Return of the Hunters (The DeathSpeaker Codex Book 4) (17 page)

I had to stop them before they got me chained up to that thing.

Damn, this was really going to hurt. It might not even work. I could barely move under my own volition. As the pace of the dragging slowed, I took the biggest breath I could manage. I tried to turn over the second Hodge stopped.

Didn’t even come close to making it.

“Fuck,” I ground out, inching my trembling arms back. Maybe I could give myself a little push. I rocked slightly to one side, then the other, and lifted about halfway before I dropped back down.

Hodge’s booted foot stamped down on my shoulder—the one with the bullet hole.

And I screamed.

“What the hell are you doing, boy?” Hodge leaned down, eyebrows raised. “You’re trying to turn over. Do you
want
me to drag you on your face?”

I almost said yes. But then, I had a better idea. “Thought that was your plan anyway,” I said, letting the fear come through in my tone. “I figured if you thought I wanted that, you’d do it the other way.” I didn’t have to work hard for a shiver. “Please…don’t.”

For a second I worried he’d actually catch on. But Hodge thought way too much of himself to even consider that I was faking it. “Well, shit,” he said. “You know, I like the idea of scraping your face all to hell. Thanks for the inspiration.”

I held back a pained grin as he kicked me onto my stomach.

There was a long silence. I started to panic, afraid maybe the magic wouldn’t work after all.

Finally, Morris sucked in a sharp breath. “What the fuck is that?” He said it so fast, it was almost a single word. Hodge moaned a little. Then two pairs of boot-clad feet shuffled into my line of sight, moving slowly backwards.

“He’s fucking glowing,” Hodge said in a high, tight voice. “He can’t do that. Those cuffs…they’re supposed to cancel that shit.”

“Jesus. He could kill us, couldn’t he? If he wanted to—”

“Shut up, Morris.” There was zero confidence left in Hodge’s tone.

I hoped the bastard was pissing himself.

They might be scared now, but I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I had to
terrify
them. They’d taken to the conditioning faster, eventually embraced it, but Orville had beaten the fear into them early on—and it would take a lot to overcome the commands he’d lodged in their heads.

I’d have to make them more afraid of me than him.

At least it was a little easier to move from this position. I pushed up with my arms and managed to get on my hands and knees.

Morris was almost hyperventilating. “He’s moving. Hodge.
Do something.
”

“Shut up! I’m thinking!”

“Yeah, right,” I said. With a tremendously painful effort, I straightened to my knees and glared at both of them. They stood maybe ten feet back, practically clinging to each other. “You’re thinking, shit, I should’ve drank the rest of that six-pack before I died.”

“Hodge,” Morris said desperately.

“Do you have any idea what I can do to you?” I said. “You think you hurt
me
? You don’t know what pain is…but you’re about to find out.”

“You can’t,” Hodge whispered. “You’re weak. Helpless.”

I summoned a grin. “Am I?”

Goddamn, it felt good to watch him flinch.

I was trying to decide whether I had the strength to actually stand, when a burst of sound and movement erupted from the edge of the clearing to my right. And my gut took a sudden plunge. I didn’t know how much magic the tattoos held, but I doubted it was enough to keep many more of them away.

“Gideon!”

The voice was outside my head, and not a Valentine. I damned near collapsed in relief.

“Denei.” And, I assumed, the rest of them. I wouldn’t bother asking how they found me right now. They could tell me later. I didn’t dare turn to look, either, in case that somehow broke the fear hold over these two assholes. “Look, you guys need to be real careful—”

A bloodcurdling scream of outrage cut me off, and Denei sprinted toward Hodge and Morris with a whopper of a dagger in her hand.

C
HAPTER 29

“D
on’t kill them!”

I couldn’t believe those words had actually left my mouth. These were the people I’d spent years fantasizing about murdering in countless, horrific ways. And what they’d just put me through was sixteen years of abuse all over again, packed into a single night. Their deaths would be completely justified.

But I was hanging on grimly to my last shred of humanity. Killing them would make me the monster Jerilee had accused me of being.

I refused to be anyone’s monster.

Denei stopped with the point of the dagger at Hodge’s throat, just as the rest of them reached me. She gave me an incredulous look. “What you mean, don’t kill them?” she said. “They ain’t done
that
to you?”

“Not just them…but yeah, they did.” I tried to avoid the horrified stares from Reun and the other Duchenes. “Don’t kill them,” I repeated. “They’re not a threat right now.”

“So you sayin’ they gonna
be
a threat.” Bastien moved toward his sister. “Who the fuck these guys is, anyway?”

I stared straight at my so-called brothers. “Nobody.”

Both of them looked away.

“Gideon, let me heal you.”

Reun started for me, and I made a cautionary gesture. “Don’t touch the cuffs, man. They’re cold iron.”

“They are
what
?” he roared, and sent a glare of his own at the brothers. “I believe Denei is correct. We should kill them.”

“No, we shouldn’t. But I appreciate the sentiment,” I said. “About that healing…”

He shook himself. “Yes. Of course.”

While Reun raised a hand and did his thing, Zoba walked around to my other side, and Isalie moved to join Bastien. Denei backed off a few steps, but she kept the dagger ready to strike. Hodge and Morris didn’t even try to move.

But the fear would wear off when my injuries dropped below critical.

Soon, I felt like I could probably stand up without collapsing. “You should stop now,” I said to Reun. “We might need a little magic to get out of here. There’s a lot more bastards where those two came from.”

