Taming the Darkness: Love & Monsters, Book 2 (5 page)

A dark shape dashed in front of the headlights and turned to snarl at them. Holy shit, it was huge. Claire slammed on the brakes as a deep growl filled the truck. The AV smashed into the nasty and she was thrown forward. The seatbelt held her back, digging sharply into her body, but her head still clipped the steering wheel. No airbags in this thing. The crunch of metal and glass filled her ears, and a screaming roar that must have come from the thing they’d run into. Claire lifted her aching head.

The nasty loomed in front of the mess that used to be the AV’s hood. Its eyes shone bluish white in the cracked headlights and it stared straight at her. The passenger door opened and Monroe jumped out, growling a challenge. The nasty instantly turned its head and tensed, then Monroe was on it. Claire fumbled with her seatbelt, wondering if it was smarter to stay in the truck. Well, yes, it was
smarter
, but it was cowardly. She got the belt off and had to shove at the door a few times to get it open. The AV rocked as Monroe slammed into it. All the snarling and growling made it sound like a pack of wolves was fighting instead of just the two of them. Claire staggered out of the AV and put a hand against it to steady herself as she backed away from the fight. Hitting the steering wheel had hurt more than she thought. Her head pounded and she felt dizzy.

The nasty came into full view, and holy
shit
, it looked even bigger now that she was out of the truck. Maybe it would be best to get back inside and just let Monroe take care of it. The creature fixed shining eyes on her and she reached for her handgun. Monroe jumped at the thing’s head, and yes, it was big enough that he had to jump at it.
How tall is this thing?
Eight feet? Ten? The glow of the headlights showed bright red blood dripping from Monroe’s face. The nasty tried to knock him aside, but he held on, digging his claws into its pink skin. They staggered out of the light as Claire brought her gun up. They twisted as they moved farther into the darkness. If she fired, she might hit Monroe. She still kept her gun trained, looking for an opportunity. She took her eyes off them for a moment to scan the darkness around her. She couldn’t see anything, but it was so dark she was unlikely to. Her night-vision goggles and her assault rifle were both in the AV.

Checking to make sure they were still a good distance away from her, Claire leaned into the cab. She found her rifle first and slung it around her shoulder, wincing at the way it pulled against the bruises from the seatbelt. The crash had thrown things around and the goggles weren’t where they were supposed to be. She glanced over her shoulder to make sure she was still clear, then leaned over further, searching the floor. There they were. She pulled them out and did a quick check. They seemed to be fine, so she pulled them down over her eyes, wincing as the goggles went past the growing lump on her head.

Green light flooded the world and she spun to face Monroe and the nasty. Both of them were hurt, blood showing black in the night vision. The nasty reached up with a hand the size of Monroe’s head and dug its claws into his side. Monroe howled but still didn’t let go. The nasty pulled him off and flung him away. He bounced off a tree and disappeared into the tall grass.

The nasty turned to her. Claire hesitated about one second before she squeezed the trigger and poured lead into the monster. It made that screaming roar again and came at her. The bullets slowed it down but didn’t stop it. Her back was against the AV, and she had to move before she was trapped against it. She ran sideways, still firing, and got clear of the AV. Blood poured out of a dozen holes in the nasty, but it kept coming. She fired at its head, and
that
made it stagger. Two more shots and the huge thing toppled over. She shot it several more times just to make sure. As the thing twitched a few last times, she thought,
Victor. Is Victor okay?

When the nasty didn’t move for several seconds, she ran off to where she’d last seen her partner. She found him struggling to his hands and knees and bent to help him.

“Don’t touch me.” He looked up, his face covered with black. Her heart squeezed, but she told herself he would be fine. Head wounds bled a lot, and besides, he healed fast. But what about his side? “Blood might infect you.”

She took two steps back. It was hard to watch him struggle to his feet and not be able to help him. Whatever else he was, she knew she’d accepted him as her partner. She felt the same concern for him she had in the early stages of her other partnerships. Victor’s sweatshirt was also covered in black, especially where the nasty’s claws had pierced him. “Are you okay?”

“Do I fuckin’ look okay?”

She glared at him, then realized he couldn’t see the expression with her goggles covering her eyes. “Fine, let me rephrase. Are you going to die? Can you make it to the AV?”

“I can make it. And I won’t die.” He took two steps and fell to his knees.

“Oh, for fuck’s sake.” She went over and grabbed his arm.

He shrugged her off, in danger of toppling over. “Blood-to-blood contact is infectious.”

“So what. I don’t have any cuts and I’m wearing armor.” Although a little nervous chill went through her. If his blood got in her system, she would end up like him.

“Your head.”

“What?” She reached for him and he shifted away.

“It’s bleeding.”

Claire touched the growing lump on her forehead. Her fingers came away with sweat, nothing else. She gently probed along her scalp until she felt something tacky. She didn’t remember getting cut, but she was bleeding none the less. “Just don’t bleed on my head, and we’ll be fine.” She reached for his arm again, and this time he let her put it around her shoulders. Victor was
heavy
. Just taking part of his weight was almost too much for her. They made slow progress toward the AV.

“They’ll come now, to feed,” Victor said.

She looked around, expecting to see lurking shapes in the dark. Nothing. Not yet, at least. “Then we better get out of here.”

They went around the front of the AV, and she didn’t like the look of it. The nasty had left a huge dent and crumpled the hood. Would it even start? She helped Victor around to the passenger side and got him inside. He grunted with pain a few times but didn’t complain. She hurried around to the other side and got the door closed after two tries. Breathing a sigh of relief, she scanned the darkness again. She thought she saw something shifting in the bushes. She pushed the goggles up on her head, wincing as they went over the bump on her head. She turned the ignition and the engine made unhappy noises. “Shit.”

