The Immortal Hunter

"Thanks." Decker slipped a tip into the store clerk's hand and sent him on his way with the two now-empty carts. He didn't bother to watch him go, but turned back to close the rear passenger door and the trunk. Decker then hit the button on the remote to lock Sam's car and headed for the nearest entrance to go find the women in the grocery store.

Sam was in the dairy aisle, reading the back of a yogurt cup. He had no idea why. The woman didn't need to worry about her weight; she was tall and Twiggy thin.

Sam glanced his way, her eyebrows rising when she spotted him. Setting the yogurt in the cart, she smiled and commented, "Well, that was certainly quicker than I expected."

Decker shrugged as she turned back to the yogurt shelf, not sure why she'd think it would take long, but asked, "Where is Dani?"

Sam turned back with confusion. "She went with you."

"No, she changed her mind and decided to shop with you while I took care of getting the other stuff to the car. She left right behind you," he added, and then frowned and asked, "Are you saying she hasn't got here yet?"

"No." Sam bit her lip. "Maybe she just stopped to get something on the way."

"She can't. She doesn't have a purse." Decker glanced worriedly around, hoping to see her rushing toward them.

"Where could she be then?" Sam asked, sounding bewildered.

Cursing, Decker turned and started back the way he'd come, glancing up each aisle he passed, but she was down none of those. Sam had been chasing around behind him with the cart, but paused when he did and suggested, "Maybe she went to the car."

"I told you, she was coming to shop with you," he said impatiently.

"I know," she said soothingly. "But she doesn't know this mall and it's big and somewhat confusing. Maybe she got turned around, couldn't find the grocery store, and went to see if you were still at the car."

Decker considered that briefly, and then said, "I'll go check. You stay here in case she finds her way here."

The moment Sam nodded agreement, he hurried off. He rushed through the halls, scanning the crowds he passed for Dani as he made his way out to Sam's car.

Decker could tell before he reached it that it was empty, but approached anyway to peer inside in case he'd not locked the doors as he'd thought and she'd crawled inside and fallen asleep.

No such luck. Straightening, he swiveled his head left and right, checking the parking lot to see if she was approaching, and then pulled out his phone and called Sam's cell phone number.

"Is she there?" he asked the moment she answered.

"No," Sam said almost apologetically and then asked, "What do we do? Should I call Mortimer?"

Decker stood still for a moment, experiencing the panic trying to break free inside him and then said, "No. We'll search the mall ourselves first."

He closed the phone without saying good-bye, his eyes scanning the parking lot once more, and then he started back toward the building. They would find her, Decker assured himself as he walked. They had to. He couldn't lose Dani now.

"There he goes: your hero."

Dani ignored that comment from the man in the driver's seat beside her, her attention instead on Decker as she watched him walk away. She wished she could throw open the pickup door and scream, wished she could move at all really, but the ugly bastard next to her had her firmly under his control. At least physically; he was leaving her to her own thoughts, though.

He was probably listening to them, Dani thought bitterly. It hadn't escaped her notice that he had seemed to be enjoying her terror when he and the others had kidnapped her and Stephanie up north, and he'd seemed equally entertained by it as he'd made her walk out here to this beat-up old brown pickup truck. Dani was sure the people they'd passed hadn't noticed a thing amiss, none of them could have known that she was screaming with terror inside her head.

"I am actually enjoying your delightful responses to everything," he agreed, proving she was right and he was poking around in her head listening. "Although I will have to take exception to the ugly bastard bit. I am, and have always been, quite handsome. Don't you think?"

Dani's head turned without her input, her eyes remaining open when she tried to close them as he forced her to look at him.

"Now, tell the truth," he insisted chidingly. "Is this not a handsome face?"

She stared at the face, resentment and anger temporarily sinking her fear and making her silently curse his hide. He was an extraordinarily good-looking man with a charming smile, sparkling yellow-gold eyes, and a glorious mane of golden hair that was brushed back off his face and fell to almost his shoulders... and he was still an ugly bastard, Dani thought grimly.

"Oh ho!" He laughed at her thoughts and turned to start the pickup, saying, "You're going to be so much fun to play with. I can hardly wait."

Dani tried to control the fear that wanted to rise up in her at that comment. She didn't want him to have the satisfaction of knowing he'd caused it.

This was obviously the fifth man from the clearing man, the one who had gotten away. He was the one the others had called Dad in the van when she and Stephanie had been taken. Dani had thought then that it must be a nickname because surely he was too young to be the father of the others. But back then-one whole day ago, Dani realized with amazement-she hadn't known about immortals and how they didn't age. All she'd known was that he had sat in the passenger seat at the front of the van, watching his sons terrorize her and Stephanie with a small smile that suggested he approved. Since Mortimer had explained that an immortal could completely control a mortal, and that they could have taken Dani and Stephanie without their even being aware or suffering, it seemed obvious that he wanted the suffering. That being the case, she was going to do her best to keep from giving it to him.

