The wolf crossed his arms over his chest, his face back to perfectly normal. “I was wondering when you were going to show up. Zack thinks you’re just some sweet piece of ass Donovan and Quinn pass between them, but I could see the crazy bitch hiding in there. You handled yourself well today. You certainly got the jump on my brother.”
“Hey, you went down, too,” I pointed out.
He shook his head. “Don’t try it again, Zoey. I wasn’t going to make the first move because I didn’t want to hurt you. I won’t make the same mistake again. I’ve decided you can probably handle a little pain. Now, have you found this thing you’re looking for?”
“You’re not here to haul me back to Ether?” I asked because I pretty much figured that was exactly what he was going to do.
Declan stepped forward, bow still in hand. “I will not allow him to take you.”
“Yeah? You’re going to stop me?” Lee was probably thinking that Declan was like his brother, and Lee wouldn’t consider Dev a threat. “You and what army?” He stopped and was suddenly still. Lee took a deep whiff of the air around him and his superior grin became a self-deprecating grimace. “Forgive me. That army, of course. How many are there? I think I count eight, but there are two I can’t identify.”
“There are ten,” Declan acknowledged. “Two are Unseelie, and I doubt you have ever come across any such as them. The wild hunt has been gone from this plane for many centuries, and they were a part of it. I am surprised you can sense them. Why did you not sense them before this?”
I’d been wondering the same thing. Lee answered with a shrug. “If I kept my senses wide open all the time, I’d go crazy. Your men are subtle. A lesser wolf would miss it entirely.”
I was beginning to get the idea that pretty much all the wolves I had met before were less than Lee. It was a little hard to believe he’d been able to track me. I was a long way from Ether and I’d taken both a bus and a cab. I’d never seen a wolf run like that without the change. Neil had been quick and strong but not nearly as fast as Lee.
“As to your question, Zoey, I was ordered to find you as quickly as possible.” Lee confirmed my fears. “Quinn is out of his mind upset, and your husband won’t be awake for several hours. Quinn panicked. He really thought you were dead somewhere. I’m supposed to track you, find you, and hold you until Quinn can collect you himself. I would expect a fight out of this, Zoey. I swear he was ready to beat you when he realized you’d run off.”
“My brother would never beat a woman,” Declan replied, obviously horrified at the thought. “My brother is a priest. He is not a man of violence.”
Lee and I both laughed at that.
“It’s been a long time since you saw Dev last.” I didn’t know what Dev had been like in the sithein, but in this world he didn’t shrink from violence. I turned my attention back to my bodyguard. “So you’re just going to throw me over your shoulder and haul me back to Ether like a recalcitrant child? Let me tell you something, Lee. I get the distinct feeling that Devinshea is about to wash his hands of me.” The thought made me sick to my stomach, but Declan had really gotten to me. Why would Dev stay here and deal with all my shit when he had six women back home willing to do anything he asked? I was betting he didn’t yell at them. Of course, they probably didn’t cause as much trouble as I did. I looked at Lee with my hands on my hips, hoping to keep my pride intact. “If he’s going to turn me out then at least let me finish what I came out here to do.”
The wolf considered this for a moment. When I saw his eyes soften, I knew I was in. “Fine, we’ll do this your way. You’re wrong about Quinn if you think he’s going to let you go. He might seem softer than the vampire, but he isn’t where you’re concerned. He’s just as obsessed and he doesn’t even need your blood to survive. He might lock you up, but he won’t ever let you go.”
“That does not sound like my brother, either.” Declan huffed a little. “I need to speak with him because I feel there is something wrong. Let us hunt this creature so that I may assure myself my brother has not been possessed. I do not like this plane. It is filled with dangerous creatures.”
One of those creatures was opening his senses. Lee became still as he allowed the world around him to settle into different sounds and smells. Neil had described this process to me once. He said it was a lot like sorting through the mail. You went through it once and then separated the important stuff from the junk. After a long moment, he walked straight to the building I’d identified as the aswang’s home and stopped. He put his hands on the bricks and then laid his head against it, listening.
When he spun back to me, his eyes were distinctly wolflike. “It’s in there and it’s not alone. There’s another creature, a bird perhaps? I smell death. There’s an enormous amount of death in this building.”
“She’s undead,” I confirmed.
“I believe she’s hurt as well. I smell something like blood,” Lee added.
Declan’s shoulders squared and he nodded briefly. “Yes. I shot the creature last night. I would have pursued it had I not been distracted by Zoey’s breasts. Her shirt was wet and her nipples puckered so sweetly, I forgot about the beast.”
“Donovan’s going to love him,” Lee said sarcastically. “Seriously, he’s not going to be happy there are two of him.”
I let that go for the moment. Daniel knew Dev had a twin, but I don’t think it really registered that he would be so like Dev when it came to his libido. “I need information from the creature, Lee. I have questions for her and I may have to get nasty to get my answers. If this disturbs you, I’ll understand if you choose to remain behind.”
“Yes,” Lee said, sarcasm dripping. “I can’t stand violence. Just point me to the kill, sister. My only regret is there won’t be flesh or blood. I’m hungry, damn it, but I like my meat living when I begin to eat it. The bird thing smells pretty tasty, to tell you the truth.”
“Okay, ewww,” I said with a grimace. “Good to know. How about you, Your Highness? Are you up for a bit of ultra-violence?”
Declan bowed, a courtly gesture. “I am at your service. I will assist you in extracting the information you need from the creature and then, if the violence places you in a state of sexual need, I will aid with that as well. I will fight the wolf for the privilege if that would please you.”
Lee rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I’m not interested in hitting that, so feel free.”
“Some bodyguard you are,” I groused.
“Well, you shot me,” he returned lightly, but I could see his body tense with anticipation. He pulled a semi from its hiding place in the small of his back. I reached in my bag and pulled out my Ruger. Lee waited for my nod and then kicked in the door.
We rushed in and our assault had begun.
Chapter Eight
The aswang’s nest reeked of death. The building was utterly silent as we moved through the door, but there was nothing peaceful about the quiet. This was the silence that came with absence—absence of life, of hope, of love. This place was devoid of joy. I’d read that the aswang was considered by certain scholars of the arcane to be the Pacific Rim’s version of the vampire. Walking into its lair, it was clear those scholars had never actually met a vampire.
Even the oldest of vampires surround themselves with life. They’re obsessed with the vitality of humans, and while they might break their toys on occasion, they would never be able to live like this. The aswang was truly undead. Unlike the vampire, whose body merely survived the process of death, the aswang had no spark of life in it. Vampires lived. They had ambitions and made plans. They sought out entertainments and diversions. They had a multitude of desires and for the most part, sought pleasure.