“They’re coming.” Victor was focused on something ahead of them.

Claire tried the ignition again. The engine chugged and rattled. “Shit, shit.” Her head throbbed in time with her racing heart. She tried a third time, and still the AV wouldn’t start. Muttering a prayer, she tried a fourth time, and still nothing. “Fuck!” She slammed her hands against the steering wheel in frustration.

Victor’s head darted back and forth as he looked out the different windows. “Too many. I can’t fight like this.”

The windows were reinforced glass, but the crash had weakened the windshield. If the nasties headed their way were strong enough or determined enough, they’d be able to get in. It was hours yet until sunrise, and they were trapped. Both of them were injured, Victor much worse than her, and they were about to be swarmed. Claire took a deep breath and closed her eyes. Think. There had to be a way out of this.

“Get in the back,” Victor said.

This AV was from the lab, designed for taking back live specimens. The back was meant to keep a nasty in. It should work well enough to keep nasties out until dawn. She looked over at Victor and he met her gaze. Five hours stuck in a small space with him. For a moment, the thought of that was more frightening than facing the nasties gathering outside. Claire swallowed and she knew he had to be smelling her fear. “Promise you won’t hurt me.”

He blinked at her, his brow furrowed. “You want me with you?”

Now it was her turn to frown. “Well, I’m not leaving you out here. Not as long as you promise not to hurt me.”

His expression shifted, the look in his eyes achingly human. “I promise. I swear.” He sketched a cross over his heart. Then he snapped his head around. “Go. Now.” He opened his door and ducked out.

With her heart pounding, she checked that she still had her gun and her goggles, then she shoved the door open. She ran around the front of the AV, the headlights almost blinding her, and made it to the passenger side. Victor was limping but walking under his own power.

“I’ll get the doors.” She ran past him and yanked open the back doors. It didn’t look inviting with all the chains and weapons, but it did look sturdy. There was also a first-aid kit and emergency rations, so they could clean up their wounds and have something to eat while they waited.

Claire pulled down her goggles, trying and failing to avoid the lump on her forehead, and scanned the area around them. Two dog-things loped toward them down the middle of the road. “Hurry, Victor.” She brought her gun up and waited a few seconds while they came closer. Behind her, she heard Victor come around the corner of the AV.

“Get in,” he growled.

“You first,” she countered. He was wounded and unarmed.

He grumbled but climbed in. It sounded like he was struggling a little, but she didn’t want to take her eyes off the dogs. Claire fired twice and one of them went down. The other darted away and disappeared into the tall grass. She looked around, seeing more shapes moving through the overgrown yards. Victor was right, there were too many of them. She turned and jumped into the back of the AV and slammed both doors just as several skinned lizards crawled out onto the road.

Then she was closed in with Victor.

Victor pulled off his shirt and used it as a towel to wipe off the blood that had gotten everywhere. Some of it was his, some of it was the nasty’s, and from the smell of the thing, he knew it had once been human. That meant it was infectious, so if any of the blood got into a cut on Claire, she could get infected. He scrubbed at himself until the shirt was covered and then he only succeeded in smearing the blood around. He tried to ignore the burning pain in his side and the aches all over his body. Clean. He had to get clean so he was safe.

Claire set up several flashlights, brightening the small space, and set her goggles down. “Base, this is Scarlotti. We ran into a big nasty and the AV won’t start. We’re safe in the back for now, but we’re surrounded.”

“They won’t come get us.”

She looked at him, and for a second he thought she was going to argue.

“Probably not, but I still have to call it in. It’s protocol.”

“You don’t strike me as the strict rule-following type.”

“I follow the rules that keep me alive.”

“So how did you end up stuck in the back of an AV with me?” He smiled.

The corner of her mouth turned up. “I failed to listen to my common sense.” She paused, holding two fingers to her earpiece. “Yes, base, I read you.” She let out a sigh. “I understand. We’ll make our way back after dawn. Scarlotti out.”

“Told you so.”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know.” She picked up the first-aid kit and moved toward him.

Victor growled. She backed away, the scent of fear spiking. He dropped his head, feeling immediately guilty. “The blood is infectious.”

“I know. You told me that already.”

“So stay away.” He kept trying to wipe it off.

Claire sighed and went to go dig in the trunk. He ignored her until the sharp smell of disinfectant filled his nose. “Here.” She tossed him a blanket, one corner of it wet.

He met her gaze. The bruised lump on her forehead looked worse in the light. “Thanks,” he muttered. He started with the claw wounds in his left side, hissing at the sting of disinfectant. He cleaned his chest, his head, his arms and hands with the single-minded intensity he usually only had for fighting. He even scrubbed under his fingernails. He looked up to see Claire pulling on latex gloves.

“Can I look at your wounds now?”

“I’m fine. They’ll heal.”

She sighed. “Can I cover them up so I don’t have to look at them all night?”

“Fine. But be—”

“Careful. I know.” She slid over to him and pulled a few supplies from the first aid kit. “Why do you have to make everything so difficult?”

“Because I don’t want to hurt you.”

Their gazes met and he took a deep breath, searching for nuances in her scent. The smell of fear still clung to her clothes and skin, but she wasn’t afraid now. Claire took a cotton pad and wet it with disinfectant. “Did you mean what you said this morning? That I brought you back from the edge?” She wiped at the punctures in his side. The wounds were still bleeding slightly and he tensed, more with worry that she might get blood on her than at the sting.

“Yes. It responds to you.”

“Apparently,” she muttered with disdain.

Victor started to laugh and stopped at the flare of pain. “I feel better when you’re around.”

She glanced up at him, then turned back to finish cleaning his wounds. She tore the wrapper off a large gauze pad. “I don’t know what to believe. First you try to scare me, then you want to fuck me, now you’re…making puppy-dog eyes.”