“Hunter?”
I could hear her, but I couldn’t see her. I started towards the gazebo. “Where are you?”
“I’m here.”
I stepped into the gazebo.
All at once, the thing lit up.
Seriously. Like a ride at an amusement park or something. The columns were wrapped in Christmas lights, and they all switched on at once.
I jumped. When I did, I backed out of the gazebo.
The lights went off.
“Fuck,” said Paige.
I still hadn’t seen her.
I took a tentative step inside again.
The lights all blazed again.
I looked around. “What the hell?”
“I don’t know.” I could see Paige now. She was standing in the middle of the gazebo in her pajamas. She was barefoot.
She must be cold.
But then I realized that I wasn’t cold. Not anymore.
It was actually a very nice temperature inside this gazebo.
I held out my hand to Paige. “Let’s get out of here.”
She nodded, scampering over to me.
She put her hand into mine.
And it was…
It was like sticking the ends of jumper cables together when they were stuck to a battery.
You know…
Sparks.
Paige looked up at me, her breath speeding up.
I let out a funny noise, a strangled sort of groaning thing.
She tugged me backwards, to the center of the gazebo.
I didn’t try to stop her.
I knew that there were other things I’d been worried about, that things had seemed weird before, but I couldn’t remember why. All I could think about right now was Paige.
How close she was. How pretty she was. How much I wanted to have my hands all over her.
I cupped her face with both hands and kissed her.
It was like waves crashing, fireworks going off, and volcanoes erupting all at once.
My whole body tensed and released. The hairs on my arms stood up.
She moaned, but this wasn’t the tiny breathy sound she’d made back in the motel. This was a deep sound, a release of something repressed and powerful.
My chest felt tight. I was shaking.
I thrust my hands inside her pajama top. I needed to be touching her skin.
She pulled away from me, frantically tugging her shirt over her head.
I let out a long, slow breath, taking her in. She was beautiful. I ran my hands over her body. I put my lips to her skin.
She cried out, throwing her head back. She held onto me, her fingers digging into my skin as they scrabbled over me.
I couldn’t keep my mouth off of her. I wanted to devour her. I wanted her to devour me. I wanted us to be melded to each other.
Joined.
She snatched the edges of my shirt and yanked it over my head.
I crushed her against me. The way her bare skin felt against my bare skin was divine.
There was so much pleasure shooting through my body, I thought I was going to go positively insane.
And I wanted…
Oh, god, the way I wanted her at this moment. It was going to kill me. I was going to be ripped apart from the force of it.
She peeled her pajama pants over her hips.
Oh, god, she was naked. She was completely…
Fuck, it was glorious.
She was amazing.
She was—
Her hands were on my pants, fumbling with my buttons and zipper. I helped her. Anything to get her closer to me. Anything to make this happen.
I needed this.
This was right.
This was good.
This was meant to be.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
~azazel~
“So, we fight our way in?” Jason raised an eyebrow at me.
“At this point, who cares?” I said. “If we draw attention, we draw attention.”
“Let’s go,” said Jason.
We went back up the hallway.
This time, when we came upon the tableau of guards in front of Imri’s room, we didn’t hesitate. We opened fire.
Surprise on our side, we got a good six of them right away.
That left six more, who were already returning fire.
Jason and I ducked back around the corner.
A bullet pierced the wall right next to his head.
Jason ducked back around and squeezed off a few shots.
When he pulled back, I peered around. Nice. Three for me. This was too easy. We should have just done this in the first place.
I pulled my trigger in succession and the men went down. “We’re clear,” I said.
Jason nuzzled my neck. “Nice.”
I grinned back at him.
“Have I told you that you’re very sexy with a gun?”
I giggled. “Come on, Jason, we have an asswipe to kill.”
I started forward, stepping over the bodies of the men and heading for the door.
Jason came right behind me.
I went to the door of Imri’s room and knocked. “Sir? We’re going to need to move you to a more secure location.”
A muffled voice from within. “What’s going on out there?”
“It’s under control now,” I said. “But you’ll need to open the door.”
And then I heard another shot.
From behind me.
But all those men were dead. Jason and I had shot all of them. In the head.
I turned.
Jason was doubled over, his face turning white.
And the men behind him were all getting up.
Well, fuck. We’d had to steal our guns from the guards and the stolen guns didn’t have leaf bullets. They were obviously vampires, so regular bullets hadn’t killed them.
I opened fire.
But I wasn’t quick enough.
A bullet burrowed into my shoulder.
I shrieked.
I could tell from the way the pain radiated out in my body that bullet wasn’t going to be healing soon, even if I did have Nephilim blood in my system.
The guards might not have had leaf bullets before, but they did now.
The door to Imri’s room opened, and he stepped into the hall.
“Azazel Jones.” Imri smiled, looking very pleased. “I didn’t believe them when they said it was you, even after I saw the bullets in your guns. I thought you’d be on hand to protect your boy. Especially considering my witches got a lock on his location just hours ago. There’s a whole posse of my men on the way to blow his brains out.”
