Seducing the Demon Huntress (11 page)

Kerilyn gasped against his finger. “You don’t know that,” she protested.

“No?”

“It’d be stupid to love you,” she replied. “A one-night-a-year boyfriend? No thank you. I’m not that desperate.” She looked away, knowing if all he offered was twelve hours a year she’d be hard pressed not to take it.

“What if we had more than one night?” he asked.

“What?”

Arawn slowly eased her robe open to expose her side and the black handprint lying there. “This has changed the rules,” he told her, pressing his hand over the mark. It was a perfect match and she shivered at the touch.

“What do you mean?” she asked.

“You are now part spirit. Which means,” he told her, meeting her eyes, “that you can slip between realms on Halloween just as I can.”

“What?”

“You could come to the Netherworld if you chose.”

Cold water doused over her. Was he saying what she thought he was saying?

“Unfortunately, you’d be bound by the same rules as spirits are. You couldn’t come back until next Halloween, if you wanted to return.” He ran his lips over hers lightly. “Maybe you wouldn’t want to come back.”

“You can’t be serious,” she gasped.

“Why not?”

“I’m a hunter,” she said, pushing away from him. “I kill spirits—I don’t live with them.”

Anger flashed in his eyes but she watched him push it back. “Everything has changed,” he told her. “You have changed. What is left for you here?”

She recoiled, the pain of losing Sarah still too fresh. “Not fair,” she whispered.

Arawn sighed, running a hand through his braids. “Forgive me, Keri. I know this has caught you by surprise. I should not push.”

Hell yes, she was surprised. How was she supposed to respond to his offer? It was ludicrous to think she could go to the Netherworld. “There are other hunters in the city who need me,” she said. “I have a duty, a responsibility. I can’t just run off with you knowing I won’t be able to come back if I’m needed.”

“Hunters always survive. They will mourn your loss but they will be able to compensate for it. You know that.”

The way the hunter community had compensated for every time one of her family members had died.

She turned away, unable to believe the most perfect moment of her life had been shattered so quickly. Go with him or lose him? It was an impossible choice. What life would she have in his world? She was a hunter. His people would hate her. All her life she’d fought against the denizens of that realm. If she went there, it would be a betrayal of everything she’d been taught.

But she’d have Arawn.

A sob caught in her throat. The thought of having Arawn in her arms every night, of waking up next to him every day tempted her more than she’d ever thought possible. She wanted to be with him, just not in the realm of her nightmares.

“I can’t,” she whispered.

“Yes, you can. Trust me.”

Again, it all came down to that one simple request. So easy to say yet impossible to do. If she went, she’d be trusting their romance to last. Trusting him to keep her safe in his terrifying realm. What if something went wrong? She already had his brother gunning for her. That was one hell of a strain on a relationship. What if they realized they weren’t meant to be? She’d be trapped in a different world, adrift on her own without friends or family.

He was asking her to risk everything for him.

Something on her face must have given her thoughts away because the emotion drained from his expression.

“You don’t trust me, do you?” he accused.

She opened her mouth but didn’t know what to say. She loved him. Would for the rest of her life. But did she trust him?

Arawn watched her struggle before shaking his head in disgust. “Your fear I can overcome,” he said, his words rough. “Your protests I can argue against, but this... I can’t win this. Either you trust me or you don’t.”

He paused but she had nothing to say. What words would appease him, other than the three he demanded?

“I won’t spend my life waiting for someone who will never be what I need,” he told her. “So which is it, Kerilyn? Are you with me or aren’t you?”

There were no words. The man of her dreams stood before her, asking her to take a chance on him and what did she do? She stood frozen, as scared as she’d been when faced with her first demon. He was asking more than she had to give.

But apparently Arawn’s patience had run out. With a snap of his fingers he was fully dressed, looking as impeccable and unapproachable as ever. Walking to her side, he pressed cold lips to hers in a mockery of their first kiss.

