Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) (19 page)

I blinked and jerked back slightly, thankfully not too far that I fell over on my butt.

"What is it?" whispered Saleem as he too hunkered down beside me.

I stared blankly at his dark face for a moment, unsure what it was that had just happened to me.

"You okay?" he pressed, his brow furrowed in concern.

I cleared my throat. "I've always been able to smell blood, then identify the owner at a later stage by recognition. Like a bloodhound. But now, for some reason I can
see
an image of someone when I smell that drop of blood."

Saleem frowned. "Could be a coincidence?"

I shrugged. And looked back at the drop on the floor, seeing again the blurred image of a girl.

"How about we test it?" I glanced back up at Saleem as he spoke. "Keep studying the room, and when you get to the next blood smear, see if that also has the same result for you?"

I nodded and got to my feet, feeling the wobble in my legs match the strange tumble within my gut. What the hell was going on with me?

I scanned the room, my eyes falling on Logan who'd wandered over to the far wall beside a huge pile of debris.

A scent, out of place amongst the odors of the kids who'd been regulars within the room, caught my nose. A stronger, feral, more adult note. My nostrils twitched as I scented the air again, studying the notes. Again I blinked when the image of a man came into view.

His humanity was clear from the odor, but there was something strange about it. Something I couldn't quite fathom. His face brought back the images I'd seen of the silver-eyed killer from Mika's memories. I frowned, unsure if I should trust the instinct that was saying I'd caught the scent of the killer. Or wonder if this was just me projecting my memories of Mika's vision into the scent.

I cleared my throat and decided to try a different tactic.

I headed over to Logan, coming to a halt beside him, I asked, "So can you describe what it looked like when you saw it? I'm assuming they've cleaned up the place a little."

From where I stood, I could see smatterings of dark patches marring the concrete and the bare walls behind Logan. More blood, but I wasn't yet ready to tackle those stains.

Logan nodded and passed me his phone. The screen showed clearly the initial damage, hiding little of the horror of the scene. There were scraps of clothing and pieces of flesh from the victims littering the floor.

I suppressed a shudder at the horror of it all. Inhaling sharply, I looked closer and began to compare the image with what the room looked like now. They'd removed the bodies, and swept the debris, both concrete and wood, all to one side of the room.

I studied the patterns of where the children had ended up and the bloodstains that now remained. Then I gave the tablet back to Logan, hoping that if he saw the tremor in my hand, he would ignore it.

He did.

I inhaled again and walked closer to another streak of blood that marked the rutted concrete floor. The ground too bore the marks of the impact of the explosive force used to kill the kids.

I crouched down and studied the patch of blood, lowering my nose closer to the surface. I felt self-conscious knowing my panther nose took a partial physical form and that my human face would look decidedly feline. Neither Saleem nor Logan would say anything but the fact they'd see me in partial animal form made me uncomfortable.

Again, the scent of the blood penetrated deep into my nasal passages and I inhaled and concentrated.

Then I hissed with shock.

A face hovered in front of me. A face I knew. A girl, all blue hair and metal jewelry. The pool player from my vision.

This was her blood.

I surged to my feet still staring down at the blood. "This belonged to a paranormal girl. Around seventeen. She was dressed punk style, lots of metal, a dog-collar. And she was an air Mage. She played pool with her ability to manipulate air energy."

When I looked up, both Logan and Saleem were staring at me, their eyes wide and white.

"Did you go full-psychic on us all of a sudden?" asked Logan.

I gave a dry laugh. "I wish. Nerina showed me what Mika saw. When I smelled this blood I saw the face of that girl again. She seemed to be the leader because she was the one who called the group together. The killer convinced her to do that. Apparently he wanted to tell them something important--or that's what it sounded like."

Logan's jaw went tight. "Must have been bloody important for such a large group to gather."

I shrugged. "Or the girl commanded the respect of her group. Think about it. All Storm has to do is send out word and dozens gather."

Saleem made a face. "Sometime people obey because they're too scared not to."
 

"Good point," I said, giving a reluctant nod. "For the record, I didn't get that impression from the behavior of the people in the room before the massacre."

"So they trusted her," said Logan softly as he scanned the devastated room.

I nodded, tempted to lean against the only clean space on the concrete wall.

"And then they died for it." Saleem's words hung in the air as he shifted away from me toward a concrete pillar.

I opened my mouth to respond, but didn't get the chance. A bullet plunged into the wall an inch from my ear, sending small shards of concrete and plaster flying into my face.

I felt the sting as the sharp edges of debris cut into my skin, but I ignored the slight pain and dropped to the ground in a crouch.
 

Logan grabbed my arm and tugged me closer. "You okay?" His voice was harsh as he ducked below the line of a barrage of gunfire that peppered the back wall.

Something warm and wet slid down my left cheek. Logan swiped his hand over my skin, glared at his blood-stained palm, and then gripped my chin hard while he inspected the damage.

I tugged out of his grasp--I hated being babied--and another bullet whizzed past my ear, so close the heat of the metal warmed my skin as it passed me. I grunted and ducked lower, checking on Saleem as I did so.
 

