Eternal Flame (28 page)

Dee held up her hands. “I’m here to help him, not hurt him.”

Right. Like any vamp was there to
help
. She’d tried to help that other vamp in the swamp, and he’d literally bitten the hand that reached to help.

Zane launched at the tiger. They fell to the ground, rolling.
Oh, damn
. The tiger’s teeth were so close to Zane’s throat. Then Zane twisted and threw the tiger against a car.

“
Help me
.“ The vampire-Dee-her voice was so deep and compelling. It seemed to slip right under Jana’s skin. To slip inside …

No
. Jana’s body tensed. “He just wants to get inside, to make sure no one else is—”

“No one else is in the building. Jude would’ve smelled ‘em. That death trap was for you and Zane.” Dee marched closer to her. “Call him off.”

She blinked. “What? I can’t—”

“I think she can,” came from Catalina and the witch began to close in on her, too.

“Call. Him. Off,” Dee repeated. “Because I don’t want to have to hurt him.”

Jana’s eyes narrowed. “You think you can?” Right then, she didn’t think anyone could stop him. The tiger’s claws didn’t even come close to his flesh now. He moved too fast, and he seemed far too strong.

But the male vamp was on his feet and heading forward with his hands up.

“No, Zane!”

Zane spun toward her, and Dee grabbed her. For a small chick, she was damn strong.
Too strong
.

“Come away from the building, Zane.” Dee’s soft order.

More sirens. The cops and firefighters would be there any minute.

“We have to get the hell out of here, and I need you to focus, got me, demon?” The woman’s claws were at her throat. That rage and fear spiked again in Jana’s blood.

“Dee …” Catalina’s shaking voice. “You, um, need to be very care—”

The vampire screamed and dropped her hold. Jana spun around and saw that Dee was clutching her hand. A hand that was smoking.
Yes, oh, yes. The fire’s back!
She was back!

Jana’s lips began to curve. Then the male vamp tackled her. Jana’s head thudded into the ground and the world disappeared in a curtain of black.

Jana was on the ground. Not moving. A man had her in his arms. He said, “Oh, fuck—” just as Zane launched at him.

“No!” The blond female was there again. Glaring up at him with her vampire eyes. “Zane, she’s okay, but we have to get out of here! Do you hear me?”

He grabbed her arms. Everything was too loud. Too dark. The fire seemed to call him, and Jana-
Jana
was the only constant in his world.

Eyes closed. Unmoving. Vamp holding her
.

This had happened before. He wasn’t going to let her be hurt again.

He shoved the blonde aside.

“Shit, Zane!” And she was back, grabbing him. Shaking him. Strong for someone so small. ”
It’s me.”

Her voice seemed distorted, echoing almost. He frowned and studied that face. He … knew her.

“Dee. It’s Dee.” Her head turned to the left. “Dammit, shift already, Jude! Don’t you hear those sirens? We’ve got like five seconds to scram.”

He blinked. Dee. The name clicked in his mind. She was …

“Tell me you remember me.” She stared up at him. “I’ve only been working with you at Night Watch forever.
It’s me.”

Dee. Sandra Dee.

Vampire.

He broke free of her hold. The male vamp lifted his hands, but didn’t attack. Jana’s head lay cradled in his lap. “She hit her head. I didn’t mean—” The vamp broke off, swallowing.

“I just didn’t want her to hurt Dee.”

The fury was easing inside Zane. No, not easing. He felt like he was about to crash. His heartbeat slowed, and his breathing roughened. He took Jana, hoisted her into his arms, and held tight.

Get away
. They had to leave because of the—

Sirens
. For some reason, a reason he couldn’t remember right then, Jana didn’t like sirens. She didn’t want to be around cops.

He held her tighter. Zane inhaled her scent and started running away. No, not running. Barely walking. His legs didn’t want to move. Holding Jana seemed so hard.

“It’s going to be okay.” He looked up when he heard the woman’s soft voice. An angel stood before him, her long, blond hair feathering around her pale face. “You’re safe,

Zane.”

Those were the last words he heard before his knees buckled and he fell onto the ground, pulling Jana down with him.

“We’re being hunted.” The voice drifted through the fog that surrounded him.

Zane tensed at that voice. One so important to him.
She’s okay
. If Jana was talking, then that meant she was all right.

