Beautiful Monster: The Hunt (Book 2)

by Jeanne Bannon

  “No! Don’t you ever touch these. They’re dangerous; very, very dangerous.”

  ZoZo’s eyes brimmed with tears as she scooted away from Alina. She stopped when she bumped into Jack’s raft. “ZoZo love Jack more,” she said as she stood and made her way into Jack’s makeshift bed.

  Alina would have comforted the girl but her heart at the moment was hardened to everything and everyone. It had to be that way for now.

  Alina pulled the raft containing ZoZo close. “I need to feed now.”

  ZoZo shook her head furiously and rolled her tiny body into a tight ball.

  Alina grabbed the child. “I don’t have time for your nonsense.” She plunged into ZoZo’s jugular and drew hard and fast. The girl struggled but only for an instant. Soon, she was dead weight in Alina’s arms and once sated, Alina carried her back to the bathroom, deposited her into the tub and then covered her to the chin with the comforter.

  There was nothing to do now but wait. Wait and hope that all was going as planned. Alina disliked having to lean on others, after all, her success over the years had come from executing her job well and quickly. Time was running short and if she wasn’t back in Romania to report to Those on High, Alina risked her life. Her stellar reputation afforded her small allowances and one of those was, for the most part, being left to her own devices.

  She took a seat on the floor, her weapons within reach, and waited.

  * * * * *

  Jack laughed at everything Boris said and hoped he sounded convincing. Boris may be beautiful, with his muscular frame, shoulder-length black hair and a wicked smile, but Jack knew the truth, that beneath the façade lived a beast. Gone was the thrill he’d experienced while waiting outside Boris’s house. Now that he was so near to the man, he realized a body could be claimed but one’s true essence could never change.

  They had drinks at the dining room table, an ornate cherry wood monstrosity that looked like it belonged in an English castle. It was too large for the room and Boris had to stack piles of papers at one end of the table just to make room for them. The chairs too were occupied by mountains of rubbish.

  The liquor was good, though, not the cheap stuff he was used to. They talked of the old days, the times they’d spent together. Jack, of course, did most of the talking and Boris nodded and tried to look as if he were following along. Jack played with him, making up stories for his own amusement and when Boris reacted with a smile or laugh, saying, “Yes, yes, I remember now!” Jack really did laugh. But he could tell the small talk was beginning to bore Boris and soon Jack would have a decision to make. Would he sleep with the creature and take a chance with his eternal life? Or, would he try the spell sooner rather than later? T

  Boris was beside him now, a hand on Jack’s cheek, caressing him, stroking lovingly. Boris turned the boy’s face to his and bent to kiss him. Just as he did, Jack uttered the words he’d trained his mind to not just memorize but know as well as he knew his own name. “Te vinctos. Vires inutilis. Tu mentem.”

  Boris pulled away, eyes wide and for an instant, his face held the look of a man who’d just been shot and knew he was about to die.

  Chapter Twenty

  The door to Jack’s apartment flew open so hard the handle embedded itself into the drywall behind it.

  Alina was one her feet in a heartbeat when she saw Jack at the threshold with Boris tossed over a shoulder like a rag doll.

  “Lay him here.” She pointed to the spot on the floor where she’d just been sitting. She wanted to say more, like, “Good job, Jack. You were quick. Quicker than I’d anticipated” but there was no time.

  Jack let go his grip and Boris fell to the ground, landing awkwardly with an inelegant thud and lay immobile except for his eyes, which darted about the room in a frantic search for escape. Not much good that would do in the state he was in Alina thought and this brought a smile to her face. Boris looked like a corpse in the throes of rigor mortis. Fear shone in his eyes.

  Alina toed his body into a more comfortable looking position, first straightening his arms down by his sides, then his legs which were bent at the knees making him look as if he were trying to run away—a statue caught mid-flight.

  She knelt beside him and plucked the rod from the leather pouch. Then Alina ripped open Boris’s expensive designer shirt to reveal the muscled chest beneath. How she’d loved that chest, the hardness of his pecs, the well-defined shoulders. But that was when he was Alexei, she reminded herself. The creature before her now was a monster; an out of control creature of the night that had to be put down.

