Sagittarius

by Kim Faulks

  “Hey, Lucas.”

  My lips tingled, chest burned. There was a feral sound in the car, one that raised the hairs on my arms. I wrenched my head up and looked over my shoulder to my brother. “Yeah?”

  “Enough with the growling. You’ll put the Marine off his game.”

  “Fat fucking chance of that,” Alpha snarled. “Let’s see how the bitch likes this.”

  And as the Mustang shot forward Eva filled my mind. I wanted to see her. Hell, I wanted to touch her. I wanted one more look, one more snarl. I wanted one more of anything.

  “Stop her Alpha,” Marcus urged. “Stop her from getting to Thorn.”

  The Mustang’s lights bounced off the black paintwork as we came closer, and then lunged. Black hit black with the brunt. I braced my hand against the dash as the Mustang slowed, and then surged once more.

  The hit was hard, snapping my head forward, and jarring my jaw. But it wasn’t enough, the Explorer was rock steady, gaining mile after mile toward my kin. Alpha swung the wheel, pulling out on the oncoming lane and floored the accelerator.

  The odometer jumped and shuddered, pushing this three thousand pound beast harder. We surged ahead, passing the rear wheels, and then the doors, before we pulled out in front.

  The bitch turned her head. Her were eyes wide, mouth open. Hands flying around her as she screamed obscenities across the passenger’s seat like a damn mad woman.

  This wasn’t the cold, calculated mage I’d seen once before. Gone was the black robe, gone was the perfect hair. This woman looked almost human and fallible as Hell. Her blonde hair was filthy and fuzzy. Strands plastered to her pasty skin.

  But she was dangerous, even more so right now.

  The Mustang pulled out ahead of the Explorer, swung wide across the opposite lane and back across, charging head on into the fender of the four-wheel drive.

  Steel howled, sparks flew. The Explorer spun, and kept on spinning.

  Dust kicked up in a whirlwind behind it, consuming the four by four. Alpha pumped the Mustang’s brakes, slowing us as the scene played out in the side mirror.

  Gunny’s Jeep pulled up alongside the Explorer as it came to a stop, doors cracked open before the Ford was pulling out, fishtailing across the highway.

  “Alpha,” I growled as the Explorer swung hard, rubber peeling. “Stop the damn car.”

  There was something wrong with the Explorer, the hulking machine limped, and then charged, white headlights blinded me in the reflection.

  I wrenched my gaze away, still sparks ignited in my eyes, as the cabin of the Mustang was filled with the luminous glare before we were hit. The slam threw me forward, before the light came again. The roars of the engines were deafening. I gripped the door with one hand, the other was ready to grab the mortal behind the damn wheel.

  The blow came again, this time driving us forward. Alpha gripped the wheel and rode the brakes as the four-wheel drive pushed us across the highway.

  The Marine punched the accelerator and dropped the clutch, spinning us around and out of the Explorer’s front end. Sparks detonated in my eyes as an oncoming car flew past, horn blaring before the deafening crash came from behind us.

  I wrenched my gaze to the side mirror as Alpha stared into the rearview.

  But there was no Explorer behind us.

  There was nothing but a mess of smoke and dust, all swirling around the base of a light pole.

  “Fuck,” Alpha growled, braking hard.

  He wrenched the handbrake, whipping the Mustang around before surging forward.

  The Jeep was already there by the time we stopped. Doors were open. The silhouette of Zadoc through the smoke and dust was fucking imposing.

  My damn heart lunged as I fumbled with the door and spilled out. The bitter stench of radiator fluid on searing metal was choking as I sucked in a breath. The driver’s door opened behind me as I lunged, thighs screaming, and slammed my boots into the cracked bitumen before I slowed, and came to a stop beside Zadoc.

  Gunny leaned across the passenger’s seat, but the driver’s door was open. I blinked and stared through the blur. “Where is she? Where the fuck is she?”

  The Explorer was a write-off. The driver’s side crumpled, air bag inflated, leaving barely a gap to the back of the seat. Blood smeared the light colored nylon balloon. Evander stepped from the shadows at the open driver’s door to stare down the steep embankment and into the trees. “She’s gone.”

