No Mercy Read Online Free PDF Page A

react.
                How weird.
                She met Chi's narrowed gaze. "I'll take the back."
                "I'll head out the front."
                Sam used her powers to search the ether around them as she headed for the back door of Sanctuary. The Dark-Hunters also had an electronic tracker for Daimons, but she'd never needed one. Her senses and powers had always allowed her to hone right in on them.
                But not tonight.
                Tonight she lost the scent almost as soon as she walked outside.
                How was that possible? And yet there was no denying what she felt. Or more to the point, didn't feel. The air was crisp with a hint of autumn in it. She smelled the gumbo and steaks that were cooking in the kitchen and the scent of the river that was only a few blocks away. But there was nothing here to do with the Daimons.
                With all her senses fully alert, she crept around the outside of the building, trying to locate what had called out to them.
                Nothing was here. Everything appeared normal and yet in her gut she knew it wasn't.
                Chi doubled back to cut her off. She met Sam's quizzical stare, then jerked her chin up toward the sky.
                Sam followed the line of her gaze. The moment she focused on the sky, her stomach headed south. Above their heads hung a moon so red and cloudy, it appeared to be washed in blood.
                Hunter's Moon. Scientifically, she knew it meant nothing more than the way the sun's light was bending around the earth to illuminate the lunar surface. But she'd lived long enough to know it wasn't just that simple--that science didn't explain everything. Mostly because science didn't know about everything.
                It definitely didn't know about the protective veil that separated the worlds from each other. A veil that thinned during a blood moon. Most of all, it didn't know that sometimes ancient man had feared ill omens with just cause.
    In the heart and in the soul,
    Evil takes its wicked toll.
    When moonlight shines like flowing blood,
    Over the earth the demons will flood.
                The old Amazon poem went through her head. A moon just like that one had once shone down on her home. She'd dismissed it then as unfounded superstition.
                And she'd died regretting that stupidity.
                "I'll call Acheron," Chi said, pulling out her cell phone.
                Sam nodded as she felt the hand of evil slide over her. Something was coming for them, she could feel it. The only question was, what was it?

Chapter 2
                After texting the other Dark-Hunters in New Orleans about what was going on, Sam spent the next eight hours on patrol while keeping in touch intermittently with Chi. Neither of them found anything unusual. Not a single Daimon seemed to be out tonight. The only predators on the street were human and while Sam had chased the ones away she found, they weren't the biggest threat in the world.
                They just thought they were.
                How she'd like to feed them to some of the things she'd killed over the centuries. Let them see what a badass really looked like up close and personal. They had no idea how insignificant and weak they really were. A dose of reality might serve them well.
                Her phone buzzed. Looking down, she saw it was Chi. She flipped it open and answered.
                Chi let out a long sigh. "Still bust. I'm heading back to my house to rest my feet and grab a bite. I'll catch you later."
                "All right," Sam said into her phone while she glanced back at the evil moon. A shiver ran down her spine. "See you tomorrow night. Sleep tight and don't let the Daimons bite." She hung up the phone and checked the