Into the Light (The Admiral's Elite Book 2) (27 page)

Automatically trying to shield her from her obvious pain, Michael reached out only to snatch his hand away when he felt a stab where her flesh touched his and watched her jump.

“No,” she hissed through clenched teeth. “Whatever it’s doing, touching you makes it hurt worse.”

More than any pain it caused him, he feared harming her and left his hands to hang useless at his sides. “What can I do?” Michael fought with himself and his nature, both unified in their desire to tear the throat out of the demon when they found it.

The little voice in her head screamed for him to go away while part of her wanted to laugh. And she’d been worried she wouldn’t be able to separate from him. All she could manage through clenched teeth were a few words. “Go. Get. The. Others.” Feet moving stiffly, Becca was leading them awkwardly in a definite path.

His phone was in his hand without conscious thought. But instead of calling Ryan or Gabrielle, Michael made another desperate call.

“Admiral, we’ve found it. It has taken hold of Becca.”

Chapter 26

Gabrielle sipped absently at the hole in the white plastic lid, burning her lip in the process, as she concentrated on not letting her eyes stray to the large body striding along beside her. Unlike some of her co-workers, he ran at the same temperature as her except she would have sworn he was at least twenty degrees hotter at that moment. And very hard to ignore.

Not a sound came from either of them, only the soft scuffing of shoes on pavement. The grit of salt and sand for traction ground against the occasional patch of ice missed by the plow responsible for clearing the wide sidewalks in town. Her sharp hearing picked up every syllable the mother ahead of her uttered to her inquisitive toddler, the jingling dog tags of the trotting retriever across the street and every other tiny indication of life in the bustling downtown.

Dog tags brought her mind round to Ryan again and the way his tags were always warm on her skin when they made love. Had sex, she corrected herself. They were having sex; they were not in love. Theirs were dangerous jobs and things could happen. Things
had
happened. She would not allow herself to be so stupid as to fall in love again. Going a step further, she again stopped her eyes from finding him and the tightness in her chest objected. Ryan’s feelings weren’t serious either, she told herself. How could they be when she’d never had any sort of sentimental words for him? Never allowed him to say more than two kind words to her without changing the subject. The look in his green eyes that night when he’d come bursting in, clearly fearing for her safety, had nearly been her undoing. Then it had helped her to reinforce her walls.

There was nothing Ryan wouldn’t do for someone he cared for and she had no doubt he would lay down his life for her if the need arose. And that was exactly what she’d been hoping to avoid. No one would die for her. She would never again have someone else’s blood on her hands, least of all someone with as much to offer as Ryan. After this mission she was going to end things. She’d postponed the inevitable long enough. It was time to let him go before he had more than a few bruised feelings. He couldn’t die because of her.

“Gabs.”

His voice, surprisingly gentle for such a large man, made her lose a step and she glanced up out of habit. The pain in her chest ratcheted up another notch at the deep sadness she saw in his dulled eyes and lined face. Not only had she caused it, she knew it was going to be worse very soon. Her mouth opened, tongue tracing across her lower lip to wet it. “Ryan, let’s not…”

Up ahead, the woman walking the toddler with endless questions stepped down onto the sloped sidewalk for wheelchairs and strollers, making ready to cross the street and Gabrielle saw the flash of light brown hair and side profile she would know anywhere. The pads of her fingers could even feel the short, coarse, darker brown hairs of his neatly trimmed moustache.

Automatically, with no ability or will to stop herself, Gabrielle made a ninety degree turn and quickened her pace, momentarily leaving Ryan behind before he caught on to her change in direction both physically and mentally.

“Gabs, wait. Where are you going?” Ryan took two long strides to catch up. Worried, he scanned the sparse sidewalks and streets for any threats of danger; any blatant signs of a seven-foot tall demon spewing fire or brimstone.

None to be seen, he grew frustrated and laid a hand on her arm. The pull from within her was stronger than his soft touch and her body moved out from under his palm.

With a growl, Ryan replaced his hand on her arm, tightening his grasp so that she stopped and waited for him to maneuver in front of her. Her progress impeded, Gabrielle became agitated and her other hand grasped at his. “Let me go, Ryan.” Her stare went beyond him, losing sight of the brown haired wraith that had haunted her these last few days. “Please.”

Her pleading should have been enough to break his hold. Normally willing to do anything to bring a smile to her face, Ryan never said no if she asked. Only that was when she didn’t have a demon luring her out into the woods on a nightly basis. Nor were those occasions when she was dreaming nonstop about her ex-boyfriend. And never had he felt so close to losing her as he did that morning. He felt her slipping away from him.

“Gabrielle, stop.”

Whether it was the hand or the commanding tone he took on, he didn’t know. Regardless, it worked. She halted in place and remained stationary while he stepped in front of her, though after a few shorts seconds of acquiescence, she attempted to pry his hand off of hers again.

“Let me go, Ryan,” she pleaded, her voice cracking.

For an instant his fingers loosened on their own before he clamped down again and locked her other wrist in his hand, taking care not to hurt her. It took a breath or two before he could push down his annoyance enough to soften his voice. They couldn’t risk a domestic right there on the street; they were only a few blocks from the police station and they weren’t going to be much help to their unit if they were tied up being booked for disorderly conduct.

