Alabaster Nights (The Josie Hawk Chronicles) (4 page)

Keller slowly opens his eyes, studies me with that sharp gaze of his until I squirm, and then smiles like he’s just scored an A on his biology test. “Why?”

Sighing, I withdraw the knife and tuck it back into the nylon sheath strapped to my right thigh. Too bad. I’m eager for a kill, but if I kill Keller, I’m out a best friend. Sage and I have plans—big plans that don’t include a family member’s funeral. Though I’m sure Keller would be quite comfortable in a casket. I crack myself up.

Keller is still staring at me, waiting for an answer.

“You don’t need a reason other than I told you not to.” my fingers toy with the frayed edges of my shirt hem. I stop and stand perfectly still, silently chastising myself for fidgeting. The only person who calls me Josephine is my father, who I happen to think walks on water. No one else, including Irish here, has earned the right to call me by my given name.

Keller nods. “So you did. I’ll do my best to adhere to your command.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Pulling my jacket closed, I glance behind me.

“You’ve got tall walls.”

Turning back to him, my eyebrows draw together for the briefest of moments. I smooth them out and try to appear bored. “Excuse me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

Keller slides his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. I swear I do not notice anything below the belt region.

“It’s too quiet tonight,” I say, changing subjects. I’m pretty sure I know exactly what he means by tall walls and I have every intention of keeping them firmly in place. In fact, I might even add a few more rows of bricks and put a roof on top. I’ve always wanted to live in a fortress.

Keller shrugs slowly, as if the effort costs him. “Everyone needs a night off at some point. Perhaps you could wrap it up early. Maybe we could get to know each other a little better. For Sage, of course.”

I have a feeling his definition of
better
is intimately and includes dinner.
His dinner
. I shake my head. “No. In my world quiet is like the calm before the storm.” Besides, I’m not the one who needs to go take a nap. Judging by the circles under Keller’s eyes, he’s in need of sleep and more. If he thinks I’m tonight’s special on the menu, he’s sorely mistaken. My neck is a no-fang zone. “It’s going to be a bad night. You should probably find a place to hide. Sage wouldn’t be happy if you got hurt.”

Reaching out, he wraps his finger around a lock of my hair. Instinct tells me to jerk away and run. Run until I can’t run anymore. Instead, I stand very still.

“Who will take care of you when you get hurt?”

I blink. Trust me. I’m very used to a lack of faith in my skills from others. It doesn’t faze me. But for someone reason, Keller’s doubt hurts worse than the sting of a fat-tailed scorpion. “When? Not if?”

Keller slides his hand through my hair and cradles the back of my neck. It’s so hard not to move when my insides are trembling. His touch is like an electric jolt and I’ve just been fried. I can’t help but to wonder if he’s using some of his vampiric power on me. That would be a very big mistake.

He leans closer. “We all get hurt eventually.” He smiles, just a quick show of teeth before he grows serious again.

I swing. Keller anticipates my move and shifts so I only clip his jaw with my uppercut. Flashing his fangs, he drags a hand through his hair. I kick. He catches my leg. I drop and spin out of his grasp. My back slams into the wall, rattling my bones.

“Stop,” I order as he advances, my arm extended as a shield.

He slows. Barely. “Stop what?”

“Stop…” I blow out a shaky breath. “Just stop everything.”

“I get it. You’re affected. I am, too. We’ll figure it out.”

I’m affected all right. I’m so affected I want to sink my blade into his gut and twist it until he comes to his senses. Or until I come to mine. I don’t like to be played with. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. There’s nothing to figure out.” Needing something to do with my hands, I pull my hair to the side and start braiding. “May I offer you a word of advice?”

Keller slides his tongue over his teeth. “I’m all ears.”

He’s all something, but it’s definitely not ears. I realize braiding my hair has exposed my neck. Sighing, I unbraid it and let it hang loose over my shoulders. “Find yourself the nearest blood bank. You’re looking a little green tonight. Then, once you’ve re-fueled, find something useful to do.”

