Rose of Jericho (Lilith Adams Series Book 2) (3 page)

“A Scotsman, huh? Appears I have the wrong accent,
Cherie
.” There was a twinkle in his hazel eyes that just made his grin even more enigmatic.

“Oh don’t you worry.” Lilith flashed an impish smile as she leaned forward to whisper. “Before Gerard Butler there was Gambit. Now there was a Cajun that could make a girl swoon.”

His warm chuckle filled the cabin and eased the war raging in her head. Everything else melted away and for a few moments they both forgot about the fight, Chance’s soul-baring confessions and even the handcuffs.

Chapter 3

A
s soon as the plane landed there was a flurry of activity. The aisle-pacing guard took his position at the plane’s exit, eyeing the cabin with a calculated stare. The bookend guards were hastily uncuffing and re-cuffing Lilith and Chance. Much to her relief, there was no sign of the supernatural ‘thing’ in the back of the plane. Maybe she was still fighting to get on her feet in that skin tight white sheath dress and those mile high stilettos. 

With her out of the picture, Lilith and Chance could try to make a break for it. Just shove the guards down and run, but there were several problems with that idea, among which, dying was pretty high on the list.

They were in an unknown place at the will of an anonymous enemy. A very powerful enemy that had zero problems finding them at Chance’s rather secretive home. They needed to know exactly what was going on before they could act. Besides, their mystery hosts still had her father. Lilith hadn’t abandoned him to Ashcroft’s grimy clutches, and she certainly wasn’t about to just ditch him now.

              As terrifying as it was, Lilith allowed the guard to lead her slowly off the plane, her keen eyes scanning everything. The air strip was blanketed in the dark, ominous shadows of night obscuring any possible clues to their location.

She remembered Security Officer Coffee telling her that Detective Cohen moved to Knoxville from a small town in Alabama. Maybe that’s where they landed. Of course, it could have been Cohen’s home and not necessarily his family’s center of operations. Hell, it could have just been part of his elaborate cover. Lilith was the first to admit that Cohen had a million different faces and none of them screamed ‘Trust me.’

There was an obvious lack of blinding security lights which indicated another small airfield. The only beacon in the night was a lone street lamp shining over two black extended town cars. It looked like they probably had opposing bench seats in the back, maybe even a minibar. A girl could hope. After this hellish day, she could definitely use a drink or five.

Chance was still playing it cool, letting the men guide him toward the cars with a relaxed half smile on his face. Sure he could get frustrated and act like an ass at times, but he was far from the brainless jock-bodyguard stereotype. He wasn’t some short-sighted renegade that always resorted to violence when pushed. Beneath his occasionally hot temper, he was an intelligent strategist, except when she was involved apparently.

She knew all this, but was still surprised at his calm exterior. Why did she keep expecting him to hulk out on people? Maybe because part of her wanted him to. Then again, maybe it was because thinking of him as a whole, complete, real person meant facing a host of scary things she just couldn’t wrap her mind around right now. It was easier to peg him as the muscle.

Lilith was right in the middle of her silent debate when she heard lyrical, lilting tones coming from the plane. Her heart thumped violently in her chest and her jaw clenched tight as the very first tone rang painfully in her ears. The emotional jolt was about as subtle as an Epi-pen to the chest and Chance definitely noticed.

“Your chariot awaits!” Lilith slowly turned around and got an eyeful of the platinum blonde striking a pose at the top of the stairs. Her voluptuous curves were tightly wrapped in the same white dress, threatening to burst a seam if she made a wrong move. Her blonde curls bounced against her shoulders as she sauntered down the stairs, light as a feather. Even the harsh lighting seemed to bend to her will, making her flawless pale skin glow.

Great, not only was she some man-enthralling demon, she was auditioning for a role on the next incarnation of Desperate Housewives. What a purely delightful combination. All Lilith could think about was landing a swift punch to her throat. She’d like to see her try and sing with a crushed larynx.

Chance caught the look on Lilith’s face and was completely mystified. His head turned slowly and for a minute, Lilith just held her breath. What was she really hoping to see in his face when he saw her? Disgust, hatred, fear? Anything but that blind adoring worship.

