Jade Tiger

by Reese, Jenn

  "Yes," she called back, "but they're not dogs."

  CHAPTER 13

  Shan knew what a tiger could do--she had studied its methods and prowess her whole life. This one looked to be at least eight or nine feet long, maybe five hundred pounds. Its fur glowed a deep, warm rust color, its stripes crisp and black. Five hundred pounds of muscle and natural grace, edged with deadly fangs and claws. She felt more affinity for this creature than she felt for most other human beings.

  And it scared the hell out of her.

  The tiger leaped straight at Shan, a blur of fur and flashing teeth. Shan dropped to the ground and rolled. Its back foot grazed her shoulder, and then it was over her, landing on its huge paws and turning to attack again.

  Its ears lay flattened against its head. The tiger roared, its huge maw open wide, and ripped the silence of the room to shreds. The roar echoed and echoed, making it sound as if a hundred tigers filled the space instead of just one.

  But one is enough, Shan thought.

  Shan jumped to her feet and faced the tiger. A low growl crawled out of her throat, threatening. Promising. Chi hummed in her veins, down to her toes and up to her head.

  And adrenaline.

  And fear.

  She let all these energies flow freely. Animals used their instincts as much as their eyes or their noses. She wanted this one to sense her power, to know that she, too, was more predator than prey.

  The tiger's tail swished in the air behind it. The damn thing was close to pouncing. Close to leaping at her, claws extended, and trying to rip her throat out with its teeth.

  Or, it might just bite her in the neck and wait until she suffocated before disemboweling her with its claws.

  Not a pretty set of options, in her opinion.

  Shan saw Ian at the edge of her vision, moving quickly from table to table--far faster than he'd been moving earlier. And then, she shut him out.

  "It's just me and you," she whispered to the tiger. "Don't tangle with me, or it won't end well for either of us."

  The tiger retreated, but only a step.

  And then it reared up into the air and balanced on its back legs. It swatted the fragile distance between it and Shan, roaring. Shan could see the soft white fur on its belly, could smell the fresh meat of its last meal still on its breath.

  "Oh, shit."

  Her plan had worked too well. Now the tiger saw her as competition, as another tiger encroaching on its territory. The tiger danced in front of her. Its claws raked the air far faster than a creature that size had any right to do.

  And it wanted to fight her as an equal.

  Shan started to back up, but stopped herself. If she showed too much fear, that mass of fur and teeth would be all over her. On the other hand... She took a step back, and a paw whizzed by her head.

  Shan felt her mind and body shifting more to fear than strength, and she gritted her teeth to make it stop. She flipped up and forward. She landed softly on an exhibit table near the tiger, her feet on either side of a small stone artifact. Hopefully the pressure sensors were keyed to the artifacts, and not the table. On the other hand, she'd rather be fighting a dozen guards than the beast before her.

  No, not until Ian finds the jade animals.

  The tiger dropped to all fours, and pounced.

  Shan leaped to the side, cartwheeling along the table but keeping her hands and feet off the artifacts. The tiger cleared the table completely. Its claws screeched along the marble floor as it stopped itself. Then it spun around to face her again, snarling.

  Shan spared a moment to scan the room for weapons. Not far off, on the wall, Ashton had a display of mostly ornamental swords and spears. But it was the staff that caught her eye. Ornamental or not, that just might keep the tiger at a safe distance.

  She ran across the black velvety tables, skipping her feet over small artifacts and hopping over the big ones. Shan didn't look back, just kept her gaze on the staff. When she got close enough, she jumped, somersaulted, and plucked the smooth wooden staff from the wall. She landed softly on the marble floor, the staff resting in her hand just as it did in one of her practice routines.

  But the tiger hadn't followed her. Instead, it was back where she'd left it, and it was closing in on Ian.

  Ian pressed his back against the wall, his gaze darting left and right for some sort of opening. But the tiger wasn't leaving him any. From this distance, Shan was awed by the tiger's size. It made Ian look like a child, a plaything--and Ian was a hell of a lot taller than she.

  "Over here!" Shan pulled out of her staff pose and ran straight at the tiger, yelling.

