Coda (Alexa O'Brien Huntress Book 13) Page 3

  Speaking of tension. The atmosphere was rife with it. I could barely meet his gaze for more than a second before breaking contact, unable to see him without seeing myself kill him.

  “Well keep your tension relief behind closed doors, away from public eyes, please. I’d rather not have Juliet here barking at me about it.” Pulling my keys out, I remote started the car to warm it up. The bitter winter chill didn’t bother me much, but it gave me an excuse to cut this talk short.

  Kale studied me, his expression softening. “What I’d really like is to relieve that tension behind closed doors with you. It drives me crazy to be around you. And we’re running short on time.”

  “Don’t. Please, don’t.” It was all I could muster. A swell of emotion threatened to tear down the walls I’d worked hard to build in these last few weeks.

  “I’m a dead man walking, and we both know it. Can you really blame me for wanting to do all I can to keep that from tormenting my final days? I’d like to go out with a bang.” He took a step back, like he was still too close to me for his own comfort.

  I felt it too. Memories of forbidden moments surfaced to taunt me. His hands on my body. Soft murmurs in my ear. “I can’t help but feel that maybe you’re carrying on with Jenner to ensure I don’t back out. So I remember what you’re capable of.”

  “Maybe I am.”

  I’d suspected that it might come to this. Before the night I’d died and turned, Kale had been on a steady path of self-destruction. He’d promised to do whatever it took to convince me to take him out. And for all my resistance, I’d been rewarded with having to do it anyway. This time to save myself.

  “That’s not fair, Kale. Do you think that acting like an asshole will make it easier for me to let you go?” My voice quivered.

  “Hey, a guy can hope.”

  He clamped down so hard, shielding tight against me. I could feel the force he used to shut me out. He could close himself off, keep his distance, but the memory of his honey-drenched power would live in me forever.

  “Let’s not make this harder than it has to be. I said I would do it. Don’t make me do it out of anger or hate. You know it can’t be that way.” There was no hiding the pain that I knew shone in my eyes. I didn’t even want to.

  Because it was him and I needed him to see how deep this cut me. Not because I wanted him to feel guilt or regret, but because I didn’t know how to be truly weak with anyone else.

  “I know,” he said, staring at the ground between us.

  We’d come to the awkward conclusion of our conversation. In recent weeks we had said all we ever really needed to say to one another. Our time was running short, and neither of us knew exactly how to handle these final nights.

  Every tense exchange. Each gut-wrenching locking of our eyes. It was all I could do not to take him to bed and keep him there until the very last second.

  All the time I asked myself if our strange relationship deserved a final send off. One last day hidden away in each other’s arms. I wanted it, although I feared greatly that, should I put myself in such an emotionally charged encounter, I might never be able to fulfill my promise to him.

  I headed for my car. “I’ll catch you later. I’m off to track a werewolf. Keep Jenner out of trouble, will you?” I turned back to catch his response.

  He watched me go with conflicted anguish ticking across his face. “Need company?”

  “It’s cool.” I waved a hand, playing it off like no big deal. “Just a quick trip to check out an address. I won’t be long.” I wanted to slap myself silly for being so damn see-through. I was afraid to be alone with him, and judging by the frown he wore, he knew it.

  “Right,” he said, turning away. “Stay out of trouble.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The address led me to a townhouse in an older but well-maintained part of town. I’d driven by to find the windows dark. No vehicles parked outside. The place looked empty.

  I parked a few blocks away. Clinging to the shadows, I cloaked my energy and made my way back to the townhouse. The neighborhood was quiet. One lone man stood on the corner with his shaggy little dog, looking bored and cold, waiting for it to pee.

  Staying out of sight, I waited until he returned to a house across the street and went inside. I reached out metaphysically to feel the environment. Nobody nearby was anything other than human.

  I crept around to the back door. It was unlocked. A little suspicious though there might be a good reason for it.

  Slowly, I eased it open. Since I didn’t need light to see my way inside, I didn’t flick any switches. Right away I determined that the place was empty. I did pick out Rylan’s scent, but it was muddied up with that of a few other people. If he’d been here, it hadn’t been recently, and he certainly hadn’t stayed long.

