Eternal Flame

by Lauren DeStefano

Page 15

 

  His gaze swept the area, lingering a moment on the special agent. He lifted his hand and twisted the key. Then he slammed his foot down on the gas and roared out of the lot.

  And no one moved to follow him. They couldn’t-he’d knocked them all out.

  “Holy shit. ” She lowered her binoculars, very glad that she’d decided to hang back once she’d heard the sirens. “Did you see that?”

  Her partner, tall and quiet, grunted. “He knocked them out. ” He didn’t sound impressed.

  He should. “That demon just knocked out twenty humans at once. ” Twenty. Hot damn. “We’ve got us at least a level eight. ” She’d never captured a level eight. Five had been her highest demon bag.

  “I thought we were killing him?”

  She yanked out her phone. “The plan’s just changed. ” Oh, it had changed all right. She had a level eight-or higher- demon in her lap, and she knew the guy’s weakness. Too perfect.

  Why, that demon would be even more useful than the Ignitor. Not that the bitch was proving to be particularly useful but …

  But she was some fine bait.

  “I want that demon. ” She spoke into the phone, knowing other eyes were out there, watching the demon race away with her prey. “Follow him. Hunt him down. ”

  Zane Wynter was a hunter, just like she was. He hunted monsters, too. But the difference between them … he was a monster. She was just a human who had to clean up the mess the beasts made. She’d been cleaning up their messes for years. So tired of cleaning up their shit.

  “If we can, take them both. ” Because her Ignitor was so useful, and she did prefer to work with humans. “If the woman starts the flames again”-because she knew a taunt when she saw one—“shoot her-shoot to kill. ” Sometimes, you had to cut your losses. “He’ll be more valuable to us. ” The things she could get that demon to do….

  He already hunted his own kind. She knew the stories about him. So what she had in mind for him wouldn’t be too different.

  Killing demons. Killing vamps. Killing shifters. Killing all the sick paranormals who made the world into a nightmare.

  At first, Project Perseus had tried fighting them with human weapons. Guns. Bombs. Then they’d stepped up the game-and started using chameleons. Humans with enhanced genetics, the chameleons were perfect at sneaking up on the paranormals. They could drop their heart rates, slow their breathing, and ambush even shifters. The chameleons had taken out so many monsters. So many …

  But the real way to win the battle might just be by using one of the Other’s own. A demon half-breed to deal death.

  She smiled as she gazed through the binoculars. Perfect.

  Carefully, she stepped over the sniper’s still body. He was human, which was unfortunate, because she’d had to kill him. But, really, if he’d taken the shot, she wouldn’t have learned anything.

  Now, she knew everything she needed to know. New prey. Prey with a weakness.

  “What the hell?” Jude came awake in a rush, jerking upright with his claws out and up-just the way Zane expected him to wake.

  Zane grunted and kept the gas pedal pinned to the floor. “Wanna tell me how you got taken out?” Jude exhaled hard, and his head wrenched toward Zane. “Taken out?” The words were a little raspy. They wouldn’t be that way for long. Shifters, especially rare, white tiger shifters like Jude, were fast healers. That healing ability was why the tiger had only been out ten minutes.

  “I found you unconscious in the truck. ” Jana lay slumped between them. No telling how long she’d be out. “Way to watch my back, tiger. ”

  “Fuck. ” From the corner of his eye, Zane saw Jude run a shaking hand through his hair. Then his hand dropped to his neck. “Drugged. ”

  Yeah. And if the sniper had been out there, why hadn’t he taken a shot at Zane? His psychic blast wouldn’t have been strong enough to carry more than a block. The sniper could have taken him.

  “Who did it?” Jude demanded, and he finally seemed to see Jana. “Aw, hell, her, too?”

  Zane’s jaw clenched. After a moment, he said, “She was shot right in front of me. ” He hadn’t expected the special agent to take that shot. If her gun had been loaded with real bullets …

  Darkness rose around him and the truck began to tremble.

  “Zane?”

