by Cynthia Eden
“Are you really back this time?” she asked softly as her brows pulled together.
This time? Just what the hell had been going on?
He reached for her and skimmed the back of his hand down her cheek. “I’m back.” His voice grated, but she didn’t wince. Didn’t so much as look away from him.
“Good.” Her lips tried to curl, that dimple peeking at him, and she blinked quickly. For an instant, Zane could have sworn that he saw the glint of tears in Jana’s eyes.
She’d stayed with him. He remembered that. The bloodlust had burned inside, and she’d stayed. She’d let him—
Zane sucked in a sharp breath. “Baby…”
She leaned forward and kissed him. A soft, fast press of her lips. “You didn’t hurt me.”
“Hell, no,” Dee grumbled. “You didn’t hurt her. You weren’t even close to hurting her. It was anyone dumb enough to get between the two of you that you decided to hurt.”
That was damn good news. No, it was fucking fabulous news.
Jana tried to ease away. He caught the back of her head and pulled her close, and he kissed her the way he needed to. Deep and long, tasting and taking, and promising so much more to come.
“Aw, hell.” The frustrated sigh was pure Dee. “Can’t you get a room once we’re done figuring out who is trying to destroy you? You know, we’ve got the little matter of someone setting a fire to kill you, and your girlfriend.”
Slowly, Zane lifted his head. He could taste Jana on his lips now. Just what he wanted. “No one was trying to kill us with the fire.” He turned his head and saw Dee’s face tense.
“Then why—”
“Someone trapped us so Tony would be easy prey.” The knowledge pissed him off. “This guy is doing up-close and personal kills. Slicing throats, not burning prey.”
“Well, maybe he changed his M.O.” Jude crossed his arms over his chest. “Because that fire was damn wild. If you hadn’t calmed it down…”
He’d always had a way with the fire. Jana twined her fingers with his.
“We have to find Tony,” Dee said, voice fierce. “The guy’s pretty much freaking helpless. He’s just—”
“Human?” Jana finished quietly. Then she shook her head. “Just because we’re human, it doesn’t mean we’re helpless.”
“Oh, don’t worry, I wasn’t making that mistake about you.” Dee’s blond brows rose. “Not making that mistake at all.”
Zane frowned, struggling to shove the last of the fog from his mind. His temples throbbed as he demanded, “How much time has passed?”
Jude exhaled. “Too damn much.”
Fuck.
“You were out an hour. I tried to pick up Tony’s scent from the scene, but—” His shoulders lifted, then fell in a hard shrug. “It was like the guy had never been there.”
Someone strong was jerking them around. “The claw marks were like a wolf’s.” He spoke quietly as he pushed his way through all the evidence.
“But Marcus didn’t kill anyone!” Jana was adamant.
“No.” He kept his gaze on her. “And Beth wasn’t an Ignitor, not until the girl touched you.”
Her eyes widened, and he knew she understood where he was going.
“The person killing, he’s from Perseus,” Zane said.
“Or she is,” Dee added. Dee knew very well that women could be as dangerous—or more dangerous—than men.
“If Beth was using a psychic to transfer power from one person to another, hell, it stands to reason she would have done this switch more than once.” He pushed up from the table, and for an instant, darkness swirled around him. The echoes of fear and fury pumped in his blood.
Not. Again.
Jana’s hair brushed against his cheek as she steadied him. “It’s okay,” she whispered.
With her there, it was. Because she hadn’t turned from him. She’d stayed with him through hell.
She’d held the demon and loved him. His teeth clenched. He hoped the woman understood, she wasn’t getting away from him now. Not unless she really wanted to break him.
Weakness. The need for drugs that so many of his kind possessed. But the drugs didn’t call to him. Jana called. Only her. Yeah, he was addicted—to her.
She was his weakness.
Don’t let them know your weakness. The voice drifted through his mind, and Zane tensed at the memory.
