Authors: Crystal Jordan
Embrace the Night (19 page)
“No.” She jerked her head around to stare up at him, her pupils huge. “I won't do that.”
His fingers clenched over hers. “Chloeâ”
“I won't leave you alone in the dark.” Another shudder went through her, but she dropped his hand and moved away. Toward the SUV, as he'd told her. “I can't. Don't even ask it.”
He knew that was the best he would get, so he didn't say anything else. Not allowing himself a last look at her, he forced himself to focus on getting to Alex. He could only hope the kid was as stubborn a survivor as Merek had always taken him for. Tonight, it would mean the difference between living or dying.
Merek could feel his power flowing hot and wild through his body, and he tried to rein it in, bury it until he needed to use it. Find the balance between awareness of other Magickals, and hiding his own presence from
their
awareness. Too bad he sucked at invisibility spells.
their
awareness. Too bad he sucked at invisibility spells.
He slid from behind the tepee, ghosting into the few trees near their campsite to try to avoid casting shadows for them to see. The underbrush to his left moved, the noise created by something far too big to be an animal. His heartbeat slowed to a dull thud in his chest, and he lifted his weapon as he slid forward to look.
Whatever was moving through the bushes wasn't trying to be quiet. He could hear the breath whistling out of a pair of lungs. The scent of blood came to him, but the energy was that of neither of the Magickals he'd dealt with so far. It seemed familiar somehow, but he didn't know why.
Then he knew. His pistol was trained on the elf who'd rented the campsite to them the day before. And the man was dying, slow and bloody, just as Merek had seen in his vision the moment he'd looked at the elf. Shit. He sighed softly and knelt beside the pathetic specimen crawling forward on his belly. A single glance, even in the semidarkness, told Merek the other man wasn't going to make it.
“I'm sorry,” the man choked. He met Merek's gaze, reaching out to fist his fingers in the leg of Merek's pants. “Reward . . . for people matching your description. I called last night. Sorry. Didn't know.”
His grip went slack as he began coughing up dark liquid. Merek shook off his hand and stood, knowing there was nothing he could do for the elf now. Part of him was glad he didn't have to. The man had turned them over for money, and Merek had little pity for the fate that had befallen him.
“He broke so easily.” The dispassionate, almost regretful, voice sounded from his left, but whoever was there already had him. “But his blood was sweet. We brought him along as a snack for later. Pity.”
Merek turned only his head to see what he was dealing with. Vampire, from the fangs and the blood-tasting commentâdifferent from the one he'd shot from the sky. A wolf would have had to shift at full moon, so only one fanged race was in human form tonight. One look at his face, and a fresh explosion of adrenaline raced through Merek's veins. He knew this man, whose red hair gleamed like a copper penny. “Gregor.”
“Good to see you again, Kingston.” His tone was pleasant, bland enough to be discussing the weather. Then again, murder was everyday business for the vampire, so this might be just that boring for him. This was no recruit for Smith's cause, but a mercenary who whored his deadly skills out to the highest bidder.
Merek shrugged, easing one hand off the butt of his weapon to try to angle his fingers in the bloodsucker's direction. “I wish I could say the same, but my day is never good when I run into you.”
Gregor laughed easily. “I'm flattered, Detective, I really am. Now, are you going to try to use that hand to cast or are you going to be reasonable?”
As usual, the vampire carried no weapons. He didn't need them. Merek didn't want to think about what he'd do to Chloe or Alex if he got his hands on them.
That wouldn't happen. Merek wouldn't let it. Playing in his favor was the fact that Gregor couldn't know Merek's best weaponâhis precognitionâwas toast in this situation. He'd take any advantage he could get, even one based on a false assumption.
He let a knife-thin smile curve his lips. “When have I ever been reasonable?”
The vampire grinned, anticipation flashing in his gaze. His eyes burned red around the edges. “I was hoping you'd say that.”
