Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
“Where are we going?” Marna asked as she hunched down into her seat. They’d headed away from the city, and the only light that she saw now came from the heavy, thick moon that hung low in the sky.
Twisting trees surrounded the narrow road. To the left, dark water glinted in the moonlight.
“We need to find Cody.”
The demon doctor. Her fingers pressed against her legs. When she’d been so afraid and angry earlier, she’d been able to start the fire once more. She’d felt the hot rush of power, and it had left her feeling…restless.
Tense.
Edgy.
Her gaze returned to the window. Past those trees, she saw only the lines of the swamp. I lost my life in a swamp like this. No, not like —this place was where she’d lost her life.
The exact spot waited just a few miles away.
A woman didn’t forget the worst moment of her life. Not when she got to re-live it over and over again most nights.
“I hate the swamp.” The words slipped from her as she glanced back at him. She did hate it. The musky smell. The dampness. The death. Maybe some looked at the savagery of the swamp and saw beauty, but she’d never see it. Because she could never forget.
“Don’t worry. We’re not staying long.” She saw his nostrils flare, and his body seemed to tense. “We’ll find Cody, make sure his ass is safe, and then we?—”
They’d rounded a corner. Driven down deeper into the swamp. And now they could see the blaze. Had that been what he’d scented moments before?
A fire, only one that was burning far brighter than the flames Marna had created back in New Orleans.
Tanner slammed his foot down on the accelerator.
Marna’s breath ached in her lungs. The fire was coming from Cody’s cabin.
Memories rushed through her mind. Inside that cabin was Cody’s makeshift clinic.
I woke up there. Tied down.
Tanner and Cody had been afraid to let her loose because they’d been worried that she’d touch them. And kill them.
Only she hadn’t been able to kill anyone.
The vehicle lurched forward as Tanner pushed the SUV to drive even faster. She grabbed for the door and held on tight as they raced toward the flames.
Was Cody inside that cabin? Demons were supposed to be able to control fire, so few ever died in flames.
Unless someone was there to make sure a demon died.
Cody…he wasn’t a bad demon.
Smoke drifted into the sky, and Marna could have sworn that, even in the vehicle, she felt the heat from that fire on her skin.
Cody had saved her. Stitched her up. Protected her.
Tanner slammed on the brakes, and the SUV screeched to a jarring stop. He leapt from the vehicle and ran toward the blaze. Hands shaking, she followed him.
“Cody!” Tanner yelled his brother’s name.
Marna didn’t speak. She knew Tanner would be able to smell his brother, hoped he could, anyway, even over the harsh scent of fire and smoke. He had those great shifter ears, so he should be able to hear if Cody?—
Tanner’s head whipped to the left. Toward the thick line of vegetation bordering the swamp. His nostrils flared, and he took off running.
At first, Marna didn’t move. She’d never wanted to go back into a swamp again. But if Tanner needed her…Her shoulders straightened. She could do this. No, she would do this.
She followed her panther shifter into her own hell. The trees were gnarled, hunched, and insects chirped all around her as she followed the pounding thud of Tanner’s racing feet. He was shouting his brother’s name again, so she knew he must have caught Cody’s scent.
Not in the fire.
Cody had escaped. He’d gotten out. He’d?—
Tanner’s footsteps stopped. They just seemed to disappear. Marna frowned and slowed. He’d been up ahead and to the right. She’d heard his shout from that area moments before.
Marna hurried forward. Raced to the right.
But she saw only more thick trees. More heavy vegetation. He’d been there. Hadn’t he? Only now he was gone.
The insects chirped louder.
Try to fucking fly now.
The voice from her nightmares whispered through Marna’s head. She looked up, across the water, and saw the spot that had marked the end for her.
Fall.
The ground wasn’t blood-soaked anymore. The remains of her wings didn’t litter the earth, but the area was black. Everything in a ten-foot radius had died, marking the place where an angel had lost her wings.
She turned away, not wanting to see that place. “Tanner!” He had to be close by. He was?—
“Marna…” A whisper. One that came from behind her.
