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CHAPTER 28

"Dove Hawthorne, you have been granted a warrant." The man rasped as he placed the paper in his bowl. It transferred over to me.

"That's it?" I said in disbelief as I picked up the paper that fluttered into my own copper bowl.

"All the information is on the paper. I can't add anything."

I glanced down at the warrant and said crankily. "How 'bout how many hunters have died before it was given to me or past patterns?" When I looked up the man had an evil smile and narrowed eyes.

I cocked my head and studied him. I had never seen him before and he made my skin crawl. He was dressed conservatively, dark blue suit and tie. "Who are you? You're not a chronicler."

He ignored the question. "The warrant is authentic."

He smiled wider and his vision transferred behind me. I felt the weight and warmth of Ezra's hands descend on my shoulders. "In fact, you have a fountain of information behind you."

"Is it for you?" Ezra remarked blandly.

"Warrants are only for those who let evil come onto them." He transferred his stare back to me and gave me a direct look as if to imply that I was evil, or maybe I was still projecting my insecurities. My lip curled in contempt as I terminated the connection.

When I turned around Ezra was human looking and dressed in a black suit, his traditional red garnet closing his shirt collar. He looked down pointedly at the warrant in my hand.

"Oh. Uh..." I scanned it again. "It's Melous."

He gently took the paper from my hand and let out soft laughter. "You will not kill Melous."

"Uh, what do you mean I won't kill Melous?"

"Oh, Doctor." Ezra said with a German accent as he stared at the paper.

I sighed heavily. "Was that the infamous Doctor Bardellis?"

"Yes."

"You can't tell this demon that I'm coming."

"He already knows you are."

"If you are not going to let me kill him what's your plan?"

Ezra tapped the paper in on his palm and said nothing.

"If you don't have a plan then I am going to kill that demon." I pointed at the warrant.

Ezra stared at me, "I will not let you kill Melous."

Taurin came in just as my mouth opened to disagree with Ezra. I looked at him suspiciously because I could smell blood mingled with his scent. "What did you do?"

"Me?" he asked innocently. He inclined his head towards me. "What do you smell?" He asked eagerly.

"You look impeccable as always, but I smell blood coming from you."

"What kind?" He asked, still eager.

"I don't know!" I said in exasperation.

"Wolf's blood," he grinned.

"Oh shit! Not again."

"Gordon's were hungry."

"And so were you apparently. Which reminds me that we need to address this little problem you have. Well, one of several problems, some of them clearly mental. And you," I pointed at Ezra, "you better have something to tell me."

I walked to the entrance and pulled back the material motioning Taurin to go before me. I raised an eyebrow as he mockingly inclined his head and went through. He leaned on the couch's arm and waited for me to speak.

"I found out a way for you to get over your predicament." I paused, "I think."

"Go on." He cocked his head and gave me his full attention.

"I found out that you could issue a challenge to the werewolf involved. The problem is that once you issue it you would have no say as to whatever else happens. The werewolf decides whether it is to the death. He also establishes other boundaries. Then there is the possibility that he will not accept it because you aren't a werewolf."

"That was a mouthful. Where'd you get your information?"

"I was doing research." I turned around when I heard Ezra walk into the living room and watched him take a crossed armed stance.

"I want to know where you were researching," Ezra added.

"I'm sure you do. Just believe me when I say that it's authentic."

"You, I would never doubt. You do not lie, at least not very well." Ezra said.

"Great. Good to know." I rolled my eyes and turned back at Taurin. "So?"

"You want me to issue a challenge?"

I couldn't tell what he was thinking. Taurin's face was blank. I shrugged.

"But what if I die, Dove?" He asked nonchalantly.

"I didn't think you were that insecure," I said sweetly.

The demon laughed under his breath. "It would solve our problem."

"If you died?" I said sweetly again.

Taurin barked a laugh.

"Anyway, do you want to do it?"

"It would be an easy way to solve this. Tell me what to do."

"Part of the deal was that I would issue the challenge to the werewolf."

I felt the air move against my back and Ezra was immediately in front of me. "You made a bargain with a werewolf?" He tapped a finger on my forehead, "Taurin is a bad influence on you."

"What?! Are you kidding?! Taurin is a bad influence on you!" I said with bitterness while pushing at his chest.

