Hunter's Salvation (32 page)

It seemed though that would be the last easy one Vax had. Right now, he crouched behind an overturned table, sweating and so damned hot he could barely breathe.

Another fireball came hurtling through the air towards him. Before it could strike, Vax extended his power to absorb the fireball. Too many more, and he was going to spontaneously combust. Too damned hot in here.

But it was going to have to get even hotter. From the time he'd left this hellhole last night, he'd had a bad feeling how this was all going to play out.

“Come on out, Hunter. This is pointless.”

Vax braced his back against the flat surface of the table and settled his weight a little more comfortably on the rubble-strewn floor. “I have to know. Why the hell do the bad guys always feel the need to strike up a conversation with the good guy? You got me pinned, cornered, and surrounded—doesn't get much clearer than that.”

Fitzpatrick laughed. “You sound almost eager. Are you ready to die?”

There was an ominous crack from the ceiling, and Vax looked up.
“Shit.”
The ceiling supports couldn't take much more. He rolled out of the way just as a huge chunk of plaster broke free.

“Be careful there. Will your ability to put out fires work if you are unconscious?”

“Oh, don't worry about me. I've got it—” A blast of wind arose, slamming into the table. Vax could either move with it or get the hell out of the way. He ended up crouching on the floor in the hall. The long, mostly empty hall. “I got it all under control.”

A smoky haze filled the hall, and he coughed, trying to clear his lungs a little. He wasn't the only one coughing, either. He could hear the wolf-things struggling to breathe around the smoke, too. The only one who wasn't bothered by the smoke was the vampire. Fucking undead—they didn't have to breathe.

“Are you so certain? You're going to die, Hunter.” Thomas Fitzpatrick's voice sounded a little less solid, and Vax swore under his breath. Too late to move, though. The vampire was suddenly there, his body solidifying from mist to solid. And he had something in his hand. Vax swung out with his foot, catching Fitzpatrick at his ankles and knocking him off his feet.

No time—

The words echoed through Vax's head as he rolled to his feet. The hell he didn't have time. He might well die here, but not yet. Not until he'd taken them—

Icy hot. Thomas reached up and patted Vax's face. Vax balled up his fist and swung, clipping the vampire with an uppercut that sent him flying backward. Then he wrapped his fingers around the barrel of the syringe sticking out of his chest. “Too late,” Thomas said as he rubbed his jaw. He watched with a smug smile as Vax pulled it out. “It will take a few minutes to spread through your system, my friend; then you'll start getting weaker. A few days for the full effect. Assuming you can get out of here, that is. You'll go into a coma. You may or may not wake up. But regardless, you are no longer a witch.”

Vax threw the syringe on the floor. It felt as though fiery claws were inside him, thousands of them, ripping through him. But he wasn't going under yet. Not yet. “A few minutes,” he muttered. His heartbeat was racing like a damned racehorse. He could hardly breathe. The smoke was getting thicker. He saw a big, furred face over the vamp's shoulder.

Then two. Then three. Four

Was he seeing double? No. It was the other wolves. “What, you all here to make sure I don't get out?” he said. His tongue felt thick. He swallowed and started to say something else, but the smoke was getting to him and he ended up in a coughing fit.

“Actually, I think I will have them carry you out. You see, I've a mind to see if you survive. You're a stubborn one, aren't you? You might live through it. I'd like to see what comes of you.”

“Talk, talk, talk,” Vax mumbled. He closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. He did a quick mental assessment. It was all still there. For now. A smile spread across his lips. “I don't need a few minutes.”

He struck out. Thomas's scream ended abruptly as his body exploded into flames.

 

“O
H
, no.”

Jess climbed out of her car, staring in shock at the building in front of her. The smoke was so thick, she could hardly see the building. The heat was intense—a few years ago, Jess had been driving through Louisville, Kentucky, when a blaze went up near Churchill Downs. Wasn't every day a fire threatened the historic racetrack, so she had made a detour and done a few quick interviews, taken some pictures with the digital she kept in her trunk.

It had been a five-alarm blaze.

Up until now, Jess hadn't ever seen anything quite like it. But now the heat was so incredible, her skin felt burned. The fire seemed to have a life of its own. “Oh, my God…Vax,” she whispered. She took off running, but she didn't make it even five feet. Big hands, hard as stone, wrapped around her arms. “Put me down, you bastard!”

“You cannot go in there,” he whispered.

Jess struggled and screamed, “Vax is in there!”

“You cannot go in there,” he repeated. “The fire will kill you.”

“Vax…” Jess sobbed.
No.
She struggled harder. She had to get inside. Had to…

She didn't realize she was screaming it until a big, warm hand came up and cupped her face, and Malachi murmured, “You can't. I am so sorry.”

“It won't kill me.”

Like a drowning man catching a rope, Jess latched on to Kelsey's words with a desperate kind of hope.

“No.” Malachi's voice was a low, threatening growl. “You will not, wife.”

A faint smile canted her lips. “He's still alive in there, baby. I can't just leave him.”

Malachi flung a hand towards the blazing inferno. “Nobody could be alive inside of that.”

“A witch could. He's keeping the fire under control. I can feel it. He knows I can feel it. He needed me here so I could put it out when he was…” Kelsey's voice trailed off, and she shook her head. “There's no time for this, Malachi. He's alive. I can feel him.”

The big vampire closed the distance between them and caught Kelsey's arms in his hands, dragging her up against him. “You will
not
go in. I shall go.”

She shook her head. “You can't. Even for you, big guy, fire is deadly. The fire is spreading. Besides…” Her gaze slid to Jess, and Jess didn't have to be a mind reader to know what the witch was thinking. Malachi had to stay out to keep Jess under control.