There wasn’t a single spark of recognition on his handsome face. There was no adoration, none of the lyrically-enhanced attraction. In fact, there was barely a glimmer of any normal attraction. Lilith released the breath she’d been holding as relief washed over her. Maybe the creature had to sing to enthrall him, or maybe it was a matter of control, her choosing not to pull at his strings. Knowing more about how her trick worked was something that would definitely be of use.

Chance turned back around and slowly inched toward Lilith with his armed escort. “Who the hell is that, Lilith?” His hazel eyes held hers, searching them for answers. He knew something was going on by the deep scowl on Lilith’s face, something she’d conveniently forgotten to mention on the plane.

“Lily? Is that the woman you mentioned earlier? She doesn’t look very dangerous unless she’s a secret ninja world-famous for chucking stilettos with deadly accuracy.” The sarcastic comment would have been funny if his tone hadn’t been deadly serious. He knew with clear certainty that Lilith was keeping something extremely important from him and he wasn’t precisely happy about it.

There was a lump in her throat that just kept her staring at his chiseled face with its fine stubble. She couldn’t even meet his eyes. She needed to tell him about everything, he needed to know how dangerous she was, but she knew that as soon as she told Chance what really happened in his apartment, it was going to be a disaster.

There was genuine worry pulling at his features beneath the stern aggravation. Not only could she see the tension in his lean muscled body, she could feel it coming off him like a six foot three wall of steam. Lilith darted a look up at his green flecked eyes and threw every pleading look she had at him. “Not now. Please.” Her voice was a bare whisper of vulnerability and it took Chance completely by surprise. He nodded roughly as if he wasn’t sure exactly what he was supposed to do.

“Oh. You haven’t told him?” That slightly musical voice was quickly becoming the most annoying sound on the damn planet. Lilith just closed her eyes and took in a deep steadying breath. She actually found herself wishing they could just get in the damn car and race off to their deaths already.

When Lilith opened her eyes, the banshee had stopped next to Chance and was slipping a hand over the shoulder of his dress shirt. Whatever this woman’s game was she wasn’t pulling out all the stops. Every inch that her fingers moved made Lilith’s blood boil. She never considered herself a jealous person, but she definitely was a territorial Scorpio through and through. She wanted to break every one of that banshee’s willowy little fingers. With a smirk on her face, Lilith wondered if her screams would be musical too.

Chance looked down at the woman’s hand and then glanced up at her rounded face with an openly hostile look. “If you expect to keep that claw of yours, you’ll take it off me. Now.” There was a feral growl in his voice that sent little tingles down Lilith’s spine and definitely not in a bad way.

“Aww, we had such fun together earlier.” The woman’s soft face puckered into a pout that was all for show. She removed her hand and brought the full weight of her big blue eyes to bear on Lilith. “My, my, my. He is a feisty one isn’t he?” A conspiratorial grin split her plump lips as if they were just two girlfriends sharing gossip over coffee, but there was a dangerous look in her dead blue eyes. It just made Lilith want to punch her in the throat even more.

Chance narrowed his eyes with a look that even made Lilith feel a bit small. “Feisty?” He actually chuckled at the demonic woman. Apparently he didn’t think she was all that dangerous. Of course he didn’t know her villain super power. “If you think I’m the feisty one, you sure as shit don’t know anything about her.”

He swung back to look directly at Lilith with a mixture of confusion and raw anger. The banshee’s comment was definitely getting under his skin. “The last thing you want to do is piss this woman off. She’s got one hell of a temper.” His eyes finally left Lilith’s and swung toward the banshee with a dark glint. “You can ask Cohen about her right hook.”

“Oh, you two are just adorable.” She clasped her hands together and flashed a moony little smile at them. Then a darker look clouded her perfect complexion, accentuating every vicious line in her face.

“Mmm, my absolute favorite. There is nothing more exquisite than completely destroying every single shred of affection between two people.” Her full lips curled into a vicious smile and a soft humming sound slipped past her lips. It sounded like pins and needles to Lilith, but she could see the lost look already creeping into Chance’s eyes.

