Pursued (30 page)

Damn it, look at me! Fucking
look at me!
he thought, wishing their artificial bond functioned more like a real one. If he and Elise had actually had a true Kindred soul bond between them, they would have been able to hear each other’s thoughts easily. As it was, their fake bond seemed to act as a one-way street, allowing Merrick to feel her emotions but not transmitting any of his thoughts or feelings to her.

How am I going to get her attention?
The sun was hot on the back of his neck and he felt a trickle of sweat cut through the
urgot
paste. Damn it, he’d forgotten how miserably hot Rageron was. Even though the sun was close to setting, it was still baking him, making it hard to think. If only—suddenly, he had an idea.

Turning his knife blade to the side, he worked with the small patch of sunlight in front of him, which had somehow made its way down through the canopy to reach the jungle floor. He caught it just right and flashed the light briefly at Elise’s frightened brown eyes.

The flash of sunlight gave the desired effect. Elise blinked and looked to see where it was coming from. To his great relief, Merrick finally caught her eyes.

“Merrick,”
she mouthed his name, clearly surprised to see him.

“The billib,”
he breathed, nodding at the tiny blue animal in her arms.
“Let it go. The xenox should follow.”

Elise frowned. There was fear in her lovely brown eyes, but also determination. With a short, swift motion, she shook her head and cuddled the little
billib
closer protectively.

Merrick felt a surge of irritation. What in the seven hells was wrong with her? If she’d just let the fucking thing go, the
xenox
would leave and no one would get hurt. Well, except possibly the
billib
, but those little guys were natural
xenox
chow—that was just the law of the jungle.

Catching her eye again, he made a more forceful motion.
“Put…it…
down!”

“No!”
she breathed back, her eyes positively blazing.

He gritted his teeth, the muscles in his jaw clenching. All right, they were going to do this the hard way.
But if I get killed for a fucking billib
,
I’m going to have a few choice words to say to the Goddess when I see her!
he told himself.

Turning, he focused on the crouching
xenox.
It was a large one—he estimated it would be in the neighborhood of ten feet tall when it stood on its hind legs—with a reach twice as long as his own. Taking down an animal this big with just a knife was going to be interesting, but then, Merrick had always loved a challenge. He felt the killing frost fall on him—the chilly calm that dropped over his body like a blanket whenever violence was imminent—and his fangs grew longer to become razor sharp points. Taking a deep breath he raised the knife, gripping it delicately between his thumb and fingertips.

One shot,
he thought, focusing on the side of the
xenox’s
thick neck where he knew large arteries pulsed beneath its coarse blue-black fur.
One shot to kill it. And if you miss…if you only piss it off instead of mortally wounding it…

He didn’t let himself think about that. Centering himself, he drew back and let the knife fly. The black handle and silver blade flashed end over end but this time the sunlight betrayed him. A flicker of silvery blue glanced off the flying blade and shone in the
xenox
’s yellow eyes. At the last moment it turned its head and took a step toward Merrick.

The knife hit and stuck to the hilt—but in the beast’s thick shoulder, not its neck. Merrick knew at once it wasn’t a killing blow. And then the
xenox
bellowed in agony and hurled its huge bulk toward him, forgetting all about its prey as it determined to kill the source of its sudden, agonizing pain.

Merrick stood his ground. He felt no fear—only a fierce kind of joy and the knowledge that the killing was about to begin. The only question was, who would be left standing when it was over? Him? Or the
xenox?

* * * * *

Elise shrieked in horror as the massive beast launched itself at Merrick, but neither he nor the
xenox
seemed to notice her cry. The
billib
in her arms neighed in terror and pressed its head between her breasts, as though seeking shelter. Elise tightened her arms around it and watched numbly as the two huge forms collided in a tangle of limbs and fur.

