The Lost (Sin Hunters)

by Piñeiro, Caridad

  After they turned, the Jeep did as well. Understanding what she wanted, Adam made a series of turns, and each time the Jeep matched their actions.

  “Unlikely that they’re just out for a cruise, wouldn’t you say?”

  His jaw tightened to iron and through gritted teeth he said, “This could turn dangerous. I don’t want you involved.”

  Bobbie appreciated Adam’s concern, but she could take care of herself, and despite her desire to avoid conflict, she wouldn’t leave him alone to fight. “Unless you plan on tossing me out the door of a moving car, I am involved. And it seems to me that we can either run or find out what they want.”

  Adam shook his head. “They’re unpredictable. Different.” Deadly, he wanted to say, but didn’t want to spook her, although as their gazes skipped across each other as they looked back toward the Jeep, he knew she understood.

  “Different like you?”

  Adam recalled the shocks brought about by their touch. How they had weakened him. Maybe they were like him that way, but different in a decidedly dangerous way.

  “I would never intentionally harm anyone,” he answered, and took one hand off the wheel, brought it to her cheek for a fleeting caress.

  She looked away apprehensively and motioned to the boardwalk and buildings of the Avon Pavilion just a short distance ahead of them. “Up there to the right. There’s room to make a K turn and check them out.”

  Adam slowed and began the turn, but the Jeep didn’t decelerate at all. “Get out of the car,” he shouted, and streaked through the air to escape the driver’s side as the Jeep bore down on them.

  The 4x4 screeched to a halt just a few feet from the bumper of the Bentley as Bobbie hurried around the car to stand beside Adam, who stood in the middle of the road.

  “What do you want?” Adam called out.

  Bobbie realized the car couldn’t pull around them to go straight and the street was too narrow for a quick U turn. The occupants of the Jeep had little choice: either answer Adam or figure out how to make a run for it.

  Suddenly, the Jeep surged forward, heading directly for them as they blocked the street.

  “No,” Adam shouted from beside her, and thrust his hand out, pointing it toward the 4x4. She caught a quick glimpse of light coalescing in the center of his palm before a sphere of silver-blue light exploded from his hand and collided against the front fender of the Jeep. The blast of power deflected the Jeep from smashing into them and shoved the vehicle into a row of parked cars.

  Stunned motionless, Bobbie waited beside Adam as the occupant on the passenger side stumbled out of the car, bleeding from a head wound. The man dropped to his knees, obviously in distress.

  “He needs help,” she said, and instinctively took a step toward him, although Adam shot out his hand to stop her. As his forearm brushed her, a slight shock registered. She glanced at him and realized his aura was visibly huge and glimmering wildly, the threads of silver and red wriggling in a sea of blue, his emerald eyes gleaming a shocking neon green.

  The wounded man sagged slightly as she moved, but at the last moment, he shot his hand out in her direction, and before she could react, he released an orb of energy.

  Bobbie screamed as the ball smashed into her and tossed her back several feet into the side of the Bentley. Pain lanced through her back with the impact, but the pain was nothing compared to the web of energy circulating through her body. It fried along her nerve endings, making her muscles spasm. Her legs gave way as she lost control.

  Adam raced to Bobbie’s side in a blur of light and slipped his arm around her. A weird aura of battling red and blue shimmered all along her body as she twitched uncontrollably from the shock and pain ravaging her body.

  She couldn’t speak. Couldn’t warn Adam as the injured man got to his feet and looked toward them, blood oozing down the side of his face. He raised his hand and pointed it at her once again, as if sensing she was the weak link.

  Adam sensed the danger from the immense drone of power coming from behind him. He turned, realized what was about to happen, and placed himself in front of her, absorbing the force of the energy blast. He reeled for a moment as the power scorched his nerves, until anger erupted in his core. With a loud cry from deep in his soul, he raised both hands and suddenly there was a direct line of energy from him to the bleeding man, driving him to the ground.

