Firefight in Darkness (9 page)

“He was there? So close? Why didn’t you catch him?”

“Yeah, he was there. You should know, you were kissing him.” He glanced back out the window as the cab pulled to the curb in front of the hotel. “Let’s hold off on making a scene until we’re safely up in the hotel room.”

With that, he opened the door of the cab and held it open for her to follow. It took every ounce of control she could muster for her to clear the red out of her vision so she wouldn’t scream. Of all the low, disgusting, vile…cursing herself, she took a deep breath and climbed out of the cab, refusing to accept his hand when she nearly tripped over her own two feet from her trembling knees.

He shrugged, paid the cab driver, and led the way into the hotel, where he proceeded to book the room for her. She leaned against the counter, resting her chin in her palm as she watched him.

He had an efficient, very businesslike way about him that intrigued her. She decided to focus on that, and other things about him, to take her mind off the horror she knew she was going to have to come to terms with at some point in the near future.

“You certainly are a tall, cool drink of water, cowboy.” She managed a grin as she watched him slip his wallet out of the back pocket of his faded jeans and pull out cash for the room. He ignored her statement, but she thought she saw a hint of a smirk at the edges of his mouth.

“Here’s your key. I have a copy as well. The room is right across from mine.” He said curtly, slapping the key card in her hand before turning around and leading the way towards the elevators. Rolling her eyes, she followed him, then leaned against the carpeted walls of the elevator as it took them up to the fifth floor.

He was silent as he led the way out of the elevator and around the corner towards their rooms, his pace brisk but not rushed. His black leather boots thudded against the carpet, and she found herself disappointed that he wasn’t wearing spurs or something. It would have suited him so well.

He paused in front of the room that would be hers, and slipped the key card into the lock, pushing open the door for her so she could enter. She whisked past him and examined the room.

It was relatively small, but seemed cozy enough. The large king bed was covered in white linens and had an oversized mahogany headboard with matching end tables. A matching armoire sat across from the bed, housing a flat screen television set and a mini bar she expected would be stock full of all kinds of goodies she imagined would cost him an arm and a leg if she decided to take advantage of them.

She crossed the room and peered out of the hanging curtains, watching the city lights shimmer in the darkness of night. All around her, Los Angeles pulsed with life. Just how close had she been to losing hers?

“So that was Dante.” She murmured, mostly to herself as her eyes stared, unfocused now, out the window. She heard Jackson come into the room fully and shut the door behind him before approaching her.

“That is why you need to go home, Blythe. It’s not safe for you, or any of the others, while he knows we’re after him.” He replied, his voice steady and even. She shifted her eyes to watch him in the reflection of the glass, wondering if he expected her to rage and hiss and throw something. The truth was, while she certainly felt like doing all of those things, she couldn’t quite muster the strength.

“How did he get away? It was like one minute he was there, and the next, poof, he was gone.” She asked, turning around to face him, her eyes sharpening.

“He transformed.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he watched her with a guarded expression.

“He changed into a demon.” Understanding dawning on her, she tried to grasp just exactly what that meant. “Did you lose him in the crowd?”

“Unfortunately. But he’ll be back, now that he knows you’re here. He won’t be able to resist seeing you again, especially since your earlier rendezvous was so rudely interrupted.”

“So then why send me away? Why not use me as bait?” She stepped towards him, the idea taking root. “In fact, we should go back to the club right now, see if he’s still hanging around.”

She was already halfway towards the door before he grabbed her arm to hold her back.

“Just where do you think you’re going?” He asked as he whirled her around to face him, impatience flashing in his eyes.

“I’m going back to the club to find that bastard and make him pay. You can either come with me or not; I can handle this by myself.”

She tried to wrench her arm free from his grasp, but his hold only tightened.

“And just what are you going to do if you find him?”

Glaring up at him, she couldn’t help the sneer that came from instinct. “I’m going to flay him alive while he begs me for a mercy I will never give him.”

Impressed more than he wanted to admit, he released her. “As much as I can appreciate the violent nature of your ambitions, the likelihood of you getting the upper hand on him in a fight is slim to none. He’s extremely dangerous.”

