Hunter's Salvation (14 page)

But Jess suspected she had only one chance get out of this alive, and it wouldn't work if she kept her shields up. Hell, she didn't even know if it would work after she let them down.

The thing pushed to its feet, and Jess acted, lowering her shields and screaming out for Vax. She just prayed that he wasn't far, and that he heard her call.

As the monstrous vision in front of her leaped at her, Jess dove to the side and lifted her hand. The blanket from her bed wrapped around the thing, tangling around its face. She tried to use the few brief seconds she had to get out of the room, but huge obsidian black claws shredded the blanket. The heavy silk brocade made a hideous sound as it tore.

Caught between the door to the hall and the door to the bathroom, she faced down the monster. She figured the thing would expect her to run for the door to the hall, so instead she ran for the bathroom. Jess used her mind to shove the door closed behind her, and then she looked at the big window over the bathtub. Her parents had designed this bathroom from top to bottom, an anniversary present to each other.

It had been finished just a few weeks before they died—they only got to enjoy it a little. But one thing in that bathroom just might be Jess's key to living a few days longer. The window opened and closed. Leanne Warren had wanted to be able to sit in the bathtub on a summer night with the window open so she could smell the honeysuckle blooming in the backyard.

The lock opened with a quiet snick, but Jess's control was shot and the window slammed up so hard, it nearly shattered the glass. As she climbed through it, the door opened with a crash. She didn't dare stop to look back. Clinging to the windowsill for the briefest second, she took a deep breath and let go. It was only fifteen feet, but when she landed, she ended up on her back with her breath knocked out of her.

She wasn't quite sure she'd be able to move, but the sight of the thing leaping through the window was one hell of an impetus. Scrambling to her feet, she took off running towards the back door. As she drew closer, she focused on the door and unlocked it with her mind. She ran inside. It swung closed behind her and locked.

Not that the lock would do much good. She could hear the thing behind her, could practically feel it. She could smell it—a curious odor that reminded her of a wet dog and ground-up, bloody meat.

Like most people with psychically based gifts, she found that the fear-induced adrenaline rush sharpened her abilities. As long as she could control the fear, it would help her. Her telekinesis would become stronger, and so would her weak psychic ability. The few seconds she'd let her shields down to scream for help, she had caught some random, chaotic thoughts, oddly human thoughts from the monstrous, bizarre-looking creature.

It was irritated—no, not it.
She.
There was something uniquely feminine about the monster's thoughts. Something intangible, something Jess couldn't quite put a finger on. She was irritated, in a hurry, and pissed because Jess hadn't been the easy target she'd been expecting.

Sorry I disappointed you,
Jess thought, feeling a little manic from the desperation rushing through her.

But apparently that brief connection with the creature wasn't the end. What came next was little more than a flash of memory, but it was enough to make her blood go cold. As if she were watching through the she-wolf's eyes, Jess could see Thomas Fitzpatrick, striding down a long white hallway, a long white coat flapping around his legs. He held a clipboard in his hand, and as the woman watched, he stopped in front of her, studying her with an oddly clinical stare. “You still can't make the full shift, can you?”

The woman made no response, just stared at Thomas with disgust and frustration. She wanted
out
. She wanted to run. She wanted to hunt. Feed. Kill.

The blood thirst in those thoughts was enough to make Jess sick to her stomach, and she tried to rip herself out of the she-wolf's memory. The flash wasn't done yet, though.

Thomas tapped his pen against his lips, cocking his head as he studied Dena. “How did the moon feel last night, Dena?”

Then he turned his head, calling down the hallway. As footsteps approached, Thomas punched a button and a clear-paneled door slid away. He stepped in—the woman wanted to grab him and rip his heart out. But before she could even lift a hand, somebody grabbed her.

The last thing Jess picked up from the woman's mind was a needle, and how the woman struggled as it slid into her arm, her very
human
arm. Jess felt a residual burn as the poison pumped inside Dena's.

Poison
—

Finally Jess was jerked out of the memory flash. Just in time, too. She barely managed to duck the clawed hand that came swinging at her head. Fear had dried the spit in her mouth, and her heart was pounding so loudly, she figured the wolf-thing could hear it as well.

She took off running once more, dashing up the stairs. She took them three at a time, and Jess still wasn't running fast enough. She needed to get away. But she wasn't sure she could make it to the car, and even if she could, that thing could bust through the windows as if they were paper.

Her purse was by the bed, though. And inside it, her Browning. If she could just make it…Jess rounded towards her bed and plowed straight into a rock-hard chest. Big calloused hands closed over her upper arms and she started to struggle, but the warm scent of his skin permeated her senses and she realized it was Vax.

“Oh, thank God,” she whispered. She didn't have more than a second to heave out a sigh of relief. She could hear the thing behind her.

“There's a—” That was all she got out before Vax shoved her away.
Far
away. Jess ended up skidding down the polished wooden floors of the upstairs hallway on her butt, stopping only when she crashed into the wall. Her head flew backward, slamming into drywall. He'd pushed her so hard, she felt like her teeth rattled in her skull.

She'd suspected that he had a lot of power inside that long, sinewy body. But she hadn't realized just how physically strong he was. The animal-woman was probably close to seven feet tall, but when she lunged for Vax, he met her head-on. He ducked under one slashing claw, slid behind her, and wrapped his arms around the thing's waist. He twisted, taking the thing to the floor with him. He didn't stay down long, but rolled to his feet. As he stood, Jess saw that he was holding a wicked, long knife. It glinted in the faint moonlight.

The creature surged upward, powerful muscles uncoiling. The she-bitch looked at Vax and growled. Jess winced as the deep noise reverberated through the air. Even if nobody had heard the window breaking, and that wasn't likely, somebody would hear sooner or later.

