Hunter's Salvation (6 page)

There was no doubt in her mind, though, that he was in fact a witch. He felt different from a telekinetic, and so did his power. She didn't know how to describe the power, but it felt wild and untamed. Mom had one time likened a witch's power to the elemental magicks that had filled the fantasy books Jess had grown up reading.

She couldn't describe the power, but she could sure as hell describe how she saw him using it. He seemed to have control over the air—he used it to form a dense, invisible hand that was choking the life from Jess's would-be abductor.

Nate's face was pale. That invisible hand had closed around his throat, and he arched up, straining against it, as he gagged and choked for air. Hell, Jess could
see
an indentation around the man's neck, whiter where it looked like fingers were digging into the flesh. Nate was clawing at the air around his throat, trying to break free.

Unable to stop herself, Jess looked back at Tall, Dark, and Delicious. His eyes weren't just glowing now. It looked as though streaks of lightning were shooting through them, while the gray swirled, alternating between light and dark.

The man's thundercloud gaze slid her way, and Jess swallowed the knot in her throat. She finally managed to suck in a breath of air, and as oxygen flooded her lungs, the burning in her chest receded a little.

“Get out of here,” the man said softly.

If only
…For half a second, she was tempted. This had gotten too weird, too fast. She was tempted to just leave—not the club, but everything. Leave it all behind. Maybe if she ran fast enough, she could leave everything behind.

“If only,” she muttered. She shook her head. Running away wasn't an option. Since she couldn't run away, she wasn't going to leave, either.

But Jess had no plans to argue with that guy. He didn't have to know that the only way she was leaving would be if she found who she was looking for.

Or in a body bag,
she thought grimly as she headed for the door.

She'd lie low until he was gone, and then she'd find her man. Then, and only then, would she think about leaving.

 

H
E
kept his senses partially focused on the woman, but the second the door swung closed behind her, Vax couldn't sense her anymore. That low-key aura of hers was peculiar. It had kept him from sensing that she was the one in danger, and it kept him from being truly aware of her presence unless he was practically on top of her.

On top
…Even as the thought circled through his mind, he shoved it aside.

She was a puzzle. Vax couldn't feel her, not the way he should be able to. She was more like a person-shaped blank spot to his senses than like a living, breathing woman. Definitely a puzzle, but one he'd have to figure out later.

Once he took care of this mess, Vax would track her down. He'd have to. Although he hadn't been able to get beyond that aura, he knew it was her death he sensed. She wouldn't be safe until the threat was eliminated. Somehow, Vax doubted he'd be able to accomplish all of that in the next couple of hours.

As the door closed with a quiet snick, Vax called his magick back inside, and the air realigned and re-formed itself, becoming once more nothing but empty space and oxygen.

There was a hoarse gasping sound, and the man sucked in air as he collapsed to the floor. Closing the distance between them, Vax crouched down. The silver cuff lay on the ground, flashing at him. The dull, matte-black gun lay next to it. Vax picked both of them up and pocketed them before looking at the man who lay on his back, wheezing for breath.

He waited until the guy's eyes began to clear a little. Once Vax knew the man could see him, he smiled.

“Now…you and I are going to have a talk.”

 

“I
THOUGHT
I told you to get out of here.”

The voice was masculine and sexy, and it sounded pretty irritated. When Jess looked up and met his eyes, she saw the irritation hadn't been imagined. He looked ready to throw her over his shoulder and make sure she left.

Jess just shrugged and looked back to the employee parking lot. “I'll leave when I'm done.”

“You think you're going to get action in a parking lot? Only thing you'll find out here would be drugs, sex, or trouble. And you can get sex in there without worrying you might get arrested.”

Action?
Jess snorted. The kind of action that happened here was the last kind that would appeal to her. Well, maybe not completely. She slid him a speculative glance. He'd look damn good in black leather. That would appeal to her. But she didn't see him going for it.

Focus, Jess.
She looked back to the club and made herself think about the man in there that she was searching for. The rush of fury cleared her head a little, and she managed a derisive sneer as she said, “I'm not looking for drugs, sex, or trouble. I'm looking for a person, and I'll leave when I find him. Thank you for your help earlier. I'm fine now, and you can go.”

