Gabriel waited quietly with his Brothers, trying to settle his disquiet with the plan of attack. It was foolish, he knew, to come upon any Darkling so late in the night. It was far more efficient to brace them just after dark, or in the middle hours of the night. They were less likely to be fed and at full strength at those times. Try as he might, he'd failed to impress this upon the one leading their Hunt tonight. Jeremiah settled beside him.

"Are we any nearer to finishing this?" he whispered.

"Not so far," Gabriel sighed.

Jeremiah sipped water from his flask, his gaze darting around them, trying to pierce the darkness. "Perhaps the Darkling will not return to this place."

"No, they will," he assured him, regretfully. "There are three of them, Brother, and they will be fat, fed, and fierce."

Concern colored the other's face. "You think so?"

"I know it," Gabriel growled. "If we attempt to Deliver them, many of us will die."

"You disagree with Thomas?"

"His plan will end in chaos and death," Gabriel breathed. "We should get away from here while we can. Tonight is not a good night for our Brothers to die."

"Something you wish to share with us, Gabriel?"

Gabriel drew a deep breath. Thomas was older than him and Jeremiah. He achieved his Cloak around the same time as Gabriel and made no secret of his belief that the younger Brother hardly deserved the honor. Tonight, their teams joined forces. They often did so to find safety in numbers. Where one Darkling rested, often others did as well. Thomas's age made him their superior, but Gabriel was certain this Hunt would end in tragedy.

"Have you ever known a Darkling to spend the night abroad and come to roost unfed?" Gabriel asked. "When they return, they will be too much for us. It's madness to face one, let alone three, after a night's feeding."

Thomas gave him a searching look. "How do you know there are three?"

Gabriel rose from his place. He crept around the headstones to the crypt they watched. He settled on his heels, careful where he placed his feet.

"Here," he gestured to the dust in front of the crypt. It was just barely disturbed.

Intrigued, Jeremiah joined him. "What do you see, Brother?"

"Numbers," Gabriel answered. Carefully, he traced in the air over the faint marks. "One. Two. Three sets of prints."

Thomas leaned over from behind them. "Those could be from family for any of these graves," he scoffed.

Gabriel and Jeremiah shared raised brows before both slowly looked up at Thomas, truly stunned any Commander could be so obtuse.

"No family member's prints would be only halfway out of the crypt, Brother," Jeremiah mentioned careful of Thomas' temper.

"Here," Gabriel added, pointing, "only the toes of the first; here the left foot of the second. Only the third's prints are complete, but all of them are toes out, heels facing the door of the crypt.

"If a human was exiting," he continued, "the prints would be toes-in, for they would have to close the crypt behind them. This stone hasn't moved since it was set, else these prints would be obliterated."

Thomas scoffed. "How can you know the order they emerged?"

Jeremiah fell back as Gabriel whirled to his feet and took Thomas's collar in a fist. "The prints are on top of each other!" he hissed. "Your blind pride will not get our Brothers killed. Jeremiah! Call the Hunt. We must be far from this place, now."

Jeremiah scrambled to his feet and moved off. Experience taught him not to question Gabriel's intuition. His Brother's ability to foresee the workings of the Darkling mind never failed them.

"How dare you lay hands upon me!" Thomas raged. He balanced on his toes, only Gabriel's grip keeping him upright. "I'll have your head!"

Gabriel shook him so hard that his teeth snapped shut on his tongue. "You'll have my name on your lips in a prayer of gratitude if you have the sense to follow where you fail to lead true," Gabriel snapped back.

He released the fuming Brother and turned away. He found Jeremiah on the far side of the cemetery. Both teams were mounted and awaiting orders. He swung astride and nodded to Jeremiah.

He arched a brow. "Do we await Thomas?"

"He has his pride to keep him," Gabriel muttered. "If you delay a moment longer all will be for naught."

"We ride for Homestead!"

Gabriel kicked his mount into a gallop but slowed him as they left the graveyard. He let himself fall to the rear, then turned around.

As utterly foolish as he was, he couldn't leave Thomas to die.

***

Thomas watched his team ride away without a backward glance, his fury at the upstart, Gabriel, reddening his gaze. This would prove once and for all he was unworthy of the Cloak. He would take the matter up with the Fathers. Visions of his vengeance gave him a few moments of satisfaction.

He never heard the Darklings return.

When the blow came, it knocked him momentarily unconscious. He blinked blood from his eyes, to find one of them kneeling over him. The other two stood together just beyond, their lips plump and red from feeding.

