Jess followed Sasha's directions as they sped toward Abigail's location. His stomach was knotted tight, and he had no idea why. It wasn't just that she was gone. He had a tangible need to find her and make sure she was all right.
To make sure no one hurt her.
He came around a corner right as a car rolled through the stop sign-straight into his path. Biting his lip, he tried to swerve to miss it, but because of the car's speed, it still managed to clip his back tire. His motorcycle came out from under him and dragged him down the street at a deadly pace.
Crap! The asphalt tore at his clothes and skin, reminding him why he wore a duster when he rode and why he was glad he was no longer mortal. Still, it hurt to kiss pavement, and his body was extremely unhappy with this predicament.
Abigail's heart stopped beating as she realized in her dazed stupor that she'd just hit someone. She slammed on the brakes and looked back to see the motorcycle and rider on the street, skidding sideways toward the curb.
Oh my God! What have I done now?
It wasn't until she'd put the car in park and opened the door that she recognized the sprawled-out man.
"Jess!" She ran toward him as fast as she could. She cringed at the length of how far he'd traveled over the road on his back. He's a Dark-Hunter. A crash won't kill him. In her mind, she knew it was the truth.
But her emotions weren't listening. Panic filled her as she drew closer and didn't see him moving.
Jess lay on the street, looking up through his helmet, trying to figure out if he'd broken something other than his pride. Gah, it hurt to breathe. To move. He felt pretty banged up, but it was hard to tell just how bad.
And the damned billion-pound motorcycle was lying on his foot. That was going to leave a limp.
"Jess!" Out of nowhere, Abigail appeared, her face a mask of terrified fear. Before he could answer, she sank down beside him. "Oh my God! Oh my God! Oh my God! Are you all right? Are you alive? Did I hurt you?" She clutched at his body as if trying to find an injury. "Jess? Can you speak?"
It was so wrong, but he couldn't help grinning at her panic. No woman had been this scared for him in a long while. "Yeah, I can talk. But I kind of like the attention you're giving me. You want to grope a little lower, it'd be even better."
"Oh, you..." She shoved at him.
Pain cut through his body. "Ow!"
Her panic returned instantly. "Are you all right?"
He laughed. "Dang, you're easy."
"And you're completely evil."
Jess pulled his helmet off to stare up at her. The streetlights played in her dark hair, making it shimmer. Her eyes glowed with warmth, concern, and anger. It was a heady combination. "And you're completely beautiful."
Abigail's breath caught at those unexpected words. They settled something deep inside her. Made it calm in a way she'd never been calm before. And at the same time, her entire body was on fire from his nearness. A strange dichotomy that made no sense whatsoever.
He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her lips down to his so that he could give her the hottest kiss she'd ever received. One so unsettling that it made her entire body burn and caused her to forget where they were and what had happened. Nothing mattered in this moment except the sensation of his tongue sweeping against hers. Of his arms holding her close to his hard body.
Nothing had ever felt better.
"Excuse me, people. You're both lying in the middle of the street. Might want to move before someone else runs over both your damn fool selves."
Abigail pulled back, then turned to glare at Sasha, who stood on the curb, under the streetlamp, giving them an irritated grimace. She started to smart off, when all of a sudden, she heard a peculiar sound. It was like someone had let loose a herd of angry chainsaws.
Scowling, she looked back at Jess. "What is that?"
Sasha's face blanched. "Wasps ... A shitload of them." He pointed down the street.
Following the direction of his arm, Abigail gaped at the sight of what appeared to be a thick, dancing cloud rolling toward them.
"Next plague." Jess jumped to his feet and pulled her up. He met Sasha's gaze. "Can you get the bike home?"
"On it. I'll see you back in your compound."
Jess inclined his head to him before he took her hand and ran with her back to the Audi. Abigail was still gaping as she watched the wasps draw closer and closer at an abnormal pace. The cloud rose and dived like some giant, lumbering, solid beast.
She ran to the passenger side while Jess wedged himself into the driver's seat and moved it back.
"I really hope you didn't damage this thing."
She slammed the door shut, grateful she'd left it running, then buckled herself in. "You that attached to it, cowboy?"
He put it in gear. "Nope. Not mine. It's Andy's pride and joy. If there's so much as a scratch on this thing, I'll never hear the end of it."
Great. Now the Squire had another reason to hate her. "I can't win for losing with him, can I?"
