Firefight in Darkness (18 page)

She had to fight against the shudder that raced over her body at his words.

Before she could ask another question, he leaned in closer to her, until she could see the busted capillaries in the leathery skin beneath his eyes. Around them both, smoke swirled in the light from the bulb dangling over their heads.

“The man you are with, you know what my kind call him?”

She shook her head, eyebrows raised with interest.

“We call him the Reaper Man…he’s a man so deadly he makes the true reaper shiver in the bowels of hell. A man like that, he follows no rules but his own.”

She would have laughed had she not seen the seriousness in his eyes, or heard the warning in his voice. What exactly was he trying to tell her?

Suddenly, the door behind them opened and Jax and Ricky stepped out, both grinning.

“Ready to go?” Jax asked her, his hands in his pockets casually. He had the outer appearance of being relaxed, but she could tell by the excitement in his eyes that he had learned something of vital importance from Ricky.

“Yeah, let’s get the hell outta here.” Blythe rose to her feet, not even looking back at Jasper as she made her way to the stairs.

♦ ♦ ♦

“Alright, cowboy, tell me what your buddy Ricky told you.” She grumbled as she climbed into the car beside him. He flipped on the radio and put the car in drive before heading out onto the street. It was nearly nightfall, and the city lights around them glowed orange against the darkening sky.

“Dante was at the bar late last night, and he wasn’t alone.”

“Who the hell was he meeting with?” Blythe turned in her seat, forgetting all about the bar, Jasper and his dire warnings.

“Ricky didn’t get a good look, said the guy was wearing a hooded cloak. The pair of them sat in a booth in the corner, and they kept to themselves. After about fifteen minutes, the guy with the cloak got up and left, and Dante stayed for a few more drinks.”

“Wow.” Stumped, Blythe sat back in her seat and considered this new information.

“I know. This is huge. If he’s working with someone, then he’s more likely to screw up somewhere along the line. It’s hard to control the actions of others, so if we can find out who he was talking to, we might be able to get his whereabouts from them.”

“How are we going to find them?” Blythe asked, her stomach suddenly grumbling from lack of dinner.

“I don’t know yet. Let’s sleep on it tonight, and we’ll figure something out in the morning.”

“Alright.”

About twenty minutes later, after driving out of the city to the outskirts of town where Loretta’s house was, Jax pulled up towards his own home.

Blythe slipped out of the car, and then simply gaped.

The house was enormous, twice the size Loretta’s had been. It was a sprawling single story wood paneled house with desert landscaping and a wide front porch lit by a single, glowing yellow light.

Beside and around the back of the house, Blythe could see nothing but acres of land for miles, lit generously by the pale moon.

“This is…amazing.” She managed, not even noticing when he took her duffle bag from her to sling over his own shoulder. “And it’s just down the road from your mom, how cute.”

“When I’m not on a case, I help her out at the ranch.” He said simply, leading the way towards the house. She followed him up the front steps and onto the porch, noting the hand carved wooden benches and chairs he had placed there. Charmed, she followed him inside, only to be suddenly tackled by something furry. “Oh!”

“Cooper! Down.” Jax crouched to gather the wriggling Australian shepherd into his arms, letting it lick his face as he rubbed his hands over the white, gray, and black spotted fur.

Blythe watched as man and dog wrestled for a bit, smiling at how happy Jax looked now that he was home. Taking the chance to look around, she glanced up at the high ceiling broken up with skylights, and the generous stone fireplace in the corner circled by one large, soft and comfy looking sofa. It was a gigantic great room, with a kitchen and dining area off to the left and the living room sprawled to the right. A hallway led off to what she assumed were the bedrooms just past the living room. The colors were muted earth tones, masculine with straight lines and little artwork or frilly touches. This was a man’s room, a man’s house, and she respected that he felt no need to let it be more than he was: uncomplicated.

“This is some house.” She grinned at him as he stood up and released the dog, which immediately bounded forward to greet her. “Hi boy!” She bent down to rub his body and face, letting him lick her cheek. “He doesn’t stay here all by himself while you’re out gunning for demons, does he?”

“My mom comes by and takes care of him when I’m gone.” He headed off towards the kitchen, intending to fix something up for them, only to remember he was seriously lacking any actual food. Knowing her eating cycle pretty well by now, he knew he had to find something to feed her.

“I’m gonna call in for some Chinese food.” He told her as he reached for the menu from his fridge and the telephone beside it.

Blythe was too busy playing with Cooper to really care. “Okay, whatever.” She laughed as Cooper began chasing his non-existent tail, spinning in frantic circles, his vivid blue eyes wide and focused on something that only he could see. Enchanted, she got to her feet and wandered towards the kitchen, marveling at everything.

