“I know what will happen to her when I’m done with her,” Devon snarled, stopping in the doorway again.
The hair on Chris’s arms stood on end. He had seen Devon out of control, wild. It had always been when Cassie was threatened, but this was… well this was different. Devon would destroy Dani; if he found her he would kill her. Chris wasn’t too fond of the girl at the moment either, but what Devon would do to her was something that he didn’t even want to imagine, or see.
Then, suddenly, those malevolent red eyes were locked upon him, staring him down. “You didn’t sense anything from her?” Devon growled.
Chris swallowed heavily. “No, nothing like this.”
“What did you sense then?”
Chris glanced quickly at Melissa and Luther; they were both watching him intently. “Fear, confusion,” he said slowly. “I sensed no betrayal in her, no animosity, nothing deceitful or mean.”
They all stared hard at him for a moment. “How could you not?” Devon demanded.
Chris took a deep breath, trying to puzzle that out for himself. “It’s stronger when I touch a person. I can always read their emotions and inner personality better that way. But now that I think about it, I haven’t touched Dani in a long time. I never questioned it at the time, never even thought about the fact that I haven’t, but now I realize that she must have stayed away from me on purpose. Also,” he broke off, worried about how Devon was going to react to his next words, but knowing that he had to continue.
“Yours and Cassie’s emotions have been running so high lately that it’s been hard for anything else to get through. Especially here, Cassie was a jumbled mess of confusion, loneliness, and hurt while she was here. What I sensed from Dani was nothing compared to that.”
Devon stared hard at him, a muscle jumped in his clenched jaw. For a brief moment Chris was afraid that Devon was going to fly across the room and rip his head off. Chris knew he was quite capable of doing it. Swallowing heavily, Chris took a small step back, knowing that it would do him little good. If Devon wanted to get a hold of him, he would.
“I thought you could block out people’s emotions,” Melissa said quietly.
Chris looked helplessly at her. “Not when they’re so strong like that,” he said softly. “Their emotions get through anyway, no matter how hard I try to block them out. And in all honesty, I trusted Dani; I never sensed any animosity or ill will from her before. I never thought to search her anytime recently; there was no reason to doubt her.”
“Ok, so none of us saw this coming,” Annabelle interjected.
“Until it was too late,” Melissa muttered in disgust.
Chris reached out and squeezed her shoulder, sensing the self hatred that radiated from her. “We need to find out where they took her,” Luther said softly. “And why she’s still alive.”
Chris inhaled sharply as he shot Luther a fierce warning look. He loved the man, but sometimes he could be completely obtuse. “What do you mean why she is still alive?” Devon growled his voice so low and dangerous that everyone took a small step back.
Luther, realizing his mistake, cleared his throat nervously. Chris fervently hoped that he would change the subject, or at least think of some way to cover his words. Unfortunately, Luther didn’t possess those social skills. “They came for her because of what type of Hunter she is. We had assumed that they killed off the other Hunters like her, but if they took Cassie alive, then we may have been mistaken. They may have been doing something else with those Hunter’s, we just don’t know what.”
Stunned silence followed his statement. Chris waited, breath held, for Devon’s reaction, which he was sure was going to be violent. He was not disappointed. A loud bellow ripped from Devon as he seized hold of the hall table near him. Lifting it, he swung it easily up, slamming it into the wall with enough force to shatter the table and plaster. They all instinctively ducked as plaster exploded in bits of white powder, and table pieces flew outward.
Devon stood amongst the ruined debris, his shoulders heaving, his fists clenched so tight that the muscles and veins in his arms stood starkly out. Though he looked on the verge of tearing the whole place down, he did not move to destroy anything else. “Nice Luther,” Melissa said softly.
He glanced sharply at her. “There is no sugarcoating this,” he replied. “We need to figure out what is going on, where she is, and we need to do it quickly. As long as she is alive, Devon will hold himself together.”
Chris didn’t want to think about what would happen if Cassie did not stay alive. He had grown close to Devon, had started to consider him one of his good friends, but if Cassie died then that Devon would cease to exist. And this Devon, the one before them now, would take over completely. The man would be destroyed as the demon inside surged forth to take control. Chris shuddered as he realized that there was a good possibility that he may lose two of his best friends very shortly. And that he may very well have to destroy one of them himself, if Devon didn’t destroy all of them first.
Which Chris thought was highly more likely.
“So let’s find her,” Liam said. “Devon can you track her through her blood?”
Devon stood stiffly for a minute, his hands uncurling as he seemed to regain some control of himself. When he turned to them though, his eyes were still the color of rubies. “No. I picked her scent up again when we were miles away. It came here, and then it just stopped.”
“That makes no sense,” Annabelle murmured, her forehead furrowed, her eyes distant and troubled.
“He picked up the trail on what would have been their way out,” Liam explained. “Where he started is also where we lost her.”
“That still shouldn’t happen,” Annabelle insisted. “I know where Liam is at all times, I could find him anywhere. You should be able to find her.”
“Our bond isn’t complete Annabelle!” Devon snarled. “Cassie doesn’t have my blood in her, and although I have hers, the bond is not strong enough for me to follow her.”
Chris glanced sharply at Luther and Melissa to see how they would react to his statement. Both of their faces remained impassive, but Melissa glanced quickly over at him and he could feel her surprise. She hadn’t known what had transpired between Devon and Cassie either. But he was fairly certain that Luther had, or he had suspected it at least.
“But you can’t follow her blood?” Luther inquired quietly.