Like magic, the server appeared, eyeing them both contemptuously before tossing their burgers in front of them and quickly departing. Skylar wanted to find humor in the waitress’s attitude. She and Adrian would have shared a laugh about it before. But now the laughter wouldn’t come.
She struggled for something to say. “I don’t want to live without you in my life.”
“You can’t have us both,” he bit out roughly. “I need to know, can I take you home, or are you staying here?”
“Dammit, Adrian, are you telling me if I choose Dusty, I’ll never see you again? Is that what this has come down to?” Skylar squeezed his hand painfully tight. She needed to be with Dusty, but the idea of never seeing her best friend again…
“If, Skylar? You’ve already chosen Dusty. There’s no if about it.” He laughed cynically. “Look…I—I can’t stay here. My life is no longer under my control.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Skylar shot back angrily.
His golden brown eyes pierced her soul. “I gave up my life for you.”
“Well, damn, Mariah. You always find the gorgeous ones.”
Cursing the interruption, Skylar shot her gaze to the woman standing next to their table. She looked familiar but Skylar couldn’t quite place her. Although the dark tousled hair, black mini-skirt and red spiked heels triggered imagery.
The woman’s eyes grew wide. “You’re not Mariah, but damn, Marlin was right, you could be her twin.” She shook her head in wonder. “Doesn’t help you’re wearing the sweater I bought her.”
Flashes from Mariah’s memory filled Skylar’s mind and the name spilled from her lips before she could even make the connection. “Twyla?”
“Yeah.” Twyla stared down at Skylar’s and Adrian’s locked hands, then swiftly shifted her concerned gaze to Skylar’s face. “Where’s Dusty? And why aren’t you with him?”
“She’s with me,” Adrian growled.
Twyla shifted her attention to him. She stared at him for several long moments, looking deep into his eyes, then her face softened with a sad smile. “And you’d give anything for her, wouldn’t you? It just royally bites to be the one left behind, huh?” Adrian tensed in Skylar’s grasp as Twyla turned back to Skylar and continued speaking. “Look, Craze isn’t done with you yet. You need to get to Dusty, stay with the Shadow Walkers. You gotta get somewhere safe, okay?” Her gaze shifted to Adrian once again and she repeated imploringly, “Get her somewhere safe or…well…just get her to Dusty.”
She spun as the waitress approached, handing her a to-go bag and two drinks. Twyla glanced over her shoulder as she walked away, her dark eyes piercing. “Just please be careful.”
The urgency in her tone and the intense look in her eyes stayed with Skylar long after Twyla had exited the café. “We should go,” Skylar whispered.
With sharp, abrupt movements, Adrian stood up and threw fistfuls of money on the table. Skylar kept her hand tucked in his, following him as he strode out of the café. The sun was going down, illuminating the sky in shades of mauve, violet and peach. Nature still had its beauty even when life was spinning out of control.
When she realized they weren’t headed toward the pier, Skylar asked, “Where are we going?”
“I’m taking you to Dusty.”
“But Rare and Unusual Imports is on the pier.”
“He’s not there,” Adrian spit out.
“But…but…how do you know that?”
Adrian stopped so fast Skylar almost stumbled. “I’m a Tracker now. That’s what I do.”
“Is that how you found me?”
Abruptly, he began walking again, nearly dragging her along with him. “Yeah. Well at first, you were off my radar, so to speak. Focusing on your engagement ring like a talisman that would bring me to you, I just kept heading west. I don’t know how I knew. Then The Order gave me a keener tracking ability, but even that didn’t do me any good initially.” He blew out a frustrated breath and glanced over at her. “You following?”
Although she wasn’t, at least not completely, she wanted to hear his side of the story, hoped it would answer her questions about the startling changes visible in him. Nodding, she said, “Enough.”
“Okay, well, I still couldn’t figure out where exactly I should be looking. I was beginning to think my new sense was some kind of cruel joke. But then like a beacon in a storm, my nerves came alive. You were in Talisman Bay. I drove all night to get here. And then just as I was coming into town, I sensed that you’d moved again. I can’t track inter-dimensionally yet, but the last place I felt you was on the rocks just outside the cave. When a man stormed out of the rock face, I knew there had to be a way in somewhere—a way in to you. I’d anticipated having to fight some kind of wicked kidnapper to get you back.” The tone of his voice changed, like that of a condemned man. “I didn’t think I’d be too late and that you wouldn’t want to be rescued.”
