights. He commed the others, gave his location, and headed toward the mouth of the cave. Something or someone was in there and whoever or whatever it was, he couldn’t afford to wait. If there were demons, he wasn’t about to let them get away.

“Don’t go inside before we get there,” Dalton warned. “We’ll be there in under three.”

Bullshit. In under three he’d be in there blasting. He could see the lights swirling all around the cave. No way could that be demons, but then who was in there?

He took another step forward.

The lights stilled. Whoever it was had heard him. He stepped behind a shrub just as a bright ray shined outside. He raised his weapon and crouched down so he couldn’t be seen as the light scanned the area where he was located. He held his breath, his finger poised on the trigger of his gun.

One rounded boot protruded from the entrance, just inches away from his location. He could reach out and touch it. But he wasn’t about to stand up and announce his whereabouts because he didn’t know who’d be prowling about in the cave in the middle of the night. It wasn’t demons, that much he knew. Someone affiliated with the demons, maybe? Hell, who knew what those bastards had up their sleeves.

The person took another step out of the cave. Camoclad leg was all he could see, his vision obstructed by the foliage.

Okay, enough of this hiding bullshit. He stood and heard a gasp.

Whoever stood at the entrance pivoted and ran like hell. The only thing Ryder could see from his position was a braid of dark hair trailing behind as the person hightailed it into the mouth of the cave. The lights went out and the cave went dark. Ryder took off at a dead run after what he assumed was a woman.

He heard the pounding of her boots in the distance and followed the sound, the black cave illuminated by his night vision glasses. He pushed forward, determined to find her.

Who was she? Was she alone in the cave, and if so, what was she doing?

He heard a door slam, saw some light, and rushed back, skidding to a halt as he exited the cave. A small Jeep peeled away at high speed, kicking up rocks in its wake. No way could he catch her on foot.

Shit.

He turned at the sound of running feet behind him. Dalton and Trace caught up, having entered the cave at the front entrance and run clear through to the exit here at the back.

“You see someone in here?” Dalton asked.

Ryder nodded. “Bunch of lights hitting the walls and ceiling of the cave like people moving around with flashlights. Someone came to the entrance. Female, I think. At least I think it was a woman. Didn’t appear to be demon, but I couldn’t say for sure. I ran after her but she took off in a Jeep,” he finished with a shrug.

“Anyone else?”

Ryder shook his head. “I think she was alone.”

“Damn. Let’s go back in there and see what we can find.” Dalton took the lead and Ryder fell in next to him, holstering his gun and grabbing for his rifle.

They followed a set of footprints far into the depths of the cave, the air getting much cooler as they went. The surface of the cave was uneven, littered with small pebbles and hard dirt.

The cave sloped down with every step they followed. The air down here was much cooler. Cold, even. He welcomed the relief from the unbearable heat outside.

“This doesn’t seem to be your basic cave,” Ryder remarked.

“No demon hideaway, either,” Dalton said. “No smell.”

He was right. Buried in the dirt were tracks used for hauling. “These are old mines.”

Dalton nodded, using his lights to scan the walls. Scratch marks marred the surfaces, showing they’d been picked apart long ago. “It doesn’t look like any recent mining activity has occurred here. Most likely abandoned.”

They continued to follow the tracks leading farther into the mines until they came upon freshly dug earth. A deep hole with mounds of dirt on three sides had been left, probably by the person with the lights. But when they searched within the hole, they found nothing. Not even equipment.

“Whoever was in here left in a hurry. And they took everything with them,” Dalton said.

Ryder jumped into the hole and squatted in the dig. “It’s been shoveled and dug through, but I don’t see any remnants.”

“Okay,” Dalton said. “So somebody’s been in here.”

Ryder nodded. The footprints were small, like the booted foot he’d seen at the entrance to the cave when he’d been hiding.

A woman’s foot.

“What do you think she was looking for?”

Ryder shrugged at Trace’s question. “Diamonds would be my guess. Same thing we’re all looking for.”

“Then why did she run?” Dalton stood with his hands on his hips, scanning the room.

“Either she’s doing something illegal or I scared the shit out of her,” Ryder said. And he wanted to know. Now they didn’t have squat—except an empty underground mine and a fleeting glimpse of a dark braid.

He might have lost her this time, but something told him he’d run into her again.

“Let’s get out of here,” Ryder said.

 

Angelique Deveraux stepped out of her Jeep and grabbed her binoculars, peering down from her secluded vantage point on the hill overlooking the cave. She wanted to see who had nearly scared the life out of her and made her run. And to make sure they hadn’t followed her.

She focused, but there were too many shrubs in the way for her to get a clear shot at the men skulking around the mouth of the cave.

She counted three of them, but she’d only caught a glimpse of one, and he’d practically given her a heart attack, springing out of the bushes at her like that.

Mon Dieu, she’d nearly swallowed her heart. Instinct told her to run. Good thing she’d already packed her gear. Unfortunately, she’d been doing a last sweep through the cave and her Jeep was on the other side. She’d never run so hard or so fast in her entire life.

What did they want? Why were they there? She’d been told she’d be alone up here. Interlopers would be a problem.

