Mercenary Road Read Online Free PDF Page A

hadn’t taken off his traveler’s hat or coat. But everything about him, including his exquisite features, was darkly glowing.
    “Could I trouble you for your name?” the man said, but it didn’t sound like he was addressing another human being. Still, he seemed to have gotten his point across.
    “D.”
    Strider’s mouth fell open.
    “So you’re . . . that dhampir.”
    After this, he didn’t say another word. D’s good looks were melting his brain.
    “If you have no business with me . . .”
    “No, I do. I’ve got a beef with you. The mayor called you here, didn’t he?”
    Nothing from D.
    “Well, thanks to you, the bastard’s turned down our offer. Told us there’d been a highly qualified applicant, and that he no longer needed our services—but he’d hire us if we were willing to work for half his original price. So you can see why I’d wanna air my grievances.”
    “Go tell it to the mayor,” D replied, his advice straightforward and simple.
    “I’ve already been there. Only the bastard won’t see me at all, and he’s got himself at least twenty guards now. He just wanted to know if I’d take the job for a pittance or not. Hell, I could take out a hundred of those hick guards, but I need the money. In the end, I just bit the bullet and took his offer. Which meant all I could do was come here and complain to the cause of all this.”
    “So?”
    Terror jabbed into the nape of Strider’s neck. D was asking if he wanted to make something of it.
    Swallowing hard, the warrior said, “I was gonna threaten you, but I’ve changed my mind. Since it never hurts to ask, what do you say to the two of us joining forces?”
    D said nothing.
    “It’s so we can both get more money out of him. There’s someone else who probably took the job under the same conditions. Teaming up with the renowned D would give me a better position to negotiate from instead of sticking with her.”
    “Leave.”
    “Hey, hold on, now!”
    “You have a visitor,” said D.
    “What?”
    A knock resounded.
    D opened the door.
    “Excuse me,” Stanza said, poking her head into the room. With a trenchant gaze she scanned the room from the doorway. She was perplexed by what she saw.
    “What do you think you’re doing?” she asked.
    “The same thing as you, actually.”
    “Is he in?”
    Strider tossed his chin.
    D couldn’t be seen from the doorway.
    “May I come in?”
    “Yes.”
    D’s reply sent a tremble through Stanza. Despite the fact that D was less than a foot and a half from her, she hadn’t sensed him at all.
    Closing the door, she said to him, “I’m Stanza, the warrior.”
    “I’m D.”
    The same stunned reaction as Strider’s crossed the female warrior’s already melting face.
    “You’re . . . D? Come to mention it . . . you really are gorgeous, aren’t you?”
    Judging by his demeanor, Strider was about to retch, but he didn’t say a word. This, too, was due to D’s looks.
    “What do you want?”
    Looking at Strider as if he were a pebble in the gutter, she said, “Why don’t you leave?”
    “ What’s that?”
    “We’re finished,” D said.
    “I suppose we are,” Strider said, glaring back at Stanza. “But think it over, anyway.”
    “No.”
    Though the warrior shrugged at D’s reply, he didn’t seem terribly disappointed as he told the Hunter, “Watch yourself with that little minx.”
    And with that, he left.
    Walking over to the door, Stanza squinted her eyes. She soon gave a nod and turned to face D. She’d been listening to make sure she heard Strider going down the stairs.
    “You have a beef, too?”
    “Huh?” Stanza exclaimed, looking at D’s left thigh. That was where the voice had come from.
    Balling his fist tightly, D said, “Nothing.”
    Stanza furrowed her brow. “Do you have a cold or something?”
    “No.”
    “Can you throw your voice?”
    D said nothing.
    “Well, not that it matters. Do you mind if I have a seat?”
    Not a word from D.
    Hiding her