Modern Magic
Page 165
“Son of a bitch,” the sheriff said. Everyone stared at Jared. It was the most he’d said to them since arriving, and took them all by surprise.
“Did an autopsy report on the man come through yet?” Dr. Batista asked, quietly.
The sheriff nodded. “Not a drop of blood in his body. Burn marks at his temples, on his arms and thighs, no other injuries. No decomposition. If his fingerprints are real, it’s as if his body has been on ice for years.”
“It has,” Jared said. “Hell is a place of burning cold.”
“Not hot?”
“Heldon’s lie.”
“So the man’s injuries could be in line with execution in an electric chair,” Dr. Batista said.
“This is all supposition, and again, I need facts.”
Erin shoved her notepad across the table. “You want facts. Each of those men, along with Ashodan ben Shashur, the king of Kassim, have come to Dr. Cinatas for blood transfusions over the past few months. Cinatas backwards is satanic, Sno-Med backwards is demons. I now have reason to suspect these men aren’t as human as you and I and belong to a group called the Vladarian Order. They feed on Chosen blood. At the expo there was a little girl named Tierney. She had on a white Sno-Med sports bracelet because her blood was ‘special.’ The two dead girls in Manhattan had on white bracelets as well.
“The Vladarians want me. I don’t know why, but until I do, I would like to either disappear or lay low so they can’t find me. Why don’t you check those names out tonight and sleep on it. We can continue this discussion in the morning? We’ll also know more about what the fallout from the Sno-Med facility will be.”
The sheriff read the names on the list with widening eyes. “You met Luis Vasquez?” His voice was tight with restrained anger.
Erin blinked, wondering what bone the sheriff had to pick with the Venezuelan oil magnate. “Yes.”
The sheriff turned his back and walked to the window. “We’ll talk tomorrow. I need to think. Both Annette and I will be staying here tonight. I’ll be checking the grounds just to make sure things are safe.”
“What do you know about Luis Vasquez?” Erin asked.
The sheriff’s back stiffened. “We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Everyone appeared puzzled by his singling out one name on the list.
Emerald mouthed the word “Belize.”
Erin wasn’t sure what had happened in Belize, but the list had given the sheriff the facts he needed. She had the feeling they were finally getting through to him. What happened today was bigger than Cinatas. Bigger than anything any of them wanted to face.
Though the sky stretched a vibrant purple-blue in every direction, and the sun still hovered sweetly on the horizon leaving only the silhouettes of mountains and trees to shadow the peaceful evening, Erin trembled. The storm and the darkness she feared had come—to Jared’s eyes. The stark shadows she’d seen in his eyes this morning were back.
She saw it before they’d left Emerald’s cottage and now that they were alone at the cabin all pretense had fallen.
“Erin,” he said roughly the moment the door shut behind them.
She turned to him. “Shh,” she whispered, pressing her finger to the lush fullness of his lips. “Don’t talk.” She kissed the curved corners of his mouth, sucked softly on the bottom swell of his lip, and dipped her tongue into his heated moistness. She tasted him, reveling in the very fact that he was alive and within her reach. He groaned harshly and met her tongue with the hard thrust of his.
She threaded her fingers into the thick of his hair and brought his gaze to hers. “I want you,” she whispered, already in her mind making leisurely love to him, trailing kisses over every inch her fingers could explore, seeing his eyes grow dark with the fire of need.
Groaning, he claimed a hard kiss, one that seemed to unleash the storm in his eyes. The thin straps of her dress broke as he dragged her dress down, freeing her breasts to the cupping heat of his hands. He brought her nipples to hard points of need in just a few hot seconds.
She slipped her hands inside his shirt, desperate to feel the supple strength of his rippling contours and the pounding reassurance of his heart. He shoved her dress past her hips, taking her underwear to the floor as well. Buttons flew as he ripped off his shirt, and her pulse raced at the immediate intent in his eyes when he kicked free of his shoes and jerked down his jeans.
