Eternal Flame

by Cynthia Eden

  She wasn’t perfect. Far from it and, in that instant, she was tempted. After all, she’d run plenty of times in her life. An EMT bumped into her, his shoulder clipping her arm. Running was easy.

  She took three steps back. The doors slid closed before her. The demon had saved her twice now. She’d always thought it was important to pay your debts.

  Besides … she really owed the folks at Perseus an ass-kicking.

  Don’t worry, Zane. I’ve got your back.

  Chapter 10

  They blindfolded him and, because Zane was playing the game, he let them do it. Nancy crawled into the car with him and sat to his right. He could smell her-the antiseptic scent of the hospital, stale cigarettes, and vanilla body lotion.

  A man drove him. The same guy who had smiled apologetically and said he’d need to blindfold him. The guy barely looked older than eighteen, and he had sun-streaked blond hair, a little too long, and blue eyes.

  The car snaked through the city. Turning left, right. At first, Zane tried to keep track of the turns, but the kid was fast. The car’s engine growled as he sped through New Orleans, taking them deeper into the heart of the Big Easy.

  “When did you know what you were?” the kid asked, and the kid, he was a demon. Zane had caught a glimpse of his eyes, too. Before he blindfolded me.

  “When I was sixteen.” Zane figured keeping as close as he could to the real truth about his past was the easiest way to go. Less chance of screwing things up that way. That was why he’d given Florence Nightingale the real deal about his past.

  “I always knew,” the kid said. The car slowed, then stopped. Probably at a red light. “My dad never let me forget, not even for a moment, that I was different. He loved telling me how I was just like her.”

  Behind the blindfold, Zane blinked. “Your mom was a demon?”

  “Ummm…” The car picked up speed again. “She seduced my dad, then dropped me off and cut out of town. She left us both.” Bitterness. Pain.

  Zane eased out a slow breath. “Maybe you were better off without her.”

  The kid didn’t speak and Zane didn’t know what the hell else he was supposed to say.

  “Why did you kill your father?” Nancy asked and the question fired right at his gut.

  Can’t forget about her. “Because he deserved it.”

  “When did you kill him?”

  The truth. “When I was sixteen years old.”

  The silence in the car grew thicker then. Darker. He could feel the tension, so thick it bore down on him like a lead weight until not-so-sweet Nancy said, “Good for you.”

  The car braked again, but it wasn’t a slow stop. The demon up front killed the engine. “Welcome home,” the guy said.

  Home? Not likely. More like welcome to hell.

  If she wasn’t so good at hotwiring cars, Jana would have been shit out of luck. But if her correctional time had done anything for her, well, it had introduced her to a new group of friends.

  Some of those friends had come from homes that were too much like her own. Homes where the mothers or fathers liked to use fists every night on their kids. Or they liked to touch … when and where they shouldn’t.

  Once she’d gotten out of juvie, she’d made sure she helped her friends. Nothing lethal. They’d just wanted to send some messages. They hadn’t believed that she could start the fire with her mind. No, they’d just thought she was one world-class pyro, and they’d wanted her to use her skills to keep their monsters away.

  Monsters. Sometimes, you just couldn’t escape them.

  So she’d done her part. She’d watched out for them. When Lillie McGill-her “roommate” from juvie-had gotten out and headed home, Jana had tailed her. The first time Lillie’s father had come at Lillie with his fists, Jana used the fire to write STOP on the wall next to him.

  She hadn’t killed him. Hadn’t even touched him with her flames. Her fiery message had been enough to send the guy scrambling to church and to rehab.

  No, she hadn’t needed to let the flames lick his skin. Besides, back then, she’d been too scared to kill again.

  Not that the fear had lasted long. Not once Perseus got ahold of her.

  Lillie’s father found Jesus, though he didn’t realize the devil had been the one to send the message. He’d never touched his girl again, and Lillie had made sure that Jana had a first-class education on boosting cars.

  Fair trade. Sure seemed like that now.

