Book 1: Honor and Grace Part 3

Honor is a demon hunter traveling with Alexander, the vampire prince. Looking for information on Rinzer, the Demon Lord, she decides to go visit her sister, Grace, who is a priestess of the Great Goddess Ashnye.

Honor and Alexander arrived at the Matra-Ashnye at about the same time Honor had arranged to visit her sister, Grace. It had taken the vampire five minutes to cover three hours of horseback ridding and he was barely winded. Outside the large, castle-like building everything was calm and quiet.

Honor slid off Alexander's back and drew her scythe. It was too quiet. The pair was outside the temple that was open twenty-four hours a day and in the forest outside of Brisk, a small town in the country on the High Road between the capital and the seaports. The lights should have shone through the tall windows and the sounds of night creatures stirring should have filled the air.

Instead, the windows were dark and the forest was quiet. The silence bore down on the pair. They knew what had happened here without having to go inside. They also knew that evil lingered still.

Honor stroked the flat of her scythe's blade with two fingers of her right hand. The silver blade, which had shined in the full moon light before she had worked her magic on it, simply disappeared. Honor did the same to the bright opal set in the dark wooden staff. It, too, seemed to vanish. Alexander didn't even draw his twin swords. He could have them in his hands in a fourth of a second at least.

The two crouched together in the underbrush next to the lane leading to the front steps of the church. They were so close together that a passerby may have thought they were embracing. Alexander may have been able to hear Honor when she whispered half a mile away, but she did not have his hearing.

"What do you hear?" she whispered-asked. Her voice was soft enough that it didn't disturb the quiet.

"There are seven demons in the chapel. Four fire demons, two air demons and an earth demon. They are arguing with each other over the location of the missing Master Priestess and the five nuns who live in the church." Alexander smiled. "It seems they gave the demons the slip before they showed up."

"Grace is smart. Oh course, it could be her luck. I bet she took every nun living here to help her summon her Lis."

"They think they went to gather herbs." The vampire's head tipped to one side. "It also seems that these demons are all members of the Zerdin."

Honor's grin was devilish. "Seven members of the most elite demonic group are here? Right in the palm of my hand sit seven of Rinzer's pets? Yummy. We should capture a couple of them. Get some extra information for an inside source."

"You are so devious," he said as he pulled her a little closer. "I'll go in first, then. I'll distract them so you can work your magic in peace."

"Just what I was thinking." She kissed Alexander lightly on the cheek. Before each fight the two of them dropped their acts and just acts and behaved as normal people would when around their soul mate. Not that Honor would admit to being Alexander's soul mate. "I need five minutes. Can you handle that?"

Alexander smiled at her teasing. "Oh course, my dear. I can handle it easily."

The two lingered for another moment, then rose to do their bloody work.

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