He stood hard, rough, and ready. Grabbing her hips, he pulled her to his erection, rocking against her. She met his thrust and pressed her breasts tightly to the hard planes of his chest, wrapping her arms around his neck to kiss him again.
He backed her to the wall in a rush and hiked her knees to his hips. Then he thrust into her wet softness, his breathing ragged and his muscles trembling as he pinned her to the wall. He was crazed, surging into her with hot sexual power that sparked her every erotic nerve in an explosion of sensations.
He groaned deeper than ever before, muscles quivering with his efforts as he drove into her, moving so hard and fast that her vision blurred. Shutting her eyes, she gave herself over to the pleasure rocketing her. There was no comfort, no tenderness. This was raw passion, and it swept her away in a shattering release that left her more vulnerable than ever before.
Jared shuddered in her arms as his climax ripped through him, and he bowed his forehead to hers. The dark curtain of his hair fell around them, shutting out the world, shutting out everything but the intimacy of them together. She wrapped her arms around him, wanting to stay like this forever, even if it was up against the wall. He was inside her, and the world nowhere in sight.
Suddenly, the howl of a wolf outside cut through the lingering silence, and Jared pulled back from her. Her legs slid unsteadily to the floor as her heart sank.
He’d turned from her, his gaze riveted on the evening shadows creeping into the room. “We have to talk, Erin. Now.”
“Okay,” she said, drawing a shaky breath. “Talk.”
He swung around, looked at her, then began gathering up their clothes. “Get dressed first.” He pressed hers into her arms and started pulling on his jeans as she gaped at him. Jared demanding clothes?
“Hurry,” he said. “I can’t think when you’re looking like you want me inside you.”
She would have laughed, but the seriousness in his eyes stole the humor from her heart. She quickly dressed, managing to tie the straps of her dress into a kind of halter top. Jared stood at the large windows, looking out at the fading sun.
“Do you remember the Sacred Stones on Spirit Wind Mountain?” he asked, surprising her.
“Yes. Why?”
He took his amulet off. It was the first time he’d ever removed it. He brought it to her and slipped it over her head. For some reason, tears filled her eyes, and her heart felt as if it would break apart.
He set his hands on her shoulders. “Listen carefully. The ancient stones are set in a special pattern, just as you see diagrammed on the amulet. You’ve four equilateral triangles, each from the four corners of the universe, entwined to form a twelve-point star with a perfect circle in the middle. They are Logos’s unity—the coming together of all things, fire and water, positive and negative, male and female, heaven and earth, harmony between opposites—and within the eternal circle at the Sacred Stones no evil can survive. I know, because in just the few minutes I stood within the circle, I felt its killing force. Should you ever be threatened again, go there. Promise me.”
“I promise. But what do you mean, you felt its killing force? You’re not evil!”
Jared’s eyes burned, and he blinked at the unaccustomed wetness clouding his vision. She didn’t understand. She didn’t know that at this moment he was her greatest threat. He sucked in air, trying to breathe through his teeth so he wouldn’t smell and taste the scent of her Chosen blood so strongly, but the drop of it he’d gotten in their kiss at Sno-Med had sharpened his hunger even more than before. He wanted to consume her.
Releasing her, he turned and fough
t for control, fought to strangle the beast trying to rise again inside him. Though the moon had yet to come into view, he could already feel its pull on that beast. Just as the moon moved the tides of the great waters of the mortal world and gave breath to many of the cycles in life, so did it draw the darkness buried within to break free and give into the evil eating his soul.
“Erin, I was a spiritual warrior, true and pure of heart, duty-bound to protect. When I was bitten by an assassin, its evil poison entered me and began infecting my spirit, ripping everything good from the depths of my heart. Though I have fought desperately to hold on to the remnants of what I was, I am nothing but the fading shadow of the warrior I was. But I will not ever cross into the darkness. I will die before I serve Heldon.”