  The wounded man jumped and shuddered like a fish in its last dying throes on land, the power from Adam shocking him over and over.

  The driver of the van finally came around the front of the vehicle, likewise injured. As he saw what was happening, he tossed an orb of energy at Adam, but it was like being stung by a gnat now that the full capacity of the power stored within him was at play. It had consumed him, and in his brain there was nothing but raw emotion and the static from the power, growing ever more powerful, so strong that it started to bleed into his eyesight, almost blinding him.

  It took Bobbie’s anguished cry to finally break into his consciousness and drive back the deadly energy. As he regained command he released his hold on the man.

  Bobbie had slumped to the ground without his support, the earlier tremors racking her body reduced to an occasional twitch, her once-bright-blue aura shimmering weakly and now tainted by threadlike streaks of red and gold. Her body gave one final jump and then she lay there, sickeningly still.

  CHAPTER

  16

  Ignoring the two men who had followed them, Adam kneeled beside Bobbie, praying beneath his breath that she would be all right. He leaned over her, calling her name over and over again. Her aura sputtered off and on, but at least it was still present, which gave Adam hope.

  He fell to his knees, unmindful of the men across the way, as he defensively placed his body between Bobbie and them. Then he eased toward her body and splayed his hand on the thin cotton over her chest. Beneath his palm, Bobbie’s heartbeat raced erratically. Only a shallow rise and fall of her chest confirmed that she was still breathing.

  “You’re alive, Bobbie. Alive.” He willed power from his core to his hand and then into Bobbie. Before his eyes, her aura intensified, spread onto his hand like blood seeping through his fingers. A snowy glow developed beneath his palm as the silver and red tendrils in his aura leached downward, rooting themselves in her body. Against his palm came the unexpected draw of energy, making him light-headed as his power was sucked into Bobbie.

  Beneath his hand, Bobbie’s breathing lengthened, grew more regular. After one abrupt, hitched breath, her eyelids fluttered open, revealing tawny-colored eyes clouded by confusion and pain.

  The wail of approaching sirens registered in warning.

  Adam withdrew his hand, fearful that others might be able to see the display of light and energy. As he did so, the connection between them provided resistance, as if his hand was covered in tacky glue that kept on pulling him back. With a forceful yank on his power, he broke free and Bobbie jumped, experiencing the disruption.

  He helped her sit up and, wide-eyed, Bobbie peered at him, but then her gaze was pulled over his shoulder.

  “Bobbie,” he heard a man say and looked back to find a policeman headed their way, followed by two other officers. A duo of squad cars, lights flashing, had closed off both ends of the street adjacent to them. A dozen or more people milled about the vehicles, drawn from their homes by the sirens and lights, and maybe even by the noise of the earlier crash and disruption, Adam surmised.

  As the officer approached, Adam noticed that he had lots of brass up at his neck and assumed he was in charge.

  “Chief Ryan,” Bobbie said, and rose from the ground with his help, still shaky from the energy blast that had struck her, but alive.

  She knew the man? he wondered for only a moment as his knees wobbled. He lurched back to rest against the fender of the Bentley while keeping her tucked close.

  “Are you okay?” Bobbie asked, laying a hand on his arm, but he shrugged it off, afraid of touching her. He barely had his
power under control, and weakness had erupted at his core. He didn’t know how long he could maintain command.

  Hurt traveled like quicksilver over her features until she schooled them. He hated that he was causing her so much pain.

  “What happened?” the police chief asked.

  Bobbie returned her attention to the officer. “We were turning around when the Jeep came out of nowhere. It couldn’t stop in time, lost control, and plowed into the parked cars.”

  The chief narrowed his eyes as he considered her. Hooking his thumbs through the loops of his black gunbelt, he said, ”How long have I known you, Bobbie?”

