Jess let out a relieved breath as he pulled into his driveway while rain pelted the car so hard, it sounded like a sledgehammer pounding on metal and glass. Man, what a night. He was exhausted already, and it wasn't even late yet.
Of course, another round with Abigail and he'd definitely perk up.
Don't go there.
Please, go there....
'Cause honestly, he'd much rather think about her naked in his arms than think about doing what they were going to have to do and then walking away and never seeing her again.
I thought the good guy was supposed to get the girl. That was the theory, anyway. Too bad he had enough life experience to know that it definitely wasn't the case.
Nice guys got shot by their best friend.
He shook his head to clear it of that nightmare and turned his attention where it needed to go.
Their friendly neighborhood plague.
At least it was raining heavy enough to drive the wasps back into submission and disperse them. Especially since Talon had added a little god power to it to shock and numb them.
Things were almost back to normal.
Yeah, right. Things were about as normal as a Luddite working for Bill Gates. But then, wishful thinking was about all he had left right now. That and the fierce desire to find Coyote and beat the ever-loving shit out of him.
He parked in the garage and looked over at Abigail. Her features were pinched by dread and determination, and still she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. What he wouldn't give to be able to crawl into bed with her for a week and not come up for air until they both were near dead from lack of food.
Yeah, she'd be worth starvation.
And as he met her gaze, regret slammed hard into his gut. How he wished they'd had more time tonight. More time to explore and taste her.
More time to just ...
He forced his thoughts away from that train wreck. What good were druthers, anyway? They just made you ache for things you couldn't have. And the one thing his childhood had taught him was not to dwell on what-ifs.
What was it Nietzsche had said? Hope was the worst of all evils, for it prolonged the torment of man?
Props to the philosopher. The man was definitely right in this case. Hoping for something better wouldn't make it manifest. It would only remind him of decisions he'd made that he couldn't undo.
He had a job to do, and it wasn't just to protect her. He had to save the rest of the world, too.
Steeling his own determination, he inclined his head to Abigail. "You ready for the next part?"
Apprehension lined her brow as she stared at her hands held clenched in her lap. "Like an adrenaline shot straight into my heart via my eyes." Her voice was faint and pain filled. "Weirdly, I think I dread meeting Andy more than fighting off Coyote."
He would laugh if she wasn't right. He had the same rock in his stomach at the thought of how the kid would react to seeing his car mangled in its current condition. Definitely not something he was looking forward to.
Time to face the music.
After turning the engine off, he opened the door and got out while Abigail followed suit. He'd barely shut the car door behind him before he heard the agonized scream coming from the house.
"What have you monsters done?"
Abigail's face blanched as she froze in place.
He quickly moved past her to intercept Andy on his way to the car. He tried to shield the car with his body, but Andy was having none of that. Andy dodged left. Jess went right. Andy pivoted right....
Jess held his arms out to stop him before he saw all the damage. Dang, the kid should have played ball. He'd seen less slippery piglets.
He offered his Squire a sympathetic nod. "You might want to order a new one."
Andy groaned in pain, then raked his hands through his hair in a way that would make James Dean proud. "I can't believe you tore up my car! My car! My precious baby. Sheez, Jess. What did you do?"
Well, there was one thing he definitely wasn't going to mention. That would only wig the kid out even more, and he would definitely never hear the end of that.
Not to mention Abigail would probably gut him if he told anyone what they'd done.
Jess dropped his arms and shrugged. "All I can say is, it got hairy for us."
"Hairy?" Andy covered his eyes with his fists and made the sound of ultimate suffering. Damn, the boy knew how to overreact. It was actually impressive. If the Squire gig failed, he could always get a job playing Oedipus. All he needed was to plunge two brooches into his eyes and stumble offstage. "My car looks like the stunt double for the Charger in Burn Notice. How could you? Jeez, Jess. Really?" He gestured toward the car. "Really?"
Abigail took a brave step forward. "I'm so sorry, Andy. It's all my fault."
He glared at her as if he was imagining her in little bloody pieces spread out through the house. He raised one hand as if about to lecture her, but honestly, he was so upset that all he could do was sputter indignantly.
Jess clapped him on the back. "You'll live. It's just a car, kid."
"And hell is just a sauna." Each word dripped with indignation and outrage.
Wincing, Andy sucked in a deep breath and appeared to get a hold of himself. "Fine," he said in a falsetto. "You're right. I'll live, even though right now it feels as if my guts have been yanked out through my nostrils and laid on the floor for your bitter amusement. You insensitive bastard! Just wait till I pick up your bike from the Ishtar. Let's see who laughs then."
