Not Quite Dead (A NightHunter Novel)

by Stephanie Rowe

  He laughed, his tension easing away at her lighthearted demeanor. He realized she was right. His skin wasn't shadowy, and the voices weren't deafening. He just liked her? That's what this was? Weird. He had no experience with feeling this way at all. "Goddess worship? Is that what I'm doing? You're the goddess?"

  "In your eyes, yes. Others might call it love, but since we both know you aren’t capable, we'll just call it goddess worship. You've realized how great I am, and it's making you panic." She patted his cheek. "So, stop being so melodramatic. Go get some wood, and come back here, okay? We kind of need to focus." Her smile faded. "Tonight's the night, Eric. I don't know what's going to happen."

  His amusement faded, and he flipped his hand over so he was holding hers. "We need more information about Cicatrice. We need to know what we're facing." Love? Had she really just used the L word and himself in the same sentence? The woman never listened to him.

  She nodded, tightening her fingers in his. "My grandmother knew a lot about him. I'm going to look him up in her book as well." She glanced at the clock over the kitchen sink. "The sun will set in fourteen hours."

  Eric's gaze flicked involuntarily to the trees. "It's possible," he said, "that we may not be so safe. Maybe neither Cicatrice nor Tristan have to sleep during the day."

  Sudden alarm flashed across her face. "You mean, like you."

  He shrugged. "I'm wide awake, and the sun's out."

  She looked past him at the yard, her brow furrowed in concentration. "Does the sun affect you?"

  He nodded, unwilling to hide anything from her. "It burns me now."

  "Wow." She rubbed her chin, contemplating the information, but apparently not remotely fazed by his confession. "So, maybe the sun is like a moat around this house? Protection until sunset, even if they're awake?"

  "Hopefully." He sighed. "It also traps me inside, though, like a monster in a cage." It made him impotent, and he didn't like that.

  She wrinkled her nose at him. "You're not a monster. I'm getting really tired of you saying that." She poked him lightly in the chest, and he grabbed her hand, trapping her palm against him. "You, my dear Eric, are just a guy with some issues. Everyone has issues, right? So, you're sort of a vampire. Big deal, right? There are worse things, like being an insufferable adulterer, for example. What woman wants that in a man?"

  He grinned, unable to contain his amusement at her perspective. "A bloodthirsty vampire is preferable to a guy who sleeps around?"

  She rolled her eyes. "You even have to ask? Men, they just don't get women." She stood on her tiptoes, her eyes turning sultry. "Do you have any idea how sexy it is when you bare those fangs at me?" She pressed a kiss to his throat, and a rush of sudden lust roared through him. "Or when you bite me?" She kissed the corner of his mouth, and he went utterly still, poised in delicious anticipation.

  Her lips feathered over his in a heated promise. "Or when you—"

  A car horn blared outside, and she jumped, smashing her forehead into his teeth. He grunted, and she grimaced, pressing her fingers to her head. "Sorry, I just—"

  "Jordyn!" David shouted, his voice hoarse and rasping. "Help me!"

  Eric turned in time to see David's truck come to a stop by the back door. The hood of the truck was smashed, as if he'd driven straight into a tree, and the windshield was shattered, a thousand fractures barely holding together.

  The entire right side of the truck was dented and covered in dark red smears of...blood.

  ***

  Eric and Jordyn moved at the same moment, sprinting for the door. He yanked it open and she ran through just as David kicked open his door. Adrenaline galvanized Eric, and his magic swathed him in a protective barrier as he sprinted out into the sunlight. David fell out of the truck, landing on his hands and knees. His clothes were covered in blood, and there was a ten-inch gash on his forearm.

  "David!" She lunged for him, but Eric was there first, catching him as he collapsed. David's skin was ice cold, and his eyes were bloodshot.

  David grabbed the front of Eric's shirt, his fingers a vice grip too strong for someone who'd lost as much blood as was on his clothes. The coppery smell of the blood was penetrating, and Eric knew it was fresh. He experienced a brief moment of relief that the smell didn't make him want to pull out a napkin and start dining on anyone, and then David twisted in his arms, trying to get away. "Get away from me," David ordered, reacting as if Eric were a threat.

