Title: Save a Horse, Chapter Nine
Author: Maggie
Archived: www.geocities.com/Margaret_Mary69
and www.taintedfiction.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Feedback: Welcome if Constructive or at least not too
mean, LOL
Genre: Dark Hunter… for info on Cannon Characters go to www.Dark-Hunter.com
Rating: PG (for now)
Disclaimer: Any characters you recognize are the
property of Sherrilyn Kenyon. She retains all rights to the characters and does
not authorize this work. This is solely for mine and hopefully my friends’
amusement. No money is being made off of this story.
Notes: A Dorian Squire goes on an adventure. It might be more than she planned on. This may contain spoilers through Unleash the Night. Special thanks to Luna for her awesome beta job!! Any mistakes still present are mine not hers.
Tad turned back to
the girl, “Good evening Chere. You must be my welcoming committee.”
With those looks he belonged on a romance novel cover. When he spoke she was
sure he had just stepped out of some hot dream she never wanted to wake up
from. He grinned, revealing a hint of dimples at the awestruck effect he was
obviously having on his new squire. He barely noticed the other squire, making
his way back to the plane as he waited for the girl to respond.
When she did, it
wasn’t exactly what she had meant her first words to her new boss to be. “But
he’s…” looking at the retreating form of the other squire and not seeing any
help, she turned back to the man before her, “you’re…” grimacing she added,
“Shit I’m so screwed.”
He looked at her for
a moment and his grin widened revealing a hint of fang. “Not yet but you could
be if that’s an offer.”
Bristling, the come
on was enough to break whatever spell the man had on her. Maybe Jonathan wasn’t
so far off the mark with his rumors about the ‘would be Romeo.’ “No it was more
a statement on my lousy luck. The pilot looked much more to my taste. Don’t
flatter yourself.”
Sighing at him casually
slumped against her car door she motioned him to get in. “Welcome to Colorado
Mr. Monaghan. In case you missed the memo, I’m your squire for the time being
at least and as a squire, I’m off limits.
That is one particular need that personal squires are NOT allowed to
provide.”
Opening the car door
he shrugged. “Interesting that you said for the time being. Does that mean you
might be on the menu at a later date?”
Taking a deep breath
to control her anger she walked over to stand near the man. Carefully
enunciating each word she told him, “No, I will never be on your menu and at
the rate your going I won’t be your squire for any longer than the six months I
promised Acheron, assuming I can’t get out of it sooner for sexual harassment.”
The man rolled his eyes at her making it clear he didn’t believe she would
seriously turn him down.
Jenny leaned in
toward him, anger coloring her gaze. “Let’s get something straight right now. I
may be new at being a personal squire but I have served as an adjunct Dorian
squire for years. I come from a very respected line of Blue Blood squires. Do
you know how long my family has served the squire council? My duties are not
something I take lightly, ever. It’s a matter of family pride and respect for
tradition. If you were looking for some
Hunter groupie masquerading as a squire ready to fall all over you, you
obviously got the wrong woman.”
Tad nodded trying to
smother his grin but not quite succeeding. “Point taken. My apologies. I’d like
to see my new house if you’re ready to go.”
She nodded
suspicious of the quickly given apology and headed around to her side of the
car. As soon as she was out of eyesight, he grinned again closing the door. She
might just do. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about waking up to find she’d
invited herself to share his bed like his last squire had.
Jenny got in the car
and fastened her seatbelt. Ignoring the hunter next to her, she focused on
getting them back to town. Once they were on the highway, she spared Tad a
glance. He was sitting back in his seat watching her drive.
Rolling her eyes,
she told him, “You might want to focus on the scenery, start getting to know
the area you’ll be patrolling.”
The hunter chuckled.
“But I am enjoying the scenery I’m viewing. At any rate, I doubt I’ll find many
daimons on the interstate. I’m much more interested in getting to know you.”
Jenny gripped the
steering wheel so tightly her knuckles turned white. Forcing herself to focus
on the road and not let the pompous ass cause her to wreck her baby, she took a
deep breath, counting to ten. “Haven’t we already covered that? I am not
interested.”
The young woman
could have sworn she heard him mutter, “Yeah right,” before he spoke more
forcefully. “I wasn’t referring to knowledge in the biblical sense. As you have
pointed out you are going to be my squire for the immediate future at least. I
would like to know who I’m dealing with.” Sighing he added, “Try looking at it
from my point of view. I’m dropped into a new town with no friends. The only
contact I have is someone who I’ve never met before and have very limited
information on. Someone I might add whom other than a pointed jab at my ego and
a diatribe on her lineage, hasn’t said two words to me. Wouldn’t you be
concerned in my position?”
