Most Wanted - A Fantasy Romance Novel (The Shadow Blade Series)

by E. L Friel

  ‘Stand back,’ he said, flicking the lighter and searing the air with a blanket of flame. The girl on her knees let out a scream of terror but Jax focused the flames away from her, creating a curtain of fire that kept the Original at bay. They heard a roar of outrage, and saw him lunge then pull back. His fangs lengthened and his lips pulled back, exposing black gums. Ariel gripped her blade tighter.

  Jax strode forwards, backing the Original into the far corner. Ariel edged out from behind him and made her move. With the Original caught against the wall, shrieking as the flames started to lick him she rolled beneath the fire, feeling it scorch her back. She shot upright in front of the Original who seemed paralyzed by the sight of the flames and ripped the blade across his throat. It sunk into his flesh like a spade into mud, with a wet, sucking sound.

  Ariel threw her body weight against him, wrenching her arm across his throat with a sawing motion, the heat of the flames making sweat pour down her back. She heard screams and the roar of the fire filling her ears and was only dimly aware that it was her that was screaming. Finally her blade met air and she stepped backwards. The whoosh of the flames died away and the screams cut off too. Ariel stared at the Original. His eyes had stopped glowing. His mouth was still stretched wide in an endless scream but no noise was coming out. As she watched, panting heavily, the head rolled in slow motion off his shoulders and landed with the weight of a cannon ball on the stone floor, creating a crater two foot deep. The ground shook making Ariel feel unsteady on her feet.

  Arms suddenly came around her waist, were swinging her around and she felt like clinging to him to stay upright. Jax set her down carefully, his hands finding her face. ‘Are you OK?’ he demanded, his bottomless brown eyes searching hers.

  She nodded slowly. Hell yeah, she was OK. She’d just killed a goddamn Original. She grinned at him then winced. She was covered in bruises from where she’d bashed the wall. Jax’s expression turned dark as he noticed her wincing. But Ariel ignored him, already wriggling out of his arms.

  She pushed Jax aside and crouched down beside the girl who was curled up on the floor, her arms wrapped around her head. Ariel rolled her gently over. She was barely conscious, her eyelids fluttering weakly. Sweat coated her skin and Ariel flinched as she took in the number of bite marks covering her body. She was infected, already feverish, the virus taking hold. If they left her alive she would become like those other Suckers under the bridge.

  Jax knelt down by the girl’s head, his fingers feeling for her pulse. Ariel watched him as his gaze took in the savage bite marks covering her body. A look of total devastation crossed his face and Ariel wanted to comfort him almost as much as she did the girl. She bent down and stroked the girl’s hair, murmuring to her, telling her that she was safe now, that everything was going to be OK. But even as she said it she knew she was lying, because it wasn’t going to be OK, was it? Ariel looked at Jax. What were they going to do with her? Jax’s jaw was working furiously but a tender look of sadness swept across his features as he stroked the girl’s cheek. Finally, he tore his eyes from the girl’s ravaged body and looked up at Ariel. He shook his head at her. Ariel cocked her head, not understanding.

  ‘What?’ she asked, her throat raw. Did he mean for them to kill her? The thought made her stomach turn. Wasn’t that murder? The girl was just an innocent. But she was going to be a Sucker. And no Sucker ever lived an innocent life. They sucked blood, infected others, killed others.

  ‘She’s dead,’ Jax said.

  Ariel blinked at him, his words not making any sense. He nodded his head and Ariel glanced down. The girl’s eyes were half-open, staring emptily up at the ceiling. Ariel collapsed back on her haunches, a sob erupting out of her, half of relief and half of despair. She was glad that they didn’t have to make the call on whether to finish the job, but the despair was greater than the relief.

  ‘We were too late,’ she whispered as tears started to fall down her cheeks.

  Jax suddenly took hold of her wrist, his fingers gripping her tightly. She looked up at him. ‘No,’ he said fiercely. ‘This is not your fault.’

  She tried to pull away but he wouldn’t let her go. He held her gaze, fury mixing with a pleading expression. Something twisted in her gut, another sob choking out of her. ‘It’s not your fault,’ he whispered again, his own voice breaking.

