by Lexi Blake
“Got it, sweetheart.” Dev picked up the wooden crate with a spray-painted fifty-seven on its side. He moved it to the middle of the truck and held his hand out for the crowbar. With a quick movement, he had the top cracked open and held the light over the crate, allowing me to peer inside. I moved to the side and started to push through the packing materials. “If that car wasn’t coming, I would suggest we have a little fun. I’ve never had sex in a truck such as this. Come to think of it, we’ve never stopped in the middle of a job for a quickie.”
I laughed as I sifted because Dev never let the tension of a situation force his mind from his favorite subject. I felt something that was just about the right size. “There’s a pretty good reason we don’t have sex on the job. Sorry, baby. You won’t be checking anything off your list tonight.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Dev replied with a grin. “The night is still young.”
I pulled the object free and brushed off the popcorn-style material they had packed the crate with. I gently unwound the item and was rewarded with my first glimpse of the Strong Arm of Remus. I found myself staring at the carved marble figure. The wolf emerged from the marble as though it was a part of the stone, taking form to devour its prey. The wolf held a woman in its sharp teeth, her face a mask of agony. There was no doubt in my mind that this was a werewolf. Whoever had created this piece had used a werewolf as a model. The violence in the stone was barely contained. As I stared at it, I knew that if I gave it a chance, that violence would spill out of the confines of the small sculpture and into our reality.
“Zoey,” Dev said sharply, startling me out of my revelation. “We have to move, sweetheart.”
Our time was up. I forced myself to hold the object against my chest, cradling it close so I wouldn’t lose it, but I didn’t like the way it felt against me. My stomach turned a little queasy. I followed Dev out of the truck. Even as we ran around the side, I could hear the sound of tires squealing.
“Lee, get the car!” I yelled as we rounded the corner.
Lee was on his knees in the middle of the road, his gun at his side. He held his stomach, and I could see he’d been violently ill. He shook with the force of his sickness. The closer I got to him, the more he shook.
“I’ll get the car.” Dev took off to where we had parked the sedan we purchased with cash and under an assumed name.
“Are you all right?” I asked my bodyguard.
“God, get that thing away from me.” His eyes were tight as he pointed to the sculpture. “I can’t…I can hardly breathe.”
I took a couple of steps back and worried how I was going to get Lee home. I would lock the damn thing in the trunk and hope it helped. Surely Lee could handle it just until we got away. I hoped it didn’t have the same effect on Zack.
Dev was climbing the hill and disappearing over it when I realized that car had stopped seconds ago and yet no one had made a sound. There was no exclamation of surprise or the sound of a cell phone call being made. There was absolutely nothing from the other side of the truck.
“Zoey,” Lee rasped, turning to me. He looked behind me and his eyes shifted to hold some part of his wolf. “You need to get out of here now.”
“Dev will be here any minute.”
If the people in the car got out to gawk at the strange sight in the middle of the road, all they would see was a robbery. It might freak them out, but for the most part, people stopped when they saw the gun. I was more worried about the fact that Lee had taken his mask off.
“Keep your head down,” I ordered, holding the gun at my side again.
“I mean it, Zoey.” He tried to get to his feet but faltered. His knees hit the pavement, and he groaned as the sickness hit again. “Get the fuck out of here.”
“I don’t think she’s going anywhere, wolf,” a voice said from behind me. “What happened to your last wolf? Looks like this one can’t stand the heat.”
Now I felt sick. I forced myself to turn around even though I damn well knew who was behind me.
Lucas Halfer smiled in the moonlight. “Hello, Zoey. I believe I made you a promise the last time we talked. Time for me to make good on it.”
Chapter Eighteen
I raised my gun and had the former demon in my sights. I would have popped off a quick round, but he had me in his sights too, so I settled for a nice standoff. As Halfer looked at me, his self-satisfied smile told me everything I needed to know. I had walked into a trap. I could only hope I had a way out.
“So the aswang was a decoy,” I began, trying to give myself time for one of three things to happen. I needed Dev to get back with the car, Lee to get back to himself, or Zack to show up with teeth and claws.