“Beth would have made sure she tested the psychic’s power before trying to take my fire.” A furrow appeared between Jana’s brows. “She would have planned everything, been sure there were no mistakes.” A hard laugh escaped her. “But she didn’t realize how hot that fire would be.” Her laughter died. “Neither did her psychic.” She swallowed and her eyes grew sad.
He ran the back of his hand down her arm.
“So…wait, you’re saying those bastards at Perseus found a way to transfer powers?” Jude whistled. “Someone took your fire?”
She nodded jerkily.
“Shit.” He rocked back. “And you think—you think somebody took a shifter’s gift, too?”
“Gift, curse, all the same damn thing.” Jana heaved out a hard breath. “If they could take my fire, they could take someone’s beast. They could take anything.”
Jude paled a bit. He didn’t want to lose his beast. “You sure that psychic is dead?”
She nodded.
Dee strode forward. “But you burned me.”
“The transfer doesn’t seem to be permanent.”
Dee’s gaze measured her. “Do you believe there might be another psychic out there who can steal powers, too?”
“I think there probably is, somewhere,” Jana said, her eyes narrowing. “For a while, I thought I was the only one who could start the fires. Then I found out there were more like me. Why not have more like Laura?”
“Hell. Just what we don’t need.” Jude seemed to be sweating. Zane didn’t blame him. The last thing a shifter would want to hear is that his beast could be taken from him.
“Did Marcus shift?” Zane asked Jana, pulling her attention back to him. “When you were with him, did Marcus’s claws grow, did his teeth—”
“He was too weak to shift.” Said with sadness. “Just like he was too weak to fight off the bastard who came for him.”
The bastard that he suspected had Tony. The light overhead shattered and sent down a hail of sparks.
“Easy,” Dee said.
Fuck easy. Where was Tony? “I’m not standing here with my thumb up my a—”
The door flew open. Catalina stood in the doorway, sweating, chest heaving, and with what looked like tear tracks of blood on her cheeks. “I found him!” A broken mirror, the glass gone black, was gripped tightly in her blood-soaked hands. Simon loomed behind her, but Zane knew the blood hadn’t come from a vampire’s bite. No, this time, it had come from something far worse.
“Dee, tell me you didn’t ask her to—”
Dee brushed by him and headed for Catalina. “We needed to find him. She had to scry.”
Dee had never understood about scrying. She didn’t realize… Cat looked into the spirit world every time she tried to see the future. And the spirit world…it looked back at her. When Death looked at you, it was never a good thing.
He marks you. She’d told Zane that once. Told him that she’d felt Death’s claws in her flesh. He’d seen the scars on her back to prove the claim.
“What did you see?” Jude asked, circling close to her.
Her chest heaving, she said, “Demons—demons were all around him. Closing in.”
“A den?” The question came from Simon. He was right at Catalina’s back. Good thing. The woman would be collapsing soon.
Catalina nodded. “It was black. Covered in darkness. Like a fire had scorched—”
“I know the place,” Jana cut in, a thread of excitement in her voice. “If you’re talking about demons in a den and fire, then you’re talking about Dusk.”
Because she’d lit up that place. Scorched the walls and ceil
ing.
Catalina swallowed. “Th-there’s not much time.” Her gaze met Zane’s. “Death’s already there.” She turned her body a bit, and he caught sight of her shoulder, and the long, bloody claw marks that ravaged the back of her arm.
He heard Jana’s gasp and knew she’d seen the marks, too.
“Who has Tony?” He had to understand just what he was walking into at that den.
A trickle of blood slipped from her mouth. “A demon. I saw—saw his eyes. So dark. So black.”
Her own eyes began to close. He lunged forward.
But Simon had her. He caught the witch and lifted her up high against his chest. Shit. With all that blood, he’d better not be—
Simon shoved Catalina into Jude’s arms. A muscle jerked in his jaw, and Simon stepped back, fast.
“Didn’t…let you down this time.” Catalina’s voice was a whisper. “This time…did my part. T-tell Tony…didn’t…leave him alone.”
“We’ll tell him.” Because they were finding him alive. “Just rest, Cat. We’ll get him.”
