The Immortal Hunter

Decker paced to the windows, peered out over the fields behind the house, and then paced back to the bed, only to repeat the circuit. He'd made a quick run to his room to change into clean jeans and arrived back in the room to hear splashing from the bathroom. It hadn't been the violent sounds that had accompanied her coughing earlier, however, so he'd begun to pace as he waited for her to finish.

The sound of the bathroom door opening brought Decker's pacing, and thoughts, to an abrupt halt. He turned as Dani stepped into the room. She was rosy-cheeked, her damp hair brushed back and flat to her head. The sight was endearing, he decided, and then noted that she had been forced to redon the clothes she'd worn earlier. They would have to look into getting her some more clothes.

"You look adorable." The words tumbled from his mouth unbidden. They brought a suspicious glint to Dani's face, as if she thought he was being sarcastic.

"Thank you," she muttered finally and added, "You look like hell."

It surprised a laugh from Decker, and he smiled wryly and said, "Thank you."

"I mean you look tired," she added quickly, flushing.

Decker grimaced, but nodded and admitted, "I am."

"Well, for heaven's sake, go to sleep then," Dani said, sounding exasperated.

Decker sincerely wished he could. He was exhausted, but shook his head. "I can't."

"Oh right. You have to keep an eye on me," she said with irritation, and then exploded with annoyance. "This is stupid. I'm not going anywhere, I have to wait for my phone. And if you don't sleep now, you'll be useless when Nicholas calls and we have to move."

Decker cleared his throat and said, "Speaking of Nicholas-"

"I don't want to hear it," Dani cut him off sharply, and immediately hurried to the bed to drag the soft wool blanket off it. She then rushed for the door.

"Where are you going?" Decker asked in a hissed whisper as he hurried after her into the hall.

"To sunbathe," Dani hissed back, apparently no more eager than he was to wake Lucian and the others again.

He opened his mouth to argue with her, but then snapped it closed and rushed down the stairs after her. Decker waited until they'd moved into the kitchen before opening his mouth again, but she beat him to it.

"I'm only going to be on the lawn. You can keep an eye on me from the house... or am I not allowed to go outside at all?" Dani added, and paused at the door next to the breakfast nook to turn a glare on him.

Decker hesitated. He didn't want her to feel like a prisoner, and he could keep an eye on her from the house, but he really wanted to talk to her about Nicholas. He knew Dani didn't think she wanted to hear it, but she had to. Lucian was right, it was better if she understood the true situation.

At least, Decker hoped his uncle was right, because he sure as hell didn't know what was best anymore. The problem was he was torn by several different motivations. Part of him wanted to protect Dani from the knowledge he had to impart, and keep her hopes alive by allowing her to count on a man who just might not be that dependable. Another part was irritated as hell that she appeared to trust Nicholas more than she did him. And yet still another part thought it might be best to tell her because, while it would shatter her illusions, it would also prepare her for the worst if it turned out Nicholas wasn't on their side.

Decker was torn from his internal struggle by the sound of the door closing. Glancing up, he saw Dani through the door window, stomping off across the deck toward the grass, dragging the blanket with her. It appeared she'd grown tired of waiting for him to make up his mind and made it for him.

Cursing, he moved to the door, peered out as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud, and then ground his teeth together and pushed the door open to follow her.

"What are you doing out here? You guys are supposed to avoid the sun," was Dani's irritated greeting when he caught up to her halfway down the yard. It was obvious she'd hoped to escape him by coming out here. For some reason that just made him more determined to stick with her.

"We do, but not all the time," Decker said. "Besides, there's plenty of bagged blood in the house."

Dani glared at him, obviously annoyed and then snapped, "Fine," and turned to continue walking.

"Where are we going?" he asked, smiling despite himself. She really was quite adorable when all huffy like this.

"I"-she emphasized the word-"am trying to find a dry spot to lay out the blanket."

Decker's gaze slid over the dew-kissed lawn. While it was hot and muggy out, it was still early and the sun wasn't making a very good showing. Decker smiled as he eyed the clouds overhead. If he wasn't mistaken, they were storm clouds. Mother Nature was on his side, it seemed.

His gaze slid back to Dani. He'd allowed her to rush ahead a couple of feet and now found himself staring at her behind and the backs of her thighs and even her shapely calves as she hurried along. Distracted as he was by the view, Decker was completely unprepared when she stopped abruptly and turned around. He nearly crashed into her before he could stop himself, but managed and-ignoring the scowl she was giving him-lightly asked, "Giving up?"

