Argeneau Family - The Immortal Hunter Part 14

"You don't usually farm horses," she said, sounding amused. "At least I don't think you do. I guess they could have been breeders."

Decker didn't comment, and he wasn't looking around much either. It was a barn. Wood walls, wood stalls, the smell of hay, and motes of dust floating in the pools of light spilling from the open doors. It wasn't really very interesting to him. Decker was more concerned with how to tell her what he had to... and make her listen.

"Dani," he began.

Dani sighed to herself with irritation. She just knew Decker was about to bring up Nicholas again, but she didn't want to hear it.

She began to walk a little faster along the stalls, asking, "How long do you think it will take for Bastien's men to fix the phone?"

"I don't know," he muttered. "But while we're on the topic-"

"Oh look, more hay," Dani interrupted as they reached the end of the stalls.

Decker sighed and moved up behind her to peer in at the bales stacked in the end stall.

"They must have kept them in here so they didn't have to drag hay all the way from the front for these back stalls," Dani guessed, but was just talking to keep him from being able to. She began to walk quickly back toward the front of the building.

"I always wanted a horse when I was growing up. I suppose most little girls do. I'd get one now, but I don't know how to ride and-"

"He ripped her throat out," Decker blurted.

Dani came to a shuddering halt at the end of the stalls, her eyes locked on the open door ahead. She stood just on the edge of the pool of light spilling through those doors. All she had to do was cross the open area with its hay and saddles and she'd be out, able to rush somewhere else to try to avoid hearing what she suspected was going to at least shake, and possibly topple, all the hopes she'd placed on the shoulders of one Nicholas Argeneau, rogue vampire. Instead she turned slowly to face him, her voice defeated as she said, "Tell me."

Decker glanced away, regret flickering across his face, then s.h.i.+fted to lean back against the stall behind him and crossed his arms over his chest. Peering down at the ground then, he said, "Her name was Barbara Johnson. She was a housewife, eight months pregnant. Both she and the baby died. She was an only child. Her father had a heart attack when they gave him the news, her husband hung himself after the triple funeral, and her mother became an alcoholic and drove her car into a tree before the end of that year." He raised his head and added bitterly, "The man you're counting on not only killed a woman, but also wiped out a family.

"And that's just the victim's family. Ours was torn apart by it too. His younger brother, Thomas, won't talk about him, and his little sister..." Decker shook his head. "Jeanne Louise really looked up to Nicholas and wouldn't at first believe it, but when she finally did... she won't even admit to his existence. As far as she's concerned, she only has and ever had one brother."

Dani had moved to stand opposite him as he spoke and now leaned weakly back against the stall she'd stopped in front of. His words swam around inside her head, carrying vivid images. And then she began to shake her head, her voice bewildered as she said, "But he risked being caught to save Steph and me. And he used to be one of you. Are you sure he-?"

"Yes." Decker rubbed the back of his neck wearily. "I was the one who caught him afterward. Her blood was all over him, even still coating his teeth and tongue."

Dani felt her heart sink at this news and shook her head with bewilderment. "Why did he do it?"

Decker shrugged unhappily. "His life mate died in a car accident a couple weeks before. They hadn't been together long, and she was pregnant. I think he just went crazy. Everyone knew he was in a bad way, and we all tried to help, but he was so d.a.m.ned bitter and angry-" Decker shook his head. "He locked us all out of his life. He stopped working as an enforcer, wouldn't see anyone..." He paused and then admitted, "Nicholas is my cousin on my mother's side. His father, Armand, is her brother. Nicholas was also my partner before it all happened, and despite the age difference we were good friends as well as cousins. I went to his house that day to try to get him to go out. I knocked, but got no answer and nearly left, and then I heard a woman's scream."

Decker grimaced and admitted, "I was stupid enough to try knocking again before deciding to break down the door or I might have been in time to save her. I just never imagined..."

Dani moved to his side, drawn by the guilt and pain reflected on his face. But once there, she had no idea what she could do to soothe him and merely raised her hand to rest it on his crossed arms, offering silent comfort.

It seemed to be enough. Decker took a deep breath, blew it out, and then continued almost mechanically, "I broke down the door, but by the time I found them in the bas.e.m.e.nt it was too late. Nicholas was sitting on the floor with her lying across his lap and-as I said-her blood was all over him."

"I see," Dani said quietly, watching his face. It seemed obvious Decker blamed himself for Barbara Johnson's death, as well as what it had done to her child, father, husband, and mother. The very fact that he knew so much about the family told her that.