  Jana kept the PT Cruiser in sight as it weaved through the streets. Since she’d been gone, Perseus had changed their location. They did that as part of their protection strategy. They changed locations every few months. Tricky bastards.

  She kept a few cars between her and the other car. Not so many that she would lose sight of the Cruiser, and not too few because she didn’t want the folks in the Cruiser to see her.

  They swept past the St. Louis cemetery and the white tombstones rose up past the wrought-iron fence, ghostly markers to map the trail to Perseus.

  Her fingers tightened on the wheel as a shiver skated down her spine. She’d never been too fond of the cemeteries in New Orleans. Because she knew, unlike most of the tourists, that some of the dead could really come out and take a bite out of their unsuspecting prey. And with all those folks out there working their summoning spells-spells they thought were simply harmless games they’d read about in books-well, she knew better. Nothing harmless about them. She’d seen her share of walking nightmares.

  More miles passed. They shot through a neighborhood. Looked so normal. Things always looked normal.

  Then the houses began to disappear. The storm a few years ago had destroyed a lot here, and folks hadn’t rebuilt. Not that she blamed them, not one damn bit.

  Where are we going? The car ate up more road. Some factories dotted the street now. Warehouses.

  Finally, finally, the Cruiser pulled into the lot near a warehouse. Above the wooden doors, two white masks had been painted onto the red wood. One smiling, animated face; the other crying, with a tear drop sliding down the white cheek. Mardi Gras masks.

  She drove past the building and made sure not to let her car slow for even a second. In her rearview mirror, she saw the driver climb out of the vehicle. Looked like a young guy. Perseus did like to recruit them young.

  The guy glanced up and he stared after her car.

  She didn’t accelerate. Didn’t zoom out of there with a squeal of tires. Jana just kept her speed nice and easy. She took a left at the corner, aware that her heart was slamming into her ribs. She’d find a place to stash the car, then she’d go back for Zane.

  She knew where he was now. Knew exactly where Perseus was.

  She smiled.

  Guess who is coming home? Time to raise a little hell.

  They took his blindfold off the minute the heavy metal doors swung shut behind him. Zane blinked, and his eyes adjusted almost immediately to the darkness. Handy little demon side effect. The darkness never hindered his vision.

  Monsters surrounded him. Dragons with fire shooting from their mouths. Horned bulls the size of buses. An angry Poseidon sprang forth from the sea, with his trident up and ready to attack.

  “It’s a float graveyard,” the kid said, shrugging. “Once the parades are over, you got to find some place to store ‘em.”

  Zane glanced over at Nancy. Her hands were twisted in front of her. “I’m going to be leaving you soon.”

  He’d make a point of seeing her again.

  “Davey can take you in the back. He’ll introduce you to the folks who can help you.” Her breath heaved out on a sigh. “This is going to be good for you.” Her face and voice seemed so sincere. “This will be a whole new world.”

  “I’m counting on it.”

  She offered him a trembling smile, then her head inclined toward the kid. “Okay, Davey. You take him back there, then you can come and drive me to the hospital.”

  Now that was odd. “Why don’t you come with us?”

  Fe
ar flashed in her eyes, just for a moment. “I-I need some air.”

  Right. There was plenty of air to breathe right there. She turned away.

  Davey waited with his brows up. “You ready?”

  Hell, yes. Zane rolled his shoulders. He marched behind Davey, weaving through the floats. Dark, massive shadows hung in the air.

  He heard the metal door open behind him, a loud screech of sound. Nancy-going to get her air? Davey stopped and turned back to face him. The guy pointed to another door on the left, a wooden one this time. “This is it.”

  Fucking finally.

  “Glad you’re here, man.” Davey flashed a tired, lopsided smile. “You’re … you’re like me. Good to know I’m not the only one.”

  The only demon? Not even close.

  “My old man said I was evil.” Davey’s chin lifted. “I’m not. We’re not. We couldn’t help the way we were born.” No, they couldn’t.

  “We’re gonna change the world,” Davey said with a quick nod. “Make it so much better.”