  I searched the entire place anyway. It seemed like a bachelor pad. Empty pizza boxes on the coffee table. A sink full of dishes. Nothing that indicated any children lived here.

  Satisfied that there was nothing of importance to be found, I pulled out my phone to message Smudge. If Rylan had been here, he knew well enough to keep on the move. But he couldn’t run forever. If he stayed in the city, we would find him. The full moon was fast approaching and, with it, his first shift. He wouldn’t be able to hide after that.

  A noise below stopped me partway down the stairs as I descended from the bedrooms. Stuffing my phone into the side of my boot, I eased back up the stairs and listened.

  Male voices reached me. Human. I could smell them. They brought with them the scent of whiskey and gun powder. Hunters. Had to be. They’d already tracked Rylan down from the wolf fight video. I had so much ass kicking to do when I caught that idiot.

  I didn’t have much time to make my decision. I could either bail out an upstairs window or go down and confront them. Standing in the upstairs hall, I listened as they picked their way through the main floor.

  “He’s not here,” a gruff voice announced. “Go upstairs and check anyway. Closets and under beds too.”

  “Yeah, I’ll just do that while you help yourself to the spare change jar. For fuck’s sakes, Wyatt.”

  “Coffee money,” Wyatt said by way of explanation. “Hurry up, Toby will be expecting us back at the casino within the hour.”

  Ok, so they weren’t all here. That was promising. Though I’d only heard two voices, I caught three scents. Three. I could handle three.

  “Wyatt, wait a second.” Now a third voice spoke up. “Look at this. The seeker stone is going nuts. Have you ever seen this?”

  Oh, balls.

  Silence for a moment, I could only imagine what was going on down there. I glanced toward the closest bedroom. Go out the window? Or try to kill three of them in one go while I had the chance?

  Well, it never had been my style to run from a fight. Especially when I was sure I could win.

  “Why is it flashing like that?” The second voice again, sounding worried. “The glow should be steady. And there’s nobody here.”

  Wyatt’s voice now, suspicious. “Unless there is.”

  That was my cue. I rounded the corner and, without a sound, descended the stairs. Once I reached the final few they’d be able to see me. I tapped my power, ready for anything. Below me I heard the telltale sound of a gun being cocked. And then another.

  I came down with my hands up. “Calm down, boys. No need to get trigger happy.”

  “Who the hell are you?” The first guy to react was thin and wiry, a ballcap on his head of thinning hair.

  The man holding the flashing blue stone in his palm peered at me with uncertainty. “No, what the hell are you?”

  I’d grown so very fucking tired of that question.

  Two guns were trained on me. Handguns. Small enough to be concealed, big enough to do some damage to a shifter. But had they come prepared for a vampire?

  I smiled wide enough to reveal fangs. “Just your run of the mill vampire. No big deal.”

  The guy holding the stone shoved it
in a pocket and leveled his gun on me as well. “Doesn’t make sense. The stone doesn’t react to vampires.”

  “Shut up, Barry.” This from Wyatt who stepped forward, putting himself in a leadership role.

  He was tall, decently built. A beard made it tough to guess his age. It didn’t really matter though. He leveled his gun at me and fired.

  I could respect a guy like Wyatt. Shoot first and sort out the details later. Not always the best plan of action. However, when one is faced with a vampire, there’s not a lot of time for working out the details in advance.

  Reacting fast, I threw both hands up, forming an energy wall in front of me. Both bullets he shot hit the surface and fell to the floor, leaving me untouched. It was a handy trick that had taken me a while to perfect. Seeing as it wasn’t a typical vampire trait, it took them by surprise.

  Which gave me the opportunity to fling a psi ball at them. Aiming carefully I was able to take down two of them like bowling pins. Barry dove behind the couch like he was in an action movie. The barrel of his gun peeked over the top, and he fired blindly.

