Unearthed by Lauren Stewart Read Free Book Online Page A

More relaxed now? That had to stop.
    “Let’s clear this up right away. I’m going after Lamere because it’s my job to go after him. If I don’t do my job, my boss will be angry. When my boss gets angry, shit explodes. Volcanoes erupt, fields are decimated, and entire cultures disappear. Is that what you want?”
    After she swallowed, she said, “Then let me come along. Let me stake him.”
    “Why the fuck would I do that? I like killing things, and I don’t get to do it nearly enough.”
    After a moment, she put her napkin on the table and stood. “Forget it.”
    “Sit down.”
    “I’m leaving, and you’re not going to kill me.”
    “Not in the middle of a restaurant. It would be incredibly awkward, and they probably wouldn’t let me come back. But if you leave before I finish eating, I’ll have no one to talk to and will have to find another way to entertain myself.” His gaze swept over the crowd of humans who had no idea what he was or what he was capable of. “Which one should I start with? Pick one before you go.” It was a gamble, one she might not play along with. But he wasn’t bluffing and she knew it. The question was, did she care?
    “What about her?” He nodded towards a teenage girl sitting with her parents, frowning. Humans favored their young, wanted to take care of them, even if they didn’t belong to them. “What do you think she’s tempted to do? From the look she’s giving her parents, I bet I wouldn’t even have to push very hard.”
    The hunter hesitated, swallowed, and then sat back down. Humans were weak. And predictable.
    “Now answer my question.”
    “I heal fast. That’s it,” she said unhappily.
    “I’ve seen you move. I’ve seen you fight. And while you’re still pretty damn pathetic, you’re a lot faster and stronger than the average human.”
    “Because I’ve worked on it, trained, not because of the vamp blood. All it gave me was faster healing and a whole bunch of drawbacks.”
    “Like what?”
    “You didn’t get me a drink,” she said, signaling the waitress. After listening to the woman go through a long list of imported beers, the hunter sighed. “I’ll take whichever one is the most expensive.”
    He laughed. “Ooh, you sure know how to punish me, puppet.”
    “Call me ‘Seer’ or ‘Hunter’ or even ‘Keira.’ But stop calling me a puppet.”
    “Take the hand out of your ass and I will.”
    “I’m no one’s puppet. The Rising doesn’t do that.”
    “I wasn’t talking about the Rising. I was talking about your Master.”
    “I told you I don’t have one.”
    “And I’m telling you that you do. Masters aren’t always external, puppet. Whatever’s controlling your mind and causing your damage is your Master and will continue to be until you deal with it or you die—whichever comes first. I’m betting on the latter.”
    “I had no idea demons were so wise.”
    “There’s a lot you don’t know about demons.”
    “Teach me.”
    “A demon teaching a human? Yeah, that’s never, ever going to happen. Even if it wouldn’t piss off every supernatural being in the world.”
    “You don’t have any loyalty to the council, and demons don’t follow rules.”
    “There are a few we follow. But they come from the guy downstairs, not the council.”
    “Then why take the jobs they give you?”
    “Because it gives us a chance to kill things without anyone getting their panties in a bunch. Except for the vic, of course.” They stopped speaking when the waitress delivered the hunter’s beer, but their eyes stayed locked. He’d like to believe it was because they both knew better than to take their eyes off the enemy, but that might not have been all of it.
    She was strong, far more than a normal human, whether she knew it or not. And her strength wasn’t just physical. There was something different about her, not caused by the vamp blood.
    “What does he see in you, puppet? He disappears for almost six months and then shows up