Page 118 of Hunted in the Shadows
Pain exploded against the back of my head.
The blow sent me to the ground, and past the stars swimming in my vision, I saw Cliff being dragged away. Sylvia tumbled from my hands, landing hard. As she groaned in pain and tried to sit up, everything in my brain told me to get up and fight, but my body wouldn’t cooperate.
Once again, I was failing her.
A low whistle came from behind. “You look like shit, Nowak,” Rhett said.
I managed to roll over. Anger and shock simmered through me, but I remained cautious, seeing the gun trained on me. He was armed to the teeth beyond that, too—slung with weapons and wielding a long metal rod in his other hand. As he crouched toward Sylvia, I found my voice.
“Don’t! I’ll fucking kill you if you hurt her,” I gritted out.
The temperature plummeted. Sylvia was on her knees, summoning ice that rapidly spread across the ground toward Rhett—but he was prepared. With a flick of his wrist, he swung the iron bar outward and pressed it on her stomach, forcing her onto her back. She gave a cry as her ice was snuffed out, crackling along the damp leaves. Only the thin fabric of her bloodied gown kept her skin from burning.
The absolute fear on her face made me fantasize about ripping out Rhett’s spine.
His punchably easygoing smile widened as Sylvia lowered her hands in surrender. He tucked the iron bar under his arm, and before she could bolt, he grabbed her by her shredded gown. He stood, gun still trained on me, while Sylvia squirmed to free herself.
“Now, calm down, sweetheart,” he crooned. “You’ll wear yourself out.”
“Go fuck yourself!” she snapped.
He chuckled. “The mouth on you. You sound likethem.” His smirk traveled to me before he regarded her again, eyes bright. “Which means… you’re trainable, huh?”
Even from the ground, I could see the sickened look cross her face.
“I’m starting to see why they keep you around,” Rhett went on. “Must be useful on a hunt. I gotta say, it ain’t easy working solo these days.”
“I’m not doing anything for you,” she said, voice dripping with venom.
He shrugged as though nothing she said could shake him. “Cooperation or not, I’m getting what I want. I get the feeling I’m about to have a lot of fairy corpses on my hands. Maybe a few surrenders, if we’re lucky. You can either work with me and live a little longer—or I can take your blood and wings straight to the bank and win an early retirement. I’m thinking Margaritaville—what do you think?”
“You motherfucker,” I growled, trying to force myself up.
Rhett slammed his boot onto my clawed arm.
“No!” Sylvia wailed, her voice fuzzy at the edges as I seized up from the pain. “Leave him alone!”
“Oh, darling, you don’t think he’s leaving this shithole alive, do you?” He laughed. “First order of business, sweetheart. Put Jon Nowak out of his misery.Please.”
24
Jon
Sylvia’s shock stretched out for a painful moment. Chaotic bursts from the surrounding hunt pierced her silence—howls of pain both human and siren, gunshots echoing, the acrid smell of spellwork. For a moment, even Cliff’s distant shouts of protests accumulated into a dull, distant roar in my ears.
“No. No,fuck you, I’m not doing that,” she hissed, her voice wobbling.
“You really want to start our special partnership by insulting me?” Rhett clicked his tongue, shooting her a mockingly reproachful look. “Don’t be coy. We don’t got all day, if you haven’t noticed.” He stole a mindful look toward the bank.
Thirty feet away, two hunters were prying the bloodied remains of their teammate away from a siren, her hands and face covered in his entrails. A pair of snapping turtles with iridescent shells sampled the trailing gore, unshaken by the chaos.
Sylvia covered her face with her hands—couldn’t bear to look at me. Rhett’s arrogant expression flickered. He ground his boot on my injury, the added weight making a shout escape me. Through my red haze of anger, I saw his thumb pulling back the hammer on his semi-automatic. A small metallic click pierced the air—small but certain. All Rhett had to do was twitch, and there would be a bullet in my head.
“Lemme be clear,” Rhett said. “Look at me.LOOK!” His voice jumped to a roar when Sylvia continued to sob. She flinched her wet eyes up to meet his gaze. “If you don’t kill himright now,I’llkill you both. I’ll have you and his faggot friend watch as I skin him for parts while he’s still begging for death. After that, I’ll see how long it takes for iron to burn a hole right through that pert little waist of yours.”
Rhett stared down at Sylvia, schooling the bloodlust back into something honeyed that didn’t meet his eyes.
“Or, you can do what I fucking say,” he added, softer. “You can end Nowak’s life quickly and painlessly. Doesn’t that sound a touch kinder, darling?”