  Wyatt shouted at him to quit firing, though by now Barry was dryfiring, out of ammo. Darting around the corner to the kitchen, Wyatt and the unnamed man tried and failed to get a clear shot at me. I didn’t get the feeling these guys had a lot of experience with vampires.

  I deflected a few more bullets with carefully timed energy bursts. Barry crept out from behind the couch and attempted to rush me. Using his momentum against him, I hit his shoulder with mine and spun him around. A punch in the jaw laid him out flat.

  His jacket fell open, revealing an inner pocket filled with various weapons. A dagger and a stake caught my eye. So they did come somewhat prepared.

  “What gives, Wyatt?” I stepped over Barry’s unconscious form and slowly approached the kitchen. “Is that how you greet the queen of the city you’re trespassing in? With a fucking bullet?”

  “What in the shit are you talking about?” he barked, peering around from the kitchen.

  “This is my city,” I declared. “You came to hunt people who call it their home. That kind of shit just doesn’t fly with me.”

  There was a pause. “Look, we didn’t come here for you. We’re looking for one person. Once we find him we’ll be on our way.”

  “Doesn’t work that way. You came for wolves, and the wolves are under my protection. If you want them, you have to go through me. And I don’t think you really have a clue what you’re dealing with here.” I reached around the corner and grabbed him by the front of his jacket. Dragging him close, I smirked into his face before slamming him against the wall.

  The crack of plaster mingled with his grunt. As he made to raise his gun hand, I grabbed his wrist and slammed it against the wall beside him. The gun fell to the floor, and I kicked it under the couch.

  “We’ll cut you in on part of the profit,” Wyatt shouted. “Just name your price.”

  Wary of the guy hiding in the kitchen, I kept my eye on the doorway. Slamming my arm across Wyatt’s throat, I shook my head. “You’re a sick bastard. I just told you those wolves are under my protection. There’s nothing you can offer me that would change that.”

  The guy had come prepared. Producing a small blade from inside his sleeve, he stabbed it into my side. The blade stopped on a rib, and I yelped from the sudden and unexpected pain.

  My yelp turned into an angry cry as I wrenched the knife from his hand and flung Wyatt onto the coffee table. Ashtrays and pizza boxes hit the floor. I fed him punch after punch as he tried to block.

  Having no use for the small knife, I tossed it into a couch cushion. Blood filled Wyatt’s mouth. He made a meager attempt at pleading… or telling me off. I couldn’t be sure which with his words so garbled.

  I knew better than to leave my back open. So I gave Wyatt one more punch that snapped his head sideways and turned in time to find the guy from the kitchen coming at me. Gun in one hand, stake in the other. Admirable effort.

  He got off a shot a split second before I kicked his gun arm. The bullet missed my heart, where he’d been aiming, and buried itself in my shoulder. The pain was sudden and intense. But I’d had a demon burn me from the inside out. I pushed through and slammed my fist into his throat as he brought the stake down.

  A psi blast shot out to knock him flat. He tucked and rolled before flinging himself into the porch. Wyatt was up again, refusing to go down without giving it his all. Had to hand it to him, he had more staying power than Barry.

  I caught him with an elbow to the chin and a psi ball to the chest. Breath crushed from his lungs, he crumpled to his knees. For good measure, I kicked him in the face.

  Wyatt went down hard on the spilled cigarette butts and pizza crusts. Grasping about for some kind of leverage to help him up, he wheezed, “Mark, use the disc.”

  I spun around in time to see Mark burst from the porch with a slim golden disc in hand. He flung it at my feet.

  For a split second nothing happened. Then bright light exploded from the disc.

  Sunlight.

  It filled the room, spreading out to encompass the entire main floor and then some. The sensation of burning was immediate and excruciating. My scream hurt my own ears.

  My wolf ripped her way toward the surface. To take over and save me. Claws protruded from my fingertips and massive fangs filled my mouth. I flung myself toward the stairs. All I knew was that I had to escape the burning rays.

  I fled to the upper floor where the darkness dwelled. To safety. Smoke rose from my skin. Blisters already formed on my exposed skin.

