The Immortal Hunter(29)

"My orders were to bring her in," the woman said, voice hard.

Decker shook his head. "She stays with me."

"Then you'd better call Lucian, because I do what I'm told and I was told to bring her in."

Decker snorted. He was about to point out that she only did what she was told when she felt like it when Dante said, "No need to call him. Lucian is here."

Turning, Decker glanced in the direction Dante was looking and watched a second SUV park, this one on the other side of the van.

Decker scowled. He would have fought Eshe if necessary to keep Dani with him, but you just didn't argue with Lucian. Or, at least, you did your best to avoid it. Decker feared in this case he was going to have to argue the point. No one, not even Lucian, was getting between him and Dani.

"Lucian's found his own life mate now," Eshe commented as they watched him get out and walk around the vehicle. As Lucian opened the passenger door for Leigh, she added, "He may understand and let you keep her with you."

Decker frowned at the comment. He'd heard a few say the man had softened since finding Leigh. But he hadn't seen anything to suggest that was true. His uncle was still a hard-boiled rock as far as he could tell.

"Why is everyone standing around?" Lucian growled as he reached them. His eyes skated over the group before coming to rest sharply on Decker. "Where are the rogues?"

"In the van," he said at once, following when his uncle abruptly turned and ushered Leigh to the back of the vehicle. Once there, Lucian grasped the door and then paused and turned to glare at Decker. "It isn't closed."

"What?" Decker moved up beside him and saw that it was true, the door wasn't shut tight.

"Sloppy," Lucian snapped. "You're lucky it didn't fly open and spill bodies out on the highway. Wouldn't that have been fun to explain?"

Decker held his tongue. It had been sloppy, he acknowledged as he watched Lucian pull on the door, but while it wasn't quite closed, it had caught enough that it didn't pop open until he pushed the button to release the catch. He swung the door wide and then opened the second door as well, and everyone crowded around as he grabbed one corner of the tarp and threw it back. They were all silent as he peered over the bodies. "How long have they been staked?"

"Since we left the clearing," Decker said. "I didn't want them recovering and causing trouble."

Lucian nodded and murmured, "The stakes will have to be removed soon so they can survive for their trial."

Decker just nodded, knowing the Council would insist on their thoughts being read to find out just how much trouble they'd caused before they would pass sentence. The enforcers usually had a good deal of information on a rogue and what they'd been up to before going after them. If they had enough information, sometimes they could exterminate the rogue on the spot and start cleanup right away as had been done in the most recent case in Kansas, but they knew nothing about these men and the damage they might have done. That would have to be found out before anything else could be done.

"Who are they?" Leigh asked, slipping her hand into Lucian's as she peered at the bodies.

"They bear a striking resemblance to Leonius," he murmured, a troubled expression claiming his face.

"Leonius?" Decker asked, not recognizing the name.

"Leonius Livius," Lucian clarified. "He was one of the few original Atlanteans who escaped when it fell."

"Edentata," Eshe breathed, apparently recognizing the name.

"What is edentata?" Leigh asked with confusion.

Lucian shifted and then said, "Edentate is Latin for no teeth. Edentata are immortals who have no fangs to help them get what they need to survive. The ones who are sane are called edentates. However, the ones who are plagued with insanity and go rogue are usually called no-fangers to differentiate the two. Leonius Livius was a no-fanger." Lucian paused before adding, "But he fell in battle a couple millennia ago."

"Maybe he had children before he died," Decker suggested.

"He did, but they all fell in the same battle with him. We made sure," Lucian muttered, and then leaned in to examine one of the men more closely. He peered at his face, then opened his mouth to peer inside, and reached in to push on the palate behind the canine teeth. After a moment he straightened and shook his head. "No fangs."

"How can you tell?" Justin asked curiously, making it obvious he'd never dealt with an edentata before.

Decker wasn't surprised. They had been killed off over time and were pretty rare these days. Decker had only ever run into one himself in his two hundred and fifty-nine years. He explained, "If you push on the roof of your mouth behind the canines, they'll slide out on us whether you want them to or not, but with the edentata there are no fangs to come out."

Justin reached into his own mouth. He must have pushed on the palate behind his right fang, because that's the one that slid forward and down.

"Cool," he said, removing his finger and allowing the tooth to slide back into place. "I never knew we could do that."

"Why didn't they develop fangs?" Leigh asked. "And how did they survive?"

"I'll explain later," Lucian assured her, and then turned to Decker. "Where's the girl?"