The Darkest Night

been in the dungeon, the conversations seemed one-sided. She couldn't hear who the women were talking to; she only knew they were talking to someone other than themselves.

She heard Danika say, If—if I am a healer, will you swear to spare my mother, sister and grandmother? They haven't done anything wrong. We came to Budapest to get away, to say goodbye to my grandpa. We—

But she didn't hear the comment before it. Or after. Why?

The men were immortal, but she'd heard immortal creatures speak before. Vampires, goblins, shape-shifters, even. Why not the demons here? They had to be the ones Danika had been speaking to.

Ashlyn nibbled at the bread and sipped the juice, trying to tune out each new discussion. She hummed. She meditated. The women attempted to engage her, but she simply couldn't respond. There were too many voices vying for her attention.

One by one, the women gave up. How many minutes or hours passed after that, she didn't know. So many times she almost called for Maddox, but she held the pleas back, biting her tongue until she tasted blood. He had chores to do, he'd said. Besides, she didn't want to be a burden. A nuisance.

That's what you came here for, she reminded herself. To demand that these men teach you how to control your powers, even if it meant becoming a nuisance to them.

But that had been before Maddox actually entered her life. Now she wanted him to be her lover (if he would, the jerk), not her nursemaid. Again.

You hear a… a… voice? In your mind?

Yes.

And it's not your own?

Maybe, probably. I don't know.

Blessedly, the murmurings did stop, ending at the moment of Ashlyn's entrance. Relieved as she was, she had to admit she had learned several new tidbits of information. The first and most significant: Danika had heard of hunters—she'd told her family about them.

'Hunters,' Ashlyn said, lifting her gaze. Danika was looking out the room's only window, a window none of the women had been able to pry open. Ashlyn had heard them try and fail. 'What are they? Don't lie to me this time. Please.'

Startled, Danika jumped and turned, hand over heart. 'Better again, eh? Why should we trust you? You could be working for those men. They might've sent you here to learn something from us, and when you learn it, they'll storm inside and kill us.'

'True.' After all, these women only knew she'd been sick and snuggled up to their enemy. 'But you saved me. Why would I want you hurt?'

Danika peered over at her but said nothing.

'You'll just have to trust that I'm not here to trap you or hurt you. We're in the same situation, you and I.'

'But what about the angry one? Maddox. You're dating him.'

Dating wasn't exactly the word she'd use. Ashlyn tried to picture Maddox sitting across from her in some candlelit restaurant, drinking wine and listening to soft music. Her lips lifted in a smile. 'Maybe. So?'

'So, that makes you one of them.'

'I'm not,' she insisted. 'I just got here. Yesterday, in fact.'

Danika's eyes widened, her golden lashes hitting her equally golden eyebrows. 'Now I know you're lying. He cares for you, that much was obvious. A man doesn't show that much compassion to a woman he's just met.'

Yes, he'd been compassionate. Yes, he'd been kind. Tender. Unerringly sweet. The fiercest man she'd ever met had mopped her brow and cleaned her face. 'Again, I can't explain it. I'm not lying.'

A minute ticked by in silence.

'Fine.' Danika's shoulders lifted in a deceptively casual shrug. 'You want to know about hunters, I'll tell you. Not like it's crucial info, anyway.' Inhale, exhale. 'When the winged man, Aeron, took me into the city, he spotted a group of men. They were armed like soldiers and they were sneaking around back alleys as if they didn't want to be seen.'

So far, that told her nothing.

'Aeron muttered Hunters under his breath and whipped out a dagger.' Anger began to color Danika's soft timbre. The memory obviously wasn't her favorite. 'He would have fought them if he hadn't been carting me around. He said so. He also said those men had come to kill him and his friends.' She spoke the last in a deep, dark tone, mimicking Aeron. Ashlyn nearly smiled at the gloom-and-doom inflection. 'I wanted them to fight, distract him so I could run. But they didn't. They didn't see us.'

Ashlyn frowned. Hunters of the immortal. Wasn't that basically what she did for the Institute? She listened to conversations to find—hunt—those who were not exactly human. Stop right there. The Institute studies, observes, renders aid when needed and takes extreme action only when threatened.

She took comfort in that. The employees were utterly scientific when dealing with the creatures they found, not predatory.

They were not always so fair-minded with her.

The first time an attempt had been made against her, it was because she'd stumbled across a recent conversation a coworker had had with a child. He'd lured that sweet, innocent little girl… he'd threatened… he'd done terrible things. Sickened, Ashlyn had turned him in. He'd retaliated by trying to shoot her. McIntosh, always close by her side, had thrown her down, saving her life.

The second time, she was nearly stabbed in the back—literally—by a woman intent on keeping her affair a secret. McIntosh had once again acted as her bodyguard, shielding her and taking the slice instead.

The third and final time, about eleven months ago, she was poisoned. Luck had been on her side. She'd managed to throw up most of it. Ah, sweet memories. To this day she still didn't know why, didn't know which secret she'd divined that someone had been willing to kill to keep.

McIntosh did everything in his power to protect her. But sometimes that wasn't enough, so she'd learned to rely only on herself and trust no one—which made her sudden eagerness to depend on Maddox all the more confusing.

'Aeron, uh, was bad-mouthing you, too,' Danika said, breaking into her thoughts.

Ashlyn blinked in surprise. 'Me? Why?'

'Said you were bait, whatever that means.'

Her shoulders slumped as she said, 'Maddox calls me bait, too. I still don't know what that is.' How could she refute something she didn't comprehend? Unless… wait. If she was right about hunters stalking immortals, that had to mean bait was the lure. Dangle it in front of an immortal and a hunter could ensnare him in a trap.

Why that…that…asshole! She'd come here for help, not to draw him out of his lair so that he could be slain. 'Idiot!' she fumed.

'Don't call me names,' Danika snapped.

'I wasn't talking about you. I was talking about me.' She'd let Maddox kiss her, had let him put his fingers and tongue inside of her, had even been desperate for more. And all the while he'd thought her capable of such a vile, duplicitous act. He probably thought she was easy, too—hence his surprise when he'd discovered she was still a virgin.

Tears of shame stung her eyes.

'They tricked you, huh?' Danika asked gently.

She nodded. Had Maddox wanted her, even a little, or had he simply wanted to seduce her for information about her obviously nefarious plan? She suspected the latter, and it hurt. Cut deep. How many times had he accused her or questioned her with suspicion in his eyes?

No wonder he'd so easily resisted her bumbling attempt to talk him into finishing what they'd started. No wonder he'd dumped her here. Idiot! she thought again. Yes, that's what she was. Her only excuse was that she didn't have a lot of hands-on experience with men. And this is why! They were bastards. Users and seducers.

'Tell me about the voice you're hearing,' she said to Danika. Anything to get her mind off Maddox—before she burst into sobs of disappointment and resentment.