Eternal Flame

What? Oh, damn … the man was making her weaken.

“I don’t care what powers you have. I don’t care if the fire is gone.”

But she thought it was coming back. She’d almost felt the charge a few times. Maybe-maybe the transfer had only been temporary. Knowing Beth, she’d probably killed the other paranormals who’d lost their power. Hit ‘em while they’re weak … Yeah, that was Beth’s M.O. So the woman might not have even realized …

My fire can come back. Well, she hoped it could. If not…

“Stay with me,” Zane said, “we’ll finish this asshole out there hunting and then we’ll—”

“You’ll both die.” The words were as cold as the night, and too damn close.

Jana broke from Zane’s hold and whirled around. Special Agent Kelly Thomas was there, pointing a gun right at them, and smiling.

Chapter 16

Aw, hell, but she had bad luck. “I don’t need this now,” Jana said. Zane’s hands were steel tight around her. “I don’t need—”

“Do you think I give a shit what you need?” Kelly snapped at her.

“You can’t take her in.” Zane’s voice vibrated with fury. “She’s clear on those arsons. Your boss knows that. Miller isn’t after her. You’re supposed to be standing the fuck down.”

“I was.” The woman’s smile looked like a shark’s. “Then you and the Ignitor had to go and start killing again.” She shook her head but her gun didn’t waver. A long, black silencer covered the end of the weapon. Not a good sign. “I found that poor man’s body on your porch tonight. What was his crime, hmm?”

“We didn’t kill Marcus,” Jana said, aware that her breath came too fast. A silencer? The agent had really gone over the edge.

“Marcus.” Kelly repeated the name sadly. “On a firstname basis with your victim? So you knew him, and you killed him.” “We didn’t—”

“He was dead when I found him.” Zane’s thundering voice cut across Jana’s words. He edged forward, placing his body between hers and the special agent’s. “Jana didn’t hurt him, and neither did I.”

“Right. I’m supposed to believe that.”

Guess everyone was having trouble with trust tonight.

“You’re not taking her in.” Zane shook his head. “She’s off the list. Agent Miller doesn’t want her. You’re not—”

“Screw what Miller wants. I’m taking you both in.” That gun still didn’t waver, and Jana was real tired of it being pointed at them.

“I’d like to see you try,” she threw at the agent. “You really think you can take us both down?” Kelly didn’t know about her power loss. The agent would think she was as fire strong as always. And Zane, well, he was strong. Far stronger than the agent. “You’re out of your league, Special Agent.”

“The hell I am.”

“You know what I can do,” Zane said softly. “Don’t make me show you again.”

“I’m a federal agent. You can’t threaten me.” Um, he could and had.

Kelly’s voice pitched higher as she said, “I’m taking you both into custody until this mess is sorted out.”

“No,” Zane told her quietly. “You’re not. You don’t understand what’s happening here. You don’t realize—”

“I realize some poor guy is dead on your doorstep. I know Jana’s a killer, and her lover-well, it looks like he is, too.” She drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “Cuff her.”

Jana blinked. “Um, what?”

“Screw this,” Zane snarled. He was fully in front of her now, shielding her with his body. Jana felt the hot rush of his power in the air. A hard buzzing filled her ears, like a thousand bees. Her knees began to sag, and her vision blurred.

“I’m not going out easily this time, demon,” Kelly said. “You won’t get to me so fast. You’ll just take her out.”

Zane’s head jerked back around, and he stared at Jana with wide eyes. Demon eyes. Eyes so dark. Eyes that had seen into her.

“I wasn’t prepared for you before,” Kelly said. “I am now. My stepbrother believed in sharing his findings with me. He studied the monsters, and he told me how to fight ‘em.”

Bitch. “Not monsters,” Jana managed.

“Yeah, you are. Now cuff her or I’ll shoot you both.” Jana couldn’t see the agent, but Kelly sure sounded close. “The bullet will blast right through you, Wynter. Through you, and into her. You’ll survive. Odds are good she won’t.”