I turn and leave him to chew on that thought. I’ve only jogged a few feet away when a pair of demons barrel around the corner, eyes redder than the blinking traffic signal overhead. I skid to a stop, my hands already wrapped around the leather hilts of two five-inch blades. One demon is the shade of neon green with two yellow horns jutting at a ninety-degree angle from his forehead. A row of sharp spikes shoots out the length of his spine all the way down to the tip of his eight-foot tail. The other demon is albino. No horns or spikes, but the five pink talons on the end of each of his six feet make my blades look like barely sharpened pencils.

“Hello, spawn.” I move, light on my feet. “Which of you would like to die first?”

“
Bloooood
,” they sing in unison.

Keller races past me.

“Hey!” I yell. “Stay back and let me do my job.”

Ignoring me, he jumps about ten feet straight up into the air, comes down spinning, and kicks the demon with horns into the wall. The demon folds into himself, turns, and hisses, sending acidic saliva flying in a wide arc.

Toxic demon spit hits both of my legs, burns through my jeans, and eats at my skin. “Dammit, Irish.” I’m afraid to look at the damage, but can picture the skin bubbling as searing pain brings me to my knees. I’m going to need more than a Band-Aid this time. The albino demon swipes at me. I arch back and feel the crisp air that accompanies his swing.

In two quick motions, Keller breaks his demon’s neck, and then grabs the albino by its tail and pulls.

“
Bloooood
.”

The tail detaches and Keller sails backward, stubby tail in hand. The demon rushes me, maw gaping to expose four rows of razor-sharp teeth. Back on my feet, I jam my blade between the demon’s eyes. He screams, the sound so blood curdling and human-like I pause. His jaws snap closed on my arm, teeth tearing into my flesh and sinking into my bones. White-hot agony sears me. The pain in my leg has nothing on this. I’m pretty sure I’m two seconds from being an amputee. Stars dot my vision and they’re not the ones in the sky. Breathing through the pain, I pull out my blade and slam it into the albino’s skull just behind his ear. When he opens his mouth to scream again, I jump back. Blood flows, running down my arm and dripping from my fingers, the red a sharp contrast to the white snow.

The demon’s tongue flicks at the ground, tasting my blood.

I’m about to pass out and that really pisses me off. I shake my head.
Focus
.

An inhuman roar rips through the air. Through my blurred vision, I see Keller’s fangs elongate as he positions his body between me and the albino demon. I stumble backward, lose my footing, and sink to the ground. The last thing I see is Keller ripping the head off
my
demon and provoking my last thought. I can’t believe he just stole my kill.

-4-

Death Chooses Sides

Keller reined in his hunger as best he could and lifted Josie into his arms, supporting her head with his shoulder. He pulled the back of her cloak up and over her legs. That simple action brought a sense of right, a sense of duty. Adjusting his mindset around this new obligation would take some time. If she was indeed truly his mate, then Keller was up for the task. Whatever it took, he would do this right, no matter how hard the ever-swinging pendulum tried to throw him off course.

With renewed purpose, he intentionally didn’t breathe, but the strong aroma of Josie’s dripping blood called to him anyway. His stomach clenched and knotted like his guts were being squeezed in a vise grip. He carefully closed his lips over his fangs and dragged his hungry gaze away from the red pool of mockery at his feet. Taking her blood would accomplish two things: Give him the strength he desperately needed and confirm she was the one meant for him—his true mate. But taking it
now
would make him the blood-stealing monster Josie thought him to be. Even though blood had already spilled, it was still hers. He had to prove her wrong—even if it killed him.

The temperature dropped and the snow fell harder. Keller sensed a dangerous blizzard on the horizon. Perhaps it was nothing more than his emotions that were riled. Doubtful. His instincts were rarely wrong. Josie shivered. Her head fell heavier on his shoulder with each tremble. Keller held her closer, careful not to crush her injured arm, and zipped through the near-empty streets. He dismissed another visit to the local hospital. Too many people. Too many questions he couldn’t—wouldn’t—answer, and he was not leaving her at the door. Teleporting crossed his mind for the briefest of moments before he abandoned the notion. He didn’t know enough about Josie to determine if she could handle it. Especially in her current condition. Not to mention he wasn’t in top form with not feeding for the past three days. Attempting teleportation could be a disaster.

He’d have to feed soon. Or be prepared to suffer the consequences.

More than likely it would be the latter because the only blood he wanted was from the one person who would never offer it up.

