Not Quite Dead (A NightHunter Novel)

by Stephanie Rowe

  The drain on him was immense, and he grimly called up more magic. His skin began to ripple with more shadows, and he felt them sliding through his body, searching for a handhold.

  "Got it!" Jordyn held up a two-inch bottle, and David snatched it from her hand.

  He grabbed an empty flask from the wreckage and set it down beside the blue vial as he started to mix up the ingredients of several different bottles, much like he'd done with Eric. Jordyn navigated her way across the rubble and back to Skye. She glanced at Eric, and concern flickered across her face. "How close are you?"

  "Still time, but I appreciate the concern." A small explosion jerked his attention back to David, who was now leaning over a three-foot tall pillar of blue flame that was wrapping around his face and weaving its way through his skin. "What the hell are you?"

  "I'm a bartender," David said.

  "Yeah, and I'm a ballet dancer. Fuck that." Richard moved again, and Eric slammed more power at him. The green chains glowed brighter, shoving the man more securely against the wall. "You want to tell us what's really going on here?"

  "Vampire attack. Richard and Skye were trying to take him down. By the time I got there, things were not going well. We got him, though. That bloodsucker isn't going to come back from what I did to him." David picked up the crystal bowl that the fire was pouring from. "Almost ready. Jordyn?"

  She was hunched over Skye, her hands on either side of the woman's face while she chanted. Magic danced over his skin, and he knew that she was calling upon her own spirit guides to help. Skye's life force was still weakening, though. She had minutes, maybe seconds left. "David," he said. "Get over to Skye. She needs help."

  "No, Richard first. He's almost gone."

  Richard's eyes were fixed on his, his entire body still straining against the chains Eric was holding him with. Eric felt the darkness of his spirit pals creep around the edges of his mind, searching for an opening. Swearing, he raised his shields further, and Richard got his hand free, taking advantage of Eric's distraction.

  Shit! He shoved more magic at Richard, pushing him back against the wall, and then the darkness coiled around his head more. He could feel it leaching into his mind, forcing tiny cracks in his shields. "I can't hold him much longer," Eric announced to anyone who cared.

  "Don't let him go!" David limped past him, and then stumbled. He fell to his knees, and Eric saw then that his jeans were torn and bloodied as well. His face was pale, and his breath was rasping in his chest.

  "David?" Jordyn didn't take her hands off the woman. "What's wrong with you?"

  "Nothing." David tried to stand, and fell again. Without breaking his hold on Richard, Eric grabbed his arm, hauled him to his feet, and practically threw him at Richard.

  He went down on his knees beside Richard, who was still straining against the bonds. "Lower him down to me," he ordered Eric.

  "Lower him? This isn't as easy as I'm making it look, you know." Gritting his teeth, Eric moved the chains, dragging Richard toward the floor. Richard started to fight with renewed vigor, twisting and battling against the bonds. Eric felt his grip on him start to weaken. He called up more magic, and it hit him hard, rushing through him like a high. Shit. He was too vulnerable after the last close call. His shields were too weak. "I can't hold him much longer—"

  "You can do it," Jordyn interrupted. "You're just afraid of what you are. Believe in yourself."

  "Believe in myself? Really?" He glared at her as he worked on Richard. "Inspirational Hail Marys are a little overly optimistic in this situation, even coming from you," he said. "Besides, I'm not afraid. I'm just smart about the risks, and I think it's polite of me to warn every one present that I might devour them shortly."

  "You're afraid!"

  God. Did the woman have no sense of boundaries? "Don't call me afraid. I'm not afraid. I'm irritated!"

  She shook her head at him. "You'll never get over your fear until you face it. Maybe this is your moment. Face your fear and then master your domain."

  "I have no interest in mastering my domain," he choked out, still concentrating on Richard. "At least, not when you're around to take care of things."

  She gaped at him. "Sex? Really? Now?"

  "It's a good distraction," he muttered. "You know how guys think about baseball to keep from getting off too early? Well, it works the other way, too. I think about you naked to keep from exploding into some sort of demon-vampire mixed breed of doom and destruction."

  "A little lower," David ordered. "I can't reach him."

