Chapter Two

 

 

 

“Fancy meeting you here.”

Rex Clark lay as comfortably as possible, given that he’d landed on a rocky embankment, one leg twisted into an improbable position. He sighed, feeling unwelcome arousal growing in spite of the unremitting pain that lanced his body. He was like a Pavlovian dog, a touch of red made him think of her, and thoughts of her drained the blood from one head, relocating it to the other.

“But really, darlin’, I’m not in the mood right now.” His unruly cock denied his words, growing thick and heavy inside his torn jeans. He gasped at the sensation of her touch as it trailed over his groin.

Over the decades, more than a century now, she’d become a familiar presence. She’d initially taken her pleasure from both him and his angelic lover, Orion Hunter, but eventually she’d weaned herself away from the angel. Perhaps she sensed his unwillingness to contribute to her cause. Rion Hunter was normally an even-tempered man. He was as kind and angelic as his origins would suggest.

However, he didn’t like the succubus. And she didn’t like him.

On the other hand, she clearly found Rex willing and quite tasty. In the beginning she’d been voracious, nearly draining them both on the occasions she’d managed to track down the Sidhe and his lover. In time the succubus had learned to temper her appetite. While Rex was more than able to survive even her most powerful attacks, she’d frequently left him crippled and weak. Now, feeding her was like donating blood. He felt a bit tired for an hour or so afterward, but Rex’s unlimited energy quickly restored him, leaving him good as new.

It wasn’t bad, except for the fact that Rion went quietly hysterical every time she managed to track them to a new country, a new city. In Rex’s opinion, they should be chasing her rather than fleeing. Other than giving him a series of blissful, draining orgasms, she really didn’t do any harm. He’d never seen any evidence that she was in league with other more dangerous demons. From the beginning, she’d been a lost soul in dire need of their help.

Plus she gave really good head.

So as the red haze began to form over his body, concentrating at his groin, Rex wasn’t really frightened. He did wish she’d wait for a more opportune moment, perhaps after he’d healed from the numerous fractures and internal injuries that currently afflicted him.

“Tell me, lassie, can you hear me?”

He’d lapsed back into the old Highland Scots accent, too tired to pretend to be anything other than what he was.

The charms tattooed onto his skin hid his extra, less human features from plain sight, but he no longer had the magical energy to hide his natural glamour. Even with the wings and tail hidden, most humans would notice the coloring and sheer charisma that marked him as ‘other’. The magic required skill and constant energy to maintain. So Rex lay still, praying he would remain hidden from human eyes until he recovered enough to climb to the road, or until Rion came for him.

Both prospects seemed unlikely at the moment. Especially if she decided it was time for a snack. In that case, Rex might end up taking a dirt nap on a permanent basis. Immortal didn’t mean indestructible, just harder to kill, and he didn’t think he could survive the loss of his remaining energy.

“I hear you, Fae.”

He blinked in surprise. She’d been chasing and feeding off him for over a century, but she’d never before communicated. He had to be hallucinating.

“Dreaming.”

Oh. That. He was unconscious.

“I’m not Fae, lassie. I’m Sidhe.”

There was a slight pause as she processed that information.

“Same difference.”

He snorted with laughter, then gasped against the pain. He didn’t think the Fae he were acquainted with would agree. Uppity creatures.

“Your energy is poor.”

Did he detect a trace of concern in that monotone voice?

“I do believe I’m dying, lass.”

She said nothing but he felt something ripple through the red haze of her presence. Early on, she’d very nearly manifested a solid form when she’d visited them. Now she was merely a vapor floating over his body. His poor, broken body.

“You are immortal.”

“True, but I can be killed.”

“You are injured?”

“Badly, lass.” He tried to shift, to find a more comfortable position. “I’m out of fuel. There’s nothing left to keep me healing. So if you don’t mind…no sex today.”

“I didn’t come to feed. I felt…you.”

A sensation ran over him, soft and shivery. It was almost as if she touched his skin, his face.

“I didn’t know you could be killed.”

“Or you’d have done it earlier, eh?”

“No.”

He sensed her feelings. Anger. Confusion. Guilt.

“Perhaps if you could tell Hunter…”

“I can’t. He’s not asleep.”

Now how would she know that? She hadn’t visited the angel in decades. In fact, the succubus had been the main source of contention between the men. Rion was afraid of her, angry that Rex allowed her to feed. Rex felt pity for the succubus. Not fear.

“Would you keep me company then?”

“Yes.”

Rex rolled his head to the side, looking at the beautiful wilderness just out of his reach. He knew he was asleep…or unconscious. Otherwise she wouldn’t have had entry to his mind. But still he looked about, admiring the steel-blue waters of the river. Wildflowers swayed in the wind and butterflies danced over the brightly colored blossoms. It was a beautiful place to die.

The scene was marred only by the stench of burning rubber and oil leaking from his wrecked car. To his relief, the spilled gasoline had already evaporated. Rex didn’t want to test himself against fire.

“Maybe you could call him. You have a phone, don’t you?” He grinned at the idea. She was a succubus, an insubstantial spirit who existed to feed on the sexual essence of men. She’d have no idea what he was talking about, but it was fun to tease her.

“Phone?”

“Yeah. Everyone has one nowadays. Surely you have cell phones in the demon world?” His phone was up by the roadside, crushed into tiny pieces.

She didn’t answer. In fact, the red haze was dissipating. He really didn’t want her to go. Beautiful as this spot was, he really didn’t want to die here. Not alone, anyway. Even a succubus was better than no company at all.

“Hey—you aren’t leaving me alone now, are you?”

She didn’t answer.

