Firefight in Darkness (12 page)

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Still annoyed that they hadn’t just discovered Dante, she followed him as he rounded the corner of the building, revolver pointed directly at the demon.

Blythe’s eyes widened in shock as she stared at the man as he writhed and trembled against the side of the dumpster, clutching his head and muttering words she didn’t understand. When she heard the word ‘diablo’, she felt a cold chill run down her spine. The man seemed to be fighting against the possession, sensing the demon that was attempting to get inside his mind. He was chanting what she could only assume were frantic prayers in what she thought she recognized as Spanish. Anger built up within her at the sight of it, but as she stepped forward to do something, anything, about it, Jax held out his arm and stopped her, shaking his head.

“What did I say?” He growled, the look in his eyes frightening. It was somewhere between frustration, fury, and pain. He didn’t like what he was seeing, either.

She stopped in her tracks, holding eyes with him until he turned at the sound of a brutally disturbing noise.

She jolted and looked at the man, who was now staring directly at her, his dark eyes wide and his mouth open in a snarl, baring teeth that looked unnaturally sharp. The sound had been some frightening mix between a hiss and a guttural growl, and she felt her breath catch in her throat as she witnessed the man make the noise again. The only word she had to describe it was evil.

“I have no business with you except to ask questions. I am not an Enforcer, I am a bounty hunter. I demand you vacate that human immediately.” Jax ordered, his revolver still pointed directly at the man.

The man shifted to stare at Jax, crouching now in what Blythe could only describe as a defensive and inquisitive position, his hands and feet both touching the concrete. Suddenly, the man began to tremble again, his face going blank with horror, as thick black smoke began to seep out of every orifice on his face. His eyes, ears, nose, mouth, it poured out of him and gathered to form something long and slender on the ground. The man collapsed suddenly, his head banging hard against the side of the metal dumpster.

She nearly stepped forward again in an instinctive attempt to help him, but the sight at their feet stopped her.

The black smoke had swirled together and created a serpent figure, shadowy and larger than most any snake she had ever seen. It was possibly five feet in length and about three inches in diameter, and seemed to shift and shudder like a flickering movie image in front of them. It was almost as if it wasn’t fully solid, but a wispy mass that contorted and exuded waves of smoke around it’s body. When it lifted its head and faced her, she saw large, glowing red eyes that seemed to pierce through her. She could sense the unbridled hatred coming from those eyes, and, against her will, felt her body instinctively edging away from the creature.

“Thank you.” Jax kept his revolver aimed as a precaution. “We’re looking for a demon with Dryad blood. Have you seen him?”

The snake hissed again, and then began to ‘speak’ in guttural, whispery sounds. Jax was listening intently, and Blythe wondered if he could understand it. When the demon was suddenly silent, she turned to look at Jax, who looked disappointed.

“Alright. Thank you.” He grabbed her arm and pulled her away, leading her towards the alleyway.

She yanked her arm free of his grasp and turned to glance back at the demon, who was staring at her with those horrific eyes. As she rounded the corner and out of sight, the only thing she knew for sure was that the demon wanted her dead.

She rubbed her arm where he had grabbed her, glaring up at him. “Can I go back and torch that demon? He wants to kill me, and I think it’s only fair that I set him straight.”

“No. Now come on.” He led the way back out onto the street, heading away from their hotel.

Rolling her eyes, she tried to keep pace with him. “So what did the bastard say, anyway?”

“He says he saw Dante last night at the club, that he threatened him, but he didn’t see Dante leave. We’re back at square one.” He veered left suddenly into a large parking lot, and made his way towards the back. Blythe followed him, eyeing some of the junk cars that surrounded them.

“I didn’t know you had a car.”

“Most people have cars, Blythe.” He said gruffly as he stopped in front of an older looking jet black two door with sparkling chrome rims. Pulling keys out of his pocket, he shoved them in the lock and opened the driver side door. She waited until he’d climbed inside and unlocked the passenger door for her to join him.

“This is nice.” She grinned as she stared around at the leather upholstery. “What kind of car is this?”

“1968 Chevelle.” He slipped the keys into the ignition and turned it on, revving the engine a bit. “5.7L V8 engine, 450 horsepower.”

