Hunter's Salvation (30 page)

Thomas continued to talk, but nothing he was saying made much sense anymore.
Wife.
Okay, so Jess had known from the beginning that all they had was sex, but still—might have been nice to know about the wife part. Even more about the part where he had killed her.

Hard hands came up, wrapping around her upper arms. By the time she realized what Vax was going to do, he was already doing it. Jess went flying through the air and struck the wall. There was a blur in front of her. The blur was Thomas. He moved too quickly for her eyes to track. He had been coming for her, but Vax moved pretty quickly, too. Jess was out of harm's way, and Vax squared off with Thomas, catching the vampire around the waist and using a wrestling move that would done Kurt Angle proud. He flipped Thomas onto his back, jerked the syringe out of Thomas's hand, and hurled it to the ground. It hit the ground and erupted in flames. The flames didn't die down until the syringe was nothing more than a melting pile of plastic. Vax pinned the vampire and lifted his knife, but before he could use it, Thomas jammed a hand between them. He struck in the nose with the heel of his palm, and Jess heard bone crunch.

Blood exploded in a geyser, but it didn't slow Vax down. He didn't slow down when Thomas reared his head and struck Vax in the arm, catching the meaty part of the forearm and biting through skin and muscle. Thomas shook his head like a dog working a bone. Vax didn't make a sound. He shifted his grip on the hilt of the knife and then drove his fist into the vampire's throat. The vampire didn't have to breathe, but apparently vampires hated the sensation of choking as much as anybody. Thomas left go of Vax's arm, gagging. Blood and saliva flew out of his mouth.

Vax lifted the knife once more, but a blast from behind sent him flying. He landed on the floor beside Jess. He rolled to his feet in seconds, and he took Jess with him.

It was a good thing he was holding onto her, because what she saw in front of her was enough to make her want to run home, crawl under her bed, and hide. Her legs felt rubbery, and her guts seemed to go watery.

Smoke hung in the air, and there were little charred pieces of drywall and wood drifting down. And unless she was really seeing things, there was also metal melting.

Jess wondered if hell was anything like this. The heat was intense. She could feel it licking her flesh from thirty feet away. The thing standing in the doorway only added to the hellish imagery. It was big, and even uglier than Dena. Long, wicked fangs protruded out past his lips. He had a stunted muzzle, and his face looked grotesquely malformed. He threw back his head and howled. When he looked back at Jess, his mouth gaped in a bloodcurdling smile, thick strings of saliva dripping down.

And he wasn't alone. Her breath caught in her throat as another wolf creature appeared behind him. Another. Another…until they totaled seven. With murderous intent in their eyes, they started as a unit for Vax and Jess. Fire flew through the air, and Jess hissed, startled. Her gaze flew to Vax, and she watched as he lobbed another fireball towards the wolf-things.

An odd whooshing sound filled the room. It was so loud, it hurt Jess's ears. She clapped her hands over them and looked around, searching for the source. It was the fire. Vax hurled more fire at them, but each attempt had the same effect as the first. The whooshing sound was the noise the fire made as it hit the wolf-things and their bodies absorbed it.

Absorbed.
Like a sponge absorbed water. “Son of a bitch,” Vax muttered. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vax's reaction. It wasn't much, but considering that she had seen maybe three emotions—namely, lust, anger, and amusement—from him, the worried look in his eyes didn't bode well.

His gaze shifted from the menacing creatures in front of them to the ceiling above their heads, then down to the white tiled floor under their feet. “How much can you hold?” he asked quietly.

She knew he wasn't asking about her bench-pressing skills. “I don't know. Never put it to that much of a test. But I'll hold whatever I have to.”

“When I say—catch it and aim it towards them.” She never had a chance to ask what. His hand lifted, and although she couldn't see anything, she felt it. The earth rumbled beneath them; then it shifted and rolled. A gaping maw appeared in the tile, a tiny split that grew and grew until it had rent the entire floor straight down the middle.

Dust drifted from the ceiling, and then the crack in the earth spread upward, higher and higher until the crack climbed the wall and started to spread across the ceiling. Huge, jagged chunks of concrete and rock speared into open air. As bits and pieces of the building started to crumble, Vax shouted, “Now!”

Jess braced herself. It was a waste of time.

There was no way she could have prepared for the massive weight as broken pieces of rubble came crashing down. It was as if the weight of it came down on her skull, threatening to crush her. She shoved with all her might, sweat beading on her upper lip. The chunks of concrete hurtled through the air towards the lumbering atrocities. She saw the first three collapse, but then Vax grabbed her around the waist and hauled her towards the elevator.

She didn't fight him.

Maybe, just maybe, she wasn't as ready to die as she thought. Especially not at the hands of one of those things. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the things pushing through the smoke, rubble, and fire. Her head screamed at her as she focused, but she didn't quit. There was an exposed pipe peeking through the ceiling. It was easier to move than the rocks had been, but she was exhausted and her control was shaky, so by the time she had used her mind to rip the pipe out of its moorings, she was sweating. She was in so much pain, she could hardly focus.

“Hurry,” she gasped.

They made it to the elevator, and as the doors slid closed, Jess finished with the pipe. Fire exploded, and Jess lost consciousness to the sound of wolves howling.

 

V
AX
had been right. She handled herself well even when they were facing down something unimaginable. Something a little more than he had been prepared for. That was where he had fucked up. Going in there with nobody at his side but a telekinetic who had never seen battle—it had been so pathetically stupid. Criminally so.

Bad enough that he had almost gotten Jess killed. It was worse than that, though, because Jess would have been just the first if those hybrid shifters had gotten loose. He had put untold others at risk.

