by Anne Hope
“We can’t just let him leave. Not after all the trouble we went through to get him here. You know as well as I do, if he walks out those doors, he’s as good as dead.”
“Free will,” Cal reminded his buddy. “Right or wrong, every creature has the right to choose his or her own path. It’s God’s way.”
Marcus didn’t like it, but one thing was obvious, the guy sure knew how to take an order. Barely a second later, a click resounded and the doors swung open.
The tension in Jace’s shoulders melted away. “Amen to that.” His fingers secured around Lia’s, he hastened out of the room.
Marcus followed them into the corridor. He reached into his pocket and withdrew what looked like a vial of blood. “Something tells me you’re going to need this.” He tossed the vial their way. In one fluid movement, Jace caught it. “It’s angel’s blood, one of the few things that can cut down our kind. Make sure it doesn’t come in contact with your skin. And whatever you do, don’t let the Kleptopsychs get their hands on it.”
For a second, Jace’s resolve faltered. Maybe Marcus wasn’t the jackass he’d made him out to be. Maybe the guy really was trying to help.
There was no way to know for sure. Jace needed time. Time to think. Time to process everything he’d just learned.
“Nearest town is seven miles down the road,” Marcus flung over his shoulder before rejoining Cal in the conference room.
Chapter Sixteen
“Seven miles?” Lia took in the deserted landscape surrounding them outside the Watchers’ facility. Cliffs, beach and an impenetrable expanse of forest stretched as far as she could see. “How are we supposed to walk seven miles?” The wind picked up, an eerie chime that slipped past her thin white lab coat to raise goose bumps on her flesh.
“Don’t worry. I’ll have us there in minutes.”
She wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the chill. Jace reached out to touch her, hesitated. She sensed a change in him. The cockiness was gone, as was the flirtatious charm. The man who stood beside her was distant and guarded, plagued by heavy thoughts and questions, many of which she could probably answer. If only she could get a handle on this twin soul thing.
“Did you drive here?”
He shook his head. “Still haven’t figured out if I own a car. Or where I left it.”
“Then how?”
His lips twitched but stopped short of a smile. “I’m going to run.”
She waited for the punch line, a hint that he was joking. When none came, she released a long-suffering sigh. “And I thought this night couldn’t get any weirder.”
A startled cry tore loose from her throat as his arms swept under her and lifted her off her feet. His strength amazed her, his heat cradled her, his musky scent seduced her. He smelled of the earth, of the ocean and the woods. When he took off at a sprint, he reminded her of a black stallion—graceful, powerful, one with the night. She wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled close, her face nestled beneath his chin.
His nearness pierced the thin veil that separated them, and she briefly grasped his thoughts—dark, agonizing images that flashed through his brain at impossible speed. He believed he was wicked, that he was corrupting her simply by touching her. Lia couldn’t understand how anything as beautiful as Jace could be evil, and yet she could all too easily accept that he was born of angels.
“You heard what Marcus said,” he suddenly rasped. “I’m no hero.”
“So now you’re reading my thoughts.”
At the foot of the cliff, a dirt road uncurled, then disappeared into the dense forest. “It’s only fair. You’re reading mine.”
Embarrassment flooded her cheeks. “I didn’t mean to. You’re practically broadcasting them.”
“That’s only because you’re tuned to the right channel.”
“Not my fault I’ve got a direct link to your lost soul.”
The shadows were so deep, she couldn’t see his face. Then again, she didn’t need to. She knew what he was feeling, and it made her heart ache.
“At least the damned thing’s still alive.” She wasn’t sure if it was relief or regret that roughened his voice. “If I could’ve given it to anybody, it would’ve been you.” This time, the words were wrapped in coarse silk, a gruff whisper that brushed her skin and made it come alive.
“I’ll keep it safe. I promise.”
Silence engulfed them, as thick as the night. “Problem is, who’s gonna keep you safe?”