The door to Debach opened, and she held her breath, hoping, but it wasn't the man she was looking for. It was Nate, if she wasn't mistaken. He wasn't walking out on his own.

She winced as two shirtless, muscle-bound thugs threw him to the ground. Through her binoculars, she could see he'd already been worked over, and instinctively she winced as they proceeded to kick the shit out of him.

“How much do you want to bet he's getting that beating because he let your pretty little neck slip away?”

Jess swallowed against the knot in her throat. “That's not my fault.” She was damned proud of herself for not jumping. He hadn't made a sound as he approached her, and Jess had to admire his shielding. It was even more complex than Randi's had been, and Randi's shielding had been phenomenal.

Tall, Dark, and Delicious said, “That's not my point. My point is, if he's getting beaten because you got away, then somebody inside that club wants you pretty bad. Do you really need to hang around here?”

“Yes.” She didn't even have to think about it. For all she cared, she could be getting that beating and it wouldn't change her mind. Between watching Nate getting his ass kicked and feeling the sexy witch at her back, Jess could hardly concentrate.

“Will you just leave? I didn't ask for a knight in shining armor, pal. I can handle myself.”

“Is that right?”

His voice sounded odd. Turning, she looked up at him. Jess could just barely make out the glitter in his eyes. He was trying to use his magick on her. Jess realized it with a start as she felt something foreign pushing at the edges of her mind. For just a second, she felt herself giving in to it, felt exhaustion drop down on her like a curtain, weighting her down.

But then she shoved it off, focusing on the bridge of his nose, the line of his jaw, anything but the mesmerizing power of his eyes. Finally the pushing receded, and she relaxed a little.

A little
too much
. When his fist came flying towards her, she didn't see it until it was too late to do anything except stand there and get hit.

 

V
AX
caught her before she could hit the ground. She was slight. She felt a lot more delicate than he would have expected. She was long and lean, and delicate sure as hell didn't seem to fit her. Until he had his arms wrapped around her.

A lot of mortals had instinctive mental shields, but hers seemed to be a hell of a lot more than that. Dense enough that he couldn't penetrate them with his Empathy. He had barely tapped her, but using physical force on a woman was enough to turn his gut.

Hitting her and getting her out of harm's way was a sight better than letting her get caught around here. She might not care what they would do to her. Vax did, though. His brief contact with Nathaniel Metcalf had shown him enough to make him want to tear the man apart with his bare hands.

She had no idea about the kind of pain that lay ahead if they got hold of her.

He got her into the front seat of the shiny black BMW without looking at her face. He knew the car was hers. Even before he opened the door, her scent permeated it. Nothing flowery or perfumy, just the subtle aroma of lavender on her skin, mixing with the faint tropical scent in her hair. And under that, all woman.

Vax loved the way women smelled. Soft and warm. For the past few decades, losing himself in the warmth and softness of a woman's body had been the only times he truly felt alive.

He felt alive now. He didn't even have to touch her. She made his skin buzz and his blood heat. It wasn't something he really had time for, either. He wanted to figure out what in the hell he was here for, and then do it so he could get back home. He didn't want to take time to enjoy the long, slim redhead.

No matter how soft, how warm she'd feel next to him. He wanted to ignore it, but that was proving hard. Would have been easier if she had just left the damn club like he'd told her to.

Hanging around there wasn't the smartest thing to do, so staying translated to one of two things. She was either stupid, which he doubted, or very, very determined. He suspected the latter. There was an appealing strength to her long, lean frame, and he sensed the strength even more as he wrapped his fingers around her wrist, checking her pulse. Slow and steady.

Something weird, though. Even allowing from that low-key aura, he should have picked up something when he touched her. The instinctive natural shields mortals had wouldn't have mattered when he was touching her bare flesh. The briefest touch should have left her open for him to read, and he couldn't. It was like looking at a blank slate. Nothing there.

“Who are you?” he murmured. Better question might be,
what
are you. She was no witch, shifter, or vampire, but Vax began to suspect she wasn't exactly the average mule-headed mortal, either.