“You’re not evil, Jared,” Erin cried. “I’ve seen the face of evil, and you are not it. I couldn’t love evil, and I love you.” She wrapped her arms around him, pressing her cheek to his heart. Tears were streaming down her face. “Can’t you see? You may not be what you once were, but that doesn’t mean you are evil. You are just different now. You are mortal, and both good and bad are within a human’s heart. We’re not perfect, and you can’t expect to be.”
“Erin,” he whispered and pulled her close to his heart one more time. “You don’t know me. You don’t know what’s inside of me.”
“I know what’s important. What matters. That’s all I need to know. Hold me, Jared. Please, would you just hold me and make the evil of today go away? Please. I… I need you more than ever before.”
Any noble intention he had of disappearing into the night before the beast surged through his control died beneath her plea. He couldn’t walk away just yet. He swung her into his arms, bringing her close to his heart, and carried her into the bedroom.
Laying her carefully on the bed, he slowly shed their clothes. First his lips and tongue and breath whispered their way from her mouth to her breasts, kissing her nipples to sweet points of throbbing need. Then, leaving a solitary kiss upon his amulet nestled between her full breasts, he trailed a path to the fiery heat of her sex, laving the sweet taste of her desire for him. And as he slid the hard need of his erection deep inside of her, he sent his spirit soaring with hers.
Erin woke to a screaming howl of pain and the distant sound of thunder. Night had fallen, and the shadowy light of the moon cut a spidery path over her naked body. She was alone. Jared. Had he screamed in pain?
Rolling from the bed, she pulled on clothes and ran through the cabin, coming to a heart-wrenching stop at the front door. It hung half torn from its hinges.
“Jared!” she yelled, running out onto the porch. Thunder rumbled again. Erin searched the sky, and saw a black shadow nearly obliterating the light of the full moon. She thought about the spirit beings she’d seen before, and the lightning. She moved back to the porch.
“Jared!” she called again.
A scream of pain answered her. She couldn’t cower in the house. Not if Jared was hurt and needed her.
“Where are you?” she shouted, moving toward the shelter of the trees, in the direction she’d heard the scream. The sudden chill wind that slammed into her sent a feeling of icy dread racing down her spine. She ran deep into the woods, the dank scents of pine and forest decay closing in on her. Branches slapped at her, and the sting of pine needles pricked her skin as stones bruised the soles of her feet. She didn’t care; her only concern was for Jared. The pain in his cry still echoed in her heart. “Jared!”
Rain fell in a sudden gush, pelting her with biting drops of cold and bits of hail. Her skin crawled. Did a spiritual battle wage over her head? Was the rain really iridescent blood falling from the heavens?
Another cry of pain tore shrilly through the night, suddenly sounding like the howl of an agonized wolf. Erin stopped in her tracks. Had that been what she’d heard all along? A wolf, and not Jared?
“There is no hope,” Aragon shouted as Jared’s ravenous howl reverberated through the forest. “The Tsara’s poison has claimed him completely.”
The echoing howl sent a sharp stab of guilt through Aragon. He and the other Blood Hunters had gathered on the mountainside, hopeful that the evil thwarted that day had meant salvation for their lost brother.
“We’ve no choice! He must die! He runs this way with the demons spurring his bloodlust.”
“He hasn’t taken Chosen blood, yet,” Navarre said, pacing through the mists, hovering above the mortal ground.
“He will by morning. I feel it. He must die.” Aragon stabbed his sword into the ground.
“How do you know?” Sven demanded angrily. “None of us hold Logos’s mind. None of us can see into the future. Anything can change in a moment of time.”
“No,” Aragon said harshly. He snapped his head up. Jerking his sword from the ground, he shifted into a battle stance. “Jared runs this way!”
Minions of the Fallen poured into the clearing, their gnashing teeth and feral eyes showing their hunger to destroy.
York snatched up his sword and swung around as Jared and a host of Fallen converged on them.
The Blood Hunters fell into circle formation, their backs together, their swords afire.
Upon seeing them, Jared came to a stop and howled painfully. As the Fallen surged forward to attack, he stood watching.
Aragon, Sven, York, and Navarre pressed their backs together, a solid calm center, fighting valiantly as Heldon’s minions closed in on them.
