She shut down that line of thought. “I don’t owe you anything,” she said, her voice more unstable by the second. “If anything, you’re the one who owes me some answers, Agent Wyatt.” Or was that title a cover for the job he’d taken? Hell, was he even really FBI?
“Back to a last name basis, huh?” Grayson leaned his back against one side of the wall to let her maneuver past him, but he took up more space than he realized. “Guess I deserve that.”
She hiked up the last three stairs and noted Reynolds empty desk over Grayson’s wide shoulder. Probably on his lunch date with Isabel the Rookie. Her stomach churned with dread and warning. Her eyes narrowed into slits. She shouldn’t have let him go. Her instincts screamed that Isabel was connected to the murders at the bank. But how?
“Something wrong?” Genuine concern tinted Grayson’s question as he followed her sight line.
No. Yes. Hell, she didn’t know, but she couldn’t get the memory of sulfur and Isabel’s red fingernail polish out of her head. “There was a rookie in here earlier. Something about her was off and I can’t stop thinking about it. She wasn’t at the crime scene this morning, but she smells like it. It’s that sulfur smell.” Nika centered her attention back on him. “Maybe it’s coming from my clothes.”
Grayson stiffened. His chest grew wider and bigger as he pulled back his shoulders. His eyes narrowed, completely focused on her. “Long blonde hair, small frame, gray eyes?”
“You know her?” Had she been right about Isabel? Her heart pounded hard under her ribcage. Was Isabel the woman he’d been hired to find?
“Son of a bitch. Where is she?” He dug his fingertips into her arms and pulled her into him. Panic overwhelmed his controlled expression, lips parted. The intoxicating scent of earth and wood washed over her. His grip wasn’t bruising. Desperate, but not painful. “Nika, think. Where did she go? Did she talk to anyone?”
“My partner—Reynolds—they went on a lunch date,” she said. “I don’t know where they went. Reynolds usually eats at home, a few blocks from here.”
He dropped his hold on her arms, but wrapped a hand inside hers and tugged her across the precinct. She clung to him as they ran for the front doors as though his hand in hers was a normal, every day occurrence. It felt right, but she couldn’t wrap her head around that now.
“Where are we going?” They burst through the precinct’s front doors. She dug her car keys out of her jacket pocket and rounded the driver’s side of her SUV.
His hand fell away as Grayson ripped open the passenger side door and climbed inside. “We’ll start with Reynolds’s apartment.”
She shut the door behind her then started the engine and threw the SUV into Reverse. She shoved her foot to the accelerator. Burning rubber overwhelmed her enough to clear to head of thousands of questions on the tip of her tongue. She didn’t understand. Everything was moving too fast. She slammed on the brakes and shifted the SUV into Drive. Pedal to the floor. Adrenaline surged fast and hard through her veins. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
His eyes pegged her to the back of her seat, dark. Dangerous. He unholstered one of the Berettas from his shoulder holster and checked the magazine then cleared the barrel. “Your sister’s killer has already zeroed in on her next target.”
Chapter Five
The stairwell lights flickered as they ascended to the second floor of Reynolds’s apartment building. Not a good sign. Grayson wrapped his palm around one of the Berettas in his shoulder holster. It’d been a long time since he’d had to draw his weapon, but the instincts he’d burned into his muscles working for the FBI flared to life. Enhanced senses on alert, he put one foot in front of the other, but gave his new partner her own space.
Nika had taken position ahead of him. The movements beneath her tight jeans and leather jacket shifted with strength. Damn fine sight if anyone asked him. She’d pulled the gun from her ankle holster, back against the wall as she climbed the stairs. The fierce determination in her blue eyes said she was all focus and he swallowed hard. She could’ve made the FBI’s roster in a heartbeat with that kind of resolve. Her boots hit the landing with barely a sound. She spun her attention over her shoulder and through the small glass window in the center of the door, revealing pale, flawless skin of her neck. What he would give to get a taste...“This is Michael’s floor.”
He ground his teeth. Focus. He’d come for Isabel. Not to fantasize about scraping his teeth along the thin cord running between Nika’s shoulder and her neck. “Any movement?”