  "Stay still," Eric ordered. "Tell me what happened."

  David stared at him for a moment, his eyes moving rapidly over Eric as if assessing him in great detail. Apparently satisfied, he nodded. "You can help."

  "Help with what?" Eric didn't even move as Jordyn ran up beside him, bumping his arm. Her contact distracted him for a split second, and he felt the sun burning his arm. Swearing, he reinforced his shields, the urgency of the situation feeding him enough strength to keep the sun at bay.

  "Get the woman out of the back," David gasped as he tried to throw Eric backward. "I'll get Richard. You get her! Bring her inside! We have to hurry!"

  "Who?" Eric looked over his shoulder at the truck, not letting go of David until he knew whose blood was on him. Just because Jordyn trusted him didn't mean he was going to jump on that bandwagon. He lowered his mental shields ever so slightly, allowing David's energy to roll over him. Fear. Desperation. Anguish. There was no doubt that something bad had happened, and that David was reeling. "What's going on?"

  "They're going to die," David gasped. "We have less than five minutes!" He shoved at Eric again. "Hurry. She's in the back of the truck."

  She's in the back of the truck? A woman's blood was all over David? Protectiveness surged through Eric, and he threw David into Jordyn's arms. "Take him!"

  Jordyn caught him as Eric shoved the driver's seat forward to get to the back of the cab. A man in his early twenties was tied up in the back seat. His eyes were closed, and his skin was pale, deathly pale. Instinctively, Eric's gaze went to his neck, and he saw two tiny pinpricks. He grabbed the man and lifted him out. "What happened to him?"

  "Last night's dinner for a vampire." David took the man from Eric, staggering briefly under the weight before regaining his balance. "I'll take him. You get the girl."

  Jordyn threw the man's arm over her shoulder and began to help David drag him back toward the house as Eric sprinted around to the back of the truck. He tried to wrench the tailgate open, but the metal was completely smashed, making it impossible to open. Swearing, he shaded his eyes to peer through the tinted glass. With only the first rays of dawn penetrating the smoky glass, he could see nothing but a motionless lump inside.

  It could be anything.

  He looked over at Jordyn, who was almost trapped beneath the unconscious man's arm. She was gripping his waist, her feet braced as she supported him. Blood was already streaked across her face and arms, and this time, the sight of blood on her did make things stir inside him. Shit. He was completely insane. When this was over, he was going to have to rip out his teeth or something, because wanting to sink his teeth into her was just not his style. "Get back," he said. "I don't know what's in here."

  David swayed, his face pale. "It's Skye," he mumbled. "Get her. She's dying."

  Jordyn's face paled. "Skye? Skylar Morgan?"

  When David nodded, she started to run toward Eric. David stumbled, unable to support the injured man himself. Jordyn grabbed him again, gesturing frantically to Eric. "Get her, Eric. Just get her!"

  "Get inside," Eric ordered. "Now."

  David nodded. "To my lab. We need to get there. Hurry." He pointed a finger at Eric. "Hurry."

  While Jordyn and David dragged the man toward the front door, Eric fisted his hand, drawing energy into it. He closed his eyes for a split second, and then slammed his fist into the window. The glass shattered before his fist made contact with it, his power preceding his own flesh. He jerked his hand back and peered inside.

  Sprawled across the back of the truck was a youn
g woman. Her neck was bloodied, and her dark hair was matted. Her face was ash-gray and her eyes were closed. She'd slid across the truck bed, and was torqued against the sidewall, her limp body at the mercy of external forces. Urgency pulsed through Eric. Had his brother done this? Was this Tristan's carnage? Tell me you didn't touch her, Tristan, or I'll have to kill you.

  There was no answer from Tristan, but his scent wasn't on the woman. It was another man, a creature haunted by darkness and evil, his stench permeating the woman's clothes, and even her flesh. Vampire, and not the kind you wanted to invite to a sleepover.

