Authors: Nicola R. White
“And you just went along with it, didn’t you?” I hissed.
“She killed him,” Priest moaned to Jackson. “Oh God, she killed him, and now she’s gonna kill me, too.” He clutched at Jackson’s pant leg.
“Nobody’s going to kill anybody,” Jackson said, disgusted. He stepped out of Priest’s reach. “Now finish what you were saying.”
“That’s all there is to tell. I swear to God, that’s all. Her and Clint were outside talkin’, so I went in the bar. When I went out to check, they were both gone so I figured he took her somewhere. Back to the motel, maybe. The next thing I know, I see in the paper that he’s dead. Then she turns up here trying to kill me.” He nodded at me.
“
Me
trying to kill
you
? You tried to shoot me!”
“I’m sorry,” he moaned again. “Just let me go and I swear, I’ll get out of town. I’ll get out of the state! I don’t even care about ditching my job and breaking parole. Just leave me alone.”
I sauntered over to the bed where Priest cowered and reached into his pants pocket for his wallet. He nearly hyperventilated at my proximity to him and I leaned over so I could whisper in his ear without Jackson overhearing. “If I ever see you again, you’ll wish I’d killed you like I did your friend.”
Let me out,
Alecto whispered,
just a little.
Every time I let her slip her leash a little, I felt more in control so I decided to try it, even with Jackson just a few feet away. I pictured the door in my mind easing open and felt Alecto’s strength surge through me. Working on instinct, I leaned even closer to Priest, my face not quite touching his, and breathed out.
“You will take the blame for Clinton Miller’s death,” I whispered, letting Alecto guide me. “If you speak of me, you will be as Cassandra was, believed by none and thought mad by all.”
Priest’s eyes widened in fear and I knew he’d heard my curse. He opened his mouth to speak, but my breath stopped his words, forcing itself up his nostrils and down his throat, overwhelming whatever he’d been about to say. When I couldn’t exhale any further, I eased the door between Alecto and me shut again and stepped back.
I felt a pleasant tingle of pride at the inventiveness of my punishment. Using my new powers to force Priest to incriminate himself wasn’t justice in the strictest legal sense, but it worked for me. Sometimes, I was starting to learn, the law and justice were two different things.
Satisfied with what I’d done, I grabbed my purse and shoved the photos inside to dispose of later. Then I opened up the wallet I’d taken from Priest and found a wad of cash, supporting the story he’d told us. The bills folded inside were money earned by stalking, intimidating, and hurting me.
I took out the entire wad and tucked it into the pages of the New Testament that came with the room, which I left prominently situated on the TV stand.
“For the damages,” I told Jackson, feeling his eyes on me.
As long as the bill was paid and there was enough to cover cleanup costs and damages, I figured the hotel wouldn’t care that some construction worker had skipped out and left a mess behind.
“And him?” Jackson nodded at the man on the bed.
“Just get out of here,” I said to Priest. He hesitated briefly to make sure I wasn’t toying with him, then stumbled to the door and exited as quickly as he could.
Jackson looked at me questioningly.
I shrugged. “Like he said, it’s in his best interest to get out of town.” And so much the better if Jackson thought that’s what actually happened.
“And the gun?”
I sighed. Yet another thing I’d have to figure out. “I’ll deal with it.” Somehow.
“Probably end up shooting yourself.”
I glared at him. “I’ll manage.”
He ran a hand over the back of his neck tiredly. “Just leave it. I’ll get rid of it for you.”
“Thanks.” Since he’d been stalwart in his reluctance to aid and abet my other crimes up to now, I was surprised at the offer but accepted gratefully. No sense looking a gift horse in the mouth.
“You know you can’t just pretend nothing happened, right?” Jackson said into the awkward silence that followed. “Some creep is hiring people to follow you around, even scare you. The next time you decide to suck face with some guy at a bar, you might not get off so lucky.”
Ouch. Now that the interrogation was over, I was back to being some slut who sucked face with strangers.