“That’s not fair. I spent two months in hell before Dusty found me. I didn’t ask for any of this to happen.” She wanted to scream and yell and curse him up and down for making her feel guiltier than she already did. She wasn’t going to apologize for getting kidnapped and ripped away from her life. Or for falling in love with Dusty.
Before she could resist he pulled her tight against him, their clasped hands pinned between their bodies. “Of course you didn’t ask for any of this. Neither did I. But nothing’s fair right now, Skylar. At least not in my world. So don’t wor—” he stopped himself with a sigh and brushed a kiss across her forehead. “It’ll be okay…I—I’m just gonna play the hand I was given and try not to look back.”
Her anger faded, replaced with the muted pain from before and she accepted the small comfort Adrian offered. Things would never be the same between them again, but for this moment she could pretend.
They walked for a couple miles as the sun slipped away and streetlights flickered on around them. Adrian never faltered, his inner radar an invisible hand guiding him toward his goal. Skylar watched him with mixed feelings of awe and fear. He was so much different than she’d initially realized. Harder, darker, and with a new purpose she didn’t understand. She combed through Mariah’s memories and through what he’d told her, looking for answers. Names of things beyond her comprehension filtered through her mind. Shadow Walkers, Trackers, Watchers. The Sacred Order. Dread Lords. Things that were bigger than her, bigger than life.
But they were her life now. Her life with Dusty. He was a Shadow Walker, his life was always in danger.
And now, so was Adrian’s.
Suddenly it was all too much, and Skylar wanted to run. She wanted to hide from the painful reminders of who they’d both become. For one minute she just wanted to pretend that she was Skylar Quinn, resident of Providence, Rhode Island, majoring in Psychology and engaged to Adrian Hawke.
But then they turned a corner and she saw Dusty and she remembered where she wanted to be.
He was facing away from her, raw anger visible in the tension of his body. Even from twenty feet away she could feel his pain, see the darkness in his soul. Skylar’s heart rate increased, pumping molten fire through her veins. The inexplicable, burning need to go to him, bury her head against his chest and offer him forever was undeniable.
And then all hell broke loose.
A swarm of beings dark and vile came at Dusty from all sides. Skylar shuddered as a ghastly creature jumped on Dusty. With a vicious grace, he grappled with it until finally, he ripped it apart, throwing its severed limbs at other members of its swarm. Body parts exploded into flame, piles of dust and guts licked the night with fire. The heat shimmer created a wavy illusion as Dusty slugged and kicked with a vengeance. Every appearance suggested that he was outnumbered. That the creatures could overtake him. That he could die at their hands, but the man just dispensed with each one as though he’d done it a million times before. As though the danger wasn’t even registering anywhere in the corners of his mind. Gore splattered over Dusty as he punched h
is fist through a chest and the beast’s hands reached out to choke him.
Before she could go to him, Adrian pressed her flat against the wall. She struggled uselessly but he shook his head. “No, there’s nothing you can do for him. Just watch him fight. Tell me that you’re ready for this kind of life. I want to be sure before I leave you here.”
Skylar watched in growing horror as another evil being jumped on Dusty’s back. He flung himself to the ground and bashed the beast’s skull with his own while his knuckles turned white with the strain of overpowering the choking monster’s grasp. Dusty kicked and writhed until the thing’s blood finally drained out of the gaping hole he’d left in its chest.
Suddenly the meaning behind Adrian’s words hit her and the world came crashing down around her. “Wait. Adrian, you’re leaving? When? Not now. Tell me it’s not now.”
He bent his head to hers, temporarily blocking out the horror happening just feet from her. “Skylar, I became a Tracker to find you. But to become a Tracker, I had to make sacrifices. Once I found you and made sure you were all right, I had to turn myself over to The Order for my training. That was the agreement. When you make your decision, I have to go. I don’t have a choice.”
