I may now owe my life to a demon. This sucks!
I pushed forward, making the bend just in time to dodge a shot that cracked into the rock behind my left shoulder. I’d escaped a bad blow. Plus the shadow trotting at my feet assured me Astral had come through the firefight unharmed. But I had no time to celebrate. Something punched me in the chest, taking me to my butt. I looked down. The ice had shattered, leaving a hole the size of a pool ball.
Astral sat beside me, her head cocked. “Hello!” she said.
I said, “Shit! They’re ahead of us, Vayl!”
We rolled into the brush, taking shelter behind a pile of nearly leafless branches. Vayl slammed his hand against the trunk of a nearby tree. The ice encasing it shattered, giving him the flexibility he needed to access his sword.
Astral leaped onto my lap, lost her grip, and skidded down my legs like a ski jumper. She hopped clear when she reached my ankles, sat at my feet and stared at me reproachfully.
“See what you get for behaving like a cat?” I told her. “R2-D2 never would’ve pulled such an embarrassing stunt.”
She turned her back to me, licking little frozen shards off one pitch-black paw. Every time she opened her mouth I could hear Foreigner singing, “You’re as cold as ice.”
“Smartass,” I muttered. I squeezed my eyes shut. When I opened them again, I saw what hadn’t been clear before. Movement under a bridge that lay the length of a football field ahead of us. Which put us within range of their weapons. But we’d have to get a damn sight closer before we could strike with ours.
They were a group of chasers who’d circled around and set themselves up under the bridge’s wood-planked shelter. The path continued beyond them, and I studied it with a sense of urgency so deep it made me twitch. We had to get past these goons fast, before Ruvin became infant formula. But how? Trees continued beyond their position along our side of the hill, so we could approach from that direction. But we wouldn’t have them pinned. Because it looked like a gap in the rocks by the bridge led to another trail.
“What do you think?” I whispered. “Charge them?”
“How many do you count?” Vayl asked.
“Astral, go get me video of those gnomes.”
Though she stalked off like I’d told her cats would never be superior to dogs, her pictures came back quick and clear.
I took inventory. “Eight.”
“All right, then. How is your armor holding up?”
Covering the hole, I said, “Terrific.”
With the exception of letting the Ufranites ahead of us slip their net, Cole and Kyphas were dealing with the ones behind pretty well. But they could only hold them off for so long. Cole would be running low on ammo soon. And Kyphas, despite her heritage, was still only one versus an organized unit. We needed to move this group of troll wannabes out of our way.
Then I heard it again. Barking. Definitely my canine pal, whose Chewbacca-like vocalizations currently let us all know he’d discovered the best game ever.
I could die any second and my mutt is playing. This is so typical. Maybe when I finally croak I should just have my coffin painted like a checkerboard and install a keg in the funeral home’s foyer. That way all my “friends” can party at the visitation.
What I couldn’t place was the second sound joining Jack’s ruffs. Hard to describe. Like a dense thumping, as if the earth was a drum and hands the size of houses were playing it. I could feel the beating, thrumming up through my legs. And then branches started to snap. Bushes rattled. Grass trees whooshed. Here and there a gnome screamed independent of Cole’s gunshots.
Kyphas yelled, “Watch out! They’re everywhere!”
Cole nearly deafened me with his shout. “Jaz! Your dog’s panicked a whole mob of kangaroos! They’re pounding up the hill like it’s a trampoline! Only they’re going, like, three hundred different directions! I never saw such chaos! Aw, man, that one just trampled a guy!”
“Are you in a safe place?” I whispered as I peered around the corner.
Cole said, “Yeah, but I’m not sure about Kyphas.” Was that worry in his tone? And if so, could it be bribed out of him? I was betting he’d promise anything for a lifetime supply of bubble gum.
More screams now, which drew the first two guards out of hiding. I cocked Grief and got ready to run. Vayl made a motion. Wait.