"You hurt that bike, and I'll rip out your spine."
Andy paused. "Point taken." He looked at his car and sighed. "It could be worse. No one threw up in it...." He widened his eyes, as if even more disturbed. "Did they?"
"No," Jess reassured him. "No one tossed cookies."
"All right." He straightened up and seemed to be true to his promise to let it go. "I will be a man about this."
That lasted until he saw the scratches on the hood from the mountain lion and the front fender, where Abigail had dragged it off the driveway.
Wailing, he went to it and sank to his knees. He sprawled over the hood and laid his head on the damaged fender. "I'm so sorry, Bets. I should have hidden the keys. Booted your tires. Something. I had no idea anyone would abuse you so, baby. I swear I'll never let anyone hurt you again. Ayyy, how could they do this to you? How? Oh the humanity!"
Jess let out a deep heh as he locked gazes with Abigail. "I really need to get that boy a girlfriend-" He glanced over to where Andy was now stroking the hood. "-or at least laid."
Abigail laughed.
Pushing himself back, Andy hissed at them. "You mock my pain, sir."
"Nah," Jess drawled. "I mock your idiocy."
Andy curled his lip. "Go on. Get in the house. Leave me to my suffering, you insensitive monster. You've done enough damage."
Jess shook his head. "Too bad the Razzie committee can't see this performance. We might actually have a winner if they did."
Hoping the boy would get over it without needing a therapist, he headed toward the house.
Abigail went over to Andy. "I really am sorry about your car. I mean it."
He looked up with a sincere stare that gave Jess hope Andy wasn't completely shot in the head. "It's all right. It's just ... a ... car. I'll get over it eventually." He pushed his bottom lip out to pout like a two-year-old.
In a weird way, it was almost adorable.
Abigail wanted to reach out and soothe poor Andy, even though his reaction was way over the top. Maybe it was ridiculous, but she felt terrible about it.
Because of her past, she tended to bond to objects more than to people, too. Objects could be stolen, but they didn't leave voluntarily. They were always there when you needed them, and they didn't say or do anything to hurt your feelings.
It killed her that she'd damaged something that obviously meant so much to him.
I'm becoming a massive walking disaster area. She was the opposite of Midas. Instead of turning to gold, everything she touched turned to dust.
Even her best friend ...
Her heart caught on that. She still couldn't believe everything that had happened tonight. Her friends were her enemies, and she was depending on her enemy to help save her life. Nothing in the world made sense right now.
Honestly, she just needed a few minutes of peace before the next catastrophe. A moment to ground herself before another storm blew through and swept her over the edge of insanity. But that was a luxury none of them had.
Unwilling to think about what was coming for her next, she followed after Jess, who'd already vanished into the house.
By the time Abigail caught up to him in the kitchen, he was standing with Sasha and a blond man she'd never seen before. Not quite as well muscled as Jess, the newcomer was by no means small. He had short tousled blond hair and tiny braids that fell from one temple. Dressed in jeans and a gray T-shirt, he had arms covered with black Celtic tribal tattoos. There was something about him that screamed ultimate badass.
And he pierced her with a suspicious look the moment he sensed her presence. That look pinned her feet to the floor and kept her from taking another step.
At least until Jess turned around and offered her a kind smile. By the friendly expression on his face, she knew it was safe to approach the other man.
She hoped.
Jess motioned her forward. "Abigail meet Talon. Talon, Abigail."
Relaxing a bit from his tough man stance, Talon inclined his head to her. "Hi."
Well, at least he was friendlier toward her than Zarek had been. Not that that was saying much. They'd probably be a lot friendlier if you hadn't killed their brethren.
In all honesty, she was lucky he wasn't attacking her, and she wouldn't blame him if he did. There was no telling how long he'd known the ones she'd killed. How close they'd been.
I'm so sorry.
Life seriously needed an undo button. The coward in her wanted to turn around and run. But she'd never been craven a day in her life, and she wasn't about to start now when they needed her to stand strong.
Clearing her throat, she forced herself to join them at the stainless steel island. "Are you the one responsible for the rain?"
"Yeah." Talon glanced at Jess and cracked a devilish grin that said there was an inside joke between them.
Jess made a face of supreme pain. "You're not still busting on Storm, are you?"
"Ah, hell yeah, you know it." Talon let out an evil laugh. "There are truly few things that give me more pleasure."
"You are all kinds of wrong." Jess shook his head before he explained it to her and Sasha. "Talon's brother-in-law is a professional rainmaker. So every time poor Storm tries to make it rain, Talon stops it. At this point, he's beginning to get a complex over it."