Not Tanner’s voice. Her blood chilled.
Tanner lunged forward and flew through the air. His body slammed into his prey’s, and they fell to the ground, twisting and hitting the earth with a heavy thud.
“What the hell?” Cody demanded. “Get the fuck off—wait, Tanner?”
His brother was alive. If he weren’t so happy about that fact, Tanner would be kicking the jerk’s ass for scaring him so much.
Tanner climbed to his feet. “Who did it?”
Cody pushed off the ground and glanced around with a heaving chest. He’d been running, and Cody hadn’t even seemed to hear Tanner’s shouts. Tackling him had been the only option available. “What are you talking about?” Cody asked, giving him a fast, sideways glance.
Huh. Now why was his voice so cautious?
Tanner shook his head. “Don’t play dumb. You were never good at that bit.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder. “Your place is torched. Flames are shooting up into the sky, and you’re running like the devil’s chasing you. What. Happened? ”
Cody didn’t meet his gaze. “Someone was coming after me. I needed to throw them off. To make them think?—”
Hold up. “ You set the fire?”
“You know I’ve always been good with flames.” Cody carefully looked over Tanner’s shoulder.
Tanner glanced back and expected to see Marna rushing up behind him. Only she wasn’t there. That sick rush of fear began to fill him again. “Who was after you?” Come on, Marna. Get over here. She’d been right behind him.
“You don’t want to know.” Now Cody was backing away. “You’ve got enough shit on your hands, bro. This time, I can clean up my own mess. You don’t have to play hero.”
But he’d always taken care of Cody. That had been the routine for their entire lives.
“Story of my life,” Cody muttered, taking another step back. “I screw up, but you’re the one who suffers for it. Not this time.”
“Tanner!”
Marna’s voice. She was…scared. Tanner inhaled. Caught her scent. Only, she wasn’t alone. “Marna!” He didn’t even spare another glance for his brother as he took off through the swamp.
“I’m sorry.” Cody’s voice followed him. “I’ll make it right. I swear I will.”
But Tanner didn’t turn back to him. The brother he’d nearly died for—he left him alone in the woods.
She tried to calm her racing heart as she stared at the angel who’d confronted her. Bastion. Why was he there? What did he want?
Bastion’s gaze wasn’t on her. He stared at the blackened ground. “I thought you’d died.” His voice was hushed.
She didn’t move.
“I found the blood and your wings, and I thought you’d been killed.” His hands were clenched.
Anger? Fury ? From him? There was no denying the rage vibrating in his words, but—but he still had his wings. He shouldn’t feel emotions like that.
Bastion glanced up at her, and his eyes seemed to burn. “I wanted to kill then.”
Death angels carried out their duties. They didn’t want to take souls.
She swallowed. “Bastion, this isn’t…” You.
He glided closer to her with a powerful movement of the black wings that sprouted from his back. “Everything is changing. Up there and down here.”
Marna found that she was backing away from him.
His eyes narrowed at her movement. “Are you afraid of me?”
She shouldn’t be. He’d been her confidant for centuries. The closest thing to a friend that she had. But the way he looked at her— yes. “Have you been watching me?” Marna whispered the words and was afraid of the answer that she knew would be coming.
Bastion had always been far more powerful than she was. If he hadn’t wanted her to see him?—
Then I wouldn’t have seen him.
But she’d still caught his scent in the air a few times. Felt eyes upon her.
“The shifter is the one who watched you. Who followed you when you didn’t know.”
His words made her hesitate. But how would he know that about Tanner? Unless he’d been there, too.
“He’s hunted you.” Bastion was even closer now. Close enough for his wings to stretch out. To block the moonlight. To surround her. “And yet you let him fuck you.”
She flinched away as a cold horror filled her. Bastion had watched that? Why? Why would he?—
“Marna!”
Bastion’s eyes narrowed at Tanner’s shout. “He’s not going to save you. He’ll betray you. Destroy you. Just as he’s destroyed so many others.”
