Soul Reborn (Key to the Cursed Book 1) (3 page)

Asar watched the
kills with fervent arousal, almost if he was doing the killing himself. His
body hardened with voyeuristic delight. Outnumbered over a thousand to two, the
huntresses held their ground.

“Do you still think
her skill
adequate
, brother?” he asked Kamen.

Kamen’s gaze locked
on the black haired female. “I stand corrected. I wonder if they taste as sweet
as they look?”

“Probably.” Asar
turned back toward the blonde huntress, remembering the sweetness on his tongue.
“But sometimes, beauty is something to behold instead of consumed.” His golden beauty
approached and then suddenly faltered on the narrow wall. Kamen’s strong grasp clamped
down on his arm.

“Where do you think
you are going?”

Asar glared at his
brother while shaking off his grasp. “I am not going anywhere.”

Kamen retracted his
arm slowly. “You were going to intervene. We are only here to observe.”

Forcefully, Asar locked
every muscle in a painful contraction to deny his body’s impulse to rescue his
huntress. In his distant mind, a thought commanded him to help her, but that
just could not be. Sympathy was an emotion of the soul, something he lacked. Anger
welled in his gut. “What I choose to do is my privilege, and I do not need you
to question it.”

Asar turned back to
the ledge only to see it empty.

He swore in his
ancient language and moved quickly to the next level, hoping to pick up her
heat trail. After several empty rooms, he moved to the next level. Finally, the
fine caress of her warmth hung in the air. He stopped when he saw fine gold
hair dangling in front of him. Hunched over with her back turned to him, the
huntress had her arms wrapped around her torso.

From the darkness,
his gaze followed up the length of her long legs to the fine round curve of her
bottom and flare of her hips. Something black against her pale skin caught his
eye, and drew him even closer. The black s-shaped curves trailed from the nape
of her neck, down the length of her back, and disappeared behind a waist band
of leather. Asar closed his eyes to revel in the heat and energy of her body. His
fingertips burned as they hovered just inches above her pale skin. He slowly
opened a conduit and absorbed a small amount of the energy and emotion she
emitted so freely. Too much, he feared he would kill her. He only wanted a
small taste. To feel emotions he had been lacking since his soul was stolen.

The slow trickle
stunned his senses as the warmth entered his cold body. It spread like fire on
the outside of his skin and then began to seep inward through his muscles. It
flowed to the empty chamber in his chest, filling it instantly with a heavy
weight. His mouth watered as the taste of sweet sugar coated his tongue. He had
never experienced such rich, positive emotion in a human before. It was too
overwhelming for him to continue after so many years without it. His inner
beast roared in contempt when he started to slow the amount he absorbed,
leaving only a hint of sweetness in his mouth.

The warmth in his
body receded almost immediately. Opening his eyes, he hovered just a foot from
her. He refocused on the mark on her back that seemed to come alive with detail.
Initially, he thought the marking was a simple tattoo, but upon closer
inspection it was far from human skin art. The individual scales of the long
body writhed beneath her skin. The head of the snake had two green eyes that
matched the brilliance of her own. The tail tucked neatly between the small
dimples at the base of her back, with the tease of a tip disappearing under her
belt.

He licked his lips
at the thought of following the serpent’s body all the way down between her
firm round butt cheeks. His female quarry shivered in response to his cold body
followed by her fine flesh standing up in small bumps. Her shoulders rose and
fell more rapidly. He saw her clasp her weapon tightly, but wrapped her other
arm protectively around her body.

“Get a grip,
Lilly.”

Startled by her
sudden break in silence, Asar jerked his hand back. The shift in air pressure
gave his position away. Her posture suddenly stiffened and she whirled around
to confront him. Her green eyes flashed a brilliant emerald color. He had been
caught red handed. Some strange sensation washed over him when she drew back
her weapon and side stepped around him.

“What are you?”

Asar was not use to
being taken off guard, but quickly recovered his dominant posture. “What do you
think I am?” He took a few steps forward but kept a respectable distance from
her blade.

 The woman
countered by taking two steps back. “If I knew, I wouldn’t be asking.”

He felt the
irritation in her voice and smiled. “I should ask you the same question. What
are you, huntress?” He cocked one of his eyebrows. She was not the only one who
had questions that needed answers. “An Egyptian asp is a very poisonous
serpent.”

She bared her perfectly
white teeth. “Appropriate, considering what I’m thinking about doing to you.”

He curled up the
edges of his black lips. “I imagine our ideas would differ greatly.” Asar let
his eyes drift down her torso. A flush of heat rippled out of her. He grinned, feeling
the ebb of her suppressed desire brush against his own. He welcomed her lust
like a drug, giving him a sense of euphoria. The sweetness on his tongue
intensified.

“Well, we won’t
have a chance to find that out.”