  Alina looked up to see Jack standing nearby. She threw him a narrow-eyed glare and then gave a sharp nod of her head pointing him toward the bathroom and ZoZo. “Get her and go!” she said through gritted teeth.

  He stood frozen for a second then took a step toward her. “Maybe I can—”

  “Go!” Alina screamed making Jack jump. He turned on his heel and headed for ZoZo.

  Alina turned her attention back to the paralyzed Boris, pulled his shirt open just a bit more and felt around with deft fingers for the right spot. Then she pressed the razor-sharp rod to the flesh above his unbeating heart.

  A hand shot up. Boris had her wrist and easily cracked it backward, snapping it like a twig.

  Alina screeched but had the sense to grab her weapons as she scrabbled away. Boris clumsily pulled himself to his feet. Alina stood too. She had the second of her tools in hand now, the branch cut from the oldest tree grown on the property of the Vlad the Impaler. She held it in her good hand above her head. When he came near enough, she’d plunge the needle-like point into him. They circled each other like boxers in a ring. Damn it but he was stronger than she’d given him credit for. The spell would have kept an ordinary creature paralyzed for a half a day.

  Half his face twisted upward into a crooked smile. “Think you can take me?” he said in a slurred staccato.

  She had to act fast or he’d be back to his old self soon.

  Jack was in the room now carrying ZoZo and her bag of toys and treats. The child was still sleeping; her large ungainly head nestled in the crook of Jack’s neck. Alina’s gaze flitted to Jack then back to the monster before her. “Go,” she said, her word a steely command.

  Jack stood frozen to the spot, a look of uncertainty on his face.

  “So you sent him for me, did you?” Boris laughed. “Good idea. I have to give you credit. A good-looking man was always my weakness. And, you know I was going to come for you eventually.” He swatted the air nonchalantly as if waving away a mosquito. “You are no match for me. You weren’t a priority but I may as well take care of you now.” Boris lunged.

  Jack was between them in an instant, a palm on Boris’s chest, holding him back. But with one flick, Jack was tossed across the room like he weighed nothing. He smashed against the drywall and slid to the floor.

  ZoZo, who Jack had deposited by the front door before jumping in to help Alina, hobbled to him, her crooked legs propelling her as fast as possible. Before she reached her destination, Boris plucked her up, a handful of unruly red curls in his fist.

  “Ahhhhh!” the child screamed. Her feet dangled a foot above the ground. Her chubby hands flew to her head. “Hurt, hurt, hurt.”

  Alina stepped to the side so she could see both ZoZo and Jack.

  “Who’s more important? The imp or the boy?” Boris held the girl against his chest, one arm wrapped around her waist, he carried her as if she were as light as a pillow. He lowered his mouth to her neck as he eyed Alina, his lips turned up into a smile. His fangs dropped into place and he let them rest on the pulsing artery in the girl’s neck.

  “Don’t move, sweetheart. Not even an inch.” Alina held out a stilling hand as if she could stop Boris from a distance.

  A tear made its way down the girl’s cheek, falling to the floor. It was as if that single drop was an explosion in Alina’s head, sending a shudder of fear and anger through her.

  Despite her fury, she was paral
yzed. If she made a move, Boris would kill ZoZo. “Okay, look.” She held up the weapon which looked as benign as a tree branch for Boris to see, then threw it down the hallway toward the bathroom. Her leather pouch lay on the floor behind her. She didn’t think Boris had seen it. The last of her weapons was tucked inside but it was too far out of reach. “Please, you can see I’m unarmed now. Put the girl down.”

  Boris pricked through ZoZo’s skin with one fang, bringing a dollop of blood to the surface. He flicked it up with the tip of his tongue and savored it. “She’s divine!”

  “Let her go. You can have me.” Had those words really left her lips? And did she really mean them? No. Alina would never give up without a fight. She would battle Boris to the end. Maybe she could take him. What difference would it make anyway, either way, her life would be over. Those on High would dispose of her without a thought if she failed in her mission.

