Chapter 18
Jess would laugh if it weren't so damn ironic. One of his powers was the ability to know when he was about to be ambushed. And the den they were in had a damper on psychic powers. Not that he and Ren needed that right now, since they'd been draining each other for the last few days.
At best, his powers were working only at half-mast. And it wouldn't have mattered if they hadn't been. He still would have walked right into this.
For one simple reason.
He'd been so fixated on getting to Abigail and making sure she was safe, that he'd have been blind to everything else.
Oh, well ...
Die and learn.
Cupping her face and soaking in that gleam in her eyes, he leaned his forehead against hers and took a moment to inhale the sweet scent of her skin. Yeah, this gave him strength.
"Um, guys?" Sasha said from beside them. "I hate to toss ice water on your mood, but we have a situation here, and you might want to look up and prepare or sneeze or something. Just saying."
Jess didn't have to look up. He could feel every pair of eyes on him. The three of them were standing in the center of a large round room deep inside a cavern. Pristine white and trimmed in black, the walls around them reminded him of a palace. Kind of place he'd never thought to see in real life back in the day when he'd been human.
Things changed. Not always for the good and not always for the bad.
Sasha stood on his left and Abigail in front. Because of his injuries, Choo Co La Tah wasn't with them, and Ren seemed to have disappeared entirely.
Again.
There were six Daimons coming at them. Three to his right, four to his left. And a herd of them in the back tunnel.
Ah hell, he'd had worst odds.
And that was just yesterday.
Abigail took a second longer to stare into those dark eyes that haunted her. Rising on her tiptoes, she kissed the tip of his delectable nose. "Thank you for coming for me."
"My pleasure."
She hugged him close. "And in case we don't make it out alive ... I love you, Jess Brady. I just wanted you to know it."
Jess felt his heart swell over words he'd never thought to hear from another pair of lips that set his world on fire. "I love you, too."
She smiled.
Until Sasha barked. "They're attacking."
Jess savored the sensation of her skin against his for one second longer. "Aim for the heart."
Inclining her head to let him know she understood, she reached around his waist to pull the two weapons he had on the back part of his holster. He drew the ones in front.
They turned in synch and opened fire on their enemies. The first one he struck, flipped and landed at his feet. It didn't explode, so he took that to mean it wasn't dead or it was one of the new breed of killing machines.
Daimons were coming at them from every direction. It reminded him of the Alien video game. The more he shot, the more they grew. Only difference? Daimons didn't drop from the ceiling.
Yet.
Who knew what power they might develop at a later date. Every time he got it halfway figured out, they discovered something new-like eating a gallu to augment their powers. Who the hell thought of that?
Probably the same sick SOB who saw a chicken shoot an egg out its nether region and said, "Hey, y'all, I think I'm gonna fry that up and eat it. Wish me luck. If I get sick from it, someone fetch a doctor."
Abigail fired her last round and blew one of the Daimons into dust. She was having a serious crisis of conscience about killing people she'd have died to defend a week ago. But the fact that they were so determined to kill her if she didn't kill them made it a little easier to do.
She pivoted to her right and froze as she caught sight of Jess fighting. He fired a round from his shotgun, then used the stock to swat another. Turning in a graceful arc, he fired again at a new target, then ducked, slid along the ground on his knees to reach another bad guy that he slugged with the gunstock, then stabbed. He moved so fast that he was already two steps ahead of her before she'd done anything at all.
Incredible.
Another Daimon wielding an ax attacked. Completely calm ... freakishly calm, Jess leaned his head back from the swing, letting the ax fly clear of his throat. Still, it'd been so close that she didn't know how he could trust himself not to have misjudged the swing.
Thank God he didn't. Otherwise, she'd be picking his head up right now.
As their ammunition ran low and the Daimons kept coming, Jess put himself between Sasha, who was in wolf form, and her. She loved the fierce protector in him.
Still he fought like a ninja. She was extremely impressed. And if the truth were told, she was amazed she'd been able to hold her own against him when they'd fought. Until now, she hadn't realized just how accomplished he was.
That boy had mad skills.
In no time, their rounds were spent, and they were retreating to the back part of the cavern while beating Daimons down as hard as they could.
Jess was really starting to miss his ability to reload his weapons. And create them. Damn his drained powers. It would make things easier, especially since Coyote had nothing here that could be used as a weapon.
Bastard.
"Can you hear the human souls releasing when you kill them?" Abigail asked.
"No."
But by the look on her face, he could tell that she did. "Are you all right about it?"
She nodded. "No," she said, contradicting the nod. "I keep thinking about the fact that my mother's soul was taken and consumed by a Daimon. No one freed hers."
"I'm sorry."
"Not your fault."
Maybe, but he felt bad for her anyway.
Sasha's powers were as limited by the damper as his were. They were fighting with their hands behind their backs, and the Daimons were all at their full psychic capacity.
Abigail began to panic as more Daimons showed up. They were breeding like cockroaches. "We're going to die, aren't we?"
"Hope not. I still have another episode of No Ordinary Family downloaded on my computer that I haven't had a chance to watch yet. Be a damn shame to miss it. Might have to hurt them if that happens."
She shook her head at him. "You're so not right." But that was what she loved about him.
They were backing up through the cavern and quickly running out of places to go.
When they got to the last of it, they formed a small circle.
Sasha sighed. "So this is it, huh? Not how I thought I'd go out." He glanced around at the extremely green cavern walls. "Well, at least we'll be all minty fresh when we go."
"Psst!"
Sasha turned around in a circle, looking for the source of the sound.
Jess arched a brow at Abigail.
"I didn't do it."
They looked at Sasha. "What? Some freak noise gets made, and you blame the dog? That ain't right. Next thing you know, I'll get blamed for gas attacks, too. I didn't do it."
"Psst! Abby!"
Abigail froze as she recognized Hannah's voice. She turned around to find her sister in a small hole in the wall. Dressed all in black, she looked like Spy Doll Barbie. If the point was to make her fierce, it was failing miserably. Hannah was too tiny, too blond, and too sweet looking to make anyone afraid of her.
"What are you doing here, H?"
"Saving your asses. Come on."
Abigail followed her without reservation.
"Keep your voices real low," Hannah warned in a whisper. "Some of the Daimons have really good ears, and the walls are thin."
"Do you know where Ren is?" Jess asked.
She nodded. "They're planning to sacrifice him at midnight. Right now, Coyote is torturing him."
Abigail frowned. Hannah acted like she was at home here and knew the schedule for everything. Best of all, she knew about this hidden passage. "I don't understand. How did you guys get hooked up with Coyote?"
"Jonah."
That unexpected response startled her so badly that she actually stumbled. "What?"
"You remember how Jonah did all that research into trying to find a cure for us?"
Abigail nodded. Everyone who'd ever met Jonah knew this story. He'd found some obscure text that said one of the local Nevada tribes had hidden a serum in the mountains that could cure any illness and transform someone's DNA into perfect structure.
Jonah had taken that to mean that it would repair whatever physiological damage Apollo had done to them when he cursed them.