Who was watching her?
Chapter Seven.
He didn"t hear anything.
As dark as it was, Levi sure as h.e.l.l couldn"t see anything.
But abruptly, he realized he wasn"t alone. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, his skin crawled and deep inside, he felt cold with fear. Warily, he pushed himself upright and stared off into the darkness. For reasons he couldn"t explain, he reached for Owen"s long, wicked blade.
His skin p.r.i.c.kled as he took one step away from the house, then another. Leaves crunched underfoot and, though it wasn"t a loud sound, he winced. It wasn"t loud, but they could hear it.
They...
Levi wanted to laugh at himself. He was falling prey to the delusions that had driven his cousin nuts, but just then, as he stared out into the dark night, he realized he couldn"t laugh. Couldn"t even find any kind of rational thought that would let him discount all of Owen"s mad ramblings. Worse, those mad ramblings didn"t seem all that mad right now. You"re telling me my cousin was killed by a wolf?
The bite pattern matches, Detective Marc.u.m. Granted, it seems to be an usually large wolf.
He came to a halt on the path, reaching up and fisting a hand in his hair, jerking sharply. But the pain didn"t bring any clarity. Didn"t bring back any kind of common sense.
Something is out there, man. I know it. I can feel it at night watching me. I think it might be one of THEM.
THEM-the mysterious monsters that Owen had sworn were responsible for Cori"s disappearance. Levi thought about Cori, the shy, quiet woman. He"d thought about her way too much, thought about those soft, blue eyes, that shy, sad smile he had glimpsed on her face so many times. Quiet as a mouse, so serious, the kind of woman who wouldn"t hurt a fly.
THEM-Okay, slick. What if this THEM happens to be real, what are you going to do?
Reflexively, his hand tightened on the knife he held and his lips peeled back from his teeth. If a bunch of murderous monsters really were responsible for Owen"s death, Cori"s death, then Levi planned on finding one and getting some blood.
Setting his jaw, he took another step. Another. Until he crossed the tree line and the night wrapped around him in a stifling embrace.
Cori didn"t have long to wait.
She smelled him before she saw him, before she heard him. The musk of werewolf filled her nose but it didn"t bring the relief she expected. There was still a taint there. Faint, but there. Blood.
"I wish they"d let me know they were sending somebody," a mild voice said just a little off to her right.
He separated himself from the shadows and smiled at her in the dim light, looking her over from head to toe and then shaking his head. "It never ceases to amaze me, how these Changes can make even the mildest- looking creature into a predator."
Absently, Cori glanced down at herself. Her...a predator? She barely managed to keep from laughing.
"Life"s full of surprises, isn"t it?"
"Very."
He stopped a few feet away from her and rocked back on his heels, tucking his hands inside his pockets.
"I"m sure Kelsey is ready to have my hide for not getting a report to her before this. I wanted to get it to her well before now but the cops won"t leave the place alone long enough for me to do much of anything." He glanced over Cori"s shoulder in the direction of the trailer and sighed. "Even got company tonight but I can work around him."
"That won"t be necessary."
He blinked, c.o.c.king his head and frowning. "I haven"t received word that the Council is stepping in on this."
"Why do you think I"m here?" she said, shooting for that easy, flippant confidence so many of the Hunters used. The fighters. The real Hunters. The ones who weren"t just scared, p.i.s.sed-off baby vamps looking for answers.
His eyes narrowed on her face. He"d picked up on something. s.h.i.t. "Are you from the Council?"
She didn"t lie. He"d know it if she did. She just evaded. Evasions weren"t the same thing and if she was lucky, she could make it clear that somebody would come looking for her if she ended up looking like the victim of a wild animal attack or even if she disappeared. "I"ve been working for the Council for more than three years now."
Nothing but truth. She did work for the Council. But she wasn"t one of the Hunters-the fierce fighters, protectors of the innocent, dispensers of swift, lethal justice. He hadn"t asked that, though.
"Where do they have you stationed?"
"Excelsior."
His eyes widened. Something flared in his gaze. Gone oh-so quickly but she hadn"t missed it. And he knew it.