Decker, Dani realized, had taken on the responsibility for what Nicholas had done, much as she had been blaming herself for her and Stephanie being kidnapped."None of it was your fault," Dani said firmly, wanting to help him see that just as he had helped her. "Nicholas is the one who-"

"I let him go," Decker interrupted.

She stiffened. "What?"

"I let Nicholas go," he repeated. "When I saw what he'd done, I just turned right around and said I was going upstairs to call Lucian. When I got back downstairs he was gone."

"You were probably in shock. You didn't mean to-"

"Didn't I?" Decker interrupted grimly.

Dani raised her eyebrows and asked solemnly, "Did you?"

He turned his face away and admitted, "I've spent fifty years trying to figure that one out." Decker pushed himself away from the stall and paced, adding, "At the time, I didn't know who Barbara was or what had happened. She was just a strange dead woman in his arms. Nicholas was my cousin. He'd been like a big brother when I first moved here from Europe, putting me up, helping me find a place and settle in. He was the one who showed me the ropes when I became an enforcer. Maybe some part of me did know he'd run... and let him."

Dani shook her head. "You're second-guessing your motives, Decker, when the truth is, there might not have been any. If you thought that highly of him, you had to have been in shock over what he'd done. Anyone would be."

"But-"

"And even if you weren't, even if you did know he would run, it doesn't make you responsible for the deaths of Barbara Johnson, her child, husband, or parents. That deed was down to Nicholas, and it was done before you got to him. You aren't responsible for those deaths."

"And what about the mortals he may have killed since then?" Decker asked quietly.

Dani hesitated, a frown claiming her lips. She didn't really believe Decker had intentionally let Nicholas go. She suspected he just felt so guilty the man had escaped that he was blaming himself for all of it. She understood that, but it didn't make it right.

The only one responsible for anything Nicholas had done that day and since was Nicholas himself.

"And what about those women in the ravine and your sister?" Decker added, drawing her from her thoughts. "What if Nicholas was running with that group and just claimed to be hunting them to get the opportunity to escape?"

Dani immediately began to shake her head. "I don't know what happened that day when he killed Barbara. Maybe he snapped, maybe he ripped her throat out, but I still don't believe the man I talked to on the phone was running with those animals, or had anything to do with our being kidnapped and taken. He led you to us, Decker," she said almost pleadingly. "He helped save me, and chased after the rogue when he took my sister. I have to believe that... It's all I've got to hang on to."

Decker sighed, his shoulders sagging under the weight of a guilt she knew she couldn't remove. It would be a monkey on his back until he caught his cousin, or perhaps even until he died.

"Right," he said wearily, moving past her to head out into the open area. "I guess we should head back to the house."

Dani followed slowly. There was no reason to avoid him anymore. He'd told her what she'd tried so hard to avoid hearing.

They might as well go back to the house. Perhaps once there she could persuade him to sleep, she thought, and then noticed that he'd stopped in the open door and was peering out with a frown. That was when she became aware of the steady ping of rain on the metal roof overhead. She'd been so caught up in their conversation and her own thoughts that she hadn't noticed it when it started. Now she wondered how long it had been coming down."We're going to have to make a run for it," Decker said as she reached his side. "I think it's about to really pour."

Dani nodded and took the hand he offered her, and then glanced up wide-eyed as the steady ping suddenly turned into a loud drumming. She turned her gaze out the door to see that it was now almost as dark as night outside, and that the rain was coming down in sheets.

"Maybe we should wait until it slows down again," she suggested.

Decker hesitated, watching as the sky lit up with lightning. It was followed shortly afterward by a loud crack and then a rumble as thunder rolled overhead, and he nodded. "Yeah. We'll wait it out."

Taking back her hand, Dani turned to lead the way to the bales stacked against the wall. She seated herself on one and plucked a piece of straw from it, then watched him slowly move to join her.

They sat in silence for several minutes and then-unable to stand it any longer-Dani asked, "Is your last name Argeneau or Pimms?" When he glanced at her with surprise, she added, "You didn't seem to be sure when we first met."

He smiled wryly and then plucked a bit of straw out of the bale and began to toy with it. "I was born Decker Argeneau Pimms.

My mother is an Argeneau. The Pimms comes from my father. But we've always switched between the two names."

When she raised her eyebrow in question, he explained, "Our kind tend to have to move every decade or so. People get suspicious when you don't age after that period, so we move. Our family also switched between the name Argeneau and Pimms every century or so too. This century they're using Argeneau. At least my parents and sisters are. I'm not sure about my brothers."

