He knelt beside Hunter and passed his gloved hand over Allison's body about an inch above it. "Her lungs are singed," he said quietly.
"Can you help her, Talon?" Hunter asked.
Talon nodded. He removed his gloves, then placed his hands against Allison's ribs.
After a few seconds, Allison's breathing became slow and steady. Talon met Amanda's gaze. She shivered as she saw that he had the exact same eyes as Kyrian. There was something very unsettling and strange about this new Dark-Hunter.
He was stillness, she realized. Like some bottomless pond. There was a calm serenity to him that was both beguiling and frightening. And it dawned on her that something really bad must be going on. Why else would another Dark-Hunter be here at the same time?
"Desiderius set the fires, didn't he?" she asked.
Both of the men shook their heads no. Hunter looked to Talon. "Your target?"
"My guess would be they've teamed up. Mine is trying to flush you out while yours is in hiding."
At last the fire crews arrived. An EMT team took over with Allison while the three of them moved to stand to the side.
"Well, damn, Talon, this is new," Hunter said as he raked a hand through his hair. "It leaves us completely vulnerable."
Talon inclined his head toward Tabitha's burning house. "Yeah, I know. It sucks that they can combine their strengths while we can't."
"Why can't you?" Amanda asked.
Talon turned to Hunter. "How much does she know?"
"A lot more than she should."
"Can we trust her?"
Hunter looked askance at her; the uncertainty in his eyes hurt her. She would never do anything to harm the man who had saved her life. "I had a voice mail from Acheron this evening that said to give her whatever information she wanted."
Talon frowned. "That doesn't sound like T-Rex to me."
"You know, Acheron really hates when you call him that."
"Which is exactly why I use it. And I find it hard to believe T-Rex would give her carte blanche."
"Yeah, but you know Acheron. There must be a purpose to it, and in his own, decrepit time, I'm sure he'll get around to enlightening us."
"So tell me, then," she prompted. "Why can't you guys combine your strengths?"
"It's to keep us from cockfighting or using our powers against the humans or gods," Hunter explained. "As a result, as soon as we get together, we start draining each other's powers and dampening them. The longer we stay together, the weaker we become."
Amanda gaped. "That's not fair."
"Life seldom is," Talon said.
Hunter turned to Talon. "Any idea where your target is?"
"I lost the tracking signal here. So I'm guessing there must be a bolt-hole close by."
"Great," Hunter said, "just friggin' great."
Talon concurred. "I'm thinking we should call in Kattalakis to flush both of them out."
"No," Hunter said quickly. "This isn't the typical Daimon we're dealing with and something tells me siccing a Were-Hunter on Desiderius would be like tossing a grenade on a keg of dynamite. The last thing we need is for him to grab one of their souls. Can you imagine the damage he could wreak with that?"
"Were-Hunter?" Amanda asked. "Is that like a werewolf?"
Talon cleared his throat."Not exactly."
"We protect the night," Hunter said. "Hence Dark-Hunter. And they…" He gave Talon a searching gaze. Talon took up the explanation. "Were-Hunters are…" He looked to Hunter as if seeking the right word, too.
Hunter shrugged."Sorcerers?"
"Works for me," Talon said.
Well, it didn't work for Amanda, who had no idea what they were talking about. "Sorcerers? Like Merlin?"
"Oh hell," Talon muttered. He locked gazes with Hunter. "You sure about what T-Rex said?"
Hunter undipped his cell phone from his belt, scrolled through his saved messages, then handed it to Talon. "Listen for yourself."
Talon did. After a brief wait, he handed the phone back to Hunter and faced Amanda. "All right, then, let's explain it this way. There are four basic kinds of Daimons or vampires: bloodsuckers, soul suckers, energy/dreams uckers, and slayers."
Amanda nodded. That made sense to her. "You guys are the slayers." Hunter snorted. "What? Were you born with a remote in your hand?"
"No," Talon corrected her while ignoring Hunter's sarcasm. "Slayers are the nastiest of all the vampires because they don't want anything from their victims. They merely destroy for the sake of destruction. Not to mention, they are the strongest of the vampires."
A shiver went down her spine. "Is Desiderius one of them?"
Hunter shook his head negatively while Talon continued to explain it to her. "To protect the world as we know it, there were three races of hunters created to police and destroy the Daimons. We are called 'the Pyramid of Protection.' Dark-Hunters pursue those who feed on human blood and souls. Dream-Hunters go after the energy-and dream suckers, and Were-Hunters stalk the slayers."