* * *
~chance~
Kenya snuggled against me. She ran her fingertips idly over my bare chest. “You know, I’m not even sure if I like you.”
I laughed. I was feeling lazy and relaxed, and I liked having her close to me like this. It was different than most of my other sexual experiences, which had almost all been, well, business transactions. This felt different in a lot of ways. “You adore me.”
She shoved me half-heartedly. “Stop saying things like that.”
“Oh, face it,” I said. “I’m the best thing that ever happened to you.”
She made an exasperated noise. “You are not. You think that cocky manner of yours is sexy, but it’s really just annoying.”
“Right,” I said. “Which is why you’re sleeping with me.”
She lifted her head to glare at me. “Can you be serious for any period of time, or is that impossible for you?”
I ran my hand over her back, grinning at her. “I don’t know, I was feeling pretty serious when I had my mouth on your—”
“Stop it,” she said. “I mean it. Don’t you think it’s weird that the minute we’re not all over each other, we’re squawking at each other?”
“Hey,” I said. “I don’t squawk.”
She arched an eyebrow.
Truth was, she did have this tendency to really grate on my nerv
es, especially when her voice got shrill. Like it was starting to do now. But she was also looking at me with real concern on her face, and I found I didn’t actually want her to be in distress. I brushed my knuckles against her cheek. “Kenya, I don’t know how to do the non-all-over-each-other parts of this. I’m not really good at that.”
“So, this is only about fucking?”
I hesitated. I really didn’t know. I liked the fucking part. I probably liked that part the best. But there was something kind of cool about hanging out with her when we weren’t naked too. I enjoyed knowing that she was still around, and that she came back to me willingly, not because I was paying her. I burrowed my head into the pillow. “What do you think it’s about?”
“I’m asking you.”
Man, she was getting shrill again.
I winced. “Well, then, I guess… yeah?”
She rolled her eyes and extricated herself from my arms.
I grabbed her. “Hey, wait. Where are you going?”
“Somewhere else,” she said.
“Don’t.” I liked her close.
“What do you care? The fucking part’s over.” She shoved me away and got out of bed. She began to wriggle back into her clothes.
“I…” I sat up. “I care. I don’t want you to be mad.”
She shot me a withering look. “You couldn’t care less how I feel. You mock my feelings all the time.”
“Only the stupid ones,” I said.
Her eyes widened. “I can’t believe you said that.”
I groaned. This was incredibly difficult. “Look, Kenya, yes you make me really… crazy. You annoy the fuck out of me. But—”
“Stop talking, Chance. Seriously.”
“But,” I continued, “I want you to be happy. I like it better when you’re happy. And I’m sorry if I’m making you unhappy right now.”
She stopped tugging up her jeans and looked at me. “Really?”
“Really.” Also, I was enjoying the view of her being half-dressed. That was pretty awesome.
“Well, you don’t act like it.”
“How should I act?”
She cast her gaze heavenward. “If I tell you what to do, and then you do exactly what I say, it won’t mean anything.”
“It won’t?” Why wouldn’t it?
“No.” She resumed pulling up her pants. She buttoned them. Then she bent over to look for her shirt.
“I don’t want you to go,” I said.
“Too bad.”
I scooted over on the bed. When she popped back into view, holding her shirt, I seized her arm. “Hey, I’m serious. I don’t know anything about this. I haven’t really ever had… I’ve never been with someone who was…” Jesus, I didn’t want to blurt out that I’d only ever slept with prostitutes. I let go of her and lay back down on the bed. “Never mind.”
She pulled her shirt over her head. “No, I get it, Chance. I understand. You’re one of those guys who winks and flexes, and girls fall into your bed, but you’ve never figured out what to do with them besides fuck them. And you’re not bad at that. The fucking, I mean. You’re actually pretty good at it. But that’s not enough for me. And since we already did it—twice—I don’t really see the point in sticking around. You and your brother can run around chasing gazebos and getting stabbed all you want. I’m going back to the city.”
I furrowed my brow and sat up again. “The city? How are you planning to do that?”
She stalked over to the easy chair in the corner and scooped up her bags. “Oh, I don’t know. I’ll hitchhike if I have to.”
I got out of bed. “Kenya, that’s really fucking stupid.”
“How is it that you keep calling me ‘stupid,’ and yet think somehow that’s going to keep me from leaving?”
I pulled on my own pants. “I only mean that it’s dangerous. Anything could happen to you, and I won’t let you—”
“You can’t tell me what to do.” She strode across the room and opened the door.
And screamed.
Someone grabbed her. He wrapped his arms around her and fitted a gun to her temple.
Kenya looked at me, eyes wide.
I glanced around the room, looking for a gun. There was one on the bedside table and two in my bags, but none of them were very close right now.