He lowered his arm and staggered in place. “By the gods,” he murmured. “I’d not be able to heal you fully, even if I exhausted my spark. What have they
done
to you?”

“Tell you later.” I tensed, trying to figure out the best way to get off the ground.

Before I could try anything, Zoba bent to help me up. Like he’d read my mind.

“Thanks.” I managed a slight smirk. “For my next trick, I’ll take a step.”

“Lord above, handsome.” Denei relaxed a little. “Ain’t nothin’ but pure will holding you up right now, is there?”

“Something like that.” I glanced past her and caught a hint of anger seeping into Hodge’s face. “Whatever we’re doing, we need to do it fast,” I said, taking a few tentative steps. I stumbled and caught myself once, and sensed Zoba hovering in case I fell. “And I need to get these things off.”

Denei lowered the knife and turned away from the brothers. “Lemme take a look at ’em,” she said.

Behind her, Hodge shifted into full rage mode.

Before I could shout a warning, he started for her. But Zoba was already moving. He sprinted past his sister, drawing back a fist—and plowed it straight into Hodge’s face.

Hodge flew back a good five feet and hit the ground hard.

With a menacing growl, Zoba whirled on Morris and peeled his lips back, showing all of his pointed teeth. Morris raised both hands and backed away slowly. “Hey, man. I wasn’t gonna rush anyone,” he stammered. “Um…please don’t bite me.”

“It’s okay, Zoba. He won’t do anything without Hodge.” I picked my way toward them, trying not to notice the pain every step caused. “Give me the cuff key, Morris.”

He shuddered. “I don’t have it. Pa does.”

“Fine. I guess we’ll get it from him.”

As I headed back to the pickup, Bastien said, “Shouldn’t we get the hell away from here? You said there’s more assholes around somewhere.”

“I need the key. These things are poison.” I rattled the cuffs, and then gestured at the truck. “Reun, there should be a bunch of rifles under that tarp in the back. Can you grab them and hand them out?”

He gave me a strange look, and moved to get them.

“Hold up,” Isalie said. “You cain’t hardly stand, Gideon. We’ll get the cuffs off somehow. Let’s go, while everybody’s—”

“No.” The strength of my own voice surprised me—and it got everyone’s attention. “You don’t know these people,” I said. “If we leave like this, just sneak off while they’re not looking, they
will
track us down. All of us.”

Isalie shivered. “So what we gonna do?”

I had no idea what my face looked like right then, but it scared the hell out of them all. Especially Morris. I took one of the rifles from Reun, checked the bolt and magazine, and tucked the butt under my arm.

“We’re going to play a game.”

C
HAPTER 30

I
t was incredibly satisfying to march Hodge and Morris back into camp at gunpoint.

There were maybe three or four Valentines still hanging around outside, near the smoldering remains of the campfire. They took notice of us right away, but they didn’t move. If they had any ideas about letting Hodge and Morris die to get a shot at me, the other five rifles pointed at them drove those ideas away.

I herded the brothers toward the far side of the camp, where it opened up into the bayou. Then I pointed at one of the fire-side people. “You. You’re Garth, right? Vixie’s boy.”

He nodded very slowly.

“Go find Jerilee, and get my boots. Now.”

Garth jumped up like his ass was on fire and sprinted for one of the campers.

I tried to ignore the way my friends were staring at me. “Okay. If you see any movement from anywhere, shoot,” I said. “There’s more of them in those trailers. They might try something stupid.”

“Yeah, will do,” Bastien said. “But shouldn’t we—”

“We should be quiet and do what I say. Come over here and cover these two fuckers.”

I kept the rifle on Hodge and Morris until Bastien got into position, and then I moved back toward the campfire. “Orville! You and Mama Reba get your worthless, filthy redneck asses out here, now! With the goddamned cuff key!”

I glared at the silver Airstream that had haunted my dreams for years until the two of them filed out—both pissed off as a kicked-over hornet’s nest, but empty-handed except for the key ring with a single key dangling from Orville’s finger.

“Don’t think for a second you’re getting away from us again, boy,” Orville said. “I’ll—”

“Shut up.”

He did.

“Now,” I said. “You’re going to give that key to my good friend Zoba, there. Say hello, Zoba.”

Zoba faced them and made a noise. It did not sound like a greeting.

Orville’s lip curled as he handed the key over. “Now what?”

I didn’t even acknowledge the question.

Without any prompting, Zoba approached me and unlocked the cuffs. I managed to keep the screams back as he removed them, along with a few layers of skin. “Hold onto those, will you?” I said to him. “They don’t get to keep them.”

He flashed a grin and draped the chains around his neck.

With the cold iron off me, I was already feeling stronger. Not that I could run a marathon or anything, but it was enough for what I needed to do. I shouldered the rifle and pointed it at the people who were never my parents. “Get over there with your hell-spawn,” I said. “Move it.”

I followed them with the rifle as they walked briskly to join Hodge and Morris. Seeing all four of them together, with identical expressions of rage, should’ve terrified the shit out of me. Hell, it still did, on a visceral level I couldn’t control.

But I was done living with that fear.

“You know we cared for you, boy,” Orville said—probably seeing his life flash before his eyes. “We only did what we did to toughen you up. And it worked.”

“Don’t flatter yourself.” My hands were surprisingly still as I took aim. “You had nothing to do with what I am. Do you understand that?
Nothing.
”