CHAPTER TWO
T he wound on his side had stopped bleeding sometime during his unconsciousness. It hurt like a bitch, and the dried blood made every move pull and stretch the wound and would send sharp flashes of pain through him.
It was a bad injury, and if it wasn't tended to soon, it would probably kill him.
The bullet had grazed his side, going in and out and tearing a trench through his midsection.
His shirt was holding it somewhat closed, with the dried blood giving an assist. The amulet had drained him, but he felt his energy returning, not wonderfully, but enough that if he could untie his hands, he might be able to get away.
They, whoever they were, had him tied and lying on his side on a cold, damp floor.
It looked and sounded like a pole building or warehouse; it was large and open and had a metal sound.
He began working on his hands. They'd used rope- narrow-gauge rope, which was not an ideal way to tie someone, so they must have had to use whatever was nearby.
Thinking about his situation, he wondered why he was still alive; why hadn't they just killed him?
They wanted something from him; that's the only reason to keep him breathing.
Kai tried to look around, but it was dark, and his vision was compromised. Dirt and debris from the floor had gotten into his eyes. He thought he was alone until he heard boots coming toward him rapidly, and then he felt a hard kick to his back.
"Wake up, you little bastard." The voice was high-pitched and angry.
The demand was followed by another swift kick to his back.
"You think you can just sneak into my home and walk away with whatever you like?
You think I won't fucking kill you?" His words were getting higher pitched with each sentence, and it was difficult to understand him.
If his situation wasn't so dire, Kai would have laughed at the tone the guy was carrying.
As it were, he decided a groan was all he could muster.
“Wake up fuck head and tell me where you stashed it.”
“The medallion was in my pocket.” He rasped. Talking was really hard right now.
"Not the fucking medallion, you idiot. Where is the jeweled dagger that you stole?" Kai hadn't stolen a jeweled dagger, and he wasn’t sure who this guy was. He hadn’t entered any personal home in the last few months, and he’d remember if he’d stolen a dagger, but should he say that?
Would his denial simply get him more torture?
The guy bent and grabbed Kai by the throat and pulled him up off the floor and then slammed him back down. It hurt quite a lot, but he struggled to remain calm and not let his discomfort show. "Who are you?" Kai asked, and he felt blood filling his mouth that wasn't good.
"Your worst nightmare fucker." He said, and Kai should have expected that. Kai slowly closed his eyes and feigned unconsciousness. He had nothing to say that wouldn’t get him killed.
The guy continued yelling and kicking him for a while and then accepted that he was unconscious and started talking to someone else in the room. This was a ruse; the guy hadn't owned a jeweled dagger; he was just trying to get Kai to confess to having it. What the fuck was going on?"
Kai hadn’t been aware that someone else had been there.
His senses were usually pretty keen, but he’d missed a whole other person.
His condition must be worse than he thought.
His mind spiraled desperately trying to come up with an escape plan, and suddenly his fake coma became real.
His final thought was that this was his final thought and then nothing.
***
Ramos drove into town and parked at an out-of-the-way diner. He didn't go inside; he sat in his car and followed up on the information he'd been sent by those he contacted earlier. The consensus among all of them was that there was very little chance that this guy was still alive.
Relic hunting could bring in quick bucks, but it wasn't the type of career that anyone stayed with very long.
This guy, Kai, had been in it for over a decade, and his luck seemed to have finally run out.
Practically speaking, he lasted a lot longer than any other hunter Ramos had known.
Relics in the paranormal world were nothing to treat lightly or with disrespect because they could be deadly, and your luck could turn bad in an instant.
Either way, he would find whatever was left of Kai Azar and return him to his brother, and then his mission was done.
Ramos pulled up the photograph of Kai once again and studied the image for a few minutes.
The photo had been taken on the street, the sun throwing light across his shiny black hair and adding sparkle to those blue eyes.
They were a deep, dark blue that held infinite mysteries and sadness.