Men swarmed into the room, all with guns.
I recognized them almost immediately as Imri’s. They wore the uniform that his guards did.
Shit.
I tensed. I was going to spring across the bed and go for the gun and—
“Don’t move, or the girl gets it,” said one of the men.
I clenched my fists together.
“Where’s your brother?” said another.
I shut my eyes. This was bad.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
~azazel~
Imri stood over us, a smile twisting over his features.
I was bleeding, and it hurt, but Jason was hurt worse than me. He lay on the floor beside me, clutching his wound and gritting his teeth.
They’d taken our guns and hauled us inside Imri’s room.
Now we were surrounded by at least ten guards, all with their guns trained on us.
“I have to admit, I’m curious,” said Imri. “Why are you here?”
All I could think about was Hunter. He said that his people had sensed him, but how could that be? The cloaking spell was still working, wasn’t it? “You’re lying about Hunter. You haven’t found him. You couldn’t have.”
Imri chuckled. “Oh, but I have. He’s in a little town called Bramford, West Virginia.”
What? Bramford? Why would Hunter be in Bramford? “That doesn’t even make sense,” I spit at Imri.
He shrugged. “I’ll keep you both alive long enough to wait until I get word from my team there that he’s dead. I want to see the looks in your eyes when you know he’s gone.”
Jason managed a strangled sort of laugh. “You’re not going to live long enough for that, Imri.”
Imri turned to him. “Always threatening, aren’t you? You two think that I’m the monster. You’ve fought me, and tried to protect yourselves and your child. But let’s be honest, since you’re about to die. You two are the real monsters. Not only do you kill, but you enjoy it. And you don’t feel the slightest bit of remorse.”
I glared at him. “Look, it’s a little late for the moral sermon, Imri. All Jason and I want to do is survive and be together. That’s what anyone wants.”
“Oh, tell yourself your little lies if you must, Azazel. By all means. I suppose the two of you haven’t forgotten the time you came into my house and threatened the lives of my children?”
“I guess we’re even then,” I said. “Since you’ve been trying to kill my son since before he was born.”
“Your son is dangerous,” said Imri.
“Whatever,” I said. “People said that Jason was dangerous. They said he should die.”
“He is dangerous. He should die,” said Imri. “Both of you should.”
“Too bad the world doesn’t work that way, then,” I said.
Imri held out his hand and one of the men gave him a gun. He pointed it at me. “You know, you’ve got a bit too much spunk right now for my taste, Azazel. Maybe you need something else to distract you.”
He pulled the trigger.
Pain blossomed in my gut. I cried out.
Jason tried to get up.
One of the guards put a gun against his forehead.
Imri just laughed.
* * *
~chance~
“Tell us where he is,” said the guard.
I shook my head. “I’ll never tell you.”
The guard moved the gun away from Kenya’s head and pressed it into her thigh. He pulled the trigger.
I rushed forward, but two other men caught me.
Kenya screamed, looking down at her bleeding leg. Her breath came in rushing sobs.
“Tell us,” said the guard.
F
uck, fuck, fuck. This was why we weren’t supposed to get involved with girls. This was why it was a bad idea. I’d always known that, but something about this girl, about Kenya, had made me screw everything up, and now I didn’t know what was going to happen.
“Shall I shoot her other leg?” said the guard.
I clenched my jaw. I couldn’t tell them about Hunter. He was my baby brother.
The guard put the gun against Kenya’s other thigh.
She started to breathe more quickly. Tears were leaking out of her eyes. “Please don’t, please don’t, please don’t,” she said.
I didn’t know if she was pleading with the guard or with me.
But it was the way she was begging that broke me.
I couldn’t watch it anymore. I couldn’t listen to it anymore.
“Next door,” I choked. “Hunter’s in the room next door.”
God. My brother. Hunter.
Please have a gun, I thought at him. Please have a gun.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
~hunter~
I convulsed against Paige. Into Paige. And I felt her convulsing against me. Around me.
Everything was blotted out. I was soaring through space, and the stars were screaming at me as they erupted in showers of bright, white-hot light. The universe constricted and expanded in time to the spasms of our bodies. Pleasure went through me. Agonizingly nice. Intensely perfect. I’d never felt anything like this. Anything so excruciatingly good.
I opened my eyes, my breath ragged.
She looked up at me, gasping in my arms.
Above us, I heard the sound of thunder rippling across the sky.
And then the sky exploded. Rain crashed down on top of the gazebo.
It thudded into the railings, but when it touched down, it sizzled, evaporating.
We were awash in steam, swirling around us, cupping our nude bodies, caressing us.
I was trembling. I felt like I’d been taken apart and put back together again, and that now something about me was different.
I could feel things around me, sense things.
Right then, there was a group of people approaching the gazebo, and I reached out with some part of myself—some invisible part that hadn’t been part of me before, but felt so natural to me, as if I should have always had it—to find their minds.
Gasp Page 26