Cassie (The Coven's Grove Chronicles #3) (6 page)

Cassie gave him a quick nod, as her mouth watered.
Damn, I’m hungrier than I thought
. The smell made her stomach growl, and she dug into her food, tuning out the conversation that had started up between Josey and Handsome. It was a blissful fifteen minutes of self-indulgence. The meat was just right; seared on the outside, juicy pink, almost red on the inside.

Heaven
.

Josey turned on the TV that was hanging from the ceiling in the corner. The news was on, forecasting crap weather for the next couple of days. That didn’t matter though, Cassie was out of here regardless.

She slapped down thirty bucks on the bar. “Keep the change.” She got up to leave, and was startled again.

Handsome was gone.

Cassie spun around, but the guy was nowhere to be seen.
WTF?
She was about to ask Josey where the guy was, but thought better of it.
It doesn’t matter anyway
. Out the front door she went.

The cold hit her again, like a stinging slap to the face. Not that it had been warm when she first went into the steakhouse, but the temperature had dropped dramatically. The weird thing was that it was late February, and ice storms didn’t usually happen that close to March.
Typical bad luck
.

Cassie stomped over to the car. It already had a layer of ice on it that seemed to thicken as she approached. And of course, the keyhole was totally frozen over.

Triple shit
.

She chipped away at the ice around the door handle with her keys, while the cold wind went through her clothes, as if she hadn’t been wearing any at all. Her hands weren’t far from ceasing up despite her heated effort, and she ended up dropping the keys. “Jesus, are you kidding me?!”

“Having some trouble,” tall, dark and handsome said from behind her.

Cassie sighed.
I just can’t catch a break
. She turned to face him. “Thanks, but I can—”

Mr. Handsome’s fist bashed into Cassie’s chest with the force of a sledgehammer. She flew back against the car, denting the door, and shattering all of the ice that covered it. Pain rifled through her body, as she gasped for breath.

“I’ve been looking for you for some time, little witch,” Handsome said. His hand wrapped around Cassie’s throat. “It’s a shame my master wants you alive. I’d rather take you to him in pieces, though I intend to have my fun regardless.” He heaved her up off the ground, throwing her over the car.

Cassie crashed to the ground on her back, which didn’t help the whole “trying to get air” thing. Everything faded from view for a moment, and a deafening ringing surged in her ears. Fear wrestled with her self-control. She’d never been hit or handled like that before. Thank God her power was always in some state of activity, otherwise her ribs would have been broken. Anger bristled in her veins, bringing the latent power to life.

She managed to scramble to her feet before Handsome made it around the car. He moved slowly with a wicked grin on his face, enjoying the moment.

He’s playing with me
.

“You’ve led me on quite a chase, witch.”

Cassie shook her head, still having trouble hearing over the ringing in her ears. “Did you just call me bitch?”

The man laughed, “That works too.”

Her anger flared, and a surge of power pulsed through her.

He sniffed the air, and opened his arms wide. “Yes, don’t make it easy. I want this to last. I can feel the waves of anger and power rolling off of you. It’s mouthwatering.” He leaned over her, grinning.

“Whatever, sicko!” Cassie lunged at him, swinging her fist as hard as she could. Her foot slipped on the ice, but she still made a solid connection with his chin. The blow could have downed a longhorn steer.

His head cocked sideways, but he didn’t go down. He licked his bloodied lip, all slow like. “Nice. I’m going to enjoy—”

Cassie unleashed a barrage of punches into his midsection, foiling his attempted monologue.

He absorbed every blow with a grunt and a smile. His hand whipped out as she attacked, and palmed her face. “Foolish,” Handsome growled. He swung her around, throwing her again.

Time seemed to stop as Cassie flew through the air. She knew she was in trouble. Shrugging off some of her most powerful blows wasn’t something just anyone could do. Whoever this guy was, he was more than she could handle.

Time sped forward, as she came to a bone-jarring halt against the wall of Montana Mike’s. She bounced off the bricks, and crashed into a bunch of trash cans before landing on the ground in a heap. Cassie wasn’t sure if she had lost consciousness, or if it was just a long blink between when she’d hit the ground, and when she finally dragged herself to her feet. Whatever had happened, Mr. Handsome must’ve been taking his time because he was still a fair distance from her.

Cassie swayed a little when she spoke, “Look buddy, I don’t want any trouble. Better to just be on your way before you get hurt.”

His chuckle was haunting and genuine. He slowly clapped his hands. “You’re tougher than I thought. I can’t tell you how much that pleases me.”

Cassie felt a chill creeping up her spine. His casual mannerisms and attitude reminded her of Mr. Carson. In fact, this whole situation took her back to that day when she’d felt so helpless and alone. She gritted her teeth, refusing to give in to the fear. She’d come too far to let that shit be the end of her. She snatched up two of the trash cans. “Let’s do this, Asshole.”

Mr. Handsome smiled as he approached. It wasn’t a natural smile. His mouth stretched way too far across his face, the corners almost touching his ears.

Cassie roared in fear and rage. Something snapped within her. The natural instinct of fight or flight warped into kick-the-ever-living-shit-out-of-this-thing mode. She charged.