“Whatever.” I headed for the door. “Tell Nora thanks for me, will you?”
I’d killed a man and cursed another, been beaten up and shot at, and been mistaken for a prostitute, all in the past twenty-four hours. My mind was reeling, my body was somehow still on fire for Jackson, and now I had the mystery man from DeVille to worry about on top of everything else.
What else could go wrong?
Chapter 8
When I got to the house, Rachel and Alex pressed me for details about where I’d been all day, but I brushed them off in favor of a bath and then bed, muttering that I’d fill them in when I woke up. After dealing with Priest, I’d become progressively groggier on the drive home from the motel, until I’d pulled into the driveway just barely awake. By the time I made it up the front steps and to my bedroom, I considered myself lucky I hadn’t fallen asleep on the way home.
The next morning, I woke up gasping from the most incredibly vivid, sexual dream of my life, starring none other than Jackson Byrne. And damn it,
I’d woken up right at the best part. I rolled over to avoid the warm sunlight streaming in through my open blind and burrowed deeper under the sheet. I pressed one hand to the heat throbbing between my legs and closed my eyes as I tried to pick up where I’d left off.
Jackson slid his hands down my body, massaging my breasts through the gauzy fabric covering them. They felt hot and heavy as he palmed them, like fruit ripe for his touch. He lowered his mouth to my nipple and tongued me through the thin material. My nipple peaked at his touch and my hips bucked. He lifted his head and kissed my other breast.
I was interrupted by rapid fire knocking at my bedroom door. I ignored it, hoping whoever it was would just go away. Knowing Alex and Rachel, though, I had more than a sneaking suspicion that avoidance was futile. I threw the covers over my head in an attempt to block out the pounding at the door.
“I’m still sleeping,” I hollered. “Go away.”
“No way,” Alex shouted back. “We’ve been waiting since yesterday to find out what happened. There’s no way you’re not explaining that weird phone call.”
“Don’t you want to know what we found out?” Rach added. But I was so
not
about to be swayed. The image of Jackson’s abs hovering over me was all the enticement I needed.
I rolled over and tried to ignore my roommates, but the pounding at the door continued. I groaned and threw back the covers.
“All right, all right. I’m up.” I padded to the door and threw it open. “But if you two knew what you’d just interrupted between me and dream-Jackson, you’d know that I’d be totally justified in going Furious on your asses.”
“Tara’s got a crush,” Alex whooped.
“Really mature, Alex.” I rolled my eyes. “I’ll tell you what happened yesterday, but you owe me coffee.” I paused, remembering the dream they’d interrupted. “And breakfast that doesn’t come out of the toaster.”
“Oh,
come on
,” Alex said, but she headed for the kitchen, too curious for once to argue, and I was glad my demands would be met by her. The extent of Rachel’s cooking skills ran to toaster strudels and whatever could be microwaved. For all her scientific knowledge, Rach was a pathetic cook.
Ravenous after my near-hibernation, I attacked the plate of food Alex set in front of me moments later.
“Whoa, girl. Chew first.” Alex pulled back her hand like she was afraid she might lose it.
Sheepishly, I accepted a second omelet and slowed down. I’d been inhaling my food like a teenage boy with the munchies, not a grown woman who topped out at a hundred and twenty-five pounds.
Rachel and Alex stared while I ate.
“What? I’m hungry.”
“I know nothing you do now should surprise me after we saw your hair and eyes change earlier,” Rachel said as she watched me start in on thirds. “But this is just… Wow.”
I shrugged. “Part of the new me, I guess.” After what had happened yesterday, an increased appetite was the least of my concerns. I finished a third plate and thought about a fourth, but decided to wait and let it settle. I was comfortably full and bursting with energy.
“I’m going for a run,” I decided, pushing my stool back from the breakfast bar. “You guys wanna come? I’ll fill you in on the way.”