  Eric slammed Richard to the ground, and the man grunted with pain as he hit the floor, but it knocked the wind out of him enough to tame his struggles for a moment. David immediately bent over him, dumping powder on him.

  The air in the room thickened, and Eric glanced up at the ceiling as a sudden crack echoed through the room. The ceiling had split, a six-foot long crack in the plaster eating its way across the length of the room.

  Jordyn looked up, and she bit her lip.

  David's chants grew louder, and Richard's struggles increased. Eric gritted his teeth, focusing all his energy into holding him. Dark shadows began to streak through his mind, like teeth digging into his brain. There was another crack, and the wall split.

  Jordyn looked over at him. "Is that you?"

  "Might be me. Maybe Richard. I'm not sure. There's a lot of energy being tossed around right now." He felt a shift in Richard's energy. It suddenly became much darker, and the green chains wrapped around him began to drip with a black coating. For a split second, he wondered if Richard was a vampire as well. No, not vampire. Something else. Something really bad. Suddenly, his ability to hold Richard took on new urgency. Whatever he was, it wasn't good. No wonder David had tied him up before putting him in his truck.

  He jerked his attention off the cracking plaster and focused on Richard. He quieted his mind and thrust more energy at him. Hairline cracks appeared in his chains, and the green began to fade as Richard's power grew. The man's eyes shifted to a lethal shade of gold.

  "We're losing him," David shouted. "Come on!" He slammed his hand down onto Richard's chest, and the other man coughed as smoke poured out of David's palms and into his body.

  "Eric!"

  He looked over at Jordyn, whose face was pale. "What?"

  "Your face." She looked down at Skye, and then back at Eric. "You're slipping again."'

  "I'm aware of that, thanks." He knew damn well that there were shadows solidifying beneath his skin again. Hard to miss them, really.

  Her face was pinched with worry. "Let go of Richard. You can't hold him."

  He glanced back at Richard, who was thrashing under David's ministrations. "I'm not thinking that's a good idea right now, honey—"

  "But—"

  A sudden keening wail scraped through the air, and Eric jerked his gaze back to Richard just as the man's head went back in a convulsion of agony. His back arched as if he were being stabbed between the shoulder blades.

  "No, no, no!" David shouted. "Come on—"

  Richard suddenly went limp, collapsing on the floor, his life force spilling out of his body. Eric swore as he watched the mist gather above his heart, and then spin out through the wall. It didn't take being simpatico with spirits to know what had just happened.

  Richard had just been killed by a vampire.

  Chapter 20

  Jordyn felt the entire room creak and groan, and the walls seemed to bend inward toward them from the sheer weight of the oppressive doom. She blinked back the sudden tears as Richard's death closed in around them. She didn't even know him, but the raw vulnerability of his life, and all of those she cared about, seemed to swell inside her. His death leached through her body, as if it were trying to contaminate the very air around it and drag them all with it. She felt the weight of the death tearing at her, and tears filled her eyes, that same anguish that had made her kill herself before, after so many she'd loved had been ripped from her grasp so ruthlessly.

 
Stay with me, Jordyn. Eric's voice brushed through her mind, surrounding her like a warm embrace of strength. Think of how great of a lover I am, and how you can't wait for me to make love to you again. If you get suicidal, you'll never get another orgasm from me again. She felt his lips brush across hers, but it wasn't a kiss of lust and sex. It was tenderness and sensuality, encircling her heart and easing the tight grip of anguish.

  She managed a small smile, and took a deep breath, her lungs suddenly working again. His metaphysical caress was wrapped tightly around her, giving her a precious buffer from the negative emotions swirling through her. As she regained control of her emotions, she realized the air was thick with a taint that crept across her flesh, and tried to grip her soul. What in heaven's name was that? "Away!" She flung out her hands, and it backed off, seeping away and into the cement walls.

  As it departed, Eric released Richard, and then fell to his hands and knees. His fingers dug into the floor, and his head was bowed with exhaustion from the battle he'd just waged. Even his muscles were shaking visibly. Richard's lifeless body collapsed without Eric's support, and then Skye's body convulsed violently.