He tried to open his eyes. Couldn’t.

She was all right, but what the hell was wrong with him?

“Who’s after you?” Another feminine voice, but sharper, harder.

“Someone from Perseus.” A pause, then Jana said, “At least, that’s what the witch said. I-I’m worried … have we heard from the cop, from Tony?”

Silence.

“He was outside that building. He would have seen whoever set the fire.” Jude’s voice now. “I saw him,
before …
He came to find me inside. I told him to—”

“To send me after Catalina,” Dee said. Yes,
Dee
. That sharp voice was hers.

Jude’s snarl hung in the air. “Tony wouldn’t have just left us to burn.”

Zane tried to open his eyes again. Nothing. He tried to lift his hands, but couldn’t move.
What the fuck?
What had the drug done to him?

“Pak’s got a search on for him,” Dee said. “For him and Agent Thomas.”

A soft sigh drifted in the air. “Tony was there the night Perseus went up in flames.” Jana’s words came slowly as if she hated to say, “Catalina said we were all marked for death. What if he’s been taken by Perseus?”

No
. His hand jerked, hard, and Zane felt something snap.

“Okay,” Jude drawled the word. A long whistle filled the air. “Our demon just broke a steel restraint. I’d say he’s coming back to us.”

Soft fingers wrapped around his. “Zane?” Jana whispered. “You coming back?”

Open damn eyes, open
. Because he needed to see her.

Jana
.

Light filled his vision. Too bright. Then she was there, leaning over him, that dark curtain of hair surrounding her face, a blue-and-black bruise high on her forehead.

The other restraint broke as he shoved upright.

“Yeah, he noticed the bruise,” Dee murmured. “See, told you it was a good idea to station Simon outside.”

Simon. Dee’s lover. The vamp he remembered tackling Jana. His teeth snapped together.

“Are you really back this time?” she asked softly as her brows pulled together.

This time? Just what the hell had been going on?

He reached for her and skimmed the back of his hand down her cheek. “I’m back.” His voice grated, but she didn’t wince. Didn’t so much as look away from him.

“Good.” Her lips tried to curl, that dimple peeking at him, and she blinked quickly. For an instant, Zane could have sworn that he saw the glint of tears in Jana’s eyes.

She’d stayed with him. He remembered that. The blood-lust had burned inside, and she’d stayed. She’d let him—

Zane sucked in a sharp breath. “Baby …”

She leaned forward and kissed him. A soft, fast press of her lips. “You didn’t hurt me.”

“Hell, no,” Dee grumbled. “You didn’t hurt
her
. You weren’t even close to hurting her. It was anyone dumb enough to get between the two of you that you decided to
hurt.”

That was damn good news. No, it was fucking fabulous news.

Jana tried to ease away. He caught the back of her head and pulled her close, and he kissed her the way he needed to. Deep and long, tasting and taking, and promising so much more to come.

“Aw, hell.” The frustrated sigh was pure Dee. “Can’t you get a room once we’re done figuring out who is trying to destroy you? You know, we’ve got the little matter of someone setting a fire to kill you, and your girlfriend.”

Slowly, Zane lifted his head. He could taste Jana on his lips now. Just what he wanted. “No one was trying to kill us with the fire.” He turned his head and saw Dee’s face tense.

“Then why—”

“Someone trapped us so Tony would be easy prey.” The knowledge pissed him off. “This guy is doing up-close and personal kills. Slicing throats, not burning prey.”

“Well, maybe he changed his M.O.” Jude crossed his arms over his chest. “Because that fire was damn wild. If you hadn’t calmed it down …”

He’d always had a way with the fire. Jana twined her fingers with his.

“We have to find Tony,” Dee said, voice fierce. “The guy’s pretty much freaking helpless. He’s just—”

“Human?” Jana finished quietly. Then she shook her head. “Just because we’re human, it doesn’t mean we’re helpless.”

“Oh, don’t worry, I wasn’t making that mistake about
you.”
Dee’s blond brows rose. “Not making that mistake at all.”

Zane frowned, struggling to shove the last of the fog from his mind. His temples throbbed as he demanded, “How much time has passed?”

Jude exhaled. “Too damn much.”

Fuck.

“You were out an hour. I tried to pick up Tony’s scent from the scene, but—” His shoulders lifted, then fell in a hard shrug. “It was like the guy had never been there.”