Jess didn't answer as the wasps literally enveloped the car. They landed on the windshield so thick that he had to turn the wipers on to try and dislodge them.
It didn't work. All it did was piss them off.
Disgusted and scared, Abigail hissed as she realized they were also crawling in through the vents.
"Close them quick," Jess said, snatching his shut.
She complied and held them in place to make sure the wasps didn't push them open again. "This is getting ugly."
"Like my great-aunt's underpants."
She arched a brow at his strange and unexpected comment. Okay ...
Jess tried to navigate the streets, but it was far from easy going. Cars were swerving everywhere, trying to avoid the wasps. Horns blared and people screamed so loudly that it was deafening. She'd never seen anything like it.
What were they going to do?
She sighed. "I'm getting a little tired of this."
Jess flashed a fanged grin. "Not my fave thing either, I have to say. You wouldn't happen to have a can of Raid, would you?"
"I wish. What else don't they like?"
"Apparently us ... and a little brown Audi."
She shook her head. "How can you find humor right now?"
"Damned if I know. I must be one sick SOB. There's definitely something in my noodle that's shorted out."
And how could she find that charming?
More than that, her entire life was falling apart, and the only comfort she had was him. Maybe he wasn't the sick one after all.
Maybe it was her.
Yeah, there's definitely something wrong with me. And it wasn't just the wasps trying to break into the car and sting them or the demon that had made her eat a friend. "This is definitely one of those days when you're praying it's a dream. Only you never wake up from the nightmare."
"I've had a few of those in my time. But this one here's not so bad."
"How do you figure?" she asked, flabbergasted by his words.
He flashed a fanged grin at her. "I might have lost some skin, but I got kissed by a beautiful woman who was happy to see me. I gotta say that's pretty epic in my book. Definitely not a worst-case day here."
Given what she'd seen of his past, she knew that for a fact. Still ...
"Thank you."
He frowned. "For what?"
Being here.
Being you. Things she couldn't say out loud without embarrassing herself to the deepest level. But she felt that gratitude so much that it made tears prick at her eyes.
After a few seconds when she didn't respond, Jess looked over at her. She was staring at her hands as if they belonged to a stranger. A cloak of sadness enveloped her. "You okay?"
She nodded. And still she looked at her hands. "I killed a ... Daimon tonight."
"What?"
Swallowing, she glanced over at him. "You were right. They'd lied to me my whole life and kept that knowledge from me. I don't know what to believe now."
"Believe in yourself. Trust your instincts."
"Is that what you do?"
Jess snorted as old memories burned. "No. Not doing it is what got me shot in the back by a man I thought was my brother. I like to think I learn a little as I go."
But sometimes he wondered. Like right now, there was a part of him that wanted to trust her, and if ever someone should know better than that, it was him. She'd already proved that she was willing to hurt him to get what she wanted.
And she'd also run to him when he was hurt to make sure he was still alive.
After she hit him with a car, of course. Yeah, okay, so that part sucked. But she had come back when she didn't have to. It was more than a lot of people would do.
"We're not going to make it back to your house, are we?" He heard the fearful undercurrent in her voice.
"Don't get maudlin on me. We're not dead yet ... any chance those demon powers of yours have anything to help with this?"
"Not that..." Her voice trailed off as if an idea suddenly occurred to her. "Don't wasps hate bad smells?"
"I'm not fond of them neither. Is there something you need to tell me? 'Cause right now, I really can't open a window."
She made a sound of disgust at his offbeat humor. "Whenever the powers surge, they put off an awful smell. I was thinking-"
"I prefer the idea of me driving through the worst BOB ever than having you smell up the car with demon funk to choke us down. No offense, my sight and hearing aren't the only things my Dark-Hunter powers boost."
"BOB?"
He loved that out of all that, she'd gotten only one word. "Baked on bugs. Or in this case, I guess I should have said BOW-baked on wasps."
She started to laugh, but something slammed into them so hard, it snapped her forcefully to the right.
Jess cursed as he lost control of the car and they spun around. He wasn't sure what had struck them, but it felt like a semi.
On steroids.
All of a sudden, there was a lone howl.
Coyote. He'd know that sound anywhere. The only question was if he meant it as a taunt or an order for his servants. When the car finally stopped moving, it ended up embedded against a pole.
"You all right?" he asked Abigail.