A few minutes later she found Jax uncorking a bottle of wine, and cocked an eyebrow at him. “Since when do you drink wine?”

He glanced back at her and winked. “Every smart man has a bottle of red on hand for when a lady comes over.”

He poured a glass for each of them and turned around to hand one to her. She accepted it, tilting her head as she considered him. “What should we toast to?”

“To finding Dante.” He said simply, holding out his glass. She tapped hers against his and smirked before taking a generous sip.

She leaned up against the counter and watched him, running her free hand through her hair, feeling edgy. Deciding to just get it over with, she blurted out the words that had been eluding her for nearly an hour.

“Why do they call you the Reaper Man?”

She saw the surprise flash over his face quickly before he replaced it with nonchalance. “Just a nickname, I guess. I don’t know why they use it.”

“Jasper said it was because you’re deadly.” She took another sip of wine, though it didn’t taste as good coupled with the bitterness on her tongue. “Should I be worried about you, cowboy?”

His eyes darkened at her words, and the dangerous look he sent her reminded her of the way he’d looked that night in Phoenix.

“I would never hurt you.” He assured her, though the look in his eyes seemed to contradict the statement.

“I can handle myself, Jax.” She frowned, her temper sparking. “That’s not what I meant, anyways.”

“So what did you mean?”

She took a deep breath, knowing she should tell him. Hell, if anything, at least she could find out where he stood and then she could evaluate her own feelings. That was what was best, wasn’t it?

“What I meant was, should I be worried that I’m starting to fall for the most feared and deadly demon hunter there is? Because, I’m not gonna lie, I kind of like the idea.”

He froze, his face stiffening as he processed her words. Then he simply exhaled and leaned back against the counter, lifting his wine and downing the entire glass before setting it roughly down on the counter.

“You’re not falling for me.” He retorted heatedly as the doorbell rang. “That’ll be the Chinese.”

He stalked out of the room, leaving her alone with her thoughts. She hadn’t expected him to be angry. Startled, maybe a little annoyed, but not angry. Feeling more hurt than she wanted to admit, she sipped more of her wine as he returned into the kitchen, setting the bags of food down on the counter.

To her surprise, he suddenly came up beside her and pulled her into his arms, just holding her. She closed her eyes and held on, her heart aching.

“I’m sorry, Blythe.” He murmured into her hair, breathing in her scent. “Lord, you scare me sometimes.”

She pulled away from him, fighting for nonchalance. “I get it, okay? What’s between us has to stay casual, for both of our sakes. I know that. I just…damnit, I don’t even know anymore.”

“Let’s just put this out of our minds for now. Let’s eat, and then I want you to call your family. You can use my phone.” With that, he grabbed the bag of food, the glasses and the bottle of wine and headed into the living room.

“But I don’t even know how to use a phone.” She managed, fighting back the emotions she felt. God, he could read her like a book. He knew, even though she hadn’t said a word, that she missed her family.

She wandered into the living room after him, sitting down on the couch as he broke into the boxes of food.

“It’s okay, I’ll show you.” He handed her a box of some kind of reddish orange blobs and a pair of sticks. She stared down at them skeptically.

“What am I supposed to do with this?” She choked out a laugh, eyeing him doubtfully. “What is this stuff?”

“Those are chop sticks, and that is sweet and sour pork. You hold the chop sticks like this,” he grabbed her hands and molded her fingers around the sticks, “and you pinch them together around the food to pick it up.”

Snorting, she shook her head. “You’re crazy. I’m getting a damn fork.”

“Oh no you don’t.” He pulled her back down as she tried to stand up, causing her to giggle as he wrestled her back into place. “If you’re gonna eat Chinese food, you have to do it right. Otherwise it’s disrespectful.”

She rolled her eyes at him. “Fine, I’ll give it a shot. But if it doesn’t work I’m getting the fork.” She pouted a bit as she tried to maneuver the sticks around a piece of pork, then bit her lip as she managed to grab it. She inched it towards her open mouth slowly, only to have it suddenly slip and fall into her lap. “Damnit!”

He started laughing so hard he nearly cried, and hearing it and seeing it made her start laughing too. They slumped together, both shaking with laughter, her hand finding his knee for balance and his arm winding around her waist. When the humor seemed to slip away, she realized her head was resting comfortably against his chest, and she could hear his heart quicken its pace as she tilted her head back to look at him.

Clearing his throat, he shifted away from her, reaching for the chow mein.

