Breed of Envy (The Breed Chronicles, #02)

by Jordan, Lanie

  “I don’t want to spy on Linc,” I said, suddenly weary.

  “I’m not asking you to spy on him. I’m asking you to do what you do best. Ask him questions. Talk to him. Go over everything with him. I know you’ll do it anyway; isn’t that what you’ve been doing for the last two months?”

  “Well, yeah, but that was—”

  “To help him prepare. And that’s what he needs still. It’s important to him, and I know you know that. But it’s important to me and the other hunters as well. He’s one of ours, Jade. All of the Prospects are.” His expression softened slightly. “We look after our own. And I’m not looking for a reason to cancel or postpone the hunt—I’m looking for reasons not to. You’re one of ours, too, so I’ll trust your judgment on this one. If, by the time we’ve found the demon, you say he’s still ready, then that’s all the confirmation I’ll need.”

  “How do you know I won’t lie?” I asked quietly. I wasn’t sure I wouldn’t be biased. This was important to Linc, so important to him.

  “Because you’re too honest for your own good. And because I know you realize that Linc getting what he wants isn’t necessarily the best thing for him, not if there’s a chance he’ll get himself killed in the process.”

  He had a point. But damnit. I didn’t want this on my head. I didn’t want to be the one with the power to call this off.

  When I didn’t answer, Peter shrugged. “It’s you or me, Jade. I just thought it’d be easier coming from you.”

  “I’ll do it,” I found myself saying, despite everything in me screaming that it was a bad idea. “But I don’t have to like it.”

  Peter gave me a sad smile. “No, you don’t. It’s one part of being a hunter that sucks, and it doesn’t get any easier, trust me.” He rested his hand on my shoulder briefly, then he turned and walked away.

  I let out a deep breath and cursed Peter and Greene and myself, and then I sent up a silent prayer. Please, let Linc be ready. Because I don’t think I’m ready to stop this from happening.

  *~*~*

  I barely had a chance to get dressed after my shower before someone—Linc—pounded on my door. My hair was still dripping wet when I answered it. “Is it time already?” I asked him. I thought my shower was fast, but had it actually been longer?

  He strode in, went to my bed, and sat down. “No. I just can’t wait in my room anymore. It’s too quiet.” He leaned back, gave me a once over that had heat rushing to my cheeks. One eyebrow rose. “Sorry. I should’ve waited.”

  I closed the door and turned to face him. I smiled. “It’s fine. Just let me dry my hair and we can go wait outside, if you want.” I ducked into the bathroom and dug out the hair dryer. The sound buzzed in my ears loudly, so I didn’t hear Linc move in the other room and only knew he had because I caught a peek of him a few minutes later, just standing there watching me. I probably looked like an idiot, bent at the waist with my head down. I straightened quickly and my hair flew everywhere, covering my face and eyes.

  He closed the distance between us. “Not a bad look,” he said, his tone kinda husky as he brushed aside my hair, “but I like this one better.”

  “Which look?”

  “This one,” he said, then his hand went to the back of my head and he kissed me. It only lasted a minute, maybe two, but it felt like electricity flowed through me the entire time. When he broke the kiss, his hand was still at the back of my head.

  I smiled. It was about the only movement I could manage. “What was that for?”

  “For me. For good luck.” His smile was slow, sly, and sexy as hell. “And because I could.”

  My smile turned into a grin.

  He pulled me close against his body, leaned his head down until his lips brushed across my neck. He groaned. “C’mon. Let’s get outside before I start something I’ll definitely want to finish.”

  *~*~*

  When we went outside, Peter was already waiting. It was just after four, so the sun was high. The sky was, thankfully, clear. The last weather report I’d seen called for rain, but that’d been two days ago. Mother Nature had apparently changed her mind. I was fine with that. Hunting in the rain didn’t seem like fun.

  Adam and Dale were waiting, too, standing outside one of the CGE’s signature vans. There was another van behind it and I recognized Harry through the windshield, so I waved at him.

  “Alright, here are your vests,” Peter said, handing us each one. “They’ve already got your weapons in them—including your nano-sword, Jade, and a new nano-staff, Linc. Put them on and load up.”