Still, he wasn't letting it happen. Kelsey gave him a humorless smile and shook her head. “Sorry, baby. You know I have to.” Right in front of them, Kelsey disappeared. Malachi's fingers closed around the empty air that had been her arms. His hands clenched into tight fists, and impotent anger carved deep lines into his face.

Jess saw a bitter, furious knowledge in his eyes. The ache in her heart spread.

Jess heard the wail of sirens in the distance. Squeezing her eyes closed, she started to pray silently.
Please…please…please…

 

S
MOKE
choked her. Blinded her. Before she even tried to locate Vax, the first thing Kelsey did was absorb as much fire as she could. It was like eating the flames. Manipulating fire was as easy as breathing for her. Few knew it, but controlling the fire elements was her strongest gift. It had been the first gift to emerge when she was young, and it was the first she had learned to control.

She'd had no choice—as powerful as her ability to use fire was, she was terrified of it. She'd had to learn to master that fear, and the gift, or it would have destroyed her. She'd been inside burning buildings before. Fire had marked her body. It had haunted her dreams every night for years. Even now, decades later, the nightmare slipped out of her subconscious when she least expected it, waking her in a cold sweat with a scream lodged in her throat, her flesh stinging as though she could feel the fiery kiss of flame on her skin.

Yeah, Kelsey was no stranger to it. But she hadn't ever dealt with anything like this. Around her, the flames eased back, and she forced a cool wind through the narrow hall. It pushed the smoke away for now. She hoped it would be long enough.

She heard screaming above the roar of the flames. Vax lay on the floor just a few feet away. So far the fire hadn't touched him, but if he kept forcing it to burn, he was going to burn with it. That was the whole point—Kelsey had figured that out the second they'd seen the smoke billowing out of the warehouse.

She had felt Vax's presence, and she had known he was alive. Just as she had known that Vax was keeping the fire burning because somehow those wolves were still alive. These weren't just wolves. She could scent the violent magick inside them—the magick would keep them alive for a little while longer.

Vax's face was a vivid shade of red, and his eyes were glowing manically. Panting, he looked at her. “Get out of here, Kelsey. I have to…” He broke off as a fit of coughing hit him. “Make sure they die.” His gaze fell away, and she looked down to stare at the syringe on the floor. “He got me anyway. I'm over.”

“No. You're not.” She focused a little more, and the cooler bubble of air that surrounded her swelled, surrounding him. She dipped a hand inside her pocket and drew out the vials there. Silver nitrate: no good witch left home without it. There were four. She broke the seals and turned, hurling them towards the still-screaming wolves. She gave a push with her magick to make sure the silver nitrate hit. The wolves were all burning—with that much exposed flesh, their bodies would absorb the silver that much more quickly.

One fell down dead before the vials even hit. “Let it go, Vax,” Kelsey said. “Come on, buddy.”

His lashes fluttered. They closed. Kelsey braced herself for the worst, but he didn't burst into flame in front of her. Thank God. She wasn't sure she could have lived with that image in her head. But the faint relief she felt died quickly. Vax hadn't extinguished the fire, for a reason—he had started it, and he would let it burn until he'd destroyed whatever he wanted destroyed. As long as it burned under his control, he could keep it from spreading.

But unconscious, he wasn't in control. “Shit.”

Desperate, Kelsey dropped to her knees beside him. The concrete was hot and burned her skin through her jeans, but she gritted her teeth and blocked out the pain. Cupping his face in her hands, she pushed past his instinctive shields, trying to force him back into wakefulness.

There was a poison inside him. Something that was burning through him like acid. Kelsey didn't have time to try drawing it out—instead she just blocked it. It was an urgent move, blocking him from feeling the pain. “Damn it. You stubborn bastard, open your eyes.”

She felt him. Knew he was aware of her.
Get out…
The words weren't said out loud, but she heard him nonetheless.
Get out, Kelsey.

“Not without you, pal. You go, I go. And if you take me with you, Malachi will kill himself just to come after you and kick your ass from paradise and back,” she said.

 

T
HEY
were no longer alone. Fire trucks surrounded them, and Kelsey still wasn't there. Tears burned Jess's eyes, and sobs clawed their way up her throat. Spinning away, Jess moaned. Her legs wobbled under her, but when she would have fallen down, Malachi caught her. “Shhhh. Don't give up so easily,” Malachi murmured. But she didn't know whether he was trying to comfort her or himself.

Firefighters swarmed around them, trying to shove them back, but Malachi wasn't going anywhere. He was too big and too mean looking; plus the firefighters had their hands full. He kept an arm around Jess and they both stood there staring at the inferno. Minutes passed.

The firefighters seemed to be winning the battle. It didn't seem right that the huge fire was so easily contained. It didn't make sense. It should have spread, but it didn't. Jess didn't much give a damn, though.

She felt Malachi stiffen behind her. “Kelsey.” His voice was harsh.

Unsure what to expect, prepared for the worst, Jess looked up at him. There was an agonized look in his eyes, and the bottom of Jess's stomach fell out.

Nonononononono.
She bit her lip to keep from screaming. Malachi didn't have to say anything. The torment on his face said it all.

Vax wasn't coming out. Neither was Kelsey.

She closed her eyes, an icy-cold numbness spreading through her. She welcomed it. It was better than the devastating pain that waited for her. Gone. Just like that. “He knew,” Jess muttered, forcing the words out of her tight throat. She licked her lips and looked up at Malachi.

Except the vampire wasn't there.

Hell.