  Boris let out a sigh and then smiled as he bent over. When ZoZo’s feet hit the floor, she ran to Alina and buried her face in the fabric of her mistress’s sweatshirt. Boris nodded to the weapon Alina had thrown down the hallway. He chuckled. “By the way, what was—”

  Jack smashed into Boris, sending him skidding across the room. Boris left a man-sized indentation on the opposite wall giving Alina time to scoop up the pouch. Quickly, she pulled out the needle. “Go, little one. Open the door and leave,” she hollered to ZoZo.

  ZoZo looked up at her with pleading eyes, tears threatening to fall.

  Alina screamed, “Now!”

  ZoZo jumped and hobbled over as fast as she could to grab her meager belongings but before turning the doorknob, she threw both Alina and Jack a kiss. Then she was gone, dragging her comforter behind her and lugging her grocery bag of goodies.

  Alina held the needle in place over her arm, then stopped and looked up to see Boris grinding his forearm into Jack’s windpipe. Jack’s fingers bore into the hard flesh of Boris’s arm as he tried to peel himself free.

  With one plunge, Alina emptied the contents of the syringe into Jack’s thigh.

  Now it was Boris’s turn to struggle. Alina stepped back and watched as Jack the Flash as she’d just recently come to think of him, turned lightning quick and had Boris pinned to the wall. Jack was no longer a creature of the night but a super-charged killing machine. His eyes, once blue glowed red in the dim light. A growl escaped him as he bit into Boris’s shoulder. He came away with a mouthful of bloody muscle and spat it onto the floor.

  Boris screamed and managed to land an uppercut to Jack’s chin sending him backward a step, but the boy was on him again. This time, Boris was prone on the rough wooden floor. Jack held Boris’s arms above his head with only one hand and with the other he took hold of Boris’s throat.

  Should she step in? Alina couldn’t help but wonder if Those on High would think less of her if she wasn’t the one to actually make the kill. She took a tentative step toward them but Jack turned to glare at her. A growl rolled deep in his throat. Would she be next? She knew what that blood in that syringe could do; what it was meant for. She had to ready herself. She moved away from Jack and Boris and made her way to the second of her tools, the enchanted branch lying in the hallway.

  When she returned only a few seconds later, everything had changed.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  “No!” Alina screamed and held up the small spear.

  Boris stood in front of her, a crimson-ringed mouth that soon curled into a smile on his face. “I will be back for you,” he said, “but next time, I will fight you, not some boy.” He shot through the window, leaving a gaping hole in the canvas that had covered it; shards of glass littered the floor, twinkling in the moonlight like tiny diamonds.

  Jack was nothing but a bloodied mess. His throat had been ripped out, a crimson pool soaked into the thirsty floorboards around him, quickly turning into what looked like chocolate milk. Spilled milk, Alina thought. It looked just like spilled milk.

  The squeak of a door handle turning caught her attention then her ears rang as ZoZo dropped her belongings and screamed.

  Alina sunk to her knees and gestured for the child to come to her but Zo pressed her hands over her ears and let out another screech. “No, Jack. No Jack die!” Her legs betrayed her and the child slid to the ground. Tiny fists battered the floorboards sending up plumes of dirt and debris. ZoZo’s small lungs filled with it and she launched into a coughing fit.

  Alina slid over to her and gathered the girl in her arms. No tears fell. Try as she might, she could muster up no feeling except fear. Boris was coming back for her and she had the sinking feeling she would end up like Jack. She’d given him the injection—blood from the most ancient of them all, Vlad the Impaler. It was supposed to have made Jack unstoppable and yet there he was right in front of her and ZoZo, twisted and torn to pieces. One arm looked as if it had been yanked free of its socket, the other bent at an impossible angle by his side.

  “Fix Jack,” ZoZo screamed.

  Alina shook her head. “He’s gone, Zo.”

  The child made her way to the Book of Spells lying open by Jack’s makeshift bed, grabbed in and plopped in into Alina’s lap. “Alina fix Jack.” There was hope under the sadness, Alina could see it plainly, but the child didn’t understand.

