"Mostly because this ain't Buffy and there's not one single Hellmouth to guard. I'm up to my armpits in Armageddon down here in New Orleans and not even I can physically be in two places at once. She's your responsibility, Wulf. Don't let me down."
Against his better judgment, Wulf listened to Ash give him Cassandra's address. "And Wulf?"
"Yeah?"
"Have you ever noticed that salvation, much like your car keys, is usually found where and when you least expect it?"
He frowned at Ash's esoteric words. The man was really, really strange. "What the hell does that mean?"
"You'll see." Ash hung up.
"I really hate it when he plays Oracle," he said between clenched teeth as he turned his SUV around and headed toward Cassandra's. This sucked. The last thing he wanted was to be near a woman who had seduced him so completely.
A woman he knew he could never touch in the real flesh. That would be an even bigger mistake than the one he'd already made. She was an Apollite. And for the last twelve hundred years, he had spent his life pursuing her kind and killing them.
And yet the woman called out to him in a way that tore through him. What was he going to do? How could he uphold his code as a Dark-Hunter and keep away from her when all he really wanted to do was take her into his arms and see if she tasted as good in real life as she had in his dreams…Kat thoroughly searched the apartment before she allowed Cassandra to lock the door. "Why are you so nervous?" Cassandra asked. "We defeated the Daimons."
"Maybe," Kat said. "I just keep hearing that guy's voice in my head telling me that it's not over. I think our friends are going to be back. Real soon."
Cassandra's nervousness came back with a vengeance. It had been way too close tonight. The mere fact that Kat had refused to let them fight the Daimons and had opted instead to hide in a corner of the bar told her just how dangerous these men were.
She still wasn't sure why Kat had pulled her away from them. Neither one of them cowered from anyone or anything. Not until now.
"So what should we do?" Cassandra asked.
Kat triple-locked the door and pulled the gun from her purse. "Put our heads between our knees and kiss our butts good-bye."
Cassandra was stunned by the unexpected words. "Excuse me?"
"Nothing." Kat offered her an encouraging smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "I'm going to go make a call, okay?"
"Sure."
Cassandra went to her room, and did her best not to relive the night her mother had died. There had been a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach all day long. Just like she had now. She wasn't safe. No Daimon had ever attacked the way they did tonight.
The Daimons at the club hadn't come out to feed or to play. They had been specially trained and had come out as if they had known exactly where she was. Who she was. But how? Could they find her even now?
Terror filled her. She went to her dresser and pulled open the top drawer. In it was a small arsenal of weapons, including the dagger of her mother's people that had been handed down to her.
She didn't know how many people had a dagger for a security blanket, but then there weren't many people who grew up the way she had either. She secured the sheath to her waist and hid it at the base of her spine. Her death might be imminent in a few months, but she had no intention of dying one day sooner than she had to.
A knock sounded on her front door. Cautiously, she left her room and walked into the living room, expecting to see Kat in there curious about their unannounced visitor too. Kat wasn't there.
"Kat?" she called, taking a step toward Kat's room.
No one answered.
"Kat?"
The knocking continued, more demanding than it had been before. Scared now, she went to Kat's room and pushed open the door. The room was empty. Completely. There was no sign that Kat had ever been in there. Her heart hammered. Maybe Kat had gone out to the car for something and gotten locked out?
She went back to the door. "Kat, is that you?"
"Yeah, let me in."
Cassandra laughed nervously at her stupid behavior and swung open the door. It wasn't Kat outside. The dark-haired Daimon smiled at her. "Did you miss me, princess?" he said in a voice identical to Kat's. She couldn't believe this. It couldn't be real. This kind of stuff happened in movies, not in real life.
"What are you, the friggin' Terminator?"
"No," he said calmly in his own voice. "I'm the Harbinger who is merely preparing the way for the Destroyer."
He reached for her. Cassandra stepped back. He couldn't enter the house without an invitation. Reaching behind her, she pulled out her dagger and sliced his arm. He drew back with a hiss. She spun as she saw someone behind her. It was another Daimon. She caught him in the chest with her dagger.
He evaporated into a golden-black cloud. Another shadow passed over her. Spinning around, she kicked Stryker back, but he didn't go completely out the door. Instead, he only blocked it more.
"You're quick," he said as his arm healed instantly before her eyes. "I'll give you that."