  Gone? I took a step as X neared, moving to the crumpled side and the open driver’s door. She leaned in, and then pulled backwards, staring at the ground. “Gone, yes. But not disappeared. There’s blood.” She pointed at the ground, and then followed Evander’s gaze. “She’s hurt, and she’s running, and now…” She inhaled hard. “It’s my turn to hunt.”

  “X,” Alpha snarled. “Wait.”

  He took a step, hand raised toward the young wolf. But the movement was wasted as she knelt, touched the bitumen with her fingers, and then straightened.

  Her dark eyes glinted like steel in the cracked headlights of the destroyed Explorer. She was fast, unbelievably fucking fast…standing there one minute, then the next flying through the air and charging for the trees.

  “Fuck!” the Marine screamed.

  The heavy thud of his boots echoed as I stumbled for the embankment and the damn wolf. The Marine couldn’t run, not like we could run. He’d never keep up, not on foot.

  The throaty growl of the Mustang roared behind me as I hunkered low and scurried down the steep slope.

  My kin was a blur beside me as we thrashed after the little wolf. Trees whipped my face, still I left the sting behind. I left everything behind. I focused on my steps, my body, my rage. Heat filled tired muscles in my damn chest. I punched the ground as I scurried, lunging over fallen trees and kept on moving.

  Fire lashed my lungs with every heaving gasp, but it was a good burn, a familiar burn—one I hadn’t felt in a very long time.

  Pain took a razor blade to my back, cutting, slicing, working bones free. I tripped, and then stumbled, the weight pitching me toward the ground. I slapped the moss eaten timber and dug deep as the sound of tearing cloth filled my ears. One wing tore free, the weight toppled me to one side, slamming my shoulder into the tree. Hard, spindled branches clawed my eyes. I cried out, wrenching my hand to my face as the other wing tore free.

  “Lucas?” Marcus screamed ahead of me.

  “I’m fine!” My voice broke as I howled. “Keep fucking running!”

  But pain wouldn’t leave me—I groaned and reached for my shoulder—no, pain was a constant fucking friend.

  I bowed my spine forward as skin split, dragging the other mammoth wing free. I pierced my fingers into the trunk of a cypress and shoved forward. “How the fuck am I supposed to run with these?”

  But the Archer had no answer, only the deep rumbling in my chest as he snarled. She’s getting away, Lucas…

  “Sonofa—” The snarl burned as I shoved, stumbled under the weight and found my feet once more.

  The weight of my wings settled against my back, testing the joints as they flared, catching cleared patches of dense woods with one heave to propel me forward.

  Lightning crackled in the distance to split the midnight sky. Branches shuddered in the wake of the neon glow. I could hear my kin thrashing through those trees. Their boots sending tremors through the ground.

  The biting scent of ozone mingled with the sweetness of fresh blood. I inhaled drawing the redolence deep. It was a deep wound, fresh flowing, leaving a nice trail…like fucking breadcrumbs. Not wolf…something close to human, Vampire…but not fetid like a demon.

  No, the bitch wouldn’t infect her damn self.

  X’s growl mingled with the thunder, and I felt her hunger all the way to the marrow of my bones. The Huntress couldn’t get away, not now…the metallic tang of blood grew stronger.

  We were gaining on her, closing in.

  The heavy steps of Zadoc paved the way as I fo
und a new rhythm and surged forward heading for our home.

  22

  Eva

  My knees trembled as I stared into that dark chasm. I wanted to fall…needed to fall as the wolf took one slow step toward me, dark lips flattened, ebony fangs shone, tinged with blood.

  There was only us now—the Vampire and the Wolf, and as I stood here staring into death’s jaws the irony wasn’t lost on me.

  We’d spent thousands of years hating each other. We hunted, we killed. The Vengari searched for the one who had killed Acheron…without ever knowing the truth.

  And now they never would.

  Gabriel’s blows had stilled behind me. His rasping breath tapered to a wheeze.

  Lightning surged above, splitting the sky with a savage crack, and with the burning taste of ozone came the heady scent of blood.

