Death Wish (6 page)

The crowd was thick, and I shoved people out of my way with more force than necessary. Both Shaz and the vampiress looked up at my sudden approach. Fear flickered in Shaz’s jade green eyes. He reached as if to stop me, but I threw him back with little more than a thought.

The power exploded inside me, overflowing to wash throughout the building. It was magnificent. The vampiress had no chance to brace against it. Using my bloody hand to guide the force surging through me, I drove her to her knees. I was lost in the hypnotic rush of life and death, as the vampire and werewolf power I possessed became one writhing, demanding entity.

I saw nothing but her. The rest of the club ceased to exist as I stared down into her frightened brown eyes. I wanted her to hurt. In response to that thought, she screamed. I envisioned her insides on fire, and her shrieks became deafening.

A wicked smile pulled at my lips; it didn’t feel like mine. “Don’t you realize who you’re messing with? I will break you.” My voice was exceptionally calm, almost detached.

She cowered before me, grasping her head in agony. I could feel it, her true death. I could have it. The power went out from me with surprising ease. It was almost disappointing that I could kill her so easily.

“Alexa, please.” Shaz lingered nearby, his voice an annoying reminder that if I loved him, I couldn’t destroy her. He’d put up with too much from me in the name of love.

I growled, shooting him a dark look. I didn’t release my hold on her though. No, I wanted her to know she’d gone too far. Her heart was there, in my mind. I could feel it, ready to burst at my command. I had killed more than one vampire this way, and every time it got easier.

“I don’t know what you were thinking, putting on a display like that, but I am not the one you want to fuck with.” I put pressure on her heart, squeezing until she coughed blood. In my mind, I was inside her as surely as if I’d held her cold, dead heart in my hand. With a hand beneath her chin, I forced her to meet my eyes. “You won’t get another warning. Next time, we finish this.”

I dropped the livewire running from me into her, releasing her from my deadly hold. She collapsed completely, spitting blood and whimpering. Only then did I notice the entire place had fallen silent. Even the band had stopped.

Several vampires were on their knees, blinded by pain as a wave of heavy energy swept over the crowd. Shya’s words echoed in my head.
“You have immense power over vampires and werewolves. You are both and yet somehow neither, all at the same time.”

I hadn’t believed that then. I was starting to now. As I looked down at the suffering vampiress, it was startlingly undeniable. Shaking from the pressure of conducting so much energy, I needed some air, so I turned and headed for the front door. However, I carefully avoided eye contact with those I passed.

Shaz said my name, but I didn’t stop, and he didn’t pursue me. Jez ultimately caught hold of my arm and stopped me in the lobby. She held firm, refusing to be shaken off.

“Hey, are you alright?” She produced a tissue from her purse and gestured to the blood dripping from my nose. “That was pretty fucking intense. You dropped Kale like a sack of bricks.”

I accepted the tissue and wiped my nose. It wasn’t bleeding much, and I felt fine. “Is he ok? I didn’t mean to.”

“Yeah, he’s ok. Or, he will be, anyway.” When she couldn’t keep me inside the building, she followed me outside. “I felt something, too. It kind of scared me.”

I turned to her sharply. Jez didn’t readily admit fear to anyone about anything without a damn good reason. “Why? What happened?”

She shrugged and walked farther away from the entrance and the people that mingled there. With a longing look at some of the smokers enjoying their cigarettes, she feigned casual. “When you dropped Kale and the others, I could feel this pull inside me. Like you were pulling the cat out of me. Forcing the shift.”

“Sounds like what I did with Zoey, when she was stuck in wolf form.”

“Well, it didn’t feel so great. It didn’t hurt, but it freaked me out. How about we don’t have a repeat of that, hmm?”

I turned toward the parking lot, focusing on the earth at my feet to ground my unbalanced core. I was riding a high so intense I walked on clouds. “Sorry, Jez.”

Her presence was comforting. Jez was special to me. The circle of people I could trust was small, but I was madly grateful for every one of them.