His sly grin was slowly disappearing one tiny muscle at a time as if his entire personality was ebbing away. What made it worse was the simple fact that there was nothing she could do about it. The banshee slid her pale, white fingers along his cheek, turning his face toward hers, but the grin on her lips and the venomous look chilling her deep blue eyes were only for Lilith.

“Maybe they’ll let me keep him. Assuming they leave me enough to play with that is. He’ll be an infinite amount of fun. I like it when they fight back. It makes the surrender so much sweeter.” The banshee kept her eyes locked on Lilith as she turned and brushed her plump lips against Chance’s.

Without a single thought, Lilith lashed out with her cuffed wrists and slammed the chain into the bitch’s throat with every ounce of force she had in her. The guards immediately shoved Lilith back against the car, but the bombshell was left gagging, trying desperately to catch her breath as she crumpled to the ground. Oh yeah, this was one of Lilith’s favorite moments ever.

Chance shook his head and blinked a few times as the humming abruptly stopped. Eventually his eyes caught on Lilith pinned against the car. Without a second’s hesitation, he slammed his fists into a guard’s stomach. Chance ran for the men holding Lilith with fierce determination and for a brief second, she sensed fear from the bookend henchmen.

Before he could reach her, the “pacer” from the plane smacked Chance hard across the shoulders with a stun rod sending him skidding to the ground like a pile of bricks. His body twitched and convulsed enough to scare the hell out of Lilith. She could only watch helplessly as two men pinned him to the ground.

His hazel eyes flew about panicked and unfocused as the men ground his face against the pavement. A strangled cry of pain and frustration escaped Chance’s lips. Lilith tried to break free. She shoved and pushed, even bit one of the men but they just slammed her back against the car with a bone rattling jolt, an arm against her throat.

The commotion gave the banshee just enough time to recover. She was still rubbing at the angry red mark across her pale throat, but she’d made it to her feet. There was a confident anger in her stride as she stepped over Chance and strutted right up to Lilith. Each click of her high heels echoed ominously across the open runway. The woman held up her hand and shook it dismissively. The guards instantly backed away, abandoning Lilith and escaping the splash zone.

With an unexpected strength, the bombshell clamped her manicured hand around Lilith’s throat and slammed her hard against the car. Suddenly, Lilith was struggling to catch her breath as stars twinkled before her eyes. The world spun for a moment and then the banshee’s round face appeared in front of her. The smoldering temptress look was twisted into a sadistic sneer that almost made her unrecognizable. This was her true face, the real monster under the surface saying hello.

The lilting Marilyn voice was gone. When she spoke, it was something darker and scarier than Lilith could have imagined possible. It made her blood run ice cold. “Oh you will pay for that. You think
you
can intimidate me?” She leaned in even closer with a menacing anger pulling at every muscle in her face. Her ice blue eyes studied Lilith, taking in every bit of her fear. Suddenly a smug grin split her full lips and she confidently eased back, keeping her strangling grip on Lilith’s throat. “Do you have any idea what I am capable of? Do you know what I could do to him?”

If Lilith’s heart hadn’t been pounding furiously before, it sure as hell was now. Those words sent her mind racing, and none of it was good. Her eyes automatically fell on Chance. He was still pinned to the ground, eyes closed, but his chest was rising and falling. Fear tightened around Lilith’s heart like a vice lined with venomous spikes.

“Oh? You’re quiet and docile now?” The woman tilted her head, blocking Lilith’s view and forcing her to look her in the eyes again. Her platinum blonde curls fell over her pale shoulder as her mouth set in an innocent little smile. The mannerism was cute but her voice was cold and icy. She relished the fear and panic in Lilith’s face, drank it in, consumed it. Suddenly, she reminded her of Ashcroft.

“The next time you even think about raising your hand to me, I will enthrall him and make him choke the life out of you. He won’t resist. He will beg me to allow him to kill you just to please me. I’ll make sure he remembers every single second of crushing your throat. I’ll make it slow and memorable. Inch by inch watching the life leave your body. Then I’ll release him. He’ll be broken and haunted by the memory of turning you into a corpse for the rest of his long, long life and I’ll make certain that it’s as long as I see fit. Do you think fifty years of reliving the memory would be enough to break his mind? A hundred, maybe?”