He wasn't sure why he clocked sadness even though the young man had a slight smirk on his lips.
That smirk did not reach his eyes and barely touched his lips, to be honest. Kai was not a happy man; he was simply functioning in a life he'd inherited.
Ramos surprised himself with such a deep thought about someone he cared nothing about.
He closed the file and tossed his phone on the passenger seat and pulled away from the diner.
There was very little Ramos cared about in this world apart from his Coven, not the membership, simply the Coven in general.
He served the Master and did his job, and he spared no sympathies or worries for anyone.
He had no friends; he had coworkers and acquaintances, and his family had abandoned him centuries ago.
He was comfortable and satisfied, and he had no place in his thoughts for a blue-eyed hunter who was already dead.
The area was empty, desolate, decaying, with several old buildings caving in and several others that were nothing but rubble.
The brush and trees were taking over, but it was obvious that people had been here recently; the paths they made were careful, but they were noticeable.
His contacts had told him the hunter's life force had last been marked here in the last shack by the road.
They couldn't guarantee that he was still there, but that was the last location of his living being. There was no further marker for him.
Ramos parked and slowly got out of his vehicle while taking in the entire area. There were two men off to his left watching him. There was one coming around the side of the shack to confront him. All three were shifters, cougar shifters probably or some large cat.
He was about five feet from the door when the one tried to jump him.
He half-shifted, which for a cat shifter was their most lethal form.
He was tall and standing on his back legs with his teeth and claws slicing the air.
He was vicious-looking, but his skills were not sharp.
Ramos drove his fist into the beast’s middle as he swiped at him to get him bleeding.
He rushed him again, and Ramos took his short sword and spun it around a few times, backing him off. The cat figured he could handle him and leaped at him, coming down on top of Ramos and taking him to the ground.
Ramos buried his sword in the cat's chest, running it completely through. He howled and tried to pull himself off the blade but only managed to further tear up his insides. Ramos held fast, and within a few minutes the cat went still, and death clouded his eyes.
He pushed the beast off him and pulled out his sword, wiping it with one of his handkerchiefs, and then tossed the handkerchief on the remains of the cat. He was a guard, not the original kidnapper. Ramos got that much from the cat's scrambled thoughts just before death.
He'd been hired to keep watch on the hunter just as the two outside had also been hired.
Ramos was pretty sure they'd already left, not ready to die for today.
He would work fast and get whatever was left of the hunter out to his car and leave before anyone decided to come back with reinforcements.
He got the feeling no one was coming back; he also sensed that they had been about to leave when he arrived.
At this point, he was almost certain the hunter was dead.
The human was, and he still had life. He could feel the subtle vibration of a human heart.
He wasn’t well by any stretch, but he wasn’t dead, so the brother had that to look forward to at least. Ramos followed the soft sound through the derelict structure and found a form on the floor in the dark corner; it must be the hunter.
He reached him and rolled him onto his back.
"Are you Kai Azar?" He asked, pushing the hair back from the man's face and trying to get a look at him. “Your brother Tarek sent me to find you and bring you home.” He continued explaining as he cut the ropes and picked the slender man up into his arms.
"I have no home." The man said, and his voice was pure gravel.
“I’m taking you to your brother.” He clarified.
“Drop me at a hospital, and I'll handle it from there." The gravel was still pronounced. He was having a hell of a time talking.
"My assignment was to find you and take you to your brother, and that is what I'm going to do.
" Ramos would normally have no problem dropping the guy at the hospital and notifying those concerned that he was coherent and was making his own decisions.
But this was hitting him different, and the sense that he should stay close was riding him hard.
"Master DuCane's jet is waiting for us, and there is a doctor on board.
Once I deliver you to Coven DuCane, my job is ended.
From that point on it is between you and Tarek.
" He was firm and unyielding in his speech, but he was gentle and attentive while placing the injured man in his car and securing him.