She was silent, her eyes closed, her lips parted as she breathed. Her chest rose and fell with each slow, steady breath, and Vax found himself staring at the subtle curves of her breasts. From his angle, he now knew that he'd been right earlier.

She was wearing absolutely nothing under the closefitting leather vest.

“Damned pervert.” He muttered it quietly and told himself he needed to stand up and walk away. He did, too. After a few more seconds of gazing at her.

Heat stirred in his blood, but it faded quickly as he looked back up at her face. The sight of the mark he'd left had a very sobering effect, like a bucket of ice dumped on him. There was a faint bruise blooming along the curve of her jaw. He swore under his breath and stood, slamming the door shut with a little too much force.

For now, she was out of harm's way, but he didn't think it would last long. Even if she didn't go back inside the club ever again, she was in danger.

So before she woke up, he had to figure out what in the hell he was going to do about her and the mess she'd gotten herself into.

“Decisions, decisions,” he mumbled as he headed back towards the club. He didn't bother with the line in front. It was still ridiculously long, and he sure as hell wasn't forking over thirty dollars to get inside.

What he wanted to do was climb back on his bike and ride west, riding until he was about ready to pass out. Then he'd pass out, get up, and keep riding until he got back to the ranch.

But that wouldn't be the responsible thing to do.

The responsible thing would be to find out who wanted the woman dead, and why.

Vax blew out a breath and looked back towards the car. Doing that would probably require finding out
who
she was.

“Shit. Nothing is easy anymore, is it?”

J
ESS
came awake with a start, aware of the complete silence. It was the silence itself that had woken her up. Jess never slept without turning on the fan by her bed. She needed the white noise.

Her head ached, a distant, muffled sort of pain that tempted her to close her eyes. She felt achy all over, almost like she had the flu. All Jess wanted to do was bury herself back under the covers.

But she couldn't exactly figure out how she'd come to be under the covers. She had been in the parking lot, waiting for William Masters to leave Debach. It had been just a little too chilly for those clothes she wore. A leather skirt and vest just weren't conducive to skulking in alleys on cool autumn nights.

She had been thinking about getting the workout jacket from her gym bag, and that was the last thing she remembered.

Jess started to sit up, but only made it halfway before she sank back against her pillows with a moan. The pain wasn't so distant now. It was throbbing and swirling and making her head spin. Her belly roiled, and Jess had one moment to be glad it was empty. As usual, she hadn't eaten dinner, and that, for once, was good.

If she'd had anything in her stomach, she would have hurled it up right then and there.

Her head felt funny—and it was more than the pain. Everything felt all fuzzy and vague, and the harder she tried to focus her thoughts, the worse the pain got. The bed seemed to be calling out to her, singing to her about closing her eyes and going back to sleep. She wanted to go back to sleep, just close her eyes and sleep.

“Sleep,” she mumbled, rubbing at her eyes.

She couldn't, though—there was something she had to do. Something she should have been doing. So instead of curling back under the covers, she kicked them off and sat up. She moved to the edge of the bed, gritting her teeth against the nausea roiling inside her.

Once it receded a little, she stood up. Her legs felt wobbly. “Shit,” she muttered. Jess reached up and pressed the heel of her hand against one temple, and wondered what in the hell had happened last night. She hadn't eaten anything since the slice of pizza she'd had for lunch, but she was used to that. Had she drunk a little too much, maybe? Didn't feel like a hangover. Maybe she'd hit her head.

An image danced through her mind. Just the barest flash. A man. Stormy, compelling eyes. Her skin started to buzz, and Jess rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Goosebumps roughened her flesh, but she wasn't cold.

Another wave of nausea, and weakness rushed up at her. She battled it back. Making her way out of her bedroom, she managed to stumble to her desk. Dropping into the seat with a weak, shaky sigh, she flipped open the file folder sitting on top.

The sight of William Masters's image was like a cold splash of water. The cobwebs in her brain cleared, and even the pain receded. Fury burned inside her, and she shoved up from her desk so hard, the chair went toppling over behind her.

