Dirty Blood (37 page)

Leo looked seriously pissed. “One more minute,
dammit. You couldn’t stay gone one more minute?”

Jack answered by launching himself at Leo, jaw wide
with bared teeth. A growl erupted as the two slammed into each
other, and then the wall. I looked back at Miles. He stood,
blocking the doorway to the attic. I inched to the left. Maybe he
wouldn’t notice, and I could slip out. Get help for Jack.

Miles watched the fight with a look of mild interest
for several seconds and then abruptly turned his gaze back on me
again. I froze, halfway to the door.

He looked angry. “Always someone there, at just the
right moment, isn’t there? No wonder Leo was so set on killing you,
instead of trying it my way.” He shook his head.

I blinked at him.

Without another word, he reached inside his jacket
and pulled out a gun, leveling it straight at my chest. It looked a
lot like the gun I’d used on Kat. Then, he fired. I didn’t even
have time to duck or swerve. Just stand there and wait for the
pain.

In that exact moment, Leo’s claws took a swipe at
Jack and he swerved and jumped out of the way, putting him directly
between me and the gun. Miles slammed the door and disappeared as
Jack went down.

~ 37 ~

“No!” I rushed forward, reaching Jack just as he hit
the floor. His eyes were open but glazed. Bright red liquid was
already pooling on the floor underneath him.

“Jack,” I said, choking back a sob.

“Tara. I…” His words were garbled with the sound of
liquid in his chest. A small trickle of blood escaped his
mouth.

“Finally, that boy does something right,” Leo
said.

My head snapped up. “You. Shut. Up.”

“He actually thought he could turn you,” he said,
ignoring me. He was getting worked up now, spitting when he spoke,
saliva pooling at the corners of his mouth.

I squared my shoulders. “I’ll never join your side.
I’m a Hunter, not a Werewolf.”

“You’ve got enough of both in you,” he said, his eyes
gleaming wildly as he spoke.

Beside me, Jack’s breaths were coming in labored
wheezes. I wanted to do something to help him, but I had no idea
what. And Leo was advancing now. I cast one last glance at Jack and
then rose, stepping over him, to face Leo. This was what I could
do. I just hoped Jack could hang on long enough.

“Not a freaking chance,” I said, letting the anger
and fury wash over me and wipe out the fear that gnawed at my
gut.

“I figured you’d say that. We’ll do it my way, then.”
Leo surged forward, teeth bared, in a jerky move meant to take me
by surprise.

I blocked him and angled my body away, giving him a
shove from behind, so that his momentum took him into the wall
behind me. His shoulder took the brunt of it, but it wasn’t hard
enough to slow him down by any means. The space wasn’t big enough
to do that. He turned to come at me again, but now I’d caught him
off guard. I swung out and punched him –hard – in the face, sending
his whole body jerking to the side. I watched in satisfaction for a
split second. Then I swung out again, same hand, before he could
recover.

He managed to duck under at the last second and came
up, teeth first. Fangs caught my wrist and scraped away my skin. I
pulled free and backed up a step, quick to get out of range and
recover from the sting. I had to get out of this room. There was no
space to maneuver, and I didn’t stand a chance against those teeth
if I stayed. My wrist began heating up, and I knew I had to be
quick.

I whirled and ran for the door, my feet pounding hard
on the metal floor of the hallway. I made it several feet down the
catwalk before I turned, knowing he’d be right on my heels.

He came at me again, but I managed to knock him away,
his rear end knocking up against the metal railing behind him. This
space was just as small, but a long stretch of metal hallway behind
me would at least allow me to sidestep, or retreat, if necessary. I
was completely realistic about my chances. I knew it was entirely
possible I’d have to run. But then I thought about Jack, lying
bloody and half conscious in the other room, and I knew running was
out of the question. If I did, he’d die.

With that thought, I steeled myself against doubt and
focused on Leo, letting the Hunter in me completely take over my
muscles and senses. As soon as I gave into it, I forgot all about
the wound on my wrist. I felt no pain, nothing but anger and the
hunger to see Leo without a heartbeat.