“No.” Swinging her gun up, she pushed off the wall and wrapped her hand around the door handle. She spared a glance in his direction. “Ready?”
He hiked his Beretta up a bit higher and aimed at the door. He couldn’t pick up any evidence Isabel was near, but that didn’t mean shit. Demons were tricky bastards. He’d know. He’d tracked nearly a half dozen targets over the last year alone. He nodded confirmation and climbed the last two steps to the landing. The firearm felt deceptively good in his hand. The handle warmed to his touch, familiar and invigorating. This was the part he’d loved about his job: the hunt. Probably why the Deceiver had chosen to save his life that bloody night over a year ago. Once he got the scent of his target, he didn’t stop until the case was closed.
She jerked the door open hard. Within seconds, she disappeared onto the second floor out of his sight. His guess? Isabel had already killed Detective Michael Reynolds, but hadn’t left the apartment yet. If Nika surprised a full-fledged Arch-demon in the middle of a kill... No. He wouldn’t let that bitch kill another innocent. He stepped through the doorway and caught up to Nika fast. Deep red carpet and bad lighting blurred in his peripheral vision as they moved as one down the hallway. Hints of her sweet scent threatened his focus, but years with the FBI had developed his ability to find the slightest inconsistencies in his surroundings.
Like the apartment door up ahead left wide open.
Nika slowed ahead of him and cast a warning nod toward him over her shoulder. He listened for movement then took up position along the wall. They’d found Michael Reynolds’s apartment. No way in hell would a detective of the NYPD leave his door open for anyone to walk right in. Any attempt to communicate he’d be the one going in first died on his tongue. Isabel would hear every word, maybe even suspected they were already here.
Something metallic clanged inside.
Bingo. He had his target.
His breath froze in his throat, a costly reaction in the worst scenarios, but, as his training took over, he approached the open door on the balls of his feet, weapon at the ready. Nika worked her way right up against him, the sensation of her soft skin diving deep into his muscles. But he couldn’t drown in the feel of her body. Not yet. A quick look through the crack in the door revealed evidence of a struggle. Furniture torn apart, papers discarded all over the floor, but no blood, no body, and no target.
Where was Isabel?
A different sound, similar to a crumbing piece of paper, stretched out into the hallway. The thinning air smelled of copper and salt. And the sulfur. Grayson’s heart plunged into his stomach. If Isabel hadn’t fled, Reynolds was either injured or already dead. He turned his attention back to Nika. Her wide eyes and thinning lips said she’d recognized the possibility of finding her partner dead too. Son of a bitch. He recognized that look.
Without hesitation, she swung around him, weapon up and level as she rushed inside the apartment. Damn it all the hell.
“Nika, no!” He reached after her, his hands scraping against her jacket. Too fast. There was no stopping her, but if she faced off with Isabel alone, she’d never survive. He followed close on her heels. He cleared the living room on her left and the kitchen on the right as she pushed deeper into the apartment. Emotion had taken over her control to the point she made mistake after mistake, almost frantic. Only her shallow breathing penetrated the silence.
Another crunch snapped his attention toward a back bedroom.
“The office.” Sh
e darted toward a hallway that guarded her on both sides, which bottlenecked their suspect, but meant Isabel would have to go through Nika to escape. Damn woman. When would she realize she was way over her head with this one?
He fisted the back of her jacket in his hand and tugged hard. No way would he let her take on a demon alone. Her rear slammed into his hips and a sharp exhale escaped up his throat with the contact. Electricity sung through his veins, the same sensation he got each time he zeroed in on his target. Her lavender scent mixed with pure adrenaline, an intoxicating and addictive rush. His heart pulsed behind his ears, but movement down the hallway claimed his attention. He lowered his mouth to her ear. “You have no idea what we’re up against. I need to go in first.”
“Are you kidding me right now?” She wrenched out of his hold, expression cold, eyes blazing, and spun toward him. “We don’t have time to argue about jurisdiction. I’m not waiting another second if my partner’s in there.” She shifted her weight to the balls of her feet as she approached the office. Her ponytail swung back and forth across her shoulders.
