Marjorie M Liu - [Hunter Kiss 02] - Darkness Calls by Tyson Foods Inc

Author:Tyson Foods, Inc. [Inc., Tyson Foods,]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-01-16T23:32:51.023000+00:00

She looked like me, but all of us Hunters looked alike. Pale skin, black hair, fine features. She had been washed and dressed in clean white robes, but there was a ragged cut across her throat, so deep I wondered if she had almost lost her head.

Raw and Aaz kept glancing over their shoulders at the woman. Every time they did, low, grunting cries would escape their throats, and their claws would rake across their bellies, shedding sparks. Dek and Mal hung from their necks, making mewling sounds, but Zee had eyes only for the baby.

He picked her up, ever so carefully, and cradled her to his chest. His bristly hair was slicked back, close to his skull, and he closed his eyes, whispering soft words. The baby did not stop sobbing, and the boys began to sing: a high, soft song, without words, the melody simple and gentle. Their voices were eerie and choral, echoing as though the trees were the walls of a church, and the night sky a black glass roof of stars. My heart, which had begun to ache, quieted even as the baby quieted, and a hush fell, something deeper than silence, as the boys closed their mouths and bowed their heads: wolves, praying; demons, grieving.

Dek and Mal slid across Zee‟s body, and I watched as they used themselves to create a living harness that held the baby snug to the demon‟s barrel-shaped chest. Long, warm bodies, crisscrossed and safe. Zee clasped her to him, as well—and with his free hand helped Raw and Aaz push dirt over the woman in the grave.

Hunter. My ancestor. Somewhere lost in history, murdered well before her time. The boys would never have abandoned that woman before her child was able to feed herself.

I thought of the bullet that had been shot at my head. Franco and his gun. A cut to the throat was more intimate.

The woman had known her attacker—or perhaps more than one person had held her down. Probably killed at sunset. The boys—especially Dek and Mal—would never have let anyone close enough for that killing blow.

He passed to me his knowledge, Cribari had said. He told me how to stop you.

Something moved in the forest, behind the boys. Zee and the others turned as one to stare, and my right hand burned when I saw the man who slipped free of the shadows. He was tall, slender as a swimmer, with a pale, chiseled face framed by long silver hair that drifted past his shoulders. His eyes were red and rimmed in amber.

Ruby-encrusted caps of silver covered the tips of his pointed ears, and he wore a dark crimson tunic over loose black pants. His sinewy arms were bare, white as snow, and his nails were pure white and long as claws.

“So you lost your Lady,” he said softly, with a smile. “How unfortunate. But then, I always wanted to be a father.”

Zee snarled, hunching over the baby as Raw and Aaz crowded in front of him, dragging their claws through the dead leaves.

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