But Bastion stepped back, and Tanner ran to her. Her shifter grabbed her hand and pulled her close. “I heard you scream,” he growled the words. “I heard and—” He stopped, breaking off abruptly.
Marna tilted her head back as she stared up at his face. His eyes had narrowed, and they drifted around the small clearing. Drifted, and seemed to stop directly on Bastion.
Because the angel was still there. Watching them with a gaze gone hard and cold. Not burning any longer.
Ice.
“We aren’t alone,” Tanner stated with absolute certainty.
Yet he couldn’t see Bastion, she knew that.
His nostrils widened even as his head inclined to the left.
Shifters didn’t have to rely on just what they could see. Not when their other senses were in overdrive twenty-four, seven.
Tanner wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his side. “What does he want?”
He. Bastion. Tanner’s senses were definitely on target. “I’m not completely sure,” she said as she stared straight at Bastion. Truth, but part of her was afraid that maybe, just maybe, Bastion wanted?—
Me.
The whisper slid through her. An uncomfortable suspicion because, now that she’d been with Tanner, she could understand what she’d seen in Bastion’s stare.
Need. Desire.
Lust.
Angels don’t lust.
Or did they?
Bastion had retreated and she thought he would leave, but suddenly, he marched right toward them.
No. Marna shoved Tanner back. She put her body between his and Bastion’s. “Don’t even think about it.” Her voice came out as a low, furious order.
Bastion stilled.
“Think about what?” Tanner demanded from behind her.
Marna kept her eyes on Bastion. She wouldn’t look over the angel’s shoulder, at that burned ground that marked her change. She stared into his eyes, saw all that she’d lost, and knew that she wasn’t losing anything else. “You won’t touch him.”
Bastion’s eyes widened. “You’d protect the animal?”
Marna nodded. But Tanner wasn’t an animal.
“What the hell is happening?” Tanner raged. “I can smell him. I just can’t see the bastard.”
Most folks wouldn’t describe angels as bastards. Then again, Tanner wasn’t in that “most” category.
“I just want you to be safe,” Bastion said, and a muscle flexed along the length of his jaw. Another sign of emotion. Did he even realize how close he was to the edge?
“Don’t worry about me,” Marna told him. “Take care of yourself.” She wanted to touch him. To grab him and hold tight and shake him. This wasn’t the Bastion she’d known. “You have too much to lose.”
Bastion glared at Tanner. “I’ve already lost.”
Wind seemed to whip around them. Tanner swore. “If that asshole wants to play…”
Tanner couldn’t play with a death angel. Not and come out still living. No one could win that particular game.
“I’m trying to help you,” Bastion snapped as the wind beat harder. He was losing control. Breaking apart right in front of her. His wings stretched. Flapped. “He’s nothing but a danger to you. If he’s not stopped, he’ll destroy you.”
Marna lifted her chin. Angels don’t lie. Yet she trusted Tanner. So where did that leave her? “You aren’t touching him.” Bastion was now the leader of the death angels. Refusing his order would be unheard of among their kind. Turning against him? An unforgivable act.
But…
But she wasn’t in heaven anymore. And so far, only one person had been there for her since her fall. There to keep her safe. To fight for her. Maybe it was time for her to start fighting for him.
“You can’t stop Death.” Bastion began to rise into the air. A faint smile twisted his lips. “You know that better than most.”
Damn him.
He vanished.
And Marna finally took a deep breath.
“He’s gone.” Tanner’s voice. Growling. Tense.
She managed a nod.
He turned her toward him. Glared down at her. “What the hell is going on?”
You’ve got a death angel who wants you cold in the ground. She couldn’t lie, but that didn’t mean that she had to tell the truth. “It was just a visit from an old friend.” A warning visit. “Someone who’s worried about me.”
His hands were on her arms. His warm fingers curled around her flesh. “An old friend makes you scream in fear?”
“Yes.” Truth. “When you have old friends like I do.” She should tell him more. “Tanner, I?—”
His mouth took hers. His tongue slid past her lips and thrust into her mouth.