Someone strong was jerking them around. “The claw marks were
like
a wolf’s.” He spoke quietly as he pushed his way through all the evidence.

“But Marcus didn’t kill anyone!” Jana was adamant.

“No.” He kept his gaze on her. “And Beth wasn’t an Ignitor, not until the girl touched you.”

Her eyes widened, and he knew she understood where he was going.

“The person killing, he’s from Perseus,” Zane said.

“Or
she
is,” Dee added. Dee knew very well that women could be as dangerous-or more dangerous-than men.

“If Beth was using a psychic to transfer power from one person to another, hell, it stands to reason she would have done this switch more than once.” He pushed up from the table, and for an instant, darkness swirled around him. The echoes of fear and fury pumped in his blood.

Not. Again
.

Jana’s hair brushed against his cheek as she steadied him. “It’s okay,” she whispered.

With her there, it was. Because she hadn’t turned from him. She’d stayed with him through hell.

She’d held the demon and loved him. His teeth clenched. He hoped the woman understood, she wasn’t getting away from him now. Not unless she really wanted to break him.

Weakness
. The need for drugs that so many of his kind possessed. But the drugs didn’t call to him. Jana called. Only her. Yeah, he was addicted—to her.

She was his weakness.

Don’t let them know your weakness
. The voice drifted through his mind, and Zane tensed at the memory.

“Beth would have made sure she tested the psychic’s power before trying to take my fire.” A furrow appeared between Jana’s brows. “She would have planned everything, been sure there were no mistakes.” A hard laugh escaped her. “But she didn’t realize how hot that fire would be.” Her laughter died. “Neither did her psychic.” She swallowed and her eyes grew sad.

He ran the back of his hand down her arm.

“So … wait, you’re saying those bastards at Perseus found a way to transfer powers?” Jude whistled. “Someone took your fire?”

She nodded jerkily.

“Shit.” He rocked back. “And you think-you think somebody took a shifter’s gift, too?”

“Gift, curse, all the same damn thing.” Jana heaved out a hard breath. “If they could take my fire, they could take someone’s beast. They could take anything.”

Jude paled a bit.
He didn’t want to lose his beast
. “You sure that psychic is dead?”

She nodded.

Dee strode forward. “But you
burned
me.”

“The transfer doesn’t seem to be permanent.”

Dee’s gaze measured her. “Do you believe there might be another psychic out there who can steal powers, too?”

“I think there probably is, somewhere,” Jana said, her eyes narrowing. “For a while, I thought I was the only one who could start the fires. Then I found out there were more like me. Why not have more like Laura?”

“Hell. Just what we don’t need.” Jude seemed to be sweating. Zane didn’t blame him. The last thing a shifter would want to hear is that his beast could be taken from him.

“Did Marcus shift?” Zane asked Jana, pulling her attention back to him. “When you were with him, did Marcus’s claws grow, did his teeth—”

“He was too weak to shift.” Said with sadness. “Just like he was too weak to fight off the bastard who came for him.”

The bastard that he suspected had Tony. The light overhead shattered and sent down a hail of sparks.

“Easy,” Dee said.

Fuck easy.
Where was Tony?
“I’m not standing here with my thumb up my a—”

The door flew open. Catalina stood in the doorway, sweating, chest heaving, and with what looked like tear tracks of blood on her cheeks. “I found him!” A broken mirror, the glass gone black, was gripped tightly in her blood-soaked hands. Simon loomed behind her, but Zane knew the blood hadn’t come from a vampire’s bite. No, this time, it had come from something far worse.

“
Dee, tell me you didn’t ask her to—”

Dee brushed by him and headed for Catalina. “We needed to find him. She had to scry.”

Dee had never understood about scrying. She didn’t realize … Cat looked into the spirit world every time she tried to see the future. And the spirit world … it looked back at her. When Death looked at you, it was never a good thing.

He marks you
. She’d told Zane that once. Told him that she’d felt Death’s claws in her flesh. He’d seen the scars on her back to prove the claim.

“What did you see?” Jude asked, circling close to her.

Her chest heaving, she said, “Demons-demons were all around him. Closing in.”

“A den?” The question came from Simon. He was right at Catalina’s back. Good thing. The woman would be collapsing soon.