  Though the vests had more powerful weapons, I still carried the lipstick knife thingy Linc had given me for Christmas. It probably wouldn’t do much good, but I liked having it. Peter eyed me as I stuffed it into one of the vest pockets. “What?”

  “You’re bringing lipstick on a hunt?”

  Linc shot me a grin. I just shrugged at Peter. “You never know when you’ll need lipstick,” I said, completely deadpan, and then I ducked in the back of the van before I laughed.

  I heard Linc mutter “girls” under his breath as he took a seat beside me. I shook my head, trying not to smile.

  Peter and Adam jumped in, then shut the doors. I heard the front van door shut a second later as Dale got in. “Ready,” Adam said, tapping the partition that separated the front from the back.

  Linc’s grin faded as Adam sat back down, like he’d momentarily forgotten what we were going out to do. He tensed, so I grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. He looked down at our hands, nodded, and I watched as he visibly forced himself to relax.

  Tallahassee was only three hours away, but somehow it seemed like it was taking forever to get there. No one really spoke or smiled, everyone just sat quietly. Adam and Peter both glanced at Linc frequently, like they were checking for signs of…something. Twenty minutes into the trip, Linc’s eyes narrowed and he tensed up again. His jaw was taught, back straight, and I was pretty sure he hadn’t moved a muscle since I took his hand. Then again, I thought, maybe his grip had tightened. It’d been a while since I could feel my fingers.

  I wanted to say something, to offer some support or encouragement…but what? Would I want him to say something if this had been my trip? I wasn’t sure. I’d probably be as lost in my thoughts as Linc seemed to be. That or I’d be a complete wreck. I couldn’t really tell which.

  Still holding Linc’s hand, I watched out the back window. The traffic behind us was getting heavier, which meant we had to be getting pretty close. Street lamps flew by and the lines in the road were blurred so much they looked like a solid line.

  “Okay,” Peter said a few minutes later, leaning forward in his seat and resting his forearms on the tops of his thighs. “Let’s go over our plan one more time,” he said, and detailed it out for us again.

  Linc and I were supposed to wait in the van while Peter and Dale located the demon, checked the surroundings, and then figured out the best plan of attack that would get us all back in one piece. A plan, they hoped, that wouldn’t draw too much attention to us or the demon.

  Linc and I both nodded, though Linc’s nod was more of a twitch.

  The plan probably would’ve been different if this wasn’t an important demon for Linc to catch. I think Peter was half-afraid Linc would go after it and do something crazy. I wish I could’ve said Peter was wrong and that Linc wouldn’t do something like that, but in his shoes, I wasn’t sure what I’d do. I’d acted like a mad woman on Halloween and all I’d seen of my demon was a stupid hologram.

  “Stay put,” Peter said, following Adam out of the back of the van once Dale had parked. The front door of the van opened and closed, then Dale peeked his head in.

  Once the doors closed behind them, I went to the windows and looked out. They double-checked their coms, their weapons, then split up.

  I backed up and sat in the seat across from Linc. “Are you ready?”

  His eyes flashed up to mine. “Yeah. I’m ready.”

  “Tell
me what you know about the demon.”

  “You know everything I know.”

  I rolled my eyes. “I know that. But you don’t have the super memory thing, do you?”

  “I haven’t forgotten anything about it, Jade.”

  “I’m sure you haven’t, but Peter asked me to go over the details of it again. Just in case.”

  His eyes narrowed. “You’re watching over me for him now?”

  “No, you idiot, I’m watching over you for me. If you get yourself killed, who am I going to harass and glare at all the time?”

  He tried to fight a smirk—I saw it—but it didn’t work. “Shit.” He scrubbed his hands over his face. “Okay,” he said. “Sawthorn demon. Usually six feet tall or taller. Has saw-like arms that are strong, hard to break, and lined with razor sharp thorn-like protrusions. They’re smart and steal clothes, usually from homeless people. The books say it’s a defense thing, since people tend to shy away from the homeless.”