  Eric immediately reached for her. He was just sliding his arms beneath her shoulders when he noticed her necklace. It was a silver charm in the shape of a panther racing across a blazing sun. He went still, shocked by it. He'd seen that symbol only once before, around the neck of the girl he'd murdered so long ago. Suddenly, it wasn't a stranger with a broken body before him. It was another Jane, the girl from so long ago, that had never stopped haunting him. It was her body that lay sprawled in front of him—

  "Eric!" Jordyn's shout jerked him out of his stupor. He plunged his arms through the broken window and scooped her up. Despite her pallid appearance, her body was heavy with the weight of the living, and he could feel her spirit was still clinging to her physical form.

  Alive, but barely—

  Even as he thought it, he sensed her spirit detach and begin to leave. Swearing, he pulled her tight against him and flooded her with magic. It wove through her, instantly binding her spirit to her physical body. It hovered in abeyance, struggling to leave, but contained by his magic. Stay, he commanded. Give her time.

  For a moment, it continued to fight, and then it sank slowly back into her. Her body jerked, and he felt her reject her own spirit, trying to expel it from a physical body that was already crossing that threshold into a wasteland that couldn't support it.

  Come on, he said urgently. He summoned more magic and thrust it into her. The wound in her throat stopped bleeding, and he got her heart pumping again, a steady, fragile pulse of life that would hold for several minutes at least, giving her time. He wasn't a healer, but he could glue things together in a rudimentary way. Not to save, but to buy time.

  Satisfied she would survive long enough for David to work on her, Eric swung around and headed into the house, where Jordyn and David had disappeared only moments before. He jogged across the yard, his body rigid at the idea of leaving Jordyn alone with David, who was still covered in blood.

  Careful not to jar Skye, he leapt up the steps. He was just stepping inside when his instincts tingled with sudden warning. He stopped instantly and spun around, searching the shadowy trees that surrounded the property. Although the sun lit up the trunks near the edge, deeper within the swamp was still dark, dark enough for a vampire to walk without being burned, if he wasn't forced into daytime sleep.

  Something moved off to his right, and Eric stared at it for a long moment, waiting for it to move again.

  It didn't, but he knew they were being watched.

  Tristan? Cicatrice? Or someone else? Something else?

  He flicked his finger and sent a puff of energy in that direction. It drifted through the air, and pinged softly against the tree, dissipating easily...except for one spot that was heavy and thick with an energy his magic didn't penetrate.

  He stiffened and turned to face the woods, staring at that spot.

  As he watched, he saw a flash of two red pinpricks of light. Eyes? And then, a low growl, the same one he'd heard before. Cicatrice?

  Between them, the sun cast its morning rays across the grass, a chasm that a vampire could not cross. Or could it? How much did they even know about vampires? He was standing out in the sunshine right now, with just a slight sunburn to show for it.

  "Eric!" Jordyn's voice rang out from the house, but he didn't move.

  He kept watching, and he knew he was being hunted. "Tristan," he said, his voice echoing across the space between them. "Show yourself."

  He waited, but nothing moved. He couldn't get a feel for the nature of the presence in the woods. He wanted to think that if it were Tristan, he would know, but he wasn't sure. It could be his brother, or something worse, not that his brother was good news at the moment anyway.

  "Eric!" Jordyn shouted again. "Bring Skye down! Come on!"

  He tightened his grip around the woman in his arms, battling against the instinct to head into those woods and face down whatever was hunting them. He didn't like turning his back on danger, not when his woman was counting on him. But Skylar was dying, too, and Jordyn was upset about it. He pulled Skye closer against his chest, pulsing his magic gently into her, keeping her heart thudding steadily in her chest. "I'll be ready for you," he said aloud, making his voice carry across the air into the darkest regions of the shadows. "You won't hurt anyone else."

  Again, the growl, but this time, it was louder, and more menacing.

  Eric focused on the black spot of energy, summoning magic into his fist. He reached out into the swamp, opening his mind. Spirits came rushing to him, desperate for a chance to parasite off the living. He channeled it all into his fist until his skin glowed. Then he opened his palm and thrust it outward. The magic exploded from his hand in a fierce burst, and it crashed into the blank spot. There was a howl of pain, and the scent of something burning filled the air. The leaves rattled, and then there was silence.