He was missing a chunk of his shoulder-length hair and his face was set and grim. "Who the hell is shooting?" he snarled. "And why?"

Another round of gunfire. A dull thud high in my chest. I looked down. Red liquid flowed out from a hole in my leather jacket.

I'd been shot.

"Y
OU
'
RE
HIT
." L
OGAN
STARED
AT
the gory bloodstain spreading from under the palm of my hand and down the front of my shirt, his expression shocked and angry.

Why did people always get angry at me when I got shot?

"You think?" I snarled, keeping the pressure on the wound. My body's initial shock had worn off. Now the pain was starting and my panther wasn't happy.

Before Logan could respond the air beside me shimmered cloudy and gray and Nerina materialized.

Her eyes went wide as gunfire peppered the wall above her and she dropped beside me with a sharp gasp.

"What is going on?" she squeaked.

"Kai's getting shot," snapped Logan.

I didn't bother to respond. "What took you so long?"
 

She gave an apologetic shrug. "Lady Kira was listing her requirements. She wants you to--"

Seriously?

"Not now, Nerina. I'm busy."

Nerina's gasp told me she had finally noticed the gaping hole in my chest.

"You've been shot."

"Exactly what I was just saying," said Logan dryly. He popped his head up to peer over the broken wall. Another burst of gunfire had him ducking down fast.

"We need to stop the bleeding," said Saleem. "Walkers heal fast but blood loss is still not good."

To her credit Nerina didn't miss a beat. She gathered her skirts together and tore a wide strip of fabric off the bottom. "It's a good thing we're required to wear such voluminous skirts." A couple of seconds later and she held a solid pad of material. "Let me see it."

I lifted my hand. "You don't need to use that," I said, shaking my head. "The bullet will come on its own out soon. It wasn't very deep. See?"

Nerina just stared at my chest, her expression strained. I sucked in a painful breath and realized that somewhere in the last little while my pain had increased, not dissipated. Now agony blazed within my flesh.
 

Nerina leaned closer and pulled the shirt fabric away from my broken skin. I blinked and tried to focus on what she was looking at. Along with blood there was a light blue liquid leaking out of the wound.

"Now that's not something you see every day," I said and caught my breath.
 

"This is nothing to joke about."
 

I peered over the rubble at him and raised my eyebrows. "Well, if you saw this for yourself you'd know what I mean."

Logan glanced over his shoulder at Saleem. "Cover me."
 

The djinn gave him a brief nod and he elbowed over toward me, keeping low to the ground.
 

Rocks fell and dust rose in the air around us as Logan reached my side. Nerina moved to give him space.

"What in God's name is that?" he asked, his voice breaking on a harsh cough as he sucked in dust.

Nerina lifted her hand. Blue liquid gleamed on the tip of her forefinger. She squinted at it. "It looks like some kind of liquid metal."

"Like Mercury?" I felt strangely adrift, as if I was experiencing everything from a distance. Even the agony had grown a dull edge.

"Very much like it. And it glows. So I'd guess it's poisonous too," she said, her face dark with worry. "Kai, you need medical help. This isn't a good. We have no idea what they shot you with."

Logan touched my arm and then my face. "Nerina is right. We have to get you out of here." He raised his voice. "Saleem, take Kai out of here while I hold them off."

But Saleem had an odd look on his face and the moment I saw his greyed, furrowed forehead I knew that something was terribly wrong.

"Saleem?"
 

He gave me a rueful smile and glanced down at his stomach. His navy shirt was stained dark, and glistening with blood as he leaned back against the rubble. "Don't worry. I'm not dead yet. But . . . I am grounded. Normally, I'd be able to take you with me even if we're both injured, but for some reason I'm too weak."

"It's that liquid. I'm sure it's some kind of poison." Nerina kept her voice low. At least
she
was thinking straight.

"Something that affects paranormals." I gazed up at the unpainted ceiling. "Now, who would have a weapon that could injure us like this? That can kill paranormals with a single blast of energy?"

"I have no idea, but I'm damn well going to find out." Logan crouched over me. "Saleem, can you leave on your own?"

He thought about it for a second. "I believe I could. I have just enough energy for myself."

"Then do it," I said. "And stay off Omega's radar until you're healed."

Saleem nodded, saluted with a blood-stained finger to his forehead and disappeared into nothing.

I inhaled, the sound harsh and ragged, and I glanced again at my wound. But, I didn't have time to pay attention to myself. Not with Logan a sitting duck behind the rubble and Nerina a target if she stayed. "You need to get out of here, Nerina."

Logan nodded agreement. "Yes, Nerina, Go now. Kai and I can figure out what to do next."

But she was shaking her head. "I'm not going anywhere. I can leave whenever I want. I can move from place to place within seconds. I'm safe here. And I can help."

Logan didn't blink, clearly unimpressed as he studied her face, then returned his attention to the hole in the wall. "How?"

But even as she'd described her ability, I'd had a thought. "Could you get behind the gunmen without them knowing. Maybe shift over there, grab a weapon and come back here?"
 

Her eyebrows lifted and then she began to smile. "What a brilliant idea." She pushed into a crouch. "I'll be back."