  “Almost all my life,” Bobbie said, and shrugged. The simple movement seemed to cause her discomfort as a grimace shot over her features. Adam wondered if it was from her war wounds or from the blast, since every muscle in his body ached and felt stiff. He was uncertain whether his state was the result of being shocked by the weird orbs of power or of offering his energy to help Bobbie.

  He rubbed at his arms and suddenly something came to him, almost as if the electricity had jogged loose a memory. He had felt like this once before—the morning he had awoken with his father-to-be next to him.

  “Adam? Are you all right?” Bobbie questioned, but she didn’t reach for him again, aware that he wouldn’t welcome any contact at that moment.

  “I’m okay. I just remembered something.”

  “Something about the incident?” the police chief pushed, his head cocked at an inquisitive angle.

  Much as Bobbie had lied before, Adam did as well. “Yes. There were two men in the car. Hurt. They ran away after crashing.”

  The police chief didn’t appear to buy it. With a stony glare at the two of them, he said, “Why don’t you tell me what’s really up?”

  “It’s the truth, Chief. Believe me,” Bobbie pleaded as she wrung her hands.

  With a resigned sigh, the chief pushed back his hat and scrubbed his baldness. Leaning close, he said, “If I find out there’s something else going on, being a Marine hero and having law enforcement connections won’t keep me from tossing you in the can, Bobbie.”

  “There’s nothing else to say, Chief,” she replied, and the officer didn’t press any further. After getting descriptions of the two men in the Jeep, the police chief released them.

  “We should go before the chief changes his mind,” Bobbie said, and turned to him, but he was torn.

  The lies had come so easily to her. And then there was the powerful pull of energy as their auras had merged when he had been helping her. It had felt as if she was draining life from him, but as he met her gaze, there was only concern there. Concern for him.

  He held up his keys. “I’ll drive you home.”

  But as he took a step, he felt incredibly weak and dizzy, so much so that he had to lean against the bumper once again. She shook her head and snagged the keys from his fingers. The wobble was back in his knees when he stepped toward the Bentley, but she immediately tucked herself beneath his shoulder, offering support without hesitation. Seemingly back to normal.

  The link he couldn’t explain came instantly and trickled energy back and forth between them, providing him strength. Providing her balance, he realized, as he saw her cane lying on the ground by the back of his Bentley. It reminded him of her injuries, as did the awkward steps she took, and yet here she was, offering him assistance.

  They neared the passenger side and he rested against the side of the car, taxed by the short walk. As she opened the door, he reached out and cradled the side of her face before tunneling his fingers into her shoulder-length hair.

  She gazed at him quizzically, obviously confused, especially considering how he had rejected her earlier advance.

  “I’m sorry. I was out of control. The energy was searing my brain and I was afraid of hurting you,” he said, and she dipped her head, acknowledging the apology while at the same time still obviously hurt.

  “There’s a lot we need to figure out,” she replied, as needy as he for an explanation for all that had happened.

  He nodded and realized that in the scintilla of memory that had returned to him after the incident, there might be the start of an answer.

  The question was whether to share it with her.

  She had warned him that she didn’t want to be involved in another battle, that she’d had enough of war, and there was one thing of which he was certain: This was definitely war.

  CHAPTER

  17

  The emotions swirled around her in the confined space inside the garage, tinting her aura that deep indigo again. As she met his gaze, uncertainty deepened the hue of her whiskey-colored eyes to that of amber syrup.

  “Will you be okay if I leave?” she asked after she cut the ignition.

  “I will. What about you? Are you okay?” he questioned, concerned about her, given the attack she had survived.

  Bobbie shrugged. “A few aches and pains, but surprisingly okay.”

  “What about the chief? Are you worried about what he might do?” He focused on a spot directly in front of him where an assortment of tools was neatly pegged to the garage wall to try to hide his fear about possible police investigations and to try to combat the headache that had been steadily growing on their ride home.

  Her touch came immediately, the brush of fingers along the tightness of his jaw, urging him to face her once again.