She nodded. "I think so. You?"
"Brain's a mite rattled, but that's nothing new for me."
She jerked up in her seat as if someone had shocked her. "You hear that?"
He strained, then shook his head. The only sound in his ears was a bad inner buzzing and the wasps outside. "Hear what?"
"I can't make out the words, but it sounds like someone whispering."
He tried again, and again he heard nothing. "I only hear you."
"You really don't hear that?"
"Sorry. My medium powers are on the fritz, and I can't channel spirits or bells right now. I'll get them worked on later. For-"
"Shh," she said, touching his arm with her hand. "The wasps are talking to someone. I hear them so clearly."
Okay, time to get someone to a psych ward.
"It says to kill the buffalo."
His scowl deepened. "There's no buffalo in Vegas. At least not that I know of."
"That's what they're saying, though."
Maybe what she heard was that weird tendency people had to make ambient noise and other obnoxious things tolerable by incorporating them into understandable sounds and syllables. He didn't know for sure.
At least not until he felt something else strike the car and land on the hood. It struck the windshield repeatedly.
The wasps pulled back enough for them to see a giant mountain lion. It was trying to break through the windshield to get them.
"Oh, this ain't good," Jess muttered under his breath. He put the car into reverse and backed up at a scary pace. Cutting the wheel, he sent the mountain lion flying. Then he put it in drive and floored it.
Abigail held her breath as panic seized every part of her. She didn't see any way out of this. "You think Choo Co La Tah can save us again?"
"Eventually, he can stop it. I just don't know how long we have to hold out. Not to mention, the mountain lion is new. Man, what I wouldn't give for some catnip right now."
Cars were still running off the road as their drivers were swarmed.
As Jess passed a gas station, an idea hit him. It was lunacy, but ...
It was all he had. He headed for another gas station down the street.
Abigail cringed as they pulled into the station and she saw the bodies on the ground of people who'd been caught outside by the wasps and who were now dead from their stings. There were others trapped in cars who screamed for help while the wasps continued to swarm, looking for new victims.
"Is there anything we can do for them?"
"Yeah. Stop Coyote."
That was much easier said than done.
Jess took them to the carwash and pulled inside. She started to ask him what he was doing when all of a sudden, the doors closed, sealing them in. The mountain lion slammed into the door, but couldn't reach them through the tough plastic.
Waving his hand, Jess appeared to make the water come on.
The wasps around their car went crazy as they were sprayed.
Her heart lightened. It was a brilliant idea. They were going to drown the wasps.
Laughing, she turned to Jess and kissed him on the cheek. "You're a genius!"
"Ah now, don't be going on like that. I might actually think you like me, and where would we be then?"
He was right. That was even more terrifying than being assaulted by killer wasps and angry mountain lions. And as that thought went through her head, she was struck with another realization.
"You have telekinesis."
He nodded. "A little, but it's not always reliable."
"How so?"
"I've had a few mishaps with it. I used to try and control it more, but after an embarrassing incident, I learned to leave it be."
This she wanted to hear. "What embarrassing incident?"
He actually blushed. "Really don't want to share or relive it. Suffice it to say, it learned me a thing or two that I've never forgotten."
All righty, then. She leaned back in the seat while the water and suds took care of their menace for them. It slid the wasps around and made a nice thick ick on the ground. And as she sat there watching them go down the drains and fall away, the horror of her actions hit her fully.
She'd killed a friend tonight.
And she'd lost her family.
I'm alone. But it was so much worse than that ...
Jess felt her sadness as if it were inside him. He watched her in the dim light while emotions flitted across her face and darkened her eyes. "It'll be all right." He tried to reassure her.
She shook her head in denial. "No. Everything I've ever known. Everything I've been told by the people I loved was a lie." She held her hand up, grateful it was human and not demon, and yet she knew the truth..... "I let them mix me with a demon and my adoptive brother did the same, too. I don't know what I am now. I don't know what he is. It was all so clear before. Kill you. Avenge my parents, and then protect my family and the Apollites and humans from the Dark-Hunters." A single tear went down her cheek as she met his gaze. "I'm a monster, Jess. I've destroyed myself."
Those words tugged at his heart and reminded him of the day he'd come to that same realization. It was so hard to see the truth in yourself.
Harder still to face it.
"You're not a monster, Abby. Confused, I'll give you. But not a monster. Believe me. I've seen those enough to know."
