"Careful," Stryker warned his men as they fired another round at the house. "Not that it's likely, but give them a chance to come out before you blow the house apart."
"Why?" Trates asked. "I thought the objective was to kill the heiress."
Urian gave the man an irritated look that said, 'Are you totally stupid?' "Yes, but if we hurt the Abadonna in the process, we're going to find out what it feels like to be turned inside out. Literally. Like most beings, I actually like the fact that my skin is outside my body."
"She's immortal," Trates argued. "What's a bomb to her?"
"Immortal like us, bone-head." Urian snatched the rocket launcher from Trates's hand and handed it to Icarus. "Blow her body apart and she will die. None of you want to know what the Destroyer would do to us if that happens."
Icarus aimed more carefully.
Stryker nodded his approval to his son, then projected his thoughts to the rest of his team. "Watch the exits. I know the Dark-Hunter will have a back way out of this place. When they run, you'd better catch them. Stand ready."
Cassandra frowned as Chris packed another pillow down the front of his sweatpants. "What are you doing?"
"Protecting my assets. After what Kat said about Stryker and that near miss with the pizza knife, I don't want to take a chance with my prized jewels."
"Hallelujah," Wulf said under his breath. "The boy finally developed some brains."
Chris directed a sullen stare at him that Wulf ignored.
Wulf turned the TV on and switched it to the parameter cameras so that they could see the Daimons' positions. Several of them were running across the lawn.
"It looks like that blast took out some of the east wing," Wulf said quietly.
Another blast went into the garage.
Chris let out an excited whoop. "I think they just nailed the Hummer. Yes!"
"Christopher!" Wulf snapped at him.
"I can't help it," Chris said, calming a degree. "I really hate that thing. Besides, I told you it wouldn't protect me from everything. See. It was worthless against the grenades."
Wulf shook his head at his Squire, then noticed Cassandra picking up weapons from the armoire. "What are you doing?" He moved toward her lightning-fast to keep her from touching the weapons.
She let out an irritated breath. "Arming myself."
"Like hell. Your job is-"
"To stay alive," she said, her face determined. She touched him gently on the arm in a light caress that sent chills over his chest. She was so beautiful standing there, ready to take on the world.
"Don't worry, Wulf, I'm not stupid. I'm not going to engage them and take a chance on one of them kicking me in the stomach. Likewise, I'm not going to just stand here and let them take me without something to fall back on. I'm no more used to being without a weapon than you are."
"She's right about that," Kat said, moving to stand behind Cassandra. "Her teddy bear is a six-inch retractable knife and a snub-nosed .38 Special."
Wulf stared at Cassandra and the raw determination in her eyes. He admired her more in that moment than he ever had anyone else.
Stepping back, he took her to the cabinet and fastened wrist blades on each of her arms. He showed her the release for the blades and how they swung out.
"And this one..." He pulled out a small-caliber Beretta Panther. He slid the fully loaded clip into the handle and switched the safety on. "Is just to get their attention."
He placed it in a concealed holster, then fastened it to her hip.
Cassandra's face softened as she looked up at him. For some reason, that look made his entire body hot. "So what's the plan?"
"Run for it."
"Run where?" Chris asked. "If we head to another Dark-Hunter's house, it'll just drain your power and theirs. No offense, but I think these guys are a little stronger than the average Daimon and I don't want to see your butt kicked. At least not tonight while I got things to protect."
Another explosion shattered the glass windows that were covered by the shields.
"We don't have a choice, Chris," Wulf said as he put more distance between Cassandra and the windows. "They're not going to wait until morning and give us a chance to evacuate in the daylight, and if we don't leave, they'll blow the house apart around us. We'll just have to have an open evacuation plan."
Chris appeared less than convinced. "I really, really don't like this open evacuation plan idea. Anyone got something better?"
They looked at Kat, who stared back bemused. "I'm not of this world. I have no idea where to hide. I say we go with Wulf."
"What about Artemis?" Cassandra asked. "Will she help us?"
Kat shook her head. "Sorry. She's occupied at the moment and honestly couldn't care less if the world did end. If I disturb her over this, she'll have a raging tantrum."
"All right then," Wulf said. "I suggest everyone get their heaviest clothes on and be prepared to jump ship as soon as possible."
Stryker watched the security cameras closely. He knew the heiress and her guards wouldn't stay inside much longer. His men had already blown up the entire garage and were now slowly shooting into the house, section by section. There was a lot of exterior damage, but he couldn't really tell how much was being done internally.
Not that it mattered. If this didn't work, they'd burn it down. He already had the flamethrowers on standby.
Anyone worth his salt would have exit tunnels. And Wulf was certainly worth his salt.