  The wolf lunged, gnashing his teeth, driving me backwards. I cocked my fist, ready to fight, but Death’s touch was seductive, like the brush of a lover’s lips. Darkness beckoned, filling my mind.

  Wait. Panic came with the thunder as I stared into the void.

  Death waited. A true death…a final death.

  “I change my mind.” The whimper slipped free.

  But it was too late. I was already falling. The darkness opened wide, taking me in, taking me under. Power rippled, shooting through my veins. An ache speared from my chest. The shard trembled, shattered into tiny pieces. I whimpered, as the pain flared. I could feel it now…the black obsidian piercing my heart. The undead flesh came alive with a heavy pulse.

  Like thunder…like hooves.

  The throb sped, filling my ears with the sound as the wolf hunkered back on its hind legs. Darkness blurred, splitting the wolf in two as though one image was overlaid with the other. I could see it now—see this beast more clearly than I’d ever seen before. There was a life force, an essence humming with the surge of its heart and the air in its lungs.

  I reached out as this energy surged. It was a dark energy—a killing energy—and as I touched the essence of this wolf, I felt the life force respond.

  The beast stilled, eyes widened. It let out a piercing yelp and scurried backwards. There was panic now…real panic. He couldn’t get away from me.

  Run, that dark power whispered, see how far you get.

  It was the beast that scrambled backwards now, lowering its ears and baring its teeth.

  I touched its life. I could stop its life…I could do it all and not move a muscle.

  Death threw open the doors of my mind and made a home. I could still feel Acheron inside my head fighting, wrestling with this new power. But Death owned me in this moment.

  I turned to my warrior. Blood oozed from his throat. There was nothing left, nothing but savaged flesh and unspoken words. His life force dimmed like a dying bulb. He pushed his hand along the dirt, crawling his fingers toward me.

  I took a step and crouched, gathering his hand in mine. Energy sparked at the touch. He closed his eyes as a whimper slipped free. But there was a fierceness when he opened them, a desperation as he gripped my fingers and dragged me close.

  His blood shone black in the night, splattering the back of my hand as he rose onto his elbow to growl. “Rule, my Queen…rule them all.”

  There was love in his gaze, a love that was every bit as fierce as the way he fought. He licked his lips, smearing crimson across pale skin, until the effort was too much. His head hit the ground with a thud.

  Behind me the wolf snarled. I turned my head, catching the flick of a tongue across bared teeth. It advanced, ready to strike. The slow hiss of a breath brought me back to my warrior. His hand was heavy, fingers slack. The spark of life dulled in his gaze.

  I reached out with this energy and pushed the darkness, stilling Death in its tracks. My body trembled, will weakened. It was like holding a river back with my bare hands. Darkness spilled over the top, and leaked through…and behind me, the wolf snarled, moving closer.

  I gripped Death, pulling it from Gabriel’s body, and swung. My muscles screamed, agony cleaved my mind as I pushed this terror into the wolf.

  The beast stilled, as darkness swallowed the spark of its life. I wasn’t Shadistin in this moment—I took a step, drawn by the terror and the pain—I was Vengari. “You should’ve stayed with your pack.”

  Obsidian swallowed the whites of its eyes as Gabriel sucked in a hard breath. Untested power raged, filling me with the energy. I’d lived in the shadows my entire life…but now, I was something else. I was darkness—I was Death.

  I raised my gaze to the dark storm clouds above. The storm moved above me, and through me. I saw with new eyes. All the power, the earth. I lowered my gaze and stilled with the spark of energy, rodents burrowed under the ground, birds hunkered against the trunk of the trees, riding out the storm…there was something else.

  I stilled, craned my head. Something powerful moved through the forest, something fast hurtling toward me. Guardian, the word filled me, and another…wolf.

  They weren’t near, two…maybe three miles. And as I tuned into their energy another filled me. A hateful, cruel energy. One that made my senses scream. One that welled in the pit of my stomach like every cruel hurt I ever endured.

