Split at the Seams (26 page)

“What the fuck? Put that gun down, Vixen.” Conrad was slowly making his way toward us.

“Don’t interfere with this. It’s got nothing to do with you.”

“The hell it doesn’t! My girl’s in trouble and I need Sierra to help me get her out of it.” At least he was honest about why he wanted me safe.

“I don’t care about your problems,” she said, but I could see it in her eyes. Vixen did care, because she knew Conrad’s girl was Ebony—also her friend.

I raised both of my hands in surrender, turning my gaze to Papan. He was still dressed in a tee and jeans, barefoot. The dark stain spread across the denim as he continued to apply pressure. Another blossomed on his midsection. His hair was messy and as sweaty as his face.

He met my gaze and shook his head, as if in warning.

Still, I took a step. I couldn’t let him bleed out.

He shook his head again and Vixen cocked the gun, pressing the barrel against my temple. The heat from the tip made me wince.

“I swear, Sierra, if you make another sudden move…”

“What, Vixen? What are you going to do—kill me? Because if that’s what you want to do, you’re going to have to take a number. I’ve already got a fan club out for my blood. So if you have to shoot me—do it! But you’re not stopping me from checking on Papan. I told you he wasn’t hurting anyone but you had to come after him anyway. Why the hell did you come back here? I thought you’d already checked and didn’t find—”

“A scorned lover can be a very valuable asset,” she answered with a lopsided smirk. “The strange thing is…I didn’t even have to contact him. Jonathan came to me and told me you were hiding the wolf. After that, it was just a matter of waiting out the protection wards. I knew he’d come out sooner or later—it is the week of the full moon.”

My fingers itched to reach Papan. I wasn’t surprised by Jonathan’s betrayal. As far as he was concerned, I probably deserved it. He’d finally done something about his hatred toward Papan.

“You shot him, now what?” And why would waiting out the protection wards give her passage? From what I’d gathered, Oren’s magic didn’t come with a use-by date. Something else must have interfered with the protection barrier around the house.

“Now, I finish what I started.” She moved her arm so quickly I didn’t even see it shift, but her next shot missed Papan. He had fast reflexes. Injured or not, he stepped out of the bullet’s path. The gun was back at my head before I could shuffle away. “Come out, little wolf, or I’ll shoot your girlfriend.”

“This is bullshit,” Conrad said, sidling up beside me. “We’re not supposed to be fighting each other! Don’t we have enough monsters out there willing to do this already?”

A growl answered his question.

I trembled with fear. I’d heard the sound enough times to know the dog-beast had returned. The scar on my clavicle throbbed to the beat of my heart, speeding up with every new growl.

I swung around and caught sight of the beastly thing waiting near the back fence. Was it a trick of the absence of light, or did he look uglier every time I crossed paths with him? The backyard might contain other people, but he clearly only had red eyes for me. Drool dribbled from his snout in gross strands, canine lips curling back enough to expose the snarl accompanying his growl.

“Oh shit,” Conrad said. “Is this another one of your friends?”

Vixen looked around, probably expecting to track Papan so she could finish what we’d interrupted. I didn’t know where Papan was, but hoped he’d had enough time to run.

“He’s in the I-want-Sierra-dead fan club.” The rain pounded against the grass, making everything much harder to see and the soggy grass uncomfortable to stand on.

“Fuck, you sure know how to get on people’s nerves,” Conrad said with a snort. “Remind me not to hang around you for too long.”

“That thing isn’t a person,” I said with a shake of my head, just as a flash of lightning lit up the yard, closely followed by thunder.

The beast was glaring at me one minute and leapt off his hind legs to pounce on me the next. Heavy paws smacked against my shoulders with so much force I lost my balance and landed on my back, with him on top. Saliva dribbled onto my cheeks as I tried to keep his snout out of my face.

I could barely see Conrad, swearing and trying to figure out what to do. He pulled a stake out from somewhere and plunged it into the dog’s back.

