![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.shilohwalker.com\/website\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/HuntersFall.gif\" "\\"HuntersFall\\"")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cYou can be such a bore sometimes, Mal.\u201d She blew out a breath. \u201cHow does your wife even tolerate it?\u201d<\/p>\n
Malachi\u2019s face twisted in a snarl. \u201cShe\u2019s too busy trying to keep you alive to worry about me being boring.\u201d Hell, he and his beloved spent so much time worrying about Nessa that they didn\u2019t have time to wonder if they were boring these days.<\/p>\n
\u201cBecoming a bit harder to handle me than you\u2019d expected, eh?\u201d She arched her brows and smiled at him.<\/p>\n
Malachi wanted to shake her. She didn\u2019t seem to bloody care about anything anymore, and it was getting more and more disturbing.<\/p>\n
For a time, she\u2019d done well. She\u2019d seemed stronger\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. almost like she\u2019d once been.<\/p>\n
But then Malachi failed her.<\/p>\n
He\u2019d never forgive himself for that.<\/p>\n
The loss of the girl she\u2019d loved like a daughter had damned near destroyed her. Malachi hadn\u2019t been able to do a damn thing to stop it. He hadn\u2019t been able to stop a drunk driver from plowing into the car Mei-Lin had been riding in. He hadn\u2019t been able to save the four girls, and he hadn\u2019t been able to do anything but stand at Nessa\u2019s side and hold her hand while she wept at Mei-Lin\u2019s funeral.<\/p>\n
Useless bastard. <\/em>All these years he\u2019d walked this earth and the few times one of his dearest friends had needed help, he hadn\u2019t been able to do anything.<\/p>\n Just as he couldn\u2019t help her now. She was slipping into madness, he feared. Kelsey, his love, his heart, his soul, seemed to fear the same thing.<\/p>\n They were losing her, bit by bit.<\/p>\n Remember why you came here, old man<\/em>, he told himself.<\/p>\n Not that he thought he\u2019d have any impact on her. But he couldn\u2019t give up. And if he<\/em> didn\u2019t come, he feared Kelsey would. As mindless as Nessa was these days, Malachi feared his wife even being near her.<\/p>\n If Nessa wanted to court death, Malachi would do his damnedest to stop her and he\u2019d do his damnedest to hold Kelsey at bay, too.<\/p>\n \u201cYou found a nest of feral vamps,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Nessa grinned. She looked like a damn schoolgirl standing there, a pleased grin on her face, her blond hair whipping around her face. Flinging her arms to the sky, she said, \u201cYes\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. yes, I did. And it was quite a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n She stood there like that for a moment, poised as if getting ready for the dive to end all dives. Then she lowered her arms, rubbed at her neck with one hand.<\/p>\n Malachi walked over to her, tugging the neckline of her sweatshirt aside so he could see the ugly bite mark on her neck. \u201cGot bit, too, I see,\u201d he murmured, keeping his voice neutral. He\u2019d known that before he\u2019d come. That was why Kelsey had sent him.<\/p>\n Nessa had been courting death with a vengeance ever since Mei-Lin had died. Each time, she moved a little closer. But he wasn\u2019t sure what would claim her first\u2014death or her own demons.<\/p>\n He\u2019d been so grateful to have her back that he hadn\u2019t noticed how broken she was. Hadn\u2019t realized what returning had done to her.<\/p>\n Then Mei-Lin came into her life, and Nessa seemed to find herself again. She\u2019d been whole\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. or closer to it than she\u2019d been in a good long time.<\/p>\n She was worse now.<\/p>\n All these years, Nessa had been strong. He\u2019d counted on that strength, he supposed. Counted on it to see her through this.<\/p>\n But even the very strong break.<\/p>\n Malachi suspected the girl\u2019s death had proven to be too much.<\/p>\n Nessa wasn\u2019t broken\u2014yet<\/em>\u2014but neither was she whole.<\/p>\n He had been so pathetically grateful to have her back. Nessa was one of the few constants in his life. He\u2019d known her when she was little more than a girl and he\u2019d watched her grow into the powerful witch she\u2019d become, a witch whose power was so great, it had kept her soul alive even after her body had shut down.<\/p>\n But they\u2019d all been fools thinking that she would eventually adjust. And Malachi was the biggest fool of all for thinking it, because of all of them, Malachi knew her best. He\u2019d known how tired she was, how lonely and it had nothing to do with a frail, weakened body.<\/p>\n Whatever miracle God had wrought upon Nessa, it wasn\u2019t one that she would thank Him for. She hated every moment of her new existence. Right up until Mei-Lin. But that peace had been too short-lived and now, things were even worse than they had been before.<\/p>\n It was no longer simple loneliness and heartache tormenting the powerful witch. It was more.<\/p>\n Something dark had settled inside of her, something broken. She was fractured inside, a fact that all of them had overlooked until it couldn\u2019t be any longer.<\/p>\n Now, he had to face every day and wonder if this would be the day he was forced to hunt down his oldest friend and kill her. As yet, she was no threat to any but the ferals and herself, but he wondered how long that would last. She chased death with a passion, and she moved closer and closer to a line that no Hunter could cross.<\/p>\n It was as though she\u2019d forgotten who she was. What she was. He looked into her eyes and saw madness. He saw a decided lack of control, and she cared little. No, she wasn\u2019t a danger to them yet, but he feared she would be. And when that happened, he would have to kill her. It was a knowledge that festered inside him. All this time, as long as he had walked this earth, nothing had broken him. It had been close when he had thought Agnes had died, but Kelsey had pulled him through.