Pride gleamed bright in Talon's eyes. "I know it's cruel, but I can't help myself. Little bastard deserves it after all the grief he gives me over his sister. Not to mention I really like the little girl sound he makes when he fails."
Sasha snorted. "And you people think I'm twisted. Damn, that's so cold."
"Speaking of, Weatherman," Jess said. "You can probably kill the rain now. I think the wasps are pretty much shocked and driven back."
A loud clap of thunder shook the house. "Yeah, but it's fun."
"Might be, but you're flooding out parts of the city."
Talon grimaced. "Make me feel bad, why don't you? Fine, it's canned."
Abigail was intrigued by his powers. It was one she hadn't known a Dark-Hunter could have. "So can you summon tornadoes or earthquakes?"
"Earthquakes aren't weather related." Talon winked at her, then sobered as if he caught himself being too friendly. "And no offense, I don't feel comfortable discussing my powers with someone who might try and use them against me one day. So I'll be keeping all details close."
Pain stabbed her hard in the chest. "You're right. I deserve that. I shouldn't have asked."
The expression on his face said that he felt as bad about his words as she did.
Jess put his arm around her shoulders. "Go easy on her, Celt. She was protecting her family. We've all done things we regret while trying to help the people we love. It doesn't make her an enemy."
"True. It just makes her human." Talon held his hand out to her. "Truce?"
Offering him a shy smile, she took his hand in hers and shook it. "Truce." The moment she touched his skin, she felt something strange on his palm. Scowling, she turned his hand over to see a nasty burn scar there. "That looks really painful."
Talon actually smiled as if the memory warmed him. He pulled his hand away. "A very small price to pay for all I gained. Trust me. Had it been necessary, I'd have given the whole arm." He passed a look from her to Jess that sent a shiver down her spine.
It was like he knew what they'd done.
A light smile played at the edges of his lips. "Speaking of, I need to be getting back home. Last thing I want to do is stress out Sunny. My luck, she'd show up here and in her condition I'd have to kill someone if they upset her. Since I don't want to kill myself..." He scanned the three of them. "Good luck. For the gods's sakes, don't fail."
"Don't intend to," Jess assured him.
Talon vanished.
Abigail shifted nervously as Sasha arched a brow over the fact that Jess still had his arm around her. She'd shrug it off, but didn't want to do anything to make it stand out more. Besides, she liked it.
Ignoring Sasha's curiosity, she spoke to Jess. "I take it Sunny is his wife and she's pregnant?"
"Very."
She nodded as she absorbed that. Along with a new fear for herself. "I didn't think Dark-Hunters could have families or make someone pregnant."
A light appeared in his eyes that said he might actually be reading her thoughts.
She gave him a stern glare.
Panic flared deep in his dark gaze before he stepped away from her as if wanting to put distance between her and his so-called tender parts. "Didn't do it. I swear, and no we can't. Talon's no longer one of us and hasn't been for some time. Sunshine freed him."
Really ... there was another thing she'd never known was possible.
Before she could speak again, Ren's deep, stern voice rang out. "You need to take it slowly."
"I say, stop mothering me, Ren. I'm not an invalid, you know? Fall into one little trance while taking care of something, and now I have a hen on top of me. I swear if you don't stop, I shall rename you."
Abigail quickly hid her amusement as Choo Co La Tah came into the kitchen with Ren. The expression on Ren's face could freeze fire.
Unlike her, Jess had no problem laughing at them both. "Anything I should know about?"
Choo Co La Tah stiffened indignantly. "Yes. Your friend here is a bit of a faffer, and I've had enough of it for one day, thank you very much."
Ren sighed in irritation. When he spoke, it was to Jess, not Choo Co La Tah. "Talon brought him out of the trance. I'm thinking now, though, that we should have left him there."
Abigail hated to interrupt, but ... "Off topic-what's a faffer?"
Ren's face turned bright red.
Luckily, Choo Co La Tah smiled at her. "Someone who fusses, my dear."
Ah. No wonder Ren was so furious. Not the manliest of descriptions, by any means.
"May I also ask why you speak with an English accent? It seems..." She couldn't say odd without offending him, and that was the last thing she wanted to do. She actually liked the old elder a lot, even if he wasn't always the most likable of people. "Different."
Ren put his hands on his hips. "He learned to speak English from the original British settlers and never quite adapted to the modern accent."
Choo Co La Tah gave him a withering stare, as if he didn't appreciate Ren's explanation. "I like the way it sounds better. Besides, it throws everyone off balance when they hear it, and I like that even more. Always keep them guessing about you, my dear. Nothing ever makes them so crazy."
