Then again, she'd been running all her life. Running from those who would kill her if they had a chance.
But most of all, she'd been running from her destiny, hoping that somehow, some way, she could avert the inevitable.
Even though she'd traveled the world since she was six years old, she was no closer to discovering the truth about her heritage than her mother had been before her.
Still, with every day that dawned, she was hopeful. Hopeful that someone would tell her that her life didn't have to end on her twenty-seventh birthday. Hopeful that she would be able to stay someplace for more than a few months or even days.
"Hub-ba!" Brenda said, her eyes wide as she looked toward the entrance. "I think I just found our cookies! And ladies, there are three of them."
Laughing at her awed tone, Cassandra turned around to see three incredibly sexy men entering the club. They were all well over six feet in height, golden in skin and hair, and drop-dead gorgeous.
Her laughter died instantly as she felt a horrible, stinging tingle run through her. It was a sensation she was all too familiar with.
And it was one that branded terror into her heart.
Dressed in expensive sweaters, jeans, and ski jackets, the three men scanned the bar's occupants like the deadly predators they were. Cassandra trembled. The people in the bar had no idea how much danger they were in.
None of them.
Oh, dear God...
"Hey, Cass," Brenda said. "Go introduce me to them."
Cassandra shook her head as she made eye contact with Kat to warn her. She tried to herd Brenda away from the men and out of their dark, hungry sight. "They're bad news, Bren. Really bad news."
The one virtue of being half Apollite was her ability to spot others of her mother's kind. And something in her gut told her the men walking through the crowd, scanning women with seductive smiles, were no longer simple Apollites.
They were Daimons-a vicious breed of Apollite who chose to prolong their short lives by killing humans and stealing their souls.
Their unique, powerful Daimon charisma and their hunger for souls bled from every pore of their bodies.
They were here for victims.
Cassandra swallowed her panic. She had to find some way to get out of here before they got too close to her and discovered who she really was.
She reached for the small handgun in her purse, and looked for an escape.
"Out the back," Kat said, pulling her toward the rear of the club.
"What's going on?" Brenda asked.
Suddenly, the tallest of the Daimons stopped dead in his tracks.
He turned to face them.
His steely eyes narrowed on Cassandra with intense interest and she could feel him trying to penetrate her mind. She blocked his intrusion, but it was too late.
He grabbed his friends' arms and inclined his head toward them.
Damn. This sucked.
Literally.
With the bar's crowd, she couldn't open fire on them and neither could Kat. The hand grenades were in the car and she had opted to leave her daggers under the seat.
"Now would be a good time to tell me you have your sais with you, Kat."
"Nada. You got your kamas on you?"