Hunters (Spirit Blade Part 1) Read Free

familiar. "Punctured lungs, kidneys or liver. It would have been far more effective."
    The hooded figure that stepped from the shadows with the dagger held between black-gloved hands stopped at the edge of the fighting floor. The demon-head with the arrows through it on his bracers matched her own, the arrowheads shimmering green from the inlaid imera stones. Another demon hunter, and she was pretty certain who it was but wanting to be sure before she knocked him to his back.
    "She's half-blood, Huntress." He sneered the title in derision.
    He might as well have declared war.
    Fury and confidence boiled over to smother her fear. "Kill a half-blood and face the judgment of a demonlord who cares for her? I would think a fellow hunter would realize the death sentence of such an act."
    "It is our sworn duty." He approached and held out the dagger to her. "A job hazard we should gladly risk."
    "To give the demonlords one more reason to hate us?" She snatched the dagger from between his hands.
    He snorted and lifted his face to let the light under his hood. A fuzz of black hair covered his jaw and encircled his lips.
    "No, thank you. I would rather not fall in High Lord Je'Dron's disfavor," she said.
    "And you are not in disfavor after killing his son Je'Rol, Nadia TuFalan?" His taunting burned like acid through her, exposing old wounds and the hatred stuck to them.
    He should never have re-entered her life.
    Pretending not to care, she hurried to the bench where she had left a long cloth to wipe away her sweat after the workout. Except instead of herself, she used it to wipe the blood from the dagger, the blood of the naive and loving Je'Surana whose father could be tempered while being harsh in his lessons to her.
    "You did not return to the temple."
    So, they had noticed her absence from the gathering. She was but one of hundreds of Adepts. But she was the only woman who had completed the demon hunter training. Other women turned to the sorcery side of Adept training, a more intellectual pursuit than the physical nature of demon hunting, or they remained as teachers and scholars. As she was the only known woman demon hunter, her absence would stand out.
    "I was occupied with the Je'Gri."
    "Yes, I see."
    The teasing in his voice burned through her. She whirled on him, the dagger at his throat while he made no move to stop her. Rather, he wore a grin that matched the gleam in his eyes beneath the hood. She should slit his throat, but something in his eyes stopped her, as it had long ago, when she had feelings for him, before he betrayed her.
    "You see nothing!" she hissed.
    He put his palms up in a conciliatory gesture.
    Slowly, she lowered the dagger, disliking that he hadn't conceded, which meant that she hadn't yet convinced him that nothing more took place between her and Lord Je'Kaoron. That was what he accused her of, and what she fought within herself.
    "Why are you here?" she snapped and returned her attention to the dagger.
    "The Kodre du Noctir Te'Mea sent me."
    Her heart stopped. The council of elders that oversaw both sects had sent someone for her. Not only someone but him .
    "Why?" she asked cautiously.
    "They want something, a dagger in your possession."
    She stared at the dagger in her hands, but it wasn't the one to which he referred. Sect du Maistri Te'Mea had gifted her with a particular dagger and a spell. She hadn't understood its purpose until Lord Je'Kaoron had explained that it stole the souls of its victims, including half-bloods, upon the drawing of blood when the spell was used. She had been told the spell would end the life of anyone once the dagger drew blood, a half-truth. She hadn't noticed the blade growing in power with each half-blood soul and becoming more dangerous. She hadn't known to be aware of it, but since Je'Rol's death, she had noticed the darkness and the relief of not wielding it.
    "It's not ready." An excuse only. It had nearly incapacitated a demonlord, something none of their weapons