Firefight in Darkness (8 page)

But now that Serendipity was closer, Blythe could very easily smell her perfume. “Liar. I’ve been smelling you on him for days. God, you’re both so pathetic.”

Shaking her head, she turned away, not able to even look at them any longer. This was, quite simply, the last nail in the coffin. The straw that broke the camel’s back. The shot that stopped her heart. She had no reason to trust him now. He had obliterated, in only one week, any faith she had in him. And, even though it both terrified her and repulsed her, he had recklessly broken her heart.

♦ ♦ ♦

When morning came, she was thousands of miles away.

In one of her admittedly weaker moments, she’d decided the only thing she wanted to do was get the hell off of Euphora. She didn’t want to face her father again, or see her mother when she heard the news. Nor did she want to see Rohan have his greatest fear confirmed. She didn’t want to be comforted by those who loved her, nor did she want to have to retell the story a dozen times as the gossip mill ran its course.

And so she had done the only logical thing. She’d written up a long letter to Thea, explaining what she had witnessed and that she needed to get away for awhile as a result of it. She didn’t say how long.

But she knew, even as she could still feel the anger and the betrayal in her heart, that she couldn’t stay away for very long. Lucian and Liam and Capri would be worried about her. She couldn’t let them down.

But she couldn’t ignore her own needs either.

Sunny skies welcomed her as she walked the streets of Hollywood, dressed in a summer dress the color of ripe yellow squash with a thin rainbow scarf draped around her neck and thin strappy sandals on her feet.

Hundreds of people walked the streets with her, chattering amongst themselves, laughing, smiling, enjoying the sunshine. Californians were always happy, so it seemed. All that vitamin D must do wonders for their wellbeing.

Determined to soak some of it up for herself, she shaded her eyes with big, rounded glasses and tilted her face up to drink it in without being blinded.

Cars honked from the street, music warbled out of a nearby sidewalk bistro, Spiderman and Jack Sparrow took pictures with the tourists, and giant gold stars glittered in the sunlight at her feet.

What a magical place this was, she thought, feeling content for the first time in days. What a relief that life was being lived, glamorous and untamed, by those who couldn’t give a damn what else was going on in the world. They lived here, in this paradise, where bad things never happened. War never reached the star studded hills of Hollywood, and people rarely discussed anything more than the latest film, fashion trend, or hip dance song here.

It was all so fast paced, so anonymous and thrilling. No one knew her, and no one cared. She could roam the streets for hours, explore the shops, and maybe catch a movie at the theater. Or she could take a bus and hop on down to the beach, where she could mull around the pier or lay in the sand and really soak up some sun.

The world was her oyster here, and it was no wonder why she felt so at home.

But, of course, this wasn’t her home. And she couldn’t stay. But that didn’t mean that she couldn’t enjoy herself while she was here.

And that, she thought with a devious grin, meant she was going to hit up the clubs and indulge in the nightlife.

♦ ♦ ♦

He knew her the moment she entered the room. Not only could he feel it in his blood, but he could see it in her face, her hair, her eyes. Those amber eyes, so cocky and defiant, glowing impossibly bright despite the darkness of the club. Oh, yes, he’d known it was her within seconds.

But what to do about it, he thought curiously as he watched her tease some poor fellow by lighting his cigarette with her thumb. How to approach her…how to make himself known without endangering himself.

He was a wanted man, after all. Not that that meant much to him. He’d considered himself a wanted man for a long time now; it made life a lot more thrilling when you lived on the run.

Thea wanted his head, he knew as much. He wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction. He wasn’t going to give any of them the satisfaction of seeing his demise. No…he was leagues beyond them, wiser despite his ‘handicap,’ as they so generously described it.

What they didn’t understand was that being part demon didn’t hinder the Dryad in him…no, it only enhanced it. He was powerful, intelligent, and wicked. And because he saw all three of those things in the eyes of his niece, he felt instantly drawn to her.

He couldn’t resist, couldn’t help himself…he had to have a piece of her, had to gulp down her brilliant vitality like water until he had soothed this ache of longing in his blackened heart.

