Abigail's stomach churned at his words. "Oh I forgot. You think it's all right to kill innocent Apollites and humans and prey on them. Well, I have news for you, buster. We're not taking it anymore. Your days of killing us are over, and we're hunting you now."
Frowning, he snapped his head back with a baffled expression. "Come again?"
"Are you deaf?"
"No, ma'am. But I know you didn't just accuse me of killing the very things I protect."
His denial shot a fresh bomb of rage through her. Grinding her teeth, she lunged at him.
Jess caught her against his chest. She stomped his instep. Cursing, he bent over and stumbled back. Big mistake. She slammed her hands across his ears. Pain splintered his skull. She would have kneed him in the face had he not put a little more distance between them.
Sick of being beat on, he cursed himself for declining the handcuffs.
His only course of action was to wrap himself around her and brace her flat against the wall so that she couldn't continue to hurt him. "Stop fighting," he snarled in her ear.
"No! You took everything from me, and I'm going to kill you for it."
That only confused him more. "What are you talking about?"
"You murdered my parents. You bastard!"
For a few heartbeats, he couldn't breathe as he flashed back to his life as a human. Change out the word parents with father and make her a man, and he remembered the day when someone else had leveled that accusation. After it was said, the man drew his gun and shot him.
The bullet had gone into his shoulder. Acting on pure instinct honed by countless gunfights, Jess had pulled his own Colt out and returned the favor. Only his bullet went straight through the man's head. It wasn't until Jess checked him that he realized that man was a sixteen-year-old boy who'd stared up at him in agony while the light drained out of his eyes. The father he'd mentioned had been a cardsharp who'd tried to gun Jess down outside a saloon a few weeks before that. Stupid fool had pulled a derringer on him. Jess had disarmed him, and when the gambler went to stab him, he'd shot him at point-blank range.
Justified.
But the kid's death ...
That was one of dozens of such memories he wished to God he could purge out of his mind.
"I haven't killed a human being in over a hundred and forty years, and I damned sure didn't kill your parents."
She shrieked at him, then thrashed about with enough force to free herself from his hold. "You don't even remember? You worthless, rotten-"
He caught her hand before she slapped him. "Honey, I haven't shot a human since I was one. Only piece of loco around here would be you."
She shoved him back and tried to kick him. "I saw you with my own eyes. You gunned them down in cold blood."
That set fire to his temper. He might have been a lot of things, but that ... that ... "Oh, like hell. I have never in my life killed anyone in cold blood."
She curled her lip. "Right ... You're a hired killer. It's all you've ever known. You've never cared who and what you put down so long as you got paid for it."
"Was"-he stressed the word-"and those I killed, I did so in a fair duel. They had as much a chance of living as I did." While he was the first to admit he'd been a cold-blooded criminal, unlike Bart, he'd had lines he wouldn't cross. Things no amount of money could make him do. "I swear to God that I did not kill your parents."
Abigail hesitated. He meant what he was saying. She could see it in his eyes and hear it in his indignant tone. "How could you forget that night? I heard you fighting with my father. You left and then came back and broke into our house."
He held his hands up to emphasize his point. "I have never broken into a house. A bank, most definitely. A train a time or two to rob payrolls, but never someone's home."
"You're lying."
He shook his head. "I don't lie. I've got no need to."
"Bullshit. I was there. I saw you."
"And I'm telling you right now that I wasn't. On the soul of my mother, I didn't kill them. And while I fought with your dad, I never once struck him or even insulted him." Then to her utmost shock, he went to a cabinet a little farther down the hallway and opened a drawer that had a safe with a hand scanner. He put his palm on top and opened the safe. Inside was a handgun and KA-BAR. He pulled the knife out.
Her heart pounded as she realized he was going to stab her. She braced herself for the fight.
It didn't come.
Instead, he flipped the KA-BAR around so that the blade faced his body and the hilt was toward her. "If you really, truly think I killed your parents, have your vengeance." He placed the knife in her hand.
