Hunter's Salvation (28 page)

The syringe Thomas used then had been less than half the size of the one he held now. Then, it had only been half full. Shape-shifters could take a lot of pain—their bodies became conditioned. Shifting was painful. They learned to accept pain; they learned to use it. They channeled it into their need to hunt, or they channeled it into sex.

But William had a breaking point. He suspected he'd meet that breaking point before Thomas injected even 2 ccs of the chemical. “What's the point of all of this, Thomas? So there's one less pathetic human bitch in the world?”

“Yes. One less pathetic bitch. And now there is a woman out there who was killed by something that can't possibly be human,” Thomas murmured. He finally stopped toying with the syringe and tucked it back inside his pocket. Even though it was out of sight, William couldn't stop seeing it. “You risked us all.”

He tried to brush it off. No human could be a threat to him. He knew that. But Thomas could be. Thomas could be a huge threat. William forced a smile. “Look, it's nearly the full moon. Latent effects of the transition are still manifesting—”

Thomas lifted a hand and shook his head. “Do not try to pacify me. Do not try to offer me trite excuses or lies. You fucked up. Be a man. Admit it. Or just keep your mouth closed. But do not try to pacify me.” He finished off his whiskey and rose from his chair. He smoothed down his tie and brushed a few nonexistent wrinkles out of his suit.

William could smell blood on his partner. Thomas had hunted tonight. Rage curdled inside him. Thomas could hunt, yet he thought he had the right to come down on William for it. But he couldn't say anything. He couldn't forget the sight of that syringe.

A smiled curled Thomas's mouth. It was as if he knew exactly what William was thinking. He patted the syringe in his pocket and smiled at William. That smile made William's blood run cold. “If it doesn't kill you, William, it will leave you helpless. Useless. No good to anything or anybody. But I will not end your suffering. I'd rather you think of suffering, lying in a bed, trapping in the confines of your own body, for years and years on end. I'll make sure that I have pretty, young nurses on hand to give you a bath, to change your diaper, to wipe your nose when your immune system can no longer fight off the flu.”

William knew fear. He knew it well. Before he'd become a werewolf, he had lived his life in fear. He woke up afraid. He worked afraid. He fell asleep afraid. He took more pills than a seventy-year-old man, but they didn't stop the tremor in his head. Then came that night, that night when everything in his life changed.

Shock, fear, and pain raced through his system as the wolf attacked. Teeth tore into him, and razor-sharp claws punched ragged gashes in his stomach. But when he'd emerged from the fevers of the Change, it was as if he'd left fear behind. It belonged to the pathetic, whining man he had been. He relished his new existence, his
fearless
existence.

But now fear tore into him. It turned his guts to slippery chunks of ice and locked a vise around his throat. He hated Thomas for it. Fear brought the wolf to the fore, and William barely felt it as the bones in his hands reshifted, forming themselves into wicked, hooking claws.

The smile on Thomas's face grew. “You going to strike me, pup?” Fangs slid down, protruding past his lips.

Fear shaped the world before him. As though William was looking at Thomas through tunnel vision, everything went fuzzy and dark. Everything except Thomas's face. William heard a weird whistling sound and realized he was wheezing for air. A cold, clammy sweat trickled down his back. Tears blurred his vision. He couldn't think…couldn't think…With hands that shook, he reached up and rubbed his eyes.

It was during those few brief seconds when he had his eyes closed that William realized just how unnatural this was. He didn't feel fear like this. He didn't let it control him. Not anymore. A growl rumbled up out of his chest, and anger rushed through him in a torrent, washing away the fear. “You bastard. How dare you do this to me?” William roared. He struck out and watched as his claws carved four diagonal slices down Thomas' cheek. Blood welled, but even as it started to roll down his face, the lacerations were knitting themselves together.

“How dare I?” Thomas asked. He drew a handkerchief from inside his suit jacket and dabbed at the blood. “I could easily ask you the same question, you fool. You risked us all. You have let this new power go to your head, destroy your common sense. I simply gave you a reminder—you may feel indestructible, but you are not. None of us are.”

 

M
URDEROUS
images didn't make for a restful sleep. But sleeping with Jess in his arms did. Vax woke up in the same position he had been in when he'd fallen asleep, his back pressed to the wooden headboard and his arms looped around her waist. He'd slept the whole night through, no nightmares. Jess was cuddled against him, her head on his shoulder, her chest rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm.

She was alive. Safe, sound, and whole. Now he just had to keep her that way.

“You're doing it again.” Jess's voice was sleepy, and when he looked down at her, her eyes were still closed. She opened them just long enough to look at him and smile, and then she snuggled closer. “Thinking too loud.”

“I woke you up.”

“'S okay.” A deep sighing breath escaped her, and she mumbled, “At least it will be if you get me coffee.” She opened one eye and looked at him. “Get me coffee?”

He smiled a little. Lowering his head, he pressed a kiss to one narrow shoulder and whispered, “You probably bleed coffee, you know.”

“Hmm. Eat, drink, breathe, and bleed it. Get me coffee?”

Vax climbed out of the bed and watched as she rolled onto her side and curled into a ball. “Yeah. I'll get you coffee.” He swatted her naked ass gently as he added, “But you have to get up and get moving. Sun's rising. We need to find them today, and the sooner the better.”

She yawned so loudly, he heard her jaw pop. After he started the coffee in the small in-room courtesy machine, he turned back to look at her. She sat back up in the bed and pushed her hair from her face before she wrapped the sheet around herself a little better. “Think we'll find them?”

As the rich scent of coffee filled the room, Vax shrugged. He leaned back against the wall and crossed his arms over his chest, pondering his answer. Finally he said in a low, quiet voice, “I think we will. We don't have any other choice.”