He sincerely hoped she wouldn’t mind.

♦ ♦ ♦

His name was Duncan. A silly name for a guy, she thought with a smirk as she watched him stare at his cigarette with baffled eyes. But he was cute, and he along with his friends were buying the drinks, so what did she care what his name was.

“Honey, it was just a trick, don’t look so frightened.” She cooed, stroking her fingertips down his tanned cheek. When his eyes met hers, she saw him forget all about the cigarette. He shifted his hand until it rested suggestively on her thigh.

“Girl, nothing scares me. Why don’t we go dance?” Duncan winked at her out of clear blue eyes.

“Sure, why the hell not.” Blythe shrugged as she gulped down the last of her appletini and let him lead her out onto the dance floor.

The song was some fast paced hip hop beat that pounded through her entire body, skimming through her veins and shuddering in her heart. Above her, lights shifted and circled and zoomed in all directions, so that they flashed and highlighted every single person moving in this sea of wild and untamed beasts.

She let Duncan put his hands on her hips and grind against her as the vodka she’d just finished left her feeling loose and reckless and free. This was exactly what she had needed, this superficial human ritual that meant so little in the grand scheme of things. But humans did it for a reason…it was exhilarating.

She felt someone in front of her, opened her eyes and saw a man dancing with her. He was a bit older, but he had moves. Her eyebrow cocked as she smirked at the dark haired stranger, who pulled her away from her previous dance partner and into his arms. The move was rough, a bit rougher than she liked, but she figured what the hell. She was here to have fun, wasn’t she?

And he was a terrific dancer, much better than Duncan had been. He turned her around so she was facing away from him, and she felt his hands running up and down her body. Pursing her lips, she decided that, despite his talent for dancing, she didn’t appreciate being man handled quite to this degree. She turned around, prepared to casually say goodbye and slink off to get another drink, when he pulled her against him again and this time clamped his mouth down upon hers.

Indignation tore through her as he kissed her, but even though she tried to pull away, he was much stronger.

Fear joined the rage she felt as she tried to break free from him, but when she suddenly felt his tongue inside her mouth begin to shift and change, something much deeper and darker than fear hit her.

She could feel his tongue split at the tip and slim down until it was snakelike, coiling inside of her mouth. Disgust and terror had her shoving as hard as she could against him, and she would have bit him if he hadn’t suddenly been thrown to the floor.

Gasping and furious, she was prepared to kick the creep’s ass when she realized he had disappeared into thin air. The man who’d thrown him suddenly grabbed her roughly around the arm and proceeded to drag her out of the club.

It wasn’t until they’d reached the exit doors that she came to her senses and kicked him sharply in the foot with her stiletto heel.

He stumbled a bit and grunted in pain, but he didn’t let go.

“BACK THE HELL OFF!” She screamed, swinging with her fist this time, barely missing contact with the man’s face.

“Goddamnit, will you stop resisting? We need to get the hell out of here.”

“We?” Blythe tried to dig her heels into the ground to slow him down, but he was already dragging her into a cab. “I don’t even know you!”

Without even responding, he squeezed in beside her and slammed the car door.

He called out directions to the cab driver, then tilted his head back and rubbed his face, looking incredibly stressed out.

Wondering how in the hell she had even gotten this far with him, she tapped on the shoulder of the cab driver as they pulled away from the curb.

“Excuse me, sir, this man has kidnapped me. I need you to call the police.”

When the cab driver didn’t say anything, she was about to smack him upside the head only to have the stranger sitting beside her stop her.

“Do you have no appreciation whatsoever?” He said, staring at her indignantly. “I just saved your life.”

“Oh, excuse me if for some reason I don’t constitute punching some guy caveman style and then dragging me off like the winning prize to be saving my life. I was handling the situation just fine by myself.” She tossed her hair back before giving him a good, long look. In the darkness of the cab, she couldn’t make out much of his face. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”

“It was a demon, not just some guy.” The man corrected her, crossing his arms across his chest and stretching out his long legs as best he could. “And it sure didn’t look like the situation was handled.”

