Or worse, her hurting Andy while she was trying to escape.
That definitely wouldn't do.
All right. Back to the original plan. He'd hold her downstairs in his domain.
He carried her to the hidden elevator and into what Andy called his six-thousand-square-foot dungeon. It hadn't been all that easy to find a house in Vegas with a basement, especially one this size as well as a home that also had a stable for his horses. When Andy first told him about this place, Jess had thought he was joking.
Andy wasn't. The house was actually sixty-five thousand square feet. Seventy-two thousand under the roofline.
It was amazing what a man would do for his horses.
Hell, he'd lived in smaller towns. But all things said and done, the house was perfect for him, since it allowed him to stay downstairs undisturbed. Down here, he wasn't locked in by the daylight. He could live an almost normal subterranean life.
The house had a total of eighteen bedroom suites, with three of them being in the basement. He took her to the one closest to his room and laid her down on the bed. He started to walk away, but something about her held him by her side. She looked so fragile like this. However, the painful throbbing in his jaw where she'd slugged him said she was anything but.
What had made a little thing like her hunt them so viciously?
The Daimons must have lied to her. They did that a lot. Countless humans had been used as their tools over the centuries. The Daimons promised them eternal life, and in the end, they murdered the humans when they were done with them.
But her anger had run deeper than that. She'd fought like she had a personal grudge.
He sighed as he thought about the last time he'd seen her parents. That had been one screwed-up night. To this day, he could still see the blood splatters that had covered the room. The blood that had covered him ...
There had been no sign of Abby in the house, and he'd definitely looked for her. He'd always hoped she was at a friend's.
The most disturbing thought was that she'd been there. That she'd seen them die. That thought made him sick to his stomach. No child should witness the horrors of that night. Just like he wished Artemis had spared him the sight of what happened after he'd been killed.
Some memories weren't worth keeping.
And when the police had been unable to locate her, they'd all assumed her dead.
Yet here she was ...
Grown up and kicking ass.
Frowning, he ran his hand down the side of her cheek. She had the softest skin he'd ever felt. Smooth. Inviting. Warm. He'd always loved the way a woman's flesh felt under his fingers. There was nothing more succulent.
Her features were exotic and intriguing. So different from Laura's, and at the same time, he could see enough of Laura there that it tugged at his heart. Laura had been both a haven and a hell for him. Around her, he'd felt connected to the past, and that connection had stung as deep as it'd comforted. He'd tried to let her go, but he couldn't sever the tie.
Now he wished he had.
Maybe then Abigail would have had a normal life. A woman her age ought to be out with her friends, having fun and enjoying her youth. Not coming after Dark-Hunters. Definitely not killing them.
A smile tugged at the edges of his lips at her ponytail. He didn't know why, but that reminded him of her as a kid. She'd had a lot of spunk even then. And it was weird to be so attracted to her now, having been there when she was born. He tried not to think about that whenever he was with a woman. On a level he didn't want to acknowledge, it bothered him. He was old enough to be their great-great-great granddaddy.
But he wasn't altruistic enough to be celibate either. There was only so much a man could do. Especially since they didn't know how old he was. To them, he was another mid-twenty-year-old guy they met in a bar and took home.
However, Abigail knew.
And she hated him for it.
He turned her face toward him. Her eyes opened just a slit, and when he saw them ...
He pulled back.
What the hell? His heart pounding, he gently lifted one lid. Sure enough, her eyes were red with yellow threads running through them.
She wasn't human after all.