“Oh, but a big strong man like you is perfectly suited to take him down.” She spat, fisting her hands on her hips. “And a poor little girl like me has no place taking on a sadistic half demon, is that right?”

“You can pull the feminism card if you want, but I’m still going to stick to the cold, hard facts here. He’s dangerous, and you’re not trained in fighting demons. Much less a Dryad/demon hybrid who is capable of much more than you can even imagine.”

“So, because I’m not ‘trained’, I get packaged up and shipped back home like some helpless, fragile child? I’ll have you know that I’m a hell of a lot tougher than I look, and I’ll take you or anybody else on without a moment’s hesitation. So go ahead, give me your best shot.”

Cocking her chin up in challenge, she stared him down, her lips curled in a snarl, her hands at her hips. She looked every bit the defiant spitfire Thea had warned him she would be. Tough, stubborn, argumentative, and feisty. Not exactly what he felt like dealing with at two in the morning when his head was pounding and he was craving a hot shower to clear his mind.

“Alright, if you want to do this the hard way.” He stood still for a moment, his eyes locked on hers, before he suddenly moved towards her, attempting to pull her arms around behind her so he could cuff her. Instead, she dodged swiftly out of the way and jumped onto the bed, much quicker than he’d given her credit for, and before he could do more than duck, she’d shot a fireball the size of a basketball straight at his face.

“DAMNIT, WOMAN, ARE YOU CRAZY?” He shouted, feeling the top of his head to see if any of his hair had been singed by the flames. Behind him, a gaping hole was burned into the wall, smoke billowing out of it.

To his amazement, she immediately doubled over with laughter, the husky sound of it filling the room as she collapsed onto the bed.

Glaring at her, he went over to check the hole she’d made in the wall, wondering how in the hell he was going to explain it to the hotel.

When she only continued to laugh, he whirled around, beyond irritated with her.

“What in God’s name are you laughing about? You could have taken my head off!”

“I told you…not to…mess with…me.” She managed in between laughs, clutching her stomach as she lay on her back. “God, your face was classic!”

“Well I hope you’re proud of yourself, because not only have you shaved years off of my life, but you’re going to have to explain to Thea why she has to reimburse me for the charges the hotel is going to force me to pay for this goddamn hole in the wall.”

“Oh, calm the hell down, cowboy.” She chuckled, rising to a sitting position. “It’s not that big of a deal.”

He only stared at her, wondering how the hell he’d let Thea convince him he needed to bring this psycho back to Euphora. “I’m going to go, because I don’t think I can stand being in this room with you for another second. Don’t bother trying to sneak out, as I’ll be watching. See you in the morning.”

With that, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door shut behind him.

Smirking to herself, Blythe laid back down and pictured him going into his own room, all pissed off and fussy.

She liked seeing him all riled up. He was much more interesting that way. Though, she had to admit, he’d caught her interest from the start, even when he’d been efficient and boring.

Too bad she probably wouldn’t ever see him again, she thought as she rose and checked outside the window again, scanning the streets below. He was a fool if he thought she was going to just hang out till morning, then let him drag her back to Euphora.

Whirling around, she grabbed her purse from the side of the bed and peered out of the peep hole in the door. Seeing no sign of him, she slowly inched the door open, wincing at the slight creak it made, before slipping out into the hallway.

Biting her lip to hold back a grin, she slowly closed the door behind her and eyed the door directly across the hall, where she imagined he was checking for burns so he’d have more to bitch about.

Sorry, cowboy. She thought wistfully, blowing a kiss towards the door. Until we meet again.

With that, she took off down the hallway, not even bothering to look back.

♦ ♦ ♦

She stepped out of the elevator and made a beeline towards the exit, head held high with a distinct feeling of success.

It was too bad she couldn’t hang around with the bounty hunter any longer. But, she now had a purpose greater than the one that had brought her to Los Angeles in the first place. She was going to find Dante. And when she did, he would do best to pray that he die quickly.

