by Billi Jean
What the hell did that mean?
“Excuse me?”
She jumped two feet and landed facing a young-looking woman with bright purple bangs and a white shaggy haircut. She was dressed in low-slung black cargo pants, a white short tank and a big clunky studded leather belt. Heavy eye makeup made her eyes look glamorous and her face bright, cheerful even.
Popping her pink gum, the woman nodded to Evan. “Can we have a peek?”
Peek?
Joey sucked in a breath at the man standing behind her. Tall, lean, with an evil scar running from his left eye to his temple and past his strong jaw, he stared at her with the steadiness of a hunter spotting prey. He reminded her of the Terminator, only one heck of lot more deadly. She had the impression if she so much as moved too quickly, he’d have her pinned to the wall, tagged and bagged.
“Yeah, so, we need to take a peek, it won’t take long, pinkie promise.”
Joey swung her gaze back to the less frightening of the two.
“No.” Uh, damn. Did she just say that? ’Cause, shit. This was serious.
There was no way the guy was human, and the girl? Not so much. Joey scented something wild, almost like the mountains after a huge thunderstorm. Immortals. What had Jax told her? She’d know when another immortal was near. She’d been confused then, but now, standing in a room with these two, she sensed it, a difference she’d never experienced with anyone else. Not even Jaxon. But immortals, here, in her small town?
Cocking a delicate eyebrow, the woman grinned, her pink lip-gloss shining in the low lights. “Huh, is that so?”
“Absolutely. No one is allowed back here.”
“Look, you got backbone, chica. I have no idea what your game is, working in a morgue, but hell, whatever gets your rocks off. We”—pointing a thumb at her chest, then behind her to the silent warrior in jeans and a long trench coat—“gotta see the dude.”
Standoff. Or not. ’Cause well, A, they were trained to do things Jax hadn’t got around to showing her, and B, Joey wasn’t. And oh, yeah, C, there were two of them.
Still, Jax had taught her one thing. She got nothing from backing down. “This is my morgue. That’s my friend,” she said clearly, and stepped between them and Evan’s body. “And you’re not touching him.”
Terminator raised his eyebrows, and his face split with his grin. “She does have spirit. Sure she’s new to the fangs?” he said with some kind of accent—maybe Russian or Eastern European.
“Yeah, less than a year, I’d guess. Turned, I think, but”—the woman tipped her head to the side and frowned—“it’s not clear, though. Shit, I have no idea what she’s thinking though. Maybe blood withdrawal.”
“Hey! I’m standing right here!” Joey reminded them.
They both turned to give her the ‘duh’ look.
“All right. I’m Hunter, this is Viktor. We don’t want to have to press the issue, you know? Sorta rude, but here’s the deal—”
“I already heard you. I’m Joey and no, I’m not going through blood withdrawal. It’s none of your business how old I am, and you don’t need to worry about what I’m thinking. Did I miss anything?”
“Holy panties in a bind, girl, calm down,” Hunter said, holding her hands up as if she surrendered.
Not likely. Joey firmed her stance and gave them her ‘you ordered the double mocha, and now you say you don’t like chocolate’ glare. “You’re in my morgue and no one is touching anything or anybody.”
“Lookit, that’s cool and all but—”
“Wasn’t there a sign out front saying employees only? Because I could go get it. I’m trying to do an examination here,” she explained to Hunter. What kind of cool name was that? Hunter. It sounded made up, like Apple, or something.
“Uh, chica, that is so not happening. We kinda need the dude.” Hunter grinned and popped a pink bubble again with her gum.
Viktor crossed his big arms over his chest, appearing to enjoy the show.
Joey wasn’t, but at least the two of them seemed to take her seriously—they’d not attacked her or anything at least.
“We just need to examine him, possibly remove him, but hey, let’s start with the exam, shall we?”
“What? No way. No fucking way.” Picking up her scalpel made Joey feel marginally better.
“Enough, let’s take him and go,” Viktor muttered.
