Katie's Hope (Rhyn Trilogy, Book Two) (5 page)

Without Katie, Jade’s world would be
perfect.

* * *

Katie hid a smile. Rhyn, whose large hands
all but swallowed the tea cup, had made an attempt to be civilized.
He’d spilled it twice already. Despite his irritation, he’d been as
patient with Toby as a half-demon could be. Toby had fallen asleep
in front of the fireplace. Rhyn set the cup down and sat back,
gazing at her hard. Well aware afternoon had faded into night, she
kept her cup in her lap to keep from fidgeting under his
intensity.

“You’ll tell me to go, won’t you,” he
said.

“I think so,” she replied and cleared her
throat.

“I’ll behave, but I’m staying.” He rose and
crossed to Toby, looping his arm around the baby angel and resting
him on his hip. She cringed as he disappeared into Toby’s room,
hoping Rhyn didn’t waken him.

True to his word, he stripped off his boots
and shirt and lay on top of the covers. She hesitated, her blood
burning and her confused thoughts terrified of what might happen.
Katie crawled under the comforter. Rhyn made no moves on her,
simply rolled to tuck her against his warm body.

“Maybe you’ll keep the nightmares away,” she
whispered drowsily.

“If I knew how, I would.”

“Is Darkyn stronger than you?”

“Yeah.”

“If you and the Council worked together, you
could take out anything,” she said.

“If I could protect you alone, I’d take you
somewhere safe from the demons and the Council.”

“I don’t think you can. Kris is your brother,
and family should stick together.”

“You have no idea how my
family
works.”

“You’ll need your family when I’m gone,” she
said, thoughts drifting to her impending death. His body and scent
felt too nice. She’d enjoy this tonight and then do what she must
the next day. She’d spent the day in thought after her talk with
Gabriel, and there was only one solution that might drive Rhyn away
before she and Gabriel hurt him.

“You’re not leaving.”

“I know I am, Rhyn.”

At the dangerous note in his voice, she said
nothing else. She’d seen the acrimonious relationship between him
and Kris and understood some of what made them enemies. As she fell
asleep, she couldn’t help thinking Rhyn was the only Immortal on
the Council she’d trust to keep humans safe.

Her nightmares that night involved her
sister, Hannah, being eaten by the jaguar with the white patch over
his eye. She awoke long before dawn, and her eyes went to the
corner where Gabriel no longer sat.

“Rhyn?”

He, too, was gone. Toby’s snores drifted into
the bedchamber from his room. She tossed the covers off, crossing
to the French doors. The half moon’s light made the snow-covered
forest glow eerily. Checking the time, she counted backwards. It
was afternoon in Maryland, where Hannah was.

Visions of her sister’s death fresh in her
mind, she changed into warm clothes and her running shoes, tucked
the perfume bottle into a pocket, then sat on the edge of the bed.
She closed her eyes to concentrate hard on summoning the portal to
the shadow place. Rhyn’s warm power filled her as she drew on their
bond as mates, and the portal opened. She stepped into the clammy,
wet world of fog and darkness, pausing to focus on the portal that
would lead to her sister’s house. Several portals glowed, and one
grew more intense as she thought hard.

Katie walked through the shadow place and
through the portal, wondering how she’d explain to her sister how
she suddenly appeared out of nowhere and expecting a lecture about
disappearing three weeks ago.

Hannah’s fiancé, an Immortal, owned a swarthy
mansion in Maryland. Katie cringed at his over the top décor of
gilded everything and oriented herself. She’d emerged from the
shadow world into a sitting room. She walked into the hall and up a
wide stairwell to the second floor.

Hannah’s bedroom was quiet, the bed neatly
made and her closet door open to reveal a large empty space. For
once, she wished she’d paid attention when her sister told her
about travel plans. Still disturbed by the nightmare, she rifled
through Hannah’s vanity to see if her sister left her appointment
book in a drawer.

“They were in a hurry.”

She whirled to see a woman in a servant’s
uniform Hannah insisted her household employees wear. The woman was
small and pale with eyes so dull, she seemed almost lifeless.

“I think they were going to visit you in
France,” the woman added. “A man named Kris invited them.”