Jess quirked a brow at him but didn't say anything.

She didn't need to. He could read the doubt all over her face, even though he couldn't feel anything coming off her. Vax rubbed his palms together and stared down at his hands. They had to find them. There wasn't any other alternative. Feeling the weight of her stare, he looked up. She sat in the tangled mess of sheets, surrounded by white sheets and blonde hair.

The sight of her hit him like a short arm jab straight to the solar plexus. A handful of days. That was all. They'd known each other just a handful of days, and she had managed to do what nobody else had done since he'd lost Cora. She had gotten under his skin. She had made herself matter to him.

Nothing could happen to her.

Vax couldn't do it again, lose a woman he cared about to the monsters. “We'll find them,” he murmured, more to himself than anything else.

Behind him, the coffeepot made a weird gurgling sound and then it hissed. There were thick, heavy white mugs hanging on pegs attached to the wall. He took two and filled them. As he handed one to Jess, he sat on the edge of the bed and watched her take the first sip. She never waited until it cooled off, even a bit. Instead she hissed a little and took a second sip. She made a soft humming sound, and her eyes closed.

Vax laughed. “I've never met a woman who could make me hard just by drinking coffee,” he murmured. “Not until you, at least.” He reached up and brushed her hair back from her face, tucking a thick lock behind her ear. After a light kiss, he stood up and murmured, “We need to get going.”

 

J
ESS
hadn't believed they would do it.

She hadn't believed
she
could do it.

But she had. Cold chills racked her body: She had a serious aversion to walking into the building that sprawled before her. It was a warehouse. Or at least it appeared on the surface to be a warehouse. The place gave her the creeps. Vax stood up, and she snarled at him. “They'll have security cameras, damn it.”

He just grinned. “They don't work very well around magick.”

“I'm not magick.” She stared at the hand he held out to her, and looked around. She spotted two cameras on the first glance. They were still out of the cameras' range, for now. But if she put her hand in his and let him pull her closer to the warehouse, the cameras would catch them, alert anybody watching to their presence.

“I am. Come on.” He gave her a gentle, cajoling smile and said, “Come on. Trust me.”

Trust me.
That was what it boiled down to—oh, the cameras would catch them. Jess didn't see how his being a witch could make the cameras not see him. But did she trust him to protect her inside those walls? That was the question. It was a whole new world inside those walls, and there were creatures within them that she wasn't able to stand against.

Jess blew out a breath and reached for Vax, linking her fingers with his. They started forward, and Jess stared at the cameras. But just before they would have stepped within the camera's viewing range, the little red light started flashing. There were sparks, and then she saw wisps of smoke drift from the camera. Her eyes widened as the same thing happened with the other camera.

They reached the door, and Jess looked at Vax. “How in the hell did you do that?”

He just laughed. “I told you the cameras wouldn't work around me. Technology and magick just don't mingle very well.” He slid a hand up and down her back, moving it in slow, soothing circles. “You ready?”

Jess made a face. “Do I have any sort of choice?” The sun was starting to creep up on the horizon, and if anybody worked in this warehouse, then she and Vax needed to be out of sight before they showed up. Jess licked her dry lips and nodded. “Come on, let's do it.” She took a step and then froze. “Speaking of
it,
exactly what is it we're doing?”

“Right now, just looking around.” He tried the door, but it was locked.

Vax slid her an appraising look. Jess knew what he wanted before he even said anything. But she just gave him a sweet smile. “You worked mojo on the cameras. Do the same on the lock.”

He gave her a disgruntled look. “I didn't work
mojo
on anything. Technology and magick don't mix well. I'm lucky—I can use a telephone, drive a car, and listen to electronics. But I've known people who can't even watch TV. There was this woman—she worked a job in the mortal world as a counselor. She usually had her own office, but they were remodeling and so she had a session in the computer lab. Every single computer crashed while she was in there. She never even touched them.” He laid his hand on the doorknob and said, “I can use magick, but the more I use it, the worse it affects things around me. If their security system gets fried for no obvious reason, somebody will notice.”

Without turning around, he reached behind himself and grasped her wrist, pulling her forward. He took his hand from the handle and replaced it with hers. “You, though, don't have that issue, do you?”

Jess stared down at the handle. Telekinesis worked more easily when she could see things, but she didn't have to. There was next to no weight to the lock. She felt the lightness of it as she unlocked it; there was a
snick,
and then the locks turned. “No. I don't have that issue.” Although she sort of wished she did. She'd always been content with the ability she had. Moving things with her mind could come in handy. Could be a good weapon. But it suddenly seemed paltry. The unknown lay inside these doors, and she figured she'd have felt a lot more secure if she had something more in the way of firepower on her side.

Unconsciously she reached behind herself, touching the gun she had tucked inside her waistband. She closed her hand around the butt and almost pulled it out. But she made herself pull her hand away. She looked up and found Vax watching her. He held her gaze and reached up to cup her chin.

“I'll take care of you,” he murmured. He pushed her hair back from her face, his fingers brushing against her cheek. Then his hand trailed down her arm and around her waist and then she felt him reach inside her waistband. He pulled out the gun and pushed it into her hand. “If it makes you feel better, carry it.”

Jess forced a laugh. “Don't you know how many gunshot wounds happen every year? A lot of them are accidental. You want to be a statistic?”

Vax just bussed her mouth. “I won't be.” He linked his fingers with hers and led her inside. Jess swallowed. Her breathing was too fast. She could feel her heartbeat pounding—it beat against her ribs so hard that it almost hurt. Her ears were buzzing, and everything she saw seemed to take on a weird, surreal quality. Her body felt weightless.