Leo felt the same. I could see it in his eyes. They
were wild and fierce, locked on his goal. Me. His determination
might’ve even been greater than mine. He seemed almost desperate
about it, the way saliva pooled at his open jowls and his growl had
become a cross between a howl and a whine. I hoped that meant he
would make a mistake, soon. I wanted this over. Still, some
long-dormant Hunter part of me had awakened – as it did in every
fight – and was providing me with what I hoped was enough energy
and supernatural strength to continue this for a lot longer than
we’d already been here. That part of me wanted to draw this
out.

Leo lunged again and, this time, I didn’t step out of
the way. Just before he reached me, my right hand shot forward and
caught him around the throat, squeezing tightly and stopping him in
his tracks much like I’d seen Grandma do earlier. He choked in
surprise and his body went still for a minute- probably from the
shock of being caught.

Then he was moving again, and I could feel the force
of his contracting muscles as he tried to shake my grip. I only
squeezed tighter, cutting off his windpipe. He choked again and his
yellow eyes went wide. Darn it, I needed a weapon. There was no way
I could end this without one. My stakes were long gone, but there
had to be something around here.

Leo twisted and snarled against my hold, though it
came out guttural and more like a cough. I glanced around quickly,
looking for anything nearby that I could use, but there was
nothing.

Then Leo jerked his head hard to the side and took a
step back, forcing me to move with him or let go. It was just far
enough to make me loosen my grip. A furry paw swung out at me and I
didn’t see it in time. It connected; the paws scraped across my
cheek, hard enough to drive my head sideways, like I’d been
slapped. I felt my grip on his throat give way, and he stepped
easily out of it as I struggled to right myself and get my
bearings. I leaned into the railing, grabbing it with one hand, to
help steady myself. My cheek burned where his claws had raked my
skin and I dabbed at it gently with my fingertips, already feeling
the raised welts left behind.

I blinked to clear my eyes of the automatic tears
forming, and stepped back, trying to get a feel for Leo and what
would come next. I didn’t really have time to brace myself before
he sprang again, sailing through the air, covering the entire
distance between us in a single leap. His paws hit my shoulders,
sending me flying. My back hit the metal railing with a painful
thud.

We were further down the catwalk now, and this side
of things was in a lot worse shape than anywhere else in the
building. The welded rods that made up the railing were corroded
and rusting. The joints that joined them were crumbling in places,
and when I hit, I felt a tiny amount of give. I pushed off; afraid
it would snap and send me plummeting to the first floor. Even my
quickly healing muscles wouldn’t forgive that.

But Leo was on me before I could get clear, shoving
me back against the railing and snapping his teeth at my throat. I
managed to hold his head away, using fistfuls of his fur to pull
him back, but with both of us pressing on the crumbling railing; I
could feel it buckling under the stress. Putting all my weight into
it, I leaned and shoved as hard as I could against him, but he
didn’t budge. Something behind me creaked and then snapped.
Whatever had been holding me up gave way, and I fell with a thud
onto my back, my left shoulder hanging off the edge of the catwalk.
Leo went down with me, his weight actually helping to hold me on
the floor, instead of wobbling over the edge. I was almost afraid
to push him off, since the momentum might be all I needed to
complete the fall.

Maybe it was because of that thought, but my grip on
him faltered a little, and his teeth snapped closer, scraping along
the skin on my neck, and leaving a burning in its wake. I cringed,
but tried to push harder against his snapping jaws, which wasn’t
easy. Something about the singing heat in my neck seemed to awaken
the same pain in my wrist, and both of the wounds burned to life. I
strained away from Leo’s fangs, craning my neck as far from him as
I could. When I did, something metal and gleaming caught my eye,
just behind Leo’s head.

A jagged piece of railing stuck out awkwardly, from
where the rest of the rods had given way and fallen to the first
floor. It was rusted and crumbly, and I wasn’t completely sure how
loose it was, or if it was even within reach, but it was all I had.
Using my entire right forearm to brace against Leo’s weight, I let
go and reached for the metal rod with my left hand. I was just able
to grasp it with my fingers, and had to shift closer, putting more
of my body over the edge of the catwalk. I was half on, half off
now. If this didn’t work right, I was going over for sure. My
fingers closed tightly around the rod and I yanked and twisted,
until it was free. The strain of it was causing my grip on Leo to
lessen, and I could feel him pressing closer to me now.