They rolled over and over on the forest floor, the
xenox
snapping and biting, and Merrick barely avoiding the slavering jaws. Elise watched, her heart pounding, as they came closer and closer to where she was crouching. If she didn’t move soon she might be flattened, but somehow she couldn’t so much as twitch. She was frozen to the spot, unable to do anything but watch as Merrick wrestled with the huge beast.

But as she watched, Elise felt her heart sinking. The Kindred warrior was big, but the
xenox
was truly enormous. Though Merrick tried to avoid it, somehow it had gotten its long, furry arms wrapped around him and was squeezing him, pulling him ever closer to those horrible fangs.
Like a grizzly bear pulling him in for a killing hug,
she thought numbly.

However, Merrick had fangs of his own, and they were fully extended now. It looked like he was trying to bite the creature’s neck without letting it get too close to his own. But with the razor sharp jaws snapping just inches from his face, he didn’t have much of a chance.

Suddenly the pair of them rolled directly in front of her, barely six inches from her feet and Elise gave out a little scream. Besides the sounds of snapping branches, the two fought in silence except for a low growling sound she’d assumed was coming from the
xenox.
Now, however, she realized that Merrick was making the sound. His mismatched eyes were narrowed with concentration but she could see that the pupils had somehow turned red instead of black. He was obviously locked in some state of killing frenzy. Watching him, Elise understood that he really would fight to the death and if he died, it would be…

My fault. All my fault!

Finally her paralysis broke. She had to find a way to help him—but how? Then her eye caught on something poking out of the tangle of blackish fur.
The knife handle!
Elise realized. Her heart began to beat again.
Can I? Should I?
She eyed the handle intently.

The huge beast seemed to have completely forgotten that she was there—all its attention was centered on Merrick as it snapped at his face. He’d gotten his hands up and was pushing on its lower jaw, trying to force it away but the
xenox
had him pinned to the ground and was coming closer and closer to ripping into the vulnerable flesh of his neck. If she was going to do something, now was the time to do it.

Summoning all her courage, Elise lifted the frightened
billib
in one hand and put it as far behind her, back into the underbrush, as she could reach. Then, before she could lose her nerve, she jumped up, darted forward, and grabbed the black leather handle of the knife.

The leather was slick with blood and the blade had penetrated deep, but it wasn’t stuck in the bone. With a hard yank, Elise jerked it free and raised it over her head.

The
xenox,
still intent on killing Merrick, barely seemed to notice. But the big Kindred’s blazing eyes found hers at once and he shook his head.

“No, Elise—don’t risk it!”

Elise didn’t listen. Taking a firm grip on the knife with both hands, she raised it above her head and brought it down in a slicing arc, targeting the vulnerable side of the creature’s neck.

Later, she thought it must have been a lucky blow. The
xenox
had incredibly tough hide and thick fur—there was no way someone of her size and strength should have been able to hurt it or pierce its flesh. But either panic had given her strength or someone, somewhere was lending her extra power because the knife sliced through the
xenox’s
throat and the next thing she knew, Elise was being sprayed with its thick, dark blue blood.

She opened her lips to scream and her mouth filled with the salty, disgusting stuff, choking her, cutting off her air. She coughed and spat, trying to get rid of the gamey, bloody taste, her voice gone for the moment.

The
xenox
seemed to go crazy with pain. It threw back its injured head and howled, then snapped at its own neck, as though trying to bite the source of its agony. It writhed against Merrick, crushing him into the ground, its jaws grinding and claws slashing the ground.

“Elise!
Elise!”

With a start, Elise became aware that Merrick was shouting her name and pointing at something. Finally she realized he was gesturing for the knife. Somehow she managed to stagger forward and get it into his big hand.

Merrick gripped the knife, his face contorted with rage. Without hesitation, he plunged the silver blade to the hilt in the
xenox’s
narrow yellow eye. It gave a final scream of pure anguish and then collapsed on top of him, the light going out of its other eye as well.