"Not in this lifetime," Dani assured him, grim-faced as she headed back toward the house. "Just giving the grass more time to dry so I don't ruin the blanket."

Decker nodded, trying not to show his relief. Despite what he'd said, he didn't like being out in the sun. The damage would be minimal for her and simply add to the aging process over time, which wasn't the case for him. His skin was a little more sensitive due to lack of exposure, and would take on more damage because of that. Decker was old enough to have been trained from birth to avoid such an occurrence. More sun meant more blood needed, which meant more risk of discovery.

Despite the fact that they now used bagged blood from blood banks, they still tried not to use any more blood than necessary. The mortal blood banks were often notoriously short on supplies, and the blood banks the immortals ran were really no different. Wasting blood made him feel guilty and uncomfortable, Decker acknowledged to himself as he followed Dani back to the house.

He'd thought she intended to return inside, but learned his mistake when she laid the blanket over the railing surrounding the deck and then turned to the left and began to walk away.

Grimacing, Decker quickly followed. "Where are we going now?"

"To explore," she muttered, and then asked, "Where are we anyway?"

Dani glanced over her shoulder as she asked the question, catching, him eyeing her behind and legs again. Decker raised his eyes, but shrugged unrepentantly. He was a man, and if the woman was going to charge ahead of him, he was going to be looking at her butt. There wasn't much else to look at out here.

"Just outside Toronto," he said, answering her question.

"Hmmph," she grunted, though whether it was at his ogling her or his answer, Decker couldn't tell.

"What are we going to explore?"

"The barn," Dani muttered. "You can't see it from my room. I didn't realize it was here."

Decker glanced to the barn ahead, not that there was much to see. It was a barn; old, red, rectangular, and huge, with large sliding doors on both the front and back and a small swinging door in the middle of the side facing them. Dani headed for the smaller door.

Decker automatically moved ahead as they neared, to open it for her, his gaze moving curiously over the interior as she walked past him. It appeared to be filled with empty stalls that lined the opposite wall for two thirds of the way before stopping to leave an open area. This side was the same except that the middle stall was missing to make way for the doorway they were entering through.

"They're going to tear it down and build a garage here for the SUVs," Decker announced as he followed her inside.

Dani's response was another grunt as the door swung closed behind him, leaving them in darkness.

"Hang on," Decker said. While he could still see well enough to move around, he knew she was probably now left as blind as the proverbial bat. He moved back to the door and swung it open again, but all the way this time, until it banged against the outer wall. When it stayed open, he nodded his satisfaction and stepped back inside, but Dani was no longer where he'd left her. His head turned, eyes searching the shadows anxiously until the squeal of metal on metal drew his gaze to the huge double, sliding doors at the front end of the building. She had braved the darkness to approach and slide one open. It moved along the rusty track for perhaps four feet before coming to a grinding halt. Dani gave it another shove, putting her whole body behind it, but the door wasn't going any farther.

"Here, let me try " he offered.

"That's all right. It's fine," Dani decided as she turned to see the effect.

Decker followed her gaze. It was much lighter in the barn now. There were still dark corners, and it was a bit dim overall in comparison to outside, but good enough, he supposed, and moved away from the door to follow as she set out to explore.

"There's still hay in here," Dani commented with surprise as she peered at the half a dozen fresh bales stacked against the wall. At least two more lay broken open on the ground in front of them. He couldn't tell if they'd been deliberately put there, or had simply been knocked off the others and broken open themselves, but they had made a small mound of fresh-smelling hay.

"It's a barn," he said with a shrug. "Barns have hay."

"Yes, but why didn't the previous owners take it with them?" Dani asked curiously as she glanced around and added with surprise, "And the saddles."

Decker turned his head until his eyes settled on two saddles that had been left hanging on the wall. He moved closer to examine them, noting the poor shape they were in. "They're pretty old. They probably aren't much good anymore."

"The hay looked pretty fresh though," Dani commerited, and he glanced around to see that she'd started moving along the stalls. Peering curiously into each one as she went, she added, "I would have expected they'd take that with them."

"Maybe they were getting out of farming and had no use for it," he suggested, trailing after her.

"You don't usually farm horses," she said, sounding amused. "At least I don't think you do. I guess they could have been breeders."

