Page 31 of Taken By Raider Kings
This was deadly serious, and deadly quiet, the only sounds Sophie’s hurt little cry and hitching breaths, the patter of ice-hearted rain, and theupir’s high shallow breathing, air whistling past shark-sharp teeth.Scuff of bootsoles and whisper of fabric as they closed again, the Change roiling down Zach’s side in a tide of thorny oil, closing the rips and fueling speed and strength with the pain.
His claws found the vulnerable soft throat andwrenched;a gout of foul noisome black blood, and the body of his enemy fell as Sophie let out another thin wordless cry of warning.
I know,he wanted to tell her,don’t worry,but his mouth wasn’t shaped for human words right now, and in any case there was no time.He turned and leaped, every iota of force applied to fling himself back toward her, hitting the highest point of the arc just as the other twoupircollided with him.He wanted to knock them off-trajectory, away from her, and succeeded, landing catfoot on all fours and snarling just once, shoulders hunching as his claws snicked against the rooftop.
Once was all the warning they were going to get.
They spread out, then feinted in, trying to get past him at the shaman, who had scrabbled back against the wall near the kicked-open door.He snapped, stalemate for a moment while he worked the geography of the rooftop around in his head and tested the wind for more enemies.Backed up a little to give himself room, his body between the shaman and the twisty-coiling things reeking of natron-drenched death and rotting rust, their faces twisted plum-colored obscenities because they had dropped any mask of breathing humanity.
They snarled; he simply braced himself.teeth bared and a series of glottal clicks filling his throat.This is mine,the animal in him said without words, a wash of musk and blood-tinted determination.
The taller one leapt at him and instinct took over, tucking his chin and twisting his body aside, his own claws tearing through reeking blood-fat flesh.A true-dead corpse thumped to the rooftop and the second, smallerupirfled screeching.
Dammit.There goes my quiet exit.He straightened, the Change melting away, and felt the cold slap of precipitation.The rage folded down quietly, the animal watchful and angry in its corner at the very bottom of his soul.
The shaman hunched, hugging herself, eyes huge and dark with terror.He held out his human-now hand, noticing for the first time the wind’s knife-edge.“Come on.”A rough whisper.“We’d better get out of here.”
“Jesus,” she whispered.“Those—they were?—”
“We’ll talk about it later, sweetheart.They’re after you.We need to figure out why.”
“I haven’tdoneanything!”She was shivering, and in a little while she’d be soaked.Her jacket was clinging over a thin blouse, and the way the wet cloth molded itself to her was not doing anything to help him concentrate.
“I know.”But maybetheydon’t know that.“We’ve got to get away.Come on, Sophie.”
She reached up blindly, touched him willingly for the first time.Her fingers slid through his, and an acrid thread of smoke reached his nostrils.Jesus.What the hell now?
For a terrible moment he was years ago and far away, smelling smoke, hearing the awful shattering unsound of a shaman’s death.It took a deep breath he didn’t have time for and a wrenching physical shudder to bring himself back to the present.
Not this shaman.Not this time.This time, I’m going to do it right.
A moment’s worth of work got her to her feet; he added up the rooftop again and arrived at the same answer.“You’re not going to like this, but we’re going to have to jump.”
She didn’t even protest, and that bothered him more than he wanted to admit.Instead, she just nodded wearily.“Yeah.Sure.”
“It won’t take long,” he said, as if shehadprotested.
“You killed them.”She sounded numb, and was shivering so hard his own teeth wanted to chatter.
“Of course I did.They weren’t here to give you Christmas cards.No idea what they want?”
“None at all.”She slumped helplessly as he hurried her across the rooftop, reached to push her glasses up her nose with a fingertip.The little movement made his heart do something funny inside his chest.“We’re jumping?”
“I’m jumping.”He eyed the distance between the two buildings and decided he could do it even if she passed out, but he’d have to Change a little.His stomach spoke unhappily, and he told it to shut up.The smell of smoke grew stronger, drifting up through the open door.Upirhated fire, why would anything be burning?
I don’t like this.His stomach rumbled again, reminding him the Change required fuel.He blinked away bad memories and the sick thumping of fear in his chest.Neither would help.
First he’d get them the hell away from here.Thenhe’d feed both of them, and everything would be fine.
“I’m jumping,” he repeated, trying to reassure them both.“You just hold on.”
fifteen
He settledin a chair by the window, propping his wet, booted feet on the sill.Sophie perched on the bed, staring at the blank screen of the television.The room was warm, but she wondered why the entire world still looked like it was wrapped in gauze.
The night was a confusing jumble.She remembered an all-night restaurant, a club sandwich he’d badgered her into eating, and icy rain driving against the windows.A long street with lights burned out, and him pushing her against the side of a building, pressing a warning finger on her lips while something black and twisted slid past their hiding place—a slice of darkness suddenly seeming far too small to hold them both.
Now an anonymous motel room somewhere on the west side of Jasper City, and the rain had decided to start pounding like it wanted to find a way in.The weird gauze covering the room was full of faces she didn’t want to look too closely at.They moved, formed and re-formed, stared at her, some with goggling astonishment, others gazing into the distance, some moving their mouths as if trying to speak.The ever-present smell of musk and male was comforting, and it seemed to hold the faces at bay.