After a moment’s hesitation, she kissed him back. She wanted the rush of passion that he could give her. She wanted to forget Bastion and the nightmare memories that waited in that swamp. Marna kissed Tanner with all her passion and felt the wild surge of desire inside her. The lust she felt for him could banish any chill.
His hands slid over her body. Found her ass. Curled and pulled her up against him. There was no mistaking the hard bulge of his arousal. “You’re not going back to the angels,” he rasped the words against her lips. “That’s not your life anymore.”
No. She couldn’t go back. Without her wings, there’d be no way for her to ever get to heaven.
Lost.
His head lifted, and his gaze blazed at her. “You’re mine now.”
Marna shook her head. No, she wasn’t. She belonged only to herself, not to?—
Tanner kissed her again. She opened her lips and her tongue met his because she liked his taste and loved the heat that spilled through her at his touch. But…
Not his.
She wouldn’t belong to another. Not even to someone like Tanner. She’d watched too many humans over the centuries. Belonging led to pain. Betrayal.
If he’s not stopped, he’ll destroy you.
She wouldn’t forget Bastion’s words.
One more hard press of his mouth, and Tanner pulled back. “We have to go.” His gaze darted behind her. To the blackened ground. His stare hardened. “Cody’s out there, and he’s running from who the hell knows what.” His fingers twined with hers. “We have to hurry, we—” Tanner stiffened and spun around.
They weren’t alone any longer—and this time, their visitor wasn’t an angel. Marna didn’t know the woman who stalked so slowly from the woods, but she had two men beside her. Marna recognized those men— shifters. They’d been in this swamp before.
That long ago night, when her wings had been ripped away, they’d been there.
Laughing.
Panther shifters.
“Captain?” Tanner faced the new threat. His claws were out. “What are you doing here?”
The woman—petite, with dark brown hair—offered them a smile. As she came closer, the shifters behind her began to change into beasts with snarls and cracks and snaps of their bones.
“I’m here to apprehend an angel.” The woman pointed at Marna. “A wanted killer.”
Tanner shook his head. “Jillian, we’ve been over this?—”
She laughed. The sound was cold and bitter and sliced through the night. “I don’t give a damn if she’s innocent or not, Chance. Angels are worth too much money to walk away from, especially weak little things like her who can’t get up enough power to hurt anyone.”
There was a badge clipped to the woman’s belt. This Jillian, she was a cop? Like Chance?
“Everyone wants angel blood,” Marna muttered, disgusted and sick of being on the menu. “Can’t you all just leave me alone?”
“It might not matter upstairs.” The woman’s voice was still as cool as you please. “But down here, money talks. As much as I’ll get for you…hell, I can buy forgiveness for anything I do.”
“You’re a cop!” Tanner shouted.
The others had completely shifted. Transformed into big, hulking panthers with yellowed, razor-sharp teeth.
“I’m a demon first.” She pulled out her gun. Aimed it at him. “In all the time that I’ve watched you at the PD, you just never seemed to get that. We’re paranormals first, not cops. The humans…they’re second to what we need.”
The panthers began to creep forward. Their heads were low to the ground. Their big bodies tense. Two panthers, and one demon with a gun.
They could handle this, right? They’d taken out those vampires, and these odds had to be better.
“You might as well give her over to us,” the woman—Jillian—said. “She’s worth so much that the supernaturals won’t stop coming until she’s dead. A helpless angel.” She laughed again. That high-pitched laugh was getting on Marna’s last nerve. “That’s like throwing a child into a pool of sharks.”
Marna felt the now familiar pulse of fire push through her body. She lifted her hands and hoped the flames wouldn’t desert her again. Only one way to find out.
But who was the bigger threat? The demon? Or the shifters? “You’ve been misinformed.” Marna’s voice came out a little shaky. Okay, a lot shaky. Whatever. Do this. “I’m not helpless.”
“Not when you’re standing behind the big, bad shifter.” Jillian smirked. “But what will you do when he’s not there to protect your ass? Can’t fly away.” Her lips pursed in a smirk. “Not anymore.”