“No…” It came out as a mere whisper, the only thing she was capable of saying. Sounds from the battle snared her attention. She was torn, her gaze flickering between Adrian and Dusty. Then she couldn’t see Dusty anymore as the swarm increased in number and seemed to swallow him whole. Fear for him rocketed through her and she tried to scream, to run to him but Adrian’s hand clamped over her mouth and held her still. “This is what Dusty does. He fights demons every night. It never ends. You need to make your choice with the full knowledge of everything being with a Shadow Walker implies.”
Bodies flew from the fray as Dusty reappeared. The demons still moving began a rapid retreat. He met each one with a savage blast, his fists and feet pummeling, tearing each fiend to bits. Each vile creature fell to the earth and began to combust. Even with the stench of burning demon flesh, Dusty’s barbarous stance did not falter.
Skylar looked into Adrian’s eyes, feeling weak and exhausted, both from watching the fight and from the words she had to say. “Adrian, I’ll always love you. Always. But I have to go to Dusty, I have to be with him. I know I can’t make you understand, but I love Dusty. He’s my soul. I can’t walk away from him.”
Tears filled her eyes as Adrian pressed his forehead to hers. “I love you, Skye.” His lips brushed hers, soft and sweet. “I have to go.” He lifted the hand he’d been holding since their time on the beach and kissed it before letting it fall. Then he stepped away.
She grabbed his shirt, not ready to let him go. “Tell me I’ll see you again. Tell me this isn’t goodbye forever.”
He untangled her hands from his shirt and gave her a tired smile. But he didn’t respond. That alone told her all she needed to know. She threw her arms around him, holding him close one last time. All the words she wanted to say froze in her throat. He stroked her hair and for that moment she was ten again, being comforted after she’d fallen from a tree and into his life. Just as quickly, the moment was over and he backed away. “Now, go to Dusty. He needs you.”
She wiped her tears and tried to smile. “Thank you for finding me.”
“I’ll always find you.” And then Adrian was gone, disappearing into the shadows.
Before the grief could overwhelm her, Skylar turned toward her future, toward the man she couldn’t live without. Dusty, coated with green and purple demon gore, slumped at the base of the wall about twenty feet away, his head lowered. God, was he hurt?
Fear for him had her sprinting the distance. His head shot up at her approach and for that brief moment she saw the need to kill in his eyes. Then his eyes flickered awareness and surprise. Disbelief.
And pure, unadulterated, need and love.
Chapter Ten
Carcass fires crackled and popped in the street around Dusty, lighting up the night enough for him to see the beautiful vision in front of him. Was that really Skylar running toward him? It had been awhile since he’d fought Zakamediuls and he couldn’t remember if their cruor had hallucinatory effects. It sure stank to high heaven, though. The skin and bones incinerated on their own, but the blood and guts weren’t flammable, they just made a gloppy and disgusting mess.
Hell, if the Skylar rapidly approaching him was a hallucination, it was one he never wanted to come out of. With every last ounce of energy, Dusty pushed to his feet, willing his calf to stop its miserable throbbing long enough for him to stand up and take Skylar into his arms. Even if she was only a figment of his imagination, he wanted to hold her again, feel her flesh against his body, her warm mouth opening under his. And a hallucination wouldn’t mind the Zakamediul gore that was covering him from head to toe, would it?
Then she was in his arms, her face pressed against his neck, and Dusty knew she was real. There was no imagining the way she smelled like apples and honey or how holding her made him feel complete again. But where had she come from? Was she hurt? Had she see him fighting? Shit! Would she hate him for it? Were there more Zakamediuls around the corner just waiting to attack? Where the hell was Hawke? Why wasn’t he protecting her?
Dusty scanned the darkness, looking for answers. Hawke stood in the shadows, watching them. Their eyes met, and a moment of understanding passed between the two men. Hawke nodded once, then stepped backward, nebulously disappearing through a brick wall.
A knot tightened in Dusty’s chest. Skylar was once again his woman. Now and forever.
All of his fears and worries disappeared as he held her in his arms. As long as she was his, nothing else mattered.
“Mine,” he growled as his hands roamed over her body, hungry to feel her naked flesh beneath his palms. “Mine.”