  “Jack isn’t mortal. He has no soul, sweetness. He cannot be brought back.” Alina took ZoZo’s hand and tried to stroke it but the girl pulled away and placed her hand on Jack instead.

  Alina let out a huff of frustration. She knew ZoZo and she also knew the child wouldn’t let up. The sun would be up in a few hours. She had to do something to placate the child. Alina flipped to the page she and Jack had looked at the other night. The necromancy spell stared up at her. It would have to do. She’d read it, nothing would happen and at least ZoZo would see that she’d tried.

  “Okay, Zo, this is the only spell in the book that can raise the dead. Now, if I try it out, will you accept whatever happens?” The child’s eyebrows smashed together in a look of confusion. Alina tried again. “If I cast this spell and Jack doesn’t come back, you have to let it go—let him go, okay?”

  “Jack come back.” ZoZo threw a defiant chin in the air. “Jack come back for ZoZo! Jack love ZoZo.” She stamped a foot and crossed chubby arms tightly over her chest.

  “But you understand, don’t you? Please Zo, please tell me you understand what I’m trying to tell you. I will cast the spell but I really think Jack is beyond help. You’ll have to be a big girl and promise not to cry or throw a fit if I can’t bring him back, okay?”

  ZoZo threw Alina a nasty look.

  “I won’t do it unless you promise,” Alina said firmly.

  ZoZo took a deep breath and let it out with a huff. “OK.”

  “That’s my girl.” Alina smoothed ZoZo’s wild curls which sprang back instantly, then she took the child’s hand and pulled her down beside her. They sat side by side with the book open in front of them. The spell she knew was meant for beings with souls. Alina read, pronouncing each word slowly and with emotion. She even held a hand over Jack’s heart as was shown in the diagram. ZoZo would notice her effort; at least, she hoped so.

  The child watched; her mouth forming a letter o, her eyebrows arched high. Alina heard the pitter-patter of the girl’s heart as it quickened in her chest. She repeated the words over and over, each time with more enthusiasm and flourish.

  ZoZo whispered along with her though her thick tongue made it hard to keep to Alina’s pace.

  When done, Alina slammed the Book of Spells shut and turned to ZoZo. Jack lay in an ever-growing pool of blood, motionless. “See, he’s gone. This spell doesn’t work for creatures of the night. I’m sorry ZoZo but we’re going to have to get rid of Jack’s body now.” Alina knew what had to be done. She’d bury him in his earth-lined box in the closet.

  The tears came then and ZoZo threw herself onto the floor beside Jack. “ZoZo want Jack. Please, please, please come back.”

  Alina huffed her dis
pleasure. “You promised to be a big—” Something caught in the tail of her eye. A bright spark of blue light spun like the world’s tiniest tornado. Quickly, it began to grow to the size of a quarter. It was in the corner of the room just above the blow-up raft. Without taking her eyes from it, Alina nudged the still hissy-fitting ZoZo. When the girl turned her head and saw it, she stopped mid-wail and clung to Alina’s sleeve. “What that?” she asked.

  “I have no idea.” Alina stood, dragging ZoZo up with her. The whirling blue light opened wide, reminding Alina of some kind of cosmic birth canal. The room filled with a light so bright it hurt her eyes and she let out a whimper at the pain that shot through her brain. ZoZo cowered behind her caretaker. The girl was crying again. “Make go away,” she muttered.

  A noise like the roar of a jet engine filled the room then died along with the light and when Alina opened her eyes, she saw Alexei standing in front of her and with him, a beautiful blonde woman.

  “Whoa,” Alina took a step backward. Confused by what or who was now with her and ZoZo. Was Boris back? And had he bring back up this time?

  The man who looked like Alexei spoke, “Where are we?” He examined himself, checking out his arms and legs as if he’d never had a body before. He turned to the woman beside him. “Carly, oh my God, I think we’re back.”

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Alina tried to keep ZoZo from witnessing what was happening in front of her. If Boris was back, the girl would become hysterical. “Stay behind me, Zo and keep your eyes shut, okay?” she said in her kindest voice. She felt the girl nod her assent.

  “Please answer me. Who are you and how did we get here?” the man asked again, hugging the woman named Carly to him.