by Weil, J. L.
I shifted my gaze to him. A moment passed between us as I stared into eyes devoid of any silver. They hardened turning from steel to liquid fire.
Our exchange hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Brilliant. So she does know. Which I’d already figured out. You aren’t doing a very good job protecting your secret. She makes you sloppy. With her you drop your guard, forget what you really are.” The sneer in tone was making me itchy.
Suddenly it hit me. It all made sense. She’d been the hunter stalking us. “What do you want?” I asked, tired of hearing her talk.
Her stance never wavered. She was tight like a sleek panther. “Hmm. The question of the hour. I thought that was obvious…to kill him of course.”
I rolled my eyes. Soooo not going to happen. It was plain that she didn’t really know Chase. “Good luck,” I muttered.
“Angel? That’s your name isn’t?” she asked. “Funny that your boyfriend is half-demon isn’t it?”
I shrugged. “Not really. And he is not my boyfriend,” I added just to clarify.
She laughed confidently. “The mark you have on your hip says otherwise.”
My eyes narrowed at her. This bitch really had to go. How had she known about my mark? I had told no one outside our circle.
“You. Love. A demon,” she said to me. Each word emphasized with hate. “It’s wrong. They’re wrong.”
I wiped my sweaty palms on the legs of my jeans, still trying to figure out how we were going to get out of this. “Umm, love is such a strong word. I am not sure I would say love.”
“Angel!” Chase growled like a grumpy grizzly.
I ignored him. “Like. I like Chase, though there are more days when I dislike him.”
Again he rumbled my name with eyes burning like Time Square, followed by, “This isn’t helping.”
That was a matter of personal opinion. I sort of had a plan here. Really, I did. So I continued to pretend Chase didn’t exist. “Have you met the man? He would drive even the sanest person crazy in a week. Or less.”
I tried to distract her with rambling, hoping that Travis would snap out of his stupor. At least long enough to get her focused off killing Chase and more on what blabber I was spewing.
I know, epic plan.
Problem was, Travis was still thunderstruck and not going to be of any help by the look of it.
“Look bitc–”
Travis’s voice cut me off. “Emma.”
Oh shit. Oh shit.
Please God, tell me I heard him wrong. Emma? Travis’s Emma. No wonder he was standing there pale and in shock like the walking dead. The girl he was madly in love with had just returned from the grave.
This had just taken an unexpected twist. Why was I always the last to know what was going on? And what on earth had happened to Emma? From what I have heard about her, this was a completely different girl. Never once had Travis mentioned that his Emma was a hunter, which led me to believe this was a new development. A sticky-icky discovering for everyone involved.
Emma tilted her head toward Travis, really seeing him for the first time. And this was the distraction I’d been waiting for. Finally. Travis actually came through.
The world moved in slow motion, like everything was passing through thick glass, but at the same time it all happened in the blink of an eye.
I saw Emma with the crossbow aimed at Chase’s heart and her eyes glistened with hate. I watched as they flickered for just a moment with confusion. If I didn’t act now, she was going to kill Chase. My heart lurched from my chest, and I knew I was going to do something desperate and stupid. Chase must have known it too.
My name bellowed from his lips, but I was already in motion. I ran straight toward her.
Realizing that I was moving, Emma pulled back the arched bow, preparing to let the arrow fly. Chase was in action coming straight for us, but there was no way he was going to make it in time, even with his turbo speed.
At that moment, I didn’t think about the bow she had in her hand or any other weapons this hunter could possibly have had on her. All I thought about was that she wanted to hurt Chase, try to kill Chase. That was enough to make me flaming mad.
I hit her with bone-jarring thump, and the two of us went tumbling to the stiff ground. The impact of the hit stunned me for just a second and then again from the fall, but I pushed all the pain aside and let adrenaline kick in. I went all commando on her ass. Unfortunately, she was just as quick on her recovery. Maybe more so.
