But as his Expedition was suddenly surrounded by eight Daimons on motorcycles, he reconsidered that.
For three seconds at least.
Wulf laughed as he surveyed the Daimons. "You know the beauty of driving one of these?"
"No."
He swerved his Expedition into three of the bikes and knocked them from the road. "You can swat a Daimon like a mosquito."
"Well, since they're both bloodsucking insects, I say go for it."
Wulf glanced sideways at her. A woman who could keep her humor even in the midst of death. He liked that.
The remaining Daimons must have rethought acting out Mad Max with him and dropped back from his SUV. He watched as they faded out of sight in his rearview mirror.
Cassandra let out a relieved breath as she pushed herself up more in the seat. She turned her head and tried to see where the Daimons had vanished. There was no sight of them.
"What a night," she said quietly as her thoughts cleared and she remembered everything that had happened in the apartment. Once more, panic consumed her as she remembered Kat hadn't shown up. "Wait! We have to go back."
"Why?"
"My bodyguard," she said, gripping his arm. "I don't know what happened to her."
He kept his gaze on the road ahead of them. "Was she in the apartment?"
"Yes... maybe." Cassandra paused while she thought it over. "I'm not exactly sure. She went to make a phone call in her room and then she wasn't in there when I went to see if she'd go with me to the door." She released his arm. Fear and grief warred inside her heart. What if something had happened to Kat after all these years they'd been together? "Do you think they killed her?"
He glanced at her, then changed lanes. "I don't know. Was she the blond woman in the bar?"
"Yes."
He pulled his cell phone off his belt and made a call.
Cassandra chewed her nails as she waited.
She heard someone's faint voice on the phone.
"Hey, Binny," Wulf said. "I need a favor. I just left the Sherwood student apartments over by the University of Minnesota and we may or may not have a casualty there..." He glanced at Cassandra, but his eyes betrayed no clue as to what he was thinking or feeling. "Yeah, I know tonight's been a real freakfest. You don't even know the half of it." He switched hands with the phone.
"What's your friend's name?" he asked Cassandra.
"Kat Agrotera."
He frowned. "Why do I know that name?" He relayed it to whomever he was speaking to.
"Shit," he said after a brief pause. "Do you think they might be related to her?"
Once again, he glanced in Cassandra's direction. Only this time, his scowl was most sinister. "I don't know. Ash told me to guard her and now her bodyguard holds a last name that ties her to Artemis. Could it be a weird coincidence?"
Cassandra cocked her head at that. She'd never before thought about the fact that Kat's last name was also one of the many epithets the ancient Greeks had used for Artemis.
She'd met Kat in Greece after she had fled from Belgium with a load of Daimons hot on her heels. After helping her out in a fight one night, Kat had told her she was an American come to touch base with her Greek heritage that summer.
It had been a bonus that Kat had said she was a martial arts expert with a knack for using explosives. Cassandra had explained to her that she was looking for a new bodyguard to replace her old one and Kat had signed on with her immediately.
"I just love to put a hurt on evil things," Kat had confessed.
Wulf sighed. "I don't know either. Okay. You go look for Kat and I'll take Cassandra home with me. Let me know what you find. Thanks." He hung up, then returned his phone to his belt.