Hunter's Salvation (26 page)

A smirk canted up the corners of his lips, and he shook his head. “No.”

Jess took a deep breath. “Look, can we take a break? I'm hotter than hell, and I can't seem to breathe very well. Geez, who would have thought that meditating was so damned hard?”

Vax pulled his hand away and shrugged. “You're not focusing hard enough.” He glanced in the rearview mirror and changed lanes.

“It's not that easy, pal. I keep hearing car horns, sirens.”
You.

She could hear him, smell him. How was she supposed to be able to concentrate when she couldn't quit thinking of him? She blew out a breath and propped her elbow on the car door. “It's just not that easy.”

“I know.”

He stopped the car and Jess looked around. They were in the parking lot of Circle Centre Mall. Under normal circumstances, she would have made a sarcastic remark about how the timing was all wrong for shopping. But she'd been wearing the same clothes for two days, and she was damn tired of it. “Oh, man. Clothes. I want. Gimme.”

She closed her hand around the handle, but before she could open the door, the locks went down. She scowled at Vax.

“I bought you clothes.”

Jess glanced down at the form-fitting black T-shirt and jeans. They were stiff and had that new-clothes smell, but she wasn't complaining. However, that bag hadn't included underwear. She needed a bra and she needed some panties. Right now, she was going without panties, which wasn't particularly comfortable with new jeans. The shirt was too form-fitting to
not
wear a bra, but if she had to wear her current one too much longer, she was going to burn the damn thing.

Patiently, she said, “You bought me jeans and a shirt. I need underwear. A bra.”

His eyes dropped, lingered on her chest for a minute. Her body responded accordingly—her mouth went dry, her nipples peaked, and deep inside, she started to ache.

When he spoke, his voice was just a little hoarse. “We aren't here to shop. Once you get your focus, it's easy. And I can help you find your focus—if you trust me.”

Jess looked longingly towards the stores. “Ten minutes? Please?”

Vax gave her that infamous narrow-eyed look. The one where his eyes resembled cold steel. “You signed on for this, Jess. We've got a job to do. It doesn't include shopping.”

“Does it include us running around wearing the same bra for days on end and no underwear?”

At that, his eyes blazed. His gaze dropped, lower this time, and Jess flushed as she realized just where he was staring. Suddenly, the air in the car seemed to boil with the heat coming off him. He turned away and hit the button to unlock her door.

Jess hesitated and he slanted a look at her. “Get out now—or you might not be wearing pants in a minute.”

 

V
AX
had to give her credit.

She didn't just make it fast.

As she came striding out of the mall, he kept thinking about the fact that she'd been sitting next to him for the past couple hours, naked under the jeans.

His cock throbbed, and he glanced towards his lap. “Down, boy,” he muttered. But his penis obviously had a mind of its own—just thinking of how she had looked after he'd made her scream out his name was enough. Now his body was determined to experience it again.

Uncomfortable, Vax shifted in the seat.

He'd guessed at her size when he'd bought her clothes, and he'd guessed just a little too well. The jeans outlined her long, slender legs like a second skin, and the shirt wasn't much better. It clung to her body, outlining each and every subtle curve. It ended about an inch above her blue jeans, and the bare skin between was smooth and pale. Vax knew just how soft and sweet her skin was. He could remember pressing his mouth to the shallow indentation of her navel, kissing lower and lower…. He decided he hadn't spent enough time on that, though. Another three or four hours might take the edge off. For now.

Jess climbed inside the car and tossed a green and white bag onto the floor along with a pink striped one. He recognized the pink one and had to suppress a groan as he thought about Jess and lingerie. The scent of her filled his head, though, making it damn hard to
not
think about her, lingerie or otherwise.

“You okay?”

A glance at the green and white bag explained why she smelled so good. She'd taken a couple of minutes to hit a bath shop. “You really know how to make good use of your time. Got any money left?”

Jess gave him a cheeky smile. “Hell, yes. End-of-the-season clearance.” She pushed her hands through her hair and leaned back against the seat with a smile. “I feel a hundred times better. All right. Let's do this.”