“Enjoy your duty,” he said softly. “And when you sleep in your cold, lonely bed, think on what you have cost us both.”

He strode past her without another word. Kerilyn listened to the sound of his feet on the stair steps. She should go after him. Should bring him back and give him the promise he wanted from her.

Kerilyn heard the sound of the front door slamming shut below her. It rang through the house like a death knell.

He was gone.

She’d made the right decision, she assured herself. The dangers were too great to risk going to the Netherworld and Arawn’s magic wouldn’t allow him to stay here. They had no future.

Forcing herself to move when all she wanted to do was collapse, she dressed with stiff, automatic movements.

The spiced scent of him clung to the sheets, filling the room with painful memories. Unable to stand the sight of the rumpled bed, she dashed from the room.

Kerilyn descended the stairs, staring at the front door. She’d made the right choice. What role would she have in a strange new realm? Arawn reigned absolute but she was nothing. His human entertainment.

Surely if he’d wanted her with him he would have told her the one thing she needed to hear. That he loved her as much as she did him. Once again, however, he was asking her to make a choice without any promises between them. Trust him or let him walk away.

Walking through her living room, she wondered if the house had always felt this empty. The picture of her smiling family mocked her from its frame, reminding her of a time when she’d belonged, when she hadn’t been completely alone.

She squeezed her eyes shut. The house she’d grown up in was cold and desolate now. Arawn was right. What life was there for her here? Years of war and loneliness.

Without the hope of seeing Arawn at her gate, she had nothing to look forward to. Only endless nights dreaming of what could have been.

Kerilyn glanced at the night outside her window. Already the sky was lightening in the east. She was running out of time.

Either way was a gamble. Refuse him and hope she could cobble together some sort of life worth living or take a chance and trust him to be there for her when she needed him.

Her parents hadn’t raised a coward. They’d raised her to be smart and calculating, and to take risks when they were warranted.

Wasn’t gambling on Arawn the smartest thing she’d ever do?

Panic clawed at her. She loved him. Loved him madly and she was about to lose him because of cold feet. Maybe it wouldn’t work out. Maybe she was setting herself up for a nightmare. But if she let him walk away without fighting for him with everything she had, she’d regret it for the rest of her life.

If there was ever a time in her life to jump, it was now.

She trusted him to catch her.

“Dammit.”

She ran toward the door. She had to find him. Had to prove she trusted him beyond all others. Every time she’d needed him, he’d been there for her. Whether it was the confidante of an isolated teen or the partner of a woman determined to take down Abaddon. He’d never given her cause to doubt him—only the words of other people had done that.

Grabbing the door, she wrenched it open before she spilled into the night. She was halfway down the porch steps before a voice stopped her.

“Going somewhere?”

Turning, she saw Arawn leaning against the house. He watched her with expressionless eyes. Her breath caught in her throat. He’d waited, given her the time she needed to work things out.

Tears pricked her eyes as she realized how well he knew her.

“I love you,” she said, the words burning in her throat. It was the first time she’d ever said them to a lover and now she was glad of that fact. Never before had she loved anyone the way she did him.

Kerilyn took a step closer to him. “I love you and I’ll say it first. The thought of never seeing you again rips something apart inside me.” Again she moved, cautiously closing the gap between them. Arawn said nothing as he watched her. Gave her no indication her words were the ones he wanted.

“Tonight has been a whirlwind and I panicked. Going with you...” She swallowed, gathering her courage to expose herself. “...I’m terrified of your world. But I’m more scared of living a life without you. You’ve been everything to me for years, Arawn. Please, don’t let me have ruined what we have because of nerves.”

“It was never about love, Keri,” he replied. “You know that.”

No, love was easy. Trust was hard.

“I trust you,” she promised.

“Today maybe. Perhaps even tomorrow.”

She shook her head. “Forever. I’m done living my life according to my family’s rules. You are all I need, Arawn. I know you will stand by my side, just as you were tonight, if I ever ask. Just as I know I’d stand proudly by yours.”