The trash cans became a whirlwind of metal and discarded food. Mr. Handsome, who was now downgraded to Mr. Creepy, did his best to dodge the culinary cyclone. He failed terribly, as brown lettuce stuck to his face, and gnawed steak bones showered all around him. Cassie herself was covered in muck, but she didn’t care. This thing had to go down. One of the cans finally slammed into the side of Mr. Creepy’s head. It buckled like a tin can, but the metal tore the skin off of his face, forcing him to stumble back.

“Who’s laughing now!” she yelled, as she smashed the other trash can over the top of his head. It crumpled as well, bending around his head and shoulders. She let the cans go and grabbed hold of Mr. Creepy’s flailing arm. She spun him around, and flung him at the brick wall, just as he had done to her.

He hit with a sickening crunch, and then slid to the ground.

Cassie bent over, placing her hands on her knees. She panted, steam rolling out of her mouth, as she fought the urge to puke.
Holy shit. Never flipped out like that before
. Thankfully the cold didn’t bother her anymore, at least it didn’t for the moment. She almost sat down right there in the parking lot, but knew she probably wouldn’t get back up if she did. Instead, she tried to hobble back the car.

That’s when creepy man started laughing again, only this time it didn’t sound quite right.

Cassie closed her eyes to dampen the fear that suddenly clawed its way up from the depths. There was nothing left for her to give. Her power lingered on the fringe of usefulness. She couldn’t take much more punishment. She couldn’t help but glance over her shoulder, even though every ounce of her begged not to.
Oh, hell
.

Mr. Creepy had turned into something downright horrifying. His arms and legs had... extended. They had stretched way longer than what could be justifiably considered human. The torn skin on his face revealed a bony, demonic visage beneath. The wicked smile that stretched across his face was filled with large, jagged teeth.

“I was beginning to think you’d disappoint me,” it said. “I stand corrected.” The thing had been nearly seven-foot-tall when it was a man, but as it straightened to its full height, it had become more like nine. “Now I will show you the ecstasy of pain.”

Cassie had experienced her share of ecstasy, recently in fact, and she was pretty damn sure it didn’t involve any pain. One thing she wasn’t entirely sure about, however, was being able to get to the car before this thing killed her. She tried to run, but ended up slipping on the ice, and falling on her ass.

Mr. Creepy lumbered toward her with his wicked smile.

A car horn blasted from the street, as a 1978 Monte Carlo barreled over the curb into the restaurant parking lot. It slammed into the thing that used to be Mr. Handsome. The creature folded over the hood, as the Monte Carlo sped across the lot, slamming into the side of the steakhouse. Bricks and mortar rained down, burying both the creature and the front end of the car, in a pile of rubble.

The door kicked open, and that beautiful, blonde bounty hunter hopped out. He glanced at the wreckage with a look of utter dread, and then made a beeline for Cassie.

“Hey!” she shouted, trying to get to her feet. “That’s my car!”

“Yeah, well that’s mine,” Caleb retorted, pointing at the mustang. “You can have yours back!”

“No thanks.”

Caleb grabbed hold of Cassie’s wobbly self, and dragged her to the Mustang. “Keys! Where are the keys?!”

“I had them just a second ago,” she replied. She was trying to remember what had happened to them. Too many blows to the head had blurred her memory.

“Holy shit!” he yelled. “My door is fucked!” He slammed her against the side of the car, glaring at her. “I’m of half a mind to leave you here.”

Cassie looked across the parking lot at the pile of bricks. They began to stir as the creature worked its way out.

“Please,” she actually whimpered. “Please, don’t leave me.”

The hard edge in his eyes softened. He grumbled, then bent down, and picked up a set of keys off the ground.

I knew those were around here somewhere,
Cassie thought.

Caleb jerked open the bent door, and threw her over into the passenger seat. She barely missed the stick shift, as she tumbled across the interior. He jumped in and revved the engine to life. They took off, spinning out into the street.

Cassie sat up and looked out the back window. Josey, and the waitress stood out in the cold, scratching their heads, as they looked at the wreckage. The creature was nowhere to be seen.

She leaned back into the leather seat, trembling with fear.
Jesus, I’m in deep shit
.

C
aleb’s knuckles were white on the steering wheel; his grip was so tight. He eased up when he heard the leather covering start to creak. They’d been driving for about two hours now, but he wasn’t sure if that was long enough to escape that... thing. The more he thought about it, the more he felt there was no amount of time or distance that could allow his mind to escape what he’d seen.
Fuckin’ nightmare come to life
.

He shook his head to banish the haunting images, and forced his thoughts in another direction. It’d been a rough couple of days trying to catch up to Cassie. Getting taken out in the ladies’ restroom of a convenience station hadn’t been the worst of his trials, but one that ranked up there in the top ten of his “dumbest moves” list. Thank God she hadn’t checked all of his coat pockets and taken his phone, or he never would have been able to find his car. The GPS tracker app had worked like a charm. The pocket he’d added to the inside of his boot also came in handy, providing a hiding place for extra cash in case of such emergencies. She’d slowed him down without a doubt, but hadn’t taken him out of the game.

Fixing the flat tire of Cassie’s abandoned car, and giving it a hotwire, had been easy enough to get Caleb back on the road. The lack of sleep was catching up to him though. They would have to stop soon, though fear had kept him going so far. The fight he’d witnessed at the steakhouse was the last thing he’d expected to see. He began to wonder if the creature was the reason his bounty had been able to evade capture for so long.
No, that couldn’t be it
. He had gotten firsthand experience why she had been so hard to catch. She was resourceful, freakishly strong, and hot...