I pinned her with my weight (thank God for that box of cupcakes I’d eaten earlier) and she went straight for my hair. My head snapped back and tears of pain lanced my eyes. I smacked whatever I could get to connect with my crazy hands, but mostly we were just wrestling pathetically on the woodsy floor.
Fighting wasn’t my style, I was just mouthy. So the fact that I was doing so now was a joke. It was pitiable. This girl was a trained assassin. Her fist made contact with my lip and I swear I saw stars. Groaning, I could feel Chase glaring at me and hear Travis snicker above us, but none of it mattered. She was going to pay. I was feeling the height of bitchiness.
But I never got the chance to unleash the witch inside me. Chase secured his arms around me, pulling me to my feet and off Emma, while Travis secured her in his arms. She was flailing in his grasp like a mad woman. “Christ Angel. When did you become such a wildcat?” Chase asked after I stopped fighting in his arms.
I jerked out of his grasp. “The day I met you,” I seethed, wiping the back of my sleeve against my mouth. Blood trickled from the side of my lip and hurt like a mother trucker.
Chase grinned now that he felt like he had things under control. “Yeah, I have that effect on people.”
“Shut up,” I grumbled and straightened my medusa hair.
He stayed plastered to my side and whispered, “I know something we can do to help you alleviate some of the pent up energy you’re feeling.”
I tried to ignore the shiver of excitement. Damn him. “I just bet you do,” I muttered.
He was suddenly in front of me and in my face. Like a switch being flipped he suddenly looked scary mad. “You could have been hurt. Don’t try a stunt like that again.” His voice had gone dark and ten octaves below freezing. There was no room for argument in his words.
I crossed my arms and glared.
Without giving so much as a warning, he gave a nod over my shoulder at Travis and then proceeded to pluck me off my feet. In seconds my stomach was in my throat as Chase raced through the woods. I buried my head into the soft cotton of his grey shirt.
“Let’s go,” Chase demanded dropping me into the front seat of his car. My head was still spinning in dizzy circles.
I could hear Travis grunting and grumbling from outside the car. “I’m trying. I’ve sort of got my hands full,” Travis complained.
“I just bet you do,” Chase said under his breath.
Travis jumped in the back with his very uncooperative, kicking package.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Chase asked, looking at Travis in the rearview mirror as he made a very speedy u-turn. “This feels like kidnapping.”
I snorted. “She deserves it.”
Chase gave me a fierce look that said I better keep my trap shut or I would find myself in deeper trouble.
“I just want to talk to her. That’s all. It’s not kidnapping,” Travis rationed.
Chase was totally getting off seeing his cousin riled. “You have such a way with girls Travis. It’s astonishing.”
Travis gave him a deeply dimpled grin. “That’s what they all say.”
“I’m gonna be sick,” I mumbled.
Chase chuckled. “What the hell are you planning to do with her?”
Travis ran an unsteady hand through his blonde hair. “I don’t know,” he replied, looking a little lost and so unlike the charmer I was used to.
“We could toss her out of the car,” I suggested.
Chase tried not to smile as he glanced at me from the corner of his eye. Then he
shook his head. “You and I, Angel, we’re not done yet. I am nowhere near finished with you.”
I gulped. This time I was pretty sure there wasn’t any sexual undertones in that statement, just plain, pure exasperation.
Well, maybe a little.
Chapter 13
As soon as Chase’s car skidded to a halt in his driveway, he turned to Travis and a very livid Emma in the back. “What is the point of this Travis? Why bring her back here?” Chase asked, unable to hide the condemnation from his voice.
“What did you want me to do with her? Let her go, so she can try and kill you again?” Travis retorted.
Chase snorted like the idea was obscene. “I hope you know what you are in for. I understand it’s got to be a shock to see her –”
“A shock!” Travis cut him off. “I thought she was dead. You thought she was dead.”
“Looks like I was wrong.”
“That’s a first,” I mumbled.
He shot me with a pair of silver daggers. “I’m getting to you, just give me a minute.”
“Actually, I am beat. I was thinking about going–”
“Like hell you are,” he retorted, stopping me in my tracks.
