Eternal Flame (Night Watch #3)(30)
Author: Cynthia Eden

“Do you know how many people she’s killed?” the special agent asked.

Jana didn’t look like a killer then. She looked weak and pale. Vulnerable.

“Give her to me,” Kelly said. “And you can walk away. I’ll clear up the situation with Night Watch. Clear you with my supervisors, and you can go back to doing your job-a job that’s just like mine.” She exhaled and her gaze dropped to Jana. Her stare hardened as she said, “Tracking and killing the monsters out there.”

Zane’s gaze drifted to Tony. Other cops were there now, standing back, but with their weapons up. If there was a sniper waiting, would he shoot to kill? Or was the plan to drug him, like they’d already drugged Jana?

Kelly raised her hand and motioned with her fingers. Two men hurried forward. “Take her,” she told them. “Load her into the SUV and make sure she’s secured.”

Tony stared back at Zane. Waited.

“Give her to us,” Kelly said, “and you’re clear. You know what she’s done. You hunted her because of it. Now you’ve done your job. You can get your bounty, get the cops off your back, and walk away.”

She made it all sound nice and easy. But … “You’ll kill her.” He caught sight of Jude’s truck.

Her lips thinned. “She’s on the list.”

“Fuck your list.” He’d made his choice. “You’re not getting her.” Zane let his power out. For the first time since he was sixteen years old, he willingly let the demon part of his nature take control.

A blast of power launched, rolling like a wave, and every human around him hit the ground. They fell, bodies sagging, immediately unconscious as they slammed into the earth.

He hurried past the bodies. He rushed to Jude’s truck. The shifter was there, but slumped over the steering wheel. Those bastards had shot him. Hell. Zane shoved Jude over and climbed inside, carefully placing Jana on the seat between him and Jude. His fingers brushed over her cheek, then his hand clenched into a fist.

His gaze swept the area, lingering a moment on the special agent. He lifted his hand and twisted the key. Then he slammed his foot down on the gas and roared out of the lot.

And no one moved to follow him. They couldn’t-he’d knocked them all out.

“Holy shit.” She lowered her binoculars, very glad that she’d decided to hang back once she’d heard the sirens. “Did you see that?”

Her partner, tall and quiet, grunted. “He knocked them out.” He didn’t sound impressed.

He should. “That demon just knocked out twenty humans at once.” Twenty. Hot damn. “We’ve got us at least a level eight.” She’d never captured a level eight. Five had been her highest demon bag.

“I thought we were killing him?”

She yanked out her phone. “The plan’s just changed.” Oh, it had changed all right. She had a level eight-or higher- demon in her lap, and she knew the guy’s weakness. Too perfect.

Why, that demon would be even more useful than the Ignitor. Not that the bitch was proving to be particularly useful but …

But she was some fine bait.

“I want that demon.” She spoke into the phone, knowing other eyes were out there, watching the demon race away with her prey. “Follow him. Hunt him down.”

Zane Wynter was a hunter, just like she was. He hunted monsters, too. But the difference between them … he was a monster. She was just a human who had to clean up the mess the beasts made. She’d been cleaning up their messes for years. So tired of cleaning up their shit.

“If we can, take them both.” Because her Ignitor was so useful, and she did prefer to work with humans. “If the woman starts the flames again”-because she knew a taunt when she saw one—“shoot her-shoot to kill.” Sometimes, you had to cut your losses. “He’ll be more valuable to us.” The things she could get that demon to do….

He already hunted his own kind. She knew the stories about him. So what she had in mind for him wouldn’t be too different.

Killing demons. Killing vamps. Killing shifters. Killing all the sick paranormals who made the world into a nightmare.

At first, Project Perseus had tried fighting them with human weapons. Guns. Bombs. Then they’d stepped up the game-and started using chameleons. Humans with enhanced genetics, the chameleons were perfect at sneaking up on the paranormals. They could drop their heart rates, slow their breathing, and ambush even shifters. The chameleons had taken out so many monsters. So many …

But the real way to win the battle might just be by using one of the Other’s own. A demon half-breed to deal death.

She smiled as she gazed through the binoculars. Perfect.

Carefully, she stepped over the sniper’s still body. He was human, which was unfortunate, because she’d had to kill him. But, really, if he’d taken the shot, she wouldn’t have learned anything.

Now, she knew everything she needed to know. New prey. Prey with a weakness.

“What the hell?” Jude came awake in a rush, jerking upright with his claws out and up-just the way Zane expected him to wake.

Zane grunted and kept the gas pedal pinned to the floor. “Wanna tell me how you got taken out?” Jude exhaled hard, and his head wrenched toward Zane. “Taken out?” The words were a little raspy. They wouldn’t be that way for long. Shifters, especially rare, white tiger shifters like Jude, were fast healers. That healing ability was why the tiger had only been out ten minutes.

“I found you unconscious in the truck.” Jana lay slumped between them. No telling how long she’d be out. “Way to watch my back, tiger.”

“Fuck.” From the corner of his eye, Zane saw Jude run a shaking hand through his hair. Then his hand dropped to his neck. “Drugged.”

Yeah. And if the sniper had been out there, why hadn’t he taken a shot at Zane? His psychic blast wouldn’t have been strong enough to carry more than a block. The sniper could have taken him.

“Who did it?” Jude demanded, and he finally seemed to see Jana. “Aw, hell, her, too?”

Zane’s jaw clenched. After a moment, he said, “She was shot right in front of me.” He hadn’t expected the special agent to take that shot. If her gun had been loaded with real bullets …

Darkness rose around him and the truck began to tremble.

“Zane?”

“A woman claiming to be from the FBI was there.” He forced his hands to ease their too-tight grip on the steering wheel. He sucked in a couple of deep, slow breaths. Control. Jana was going to be all right. “A Special Agent Kelly Thomas. She said Jana was on their extermination list.”