The Dark-Hunters (755 page)

Sasha flashed out.

Abigail tried to undo her seatbelt, but she couldn’t. The buckle had broken during the crash. “I hate to be all girly, but I’m trapped.”

“Where’s Sasha?” Jess asked.

The answer came from just outside her window. “Getting his ass kicked while deflecting this asshole from you. Any time you want to help me, Jess. Step right up.”

Jess snorted at the acerbic shape-shifter as he cut his belt, then slammed down to the ceiling. “Whatever you do, keep him busy.”

“No problemo. Using my face as his punching bag seems to be working. I’ll just need you to help me find all my teeth later.”

Abigail saw Sasha hit the ground near them. Oooh, that looked really painful. His face turned deadly before he pushed himself up and vanished out of her line of sight again.

Choo Co La Tah was strangely calm while the scent of gas grew stronger. And her breathing became more labored. It was hard to draw a breath while the nylon belt dug into her.

“Guys!” Sasha shouted. “You might want to think about getting out now. Flames are spreading all over the bottom of the truck.”

She could hear the fire and feel the heat of it.
I’m going to die.

And yet she had no fear. No idea why. It made no sense whatsoever. In fact, she was strangely calm, too. Like a part of her might even crave it.

Lying on his back, Jess kicked furiously at the windshield. “Damn. It. Break. Already. You. Sorry. Son. Of. A. Biscuit. Eating. Cat.” He had the most colorful way of speaking as he punctuated every word with a solid kick.

Something let out a high-pitched whine. A second later, the windshield flew out onto the ground. Jess moved toward her.

She shook her head. “Get Choo Co La Tah first.”

He hesitated.

“No,” Choo Co La Tah snapped. “Free her. I’ll be out in a second.”

She saw the indecision in those lush dark eyes. “He’s more important than I am.”

Not to me he isn’t.
Jess barely bit those words back before he said them out loud. Every part of him cringed at the thought of her being hurt any worse. He couldn’t stand to see her trapped and bleeding. It brought back memories he didn’t understand.

Not memories of Matilda. These were something else. Faded images of a time and place he didn’t understand.

But he saw her face so clearly.

Her
face. Same black hair and that sassy smile that dared him as she crooked her finger for him to follow after her.

I will always come for you, Kianini. Nothing will keep me from it.

She laughed as she pulled him into her arms and stared up at him coyly from beneath her lashes.
And I will never leave you, my heart. Forever yours.

Those words whispered in his ears.

“Get her free.”

It took him a moment to register Choo Co La Tah’s words, which had been spoken in a language he’d never heard before. Yet he completely understood them.

Blinking, he moved to comply as Choo Co La Tah crawled out through the missing windshield.

Abigail met Jess’s determined gaze, and the horror in his eyes told her that the clock was ticking down for them. The sound of fire was now deafening. More than that, the pungent gas odor clung to them so thickly that she tasted it and it made it even harder to breathe.

Undaunted by the danger, Jess struggled to cut through the belt. The car thudded and popped.

Her time could be counted in heartbeats now. But it touched her that Jess was still helping her.

Moronic, but touching.

She put her hand over his to stop him from cutting the belt. “Go. There’s no need in both of us dying.”

He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed her knuckles. “I’m not leaving you. If we go, we go together.”

“Don’t be stupid, Jess.”

He scoffed as he returned to sawing on the belt. “Brains don’t exactly run in my family. Suicidal lunacy, on the other hand…”

“Runs thick?”

He grinned at her. “Move back.”

The metal whined a warning to them as the belt finally snapped.

Jess caught her against him and took a second to savor the feeling of her there before he kissed her temple, then pulled her from the wreckage.

They had barely cleared the Bronco before it exploded into one impressive display of pyrotechnics. Fire shot up to the dark sky while pieces of the truck rained down all over them. Jess snatched Abigail under him to protect her from the shrapnel.

Abigail couldn’t breathe with his heavy weight pressing down on her. But she was grateful to have him as her shield. Her only hope was that nothing hit him.

