Lionel, Renee, and Pavel had all died over the last few months. Supposedly by bad luck. Lionel and Renee by not making it home before dawn. Pavel had been decapitated in a freak car wreck. At least, that was the official story.
After what Andy and Ren had said, Jess now wondered how accurate that was.
Two other Dark-Hunters had been moved in to replace those killed in action. Syra, who was better known as Yukon Jane, and Rogue, an Englishman whose proper speech belied his extremely psychotic ways. That boy definitely wasn't right.
Made him wonder who they'd move in to replace Lionel.
Guess I'll find out.
A pretty blonde walked past him on the street with a come-follow-me-cowboy look that grabbed his attention away from that line of thought. He let out a slow appreciative breath at the sass in her walk. He'd always been a sucker for a woman who knew how to handle herself and, more to the point, handle a man who was aching for her.
She smiled at him over her shoulder.
You got work to do, boy.
Yeah, but she was delectable.
Work, Jess. If Andy's right, there's a killer on the loose, and you need to find it and stop it.
He actually whimpered at the fact that he couldn't follow after the blonde. In Reno, doable. Here ...
Too many Daimons.
Yet another reason they needed killing.
Sighing, he crossed Spring Mountain Road, heading north on Vegas Boulevard. He'd just passed the entrance to Neiman Marcus at the Fashion Show Mall and was nearing The Cloud when that familiar tingle went down his spine. One that was unmistakable.
There were Daimons nearby.
But where? People were all over the place. Hard to pinpoint a Daimon in a crowd this size. Not to mention the bright lights, even with his opaque sunglasses on, were hard on his light-sensitive Dark-Hunter eyes. Since Dark-Hunters were created long before the modern lightbulb, Artemis had given them incredible night vision that really hated anything bright. It was downright painful.
Closing his eyes, he focused his other senses. At first he was overwhelmed by everything he heard. But after a few seconds, it settled down so that he could pinpoint what he needed.
They were in the underground parking lot on his left.
Jess headed for it, making sure to keep himself away from any street cameras that the police might use for surveillance-that was one thing Rogue was the best at, since he'd come over from England, where their streets had more cameras than a fully stocked mega Best Buy store.
He ducked into the lot that was full of cars and vacant of people. At first he didn't hear anything more, and then ...
To his right.
Pulling out his daggers, he kept them in his sleeves, just in case he happened upon someone who wouldn't understand why a tall, dark-haired man wearing really dark sunglasses and unseasonably warm clothing would be armed to his fangs. Really, Officer, I was trying to protect humanity by killing these things that suck human souls out to live past their twenty-seventh birthday just didn't cut it. Why no one would believe that, he couldn't imagine. Really, the audacity of modern courts and judges.
Jess came to an abrupt stop as he found something even more grisly than he'd expected.
There were four Daimons on the ground, literally feasting on what must be a demon of some kind. At first glance, it appeared human. But there was no missing the odd skin tone, slightly off from normal, and the smell of it.
That body wasn't human.
One of the Daimons looked up at him as if he'd sensed Jess's presence. "Dark-Hunter," he growled.
Now, normally, Daimons would do that and run away. That had been the standard operating procedure for the last 139 years.
These didn't run.
Well, not true. They ran toward him. Last time that had happened was his brief stint up in Fairbanks, Alaska, with Syra and a couple of others. And that hadn't gone so well for him. It was even worse for the other Dark-Hunters who had died there.
Jess caught the first one to reach him. He kicked the Daimon back and plunged his dagger straight into the Daimon's heart.
It didn't explode.
It just pissed the Daimon off.
Aw, now, wait a minute....
"What the-?" His words ended as the Daimon picked him up and threw him against the far wall, where he slammed hard against the concrete. Pain exploded through his body. Been a while since he hurt this much. It brought back many an unhappy memory.
Still, he didn't take a lickin' and not give one back. No, sir. After flipping to his feet, he shrugged his coat off in one fluid movement and ran for his attacker.
Don't let them bite you."
Jess glanced over to where Sin had joined the fight. Almost a head taller, Sin wore his black hair cropped short. Dressed in black like Ren-something they all did, since it helped camouflage bloodstains they might collect in fights, and face it, it was a lot easier to look badass in black than in baby doll pink-Sin tossed him a new weapon, which was similar to a small scimitar.
He caught it just as the Daimon realized what was going on. The Daimon's eyes widened at the sight of the weapon. Now, that was what he was used to.
Respect.