  Eric sent out another ping of magic, this time, there were no blank spots. Whatever it was had retreated, for now. He held no illusions the he'd done permanent damage. It would be back, soon. Instinctively, he took a step toward the woods, wanting to track it while it was hurt—

  "Eric! Come on!" Jordyn sounded frantic now, jerking his attention back to the present. He became aware of his own flesh beginning to burn. His skin started to sear from the sun, his protections no longer able to hold it off. Swearing, he stepped back over the threshold into the shadows of the house, propped Skylar against his chest, and then pressed his palms together, calling even more magic. It flowed through him like a green mist, swirling out. He turned his palms outward and released the magic. It flowed into the walls of the house and up toward the roof, coating the structure in a faint, green glow.

  It would protect them a few hours...if they were lucky...and if he'd gotten it right.

  He felt as if red eyes were tracking his every movement as he turned and raced into the house, Skye still cradled in his arms.

  ***

  When Eric reached David's destroyed lab, he found Jordyn frantically tying down the guy who'd been almost dead when they'd arrived. He was conscious now, and struggling to get free. She was working with practiced efficiency, her body rigid with tension as she carefully stayed clear of his hands and feet. The man was battling hard, but his expression was blank, as if his mind had been utterly wiped out. What was going on?

  "Contain him!" David yelled at Jordyn while he rifled through the debris on the floor for supplies. "We can't let him go."

  "Eric!" Jordyn shouted when she saw him approach. "Help me! Hold him down!"

  Swearing, Eric raced across the floor, shifting the woman into Jordyn's arms just as the guy flung Jordyn off him and leapt off the table. "Hey!" Eric shoved him back down, and then found himself back on his ass as the guy threw him backwards.

  "Skye!" Jordyn's anguished cry distracted him as he leapt up. He glanced over as Jordyn lowered Skye to the ground, cradling her as if she were someone that mattered to her.

  The man rushed Eric with an unearthly howl.

  "Stand down!" Eric strong-armed the guy, throwing him back against the wall so hard it cracked under the force of the impact. "Do I hurt him or contain him?" He shot the question at David, even while he divided his attention between Skye and the man he was trying to contain, attempting to prioritize the situation.

  "Contain." David flung aside a steel filing cabinet, and then grabbed a glass vial from the floor. "Richard's a good guy. He's one of us."

/>   "Us? What's an us?" Richard launched himself at Eric again, and this time Eric slammed his fists into his chest, again throwing him backward. This time, he followed his hit with magic, thrusting it at Richard. A dozen glowing green chains shot out of his palms and slapped themselves around Richard, pinning him against the wall.

  He strained against them, and Eric went down on his knees, using all his might to hold the chains in place. His body strained as he fought to maintain the shields around his mind, while still accessing his magic. The man wasn't entirely human. He was far too strong for that. "What is he?"

  "Be careful, Eric," Jordyn warned as she wrapped a torn blanket over Skye. "Your skin is getting shadowy."

  He ground his jaw, focusing intently on holding his magic in control. "You're so nurturing. I love that about you."

  She snorted. "I'm not nurturing, trust me."

  "No? Sounds to me like you're falling madly in love with me, actually," he gritted out. "Don't chicks always worry about the guys they love?" Richard's eyes met his, and Eric realized his expression wasn't blank at all. Raging fury was brimming in his eyes, which were glittering with gold.

  "Oh, for heaven's sake," Jordyn said. "Stop with the sex stuff."

  "No. We got interrupted. David owes me a kiss."

  "I'm not going to kiss you," David shouted. "You're too damned hairy for me. Jordyn, where the hell is the blue vial? What the fuck did you guys do to this place anyway?"

  "We had a piñata party," Eric gritted out, as he increased his pull on his magic to hold Richard still. The man was strong, unnaturally strong. "Things got out of hand." He watched Jordyn run across the room and drop to her knees beside David, both of them frantically scrabbling through the rubble. "Kind of like how they're about to get out of hand now, if anyone is curious." He noticed Skye's spirit starting to weaken, and he pulled some of his energy off Richard and sent it into Skye, trying to prop her up until David could get to her.