Letting out a
defensive hiss, the huntress backed toward the window. Kamen appeared to her
right disrupting her retreat. She pivoted and rolled to avoid running into him.
A ripple of fear wafted from her body.

The emotions he absorbed
from her shifted abruptly from the taste of sweet sugar to spoiled milk. He
recoiled a few steps, trying to shut off his connection with her. To make the
situation worse, the pale revens had found a way up onto the next level and from
the sounds of it, and they were coming in significant numbers.

The black haired
female dropped down through the window. “What the hell—” She froze. Her blue
eyes locked on Asar and his brother. “Sweet, Jesus. Lilly, move. Now!”

The huntress he now
knew as Lilly jolted out of her terrified trance. Her fellow hunter wrapped a
strong hand around her arm and tugged. “Snap out of it. Viper is inbound, we
don’t have much time.”

Lilly raised her
weapon as she stared over his shoulder. A defensive urge settled in her eyes,
as if somehow she wanted to defend him against the undead.

“Go. We will take
care of them,” he said, calmly.

Those shining
emerald eyes flashed his way.

“Lil, it’s time to
go. Let’s get out of here.”

She glanced down at
her watch and looked at the black haired female. Without even looking over his
shoulder, he knew Kamen already had the revens under his control. They stood
motionless, despite the food source standing immediately in front of them in
the form of two beautiful, heavily armed women.

Lilly narrowed her
eyes at the revens, then Kamen. If he could read her mind, Asar was sure she
would say,
You can control them
. With one last glare in his direction,
she turned and leapt out the window.

The weight in his
chest evaporated with her departure, leaving an empty cavity of nothingness. He
growled, as his body grew colder. High pitched motorcycle engines revved and
carried off into the distance with his huntress. The sound replaced by the
thump of helicopter rotors pulsating in the night air.

Kit grabbed Lilly by
the shoulders. “What the hell happened back there? Did you grow lead in your
ass or what?”

“I don’t know. I
can’t quite explain it.” Lilly shook her head. She had put herself and Kit at
unnecessary risk. “It was no coincidence those dark revens were there, though. I
think he’s curious about me.”

Kit hugged her
tightly. “Did you see how big that other mother fucker was? Huge. He had the
same tattoos on his arms.”

“We need to figure
out what’s going on. The pale revens just stopped. We were less than ten feet
away, and they weren’t even
looking
at us. You don’t suppose those dark
revens have a means of controlling them, do you?”

Lilly heard it in
her voice, the catch of hope and longing. This could be their first lead in
several months—one that might take them a step closer to finding a cure for the
revens.

Her stomach
clenched. But what if the dark revens hadn’t escaped the blast? What if she’d
destroyed their only lead?

“I don’t know, and
I’m not sure I want to find out,” Kit said, oblivious. “Now, whose ass do we
get to kick for the bad intel?”

“Oh, I know just
the person.” Lilly stalked inside the fortress. At one of the dining tables sat
the leader of the Viper scouts. Lilly kicked one of the chairs. “Who do I have
to thank for the sucky intelligence gathering or the lack there of?”

“What are you so
pissed off about,
Lilith
?” Rebecca asked, rising from her seat. The
Viper scout leader had been Lilly’s rival from day one, when Lilly—not Rebecca—had
been awarded the lead position in the organization. “From what I hear, you had
a pretty successful night.”

“Bitch.” Lilly
slammed her fist into the woman’s upturned nose. The other girls squealed as blood
sprayed across the table. “The next time you put me or my sister at risk like
that, I will personally cut that snake right out of you. Do you understand?”

Another viper scout
moved on Lilly only to get a swift kick in the abdomen by Kit. Her sister slowly
lowered her leg. “Anyone else?”

No one budged from
the table. The Carrigan sisters were the most senior of the huntresses.

Not to mention the
best at killing.

A stern voice cut
the tension in the air like a newly sharpened knife. “Lilith. Katherine. In my
office for debriefing.”

An older gray-haired
matron, whom everyone affectionately called Mother, strode across the carpet
toward the administrative area. Lilly grabbed one of the women’s water glass and
washed the blood from her hand. “Next time, Rebecca, get your intel straight or
someone is going to get hurt.” She slammed the glass back down on the table and
followed Mother out of the room.

Mother’s office was
in the more ornate administrative spaces of the fortress. One wall of her
office displayed the rare Egyptian artifacts Kendra had found on digs over the
last five years. Plenty of blood, sweat, and tears were shed to obtain those
relics. All in the name of finding a cure for their current problem.

Revens.

Lilly settled into
the couch in front of Mother’s desk with Kit sitting on the arm next to her. She
was no stranger to Mother’s office. Her and her sister’s presence was required
for mission planning and debriefings, but also on several occasions for
disciplinary actions. This wasn’t their first fight with Rebecca and her team,
and probably not their last. Mother turned in her chair to face them. “Based on
the little display in the lunch room, I must assume the intelligence report was
incorrect this evening?”