Oh, he did not just say that. The Terminator headed in her direction with a look like he meant business, but Joey gripped Evan’s arm and held on. “Back up, and no one is taking anyone.”
“We’re only going to examine him,” Hunter argued.
“Over my dead body.”
“Uh, chica? You are like already the walking dead, right?”
Joey ignored how funny that was and shook her head. “You’re not taking him. No way.”
Sighing heavily, Viktor said something to Hunter in a language she didn’t know and didn’t like. After only a minute of that, they both turned back to her.
“So, just to be clear. This man is your friend?” Hunter asked.
“Yes.”
“And you want to know what happened to him?” she persisted.
Viktor tried to move closer.
“Stop that! Stand still, or so help me God, I will seriously hurt you,” Joey warned.
Viktor stood taller and just stared at her.
Joey glared at the woman and finally demanded, “And you, what do you mean? Do you know what happened to him?”
Hunter shrugged and folded her arms. “I do, or I might. But I can’t find out unless you let me closer.”
Joey walked around the table, putting it between them. Viktor watched her to the exclusion of all else. She didn’t even think he blinked. Eerie, really.
Focus here, Joey!
Turning to Hunter, she tried to decide what to do. Evan. That should be her biggest concern.
“This human was your friend?” Viktor suddenly asked.
“He is my friend and I won’t sit by if someone harmed him.” If these immortals were here, they might be the reason why he was dead. She’d heard Jax talking on the phone. She’d known something was going on. Something big. Well, duh, she’d been part of that big something. The club had hid more than just her attackers. Jaxon had left to deal with something big, or he’d not have left. Was this part of what had called him away? Or was she being too naïve?
The only way to find out would be to let Hunter near him, she decided.
“All right, but no touching unless I say.”
Hunter nodded and walked over, Viktor a pace behind.
“There’s only this burn mark. Report says one gunshot wound to the chest, but that’s not it, is it?”
Hunter murmured something, and shifted the hospital sheet farther down his chest. “Yeah, poor guy. Looks like a blast of electric current maybe? Something big, and see here, the electrodes would have been here and here.” Touching his temple then his chest, Joey sucked in a breath when she, too, noticed the small round marks. Electrodes. Electric shock?
“What does this mean? Have you seen this before?” she demanded.
Hunter looked up and Joey relaxed. She had kind eyes, under the glam and makeup. She hid a warm tenderness, Joey realised. “Yeah, I have. You two were close?”
Joey grimaced and tugged her gloves off. They snapped, and she threw them in the garbage by the table. “Yeah, we were close, but not like that. We grew up together.”
“Do you know where they found him?”
Picking up the file, Joey frowned, reading an address for an old warehouse outside town, in the foothills and way off the beaten path. Well, most everything was out here, but still, this place had been condemned and closed before she’d come to town. Her grandfather had once worked there, she thought. Some sort of factory.
“A warehouse, outside of town. It’s been closed for, I don’t know, fifty years or maybe more,” Joey said.
Hunter and Viktor shared a look, before both focused on her again
.
“Is this your town?” Viktor’s voice was so deep she could almost feel it in her breastbone.
“It was. Thinking of moving on now.”
“She shouldn’t go on the hunt,” Victor grumbled.
Joey stared over at him for a few shocked seconds before she shook her head and turned back to Hunter. She was going. She’d not thought of it until he’d said she shouldn’t, but she was going.
“I want to go. I think I need a break from work anyway,” she said, trying to sound confident and strong.
Hunter smothered a laugh with a cough. “Well, you got any skills?”
“Yeah, sure, I know where the old warehouse is and I can drive fast and not even get a speeding ticket on the way.”
“It takes more than that, but those are some mad skills. Next time,” Hunter said, clearly not getting that Joey was going. She nodded to Viktor and he walked over to the double doors and swung one open for Hunter.
“Wait! I want in. I want to know what happened to him.” Joey dug up every stubborn bone she had and when they turned, she faced them both with a steady, somewhat breathless, but challenging look.