She appreciated that thought.
"How are you feeling?" Jess asked Choo Co La Tah, changing the subject.
"Weary. And we've wasted enough time. We need to get going so that we can reach the high point before dawn, make our offering, and secure the jars."
A tendril of fear went through her as she realized that the offering most likely would be her life. I'm not ready for this....
Jess saw the fear in Abigail's eyes. Wanting only to soothe her, he took her hand in his and squeezed her fingers in a silent promise that he wouldn't let anything happen to her. He meant that, too. So long as he had breath inside him, nothing would get to her.
Choo Co La Tah dropped his gaze to their hands, and something akin to approval crossed his face.
Weird.
But Jess didn't have time to think about that. "Let's head to the Bronco and get started. It's a little over an hour to get there from here. We should have plenty of time before dawn, but with what all Coyote's been throwing at us, who knows."
Ren hesitated. "My powers are waning. I think I'll fly in and meet you."
He had a point, but ... "You sure about that? Snake could open a can of whoop-ass on us, too, and we don't know what his plagues are. Do we?"
"Flesh-eating virus," Choo Co La Tah said. "And bloodfire."
Sasha screwed his face up. "Bloodfire?"
"My personal fave." Ren's tone was thick with sarcasm. "It's blood drops that fall from the sky and explode like wet dynamite."
Jess nodded as Ren proved his point. "Not exactly something you want to have hit you when you're out in the open."
"True, but I'm stupid enough to chance it. I need to recharge if we have to fight, and I'm sure you do, too."
Jess cursed the man's stubbornness.
And his sacrifice.
"You be really careful," he warned.
Ren gave him a cocky grin. "Always. You have to be careful when you fly, or you end up smeared on the side of a building."
"You're not funny."
"I'm hilarious, crabass." Ren's gaze went to Abigail, and a shadow passed across his face. One that Jess sensed was extremely important. But as quickly as it came, Ren covered it. "Save our girl. Won't do us any good to get there without her."
"Don't worry." He wasn't about to let her go. Not yet, anyway. "Peaceful journey, penyo."
Ren saluted him, then went to the front door. He opened it before he turned into a crow and flew away.
Sasha let out a sound of disgust. "What? Was he raised in a barn? Didn't he ever learn how to close a door?" He flung his hand at the door and slammed it shut without touching it. "Amateur shape-shifters ... No manners whatsoever."
Jess was puzzled by the lycanthrope's distemper. "Do we need to get you a Midol before we go?"
"I'm not that easy to soothe, cowboy. My peeves are on a cellular level."
Jess shook his head, then fell silent as he looked at Abigail and saw the tiniest spark of red in her eyes. The demon was trying to surface again. He wondered if she could feel it when it did that. "Are you all right?"
"Yeah, why?" Well, that answered his question. Obviously, she had no idea.
The red faded out.
His gut drew tight. That couldn't be good either. He'd be more concerned with it, but right now, they were on a tight schedule.
"Never mind." Taking her hand, he led them out of the kitchen and down the barrel-vaulted hallway to the other side of the house.
Abigail was floored as they kept walking and walking. In the back of her mind, she'd noted that his house was huge, but it wasn't until now that the full size of it hit her.
Dang ...
He opened the door to another garage that housed a huge collection of cars and motorcycles. It had more in common with a warehouse than a garage, except for the fact that it was immaculate and ornate. The gold trim even appeared to be gilded. "Just how big is this house?"
Jess grinned sheepishly. "Andy's doing, not mine. Don't ask, 'cause it's just obscene. And no, with the exception of the black Bronco, nothing in here belongs to me. Since Andy lives in the apartment over the garage, this is his domain."
"And how big is Mr. Andy's apartment?"
He actually blushed. "Sixty-two hundred square feet, and I'm pretty sure it's why he picked out this house. Though he denies it."
Holy snikes ... Well, that explained the huge feel of the place. Her house was one quarter of the size of Andy's apartment.
"And why's your Bronco in here?"
Jess continued on through the huge place toward his truck. "He was hauling tack earlier, and he didn't want to risk dinging or scraping one of his darlings. Since I don't drive it all that much, he left it over here."
She was strangely amused as she counted Andy's impressive super car collection. "If he has sixteen cars, why does he care about the Audi so?"
He opened the door for the Bronco and passed her a defiant grin that set fire to her blood. Oh, to have five minutes to nibble those lips. "That's his newest, and honestly, I think the boy just wants something to moan about. Pay him no heed."