They'd call the cops, and Jess couldn't even imagine trying to explain this.

But that particular worry was going to have to go on the back burner for now. Jess felt something roll through the air, and instinctively she dropped to the ground. She wrapped her arms around her head, but from the corner of her eye, she saw something neon blue arrowing through the air, hurtling towards Vax. He swore, and there was a huge crash, a noise she felt more than heard.

Jess turned her head a little more and saw Vax rising from the floor. She caught a glimpse of the wall behind him. It was blackened, smoke rising from it in delicate little wisps.
“Shit,”
Jess whispered.

That blue thing she'd seen did that. And it hadn't come from Vax. Reluctantly, she turned her head and looked at the she-wolf. She was looking at Vax, and her misshapen mouth was twisted in a bizarre smile. “Surprise,” she said, her voice a deep, guttural snarl.

She lifted a hand. When Jess saw the spinning, writhing mass of fire in the she-creature's hand, everything inside her went cold with fear.
That's not right.
That
thing
was some sort of shape-shifter. Shape-shifters didn't have magick. Did they?

This one did. The fire went hurtling towards Vax, but it didn't strike him. It landed in front of him, and huge fiery pillars erupted from the gleaming wooden floor, surrounding Vax. Jess felt a scream building in her throat, and she scrambled to her hands and knees. She had a weird thought that she should do something to help, but what? Her father had been a sergeant in the local fire department, and he had drilled fire safety into their heads, including the need to always be prepared. Jess still kept a small fire extinguisher on each floor, but the small one she had under the bathroom sink wasn't going to do that much good.

It was all she had, though. She couldn't see the sink from where she sat, and she inched across the floor, hoping the she-wolf wouldn't see her. Stretching out on her belly, she saw the bathroom sink. It opened silently, and she stared at the extinguisher, watching as the small red canister slid out of the mounting bracket.

It cleared the frame and flew across the hall to her hand. Shoving to her knees, Jess climbed to her feet. She broke the safety seal. The tiny sound was horribly loud, and she winced, looking towards the thing.

The she-bitch wasn't looking at her, though. Quickly, Jess pointed the extinguisher towards Vax. She squeezed the trigger, moving closer. Foam went spraying out in front of her, but by that time she realized the fire was out. She ended up covering Vax with foam. He wiped the white muck away from his face and slid her a narrow look before looking towards the she-bitch.

From the corner of his eye, he could see the fire extinguisher in her hand, and Vax had to smile a little, despite the situation. He was splattered with white foam, and his eyes stung as he wiped it away.

He flicked the excess foam off and glanced at the strange-looking wolf creature. “You're good,” he murmured. It wasn't fire he used. He simply forced his power inside of her and knocked her unconscious. Stepping over her still body, he added, “I'm better.”

Holding out a hand to Jess, he helped her to her feet. She looked at him from head to toe, and as he tried to push his hair back, foam dripped from his fingers. Jess covered her mouth. As she muffled her laughter, Vax rolled his eyes. “You don't have time for this. Come on, we have to get out of here. As in, now. Somebody would have heard us.”

It took less than three minutes for them to get out of the house, but it was still too much time. Lights from the neighboring houses were on, and as he carried out the unconscious wolf creature, he saw a couple of curtains flutter as though somebody was peeking outside.

Great. Now Jess's neighbors could tell the cops they'd seen a suspicious-looking character throwing something into Jess's trunk. “This is just too perfect for words,” he muttered, but nobody was around to appreciate his sarcasm. Jess was in the driver's seat, staring towards him with wide, worried eyes.

Police would be here in just a few minutes, and they had to be far away.

He groaned under the were's weight as he shifted her in his arms. She probably weighed over three hundred pounds in this form. He should have forced her into human form before knocking her out. Would have been a lot easier to carry. But he didn't have the time to try that right now. He dumped her in the trunk and slammed the top down. He said a quick prayer that she wouldn't regain consciousness for a while, and then he ran around to the passenger door and climbed in.

Jess sat in the front seat, wearing nothing more than a skinny strapped tank top and loose lounge pants. Her purse lay on the floorboard, half of the contents spilled. She must have just thrown it inside when she climbed in. He slid inside, and the foam clinging to him smeared all over the butter-soft tan leather interior. “This is probably going to do a serious number on your leather.”

Jess slammed the car into reverse. “Get me out of this alive. Help me find Masters. We'll be even.”

She peeled out of her driveway, and he warned her, “Don't drive too fast. Your neighbors have already called the police.”

Instantly she slowed down. By the time they reached the entrance to the classy subdivision where she lived, Jess was driving at a normal speed. They passed two squad cars on the way out, and she didn't so much as blink. “You handle stress pretty well.”

She glanced at him. “You expect me to start driving all suspicious and secretive-like? Give them a reason to pull me over? I've got a werewolf in the trunk of my car. I don't think the average officer is equipped to handle it. Which means you and I need to get that thing away from here.” Jess fell silent for a minute, and then she said softly, “I haven't ever seen a werewolf before. I didn't think they'd look like…that.”

“They don't.” Vax stared out the window, watching the streetlights turn into a blur as she sped up.

“That—you mean that wasn't a werewolf?”

“I'm not real sure what it was.” Vax scrubbed his hands over his eyes before looking up and staring around them. “We need to get someplace isolated. Fast.”

Jess nodded. “Does this mean you haven't ever seen that kind of thing before?”

“I have. Once.”

The were in the back looked almost exactly like the one he had run into with Kane and Kendall a year ago in Salt Lake City. He'd tried tracking it, but there was no path, nothing to track.