A Demon in Dallas (2 page)

Chapter Two

Racing through the tunnels, I took the path back to the entrance Matt and I had used, but there was no sign of him or any of the other vampires. They must have taken Matt with them. But why? It didn’t make a lick of sense.

The vampires had no reason to kidnap Matt. They usually drank a person dry before killing them, but they couldn’t have done that either. They hadn’t had enough time to drain Matt completely, and if they’d killed him, they would have left his body behind. No sense taking it with them. Matt was no use to them dead, although I couldn’t figure out what use he could be to them alive either. I hoped above all else that they hadn’t decided to turn him. To hunters like Matt and I, that was a fate far worse than death itself. When I died, if there was a heaven, I wanted in. There were way too many people on the other side that would just love to get their grubby paws on me for putting them in their eternal resting place, and wouldn’t that just suck?

The deep cut on my chest began to burn intensely, making me feel like a head of cattle branded by a hot iron. Until it healed fully and I was back to fighting form, I was in no condition to help Matt. I couldn’t even help myself if any more bloodsuckers attacked, so I reluctantly made my way out of the sewers and back to the motel, sticking to the busy streets even though my bedraggled and bloody state captured more attention than I cared for.

I knew several people in Austin, but there was only one that had the connections to help me find Matt—Connor Ward. Although I could count on him to help, calling him wouldn’t be fair—to either of us. Connor was the reason I hadn’t wanted to return to Texas when Matt had suggested it, and, if I was being honest, he was also the reason I had finally agreed to tag along.

It had been two years since I’d last seen Connor, and even though I’d been the one to walk away, not a single day had gone by in which I hadn’t thought about him. I often wondered if he thought about me too. Did he miss me? Would he be happy to see me again or had he moved on? Those questions had been my constant companions since the night I’d said goodbye for what I’d truly believed to be the last time.

Of course, a hundred new questions entered my mind while I took a shower and cleaned the blood and grime from my skin. Had Connor stopped loving me? Had he found someone else? Was he happy? All I’d ever wanted was Connor’s happiness, but the thought of him being content with another woman, of him taking pleasure from another lover’s body, made my chest constrict so tightly it felt like it was caught in a damn vice. I could hardly breathe through the pain and despair that the unwelcome thoughts produced. As always, the agony quickly turned to ire. I’d rather have been back in the sewers, fighting an entire nest of vampires, than alone in my tiny motel room with nothing but these damned perfidious thoughts to occupy my time.

After patching up the angry-looking cuts on my chest, I slipped on my dressing gown then took a few calming breaths before dialling the number I’d learned by heart almost four years ago to the day. Had it really been that long since the night we’d first met? I closed my eyes when the call connected and held my breath as I waited to hear his voice.

“Hello.”

“Connor, it’s me.” Silence met my greeting—complete and utter, agonising silence. As the seconds ticked on, I sucked in another big lungful of air, my stomach feeling like it was trying to eat itself from the inside out. “Aren’t you going to say anything?”

“This is obviously not a social call,” Connor retorted. His sarcasm rankled, but I hadn’t expected anything different. At least he hadn’t hung up on me—that had to count for something. And hearing his voice again, even laced with acerbity, was like listening to the New York Philharmonic play the Bach
Variations
—beautiful and utterly mesmerising.

“No,” I said around a sigh. “This isn’t a social call.”

“What can I do for you, Raven?”

“I need help.” I hated having to ask, but I had to remember the reason for my call. This was about finding Matt, nothing more. What had happened between us was in the past and it had to stay there—my sanity depended on it.

Connor sighed. “I take it you’re in my neck of the woods.”

“Yes.”

“Meet me at Ivy’s in thirty minutes.”

When Connor hung up, the silence that radiated out of my cellphone was oppressive. I kept it to my ear for longer than was necessary, remembering the cadence of his voice. The deep, sexy twang of the man who had once told me he’d love me forever and had undoubtedly meant it. Did it still stand? With a heavy heart, I checked the time then slipped into a pair of skinny black jeans and a loose fitting shirt. I was tired, both physically and emotionally, but I wouldn’t be able to rest until I’d met with Connor and figured out who had taken Matt and why. Then I was going to do everything in my power to get him back. It was nothing more than he would do for me. Besides, I owed him. It was my fault he’d been taken. I should have made him stay by my side.