Halfer laughed, his eyes on the statue in my hand. “I like to think of her more like a herding mechanism. She got you right where I needed you to go. I doubt you would have responded if I’d sent you an e-mail politely asking you to steal that thing for me.”
“Couldn’t steal the thing yourself? Is the whole mortality thing difficult for you?”
He shrugged. “I probably could have, but why do all that work myself when I could get you to do it for me? Stay down, wolf.”
I fought the urge to look at Lee. The minute my attention was drawn away, Halfer would make good on his threat to kill me. Where the hell was Dev?
Lee had crawled to my side. I heard him as he was trying to get up. His strength was being sapped by whatever magic was in the statue.
“Please just stay down, Lee.” I begged, knowing how hard this was for him. “He will kill you.”
“I really just want to kill Zoey, wolf,” Halfer affirmed. “As long as you stay out of my way, I couldn’t care less about some muscle her husband hired.”
A sudden thought occurred to me. Just how carefully thought out was this plan of Halfer’s?
“What did you do to Danny?” There was no way in hell my husband just forgot. He’d been worried about this night for days. He’d made me go over and over the plan with him until he knew it better than I did. He forced Dev to prove he could perform his job three times before he grudgingly gave his approval. He would have found a way to leave LA on time even if it meant pissing off the Council.
Lucas Halfer no longer had fangs, but he smiled like they were still there, ready to take a chunk out of me. “I think you’ll find I delayed your hubby with a little emergency. When I was cast out of Hell, I was informed that if I tried to interfere with Vampire affairs, I would face a trial. But they didn’t say anything about firebombing a house containing a bunch of vamps the Council doesn’t even know about.”
It took everything I had not to shoot that bastard then and there. “Why? Why go to all that trouble? You have to know Danny is going to kill you. He wasn’t in that house.”
“I know,” Halfer replied. “I just needed to make sure he was distracted. I gave him a heads up. I even sent him pictures. I love modern technology. He’s pulling bodies out even as we speak.”
I tried not to think about all the people I cared about who were in that house. I could only hope they’d been out. They were a nocturnal lot. Maybe they were out on dates or roaming the woods. They couldn’t be dead. I wasn’t even going to think about that possibility. Daniel would have gotten there, and he would have made sure everyone got out alive.
“I’ll take that artifact now, Zoey.” Halfer held out a hand.
“Why do you want it?” I asked, trying to come up with any way to keep him talking. “It just seems to make wolves sick.”
“I’ve been around a long time. I know exactly what the Strong Arm of Remus does. It’s been missing for millennia,” Halfer explained. “I never gave a damn about the wolves until I found out Donovan wanted them. I would really do just about anything to fuck with that husband of yours. I’ll make sure he gets caught by the Council even if I can’t go to them myself.”
One of Lucifer Morningstar’s dictates to Halfer was to stay out of Council business. The king of Hell was interested
in seeing where the vampires were going and didn’t want his soldiers influencing the upcoming battle. I was sure it was the only reason Halfer hadn’t called up Marini and laid out what he knew.
“So you’re going to make the wolves sick? How exactly does that help you get back at Daniel?”
“That’s not a normal wolf,” he said, glancing down at Lee, who was moaning but refused to leave my side. I wasn’t sure what he thought he could do except distract the ex-demon with his groans. “That’s a loner. The Strong Arm calls to wolves both normal and alpha. It calls to their instincts to lead and be led, to follow the strong. That pitiful dog at your side doesn’t have those instincts, so the object seeks to destroy that which will not follow it.”
There was a sudden pop of gunfire behind me, and I couldn’t help but look. I turned back around quickly and was surprised to find Halfer calmly standing there looking at me. He had a small smile on his face that let me know he wanted me alive, at least for now. He wanted something else from me.
“That would be my employees, Zoey,” Halfer said softly as though intimating a secret to me. “I found I still had followers even without Hell’s stamp of approval. I think you’ll find that faery of yours is dead again. Too bad there are no vampires around to bring him back this time.”