Abigail climbed into the backseat, leaving Choo Co La Tah to sit up front with Jess while Sasha climbed in beside her.
Jess adjusted the seat and mirrors to accommodate his size. Before he started it, he pinned a meaningful glare at Sasha through the rearview mirror. "Everyone buckled in?"
Sasha snorted, then gaped as he realized Jess wasn't joking about it. "Really? Is there anyone here one hundred percent human? No. I think dying from an unbuckled belt is the least of our concerns right now."
"And I don't put it in drive until everyone's secure. That means you, wolfboy."
Sasha's exasperated expression was priceless. "Un-frakkin'-believable. I'm in hell. With a lunatic. Might as well have stayed with Zarek. Next thing you know, you'll be drowning pancakes with syrup, too." He made a grand showing of buckling himself in. "Hope you get fleas," he mumbled under his breath.
"Thank you." Jess pulled out of the garage.
She pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at them. No doubt they'd take turns beating her if she did.
Curling his lip, Sasha sarcastically mocked his words in silence. "By the way, cowboy, you do know that if we were to wreck, I can teleport out of this thing. Right?"
"Is Scooby still bitching?" Jess asked Choo Co La Tah. "Remind me to check his vet record when we get back. I think he might have distemper or rabies or something."
Choo Co La Tah laughed.
Abigail shook her head at their antics. She wasn't used to people so at ease with danger. They were either the bravest creatures ever born ...
Or the most reckless.
And as they headed back out into the darkness, she felt a chill run down her arm. I'm being watched.
It's Ren. Don't worry about it.
Maybe, but it didn't feel like Ren.
It felt like evil.
Coyote felt the fire in front of him flare as he walked with his mind through the realm of shadows to spy on his enemies. Even with his eyes closed, he could see himself in the cavern. The fire licked against the logs in front of him, casting eerie shadows from the stalagmites and stalactites onto the rock walls around him.
But that wasn't what held his focus. His enemies did.
They were together, and that made him seethe so deep inside, he was sure it burned a groove into his soul. "Why won't you die," he snarled. "All of you."
How many times did he have to kill Buffalo before he stayed dead?
As for Ren ...
"What's happening?"
He opened his eyes to find Snake walking toward him from the dark opening that let out onto the hills he'd called home for centuries. "They're heading to the Valley."
Snake cursed. "We have to stop them."
Like he didn't know that? "Why are you panicking when I'm the one who has everything to lose?"
"You're not the only one, Coyote. I don't want to retire any more than you do."
But this wasn't about retirement. It was about payback. A betrayal so foul that no amount of time had lessened the burn of it.
How could I have been so stupid?
The First Guardian was still tormenting him. He could feel it. Why else would he have made the mistake he made all those years ago?
I killed the wrong one. Only the First Guardian could have pulled off that deception and protected the girl from him after he killed her mother.
And he needed that key. It was the only way to have his vengeance. The only way to survive this.
I will not fail. Not this time. He'd waited for centuries, and it was the season for his patience to be rewarded.
He rose to his feet and started for the entrance.
Snake caught him and held him by his side. "What are you doing?"
"I'm going after them."
"You can't. Outside of the Valley, we're like gods."
Inside, they weren't. It still mystified Coyote that the woman had been able to kill Old Bear. Something that should have been impossible even for her.
And if she could kill a Guardian outside of the Valley, then Buffalo most likely could do it, too. "I have to stop them."
"Then stop them, my brother ... with others."
Coyote shook his head. "I've unleashed my plagues."
"Then I will unleash mine." Snake placed his hand on Coyote's shoulder in brotherly solidarity. "We are in this to the end."
Snake for the power.
Coyote for blood.
He nodded to the South Guardian. "At dawn we will feast on the hearts of our enemies."
"And bathe in their blood."
A warrior's bond.
Snake tightened the grip on his shoulder before he released him. "I will summon the bounty hunters." He started away.
"Wait." Coyote hesitated to say more. He didn't want to show his weakness to anyone. Ever. But he had no choice. "Tell them not to harm the woman. I want her brought back to me."
"Intact?"
"Preferably."
"May I ask why?"
The answer smoldered inside him like a pressure cooker that was about to explode. "It's personal."
Confusion marred his brow, but Snake didn't pursue it. "I'll make sure it's done."
Good. Coyote watched Snake make his exit while his emotions churned inside him. But it was his rage that flared brightest. "You owe me!" he shouted, his voice ringing through the cavern. And this time, he would collect on that balance.
Jess Brady would die, and he would finally have the reward he'd been promised.