Ezra made a noise of annoyance at me.

I continued, "It was the only way for me to get the information I needed."

Taurin studied me from the couch.

Ezra continued with a glare, "For Taurin."

"Yes. What?"

"You are too trusting, Dove."

"I'm beginning to figure that out. After all look at the situation I am in now," I said gesturing to the two of them.

"Yes. Look at the situation you are in now," Ezra agreed.

"We will do this," Taurin said.

"At whose pain?" Ezra asked darkly as he stared intently at me.

"I guess that's the question," Taurin replied just as menacingly.

I sighed. I knew they thought that I had been manipulated, they were probably right. They would know, they were masters at it. I changed topics. "About the warrant." I looked pointedly at Ezra.

"We will not hunt him."

"Then give me another option or I will go alone, because I don't know what else to do. Unless you want the Affairs' Office to place a warrant on all of us. And I so don't want that, do you?"

"Bardellis did this because he we had a disagreement of a scientific and personal nature."

"How long ago was this?" I asked.

"One hundred years."

I nodded my head slowly, "That's a long time to hold a grudge. He doesn't look that old."

"He is."

"What is he?"

He spoke to Taurin in demon. Taurin responded with genuine surprise, that, at least, I could understand from his tone. I watched Taurin rub his thumb over his bottom lip. He bit his pad as he contemplated the words to use to explain to me. He finally spoke, "You know what vampires are."

"Not personally."

He rolled his eyes and I smirked at the behavior he picked up from me, wondered how long until he started swearing on a regular basis.

"Bardellis is something similar to that. He steals from others, takes their health. That is how they live. That is their only nourishment. They're a rare breed."

Ezra shook his head, "Not as rare as they want you to believe. They are the best at hiding than any of us in this realm."

Taurin looked at Ezra, "I guess I should be more on my guard when I'm feeling ill."

"You should always be on your guard, even when it is Dove."

I snorted and laughed at that. "Yeah, Taurin," I said sarcastically and laughed again. I stopped laughing when I saw the seriousness in his eyes.

"I have something to do." Ezra said as he walked back into the summoning room. I would have followed him, but Taurin stopped me.

"Tell me how to issue the challenge," he insisted.

"No."

"Even if you are being pushed into a corner?"

"You can't know that."

"Right," he said sarcastically. "What else did this werewolf want besides you issuing the challenge?"

Master manipulators always know that there is more. "To know the name."

He shook his head in affirmation. "That sounds logical. You did not have that information though so what else?"

"There was nothing else."

He eyed me wearily. "Fine. We will issue the challenge together. After you and Ezra figure out about this warrant. What is it about this warrant?"

"Don't know. Ezra only says that he won't do it."

"And will go to great lengths to make sure you don't either."

I shrugged.

"No," he said adamantly. "You do not want him to go to great lengths. As much as I enjoy the in fighting, this will go beyond that." He stood up and closed the distance between us. I watched wisps of his blond hair drift in the movement.

His hand cupped my jaw and he drew it down until it was resting on the spot where Ezra tore into me. I looked up into his determined eyes. "We all do what we need to do, Taurin." I turned to go into the summoning room.

Behind me I heard Taurin whisper, "Yes, but Dove, you'll forgive us for anything we do to you." I shook my head without looking back at him.

Ezra stood in front of the mirror with two pieces of paper in his hand talking to a man in an ill fitting gray suit. I moved closer and listened to them speak demon. As I watched there was movement under the other demon's suit jacket. I frowned in confusion. Something whipped a tail out from his open collar and snapped around his neck, then melded into skin. Holy shit, I did not want to know.

The demon on the other side of the mirror switched to English. "I know what Doctor Bardellis is Ezra. Give this warrant to your pet."

He didn't even look at me when he said the evil word. I scowled in anger. If I could shoot flames out of my eyes things would be burning.

Ezra laughed in disbelief, "Is this real?" He held up one of the papers.

"It is very real. This warrant dates back for decades. Before our inclusion."

Ezra sighed in frustration.

"This is what you decided. Give me Melous and I will override it."

Ezra breathed deeply and placed the warrant in the copper bowl. I watched and felt him burn it with his hand. It assembled itself on the other side as it flamed on ours.