Silence hummed for a moment. Then Zane was there, catching her wrist, his fingers warm around the flesh. She felt the cold bite of metal and heard the soft click of the cuff locking.

“We’ve been here before,” she whispered as the buzzing slowly faded from her ears. His magic cuffs. Unbreakable. Whatever happened, they’d be together. The Feds wouldn’t hurt him. They might want her head on a platter, but the Bureau wouldn’t take out a hunter. Pak wouldn’t let them.

“This is going to hurt you,” he whispered, and the words feathered against her ear as he leaned in close, almost as if he were kissing her. “But I’m not letting her take us out of this lot. I’m taking her out.”

Sounded like one fine plan to her. “Guess I’ll see … how strong you are,” she breathed the words back at him. Jana pressed her face into his neck and inhaled his scent.

You don’t really want to see this.

The words drifted through her mind. His words.

Jana frowned. “What—”

His fingers slid over her cheek. “I’m sorry.” Then he spun around. “Now what? We’re—”

“Step to the side, demon. I want to see her face.”

But Zane shook his head. “No. Put down the fucking gun. If you don’t”-he exhaled on a heavy breath—“you’ll wish you had.”

Thunder echoed in Jana’s ears. No, not thunder. Gunshot. The agent had shot Zane! “No!”

But he laughed. Laughed. And the bees were back in her head. Buzzing like crazy. The earth seemed to roll and tilt, shaking beneath her. Jana fell to the ground, and the cuffs jerked on her hand.

“That the best you got?” Zane taunted. “Cause it’s not even close to being good enough.”

Rising to her knees, Jana caught a glimpse of the agent’s face-right before Kelly was lifted into the air by unseen hands and tossed back five feet. She crashed into the bumper of a patrol car.

“I told you to put the gun down.” He took a step forward. “I’m done with warnings.”

The ground was bucking and rolling again. Lightning streaked across the sky, and Jana grabbed tight to Zane’s hand. “Hold on, Zane, just—” His blood was on the ground. Around her. Her back teeth locked. “We can—”

“Zane!” The cop’s voice. Tony barreled out of the building with his gun drawn. He took in the scene with a quick glance. Blood. Cuffs. Woman sprawled over the back of the squad car.

Kelly started laughing then. What the hell was up with the laughter?

But then Zane stumbled. His body shuddered and Jana’s heart seemed to stop.

Kelly had shot him, but with what? The agent’s gun lay on the ground, dropped, forgotten.

Zane lifted his right hand toward Kelly, and her laughter cut off. Her face drained of color, and she started gasping for breath. Desperate, she clawed at her throat.

“Let her go,” Tony said flatly. “I’m here, man. I’ve got her. She’s not going to hurt you or your lady again.”

But Zane didn’t let her go. Kelly’s body started bucking on the car. Long, thin, bloody scratches appeared on her arms.

“Zane, let her go,” Jana whispered, worried, really worried, for him. Because this wasn’t Zane. He didn’t attack this way. He took his opponent down, he didn’t … torture. She grabbed his chin, and jerked his face toward her. “Let her go!”

His eyes. They flickered wildly from green to black. Again. Again. “Zane?” Fear threaded through his name.

His eyes squeezed shut. Kelly sucked in a deep, hard breath. “Knew … i-it …” she gasped.

Screw her. Jana pressed a fast kiss to his cold lips. Zane. “We’ll get the bullet out, and you’ll be fine. You hear me? Everything’s—”

“Get away from me.”

She blinked at him.

“Get. Away. “ His hands came between them. He tried to shove her back.

But the cuffs weren’t letting her go anywhere.

“Where’s the key?” she whispered, but the only answer she got was the roar that burst from his lips. A roar that shook her and shattered the night.

Then the green bled totally from his eyes, leaving only the black, and Jana knew she was in trouble.

“What did you shoot him with?” The shouted words came from Tony. “What did you use?”

Jana couldn’t look away from Zane. Not from that darkness.