She wanted to tell him she could take care of herself, that she wasn’t afraid of things that went bump in the night, but it would’ve been a lie, and she respected him too much to be anything less than honest. To think that two short months ago she’d encouraged her sister to dump him, and now here she was, hanging from his neck, feeling his very essence fill her.
The guilt returned, cold and greasy, to slither through her. How was she going to tell Cassie that Jace was her soul mate? She could barely accept it herself. Everything she’d ever believed had been turned on its head, and her entire world had tumbled into chaos. Yet strangely enough, she felt more anchored than she’d ever felt before. In the midst of madness, she’d found meaning, completeness.
Jace’s muscles hardened beneath her. If he’d sensed her thoughts, he didn’t say so, but the sudden tension in his limbs led her to suspect that maybe he had. Cal’s words sliced through her mind: “A kiss is all it takes to steal a human’s light.”
What exactly had he meant by that?
“It means if I kiss you, I’ll end up killing you.” His tone was flat, resigned.
Lia shuddered in his arms. “Will you stop doing that? It’s starting to seriously creep me out.”
“Sorry. Usually I get impressions of people, these blurry images in my head. But with you, it’s like you’re screaming your thoughts in my ear. It started last night when you crawled into bed beside me. Now I can’t shut it off.”
They reached a steel barrier, at which point the dirt lane they followed became blocked off to the public. Asphalt paved the road ahead, and streetlights cut a dusty patch through the gloom. The thin strip of road eventually opened up to the 101, where Jace picked up speed.
“How can you run so fast, with me in your arms, no less?”
Light glanced off his face. “I’m full of hidden talents.” Despite the grin yanking at his mouth, his answer dripped with bitterness.
“It doesn’t have to be a bad thing—what’s happened to you. You’re strong. You’re fast. You heal at unbelievable speed. God knows what else you can do.”
“I can kill at will. How’s that for talent?”
Lia didn’t reply. She was far too busy processing what he’d just admitted.
“That’s right, Lia. I’m like the grim reaper without the corny outfit. All I have to do is think about death and I make it happen. Then I feed off the carnage. I swallow people’s life-forces, get high on them. It’s the most mind-blowing buzz.”
Traffic began to hum around them as they approached civilization. A sign for Devil’s Lake loomed ahead. Lia’s flesh crawled. It seemed almost prophetic.
“You know what the devil was before he fell?” Jace said, probably tapping into her thoughts again. “A goddamn angel. How screwed up is that? All that stands between heaven and hell is one short fall. Or in my case, a knife wound.”
He stopped on a small commercial street in front of a motel called Devil’s Lake Inn and deposited her on the ground. Then he made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “After you.”
She studied the Romanesque mansion with its stone walls and pointed arches, its small windows and imposing towers, and something icy crept down her back. “I’m not staying there.”
“Didn’t think you were the superstitious type.”
Lia fought the urge to squirm. “I’m not. But after everything that’s happened tonight—” She shook her head.
This time, Jace’s smile looked genuine. “If the devil really was here, I doubt he’d advertise.”
He was right, of course. She was being an idiot.
“You’re cold. I felt you shivering the whole way here. I’m not sure when we’ll come across another motel—”
“All right,” she reluctantly conceded. “Devil’s Lake Inn, it is.”
They had to share a room. There was no way Jace would leave her alone after what Cal and Marcus had told him, though he wasn’t exactly sure he was doing her a favor. He didn’t need anyone to tell him he was dangerous. He felt it. Something grew inside him. Something dark and violent and insistent. An invasive power that urged him to succumb to it, to embrace it.
If it weren’t for Lia, he would have done so, but her closeness reminded him what it meant to be human. He wasn’t ready to let go of that just yet. If he could just remember his past, maybe…
She walked out of the bathroom dressed in a terrycloth robe, her hair loose and lustrous, a bright silver halo crowning her head. Now that he knew what the glow was, that a part of it belonged to him, it called to him even more.
“The guy at the front desk told me it’s about a two-hour drive back to Portland,” she said. “We’ll have to get an early start tomorrow. My shift at the hospital starts at eight.”