  “I am. My cousin and brother are cops in the next town over. The chief will definitely tell them and I’ll have to try to explain. But I’m also concerned about you. What happened tonight… Her hands fluttered in the air, as if she was grasping for the words to finish, but they eluded her.

  “I wish I could explain, but I don’t know how I did it,” he admitted.

  Bobbie heard the subtext beneath what he was saying and called him on it. “But you do know something else. Something you’re not saying.”

  He averted his gaze, but she wouldn’t let him off the hook, especially not when whatever had occurred had nearly killed them both that night. This time she cradled his jaw more forcefully, since he had not shunned her advance a second ago. She applied determined pressure until he was facing her, unable to avoid what had to be acknowledged, although he tried.

  “This isn’t a good time to discuss this,” he said, afraid of the growing heaviness in his core that warned he had to acknowledge the power within him and that it needed something more.

  “When is a good time? When someone is dead?”

  Her words catapulted him into action.

  “Inside,” he barked and surged out of the car, although he faltered for a moment and braced himself on the hood of the Bentley.

  She tamped down the worry she felt. If she had learned one thing as a sergeant, it was that sometimes you had to let someone find his own footing. With danger behind them, this was one of those times.

  She exited the car more gingerly. Every bone and muscle in her ached, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the impact with the car aggravating her injuries or from the electrical blast she had sustained. It was clear he was hurting, given the cautious way he was moving after his initial burst of motion.

  Together they hobbled into his living room, but this time there were no civilities. No scotch or offer of anything, which was fine by her. There was only one thing she wanted from him—the truth.

  He seemed to understand that, since as soon as they were seated beside each other, he began to talk.

  “I don’t know how I tossed that ball of energy. I didn’t know I could do that,” he confessed with a hunch of his shoulders. His hands were fisted on his thighs, his head cast downward.

  “Just like you didn’t know you could heal?” She reached over and enclosed one fist with her hand, urging him to relax with a gentle squeeze. He shot her a half-glance, slightly more relaxed, although still hesitant. At another squeeze of her hand, he continued.

  “I think your powers are more like mine than we thought.”

  She didn’t s
eem surprised at his comment, but her words were guarded when she spoke. “What makes you think that?”

  “Whenever we touch, the power shifts between us, as if it’s one and the same.” He demonstrated by opening himself up to her, and there was no denying the link that blossomed between them. There was something almost calming about it, although desire shimmered beneath its surface as the prick of power ebbed back and forth.

  “How is that possible?” was all she could say.

  “Maybe it’s the aura that swirls around you. Tony has one that I didn’t notice before, but it’s not as strong as yours.” His uncertainty was painfully obvious.

  “So you think it’s power like yours?”

  A little less hesitation this time. “Maybe, although it feels different somehow.”

  Bobbie racked her brains, trying to make sense of it. Thoughts spilled out and became words. “Tony, Mick, and I were always more alike. My older sister, Liliana, was always the odd one out. We were athletic and strong. People always looked to us. For help. For leadership.”

  “Power is innate. People perceive that,” he explained, and it made perfect sense to her. After all, she had been drawn to him for much the same reason at first. But now there was a whole lot more going on between them, she thought, the tie between their joined hands still alive, still pulsing with vitality.

  “But that doesn’t explain what happened with those men. Why you can—”

  “Toss balls of energy and heal people? Speed across distances? That’s another one I discovered recently.” He swiveled on the couch until he was facing her, and his eyes were shadowed again, his turmoil evident.

  She leaned close and cupped his cheek. Ran her thumb along the sandpapery roughness of his face in a soothing gesture. “There’s more, isn’t there, Adam?”

  “The blast left my body sore. Achy, as if it was the day after a massive workout or as if I had just recovered from the flu.”

  She was feeling the same way, but she sensed it meant more to him. “You’ve felt like that before, haven’t you?”