"Doctor Bardellis is screwing with both you and Melous. You should have accepted the position on the council. You are one of the most strongest and controlled. If not the most." The demon's eyes narrowed and turned a bright red. "You gave up your power when you declined and now you see how helpless you can be. Everyone comes after the weak."

Behind me Taurin laughed. The demon in the mirror glanced at him briefly and said snidely, "My point is standing behind you. Pretty Icelander brother."

Then he directed his red stare to me. I watched as he rubbed his clean smooth face and extra appendages appeared on his hand. When he moved down his neck his 'hand' completely covered it. I think I stopped breathing for at least seven seconds. His hand disappeared on the desk and I started breathing again.

His eyes started to bleed red. "I don't know what you are doing here, Ezra. You remember what I said if she survives this warrant." With that he wiped the mirror with something connected to him. It wasn't a hand.

"What the hell was that?!" I said shaken.

"Just another of us," Ezra said distractedly.

Taurin laughed again, "Oh yeah, no one important. Only one of the scariest of us. His name is Shorn and I don't think any other from his litter survived." Taurin had tears coming from his eyes as he laughed. "He ate them."

Ezra mumbled and walked out of the room. Taurin and I followed.

"So, Ezra needs a problem taken care of and he goes to the top." Taurin couldn't stop laughing. "That was not our 'contact' Ezra. I believe that honor goes to another."

Ezra looked at Taurin. "Cam is a rat sniffing entrails dragger who gives us a bad name. Do not tell me that you were actually going to contact him."

Taurin looked like he was going to bust a gut, "No, but I would never even think about contacting Shorn. He would have me eat my own... well, you know, and that would be before he told me the terms for assisting me. And now he knows what Dove looks like. He would 'help your weakness' by getting rid of her."

I took a deep breath and wondered if my fellow demon hunters really knew what was out there in the dark. I didn't interrupt, I was too interested in learning more about Shorn.

Ezra remained calm, "No. He reinstated my warrant because he knew what I wanted. The only way to get that was to have demon hunters come after me. He knew who Dove was before I ever did. Shorn made sure she was issued my warrant." He looked pointedly at me. "I was in no danger."

I took in a deep breath at his words, bewildered.

Taurin sobered up. "As you just pointed out, there is always danger somewhere for us."

"Yes, but not then. I was following my Path," he said in a tone of complete conviction.

I looked at him in confusion and disbelief. I had no idea what the 'Path' was and I had never heard such devoutness in Ezra's tone before. I kept learning new things about demons every day. I kept my mouth closed as I pondered his revelation.

Taurin started to say something, then shut his mouth. After a few moments he started again, "What does that warrant say?"

This time Ezra laughed. "You need to read this!" He waved the warrant in Taurin's face.

Taurin snatched it from his hand and scowled, "No wonder this has been sitting on his desk."

"Well, it gives us a good excuse for not looking for Melous."

I snatched the paper from Taurin, "Oh shit! You have got to be kidding me."

Taurin looked at me, "You know who this is," he asked.

"He's a fucking legend, myth, whatever!"

Taurin sniffed at my description and I looked up at him, "Well, he doesn't really hide his actions very well."

"No," he conceded, then barked a laugh, "Fucking would be the correct term. How are we going to find him?"

"As Shorn said to me before you came in Taurin," Ezra cleared his throat and began to mimic the scary demon's voice, "'You already have the perfect bait. Dogs know the scent.'" He looked directly at me.

"Oh, fuck no. You are out of your fucking mind. No way! This demon is way beyond me."

The air pushed towards me and Ezra was pressed up against me, "I was way beyond your skills, but look where I am now."

"Oh! Whatev-" Ezra stopped my words with a kiss that was way beyond me and I melted around him. The warrant fluttered to the floor. My arms encircled his neck and he picked me up. A subtle movement and I had my legs wrapped around his waist. He pushed Taurin out of the way with one hand and walked us into the bedroom. Master manipulator, yup. I heard Taurin growl as the bedroom door slammed behind us.

CHAPTER 29

I reveled in the coolness of the morning, but knew that the heat of the summer was going to climb in temperature by midday. The rising sun peaked through the trees as I looked around the yard for the hound after my run. She was no where I could see, which was fine with me. I wasn't really a dog person. I wasn't really an any kind of pet person actually. I turned and walked back into the kitchen where breakfast was waiting for me.

