Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) (20 page)

"I hope so," I muttered as she shimmered away.

A shout rose from across the road, followed almost instantly by another yell, and then Nerina was back carrying a short rifle fitted with a scope in each hand.
 

"Well done."

"It was all I could manage on the first trip." She handed one rifle to Logan, the other to me.
 

I grinned. "Did you get an idea of where they are?"

She nodded. "Yes. I had one false start. They are further back than I expected. They're hiding behind a vehicle on the other side of the street. A navy Chevrolet."

Logan grunted. "That's the Omega team's car."

"Do you think they're the ones shooting at us?"

"Maybe they think we're intruders?" suggested Nerina, her usually ashen skin now flushed.

"That's a possibility."

"What about the Sentinel vehicle?" I said, frowning and hoping there wouldn't be more bodies for us to find outside.

Logan shook his head. "I can't see anyone inside the car. Maybe they're slumped down out of sight."

"Nerina, could you do another recon?" I asked her softly. "Check the Sentinel car and come straight back."

She nodded, disappeared, materialized again within seconds. Her mouth opened slowly, as if she struggled to say the words.

I saved her the trouble. "They're dead, aren't they?"

N
ERINA
SWALLOWED
HARD
BEFORE
GIVING
a jerk of her head, which I interpreted as a nod.

"Did you see anything else the first time you went to take the guns?"

Nerina squinted and studied the ceiling for a few seconds while she thought. "No. Actually I didn't."

I sighed and pushed up into a sitting position. "Then it's probably Omega agents who are shooting at us, which means Omega is part of this whole conspiracy." I glanced over at Logan, who was now watching me, his eyes dark with worry. "But that doesn't explain why they're shooting at you too. You're Omega. They know you."

He shrugged. "Not everyone in Omega knows who I am. Maybe they do think we're intruders."

We
were
intruders.

"So it's okay if an Omega team takes out a Sentinel team and then shoots with intent to kill at anything else that moves?"

My voice held a note of accusation but it was how I saw it and I couldn't seem to hold back. When Logan turned my way again I was glad to see that he was pissed off. With Omega, I hoped, and not with me for daring to say something against his agency.

I suppressed a sigh and forged on. "So how do we get out of this alive?"
 

"I can take more of their weapons away," Nerina said.

I shook my head. "Too dangerous. You've hit them twice. They'll now be ready for you now."
 

Her face fell.

"But there is a way you can help," said Logan, although he clearly didn't like what he was about to suggest.

Nerina's expression brightened.

"Give us a distraction," he said. "Go to the other end of the street, cause some kind of disturbance, get them focused on you. Then we'll try to get out of here."

She nodded. "Good plan."

I thought so too. "Just don't do anything stupid."

She grinned. "I won't. I'll make them come after me--or at least look in my direction."

I nodded and she disappeared. "We've created an adrenaline junkie," I said as Logan hauled me up. "Kira's going to kick my ass."

"Forget Kira.
I'm
going to kick your ass if you don't get it moving."

It was hard moving in a crouch. The fire burning into my flesh was way worse than the wraith obsidian poison I'd encountered not so long ago.

I gritted my teeth as Logan and I crawled across the ground to the door. The passage outside led directly onto the street, its glass windows shattered by the original incident.
 

If we stepped into the corridor now we'd be in full view of the shooters. But from where we sat on the threshold we were unable to see outside. Both positions were dangerous. I pulled a compact from my bag and flipped it open.
 

"What are you doing?" Logan asked as I slid the mirror along the floor, slowly positioning it so we could see the street.
 

"Nice," he said, nodding his approval.

I pushed the compact further along, got a glimpse of the navy Chev, a person's head beside the front end of the car, the thin line of a rifle, a flash of long red hair--and the compact shattered, sending splinters of wood into Logan's face and fragments of mirror into my fingers and palm.

I yanked my hand away. "Shit! That was close. She's a good shot."

"Do you always have to be so blasé about endangering your life?" Logan glared darkly.
 

"What else do you expect me to do? Cry? Shiver and shake in the corner? I'm alive, so I appreciate the brush with death and move on."

Logan stared at me for a second, his eyebrows slowly lowering. "Okay," he said. "Okay."

I snorted softly. "Come on, Nerina," I whispered. "Do your thing,"
 

Logan wiped splinters from his cheek and shifted closer, muscles as tense as mine, ready to spring up and run the moment we were all clear.

It didn't take long. A yell ripped through the air. Feet and bodies shuffled and scraped.

Logan popped his head around the corner, checked our exit, and hauled me to my feet. "The Sentinel vehicle. Now."