<\/p>\n He worried though that his wife wouldn\u2019t be able to pull him through what he feared was coming. Not because she couldn\u2019t. But because she wouldn\u2019t<\/em>.<\/p>\n Kelsey\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. he loved that woman more than life itself. For her, he could survive centuries in hell if he knew she would be waiting for him at the end. But if he had to kill Nessa, Kelsey might never forgive him.<\/p>\n In her heart, she still hoped that Nessa would survive this. But Malachi was a pragmatic man. He had admitted what Kelsey\u2019s soft heart had yet to accept.<\/p>\n Nessa didn\u2019t want to live and she was getting desperate enough to do the unthinkable, just to see that she got what she wanted.<\/p>\n Death.<\/p>\n This time, she\u2019d almost found it. And at the hands of a mangy, miserable feral vamp that she could have killed with her hands tied behind her back, if she chose.<\/p>\n Nessa shifted and smoothed her shirt so that it mostly hid the bite on her neck.<\/p>\n Inside his mind, he could still see those ugly, gaping holes in her pale skin.<\/p>\n \u201cHe took too much blood,\u201d Malachi said softly, his voice tight and controlled. Controlled, because if he wasn\u2019t careful, he would start shouting and he\u2019d learned quite some time ago how shouting affected Nessa\u2014she either laughed, or did something that would make him want to shout louder. \u201cYou\u2019re running a pint or two low there.\u201d He could see it in the pallor of her skin, and more, he scented it in her blood. Another few minutes and she would have been completely drained.<\/p>\n Nessa shrugged. \u201cNothing I haven\u2019t dealt with before.\u201d Then she grimaced, glancing down at her rail-thin body. \u201cGranted, not in this particular body.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat particular body is the only one you have. Perhaps you should care for it better. You need food, red meat. Rest. Hell, even a pint of Guinness would do you a world of good.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHmmm.\u201d She turned around and peered over the edge, staring down. The naked yearning in her eyes turned Malachi\u2019s gut into a cold, empty pit.<\/p>\n She wanted to jump. If he hadn\u2019t come when he did, would she have tried it? Would she try now\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0. with him watching?<\/p>\n \u201cCome back to Excelsior with me,\u201d he said quietly. He held out a hand and watched as she turned around. \u201cCome home.\u201d<\/p>\n Come home, <\/em>he thought. If he could just get her back to Excelsior, back to the school, they could help. There, perhaps she could find herself again. Perhaps she could heal.<\/p>\n He hoped. He prayed.<\/p>\n \u201cHome.\u201d A faint smile curled her mouth upward, but it didn\u2019t reach her eyes. She never really smiled anymore. \u201cHome is where the heart is, isn\u2019t it, Malachi?\u201d She slid her gaze east, east over land and ocean, to a village that hadn\u2019t existed for centuries. \u201cMy heart\u2019s been buried for so long, there\u2019s not even dust left of him. I have no home.\u201d<\/p>\n An impish grin appeared on her face and she added, \u201cBesides, there are still some nasties out there that I missed the other day. A good Hunter never leaves the job undone and all that rot.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou don\u2019t need to be Hunting right now, Nessa,\u201d Malachi snapped. \u201cYou\u2019re weak, you\u2019re low on blood.\u201d You\u2019re insane. <\/em>He kept that part to himself. He reached out, grabbed her wrist and jerked her back from the edge. She went flying and if he hadn\u2019t still held her wrist, she would have flown halfway across the roof before she landed. \u201cIt\u2019s a bloody miracle you can even stand.\u201d<\/p>\n Tugging her wrist, she said, \u201cOh, nonsense. You don\u2019t really believe a couple of pesky, bloodthirsty vampires are that big a threat to me, do you?\u201d<\/p>\n His eyes raked over her from head to toe, lingering on the barely concealed bite mark at her neck. \u201cRight now? Yes. You\u2019re vulnerable, damn it. A toddler having a temper tantrum could well prove to be a threat to you in your state.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cVulnerable?\u201d Blond brows arched over wide blue eyes.\u00a0 \u201cI haven\u2019t been vulnerable since\u2014well, since I don\u2019t remember when. At least not to vampires. And obviously, you haven\u2019t spent much time around toddlers\u2014toddlers in a tantrum are a threat to damn near everything.\u201d<\/p>\n She tipped her head back and murmured softly, \u201cThey\u2019re out there now, waiting for the sun to set. I feel them\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n Recognizing the look on her face, Malachi started toward her. \u201cFine, then,\u201d he growled. \u201cWe\u2019ll go after them together. Just like old times, eh?\u201d<\/p>\n There was no way he was going to let this demented woman out of his sight, not until he knew she was stronger. If he were the hopeful sort, he would even wish that perhaps the two of them working side by side as they had so many times before might remind Nessa of who she was.<\/p>\n \u201cLet\u2019s go then.\u201d He held out a hand to her.<\/p>\n But instead of putting her hand in his, she smirked. \u201cI\u2019m used to doing things on my own, Mal.\u201d<\/p>\n A mischievous smile flirted with the corners of her lips.<\/p>\n Not this time, old friend<\/em>, <\/em>he thought, ready to grab her once more.<\/p>\n \u201cOh, no, you don\u2019t.\u201d Malachi lunged for her, but she disappeared, right in front of him, and his hands closed around thin air.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n June 7<\/p>\n You can also read the prologue<\/a> and chapter one<\/a>…<\/em><\/p>\n Amazon<\/a> |\u00a0B&N<\/a> |\u00a0BAMM<\/a> |\u00a0Borders<\/a> |\u00a0IndieBound<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"