NIGHT EMBRACE Read Free Page A

and one woman. All insanely beautiful. And all six eyed her as if she were a tasty morsel.
    Uh-oh.
    Her throat went dry.
    Sunshine took a step back as every sense in her body told her to run.
    They moved in even closer, penning her between them.
    "Now, now, Little Red Riding Hood," the first one said. "You don't want to be leaving so soon, do you?"
    "Um, yes," she said, preparing to fight. Little did they know, a woman who made it her habit to date mean biker types was more than able to deliver a swift kick when she needed it. "I think it would be a really
good
idea."
    He reached for her.
    Out of nowhere a circular something whizzed past her face, grazing his outstretched arm. The man cursed as he pulled his bleeding arm to his chest. The thing ricocheted like Xena's chakram, and returned to the opening of the alley where a shadow caught it.
    Sunshine gaped at the outline of a man. Dressed all in black, he stood with his legs apart in a warrior's stance while his weapon gleamed wickedly in the dim light.
    Even though she could see nothing of his face, his ever-changing aura was mammoth, giving him a presence that was as startling as it was powerful.
    This new stranger was dangerous.
    Deadly.
    A lethal shadow just waiting to strike.
    He stood in silence, looking at her attackers, the weapon held nonchalantly, yet somehow threateningly, in his left hand.
    Then, total chaos broke out as the men who surrounded her rushed the newcomer…
    Talon fingered the release for his srad and folded its three blades into a single dagger. He tried to get to the woman, but the Daimons attacked him en masse. Normally, he'd have no trouble whatsoever obliterating them, but Dark-Hunter Code forbade him to reveal his powers to an uninitiated human.
    Damn.
    For a second, he considered summoning a fog to conceal them, but that would make fighting the Daimons more difficult.
    No, he couldn't give them any advantage. So long as the woman was here, he was fighting with his hands tied behind his back, and given the superhuman strength and power of the Daimons, that wasn't a good thing at all. No doubt that was why they'd attacked.
    For once they actually stood a chance against him.
    "Run," he ordered the human woman.
    She started to obey him when one of the Daimons grabbed her. With a kick to the groin and a whack across his back after he doubled over, she dropped the Daimon and ran.
    Talon arched a brow at her move. Smooth, very smooth. He'd always appreciated a woman who could watch out for herself.
    Using his Dark-Hunter powers, he summoned a fog wall behind her to help shield her from the Daimons, who were now more focused on him.
    "Finally," he said to the group. "We're all alone."
    The one who appeared to be the leader rushed him. Talon used his telekinesis to lift the Daimon up, spin him head over heels, and slam him into a wall.
    Two more came at him.
    Talon caught one with his srad dagger, the other he kneed.
    He tore through the two of them easily enough and was reaching for another one when he noticed the tallest of them running after the woman.
    That momentary distraction cost him as another Daimon attacked and caught him in the solar plexus. The force of the blow knocked him back, off his feet.
    Talon rolled with the punch, and shot upright.
    "Now!" the female Daimon shouted.
    Before Talon could catch his balance completely, another Daimon grabbed him by the waist and shoved him backward, into the street.
    Straight into the path of a mammoth vehicle that was going so fast he couldn't even identify it.
    Something he assumed was the grill of it hit his right leg, shattering it instantly.
    It pitched him forward, onto the pavement.
    Talon rolled for about fifty yards, then came to rest under a streetlight on his stomach while the dark vehicle went careening down the street, out of sight. He lay with his left cheek against the pungent asphalt, his hands spread out beside him.
    His entire body ached and throbbed and he could barely move from the