One of the panthers growled and swiped out at Marna. Tanner lunged and pulled her back, and his own claws flashed.
He’d need to shift in order to fight the other two panthers. He’d be weak while he shifted.
But not if she was covering his back.
“Run,” Marna told the demon. The woman’s green eyes had faded to black. “This is your only chance.” She was trying to give her a fair warning.
Instead of heeding that warning, Jillian fired on her.
The bullet never hit.
Because in that same instant, Marna lifted her hands and sent out a wall of fire. The fire circled her and Tanner, closing them in—but keeping the others out. The fire raged so hot that the bullet melted, vanishing in the inferno.
Power, pulsing heat, poured from Marna. “I’m not weak!” she screamed. Too many thought of her that way. All the supernaturals who wanted to cut her open and drain her dry. Even all the angels upstairs, the ones who used to whisper about her. The ones who’d thought she wasn’t strong enough to do the job of a death angel.
The panthers jumped back, hissing as they cringed away from the fire.
The demon didn’t move. She would move, though. Marna would make her move.
With a wave of her hand, Marna sent the fire flying toward that demon. But the cop laughed again. The woman tossed her left hand up toward the blaze. “I’ve been playing with fire since I was five years old.”
The flames died before they touched the cop’s skin.
Marna sucked in a deep breath. Okay, so the fire wouldn’t work on the demon. But the shifters couldn’t control the flames.
She lifted her hands toward them, palms out. These two jerks had been in her nightmares because they’d been there that night with Brandt. “The next time a woman is bleeding on the ground…” Fury pumped inside of her. “Don’t just stand there and laugh.” Fire exploded in two streams. One from her right hand. One from her left. The blazing trails ripped right toward the two shifters.
They jumped back, but the fire singed their fur. Oh, she could do a lot more than just singe them, she could?—
“Give her to me,” Jillian yelled. “Stop the bitch’s fire and give her to me, or your brother is dead.”
Wait—what?
She felt Tanner’s start of surprise. The circle of fire around them vanished, courtesy of that demon.
And now she was talking about Cody? Threatening him?
“Bullshit,” Tanner called as he lunged forward with his claws out. “And you’re a disgrace to the PD.”
The cop scrambled away a few feet. The panthers had retreated to stand at her side. “I’m in the PD to protect my own kind. Same as you should be. You think I’m just gonna stand there and let the humans lock up demons?” Her hair slid over her shoulders as she shook her head. “Not on my watch.”
Marna’s flames had scorched the earth. The pulsing fire—that feeling of power that surged beneath her skin—it was starting to die away.
No, no, she couldn’t lose that power again!
Can’t be weak.
“You think these are the only two I brought with me?” Jillian put her hand on the head of one of the panthers. “I was hunting your brother. I knew he’d be the key to breaking you.”
Tanner’s only blood relative. The man he’d always protected. Yes, Marna knew he’d do anything for Cody.
Even trade me?
It was Marna’s turn to back up a step.
Tanner didn’t move. “I don’t know why you teamed up with these assholes, but it was a bad move.”
Jillian shrugged. “They needed an alpha. I needed some fangs and claws to get the job done.”
Marna’s gaze searched the trees. She didn’t see anyone—anything—else out there. Was the cop bluffing?
“My men caught Cody’s scent, just the same as you did.” Jillian’s hand was still on the panther’s head. What? Did the lady think they were some kind of pets? Didn’t she know shifters would just as soon bite the hand that fed them? That they liked to bite that hand? But, calm as you please, Jillian continued, “Except they didn’t give up the chase once they heard an angel scream. My men kept going. They’ve got him now, and unless you want to be trying to sew the pieces of him back together, then you’ll step away from the angel.”
A bluff. Tanner wasn’t stepping away from her, and Marna knew that he had to realize?—
He stiffened. “You bitch.” There was a dark mix of fury and hate in his voice. “I can smell his blood.”
Oh, no. That meant—no bluff.