  She stared down at the girl again trying to reconcile his words. Jax’s grip loosened slightly. With his free hand he stroked a strand of hair out of her face, pausing to wipe at a tear that was running down her cheek. ‘Ariel,’ he said. ‘You killed him. He can’t hurt anyone else. Think of all the people you’ve saved.’

  She considered his words. Was there anything in them? Was he right? Is this why he did the job that he did? Because he could see the lives saved? It was just so difficult though. Evil was a lot more visible than good, lives taken a lot easier to count than the lives potentially saved. But Jax was right. She needed to stop focusing on what she hadn’t done, and focus on what she had done, start seeing things the way he did. Is that how he managed to be a Blade? Why he did it despite the fact he didn’t need to? To save innocents? She could see the appeal.

  She stood up and swiped a hand over her eyes. There was no time for an existential crisis. They needed to get out of here. Jax however was still hovering beside the girl, his head bowed as though he was praying. He gently laid his hand over her face, closing her eyes, and then took off his hooded sweater. Ariel watched him carefully wrap it over the girl’s body.

  She stood as Jax lifted the girl easily into his arms, scooping her up like she weighed no more than a child. Something caught in Ariel’s chest as she watched him cross towards the stairs and start to move up them.

  With a sigh, Ariel bent down and hefted the Original’s head from the floor. Carrying it by the hair she felt like Perseus clutching the Medusa’s head, as she slowly followed Jax up the stairs.

  Chapter 13

  At the top of the stairs Jax paused to wait for Ariel. She was trudging up behind him, carrying the demon’s severed head. Jax grimaced as she walked past, shoulders slumped. She had taken the girl’s death hard. So had he but he had learned that giving into despair got you nowhere. As he glanced down at the girl in his arms and saw the peace on her face, he tried to feel grateful that she had died before the virus could take hold.

  For all Ariel’s straight talking, hard exterior she was just as broken as he was inside. He wondered what the future held for her. For him, being a Blade was less a choice and more a necessity. Sure, it was his birthright, but he knew he would have done it anyway given half the chance. The key was to focus not on what they hadn’t achieved, but what they had. If they hadn’t killed that Original, how many countless other girls would have suffered? It was the only way Jax could reconcile his feelings and get up in the morning without giving in to despair. He couldn’t focus on the losses and the failings but on the lives saved.

  Ariel ran ahead of him to the front door and pulled it open. Immediately he saw her falter and take a step backwards. Jax paused in the middle of the atrium, the dead weight of the girl in his arms, his senses snapping into high alert.

  Over Ariel’s shoulder, standing on the doorstep, he saw a little boy. What was a kid doing on the doorstep of this house in the middle of the night? Straightaway Jax’s breathing sped up and his heart rate spiked. It wasn’t a kid. Whatever it was wasn’t human. Ariel seemed to know it too.

  She rounded her shoulders and blocked the doorway as much as she could with her body. Jax swore under his breath. He guessed it was one of the other bounty hunters and that they weren’t happy that Ariel had got here first. Holding the girl in his arms, he wasn’t going to be much help. He glanced around for somewhere to lay her down.

  ‘Too late,’ he heard Ariel say, her voice whip sharp.

  Before Jax’s eyes, and much to his astonishment, the boy started to shimmer. He vanished in a blur of shimmer and in his place stood a woman aged around thirty with dar
k auburn hair and startling blue eyes. Jax stepped backwards, stunned speechless. He’d never seen a Shapeshifter shift. Ariel had swapped the head into her left hand and pulled out her blade.

  The woman narrowed her eyes at Ariel and bared her teeth. ‘He was mine,’ she said in a quietly sinister voice.

  ‘Well, now he’s mine,’ Ariel answered coolly. ‘So, if you don’t mind, we’ll be on our way.’

  It was only now the shifter looked up and noticed him standing in the atrium. Her expression faltered, a question darting across her face. Her gaze flew back to Ariel.

  ‘Who’s he?’ she demanded to know.

  Ariel squared her shoulders. ‘Just a friend,’ she answered gruffly. ‘Now, let us pass.’

  The woman surveyed him with suspicion. Jax shifted, glancing towards the stairs, ready to lay the girl down, but without another word the woman stepped aside to let them pass. Ariel stayed in the doorway, facing the woman as Jax made his way past them and down the driveway.