There was nothing to stop my finger from pulling the trigger now. I firmed my stance and shot. I preferred a two-fisted hold, but I couldn’t put the prize down. The recoil kicked me back, but I was ready for it.
The shot managed to hit Halfer, his big body slamming back before he could return fire.
“Move it, Lee.” I jumped back and used the front of the big truck as a shield.
“That fucking hurt, bitch,” Halfer growled. He groaned a little as he moved the shoulder. He would bleed and hurt, but he was still as strong as a demon. It would take more than a single wound to even slow him down. “It won’t work. Give me the damn artifact now or I’ll blow your wolf all to hell.”
I felt the hard rim of the tires against my back. I gazed to the hill where Dev had disappeared. My eyes filled with tears at the thought of him never coming back down. I sucked it up because I had to get myself and Lee out of here before I worried about avenging Dev. Besides, until I saw his body, I wasn’t giving up hope. He had a gun, too, and he was no easy mark.
I moved to my knees and let myself look out from behind the tire. Halfer was positioned over Lee. He held my wolf’s head by his curly hair and pointed the gun at his temple. Lee was too weak to even fight anymore.
“I’m serious, Zoey,” Halfer called out, his voice hard as nails. “I’m going to blow this wolf’s head off if you don’t get your ass out here. You have ten seconds. Unless you’ve stopped giving a damn about your employees, and then please feel free to stay where you are. If you don’t care, then I applaud you for finally growing a set.”
He started his countdown, and I tried to see a way out. I was pretty sure he was still going to kill us both no matter what I did, but I knew I couldn’t just stand back and let Lee die like that. I stood and took a deep breath. I forced myself to move away from my cover. “Okay. I’ll trade you the statue for my wolf.”
Halfer snorted. “You’ll kick the gun over here first. I don’t heal the way I used to and bullets hurt more now, thanks to you.”
I kneeled down and carefully put the Ruger on the ground. I kicked it toward him and waited for him to shoot me now that I was an easy target. The sound of gunfire split the night around me, and I waited for the sting of the bullet hitting my body. I was surprised when Halfer cursed and jerked backward.
I turned my head and saw my green-eyed boy all healthy and whole, walking toward the scene, gun in hand, ready to take another shot.
“Your men are gone, Halfer,” Dev shouted as he approached. “You’re on your own.”
There was a loud growl as Zack ran toward his brother. Halfer took one look at the big brown wolf who seemed to be suffering none of the effects his brother was and retreated. He took a dozen steps back. I could see his shirt was starting to get soaked in blood. I couldn’t tell exactly where Dev had hit him, but it was definitely in the torso. Unfortunately, he’d been allowed to keep his demonic strength when he’d been cast from Hell. He could die, but he was one tough son of a bitch.
“I can still shoot her, Quinn,” Halfer yelled, his face savage. The bullets had done some damage, but not anywhere close to enough. “You might get another shot off, but I swear I’ll take her down if it’s the last thing I do.”
Zack growled, looking between his brother and the threat, unsure of what to do. I knew.
“Get Lee out of here.” I used my best badass alpha voice. Zack was strictly a follower. He wanted to be told what to do. He could follow orders and would do so with great efficiency once someone stronger told him what to do.
Before Dev could countermand my order, Zack had his brother’s shirt in his teeth and was pulling him away as fast as his four feet would carry them.
“Not the way I would have gone, Zoey.” Dev frowned my way. “That was stupid. Zack could have killed him.”
“Maybe, but he would have gotten either me or Lee,” I shot back, wondering if I could get my gun back in my hands. It was between Dev and Halfer, just lying there in the road.
Dev read my face and shook his head sharply. “Get behind me now.” I frowned but did what he told me to. Dev’s eyes focused on the ex-demon. “I killed your little cohorts back there, Lucas. You’re all alone. I can kill you here or you can run and let Daniel kill you later. It’s your choice.”