  “A woman claiming to be from the FBI was there. ” He forced his hands to ease their too-tight grip on the steering wheel. He sucked in a couple of deep, slow breaths. Control. Jana was going to be all right. “A Special Agent Kelly Thomas. She said Jana was on their extermination list. ”

  Jude froze. Yeah, they all knew about the list. They’d even been hired a few times to make sure the exterminations were carried out for particularly dangerous paranormals.

  But … Jana.

  Zane yanked the wheel to the left. “She wanted me to just hand Jana over, knowing they were gonna kill her. Agent Thomas wanted …” He braked hard and turned to meet Jude’s bright stare. “I’m not turning Jana over to the Bureau. ”

  Jude whistled. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

  “When is it standard procedure for the FBI to drug hunters? Huh? When? They drugged you, Jude. Attacked first, and didn’t plan to ask questions later. ”

  The tiger shifter’s lips tightened. “I’m pissed as hell about that—” And his fangs were still out. Those claws still ready. “But Jana—”

  “If the agent wanted Jana dead, she could have killed her. ” While I just stood there. Fucking stood there. “But she drugged her. She didn’t shoot to kill. ” Because the agent wanted Jana for something. To use her? Aim and fire-everyone knew that was the way to use an Ignitor.

  His gaze returned to Jana. She still barely appeared to be breathing. Her face was so pale, and dark smudges lined her eyes. “I’m not turning her over,” he said again. “She didn’t burn Night Watch. And before anyone plans her extermination, I want to know exactly what happened with those humans in New Orleans. ” He wanted to know everything. Every detail of her life. How had she become a killer?

  How had he?

  “You’re lettin’ this get personal,” Jude warned.

  Yeah, he was. “Get out of the truck, Jude. ”

  The shifter blinked. “It’s my truck. ”

  Zane brushed back the dark hair that had fallen over Jana’s cheek. “I need the wheels because I’ve got to get cover and figure out what’s going on. ” His eyes once again met Jude’s. “The FBI is gonna be looking for me now, too. I don’t want them to come after you. ”

  “Screw them. ” Said instantly. “The day I’m worried about some jerk-offs in suits …”

  “What about Erin?”

  At the mention of his lover’s name, Jude blinked. “What about her?” A distinct edge had entered his voice.

  “She’s the ADA. How would she feel about you being on the run?”

  “Erin trusts me. ” Absolute certainty.

  “But she doesn’t need to get pulled into this. ” He still wasn’t even entirely sure what this was. “And neither do you. ” Zane sighed. “This is gonna get bad, real bad. ”

  “All the more reason you need me. ” Jude’s smile showed off his sharp teeth. “I know how to do bad. ”

  “So do I. ” The shifter didn’t really know just how powerful he was. He’d worked hard to keep Jude and the others in the dark. Sometimes, you didn’t want the whole world to fear you-and sometimes, you did. “I need you to work with Tony. Find out if that special agent is legit. Use Pak’s contacts at the Bureau, and then call me. ” He still had the replacement phone Jude had given him.

  The shifter measured him with a long, hard look. “Is she worth being hunted?”

  He’d never been hunted. Always predator. Never prey.

  “Don’t blow your life for a good fuck. ”

  “Get out of the truck, Jude. ” There was no more time to waste, and he
really didn’t want to punch out his friend.

  Growling, Jude got out of the truck. “Don’t trust her, you hear me? She’s dangerous. The woman could fry you—”

  He laughed at that. “No, she couldn’t. ” He was probably the only one she couldn’t burn. She could let her fire rage, and it wouldn’t so much as blister his skin.

  Jude slammed the door. “Watch my truck, okay? Watch—”

  Zane left him, racing the truck forward and speeding down the road. After he found a place to lay low, he needed to make Jana tell him the truth.

  Don’t trust her. Maybe though, just maybe, he could make her trust him. If he did, then he could get to Project Perseus- and give the assholes some serious payback.

  But she’d have to trust him first. Have to think that she could rely on him for everything. Anything.

  One killer, trusting another. Right. Fate would laugh her ass off at that one.