"Yeah, right."
He cupped her cheek and turned her head to face him so that she could see his sincerity. "Look at me, Abby. I know what it's like to wake up every single day, angry at the world. Angry at God and humanity for what they've done to you and to want to make them pay for it. To feel like the entire world sees you as nothing but its whipping boy. Like you, my mother died when I was a little kid. She was the only thing good I had. The only one who'd ever made me feel like I was human. My father hated me, and he never hid that fact from anyone. He took his own anger at the world out on me, and it left a lot of scars, inside and out. To this day, I can still hear him and that hatred in my head, trying to poison my thoughts. Trying to poison me. I ran away from home after he almost killed me. Thirteen, I was. I tried to find decent work or someplace to stay and call home. What I found out was that people like to kick others when they're down, even when they're just kids. They get a sick thrill out of it. Makes them feel big and powerful while it destroys the heart and soul of their unfortunate victim."
He swallowed as some of his harshest lessons resurfaced and he saw the faces of those who'd wronged him. But this wasn't about him-it was about her.
"I learned human decency is probably the rarest creature out there. And I couldn't find anyone who didn't want to take advantage of me or hurt me even worse than my pa had. And it hardened me even more. By the time I was sixteen, that poison had rotted me from the inside out. It colored everything about me. I justified what I did to other people by reminding myself of how they'd treated me. They deserved whatever I did to them. Do unto others before they do unto you."
"You became a killer."
He nodded. "Until the day I killed a boy, thinking he was a man. He'd wanted to avenge his pa, and for the first time in my life, I saw someone else capable of love and sacrifice. Believe it or not, it was something I hadn't seen except from my mother. And as stupid as it sounds, I'd convinced myself that it was unique to her and that no one else had it in them. But after that, I saw the difference between love and loyalty. Most of all, I saw what I'd become. What my hatred had turned me into."
His dark gaze was filled with torment. "Don't talk to me about monsters. I was one of the worst."
A few days ago, she'd have agreed completely. Hell, a few hours ago, she'd have agreed. Now ...
"You told me you never killed a woman or child."
"Just that one time, and I never got over it. One stupid mistake that has lived with me every day since. Bart told me I was an idiot to let it bother me. Better he give up the ghost than I be the one lying in a grave. But that boy didn't give up the ghost. Not really. It followed me from town to town, and no matter what I did, I couldn't escape it. Until the day a beautiful woman smiled at me. She didn't see the ugliness I kept inside. For the first time in my life, she saw the man I wanted to be, and she helped me to find him. Because of her, I learned that, yeah, people are selfish assholes for the most part, but not everyone is. That there are some rare beings out there who will help others and not abuse them. People who really don't want anything from you."
He stroked her cheek with his thumb. "Acheron always says that our scars are there to remind us of our pasts, of where we've been and what we've gone through. But that pain doesn't have to drive or determine our future. We can rise above it if we let ourselves. It's not easy, but nothing in life ever is."
Those words haunted her. Like he said, she'd allowed her past to color everything about her and to infect any part of happiness she might try to find. She'd worn her scars like a badge, and her family had used them against her. Not for her best interest.
For theirs.
His warm hand felt so good as he soothed her. "I don't see the monster in you, Abby. Monsters don't care about other people, and they don't care who they hurt. In you, I see a woman who is strong. One who knows what's right and who will do whatever she has to to protect the ones she loves."
"I killed your friends," she reminded him.
"And I'm not happy about that. But your head wasn't screwed on right. It's easy to let the enemies in and listen to them sometimes, especially when they're pretending to be your best friends who only want the best for you. At least that's what they claim. They're insidious bastards, telling you what you want to hear and using your emotions to manipulate you into doing their bidding. I did it with Bart. I thought he was the only person in the world who gave a shit about me, and I would have protected him with my life."
That was how she'd felt about Kurt.
"Sooner or later, usually out of jealousy, their real colors come out and you see the truth that makes you feel like a fool. I know that betrayal, Abigail. That sting that's so deep inside, it leaves a permanent scar on your soul. But you don't have to be like them. And you're not."
She felt her tears start falling at his words. He made her feel so much better, and she wasn't sure she had a right to. Honestly. She'd hurt so many people. Destroyed lives.
Over a lie ...
Before she realized what she was doing, she had her belt unhooked and crawled into his lap.