“No, not until you tell me what the hell this is supposed to prove.” Some small hint of malice crept out despite his best efforts. “I’m tired of following you around while you chase ghosts, waiting for it to be you laying there with your chest ripped open.”

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. “We got the windigo, nobody else is getting their chest ripped out.”

Ryan felt his fraying control let go and he leaned in close to her face so that she was all he could see and he bared his teeth, growing longer by the second. “Are you goddamn stupid?”

Amber eyes went wide but not in fear. Nostrils flaring, Gabrielle refused to give him an inch. “Actually, I think I’m one of the few keeping my head here,” she hissed at him. “Michael, I’m sure relaying our commanding officer’s direct orders, asked us to track this thing. I’m tracking it with whatever means available to me.” Her eyes darted to the side, trying to catch sight of her ghost again before he disappeared. She took a step. “I
know
it’s not real.”

He caught the minor hesitation in her words and knew she was minimizing the absolute control this thing had over her. The continual tugs she was trying, testing the solidity of his hold, didn’t escape his notice either. If he didn’t let her go, she would become violent. But he loved her. And that superseded everything else for him at that moment. Ryan’s fingers held tight and he shifted to block her. He could take a little damage.

“You think catching a demon’s lackey makes
this
no big deal?” He caught sight of a middle-aged woman standing behind Gabrielle, paying way too much attention to them, and clamped his mouth shut on his canines. Inhaling through his nose and breathing out his mouth, he soothed his beast barely enough to keep it below the surface. Ryan lowered his voice. “This thing was the one calling the shots. That means it’s
stronger
than the windigo and
it’s
still out there. If you were thinking straight, you’d know that.”

Her eyes swam with an unmistakable wetness. One Ryan had never seen there before and he felt his chest swell with hope that he was getting through.

“I am thinking straight, Ryan,” she whispered, her eyes glittering. “More so than I have in a long time. I’m sorry I’ve let this thing with us go on so long, but it’s time I made things right. It’s over. Now. Let me go.”

This time when she wiggled in his fingers to loosen their hold, he let them open. Gabrielle’s cutting words had eviscerated him so thoroughly he lost the will to hold her back. Her wish that he remain her guard dog, trailing behind only to be called up should she need him was clear. And, as much as he hated it, he fell in step behind her. She was cruel but honest. She had never given him false hope, he’d managed to build that all by himself. But she was his fellow soldier and he loved her as a woman. For either of those reasons alone he would help her whether she wanted him or not. When combined, he knew he would die happy if he knew he had taken her place under the demon’s hands.

Chapter 27

“Is she able to speak?”

“She did at first. Now she’s nonresponsive.” Michael’s eyes spun sideways for the millionth time to see that Becca’s glazed expression focused on some unseen point in the distance.

“Can you tell where it is leading her?” Black, at least, kept his head.

“No.”

“Try, Michael.” Black was unwilling to take his Second’s panicky answer.

Even over that great distance, the tightness in his skull reminded Michael of his obligation to the admiral. With great difficulty, Michael let his gaze be torn from his love to search for road signs as well as possible destinations. When, after a few seconds he tried to tell Black it was no use, the pressure in his head increased and he winced. There was silence on the line while Black waited for him to do as he’d been told.

Blinking his eyes, relieved when the pain dissipated as quickly as it had come on, Michael let his peripheral tracking follow Becca while he maintained his close proximity. Meanwhile, he scanned the buildings, searching for one that might suit a ley line demon’s tastes. Whatever those might be.

As far as he knew the demon would remain under the surface, following the path of the lines, coming up only to feed upon the energies of its victims. Energy was its one known desire, whether that be from passion or fear didn’t seem to matter to this one. With the windigo gone, it had yet to prove itself a killer, though that wasn’t entirely out of the realm of possibilities. Like Black said, these sorts of demons had been known to throw entire cities into riots just to feed off of the maelstrom and, once that happened, no one could predict a human’s safety.

Michael knew that Becca was strong, he’d tasted her before
and
since she’d become like him. He knew that once the demon discovered her it wouldn’t let her go. Whether it decided to drain her or use her to create a riot, he didn’t believe she would survive its visit. Images of the dance floor in the club the night before brought another possibility to mind and Michael felt his vampire clawing the back of his neck. He growled.

“Mind yourself, Michael,” Black cautioned. “You are her survival as well as any in the town who might be caught in the middle. If you lose control, you help no one. You fail in your mission, you fail her, and you fail me.”

Black’s worst-case scenario trifecta worked. Michael stood straighter and walked as close as he could to Becca without their flesh touching. “Yes. Sir.”

“Good.” Black’s satisfaction, for once, didn’t seem to stem from his hold over the captain, but rather from relief. His tone softened minutely. “Now, look again. Where would a demon want to take a human to get the most energy? Somewhere he could drain her without interruption.”

Sparing a quick glance at Becca’s rigid frame and pale face, noticing the bruises under her eyes were growing worse with the strain, Michael gritted his teeth. Black was right, the only way to help her was to be ready when this thing showed itself. He would take great pleasure in tearing its limbs from its earthly body.