"Oh, now, that's just being a spoilsport," he complained, turning to glance at her, and then he gave her a grin that made her skin crawl. "I guess it will be a challenge to see if I can get a response out of you, won't it? Maybe I'll make you dance naked for me when we get to the house. Or I wouldn't mind trying out some of those interesting positions you and Decker tried in the barn. Wouldn't that be fun?"

There was no way Dani could prevent the horror those words sent soaking through her mind, and she was helpless to do anything but stare, her mind writhing at the very thought.

"There we go. Now you're getting into the spirit of things," he congratulated on a laugh. "But you're far too distracting to me right now, so it's time for you to go sleepy bye. I'll wake you when we get to the house," he promised.

Dani expected him to simply put her to sleep mentally as she knew he could, but instead he punched her. She saw his fist coming and couldn't do a damned thing to escape the blow, and then pain exploded in her head and everything went dark.

"Well?" Decker stopped pacing beside Sam's car as Mortimer, Justin, and Lucian approached. A curse slipped from his lips as his uncle shook his head.

"Everyone's checked in and there's no sign of her anywhere," Mortimer announced.

Decker turned to look out over the quickly emptying parking lot. The men Lucian had called in, men who were supposed to be looking for Stephanie, had been searching the mall for the last hour. They'd spread out like a swarm to find her, and apparently come up with nothing. It was now nearly ten o'clock, the stores would all be closed soon, and then the lot would be completely empty.

"Is there anywhere she's mentioned that you think she might have run to?" Mortimer asked.

"She didn't run," he growled. "She has no reason to run from me."

"Sorry," Mortimer said, and then shrugged and added, "It's just that she didn't seem too happy with you this morning and I thought perhaps she had-"

"Things have changed," Lucian interrupted calmly. "Decker and Dani have sorted out their differences and mated."

"Get out of my head." Decker scowled at his uncle.

Lucian merely smiled at him and then turned to Mortimer to say, "Have men watch her family's home and her clinical practice just in case, but I suspect Decker's right and she hasn't run."

"What are you thinking?" Mortimer asked.

"I'm thinking that her disappearance is connected to her sister somehow," he said. The words were the very last thing Decker wanted to hear, and immediately brought an image into his head of the bodies in the ravine.

"You're not thinking the rogue and Stephanie somehow turned up here and she gave chase, are you?" Justin asked with disbelief.

"It's not impossible," Lucian murmured thoughtfully. He considered it briefly and then shook his head. "But it's just as possible that the rogue that got away in the clearing may have followed you to Toronto and taken her in the hopes of trading her for the others."

"But he didn't have a vehicle to follow us in," Decker said quickly.

"The woods were at the end of a road," Lucian pointed out. "Presumably there was something on that road to cause it to be there. There may have been cottages, or a business with a vehicle for him to steal."

"There were cottages," Justin said quietly.

Decker grunted. He hadn't noticed, but he'd been preoccupied with navigating the dark, bumpy lane without headlights. The rogue who had disappeared from the clearing might very well have stolen a vehicle and followed them. He'd certainly had the time to do it. It had taken a while for them to clean up things at the clearing and then they'd waited on the road to find out where they should be headed. Decker felt his heart sink as he accepted this, but then rallied. If the rogue hoped to trade Dani for the other rogues, it meant there was still hope for her, and that they would receive a call soon.

"There's no use staying here. The men have searched and Dani isn't in the mall," he said, moving to Sam's car. She'd left it for him so that Dani could find it if she was just lost. Sam herself had caught a ride home at least half an hour ago with one of the men. The appliances and clothes had gone with her. The groceries had never gotten purchased.

"Decker is right. Leave two men to wait here in an SUV until the mall closes just in case Dani is lost in there and we missed her," Lucian ordered as Decker unlocked the car and got in. "Have the rest return to looking for the rogue and Stephanie."

Decker pulled his door closed and stuck the key in the ignition. He was starting the engine when the passenger door opened and Lucian slid in to settle beside him.

When Decker raised an eyebrow, he said, "I am riding with you. Justin drives like a horse's arse."

Decker's mouth twitched at the acerbic comment, mostly because it wasn't true. Justin didn't hesitate to use speed when necessary, but was really a very good driver. However, that wasn't the real reason his uncle had chosen to ride with him. Decker suspected it was because he was worried about how Decker was taking all of this.

"I never worry," Lucian growled, doing up his seat belt.