“Screw you, asshole! I don’t need some man coming to my aide. I was about to bite that creep’s tongue, and…” Her thoughts smacked right into a solid brick wall as the memory returned to her fully. Her face paled and her eyes widened in horror. “Holy shit. Demon? Demon? Snakelike tongue…oh, goddamnit.”

Feeling her stomach revolt in disgust, she covered her mouth and closed her eyes, fighting to forget just how horrible that tongue had felt. The man next to her kept his mouth shut, for which she was grateful. She needed a moment to compose herself.

As the sharp edges of the shock she’d just had began to dull, she took a deep breath and looked at him again.

“You didn’t answer my question. Who are you?”

He tilted his head to stare at her, his lips curving into a knowing smirk. His left eyebrow cocked and he made a motion as if to tip his non-existent hat to her.

“Jackson Murphy, ma’am.”

Surprise flickered over her face even as the delight came into her eyes. It was nice to now know the face behind the voice that had so intrigued her before.

“Well, well. We meet at last, bounty hunter.” She stretched out her hand to shake his. When he took it, she couldn’t help but acknowledge the calluses on his skin.

He had nice hands. Long fingered and wide, rough but clean cut. They spoke of a man accustomed to hard laborious work, but who could appreciate the need for presentation in an environment that required it as a standard. That made him adaptable, but she had the distinct feeling that he was only such when it suited him.

The cab passed under a bright intersection, and she briefly caught a flash of his face. Well, hello there, handsome, was the first thing that came to her mind. Now she knew why Thea took such a particular liking to this particular bounty hunter…he was quite easy on the eyes. At least, if you were into the rough and tumble cowboy sort…

He had a hard face, more given to lines and edges than to curves, with sharp green eyes housed under a brow currently creased in what she couldn’t tell was irritation or amusement. His honey blonde hair was combed back in waves streaked liberally by the sun, ending in a curl at the nape of his neck.

“I’m taking you back to my hotel.” He began, releasing his hand from hers as he focused his attention on the view outside the window. “We’ll stay the night, and then tomorrow morning I’m taking you back to Euphora.”

“Hmm…that sounds nice, but I’m going to have to regretfully decline.” Blythe replied politely, turning to look out of her window as well.

“Unfortunately, you don’t have a choice.”

“Fortunately, I do.”

“No, you don’t.”

“It’s a free country, I can do whatever I want.”

“You’re not a citizen of this great country, so no, you can’t. You are technically an illegal alien with no paperwork or identification, and so help me I will take you to I.C.E., tell them you’re from Canada, and have you deported. Not much fun to be had up in Canada, but the demon problem isn’t so bad.”

“Just who do you think you are?” She turned to face him, eyes narrowed to slits and her temper flaring.

“I’m the man Thea asked to find and bring home her Fire Dryad. That is you, right?” Amusement flashed in his eyes as his head tilted in her direction.

“Thea asked you to find me?” Now she was really pissed. Apparently her explanation about needing to get the hell away had been blatantly ignored. Figures.

“Yes’m. Now, we can do this the easy way, and go back to my hotel, get you your own room, and leave bright and early tomorrow morning for Euphora. Or, we can do this the hard way, and I’ll handcuff you to the nice comfy chair beside my bed and, tomorrow morning, drag you kicking and screaming back to Euphora.”

With a snort, she rolled her eyes at him. “You think you have this all figured out, don’t you? And what if I just burn the shit out of that handsome face of yours and run away, hmm? Does that fit under the ‘hard way’ category?”

He chuckled at her, shaking his head as he reached down towards his feet. Blythe watched him as he sat back and then calmly and steadily aimed an old west style .44 revolver at her heart.

She kept her eyes on his, not even looking at the gun as it glinted silver in the glow of the passing streetlights. It didn’t scare her; in fact, he had just earned her respect.

“Well played, cowboy.” She grinned, shifting to rest her elbow on the top of the seat so she could get a better view of him as he slipped the revolver back into the holster on his ankle. “So, how did you happen to find me in that nightclub?”

“Coincidence. I followed Dante there.”

She felt her breath catch in her throat as she stared at him, bug eyed.