Releasing the Hunter

Chapter 28

Ronan paced the shoreline of the bay, waiting for Reginald and his cabal goons to show. The fog swirled around his boots like gray smoke. He’d told the sorcerer to come alone, but he knew that would never happen. Reginald was too much of a coward to come by himself. A coward. Ha, he should talk.

He’d snuck out of the farmhouse in Sumner like a thief in the night. Which was exactly what he was. He’d stolen the key, Ivy’s precious necklace, from around her neck while she’d been sleeping. He’d quietly slipped from the bed, dressed, grabbed his gear, with the cross in it, and snuck out of the house. He’d hoofed it down to Main Street and hot-wired a car, speeding down the highway back to San Francisco.

Now he held the key in his hand, fisted tight, while he waited for the man who’d paid him to acquire it.

Not for the first time, he had to swallow down the lump of guilt that kept coming up. His gut was constantly churning. He’d never felt this kind of remorse before. It was damn near killing him.

He’d almost not done it. He’d been lying there beside her, listening to her breathe, taking in her smell and the heat of her body next to him and he nearly just rolled over and forgot about the key and what it meant to him. He’d almost forgotten how many years he’d been searching for a cure. Almost.

Ivy meant a lot to him. He loved her. But the demon blood that ran through his veins would always come between them. It would be a constant bone of contention for them.

The irony of the fact that he had to steal the key from her, thereby ruining any chance of them being together anyway, wasn’t lost on him. He understood the risks when he’d slipped the chain off her and slid it into his jacket pocket.

He just didn’t realize it would hurt him so much to betray her.

Ronan stopped pacing and listened to the sounds around him. The lapping of the water against the shore calmed his nerves a little. He’d always felt safe around water. The sounds and smell centered him, gave him a sense of peace. Something he was in desperate need of. He’d chosen this spot along the bay for that reason, and also because water dampened magic. He wasn’t sure why; something about the living ions in water molecules. All he knew was it would prove to be difficult for old Reggie to zap him with some sinister spell so close to the water. That was a good enough explanation for him.

He pulled out his cell phone from his pocket and checked his messages for the tenth time since arriving back in the city. Still nothing from Ivy. This shouldn’t have surprised him. What did he expect? Her declarations of love and anger over what he’d done to her? He should’ve expected silence from her. He’d just betrayed her in the worst way.

But he was hoping for a message, one that said she was coming to find him and kill him. He could handle that, maybe even would have pleasure in the fact that she cared enough to look for him. The silence ate at him. The silence was telling.

He shoved the phone back into his pocket just as he felt something stirring in the air. It wasn’t the same sense he got when a demon was near, but it was close. Reginald Watson had arrived.

The sorcerer stepped out of the darkness and into a pool of moonlight. He gestured to the surroundings. “Interesting choice for a meeting.”

“I like the water.”

Reggie just smiled, but it wasn’t one of friendliness; it held traces of arrogance and malevolence. The sorcerer knew exactly why he’d chosen this spot. The grin gave Ronan the creeps. He should’ve never gotten involved with the cabal. They were bad news.

Out of the corner of Ronan’s eye, he spied two other sorcerers hiding in the shadows, one on either side. It was obvious Reggie didn’t trust him, or in fact might just try and kill him when the transaction was done instead of giving him the cure.

“Do you have the key?”

Ronan nodded.

“Let me see it.”

“I will, but first I want to know what you plan on doing with it.”

Reggie frowned. “Why does that matter? You didn’t care when you took the job.”

“It matters now.”

He stepped toward Ronan, his hands folded in front. “What do you think we’re going to do with it, Ronan?”

“Open the Chest of Sorrows and take Solomon’s grimoire to release the demons.”

Reggie chuckled. “You’ve been doing your homework.” He pointed at Ronan. “Let me guess? Quianna Lang?”

Ronan didn’t say anything.

The sorcerer shook his head. “She’s always been meddlesome. Doesn’t know her place.”

“You can’t control them,” Ronan said.

“Of course we can. The cabal’s power is limitless.”

“I imagine Solomon thought that, too.”

