Burning to Ashes (3 page)

Archer felt his beast assert control over his body, the change starting, and this time he didn’t do anything to stop it.

“Move, now,” he ordered, the words distorted as his lower and upper canines slid into place, and his jaw changed shape.

“I can’t,” she whispered, sounding close to tears.

Archer refused to believe that. Selene could turn on the tear-tap at will, and she often used those saline drops as a weapon. He’d been on the receiving end of that particular weapon more than a few times.

There was another scream, and this time, it was a woman’s voice.

Archer tilted his head and shrugged. “Have it your way.” He launched forward, shoving her to the left. In the same fluid motion, he gripped the door handle and opened it with such force that the hinges screamed a protest.

Braced as she was, Selene still hit the floor hard, her breath exploding from her body in a shocked gasp.

Archer ignored her as he ran past her prone form into the parking lot, tracking the sounds of a skirmish with his keen hearing.

* * * *

The attackers overwhelmed them by sheer numbers. There were twenty men against only Scarlet and Zane. The vampire was bleeding from a number of wounds, but the assailants paid in blood for every drop of his they spilled.

Zane was facing the brunt of the battle, and Scarlet kept half an eye on him as she fought of her own attackers. She was amazed at the way the vampire fought.

She would never have guessed from his boyish looks that he could kick ass as well as he did. He moved like liquid and grace, launching kicks and flipping summersaults that made Scarlet wonder where he was hiding his anti-gravity pack.

She forced her mind back to the fight as another one of the attackers tried to approach her. Scarlet’s rage notched up a level. What the hell had she done to deserve this type of drama in her life?

Her arms ignited, the flames dancing up along her forearms like a burning gloves.

“Just co-operate. We won’t hurt you if you co-operate,” one of the attackers wheezed, out of breath.

“Bite me,” Scarlet barked out as she launched herself at the nearest of the men. She didn’t see the Taser hidden in the dark folds of his jacket, but she felt the hit.

Scarlet screamed in pain and collapsed to the ground as all her muscles stopped obeying her body’s instructions and spasmed.

“Cuff her and get her wrapped in that flame resistant tarp.”

A man stepped forward, pulling her arm behind her back to cuff her. He wasn’t gentle, making Scarlet scream in pain again. He planted a knee in her lower back, and ground down. “Shut up, bitch. I’m going to make you pay for this.”

Scarlet twisted her head to see the man whose face she had burnt. He dug his knee in deeper as he reached for her other arm.

Scarlet saw the shadow a moment before the man was flung off her, the air filling with the sweet sound of her attacker screaming like a woman. She turned to see a huge beast rake its claws across the man’s stomach, spilling his intestines all over the tarmac

Massive shoulders bunched as the creature pivoted and faced the rest of the attackers.

Zane looked over and yelled out, “About fucking time Archer… Seriously.” Then he went back to putting the attackers in the dust.

Archer?

Scarlet couldn’t believe it. So, this is what he looked like as a full wolf-man. She shuffled to sit up and watched him attack the remaining assailants.

The battle didn’t last more than a moment before the bad guys realized they were out of their depth.

“Fall back!” The leader yelled as he turned and ran.

“Retreat!” another ordered.

“Stand and fight, cowards,” Archer growled as he grabbed for one. He managed to snag a claw in the back of the man’s coat, and Scarlet almost laughed as the man tried to continue running. He didn’t succeed and ended up doing a cartoon-like running-in-the-air motion.

Archer spun him around and wrapped a big, meaty, clawed hand around the man’s throat. “Who are you working for?”

The only response Archer got was a gurgling sound.

“Give him breathing room, Arch.” Zane was bent over with his hands on his knees as he caught his breath.

Archer loosened up his hold a little, and repeated the question. “Who do you work for, and what do you want?”

The man clenched his jaw. “Fuck you, werewolf.”

Archer growled and shook him almost breaking the guy’s neck. “Answer or die.”

“Kill me, then.”

Archer dropped the guy to the ground and pulled back his right hand, curling it, so his claws were at their most dangerous. “Have it your way.”

“No—wait.” He held up his hands covering his face. “The woman. We were after the woman. Jasmine sent us to get her alive.”