"Ah," it purred. "One of Them."

Fear lanced through him, his heart speeding within his chest. It leaned closer, and Thomas could only watch. Terror made his limbs heavy. His blade lay within reach, but he couldn't reach for it. Instead of striking his throat, the Darkling gasped and fell to the side. Thomas blinked as the other two screeched and fled into the crypt.

Shaking and keening in terror, Thomas finally clutched his blade. He fumbled with the hilt, taking three tries to finally pull it free of the scabbard.

"Put that away."

With fear seizing his limbs again, the blade fell from his fingers. He crawled backward until he came up against another crypt. Panting, he looked around, his eyes searching. He cried out as a gloved hand caught his chin and turned his face upwards.

"You're not the one I want. But you'll do."

Thomas screamed when the Darkling lifted him into its arms.

***

Even riding as hard as he dared in the moonless gloom, Gabriel knew he wouldn't make it before the Darklings returned. He could only hope Thomas possessed enough skill to hold until he could join him. His hopes dimmed as a chill shivered down his spine.

He knew that feeling.

The Darklings were near.

He pushed speed from his mount, throwing aside the fear of killing the animal before they could reach safety.

He pulled up as he came back to their staging spot. He hit the ground with his bow drawn and a silver-tipped arrow notched. Quieting his steps, he moved as quickly as he could toward the crypt. His eyes narrowed as one of the Darklings moved to sink his fangs into Thomas' skin.

He didn't think before the arrow left his bow with a quiet twang. It hit dead center through the Darkling's heart. Before he could draw another, his knees buckled. The cold finger down his spine came again, this time excruciating. Gasping, he dropped to the ground, senseless.

***

It took every ounce of control not to break the human's silly neck. His screams were quickly silenced, though. All it took was enough pressure on his throat. The Hunter's head lolled on his shoulder as Kaspar settled gently to the ground.

He found him.

An unexpected joy filled Kaspar. His Hunter lay shuddering behind one of the headstones with a bow and a lone silver-tipped arrow grasped in one hand. Kaspar dropped the other Hunter beside him.

"How I would savor a look into your eyes," he whispered his touch light upon the auburn locks that filled his thoughts. "But that time is not now."

Kaspar found two horses nearby, one lathered and hanging its head, the other picketed. Murmuring to the animals, he took the reins and led them back to the Hunters. He dumped the coward across the saddle of the worn mount without care. The other, he lifted and gently placed in the other saddle. He stroked his face with a fingertip, then snapped his fingers. Before the gasp he drew was complete, Kaspar was gone.

***

Startled, Gabriel realized he was astride Thomas's horse. He looked behind him, turning the stallion around in a circle. The soft groan behind him made him turn in the saddle. He was even further bewildered to see Thomas. Panting, he walked the horse toward his own. His eyes never stopped as he moved Thomas to his own saddle, leaning him forward on the steed's neck.

"We'll take an easy way," he promised the exhausted creature. Still uncertain of how he came to be where he was, he remounted and started for Homestead.

***

Hovering far above, Kaspar tried to keep his bubbling happiness under control. Emotion could be dangerous. He had to approach this more cautiously.

With care and discretion.

Taj's words echoed back to him. They had a calming effect. He breathed deep of the night air, knowing the sun would burst over the horizon within a brace of hours. That knowledge didn't freeze his blood, however. He felt no urge to seek shelter.

He reveled in the simple fact that he knew he could withstand the rays for a short time. There was no hurry. He could follow his Hunter, find his base, and take time to learn all he could from the ancient tome he carried with him.

***

Jeremiah trembled as he counted and recounted the horses. They were two riders short. Two, not one, as it should be, with Thomas left behind. The horror of it was too much for him.

Gabriel wasn't there.

He started with them; Jeremiah knew it. Gabriel always rode just to his left and a bit behind. In the dash for safety, he lost him. Jeremiah struggled against the panic that scattered his thoughts.

"He's not here."

Jeremiah turned to the quiet words. In the darkness of the stable, one of the Fathers emerged.

"Father Myka..." he stammered.

"Hush, boy, I know. He went back, didn't he?"

Jeremiah nodded, tears blurring his vision. Father Myka spent most of his time isolated in one of the towers that surrounded Homestead. He rarely came down to the Church, let alone the stables. Jeremiah didn't know why he was there, but he was desperate for guidance.

"I heard how he faced One of Them alone," Myka murmured. "He's utterly fearless, that boy."