The black dog cried out, his spine curving and giving my arms a reprieve from attempting to keep him away. He stayed on top of me, huge paws now jabbing hard against the tops of my arms. At least his claws hadn’t gotten past the fabric of my T-shirt.

Shit, that hurts!
If he kept it up, he’d soon tear past the fabric and would pierce my flesh. I couldn’t let him literally pin me to the ground like a dying butterfly.

The pain was so bad, my vision blurred and I wondered if I was about to pass out. The bite mark on my collarbone itched like crazy, and as much as I tried to buck my hips, I just couldn’t shake him off.

I took a shallow breath, once again feeling reality crinkle at the sides. My skin crawled with tiny electric shocks from the storm, the magic residue, and what I suspected was the dark patch slowly drifting past my barriers. Just like what happened inside Jonathan’s bookstore, I could feel my body lighten. It was so dark now that it was hard to tell where the backyard ended and the dark patch began.

This demonic dog was going down.

As I prepared to drag us in, a cream-colored blur passed right before my eyes and took the beast with it.

I sucked in a deep breath and rushed to my knees, letting the dark patch once again retreat. My whole body was trembling, aching. All I could do was watch as the light wolf and the dark beast went tail over snout, rolling from one end of the yard to the other, swiping sharp claws and biting at each other until they hit the side of the house with a thump and a crack.

I didn’t know if the noise had come from the weatherboards or one of them.

Papan’s wolf was beautiful—snarling and biting into the dog who tried to do much of the same back.

“Fucking wolves, they’re all the same,” Vixen spat, pushing past me. “These two just happen to be identical.”

“What the hell are you talking about, they’re completely different!” Conrad shouted. “Let’s get the fuck inside before they turn on us.” He snaked a hand around my forearm and I winced. I let him help me stand, but pulled out of his grasp when he tried to lead me away from the ongoing fight.

“No, I can’t leave him with this beast.”

“I’m pretty sure the wolf can look after himself,” Conrad insisted.

“I’ll take care of both of them.” Vixen drew her gun and fired twice before either of us could stop her. One of the bullets struck—causing one of the animals to make a whining noise—but the other hit the side of the house. “Shit!”

The black mass of tangled fur swung around, glaring in our direction with freaky, shiny eyes. Papan rolled out from beneath the beast.

This time, the black dog’s red eyes were focused on Vixen.

She fired again. The bullet hit the spot where the beast was just a second before he sprang into the air and landed on top of her. She lost her gun. It fell onto the grass as the dog buried its snout deep into her throat.

As annoying as she was, I couldn’t stand by and let her die.

I rushed forward, ready to at least try to kick the dog off her, but Papan raced out in front of me and pounded his big front paws against the beast’s back. The black dog was ripped away from Vixen, but not before taking a huge chunk from her shoulder.

The wolf and the dog scrambled around the yard some more—fur and fangs exposed. As they tore into each other, the rain intensified and the lightning made their fight look like choppy, moving pictures. But it was the simultaneous sound of the gun going off, and the rolling thunder, that stopped them.

I looked up. Conrad stood with the barrel of Vixen’s gun still pointed in front of him.

He’d hit the beast in the back and left a red hole like nothing I’d ever seen before. The dog’s head fell back as he growled into the night, crying and moaning as it slowly pushed off Papan and struggled to make its way out of the yard. The hole didn’t seem to be closing, actually spread like a squashed tomato.

“Shoot him again,” I shouted.

Conrad nodded. The bullet struck the beast so hard that its spine curved and he collapsed in the shadows by the side of the house.

Silence filled the yard as we held our collective breaths, watching and waiting to see what the beast would do next. It didn’t move, but lay on its front like a shaggy carpet left outside in the rain.

I held my breath, waiting for him to do his best horror movie monster impression and rise to wreak more havoc.

