by Cynthia Eden
“He cut her up and tossed her into the swamp!” Tanner stood toe-to-toe with him. “It’s not like she was mooning after him. The woman wanted vengeance! I thought she’d help us.”
“She wanted vengeance alright.” Jade’s angry voice had Az’s gaze sliding to her. She rubbed her chest. “She was willing to kill me in order to get it.”
“I never thought she’d attack you,” Tanner said. “I swear, okay? I figured she’d want to kill Brandt, not you.”
But Az understood. “She was attacking Brandt when she went after Jade.”
Jade nodded. “She told me that she was taking his heart.”
By killing her.
“Bitch,” Jade mumbled as she rubbed her arms, as if chilled.
“I’m sorry.” The gritted words were Tanner’s. “If I’d thought for a moment that she would try to kill you, Jade, I never would have taken her with us.”
It was a mistake Az would make sure they didn’t repeat.
But Jade’s assessing stare was studying Az now. “Well, whatever else we say about her, the witch knows her weapons. Those bullets she made worked on you.”
“So they’ll work on him, too.” Wound Brandt. Kill him. “We just need Heather to give us a new batch.” Then they’d be on equal battling ground. Claws versus brimstone.
Maybe not equal.
And maybe Brandt would be dead.
Az smiled. “Let him hunt us. While he comes after us, we’ll be heading right back into his camp.” And taking the witch.
A sharp bark of laughter escaped Tanner. “You’re crazy, aren’t you?”
Perhaps. A Fall could send some angels into raving insanity. Create killers, monsters.
Nightmares that walked the earth.
“But that’s a pretty fucking smart plan,” Tanner continued. “One Brandt won’t see coming. We’ll need to move fast though.” His head jerked to the left as his nostrils flared. “What in the hell?”
Az followed his gaze into the twisting darkness of the trees.
“Has he already found us?” Jade’s hushed voice asked.
Tanner strode past her. “Someone’s hurt out there. I can smell the blood.”
Shifter senses.
“Not human,” he added, almost as an afterthought.
Jade frowned at him. “Who is these days?”
Az let his gaze search the trees. This could be a trap. Brandt was a wily hunter. He could’ve put out weak bait to lure them in.
Az had seen killers use this move dozens of time over the centuries. “You got a lock on the scent, Tanner?”
The shifter nodded. “A mile to the left. Whoever it is, they’re moving real slow.” He glanced back at Az. “Could be close to dying.”
The dock squeaked. Az glanced back and saw Cody advancing on them. Now their little group was all together.
Worry showed on the demon’s face. “We can’t leave someone to die out there.”
Jade stiffened when she saw the doctor, and she took a quick step toward Az.
“We don’t have a lot of time to waste,” Tanner growled. “Brandt’s hauling ass over here. We can’t defeat him and his whole pack right now. We need to be gone.”
“We need the witch,” Az said. He had to get those bullets and Heather was the one who could provide him with that perfect weapon.
There was no way he’d forget or forgive what she’d done to Jade. Or to him. But he would be using the witch. “She’s the one who can give us the weapon we need.”
“Is she really our only option?” Jade’s delicate jaw clenched as she moved closer to Az. “Sorry, guess I’m just a little hesitant because of the whole trying to kill me bit.”
His fingers brushed over her cheek. “She’s not going to hurt you again.”
“No,” Jade was definite, “she won’t. I’m not going to give her the chance.”
Tanner cleared his throat. “We’re all pissed. We all want our pound of flesh.” He sighed. “But if we want to use her, then we have to hurry up and go get her.”
“Not yet.”
They all turned at Cody’s hard snap. The demon stood his ground. “We’re not leaving yet.”
Like the doc was going to stop him.
But Cody pointed to the woods. “I can smell the blood, too,” he said. “Someone’s out there, hurt. Are we really just going to leave ’em?”
No, they weren’t. Az inclined his head, and Tanner took off running. He cleared the dock and headed toward the left. They all fell in behind him, racing through the thicket of trees. The shifter didn’t hesitate as he tracked through those woods. When it came to hunting, nothing beat a shifter’s nose.