“You’re not going back to that place. Not until I know you’re safe.”
Her shoulders stiffened. “I can’t just bail on them. I’m a doctor. I’ve got people counting on me. My patients—”
Jace rose from one of the two double beds and ate up the distance between them. “Argue all you want, but I won’t let you put yourself at risk. It’s dangerous there.”
“At the hospital?” She shook her head in confusion. “Because of Cal and Marcus? I doubt they’ll come after me again. They got what they wanted, a chance to speak to you.”
“I’m not talking about them. I’m talking about Diane.”
Her composure fissured. “Diane?”
“Yes, Diane. That icy Indian princess in the nurse’s uniform. She’s one of them.” A fist tightened in his chest. “One of me.”
Lia’s thoughts invaded his mind again, and he grinned. “Amazon chick. That’s what you call her?”
A pink flush tinged her cheeks. “Cassie’s nickname for her.” She began to pace the room, her hands clenched at her sides. “I knew there was something off about that woman. The second she joined our staff, everything at the hospital went haywire. I thought it was just a coincidence, but now—” Understanding made her eyes glimmer like blue Curacao on ice. “That’s why she lied about your stabbing, why no one remembered anything, why she kissed me.” She stopped wearing a hole in the rug and brought her fingers to her throat. Her gaze rose to his face. “Jace, I think she tried to kill me.”
The dam ruptured, and fury swamped him. “When?”
“The day after you were admitted. She accosted me in the staff lounge, then out of the blue, she laid one on me. I didn’t understand why she looked so surprised when I slapped her…” Her sentence trailed off as a soft smile fluttered over her mouth. “It didn’t work. I’m immune.”
“Immune to what?”
“The kiss. The kiss of death or whatever it is you guys do. Cal said I wasn’t as easy to strip bare, that I had some kind of protection. That’s what he meant.” She narrowed the space between them until barely a sigh of air separated them. “And I can prove it.” She raised her chin, inclined her head. “Kiss me.”
Those two words were more potent than her blond tumble of hair, her smoky eyes, the glistening fullness of her parted lips. It took every ounce of strength he had not to jump at her command and claim that soft, expectant mouth. He ached to taste her, to run his hand down her silken curves, to feel her very essence twine and fuse with his.
But common sense kicked in before he did something totally reckless and stupid. “That’s the worst idea you’ve ever had. Didn’t you hear what Cal said? A kiss is all it takes to steal a human’s light.”
She dismissed his objection with a wave of her hand. “He was talking in general. Before you came, he said I was different. Don’t you get it? I’m not your average human. I’ve got two souls inside me, one of which once belonged to a Hybrid, and that makes me a tough nut to crack.”
Jace took a step back, established a safe distance between them before he was tempted to help prove her theory. “The operative word being nut.”
“Gee, thanks.” She walked forward, trapping him between her body and the bed, the way he’d done to her a couple of days ago. “Aren’t you even a little bit curious? Don’t you want to know what it’s like?”
She had no frigging idea. Everything he was screamed to savor and possess her.
“If we’re so connected that we can read each other’s thoughts, what would happen if we were together? I mean really together.”
What was going on with her? This wasn’t the same reserved woman he’d met in that hospital room. Boldness rushed through her veins, peppered with excitement. This sounded nothing like Lia. It sounded like him.
Then it struck him. He was part of her now. Two halves of a whole had reconnected inside her. How could she possibly remain unchanged? Responsibility now battled with recklessness, shyness with brashness, reticence with assertiveness.
She reached out and ran her palms over his chest, making his flesh hum. How was he going to keep his hands off her? Desire flooded his system until his vision became streaked with red. Need pulsed through him. He wasn’t sure which part of her he hungered for the most, her body or her soul.
Somehow, he found the strength to pry her off him. He spun her around and sent her tumbling onto the bed. The sight of her sprawled on her back, vulnerable and inviting and as alluring as sin, tore a large chunk out of his self-control. He nearly lunged onto the mattress after her. The need to cover her body with his, to peel off that robe, to taste every inch of her skin was a raw, blistering ache inside him.