They were back in the hotel. Vax almost hadn't come here. But he couldn't drive around endlessly. He had to see how Jess was doing, and he had to think. He'd been thinking for the past three hours, and worried out of his mind over Jess.

She hadn't woken up.

He knew why. She'd overextended herself saving their necks. It wouldn't have been necessary if Vax hadn't been so damned stupid. He reached up and rubbed his eyes, feeling unbelievably weary.

 

T
HE
phone rang on the table next to the bed, and he reached to pick it up without looking away from Jess's face. The low, quiet voice on the other end of the line sounded worried. “Look, Kelsey, I don't need you rushing out here to cluck over me. Just get Malachi and get over here. Talk to Jess. She'll fill you in.”

Kelsey's voice was irritated. “Why don't
you
fill me in, big shot?”

Because I won't be here.
He didn't say that aloud. “I don't have time right now.” He was saved from having to make something up when Jess's lids started to flutter. “I have to go. Jess is waking up.”

He hung up the phone and crouched down beside her. She groaned, and one hand came up, rubbing her temple. “Headache, huh?”

She rolled her head on the pillow and stared at him. “Oh, hell. A headache doesn't even describe it. I feel like my head is going to come off.”

Vax skimmed his fingers over her forehead. “You overextended yourself. Pushed too hard. This is sort of a delayed reaction—almost as if you worked out way too much at the gym. It will take a few days to subside all the way. Rest helps.”

“Yeah, like that's an option.” She reached and wrapped her hand around his upper arm, using that to steady herself as she sat up. She weaved a little and groaned. “Holy shit.”

“Lie back down, Jess.”

She shook her head. “There's no time. Damn it, what are we going to do about those things?” She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, but every movement made her more and more pale. “Did you see them? It was almost like they ate the fire. And the concrete—some of those chunks probably weighed half a ton, and they didn't even slow down.”

As determined as she was to rise, when it came time to actually stand, she made two tries before she finally gave up. When she looked up at him, Vax cocked a brow. “You done?”

She snarled at him. Vax leaned down and kissed the sexy little sneer before straightening. “I told you—it's going to be a few days before you feel like yourself, and at least a few more hours of rest before you can go anywhere.” He tucked a strand of hair away from her face.

She acted as if she were going to smack his hand away, but instead she just wrapped her fingers around his wrist. She was pale; the dark circles under her eyes looked like bruises. Her voice shook a little when she said, “We don't have hours.”

“No. We don't.” He crouched down in front of her and sighed. He cupped her hands in his, rubbing his thumbs across the backs. Under the thin, delicate shield of her skin, he could see the fine network of veins. He could feel the fragile play of the small bones as she turned her hands over in his and linked their fingers. “I've called for help. They'll be here soon, but…”

Jess jerked away her hands and stared at him with disbelief all over her face. “No.” She shook her head. “No. You
said
we'd do this together. I haven't gone and done something stupid. I didn't take off by myself to look for Masters, even though I wanted to. We're doing this together, damn it. I'm coming with you.”

“No. You're not. You can't.” He reached for her, but she recoiled. “Jess, you're too damn weak to walk. You can't defend yourself. And if I want to stop them before they hurt anybody, I can't slow down just to protect you.”

“I won't ask you to.” She stared at him with pleading eyes. “Please—damn it, you don't understand. I have to do this.”

Finally he felt something from her. Her pain reached out to him, hammering at his shields and stinging him like a thousand angry hornets. The pain from overextending and her exhaustion had done what he couldn't do. They defeated her shields, allowing him to feel her every last emotion. The pain and exhaustion, her grief, rage, helplessness—and the determination.

The determination would fuel her. If he left her alone here, that determination would add to her anger, and it just might give her that last little desperate bit of strength she would need to walk out of this room. And Jess couldn't leave. She had to stay here, where she was safe.

“Don't you understand?” Tears welled in her eyes, making them gleam as she reached back out and took his hands. She squeezed them fiercely. Her voice cracked as she whispered, “Try to understand it. I have to do this.”

Vax gently disengaged their hands. He reached up and threaded one hand through her hair. “I do understand.” That light touch linked them, and he could read her. As he had thought, she was running on emotion and desperation. She was also weak. She'd hate him when this was over.

But she'd be alive.

She started to say something, and he brushed his lips over hers. “Shhhh.” It was delicate, nerve-wracking work, forcing his way under the thin veil that separated unconscious thought from conscious action. Once he was there, though, it was a little easier. She was already so tired. All he had to do was coax that exhaustion to the forefront and…

She resisted. He could feel her body stiffening, and inside, she rejected the emotions he tried to force on her. Vax withdrew before she had a chance to figure out exactly what she was fighting. With grim eyes, he stared down at her. He was not going to let her leave this room.

He had only a few options. If he could cuff her to the bed, he would, but with her talent, she could probably undo the cuffs. Hitting her again wasn't an acceptable option. Even if it meant keeping her safe.

The only option left didn't exactly leave him feeling warm and cuddly, but it would work. His hand was still fisted in her hair—using his grip there, he angled her head back and took her mouth, rough and impatient. Her lips parted under his and he swallowed down her soft moan. Vax shifted forward, using the weight of his body to crush her back into the mattress. He pushed up her shirt, baring her breasts. The shirt caught under her arms, but that was fine.

He jerked at the clasp that held the cups of the bra closed. They fell aside, and Vax bent his head, catching one tight, swollen nipple in his mouth. Jess groaned and arched into him. She slid her hands down, working one in between them so that she could cup him through his jeans. Pleasure ricocheted through his system, guilt chasing hard on its heels. What he was getting ready to do was wrong—he wasn't going to let her give him any pleasure.