They crept into the opening opposite the trees, one waving for the next to follow. Finally all eight had moved out from under the bridge, the hems of their pants dark from wading the shallow water of the creek it spanned.
Vayl made four quick gestures, pointing himself in the direction of the trees and me toward their escape route. I felt his powers rise again, a cold wind at the back of my neck that sent my pulse pounding as I moved forward. Luckily the gravel on this part of the path had been ground into the dirt by countless hikers who’d never dreamed that one night two assassins would be stalking up the same walkway, leaving a string of bodies behind them, planning even more destruction ahead.
I set my back to the rock wall, glancing behind me to make sure Cole and Kyphas hadn’t missed any stragglers. Motion. I raised Grief, my finger solid on the trigger. A kangaroo burst out of the trees, paused half a second to recalibrate, spun toward me, and leaped past.
I lifted Grief’s barrel. Laid my head back. Shit!
But then, unmistakable, the sound of running feet. I took aim. “Jaz! I’m coming toward you. Don’t shoot me, all right?” Cole had barely gotten his request out before he appeared, his hair flying as he skidded to a halt.
I dropped my arms. Squinted up at the Big Guy. Really? Are You trying to give me a heart attack, or do close calls give you the giggles? No reply. Typical. Probably the next time my Maker spoke to me, he’d be in full lecture mode and I… well, I’d be altogether dead.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
I leaned hard into the massive rock formation behind me. Something about it made me feel oddly calm. It had only been commanding this location for hundreds of thousands of years. If it could survive that long, I could damn well make it through the next few minutes.
Cole tapped me on the shoulder.
“Quiet,” I directed. “We’re going after another group.” I set off, prepared to shoot anything that looked remotely like a gnome.
Cole fell in behind me. “Okay, but can I just say Jack is having the time of his life down there? Did you tell him you wanted a kangaroo for your birthday? Because I think he’s bringing you a present.”
“My birthday isn’t for four more days. And Jack doesn’t strike me as an early giver. But I’m planning to reward him for his excellent timing anyway.”
“Good. Because they saved our asses.”
“Speaking of asses, where’s Kyphas?”
“Finishing off the few that didn’t get mangled.”
More like leaning over the mostly dead, making deals they’ll eternally regret. Shaking off the image I said, “What a stellar addition to our crew. Now, can you shut up for three seconds while we take out these guards?”
“Okay. We’ll talk about how I got to pet one of the big boys later. It was really beautiful. Like giving a governor a wedgie while he does his adultery confession next to his stunned but supportive wife.”
“How is that beautiful?”
“Things are satisfying in different ways, Jaz. You just gotta go with me on this one. I feel like I got away with something major.”
“Great. Now shut the hell up.”
He clamped his lips together and pulled an imaginary zipper across them. Rolling my eyes, I stepped forward, moving quickly now that I knew Vayl must be in position. When I reached the bridge I slid around the corner.
“Vayl?” I asked.
“I am under the bridge.”
His approach would take him low, through the nameless creek. Mine was a three-foot ledge, possibly man-made, that hugged the rock face as it threaded deeper into the heart of the hill.
“You continue on the main path,” I whis
pered to Cole. “Scouting only. Report back as soon as you find something. Astral, you’re with Cole. Follow his orders until I tell you otherwise.”
“Be careful,” Cole said, patting my back. I realized I shouldn’t have felt his palm against my left shoulder just as he said, “You’re flaking pretty badly in places.”
Too freaking true.
I stepped forward as he slunk away, robokitty a shadow at his feet.
Within minutes we found the gnomes in a gorge that was blocked at the far end by an old rockfall that had taken several trees with it. Water flowed over the boulders to the creek below, raising a mist, making footing treacherous.