Kris! What was his plan? “When did they
leave?” Katie managed.

“They had a flight out yesterday afternoon.
Ms. Hannah hates to travel in the morning.”

“Do you know when they were coming back?”

The woman shrugged. Katie looked around,
unable to tell if her sister’s empty closet was indicative of a
weekend trip or something more permanent. Hannah never traveled
light, and there was no way of knowing what Kris was doing.

“Would you like a cup of tea?” the servant
asked. “I was just preparing one for myself in the kitchen.”

“I should probably get going.”

“Very well, miss. If you want to wait for a
few minutes, I can pull up their itinerary.”

“Sure, thanks.”

“Come. Have some tea while you wait.”

A sense of foreboding passed through her as
she reluctantly followed the servant from the bedroom into a wide
hall with gaudy gilded furniture and picture frames. She paused at
the top of the sweeping stairwell to look around her. The house was
too quiet for her comfort, and she felt the familiar sense of being
watched.

There was no one but the maid, who was
halfway down the stairs. She trailed with a shiver, wanting to make
sure her sister was truly safe before leaving. If the maid gave her
the airline info, she could call to confirm her sister was on
board.

The spacious kitchen reminded her of Ully’s
lab with its landscape of stainless steel. A tea kettle was already
whistling when they entered, and the maid rushed across the kitchen
to grab it.

Katie sat on a barstool at the breakfast bar,
watching the maid pour tea into two mugs sitting beside the stove.
Two mugs, as if she were expecting company or someone else was
already there. Katie eased off the chair and reached into her
pocket for the perfume. She needed a quiet, safe place where she
could channel Rhyn’s power to call forth a portal. Her mind went to
the bathroom in the hall.

“I’ve got to run to the restroom. I’ll be
right back for the tea.”

The maid turned, looking past her, and Katie
spun away. The lanky form standing between her and the door made
her gasp.

“Hello, Lunchmeat,” the demon Jared said,
smiling slowly. “I see you’re having tea with my blood monkey.”

“Who let you out of Hell?” she whispered.

“More than one way out of that place, as you
discovered.”

“Rhyn’s here.”

“If he were, I’d sense him.”

He took a step closer, his blond hair and
green eyes highlighting a slender face. His frame was thin to the
point of gaunt. She didn’t remember him being so tall in Hell, but
she’d been afraid to look too hard at him when she passed his
cell.

“You look well,” he said, looking her up and
down. He moved closer and she skirted the breakfast bar until it
was between them. “Not so brave without those bars between us, are
you, Lunchmeat?”

“You don’t want to do this!” she
exclaimed.

“Pretty sure I do. The taste of your sweet
nectar before I tear you apart?” He smacked his lips, his eyes
glowing. He started around the breakfast bar, and she kept pace
with him on the opposite side. If she could make a break for the
door … she gripped the perfume bottle harder.

“Sasha sent you,” she said, willing him to
talk rather than attack.

“Hell no. He’d never let me out of the zoo.
The demons released us after Sasha fled.”

“What’d he do?”

“Eh, Sasha killed a couple of demons he
really shouldn’t have. Pissed off the Dark One and the
demon-leader, who freed us all to hunt him. It’s coming back to
bite him now.”

“And my sister? Where is she?” she asked,
bracing herself for the answer.

“I don’t give a shit. She can’t be as sweet
tasting as you,” he said, his gaze darkening.

“I have to warn you, I’ve learned some things
since you saw me. I’m not the defenseless little human you saw in
Hell.”

“I like my dinner to fight me. Makes the
final surrender so much sweeter.”

She inched away, her back now to the kitchen
door. The maid had set down the tea and retrieved a butcher knife
from a drawer.

“Why not make this fair?” Katie asked, her
gaze going to the maid. “Why don’t you let me fight her? She can
keep what she’s got, and I’ll face her barehanded.”

Jared turned to see the woman on the other
side of the kitchen, and Katie bolted. Panic churned within her,
and she was about to cry out for Rhyn when Jared snagged her arm.
She whirled and sprayed him with the perfume, wildly aiming for his
face and almost gagging at the scent.

