Taming the Night (Creatures of the Night Book 1) (16 page)

“And what exactly i
s this? You think I’m a machine! I can be broken, bitten, beaten, and starved without ever making a mistake. This is all new to me. I’ve had to abandon everyone and everything I care about and I didn’t ask for any of this,” he yelled back. His last bit of strength was almost gone. His words sounded as if they were coming from a long distance and not his mouth.

*

Al watched him as he looked from side to side like he was cornered. He fought for control but he was about to crash… hard. She had to stop. “Okay, alright. Just hang on a little while longer big poppa. I got a place we can go,” she said as she sped up again. 

It took them another hour to reach the place she was headed to and her speed had put a lot of space between them and the wolves. They were still coming though. There were so many of them. She had been crazy to think that they could go to a hotel.

Even with what the twins had taken out, they just kept coming. They were coming from South America, from
Canada… She shook her head to try and dispel the feeling of impending doom. She pulled off on a hidden path that cut through the mountains. They went through a small valley and traveled the crease of a mountain until it became apparent that they could not continue on the bike. They would have to walk from here. She stopped. Jerry was nearly dead weight behind her. As she came to a halt his head snapped up.

“Where are they! Did they catch us, why did we stop!”

“Calm down honey. I just gotta get you somewhere where you can rest. It’s too bad you need to breath or we would go into the lake like I’ve done in the past.”

Jerry looked groggy and conf
used. “You don’t need to breath?” he asked as he stumbled to his feet. He swayed as if a strong breeze could blow him down.

She took the bike to an area she had spied out before and lay it on its side. She
removed her satchel and then gave the bike a loving stroke and tsked over the damage Jerry had caused. She would come back for the bike and make sure it was repaired properly. Her bike was the only thing that she had felt any affection for for so long, that she almost felt like it was a part of her. It almost felt like betrayal to leave it, like she was choosing Jerry over it.

“I can’t die remember. Drowning over and over is uncomfortable but you learn how to move forward,” she replied.

She began to stride through the woods knowing that he would follow her. She heard him fall a few times but didn’t feel like trying to hold him up at the moment. It had been a long ride with him pressed so close behind her. She didn’t know why she was so turned on by him but it was undeniable. She couldn’t keep her mind on anything but him when he was touching her.

“How do you know that you can’t die,” he asked as he stumbled behind her. It was a good thing that they weren’t trying to sneak up on anyone. The noise they made was like having a big red neon sign pointing saying ‘here we are, come and get it’. She shook her head.

“I know,” she replied shortly. He was silent for a little while.

“You know because you tried it,” he said as more of a statement than a question.

She felt tension weigh down on her shoulders and she couldn’t seem to shake it like she normally did. “Are you trynna figure me out Officer Cayman?”

He didn’t respond as he struggled to keep up. She was aware that he stopped for a moment and was tempted to just leave him behind. “Wait
. Slow down. Where are we going?” he yelled behind her.

“Just keep moving. If you stop now you’ll crash and I’ll have to carry you like a little girl
,
cherie
,” she teased.

“Oww,” he yelped as a branch struck him in the face. “Damn it! I don’t have freaky night vision like you do so i
f you don’t mind just slow down. Are you part billy goat along with vampire?” he said as he breathed hard.

“It’s just ahead,” she said as she forced herself to slow down to keep stride with him.

Finally they reached the cave that she had spied out before she’d started this operation. She always made sure there was a secondary location for her to make a stand, but she’d never thought she’d need it. This was supposed to be a simple clean sweep of the area, but she’d felt the tug of Taming as much as the creatures had. Now she knew what she was chasing. Jerry was a balance. She didn’t know what that was but maybe it had something to do with why she had been trying to climb on top of him since she’d first met him.

“I couldn’t imagine doing this for eight years. H
ow did it all happen for you? I mean you told me they killed your husband but… did you see it? Were you two camping in the woods when you were attacked?” he asked as he picked his way carefully through the under brush.

She could see his handsome face clearly in the moon light. He was more handsome than any man had a right to be with his dark hair and lashes. He had a bit of stubble going on after all that had happened and he looked even more rugged and attractive than when he was clean shaven. She nearly li
cked her lips just to look at him. She shook her head and tried to focus on the question he was asking her.

He was trying to stay on his feet and apparently he chose talking as his main distraction. She wished they were on the bike again so she didn’t have to answer him.

“We’re here,” she said with relief.

She didn’t give him the chance to protest going into the dank dark cave as she pushed him inside. “Hey! Don’t push-“ His words were cut off as an explosion echoed through the cave and caused him to drop to the ground covering his head. She nearly laughed at him as she cracked a glow
-stick and let it fall to the ground beside him.

She shrugged the heavy satchel off her shoulder an
d let it fall to the ground. She walked over to stand beside him with her hands on her hips. Once the smoke cleared he peeked up from where he lay. He looked even more lost and confused.

“I rigged the entrance so that if anyone entered the opening would close tight behind them. It’s
a precaution I take before goin’ on any job.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?
” he snapped as he stood up and dusted himself off.

“So
rry,” she said with a shrug. She turned to rummage through her satchel.

She came up with the small bag of food she’d found earlier on the counter. She turned and held them out to him. It struck her again how much taller he was than her. She loved that in a man. She knew she was a mile stronger than him but he was just so… broad, muscled… big. The thought made her quiver in delighted anticipation. At some point what was smoldering between them would come to a head.