  * * *

  When she opened her eyes, Jana became aware of two things. One … she was in a bed. A strange, lumpy bed that smelled of stale cigarettes. Two … she wasn’t alone.

  Since the last thing she remembered was standing in front of Dusk and getting shot-that bitch was so gonna pay for that-Jana didn’t move immediately. She kept her breathing nice and easy, even though her heart galloped in her chest. Slowly, she let the charge build within her body. Her gaze stayed on the peeling ceiling above her, on those faint brown water lines.

  If the Bureau had taken her in for extermination, they’d find out that she wasn’t that easy to kill, and if they didn’t want to kill her …

  I’m not going to be their pit bull. She was sick of being a weapon to the world.

  The energy built inside her. More, more. The blast would come hot and strong and—

  “Turn it off. ”

  The words were clipped, cold, but the voice—familiar. Zane. She rolled onto her side and blinked in shock. He’d been beside her at Dusk. Standing right there when the agent fired. “They got you, too. ” But why? Zane was a hunter, not—

  “They didn’t get me. ” His chest was bare, and his dark hair was mussed, as if he’d been running his fingers through the mane.

  Her breath caught. “I don’t …”

  “Did you know you were on the extermination list?”

  No sense lying. “Well, Night Watch was after me, so I figured the FBI was, too. Hell, I figured the FBI was probably the one who was paying your fees. ” So why was she there?

  “I don’t want to hear any lies,” he told her.

  But she was good at lying.

  “Why were you in Dusk?”

  Jana blinked. Okay, she hadn’t been expecting that question. “Why were you there?” Convenient, too convenient, and- Jana jerked up, sending the covers sliding off her body.

  “You followed me. ” Understanding was bitter as her memory flooded totally back.

  He didn’t move. “Did you really think the sex would distract me so much that you could just walk away?”

  She took the slap and realized that Zane had taken off her shirt and her pants. “Where are my clothes?”

  “Is that a technique you use a lot?” Icy words. “You seduce your way out of trouble?”

  Jana swallowed. “I didn’t have sex with you as part of some master scheme. ” She jumped from the bed and started searching the motel room. The obviously cheap motel room. She’d spent her share of nights in plenty of rooms just like this one.

  “Then why did you?” Nearly a growl as some heat broke through the ice.

  She found her pants and turned back to face him. “Because I wanted you. ” For once, she’d just taken what she wanted. She’d known it wouldn’t last. “I knew we didn’t have any future. ” Future-what was that? “I wanted you, wanted pleasure-so I took both. ”

  His green eyes glittered. “How many men have heard that line?”

  She threw her pants at him.

  The guy moved then-fast. He lunged across the room. His hands locked around her upper arms, and he yanked her close. “I didn’t turn you over, Jana. The FBI wanted you. They just wanted me to walk away, but I didn’t turn you over. “

  She stared up at him. “Why?”

  “Because I’m a fucking idiot. ” His breath expelled in a rush. “Because when that woman fired on you, I was ready to rip her apart. ” His head lowered toward hers. “Because when you fell, I lost control. ”

  A demon losing control? Never a good—

  “Because once wasn’t enough for me. ”

  Her heart slammed into her ribs.

  “I want you, I want the pleasure, and I’m damn well not done with you yet. ”

  Not done with her? Yeah, that was classy. That was- “You want me,” Zane said. Yeah, she’d just said as much. “I’m fucking on fire for you. ” Jana knew a few things about fire.

  “If this isn’t what you want, then say no, and say it fast. ” His hold gentled. Stroked instead of captured. “But I’ve spent the last five hours watching you, worrying that you wouldn’t wake up—”

  “I-I’m fine. ” It wasn’t the first time she’d had that particular drug of choice fired on her. Humans woke up with no ill effects. Shifters had a bitch of a headache and demons—don’t want to go there.

  “You’re not getting away from me,” he said, “not until I know what’s happening. ”

  Right then … “I don’t want to go anywhere. ” And when she wanted to leave, she would. The demon wouldn’t stop her. No one would stop her.