Completely caught off guard, she stared at him with the weight of the knife heavy in her palm. You've waited your whole life for this. Cut his throat. So what if she died afterward? She'd have her vengeance.
She wanted his life with a passion that was undeniable. It was a primal need that screamed out for his blood. But something in her gut told her to wait.
And in that instant, she had another memory. Sundown sitting at her kitchen table, coloring with her. "Dang, Laura, you have a real artist here. I've never seen a better rendition of Scooby-Doo."
Abigail had beamed with happiness while her mother brought them both a cup of hot chocolate. When her mother turned her back, Jess had added his marshmallows to Abigail's cup because they were her favorite. He'd winked at her and then held his finger to his lips and cut his eyes to her mother's back to tell her to be quiet about it so that neither of them would get in trouble for it. She couldn't count the times he'd done something sweet like that for her.
Sundown had been their friend.
No, her rationale countered. He'd killed them. She'd seen his face in the mirror of her room. He didn't know how to be anyone's friend. He was treacherous to his core, and if he was offering her a knife ...
"What kind of trick is this?"
He didn't back down or blink. He stood right in front of her, looking at her through his thick lashes. His presence was terrifying and overwhelming as a tic beat a fierce rhythm in his jaw. "No trick. Believe me, I understand that soul-deep need to kill the person who took what you loved away from you. I know for a fact that I'm innocent, but I won't fault you for your belief, wrong though it is." He dropped his arms to his sides. "You want to kill me, go for it. I won't stop you. But know that when you do, you'll be spilling innocent blood yourself. May God have mercy on your soul."
Growling in anger, she moved to slice his jugular, expecting him to catch her hand and use the knife on her.
He didn't.
"I will kill you," she said between clenched teeth. She could behead him. She had no doubts.
He continued to stare down at her. "Do it."
Determined, she pressed the blade so close to his throat that it drew a bead of blood onto the dark carbon steel. Still, he didn't budge. He merely stood patiently for her to end his life.
"What are you waiting for?" His words sounded like a taunt.
She ground her teeth in fury at herself. "I'm not you. I can't kill someone who's defenseless."
"Nice to know the other Dark-Hunters you murdered had a fighting chance."
She pulled the blade away from his throat. "Oh, spare me, you blood-sucking bastard. I know exactly how you prey on people and then blame the Apollites for it."
He scowled at her. "Wait, wait, wait. I'm confused. First I'm a murderer, and now I'm guilty of preying on all humanity. Woman, who have you been talking to? They done got your head screwed on backwards and then some. We're not the bad guys in all this. The Daimons are the ones killing humans, not us."
What in the world was he talking about now? "Daimons? What's a Daimon?"
He choked. "You work with Apollites and you've never heard the term?"
"No. Are they some kind of demon?"
Sundown folded his arms over his chest as he gave her a disbelieving grimace. "Daimons are the Apollites who live past their twenty-seventh birthdays."
Was he on something? Surely, he knew the history of her adoptive people even better than she did. "Apollites can't do that. It's impossible."
"Uh, yeah, they can. I know, 'cause they're what we hunt. Every night. Without fail."
She rolled her eyes at his lunacy. "You are such a liar."
"Why would I lie?"
"Because you're one of the ones who kills humans and then blames it on the Apollites," she repeated, stressing the words so that even he could understand them. "You use them as your scapegoats, and this must be the lie you tell to justify it."
"And that makes sense in what alternate universe? Really? Why would we blame something neither humanity nor Apollites know exists to cover up these supposed crimes we commit? Hell, it'd make more sense to blame little green men. Who told you this malarkey?"
Before she could answer, something bright flashed to her left.
Lifting her hand to shield her eyes, she cringed in pain. It was absolutely blinding.
When the light faded, there was another man in the hallway with them. One with an evil sneer, who looked like he'd been bred for no other purpose than to kill. Tall with jet black hair and icy blue eyes, he was gorgeous. Dressed in a blue shirt and jeans, he had a small goatee. He glanced at her, then locked gazes with Sundown, who seemed to know him. "Do I have to kill her for seeing me pop in?"