For a moment he said nothing, merely watched her with unreadable eyes.

Her heart clenched at his enigmatic expression. Was she too late? Had she messed up too badly?

Then a small smile tugged at his lips. “There,” he murmured. “Was that so hard?”

The breath rushed from her. She felt almost lightheaded with relief.

“Does that mean you will come with me? Because be warned, my Keri, if you refuse I will be back at your gate next Halloween and every one after that to woo you to my side.”

She shook her head in wonder. “Why are you offering this, Arawn?”

He smiled slightly and pushed away from the wall. “Because spending three hundred and sixty four days without you has been hell for the past nine years,” he told her, moving to her side. “Because if I could convince you to come with me, I’d protect you from the terrors of my realm and make sure you saw only the beauty. And because, my fiery hunter, I’ve been in love with you since you first looked up at me with those beautiful, challenging eyes.”

Her jaw dropped. “You love me?”

He nodded sharply.

He loved her? Joy burst within her. To have Arawn feeling for her the consuming passion she felt her him was everything she’d ever dreamed of.

“You love me,” she breathed.

“As you do me,” he replied, pulling her into his arms. “I knew the moment you let me through the gate.”

“I’ve loved you for a lot longer than that.”

Arawn bent her over backward and gave her the most searing kiss she’d ever received.

“Wow,” she gasped, breathless when he straightened her.

“You love me,” he said, pressing butterfly kisses across her face.

“Stop that,” she laughed, batting him away.

Kerilyn had seen Arawn look at her with a wide range of expressions, but she’d never seen the love shining clearly from his eyes. “Come with me,” he asked. “Now that everything is clear between us, come home with me.”

“The spirit realm isn’t a place for humans,” she whispered, needing him to think about what they were getting into.

“But you’re not human anymore, at least not completely. In the spirit realm you will never age. You can rule for eternity by my side.”

She sucked in a sharp breath. Queen? That was a hell of a bigger responsibility than being a hunter. Could she handle it?

“A world where you don’t have to fight for your life every night,” he continued, wooing her. “No more knives and blood, Kerilyn. No more demons.”

“Abaddon will love this idea,” she said, her mind still spinning from his offer.

“My brother has much to learn about me. I wanted to kill him tonight for putting you in danger.”

“He’s your family.”

“And yet I valued your life over his.” He tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Let me show you my world, Kerilyn. I’ll send you back next Halloween if you decide you don’t want to be with me.”

She couldn’t even imagine not wanting to be with him.

“Let me be your family,” Arawn lured, dropping a kiss to her shoulder. “Lean on me, Keri. We can be together.”

“Yes,” she whispered. “I can’t wait another Halloween. I want to be with you now, in whatever place I have to go.”

His grin was bright and joyous. “You’ll come with me?”

She nodded sharply before she could change her mind.

The smile he gave her melted her heart and reassured her she’d made the right decision. “You love me,” she told him.

“I do,” he agreed.

“I love you. I
trust
you. You can help me adjust to your world.”

He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. “I’ll show you wonders you’ve never even dreamed of,” he told her. “You’ll never regret this decision.”

Standing in his arms, Kerilyn didn’t doubt him.

* * *

When the first rays of sunlight illuminated the town, they fell over burned out jack-o’-lanterns and sleep deprived partygoers. As the light flooded the odd little house backed by forest and surrounded with a white fence, a couple shimmered out of view, leaving the house quiet and empty.

* * * * *

About the Author

Victoria Davies’s passion for writing started young. Luckily she had a family who encouraged believing in magic and embracing imagination. From stories quickly scribbled in bright pink diaries, her love of storytelling developed. Since then her characters have evolved and her plots have grown decidedly more steamy but she has never lost her love of the written word. Writing is not only a way to silence the voices in her head, but it also allows her to share her passions with her readers.