  Below me I heard footsteps pound as the men vacated the house. But I wouldn’t be so easily outdone. From the bedroom window that overlooked the backyard, I flung a rolling ball of gold and blue that nailed Mark right between the shoulder blades.

  He went down face first on the hard-packed snow. Wyatt paused to snatch the small satchel in Mark’s hand before tearing out of the yard, leaving his buddy behind.

  From the window I leapt, coming down on top of Mark. He groaned as I rolled him over.

  “Looks like they left you,” I observed. Running a finger over a cut on his forehead, I brought a bloody smear to my lips.

  “Just get it over with.” Mark was resigned to his fate. He’d thrown the sun in the face of death, and now death would have him.

  With the right touch and a few murmured words of encouragement, I coaxed forth the desire that lived within all men. Feeding upon the passion in his life force, I savored it as it spread through me, sating my hunger and healing my wounds. When I’d had enough, I bit into his artery and basked in the richness of his blood.

  Licking the last drops from my lips, I searched him. Finding only a small pistol and knife, I cursed. The real weaponry was in the satchel, including the sunlight disc. How such a thing could exist, I didn’t know, but clearly there was magic involved.

  Wyatt had taken it, and now he was on the move. Perhaps this encounter would scare him enough to leave town, but I knew better than to assume any such thing. They’d come here for a thrill.

  Wyatt had to know by now that I was a hybrid. If he made the mistake of staying, he would never get another chance to leave alive. When I saw Wyatt again, his blood would spill.

  Would one death be enough to deter them?

  Or would seeing my wolf encourage them to stay?

  CHAPTER FIVE

  “Ow, son of a motherfucking son of a bitch.” A steady stream of obscenities flowed from me as Shaz cut into my shoulder to remove the bullet.

  Just before sunrise, Arys, Shaz, and I were at my house. I sat at the kitchen table while Shaz used a first aid kit and possibly a claw to pry the bullet from my shoulder. Arys lingered close enough to watch without getting in the way.

  “You shouldn’t have let them get away. There were only three of them.” Shoulders taut, jaw muscle twitching, Arys chewed the silver ring in his bottom lip.

  I stared at him for a moment, trying to figure out if th
is were his idea of a joke. “Seriously? Did you miss the part where they threw sunlight in my face? My first instinct was to not roast to death.”

  “A handy magic trick, trapping the sun’s energy in a device. Not just anyone can do that. Well now they know what you are. They’re still out there, able to call in God knows how many others. We need to end them. Tonight.” The scent of my blood on the air taunted Arys. I saw it in the way he held himself ready to lunge at me, restrained with precarious self-control.

  “Just like that? We’d have to find them first. Carefully.” I glanced at Shaz, comforted by the sympathy in his green eyes. “We need to plan, Arys. They obviously do. Seeing as we don’t know what else they may have in their arsenal, I say we play it safe. Lure them out somehow. Get them to slip up.”

  “Slip up? They just lost a man and pissed off the local vampire queen. If they don’t run now, then they intend to gun for Rylan at the very least. You’re probably on their trophy list now, so there’s no room for taking chances.” All fired up, heat rolled off Arys.

  I winced as Shaz poked at the bullet wound. He dropped the bloody bullet on the table and set about cleaning the wound. Vampire healing didn’t call for much in the way of cleaning and bandaging. Still he gave it a quick but gentle wipe with a warm washcloth and stuck a bandage over top.

  “We’re not taking chances by playing it safe, Arys,” I insisted. “I’m not saying sit back and do nothing. I’m saying to be proactive instead of reactive.”

  “Makes sense.” Shaz taped down my bandage before he set to cleaning up the bloody mess on the table, casting a watchful eye Arys’s way as he did so. “We can’t be sure what they’re capable of. Assuming anything could be a costly mistake. We most definitely hunt and kill them. We just go about it carefully.”

  Arys watched as Shaz wiped up the blood with a wet paper towel. Too closely. His predatory stare followed Shaz all over the kitchen as he went to the trash and then back to the table with cleaner.