Susan glared at Dorian as Ravyn staggered and almost fell. "You asshole," she snarled, barely catching Ravyn against her.
Ravyn paused as their gazes met and held. For the first time since this episode had started, he saw her and not Zatira. His features relaxed. A small smile hovered on his lips. "You look like an angel..." His eyes rolled back in his head before he collapsed.
Dorian let out an aggravated breath as Ravyn hit the floor. None too gently, Dorian picked him up and carried him back to the mattress. Susan wanted to protest his help, but there was no way she could move Ravyn by herself. Damn his brother for being so cold.
"How long has he been like this?" Dorian asked as he straightened up.
"About two hours."
Dorian shook his head as he looked back at Ravyn, who lay silent and still. "You need a breather?"
She crossed her arms over her chest as she gave him a suspicious once-over. "It depends. You gonna beat on him while I'm gone?"
The look on his face said he wasn't amused by her question, which was okay by her since she wasn't joking. "No."
That made her feel a little bit better... but only a little. She still didn't trust Dorian. From what she'd read in the handbook, Dorian was an Arcadian Were-Hunter. Human in theory, he was able to shift into an animal. There were other kinds of Were-Hunters who held animal hearts. They were called Katagaria. Unlike Ravyn and his family, they were truly animals who could take human form. But from where she stood, she didn't see much difference since the so-called "human" branch seemed to be as cold as any animal she'd ever met in the wild.
Then again, as a reporter, she'd met plenty of humans whom she would definitely classify as animal. Some were even amoebas.
And the reporter in her had something else it was extremely curious about. "Who was Zatira?"
Pain darkened Dorian's eyes before he answered. "My sister."
"I assume she was Ravyn's, too?"
He cut her a look that said yes, but that Dorian didn't want to admit to it.
Which begged the next question. "What happened to her?"
The pain from his eyes seeped over his entire being. It was obvious that he felt her loss every bit as deeply as Ravyn did. "She was killed three hundred years ago."
Susan winced at that. "Killed how?"
"By humans." He snarled the word as if being human was the worst thing he could think of. He gave her the harshest, most hate-filled stare she'd ever seen in her life. "They brutally slaughtered her... our mother, Phoenix's wife and children, and our entire village."
Susan covered her mouth as the horror of that overwhelmed her. But then what had she expected? Dark-Hunters were created out of men and women who'd suffered unjust tragedy and who wanted revenge on those who'd wronged them. It was the screaming of their souls that summoned Artemis to them, and if they accepted the bargain, Artemis would bring them back to life and give them twenty-four hours to exact their revenge. After that, they became soldiers in her army that was dedicated to protecting mankind from the Daimons. The nature of their creation guaranteed that all of them had at least one major tragedy in their past.
"I take it their deaths are what made him a Dark-Hunter?"
He nodded. "He wanted revenge on the humans who'd killed them."
"And Isabeau? Was she part of your village, too?"
The look of hatred on his face was a resounding no. "She was Ravyn's mate... a heartless, human bitch. He told her about us and she in turn told her people. They're the ones who came for us. They thought we were evil minions of the devil and in their ignorance, they slaughtered our weaker members while we were out protecting them from the Katagaria who'd been raiding their village."
The Katagaria were the animal branch of their people who were at war with the "human" Arcadians. Susan winced as sympathetic pain swept through her. What awful irony to be betrayed by the very people you were attempting to help. But from what Dorian said, Ravyn sounded like a victim, too-all he'd done was trust the wrong person. Why would they hate him for a mistake that any one of them could have made? "How could you have banished him?"
He snorted at that. "We didn't banish him, woman. Phoenix killed him as soon as we found our families slaughtered... and the bastard should have stayed dead. "
She was horrified by his words and the venom in his voice. "How could you people do such a thing... to your own brother?"
"How could we not?" he asked as if he was baffled by her question. He gestured toward Ravyn. "Every time we look at him, we're reminded that he caused their deaths. He is an abomination to us. And I hate that we're forced to run a sanctuary in the city where he's stationed. Damn the Fates for it."
Oh, that was stupid. "It wasn't his fault."
"It was all my fault... I should have never trusted her."
Startled that he was awake, Susan looked at Ravyn, who had rolled over onto his back. At first she thought he was still delirious, but his gaze seemed clearer now.