  Both men whirled toward her, and Jordyn bent over her, frantically trying to infuse her own energy into Skye. But her friend's back arched, and her mouth opened in a cry of anguish. David lunged at her, skidding to a stop beside her as he launched into muttered chants in a language she didn't understand, but that she recognized.

  Eric leapt across the room, landing beside Jordyn in a crouch. He pressed his shoulder against hers and set his hands over hers. She felt the press of his energy swirl into her. Dark, terrible images flashed in her mind, and she instinctively recoiled.

  "I know I'm bad shit, but you need to stay with me," he said. "We need to do this together. She's trying to die."

  "Okay." She didn't hesitate. She simply closed her eyes and leaned against Eric, focusing on the feel of his body against hers, using his physical presence to ground her from her panic about losing Skye. She dropped her mental shields, and he swept into her mind, a vibrant, masculine force. His energy was violent and terrible, and she could hear the screams of souls that had been tormented echoing through him.

  She didn't shy away. She just opened herself to him, wrapping herself around him. Their spirits connected, and she felt the moment his darkness sensed her. Everything came racing toward her in a frenetic, rabid assault—

  No! Eric's roar of denial echoed through her as he slammed up his shields between them. She was instantly cut off from his darkness, and she swayed, as if he'd taken away part of her foundation.

  She could feel the iron grip of his control as he wove his energy around her again. This time, he was more careful, keeping his energy tightly contained, so that only hints of it spilled through her as he entwined their magic. Holding onto her beneficent energy, he guided her through the metaphysical web and into Skye's body. Together, they held onto Skye's spirit, feeding it enough of their own energy to sustain it while David frantically worked on her physical being.

  Another keening wail echoed from Skye, and her body convulsed again. Her pain shot through Jordyn, and she gasped, struggling not to pull away. Eric put his arm around her shoulders, pulling her against him as they held onto Skye ruthlessly, refusing to let her go. The energy Eric was pouring into Skye was incredible, and Jordyn was stunned by the sheer force of what he could channel. It was a thousand times more than what she could do, exponentially more powerful. But his was pure evil, a raw, unstoppable hunger that burned through him like an insatiable lust for blood, death, and domination.

  For the first time, she truly understood what a danger Eric presented, because that dark side of him wasn't him at all. It was something else, a parasitic soul living within him, trying to take over him at every opportunity. It wasn't as if Eric could simply choose to embrace his good side. It was whether Eric had the strength to hold off the enemy from within, that was, quite clearly, not the type of boy that a girl would bring home to her mother, or even to her drunken, abusive father.

  Fear rippled through her, a deep, real fear of the reality of what he was.

  Skye's body shuddered again, and smoke exploded from her neck. It raged in black and orange, spinning wildly around them as if they were in the middle of a raging forest fire. The air was rancid with the stench of burnt flesh, and Jordyn felt Skye's soul try to escape again.

  Eric thrust his magic into her, and Jordyn clenched her teeth, joining up with Eric. For a terrifying moment, everything was held in abeyance: Skye's body fighting David's treatment, her soul trying to leave, and Eric's shadowy self pulsating through her. Eric's darker side was getting stronger and stronger, and she could feel it starting to leach into her. She opened her mind and reached out with her own powers, seeking help from the benevolent spirits that surrounded them. They came to her, spirits of women and children long since departed from this world, and poured their love into her. She thrust it into Eric, wrapping him in the shield of her own magic, trying to give him room to work on Skylar.

  He glanced at her, and she saw his face was almost pure shadows. A few more seconds. His voice was strained in her mind. Then I can't pull back.

  Jordyn glanced at David. "You have to do it now!"

  David looked up, and his eyes flicked to Eric's face. He swore under his breath, and then grabbed a small pile of herbs to his right. He glanced at Jordyn, and she saw a flash of pain in his eyes. Then he tossed the herbs into the fire.

  The explosion threw them all back. Eric crashed into the wall beside Richard, and Jordyn landed beside him, saved from serious head injury when Eric caught her just before impact. She slammed into his chest, and he grunted as his arms wrapped round her. David hit the ceiling, and then crashed down beside them.

  Then, just as suddenly as they'd appeared, the flames disappeared, leaving behind a caked layer of ash across everything. Skye was laying on her back, covered in black filth, her eyes closed and her body still.