She reached out to push open the large, glass doors of the hotel, only to stop short as she noticed Jackson standing outside, leaning against a streetlight pole, arms crossed over his chest.

Cursing under her breath, she had a brief thought of trying to slip past as quickly as possible just in case he didn’t notice, but all hope was squashed the moment his eyes met hers.

“Clever, but not clever enough.” He drawled, his head now covered by a black Stetson that shadowed his face. “You didn’t really think I was that dumb, did you?”

“I was hoping.” She told him as she sauntered over, feeling more amused than angry at that moment. Perhaps she hadn’t given him as much credit as he deserved. “So were you gonna hang out here all night?”

“No.” He smirked, eyeing her from under the brim of his hat. “Because I knew it wouldn’t take you more than ten minutes to try and vacate the premises.”

She opened her mouth to speak, only to realize that he was dead right. She hadn’t given a single thought to waiting a few hours till he might be asleep to sneak out. She had just gone for it. Acknowledging how easily she’d been played, she couldn’t help but laugh.

“You’re good, cowboy. Very good.” On impulse, she reached over and tipped up his hat so she could see his eyes better. He stayed still as a statue, though his lips curved just slightly as one of his eyebrows cocked in amusement.

“Does my hat bother you?”

“Not at all, I just wanted to see that handsome face of yours better.” She bit her lip then, considering. “Why don’t we get a drink at the hotel bar? I’m not very tired, and I could use some company to take my mind off things.”

For a moment he didn’t say anything, he just watched her out of eyes that seemed to penetrate through her, as if searching for any angle he didn’t like.

“I’m going to have to pass.” He said finally, his expression casual as he tilted his hat back into place. “But you run along and have fun. I’ll see you in the morning.”

Sincerely disappointed, but determined not to show it, she flashed a bright smile at him.

“Perhaps. Goodnight, Jackson Murphy.”

“You can call me Jax.”

She studied him, charmed. “Alright. Goodnight, Jax.”

“Goodnight.”

He watched her walk away, hips swaying in that tiny figure of hers, that shock of red hair glowing in the light of the hotel lobby as she headed towards the bar, alone.

She was a spitfire, alright. A crazy, arrogant, careless and undeniably sexy spitfire.

♦ ♦ ♦

She awoke the next morning to loud banging that thundered in her head and rattled her weary brain. When she realized it was someone knocking on her hotel room door, she got out of bed and threw it open, prepared to rip the asshole’s face off.

“What in God’s name do you want?” She growled, glaring at Jax through gritty eyes.

“Get dressed. I’ll go check us out, we’ll have some breakfast, and then we’re out of here.” He ordered, trying to ignore the fact that she was clad only in her undergarments. Her hair was a mass of tangled curls on top of her head, and her foxy eyes were glaring at him as though she wanted to chop him up into little pieces. Despite the threat, he was particularly amused by it, and her.

“Fine. Get out of my face. I’ll meet you downstairs.”

“Don’t keep me waiting.” He called out as she slammed the door in his face.

Fortunately for him, she wasn’t one to waste time. She took a quick shower, let her hair air dry and slipped into the extra cotton dress she’d packed in her purse.

Within fifteen minutes, she was downstairs on the hunt for the breakfast buffet.

When she found it, she could have wept. There was a full coffee bar, pancake and waffle center, muffins galore, scrambled eggs, hash browns, crispy bacon, succulent ham, sausage links, all kinds of toast, yogurt, orange juice…

When she sat down beside him at the table he’d chosen near the back, he stared at the mounds of food on her plate in pure shock.

“Lord, you got enough food?”

She grinned at him. “I couldn’t decide. So I got some of everything. I have a big appetite.”

“Little thing like you?” He gestured to her trim physique, sincerely blown away. “It’s a wonder you’re not eight hundred pounds.”

Shrugging, she forked up a bite of pancakes doused in syrup, and nearly groaned. “God, this is good.”

Reaching for the giant mug of coffee she’d brought to the table, she gulped down a few sips, and sighed.

“The coffee’s good, too.”

Lifting his own mug of coffee, he eyed her curiously. “So Thea didn’t specify why you left home in the first place.”