At last Elise found her voice. “Merrick!” she gasped, dropping to her knees beside him. The
xenox
on top of him was silent and still except for a few twitches she hoped were death throes. Then she realized the twitching was Merrick's doing—he was pushing up from underneath, trying to get the massive carcass off of himself.

Gasping with the effort, she put her shoulder to the greasy blue-black fur and shoved, trying to help, although the
xenox
was so huge she felt like an ant trying to move a boulder. At last, with both of them heaving, it rolled up far enough for Merrick to scramble out from under.

He got to his feet, breathing hard, and Elise ran to him without hesitation. “Are you all right? Are you hurt? Are you bleeding?” She didn’t give him a chance to answer but began running her hands over his arms and legs and torso, searching for wounds. It was hard to tell because of the
urgot
paste and all the
xenox
blood, but she
thought
he was in one piece…

Oh thank God…thank God!
Relief rushed through her in a sweet flood.
He’s all right. He’s going to be okay!
She stepped back, taking him in, trying to make herself believe it was true.

Suddenly the whole scene hit her at once. The lovely pristine clearing was ruined—the bell-like flowers were trampled and the cotton-candy pink grass was stained with gore. The
billibs
were scattered and the dead
xenox
lay in a messy heap of blood and fur, a snarl forever frozen on its lifeless jaws. And Merrick just stood there. Merrick who should by all rights be dead after what he’d just been through.

I almost lost him,
she thought.
Almost lost him forever. I’ve been such an idiot—such a fool! Telling myself I only cared because of our stupid artificial bond and that I’d be able to turn off the way I felt once the bond was dissolved. I have to tell him how I feel…that I really do love him…

She opened her mouth to speak but Merrick beat her to it. “I’m all right,” he said and winced. “Well, I might have a few bruised ribs but other than that and a few scratches, I’m fine.” He frowned. “But I
shouldn’t
be. And neither should you.”

“I’m sorry—” Elise began but he didn’t let her finish.

“Do you hear what I’m saying, Elise? That thing could have killed you! What the hell were you doing off the path and playing with Goddess-damned
billibs?
That’s like hanging a fucking ‘eat me’ sign around your neck!”

Looking at his blazing eyes, Elise realized he wasn’t just angry or upset—Merrick was
furious
with her
.
The words of love died on her lips and a wave of defensiveness washed over her. “How am I supposed to stay on a path I can’t even see—or smell—or whatever it is you do?” she demanded. “And how could I possibly know that thing would be attracted to those cute little ponies?”

“Cute little
what?”

“Ponies, all right? The
billibs—
they look just like a toy I had a child. They seemed so completely harmless—so adorable.”

“They’re
xenox
fodder,” Merrick growled, his eyes still flashing. “The bottom of the fucking food chain. And you nearly died for one of them. Why didn’t you let the one you were holding go when I told you to?”

Elise looked at him in disbelief. “And let that
monster
have it? Watch it get mauled and eaten before my eyes?”

“Better than getting mauled and eaten yourself,” he snarled. “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“What’s wrong with
me?
What’s wrong with
you?”
Elise took a step forward and poked him hard in the chest. “If you think I would
ever
give up a helpless, defenseless creature to a filthy predator like that then you don’t know me, Merrick.”

“I know you ought to be dead right now.” He glared down at her. “And me right along with you. And all for a fucking animal.”

“
You’re
the animal.” Elise lifted her chin and returned his glare. “Expecting me to abandon that poor little thing. I’ve spent my life—based my whole
career—
on protecting the weak from the strong. If you could hear some of the stories I hear in court—those innocent children and what was done to them—”

“Don’t you mean what was done to
you?”
he asked, his voice suddenly soft.

Elise still felt as though he had slapped her. “What do you mean? What are you talking about?” She took a step back but Merrick followed her.

“I’m talking about the real reason you won’t let yourself get close to me. And it’s not that stupid fiancé of yours or the fact that the bond between us is fake. It’s something that happened in your past. Something somebody did to you.”