Keller mentally connected with Sage and instructed her to meet him at Josie’s apartment building, and then immediately slammed the connection closed, cutting her off before she could ask for details he wasn’t ready to give. He knew exactly where Josie lived. He’d been as far as the hallway outside her apartment and had probably worn a hole in the already tattered carpet with all his pacing, desperate to know if she was the one who could settle his troubled soul. He’d need an invitation to get inside her home, and he wouldn’t be getting one from the woman passed out in his arms.

When her building came into view, he slowed and evaluated the scene. No one stood outside. No lights shone from the few windows that weren’t covered in plywood. The brown brick structure, trimmed in accents of chipped red paint, shot up five floors and was flanked by a souvenir shop on one side and a small eatery on the other. Josie’s building wasn’t dilapidated, per se, but it also wasn’t what one would call inviting or safe. Keller was most concerned about the safety factor, or lack thereof, as it were. Anyone could come and go as they pleased through the main door. Keller included. He’d done just that for two nights now after following her home like a randy teenager amped up on over-stimulated hormones.

Surely, as a Huntress, Josie had created enemies, enemies that could be lying in wait even now. Keller growled, the sound emanating from deep in his chest. Any opponent of Josephine Hawk would have to get through him first.

With the way he was feeling, Keller suddenly wondered if he even needed to taste her blood to know who she was to him. It was becoming pretty clear. Would he even feel any differently after he tasted her blood? He could not imagine her blood would belie his instincts. Still, it did not ease his need to taste her…

He wrenched the main door open—ignoring the scraping of metal against concrete—and jogged up three flights of stairs. Neither of the elevators worked according to the hand-written notice hanging carelessly from the doors. If Josie’s funds were so low that she could only afford a place like this, how did she plan to go into business with Sage?

Rounding the corner, he shushed Josie when she moaned. The sound—knowing she was in pain—tore his heart wide open.

“Hush now, Ms. Hawk. You can bet you’re in good hands, you are.”

He glanced down and sucked in a ragged breath at the raw site of her injury. Mangled flesh, charred around the edges, gave way to bone. Demon saliva was often laced with poison. The thought of lethal toxins swimming through Josie’s veins had Keller ready to maim and murder. His skin burned with the need for retribution. If he felt this protective now, how would he feel when his suspicions were confirmed?

Keller kept his voice quiet and steady, even as rage had him seeing red. “We’ll fix you up right. You’ll be on the streets in no time.” Not where he wanted her, but where she preferred to be.

Josie didn’t move. She didn’t moan again either. He took that as a good sign.

While he waited for Sage, he pressed his back against the wall and slid down slowly so as not to jostle Josie. He eased her between his legs, then shrugged out of his jacket, pulled his shirt over his head and ripped it into two long strips. Tying a strip around each end of the wound, he pulled it tight to cut off the blood flow in hopes that would keep the poison from spreading. Her breathing quickened, but Keller didn’t loosen the improvised tourniquets.

Sage whipped around the corner, her pink hair bound in haphazard braids.

“What the hell happened?” Her bright grey eyes mirrored saucers. Her hand flew to her mouth and lingered when she saw Josie’s arm.

“It’s bad,” he said. “Get me inside.”

Sage didn’t move.

“Sage!” Keller snapped, adjusting Josie against his body. He knew the sight of her shredded arm was horrific to Sage. He felt the same, but for different reasons. Now wasn’t the time for either one of them to lose it. “Keep it together. We need you with a strong mind and body.”

“Right,” she said, springing into action and pulling a set of keys from her pocket. She opened Josie’s door and stepped inside. “Hurry.”

Wasn’t that what he’d been trying to tell her? Keller pushed against the wall and stood, fighting for balance. “Say it.”

“What? Oh,” she said, her voice an octave higher than usual. “Come in, come in.” She jumped out of his way.

Keller stepped over the threshold and rushed to Josie’s bed. He heard the sound of the door closing and being locked. While stacking pillows beneath her head, he glanced at Sage. “You have to suck out the poison.” He pulled off Josie’s boots and tugged the sheet up over her legs, cursing when he noticed the burn holes in her jeans. Josie’s entire body shook, and he wondered if shock was setting in.