And Tanner made short work of cutting through the swamp and finding his prey. The others followed him, and Az made sure he kept Jade close to his side. Until he found out all the effects his blood would have on her, Az didn’t want Jade out of his sight.
Tanner stopped. Inhaled. Pointed to the side. “The scent of blood and flowers is coming from that way.”
Blood . . . and flowers? Az’s heart began to beat faster.
Tanner cocked his head as he studied Az with a growing understanding in his eyes. Jade and Cody huffed out breaths as they paused.
“You sure you want to play hero again?” Tanner asked. “Maybe this isn’t someone you want to save. Maybe it’s someone that you already gave one ass kicking to.”
Maybe. Blood and flowers. He wouldn’t know for sure, not until he actually saw the prey.
They started moving again. Faster now because Tanner was closing in on that scent. Jade was moving too fast for a human, and she didn’t even seem to realize that fact. He didn’t know how long the blood would keep impacting her. The fact that she’d seen his wings—
She wasn’t afraid.
The trees seemed to blow past them as limbs reached out and scratched at his flesh.
“Tanner!” For an instant, he lost sight of the shifter.
Then Az rounded a bend, leapt over a fallen tree, and found Tanner crouched on the ground.
A blond woman lay in his arms. Skin pale and bloodstained. Marna.
No.
In an instant, he was at Marna’s side. She was on her back, with her eyes closed. He lifted her up carefully. Her clothes were torn but the skin of her stomach and chest were fully healed. Angels could heal so fast, even from a panther’s claws.
But as he lifted Marna higher into his arms, he realized that some wounds just couldn’t be healed.
Her wings had been sliced off. The flesh of her back was still mending, crossed with thick, red slashes, and her wings were—gone.
“Az?” Now Jade’s voice held fear.
The angel who came to take your soul. Did Jade remember her? He couldn’t look at her then. The guilt was too much. Marna’s injuries were his fault. He’d interfered. Altered fate.
An angel couldn’t fly to the gateway and enter heaven without her wings.
“I know that handiwork.” Tanner’s low, rumbling words. Az glanced at him and saw that Tanner’s face was twisted in fury. “Looks like Brandt got hold of her.”
Marna’s eyes weren’t opening.
Jade touched Az on the shoulder. “You know her.”
He nodded. “Her name . . . She’s Marna.”
“Another angel?” She whispered. “This—this probably sounds crazy, but I think I’ve seen her before.”
“You have seen her.” An angel’s power came from her wings. Without the wings, it would take Marna weeks to build up her strength. The others could see her now because her wings were gone. Marna’s life was gone. “When it was time for you to die, she’s the one who came to take your soul.”
Jade sank to her knees beside him. “Then why is she the one broken on the ground?”
Because of me.
Cody bent to press his hands against Marna’s back. “I can stitch her up. We need to get her back to my place. I’ll clean the wounds, bandage her—”
“And then Brandt will appear and finish s
licing her up,” Tanner finished. “Sorry, but hell, no. This woman’s best chance for surviving is to get out of here.”
He was right. Az stood, with Marna cradled in his arms. His gaze met Cody’s. “I’m trusting you with her life. If anything happens to her, you don’t even want to know the fury that’s gonna rain down on all of us.”
Cody nodded and reached for her. “I’ll treat her, I’ll—”
“You and Tanner will get her out of here. You run as fast as you can, and don’t look back.” Because when Brandt came hunting, he’d follow Jade’s scent, not Marna’s. Jade’s and Az’s. They had to split up from the others if Marna was going to survive.
Az held the demon’s gaze. “When she wakes, whatever you do, don’t let her touch you.”
The doc’s eyes widened. “Why would—”
“She’s going to be furious, and you’ll be the demon within striking distance. One touch, and you’ll be dead.”
Cody swallowed. “Guess I’ll be strapping her down.” His hold tightened on the unconscious woman.