  The tiger's massive head turned in her direction, and it roared its response. It turned and bounded toward her.

  Shan planted the tip of her staff on the floor and vaulted into the air. She held onto the top with both hands and kicked. Her foot caught the leaping tiger in the head.

  The tiger crashed to the ground, knocking the base of the staff. Shan tumbled hard against the cool marble and regained her feet. She twirled the staff in a wild figure eight until it whirred through the air, its tips blurred with speed. The tiger reared and clawed the air, but was too smart to actually test the wooden barrier Shan had created.

  Eight feet tall the tiger stood. Muscle and fur and teeth and claws. Tigers could swim and climb, fight and hunt, leap and balance. It could easily fit her entire head inside its mouth. Shan spun her staff, her heart thudding loudly in her ears.

  "They're not here," Ian called from across the room. "I've checked every table."

  "They have to be!" Shan yelled back. Her grip on the staff was starting to slip. She spun the weapon behind her back, around, behind her neck, and in a wide arc in front of her, forcing the tiger back. If the tiger called her bluff, she'd only get one chance to hit it before its claws sank into her flesh.

  "No," Ian called. "Trust me, they're not here."

  If the jade animals weren't here, it meant Victor Ashton wasn't intending to auction them off.

  It meant he intended to use them.

  Shan looked at the snarling beast in front of her. The tiger radiated raw, untamed power. And the desire for fresh, hot blood. Shan's blood.

  "Then let's get the hell out of here," Shan yelled.

  "No arguments from me," Ian said. "Just let me know if you need a distraction."

  Shan nodded. She spun her staff, mixing up the routine to keep the tiger on the defensive. When she saw Ian disappear behind the double-doors where they had entered, she focused everything on the tiger. And on her plan of escape.

  Despite the spinning six-foot-long piece of wood in front of it, the tiger was becoming more bold. It lashed out with a paw and connected with her staff, knocking it from her hands. As the staff clattered to the floor some fifteen feet away, Shan forced herself to stay in control of her fear. To take the energy and divert it into action.

  The tiger leaped. Shan dodged, but not fast enough. Her cheek burned as the tiger's claws snagged her flesh and ripped a trio of gashes. Shallow, judging by the fact that she could still use her jaw. Shallow but searing.

  But she kept moving. Dodging. Flipping over tables. Flat-out running. Shan yanked the black velvet from one of the tables and threw it over the tiger's charging head. Artifacts flew into the air. Something smashed. Somewhere, Shan knew, alarms were going off.

  But, more importantly, the tiger slid to a stop.

  It growled and roared, shaking its head and body in attempt to free itself. But Shan didn't stick around to watch the show. She sped across the remaining tables and leaped for the doors. Her hand found the latch, and she pulled.

  It didn't budge. Ian had locked the door behind him.

  "Ian!"

  Shan pounded on the door, then stepped back and kicked it with her heel. The door shuddered, but held. She'd need a lot more weight if she wanted to break it down.

  She turned back to the tiger. It had shaken the velvet blanket off of most of its head and shoulders, and was now reorientin
g itself.

  Its gaze found her again.

  "Ian, let me out!"

  Shan threw her shoulder against the door. She backed up and kicked it. And again. And again. Her heel slammed against the heavy wood. Five more minutes, and she'd break it down, easy.

  But she didn't have five more minutes. She didn't even have one.

  The tiger's claws screeched against the marble floor as it bounded toward her. Gritting her teeth, Shan held her ground. Sweat trickled down the side of her face and mixed with the blood from the tiger's scratches. Her legs told her to run, leap, hell, even to fly away from that tiger. But her mind proved stronger.

  The tiger roared, showing off its four-inch fangs. Under different circumstances, Shan might marvel at its beauty, at the amazing pattern of stripes covering its face and back--as unique to the tiger as fingerprints were to a human.

  Instead, she stood with her back to the locked doors and let the tiger come.

  It leaped when it was still over a dozen feet away. Five hundred pounds of cat hurtled toward her, claws extended. Shan stared into its eyes, into those fiery pits of pure animal fury.

  And dove.