The Ufranites had found excellent cover. They should’ve stayed behind it. But like many newly initiated to violence, they overestimated their abilities and attacked first. The lead gnome’s shot slammed into my right leg, spun me back into the wall. Since I was slicker than the rocks supporting me, I lost my footing before I could even attempt to regain my balance. I took another shot as I fell. A shout of pain let me know I’d hit one before I landed on my hip, teetered on the lip of the ledge, and then rolled off. Ice flew like shattering glass as I swept down the slope, banging into an outcropping before landing at the bottom in a foot of water.
I stared up, estimated that I’d fallen at least a story, and began my inspection. Yup, I’d be bruised worse than a sloppy stuntman, but nothing seemed to be broken. Except the armor, which had taken a helluva pounding. A slick coating still covered my head, arms and legs, but it was cracked so badly I didn’t think it would protect against anything more intense than a friendly tap. My theory gained weight when I felt water trickle through the gaps, soaking my jeans.
“Shit!” I crawled onto the creek bank.
“Jasmine, are you all right?” Vayl crouched over me, shielding me from the steady onslaught of killer steel.
I looked up at him, kneeling like a warrior praying before battle, supremely confident behind his icy coating. And wanted to punch him.
“Your goddamn armor put me on my ass!”
“I hardly think—”
“Stop protecting me, okay? It’s going to get me killed!”
I rolled to one side, squeezed off three shots, hitting three guards who’d chosen that moment to rush us. Their buddies, who’d peeked above cover to catch the show, ducked when I continued to pull the trigger. Pausing to reload, I noticed that Vayl had disappeared.
I caught sight of him a few seconds later, moving like a mountain goat among obstacles that would’ve broken another man’s legs. “Walking icebergs shouldn’t be that graceful.” I didn’t realize I’d muttered the words out loud until Vayl replied.
“Would you prefer it if I went sprawling?” he asked, his tone as cold as his coating.
“No! I just don’t want anyone else saving my life, that’s all.”
“That is the most ignorant comment I have ever heard you make.”
Oh, he sounds mad, said Teen Me, biting her nails. Maybe you’d better back off. What if he breaks up with you?
My Inner Bimbo finished off her Jack and Coke and yelled for another. There’s more where he came from.
Um, not really. But he just refuses to see the big picture! Every time someone pulls me back from the brink I end up farther down the road to Freaksville. Right now, if I was in a game show audience and the host said, “Would all the humans please stand up?” I wouldn’t know what to do!
Luckily the Ufranites didn’t give a crap what I was. Which forced me to swing my mind back to the job. I took another shot, watched my target drop as Vayl’s sword swung and the chill of his powers filled the air. Realizing our opponents were out of Grief’s range, I crawled forward, sliding across the ground like a sled on snow.
Another swing, the gargling protest of a dying foe. Then Vayl dropped behind a rock the size of a mattress. A grunt. The clash of metal on metal. One last whooshing report from a gnomish gun. And then nothing.
“Vayl?”
No reply.
“Vayl?” Nothing.
Naw. No, no, no! I creaked to my feet and scrambled to the spot where I’d seen him last, hopping from tree trunk to stone step without a single thought as to how I was going to get out of this dead end if I broke a bone.
I found him kneeling over one of the bodies, searching its pockets.
“What the hell are you looking for?”
“I am searching for clues as to the shaman’s identity or location.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?” I demanded. “You scared the crap out of me!”
He looked up. “And if I had been in mortal danger just now? If I could have died as you can? What would you have done to save me?”
“I…” I clamped my mouth shut.
“Jasmine?”
“Still trying to put me through my lessons, are you?” I asked bitterly.
“I have a great deal to share and you are, usually, a quick study. So, yes. I want you to understand the lengths to which I would go in order to assure your continued existence.”
“You sound like a damn Vulcan. You know, from Star Trek? So freaking smooth and logical with all your emotions locked down like death row prisoners.”
He raised an eyebrow. As if he knew how much that single move would irritate me. “Perhaps this conversation would be better saved until we have no audience?”
“What, you mean we should tune the others out? Like you’ve done to me for the past few days?”