The young squire
grimaced, realizing he was right. What she thought of his flirty demeanor
couldn’t be much worse than what anyone else would think of her rude treatment
of her new employer. Slowing down, she pulled over onto the shoulder of the
road and parked the car.
Turning in her seat
she offered him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry if I’ve been a trifle rude to
you. Welcome to
Smothering a grin,
he took her hand and shook it solemnly. “Thank you Jennifer. You can call me
Tad. Now why don’t we get moving before someone stops to ask if we need help?”
Blushing she nodded
and moved the car back into traffic. “So what would you like to know about me?”
“For starters are
you having a bad day or are you really that unhappy to be working for me?” He
raised an eyebrow which the young lady caught out of the corner of her eye.
Sighing she
admitted, “No, I wasn’t having a bad day per se… and I’m not unhappy with the
job. I may have been a tad defensive….” Grinning she added, “No pun intended.
Your reputation precedes you.”
“Ah I should have
known. They run out of gossip on the squire boards again,” he asked his tone
somewhat subdued. He barely managed a smirk at her
play on his name.
Jenny shook her head
as she easily maneuvered through the late night traffic as they neared
downtown. “No. I haven’t seen anything about you on the boards. I know a few
squires here in town pretty well though and they warned me.” She grimaced, not
wanting to admit that she had fallen prey to
her brothers’ overprotective nature.
Sensing her unease,
the hunter grinned disarmingly. “Well since it appears that the squire news
network is much more generous in handing out information than Ash EVER is, how
about you return the favor and tell me a bit more about my new squire? What is
your day job? Are they okay with you having other responsibilities?”
Taking the offered
out, the young woman smiled and began to tell her new boss about her career as
an archaeologist as well as her current position at the museum. She shared a
bit about growing up in
It wasn’t long
before Jenny had pulled off the highway into the heart downtown and the posh
Cherry Creek neighborhood beyond that the squire had recommended to the hunter.
Driving past the Cherry Creek Country club, Jenny pulled into the entrance of a
secluded driveway that bordered the golf course. You would never know from the
street what lay beyond due to a high brick wall that surrounded the property.
Punching in a code
into a box near the gate, she handed the sheet over to Tad, “This is just the
code for the front gate; there is a separate code for the front door. Of
course, you can change both codes to something easier to remember if you
prefer.”
He grinned at the
girl. “Thanks, I think can manage to memorize this. I have lots of practice
memorizing numbers like the ones ladies give me at clubs after all.” He winked
at her to show he was teasing but the archaeologist just shook her head. This
one was going to be trouble. She could just feel it.
The hunter whistled
as he turned to get his first good view of the front entry to his new home.
Jenny had left the outside lights on to show the place to its best advantage.
The structure was a fairly large two story English Tudor home. The color scheme
was simple a bare brick base which met ivory white boards with dark red trim. There
was a wide covered porch as you approached from the front drive that looked out
on a well manicured lawn.
The young woman
stepped out the car and moved to help Tad retrieve his luggage. He handed her
the smallest of his suitcases then ushered her toward the front door. Rolling
her eyes she entered the entered the lock code and walked into the front foyer.
Turning on the light the wood floors gleamed as a curved staircase led up to
the second floor landing. There were boxes lining the hallway as Tad had asked
Jenny to wait for his arrival to unpack.
Turning she told
him, “I suggested this location because it affords you a lot of privacy while
still being close enough to downtown to be convenient for patrolling. I know
you said not to unpack anything but I did take the liberty of setting up your
bed in the master bedroom so you’ll have a place to sleep today. There are
double curtains in that room so you should be safe. I also had the tinted
windows installed in all the rooms of the master suite.”
Raising an eyebrow he nodded. “Thank you for your concern though I am a bit
curious as to what excuse you gave for tinted windows in a home.”
Blushing she told
the hunter, “Well… I said my boss was rather eccentric and had some light
sensitive plants. Our biggest worry is going to be that the contractor might
turn us in to the DEA thinking we are growing some… special vegetation.”
He nodded, “Thanks
for the warning.”
The young squire set
the bags down and led him down the hallway toward the back. “The fridge is
stocked with some basics. You’ll have to make a list of any special things
you’d like brought in. I think most of the boxes are in the right rooms based
on the labels you put on them on your end so you should have some dishes and
cookware in here somewhere.”