  Halfway towards the sidewalk he looked back and saw the Shifter standing there by the door, eyes still narrowed. Ariel was backing away, keeping her eyes fixed on her. Jax felt a chill race up his spine.

  ‘Who was that?’ he asked Ariel as they laid the girl out on the back bench of Ariel’s van. He was stupid perhaps to have brought the girl’s body, but he couldn’t stand the thought of just leaving her there in the basement, perhaps never to be found. No. He would leave her somewhere where she could be found, so her family would know some peace. Though, looking at the bite marks covering her body, he wondered if that was something they’d ever experience again once they read the pathologist’s report.

  Ariel tossed the head to the floor of the van, buckled in to the driver’s seat and stepped on the gas. ‘It was another bounty hunter. His name’s Aaron.’

  It was a he? Jax’s eyebrows shot up to meet his hairline. ‘How can you tell he’s male or female?’

  ‘His normal shift is male,’ Ariel answered, concentrating on driving. ‘He and I have a long history. He’s a shithead. Thinks all the bounties in LA are rightfully his. Hates it that a girl beat him to it. Just your average misogynistic, asshole man. I mean demon.’

  Jax laughed under his breath. ‘Well, I think you showed him.’

  ‘Thanks to you,’ Ariel answered.

  He smiled, his eyes flashing to hers in the rear view mirror. She smiled back and his heart kicked in his chest until she looked away.

  Once they had left the girl’s body some place where it would be found, Ariel planned to take the Original’s head to Jimmy, get the money and then pay off Rasa. Then what? She darted a glance in Jax’s direction, watching him in the mirror. He glanced up and smiled at her.

  She looked away. She was feeling too much and couldn’t get a handle on everything. She still felt guilty, sick with it, despite Jax’s words. A part of her ached to listen to him, to recognize what he had said was true, but a bigger part of her wanted to ignore it and to shoulder the blame. Why was it easier to condemn herself than to forgive herself?

  Chapter 14

  Ariel tossed the head onto Jimmy’s desk. The wood splintered loudly.

  ‘Woops,’ she said.

  Jimmy was sitting in his chair, the cigar hanging off his bottom lip like a pregnant slug. He stared at the head for a moment, at the mouth stretched wide and the razor sharp fangs still glinting with droplets of blood, before glancing up at Ariel. She saw his lips purse in irritation. She guessed she’d just cost him a fortune and tried hard not to smile. She knew better than to rub it in.

  ‘You laid the odds,’ she said, shrugging. Already she was calculating how much she had made, not just from the bounty, but from the bet she’d laid.

  Jimmy’s eyes glinted like a reptile’s and he stared at her unblinking. Ariel took a deep breath and straightened her shoulders. ‘I killed him fair and square,’ she said. Jimmy wouldn’t shaft her would he? Behind her she sensed Vin Diesel lurking in the doorway.

  Jimmy glowered at her for a beat longer, before finally nodded over her shoulder. ‘Pay her,’ he spat.

  Ariel bit her lips together as Vin headed over to the safe and yanked open the thick steel door. Her heart was beating rapidly at the thought of getting her hands on all that cash. She smiled to herself as he started to count out stacks of bills. She wouldn’t need to hand over Jax to the Brothers after all. She laughed to herself under her breath. As if she would ever have been able to do that to him anyway. Who had she been kidding?

  She pictured Jax’s face suddenly, the expression he wore when he stared into her eyes, that deep rift of sadness she sometimes glimpsed like a fault line running through him, the way he scrutinized her as though he wanted to know everything there was to know about her, he way he’d said her name when they were in bed together, like it was both a prayer and a wish.

  She swallowed, arrows of heat racing up and down her spine, then shook the thoughts quickly away. There was no way she’d betray Jax now. She didn’t fully understand what her feelings for him were, but when she thought of him, when she looked at him, when he held her in his arms, she felt a peace she hadn’t felt in years.

  It was a shame that she was leaving LA. She would miss him. Ariel held out her hands for the cash. One hundred thousand dollars weighed a lot in loose bills. She counted off five thousand and dropped it on Jimmy’s desk. ‘That’s for the blade,’ she said.