  She was still rolling when the tiger's body crashed into the doors and ripped them from their hinges. The tiger disappeared into the other room.

  Ian!

  Shan rolled to her feet and ran after the tiger. "Come back here, you bastard," she screamed at it. The tiger roared. Something heavy thudded to the floor.

  She got to the doorway just in time to see the tiger pounce at the hulking form of Leopard Man. Ian lay crumpled against the wall, rubbing his throat. The thudding sound had been him.

  Ian looked up. His gaze met hers. Shan spared him a worried glance, then turned her attention back to the two deadly creatures sharing the room with them.

  Leopard Man, probably three hundred pounds himself, shook off the tiger in a shower of red droplets. He grabbed a device clipped to his pants and pressed a button. The tiger howled and reared back. Leopard Man pressed the device again. The tiger fled, running right past Shan and out into the main room.

  While the man was still focused on the tiger, Shan leaped at him with a flying kick.

  And bounced off his massive torso like a rubber ball. She fell, hard, and winced at the pain shooting up her leg. The man's body felt like solid iron. He reached down to grab Shan's ankle, but she scuttled out of the way.

  "He said you would be in here, when he didn't see you at the fight," he said in Mandarin, probably referring to Ashton. "You look tighter than that other Jade Circle bitch--the one with the snake." The man grinned. "If she'd begged like I asked, I would have killed her much faster."

  So this thing had raped and killed Chen Sun? Instantly, Sun's smiling face appeared in Shan's mind, but she shut it out. Bile rose in her throat. The tiger fought to defend itself, its territory. It fought to survive. But this thing that called itself a man--this beast--took pleasure in the pain of others. He used his power to destroy and humiliate.

  Now was not the time for anger or disgust, however violently they tried to overtake her senses. Shan emptied her mind, relaxed her body into readiness. This fight was new. This fight was different.

  This fight would end in death.

  The man bent and punched for Shan's gut. She rolled to the side and saw his fist smash into the floor. Six inches into the floor. She kept rolling, trying to draw him away from the corner where Ian was still trapped. Leopard Man followed.

  Shan leaped to her feet. The man punched. She dodged. If even a single one of his strikes connected to her body, he'd break every bone he touched. Including her skull.

  In contrast, if she hit him anywhere but in his most vulnerable spots, she'd likely hurt herself more than him.

  On the next punch, Shan dove between his legs. As she did so, she swept her right foot up and drove her heel into his groin. Most men would have hit the floor immediately. Leopard Man just grunted and turned around.

  He reached for her arm. She swiveled, grabbed his wrist for leverage, and kicked him in the bundle of nerves at his underarm. He staggered back a step, clearly surprised. For all his strength, the huge bastard was slow. Yet another example of an incomplete jade circle resulting in an incomplete person.

  He kicked at her while she was still on the ground. Shan saw it coming and rolled backward. He kicked again, faster. This time, the tip of his foot caught her in the chest. Shan flew up and backward. Her back collided with a stone pedestal. She fell, face down, onto the marble floor, and groaned.

  "She was limber like a gymnast," Leopard Man said, still in Mandarin. "I put her body in positions that would have killed other women."

  Shan swallowed thickly and pushed herself off the floor. Her back started to ache, but adrenaline quickly washed away the pain. At least for now. She refused to respond to this man. He was trying to taunt her, trying to force her to make a mistake. But she fought on her own terms, not some--

  "You unbelievable bastard."

  It was Ian. He was standing now, his perfect tux scuffed and hanging awkwardly across his shoulders, the angles of his face accentuated by his anger.

  Leopard Man turned and smiled, as if he'd forgotten that Ian was even in the room with them. Well, he remembered now. The man looked back at Shan.

  "Is your man a good lay? I'm not picky about my toys."

  Shan charged. She leaped onto Leopard Man's back, and onto the back of the huge cat tattooed there.

  At first, the man laughed. A huge, booming sound that jarred her teeth. She tried to snap his spine, but the muscles in his neck were too strong. She went for his eyes, but his big, meaty hand swatted her fingers away.

  Under the ears.

  Shan squeezed her thighs to hold herself in place, then drove her thumbs into the tiny soft spots under each of Leopard Man's ears.