“It’s almost over,” he rasped. “Stop fighting
it.”

His hot breath blew in my face like a cloud and I
gagged at the mangy animal stench. Saliva dripped from his jowls to
my shirt. He strained closer. My stomach rolled.

I brought the metal rod around and up, arcing towards
Leo’s chest, just as his teeth broke through my flesh.

I vaguely felt the slide of the metal as it entered
and sank deep inside, through muscle and tissue and into, what was
hopefully, his heart. Then all I could really feel was the burning
of Leo’s teeth as it lit like wildfire through my veins. My vision
blurred until all I saw were dozens of pairs of Leo’s wild, yellow
eyes.

That was when the vibrations began. It started in my
hand – the one still holding the tip of the rod. The metal gleamed
and glowed, heating under my palm like I’d shoved it into an oven.
Smoke hissed and rose from the point of entry, and I wasn’t sure if
it came from the metal or from Leo’s flesh. When he began howling,
I knew it was his flesh. I jerked my hand free of the metal, and
the heat faded some, replaced with a vibrating shock that shot up
my arm, and into my chest. My insides echoed with it, and I began
to shake.

It took me a minute to realize Leo had stopped moving
and was slumped over, completely pinning me underneath him. The
vibrations were shaking me so hard now; I thought this is what it
must be like to have a seizure. Leo’s lifeless body shook with me.
I squirmed against him, but I was afraid of making the wrong move
and toppling over the edge. The vibrations finally ebbed enough to
gain some sort of control over my limbs. Now, everything just
burned with the bites he’d given me.

As the fire spread through me, I began caring less
and less about being pinned. My vision blurred and a voice inside
me screamed and wailed against the flames that were boiling my
blood. I brought my left hand up and gingerly touched my fingertips
to the wound on my neck. I could feel the torn skin and yanked my
hand away. It was covered in blood.

I thought I heard someone calling my name but it was
muffled and unrecognizable. Maybe they couldn’t see me, pinned
underneath Leo’s body like this. Maybe they’d never find me…

It all happened in slow motion. Slender hands reached
out and grabbed at the matted fur on Leo’s back, dragging him off
me with a strength that didn’t seem to fit the slim arms that
wielded it. I tried following the arms to the face that went with
it, but everything blurred to red and black dancing dots. The hands
returned, and grabbed the fabric of my jacket and pulled me away
from the edge of the walkway. I tilted my head and saw Leo lying
beside me, in an awkward position. His eyes were open but glazed,
unseeing. Dried saliva coated the sides of his mouth and mixed with
blood that still oozed from his throat. It dripped onto the metal
flooring underneath him, and then further below to the first floor.
I thought he probably smelled bad but I couldn’t tell from here. Or
maybe I was past that. The metal rod stuck out of his chest, a
large ring of red staining the fur around it. I felt a small wave
of relief and satisfaction, and then I shifted away.

My rescuer’s face was bending over me. Maybe close
enough to see now. I blinked and the edging of red receded and
brought the face into focus. My mother.

“Tara? It’s me. It’s over, honey. Are you okay?” she
asked. Her voice was strained. Her eyes flicked back and forth
between my face and my arm.

“Yeah,” I managed, though it came out more like a
sigh. I was breathing heavy against the pain and any attempt to
talk only seemed to make it worse. “Are you sure Leo’s dead?”

“Positive. You used metal,” she said, surprised. “Did
it – are you sure you’re okay?”

The burn seemed to travel all the way through to my
vocal chords at this point; everything hurt. I remembered what had
happened the last time I’d been hurt like this. “I’m – going to –
pass out,” I whispered.

“Okay. I’m getting us to the car. I’ll take us
home.”

“No, not home. Not yet. Jack.”

“I know.” Her expression clouded. We found him when
we went looking for you. Wes is with him now.”

“Is he-”

“He’s alive. Barely. Fee might be able to help.” Her
face clouded over. “I don’t know if we caught it in time,” she
whispered.