A Taste for Blood (The Godhunter, Book 6) (25 page)

“
I,” I looked over and saw the wound at his throat. “Oh, fuck, did I hurt you?”

“
It's nothing,” he shook his head, “a love bite.”

“
Trevor,” I breathed. “I don't know what the hell is going on but it has nothing to do with love.”

Chapter Thirty-Four

“Minn Elska,” Trevor whispered. “You don't have to do this right now. You can rest for a bit first.”

“
No,” I waved my hand at my altar, already prepared in the center of our bedroom. “I'm ready, I need to get this done as soon as possible. They might already be stalking another child.”

“
Alright,” Trevor held up his hands, backed away, and sat down on the bed.

Everything was in place, I just had to add the jacket and say the words that would activate the spell. I picked up the jacket, intending to lay it over the nest of herbs I'd made in a large wooden bowl, but I stopped with it halfway there. I could smell something, some distinct odor coming off the jacket in waves. It was so strong I could practically see it, a fog of hazy yellow.

I frowned and raised the jacket to my face. I was instantly overwhelmed by sensation. My head swam with the sharp, pungent smell of the man who'd been wearing the jacket. I had to lower it immediately, the smell was starting to burn my nostrils. As I lowered it, I had a flash of the man himself, not a full vision but rather an impression of his build, how tall and how thick he was. I put the jacket away from me with dawning horror.

“
I don't need to do this,” I whispered.

“
That's what I said,” Trevor stood up and came over to the edge of my circle. “You can do this later.”

“
No,” I looked up at him in wonder. “I mean the spell is unnecessary. I can track him, me, with my nose. I can smell him out like a damn bloodhound. I just need to go back to the house we found the bodies at.”

“
It's probably over-run with cops right about now,” he frowned and looked me over. “That jacket was dry cleaned recently and barely worn afterward, if at all. All I can get off of it are chemicals, yet you say you can track with it. Is this some of your new magic?”

“
I think so,” I nodded. “Maybe it'll come in handy after all.”

“
I never doubted that,” Trevor grimaced. “Breathing fire has its advantages too.”

“
Can you let the others know?” I started to clean up the circle. “I'd like to leave as soon as possible.”

“
Sure,” he gave me an odd look. “If you think you can control this?”

“
It's just smelling,” I scoffed. “What could possibly go wrong?”

Chapter Thirty-Five

We'd been driving for half an hour and my nose was getting tired. Where were the coffee beans when you needed them?

In order to follow the trail, we needed to be on the ground, so we'd traced in to Hawaii and then drove to the site of the child murders. After parking a block away, I used a god technique to make myself invisible and had walked in with just Roarke, in cat form, to guard me. I'd picked up the scent easily and we ran back to the waiting line of vehicles to start the chase but now I was getting bored.

“Where are they?” I griped as I hung my head out the window and continued to sniff the air like a forlorn puppy.

“
You tell me,” Trevor said from the driver's seat next to me.

“
That way,” I perked up and pointed to an off street. “And yes, I realize how much I resemble an English Pointer right now so don't say it.”

“
Gotcha,” Trevor flipped on his turn signal. “Turning right and no dog references.”

“
Besides,” Roarke griped from the back seat, “dragon senses are way more sensitive than a mere canine's. It's like comparing a fly to a falcon just because they both have wings and start with the letter F.”

“
Interesting analogy,” I nodded and then quickly pulled my head back in while I reached for Trevor. “Stop the car, we've found them.”

“
Really?” Roarke perked up.

“
Yes, cat,” I grinned. “Time to go hunting. Think you can handle a few humans?”

“
I think I'll manage,” he rolled his eyes.

“
Da, enough talking,” Kirill got out of the back. “Ve go now.”

“
I agree,” I looked back to where the others were, tapping my foot impatiently as I waited for them to get out and walk over. “They're in that house there,” I pointed out an abandoned house set back among some trees. “Everyone ready?”

They all nodded and we crept up to the house, cloaked with invisibility. Everyone except the cat and Kirill, who'd never been taught anything beyond tracing. My lion crept through the shadows as silent and invisible as the rest of us though, and we made it to the back porch without any cry of alarm being raised. Of course that didn't mean they weren't just sitting there waiting for us.

We dropped the cloaking as we broke through the back door and from the looks of the set-up, they hadn't been expecting us. There was an altar in the middle of the empty living room, actually it was more of a picnic kind of thing, just a big white cloth strewn with candles, knives, incense, and one gold dish waiting, empty.

Behind the cloth sat a tall, lanky, dark-skinned man wearing thick, blue, coke-bottle glasses strapped to his head with pieces of leather. Four men danced around him, three were white men(two of those brunette and one blonde) and the last guy was a local Hawaiian. I was kind of shocked, didn't Tlaloc have any of his own people following him?

The scent I'd been tracking was continuing to pull at my nose but once I recognized it as belonging to the blonde, I was able to turn it off and forget about it. I focused instead on Tlaloc but so were most of us, so there was a mad dash and a bit of a pile up in getting to him. He jumped to his feet and pulled a sharp looking knife from a sheath at his waist. In a moment it was being held at a child's throat, a child we'd been too focused on Tlaloc to even notice; tied up, gagged and thrown in the corner as he'd been.

The priests were being dispatched by some of my friends who were still thinking rationally. I heard a feline howl and realized that one of those rational minds was fey. I'd have to buy the guy some catnip or something. After I killed the four-eyed son of a bitch in front of me, of course.