  He shrieked and dropped the tiger device. As he clutched at his ears, Shan dropped to her feet and lunged for the device. She got to it a second after one of Leopard Man's feet smashed it into shards of plastic.

  She glanced at the doorway. No tiger. Yet. But she was betting it wouldn't be long before it headed back into the antechamber looking for paybacks.

  Shan's hand went to her cheek. The blood oozing from her wound had thickened into sticky lines. As had the shallow scratches on Leopard Man's body, from what she could see. The tiger would be drawn to the freshest blood. It would assume that the wounded prey would be easier to kill.

  Therefore, Leopard Man needed to bleed.

  Shan flipped backward--once, twice, three times--until she stood near the stone pedestal she'd whacked into earlier. With one quick, snapping kick, she shattered the large vase sitting placidly on top of it. The vase, beautiful when whole, yielded even more beautiful shards when it was broken. Shan grabbed two--one for each hand--and wheeled to face her opponent.

  The brute blinked his eyes and shook off the last remnants of his pain stupor. Shan held the vase shards like knives and attacked. Slash, slash. Her first two punches left deep gouges across his chest and almost cut the leopard tattoo in half. He reached for her, but she ducked under his arm and spun. Slash, slash. Two more along his arm. Spin, and slash, slash. Two bloody streaks across his back.

  Leopard Man roared, the tattooed leopard head mimicking his movements. He swung his arm in a huge arc and smacked Shan in the side as she tried to leap away. Once again she went flying. The wall came up too fast. She crashed into it, face-first. Pain erupted behind her eyes as her head smacked the marble. Shan slid to the floor near someone's feet. Ian's feet.

  "Shan." And then Ian's hands were on her shoulders, helping her stand. Balancing her.

  Shan's eyes refused to focus. The room was a dark mass of broken wood and marble, all spattered with blood. Mostly Leopard Man's blood. Even in her haze, she could make out his huge body, slick and crimson.

  Leopard Man studied himself, then looked up at Shan. His black eyes seemed like smoldering pits through the haze of her vision. "You fucked
up my tattoo."

  Shan tried to take a step forward, but her leg wobbled and gave out. Only Ian's warm arms and stabilizing presence kept her from falling to her knees.

  "Not good," she mumbled. Her stomach lurched, and she wondered if she was going to throw up.

  "I'll distract him," Ian whispered. "You run for the door." He pointed to the first security door they'd entered. "That door."

  Shan shook her head. An image of Leopard Man's huge fist smashing into Ian's skull filled her mind and chased the blurriness away. Ian started to move, and Shan grabbed him, pulled him back.

  She looked into his eyes, as deeply as she could within the space of a heartbeat. "I need you to be safe, Ian. Please."

  He looked like he wanted to argue. She didn't care. She'd knock him unconscious herself if she had to.

  But he nodded and stepped back. Just in time. A heavy metal plate whizzed through air where his head had just been. It ricocheted off the wall and clattered to the floor. Leopard Man hefted a large stone statue to throw next.

  "Go!" Shan hissed. She pushed Ian left, toward the door, and jumped right. The statue pulverized itself--and much of the wall--upon impact. It could easily have killed either one of them.

  Shan flipped twice and ended up in the now-empty doorway leading into the main artifact room. Leopard Man balled his fists and stomped toward her. For all his power, he was slow. She could run back into the artifact room, and keep him away for as long as she needed...

  Or until his reinforcements showed up. With guns. And, of course, there was still the problem of--

  The tiger.

  Leopard Man stopped his advance just as Shan felt the tiger's low growl crawl up her spine. The tiger was close. Too close for her to leap away. Too close for her to do much of anything except get shredded to ribbons by its claws.

  Shan closed her eyes, her back still to the tiger. She unleashed her chi, letting the energy in her body flow through her meridians freely. She felt resistance in her head, her back, her side--places where she'd been hurt--and the energy pipelines pinched. She followed the lines of chi into the floor until she could sense the other life forces in the room. The man, bleeding but standing still ten feet in front of her. The tiger behind her, assessing its prey.