Then Marna heard it. The sound of thrashing in the bushes. Grunts. Three men burst from the darkness. She recognized Cody’s bloody form instantly. But the others? She’d never seen them before, but with one look, she knew they were shifters. It was rather hard to miss those fangs and claws.
Cody was barely on his feet. Stumbling. Slashes covered most of his body. “I didn’t…scream,” he managed to say.
No, he hadn’t screamed. She had. She’d screamed, and Tanner had come running to her side. And he’d left Cody alone in the dark.
“My kind have a weakness,” Jillian said with a tsk. “Some of us can’t handle our drugs, and some can’t handle the alcohol. One drunken night, your brother just had to run his mouth in Hell about the pretty little angel his brother was keeping so close.”
That pulse of power began to build within Marna once more. She could feel it, like a surge growing inside of her. If that surge got strong enough, she could blast at the shifters holding Cody. Free him.
One of the shifters sank his claws into Cody’s throat. “One move,” the shifter warned and his eyes were on Marna, “just one, and I rip his throat open.”
Cody moaned, trying to speak.
He couldn’t.
“You know I will, man,” the shifter continued with a grim smile. “Because you fucking know me.”
Marna hadn’t seen this shifter before, but was he also a part of Brandt’s old pack?
“I know you don’t want to screw with me right now,” Tanner said. “Because if you do, Russell, I’ll make you beg for death.”
Russell’s face tightened. “You always thought you were such a badass.” His claws drew more blood from Cody’s throat. “Who’s the fucking badass now?”
“You’ve made the wrong move here,” Tanner snarled.
Marna caught the sweet scent of flowers, and her shoulders stiffened. An angel was there. She hadn’t seen him—or her—yet, but a death angel was on the scene.
Some of them wouldn’t be leaving alive.
What would Tanner do if Cody was the one to die?
The one called Russell could kill Cody long before her fire reached the guy’s flesh.
“Step away from her, Chance. Give us the angel, and you”—Jillian pointed to Cody—“and your brother can both walk away.”
“I’m supposed to buy that?” His voice mocked her. Called her an idiot and a liar.
Jillian’s face tensed. “If you don’t, I’m killing him in five…” She held up her hand and continued counting. “Four…”
Tanner raced forward, but the two shifted panthers at Jillian’s side jumped for him. They met in a tangle of claws and teeth and fury and blood.
“Three…”
Jillian’s gaze wasn’t on Tanner. It was on Marna. “Wanna try some of that fire again?” Jillian asked. “Maybe you’ll have better luck this time. Then again, maybe you won’t.”
One of the panthers screamed in pain.
“Two…” Jillian inclined her head toward Russell, and he smiled with sick glee.
Tanner couldn’t save Cody. He was trying. Fighting and clawing, and he had one panther dead on the ground. The beast’s body shifted back to the form of a man, a man whose head was gone from his body. The scent of flowers deepened around Marna.
Death angel. A soul had been claimed. Who’d be next?
Only a second left. Just…
“One,” Jillian whispered, and Cody’s eyes fell closed.
“No!” Marna screamed even as Tanner roared his fury.
Tanner lunged forward and sank his claws into the panther’s side.
“ Don’t kill him! ” Marna yelled.
Jillian smirked. “Why? You gonna trade yourself, angel?”
Marna nodded. She would. Cody had saved her life once. Twice if you counted his deception at the hospital. Tanner had fought for her, over and over. Now it was her turn.
She took a slow step toward Jillian. Then another. Faster now. But she found Tanner in her way. Bleeding. Bruised. With his claws out and his eyes glowing.
“No.” The word from him was barely human. “You aren’t going with her.”
“Go ahead and rip his throat open, Russell,” Jillian called out. “I can?—”
Marna tried to lunge for her, but Tanner yanked her back.
“Kill my brother,” Tanner said to the shifter, “and I’ll make you beg for death. By the time hell gets you, there’ll be nothing left, I promise you that.”
One thing she’d learned about Tanner, he always kept his promises.