“Get that shrew out of my car,” Chase ground with clenched teeth. He was pissed and was getting angrier by the minute. Not so good for Emma, he was seconds away from ripping her head off. He waited impatiently until Travis removed his difficult package from the backseat. I cringed as I watched Emma take a swing at Travis’s pretty boy face, following it with a heel to the shin. Chase turned those glowing eyes on me. “What were you thinking?” he yelled, rattling my brain cells. His car just wasn’t big enough for this kind of volume.
Wow, someone was ungrateful. “Last time I save your butt, you – you ungrateful ass,” I spat right back and stormed out of the car, making a beeline for the house.
He was on my heels, obviously not done reprimanding me. “Dammit Angel. You could have been hurt. Don’t. Ever. Pull a fucking stunt like that again.” His voice was cold enough to freeze hell.
Whoa. He was really pissed. Like full on demon rager.
I swallowed a lump of my own anger and pivoted on my feet to face him just inside the doorway to his house. “And you would be dead!” I replied, matching my tone with his.
My rebuttal did no good. “You could have been killed.”
And there it was – the root of his fury. Everything somehow circled back to me and him trying to keep me alive. It had to be exhausting.
A twisted laugh echoed from just inside the family room, drawing our focus off each other. “Unbelievable. I have never seen a half-breed try so hard to keep a human alive. Or for that matter a human who gets in as much trouble as you.”
I was really starting to hate Emma. Right now, my hand twitched to backhand that smartass smirk right off her rosy-cheeked face. There was only room for one smartass in this town and I had already taken the job. “Why the hell is she here again?” The question tumbled from my lips before I even thought about engaging with the enemy.
“Haven’t you heard? This town has a horrible demon infestation. I’m here to clean house,” she smirked, completely unfazed by the fact that she was being held prisoner in a house full of half-demons.
I started across the room only to be pulled up short by Chase’s firm arms around my waist. “Hey there my little hellcat, I think you have done enough for today. But I appreciate you defending my honor. I think we will let Travis take it from here. She’s his problem now.”
Emma’s eyes flickered ever so slightly at the mention of Travis’s name. “Maybe we should gag her,” I suggested sarcastically. I was going to donkey punch her. Payback for the split lip she gave me. Tit for tat and all that jazz.
Chase, having gotten over his little hissy fit, chuckled. Having a common hatred helped. We both had it in for the little hunter. I was still having a hard time believing that this girl, who was my height and skinnier than me, could be a so called hunter.
It was ludicrous.
“So how long are we keeping her?” I asked, sounding like she was a stray pet. I couldn’t help but wonder where the heck Travis had disappeared to.
Chase walked into the family room, never taking his eyes off Emma. He watched her like a hawk. “I think Travis is just looking for some answers, closure or some crap.”
“And he thinks I’ll cooperate?” Emma spoke, leering at Chase hovering over her.
I rolled my eyes. At least his anger was no longer directed at me. I guess I had her to thank for that.
Lexi and Travis shuffled down the stairs in a blur of motion, stopping at the bottom of the steps. Lexi gasped. “Travis! You tied her up?” she stated properly outraged. Her blonde hair was in a perfect sleek updo. “This better not be some kind of kinky foreplay,” she added, scrunching her nose and looking adorable doing it.
Travis didn’t answer. He was staring at Emma and she was staring right back. It almost felt invasive for all of us to be in the room. I had the urge to quietly slip from the room, and I was pretty sure neither of them would have noticed if a herd of elephants trampled through the house. They were too wrapped up in each other.
Finally Chase cleared his throat. Loudly.
“What in God’s name is going on?” Lexi demanded, her hands on her hips looking to each one of us for answers. I sheepishly looked at the carpet pretending it was the most interesting thing on the planet.
“We were just about to ask Emma that. Weren’t we Travis?” Chase piped in. “Well, at least why she tried to kill me?”
Lexi’s aqua eyes went wide. “I don’t believe it. Emma wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
“Believe it little cousin.”