Instead of moving his hands as Gregor expected, Merek slammed his toe into the ribs of the dying elf at his feet. The shriek that ripped through the air made the vampire flinch, but before Merek could launch a spell at him, Gregor had used his superhuman speed to disappear. The underbrush didn't even rustle with his passing.
A wolf's howl roared from the lakeshore, the sound of a cornered, angry animal.
Alex.
Pivoting on his heel, Merek bolted out of the trees and toward the beach. His pistol was up and ready, but he kept one hand free for casting. The vampire with the broken wing hunched over Alex, the tip of one wing dragging in the sand behind him. His talons were bared, arching with deadly purpose toward the young wolf's throat.
He couldn't get a shot off. The vampire was too close to Alex. Flicking his fingers, he fired a percussive boom into the air. The vampire slammed his hands over his sensitive ears, crying out hoarsely. Alex writhed on the ground, one half-Changed arm covering his head to block the noise. Gregor's enraged bellow sounded in the distance behind Merek.
Not even pausing in his movements, Merek launched himself forward to catch the vampire around the waist and roll him away from the wolf. Fleshy wings tangled around them, and Merek tore at the skin trying to get loose. The vampire screeched, slashing his talons down Merek's bicep, and Merek lost his weapon as his arm spasmed.
Pain.
It exploded into his body, reverberated through his skull until he thought it would split. Black spots spun in front of his eyes, and the need to vomit cut through the adrenaline pumping through his system.
The vampire hissed, and only the thought of those talons biting into him again cleared his head enough to react. He swung blindly, slamming his fist into the vampire's mouth. The fangs ripped through his knuckles.
Hard bones from the top of one massive wing clipped him in the jaw. He swayed, caught the top of the wing near the shoulder and blasted through the flesh, bone, and cartilage with a fireball. When the vampire shrieked and bucked under him, Merek was ready, rolling toward the severed wing to escape being entangled again.
Staggering to his feet, he opened his hand. “Gun,” he ordered, and the universe obeyed. His weapon whooshed through the air and smacked into his palm.
The amount of magic he was using began to drag at him, his energy sapping. And they weren't out of the woods yet. His body shook from the strain, but he moved toward Alex, dropping to his knees beside the boy. Alex had regressed to a half-shift, the monstrous form worthy of any Hollywood depiction of werewolves, twice the height and breadth of any human. Three times as heavy, too.
Alex's hand was pressed tightly over the bullet hole in his side, but blood still flowed between his fingers. Merek grabbed Alex's free arm, hoisted him up, and hauled both of them to their feet. “Keep pressure on that wound.”
Will do.
The voice was a bare whisper in his mind. Still, it meant the boy was conscious and aware of his surroundings. That helped. Marginally.
The voice was a bare whisper in his mind. Still, it meant the boy was conscious and aware of his surroundings. That helped. Marginally.
I'm bleeding pretty badly. You're slashed up. The vampires can track the scent of our blood.
“They can?” Merek didn't bother swearing. Gregor was still out there, and that thought alone sent ice flowing through his veins.
Luca said so. It's how he tracked me down the day my dad disappeared and Smith's men were hunting me.
Shit. He wished that was a skill Luca possessed personally and not a purview of the entire vampire race, but he couldn't take the chance of assuming these vampires couldn't track them the same way. This sounded like just the kind of thing the Vampire Conclave would want kept secret from other Magickal races.
Alex staggered with every step, his legs giving out from under him as his bones broke and reformed over and over again, transitioning between the half-shift and human forms and back again. Spittle-laced gurgles of agony spilled from the boy's mouth.
He tensed against Merek, trying to pull away, but not strong enough to do so.
Get Chloe out of here!
Get Chloe out of here!
“Not leaving you,” Merek grunted.
Shaking his head, Alex again tried unsuccessfully to escape Merek's hold.
She can't die because . . . of me. Not . . . another one
.
She can't die because . . . of me. Not . . . another one
.
He didn't know what that meant, and at the moment, he didn't give a flying rat's ass.