Entering the large kitchen Tad noticed all the windows in there also had thick
curtains. Well at least he knew she took his safety where sunlight was
concerned seriously. He looked up to see his squire grab the first box in front
of her and start unpacking. He grabbed another box and soon they had dishes and
a basic cooking set uncovered.
Suddenly a box went
tumbling off the counter to the floor, knocked off as the girl had turned to
throw the empty boxes in the corner. A leather journal had fallen out along
with an old framed black and white photo. Picking them both up then putting the
box back on the counter, she confessed, “This doesn’t look like kitchen stuff;
I must have put this box in the wrong room.”
Before she could take a second look at the picture, the hunter had grabbed the
frame and journal out of her hand. He quickly put them back in the box and
closed it back up. “Yeah guess the sorting wasn’t quite as organized as you
thought.” His face rather stern he added, “Thanks for your help getting
settled. I think I’d rather unpack the rest of my things on my own. You can
leave now.”
“But there is so
much to do and I haven’t even shown you where everything is yet,” her voice
sounded a bit confused by his sudden gruff tone as he took her arm and led her
to the front door.
“I’m a hunter after
all. I think I can manage to find my own bed unless you’ve decided you want to
tuck me in,” he added rather snidely.
Jerking her arm out
of his hand she stepped over the threshold before turning to face him. “I think
we already covered that subject. I’ll just leave you to the company of your
boxes then since my help is not needed.”
The young woman
turned and marched down to her car slamming the door as she got in. She didn’t
even look back to see if the infuriating man was watching or not as she drove
off.
Tad shut the door
heading down the hallway into what appeared to be a dark study. The lights
suddenly came on as the hunter turned at a voice behind him, “Nice start
Thaddeus.”
He sighed as he sat
down on the sofa across the room from the desk his visitor was leaning on.
“What do you want Ash?”
His leader just
shook his head at Tad. “I’m just checking up on you. Nice job making friends
with your squire. It should make for pleasant working conditions.”
The hunter frowned. “That wasn’t my fault. She had it in for me from the moment
she met me, went on about my reputation.”
Acheron nodded, “Yes
the reputation you seem to work so hard to maintain despite its inaccuracy. Yet
she seemed willing to help you despite that until you threw her out.”
“Some things are
nobody’s business but my own Ash. Surely you of all people understand that,” he
huffed.
The leader ran a
hand through his long hair which was black with purple and green streaks
tonight before leveling his gaze on his charge. “Yes I do understand that. What
I don’t understand is your desire to push away anyone that even threatens to
get close to you. You have a history of complaining constantly to me about not
having a good squire but how am I supposed to get you a decent squire when you
keep chasing them off? Why do you think I had Jenny promise be your squire for
a six month minimum?”
The younger man
shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe you wanted to torture her.”
“Naw, Akri wouldn’t
even let me BBQ her when I told him she was asking people about Nick.” The
Charonte Demon had popped in wearing a school girl outfit with matching
accessories. Even her hornays were plaid.
“Simi…” Acheron turned
to the girl his tone one that would frighten most men.
Undaunted his
adopted daughter interrupted the ancient hunter, “I know, Simi don’t tell the hunters
what we talk about. Simi don’t come to
The hunter started
to say something but his leader cut him off. “I wouldn’t suggest answering that
if I were you.” The big guy turned his attention back to the demon. “Simi why
are you here? Weren’t you going to stay at Sanctuary?”
She nodded telling
the men, “I was but they ran out of barbeque. They never have enough when I
come Akri and I think they hide things from me. Even Eros said…” She pouted
then her face lit up, seeming to remember something. “Oh now Simi remembers why
she came looking for Akri. She heard Eros tell Psyche that the Bitch Heifer Goddess
is on a rampage about something and nobody can calm her down. Said she might be
about to…”
”Simi go back to Sanctuary,” Acheron curtly told her before turning to Tad.
“Stay out of trouble until I can get back to you. Try not to chase off your
squire again.” With that he disappeared.
Tad turned to the
demon and smiled. “Nice outfit. So, Jenny was asking about Nick eh? Were they
close?”
Simi started to say
something then blinked and grinned. “Sorry Hunter. Akri say Simi go. More barbeque
is waiting.”
Tad shook his head
as she disappeared. “Good thing I brought my laptop. It may be time to do a
little research on my squire and her previous relationships.”
A voice behind him said, “That’s what I was afraid of.”
The hunter turned just in time to receive a stiff right to the jaw knocking him
off his feet. He looked up at the mysterious stranger thinking this was turning
into one hell of a long night.