  Was that really what Perseus was telling its recruits? Because how did killing good people at Night Watch make the world better?

  Davey pushed open the door, and Zane got ready to kick ass.

  Getting inside the warehouse was easy. Too easy. Jana found a broken window on the left-hand side of the building and slipped right inside.

  Then she hesitated because really that should have been harder. Especially if this was the new base camp for Perseus. It should have been …

  “I was wondering how long it would take you to show up.”

  Lights flashed on, a blinding explosion of illumination that lit up the warehouse. At the same instant, Nurse Nancy jumped from behind some boxes and grabbed Jana’s arm.

  Jana charged up, ready to burn—

  The nurse slammed a needle into her arm. “Didn’t really think I’d forget you, did you, Jana?” The smile on her face chilled Jana’s blood.

  Jana wrenched back, but she could already feel the drug sliding through her veins. “How did—”

  “I never forget a face.” Footsteps pounded as others jumped from the shadows. “And certainly not yours. Guess you could say it’s burned into my memory.”

  She’d burn her all right. Jana stumbled and slid to her knees. Charge, come on, charge. She shoved the darkness back and demanded, “Where’s …”

  “Your brother?” A laugh. Nancy had the syringe gripped tightly in her hand. “Or rather, the hunter Zane?”

  Played.

  “Don’t worry. We’ve got him just where we want him to be.”

  Trap.

  “No!” Charge. She felt the heat build in her body. Build…

  And fire shot across the warehouse, seeming to burst from the giant green dragon’s mouth and lunge toward Poseidon.

  Come on, come on. She didn’t have much left in her, but she wasn’t going down without a fight. The fire snaked forward and raced toward the two assholes in black who were lifting their guns toward her. Oh, no, they should know better, they should—

  Water burst from the sprinklers overhead. Heavy, gushing waves of water that banked her fire even as she tried to stir it again.

  “We planned for your arrival,” Nancy murmured.

  Another guy in black-freaking guards, she’d never forgotten them-ran toward her through the smoke. Her body slumped as the drug spread through her blood. Can’t be happening.

  Shit, sometimes it just didn’t pay to try and do the right thing. Next time, she was running and looking out just for number one.

  Next time.

  Jana sucked in a deep breath of air. One more charge. The asshole was closing in on her with his gun clutched in his fist.

  The guy slammed the butt of his weapon against the side of her head. Right before her cheek hit the cement, she felt the fire escape, and she heard him scream.

  When he heard the scream, Zane leapt to his feet. Good old Davey had dumped him in some kind of holding room- looked for all the world like an interrogation room at the Baton Rouge PD, complete with what Zane knew to be a two-way mirror-and he’d been biting back his rage and trying to keep his control.

  Then he heard the scream. Zane ran for the door. He grabbed the handle and jerked-locked. Right, like that was gonna stop him. He jerked again, using some of the enhanced strength he usually kept carefully banked. The lock shattered and the door flew toward him.

  He raced in the direction of that fading scream. His nose twitched. What the hell? Was that—

  Smoke.

  Jana. Had she come after him?

  Davey jumped in front of him. “Wow! Man, wait, what are you doin'?”

  He shoved past Davey. “Someone screamed.”

  Davey grabbed his jacket. “The guards will handle it.”

  “There weren’t any fucking guards there when we came in.” If there had been, he would have noticed them, he would have—

  Davey laughed. “Sure there were, man. They’re chameleons, though. You don’t see them unless they want to be seen. You’re gonna find lots of strange folks here.”

  Chameleons. Human chameleons. He’d heard about them. They could blend in with almost any background, could lower their heartbeats and respiration so much that they were often undetected, even by nearby shifters. Unless the atmosphere got damn hot, you couldn’t make a chameleon come out and play if he didn’t want to.

  Unless it got hot…

  He shook off Davey and rushed for that last door. “What are you doing?” Davey yelled. “Stay here, they’re watching—”

  Oh, yeah, he just bet they were. He was at the door. This time, Zane didn’t bother with the lock, he just kicked out and the wood shattered.