He backed away. “I can’t. I just can’t.” He didn’t trust himself right now. He wasn’t even sure what kind of disease raged through his blood. He wouldn’t risk hurting her, no matter how badly he wanted her.
She sat up in bed, pulled the sides of her robe closer together in a defensive gesture that told him he’d done precisely that. “I thought you said you weren’t a hero.”
Regret formed a bitter lump in his throat. “Doesn’t mean I can’t try to be. For your sake.”
Defeat tugging at her shoulders, she crawled under the covers and turned her back to him. “Fine, have it your way.”
He refrained from telling her that if he had it his way, she’d be naked right now.
That night, sleep refused to claim him, so he watched her sleep. The shadows were dense, the silence deep and oppressive, broken only by the soft rasp of her breathing. The gentle rise and fall of her chest soothed him, as did the peace that finally settled over her face.
Sitting across from her, shaken by everything he’d learned, he was assailed by this one certainty. She was his to cherish and protect, the source of his strength and his Achilles’ heel, the part of him he’d been missing even back when he was human. He couldn’t help but wonder if things would have been different had he met her sooner. Maybe that was why he’d been drawn to Cassie. Maybe on some visceral level he’d sensed her connection to the only woman who had the power to complete him. The power to save him.
Now it was too late. Evil had taken root inside him and was spreading its wings. All he could do was beat it into submission, at least long enough to fight off the monsters and ensure Lia’s safety.
After that, damnation could swallow him. There was only so long a man could deny what he was, and that time had long passed.
Chapter Seventeen
Jace didn’t realize he’d fallen asleep until the dream shook him awake. Even with his eyes open, the strange vision persisted. He didn’t think he still had the capacity to dream. Then he understood the dream wasn’t his, but Lia’s. Distress rearranged her features as she twisted in bed.
In his mind he saw a c
opse of trees, heard the ocean raging beyond the woods, smelled the salt-laden air. A teenage boy stood in front of him, hatred and fury contorting his face.
Justin. His name was Justin.
“Freak. I’m going to pound you into the ground. I’m going wipe the floor with you.” The kid flew at him, fists raised.
Behind the anger Jace sensed a festering pit of pain, and he tapped into it. “Won’t change a damn thing. Your mother will still be a whore and you’ll still be a bastard.”
An injured cry rent the night, right before Justin’s knuckles struck him in the jaw. Needles of pain lanced through Jace, blurring his vision, but he refused to stop. “She’ll keep getting drunk, and her boyfriends will keep beating and raping you until there’s nothing left of you. Until you’re broken inside.”
“Shut up.” A second fist, followed by another pang of agony.
“The damage can’t be undone. I see it. Like a smashed window. The sharp pieces keep stabbing into you. You think if you hit me the pain will go away, but it won’t. It’s never gonna go away. You’ve already started raiding her liquor cabinet. You’re no better than she is. No better than the shitheads she brings home.”
“I said shut up!” Justin reached beneath his jacket, pulled out a gun. Black metal gleamed in the pale light of the moon. The barrel was cold as it dug into Jace’s forehead.
A collective gasp rose from the crowd of teenagers gathered round, watching the fight.
“Cool it, Justin,” one of his buddies called. “Don’t do nothing stupid.”
Justin snarled and applied more pressure to the gun, his finger poised on the trigger.
Jace should’ve been scared shitless, but he wasn’t. He didn’t care anymore. One way or another, this was going to end. Tonight. “Go ahead,” he challenged. “Shoot me. It won’t change a thing. Doesn’t make a damn difference where you get fucked, at home or in the slammer.”
Suddenly Justin released him, his body wracked by sobs. His gaze scanned the crowd, pleading, desperate. Stunned, appalled faces stared back at him. They all saw him for what he was now—a coward, a weak, pathetic loser who got the crap kicked out of him more often than not. The illusion of courage was all Justin had, all that kept him together. Now that, too, was gone.