“Jasmine.” Scarlet gritted her teeth, which made Archer turn to look at her.

Scarlet couldn’t hide her gasp. Archer was a monster, his face—she took an involuntary step back.

“Don’t be scared, Scarlet.” Archer’s voice was distorted as he extended a huge paw like hand towards her.

Scarlet’s eyes widened further as his lower and upper canines grew until his mouth was all teeth. Most of his face was covered in fur and his ears were long and had tufts of hair on them. His nose seemed compressed, half-animal half-human.

“I won’t hurt you,” he said again.

“He won’t. You know he won’t hurt you,” Zane said, and then he cursed. “Our little mini drama here has allowed the bad guy to escape.”

Archer spun back toward where he’d left the man. Then he did some cursing of his own. “I wasn’t done talking to him.”

“Ha. You mean torturing him for info, right?”

“Shut up, Zane.” Archer turned back to Scarlet, and she could see the changes in his beautiful face, were beginning to reverse themselves. He was turning human again.

“Looks like we are gonna have to worry about Jasmine as well as the Enforcers now,” Zane spoke.

“What do you mean
we
?” Archer growled.

“I’m going with you, of course.”

Chapter Three

By the time Archer stomped into the motel room, he was fully human again. “You aren’t coming with me, and I’m not arguing about it anymore.”

“You need me. What if I hadn’t been here tonight?” Zane sat down on the arm chair, and stretched his legs.

Scarlet voiced her opinion. “He is right. If he hadn’t been there—” She didn’t mention the fact that Archer had been in the motel room with Selene during the attack of Scarlet.  “I would have been kidnapped, and for the record, I’m getting really sick of people trying to kill, kidnap, or damage me.” She yanked her shirt sleeves up in frustration.

She looked around the small room.
The woman was gone
. ”Where is Selene?”

Archer looked at the side of the bed where Selene had put the
First Heart
down. It wasn’t there. “She left.”

Scarlet raised her brows and stared at him, waiting for more of an answer.

“She’s gone, and that’s all that’s important.”

Scarlet raised her arms to the heavens in silent supplication. Why did the male have to be so stubborn?

“What?” she asked when both men stared at her arms.

“What’s wrong with your forearms?” Zane asked, sitting forward.

Archer stepped towards Scarlet, and took one of her hands into his. She stifled a hiss of pain as the calloused skin of his palms scraped a blister open. Her eyes widened as she looked down at her arms. From her finger tips to her elbows, she had blisters covering her arms. She had second-degree burns all over her forearms.

She fought the urge to panic. Her flame was burning her. She was going to die. Her face must have paled because Zane stood and leaned over her burnt arms, too.

“Don’t worry, see…” The vampire pointed to the upper part of her forearm. “It’s healing already.”

He was right. The blisters there were fading back into pink healthy skin.

“That’s not the point.” Archer’s voice was stark. “Scarlet’s flame is burning her.” He gripped her chin with his thumb and finger, tilting her face up so she looked him in the eye. “Promise me you won’t use your flame.”

For a moment, Scarlet felt as if the intense blue of his irises was hypnotizing her. Then his dark hair fell forward to cover one eye, breaking the spell. “How can I make that promise? When I use flame, it’s all knee jerk, and no conscious thought.”

“We need to buy a little time.” He moved his hand to her cheek splaying his fingers over her face, and Scarlet lost the fight not to rub her cheek against his palm.

“So, you have to try. Your life literally depends on it.” His voice grew rough. “I don’t want you to burn up.”

Archer dipped his head forward, his lips a breath away from hers, and Scarlet found herself holding
her
breath, waiting, desperately wanting his kiss. She forgot all about Selene, and that Archer was Selene’s property.

Zane cleared his throat and muttered, “Why do I suddenly feel like I need to be anywhere but here?”

Archer jerked back and let go of her face. Scarlet sat back. How could they have forgotten Zane was standing right there?

“Yes, sadly, I just ruined that for you,” Zane said, in a deadpan tone. “Now, are we leaving here or what? We have no idea when Jasmine will send her evil henchmen back.” He wiggled his fingers in front of his face and pulled such an evil expression that Scarlet felt her lips curl in a smile.