“Or I could find door number three.” Halfer’s face lit with a shit-eating grin. “Isn’t that what you like to say, Mrs. Donovan?” He kept the gun trained but started walking backward. I hadn’t even thought about what we had left sitting back there, all tied up and gagged. Halfer had noted them, though. He pulled one of the men from the truck out in front of him now and placed the gun at his temple. “Give up the statue or I’ll kill this man.”
“So kill him, Lucas,” Dev replied, his tone flat. “You think I’m not ready for some collateral damage? This is war. People die. Innocent people die.” Dev glanced back at me. “Zoey, get in the car. I’ll follow you in a minute.”
I heard him, but I just couldn’t help but think about the fact that this was the guy with a wife and two kids. He’d been calm and done absolutely everything right. He should have survived this heist and been able to go home and crawl in bed with his wife and hold his children. Now, because I screwed up, he was going to die.
“I’m going to kill this one, Zoey,” Halfer stated. “Then I’ll kill the other one, too, just for kicks. Do you think he’s just collateral damage? Are you going to be able to live with that?”
“She’s going to go to the car,” Dev said as though saying a thing with enough force of will could make it happen. Unfortunately, it didn’t work that way with me.
I moved away from Dev, making sure to stay out of arm’s reach. “I’m bringing it to you, Lucas. Don’t hurt him.”
I moved quickly before Dev could react and found myself taking the man’s place with Halfer’s gun at my head. I do stupid things sometimes, but Halfer was right. I don’t believe in collateral damage. I couldn’t live with it. Even in the dark I could see Dev’s panic.
“Now, it’s going to go like this, Quinn,” Halfer started, firmly in control of the situation. “I’m going to take your lover and get in the car. You’re going to watch and do absolutely nothing or I’ll blow her head off. Is she collateral damage in your little war?”
“You’ll kill her anyway,” Dev said, and I saw the hatred in his eyes.
“Maybe, but I think that vampire is probably figuring out he should get his ass here, and I would love to not have him rip my heart out again,” Lucas explained logically. “I’m going to get in my car with Zoey here and I’ll leave her down the road. Her husband can come and save her. He likes to do that. Tell him to bring that blood of his because she’s going to need it.”
I felt the cold at my temple and then I was being herded toward a black Lincoln Navigator. I could see that Dev hadn’t taken out all of Halfer’s accomplices since there was a small man with beady eyes behind the wheel. Dev followed us, waiting for any slipup. I could see how angry he was in the way he held himself. His rage at being completely unable to save me was in every muscle of his body. I was pretty sure it wasn’t just Halfer he was mad at.
Halfer opened the door to the back seat.
“Zoey,” Dev yelled. “Don’t you dare die. I’m planning on killing you myself.”
“Love you, too,” I shouted as Halfer shoved me in the car. The minute the door was closed, the driver hit the gas and plowed through the night.
“Let me have it,” Halfer ordered, pulling the statue out of my hands. He groaned as he moved, but he forced himself to grip the artifact despite his obvious pain. He held it up and inspected it. He didn’t seem to have any of the same concerns I had about the piece. He admired it like it was a blessed object. “It’s a shame, really. It’s so lovely.”
Halfer smashed the statue against the door with his good hand. It came apart under the strength of the impact, sending pieces of marble flying. I covered my eyes but when I looked up again, he was holding a petrified paw.
“I thank you, Zoey,” he said with a self-satisfied smile. “I could never have gotten this without you. This is going to change the game. This gives me all the power in the world.”
Suddenly there was a loud thump and the car swerved wildly.
“It’s a wolf,” the driver said, trying to get the car under control. “It’s a big brown wolf.”
Score one for Zack. I tried to look out the window to see if I could make him out. He seemed to be moving on the roof. Then there was a horrible screeching sound and a claw became visible through the top of the car.
Halfer cursed but held up the paw and intoned a spell in Latin. Demons love their Latin. I think it’s pretentious and silly, but they don’t really listen to me. Whatever it was, it wasn’t working as Zack was doing a fine job of creating a sunroof where before there was none. I started looking at Halfer’s gun, wondering if there was any way I could get it.