She'd been waiting for William. He had been to the club—she remembered seeing his car. Jess had been trying to catch him there for weeks, but he never showed up at the same time she did, and she couldn't just live in her car outside the club, waiting for him. When he had shown up, a rush of adrenaline had surged through her. Jess had planned on hanging around to see if she could learn more about him, and when he left, she'd follow him. Find where he lived.

After that, she didn't know what she'd do, but it was finally another step forward. Since she'd been stuck in a rut the past few weeks, she had been eager to take that step forward.

Then
he
had shown up. Tall and sexy, with eyes the color of thunderheads and more power than Jess had ever felt in her life. And the bastard had slugged her.

 

V
AX
felt it the minute his hold over her snapped.

It had been damned hard, almost impossible, to lay any kind of magickal compulsion in her mind. When she broke it, there was a backlash of power that set his head to throbbing.

She shouldn't have been able to break his compulsion that easily. Most people shouldn't have been able to break it,
period.
And definitely not as quickly as she had. Vax had his suspicions about how she had done it so easily, but he wouldn't be able to confirm them until he saw her again.

The night was cool and Vax was tired as hell, but instead of finding a hotel where he could crash for a while, he continued to sit on his bike out in front of her house. Several cars had driven by and he'd had to resort to magick to blur his presence. Last thing he needed was to have the cops sent out to investigate a suspicious character.

Suspicious character…He smiled faintly. Yeah, he would definitely strike most people as a suspicious character.

He watched as one by one all the windows lit up. First the upstairs bedroom. Her bedroom was simple and ultra-modern, a platform bed covered with a black silk brocade comforter with a motif that looked vaguely Asian. The pattern was echoed in the two framed prints that hung over the bed, each with a different symbol. Peace and harmony, if he wasn't mistaken.

The walls were a rich, deep shade of red, and the plush carpet was snow white. It was almost stark in its simplicity, but it matched the classy redhead he'd seen in the club. He wasn't so sure about the blonde in the driver's license, though. She'd had a fake ID, a good one, in the tiny purse she'd carried. For some reason, she had been in disguise. An effective one—with that deep red wig and the black-rimmed glasses, she could have fooled him. He didn't fool that easily.

The redhead was identified as Jennifer Ballard.

The driver's license he found in the glove compartment with a picture of the blonde on it was issued to a Jessica R. Warren.

“Which one are you?” Vax murmured. Her shadow passed by the front window, and he leaned forward, bracing his elbows on the handlebars.

He wanted to know which name she called her own, but more, he wanted to know what in the hell had she been doing at Debach. It didn't seem to fit her, not that classy-looking redhead and not the lean, elegant blonde.

Of course, he didn't really get the bondage scene anyway. He knew enough to recognize when a club was run with the benefits of all in mind. Debach wasn't one of those. It catered to the pleasures of a select few. The images he'd gleaned from Nate had been disgusting, humiliating, and full of pain. The wrong kind of pain for almost everybody, including hard-core submissives.

Empathy could be one shitty ability, Vax thought, not for the first time. Especially when it made him feel this kind of shit. Pain was a turn-on for Nate. Vax had kept his contact with the man brief, but not brief enough. The sick fuck got a hard-on when he saw somebody beaten.

Nate fit in perfectly with the inner circle at Debach. The air around that club was thick with blood, pain, and suffering. Vax knew there was a whole lot of wrong going on inside those walls, but with Miz Jennifer/Jessica's presence interfering, he hadn't been able to take much more than a cursory look around.

Her front door came flying open, and Vax leaned back in the seat, watching as she slammed it behind her. Her body language shouted that she was absolutely furious. But oddly enough, he still couldn't really get a good read on her. His skin should have been burning and stinging with the depths of the anger.

But he felt nothing.

Temper looked good on her. He had to admit it. Made her eyes glow and put some soft color to her high cheekbones. She jerked the door closed and locked it. She jammed the key in the lock so hard, Vax wouldn't have been surprised if the key snapped off inside. In the distance, he could hear another car, but he didn't bother blurring his presence this time. She came striding down the walk.

The moment she saw him, she froze. Only for a second, though. Her eyes narrowed, and she started towards him. There was a shadowed bruise on her jawline. Didn't look like she'd even bothered to try to cover it.