Every minute Matt spent with the vampires put his life at greater risk. Vampires were vile creatures, with no conscience or remorse. They didn’t need a reason to kill and the fact that Matt was a hunter would only sweeten the slaughter. I was counting on Connor to help me, even though I’d ripped out his heart then stomped on it for good measure almost two years ago to the day.

Connor was a wolf-shifter and a member of the local pack, so he knew a lot of supernaturals who had made their home in Austin. We’d managed to keep our relationship a secret for nearly two years because the repercussions of anyone finding out would have been severe. Had they known, my superiors on the watchers’ council would have exacted their wrath as it was strictly against the rules for hunters to have personal relationships with anyone other than our own kind. The bloodlines needed to be pure. It was the only way to ensure the continuation of our race. My parents had been hunters and had fought valiantly until the day they had died, as had their parents before them. We age much slower than humans and can live for nearly five hundred years if we take care of ourselves, but at thirty, I was reaching my sexual maturity. That meant I had to find a mate.

Neal, my superior on the watchers’ council, had been trying to get me and Matt together since we were both twenty. I loved Matt, I really did, but I wasn’t in love with him and I never would be. Our relationship would never be anything more than platonic. Matt felt the same. I’d tried to tell Neal that, but he continued to push for our union. Neal would have been furious if he’d found out that I was seeing Connor, but it was Darius, Connor’s alpha, that I’d been most fearful of finding out, and with good reason.

Darius was an aggressive and often brutal leader and one that would not tolerate insubordination. He hated me because I’d killed several members of his pack. It didn’t matter that my directive had come directly from the council, because Darius liked to deal with pack problems in his own way. He didn’t like ‘outsiders’ stepping in his biz and took that shit personally. I’d been a thorn in his side as well as a major pain in his ass for years. Undermining the alpha’s authority was top of the list of things to ‘stay the hell away from’.

When Darius had eventually learned of our relationship, he’d done his damnedest to separate us, but Connor was stubborn as all get out and had fought his alpha’s wishes. His last resort had been to order Connor to stop seeing me, and a wolf could not go against a direct order from their alpha—it would be suicide to do so. If he
had
disobeyed, Darius would have been within his rights to kill Connor for defiance. I couldn’t have let that happen. I knew Connor well enough to know that going against Darius was exactly what he would have done to enable us to stay together.

The best case scenario would have been Connor’s expulsion from the pack, but wolves are social creatures and pack ties are important. I’d seen first-hand what happened to wolves that had got themselves cast out of their packs. Most couldn’t handle life as a rogue wolf. The solitude often drove them insane, and a crazy wolf was a danger—both to humans and to themselves. That’s when my hunter skills came into play. I was one of the people tasked with hunting them down and killing them.

If there was a chance of humans discovering the existence of even one supernatural being, then we were all at risk. It would have killed me to see Connor succumb to the same fate as some of the wolves I’d had to take out, so I’d done the only thing I could to ensure he’d stay safe. I’d walked away from him. It had nearly broken me at the time, but it had been for the best. Connor had to be better off without me risking his life just by sharing it. I hoped he’d forgiven me for leaving. Even if he couldn’t let go of the past, I knew he’d help me find Matt. Connor might be angry still, but he was fiercely loyal.

I arrived at Ivy’s with just over five minutes to spare. Connor was already there. He was sitting in our usual booth seat at the back, sipping from a large cup that undoubtedly held black coffee with too much sugar. He didn’t look up when I entered, even though his heightened wolf senses would have picked up on my scent the second I walked into the diner. As I strode through the room, trying to ignore the incessant fluttering of butterflies that had made themselves at home in my stomach, I checked out the other patrons that were dining—anything to keep my eyes off Connor’s tense body and the woeful expression on his handsome face.

There was no one of any consequence in the diner. A liquored-up bum sat at the counter, nodding off in his peach and pecan pie. A few high school students milled around the jukebox, joking openly about said bum, and a young couple seated near the door were holding hands and gazing adoringly into one another’s eyes. There were no supernaturals in the room except for Connor and I.