  The Huntress…

  23

  Lucas

  X whipped through the trees at my right. Marcus thundered four steps behind her, but it was Zadoc who took the lead, charging through the forest like the devil himself was chasing him. But the heady scent of fresh blood filled me. I pushed harder, ducking around a low branch, to vault over the rotting carcass of a fir.

  A twig snapped in the distance, and through the blur of crowded cypress and pine blonde hair shone. Zadoc growled and surged forward. I was right behind him.

  Blood…the Archer urged. I’m ready to spill it.

  I slammed my boots into the earth and lunged through the middle of brush. Briars stuck to my jeans, and the sharp sting followed.

  Zadoc wrenched his head toward me and motioned left. I speared left, rounded a fir, and caught a glimpse of her silhouette up ahead.

  Her fetid essence hit me, free blood mingled with the scent of another…wolf’s blood…Vampire blood, and those black and white images surfaced along with the warning painted in red. The bitch and the kid are next…

  My eyes blurred with the wind as the scent of Vampire blood grew stronger. “Like Hell they are.”

  The Huntress gripped her head and plunged through the darkness. I was gaining on her now, no more than four steps ahead.

  Zadoc closed in at my right as in the distance a clearing came into view.

  I reached out, ready to snag her hair and bring her down, like a lion going in for the kill as a thin sapling reared in front of me. I vaulted, then veered around a cypress, plunging into the clearing…to find nothing.

  Gone was the blonde blur.

  Gone was the heavy thud of her boots.

  I slowed, scanning the open space as the heavy thud of boots closed in.

  “Where is she!” Zadoc screamed, and all I could do was shake my head.

  X plunged through the trees, slowed and sucked in a hard breath before scanning the darkness. “She’s gone.”

  “She was just here…she was just fucking here!” Zadoc raged, eyes wide, white teeth bared.

  Panic filled me as X let out a sickening growl and spun toward the other side of the gap. “There’s someone else there…wolves, Vampires…and a lot of blood.”

  Marcus gasped and wheezed. He stopped beside me, and doubled over as Evander shot from the trees and slowed. Marcus shook his head and uttered a command. “Where?”

  My fucking lungs were on fire as I shook my head. But X wasn’t stopping. The little wolf advanced slowly toward a mammoth Ash tree. “Whatever you do, don’t touch that tree,” she whispered and lifted her gaze.

  Long spindled branches reached for the sky. Trees hunkered in the background and to the side, but in front there was nothing but bare dirt and moss.

  A
moan echoed from the darkness at the base of the tree, and with the sound the young wolf answered with a snarl. “Vampire,” she snarled.

  I took a step, drawn by something innate, something desperate. The painful sound was too deep to be a woman’s…shadows crowded, a mound of black on white caught my gaze. The feral scent of a wolf filled me…and for a moment I returned to that primordial forest…and Haruin’s wolves.

  I stilled at the mound, shoved my boot into thick fur. The carcass moved, and then slid back into place. I knelt at the head and speared my fingers into the animal’s fur, finding the thick bristles around its throat, and then its belly. The skin was intact, no bites. One gash along its thigh—not enough to be life threatening.

  The white lightning stripe down its flank held me—the marking too uncommon to be anyone else. The body was warm, but cooling, and in this icy night air it wouldn’t take long to steal the last brush of life.

  “You know who that is?” Marcus muttered.

  His breaths were longer, more air than a wheeze. I nodded and rose, then turned to scan the area. Two more darkened blurs lay almost side by side. X neared, kneeling down to the other still body. She heaved its head from the ground, leaving its torso behind.

  A moan came again, dragging my focus to the pale skin. I knew who it was, even in the dark. His white shirt was ripped open, blood marred his chest.

  “Gabriel?” Marcus growled. “What the fuck.”

  I glanced to the two wolves, one hacked almost to pieces, the other dead without a damn scratch.

  “We know where she’s headed,” Zadoc snarled.

  I lifted my head to find his gaze as he stared into the distance.

  The bitch and the kid are next…

  I followed the stares, to the right of us were the Shadistin caverns, to the left our home. “Go,” I snarled and lifted my hand to the still Vampire. “And take him with you.”

  Marcus stepped close, his hand was a branding iron around my arm. “Leave her, she’s not our family.”