One moment, it was quiet.
Levi thought he"d caught the low murmur of voices but he couldn"t be sure.
Then the wind whipped up, tree branches snapped and an ugly, furious snarl shattered the night. "They can"t blame me for this," a man said, his voice harsh. Angry. "I just did what they weren"t doing-cleaned up a mess."
The sound of a hand striking flesh. A woman crying out.
Narrowing his eyes, Levi homed in on that sound and ran, tripping over exposed roots, dodging the obstacles in his path when he could see them and falling when he couldn"t. He all but fell into a clearing, this one small, less than ten feet across. A dark shadow lay at his feet but as he sucked in air, the shadow moved, climbing to her feet.
She spoke and the sound of her voice sent a chill down his spine. "Get away from here," she said, talking to him, looking at him. Though he couldn"t see her face, he knew she was looking at him.
There was another shadow and this one laughed. Then, the same voice he"d heard earlier, spoke up. "He won"t get far. I"m not leaving it like this. This mess has to be cleaned up. It"s too dangerous, leaving things undone. I keep telling them that but they won"t listen."
"Leaving things undone?" the woman said, her voice heavy with anger. Rife with it. "Is that why you killed a man? Because you felt it was some kind of mess you needed to clean up?"
"A man goes around talking about monsters, sooner or later, somebody might start to listen. He might find others that believe in monsters. If their numbers get large enough, it poses a problem to us."
Monsters.
It poses a problem.
Levi swore and brushed past the woman. He couldn"t see the man who spoke. He was just a shadow lost among shadows but Levi could use his ears just fine. And his hands. If he got his hands on the man- A shadow emerged just at his left and Levi went flying. Somebody laughed as he crashed into a tree.
The woman cried out and then she was there, beside Levi. How did she move that quickly?
"d.a.m.n it, I told you to leave," she said.
Yeah, her voice is definitely familiar, Levi thought groggily.
"He isn"t going anywhere." The threat came from the man in the shadows.
Cori snarled as she knelt by Levi. Cold fear tripped inside her chest, settling over her heart. She wanted to run too. Wanted to grab Levi"s hand, pull him up and run. But she knew better. She wasn"t much of a predator but even she knew that running from a wolf was just plain stupid.
"You"re just a baby, aren"t you?" the disembodied voice asked.
Cori ignored him, kneeling by Levi and wrapping her hands around his arm. They needed to get out of there. Now. She was scared, p.i.s.sed and she just might have been willing to try to fight, even if it meant getting hurt or worse. But she wasn"t going to leave Levi there. He was just a human, all but helpless against a werewolf.
"Little baby vamp. The Council wouldn"t have sent you to investigate a mortal death."
"No, you"re right," she said as Levi finally managed to get his legs under him and push himself upright, relying heavily on her a.s.sistance. He was watching her-she could feel the weight of his stare even if she wouldn"t let herself look at him right now. "n.o.body would send me to look into anything. But that doesn"t mean it"s open season on me. I do work at the school and I can guarantee you that if I go missing, this is the first place they are going to check. One of them will know your scent. You really don"t want to hurt me. They"ll find you."
The werewolf sighed and rubbed his head. "You"re right. I don"t want to hurt you. I didn"t want to hurt that pathetic man, either. He was so miserable, just trying to find out what had happened to his girlfriend but he was learning too much. It was dangerous, so I had to eliminate him."
Cold-so f.u.c.king cold. He was just so d.a.m.n cold about it. Owen-he"d been looking for her, wanting answers, and because he might have pieced together something n.o.body would believe, this b.a.s.t.a.r.d had killed him.
Levi stumbled against her and she worked an arm around him, trying to steady his weight. He was too d.a.m.n big for her to do much more than act as a crutch. She could support his weight easily enough but he wasn"t too steady on his feet. Worse, he was bleeding. She could smell it.
"Eliminate him." She kept her eyes on the werewolf and kept backing away. "Is that what you call it? Is that what you plan on doing with me?"
"No, little girl. I am going to eliminate you...and I"m sorry." Then he lunged for her.