Decker gave a harsh laugh of disbelief. "Yeah, I know. You're a coldhearted bastard... and you're still reading my thoughts."

Lucian didn't respond.

"Wake up."

Dani blinked her eyes open to find herself sitting slumped in the front passenger seat of the pickup. She felt weak, a little nauseous, and there was a terrible pounding in her head. Wincing, she sat up, closing her eyes quickly when the interior of the vehicle began to swim in a rather alarming manner.

"Yes, I know. I hit you too hard and now you feel nasty," came the impatient comment from her right side. "But we all have our trials to bear. Now, come on. Rouse yourself and get out. We're here."

"Where's here?" Dani asked fuzzily, forcing her eyes open again. Much to her relief, the world didn't move around her this time. Turning cautiously then, she peered at the man standing outside the vehicle, holding the door open. "Who are you?"

He raised his eyebrows at the question, and then clucked his tongue with feigned dismay. "I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I? That was most remiss of me. Leonius Livius the Second at your service." He gave a sweeping bow that reminded her of movies of Renaissance times and then straightened and gave her a wink as he added, "You can call me Leo."

"Let me guess," she said wearily. "You were born and raised during the Renaissance?"

"A very good guess, but no. Alas, I was born much earlier," he assured her. "I did enjoy that era though. The long ball gowns were very elegant and helped to hide any cuts I made in search of food. I could keep a woman for months before having to find a replacement if I was careful not to take too much blood."

Dani recalled the shape of the bodies in the ravine and wondered if that was what had happened to them, kept alive for months, their blood being drained, their life slipping away while this man and the others abused and taunted them. It could be what was happening to Stephanie right now.

"Of course, with the skimpy clothes you girls wear nowadays, that isn't possible."

Dani glanced down at her stretched-out top and shorts and supposed he was right. Thinking back to the brief, shadowed glimpse she had of them, she thought there had been cuts at all the major arteries on the women in the ravine.

"To keep a woman any length of time now, one has to either keep them hidden or dress both them and yourself as punks. My sons don't seem to mind, but I find it a rather rough and distasteful style." He shrugged, and then added, "But one does what one must."

"The men in the clearing were all your sons?"

"Yes they are." He emphasized the present tense.

Dani ignored that. "And the one who took my sister too?"

"Ah yes, sweet Stephanie. She's prettier than you," he commented, glancing her over. "And quite the screamer as well. Twenty-one took a real shine to her. I could tell."

"Twenty-one?" she echoed, confusion and worry for her sister tumbling through her.

"Leonius the Twenty-first," he explained. "Twenty-one for short."

"You named all your sons Leonius?" Dani asked slowly, struggling to understand.

"Of course. I was named after my father and it only seemed right to continue the tradition, so my first son was Leonius the Third, and so on."

"Yes, but-"

"But, but, but," he interrupted impatiently. "We were talking about the sweet, screaming, Stephanie."

Dani closed her mouth.

"Aren't you going to ask me if she's all right?"

"You couldn't know if she is or not if you've been following us around," she said quietly. Decker had said they'd removed everything from the men's pockets while searching for keys to the van, so Dani knew he didn't have a cell phone to call or be called on and probably had no better idea where his son, Twenty-one, was than she did.

"Ah, but I wasn't in the clearing to be searched and Twenty-one fled before that," he pointed out, apparently having dipped into her thoughts. He allowed her to get her hopes up that he might know where her sister was and if she was all right, and then happily squashed those hopes by saying, "However, I did lose my phone somewhere along the way. Probably down in the ravine with the girls," he said with a frown. "I do hope they don't run up my minutes on me. You women are so yippy."

Leonius burst out laughing at his own words, but Dani merely stared, not finding his little joke the least bit amusing. After a brief moment, he stopped and peered at her with a little sigh. "I fear you are lacking a funny bone, Danielle. We shall have to work on that. In the meantime, while I don't have my phone, my boys and I do have a system for contacting each other should we get separated during one of our little adventures. No doubt Twenty-one has left a message by now... As well as his brothers if they've managed to free themselves. I'll check after I get everything rolling here."

"But the others are dead," Dani pointed out, feeling like she was Alice and had just fallen through the looking glass.

"No. Decker and Justin staked them through the heart, it's true, but I unstaked them. Not enough to make it obvious. I only pulled the stakes out enough to be sure they were no longer piercing the heart."

"You were under the tarp when we were driving to Toronto," she said with realization. She'd thought she'd counted five bodies, but Decker and Justin had assured her there were only four.