She hoped they were game hunters who just happened upon her location and stopped to investigate. She couldn’t afford anyone snooping around and finding out what she was doing.

And she was on a timeline. If the black diamond really did exist, and she was the one to uncover it, the find would go under her name. Her name would be listed on the display in the museums.

Her mother would have been so proud of her.

And if Isabelle, her twin sister, got wind of this expedition, she’d be on it in a heartbeat, trying to unearth the diamond before Angelique did.

Only Isabelle wouldn’t want the diamond for a museum. Isabelle would sell it to the highest bidder.

Angelique had to make sure that didn’t happen.

Time was of the essence. Secrecy was paramount. And she couldn’t afford anyone, or anything, interrupting her work.

 

Shay was irritated. And pacing. She had nothing to show for her night in captivity with Nic, and she couldn’t very well force him to talk to her.

She finally sat and faced him.

“Don’t you remember anything about your time as a child?”

“Of course I do. I remember everything, at least everything after my accident.”

“But you don’t remember Derek, or being kidnapped.”

“No. Because I wasn’t kidnapped and Derek isn’t my brother.”

She rolled her eyes and tapped her fingers on the edge of the sofa.

“Tell me what you do remember about your mother, then.”

His gaze narrowed. “My mother died when I was born.”

“How convenient of your father to say that.”

“What do you want me to say? He’s lying? I wish I had a mother.”

“You did. Until you were eight years old. You have a brother, too. Do you know he’s spent the last twenty-five years looking for you?”

“Uh-huh. Sure he has.”

“He was afraid you were dead, but he never gave up hope that someday he’d find you. When Gina found the fax in the underground tunnels on the island—”

“What fax?”

“The fax someone sent to Ben, saying you’d returned to Sydney.”

“When was that?”

She lifted her gaze to the ceiling. “Right before we blew the tunnels on the island. Probably six or eight weeks ago?”

Nic opened his mouth, then clamped it shut.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“We already know that’s when you came back to Sydney from your trip to Singapore.”

“You people just know everything about me, don’t you?”

“No, not everything.”

“So tell me about this whole demon-hunting thing.”

Finally. At least he was showing some interest, though she suspected he wanted to lead her away from the questions she was asking. “What do you want to know?”

“I don’t know. Everything. Tell me about you, how you got involved in all this.”

She blew out a breath. “I was invited to participate in a television reality show called Surviving Demon Island. But it was actually a front to recruit me and the others to become demon hunters. Lou and Derek invited a bunch of us, we went to an island in the South Pacific, he trained us, and we played this game.”

“Why did they choose you?”

“Because my mother, all our mothers, had been taken by demons.”

“Taken?”

“Kidnapped. When all of us were younger. None of us knew what happened. I thought my mother had disappeared while on a business trip.”

“Maybe she ran off.”

“She didn’t!” she said, realizing she’d raised her voice. “She was very happy, dedicated to her job and to my father and me. She loved us. She wouldn’t just up and leave without a word.”

“Damn. That sucks.”

“Even worse for my father. He was devastated. Left alone with a small child he didn’t know how to deal with, pining away for the love of his life. It was like his heart had been ripped from his chest. I watched him disintegrate for fifteen years. He never recovered from losing her.”

“He’s dead?”

“Heart attack when I was twenty. I think he finally gave up.” She stared down at her hands. She hated talking about the past, hated thinking that if she had spoken up when she’d gotten the vision, things might have been different.

Could she have changed things if she’d said something to her father? She’d never know now.

“I’m sorry you lost your mother. And your father.”

She glanced up at him. “You don’t believe me.”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. It comes through in your tone of voice.” Not that it mattered. He asked for her story and she was telling it, whether he believed it or not. “The demons use human women for procreation. Their own females are sterile. So they create these hybrids—half demons. Cunning and lightning-fast.”

“So these half demons would be just like me and Derek.”

“Not really.”

“But if we’re supposed to be half demons and they breed human women and demons, why wouldn’t we be the same?”

She reached up and massaged her temples. “I don’t know. You two are just different. You’ll have to ask Derek. The ones I saw on that island weren’t the same as you two. I don’t know why.”

“How are we different?”

“They’re…cold. There’s no humanity to them even though they’re half human. You look at them and just know they have no soul. You can see it in their pale blue eyes. I thought Derek was different because he grew up with his human mother. He didn’t even know about being half demon until recently.” She looked at him, at his silhouette in the darkness. “But you didn’t have your mother. You were raised by Ben, one of the Sons of Darkness. Why aren’t you—”

“Cold?” he finished for her.

She hadn’t meant to put it out there, but now that she had, it struck her that there was a big difference between Nic and those half demons they’d battled. With Nic, there was warmth. God was there warmth. More like a bonfire, and it burned hot and furious. It had fired her up from their first meeting and had yet to diminish. She didn’t know what it was about him, but there was something that differentiated him from the half demons, and even from Derek.

“You’re not cold.”

“Well, thanks for that.”

His voice had gone low and she felt the darkness even more acutely. The room seemed to close in on her, making her more aware that she was locked up with him. The quiet became unnerving.