“Cool, I guess.” She smirked at him as he reached into the backseat and pulled out another Stetson, this time in white. When he slipped it over his head, she couldn’t help but laugh. “Got a hat for all occasions, cowboy?”

He didn’t say anything, but she saw his lips curve just slightly at the edges. With a sigh, she sat back against the seat as he drove them out of the lot and onto the street.

“So where are we going now?” She asked, staring out of the window at the people walking on the street.

“We’re going to meet with a few of my contacts here in LA. If Dante’s still in town, we’ll know by the end of the day.”

Unfortunately for them, by the end of the day they knew for certain that Dante was indeed not in Los Angeles. As it turned out, their plan to lure him in by using Blythe had not gotten off to a good start. In fact, it appeared as though they were dead in the water.

Jax’s contacts had been two arms dealers on opposite ends of the city who were demons possessing humans. Because of what she was, Jax forced Blythe to stay behind in the car, something she didn’t like at all. But when he assured her that he would get more reliable information out of them if they weren’t distracted by her, she gave in. Each time he went in to speak with one of the contacts, he was gone for less than twenty minutes. And each time he returned, he looked even more irritated.

According to Jax, they had heard that a demon with Dryad blood was in town, but no one had seen him since the night before when Blythe had encountered him in the club. He had not gone in to purchase weapons, nor had he discussed his plans with anyone. According to them, he’d kept to himself while in the city. Which was probably for his own benefit, because Blythe had come to realize that other demons despised Dante nearly as much as she did. They didn’t like that he had Dryad blood, something they deemed disgusting. So he was not only outcasted by everyone on Euphora, but he was also outcasted by most of the demon population as well. If he wasn’t a murderous bastard she might have felt sorry for him.

And so they had come back to the hotel as night fell over the city, exhausted and frustrated, both unsure just where to look next. They sat together in the hotel restaurant, this time much quieter than the lunch rush had been, as the city lights flickered on outside the open windows.

Blythe pushed around the mashed potatoes on her plate, her mind elsewhere. She felt disheartened, which only made her more annoyed. They needed a new plan, or some hint of Dante’s whereabouts. Something at least so they could do more than just sit there, immobilized. The lack of a clear course of action was making her agitated and restless, and she could tell it was taking its toll on Jax as well.

He sat across from her, barely touching his grilled chicken, sipping quietly on a bottle of beer, the phone call he’d made to Thea just an hour before still resonating painfully in his mind. He’d hated telling her that they were at a dead end, that using Blythe hadn’t worked. That fact had surprised him, as he had been convinced that Dante was after Blythe in particular, and that he would have a hard time avoiding her if she were thrown back into the mix. Maybe he hadn’t analyzed the situation closely enough, and now it had cost him valuable time and energy.

“What do you think happened with that guy the demon was trying to possess earlier?” Blythe asked suddenly, the thought just occurring to her. “Do you think he got away?”

“I don’t know.” Jax studied her, noting the concern in her eyes. “You can’t save everyone, Blythe.”

“Obviously.” She sighed, twirling the straw around in her glass of Coca Cola. “That was the first demon I’ve ever seen. I didn’t know they were like that.”

“Like what?”

She met his eyes, her lips curling with disgust as she remembered what she had seen, what she had felt at that moment. “Evil. God, I’ve never felt so exposed, so vulnerable to that evil in all my life.”

He tilted his head as he set down his beer. “You didn’t look scared.”

With a snort, she drank some coke to steady herself. “I told you I can handle myself in tough situations. I wasn’t gonna show that bastard any fear, especially because I knew, deep down, that he wanted me to be scared.” In a move that nearly had him flinching, she slammed her fist down on the table, rattling their plates. “Damnit, you should have let me kill him.”

“You wouldn’t have been able to.”

“Why not?” One eyebrow raised as she eyed him incredulously.

Smirking now, he lifted his beer to his lips. “Demons don’t fear fire. It doesn’t hurt them. The only way to kill them is to freeze them, and then smash them to pieces.”