The air in his lungs turned to ice. His body ached with a sudden and vicious ping. No. He should be relieved. Both of his targets would be in the same room in a matter of seconds. If he played his cards right, he’d have his marks incapacitated and his soul back by the end of the night. His stomach rolled violently and forced bile into his throat. He rounded his hands into fists. No. He still had time to find a loophole, but Nika didn’t. She’d already reached the doorframe.
“No!” He pumped his legs fast and hard to reach her. The world slowed. The thin, white-paneled door swung open inch by agonizing inch and she froze like a deer in headlights. He wrapped his arm around her midsection and swung her behind him, but Isabel had already spotted them.
“Oh, my God.” Nika raised her gun. “What is that?”
The Arch-demon hovered above Reynolds. Her true form took up most of the room with a six-foot wing span. Bird-like, spots of red stained her black, leathery skin. Blood. Sharp teeth stood stark white as the creature smiled. The cat had been let out of the bag. “I was hoping he’d send you after me, Grayson. I’ve always wanted to see your beast.”
The singsong feminine voice didn’t fit with the monster less than ten feet away. It sent a strong shudder across his back. He intensified his single-handed grip on Nika’s hips behind him. Adrenaline burst through his veins as he fanned his fingers over the Beretta in his other hand. This was what he’d been trained to do, what he’d been recruited to do by the Deceiver. “It’s over, Isabel. Don’t make this harder on yourself. Come with me willingly and he just might let you live.”
“That thing’s not going anywhere.” Heat pounded into his back a split second before three shots exploded from Nika’s Glock right next to his ear. The bullets hit their mark, two in Isabel’s chest, one in her left wing.
Shit. A high-pitched keen rang in his ears as slick, black wings expanded in a heartbeat. A horrific shriek pierced through the ringing and Grayson raised his hands to block the sound. He spun toward Nika and plowed into her as the Arch-demon charged. They hit the floor hard. Pain erupted up through his elbows and across his ribs. Her wide blue eyes widened even further as she caught sight of something over his shoulder. Agony shot down his back as talons latched into his skin. He ground his teeth to keep from screaming. A groan rumbled deep in his throat. “Run.”
The room blurred as Isabel flung him backward. He hit the office wall hard. Every bone in his body popped from the blow and he collapsed. The gun dropped from his hand. Nika’s gasp sliced through the haze hovering in the back of his head. Heart in his throat, he pushed to his feet as his veins caught fire and straightened.
Isabel had the NYPD detective off the floor, talons squeezing the life out of Nika by the throat. Her irises had dimmed significantly, unfocused, but steady.
The beast he’d inherited the night of his bloody death growled and snapped the Arch-demon’s red gaze in his direction. Darkness coursed through his veins, familiar and powerful. He pulled his shoulders back and advanced a single step toward his target. Sweat dripped down his neck as the urge to rip and destroy took control. “You will put her down or I’ll tear every bone from your body.”
“Promise?” The demon’s eyes brightened as she smiled, but he didn’t move and the smile disappeared. “Oh, come on. What’s it going to take for you to show me your beast, Grayson? This?” Isabel clamped her teeth into Nika’s shoulder.
“No!” He lunged as a scream ripped through the apartment and seared his nerve endings. Nika’s scream. The sound penetrated down into his core and jolted the violent and bloodthirsty monster trapped inside his bones. Talons extended from his nails, his teeth growing sharper. He aimed his shoulder into the demon’s back and slammed her into the floor. Her hold on Nika vanished. A frenzy of protectiveness wrapped his arms around Isabel from behind and he ripped the demon back from her mortal victim.
Gunshots tore through the violent haze clouding his control. Two shots—three—punctured the Arch-demon’s arms and abdomen. He ignored the pain bolting down his back from his injuries, his entire focus on the two figures running down the hallway toward him. Isabel jerked from his grasp and dove for the single window in the office. Glass shattered across the floor and windowsill. She was gone.
He struggled to regain his control then spun toward the flood of power hovering over Nika’s unconscious form. Adrenaline pumped hard through his veins, getting him ready for another fight.
