Avenger (6 page)

“No.” Raven said, turning toward her.

But it was too late. Nikki stripped off the coat and threw it to the floor. She felt her hair fall in a cascade down her shoulders and heard the gasps from the onlookers.
Huh. Gasps from guys. Go figure
.

She stomped out from the side wall where she’d been gathering her frustration. She felt like her body was engulfed in empowering flames, and her eyes must have turned to molten lava, because Skinny’s brows rose slowly as he stared.

She could hear laughing from the back of Skully’s group.

Typical immaturity. Always having to fight to prove who’s tougher. Always quick to pound someone into the ground
.
Nikki’s adrenaline rose, coursing through her veins, filling her with righteous anger.
They need to be taught a lesson in a language they understand
. Not that she wasn’t quaking a little on the inside at the prospect. Skinny Boy undoubtedly knew how to fight. But so did she. And the longer they stood sizing each other up, the closer the seeker came. Which made this whole show of caveman strength even more utterly ridiculous. Nikki growled in frustration.

Skinny rocked back on his heels, making her even angrier. So much so she fisted her hands and yelled at him, “Come on!”

More laughter. Ugh, when this was over, she was going to kill them all. One by one. Then she’d dress them in evening gowns and hang them from the Eiffel tower.
Where’d that come from?

“A girl?” Skinny said with a thick French accent as he lumbered nonchalantly toward the center. “Please, Skully. You insult me.”

Nikki surged forward, catching him by surprise, and landed a power-packed back fist to his face. All that anger, all that frustration released in a single blow.

Skinny staggered, one step back then another. His head bobbed once, eyes going glassy, before he dropped like a leaf from a tree, his limbs wavering and folding as he went down.

Silence.

Then a roar of laughter. It came from all sides and filled the room, scattering the tension. Nikki turned to face a smiling Raven. “Will taught me that.”

Raven winked at her, his eyes animated and sparkling in the dim cavern light. “It’s definitely effective.”

She rubbed her palm over her fist as she walked back to him.

Raven took her hand in his. “You okay?” His tone dropped to that purr he reserved for only her, and his fingertips trailed
over her skin, causing goose bumps to materialize on her arms.

“I’m fine. Bleeding a little,” she said, trying to ignore how his touch made her feel. “Must have caught one of his teeth on my knuckle.”

Around them, people were trying to help the wobbly, skinny knife fighter to his feet.

“Don’t move!” someone yelled from farther in the corridor. The crowd cut a path for the voice until Nikki could see an older man rushing toward her. Dane had interlocked his fingers with the man’s, but the man was trying to get away. Dane did that slick-as-an-eel thing he did and clasped tighter.

“No, no!” the man yelled down at him, and Dane let go.

“Solomon?” Raven leaned over and asked Nikki.

“Guess so,” she answered. As the man approached, all she could think was
cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo
— especially when he snatched a do-rag off one of the boy’s heads as he passed by. Two fully functioning hands — now free of Dane — tied the bandana into a loose knot. Solomon grabbed Nikki’s hand, mumbling about blood, and wrapped the fabric around her fist.

All this for a tiny cut?

He squeezed hard, pinching her fingers. “It’s the blood,” he said, pulling her close to his plump face. His breath wasn’t all that fresh and his eyes weren’t all that clear.
Cuckoo, cuckoo
.

Nikki leaned back.

He leaned forward. “The seeker tracks your blood.”

Instinctively, Nikki slammed her free hand over the wound. Her heart kicked up, this time beating out of more fear than anger.

“Did your blood touch the ground?”

“No,” she said.

He grabbed her arms and squeezed. “Don’t let your blood touch the ground. The blood cries out. That’s the easiest way for the seeker to find you.”

Over Solomon’s shoulder, she watched Skinny wipe his mouth as if removing the Nikki-blood plague, then step farther and farther away until his back bumped the wall and there was nowhere else to go. He continued staring at her like she was the reaper come to collect his soul.

No one laughed now. Raven eyed Dane, then Solomon. “How’d you know?”

Solomon ruffled Dane’s hair. “He came and found me.”

Raven’s gaze narrowed. “Dane didn’t know it was a seeker. How’d you figure out a seeker was involved?”