Vax had to give her credit. Once she decided to focus on something, she really focused. Within ten minutes, he had her a deep trancelike state. Reaching out, he took one limp hand from her lap and folded it in his. Vax pressed his palm to hers, watching her face. Her lashes didn't even flicker when he said, “It's time. You linked with Dena. You felt what had been done to her.”

She flinched a little. “Dena felt wrong. On the inside.”

“I know.” He kept his voice soothing. Trances made people vulnerable, even to their own memories and thoughts. Her shields had kept her from feeling what Dena was feeling, but in a meditative state, with her shields lowered, Vax hoped he'd be able to strengthen the connection enough that Jess might be able to sense something.

Anything.

Dena hadn't been a willing volunteer. Or maybe she had started out that way and changed her mind. Whatever it was, there was strong emotion left over, and as Vax slid inside Jess's shields, he knew it was enough. Jess winced as if something hurt. “I feel it. Dirty. Wrong. They've hurt people.”

Now the trying part was going to be using her tenuous connection as a compass.

 

B
Y
the time they had something solid, more than two hours had passed. Vax wished they could get a little closer, but he couldn't keep Jess under anymore. She wasn't going to be happy, either. She was sweat-soaked, and her clean new clothes were limp and wilted.

“This is it?”

Jess took a drink from the water bottle and stared in front of her. The gently rolling hills were a far cry from the urban sprawl of Indianapolis, but Jess knew where they were. They were actually not too far from her home. A few years ago, Whitten had been a rural community. It had become very popular over the past few years with urbanites who wanted to experience the “simple life” living forty-five minutes outside the city, and make the commute daily.

Real estate had skyrocketed, and where there were families, came more businesses. Whitten had turned into the modern-age version of a boomtown.

Jess looked at Vax. “This is the best we can do?” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. “I'm exhausted. I feel like I ran a marathon. But we're done?”

“What we're doing isn't some exact science. You can't set a deadline on yourself and say that by the end of the day you'll have accomplished this, this, and that, Jess. You do what you can, with what you have, as fast as you can. And you did pretty damn good.” The sun shining through the window did amazing things for him, glinting off his raven black hair, highlighting the planes and hollows of his face. The sight of him was enough to make her mouth go dry.

Jerking her mind back to the matter at hand, Jess leaned against the hood of the car and studied the main strip of Whitten, Indiana. There were steak houses, Tex-Mex chains, gas stations, and two department stores, and it looked like a third was in process. Just behind them was a sign announcing the availability of units in Whitten Crossing, a modern development for the modern professional. So far, it looked as though several attorneys and a doctor specializing in workplace injuries were the only occupants. She shook her head and said, “There is no way the lab Dena came from is around here. I screwed up.”

Vax just smiled. “They aren't going to be advertising it, blondie. They don't give a damn about attracting the modern professional. And you didn't screw up. There's something here.” He glanced towards her. “You look pretty steady.”

She made a face. “I feel like hell. You could have warned me that this deal was going to make me feel like I went ten rounds.” She rotated her neck as she spoke, trying to relieve some of the tension at the base of her skull.

“Why? You would still feel like this.” He pushed off the car and moved closer, circling around so that he stood behind her.

When he reached up and cupped a hand over the back of her neck, Jess stiffened. Then he started to rub. It was as though the magick that pulsed in his veins also lived inside his hands. Little by little, each stroke eased the tension, and the ache in her skull started to subside.

A different one took up residence. Low in her belly, that ache spread and grew stronger with each brush of his hand. In a stilted voice, she said, “You ought to be careful about touching me, pal. What if I read something into it?”

“Like what?” He lowered his head and murmured into her ear, “Maybe you can read something into this.” He slid a hand around her waist and pulled her back against him. He didn't rock against her, didn't even move, just stood there, his body pressing against hers, close, so close that there was no way she could miss feeling him.

His erection was huge. Jess just barely managed to swallow a whimper before it escaped her lips. “I can read all sorts of things into that.” Hell. Her voice had that breathy, gasp-y thing going. Of course, it was amazing that she could even speak. She wanted to turn around and rub her body against his. Wanted to feel his hands on her again. But she wasn't going to.

There was no way in hell. He might not be the chilly stranger he had been yesterday, but she wasn't in any hurry for a repeat performance. Since he hadn't ever bothered to explain what the deal was, Jess figured keeping her distance was safer. Although it wasn't going to be easier.