  So much for his cover.

  He burst into the cavernous room. Water poured from the ceiling, pooling on the floor and mixing with the smoke. Through the downpour, he saw them. Nurse Nancy, grinning, holding a syringe, and three, no, four assholes in black, all standing in a circle around-around—

  One of the assholes lunged forward and grabbed something. No, someone. He hefted Jana up in front of him and put his gun to her sagging head. “Take another step, demon, just one more …” The guy’s bulging eyes locked on Zane. The right side of his face was red and blistering. Jana had let him feel her fire before the bastard took her out. “And I’ll make sure she never opens her eyes again.”

  He stilled and stared at the man. Long and hard. Marking him. Because he’d already seen the blood trickling down the side of Jana’s face.

  “Good.” The chameleon smiled, the grin pulling at the burnt skin of his face. “Nice to know you realize who’s in charge.”

  The fuck he did.

  The sprinklers turned off abruptly and only small drops of water fell onto Zane’s head.

  “You need to come back with me,” said a quiet voice from behind him. Zane glanced over his shoulder. Davey was there, gazing at him with demon black eyes. “Now. “

  “Don’t worry,” the chameleon with a death wish said, “we’ll be bringing the fire bitch, too.” His wet hair stuck to his head.

  “We wouldn’t think of leaving dear Jana behind,” Nancy added. “Not when she went to so much trouble to come and join our little party.”

  Jana. “You knew who we were. The minute we walked into the hospital, you knew.”

  She just stared back at him as drops of water slid down her face.

  “Why the hell did you bring me here? So you can try to kill me?” He lifted his chin. “Come try and take your best shot.” If he could distract the chameleons, maybe he would have a chance of getting Jana free.

  But no one took his bait, and Nancy, well, she blinked and looked confused. “Why would we want to kill you?” She walked toward him. Her eyes were all wide and fakely earnest. “We want you to join us.”

  And she was bat-shit crazy.

  “If you don’t help us, then we’ll make sure that your lover”-her eyes cut to Jana—“begs for death.” Wasn’t she Miss Sweet Sunshine. />
  “Come with me,” Davey said again, with steel in his voice. “Come willingly or we’ll drug you, too.” He spun around at that. “The hell you will.”

  “I will.” Davey lifted a gun. Now where had the kid gotten that? He’d been unarmed before.

  Zane wondered if he could move fast enough. He couldn’t blast the guy. Usually a demon’s power wouldn’t work on another demon, so he wouldn’t be able to take Davey out psychically but—

  “Don’t try it,” Davey advised. “This drug’s a new mix. The last demon we shot didn’t survive even an hour before the darkness took him.”

  Zane weighed him. Davey didn’t look quite so clueless and young anymore.

  “We want you alive, Wynter,” Davey said. “But if you fight us”-his lips pulled down—“then you’ll both die.”

  Aw, the guy sounded like he’d regret that. But he’d still kill us.

  Davey held out his hand. “Give me your phone.”

  His phone had a tracker in it from Night Watch. They would have followed him after his last call. They’d already know about this place. Zane pulled out his phone and tossed it to the kid. Davey caught it and instantly smashed the phone in his grip. “Now head to the back. We’ll be going out the southside exit. There’s another car waiting for us.”

  What?

  Davey lifted one brow. “You didn’t think this was really headquarters, did you? We’re barely above sea level here. Those rooms you saw, that’s all we got here, but the loading area in the back makes for a perfect getaway so no one sees us leave.” The barrel of the gun lowered. “Guess you could say this place is our testing grounds.”

  Bastard. Smart.

  “Now let’s get the hell out of here.” Davey glanced at the chameleons. “And, shit, Nancy, do something about that one’s face.”

  “We lost him,” Pak said, his voice carrying easily over the phone to Antonio. “His signal just went dead.”

  Hell. Antonio glanced over at Jude. The tiger shifter had both hands locked on the wheel. “Give me his last location.”

  “A warehouse on Bienville, number 8-1-2.” A pause. “I don’t like this, Tony.”