Jess slid the seat back so that he could hold her in the darkness. The scent of her hair filled his head as his heart thumped wildly. He held her close, wishing he could take away the pain.
Only time could do that.
And it sucked at it. "It'll be all right, Abigail."
"Yeah, after I sacrifice myself for my stupidity."
"I told you, I'm not going to let that happen."
Abigail wanted to believe him. She did. But she knew better. "There's nothing to be done. It is what it is."
He scoffed at that. "You're talking to a man who sold his soul to a goddess to get revenge on the man who killed him. Really? You think this is impossible?"
She smiled against his chest. The way he said that, she could almost believe in a miracle. For the first time, she wanted to. She buried her face against his shoulder, inhaling his scent. Why was it that here, she finally felt safe? Even though there were enemies all around and a vicious mountain lion waiting outside to devour them, she felt safe. It defied all logic and sense.
Jess kissed the top of her head while his own emotions flared deep. He'd forgotten what it was like to look into a woman's eyes and see a future he craved. To be this close to one and to share things about his past that he told to no one.
Not even Matilda had known what he told to Abigail tonight. While he'd loved her, he'd always lived with the fear that she'd find out about his past and be horrified by it. That she'd cast him aside as everyone else had and hate him for the very things he'd done to survive.
But Abigail knew his ugliness.
She felt his scars.
It made him feel all the closer to her. Appreciate her more for not judging him. At least not now. She understood how easy it was to get sucked into a nightmare and how hard it was to get out. To do things you thought were justified and then wake up and realize you'd been duped. Lied to.
Used.
He'd woken up as a Dark-Hunter only to feel like a whore. Like he'd sold his life away for pocket change. And for what? To die alone in the gutter at the hands of his best friend.
He could hide his past from everyone, except himself. That was the hardest part. Even when you tried, forgiveness didn't come easy.
Some days it didn't come at all.
Maybe it would be kinder to let her die so that she wouldn't have to face that agony.
Life ain't supposed to be kind.
True. And God knew, it'd been nothing but a kick in his groin most days. But then there were moments like this one. Perfect moments of feeling close to someone. Of letting their warmth soothe you.
That was what living was about. That was being human. When everything hurt and everything was wrong, to have that one person who could make you smile even when all you wanted to do was cry.
These were the moments that got you through the bad.
Abigail looked up at him. He stared into those clear eyes as her breath tickled his skin.
And in that heartbeat, he knew he would die to protect her.
God help me.
The last time he felt this way, he had died. Leaning his head down, he pressed his forehead against hers and tried to see the future.
If there was one after all of this.
But he knew the truth. He was a Dark-Hunter, and she was ...
Unique. There was nothing in the Dark-Hunter handbook about this situation.
He looked outside the car wash to see the wasps still swarming as they tried to find a way in. He didn't know how long this wave would last. How much time they had for anything.
Abigail cupped his head with her hand as her thoughts warred with each other. In spite of what Jess said, she couldn't see anyway out of this.
Except for death.
She'd really screwed up this time. In a life marked by mistakes, this had been the mother lode. And she'd dragged a good man into the nightmare with her.
Emotions ripped through her so fast, she couldn't even sort them out. She wanted to feel grounded again. To feel like she had a future.
But the only thing that kept her anchored was Jess.
Her heart swelling, she pulled his lips to hers and kissed him. This was probably the last night of her life. She'd be lucky if any of them were alive by dawn.
And all because she'd been an idiot.
She owed him a debt more than she could pay for standing by her and saving her life. But it wasn't just obligation she felt for him. There was something so much more. Deeper.
She felt like she was a part of him. And she didn't want to die without letting him know.
Rising up in the seat, she straddled his hips.
Jess frowned as he looked up into Abigail's eyes. There was a hungry fire there he'd never seen before. And as she started unbuttoning her shirt, his breath caught. "Um ... Abigail-"
She stopped his words by pressing her forefinger to his lips. Then she slid it slowly down his chest, heading south until she reached his fly.
"I know we don't have long, Jess. But this may be the only time we'll ever have. And I don't want to die without making amends to you."
"You don't have to do this."
She smiled. "I know. I want to do this."
And all his arguments and thoughts scattered as she slid her hand into his jeans and touched him. Oh yeah, he was lost now.
He knew that after this, he would never be the same again.