  Jimmy muttered something under his breath. Clearly he hadn’t thought she’d be able to buy it back off him. She stuffed the rest of the cash into her bag and then hefted it onto her shoulder, the grin finally breaking free. She heard Jimmy mutter something to her back as she left his office. She would find Felix and have him take the money she owed to Rasa, then she would say goodbye to Jax, in a way that both of them would remember for a while to come.

  Ariel found Felix in the betting lounge, sweeping up loose chits from the floor, along with cigarette butts and fast food wrappers. There was still a big crowd standing around, waiting for the second round of fighting to begin. A few Scarab demons were over in the corner drinking beer, and a few others were muttering to themselves as they counted their losses for the night.

  ‘Hey Felix,’ she said.

  He glanced up and smiled eagerly at the sight of her. ‘Hey Ariel!’

  She nodded up at the chalkboard and waved her betting slip in his direction.

  ‘Jimmy’s mad at having to pay out,’ Felix said, cutting a nervous glance over his shoulder.

  Ariel frowned. News travelled fast in this place. ‘Well, now maybe he’ll learn not to bet against me,’ Ariel said, with a satisfied smile. She paused. ‘Listen Felix, if I give you something, will you take it to Rasa? I’ll make it worth your while,’ she added.

  Felix nodded. ‘Yeah, sure. I can take the tunnels.’

  Ariel smiled gratefully. Felix couldn’t just walk the streets. But he could get around town using the sewer system. She handed him a large sack of cash and then another healthy-sized stack just for himself. She felt generous all of a sudden. She guessed that’s what being rich did to you.

  Felix took the money and slid it into the pocket of his overalls. Ariel nodded goodbye and headed over to the betting counter to collect her winnings.

  ‘How much did you make?’ Jax asked, staring at the loaded bag Ariel was hefting on her shoulder.

  ‘Enough,’ she said, her eyes shining. She was biting back an enormous smile.

  ‘Enough to pay your debt?’ he asked.

  Ariel grinned wide and nodded. The anxiety that had seemed to weigh on her, casting a dark shadow, seemed to have lifted. He hadn’t ever seen her looking so relaxed. It was something he could get used to. ‘I paid it already,’ she said. ‘This is what’s left.’ She walked around to the driver’s side of her van and tossed the bag of money into the back. ‘They put one hundred to one odds on me,’ she said starting the engine. ‘So I made a bet on the side.’

  He frowned as he climbed into the passenger seat. ‘You
bet on yourself?’ he asked.

  She revved the clunking engine of her van and turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were the clearest bottle green and he was momentarily swept away in them. ‘No,’ she said, smiling at him. ‘I bet on us.’

  Jax felt the sudden need to reach over, tug her into his arms and kiss her, but she was already pulling away from the curb.

  ‘So, are you going to tell me now who you owed the money to?’ he asked.

  Ariel kept her eyes on the road. ‘A Seer demon called Rasa.’

  He shot a curious glance at her. ‘A Seer?’

  She nodded, sadness sweeping across her face.

  ‘What did you need the money for?’ he asked quietly, sensing that whatever this was about, was something big, something that defined who Ariel was.

  ‘I paid for some information,’ she said with a sigh. ‘I was trying to find someone.’

  His throat went dry. ‘Who?’

  ‘Someone called Rikon Fayette.’ She glanced over at him, her lips pursed, her eyes dark. ‘His men killed Saul. I’ve been trying to find him ever since.’

  Jax took that in. ‘To kill him?’ he asked.

  Ariel didn’t answer for a while but then she nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on the road.

  Jax brooded on that news. She wanted revenge. He understood that need. He glanced at her as she drove, at the chin she held so high and the soft curve of her jaw. Where would that path for revenge take her? Away from him, the answer came fast and sure.

  A silence descended. Dawn was breaking over the city and with it the energy in the van seemed to settle to a low hum. Despite the fact Ariel still had a quest to fulfill, he felt for the first time in years the sense that life was an adventure, something to be enjoyed, rather than a never ending litany of killing and hunting. There was something more to it now, something that made everything else worthwhile. Maybe he could help her find Rikon Fayette whoever he was. Maybe he could help her get her revenge and move on.