Jess froze the moment their eyes met, and he caught the full force of the adoration in her gaze. It stole his breath. She lifted her hand and laid it gently against his cheek. The warmth of her hand set him on fire.

Suddenly, the sound of a loud dragonesque call caught his attention and shattered the spell.

Abigail turned her head in synch with Jess. She gaped at the sight of Choo Co La Tah, Ren, and Sasha embroiled in a bitter fight with the most hideous thing she’d seen since Kurt’s attempt to cut Hannah’s hair when they were kids.

Solid black, it was extremely tall and thin with spidery limbs that twisted out like living tendrils. Whatever it was, it could sling its arm out like a whip and crack it against their friends. It moved so fast, it was hard to follow, and it said a lot about their fighting skills that they were able to stand toe to toe with these new creatures.

Jess pushed himself off her and ran to join the fight.

Rolling over, Abigail got up, intending to join them in battle. But before she could move or Jess could reach the fight, Ren appeared in front of him.

“Get back.”

Jess shook his head. “We can’t let Choo Co La Tah get hurt.”

“He’s expendable, Jess. You and Abigail aren’t.”

That news floored her.

Jess scowled. “What?”

“Do what he says!” Choo Co La Tah shouted as he drove one of the creatures back while another one moved forward to fight him. “Both of you have to live.”

Jess would argue, but honestly he wanted to protect her. Fine. He would trust them.

“What are these things?” she asked him as he returned to her side.

“A good fable gone bad.”

“What?”

Ren kicked the one he was fighting away from him. “They’re tsi-nooks.”

He said that like she should understand it. “Gibberish is not my native tongue, Ren. What’s a tsi-nook?”

No one answered, as they were a little occupied by fighting them, and while they were getting in some good blows, they didn’t appear to be winning.

Abigail hated the feeling of being so vulnerable. She had no idea what she was up against or if she should poke out their eyes or kick them in the knees. Though to be honest, she wasn’t sure they had either one. “Okay, I don’t care what they are. How do we kill them?”

“With great skill, my girl. With great skill.” Choo Co La Tah uncoiled his feathered bracelet from his arm. As he unwound it, it grew into a staff almost as tall as he was. One that expanded so that he could attack the tsi-nook nearest him.

But that didn’t work. It seemed to only upset the beast. The tsi-nook fell to the ground. On its back. At least what she thought was its back. Their forms were so twisted, it was hard to tell for sure.

After it landed, she saw its face clearly for the first time. Strangely, it reminded her of a wooden mask. Weathered with deep lines all over its features, the eyes were nothing more than slits, and it didn’t appear to have eyelids. For that matter, it didn’t seem to blink.

In one word, they were ugly.

As if it sensed what she thought about it, it turned to face her and let out a piercing shriek. Apparently in freak-speak, that was some kind of rallying call because the moment it started, the others stopped to glare at her and Jess.

It was never a good thing to be the center of unwanted attention, and right now she felt like Carrie at the prom. Or more to the point, the only steak in a dog kennel.

Her heart pounded as fear tackled her to the ground and held her there.

Moving with an eerie fluid grace and a speed that shouldn’t be possible, they ran in her direction. Jess went to fight them, but they actually ran past him and kept going full speed.

At
her.

Abigail’s eyes widened as she realized they didn’t care about the men. She was the target.

The only target.

C-r-a-p.

She braced herself for the fight.
What am I doing?
There were more than a dozen of them, and there was only one her. One. While it was noble to be brave, it was stupid to be suicidal. Fighting a dozen … when she didn’t have a weapon and didn’t know how to kill them flew right past the realm of noble and landed solidly in the kingdom of stupid.

To quote her favorite play of all time …
Run away!
She turned and headed for the desert as fast as she could.

Jess went cold as the tsi-nooks ran for Abigail. His vision darkened at the same time fear for her rushed through him. For one second, he was mortal again, and then the sensation was gone.

