Releasing the Hunter

Chapter 10

Ivy wanted nothing more than to breach the distance between her and the demon and fry his ass back to hell. But she had made a bargain that she wouldn’t kill him. She’d think of a way to get out of it later. In the meantime, there was nothing in there about not hurting him an awful lot.

Sallos gestured to the other two vacant chairs. “Sit. We can talk all night if you’d like.”

Ivy moved toward the empty seats but she didn’t sit. Ronan moved with her.

Sallos narrowed his eyes at Ronan. “It’s been a while, Ronan. You look good.”

“How do you know each other?” Ivy asked, curious and suspicious.

“Oh, we go way back, don’t we, boy? In fact, I was there at his birth, so to speak.”

Ronan stiffened, his hands clenched. “I’ll kill you, Sallos. Your bargain isn’t with me.”

“No one’s killing anyone until I get some answers,” she said, glaring at Ronan. But she could see the anger and the pain on his face. An urge to console him swept over her, but she tamped it down. At least until their business here was concluded. Obviously, there was a long, painful story there, and surprisingly, she wanted to know it.

Sallos waved his hand. “Ask.”

“Where is my brother, Quinn Strom?”

“Ah.” He smiled. “There it is. The driving force behind everything you do. The prodigal brother. The chosen one. The great, mighty Quinn Strom.”

“Where is he?”

“Why do you want to know? Why do you want to find him?”

“Because he’s my brother.”

“Yes, but if you find him, wouldn’t that mean the reign of Ivy Strom, feared demon hunter, would be over?” He ran a finger over his mouth as if in contemplation. “You’d be number two, once again.”

“I don’t care.” But deep down inside, Ivy did care just a little. She liked being the toughest, most feared hunter around. Quinn had been that guy before he disappeared. And Ivy had sort of inherited the title because of her last name.

She’d earned it, she reminded herself. Over the past three years she’d earned every drop of blood to be called the best. She might have learned her skills from Quinn and her father, but she’d honed them, expanded on them and even perfected them in Quinn’s absence.

“Now, I know why Ronan wants to find Quinn Strom, but you, Ivy, my dear, are a different matter altogether.”

Ivy glanced at Ronan. “What’s he talking about?”

“Nothing. He’s trying to manipulate you. He’s messing with you.”

Sallos waggled his finger. “Now, now, Ronan, don’t be lying to the girl. I can tell how much you really like her. Lying is not a good way to start a relationship.”

Silver blade in hand, Ronan rushed the demon. He was aiming for Sallos’s throat, but the demon was faster and he tossed Ronan across the room like a feather-filled pillow.

Ronan landed on top of the bar, glasses and bottles breaking under and over him until he was lying still in a pool of shattered glass.

“Idiot,” Sallos growled. “I’ll always be faster than you. You’d think you’d know that by now.”

Brushing at the glass, Ronan sat up. “And you should realize by now that I’m smarter.”

Sallos went to laugh but then looked down at himself. A devil’s trap was stuck to his chest and there was nothing he could do about it. He couldn’t tear it off or even touch it, for that matter. He was now bound to the spot and had to, by creed, answer Ivy’s questions truthfully.

She grinned. “Looks like you’re screwed, Sallos.”

The demon glared at Ronan as he stumbled his way back to Ivy’s side. There were little cuts on his face and hands. But nothing too serious that would keep him out of action. She imagined it would take a lot to put Ronan down.

“Anything to keep your secrets, hey, boy?”

“Enough of your double-talk, demon,” Ivy spit out, “I want to know where my brother is.”

Standing, Sallos turned his angry red glare onto her. She could see the fires of hell in the round orbs. He wasn’t even bothering to hide his true nature any longer.

“Know that he wasn’t taken. He chose to disappear. He chose to leave you, Ivy. He chose to abandon his baby sister for his own design.”

She didn’t want his words to matter to her, but they needled her regardless. She’d always wondered how he left, and why. Her biggest question, her deepest hurt, was how he could’ve chosen to leave her completely alone to battle the monsters on her own.

“I don’t care. I just want to know where he is. I command you to tell me.”

The demon’s face began to twist and grimace. “He doesn’t want you to find him. Can’t you understand that? He doesn’t want to see you.”

“Tell me!” she yelled.

She knew he was fighting the compulsion. Most demons couldn’t fight it. But Sallos was more powerful than that. He was, or had been, a great duke in hell. He commanded legions of demons. So she should’ve known he would fight it to the end.

And that was when she realized what he intended to do.

She was moving forward even as Sallos turned and ran into the glass window. The force of his motion shattered the glass in front of him and in seconds he was falling to his death.

Ivy jumped across the room, her hand reaching for him. Her fingertips brushed the cotton of his shirt, but when she landed on her stomach, her hand was empty. She’d missed him by a measurement she couldn’t even fathom. She’d failed.

But the momentum of her jump had her sliding towards the gaping hole in the thick glass window.

Flailing her arms to stop her fall, she could feel the glass cutting into her skin. Her head was over the edge, and she thought she was going to go over. But she stopped falling.

She looked behind her and saw Ronan with a firm grip on her legs. He had her. By the look in his eyes, he wasn’t letting her go for anything. She thanked the Lord for that or she would’ve been Ivy cream pie on the sidewalk.

He pulled her back a little and she was able to release her grip on the edges of the window. Her hands were bleeding, as were her forearms, but she was alive.

She flipped over onto her back and stared up at Ronan. Tears pricked her eyes, not because she’d almost died, but because she had lost her last chance to find her brother. She’d waited three years for this one, and it had jumped out the window.

Without words, Ronan reached down and helped her to her feet. He nestled her into the crook of his arm. Sirens could be heard from down below on the street. The cops would be here any moment.

“We need to go,” Ronan murmured to her as he led her out of the lounge and to the stairwell.

She let him lead her through the hotel. She felt numb, and for the first time in her life, lost. What was she going to do now?