“Sorry, son. Not happening. I won't do it.” He paused to fire at the sound of movement behind them. A vampiric hiss answered him. “She wouldn't leave without you, anyway.”
Fuck!
The wolfish face snapped its jaw, fangs dripping as he bared them. Then the facial bones broke, the muzzle retracting, and Alex's human face surfaced. He choked on a breath, sagging against Merek's side.
The wolfish face snapped its jaw, fangs dripping as he bared them. Then the facial bones broke, the muzzle retracting, and Alex's human face surfaced. He choked on a breath, sagging against Merek's side.
“Concentrate on getting to the car.”
“I'm with you,” he rasped. Pushing forward one unsteady step at a time, he took as much of his weight off of Merek as possible while keeping hold of him for balance. The boy's jaw clenched on a groan of pain, his face set in grim lines, but he kept moving.
Merek's respect for the kid doubled, but he focused on keeping them moving. Blood dripped steadily down his arm, the wound weakening the muscles and making them burn with a ferocity that made him want to howl. The adrenaline rush wasn't enough to overcome the pain of it, but he gritted his teeth and rocked Alex and himself forward.
He hitched the boy higher, trying not to lose his grip. A low snarl of warning vibrated from the boy's chest. Merek was already swinging his weapon around, squeezing the trigger when Gregor and a woman who moved with the competence of a trained operative came within range.
His bullets hit, but though the vampire staggered, he kept coming. The woman dove for the ground, rolling away while she fired off shots with both her weapon and her magic. Both missed, but the percussive force of her spell sent Merek and Alex staggering backward. The smile on Gregor's face as he advanced had that same anticipation he'd worn before; this time the eyes flashed full red. Merek squeezed the trigger again.
The distinctive click of an empty weapon sounded from his pistol. He dropped it, lifting his hand to send a blast into the bloodsucker that he knew wouldn't have enough effect. Merek moved in front of Alex, spreading his fingers and feeling his exhausted power gather more slowly than the vampire could move.
The whine of a car accelerating cut through Merek's mind, and then the SUV plowed into Gregor and sent him flying. Brakes squealed as Chloe pulled up beside them. The doors whipped open, and her eyes were wide and wild. Her knuckles were white on the steering wheel, and Ophelia hunched on the dashboard, hissing.
Merek stuffed Alex in the backseat, then shoved Chloe over in the front seat, slammed both doors shut with what was left of his own magic, and hit the accelerator. “Everyone stay down!”
His words were all but lost as the rear window shattered from a flying bullet.
“Chloe, will you keep your head down?”
“No! I'm going to help Alex.” She flipped down the console between the front seats and squirmed through the narrow opening, maneuvering onto her knees on the floorboard behind the passenger seat.
“Ophelia, get off the damn dashboard,” Merek barked. Chloe heard a small thump and assumed her familiar had obeyed.
She flinched as another spray of bullets hit the car. The dull slap of metal hitting metal made her insides freeze with terror. Gods, don't let them hit anything important. She rocked sideways, slamming her chin into the door as Merek swerved hard. The tires squealed, spinning for purchase before they raced down a bumpy road.
Alex lay sprawled across the backseat, one hand pressed to his side while the other held tight to the back of the bench seat. The werewolf, at least, was strong enough to hold himself in place as the SUV swung around tight turns and switchbacks in the road. His eyes were pinched closed, a muscle ticked in his clenched jaw, and his normally tanned face was ashen.
There was blood everywhere.
All over the floor, Alex's naked body, pooling on the leather seat. Seeping into her jeans. Chloe felt the color leech out of her face. This was why she'd gone into pharmaceutical research rather than into practicing medicine. The stench of blood, the blank eyes of hurt, dying people. It reminded her too much of her mother.
A shudder ripped through her, but she shook herself, forced those memories into the deepest, darkest corner of her soul and locked them in tight. Alex needed her now. Her fears from that day
would not
be allowed to take someone else from her.
would not
be allowed to take someone else from her.
“Let me see, Alex.” She tugged his hand away from his side to get a better look at what she was dealing with.
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