Urian had found several exits so far.
His son just had to make sure they had found them all before their prey left the premises.
"Urian?" he asked his son telepathically. "Are you in position?"
"Yes. We have all of the exits covered."
"Where are you?"
"The back lawn. Why? Is something going wrong?"
"No, I just want to make sure we can get to them."
"They're ours, Father. Relax."
"I will after she's dead."
Wulf took one last inspection of his charges. They were bundled up and ready. He, on the other hand, was scantily clad. He needed to be able to move freely in case he had to fight more.
"Okay, children," he said in warning. "Remember, we have to move silently. They can see better at night than..." He paused as he realized who he was talking to. "Well, better than Chris can anyway. I'll lead the way. Kat, you pull up the rear and, if anything happens, shout and don't vanish on us."
"You got it."
Wulf offered Cassandra an encouraging smile. He took her hand into his and kissed her knit glove, wishing he could feel her skin under there.
She smiled back, then covered her face with her muffler.
Reluctantly dropping her hand, he led them to his bedroom. There were more explosions upstairs.
Wulf growled at the sound of things shattering. "I swear I'm going to take all this out of Stryker's hide."
"I just want to know where the cops are," Cassandra said. "Surely someone has heard all that."
"I don't know," Chris added. "We're pretty far out. No one probably knows."
Another blast shook the house.
"Someone has to hear that," Cassandra said. "They've turned it into a war zone."
"Well, let's hope the cops don't come," Kat added from behind her.
Cassandra looked at her from over her shoulder. "Why?"
"Because if they do, all they'll be is another midnight snack for the Daimons."
Cassandra curled her lip at the thought. "Oh, God, Kat, that's awful!"
"But all too true," Wulf said as he led them past his bed, into his closet, which was the size of most people's bedrooms. "In spite of what you think, Cassandra, Daimons are nothing more than rabid animals in need of a mercy killing."
She stiffened, but for once didn't argue with him.
Cassandra cocked a brow at his wardrobe as they walked through the closet. Everything from the hanging items to every pair of shoes lacked color. It looked like a great black hole. "Like black, do you?"
One corner of his mouth quirked up. "It serves its purpose. It's hard to look intimidating in pastels."
She laughed at that and started to make a comment about how he looked best naked, but then refrained. It wasn't like Chris and Kat didn't know they were lovers, but it still didn't feel right to say that out loud around them.
Wulf pressed a series of codes into the keypad and opened a secret door in the back that led into his own private catacombs he had had built under the house and grounds in case of emergency.
Though to be honest, Daimons bombing his home hadn't been one of the things that had entered his mind when he'd had this built.
He'd been thinking more along the lines of a house fire during daylight or maybe a home invasion by more normal, nonfanged terrorists.
Who knew?
Following true medieval fashion, the corridor was long and narrow in order to keep more than one person from going through it at a time and to make it easy to block it should anyone be chasing after them.
Sometimes it paid to be paranoid.
Wulf grabbed a flashlight and led them single file into it.
They walked for several minutes before they came to a five-way split.
"Wow," Chris said as he peeped around Cassandra and Wulf. "Where do all of these go?"
Wulf indicated the one on the far right with the light. "That one goes to the garage, the next one over goes to the field just beyond the south gate, the middle one is for a bomb shelter farther underground. The next one leads to the street outside the main gate and this one"-He indicated the one on his left-"leads to the boathouse."
"Man, I wish I'd known about this when I was a kid, I could have had a ton of fun down here."
"Yeah, and you could have gotten lost or hurt and no one would know."
Chris blew him a raspberry.
Ignoring him, Wulf led them down the long, winding tunnel that ran the length of his property. The boathouse was set off to the side so that, to people who didn't know better, it would look like it wasn't part of his holdings.
That, along with the design of the boathouse, had been intentional.
More than five thousand square feet in size, the boat-house looked like a home from the water, with the first level of it housing his collection of boats. The second floor had four bedrooms, a kitchen, living, dining, and game rooms. Over the years this had served as guest accommodations for Acheron whenever he came to town.
Wulf only hoped Stryker wasn't bright enough to figure out he had an escape route this far down his property.
At the end of the tunnel, there was a steel ladder leading up to a trapdoor that opened in the back of the boat-house inside a storage closet.
Wulf went first, ready for anything. The lock on this door was manual in case of fire. Wulf spun the combination, then waited for the release to sound.
Slowly, he pushed the door open, expecting the worst.
There was no motion in the room or outside it. No sound of someone or something walking about. He listened for several minutes, but all he could hear was the creaking of the ice and the howl of the winds.
All seemed right...