“Oh no you don’t.” His powers surged in a way they hadn’t in decades. Suddenly, he felt stronger than he ever had before. Something deep inside him snapped, and out came what he could only describe as an inner warrior. One who knew the taste and feel of the tsi-nooks’ blood on its hands.

No one would harm Abigail.

He went after them. And as he neared her, he realized her eyes were turning red. The demon was taking possession of her again.

It could be a good thing.

Or a really bad one.

Since the tsi-nooks, much like a traditional Daimon, preyed primarily on human souls, they might not want any part of a gallu demon. Or if they were like the new generation of Daimons, eating her soul might charge their powers and make them stronger.

Either way, he wasn’t going to chance it. Not tonight.

Jess reached deep inside and tapped the only other power he did his best not to use. One so strong and painful that later it would make him wish he were dead.

But first, it would save their lives.

Closing his eyes, he conjured a gun—and not just any gun. The one that had made him infamous. An 1887 lever-action Winchester with a five-round tubular magazine. Not that it would need that tonight. His powers would make sure he didn’t run out of rounds.

The smell of blood permeated his nostrils. His nose always bled whenever he accessed this power, which was why he almost never used it. That and the vicious headache he’d have later from it. So much for Dark-Hunters not getting those.

But if it kept her safe, it was worth it.

Abigail froze as she caught sight of Jess approaching her with long, determined strides. The desert wind whipped at his long black duster, stirring it back from his muscled body. The grim lethal glare on his chiseled features promised the tsi-nooks hell-wrath and then some. This wasn’t the tender man who’d made love to her while cramped in a tiny car. Nor was it the goofball who joked with and teased her.

This was the fierce, cold-blooded killer who’d left legions of dead and a legend so terrifying that one marshal had surrendered his badge rather than take Jess’s horse into custody.

True story.

And Jess had been only seventeen at the time.

No wonder his partner had shot him in the back. She doubted anyone with a brain would ever assault this version of Jess Brady while he was facing them. Even she had a chill running down her spine as the hairs along her arms and neck raised. While she was pretty sure he wouldn’t hurt her, she really didn’t want to find out for sure.

Without breaking stride, he cocked the lever of the shotgun across his chest, took aim, and blew the tsi-nook closest to her apart.

She flinched in reaction to the ringing sound of the gun followed by the shrill scream of the tsi-nook. Blood from the creature sprayed all over her body. She tensed, unsure of what to expect from the blood touching her skin. Luckily, nothing happened.

Before she could think to breathe again, Jess kept firing, rapidly blowing apart every one of them in turn. Their screams echoed around her until the night swallowed the sound and silenced it forever.

Until he took aim at her head.

Eyes wide, she seized in terror.
What did I do? Why would he kill me now?
She stared straight into the barrel. Black and evil, it gave her a profound understanding of the people he’d killed.

Don’t.
The word caught in her throat.

His features stone cold, he fired.

Abigail sucked her breath in sharply at the sound, expecting pain and a recoil that would knock her off her feet. Instead, she remained intact.

No pain. No impact.

Jess continued toward her, taking aim again. It wasn’t until he fired another round that she realized he was shooting past her and not
at
her.

Thank God, she hadn’t moved. Then he might have really killed her.

In fact, he didn’t stop shooting until he was standing right beside her. Only then did he put the gun down and scan the darkness to make sure there was nothing else out there.

The wind whistled around them, and out in the distance, she heard the cry of a single coyote. Though to be honest, she was amazed she could hear anything, given the last few minutes.

“Is that our friend?” she asked Jess.

“No.” Jess tilted his head back and sniffed the air like a lycanthrope might if it was tracking someone. “They’re bounty hunters.”

“Pardon?”

Jess’s memories burned as he was pulled back in time to age fifteen. Then, as now, there had been a chill in the warm air. But no one except him could feel it. Bart had left him holed up in a small dugout on the side of a mountain out in the middle of nowhere Arizona. A posse had been chasing after them, and he’d had nothing more than a handful of bullets.

He’d been dead asleep and then awakened to nothing other than his heart racing. As he tried to force himself back to sleep, he’d smelled that haunting stench that defied explanation.