  Jordyn coughed, trying to clear the ash from her lungs.

  "You okay?" Eric asked.

  "Yes." She rolled over to look at him and gasped when she saw his face looked almost like a bottomless pit of poisonous mist. His skin was undulating, and his face was sunken. "Eric?"

  He shook his head and closed his eyes, letting his head rest against the wall. "Check Skylar. I'm fine."

  She touched his arm. "Eric—"

  "Check her!" He opened his eyes. "I'm fine." His eyes bore into hers, and she felt the depths of his struggle. He was barely holding onto the edge, and her heart ached for him.

  You're not in this alone, Eric.

  For a long moment, he didn't move, then he nodded once, and closed his eyes again. The air around him grew empty, and she knew he was building his shields again, waging that internal battle he'd fought so many times in his life.

  She glanced over at Skylar, and new worry rippled through her. Skye was motionless, her skin ashen, her cheeks almost as sunken as Eric's. "Skye?" Jordyn scrambled to her feet. Was she dead? Her mouth dry with terror, she raced across the floor and fell to her knees beside her. Skye's face was caked, and Jordyn used her sleeve to wipe her eyes clear of the soot. "Hey, sweetie, it's me. Jordyn."

  For an agonizing moment, nothing happened, and then Skye's eyes opened. They were just as radiantly green as they'd been so many years ago when they were kids. For a long moment she stared at Jordyn without speaking.

  "Skye? Talk to me."

  Skye's green eyes flicked to the men, and then back to Jordyn. "That was fun, don't you think?"

  Relief rushed through Jordyn, and she sat back on her heels. The same old Skye, despite the fact it had been so long since they'd seen each other. "Super fun. Another thing off your bucket list, right?"

  Skylar grinned then, even as she winced with pain. "I have a distinct memory that having my throat ripped out by a vampire might even have been number one. I can't believe it took this long." She grimaced. "I'm such an underachiever, you know?
"

  "Never, and your dad's a bastard for even putting those words in your mouth."

  Skye laughed softly. "Your dad's the bigger bastard."

  "I know, but he's dead."

  Skye managed a faint smile. "Mine too. We should celebrate, don't you think?"

  "Definitely."

  "Tired. Need to sleep." Sky's smile faded. "We need to kick some ass," she muttered. "It's time. David's a badass now," she whispered. "Did you notice?" Her body shuddered. "I missed you, Jordyn. You're the only one who got me," she said, her voice fading as her muscles went limp. Jordyn opened her mind to search for her spirit, but she couldn't sense anything, which could mean either her soul was back in her body, or it had already left. Jordyn's only skill was with spirits that were no longer bound to their corporeal form, but which were still in the vicinity.

  She looked frantically at Eric, who was looking at her with a strange expression on his face that she couldn't decipher. "Is she dead?"

  David knelt beside her and set his palm on Skylar's neck, where she'd been bitten. His fingers were blackened, covered in soot and burns as he cupped her injury. "It's clean," he said, his voice rough and ragged. "I got it all. I just don't know if it was too late."

  "She's okay," Eric said quietly. "Her soul is staying put. She's healing now."

  Tears filled Jordyn's eyes at his words, and she bowed her head in exhaustion. Skylar was going to be okay.

  She grabbed a half-burned blanket and tucked it around Skye as David slumped beside her. His wounds were still bleeding profusely, the blood mixed with ash and soot from the explosion. Eric was sitting with his back propped against the wall. His forearms were draped over his knees, and his face was swirling with shadows. His cheeks were sunken, and he looked like a man who had spent an eternity in a dungeon of hell.

  Beside Eric lay Richard, his body sprawled in the indignity of death. She didn't know Richard, but he looked as if he'd been in his late twenties, and he was heavily muscled, a man who wouldn't lose very many battles.

  David let out a muffled groan as he reached for another jar of powder, which he dusted over the wound in his forearm. As she watched, she saw the bleeding stop and the ends of the gash began to heal, so quickly she could actually see it happen. She glanced at Eric, who was watching David closely. No powder could make a person heal that quickly. It was David who was healing himself.