Blood Promise (A SkinWalker Novel #4) (A DarkWorld SkinWalker Novel) (41 page)

W
E
'
D
BARELY
GOTTEN
BACK
TO
the apartment when Logan's cellphone began to ring. When he recognized his caller his expression turned from resignation to suspicion.

"Westin." His tone was hard but not unpleasant. "Is that right? Yes. Where? I'll meet you there in half an hour."

He cut the call and met my eyes.

"And why," I asked, "do I get the feeling that this isn't good?"
 

"Nevins wants to meet us. Someone blew up his house."

"Oh." I blinked. "Is he considering his options?"

Logan nodded. "Seems so. After what we told him, then finding his place blown to bits, I figure he's thinking someone wants him dead."

"With good reason." I folded my arms.

Logan laughed softly. "He sounded frantic. And shocked."

I wasn't surprised. "Why does he want to meet?"

"He says he knows the location of a meeting with his boss." Logan paused. "He did sound odd though."

"Maybe he's not himself. It's not everyday you get your personal beliefs and your personal possessions destroyed within a couple of hours."

"I guess not."

"Maybe its a trap?"

"Likely."

I rubbed my palms together. "Great. When do we leave?"

J
ESS
TRANSPORTED
US
TO
THE
location; a narrow sandy canyon where the sides of the mountains rose so high above us that we had to crane our necks to glimpse the peaks. From the red rocks around us I guess we were somewhere in Nevada.

It was cooler down there, away from the sun, and I shivered. But it wasn't the temperature that gave me the goosebumps.

Gigantic rocks lay strewn across the red sand of the ravine. Great hiding places. Perfect for an ambush.

I slipped my fingers into my pocket for Nerina's key and sent her a urgent call. I'd promised she'd be part of the effort to apprehend Mika's killer, and I was a woman of my word.

As I studied my surroundings she responded, sounding worried. I kept it brief, and within seconds Nerina solidified next to me.

Paranormal instant messaging rocks.

Logan stood beside us, the four of us back to back, watching and waiting.

"This isn't good." I kept my voice soft.

"It's probably a trap so watch the rocks."

"Heads up. I got movement." Logan's whisper barely reached me when I saw someone peer out from behind a large stone about ten feet away. Military gear, smelled human, but a little odd--with that strange, metallic odor again.

My sense of smell had picked up on the changes to the human DNA. My panther could sense their 'paranormalness'.

Creepy but advantageous.

I relayed this information to the team in a soft whisper, and said, "I'm downwind from this lot, but I'm blind behind me."

"You just concentrate on your end," said Jess.

The silence that followed was strange and tense, a portent of the fury to follow.

Suddenly, one of the enhanced humans came flying through the air at us. As he flew, he performed a double somersault and slammed to the ground behind me, right in the middle of our safe zone.

"I got this," yelled Jess and threw herself at the soldier. Even before they hit the ground they disappeared into nothing. A shout from the top of a nearby rock revealed the Titan's strategy.

The soldier was now buried knee-deep within the solid stone, his arms flailing as he tried to remain upright.
 

"Hope you didn't hurt him," I said as she rematerialized beside me.

"Only his pride," she said, and waved a two-way radio at him.

He patted his hip, scanned the ground around him, and then glared down at her.

She smiled serenely as she slid the radio onto her own belt. "And he'll have to be teleported out, or chiseled out. Either way he's not a problem."

"But
they
are." I nodded at the two dozen soldiers now emerging from their hiding places behind the rocks.

Even the fact that one sent repeated flashes of fire, while another drew a hurricane of sand and stone from the ground and hurled it at me didn't stop me. As I ran I shifted into that comfortable spot balanced between human and panther.

I didn't like the idea of killing humans, no matter how enhanced they were, but
our
lives counted for more in this battle.

The fire-human sent balls of flame straight at my face. I ducked and he got careless in his enthusiasm.

And too close.
 

I punched him in the stomach, keeping my claws in check. I'd worried about ripping his gut open and giving him a mortal wound, but when my punches did absolutely nothing to him, I grew a little afraid.

Though the hurricane had disappeared it seemed that the wind had picked up. In the distance a large man stood very still, watching the melee.

Storm?

I squinted, evading a barrage of flame from more fire-humans. But I knew in my gut it was him.

Nevins walked up from behind him, and a flash of fury ripped through me. So he
had
sold us out. He owed us no loyalty. Now we owed him none either.

Keeping him in my sights, I battled with another half dozen enhanced humans, a medley of powers aimed at us; flames, water, heat, ice and wind, each forced to be deflected, and their owners to be defeated.

Nerina faded into the ether to remain untouched and yelled out warnings, repeatedly saving us from a variety of terrible deaths.