Decker didn't comment, and he wasn't looking around much either. It was a barn. Wood walls, wood stalls, the smell of hay, and motes of dust floating in the pools of light spilling from the open doors. It wasn't really very interesting to him. Decker was more concerned with how to tell her what he had to... and make her listen.

"Dani," he began.

Dani sighed to herself with irritation. She just knew Decker was about to bring up Nicholas again, but she didn't want to hear it.

She began to walk a little faster along the stalls, asking, "How long do you think it will take for Bastien's men to fix the phone?"

"I don't know," he muttered. "But while we're on the topic-"

"Oh look, more hay," Dani interrupted as they reached the end of the stalls.

Decker sighed and moved up behind her to peer in at the bales stacked in the end stall.

"They must have kept them in here so they didn't have to drag hay all the way from the front for these back stalls," Dani guessed, but was just talking to keep him from being able to. She began to walk quickly back toward the front of the building. "I always wanted a horse when I was growing up. I suppose most little girls do. I'd get one now, but I don't know how to ride and-"

"He ripped her throat out," Decker blurted.

Dani came to a shuddering halt at the end of the stalls, her eyes locked on the open door ahead. She stood just on the edge of the pool of light spilling through those doors. All she had to do was cross the open area with its hay and saddles and she'd be out, able to rush somewhere else to try to avoid hearing what she suspected was going to at least shake, and possibly topple, all the hopes she'd placed on the shoulders of one Nicholas Argeneau, rogue vampire. Instead she turned slowly to face him, her voice defeated as she said, "Tell me."

Decker glanced away, regret flickering across his face, then shifted to lean back against the stall behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. Peering down at the ground then, he said, "Her name was Barbara Johnson. She was a housewife, eight months pregnant. Both she and the baby died. She was an only child. Her father had a heart attack when they gave him the news, her husband hung himself after the triple funeral, and her mother became an alcoholic and drove her car into a tree before the end of that year." He raised his head and added bitterly, "The man you're counting on not only killed a woman, but also wiped out a family.

"And that's just the victim's family. Ours was torn apart by it too. His younger brother, Thomas, won't talk about him, and his little sister..." Decker shook his head. "Jeanne Louise really looked up to Nicholas and wouldn't at first believe it, but when she finally did... she won't even admit to his existence. As far as she's concerned, she only has and ever had one brother."

Dani had moved to stand opposite him as he spoke and now leaned weakly back against the stall she'd stopped in front of. His words swam around inside her head, carrying vivid images. And then she began to shake her head, her voice bewildered as she said, "But he risked being caught to save Steph and me. And he used to be one of you. Are you sure he-?"

"Yes." Decker rubbed the back of his neck wearily. "I was the one who caught him afterward. Her blood was all over him, even still coating his teeth and tongue."

Dani felt her heart sink at this news and shook her head with bewilderment. "Why did he do it?"

Decker shrugged unhappily. "His life mate died in a car accident a couple weeks before. They hadn't been together long, and she was pregnant. I think he just went crazy. Everyone knew he was in a bad way, and we all tried to help, but he was so damned bitter and angry-" Decker shook his head. "He locked us all out of his life. He stopped working as an enforcer, wouldn't see anyone..." He paused and then admitted, "Nicholas is my cousin on my mother's side. His father, Armand, is her brother. Nicholas was also my partner before it all happened, and despite the age difference we were good friends as well as cousins. I went to his house that day to try to get him to go out. I knocked, but got no answer and nearly left, and then I heard a woman's scream."

Decker grimaced and admitted, "I was stupid enough to try knocking again before deciding to break down the door or I might have been in time to save her. I just never imagined..."

Dani moved to his side, drawn by the guilt and pain reflected on his face. But once there, she had no idea what she could do to soothe him and merely raised her hand to rest it on his crossed arms, offering silent comfort.

It seemed to be enough. Decker took a deep breath, blew it out, and then continued almost mechanically, "I broke down the door, but by the time I found them in the basement it was too late. Nicholas was sitting on the floor with her lying across his lap and-as I said-her blood was all over him."

"I see," Dani said quietly, watching his face. It seemed obvious Decker blamed himself for Barbara Johnson's death, as well as what it had done to her child, father, husband, and mother. The very fact that he knew so much about the family told her that.

Decker, Dani realized, had taken on the responsibility for what Nicholas had done, much as she had been blaming herself for her and Stephanie being kidnapped.