 “It’ll be ok, Lex. I know you’re hurting more over this Shaz stuff than you would ever let yourself admit. There are no easy rides in love. It’s complicated agony. But, it’s worth it.”

I couldn’t help but stare intently at her. That didn’t sound like something she’d usually say. “Is it really though? Or, is it just not knowing when to let someone go?”

“Don’t talk like that. We both know that’s not what either of you want.”

No, it wasn’t what I wanted. What I wanted was to go back to a time before Shaz had gotten involved in any of this. It was too late for that.

The night air was muggy; it did nothing to provide the cooling relief I longed for. If only it would rain.

My breath caught when Shaz’s car sped past us as he peeled out of the lot. He and I needed to talk. We’d been dodging this issue for weeks, and that mistake had caught up to us. I didn’t want to delve deeper into it, but I knew if we didn’t, we wouldn’t grow past this. And, it would destroy us.

Chapter Five

The urge to go after Shaz was strong, but he was long gone. It was anyone’s guess where he was going. I wanted to punch something, but the claws protruding from my fingertips prevented me from even making a fist.

My wolf wanted to take over, to shield me from the pain by escaping my human body. If I could just lose myself in the forest, it would all cease to exist. If only that were true…

I paced in the parking lot, unwilling to go back inside the club. It was probably best if I vacated for the rest of the night. I had a lot to deal with. Jez leaned against a nearby car, watching me silently. Restless and distressed, I didn’t know what to do with myself.

“Just what were you trying to do in there?” Kale’s voice rang out behind me seconds before his honey-dipped energy slid over my skin like a forbidden caress. “Blow the roof off the building?”

“I don’t know,” I said with a shrug. “I snapped. I couldn’t let her challenge me that way. Not in my city and most definitely not in my club with my wolf. It just happened.”

“Well next time you lose it like that, direct your focus. Save the rest of us from having to take an undeserved hit.” He joined Jez where she stood against the car. With a look that was supposed to be serious, Kale studied me. “You’re an accident waiting to happen, Alexa. Too wild and unruly. It’s dangerous.”

I didn’t buy his serious expression because of the playful lilt to his tone. Whatever I’d done to Kale inside, some part of him had liked it.

“Maybe that’s why someone wants me dead.” I felt pinned under the weight of their matching stares. “Sorry. It shouldn’t have happened.”

“Nobody is going to hurt you. You just proved why that wouldn’t be easy.” Jez shrugged casually, but her shoulders tightened, and her body language became defensive. Wary.

Kale’s gaze dropped to my bloody hand. His pupils dilated and a memory blazed between us. “I’d like to meet the person willing to take you on after what you just did in there.” 

“I don’t know.” With a shake of my head, I scanned the area. I couldn’t be too careful, not until I knew who was gunning for me. “This is just more trouble I don’t need. It seems to find me no matter what I do.”

A sudden, unnatural wind picked up, tossing my long blonde hair around in total disarray. The air rippled, and Falon appeared out of nowhere. It spooked me and I jumped. He eyed me with grim amusement dancing in his silver eyes.

The fallen angel looked over us each with scrutiny before dragging his judgmental gaze back to me. “You really aren’t the brightest crayon in the box are you, wolf?”

I bristled at his tone, and my guard went up. After what had just occurred inside, I was in no mood to take lip from the asshole angel.

“I have a name, you son of a bitch.” I met his gaze evenly, showing no fear. What the hell was he doing here?

Tall and chiseled with fair hair, he looked like any model in a men’s fashion magazine. He was good looking, but it was a surface beauty. His wings were absent, hidden beneath some form of illusion that drove my curiosity crazy. Without them, he lost a lot of his intimidation factor.

“Alexa,” he said my name slowly, dramatically emphasizing every syllable. “Do you have any idea of how stupid you are?”

I sensed Kale’s sudden tension, but I didn’t dare take my eyes off Falon. The twenty feet or so separating the fallen angel from me became much too close for comfort. I wanted to claw his eyes out but wasn’t dumb enough to try.

“What are you doing here?”

