Page 34 of Into the Veins

They were too evenly matched, each desperate to overcome the other.

Ember blocked the next strike, fisting her hands in Blair’s jacket in the same maneuver. A knee slammed into Blair’s face and white streaks flashed across her eyes. Blood flooded into her mouth. Disorientation took control as her back met the same tree she’d collapsed against a minute before. Her ears rang. She couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. She swiped blood from her nose. Colson’s unconscious form pulled at her, and she bit down against the seconds slipping by. “What did you inject him with? What was in the empty syringe I found on the trail?”

“The same thing I injected all of them with,” Ember said. “And you’re too late to stop it.”

“No!” Blair charged, swinging. Her attacker ducked out of the way, as she’d hoped, and Blair gripped Ember’s dark jacket before rocketing her knee into the killer’s stomach. A hard exhale filled her ears as her attacker collapsed, pulling Blair to the ground. Faster than she thought possible, Ember pinned her beneath her. A strong right hook slammed into the bridge of her nose. Then again. Her head snapped back into soft soil as rain stung her face and neck. Before she had a chance to recover, Ember rolled to one side and secured her forearm over Blair’s throat from behind.

Pressure built in her chest as the killer cut off her oxygen. The edges of her vision wavered as she tried to pry the killer’s grip from around her neck, but the adrenaline was already draining from her system. Time distorted into a cold liquid, seconds slipping into minutes, minutes into hours. Until all that was left was the slow beat of her heart behind her ears.

Blair bucked her hips to dislodge Ember’s hold, but it was no use. A bolt of lightning spread across the sky and highlighted a large rock a few feet from her head. She stretched out her hand, fingers brushing against the slick surface. Out of reach. She tried again. The rock tipped onto one side, closer. She wrapped the rock in her hand, but the explosion of a single gunshot wracked through her.

She scanned the length of her body, shaking. Enthralled by the tendrils of steam coming from the barrel of her service weapon, she retraced the shooter’s grip up. To Ember. Blair secured a hand over the wound below her vest. Hot blood slid between her fingers.

The killer released her hold around Blair’s neck. Ember slid out from underneath her weight and stood, weapon aimed. “Killing them might not change what they’ve done, Sheriff Sanders, but I sure as hell don’t feel helpless anymore.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

The gunshot ripped him from the edge of delirium and thrust him back into reality.

Rain slid down his face and neck like icy fingers coiling around his throat. The warm body he’d collapsed against shifted under his weight as Colson struggled to sit up. His throat had turned raw, his pulse shallower than before. Where was she? How long had he been unconscious? Dizziness threatened to pull him under again, but he wasn’t the only victim he had to worry about. “Brennan, we need to move.”

No response.

Clearing the water from his face, he set one hand against her hip and pushed to wake her. His lungs caught fire as another shot of pain locked his fingers into a too tight fist. A frustrated growl ripped up his throat, and he fell back against the woman beneath him. Ten, eleven, twelve... The spasm eased after thirteen seconds. Colson pulled in as much air as his lungs could hold. It would be a couple of minutes before another wave hit, but what the hell did he know about strychnine poisoning? Counting was all he could do to keep from losing himself in the agony. Soft earth collapsed under the pressure of his elbow as he slapped a hand over the woman’s midsection. “Come on. You have to stay awake. You can do this. We can…both do this. We need to get out of…”

Wide eyes stared into the storm above.

“Brennan.” His heart jerked in his chest. Color had drained from her face, her skin tight around her perfectly oval face. A rough exhale escaped his chest. He reached out and set two fingers against the base of her throat. A shallow tick pulsed under his touch. Steady but barely there. The paralysis was setting in. He was out of time. “Don’t give up, okay? I’m going to get you out of here.”

Movement registered from his peripheral vision.

A gut-wrenching kick flipped him onto his back. His lungs emptied as a different kind of pain exploded from his ribcage. Colson brought his legs up near his chest, but he wasn’t fast enough. Another strike to the stab wound on his left side forced him to roll. His head struck the edge of a concrete pad. The stitches holding his wound burst, and his scream echoed off the steel covering above the picnic area.

“You don’t give up, do you? No matter how many times I try to take you out of the equation, you refuse to die.” Ember’s voice wavered as he nearly succumbed back in to unconsciousness. She crouched beside him. “Too bad the same couldn’t be said for your sheriff.”

Blair. The gunshot. He hadn’t imagined it. Hollowness protested the killer’s every word. No. Blair wasn’t dead. Ember had played mind games with him and the sheriff’s department from the beginning. This was another way to tear him down, to expose him. Tear at his vulnerability. “What…what did you do?”

“My work isn’t finished. Did you think I was going to let her stop me?” Standing, Ember set her boot over his forearm and clenched a handful of his hair.

Colson gazed up at her watery outline. A strong right hook slammed into his face. Lightning struck behind his eyes...or overhead. He couldn’t be sure, but the pain was every bit as real as the poison slithering through his veins. Mind-bending agony swelled at the base of his skull, but he forced himself to all fours. “I’m going to kill…you for that.”

“Do you think she showed the same dedication for you in her last moments?” Ember asked.

Another strike knocked him facedown onto the ground. Blood filled his mouth as he struggled to stay conscious. A familiar dark outline approximately ten feet away lay motionless in the dirt, and his stomach churned hot. “Blair.”

The killer stepped back a few feet, watching him writhe. “She didn’t come to save you. She came to close her case, to save her career. That’s all she cares about. That’s all she’s ever cared about. There’s no one coming to save you. You’ve spent your life running from personal attachments. It’s only fitting you’re going to die alone.”

“No.” Rage ignited under his skin. A predatorial growl rumbled through him. Colson launched himself straight at Ember. He only had a moment to register her surprise before she stepped out of the way. Mud spit into his face as he hit the ground. The convulsions tightening the muscles down his spine arched his neck back. His scream never reached his ears. Seven, eight, nine… The pain intensified and blacked out his vision. Another kick to the ribs stole the oxygen from his chest, and Colson collapsed. Ringing filled his ears. He blinked to clear his head, but the poison had already torn through him.

“You must see the truth by now.” Ember pressed the toe of her boot against his shoulder and pushed him onto his back. “You were nothing more than a tool she used and discarded. Just as those women used my sister.”

His pulse rocketed into dangerous territory. The reality of the situation penetrated through the fog of pain and loss and love. He forced himself to get to his feet, nearly doubling over from the effort, and faced his killer. He spit blood from his mouth, and a deep laugh rocked through him. “You’re trying to get into my head. Convince me Blair is as heartless and venomous as you are. That’s the game you want to play? Fine. I’ll play.” He stood a bit straighter, his legs shaking. “I’ve held a lot of jobs over the years. A lot of those jobs gave me a front row seat into the minds of people like you. What you don’t seem to understand about victimology is your choice in MO is a reflection of you more than anything these women did to your sister.”

Confusion narrowed Ember’s gaze.

“You claimed they poisoned her self-confidence, that they exploited her weaknesses for profit. But the truth is you’d never felt more helpless in your life than when you found Evyn on the bathroom floor, blood soaking her hair, the scissors in her hand. She attempted suicide. She let herself become corrupted by envy and made her choice, but you couldn’t live with that choice. It was out of your control. That’s why you’re here. That’s why you wanted Rachel Faulkner and the others to suffer. You wanted them to feel exactly how you felt standing over Evyn’s body. This wasn’t about your sister. You didn’t kill these women for her. It was a coward’s plan to keep yourself from feeling useless, and you failed.”

The slight widening of Ember’s gaze was all the confirmation he’d needed.

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