“You’re all nothing but an abomination,” Emma hissed, digging her own grave.
Hurt and disbelief leaped into Lexi’s eyes, and my heart went out to her. Lexi had a gentle nature despite the fact she was part demon.
“When I get out of here, I’ll come after you again and finish what I started. I’ll kill every one of you, including your little pet.”
I couldn’t seem to be able to control myself around her. I took a step toward her, but Chase was always faster. His arms grabbed my waist from behind and tugged me to his chest. They were like vise grips. “Angel, move again and I will tie you up next to her,” Chase threatened in my ear.
I could feel his heart thumping against my back. “How can you just sit there and do nothing? She hurt Lexi and Lexi doesn’t deserve that.” I was so dang frustrated.
He sighed heavily. “Angel Eyes, you never fail to surprise me. All in due time,” he whispered.
“You can let go of me now.”
“Nah, I think I’ll keep hold of you for safe keeping.”
Emma snorted. “Disgusting.”
I jumped against the bonds of his arms, and they only tightened around me, anticipating my move.
“What happened to you?” It was Travis’s soft voice that broke through the thickening tension swirling like a Kansas tornado in the room.
Emma’s emerald eyes clung to Travis’s stormy sea green gaze as he sauntered over to the couch and sat next to her. He waited patiently for her to answer, just studying her, trying to figure out where the girl he had fallen in love with had gone. Because surely this she-devil dressed in all black wasn’t her. The silence lingered as we all waited on edge for her to say something. My bet was that she was going to inform us of the number of sick and twisted ways she planned to hunt us.
Sometimes it is nice to be wrong.
But that didn’t mean she was exactly pleasant about it. “I came into the family business,” Emma finally answered with indifference.
“Family business,” Travis echoed, his brows drawing together. “Someone in your family is a hunter?”
Emma didn’t so much as blink. Lexi crept into the room next to where Chase and I were standing. His arms had gone lax around my waist, and I felt him relax some, which in turn had mind my wandering to his marvelous body
pressed against me. Suddenly, I found it hard to concentrate on anything but the half-demon behind me.
Emma raised her head defiantly. “You know nothing of family.”
I couldn’t fathom how Travis stayed so calm around her. Deep lines of thought crossed his forehead. Then a light of understanding moved into Travis’s blue-green eyes. “Your dad.”
Her thin lips and her silence were all the confirmation we needed. Wow. And I thought I had mega daddy issues. At least mine didn’t train me to be a killer all while pretending I was missing for over a year. That was some pretty heavy shit.
Her eyes shifted like a cat ready to bolt. “You think you got it all figured out.” Everything about her voice and actions were filled with pride and sheer stubbornness. Not an ounce of fear. “You have no idea.”
Sympathy filled Travis’s expression. His hand reached out to smooth a strand of strawberry blonde hair out of her face. Emma flinched out of his reach, and he dropped his hand looking defeated and hurt.
“I looked for you Emma.” There was just the slightest fraction of emotion in her eyes when Travis spoke her name. “I never stopped looking for you, even when the police called off the search. Even when your parents stopped, I never did. I always knew you were still out there. I could feel you.” He put his hand to his heart. “In here, I knew you were alive.”
My heart wept for him, for his heartache. Poor guy. Travis was one-in-a-million. If Emma didn’t recognize that, then she didn’t deserve him. In my eyes, she deserved less than dirt.
Emma lowered her head. “You shouldn’t have wasted your time.”
Lexi and I both gasped at her harsh rejection. Chase had his own reaction. Leave it to him to spice things up.
Like a beam of lightning, he was suddenly gone from behind me and in Emma’s face. He ignored the growl of protest from Travis. “Let’s speed this up, shall we. I can’t have you running around trying to kill people I care about, now can I?” His eyes got serious as they stared into Emma’s green ones. They went weird opaque silver ringed in gold.
He planned to compel Emma. Intrigued, I took a step closer. I’d never seen Chase use his persuasion. Travis and Lexi yes, but not Chase.
