Talon wasn't so sure and at the moment he wished one of his Dark-Hunter powers included mind-reading. Unfortunately, his powers ran more along the lines of commanding the elements, healing, projection, and telekinesis. He was better able to shield himself and others, which was why, unlike Zarek, he never had to worry about cops or anyone else seeing him slay a Daimon.
He could summon the elements to shield him from people's sight or to confuse them. If need be, he could even project new thoughts to someone to alter their perceptions of reality.
But he preferred not to do that. The human mind was frail and such tactics had been known to leave lasting damage.
With his arcane powers came a great deal of responsibility. Acheron had taught him that.
Having been abused as a child by those who had more strength and power than he did, Talon had no wish to victimize anyone else. There was nothing he wanted or needed so badly that he would violate someone else to get it.
They didn't speak again until he reached his garage at the end of a long, winding dirt road. There were no lights out here, no pavement. Nothing but Louisiana wildlife.
Sunshine frowned as their headlight illuminated a strange mailbox out in the middle of nowhere. It was a black box that appeared to be pierced by two long silver nails. One was going horizontally through the box, the other diagonally.
She cringed at the sight of the dilapidated shack they neared and she hoped this wasn't his house. It looked like it was ready to cave in.
If not for the clean, crisp mailbox, she wouldn't have believed anyone had been out here in a hundred or more years.
Talon stopped the bike and held it upright between his muscular thighs. He pulled a small remote from his pocket and used it to open the dilapidated shack door. It lifted up slowly.
Sunshine gaped as the lights came on and she saw inside the "shack."
There was nothing run-down about the inside of the building. It was high tech and sparkling, and filled with a fortune in motorcycles and one sleek black Viper.
Oh God, he was a drug dealer!
Her stomach knotted in fear of what she had let herself in for. She should never have come out here with him!
He parked the motorcycle next to the car, then helped her off the seat.
"Um... Talon?" she asked, looking around his collection of vintage Harleys. "What do you do for a living? You said you were an illegal alien, right?"
He gave that familiar tight-lipped smile as he placed his helmet on a rack that contained twelve helmets she was sure cost a minimum of a thousand dollars each. "Yes, and to answer your first question, I'm independently wealthy."
"And you got that way how?"
"I was born into it."
Sunshine felt a little better, but she still had to ask the one question that was nagging her most. "So you don't do anything illegal like run drugs, right?"
Once again, he looked offended. "Good Lord no, woman. Why would you think that?"
Her eyes wide, she looked around the expensive garage and high-tech male toys. "I have no idea."
He pressed a button and closed the main door, sealing them in.
She followed after him while he led her to the back of the garage where he had two very nice, expensive catamarans docked. Everything in this building was truly state-of-the-art. "If you have all this money, why are you an illegal alien?"
Talon snorted. He could tell her that he was in this bayou before America was even a country, and that he didn't need any stinking piece of paper to make him legal, but as a Dark-Hunter he was forbidden to tell her anything about their lifestyle or existence. So he opted for an easy and true excuse. "You have go to the courthouse during daylight hours to fill out the paperwork. Since I can't go out into sunlight..."
She looked at him skeptically. "Are you sure you're not a vampire?"
"I wasn't until the moment I saw you."
"Meaning?"
He moved to stand next to her so that she had to crane her neck to look up at him. His jaw flexed as he stared down at her while his body craved hers in a way most desperate. "Meaning I would love nothing more than to sink my teeth into your skin and devour you."
She bit her lower lip and gave him an impish, heated once-over. "Mmm, I like it when you talk like that."
She stepped into his arms.
Talon's body burned as he dipped his head down to kiss her.
Sunshine moaned at the taste of him. What was it about this man that attracted her so and made her want to gobble him up?
He pulled back suddenly and she pouted in protest.
"We'd best hurry," he said. "It'll be dawn before much longer and it's still a ride to my cabin."
"Your cabin? Is it anything like this shack?"
"You'll see." He moved away from her to start the catamaran.
Sunshine took a seat and strapped herself in. Once she was secured, they left the comfort of the garage and headed out into the eerie darkness of the swamp. The engine's motor was so loud, it made her ears ache as they sped toward his cabin.
It was so dark out here that she couldn't focus her eyes on anything at all.
How could Talon see to drive the boat? Any minute, she half expected them to plow into a tree or stump.
And yet Talon maneuvered them effortlessly without any hesitation or slowing of speed.
After a few minutes, her eyes adjusted to the blackness and she was able to see outlines and swamp gas. Mostly, she just saw fog and a few things that looked vaguely like animals falling into the water.
Maybe she was better off blind after all.
At long last, they reached a small isolated cabin set deep in the swamp. Alone. Isolated. Spanish moss hung down from the top of the porch and the wood of the place had lightened to a faint gray that stood out even in the darkness of the night.
Talon parked the catamaran beside a small dock and got out. He helped her onto the dock and as she followed him up the narrow plank toward the dark porch, she realized there were two alligators in front of the door.
She screamed.
"Shh," Talon said with a laugh. "There's nothing to fear."
To her extreme astonishment, he bent down and patted the biggest gator on the head. "Hey Beth, how's it going tonight?"
The gator snapped its jaw and hissed at him as if it had understood his question.
"I know, girl. I'm sorry, I forgot."
"What are you? Dr. Dolittle?"
He laughed again. "No. I found these two when they were small hatchlings and raised them. We're family. I've known them so long that I can almost read their minds."
Well, she had reptiles in her family tree too. Only hers walked on two legs.
The big one came up to her and eyeballed her like she was the daily special at the Crocodile Cafe. "I don't think she likes me."
"Be nice, Beth," Talon said.
The gator swished its tail, then ambled off the porch, into the swamp water. The other one looked at her, snapped its jaws, then joined its friend.
Talon opened the door to his cabin and turned on a dim desk lamp. Sunshine stepped inside hesitantly, half afraid he'd have the housekeeping abilities of her brother.
Or that there would be something worse than gators inside. Something like a monster anaconda he intended to feed her to.
She hesitated in the doorway.
The place was bigger inside than it appeared from the outside, but it was still basically only one room. There was a small kitchen off to her left and a door to her right she assumed was the bathroom.
He had three big tables set up with computers and other electronic equipment. And there was a large black futon on the floor to the rear of the cabin.
She was thankful everything was clean and sanitary. How wonderfully refreshing to know that all men weren't the pigs her brothers were.
"Interesting place you have here, Talon. Have to say I love the blank, black walls."
He snorted at her tone. "This from a woman who lives inside a pink cloud?"
"True, but everything here is so dark. Don't you find it depressing?"
He shrugged. "Not really. I no longer think about it at all."
"Not to be rude, but it seems to me that you do that a lot."
"Do what?"
"Not think about things. You're one of those guys who just exists, aren't you? No thought about the past or tomorrow. Just what you plan on doing in the next hour or so."
Talon dropped his keys on the table next to his primary computer. She was very astute. One of the drawbacks of immortality was the fact that you weren't really goal-oriented. His world existed of getting up, tracking and slaying Daimons, and then returning home.
A Dark-Hunter never thought about the future. It just kept on coming regardless.
As for the past...
There was no need to go there. All that would do was dredge up memories he was much better off not remembering.
He looked at her and the passionate gleam in her dark brown eyes. She had a love of life that glowed and it captivated him. What would it be like to live that way again? To actually look forward to the future and plan for it?