"None of it was your fault," Dani said firmly, wanting to help him see that just as he had helped her. "Nicholas is the one who-"

"I let him go," Decker interrupted.

She stiffened. "What?"

"I let Nicholas go," he repeated. "When I saw what he'd done, I just turned right around and said I was going upstairs to call Lucian. When I got back downstairs he was gone."

"You were probably in shock. You didn't mean to-"

"Didn't I?" Decker interrupted grimly.

Dani raised her eyebrows and asked solemnly, "Did you?"

He turned his face away and admitted, "I've spent fifty years trying to figure that one out." Decker pushed himself away from the stall and paced, adding, "At the time, I didn't know who Barbara was or what had happened. She was just a strange dead woman in his arms. Nicholas was my cousin. He'd been like a big brother when I first moved here from Europe, putting me up, helping me find a place and settle in. He was the one who showed me the ropes when I became an enforcer. Maybe some part of me did know he'd run... and let him."

Dani shook her head. "You're second-guessing your motives, Decker, when the truth is, there might not have been any. If you thought that highly of him, you had to have been in shock over what he'd done. Anyone would be."

"But-"

"And even if you weren't, even if you did know he would run, it doesn't make you responsible for the deaths of Barbara Johnson, her child, husband, or parents. That deed was down to Nicholas, and it was done before you got to him. You aren't responsible for those deaths."

"And what about the mortals he may have killed since then?" Decker asked quietly.

Dani hesitated, a frown claiming her lips. She didn't really believe Decker had intentionally let Nicholas go. She suspected he just felt so guilty the man had escaped that he was blaming himself for all of it. She understood that, but it didn't make it right. The only one responsible for anything Nicholas had done that day and since was Nicholas himself.

"And what about those women in the ravine and your sister?" Decker added, drawing her from her thoughts. "What if Nicholas was running with that group and just claimed to be hunting them to get the opportunity to escape?"

Dani immediately began to shake her head. "I don't know what happened that day when he killed Barbara. Maybe he snapped, maybe he ripped her throat out, but I still don't believe the man I talked to on the phone was running with those animals, or had anything to do with our being kidnapped and taken. He led you to us, Decker," she said almost pleadingly. "He helped save me, and chased after the rogue when he took my sister. I have to believe that... It's all I've got to hang on to."

Decker sighed, his shoulders sagging under the weight of a guilt she knew she couldn't remove. It would be a monkey on his back until he caught his cousin, or perhaps even until he died.

"Right," he said wearily, moving past her to head out into the open area. "I guess we should head back to the house."

Dani followed slowly. There was no reason to avoid him anymore. He'd told her what she'd tried so hard to avoid hearing. They might as well go back to the house. Perhaps once there she could persuade him to sleep, she thought, and then noticed that he'd stopped in the open door and was peering out with a frown. That was when she became aware of the steady ping of rain on the metal roof overhead. She'd been so caught up in their conversation and her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed it when it started. Now she wondered how long it had been coming down.

"We're going to have to make a run for it," Decker said as she reached his side. "I think it's about to really pour."

Dani nodded and took the hand he offered her, and then glanced up wide-eyed as the steady ping suddenly turned into a loud drumming. She turned her gaze out the door to see that it was now almost as dark as night outside, and that the rain was coming down in sheets.

"Maybe we should wait until it slows down again," she suggested.

Decker hesitated, watching as the sky lit up with lightning. It was followed shortly afterward by a loud crack and then a rumble as thunder rolled overhead, and he nodded. "Yeah. We'll wait it out."

Taking back her hand, Dani turned to lead the way to the bales stacked against the wall. She seated herself on one and plucked a piece of straw from it, then watched him slowly move to join her.

They sat in silence for several minutes and then-unable to stand it any longer-Dani asked, "Is your last name Argeneau or Pimms?" When he glanced at her with surprise, she added, "You didn't seem to be sure when we first met."

He smiled wryly and then plucked a bit of straw out of the bale and began to toy with it. "I was born Decker Argeneau Pimms. My mother is an Argeneau. The Pimms comes from my father. But we've always switched between the two names."

When she raised her eyebrow in question, he explained, "Our kind tend to have to move every decade or so. People get suspicious when you don't age after that period, so we move. Our family also switched between the name Argeneau and Pimms every century or so too. This century they're using Argeneau. At least my parents and sisters are. I'm not sure about my brothers."