I ran with him, ignoring then pain and lightheadedness. Logan shielded me all the way out the front door and diagonally across the sidewalk toward the silent Sentinel vehicle.
 

Just as we dropped behind the vehicle, the back tires blew and bullets peppered the metal. The car sank to the ground--tires hissing as they deflated. At least we no longer had to worry about our legs being shot out from under us.

Stupid move on their part.

Nerina materialized beside me. "Sorry, that's all I could do. They sent one man my way and I had to get out."

"Better safe than dead," said Logan, his finger tight on the trigger of the paranormal gun.

"I hope you aren't planning on using that?" I snapped. "We don't need to kill more paranormals."

Logan glared at me. "They're shooting at
us
. To kill
us
. And you're worried about
their
lives?" He shook his head and turned away. "They know what they're getting into. Whatever the deal is, these guys are prepared to die doing it."

He had a point. Judging by Nerina's expression, she agreed with him.
 

Warfare was one thing when your target wasn't human. A whole other ballgame when you're trying to kill your own people.

I blinked.

Silence settled on the street and I pressed against the metal of the car door. Leaning closer to Logan, I whispered, "Now what?"

He continued to watch the street. "We're going nowhere until we can elude this team. Which means unless they run out of ammo or we manage to kill every last one, we're stuck here."

"What if they decide to circle round and advance on us?" I asked.

"Then we're dead."

My response was cut off by a thunderous explosion.

T
HE
EXPLOSION
SENT
THE
THREE
of us sprawling on the sidewalk and tossed the vehicle into the air. It hit the ground, rolled a couple of times, and rocked to a halt ten feet further down the street.
 

Bullets zinged past us as Logan grabbed my arm and dragged me to the now mangled car, using it as a shield. But if they'd tossed the car once they were likely to do it again.

Logan grunted, but kept his eyes trained on the car across the street. "I can see movement. They could be reloading, regrouping, or even calling in backup."
 

I sighed and began to shuck off my jacket. "I can't believe I'm doing this again so soon."

"What are you talking about?" His voice was muffled, and he didn't look my way.

I handed my jacket to Nerina and began to pull my shoes off my feet.
 

"Do you really need to go full shift?" she asked softly.

 
I ignored Logan's "What?" and nodded at her. "It'll give me more power." And I couldn't stomach the thought of a half-shift. It brought back memories of Brand, and his behavior while he'd been half transformed.
 

"A half-transformation will give you power too." Nerina's tone was hard. "There's no reason to strip, shift, and put your panther in such a vulnerable position. However powerful she is, the feline form itself isn't all that robust. One well-placed bullet
will
end you."
 

I opened my mouth, then shut it with a snap. She was right. Hunting demons while in panther form made sense, but an attack out in the open would be stupid while in animal form.
 

I sighed and pulled my shoes back on. "Fine. Just keep the jacket. I don't want to ruin it."
 

She nodded and held the leather close while I pulled my panther to the surface.
 

The bones in my hands and face burned as those parts of my human body gave way to the feline. Slowly ears, eyes, nose, and fingers all shifted, but only so much that they would provide me with added strength and power. I didn't give my panther full control. She didn't like that and bucked against my hold, frustrated.

I ignored her, pretended Logan wasn't watching.

I had to get over my self-consciousness when it came to a half-transformation. Even with Nerina, I'd kept my face averted not wanting to catch an expression of distaste should she not be able to handle what the half-transformation did to my features.

Ugh. More deep revelations. Kai, you really have perfect timing.

"Shit," said Logan as he lowered himself back to the concrete.

"What's wrong," asked Nerina.

I glanced over and found him staring off into nothing. Then he turned my way and his eyes were dark, the skin pale and tight at their corners.

"I think I recognized one of them." He had an almost desperate look on his face.

I frowned. "You think? Or you're sure? Maybe he just looks like someone you know."

Logan paused, his jaw tightening. Then he looked off into nothing again and cleared his throat. "I hope you're right." He turned and focused his attention back on the shooters across the street. "I really hope you're right."

We couldn't sit here forever being shot at. And who knew when they would decide to explode the car again.

"Cover me," I told Logan and dashed around the far end of the car.
 

Logan opened fire and the Omega agents responded. As I rounded the car I kept an eye on them, especially the redhead who was closer to me.

Walker speed made me light on my feet and super-fast. When I got to the redhead's side, she hardly had time turn those deep green eyes my way before I hit her. Her head bounced against the ground as I grabbed her gun and flung the weapon in Logan's direction. It hit the blacktop with a clatter and scraped across the hard surface.