“Anyway, back to the demons,” she said, needing to hear the sound of her own voice to break the spell of silence. “We played this game of ‘capture the demon’ with our fake weapons. For a while, anyway. Until the real demons showed up.”

“Real demons?”

“Yeah. Lou and Derek hadn’t expected actual demons to be on the island. They used some of the hunters as game demons, and those were our intended targets. Their objective was to see how we did playing a laser-tag kind of game with fake weaponry, and then if we passed the test, recruit us into the Realm of Light.”

“Okay, explain again this Realm of Light?”

“It’s a secret organization that fights the Sons of Darkness. The demons. Lou is a Keeper of the Realm of Light. His bloodline is traced back to the original Keepers from centuries ago.”

Nic shifted, and Shay knew he was uncomfortable. She wished she could loosen his bonds, but she couldn’t.

“So what you’re telling me is this whole demon hunting thing has been going on for hundreds of years? And that supposedly my father is part of these Sons of Darkness?”

“Yeah. I guess so. I don’t really know all the particulars, but I do know that Derek is part demon. I’ve seen him in action.”

“What do you mean?”

“I saw him change.”

“Into a demon.”

“Yes.”

“Come on.”

She shrugged. “You can believe or not believe. I know what I saw.”

He paused before he said, “Tell me what happened when he changed.”

“His body seemed to grow larger, more muscular, as if he was doubling in size, and his teeth turned to fangs. His eyes turned red and glowed. His fingernails elongated into claws and his face turned into this twisted, horrifying…”

Nic held his breath and waited for Shay to continue. She didn’t.

“What?” he finally asked, needing to know what she saw and whether it was the same thing he saw in his dreams.

“It’s just hard to describe. It’s like his cheekbones expanded, his mouth grew wider, his forehead popped out more prominently as if the bones themselves had swelled. It was gruesome as hell.”

“Jesus.” He didn’t want to believe it, but she’d come damn close to describing what he saw in his nightmares.

Coincidence? Maybe.

The stories she told. Good God. Either they were true, or she was one incredibly good liar. They had to be lies. “Why doesn’t he just prove to me he’s half demon by turning into one? That would be the easiest way.”

She sighed, her clear blue eyes gazing directly at him, her full lips parted as she took in a breath.

“Another thing you’re going to have to ask him,” she finally said. “But he’s said before he’s not going to let the demon out. He’s afraid it’s too hard to control.”

Too hard to control. Like his nightmares, like the feeling he was holding something back—something bad inside him that wanted to get out. “Wouldn’t he want to use his power to fight the demons?”

“If you had that monster inside you, would you let it out?”

There was the million-dollar question, the one that kept him from making love to Shay yesterday. The one that had kept him away from women, that made him doubt his own sanity.

Did he have a beast like that inside him? Wouldn’t he be able to feel it if he did? Shit, he couldn’t even believe he was halfway buying into this, but what she said came too damn close to his own weird experience. “I think I’ve had enough for today.”

“You don’t believe any of this, do you?”

He shrugged. “It’s not easy without proof.”

She nodded. “Understandable. I was the same way at first, but you start to believe in a hurry once you see them.”

“I’m not interested in seeing them. Or staying here.” A thought occurred to him, one he hadn’t considered before. How stupid of him. “I have an offer you might be interested in.”

She raised her brows. “What kind of offer?”

“What would you say to a million dollars?”

She snorted. “Funny.”

“I’m serious. You find a way to get me out of here and I’ll pay you a million dollars.”

“You’re not joking, are you?”

Now they were getting somewhere. “Do you have any idea how much my family is worth?”

“No.”

“Billions.”

“No shit.”

“Yup.”

“Well, la-di-da.” She leaned forward, once again letting him share in her enticing scent. “First, don’t ever insult me again by making an offer like that. Second, let me give you some advice. Don’t try to bribe anyone else here because they’re just as likely to slit your throat for even making the suggestion. And you’re better off without your other family. They’ll only hurt you. Trust me when I tell you that you’re safer with us than you are with them.”

She stood and left the room.

That went well.

She didn’t want a million dollars. What the fuck? Everyone wanted money.

Blowing out a breath, he tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling, trying to assimilate everything she’d told him.

Could this be real? Did demons really exist, could his father be one of them? Either Shay was one hell of a good storyteller and actress, or he glimpsed real, honest pain in her eyes when she told him her story. He felt her anguish as if it were part of him. And he didn’t like feeling that deep a connection to someone he barely knew.

He’d never cared about a woman before. Women were fun. They were toys to be played with, trophies on his arm or a romp in bed. He treated them well, gave them gifts, and they always seemed to be satisfied with the monetary aspect of the relationship. It was a two-way street—he got what he wanted, and so did they. He purposely stayed away from the type of woman who wanted more than that.

Shay was different. He didn’t quite know what to make of her. His physical reaction to her was like being struck by lightning, but it went beyond that. And she wasn’t even interested in his money. How was he supposed to handle a beautiful woman who wasn’t into money?

It didn’t matter. He had to get a plan together so he could escape, starting with earning their trust so he could get more freedom of movement.

He needed to get the hell out of here.

Before he began to believe the stories Shay told him.

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