 

* * * *

 

This was the moment of truth.

Rion Hunter had finally completed the process of creating a work of art. He’d carefully chosen the wood, shaped the body and painstakingly created the instrument piece by piece. He’d combined old-world techniques with modern tools, and every instrument that came from his hands grew closer to mastery. He knew he’d never create that perfect instrument, but hopefully it would be perfect for his client.

Carefully, he began to tighten the strings, allowing them to ease in and out of tune as they stretched along the neck and down to the face of the elegant instrument. With a few final tests for tune, he strummed a chord and began to deftly pick out Romanza. The classical piece poured forth like music made liquid and sound made into light. He sighed, knowing that this time he’d gotten it right, from the mother-of-pearl tuning pegs to the golden-ash body.

He picked up his phone to call his client just as it rang, causing him to jump.

“This is Hunter.”

His soft voice remained hoarse and raspy after all these years, always reminding him of who he really was, and what was no longer his. Rion no longer sang with the angels, the music he made now was of a different sort. Now he gave voices to inanimate objects, and wasn’t that nearly as wonderful as having the most angelic voice in heaven?

Maybe it was.

“Hunter? Orion Hunter?”

He went still. Rex was the only one who used his full first name. It showed up on his driver’s license, his fake passport and birth certificate, but no one else called him Orion. Only Rex.

“Yes. That’s me.”

“Oh.”

There was a long silence on the phone and finally Hunter held the receiver out, looking at the caller display. It read Caller Unknown. No surprise there.

“Hello? Are you there?”

“Yes.” It was a woman’s voice. She sounded a bit confused. Sleepy. Automatically, he went into caution mode. Usually he might be impatient, but her use of his name was spooky.

“How can I help you?”

“Kokabiel, you must help him.”

Shit. Double shit. He blinked hard, his heart racing. Of course it was an unknown caller—she probably wasn’t using a phone. No human knew his real name, the one that was secret.

“Who is this?” he whispered.

“He’s hurt. I can’t see him, but he says he might be dying.”

“Okay…okay, can you tell me where? It’s Rex, right? Can you tell me where he is?” Hunter was up, pacing the workshop. Rex had gone out that morning. He’d been driving into the city looking for rare plants for the garden. Shit— Rex had the car! He glanced outside at the sunlit vista. If he flew, he’d be seen, and he didn’t have Rex’s skills at magic. He managed to keep his wings hidden and toned down his coloring, but that was pretty much the extent of his ability.

“Reux is sleeping.”

Hunter fisted his hand and rested it against his forehead…thinking…thinking…

She knew Rex’s true name as well.

“Was it a car wreck? Is he on the highway?” His chest hurt from the pace his heart raced.

“I’m looking.”

Was she a psychic? A seer of some sort? Instinctively, Hunter knew to let her do her thing, but he had to know more.

“Are you there? Or are you seeing him some other way?”

“I’m asleep.”

“You’re asleep.” A cold certainty came over him then. It was her. The succubus. Dread ran over his skin. Hatred. Something else he didn’t want to name.

“What did you do to him?” he whispered.

“Nothing. I felt his distress. I took no energy, but I can’t share mine. Not at a distance.” She sounded dispassionate. Matter of fact. She wasn’t worried about Rex’s wellbeing. Not really. She was concerned for her food source. That’s all.

“His car is up there. Near the road, but hard to see. Someone hurt him, Hunter. They hid the car.” Now he heard a trace of venom in her voice. Maybe she wasn’t as detached as she seemed.

Scary thought. With her abilities, she could make a man orgasm to death. He didn’t want to be on her bad side.

Up there. That was helpful. He set the other information aside. There were plenty of people out there willing to hurt Rex and Hunter. Some of them were even mortal. They’d deal with that later.

“Who are you?”

“He’s hidden himself from those people, but he doesn’t want to die alone.”

Her soft statement seared his heart and devastated his soul. Rex was everything…his world. If he lost him…

“Where…? Please, tell me where?”

“Under a bridge. On a hill under a bridge. The flowers are orange and red…and blue. A small river…boulders… That’s all I can see through his eyes, Hunter. I’m sorry.”

And somehow, he suspected that she was sorry. A hint of sadness crept into her voice. After all, she’d been Rex’s frequent companion since the 1860s. No matter how far Hunter ran with his lover, she’d managed to locate them. He’d finally learned to shield against her, but Rex—damn Rex insisted she wasn’t evil. He insisted she needed them.

“How did you know my name? My real name?” Hunter knew he should be running, looking for a vehicle to take him to Rex, but he stood frozen to the floor. Half-remembered images from dreams long past flooded his mind. A woman with hair the color of stars, her face dancing with laughter…twisted with fear. Arms wrapped around her body, holding her back as they…

“Anahita.”

He blinked, coming up from the near trance state he’d fallen into. The memories drifted from his mind like cobwebs.

“What?”

“Anahita. When I sleep.”

“Anahita? You’re Anahita?” He vaguely remembered that name. Rex had mentioned her long ago. But there was no answer.

“Hello? Are you there?” As he expected, the phone was dead. And Rex lay dying somewhere. Hunter wasted time looking at the phone, trying to call back. But the phone showed that no call had come in since yesterday when Rex had called from the grocery store. It had been his night to cook…

Had he imagined the call? No. No.

Hunter moved with speed and deliberation, locking the workshop and gathering a few important items he’d need in an emergency. When he was satisfied, he stepped outside. The neighbor had a decrepit station wagon he could borrow. Surely fate would smile on him? Surely he could coax the heap into starting.

Swinging the pack onto his back, Hunter broke into a run, determined to steal a car if that’s what it took.