“But I didn't like the way the story ended last time.” She stiffened in his light embrace, refusing to wilt against him the way she wanted. She wanted to turn around and lean into him, press her lips to that hard, unyielding mouth. She wanted to strip out of her damp, uncomfortable clothes and then strip off his clothes so that there was nothing in the way when she climbed on top of him.

Instead she pulled away from him. “I wasn't expecting anything from you, Vax. I don't know if that's why you went and pulled the Mr. Hyde routine. I don't know what the problem was, but I'm not doing that again.” Once she was a couple of feet away, she turned and faced him. “I told you that I wasn't into casual. I meant that. Yes, we had sex. Yes, it was my idea. I wasn't expecting wedding bells or anything. But I also wasn't expecting you to treat me like a leper, just because I asked some questions you didn't want to answer.”

He closed the distance between them and reached out, catching a lock of her hair. He rubbed it back and forth between his thumb and forefinger as he stared at her. He had the most hypnotic gaze. His gray eyes glowed warm as he stared at her. That gaze gave her all sorts of wicked ideas.

Jess just couldn't forget how cold his eyes had looked just a day ago. So when he reached up and cupped her cheek, she stepped away. “I guess that means you're not in the mood for me to apologize, or try to explain…”

“You don't have to apologize or explain. But I don't plan on letting it happen again.” She slipped around him and climbed into her car. “I'm worn out. I need some sleep.”

Y
OU
didn't really expect any other response, did you?

After he had been a total bastard, the last thing Jess was going to do was fall into bed with him. Well, she did fall into bed. Literally. And this bed was clean. Clean and comfortable, and they weren't going to get anyplace more secure than the hotel they were in. If Jess had any qualms about sharing a room, she kept them quiet.

The hotel was owned by a werewolf. Vax had made a phone call early that morning, and when his call was returned, he was given a name and address. The name was Elliott Winston, and the address took Vax to a hotel Elliott owned. He was old, even for a shifter. His hair had long since gone gunmetal gray, and his canny, suspicious eyes were set in a face as lined as a road map. But he was decent.

Vax took one look at the man and knew he could be trusted.

“This an official stay?” Elliott had asked in a raspy voice.

Vax had politely requested that it be unofficial. Elliott had nodded and said, “So long as you pay, you can have a room as long as you need it. Unofficially, of course.” Elliott's only request was that Vax give him a heads-up if shit was going to come in his direction. “Too old for it. Too tired for it. If it's going to come, I'll take a hike.”

Vax had no intentions of the old man catching any trouble.

He did have to admit, though, he was pretty surprised the old man had been here as long as he had without trouble coming his way. This area was crawling with paranormal activity. The Council was going to have to get off its bureaucratic ass and get a Hunter out here on a permanent basis.

Just now, all this paranormal activity was going to come in handy. With so many shifters and low-to midlevel witches around, Vax wasn't going stand out so much as long as he didn't use his magick. Witches tended to have a better element of surprise when it came to tracking down ferals. They didn't come up high on the paranormal radar.

Jess wouldn't come up at all. He hoped. Until they knew what they were up against, they had to keep a low profile.

Even though it was only the afternoon, exhaustion pulled at him. He hadn't had a decent night's rest in days, and sleep was a sweet release just a few blinks away. If he stretched out on the bed and closed his eyes, he'd be under in minutes. It would be easy. Vax suspected he could actually sleep. But waking up in the same bed as Jess wasn't going to be wise. Although it would sure as hell be worth it.

“Stop thinking of it,” he muttered. He pressed his fingers against to his eyelids and rubbed. But it didn't make it any easier to hold his eyes open. Finally he just gave in to it and let them close. Without looking, he reached with his left hand and snagged the back of the second chair, whipping it around in front of him. Then he stretched out his legs and propped his bare feet on the chair's seat.

Even though exhaustion was like a weight around his neck, his mind wasn't ready to shut down for sleep just yet. Instead of fighting them, he went ahead and let his thoughts run their course. Come morning, they were going to find that lab. Thomas Fitzpatrick would be sleeping. The man was a vampire—Vax had no doubt about that. He'd spend the day underground, far from the sun. There was a good chance the lab itself was underground. Maybe in a recent construction, one that had a basement, privately owned. Jess might know some people who could help find such a place. Building anything left a paper trail: Trying to sidestep the rules that came with living among mortals was too risky. Neither side wanted to risk exposure—so that meant blending in and following the law of the land.