I looked over his grip on the child, trying to find a weakness. I wasn't going to bother telling him to drop the kid, that would just be a waste of breath.

“
Tlaloc,” Blue stepped forward and the glasses-wearing god grinned, revealing a set of fangs that would look right at home in a snake's mouth.

“
Huitzilopochtli,” Tlaloc's stance eased a bit and I kept my eyes peeled for any opportunity to strike. “I wasn't expecting you and your friends so soon. We haven't even killed the boy yet.”

“
I apologize for the interruption,” Blue grimaced. “Tlaloc, this isn't the way to gain power.”

“
Huh,” he looked down at the child and then cocked his head at Blue. “Yet it's been working just fine for me. Now I know for a fact that what you're doing will not gain me any power. It's not working for you at all. Is this female
thing
really worth it?”

“
Thing?” I gaped. “What the fuck?”

“
I
see
you,” Tlaloc peered at me through his thick lenses.

“
Yeah, I see you too, freak,” I snarled. “You're standing right in front of me and I don't need glasses.”

“
No, I
really
see you,” he chuckled and it was a sound like rocks being tossed together in a river bed. “I see the mish-mash you've become. You aren't really a woman anymore, you're a bit of this and a bit of that. Your own body isn't even sure of what it is. So many creatures wanting out, which one will you become? Maybe all of them at once!” He started to laugh hysterically and the child in his arms twisted in a panic.

“
Tlaloc,” Blue spoke before I could come up with a witty comeback, which honestly, I didn't have. I was too damn shocked by his perception. “Your priests are dead, it's over.”

I turned my head and saw that Blue was right, someone had killed all the humans while I'd been distracted. Tlaloc looked over the bodies of his priests without concern. He just shrugged and held the kid tighter.

“I can still have this one's heart,” he sniffed heartily and grinned. “It beats strong. Can you hear it, Godhunter? Hear the way it pounds with fright? Do you feel the clenching in your legs? The flutter in your belly? That's the call to the Hunt, the call of the Host. You long to ride the air and chase this sound through the night. To corner the terrified child and listen to his screams. That's the beast in you, sensing weakness, scenting prey. Give in to it,” he let out a shivering breath. “It's so sweet.”

“
One thing that makes us different,” I gave him a scathing head to toe look, “is that beneath all the beasts you see, I'm still human. I control the animals, the magic, not the other way around. The dragon may want to hunt but the woman knows better, knows the difference between prey and child. Oh, and fuck you, you sick bastard.”

Tlaloc laughed, clenching the child tighter. The poor kid was trembling, he had to only be around five or six, and there was blood at his wrists where he'd tried to free himself from the ropes. His dark eyes were wide over the gag in his mouth and they were filled with terror but he wasn't about to just stand there while this psychopath slit his throat. The child let himself drop to dead weight and when Tlaloc looked down, the kid rammed his head back into Tlaloc's face.

I whooped in delight and jumped for the child, rolling with him to safety as the others went for the Aztec. I ran to the back door with the kid in my arms, wanting to get him as far from that crazy fucker as possible. As much as I wanted to kill the bastard, I wanted the kid safe even more. I ignored the sounds of fighting and carried the child all the way to the car.

I opened the car and jumped in with the kid still in my arms, pulling the door shut behind me and locking it for good measure. As if a locked car door would keep out a psycho Aztec god. Silly but I did it. Then I finally looked down at the kid and started to undo his bonds.

First the gag and then the ropes, I freed him quickly and checked his wounds as I went. They weren't too bad but still, I was surprised the boy hadn't started crying already. I glanced up to get a better look at this tough little kid and did a double take. The face  beneath the blood and bruises seemed awfully familiar.

“
Aunty V?” He whispered.

I frowned and reached up to switch on the car's interior light. “Ryu!” I gasped and put my shaky hands to his dirty face. “Cheese and rice!” I slipped into one of the curses I used around children, automatically. “Are you okay?”

He nodded solemnly, he wasn't much of a talker unless he was very happy or you happened to be trying to talk to his mother. His mother, who also happened to be my best friend, Sommer. Fuck, that sick fucker had taken one of my friend's kids. I started to get up, deciding that I needed to get in on the killing after all, when Trevor pulled open the driver side door. He looked grim and disappointed.

“
What happened?”

“
He got away,” he growled.

“
Say that again,” I said very softly.

“
You heard me,” he howled in frustration, slapping the steering wheel.

“
Trevor,” I shouted, holding Ryu to my chest. “We have a child here, remember?”

“
Oh gods,” he looked over, “I'm sorry. I... is that... is that Sommer's boy?”

“
Yeah,” I answered as Kirill climbed in the back with Roarke.

“
I'm sorry, Tima,” Kirill shook his head, “he traced avay, he...” Kirill's eyes got round when he looked up into Ryu's somber face. “Oh, hello, small man. Ve take you home now, okay?”

“
Okay,” Ryu nodded, looked up at me, and promptly burst into tears.

“
Delayed reaction,” I explained as I patted Ryu's back. “Head to Sommer's, we need to get him home as soon as possible. Did anyone think to bring a cell phone?”

Trevor opened the console and pulled one out.

“How bout we call Mommy?” I peered down at Ryu and he sniffled but stopped crying to nod. “Okay, this is going to be a fun conversation. How do you tell someone their child was abducted because a crazy Aztec god wanted to get even with you for stealing their cousin?”

“
Maybe you should just return the child and leave most of that other stuff out,” Roarke suggested. “You did save him before he became a cape.”