"How...how do I tell them...I lost him?"

"Just tell them," Myka said gently. "Avoiding it will not make it any easier to bear."

Myka's dark eyes held him. He felt calm steal over him. With a nod, he turned away and went to report the missing Brothers.

***

"Are you certain you've told me everything?"

Jeremiah rocked in an ornate chair.

"Everything, Father," he whispered. "Gabriel told us we had to leave, that Hunting them would end terribly for us. Thomas was..." he swallowed. "He was furious. Gabriel must have gone back for him."

Daniel clasped his hands in the arms of his robe. The sun stood almost halfway to noon, yet there was no sign of Gabriel. Their finest Hunter could be lying dead, now. And that arrogant fool Thomas...his hands clenched into fists. The older Brother's disregard for Gabriel's superior skills led to this. Every one of the team members returned unharmed, but Daniel would trade them all for Gabriel.

Daniel frowned as Myka stepped away from a curtained doorway. "He must have," Myka said quietly. "Gabriel wouldn't leave a Brother to die."

"I should have known!" Jeremiah cried.

The peace he carried from the stables fell away when he had to speak the words to Father Daniel. He was beside himself with grief. Myka was reasonably sure Jeremiah mourned more for one than the other, but he would never ask him.

"You couldn't have known," Father Myka assured the stricken young man. "You've always trusted your Brother. He trusted you to get the others back to Homestead safely."

Daniel sighed and turned away from the window. "Is there nothing you could have done differently, Jeremiah?"

"I know words cannot ease you," Myka added, "but understand: Gabriel knew what he was doing. His faith in you has always been proven."

He went to Jeremiah and took his hands, pulling him to his feet. "You need to rest."

Daniel's frown sharpened as Myka arched a brow at him. "We shall explore all of our options."

Jeremiah searched Daniel's face and stopped short as Myka led him to the doors. "You...you think he's dead?"

"Gabriel?" Daniel shook his head. "I fear for Thomas more than Gabriel. Thomas, after all, has not faced the Darkling alone."

"He's not dead!" Jeremiah cried. "He can't...they can't kill him."

"Any of us could be taken from this world by their evil, Jeremiah," Daniel intoned.

The narrowing of Myka's dark eyes tightened his jaw but the other man didn't contradict him.

Publicly.

"No, no, no. They can't kill him!" Jeremiah insisted. "He was spared, Father, when they attacked his family when he was a child. God spared him!"

Myka embraced him, holding him close. The young man collapsed in the stables, hysterical when he realized Gabriel wasn't with him. It was more than obvious his feelings ran deeper than Brotherhood, but that, too, Myka would never ask him.

"If he is alive," he whispered into his ear, "even if he's been Tainted, I will find a way to bring him back to you."

Jeremiah went limp, weeping against his shoulder. Myka walked him out of the room.

"Please," Jeremiah whispered, "please, let me go out. Let me look for him."

"You need to rest."

"Please!" Jeremiah stopped, clinging to Myka's hand. "Please. I know I can find him."

Myka looked into his eyes. He was nearly mad with grief. He would never sleep.

"Very well. Go."

Jeremiah pressed feverish kisses to his hand before turning to dash out to the stables.

***

Gabriel caught himself on the edge of falling asleep again. He didn't recall the path back to Homestead taking so long before. He knew exhaustion more than likely led him falsely. His throat was raw and parched, and pain arched down his spine with every breath. His vision was blurred, and he saw things he knew couldn't possibly be there.

He gasped as he caught himself again. Taking a deep breath, Gabriel tried to focus, but his eyes refused to clear. He was so tired...so thirsty...Thomas had yet to wake or make any other sounds. He was too uncertain to look, to see if his Brother was alive.

In the moments when he blacked out in the graveyard, could the other Darklings have finished what the first one failed to start? He shook his head, so many questions and doubts whirling in his mind that he wanted to give up. He simply wanted to lie down...to rest.

He never knew when his fingers went slack on the reins. He didn't even stir when he landed on the ground.

***

Kaspar watched his Hunter fall from the shadows of the trees around him. The cloak kept him cool and shaded, even in the brightness of nearly noon. He waited only a moment to leave the trees. He knelt beside his Hunter and gently touched his face.

"You wander so long and so far," Kaspar whispered. "And all you want is to go home." Leaning over, he gathered the Hunter close and brushed a finger across his temple. "Tell me, and I will take you home...for now."

"Homestead..."

"Yes...Homestead..."