“Huh.” Honestly taken aback, she chewed her bottom lip in thought. “So that’s why the bullets in your gun look so funny, they’re not normal bullets, huh?”

“Why the hell were you looking at the rounds in my revolver?”

Blythe shrugged. “I was curious, and you left the gun sitting out while you were taking a shower earlier. What is that silver liquid inside of them?”

“Liquid nitrogen.” He replied, still irritated that she had been nosy enough to check the rounds in his gun. “It freezes the demon on impact, then you can crush them to pieces, destroying them for good.”

“Can you get me a gun, too?” Eyes lit up now at the prospect of it, she started to reach down towards his boot to grab his. “Or maybe I’ll just try yours out for awhile.”

He caught her hand halfway under the table and wrestled her back up into a sitting position. “Stop it. There’s something called gun laws in this state, and you can’t just pull out a gun in a crowded restaurant.”

Pursing her lips, she acknowledged that he probably knew best. Apparently she knew less about the human world than she had thought.

“Fine, whatever. Can you get me a gun, though?”

“Do you know how to shoot?”

“Sure. How hard can it be?”

This time he rolled his eyes, a movement that amused the hell out of her. “Unless we get a new lead on Dante, you’re going home. So until we find out anything new, there’s no point in me wasting time teaching you how to shoot.”

“Heaven forbid we waste more of your precious time.” She mumbled sarcastically, going back to pushing the food around on her plate. For a few moments she was silent, her mind drifting back to the demon. When she spoke again, her voice was much softer than he had ever heard it, as she was more speaking to herself than to him. “Why would my grandmother sleep with a demon? After seeing one today…after feeling that evil…”

“Maybe there’s more to the story than what you know.” He could tell how troubled she was by it, and it irritated him that he cared enough to notice.

“Even if there is, it doesn’t change the fact that she did it, and consequently gave birth to the monster that destroyed my life and countless other lives.”

“Excuse me, Mr. and Mrs. Murphy?”

Because she couldn’t help it, Blythe broke out into laughter at the waiter who had just approached them, a small package in his hands.

Jax sighed and accepted the package from the waiter, who flushed red with embarrassment and retreated back into the kitchen.

“Are you finished?” Jax asked her, looking annoyed as he eyed the package skeptically.

“Oh, God, that was hilarious.” She managed, gasping a bit for breath, a big grin on her face. “Your face when he said Mr. and Mrs., it was priceless.”

“I guess the thought of you being the Mrs was what threw me off.” He grumbled, tossing the package at her. “It’s for you.”

“Ooh, I hope it’s chocolate. I’ve been craving some like you would not believe.” She grinned and winked at him as she tore open the packaging, only to pause as she held the necklace in one hand and the letter in the other. “This is beautiful.” She sighed, eyeing the brilliant amber stone the size of a quarter set in bronze. It hung from a bold and bulky chain, and she felt a strange heat radiating from it, almost as if it had just been dipped in flame.

“Read the letter, Blythe.” Jax ordered her impatiently.

Her smile faded the moment she set the necklace aside and focused her attention on the letter. Her eyes jolted up to meet his as her stomach fell damn well to her feet.

“It’s from Dante.”

♦ ♦ ♦

Dearest Blythe,

I hope you enjoyed your stay in Los Angeles, just as I did. I apologize for having to desert you so abruptly last night, but you see, I am a wanted man on the run.

Even without ever seeing you before, I knew you the moment I saw you. Did you feel our connection? My blood, your blood…we’re kin, darling, and were bound together by a force deeper than any other. I cannot wait till we meet again, as I am certain we will in due time. Until then, I have a project for you that will keep you occupied and entertained.

I am aware that you are in the company of the bounty hunter. While I would have preferred you to go on this journey alone, I think your bounty hunter’s skills will add an intriguing danger to the mix. I do love danger…just as I know you do. You see, we are so much alike, you and I.

If you follow my instructions, then at the end of your journey we will meet again. I am going to give you a clue, and a gift. The clue will guide you to where I will be, and the gift is for you to enjoy.

Here is your first clue, darling: Follow the highway to the city of the fire bird. If you get there in time, you may catch me. If not, then I will leave you another clue and another gift. Happy hunting.