"Yes, I was. I'm very old, you know, and strong. I recovered more quickly from the tranquilizer than even I would have expected. Not fully, mind you, but enough to roll myself out of the clearing and down into the ravine with the girls. I was recovered enough to walk and talk by the time they were moving my boys to the van. I waited until they turned their attention to putting out the campfire and collecting you, and then got under the tarp with them. I managed to raise the stakes on two of them before Decker started the van and set out, but had to be much more careful once they decided to wake you. Justin was constantly looking back to talk to you."

Leo pursed his lips. "I fear the delay may have cost one or two of my boys their lives. You can't leave the stakes in too long if you wish to preserve life. If the blood dies from lack of oxygen, the nanos die, and there is no hope for the host. But I'm not sure how long that actually is."

Dani couldn't help noticing that while he looked displeased, Leonius didn't actually look torn up about the loss... and hadn't been willing to risk being caught to unstake them. "You were gone when we switched vehicles at Outdoor World."

She had seen Decker and the others crowded around the back of the van and assumed they had been checking the bodies. Decker would have noticed an extra one.

"I left your delightful company while Justin was busy getting gas and Decker escorted you into the restaurant to use the facilities," he announced. "While my sons were showing no signs of regaining consciousness yet, I knew I couldn't wait for them and slipped out while I had the opportunity. I then hitched a ride with a lovely pair of young women. The brunette drove, following you, while I fed on the redhead in the backseat. She was an exciting little bundle; a real screamer like your sister. I actually had to concentrate hard to keep her friend under control and driving while I drained her life away. Sally was her name. I believe the three of you met. At least the brunette had a memory of speaking to you briefly to tell you a stall was available in the ladies' room."

Dani blanched, recalling the two women with the cell phone in the fast-food restaurant.

"You are so delightfully expressive," Leonius said with a chuckle. "I really don't even need to read your mind to know what you're thinking."

"Why aren't you reading my mind?" she asked, only now realizing that he seemed to dip in and pluck things out intermittently. He wasn't in there constantly, though, and wasn't controlling her either.

"I don't wish to share your headache or try to decipher thoughts that are obviously as slow as molasses. I'll wait until you're more recovered, thank you. Now, shall we get out of the pickup?"

Dani hesitated, but supposed there was little point resisting right now. She was too weak to run, and he would simply take control and make her do what he wanted. Besides, the sooner he "got things rolling," the sooner he would see if he had a message from Twenty-one, and she might learn how Stephanie was.

Wincing at the pain that immediately stabbed through her head, Dani shifted on the pickup's bench seat and slid out of the truck. The jolt as her feet hit the ground sent a pain so sharp through her head that nausea followed, and she had to close her eyes and clutch at the truck, taking deep breaths to try to keep down the food she'd eaten at the mall.

"Oh my, tsk tsk. You really are in a bad way. I hit you far harder than I'd intended, but then you were trying my temper. You must try not to spark my temper so this doesn't happen again. I wouldn't want to accidentally kill you in case my sons haven't managed to escape and are still with the enforcers. I might have to trade you for them."

"Me?" Dani straightened slowly and just as slowly turned her head to peer at him with disbelief. "They won't trade your sons for me."

Leonius was silent, his gaze concentrated on her face, and then his eyebrows rose. "You actually believe that," he marveled, apparently having suffered sharing her headache long enough to read her mind. "You have no idea of your value, do you? How charming."

He broke out in laughter, making Dani wince as the sound grated on her nerves and aggravated her pounding head.

"Now listen," he said suddenly, the laughter dying as abruptly as it had started. "Let Daddy teach you a thing or two that you can use." Leonius paused until she met his gaze and then said, "A life mate is more valuable than anything else on this earth. Most immortals would give up any and all wealth they'd accumulated, their family, and even their own lives for a life mate. You are a precious jewel. Do you understand?"

Dani nodded slowly, but only because he expected her to. She didn't really believe that she carried that high a value for Decker. She simply couldn't. They had only met the day before. Dani liked him... well, more than liked him, she acknowledged; she liked him a lot ... And she was definitely in lust with him and-judging by his performance that day-thought he might be in lust with her too, and maybe liked her a lot as well, but that didn't mean he was going to turn over this man's murdering sons for her. At least, she hoped not. Dani didn't want them free. How could she enjoy any peace of mind knowing those animals were out preying on innocent women because of her?

"Are you feeling recovered enough to walk?" Leo asked solicitously. "We should really go inside. We mustn't keep our hosts waiting."

Dani turned her head slowly to the building they were parked beside, her gaze sliding over an old Victorian house with a wide, white front porch. She then swiveled to peer at the outbuildings and fields of corn and felt her heart sink. She was sure this was not his house. She was also sure their "hosts" weren't willing ones, and she feared this was all going to get much worse before it got better.