Nevins stood at Storm's side, watching us fight for our lives, a cold sneer at his lips. Only when Storm gestured in his direction did he finally move.

Nevins ran straight for us, and Logan moved to protect me while I deflected the blows of a furious lightning mage.
 

Nevins closed in, his face a picture of passionate fury as he began to throw blades of ice at Logan.

Logan calmly melted them with a mere flick of his palm as they came.

Frustrated, Nevins circled him, gained a little distance, and lifted his hands to the sky. Wind howled, and a freezing hurricane surged around him spitting blades of ice at us.

Logan aimed his fire, building it up so hot that I felt the burn on my cheek. Then he threw out his power. The hurricane spun into Logan's heat. As it spun it lost momentum and power, slowing, slowing, until it faded to nothing, and its icy missiles fell to the ground at Nevins's feet

Furious that he'd been bested, Nevins raised his hand and sent a volley of icy javelins at us.
 

Logan responded with another wave of heat.
 

I evaded the blows of another enhanced human, one whose power made him so fast I could barely see his blows coming. My concentration was so focused on maintaining walker speed to defend myself from him that I didn't see the ice-spear until it was embedded in my hip.
 

I didn't fall, but I uttered a low groan and clutched my side as agony tore through me.
 

Logan heard my cry and spun around. His horrified gaze fell on the frozen weapon, but all he could do was send heat at it with one hand before he was forced to turn his attention back to Nevins.

But that brief moment of inattention was enough. He didn't see Nevins draw his weapon. Didn't see him aim. But I saw, and in a burst of panther energy launched myself in front of Logan.

I took two bullets to the abdomen. Hit the ground. Rolled straight into a somersault and onto my feet.

Then I raced, for Nevins, ignoring my wounds, ignoring the fiery agony ripping through my gut. I body-slammed him and took him down to the ground. He lay there, stunned, and I wasn't sure if it was his ego or his body that had taken the harder hit.

I bit back my pain, ignored the scent of my blood, the fading light that told me I was badly hurt. I focused only on the murderer who would destroy the man I loved if I didn't kill him first.
 

He reached for his gun with almost inhuman speed, the nasty gleam in his eye alerting me to his intention even before he aimed again at Logan.

As I swung my hand at him, my panther claws shot out, connecting with neck and flesh and muscle, swiping though it all with satisfying ease.

Blood slapped me in the face, hot and slick.

I stood over him, watching as he struggled to speak, the sound gurgling in his throat. His eyes shifted from my face to somewhere behind me and his expression turned from hopeless to triumphant. A nasty, ragged laugh escaped his ruined throat, but I was no longer paying him any attention.

I swung around, realizing too late that, while I'd fought with Nevins, Logan had been left wide open. Storm now stood two feet from him, his eyes a fiery blue, a gun gleaming between their bodies.
 

Jess took a step closer to Logan, and her eyes met mine. I gave a slight nod, knowing she intended to run at Logan and jump him to safety.

But his shouted, "No!" froze Jess in mid-step.
 

He lifted his chin and stared Storm in the face. "I don't care what you want with me. I'll go with you. On one condition."

The Immortal smiled. "You are not in any position to make bargains."
 

Logan ignored him. "Release Lily, and you won't have any trouble from me."

Storm considered, then inclined his head.

Then, he, Logan, Nevins, and all the men with him disappeared--and standing in the middle of the valley floor, a stunned look in her eyes, was Lily.

"W
H
-
WHAT
HAPPENED
?" L
ILY
ASKED
, her eyes round and shocked as she scanned her surroundings. Then she saw me and launched herself into my arms.
 

I fell to the ground, pain exploding in my body as adrenaline bled away.

"Kai!" Lily let go and scrambled away from me, frantic. "Omigod you've been shot."

"More than just shot," said Nerina as she solidified at my side, dropping to her knees to lift my shirt for a quick inspection. "Kailin, they have taken all their dead with them. There is nobody left to question."

"Yeah," I gritted my teeth, brushing her hand away. "My fault. We told Nevins that's how we got our first clues, so he must have told . . . him." I didn't want to say Storm's name. I grunted, feeling the pair of bullets moved within my flesh. "It's fine though. The bullets will be expelled in no time, and I'll be just as good as new.

Nerina shook her head but said nothing.

Don't antagonise the patient? Or was that the insane?

Jess moved closer, her hand closing over the walkie-talkie at her waist, as if she wanted to do something with herself. "Lily, don't worry about Kailin. She should have developed a good level of resistance against the poison in those bullets, so she'll heal soon enough." The Titan gave me a glance, as if she wanted reassurance for her assumptions.

I smiled. "I'll be fine, kid. The important thing is how
you
are."