  “Good. And?” I prodded quietly.

  “They usually kill the people they steal the clothes from, but they’re not the demon’s first choice of…prey.” The lines of his mouth hardened and his eyes narrowed even more. There wasn’t even the slightest hint of a smile now. “Victims are almost always couples. One guy, one girl.” He swallowed and looked up, let out a breath. “They’re both killed. Usually.”

  “What won’t kill it?”

  “There isn’t a lot that actually does.” He took another breath. “A heart shot, but that’s hard to do. They move around too much and their skin is hard. Other than that, the only thing that is really effective on it is guns with specialized bullets. The bullets are dipped in an acid that’s DNA specific. It’s not harmful to animals or humans—only the demon.”

  “What about fire?”

  Linc shook his head. “Usually only makes its skin stronger.”

  “Good.” I glanced up. Linc was looking away, so from one of the millions of pockets on the vests, I pulled out a small plastic ball I’d brought. “Think fast,” I said and then threw it at his head.

  He leaned to the side seconds before it would’ve hit him between the eyes. It bounced off the side with a ding sound and he caught it the second time around. And then he glared. “Did Peter ask you to do that, too?”

  I smiled. “No, that was for me. Just making sure your reflexes are good,” I said sweetly.

  Linc’s expression shifted about a dozen times in the span of a second. Outrage, bafflement, surprise. I could almost see the different thoughts running through his mind—thoughts, I assumed, on what to do with me. He probably settled on strangulation.

  Shaking his head, he tossed the ball back to me. “I’ll get you back for that one, Hall.”

  “You’ll try,” I said, still smiling.

  “I will. And Jade? Thanks.”

  “For throwing a ball at your head?” I gave him my sweetest smile. “Anytime.”

  *~*~*

  The back of the van opened about an hour later. Peter stood outside with his vest hanging over his arm. “We looked around, talked to a few people. There have been sightings of a ‘really tall, smelly, ugly looking homeless dude’ from a few different people.”

  “An ugly dude, huh?” I asked.

  Peter shrugged. “It was some skateboarder. Think he was scared out of his mind. He and his friends tried skating around it, and when one of them fell off their skateboard and hit him, the ‘dude growled really loud and sounded like an animal’. Could be a human, but we’re going to check it out.”

  Dale stuck his head in and I noticed his vest was off, too. “What are you waiting for? C’mon, bait.”

  Since Linc and I were around the same age and couple-y anyway, Peter and Dale said we would act as bait. It was safer than using civilians since, if we were attacked, it’d be A) easier to explain, B) we would—hopefully—not get ourselves killed, and C) be easier to control. Linc had been hesitant at first, because he didn’t want me around the demon. I explained, politely with a slap to the back of the head, that I’d had the same training he’d had and could take care of myself. I didn’t know if it was the slap or the words that did it, but after that, he wasn’t too upset by the idea. (Plus, I’d nicely reminded him that he’d asked me to come with him.)

  “Now for the bad news, kids. The suspected demon was spotted in downtown, around one of the busiest areas. It’s late on a Saturday night, so there are still plenty of people around. We need to do this quietly, without being seen. That means no weapons vests.” Peter jumped into the van and reached for a big black bag. From inside, he pulled out two items and handed us each one. “Think of these as bulletproof vests, only thinner, lighter, and not bulletproof at all.” He flashed a grin. “But if you get hit, it should dampen the blow and prevent any cuts from the demon.”

  “Unless it goes for their heads, arms, or legs.”

  Peter gave a wry smile. “Always the optimist, our Dale. But he has a point. Try to avoid getting hit if you can. And if you can’t avoid it, try to make sure it hits the vests. We’re only a few miles from a hospital, but in this traffic, if it hits an artery, you’d likely bleed out before an ambulance could get here.”

  “And Dale’s the optimistic one?” I asked.

  “Yeah. I’m the realist. Now get your butts in gear.”

  Peter pulled out a flannel shirt from his bag and slid it on; Dale just put on another t-shirt.

  I fought the urge to salute and instead started peeling off the weapons vest. Linc did the same. He usually had on a sleeveless tee under his normal shirt. I, on the other hand, was starting to feel seriously under-dressed.