“Yes, well, he was one man. We are many. And we have been training for this for centuries. Now is the time to fulfill our destinies.”

“You’re delusional, Reggie. No one can control that many demons. Not even if there were one hundred of you. Which I know for a fact, there aren’t.”

He moved a little closer to Ronan. “There are enough of us not to be trifled with.” He held out his hand. “Now, give me the key.”

“I just have a few more conditions first.”

“You’re changing our arrangement.”

“Yes, I am.”

Reggie shook his head. “I don’t like changes, Ronan. I really don’t.”

“First off, I want you to make a pact that you won’t ever harm Quianna Lang. Or Ivy and Quinn Strom.”

The sorcerer clapped his hands together and laughed. “Oh, dear boy. That’s what this is about? Ivy Strom? You fell for that bitch. I can’t believe it.”

Ronan took a step toward him. “Better watch your mouth, Reggie, or I’ll knock all your teeth out.”

“Testy, testy. Doesn’t look good on you, Ronan. I thought hellspawn didn’t have feelings.”

“I’m only half hellspawn.” In a single second, he’d breached the short distance between them and grabbed Reggie around the throat, lifting him off the ground. “And our deal is off.”

Reggie flung out his hands to the sides. Blue light ignited from his fingertips. Ronan could feel an electric sizzle in the air and knew he was about to get an enormous shock to his system.

He dropped Reggie and ran toward the water just as the other two sorcerers rushed out of the darkness. They also had blue sparks bubbling on their fingertips. Ronan drew his gun and fired on the one closest to him. The bullet grazed the sorcerer’s arm. Crying out, he grabbed his arm. It was enough for the magic blue sparks to disappear.

Ronan swung around to the other one, but it was too late. The sorcerer let go with a blast of magic. It hit Ronan in his left side. It was like being electrocuted. He dropped to one knee, gritting his teeth as pain shot through his body. Thankfully, the water had dampened the effects. He imagined that burst of magic should’ve stopped his heart.

The one sorcerer advanced on him, likely thinking he had put Ronan down. Pity for him. Ronan swung his gun up. This time he didn’t miss. The bullet took the sorcerer in the gut and he dropped to the ground.

Ronan pushed to his feet and started for the water again. If he could jump in, he would be safe. He could hold his breath for a long time. Besides that, the cabal’s magic couldn’t touch him in the water.

As he sprinted, he could hear Reggie running behind him, his breath coming out in harsh pants. “You’ve doomed yourself for her, Ronan.”

I know, he thought, but she’s worth it.

A blast of magic erupted right behind him. Bits of dirt and rock hit him in the back of the legs. But he didn’t slow.

“You’ll never be human again. You’ve lost your one and only chance for a cure.”

Another blast, this one a little closer. The blue bolt zipped across his right leg. It burned a hole in his pants. Luckily, it missed his skin.

He was a foot from the water’s edge. Another blast came. This one grazed his left arm. Agony seared through him and he dropped. Right into the water.

Ronan pushed with his legs and went under. There was instant relief on his singed arm. He kicked hard and dove down deep. He swam out a ways, and then came up to the surface. He spied Reggie and his injured minion glaring out at him from the shoreline. He lifted his arm out of the water and gave them the finger.

“It doesn’t matter, Ronan,” Reggie shouted at him. “You’ve done all this for nothing. You’ll never be with her, hellspawn. You think I’d let the Stroms live? They know too much. They are too much of a liability.” Reggie’s laughter echoed off the water’s surface. “While you bob up and down in that water, my people are stripping the flesh off their bones.”

Ronan’s heart thumped hard and his gut roiled at the thought. But he didn’t believe it. Both Ivy and Quinn were too smart and too careful to be ambushed by some cabal sorcerers. Still, dread filled him and he had to swallow down the fury that bubbled up inside him.

If he found this to be true, there would be no place for Reggie and his ilk to hide. Ronan would hunt them all down and kill them, nice and slow. He had a lot of talent with a knife and oodles of patience.

Ronan turned and dove back down into the water. He had parked his stolen car about a mile down the shore in the event of something going wrong. Like it had. He would swim there, get in and find Ivy. Just to make sure.