Cori spun away, moving just in time. One of his clawed hands swiped out and caught her biceps. She scented her own blood and in response, her fangs dropped and her heart rate sped up, pumping adrenaline through her body.
Eliminate her. As if she were some kind of annoying yard pest.
Crazy, Levi thought. She has to be crazy. With the ringing in his ears and the blood in his eyes, he had a hard time thinking, but he was pretty sure his would-be savior was crazy. She eased him to the ground and, though he could feel the chills racking her body and could tell she was afraid, she squared off with the man who"d hurled Levi flying ten feet through the air.
Not right.
No man could throw another man around like that. But that thing had thrown him like a rag doll.
And the woman-she ought to be running for her life but instead she was standing between Levi and that...thing. Her voice, low and husky, the kind of voice that made a man think of s.e.x straight up, shook as she said, "You don"t want to do this."
"You"re absolutely right. I don"t. It"s a huge risk, it"s a tragic loss, and I"d rather not do this at all. If you would have just waited a few days. Even a few hours."
"They are going to come looking for you. Kelsey will come. The others. Do you really think you can take them down?"
"I"ll just have to try to make them understand, if they can find me. I don"t plan on being found."
There was a rush of wind. The impact of a body, then she cried out. Fury burned. Adrenaline pulsed through Levi and he made it to his feet. Wobbling, more than a little unsteady, but upright. Something wet and warm trickled down his face-blood. He"d busted his head open. But he didn"t let that stop him.
"Leave her the h.e.l.l alone," he said, trying to pierce the darkness.
It was so d.a.m.n thick, almost unnatural. His skin went tight. The icy cold night suddenly seemed oppressive. The way it was just before a summer storm. Noises, off in the dark. Weird popping sounds, followed by wet cracks. It sounded like the break of bones.
"d.a.m.n it." Her voice was low. "This is bad. Very, very bad..."
Levi snorted. "Ya think?" Off to his right something flickered. Levi spun around, his empty hands opening, closing. The knife. He"d dropped the d.a.m.n knife.
What...f.u.c.k...what the f.u.c.k...
Eyes. Glittering at him, reflecting light back at him, kind of like a house cat, but this was no d.a.m.n kitty- not unless the kitty knew how to fly. The glowing eyes were easily six feet off the ground, and bigger than any cat eyes Levi had ever seen.
His gut ran cold. If he"d eaten anything that day, he would have lost it. Levi had known fear before but there was something about those eyes-this wasn"t fear. It went deeper than fear. It was colder than fear. Older than fear.
"Levi."
He jerked at the sound of his name. The woman-who the h.e.l.l was she? How did she know his name?
"Get out of here," she whispered.
"He isn"t going anywhere, vampling. I"m sorry. I truly am very sorry." That rush of wind. Pain and death bearing down on him. A slender body came between Levi and the owner of those awful, terrifying eyes.
Pain-it sliced through the air. Cut them both.
Levi felt it spreading through him like acid. Choking, burning, tearing...then her again. Her voice, soft and pained. Something wet splashed onto his hand. Cool and wet.
They both fell, Levi hitting the ground first and because she wouldn"t let him go, she fell on top of him. He groaned in agony, trying to twist away, but he couldn"t move.
Couldn"t breathe. That poisoned pain crept through his system. Tearing him apart. Blood roared in his ears. The air pressed in on him, weighed him down, crushed the oxygen from his lungs.
Time spun away from him and he fell into darkness.
No- He battled his way back to consciousness, unaware if any time had pa.s.sed, or how much. He was weak, lightheaded. Cold and wet, hot blood pumping from his body.
More voices.
"Go after him."
"d.a.m.n it, Kelsey!"
"Cori, please..."
Kelsey...Cori...he tried to speak but couldn"t. Blood choked him. He could feel it. Taste it.
Dying. He was dying.
No. Not f.u.c.king yet.
Voices. They rose around him in a riot of noise. Cool hands pressing down on his throat, a woman"s harsh, disbelieving cry. Another voice that sent shivers down his spine.