Lifting himself through the trapdoor, he reached down to help Cassandra up. She drifted a small distance away in the closet while Chris and then Kat climbed up.
"Okay," Wulf whispered to them. "It looks good so far. I want you," he said to Cassandra, "and Chris to stay back. If anything happens, you two dodge back into the tunnels and press the red button to lock the door behind you."
"What about you and Kat?" Cassandra asked.
"We'll take care of ourselves. You and Chris are the important things."
Cassandra's eyes told him she didn't agree.
"It'll take a couple of minutes to lower the airboat from its harness down to the ice," he explained to her. "Let's hope the Daimons don't hear it."
Cassandra nodded and kissed him lightly. "Be careful."
Wulf hugged her gently, then opened the door. He took a step out, then hesitated as his foot collided with something large and solid on the floor.
No, wait.
It was left-behind clothing. Something that reminded him of Daimon remains.
Wulf pulled his retractable sword from his boot at the same time a slight shadow moved toward him. He prepared to attack.
"It's okay," a feminine voice whispered. "I'm a friend."
Wulf was far from placated.
He heard Cassandra gasp in alarm. Glancing toward her, he saw she was hesitating in the doorway as if unsure of what to do.
"Phoebe?" she breathed. "It is really you?"
Phoebe was the name of one of her sisters who had died with her mother.
The shadow stepped into the light so that they could see her face, which was strikingly similar to Cassandra's. The only difference was their hair. Phoebe's was golden blond and straight and Cassandra had tight strawberry blond curls. Phoebe wore a black pantsuit and didn't appear to have any weapons on her. "It's me, Cassie. I'm here to help you."
Cassandra stepped back and collided with Chris, who eyed the newcomer suspiciously. Even Kat was tense.
Cassandra gave her sister a disbelieving once-over. "You're supposed to be dead."
"I am dead," Phoebe whispered.
"You're a Daimon," Wulf said accusingly.
Phoebe nodded.
"Oh, Phoebe," Cassandra said, her voice thick with disappointment. "How could you?"
"Don't judge me, little sister. I had my reasons. Now we have to get you to safety."
"Like I'm going to trust you," Cassandra said, stiffening. "I remember Uncle Demos."
"I'm not Uncle Demos and I have no intention of turning you into me." Phoebe took a step toward her, but Wulf prevented her from getting any closer to Cassandra until he knew the truth of her intentions.
Phoebe gave him an irritated glare, then looked back at her sister. "Please, Cassie, you have to believe me. I would never, ever harm you. I swear it on Mother's soul."
Another Daimon came through the door. A male. He was tall and blond and Wulf remembered him well from the club. The Daimon had kicked the crap out of him.
This had been the Daimon who referred to Stryker as his father.
Kat gasped.
"Hurry, Phe," the Daimon said to Cassandra's sister. "I can't keep this covered much longer." He paused long enough to meet Wulf's gaze without flinching. The anger and hatred of the two men was tangible enough to make Cassandra shiver. She half-expected one of them to attack the other at any second.
"Why are you helping us?" Wulf demanded.
The Daimon curled his lip in repugnance. "Like I give a rat's ass about you, Dark-Hunter. I'm only here to help my wife protect her baby sister. Which I still think is a stupid idea." He looked at Phoebe who looked back at him irritably.
"You'll feel better tomorrow about this," Phoebe said.
The Daimon snorted. "It's a good thing I love you."
Kat gaped. "Urian has a heart? Who knew?"
Urian glared at her. "Shut up, Abadonna."
Cassandra saw the love on Phoebe's face as Urian neared her. "Urian is the one who saved me when Mom died," Phoebe explained. "He pulled me from the car after the bomb exploded and hid me. He tried to save Mom and Nia too, but couldn't get to them in time."
Cassandra didn't know what to think about that. It didn't make sense that a Daimon, let alone one related to Stryker, would help them when all their lives they had been pursued by Urian's kind. "Why?"
"There's no time for this," Urian hissed. "My father isn't a stupid man. He'll catch on quickly when he doesn't hear from the two dead men."
Phoebe nodded, then turned back to Cassandra. "I'm asking you to trust me, Cassie. I swear you won't regret it."
Cassandra exchanged frowns with Wulf and Kat. "I think we can trust her."
Wulf glanced to Urian, then to Kat. "You said they were sadistic. Any chance they're playing with our heads?"
Urian gave a low, bitter laugh at that. "You have no idea."
Phoebe smacked her husband in the stomach. "Behave, Uri. You're not making this any easier."
Scowling at his wife, Urian rubbed his stomach where she'd hit him, but didn't say anything else.