When he didn’t, I dropped to my knees beside Vixen. She had both hands pressed against the side of her neck and blood dripped between her fingers in an ongoing gush. Her body trembled and the rain thinned out the blood, making it pool around her.

It wasn’t until then, when I felt the dagger still in my pocket, that I remembered I’d been carrying silver with me this whole time, and hadn’t used it. This was going to take some getting used to.

“Here, use this to put pressure against her neck.” Papan handed me his wet T-shirt. He stood above me, jeans on but unbuckled. He was a lot quicker than I thought.

“Is she going to die?” Conrad asked, still holding the gun.

“Not if we take care of her right now.” Papan looked grim. “The hybrid bit her real good, and might have passed on the virus.”

Vixen’s eyes widened, horrified. “No…”

“Doesn’t seem fair to become what you hunt, does it?” Papan said with a shake of his head, sending droplets from his hair all around us. “You shattered the defenses around this house and gave the hybrid access. Now we’re all at risk.” He looked at Conrad. “Where’d you get the silver?”

“I didn’t…wards were…down before…” Vixen closed her eyes.

“I hunt vamps,” Conrad answered. “I have silver bullets and spikes on me all the time.”

Papan didn’t say anything for a moment. “Grab the hunter and get her inside.”

Conrad didn’t even question him. He tucked the gun into the waistband of his jeans and leaned over to lift Vixen off the grass. She moaned with his every move, still mumbling about not having anything to do with the wards being down.

I made sure her hands were pressed tight against the T-shirt I’d pressed over her ravaged skin to slow the bleeding. I took a step to follow them but Papan grabbed my hand and stopped me. When I turned to face him, he pulled me into a tight embrace. I pressed my face against his sweaty chest and silently rejoiced in the fact he was still alive—injured—but still here to tell the tale.

“I thought you said you had to go,” I murmured, suddenly feeling a chill from my clothes being soaked.

“I was about to when she took her first shot.”

Pulling back enough to meet his eyes, I sighed. “I’m so glad you’re all right.” He seemed fine, though his torso and arms were pretty torn up from his fight with the dog-thing and the two bullets he’d taken. “She shot you.”

“It wasn’t with silver,” he said. “I’m glad you’re all right too. That thing came back to get you. Vixen just got in its way, and now she’s going to pay the price.” He held me tighter. “Don’t worry about the bullets, they’ve already fallen out. Lead doesn’t hurt me, unless it’s laced with something else.”

I nodded. “Do you have to go now?”

“Not yet. I’ve got at least a few hours before I can’t take this skin anymore. Shifting for a bit helped push back the craving, and seeing you will be enough to keep it at bay for now.”

I offered him a smile. “Things are getting really bad around here. Are you sure you still want to do this…with me?” My heart beat a frantic rhythm as I tilted my head to meet his gaze, to see what effect my words had on him. He’d almost gotten killed. I wouldn’t blame him if he kept running after leaving tonight.

He cupped my face in his hands. “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I know your life is filled with danger and strange people who want you dead, but you’re worth it.” Papan sealed his statement with a soft but too-quick kiss.

“This is only half of it. Wait until I tell you what else is going on,” I said.

“I can’t wait.” He took a step and draped an arm around my shoulders, limping as we made our way toward the stairs leading to the open backdoor.

“What about the dog?” When I turned a quick glance in the direction where I’d seen him lying motionless and bleeding on the grass only minutes ago, he wasn’t there. My blood chilled.

Where the hell did he go?

I didn’t bother telling Papan; he was already hurt. For now, it was enough to be heading back into the house together so we could figure out what we were going to do about Vixen. I could deal with the black dog tomorrow.

Besides, if the beast didn’t get me, I was pretty sure Mace would.

Vixen was tucked into the single bed in one of the three downstairs bedrooms, parallel to the one Papan was using at the moment. Personally, I didn’t want her anywhere near Papan. Not after she tried to kill him so many times and made a royal mess out of the situation, but he suggested we put her nearby. He wanted to keep a close eye on her.