And he’d make the bastard who took him pay. Perseus had picked the wrong demon to screw, and the wrong human to take.
Hold on, Tony.
Zane wrapped his fingers around Jana’s. Help was coming—and help would be in the form of that Perseus bastard’s worst nightmare.
Chapter 18
“How are we going to do this?” Jana asked. Her gut tightened as they approached the darkened shell that was Dusk.
Dusk. Well, dawn was actually breaking as they headed for the hollowed-out demon’s den, and dawn wasn’t a real good time when your backup consisted of a pair of vamps. Vamps were weaker during the day. Pretty much at human level. Since they were about to go up against some amped-up demons…
Yeah, stronger backup, or maybe actual dusk would have been better.
“We’re going in, and we’re kicking ass until we get our man back,” Dee said, not looking real fazed by the fact that the sun had started to rise.
The male vamp, Simon, was at her side. Figured. From what Jana could tell, he always stayed pretty close to her. Tall, dark, scary…the guy had done a major freak-out when the blonde was hurt. A freak-out that still had her head throbbing.
Her eyes narrowed. She’d owe him for that. And she always paid her debts.
“We don’t know how many are waiting inside.” Tension had tightened Zane’s muscles. They were three blocks away from the den. “So you two will be our distraction.”
The vamps nodded, but didn’t look particularly happy.
“You go in the front, loud and strong, and we’ll take the back.” Zane pointed at Jude. “You go with us.”
The big shifter’s face was etched into tight lines of fury. “I can smell his blood from here.”
Oh, that couldn’t be good. Death’s already there. That was what the witch had said. The last thing Jana wanted to do was walk in there and find the cop’s dead body. For a cop, Tony hadn’t been a bad guy. Not really bad at all.
The bees began to buzz in Jana’s head. She reached for Zane. “It…hurts when you do that.”
He blinked, then glanced quickly at Dee and Jude. They both shrugged, each with No-I-Don’t-Know-What-the-Hell-She-Means expressions.
“They’re not human,” she muttered. “I am. When you amp up the power, I can feel it.”
His eyes widened. “Then you stay here. Because if we go in there, and I find Tony and he’s—” He shook his head. “You need to be far enough away that the blast doesn’t hit you.”
The blast? She shook her head. “No, you need me.”
“He’s got two vamps,” Simon said. “And a shifter. I think we’ve got this covered.”
The vamp really wanted payback from her. She didn’t look away from Zane. “You need me.”
“I told you already,” he said. “I need you more than I’ve ever needed anyone.” He almost looked sad for an instant. No, not sad. Like he was—
“So I hope you understand when you wake up,” he continued, “I only did this to keep you safe.”
Then those bees swarmed in her mind. The green bled from Zane’s eyes, and the darkness she saw in his gaze seemed to reach out to her. She felt his arms catch her as she fell, and then…nothing.
“She’s going to be so pissed with you.” Dee shook her head and frowned down at Jana’s body. “And when that woman gets angry”—she shook her right hand—“she burns.”
He grunted. “I’d rather have her pissed than hurt.”
“So what…you’re just going to leave her here?” Dee asked, lips pulling down. “What if some of the other assholes out here find her?”
Good fucking point. He grunted and looked at Jude. “Keep her safe.”
“But you need me in there! You don’t know what’s—”
“I need you to stay with Jana.” The shifter would understand. He might not like it, but he’d understand. Jude had his own lady that he’d die to protect. “I can track Tony. He’s human. I can send out a psychic wave and feel him once I’m inside.” He just had to get closer to make contact. “Jude, keep her safe.”
When had she come to mean so much? Come to mean…everything? When she’d gone after the demons who’d attacked him? When she’d braved the fires at Perseus for him? When they’d made love and she whispered his name?
Hell, it didn’t matter when. She was under his skin, locked in what was left of his heart, and he wasn’t risking her.
Don’t let them know your weakness.
The killer already knew, and Zane would be damned if he put Jana at risk. He would have left her back at Night Watch, but the drugs had dulled his powers and he hadn’t been able to put her out then.