“If you want to keep living, you will.”
A nod from the demon.
Jade was silent beside him.
“How will you find us?” Tanner demanded. “Once you get the witch, what’s the big plan? You going after Brandt on your own?”
Perhaps. “Head back to New Orleans. Be at a bar called Sunrise tomorrow night, right at midnight.”
“And you’ll be there?” The shifter pressed.
Lying wasn’t an option, so it was a good thing that Jade said, “Yes” before Azrael had to reply.
“Go!” He told the other two, because tension already held his body tight. Minutes were trickling by. Brandt would be coming closer.
Tanner and Cody vanished into the trees. They’d protect Marna. Az just hoped she didn’t wind up killing them for their trouble.
“We need to make sure that Brandt has a scent to follow,” he said. “You’re the one he wants, so he’ll ignore everyone else and focus just on your trail.”
Jade nodded, then turned and started running deeper into the woods. He stayed right on her trail. Running with her, keeping close, but not trying to mask her scent in any way.
Then they broke through the bush. She stood gasping at the edge of the thick, green bayou water. “Now . . . what?”
They’d run far enough to lead Brandt on a nice chase. Az caught her hand. Pulled her close. He’d never tried this with another person. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes.” No hesitation.
“Then hold on.” He tightened his arms around her.
And they vanished.
When Jade opened her eyes, the whole world was spinning. She stumbled away from Az and nearly fell to the ground. The guy’s reflexes were superfast though, and he caught her right before she could slam into the earth.
“Easy,” he whispered against her ear. “It’ll take your body a few minutes to adjust.”
Adjust to what? Nausea welled in her stomach, and she had to crouch, putting her head between her knees. “What just . . . happened?”
“We moved very, very fast.”
Blinking, she glanced back up. The bayou was gone. They stood just a few feet from an arching cypress tree. Not just any cypress. She remembered staring up at this tree as she struggled to live.
Azrael paced away from her. He bent and studied the ground. She saw his shoulders tense.
The ground seemed to shake beneath her feet.
Jade sucked in a deep breath. Then another. She followed him on shaky legs, and saw the bloody black feathers on the earth. The feathers were far too big to belong to a bird.
Come with me, Jade. It’s time for you to rest. She remembered the words, whispering through her mind, though she hadn’t told Az about them. She remembered the words and the angel who’d appeared.
Marna.
But Marna had never touched her. If the angel had, Jade knew she wouldn’t be there.
“Where’s his camp?” Az asked as he kept gazing at those feathers. “Where’s the hole that the bastard retreated to after he sliced her apart?”
Az glanced up then and she went very still. His eyes weren’t blue now. They were demon black.
And the rage in them stole her breath.
“Where would he go?” Az stalked toward her. “You know him. Know how he thinks. Where would the bastard set up his base?”
Close by. Jade stiffened her shaky knees as she pointed. “Probably across the water.” She knew this area. Now that the fog was gone, she recognized the place because she’d visited it in her youth. “They could have gone over on motorboats. From what I remember, there used to be a campsite over there. Lots of abandoned buildings.”
Az straightened and strode to the twisting pier. Gators slowly glided in the water.
She could just make out the old campsite. “He won’t have left the place undefended,” she told him. “He’s too smart for that. He’s hunting, but he’ll have left a trap behind. Left men behind.”
“I was counting on that.”
The deadly promise in his voice made chills rise on her arms. This Az . . . he was different. From the moment he’d found Marna in those woods, a coldness had crept over him.
“Let’s see how fast they die,” he whispered even as he snagged her wrist. There was no warning this time. Just the wild rush of wind. The feel of a thousand skeletal hands on her body, and in the next instant, they were across the water. On the shore.
And she knew Az was about to hunt.
They’d appeared right in the middle of the area, less than two feet from a lounging shifter. When he saw them, the guy let out a startled grunt and jumped toward them with his claws up. Az wrapped his hand around the guy’s throat and lifted him into the air. “I want the witch,” Az ordered.