He looked away from it in time to see her fist flying towards his face. He could have moved. She was quick for a mortal, but not quick enough. Vax didn't bother, though. Her fist clipped him on the side of his face, and his head snapped to the side with the impact. If he hadn't had his weight braced, he probably would have toppled off the bike.

“Pretty damn strong for such a skinny thing,” he said, turning his head and spitting a mouthful of blood onto the pavement. With his tongue, he touched the cut on the inside of his mouth.

“Well, I'd feel better if I'd knocked you unconscious, you son of a bitch.”

“I'm sure you would.”

Her chin went up, and Vax wouldn't have been surprised if she decided to slug him again. Instead she just curled her lip and sneered at him. “Didn't I tell you to leave me the hell alone?”

“If I'd left you alone to begin with, you'd be dead.” He said it in a flat, cold voice, but if he expected it to slow her down or cool her fury, he was expecting too much. Most people tended to try to backpedal a little if they heard the word
dead
.

Not her. She just tossed her head and propped her hands on her hips. “So?”

The way she snapped out the short, simple word sent a cold, chilly finger down his spine. “So. You don't care if you live or die?”

“Yes, I care. I'd prefer death, thank you. I just want one thing before it happens, and you interfered tonight. Don't do it again.” She jabbed her finger into his chest with each of the last words. She spun away on her heel.

Hell.
Tough little cookie, aren't you?
He couldn't help smiling a little. “Miz Warren…It is Miz Warren, right?”

She didn't even slow down. Jessica Warren continued right on walking across the street, her shoulders back, the shiny blonde locks bouncing up and down with each step.

“What happens if they kill you before you do that one thing?”

At his words, she came to an abrupt stop, her shoulders slumped. Vax threw his leg over the bike and dismounted, moving up on her cautiously. He lowered his shields again and tried once again to pick something up from her. There was nothing more than a distant sort of despair.

 

I
F
I die before I make William Masters pay for what he did to Randi
…It wasn't something Jess had allowed herself to think. Destroying Masters was all she had left, and she wasn't going to fail.

But Nate hadn't been planning on taking her for a walk in the park. Her gut told her that there had been more than bulky, muscle-bound bouncers waiting for her, wherever the hell he'd been taking her. In her gut, she knew there was more than just a beating waiting for her.

“I won't let that happen,” she said, her voice low and steady.

“Sometimes things outside your control happen.” His voice was low, sexy—and oddly comforting. It was the kind of voice that made a woman feel safe, the kind a woman would want to hear if she rolled over in the middle of the night after a bad dream—listening to that voice as she curled up against a hard, strong body while big warm hands stroked her back.

But at the same time, it was the kind of voice that made a woman think of doing all sorts of unsafe things. Like jumping tall, sexy strangers with deep, sexy voices.

Jess smiled bitterly. Jumping sexy strangers. Yeah, like that was going to happen. She didn't have the time or the energy for it. Jess was too tired, running on caffeine and nerves for too long.

Standing in the middle of the street, she turned her head and looked over her shoulder at him.
Sometimes things outside your control happen.

Talk about ironic. Yeah, Jess knew things outside her control were going to happen. Losing her parents had been out of her control. Losing Randi had been out of her control. She refused to believe that avenging Randi was another one of those things.

“This won't be one of those things.” Shrugging the rest of her emotional baggage aside, Jess headed for her car. It was late, yes, but maybe he was still there. Damn it, she was going to find him. He'd be at the club sooner or later, and when he was, she'd be waiting.

The cold air whipped around her legs. The leather skirt might as well be made of tissue paper for all the good it did in keeping her warm. As she stalked to the car, she wondered if she should grab some better clothes, but she'd wasted enough time.

A big, hard hand closed around her upper arm, and Jess spun, jabbing her finger into his chest. “Let go of me, jackass.”

“You don't know what kind of trouble you're looking for.”

This time, that low, sexy growl of a voice didn't make her all hot and bothered. It just made her
bothered
. As in, pissed. “Excuse me, but the blonde is just skin-deep. I'm not an idiot, and I know exactly what kind of trouble I'm looking for.
Let go.
”

But he didn't.