Viktor and Hunter shared another longer look, then with a sigh, the big scarred man shook his brown hair out of his eyes and gave Hunter one sharp nod.
“Okay, you’re in, but you get hurt or taken and we leave your ass there, got it?” Hunter said.
“Gee, thanks, that’s one hell of a vote of confidence.”
“Look, Red Hot, you’re a vampire, I’m a witch and that big guy?” She pointed at Viktor with a thumb. “He’s a Lykae. But we could be wicked outnumbered so keep yourself hidden, and if you can shift, you get your shit out of there, okay?”
“Sure, I will.” Like uh, no? Shift? Jax hadn’t got to that little lesson.
Joey blinked and grabbed her coat when Hunter stalked over to Viktor—an honest-to-goodness werewolf—bumping him with a shoulder against his massive arm to get him moving. If he was a werewolf, why did he sound Russian? Joey frowned thoughtfully. Well, why not? Jaxon sounded American, but lived in London and didn’t sound like he was from Transylvania. And Hunter? She sounded like she could have been from the south, maybe New Orleans.
“She’ll do,” she heard Hunter murmur.
She would?
Heck, then why were her legs suddenly weak and shaky?
Chapter Ten
Jax rolled into Joey’s home, amazed to see a farmhouse and barn with tons of forest surrounding the place. The barn stood right up against a large yellow, well-maintained but old house. He scented horses, a cat and Joey all over the place, but not her presence.
Now what? He cut the engine and opened the door to the SUV, got out and spotted a white kitten peeking at him from one of the windows.
This wasn’t Joey’s place. He sensed her recent occupancy, but there were parts of the property that smelt nothing like her. A horse neighed from the barn, maybe hungry he thought, as he walked to the porch and looked in the window. The house was empty, except for the kitten. He spotted a hospital bag, though, and read the emblem on the side. Was she working? Here?
He turned from the window, disappointment and frustration making him edgy. There was a town about an hour from here. He’d spotted it on the map, but there was also another one farther down the interstate. He turned back and examined the bag again. He could just make out the town on the crest of the hospital. Tossing his head, he struggled not to hit something. He could stay here, wait for her, she had to be home soon, but his instincts warned him to go to her—now.
His instincts had never left him in the lurch before—even with Elizabeth, they had warned him that something was off with her. With Joey, there were no warnings, no misgivings at all. She fit him. Being with her was so right that being without her was worse than the salt burying him alive all over again—or almost.
The horse or horses stomped impatiently and Jaxon knew that dawn neared. They were probably hungry, he thought and sympathised. He wanted to be fed as well.
Damned woman wasn’t even home to give him one of those hot, scorching hellos. She didn’t make it easy, but he’d find her.
He studied the rough landscape, trying to fit Joey with her sexy outfits and this desolate place together. They didn’t fit. Joey deserved silk, satin, champagne and nights of slow, erotic sex, with time to pay homage to every inch of her body. He wanted to take her to the theatres in Paris or the hot springs in Greece after swimming in the Adriatic Sea. He wanted to drape her in diamonds, pour Teuscher’s best chocolate over her rounded breasts and lick it off her tiny ribs, leaving enough to drip down to her slim stomach and pool at her perfect pussy. He wanted her to climax just from him licking her clean.
She didn’t fit in here with this simple farm life. But here was where she’d ended. Because of him? Or was it because she was now a vampire, and couldn’t risk being in the city any longer?
The thought pissed him off. He would train her, make her so strong on his blood, she’d never be in this kind of jeopardy again. Together they’d kick Death Stalker butt like nobody’s business.
She was smart. Too sexy for her own good—but hell, he could deal with that—fuck could he deal with that. He grinned, remembering how hot she’d been in his arms, how wet she’d been for him. He’d make love to her first thing, then he’d explain things. Rationalise with her if he needed to, anything to get her to seal their bond so he never had to fear for her, or her for him, again.