Chapter Nineteen
“Where are you?” yelled a deep male voice. “Answer me, damn it!”
It sounded like the sheriffs voice. Erin hesitated, then hurried his way, wondering if the sheriff had hurt Jared. She broke into a clearing just as lightning streaked across the sky in such a display that the entire forest looked as if it were afire.
She saw the sheriff across the grassy field and started running his way. He appeared to be waving his hands, shouting as he ran toward her. She couldn’t hear what he yelled, for a sound akin to the thundering roar of a train reverberated around her, causing everything inside her to shake. Shotgun blasts of wind pummeled her and the sheriff. He pointed at the sky above her.
Before she could look, the screeching howl of a wolf cut above the roar, and Erin screamed as an enormous silver wolf-like man leaped into the clearing. In a blurring flash, it tackled her to the ground and rolled. Feral fangs and the familiar sight of iridescent blue eyes registered as the wolf-man pinned her body beneath it. A second later heavy tree limbs slammed down on top of the creature and her. The blows were so hard, they pounded her into the wet earth, and the creature screamed.
Erin barely had time to blink before she heard the sheriff digging at the branches and cussing. Forcing her eyes open, she expected to have a dim vision of a silver wolf-like creature on her. Instead, Jared’s chiseled features met her gaze. He appeared unconscious.
She cried out in shock at the wolf’s transformation. She didn’t want to accept that Jared and the wolf could be one. Yet her arms were still wrapped around this creature, this man whom she loved.
“Can you hear me? Are you hurt?” the sheriff asked. She couldn’t see him through the pine needles yet.
“No, but I think he is.”
“The wolf?”
Erin swallowed. “No, Jared. The wolf . . . and him … I think are one and the same.”
Jared groaned. “Erin,” he said. “Hurt.”
She saw him shake his head.
“Shh. The sheriff is here. He can help us. I am all right.”
Jared tensed. His muscles bunched, and energy poured from him as he planted his hands on the ground and reared back against the tree branches.
The branches cracked loudly as they gave way.
“Shit. What the hell?” the sheriff yelled.
Jared rose up from the branches, breaking their thickness like twigs as he stood. Erin felt the rush of cool air and blinked up at the clear, star-filled night sky. The moon shone full and bright above her, and none of
the earlier dark shadows or clouds littered the sky. If she hadn’t been soaking wet and covered in pine needles, she would have thought she’d dreamed it all.
She sat up, then stood with Jared’s help. He pulled her to his side and stared at the sheriff.
The sheriff looked shaken. “Who are you? What are you? Jesus!” Exhaling harshly, the sheriff turned away. “I suggest we finish this conversation at the cabin. I’d rather not see any more tornados tonight or encounter another sixty-foot pine tree.”
Once at the cabin, Jared single-handedly lifted the front door, bent the metal of the hinges straight with his fingers, and hung the door back in place.
Erin left the sheriff gaping at Jared and fetched dry towels for everyone.
“Let’s go to the kitchen,” she said. Rather than sitting at the table like a guest, the sheriff searched the cabinets as if he’d been there before and knew what he wanted.
“Em keeps whiskey here somewhere,” he said. “I need a drink.” He found the bottle and held it up. “Anybody else want any?”
Jared grunted, and Erin shook her head.
The sheriff drew a long drink right from the bottle, then riveted his eyes on Jared. “How long have you been like this?”
“My time on the mortal ground began as Erin said, on the hood of her car.”
“And how many of those nights were like tonight?” the sheriff demanded.
“Just last night,” Jared whispered, closing his eyes.
“What?” Erin said, her heart hammering with dread. She’d found Jared in the hammock. He’d been out all night. “What happened last night?”
“Last night, miles away in the Smoky Mountain National Forest, two men were attacked by a silver creature. They called him Big Foot with fangs. Just about how I might describe what I saw tonight.”
“Was anyone killed?” Jared asked. His anguished whisper rang like a convicting gavel through Erin’s mind. Her hand froze midair, reaching for him.