My friends stared even harder and I grinned at their disbelief. “Like I said, I’m a whole new me.” I understood their confusion about my easy acceptance of what was happening to me, but I’d had my fill of drama at the Stardust, and I wanted to enjoy my new abilities before some other crazy-ass thing happened to me. My ability to fight back against Priest had given me a lot to think about, not the least of which was that the changes brought on by my transformation might not be all bad.
I went into my room to change into shorts and a tank top, digging my lone, seldom-used sports bra out from under a pile of laundry waiting to be folded, then spent another five minutes hunting up my running shoes. By the time I came back into the kitchen, Rachel and Alex were ready to go. I grabbed my house key out of the bowl we kept by the front door and bounced down the driveway. I felt quick and strong, like a kid with a whole day of play stretching out ahead of me.
I tucked the key into the pocket of my shorts and took off down the sidewalk. It wasn’t until I stopped and looked back over my shoulder that I realized my roommates weren’t with me. Alex had covered half the distance I had and looked like she was working for it, while Rachel trailed even farther behind, breathing hard. I bounced on the balls of my feet while I waited for them to catch up.
“You weren’t kidding about a whole new you,” Alex said. Rachel wheezed up beside her and lifted the hem of her shirt to wipe her forehead.
“Do you have any idea how fast you were going?” she gasped, leaning against Alex.
“Sorry. I’ll slow down.” I hadn’t meant to leave them behind, but I had a serious amount of sexual tension and omelet-fueled energy to burn.
“Bring it on, Walker,” Alex said, her competitive side roused by my challenge. “I could do this all day long. But when I beat your ass, you better spill about what happened yesterday.”
“Oh, I’m shaking in my sneakers,” I shot back.
“Uh, hello?” Rachel said, “I think you two can settle this later. We’ve kind of got bigger issues to deal with right now.”
Abashed, Alex and I grinned at each other. She had a point.
“You’re right,” I said. “Truce.” I raised my hands in a conciliatory gesture, then started jogging again at half my earlier pace. It felt like little more than a brisk walk to me, but this time the girls were able to fall into step beside me. I filled them in on everything that had happened the day before and when I finished, they were silent and thoughtful. We jogged along side-by-side for a while, each of us thinking about how everything fit together. Alex was the first to break the silence.
“This is some kind of clusterfuck,” she said cheerfully, looking over at me. The combination of her potty mouth and upbeat tone set me off and I let out a snort of laughter, breaking my stride. Rachel ignored us both. I recognized the crease between her eyebrows as a sign that she was deep in thought.
“I think what Nora told you is true,” she said finally. “You’re experiencing some kind of modern-day manifestation of Greek mythology. Given how suddenly all of this is happening and how quickly you’re discovering new abilities, there’s just no way to know what type of changes you’re going to go through. Or how noticeable they’re going to be.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The Furies of Greek mythology were basically monsters. The embodiment of vengeful emotion—Alecto means ‘unceasing anger’. The Furies were female
,
but I wouldn’t describe them as
feminine
by any stretch of the imagination. They weren’t women at all, really.”
“Well then, what were they?”
“As they’re classically depicted, Furies come in different forms, depending on the source. Sometimes they’re horrifically ugly and their eyes drip blood. Or they have hair made out of snakes—your classic Gorgon. They’ve also been described as having the head of a woman, the body of a dog, and wings of a bat.”
I collapsed onto a bench at a nearby bus stop. “Rach, I cannot become a dog-girl with bat wings. That is not OK.”
“Based on what we’ve observed so far, I doubt that’s going to happen,” she reassured me. “The bleeding eyes and the hair come and go, and you’re not experiencing any permanent, outward changes. You do have increased speed, strength and appetite, but those aren’t affecting your appearance.”
“How can we know for sure what’s going to happen to Tara?” Alex asked.
“We can’t. We need more information to make any kind of accurate prediction. Based on what’s happened so far, though, Tara could manifest any number of abilities. All of which may have strings attached.”
“You mean she’s going to need to keep eating like a lumberjack to make up for her crazy new metabolism, right?”