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Part I

HUNTER

Chapter 1

I smelled blood as soon as I walked into the room

A blast of snow-laced air acco to my hair and clothes as I shoved back the door The space beyond was s tables scattered about the floor and steel dru fro fan, half its blades broken orair

Every eye in the rooh the fraerous, broken faces watched intently as I passed their tables, like feral dogs scenting blood I ignored the nails and chips of glass under my boots I didn't need to take a breath to know the air reeked of sweat and alcohol and human filth

And blood The scent of it clung to the walls and floors, soaked into the rotting tables, sh the veins of every human here, hot and heady I heard several heartbeats quicken as I s of lust and hunger, but also the hint of fear, unease Souess the truth

The iant with a snarl of scar tissue across his throat It crept up his neck and twisted the left corner of his lip into a permanent scowl He eyed me without expression as I took a seat on one of the ed counter His gaze flicked to the hilt of the sword strapped to my back, and one of his eyelids twitched

"I' for," he said in a low voice, as his hands slid under the bar When they caun, probably, I guessed Or maybe a baseball bat "Not on tap, anyway"

I s up "You knohat I am"

"Wasn't difficult Pretty girl walking into a place like this either has a death wish or is already dead" He snorted, shooting a dark look at the patrons behind us I could feel their hooded gazes even now "I knohat you want, and I'm not about to stop you No one here will miss these idiots You take what you have to, but don't trash my bar, understand?"

"Actually, I' I didn't have a lot of ti "Someone like me Bald Tall Face scarred all to hell" I finally looked up, h here?"

A rimy shirt, his heartbeat picked up, and a sheen of sweat appeared on his brow For a un or whatever he had beneath the counter I kept , my hands on the bar between us

"You've seen him," I prodded carefully He shook himself, then turned that blank stare on me

"No" The reply seeed frolanced at thehow o, a stranger cah No one saw him enter, and no one saw him leave But we found what he left behind"

"Left behind?"

"Rickson and his boys In their home From one end of it to the other They said the bodies were so scattered they never found all the pieces"

I bit the inside of my lip "Did anyone see who did it?"

"Rickson's woman She lived At least, until she blew her brains out three days later But she said the killer was a tall, pale man with a face scarred like the devil himself"

"Anyone with him?"

The barkeep frowned then shook his head "No, she said he was alone But he carried a large black bag with hiet out of her, anyway She wasn't terribly coherent, if you knohat I mean"

I nodded, drawing back, though the words body bag sent a chill through h "Thank you," Inow"

That's when I felt the arm on my shoulder

"Oh, you're not leaving yet, little girl," e hand reached down and gripped h to bruise, if I could still bruise "It's too cold outside Come over here and keep us warm"

A s enough