"Yeah, well, your best sucks." And with that, she turned on her heel and left, muttering about her spilled coffee and worthless men.
Ravyn patted Susan on the arm, before he walked over to Ash. "You okay?"
"No. I have people who are dead and an extremely limited amount of time before I have to leave again. As Zoe says, it sucks."
"You know how Zoe is." As Ravyn clapped Ash on the back, he hissed and stiffened as if he were in an incredible amount of pain.
"Are you all right?" Susan asked.
Ash recovered himself almost instantly. "Fine. We've got bigger problems right now. "
She looked over her shoulder to see what he was staring at... It was a police car.
She held her breath until after it'd rolled past and vanished. She looked up at Ravyn. "That was close."
"We need to get the two of you back to the Serengeti."
Susan was baffled by Acheron's words. "How do you know where we're staying?"
"I'm omniscient, Susan."
A chill went down her spine because he knew her name. "Uh-huh. There seems to be an abundance of that going around." She glanced to Ravyn. "You ever feel left out?"
"All the time."
Well, that answered that.
As the men headed back up the hill, Susan couldn't help looking around the alley. There was no sign of a battle having been fought here. Not one. Not even dust from the Daimons, not a trace that Belle had ever lived...
A gentle breeze stirred down the narrow alley and everything looked oddly peaceful and quiet. This was a tragic life the Dark-Hunters lived. They gave their lives for mankind and no one even knew they were here. And when they died, they vanished into nothing.
It brought everything home to Susan with painful clarity. How many battles like this had Ravyn fought over the centuries? How many injuries had he tended without Acheron there to fix them? He really was alone with no one there for him.
Good God, Ravyn would have died had she not gone to the shelter and taken him out. That thought made her ache for him.
"Susan?"
She looked up at Ravyn.
"You okay, babe?"
Nodding, she headed for them and took his hand, needing to feel a physical connection to him while her emotions were so raw.
Acheron gave her a look that said he knew exactly what she was thinking.
"Can you help us stop the humans from attacking the Dark-Hunters?" she asked Ash as they headed for Phoenix's car.
Ash opened the car door for her. "That's a loaded question, Susan. And not as easy to answer as you'd like."
Ravyn paused by the driver's side. "Will you be at the club later?"
"Yeah. I'll catch you guys then."
Susan got into the car. Ash closed her door at the same time Ravyn closed his.
She watched Acheron step back from the car and turn back toward the hill. As Ravyn started to pull away, she could swear Acheron evaporated into the mist.
"That is a strange man."