“Yours,” Skylar whispered as he lowered his mouth over hers.
Like a shockwave, her kiss lit his every sense. Not caring where they were, or who might stumble upon them, Dusty wanted her now. Frantically, he lifted her in his arms…
Until his damaged leg reminded him that he couldn’t even put his own weight on it, let alone someone else’s. Trying to regain his balance, Dusty stepped back with his good leg, placing his foot directly into a pile of slimy demon guts. There was nothing he could do to stop it. In a tangle of limbs, they both fell to the ground. He cushioned her fall, keeping her on top of him.
Skylar must have thought something else was attacking, because she immediately sat up, her legs straddling his abdomen, eyes wide as she searched the darkness. Demon blood, transferred from his shirt, stained the front of her sweater. The saturated cotton clung to her flesh, silhouetting those incredible breasts of hers. Covered in gore, ready to fight an invisible army on his behalf, she’d never been more beautiful.
Dusty looked up at her in awe, forgetting his pain, wanting to take her with all of the fervor that his recent battle had incited. But she deserved better than a frantic tumble on the dirty streets of Talisman Bay. He stroked his hand down her face, tucking a stray hair back behind her ear. “It’s okay, Skylar. The damn demon glop is slippery.”
The fear in her eyes switched to concern as she frantically ran her hands over his body. “How badly are you hurt?” Her cunt rocked against him as she moved, distracting him from the pain.
“Keep movin’ like that and I’ll be feeling great,” he said hungrily as he pulled her mouth back down to his.
She sighed against his lips, her tongue tangling with his. She tasted sweet and fresh, a stark contrast to the rest of their surroundings.
A drip, drip, drip sound had them both turning their heads to see the liquid remains of the Zakamediuls draining into the sewer.
Skylar wrinkled her nose. “Oh, yuck. Does that sewer drain into the ocean?”
Dusty kissed away her grimace and said mock-seriously, “Well, let’s just say there’s a reason I don’t swim in Talisman Bay.”
Skylar’s grimace turned to a g
iggle as he wrapped his arms around her and held her extra tight.
“We need to get you cleaned up. Where can we go?” She wiped blood from his face. “Is any of this yours?” She looked at her soiled hand.
“I dunno. It might be. Sometimes it’s hard to tell.” Dusty kissed her forehead, then with a chuckle, wiped away the green lip mark he left. “I’ve got an apartment around the corner from here. I haven’t been there in a few days and should stop in.”
The second floor pad wasn’t a safe haven like the cave or compound. It was just part of the façade the Shadow Walkers had to keep so the whole of Talisman Bay wouldn’t wonder why a bunch of well-off guys lived in the back room of an import store.
She helped him to his feet then stayed at his side, one arm around him as they began a slow walk in the direction of his apartment. Just having her with him brought out deep strength, but his fatigue was still visible, his leg threatening to collapse with every step.
“Just around the corner, huh? It better be that close or you’re not gonna make it.”
“I’ll make it. I promise.” He smiled as he looked into her concerned gaze. A flash of movement reflected in her eye and he turned to look in the direction they were walking.
A Mardinlek phantasm wafted swiftly toward them. It levitated three feet above the ground and met them near face-level. Dusty grabbed Skylar to put himself between her and the phantasm and, at the same time, Skylar grabbed Dusty to try to put herself between him and the phantasm. It rattled and clanked its scales, ready to do battle.
“Don’t fuck with me today!” Dusty roared as he wound up to punch the phantasm, but it vaporized into a light pink mist, dissipating as two throwing stars clinked to the ground. He lowered his arm and looked around.
“Okay, guys, I won’t.” Jake laughed as he scaled further along the wall of the building, then down, putting him within safe jumping distance. “I’ve been trying to kill that damn Mardinlek all night. If it hadn’t gotten preoccupied with you guys, I’d still be crawlin’ around chasing it.” His eyes alight, he landed with usual grace on both feet and picked up his throwing stars. “Zakamediuls are out tonight?” After stowing the stars in his jacket, he motioned to the purple and green mess of their clothing.
Forsaken Talisman Page 16