The place was quieter than it used to be, but otherwise it was the same old dive that I remembered with fondness. Connor and I had spent many an hour discussing tactics in the diner before and after we’d visited the local cemetery to hunt vampires. In the two years since I’d been gone, the place hadn’t had so much as a paint job, but I was grateful the décor had remained unchanged. The familiarity was strangely soothing, making it almost possible to imagine that the past two years without Connor hadn’t happened.

“It’s good to see you again, Raven,” Connor greeted, rising and nodding to the seat opposite. Connor’s impressive frame towered over me. Though I remembered every line and freckle on his perfect face, I’d forgotten how huge he was—how his body towered over mine, and, at five nine, I was by no means short. Just being near him again was enough to bring back a slew of memories of the last time I’d seen him—memories I’d unsuccessfully tried to bury.

I swallowed before answering. “You too.”

Reaching out, I shook Connor’s hand and the tingles of electricity that had been ever-present when we touched travelled up my arm and through my entire being, flooding my system with desire. Our greeting felt oddly formal considering what we had once meant to one other, but I hadn’t come to reminisce and Connor knew that. I tucked an unruly strand of my usually neat black bob behind my ear and sat in the booth seat opposite.

Despite the reason for our meeting, it was good to see him again—incredible, in fact. The wretched sadness and despair that had held me in its clutches for the past two years seemed to evaporate quicker than rain water in the Mojave. Connor, as always, looked spectacular. His rich, dark brown hair was longer than he used to wear it, his chiselled jaw covered with a few days’ worth of growth, but the rugged look suited him and even added to his appeal. His piercing dark blue eyes were just as captivating, and large, strapping shoulders, which appeared bigger than ever, framed his wide expanse of chest. He was dressed similarly to me, in a T-shirt and jeans, which fitted snugly around his long, muscular legs. Images of our limbs tangled together as Connor drove into my body made heat rise in my cheeks. I tried to curb my treacherous thoughts and get back to the matter at hand, but it was difficult to concentrate on anything when I was within touching distance of Connor. It always had been.

“I’m intrigued,” Connor said, snapping me out of my illicit recollections. “What is it you think I can do for you that you can’t do for yourself?”

I was disappointed that Connor didn’t want to waste any time on small talk, but what did we have to say to one another anyway? I didn’t want to discuss what had happened between us in the past—it would be too painful to do so—and what did that leave? The questions I wanted to ask him were strictly off limits, and besides, this was about Matt.

A glum-looking waitress appeared at our table almost immediately. While I sipped the deliciously hot and surprisingly good coffee she’d poured for me, I told Connor about everything that had happened since Matt and I had arrived in Austin. Connor had never disguised the fact that he disliked Matt, but he didn’t interrupt. His mouth was set in a tight line and a deep frown wrinkled his brow when I mentioned Matt’s idea to follow the vampire into the sewers so that we could corner him. When I’d finished recounting the story, Connor drank the last of his coffee before sharing his thoughts.

“It certainly doesn’t sound like a random attack. I get the impression that you and Matt were lured into those tunnels. I’d bet my last dollar it was a trap.”

“Yeah,” I said around a sigh. “That’s what I figured.”

“Do you have any idea who is out to get you here in Austin?”

I snorted. “Who the hell knows? I piss off a lot of people in my line of work, you know? Pick one.”

Connor’s mouth twitched but it didn’t curve up into a full smile. It was a shame—he had a heart-stopping smile and it had been a long time since I’d last seen it. But I didn’t want to think about that. Our little tête-à-tête was strictly business—had to be.

“You know that Darius is still gunning for you,” Connor disclosed.

“Yeah, I figured he would be.”

“I can’t believe that this has anything to do with him, though. It isn’t his style. Darius doesn’t play mind games, he doesn’t need to. If he knew you were back in town, he’d have grabbed
you,
not Matt. Let me call a few people.” Rising from his seat, Connor threw a few dollars on the table, signalling the end of our meeting. “I’ll see what I can find out.”