At least in the grand scheme of things. They drove; they owned businesses, some very lucrative ones, at that.

If he and Jess had to, they'd follow the paper trail. Or Vax would resort to less subtle means. He was debating on which method to better eliminate their asses when he finally fell asleep.

 

“W
HAT
is the matter with you?”

William looked up from his contemplation of the earth to find Fitzpatrick staring at him. “You need to feed,” William muttered, and he rubbed a hand across his mouth. His belly rumbled in sympathy as he felt the vampire's hunger pangs.

“I intend to. But would you tell me why in the hell you are standing there staring at the dirt?” Thomas moved closer, but then he jumped back as William swiped out. His hand shifted from normal to a hooking claw, one that would have gutted Thomas if he had been standing close enough. By the time William's hand had completed the arc of the swing, it had shifted back to human form.

William's expression never changed. He continued to gaze at the ground with a raptured, intent look on his face. “The earth whispers. I've never heard it whisper so loud before.”

Thomas looked up at the sky through the trees, checking the moon. The full moon was still a few days away. But Thomas suspected the pull was affecting William in some weird way. The magick, perhaps. With every passing day, William's power had increased. But his control hadn't.

Interesting.
All sorts of questions were clamoring in Thomas's mind. He wished he had William's chart with him. Thomas even started to reach for a pen to make a couple of notes, but he stopped. Now wasn't the time. Hunger was a ravenous beast inside him. He hadn't fed in far too long. His work tended to consume him, to blind him to anything and everything else. If he didn't feed soon, his hunger would rage out of control.

Thomas found uncontrollable impulses to be utterly distasteful.

“Try to finish up your study of the earth before sunrise. I have some questions for you, Will.” He waited for some sort of response, but William just continued to stare at the ground.

Thomas wondered briefly what had William so obsessed. But he had his own obsessions urging him on. He couldn't take time to ponder William's.

William knew that Thomas was leaving. He didn't just hear him leave; he felt it. He felt each distinct footfall. Even when he could no longer hear Thomas, he felt him. William dragged his eyes away from the earth and stared at the trees. He couldn't even see Thomas. Yet he felt him.

This odd awareness had been with him for the past week, and it was growing stronger. He could feel air whistling through the branches. He could hear blades of grass rustling together. The sky seemed bluer, the earth richer—he had never felt so attuned to
life
before.

He thought perhaps the pleasure of ending a life would bring about a rush that would be almost orgasmic. William lifted his face to the sky and sought out the pale glow of the moon. It was nearly full. He could feel the power of it. The beauty. William had the urge to dance, as though the moon were singing to him and there was no way he could ignore its call.

Humming under his breath, William started to move to the moon's music. He danced his way out of the wooded area and stopped. His arms spread out wide, he turned in a slow circle, breathing in the scents of life, magick, and power. He'd spent most of his life blind. He hadn't ever truly felt anything until the magick opened his eyes, his ears…his soul.

His spine itched. Giving in to it, he fell to his knees and let free the animal inside. He welcomed the pain as his bones broke and realigned. His flesh rippled almost like it was melting, and when it took solid form again, there was fur instead of skin. The change ended with him on all fours. He threw back his head and howled to the sky.

In this form, with the magick pulsing through his system, he felt unstoppable. He could taste his victims. The pulse of life. The warmth of their blood. He could almost hear their screams. He wanted to hear them. On silent feet, he padded around the building. He could feel them inside. They would scream. They would fight. Some might hurt him. He would not mind the pain, but he wanted to feel it as their lives ended. If they fought hard enough, he would be deprived of that.

So instead of entering the building and following the familiar scents of magick, wolf, and vampire, he ran away. Outside the bright circle of lights, more life beckoned. The pulse of magick sang to him.

As he followed the call, he threw back his head and sang back to the moon.

 

V
AX
felt the scream. Heard it in his dreams. It ended in an abrupt, horrific spray of blood. He came struggling into wakefulness, scrubbing his hands over his face. The room was still dark. His limbs felt heavy, and his head wasn't much better.