Decided, he headed to the SUV, started the engine and took off, for once sure that things would finally work out for them. Hell, she’d probably bite his head off, but he knew she’d also kiss him until he tore her clothes off, too.
A kind of relief settled over him at his decision. He’d make this right, show her all she needed to be strong and make sure she stayed out of trouble. With him.
His days of battling for the immortal world to the exclusion of all else were at an end. He’d keep them both so busy neither of them would get into any trouble.
* * * *
Joey had never been in such trouble before. First, Hunter was insane. And second? The guy Viktor was just as nuts.
She screamed when a huge tattooed man launched himself at her, but cut it short to swing a lead pipe at his head. She hit him in the stomach because he jumped away to avoid her. The blow vibrated all the way to her shoulders, but she didn’t lose her pipe. He flew through the air and landed with a muffled thud against a massive steel beam.
Viktor tackled him to the ground and truly, she nearly threw up when he sliced his head off with one downward slash of his sharp sword. Two more of the men engaged Viktor in a quick, deadly-looking battle. So far, all the creeps had been dressed in black from head to toe. All of them wore an inked five-pointed star on their faces. But the red glowing eyes really freaked her out. That, and the fact they were trying to kill her.
Across from her, to the right of Viktor and under a huge jagged hole in the roof of the enormous warehouse, Hunter fought with some blue sparks against a man not dressed in black. At least not completely. He wore black pants tucked into what looked like riding boots and a frilly white shirt—right off the cover of a romance novel. He also didn’t have the tat. But he had power. She’d sensed him arrive. Unlike Hunter and Viktor—and those hunky romance cover models—this guy made her want to vomit. He oozed something so horrid she refused to breathe through her nose.
A crackle of blue light shot from Hunter’s hand and at the same time the small witch spun in a circle, as if giving an additional push to her momentum. When she released another shot, it hit the man full on the chest, but instead of harming him, the sicko seemed to relish the blast.
“Ah, such a sweet touch, witch. Shall I show you mine?” He rolled his hands and from his palms, blackness flew at Hunter. The witch crossed her arms at the wrists in an x in front of her face and shouted something. Whatever the man had done, it didn’t harm Hunter. But a fresh wave of stench rising from the guy nearly had Joey vomitin
g. Whatever spell he’d used increased the level of nasty coming from him.
Hunter fired another blast at him. It landed a foot above his head. Joey covered her mouth to hold in the scream when one of the big wooden beams—the size of a railroad tie—fell with an enormous crash. At the last possible moment, the man walked to his left, as if he had all the time in the world.
Shit, this was not good.
A low growl sounded above her and she jumped backwards ten feet. Another man in black landed in a crouch where she’d stood and slowly rose to his full height. Oh, yeah, like six foot six of full height. She checked her grip on her pipe and swung it menacingly—she hoped—in front of her.
“Come on, you want to join your buddy?”
She heard Viktor shout something and Hunter respond, but couldn’t make out the words. The man facing her took all her concentration. With an evil smirk, he hissed, revealing fangs. Holy shit, he’s a vampire. The world narrowed to him and her and suddenly, she knew she might not survive.
“I want you, youngling. Resisting me is useless. Drop the pipe and come.” He motioned with his hand as if she would obey.
She didn’t bother with the ‘yeah, right’, but lowered her centre of gravity and broadened her stance. If he came at her, she had to be—
He burst into movement so fast she couldn’t track him. Instincts had her lifting the pipe and with a vicious swing, she hit him smack in the side of the head. His body toppled backwards to land awkwardly on his side. Blood, dark, evil-looking blood, oozed from his temple. Her stomach dived to her toes then back up. She fought not to be sick
From across the warehouse she heard Viktor call her name. “Way to go, pasha, now get your ass in the truck and start it. Run over anything that even looks like it’s still moving!” Viktor shouted, swinging his sword out and slicing through another group of the dark men. He drove one man back with a powerful attack that cut the guy from shoulder to chest. Viktor grimaced, kicked the guy off his sword and bellowed at her again. “Go!”