"Go for it," Kat said. "If he's lying, I now know how to hurt him." Her gaze went meaningfully to Phoebe.
Urian went ramrod stiff. "Destroyer or no, you ever touch her and I will kill you, Katra."
"Then we understand each other," Wulf said. "Because if anything happens to Cassandra, Kat is the least of your problems."
Urian stepped forward, but Phoebe forced him back. "You said we have to hurry."
Urian's rigid features softened as he looked at Phoebe and nodded. Without another word, he led them toward a black airboat that was already on the ice, waiting for them.
Chris climbed on board first, followed by Kat.
Cassandra followed suit. "Is this the same boat the Canadian Mounties use for search and rescue?" she asked Wulf.
Wulf cleared his throat as if offended. "Same company makes both, but I'd like to think mine is a bit nicer."
And it was too. Plush to the extreme, right down to the padded chairs.
"Yeah," Chris said as he took a seat and strapped himself in. "Dudley Do-Right is us."
Cassandra smiled at him as Wulf took the helm. Her sister jumped in, then paused when she realized her husband had stayed on the dock and wasn't making any moves to join them.
Phoebe's face was even paler. "Come with us, Uri," she begged, reaching up to take his hand into hers. Her voice was filled with strain and worry.
Cassandra stared at their joined hands that showed how much each one wanted to hold on and never let go.
"They'll slaughter you if they find out about this."
The pain on Urian's face as he stared longingly at Phoebe made Cassandra ache for both of them. "I can't, baby, you know I can't. I have to stay and cover your tracks, but I promise I'll be in touch as soon as I'm able."
He kissed Phoebe passionately, then kissed her hand and let her go. "Be safe."
"You too."
He nodded, then removed the last bit of harness rigging. "Take care of my wife, Dark-Hunter."
Wulf glanced at Phoebe and nodded. "Thanks, Daimon."
Urian scoffed. "Bet you never thought you'd utter those words."
Urian raised the doors to the dock at the same time a group of Daimons broke into the boathouse.
Phoebe gasped and started for her husband. Chris pulled her back as Wulf gunned the engine and flew north over the ice. Luckily, the wind was with them and they accelerated quickly.
"No!" Phoebe shrieked as they sped across the lake. "We can't leave him."
"We have no choice," Chris said. "I'm sorry."
Cassandra saw the despair on her sister's face, but Phoebe didn't cry. She merely stared behind them where the boathouse was quickly drifting out of sight, her eyes filled with horror.
Cassandra held on tightly to her seat belt, her heart pounding. "How fast are we going?" she asked Chris.
"Over a hundred at least," he answered. "These things can move as fast as one hundred forty with the wind, but only about forty against it."
Wow. She looked over at her sister, who still hadn't stopped looking behind her even though the boathouse had already faded from sight.
"He'll be okay, Phoebe," Kat said. "His father wouldn't really hurt him. Stryker may be psychotic, but he loves Urian."
Phoebe's face showed every bit of her doubt.
"Keep going north," Phoebe said to Wulf. "We have a safe place where we can hide all of you."
No sooner were the words spoken than Cassandra heard the fierce shriek of something that sounded like it came from Hollywood. It was followed by the distinct sound of wings flapping.
Looking up, she saw the dragon headed for them.
"Oh, my..." She couldn't finish the words as horror choked her.
Kat reacted instantly. She threw herself over Cassandra.
The dragon shrieked louder as if frustrated by her actions. Fire blew across the prow of the boat.
Wulf didn't slow down at all. He pulled his gun out and fired up at the dragon.
The dragon dove straight for them, screaming as it came. Cassandra could see when the bullets struck it. The dragon recoiled, but didn't really slow or veer off.
It continued toward them with a single-minded determination.
Closer.
Closer...
It swooped in so close she could feel the dragon's hot breath.
Wulf reloaded his clip and fired more rounds.
Just as Cassandra was sure it would devour them, the dragon vanished instantly.
For a full ten seconds, no one moved.
"What happened?" Chris asked.
"He must have been recalled," Kat answered. "It's the only thing that could have stopped him like that."
Wulf finally slowed a degree. "Recalled by whom?"
"The Destroyer," Phoebe said. "She won't let him hurt Kat."
"And just why is that, Kat?" Wulf asked.
Kat appeared uncomfortable with that question. "Like Stryker, I'm one of her servants."
"I thought you served Artemis," Cassandra said.
"I serve them both."
Cassandra tilted her head as she looked at her friend. Someone she had thought she'd known for years, and now she realized she really knew nothing at all about Kat.
"Question," Cassandra said, her heart pounding in fear. "What happens when you have a conflict of interest? Which one of them will you follow then, Kat?"