Kit snorted in
response, and then resumed picking the mud off her boots.

Lilly clutched the
fabric of the cushion in her fists. “Yes. Off by a thousand.”

“It was supposed to
be fucking twenty-five,” Kit spat. “Twenty. Five.”

Mother frowned, but
her voice remained level. “Yes, that is regrettable.”

Kit snorted again.

“I will look into
the matter.”

“Do we know the
actual count?”

“The cleaners are
still working on the mess. There’s still a lot of pruning to do.” Mother swung
her chair side to side.

Lilly shifted
forward until she was sitting on the edge of the couch with her elbows on her
knees. She bit on the edge of her nail before she spoke. “Mother, this is the
largest nest we have uncovered to date. The outbreak is worsening, despite our
efforts.”

Mother centered the
chair and leaned her arms on the desk. “Either their numbers are growing or
they are gathering together in larger groups.” She was silent a moment before
continuing. “At least the blast sealed off the cistern below. The revens won’t
be able to mass in numbers there again.” Tapping a pencil against her
fingertips, Mother stared at Lilly. “Any dark reven sightings?”

Unable to maintain
eye contact with her boss’ scrutinizing gaze she looked at Kit. “Yeah, there
were two tonight. Similar features, symbols marking their forearms.” She paused
unsure of what to reveal. She had never hidden anything from Mother, but she
wasn’t about to tell her that she was attracted to it. It taunted her tonight,
almost playfully. Hell, she didn’t know why she didn’t kill the damn thing in their
first encounter, let alone the second. She would never forget the hunger that
she had seen in its eyes. Lilly shifted back into her seat and turned her gaze
back to her boss. “The one seems interested in making contact with me. I’m
unsure as to the reason.”

Kit laughed. “Maybe
it’s horny.”

Lilly flushed. It
wasn’t the only one feeling that way. Covering quickly, she rolled her eyes. “I
think it’s more curiosity than anything. Did the cleaners find the remains? Maybe
those can tell us something about it?”

Mother lifted a
coffee cup to her lips. “No, they haven’t come across anything yet. It’s
unlikely they made it out, so we should eventually find them.” After another
drink, Mother set down her cup and picked up the file. “Has your sister
uncovered any more information about the talisman?”

“Kendra!” Lilly
stiffened and her heart ricocheted off her ribcage.

Mother raised her
hands. “Easy. Our monitor contacted her by phone and instructed her to stay
overnight at the museum. It has some of the best security in the city.”

“Thank, God.”

Kit rubbed the top
of Lilly’s head as she spoke. “Last I talked with Kendra, she tracked
references for the artifact to an excavation that occurred in Egypt. According
to the archeologist’s notes, the artifact was stolen in a raid and listed as
lost. There were references in the archeologist’s manuscript that spoke about
unexplained illnesses and suspicious deaths at the site. The notes described
the workers’ bodies as being mummified, as if the life had been sucked out of
them. Most of the locals believed it was the curse that was cast to protect the
tomb. Same story we have heard for the last ten artifacts. Blah, blah, blah. No
mention of walking dead.”

“Kendra is also working
on the symbols I gave her. She didn’t recognize them right away, so it may take
some time for her to uncover their meaning.” Lilly hesitated. “Mother, there is
something that Kit and I saw tonight that I’m not sure how to interpret. The
dark revens may be able to illicit control over the primitive ones.”

Mother cocked her
head but sat silently, as if her mind was working on some strategy. Lilly held
her breath until finally, the old matron sat forward and began tapping her
pencil again.

“In the unlikely
chance these dark revens survived the blast, I want you to maintain contact. Find
out as much information as you can without putting yourself at undue risk.”

“That’s not a good
idea, Mother.”

“No, way,” Kit added.

Mother raised her
hands again. “Hear me out. These things may have information we need to locate
the cure or they may know who is spreading this.
Or,
they may be the
source.” Mother stood. “I don’t need to mention how this would affect you
personally. It’s a gamble I think we need to take.”

Lilly hung her head
and rubbed her forehead. The decision had been made and there was no arguing
with the old lady. Mother knew the perfect words to get the two of them to
comply. She looked up into her sister’s pained blue eyes. “Fine.”

Lilly and Kit
walked back to their room in silence. Finally, after the door closed, Kit piped
off. “That woman holds our father over our heads like a damn ransom. I don’t
like this one bit, Lil. It could kill you.”

Lilly collapsed on
the bed, completely exhausted from the night’s events. “The dark revens probably
didn’t make it out.”

Kit lay next to her.
“I understand you want to save dad, but maybe it is time to just let him go. We
could be free of all this.”

“Before he passed, I
promised him I’d find the cure.” She rolled to her side and stared eye to eye
with her sister, her palms pressed together under her cheek.

Kit touched Lilly’s
face. “Some promises are made to be broken.”