As I crunched on cereal I flipped through a huge book of reference for demon hunters. It was compiled by a journalist who walked with several of us. She wrote down trials, myths, and even several formalities demon hunters used. She didn't get all of our secrets, but she was granted a lot. The most important one being the permission to publish with the stipulation that any demon hunter could get the book for free. I'm sure she made a tidy sum for the book. It stayed on the non-fiction best seller list for years.

The book was well written and easy to read. It was interesting, even to demon hunters. I don't think there was anyone who didn't take up the offer of the free book. It became our reference. I wondered if she would do another one, this one was at least five years old, published shortly after I was out of training.

Presently, the book was open to the section about well known demons. As she explained in the introduction to the chapter, whenever she asked about the most well known demon his was always the first to be spoken. His name was Oldavai, half incubus, and the name on my warrant. He cut a swath through everything female and male. If he wanted it he'd get it. I finished my cereal and was engrossed in the book when Taurin came in. He poured himself a mug of coffee and read over my shoulder. I listened to him take a drink and turned around to face him.

"I never understood why some of us were never in that book." He stated.

"Huh. You read this book?"

"Several of us read and discussed it. Not like we went out of our way, but it would inevitably come up. I always said that she should tour our world."

Ezra spoke as he entered the kitchen. "I hear that she is actually in the underground with vampires right now. No one has heard from her so they are speculating that they killed or turned her into a vampire."

I looked from one demon to the other with disbelief on my face. Demon gossip, huh.

"Really." Taurin took another sip of coffee, "Where did you hear that?"

"It was an article about two months ago in 'The Torrid'." Ezra moved over to the coffee pot and poured himself some.

I looked at Taurin's mug and took it from him. I took a sip and felt sugar coat my tongue. I gave him back his coffee and tried to scrape it off with my teeth. "You would actually want her to roam the demon world?"

"Why not? She got really close when she was with all of you."

"I would not like it." Ezra replied as he leaned against the counter.

"There is no way that she would find out things that she should not know. Not if she kept traveling with different guides."

"So says the demon who taught a sorcerer to siphon off power from us," Ezra scoffed.

Taurin glared at Ezra.

I waved my arms and shook my head. "Stop. I don't want to hear anymore." I directed my gaze to the book and pointed out a passage. "It says here that Oldavai travels everywhere quickly. I don't know how we are ever going to find him or even lure him here. You can talk to me about bait, but I am not really bait. Not compared to all the options he has in the world."

"Actually, I think that he will be seeking you out. This was Shorn's gift to you, a sanctioned move. Paid self defense." Ezra replied.

"That's another thing. This warrant. I only do kill warrants. I don't like to get involved in the magic of my job. This isn't a kill warrant. It's a trap and subdue."

"I know, Dove. Why do you think no one has been able to do it. The people in power want him. Preferably alive."

"How could you do this to one of your kind?! It's kinder to kill them then make them into a pawn in someone else's control!"

He leaned in close and exhaled fragrant smoke on me. "You worry too much and are not thinking like a demon on this one. He will not stay in such a state forever. Shorn will make sure of it. Think of it as jail time with Shorn as the jailer." He smiled thinly and Taurin laughed.

I was about to reply when I felt the air move around my feet. I stood up and looked to the back of the house. Outside I heard the scratching of the hound at the screen door. I walked up to the door and looked at her. She sat very still and a slow growl trickled out of her mouth. Taurin had followed me and placed a restraining hand on my arm. "Stop."

I shrugged off his hold and kept moving. She moved back when I opened the screen door. The door slammed behind me and we stared at one another. Eventually, a whine trickled out and she ran to the edge of the yard and bayed soulfully before disappearing. I turned around and looked at the two demons behind me. "What have you done to me?"

Ezra replied for both of them. "We made you ours beyond what your law understands as binding. Oldavai covets females that belong or those in keeping, such as servants. He will hear about you and will come to us, not that any of our brothers know the depth of our claim on you yet. You are unprecedented, there has never been a female demon hunter that has bonded to two demons, albeit through your own laws. When he finds out that we claimed you by the customs of our world his curiosity and competitiveness will make him careless."