Now his strength had returned. Real good thing.
“Be back soon, baby,” he whispered and brushed a kiss over her still lips. He looked up at Jude.
The shifter nodded his head in agreement. “Watch your ass, demon.”
“Always.” He squared his shoulders, ignored the throbbing in his head, and walked away from the woman who could break him. The demons were waiting for him. Holding the human he called his friend.
“Distract them,” he ordered Dee and knew that she would. With her new vampire skills, she’d tear a path right through any demons who were waiting inside. She and Simon would be more than a match for at least a dozen demons. Well, they’d be a match while the sun stayed low. Since time was against them, they all needed to haul ass.
But how many were inside? Catalina hadn’t told them for sure. Just that Tony was surrounded by Zane’s brethren.
He split from the vampires and kept to the waning shadows. The stench of burnt wood and ash hung in the air. He slipped down the alley, moving as soundlessly as he could. He sure didn’t want to tip off his prey. Not now.
The back door was boarded up. Boarded from the outside, as if someone had tried to keep the demons in.
He stared at those boards and let his power flare. The nails began to ease out of the wood. Slowly, so slowly, and carefully. The nails dropped to the ground with a soft clink. He caught the boards before they could fall.
Then he heard a roar. A loud, guttural cry of female fury.
Dee. Timing her distraction perfectly. More shouts filled the air as the demons inside attacked or were attacked.
He eased open the door and went into the hollowed-out hell. The scents were stronger. The ash stained his fingers when his hand brushed against the wall. The odor of blood was stronger. Thicker. His heart slammed into his chest. Too much blood.
Zane’s breath rasped out. If Tony was dead…
A floorboard squeaked and he whirled around. A demon stared back at him. A demon with the face of innocence and eyes blacker than the ash. Screams echoed from the front of the den. Curses filled the air.
The demon smiled at him. “I was wondering how long it would take for you to get here,” Davey said, and he shook his blond head. “I mean, it’s not like the human had that long to keep living. We wer
e running out of time.”
Zane lunged for him and grabbed the kid by his shirt. He jerked Davey close. “You fucking bastard.” Davey. The kid. The barely legal asshole.
My damn fault. I let him live.
Davey must have read the thoughts on Zane’s face because he laughed. “Guess you’re wishing you’d just let me burn, huh? But don’t feel too bad. I would’ve gotten out anyway.”
But the little bastard had been all but begging for help then. As powerful as he seemed now, why would he have—
He’d taken the shifter’s powers. And his weaknesses. That cage—Zane would fucking bet it had been made of silver. Couldn’t move it, could you, asshole?
Zane shoved his fist into Davey’s face. The demon’s nose shattered, and blood sprayed in the air. “Where. Is. He?”
Davey wrenched away from him. That perfect smile was bloody now. “I got ’em both, you know.”
More screams. “Vampire bitch!”
Something heavy thudded, shaking the den. Probably a demon hitting a wall.
“I’ve got the cop.” Davey swiped the back of his right hand over his mouth and smeared the blood. “And the agent.”
His back teeth clenched. Attack. “I’ll find them both after I kill you.”
“No.” Davey shook his head. “You’ll find their bodies. I sprayed the blood all around the place. Without a shifter, you won’t be able to find ’em. Not until it’s too late.”
Fuck that. He’d send out his blast and he’d find them.
“Tell you what…” Davey nodded, as if he’d just reached some kind of big, damn decision. “I’ll let you hunt ’em. I’ll give you two minutes—because hey, you’re supposed to be the big, super demon, right? The badass hybrid.”
Zane didn’t speak, but his nostrils flared. He sent out his power, searching for Tony. Searching…
And he hit a damn brick wall of darkness.
Davey laughed and jumped back. “Really, did you think I’d make it that easy? I can’t let you just probe and find them.”
The fucker had blocked the humans. Shielded them somehow.
“Two minutes,” Davey said again. “And this whole place will be going down. Think you can save one of them in that time?”