Dani wondered about that comment, unable to imagine not knowing what names her brothers and sisters were going by, but merely asked, "How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"Three younger sisters and three older brothers," he answered easily.

"You have an even larger family than we do," she said with a smile.

"Only one more," Decker said with a shrug. "And we aren't as close as your family appears to be. It's the age difference," he explained.

"How old are they?"

"Let's see." He paused to think and then said, "Elspeth was born in 1872 and Julianna and Vicki-they're twins," he explained. "I think they were born in 1983."

Dani stared at him blankly. "1872?"

Decker nodded.

"But that would make her over a hundred and thirty years old."

"About one hundred and thirty-seven or thereabouts," he said, and then reminded her, "The law about leaving at least one hundred years between each child causes the large gaps."

Dani closed her eyes as everything clicked into place in her head. Decker telling Justin that he hadn't eaten since he was one hundred and twenty, his saying in the van that his grandparents had been treated with the nanos in Atlantis, and his telling her just moments ago that his family was using the name Argeneau this century. They called themselves immortals, and she was beginning to realize it wasn't because they were quick healers. Dani didn't know why she hadn't worked it out before this. She supposed she'd been too stressed out and worried about Stephanie, but she was beginning to understand now.

"Your people don't age and die," she said.

"We don't age," Decker agreed, "But we can die. I did mention that it was Nicholas's life mate's dying that pushed him over the edge."

"I assumed she was mortal," Dani murmured with confusion. "Sam is mortal, and I thought-"

"Sam is only mortal because she isn't ready to turn yet," he explained, and then shook his head and muttered, "I guess I didn't explain things very well last night." He paused and took a deep breath and then said, "The nanos will repair any damage including that caused by aging. They also kill off illnesses, but they travel through the bloodstream, so if you rip out the heart, they aren't going anywhere or repairing anything. The blood will die and so will they."

"So Nicholas's wife died in an accident that ripped out her heart?" she asked with disbelief. "What kind of accident rips out your heart?"

"No. Nicholas's wife, Annie, burned to death in a car accident."

"So fire can kill you too."

He nodded. "And decapitation."

Dani supposed that made sense, and asked, "But otherwise you don't die or age?"

Decker shook his head.

"And your sister is one hundred and thirty-seven?"

"Thereabouts," he agreed.

"And she's younger than you?"

Decker seemed to realize where her questions were leading. Lips twisting wryly he said, "I'm two hundred and fifty-nine years old, Dani."

"Two hundred and..."

"Fifty-nine," he finished.

Finding it just too hard for her poor brain to accept, she asked weakly, "You're pulling my leg, right?"

"No," Decker said solemnly, and then worry crossed his face. "Does the age difference bother you?"

Dani gave a short disbelieving laugh and then frowned and peered at him with concern. "Decker, you've told me about life mates, and I know you think I'm yours, but-"

"I don't think, I know," he said firmly, and then reminded her, "Dani. I can't read you."

"Yes, but-"

"And we're sharing dreams."

She stared at him with bewilderment. The only dreams she'd had since meeting him were the one where she'd been walking a flowered path with Stephanie, and-Dani froze, and then asked with dismay, "The tub?"

"I'm afraid so," he said with chagrin. "I fell asleep on the bed while waiting for you to finish your bath, and..." He shrugged.

She felt herself flush with embarrassment, but asked, "So I experienced what you were dreaming?"

"Not exactly," Decker said slowly.

"Well what exactly?" she snapped.

"From what I understand it's a shared sort of thing. Your brain was supplying what you were doing and my mind controlled me, so while I was soaping your breasts, it was you who turned and raised your face to kiss me and you who reached back to grab my-"

"I wonder if the rain's stopped," Dani interrupted in a strained voice.

She started to slide off the bale of hay, but he caught her arm to stop her, pointing out, "You can hear it's still pounding down."

"Oh yes," she murmured, licking her lips and avoiding his eyes. His words had taken her right back to the excitement of those moments, and his voice had deepened as he spoke, becoming so damned sexy... She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to kiss him back. She wanted-Giving her head a shake, Dani pulled her arm free and slid off the bale. She immediately started walking for the open doors.

"It could rain for hours. We should probably go back and..." She paused in surprise as Decker caught her arm and spun her around.

"Don't run from me, Dani," he whispered, his expression intense. "I'll just give chase."

"I'm not running," she whispered, her eyes on his mouth.

"Yes," he growled. "You are." And then he did exactly what she wanted and kissed her.