“It wasn’t that difficult. Dane said you were being hunted. Something worse than demons and hounds. That narrowed the options. When he told me you came with a question about why a creature would track you to a place you’d barely been rather than finding you at your customary dwelling, the answer had to be spilled blood. A seeker.”

Customary dwelling. He must mean Viennesse.

Raven’s shoulders dropped a degree, and Nikki was reminded Raven didn’t trust anyone.
Well, he’s still alive, so you can’t argue with success
.

“You know about seekers? Do you know how to defeat one?” Raven said with enough encouragement in his voice to lift Nikki’s spirits.

“Oh, no.” The man shook his head.

Hopes dashed.

“I don’t even know how to fight a seeker, and I’m not sure anyone ever has successfully.”

Okay, that removed all hope.

“I can tell you what I know about how they track, what they do to their victims.” Gray eyes found Nikki. Wrinkle lines framed Solomon’s watery gaze as he tried to force a smile. “But it’s best not to dwell on that if you’re trying to stay ahead of one.”

“Stay ahead?” Raven spat. “What, for eternity? We have to figure out a way to stop this thing, not keep running from it.”

The old man grabbed Raven by the shoulders and yelled, “I can’t tell you what I don’t know, half-man.”

Dane grabbed Nikki’s unbandaged hand and mouthed “cuckoo.”

Solomon let go. “I’m sorry.”

“Right.” Raven’s eyes slowly went from saucer size to normal. “We’d appreciate all the help you can offer.”

“Come with me,” Solomon motioned them into the darkest part of the tunnel.

One hour later, after numerous glasses of lukewarm tea at the Owl’s kitchen table in his underground apartment, they knew little more than when they’d arrived.

The only helpful tidbit was that seekers knew but one thing: find and neutralize the target. “So, basically, they never rest and they never stop hunting?” Raven asked, circling back to what the Owl had told them.

Solomon rifled through the mix of journals and books he’d scattered across the table. “Here it is. I wrote this a few years back when the seeker caught my attention. I’d spent a year in the Middle East researching biblical monsters —”

“Biblical monsters?” Nikki interrupted. “Like demons?”

Solomon reached around his tea mug and pulled a black leather-bound book to him. “Much worse than demons. Vile things that aren’t allowed access to the earthly realm. It’s all in
Scripture — if you’ve a mind to look closely enough. Leviathan, the behemoth, the angel of death, they’re all there. This creature seeks whom he can devour. The word
devour
actually translates to
shred
. Seekers shred their victims.”

Nikki’s heart plummeted to her stomach.

Raven pushed his tea away. “I am so going to regret asking this, but why does it shred its victims?”

The Owl swallowed, his gray eyes darkening. “It’s trying to remove the soul. It digs into the victim in hopes of capturing it.”

“Yeah, I didn’t think I wanted to know.”

“The issue is souls can’t be removed. Once a physical person is dead, the soul sails on its own.” Solomon sipped his tea.

Nikki’s brow puckered. Mr. Cuckoo wasn’t making any sense.

She chewed on her lip. “I remember reading in my Bible that to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So, everyone who dies goes to God?”

Solomon patted the leather book again, and Nikki realized it must be a Bible. “To be absent from the body is to be present with
your
lord. Whoever that is. If you serve the Throne, then the Giver of Life is your Lord. If you reject him, the hater of men’s souls is your lord. Either way, your soul is gone from the physical body instantly.”

“Unless you’re a Halfling,” Raven mumbled.

“But the seeker tries to dig through you to find it after you’re dead?” Nikki tried to stop the nausea the mental picture raised.

“That’s what I understand, at least. Seekers aren’t my specialty. I have a friend who has spent more time than me studying them. I think you should talk to him.”

Raven stood. “No time like the present.”

“He won’t be reachable this late at night. He’s in the Bernese mountains.”

“Swiss Alps. One of my favorite ski areas.” Raven began to gather the tea kettle and cups “Can you give us directions?”

“Of course,” Solomon said. “But don’t you think you should sleep here tonight?”

Nikki yawned. “I’m exhausted. But I don’t want to put anyone at risk.”

Solomon reached to pat her hand across the table. “For those of us in the underground, we specialize in risk.”