“M-my brother … he made something sp-special for the demons.” Kelly’s voice was ragged, so strained, but satisfied. “It’ll rip his mind apart.”

Drugs. Zane’s father had been lost to the drugs. He’d killed Zane’s mother because of his addiction. Zane hated the drugs. He’d hate this.

Her left hand-the uncuffed hand-lifted and feathered over his cheek. “I’m sorry. Just hold on.” They’d weathered a storm like this before. They could get through it again.

A trickle of blood slipped from his nose. He smiled at her. Not Zane’s smile. Too … cold. Too cruel.

Not like Zane.

“Where’s the key?” she whispered again. “Not… leaving …“

“He doesn’t h-have the k-key!” Kelly yelled. Jana forced her stare to find the bleeding agent. Tony had a death-grip on Kelly’s arm, and he was trying to cuff her. “I stole it from his car while you were in-inside. H-hid it-you’ll never find it!”

Okay, the agent was getting on her last nerve. Feeling sorry for a woman could only last so long.

Kelly smiled at her. No, more of a baring of her teeth. “He’s going to … k-kill … you.”

Zane’s breath blew over Jana’s neck. A shiver skated down her spine. Then his mouth pressed against her skin, and the edge of his teeth bit into her neck.

“Tear her f-fucking throat open!” Kelly screamed.

“Shut the fuck up!” Tony roared back at her.

The bite became painful. Not a lover’s nip. More. Her hands flattened on his chest. “You’re going to be okay—”

“Rip her-“ Kelly’s words ended in a gurgle. Jana was still staring at her, and she saw the agent’s eyes roll back into her head. Kelly slammed forward, breaking free of Tony’s grasp and ramming her head into the cement. She didn’t get up.

Zane.

He licked her neck. His head lifted, and he stared at her. Then he ripped her shirt open. With just a thought.

“Shit!” Tony’s feet pounded toward them. “Man, what are you doing? You can’t—”

Tony jolted to a stop, then he flew forward, his body slamming into the thick concrete wall. Like a puppet on a string.

Not Zane. Not her Zane. This wasn’t him. ”No!” Her scream echoed in that cold night. “Zane, stop!”

This time, he was the one to laugh, and that laughter chilled her to the bone. The good guy was totally gone. The demon was in charge, and he was staring at her with blood-lust in his eyes.

He’s going to k-kill you.

Oh, damn, it sure looked like he just might.

Jude Donovan caught the scent of blood in the air. It was a scent that called to him, that tempted him, and one that made the beast inside salivate. Catalina was in sight, and even though the witch was all but flying down the street, she wouldn’t be able to get away from him. He was faster.

But that blood … He turned his head a bit. The scent came from behind him. His nostrils flared. Back to the left.

Where he’d left Zane and his Ignitor.

Hell.

He cast one final glance at Catalina. She was running as if wolves were after her. Or maybe as if a tiger shifter were on her tail. Smart woman.

The blood.

The tiger inside roared, and so did the man. He spun away and thundered back down the road, running after that sweet smell, sucking it deep inside, and pounding across the pavement as he raced back to Zane and Jana.

Blood.

He cut through an alley. Jude came up in the back of the squat, cement building, and he saw Tony ram into the wall.

Jude’s fangs burned in his mouth and his claws burst out. Tony might be an ass sometimes, but nobody hurt his friend, not even—

Zane. Shit.

Jude snapped his teeth together. No, no, this wasn’t right.

“Fight it,” he heard Jana say, her hands tight on the demon. Were they handcuffed together? Again? “I know the drugs are strong, but you can do this, you can.”

Drugs. No, no, Zane and drugs did not mix. The guy never even touched a cigarette because he was too afraid of the addiction, and of the darkness that the addiction brought.

“Zane!” he barked out his name, hoping to get his friend’s attention.

Zane’s body stiffened. Jude felt a rush of hot wind against his body, and he clenched his muscles. Zane’s head turned toward him, a slow, gliding move, almost like a snake’s. Those eyes …