“You are the one who got yourself possessed. I am simply trying to complete this mission successfully with you, though clearly I would have been smarter to ship you back to Cleveland the moment I learned that your situation compromised every move we attempt.”
“I didn’t get myself possessed! I saved my life, and Raoul’s, by biting that monster! And now he’s in me, like a poison, and all you’ve done is cut me off like I’m already dead!”
Not fair, I knew. No way could we pull this off with Brude undermining us, which he’d do every chance he got because clearly the gnomes and the Weres had promised to help him bulk up his army. But I’d taken care of that problem myself. Me. Without any help, dammit! Just like I could do everything else!
Vayl came at me so fast I didn’t even have time to jerk away. His hands gripped me, the ice instantly melting beneath his touch. His eyes, black as the pit I felt yawning beneath me, speared mine.
“I did what I had to in order to make this mission work. Tell me you would not have done the same! And then promise me you will never die!”
Silence. And then, quiet but clear, the singsong voice of Cole ringing in our ears, “Jazzy’s a pain in the a-ass. So glad she gave me a pa-ass!”
Vayl snorted.
I chuckled. Then I said, “I’m sorry. It’s Pete.” I closed my eyes against the burn of unshed tears. Forced myself to roll on. “And the ice thing.” I glared up at him. “I get your point, okay? But you bit me, dammit! You know what that means. Nobody saves me without consequences. And it seems like the part of me that pays is my humanity. I can’t… Jesus, Vayl, how much more can I afford to lose? I mean…”
I couldn’t go on. He didn’t make me. He crushed me to his chest, the clash of our armor sounding like a gunshot in the gorge. What didn’t break off began to melt, the ice running so quickly to water that I could feel his muscles straining to press against my breasts.
Cold, slick ice on my hands. On his back. Both of us practically writhing beneath it, burning to touch one another in ways we were still just discovering.
Knowing we could be overheard, I kept my pleas silent. Begging him with my eyes to do something.
Suddenly his fingertips were on my face. He’d dropped his sword. Entwined his hand in my wet hair.
I felt material under my hands. The abused denim of his jeans, splitting as he adjusted his stance, giving me room to slide my fingers around to the back of his thighs and up—to more ice.
I tore at it, ignoring my broken fingernails, my bleeding knuckles as it cam
e away in sheets. I nodded. Yes, yes! Pressed into him as our lips met, warm and lush as an afternoon in the rainforest.
A great weight left my back. I heard the crack of ice breaking on the ground beside us and then Vayl’s hands, tearing away the remains of my coat. Sliding underneath the shirt it had protected.
More cracking as our remaining armor heated and fell away.
I felt his lips again, this time feathering against my neck. Teeth nipping. The soft, wetness of his tongue. Everything sensed but unseen between us seemed to whirl around our bodies, creating a storm so electric and powerful that I felt the hairs at the back of my neck stand on end.
We both knew what was missing. The swift pain of fangs, piercing, sucking, raising me so high on tiptoe that my precarious balance would force me to shove my fingers into his sopping curls, to press so hard against his body that I couldn’t imagine us as separate beings. Already we wanted it so badly we could hardly resist. What would it be like a month, a year down the line?
Vayl raised his head. “Duty,” he said hoarsely.
“Yeah.”
He threw his head back and swallowed, licking his lips like he’d just chugged a can of Coke and needed a minute to clear the acid aftertaste of what had been a predominantly bitchin’ drink. When he looked at me again his eyes had softened to amber.
“Are you ready?”
Instead of answering his question the way I wanted to, I checked my Astral-feed. It showed a dark path similar to the one we’d come in on. And then, a flicker of light. “They’ve found something,” I said.
He grabbed me and kissed me, quickly, deeply, before whispering into my ungadgeted ear, “Never mind the bustier. I want you in wet, tattered clothes. Imagining peeling them off of you, and the hot, soapy shower to follow, is suddenly driving me mad.”
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