“You’re muffins are ruined but your canned stew should be fine if you can push it down cold. We can’t build a fire in here. I’m sure there is an air outlet, but we don’t want the cavern to be filled with smoke.”

He took a deep breath as he snatched the bag from her hand. He was still mad at her but she could feel the tension fading a little. “That’s okay. I’m tired of the heat outside and it’s cool in here. How long
will the barrier hold them out?” he asked as he rummaged through his bag and took out one of the smashed muffins.

She pointed over to the corner. “There’s a sleeping bag and some fresh water over there. There’s only one sleeping bag so I’ll let you get some shut eye first. I’ll watch the entrance but it should take them until morning to try and dig in here. The
n they’ll have to take cover. I can easily dig us the rest of the way out so we can get moving again,” she said before she knelt down and began laying all the weapons and ammo they had left out on the ground. It wasn’t much. They needed to get to Nevada fast.

*

Jerry watched her working on their weapons as he went to sit down on the sleeping bag. He polished off two muffins and a can of beef stew before he slowed down. His eye lids were getting heavy. He found the water jug and took a deep pull. The food was coursing through his veins and giving him strength.

He watched her take out a rag and begin polishing a silver stake. She looked so small and alone as she knelt over the weapons like she was a child playing with her toys. If he hadn’t seen it for himself he would have never believed how strong she was. She had perfected the cool façade that
she projected as if she hadn’t a care in the world.

“Will you tell me something?
” he asked as he took another drink of the water. It was tepid but tasted like heaven to his parched throat. He was so thirsty.

“What do
you want to know?” she asked in exasperation as she kept on with her polishing.

“Anything.”

She stopped rubbing and looked up at him. Her face looked eerie by the green light of the glow-stick. Eerie and stunningly beautiful at the same time. “Anything, like what?”

“Tell me something about yourself. Not a tragic memory. Tell me something
that you loved about your life?” he asked. As he expected she went back to what she was doing without a reply. That was it. It wasn’t just him. She didn’t want anyone getting too close to her.

“Why do you want to know about a dead woman?”

“You’re not dead.”

“The woman who lived that life
… who enjoyed those frivolous things is dead, cher. She died eight years ago, but they forgot to give her a head stone because I took over the body.”

He shook his head as he pulled out his trail mix and made his way through the nuts and dried berries. “Then tell me about her. I like history stories.”

“That’s ancient history.”

He growled in frustration but wouldn’t push her any further. He was too tired to keep up the fight. He stretched out on the sleeping bag and closed his eyes. He was nearly gone when he heard the scratc
hing. Nails were scratching on the rock outside. He felt himself begin to tremble. They were trying to get inside. Why wouldn’t they just leave him alone? She came to his side then and sat down beside him. She looked down into his face in a way that he had never seen her look at him.

“Okay,” she said with a whisper. “If you promise to ignore the scratching and crashing coming from outside and get some rest
, I’ll tell you a story.”

He nodded as he forced himself to relax and ignore the noise coming from outside.
He watched her face as she chewed on the inside of her cheek. She didn’t look anymore than twenty five. How could she have been married eight years ago?

“
The house… My house was beautiful,” she began. “I was raised in the noisy polluted city of Nawlins. So when my husband and I moved to Texas, I didn’t want to live any where near the city. We had a hacienda built out in the middle of no where. It took nearly an hour to get to work, but to me, it was worth it. My house was like the stuff dreams are made of.

“
It was a single story structure but it was spread out and roomy. The red clay blended into the hills of the desert perfectly. When you entered the house, the first thing you saw was the clay tiles on the floor, nearly the same color as the adobe walls but smooth like marble, and cool to the touch. Sometimes I would take my shoes off and let my bare feet slide against the floor to take in the feel of it.

“
The kitchen was a real master piece. The center island was made of natural granite. It looked like something out of the Stone Age, and I always kept fresh herbs strung upside down above it, which is somethin’ my maman taught me to do. I had an herb garden in the back yard but Thomas… he liked to tend it and keep the weeds out for me. Every year people could expect a bag of fresh herbs as Christmas gifts. And then there was the back yard.

“
We had cactus roses, and red rock cut into stone benches, and a few palm trees that swayed in the slightest breeze. We had a mister hooked up so that when we lay out in our lawn chairs, we would always get a fresh mist in the breeze. Thomas always had some type of clinging vines growing on the slatted porch to give us some shade. Then there was the view. Mile after mile of endless desert. It was so vast that sometimes it was like sitting next to the ocean. There were the nights when there were so many stars shinning that you felt like the universe had just reached out and swallowed you up.”

She stop
ped talking and a tear slipped down her face. She quickly wiped it away as she looked down at the cave floor. He reached out to her wanting her to give him permission to touch her. She looked at his hand and then up at him. She shook her head.

“I can’t,” she said.

“Why?” he asked. She looked away and he asked again. When she returned her gaze to his he could see a change in her eyes.

“Because when you touch me I feel like my skin is on fire
, and all I want is for you to be inside of me.”

She was so direct about it that his heart b
egan to pound in his chest. He felt desire roar to life inside of him. “That’s okay. As long as you know it’s me and that I’m not doing it out of lust.”

She shook her head again. “How can you be doing it
out of anything other than lust?” she said in a small voice. He sat up and took her chin in his hand forcing her to look directly at him.

“
You are one of the bravest most selfless people that I have ever known. You are a good woman and I want to be inside you as much as you want me there. I want to be inside of you physically, mentally, and spiritually. I want to be inside you until there is nothing left but me and you,” he said as he slowly leaned forward.