The Hunter by Theresa Meyers Page A

the worlds down there. Any one of the Darkin could attack you. We’re not talking just demons. There’s vampires down there that’ll suck you dry to the bone. Creatures made of rock and fire that could crush then crisp you in the blink of an eye, that your bullets won’t even touch. Shape-shifters that’ll get inside your skin and paralyze you, using your body like a suit so you can only see the mayhem you’re creating, but you’ll be unable to stop it as they flay your loved ones alive with your hands and eat the meat in front of your eyes. Are you sure you’re prepared for that?”
    Challenge glinted in his eyes. A raw, primal power radiated off him, which made her question her powers of seduction when matched up against his. His grin lifted just a touch more, as if he’d just read her intimate thoughts. “Nothin’ I can’t handle. Trust me.”
    Lilly turned away, unable to look into his face any longer. Trust. Not likely. She’d never trust another soul as long as she existed, and certainly not a Hunter out to send her back to a tormented eternity. And yet, if he could help her escape Rathe, she had to take the chance.
    “Are you going to let us out of this circle, or are we going to stand here talking all night about what’s waiting for us?” Rathe had given her three weeks. There was no time to waste. She had to gain his confidence, yet she found herself reluctant to get too close to him. He stirred unwelcome sensations in her, sensations that would land her in a heap of trouble. The tip of his nose brushed along her cheek and beneath her ear—a skimming touch that shot straight to her toes and made a warm sensation unfurl deep inside her.
    “You sure don’t smell like sulfur.”
    “Yes, you already mentioned that,” she bit out, irritation lacing her tone.
     
     
    Colt suppressed the urge to grin. Good. Let the little demon get a taste of her own medicine. It had only taken him a few minutes to realize the only way to fight fire was with fire. If she wanted to turn on the charm, then so could he, in spades. Hell, he might even be able to consider it a secret weapon in this case. After all, her lips clung to his when they’d kissed. No matter how prickly she seemed, she was attracted to him.
    He stepped back from the radiant silken heat of her curves, his foot crossing the edge of the circle. The invisible barrier slid around him like the warm caress of a sunbeam. Outside the circle, the chill silence of the night was punctuated by calls of coyotes on the hunt and scented with the dirty machine-oil smell of creosote bushes mixed with wood smoke. All that remained of the fire were the blackened husks of the logs and their red glowing hearts.
    Well, he wanted a demon. Now he had one, and she was willing to open the door without taking his soul in payment. That had to count as a point in his favor, didn’t it?
    Through the shimmer of the circle’s barrier she looked damn enticing. Things could have been worse. Way worse. He could have ended up with some ugly sonofabitch with horns, a damned forked tongue, and matching tail. Then again, maybe that would have been a hell of a lot safer than a succubus that looked like every man’s fantasy sheathed in black silk.
    The demon cocked the curve of her hip to one side and crossed her bare arms over her chest, which made her breasts press together in a way that made him hard and damn uncomfortable. “We have an accord. You can’t keep me in here forever if you want me to open that door for you.”
    Colt said a silent prayer that the demon he was about to unleash on the world would go the hell back to where she’d come from willingly so he didn’t have to shoot her when they were done.
    “Here goes nothin’,” he muttered as he glanced at the directions in the book that lay open in the dirt and worked the circle backward, blowing out the candles as he went in the opposite order he’d lit them to open the circle he’d cast. Unfortunately, that brought