The Darkest Night

He was smiling as the flames consumed him again.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The time for war had arrived.

Aeron was glad. He seethed with the need to battle, to slay. Maybe, if he maimed a few Hunters, he would stop imagining his blade slicing through Danika's neck, followed quickly by her sister's…her mother's…and lastly, her grandmother's.

He hadn't told the others, but the need to kill was more than an ignorable flicker inside him now. It was beginning to color his every thought and make him crazed. The gods had not exaggerated. The beast inside him was eager to follow the order he'd been given.

Worse, the stirrings seemed to increase with every hour that passed.

And they would only grow stronger, he knew. They would grow and grow and grow until at last he destroyed those four innocent women.

He worked his jaw. Hopefully he could suppress the thirst for blood, if only for a little while. I'm a monster, as bad as the spirit inside me. If the warriors failed to think of a way to save those women, well, Aeron knew he would have to kiss the last remaining vestiges of himself goodbye. He would be a demon.

Aren't you already?

'Think Maddox's woman is out here?' Paris asked, interrupting his brooding thoughts.

'Could be.' They hadn't been able to find her and had soon given up their search, coming into the city anyway. He was furious that Bait might even now be on the loose.

Had the Hunters already been warned of the Lords' arrival?

Lucien had flashed into the cemetery first, but hadn't seen anything suspicious. Still, Torin had been sent in afterward to wait, watch and take surveillance pictures with a few of his toys. Sending him had been a last resort. He'd protested, but in the end had agreed to go. At least the cemetery's inhabitants were already dead, rendering Disease harmless.

Now Aeron and the others moved swiftly through the cobbled streets of Buda. Without Ashlyn, they had to draw the Hunters out another way. They had chosen to be the Bait themselves.

Midnight might have come and gone, but the city was far from ready to sleep. People sat at lighted tables, the innocent playing chess, the more jaded selling a few hours of fun. Buildings towered on each side, a symphony of curves and points. A few cars meandered past.

Humans jumped out of the warriors' way, snatches of gossip and speculation drifting through the moonlight. The angels have come down from their mountain… think they're after those men who were asking about them, the ones at Club Destiny…

'Men were asking about us,' Aeron said, teeth clenched. Even as he spoke, a woman crossed the street to greet them, her expression glazed as she stared at Paris.

'A kiss,' she beseeched him.

'Always.' Paris smiled and lowered his head to grant her request.

Aeron barked, 'Later. Take us to this Club Destiny.' If Promiscuity started kissing, Promiscuity would not stop kissing until clothes were shed and passion-cries were ringing.

'Next time,' Paris told the woman, regret in his tone, and moved on, leading the way to the club.

'Promise?' she called. But she snapped out of her lust-haze when Lucien passed her, blanching at his scarred face.

A few minutes later, the warriors stood just inside the club's entrance, surveying the scene. A crowd of humans danced in a fast, gyrating rhythm, multicolored lights pulsing around them. Those who spotted them gasped. Most backed away—angels, indeed. A brave and foolish few stepped closer.

Standing there, Aeron could sense… something. A slight hum of power, perhaps. He frowned.

'See them?' Reyes asked, gaze scanning. His posture was tense. Pain seemed more on edge than ever tonight. His hands were swollen, as if he'd followed Maddox's lead and ruined an entire room.

'Not yet, but I know they're here.' Aeron fingered the blade hidden at his side. Where are you? Who are you?

'Hello, heaven. Look at those sweet little morsels,' Paris said, his voice husky with arousal.

'Mind out of their pants,' Reyes snapped.

Aeron wished that were his only worry. Needing sex. Human females regarded him with fear, like the blonde who'd nearly popped a vessel today at the thought of being touched by him. And he was happy about that. They should fear him. He wouldn't mean to, but he'd chew them up and spit them out in a single bite.

'Five minutes,' Paris said, the words thick with pleasure. 'That's all I need.'

'Later.'

'Now.'

'What are you, a child? Your cock is not a toy, so stop playing with it for one damn night.'

'Gods. It can't be,' Lucien suddenly said, his stunned tone ending the squabble. He motioned to the back of the club with a grim tilt of his chin. 'Look.'

Every gaze followed his to a group who stood near the back of the club, watching them.

Aeron hissed in a breath and palmed one of his blades. Seemed the day's surprises weren't over. 'Sabin.' He had never thought to see Doubt again. The man he'd once considered a friend had held a knife at his throat, had cut and cut deep. 'What's he doing here? Why now—' His words jammed to a halt as the answer hit him. 'He's still warring with the Hunters. He probably brought them to our doorstep.'

'Only one way to find out,' Lucien said, but none of them moved forward.

Aeron knew why his own feet had turned to lead. That dark, fateful night was playing through his mind.

'We have to kill them,' Sabin had screeched. 'Look what they did to Baden.'

'We have done enough of that,' Lucien had replied in that calm voice of his. 'We have caused them and their loved ones far more pain than they have brought us.'

Cold rage had washed over Sabin's face. 'Does Baden mean nothing to you, then?'

'I loved him just as much as you did, but more destruction will not bring him back,' Aeron had spat, turning his back, unable to stand the pain in Sabin's eyes. Pain that was mirrored inside him. 'I cannot take much more, for my heart grows blacker every day. I need peace. Sanctuary.'

'I would rather die than allow a single Hunter to live.'

'We killed the man who removed his head. Let that be enough.'

'Enough? I held Baden's lifeless body in my arms, his blood seeping all the way to my soul, and you want me to walk away? You are worse than the Hunters.' Sabin had attacked then, the blade embedded before Aeron ever sensed it coming.

A fair fight, he could have forgiven. An attack from behind? Hell, no.

After Aeron had fought him off, he'd just wanted to leave. Leave Greece, the war, the hated memories. But Sabin and a few others still had wanted more blood.

That was when the Lords had divided. Irrevocably.

He studied them now, these warriors he knew but didn't. They appeared the same, though their attire had changed with the times. Gideon had blue hair, an unholy gleam in his electric-blue eyes—a gleam that was more than feral, more than predatory. Reminded Aeron of Lucien the one and only time he'd exploded in a temper, nothing and no one able to restrain him.

Cameo was still the prettiest woman he'd ever seen, but damn if he didn't want to stab himself in the heart just from looking at her. Strider was still handsome, though the years had etched ruthlessness on the planes of his face. Amun had discarded his robes for a black shirt and jeans.

Where was Kane? Had the Hunters gotten him, too?

Sabin and the others began a slow, steady approach. He kept his eyes on them as he and the others finally moved forward, as well. The two groups met in the middle of the dance floor, humans quickly scrambling out of