She followed his cue and sat back into the couch with her box of sweet and sour pork, knowing the spark they both felt wasn’t going to be as easy to forget as he had made it sound.

“Jax?” She said suddenly, pushing the pork around with the sticks as she glanced over to look at him.

“Yes, Blythe?”

“I realized this morning that I know literally nothing about you, except that you grew up in El Paso, were raised by a single mother who worked at a strip club, had a father who you never knew because he wrote you and your mom a big check and then bailed. You’re a bounty hunter who hunts down demons for Thea as a specialty. You have a nice house and a dog named Cooper, and a black Chevelle that you insist on blasting crappy country music in. But other than that…I don’t know much else. There’s a big chunk missing in between all that stuff. I’d love to hear about it, if you’re willing to tell me.”

Because his first instinct was to tell her everything, to share all of it with her, he knew that that was what was ultimately going to happen.

He’d fought too long to keep his past under wraps from her, to never let her in on more than what was necessary. But things were different now, and she deserved to know the truth. After all, even before he’d met her he’d known so much about her, to the point where she hadn’t even had to share anything with him. He’d already known it all, thanks to Thea.

But Blythe had rarely pestered him for information about himself, just like she’d asked him for hardly anything the whole time they’d been together. She didn’t require much to be content, but that didn’t mean she didn’t deserve it.

“When I turned eighteen, I joined the police academy here in El Paso.” He began, reaching over to fill his glass and hers with more red wine. “I guess I had something to prove to myself, that I could protect those around me and take out the bad guys all at once. It was fun, and I was a natural.” He leaned back and sipped, smiling drily at her. “When I was twenty two, I was the lead on what ended up being a huge drug bust. It all started out as pretty routine, until I was approached by two men in suits who I assumed were the Feds, come to take charge of my case. Naturally, I was hostile at first with them, as this was my bust and I was reluctant to hand it over to another agency, but they told me they were from an elite, highly top secret unit that specialized in what they called ‘the supernatural.’ I thought it was all some big joke until they took me into a private room with the leader of the drug ring I’d busted, and the bastard started shaking and black smoke came out of his body, forming what I now know is a demon. I thought I was dreaming; I kept slapping my face and laughing, because I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. And then they explained everything to me. They told me about Thea, about the Furies, and about demons. They said they were called Enforcers, and that their job was to hunt down demons. They wanted me to join them. I’d get to travel the country, work with a specialized team, and see things that 99.9% of the human population is completely unaware exists. I must of still thought I was dreaming, because I said yes before I’d even given it much thought. The next thing I knew, I was in Washington DC, training with other new recruits on how to destroy demons.”

“That’s a long way from home.” Blythe sipped her wine, considering him. “Is that why you decided to go rogue?”

“In a manner of speaking, but it was mostly because I was given the chance to go solo more than me seeking it out. You see, one of my first major missions with my team was to take out this demon who was mass murdering people in Sudan. We were supposed to go in, capture him, bring him back to our base some five miles away, and destroy him. But what we didn’t know was he had taken a hostage, a twelve year old girl, and he was threatening to blow himself and the girl to pieces with a bomb he had strapped to his chest if we tried to take him. So we contacted the Furies, and they show up to try and reason with him. But what we didn’t know was that he had never planned on blowing himself up, he had an escape plan. It occurred to me as I was standing there, my weapon drawn and aimed at him as he stood inside the courtyard of his compound. I thought to myself, shit, he’s going to start the five second timer on the bomb, possess the little girl and run, and blow his former body to pieces. It was so clear to me that when he suddenly set off the timer and within two seconds released the little girl, I ran for the girl, leaving my post. My commander yelled to me, but I didn’t stop. I heard the explosion of the bomb, but I still didn’t stop. Rian was there, and he must have had the same idea because he was right with me. Suddenly the little girl stopped and turned around, and she had a gun. Lord knows how that happened, but the bastard started firing at us. I grabbed Rian and pulled him behind the side of the nearest building. That was all the time he needed to grab his own weapon and aim it at demon as he started to run again. He hit the girl with this device that only stuns, not kills, because we knew we had an innocent twelve year old girl on our hands. She crumbled to the ground, he forced the demon out of her, and then destroyed him then and there. The little girl survived, the demon was dead, and Rian and I became friends. He was the one who recommended to Thea that I work exclusively for her. He said that I understood the way demons thought more than any other human he’d met. One thing lead to another, and I took the job. It worked out better for me, since I could live in El Paso and help my mom on the ranch when I wasn’t on assignment for Thea. I’ve been doing it ever since.”