“What the hell … smells like shit!” he
snapped and released her to knock the bottle away. She ran with one
glance over her shoulder as she reached the bathroom. He stood in
the hallway smiling, his predatory look assuring her he had no
plans of letting his dinner escape him.

Katie locked herself in the bathroom, cursing
Ully for the skunk perfume that clearly didn’t work. She looked
around for something to brace the door and ended up leaning against
it. There was a moment of silence before the door buckled beneath a
blow that sent her sprawling. The door held, and she scrambled back
to brace it.

“Rhyn, any time!” she muttered. The door
cracked in the middle beneath the second blow, and she went sailing
once again. Jared kicked the fractured pieces of door out of the
way. Katie pushed herself to her feet, remembering what pain a
pissed-off Hell-creature could cause. She recalled the scent of her
blood, what hot agony felt like as an otherworldly creature tore
her apart.

She’d rather die than go through that again.
God help her, she couldn’t even try to off herself while trapped in
the bathroom!

“Long time, no see, demon.” Rhyn’s voice made
her heart skip a beat, and she craned her neck to see past Jared,
who whirled. Jared moved away from the door into the hall to face
his opponent.

“Half-breed,” he hissed. “You dare challenge
a full demon?”

“Unless you wanna leave my blood monkey
alone.”

Jared’s form contorted then grew twice his
size as he shifted into a creature unlike any she’d ever seen.
Wings, short fur, fangs the size of her forearm … she moved farther
into the bathroom, lest she draw his attention. Suddenly, a blur of
brown streaked past the bathroom, tackling the demon. She heard the
sounds of fighting, grunts, growls, and gnashing of teeth. Katie
inched forward, peeking out as the two creatures smashed into
furniture and porcelain figurines on display in the wide foyer.

Her first instinct was to run back to the
shadow world, but she had a hard time looking away from the two
hideous creatures battling it out in Hannah’s home. The sound of
footsteps running down the hall drew her attention, and she flung
herself backwards as the maid with the butcher knife tried to cut
her. A piece of the broken door slashed her as she fell, and she
scrambled away as the maid slashed at her again. The maid lost her
balance and toppled over.

Katie scrambled up into the hall and
maneuvered her bloodied arm to see the damage, suddenly aware the
two demons had stopped fighting. She looked up to find both hideous
beasts staring at her, drooling. Their gazes followed the drops of
blood as they fell from her arm to the marble flooring. Both inched
toward her, the inhuman growling filling the hall.

“Winner takes all,” she said, backing
away.

The maid lunged at her again, and she darted
for the kitchen, followed by Jared’s blood monkey, who was wailing
with frustration. One of the demons launched itself down the hall
after her, only for the other to tackle it and the two of them to
roll down the hall in a furry mass of wings, legs, and snapping
teeth.

Katie whipped around the breakfast bar, eyes
roving the kitchen for the knife block or something with which to
defend herself. She snatched a wooden cutting board as the maid
rounded a counter with the knife raised. Katie ducked again then
twisted her hips in a perfect baseball batter’s swing and smacked
her hard in the face. The maid dropped silently, her nose busted
and blood splattered across her features.

“I have enough problems with psycho Immortal
demon jackasses. You really think some stupid human with a knife
scares me?” she said, furious. “Now I understand why Kris is such
an ass to humans.”

She shook her head to clear her anger and sat
with her back to the counter, forcing herself to concentrate on the
shadow world and tapping into Rhyn’s power despite the sounds of
demons fighting so near the kitchen. The portal opened, and she
bounded through it, running to the brightest portal and through it
to emerge on the snowy park behind the castle.

It was dawn, and she breathed a sigh of
relief at being safe. Ully emerged from the castle, hair mussed and
dressed as if for a run. From behind him, Toby tore out of the
castle in a snowsuit. He dove into the snow while she stood and
waited for Rhyn. Guilt made her resolve to drive him away
waver.

“You’ve been using the repellant,” Ully said.
His nose crinkled as he drew near. “You ready to run?”

“Not today, Ully,” she said. “Your repellant
doesn’t work!”

“I tested it on one of the warriors. I know
it works.”

She held up her bloody arm. “I just got out
of a fight with a demon. It didn’t work.”