“We’re here to help, Grayson.” Vibrant green eyes centered on him. Recognition pulled at his memories. The man’s angular face sported a five o’clock shadow, giving him a dangerous look with his short black hair and narrowed eyes, but Grayson wasn’t intimidated. Jacob, the Arch-angel who’d fallen for the heiress of the Underworld. Only this Arch-angel had lost his power. He’d chosen life as a mortal.
It was his mate standing over his detective that pulled another growl from his throat.
“Get away from her.” The beast hadn’t gone back to sleep, despite his partial transformation, and his legs moved without his permission to protect what was his. A large mass collided with him half way to his target, moving faster than he thought possible for an Arch-angel turned mortal. Quick jabs to his kidneys did little damage, but one slice from his growing talons across Jacob’s chest knocked the angel to his knees. Experienced eyes stared up at him in defiance. His elongated incisors probed at his bottom lip. He’d transform completely to protect Nika if he had to, but he sure as hell hoped the monster didn’t get out.
“Enough.” Vdarra Jansen, or Duemos in the Underworld, shot to her feet. “Please, there doesn’t have to be more bloodshed. He was trying to protect me.”
The pull of his oath to the Deceiver demanded he back down simply because she’d asked. Then again, Vdarra had abandoned her loyalty to her father and her kind. “I don’t answer to you anymore, Heiress. Now get away from her.” Grayson tried to reign in the power beneath his skin, but it’d been too long since he’d let the beast out. It didn’t want to go back into its cage.
Vdarra’s brown gaze softened in sympathy, something he’d never known any demon to accomplish. “You know what a demon’s bite can do to a mortal.” She cast a quick glance toward Jacob, but Grayson couldn’t decode the thought they shared. “It’s clear you care for her or you wouldn’t be here. I can help, but we have to hurry before the venom reaches her heart.”
Nika’s back arched off the floor. Her body shook uncontrollably. Her blue eyes rolled up into her eyelids. His heart beat double-time and he lunged for her, cradling her head with talon-free hands. Overcome by a flood of fear, he held her as best he could, her soft, warm skin turning ice cold in seconds. He swiped her ponytail off her shoulder and pressed one ear against her heart as her breathing faltered. “Her heartbeat is erratic.”
“It’s started. Her blood is trying to fight the venom. We don’t have much time.” Vdarra crouched beside him and took hold of Nika�
��s ankles to steady her. Her expression contorted into confusion. She slid her attention to her hold on Nika. “Something’s not right. She’s...”
“She’s what?” He scoured her body to find the answer for himself. The tremors transformed into a violent wave and bucked Nika out of his hold. She hit the floor hard. As though his soul had been ripped from him all over again, he silently begged for the Father to intervene, which meant he’d completely lost his mind. He locked his hands on her to the point his fingers would leave bruises and looked up to Vdarra. “Do something!”
“I can’t. She won’t let me in.” Vdarra’s words hit him hard. What did that mean? The thunder she’d owned as a demon cracked through her calm demeanor and a hint of the heiress he’d heard rumors of bled through.
Remnants of her surrendered power—the Deceiver’s power—seared his nerve endings. His palms sweated. Dark power. But...no. Not completely. A wave of something different, yet familiar, brushed against his senses. Lighter. Stronger. Angelic power?
His gaze shot to Jacob, who stood stock still behind his mate, arms crossed over his chest as Vdarra worked, gun in hand. Always her fallen protector. “What are you doing?”
“Grayson, that power isn’t coming from us.” Vdarra stared up at him over Nika’s body with wide brown eyes. Not black as a demon’s as he’d expected. “It’s her. She’s not mortal.”
No. His hold on the woman in his arms faltered. “That’s impossible—”
In an instant, Nika stilled. The energy surrounding him, eating up the oxygen in the room, vanished, as though it’d never existed. He exhaled hard. His neck and back ached from pinning her to the floor. Son of a bitch. It hadn’t been Vdarra’s or Jacob’s power after all. But nothing about Nika had led him to believe she’d held any kind of power. Dormant or otherwise. What had Isabel done to her?
His Seductive Target (Afterlife, #2) Page 5