The shifter swiped out with his claws. Blood poured from Az’s shoulder.
Az just smiled.
That smile chilled her. This wasn’t the Az she’d come to know. This guy—he was something altogether different.
With his left hand, he broke the shifter’s wrist. Shattered bones.
“You’re dying,” Az told him. “It’s just a question of. . . how painful do you want that death to be?”
A faint glow appeared beneath Az’s hand as it gripped the shifter’s throat. Smoke began to rise from the panther’s skin as he convulsed.
“You can burn,” Az told him, “from the inside out.”
And he was.
“Az . . .” Jade lifted her own hand, then hesitated when the shifter started to speak.
“T-to the left. Th-third building. Witch’s—th-there . . .” The words ended in a choked gurgle as the shifter fell to the ground. His body was still smoking, but his eyes were open, and staring at nothing.
Jade turned away and glanced to the left. She saw the shadowy bodies of two more shifters coming toward her. Only they weren’t attacking as men. They were rushing forward on the silent paws of panthers. She opened her mouth to cry out a warning.
There was no chance to warn Az. No chance, and no need. A ball of fire flew from his fingertips and headed for the pouncing panthers. One cried out, a high, keening sound, and flew to the right. The flames slammed into the second beast. He fell to the ground and immediately began rolling as he fought to put out the flames. His fur vanished as he lost the body of the beast, and the man’s flesh burned as he transformed.
The other panther rose. Faced Az.
Az began to stalk toward him.
Okay, fine, so he had this. She’d take care of the witch. Maybe she’d even get some payback herself because it wasn’t like she’d ever forget that woman shoving the knife into her chest.
Jade raced behind Az. Counted the buildings. One. Two. Thr—
She kicked in the door. “Okay, witch, I’m—”
Heather was tied to the bed. Blood pooled all around her. The witch’s face had been sliced. Her body clawed. There was blood. So much blood. Yet she still lived.
&nb
sp; How?
Jade swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat. Heather’s head had turned when the door flew open, and her dazed eyes locked on Jade.
“H-help me . . .” The witch whispered.
Pity tore through Jade even as she remembered . . . The knife shoved into her chest. “I’m taking his heart . . .” Only Heather hadn’t taken Brandt’s heart.
She tried to take mine.
Jade eased into the room. Her gaze searched each corner, all the shadows. No panthers waited.
“Please . . .” Heather’s strangled cry. “Need . . .” She tried to lift her hand, but the rope on the old bedpost wouldn’t allow her wrist to rise.
Jade crouched near the bed. Damn. Those slices were deep. And all that blood . . . “You’re going to be okay now.” No, she wasn’t. Not unless Az could get in there and help her.
His blood. That angel blood of his might be strong enough to save Heather.
“You’re going to be okay,” she told Heather again, meaning it this time. “Az!” Jade screamed his name.
The witch had suffered. So much torture. Jade didn’t forgive the woman for what she’d done, but dying like this . . .
No one deserved to die like this.
Jade yanked at the thick ropes around Heather’s wrists and managed to get the witch’s left hand free.
“Az!” She yelled again. She needed him, now. Dammit, if he wasn’t coming in, she’d have to go drag the angel off those panthers.
Jade turned from the bed, but Heather’s free hand flew out and wrapped around her wrist. “Sorry . . . so sor . . . ry.”
Shaking her head, Jade said, “Forget that now. You can beg forgiveness, I can kick your ass—later. We’ll do that whole bit after—”
“Had to hurt you . . . to get . . . to him . . .” Heather’s breath heaved out. “Only way . . .” Blood trickled past her lips.
Yeah, well, it had been a shitty way, but they’d deal with that after they stopped Heather from dying.
“You make . . . him weak.”
“Nothing makes Brandt weak.” Heather should have realized that. “He doesn’t really love me. He can’t love anyone.” He was a sociopath. Incapable of actual love. She’d learned that long ago. He’d said the right things at first. Done the right things. But the man was broken inside.