  “Problem, Jade?” Peter asked me.

  “No. Well, kinda,” I corrected, grabbing out my lipstick knife from one of the vests pockets and the nano-sword from another so I didn’t forget about them. “I’m guessing walking around in these vest things still might attract some unwanted attention, so…mind giving me some privacy? I can put it on under my shirt, I guess.”

  “I have a spare shirt in my bag,” Adam said. Peter turned around and dug through Adam’s bag for it. When he found it, he tossed it to Adam. “It’ll be a little big,” Adam started, “but… Actually, Linc, give Jade your shirt. You can wear this one. Closer fit for you, probably.”

  Without hesitation, Linc pulled his shirt off and tossed it to me, then put on the one Adam gave him. I put on Linc’s shirt. I realized two things that had heat rushing to my cheeks: One, it was still warm from Linc’s body, and two, it smelled good. Like, seriously good. I had to fight the urge to sniff it like a crazy person. I cleared my throat. “How are we going to make sure the demon comes after us?”

  “With a special scent.” Peter pulled a small glass tube from his pocket. He opened it, dabbed a small amount of the contents on my wrist, then Linc’s. “It’s a special mix with the demon’s own pheromones. Trust me. It won’t even notice other people around once it gets your scent.”

  I tried to pretend that wearing a demon’s scent as perfume didn’t bother me, but I was pretty sure wrinkling my nose at it gave me away. Well, that wasn’t the only reason I wrinkled my nose. The stuff stank.

  Adam eyed me with a weird expression on his face. “You can smell it?”

  “Yeah. It smells like shi—nasty stuff.”

  “Huh.” He shot a look at Peter and Dale.

  I smiled weakly and glanced at Linc. He frowned. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who’d seen the look. “Anyway,” I said, squashing the sudden uneasy feeling that tried settling in my stomach, “do we get any weapons?”

  “Your brains. And maybe a little something extra.” Peter dug through the bag again. He held up two discs the size of fifty-cent pieces before handing me one and Linc the other. “These are smoke caps. Drop one, and it’ll smoke up the area. It’ll mess with the demons eyes, which are sensitive to smoke. Unfortunately, it’ll make it hard for you two to see, too, but it shouldn’t cause any harm to your eyes. The plan is to have you two lure it into
the alley near Fifth and Main to catch it in a trap. We’ve got things set up there.”

  Dale held up his tablet for me and Linc to see. “This is the alley you need to get to,” he explained, pointing to a red dot on the screen. “If the demon tries to come after you before then, and for some reason you can’t shake it, try for one of these three.” He tapped the screen, making three green dots appear on the screen. “They’re dead-ends, but we pulled the fire escape ladders down. If you get in a pinch, drop a smoke cap and use the time to climb up one. The demon shouldn’t be able to follow if you move your asses and don’t dawdle.”

  I nodded. “Don’t dawdle. Check.”

  “And don’t get smart with me.”

  “Check,” Linc said.

  Dale’s lip quirked. “Smart asses, the both of ya.”

  Peter reached back into the van and pulled a long, narrow piece of plastic from behind the seats. “A holo-strip,” he said at my questioning gaze. “Lay it out, turn it on, and it’ll mimic its surroundings, so if you get the demon where you’re supposed to, no one will see anything but an empty alley. It has a sound barrier that should keep the sounds to a minimum. Anyone outside of it will only hear whispers. And last but not least…” He pulled two folded knives from his weapons vest. “For emergency only, like the sword and the staff. Just in case the smoke caps don’t work and you have no choice but to fight. Nano knives. Reinforced steel, dipped in the same acid as the bullets we have. It won’t kill the demon, but you might cause it some hesitation.” He paused. “You’re clear on the plan, aren’t you, Linc? Director Greene wants the demon alive, if possible.”

  Linc’s jaw twitched. “Understood.”

  “If it’s going to be a problem, let me know now.”

  Linc didn’t answer immediately, just sat quietly, studying the knife in his hand. “It won’t be a problem.”