He continued as if I hadn’t spoken. “Only an idiot would draw attention to themselves by calling power like that without good reason. Might as well walk around with a neon sign over your head that flashes the word, dumbass.”

I seethed with hatred for this infuriating creature. “I had my reasons, none of which do I owe you as an explanation. Where do you get off coming to my place of business to judge me?”

Falon’s laughter cut through the night, as malicious as it was melodic. “Your place of business is little more than a den of sin and sacrilege. Don’t flatter yourself.”

“Fuck you, you pathetic demon lapdog.” I spat the words without thinking, letting my anger guide my sharp tongue. “If Shya sent you, tell him I have nothing to say to him through you. If he didn’t send you, then you really don’t need to be here.”

I blinked, that was it. I never saw him move, but he was suddenly so close we almost touched. Glaring down into my face, Falon fixed me with ice-cold eyes.

“You attract the attention of everyone with any ties to power when you do that shit. That power may be yours to command, but it comes from a place bigger than you can imagine. Use it wisely.”

I had never felt any source of power or metaphysical wonder from him. It was there, I knew, but hidden. I didn’t feel it now either, but I saw it, there in the depths of his eyes. So cold and broken but immense, like the mountains and the sea, larger than I could dream. The promise of destruction was there, and I knew with deep-seated certainty that Falon’s power was something I never wanted to see.

“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child, you pretentious bastard.”

His cruel grin restored some of his intimidation factor, but nothing about him indicated that he’d ever been anything better than he was now. “Shya is so wrong about you.”

Dismissing me entirely, Falon swept by me to get a closer look at Jez. She perched on the edge of the car, frozen in place. She stared at him like he was scum, but the anxious vibes she gave off betrayed her.

“And, what have we here?” Ignoring her scathing expression, Falon studied her with curious intrigue. He seemed a little perplexed. “Of all the mixed bloodlines I’ve seen, never have I seen one quite like you. Fascinating. Where has Shya been hiding you?”

Jez stumbled over her words as she attempted a stuttering response. Kale came to her rescue. Laying a friendly hand on Falon’s arm, he smoothly captured the angel’s attention.

“Jez prefers to work the streets, clean up the trash. That kind of thing. Now, what brings you here?” Kale’s interest was authentic. He clearly knew how to deal with Falon.

Falon cast a last lingering glance at Jez before turning his full attention on Kale. “The dreamwalker,” he spoke in low tones. “I need you there tonight.”

I was still stuck on what he’d said about Jez being of mixed blood. How could that be? Her face was a mask of ice, carefully constructed to reveal nothing.

“Dreamwalker?” I said, only half-listening. I was watching Jez as she forced a nonchalant expression.

“Yes, dreamwalker,” Falon sneered. “As in, someone who can walk in dreams. Now there’s a power that even a botched crossbreed like you doesn’t have.”

I snarled and lunged toward him. Kale effectively placed himself in my path, stopping me with both hands on my shoulders. Falon enjoyed my fury, which only ticked me off more. It was my own fault for letting him get under my skin. Something about him just stripped my composure away. Lately everything seemed to strip my composure away.

Kale guided him away, quickly asking questions to keep things neutral. It wasn’t worth getting pissed at Falon. Between the target on my back, the mysterious FPA and the Shaz situation, I was overflowing with pent up frustration and the excruciating need to hurt something. Taking it out on Falon wouldn’t ultimately help me feel any better about anything.

Running a hand through my hair in vexation, I looked around the parking lot.

Something didn’t feel right.

The light from the street lit up the entrance. Traffic passed by like usual. Nobody in the lot struck me as particularly suspicious.

Closing my eyes, I breathed deeply of the air, picking through the myriad of scents. I could pick out little more than car exhaust and cigarettes from the nearby smokers.

The sudden awareness of being watched set my senses on fire. My eyes snapped open, and I did my best to survey my surroundings without appearing as if I was. In case of a psychic attack, I focused my energy on reinforcing my shields. I saw nobody as I turned in a slow circle. But, someone was watching.