“Shotgun.” She had to hide the grin at Zane’s shocked expression.

“That was low. You didn’t say for sure I was coming with you and Archer, now I’m stuck scrunching my long legs up.”

“It’s an SUV. You’ll live.” Archer started putting things in the bag and tidying up the room as well as he could.

Scarlet went into the bathroom to make sure there was no evidence of her cleaning up the bite Archer had given her. She did a turn to double check. Then, she left the bathroom to fetch her stuff.

Archer and Zane were waiting at the door. “Walk between us.” Archer took the lead, reaching his left hand back to take hers as they walked to the car.

“Your
She
is definitely gone.” Zane pointed at an empty parking bay.

Archer turned and looked at Zane, his eyes glowing yellow. “Don’t call Selene that.”

The vampire shrugged with an unrepentant smile.

“You didn’t deny it, so that leaves you open to all kinds of speculation.”

“Not dealing with this now.”

Scarlet swallowed a fresh rush of jealousy. She was being stupid because Archer might not have denied it, but he didn’t want Selene being called his
She
. That had to mean something.

Archer opened up the passenger door for her, cutting off her thoughts, and helped her in before moving to the back of the car and lifting the tailgate to chuck the bags in the trunk.

“What? You don’t open the door for me?”

“You are pushing me to my limit, here. Give it a break, okay?”

Zane said nothing and got into the back seat of the SUV.

“What are we going to do when we have to drive during the daylight?” Scarlet asked. She was trying to break the brooding silence that filled the SUV. They had been driving for two hours and it was starting to fray her nerves.

“I don’t—”

Zane leaned forward between the front seats interrupting Archer. “The windows are UV resistant to the point that I could sit in this car in the middle of the Mohave Desert, and I wouldn’t break a sweat.”

“They are?” Archer turned his head to look at Zane.

“Yeah, Dimi told me to order the SUV. Remember? I added some vampire modifications.” He shrugged.

“You really wanted to get into the field and away from that desk, huh?”

“Like you wouldn’t believe,” Zane admitted.

Scarlet turned in her seat so she could look at Zane. “How long have you been doing the reception for Outsiders?”

“Eighty years, give or take,” Archer answered.

“No, eighty years, five months, ten days and fifteen hours,” Zane corrected.

Scarlet smiled. “Maybe you shouldn’t have done such a good job. I think it’s probably a case of them finding your skills in the office, indispensable.”

Zane snorted. “Then, it’s time they hire someone new. I’m done riding pine.”

The SUV pulled out of a densely wooded road, and into a clear area, where the stars and moon became visible again. Scarlet felt a jerk inside her stomach, and intense pain radiated through her abdomen, spiking up into her torso and down her arms and legs. She bit back a cry of pain and curled forward. “Stop the car.”

Archer reached out to touch Scarlet. “What’s wrong?”

She flinched away from his hand. Any one touching her right now would feel like death. “Stop the fucking car!”

Archer tugged the steering wheel, pulling the car on to the side of the road and slammed on the brakes.

Scarlet groaned when the seatbelt cut into her, but she fought off the pain and scrambled to get the door open. She stumbled out of the SUV and hit the dirt, crumbling to her knees. Her arms wrapped around her stomach and she keened in pain, rocking to try to ease it.

Archer was there a moment later, Zane right beside him. “Scar, what’s wrong?”

She didn’t have the breath to answer him, but kept rocking, fighting her way through the pain. She didn’t know if she was going to throw up, or feint.

She felt as if a glacier had taken up residence in her stomach, only to have it heated to boiling temperature and bubble, turning her gut into a caldron on an open flame.

Archer stood over her, blocking the light, and the pain intensified. “Move,” she ordered sweeping his legs with her arm. As soon as the moonlight touched her skin, again, the pain eased to a bearable level.

Archer knelt down on the ground next to Scarlet, careful not to block out the moonlight. “What do you feel, Scarlet?”

“Ice…fire…so much pain.” Her voice was hoarse as if she hadn’t spoken in years.

* * * *