Dani wondered about that comment, unable to imagine not knowing what names her brothers and sisters were going by, but merely asked, "How many brothers and sisters do you have?"

"Three younger sisters and three older brothers," he answered easily.

"You have an even larger family than we do," she said with a smile.

"Only one more," Decker said with a shrug. "And we aren't as close as your family appears to be. It's the age difference," he explained.

"How old are they?"

"Let's see." He paused to think and then said, "Elspeth was born in 1872 and Julianna and Vicki-they're twins," he explained.

"I think they were born in 1983."

Dani stared at him blankly. "1872?"

Decker nodded.

"But that would make her over a hundred and thirty years old."

"About one hundred and thirty-seven or thereabouts," he said, and then reminded her, "The law about leaving at least one hundred years between each child causes the large gaps."

Dani closed her eyes as everything clicked into place in her head. Decker telling Justin that he hadn't eaten since he was one hundred and twenty, his saying in the van that his grandparents had been treated with the nanos in Atlantis, and his telling her just moments ago that his family was using the name Argeneau this century. They called themselves immortals, and she was beginning to realize it wasn't because they were quick healers. Dani didn't know why she hadn't worked it out before this. She supposed she'd been too stressed out and worried about Stephanie, but she was beginning to understand now.

"Your people don't age and die," she said.

"We don't age," Decker agreed, "But we can die. I did mention that it was Nicholas's life mate's dying that pushed him over the edge."

"I a.s.sumed she was mortal," Dani murmured with confusion. "Sam is mortal, and I thought-"

"Sam is only mortal because she isn't ready to turn yet," he explained, and then shook his head and muttered, "I guess I didn't explain things very well last night." He paused and took a deep breath and then said, "The nanos will repair any damage including that caused by aging. They also kill off illnesses, but they travel through the bloodstream, so if you rip out the heart, they aren't going anywhere or repairing anything. The blood will die and so will they."

"So Nicholas's wife died in an accident that ripped out her heart?" she asked with disbelief. "What kind of accident rips out your heart?"

"No. Nicholas's wife, Annie, burned to death in a car accident."

"So fire can kill you too."

He nodded. "And decapitation."

Dani supposed that made sense, and asked, "But otherwise you don't die or age?"

Decker shook his head.

"And your sister is one hundred and thirty-seven?"

"Thereabouts," he agreed.

"And she's younger than you?"

Decker seemed to realize where her questions were leading. Lips twisting wryly he said, "I'm two hundred and fifty-nine years old, Dani."

"Two hundred and..."

"Fifty-nine," he finished.

Finding it just too hard for her poor brain to accept, she asked weakly, "You're pulling my leg, right?"

"No," Decker said solemnly, and then worry crossed his face. "Does the age difference bother you?"

Dani gave a short disbelieving laugh and then frowned and peered at him with concern. "Decker, you've told me about life mates, and I know you think I'm yours, but-"

"I don't think, I know," he said firmly, and then reminded her, "Dani. I can't read you."

"Yes, but-"

"And we're sharing dreams."

She stared at him with bewilderment. The only dreams she'd had since meeting him were the one where she'd been walking a flowered path with Stephanie, and-Dani froze, and then asked with dismay, "The tub?"

"I'm afraid so," he said with chagrin. "I fell asleep on the bed while waiting for you to finish your bath, and..." He shrugged.

She felt herself flush with embarra.s.sment, but asked, "So I experienced what you were dreaming?"

"Not exactly," Decker said slowly.

"Well what exactly?" she snapped.

"From what I understand it's a shared sort of thing. Your brain was supplying what you were doing and my mind controlled me, so while I was soaping your b.r.e.a.s.t.s, it was you who turned and raised your face to kiss me and you who reached back to grab my-"

"I wonder if the rain's stopped," Dani interrupted in a strained voice.

She started to slide off the bale of hay, but he caught her arm to stop her, pointing out, "You can hear it's still pounding down."

"Oh yes," she murmured, licking her lips and avoiding his eyes. His words had taken her right back to the excitement of those moments, and his voice had deepened as he spoke, becoming so d.a.m.ned s.e.xy... She wanted him to kiss her. She wanted to kiss him back. She wanted-Giving her head a shake, Dani pulled her arm free and slid off the bale. She immediately started walking for the open doors.

"It could rain for hours. We should probably go back and..." She paused in surprise as Decker caught her arm and spun her around.

"Don't run from me, Dani," he whispered, his expression intense. "I'll just give chase."

"I'm not running," she whispered, her eyes on his mouth.

"Yes," he growled. "You are." And then he did exactly what she wanted and kissed her.

Chapter Ten.