Vax couldn't see. He rubbed his hands over his eyes, but it didn't help. All he could see was blood. It felt as if it were coating his body, thick, warm, and wet. But when he stumbled into the bathroom and hit the light, there was no blood on him.

Magick rolled through the air. Hot, potent, and foul. There was a satisfaction to it—as though some ravenous hunger had been sated. He could feel the wolf's satisfaction and, just faintly, a yearning for more. More pain. More bloodshed.

More blood
…The wolf's greedy whisper echoed in Vax's head almost as if he stood before the creature. The taste of blood, metallic and salty-sweet, filled his mouth. He felt meat. Teeth tearing into meat, soft flesh ripping under his claws. Nausea boiled inside him, and he fell to his knees in front of the toilet and vomited. Even after he'd emptied his stomach, the heaves continued.

He knew she was there. He felt her watching him as he reached up and flushed the toilet. He collapsed back against it and stared at her. His vision kept trying to fade out, and Jess's face wasn't clear. Instead of her pale, narrow face, he saw a young woman, hardly more than a girl. Her skin was a smooth, dusky brown, and there was an innocence in her eyes that was rare nowadays.

Then the image changed—her innocence was gone. Her life was gone. Even her pretty, delicate looks were gone, mauled away.

Jess's voice came to him from far off, and then her hands touched him. Vax reached up, seizing her by the wrists and jerking her against him. His vision focused and he could finally see her face. She was pale, her eyes dark and terrified as she stared at him. But she wasn't afraid
of
him. As she leaned against him, he caught a faint flicker of emotion from her.

She was afraid for him. Vax let go of her wrists and wrapped his arms around her narrow waist. He pulled her close and buried his face between her breasts, unaware that he had started to rock himself and Jess back and forth.

“What's wrong, Vax?”

He shook his head, letting her presence soothe his raw emotions. Her shields were up, and it was as if being this close made him part of her shielding as well. Whatever he had picked up, whoever had been broadcasting, he couldn't feel it now. His mind was blissfully, wonderfully empty of everything but his own thoughts and feelings.

Her hands continued to stroke in aimless circles on his shoulders and back, and he let her. Let her soothe away some of the raw pain. He was going to have to deal with it soon enough. He'd have to find the girl. From there, he'd be able to track her killer. In his gut, Vax knew the trail would lead him to the men he and Jess had come to find.

The wolf had felt unnatural. Vax had sensed the magick within the beast and knew it was William Masters. The man he was here to find and stop had just killed another woman, practically right under his nose.

Guilt ate at him. Should he have pushed Jess harder? Her psychic gift was minimal. She had just managed to do some truly amazing things with it. But they had been close. He could all but sense them. This close—they'd been this close to finding the lab and the modern-day version of Dr. Frankenstein.

Gently, Vax eased Jess away from him. He stood up but had to slam a hand against the wall. His legs felt watery. He stiffened them and managed to stumble over to the sink. He reached out and turned the water on, staring at his hands. He was a little surprised to see they weren't soaked with blood. He felt like it stained him. He felt filthy with it.

Failure.

“What's wrong?” she asked again, her voice soft but insistent.

He looked up and saw her reflection staring at him. He almost didn't answer. He didn't want to. It was as if talking about it compounded his failure. But she had to know. Maybe, just maybe, she'd leave and let him handle this. His voice was rusty and tight and squeezing out words was just a little bit painful. “William Masters killed a woman last night.”

Her face went as white as death. Her lashes flicked, and her eyes darkened to a deep green. Her tongue came out and she licked her lips. He could see her throat work as she swallowed, and then she blew out a slow, shaky breath. “How do you know?”

He looked down at his hands. He could still feel flesh ripping. As though he had been the one to plunge clawed hands into soft, unprotected skin, and tear. “I felt it.”

“Oh, God.” Her hands came up, but when she would have pressed herself against him, Vax jerked away. He bent over the sink and splashed ice-cold water on his face. Then he filled his mouth with water and swished it around a little before spitting it out. He could still taste the blood. He grabbed one of the toothbrushes Jess had bought and used what looked like half of the toothpaste. He could have polished his enamel off, and still he tasted blood.