Choices, choices. Raven glanced down at Nikki. She looked spent. Dark circles under her eyes, worry tilting the edges of her mouth into a frown. Even now she was gorgeous.

And exhausted. Yeah, they needed to rest a few hours. Winter had suggested the tunnels to him as a safe place for the night, but he’d managed to keep them one step ahead of the seeker, and maintaining that advantage was paramount. Plus, there was something really delicious about being her guardian, the only one protecting her. For the first time ever, he had Nikki to himself, and she truly trusted him. But no matter how much he enjoyed their current arrangement, his feelings had to take second place to her safety.

“Solomon,” Nikki said, leaning forward. “We need to get a message to a friend in Germany. Do you have a computer with an internet connection?”

Raven stood. “No time, Nikki.” He dragged her out of her chair and she rested against him. “If we want to stay ahead of the seeker, we have to move. Tonight. Now.” He briefly stared at his hand, wrapped around Nikki’s wrist, realizing the decision
he’d made the moment he pulled Nikki to her feet. He couldn’t allow them to connect with the others, as that meant sharing her — and it seemed like sharing her meant more risk. Too much risk. For all of them.

Her long exhale assaulted him, and he tried — unsuccessfully—to avoid drawing Nikki into his lungs. Her breath was sweet where it blew against his skin. Ignoring the Owl, he cupped her face in his hands. “You can rest while we fly,” he whispered. “We’ve been here too long already.”

She nodded, the motion causing strands of her hair to dance over his fingertips. Man, it felt good to have Nikki alone. And he simply wasn’t ready to give that up.

Chapter 5

R
aven pumped his wings, taking in the snow-dusted mountains below him. His arm was numb with a thousand prickly spots begging for fresh blood flow, but he wouldn’t readjust. Nikki had fallen asleep, her skin against his, her breathing heavy with exhaustion. She’d groaned once, and he’d drawn her closer, rewarded by her nuzzling into him and whispering his name. There, in his arms while he hovered above the mountains, everything was perfect.

Except for the fact they were being hunted.

He spotted a cabin and a thin sliver of road leading to it. Smoke rose from a chimney and the ground around the building glowed warm yellow with the illumination of lights from inside. Solomon had said they would have to wait until morning to talk to his friend, but Raven had never been one to listen to other people’s opinions about what he should and shouldn’t do. He dropped altitude and landed silently at the edge of woods beside the house.

On the ground, he could give his full attention to Nikki. Her long hair fell in windswept waves around her shoulders and spilled over him. Her eyes were closed, and those impossibly long lashes rested against her skin. When a breeze worked its way around the mountainside and collided against them, Nikki burrowed deeper into Raven’s arms.

He closed his wings around her, sheltering her from the cold.
What are you doing?
a small voice whispered inside his soul. Nikki had said she wanted to be with Mace, that he was her match. But Raven knew she was wrong. At least, he
believed
she was wrong.

And it wasn’t just her. No one thought Raven and Nikki were right for each other. The words Winter spoke to him when they were on the yacht echoed back. “What will happen when you’re not the shiny new penny anymore?”

Raven pushed all the negative words aside. He wanted Nikki, and knew they had a connection no one else could fathom. And that made it right.

He roused her by gently kissing her cheek. His lips lingered against her skin. She smelled different this close. With his powerful senses, his mind clicked off the fragrances as they entered his nose: coconut shampoo, baby powder, lotion. He lifted one of her hands to his face. Yep, hand lotion, vanilla. And there was that aroma that was simply
her
. The smell of wind and life. It was Nikki, and it was freedom. The one thing he never thought he’d have.

He wasn’t just in love with her. She was his salvation.

Her eyes fluttered open. Taking in her position in his arms and the surroundings of his gray wings, a slow smile spread on Nikki’s face. “Are we safe?” she whispered.

“You’re always safe with me, Nikki.”

“I’m starting to think you’re right.” She yawned, stretched like a cat, but he wouldn’t let her slip that easily. His hand pressed to the small of her back.

“Then why don’t you stop fighting me?” His lips brushed against hers, and for a moment she melted into him. But just as quickly her mouth hardened and she leaned back.

“I’m not going to do this, Raven.”