Dark Peril Page 0,167

men would never take her alive. She had vowed that a long time ago. She knew Dominic would come for her. She just had to hold them here.

Brodrick and two of his soldiers. Give me an estimate. I can keep them distracted. She felt the crossbow in her hand. She hadn't dropped it. And she had the knife.

She felt his hesitation. I must destroy Akos. Can you manage until I get there? Tell me the truth.

Her fingers tightened around the bow. She brought it up and fired. The arrow went straight and true, streaking through the sky, up through the leaves and branches to drive into one of those glowing cat's eyes. On impact the arrow ignited, burning through the skull. She heard the thud as something heavy dropped from the branches. She rolled over and over toward the slope that would take her into some semblance of cover.

I've got this covered.

She got a mouthful of leaves and ants as she tumbled down the ravine and skidded through the mud to land in a small creek that was pouring into a larger stream. She hastily crawled into the cage of one of the larger trees on the embankment. It offered a little protection. They couldn't come at her from behind, and she was armed and ready for them. It was only a matter of time before they figured out how to get her, but she just needed to buy time. They expected her to shift and run, but she wasn't playing their game.

Akos is just ahead, I am circling around behind him. His eagle may be with him now, Solange warned. She could hear swearing. One of the two jaguar-men had shifted, probably to check on their companion. He was dead. There was no way he could have lived through that shot. Pay attention to the sky.

As if answering her, lightning forked in a spectacular display, streaks stretching across the sky. The dark clouds went purple, laced with fire. She wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve. A twig snapped and her entire body tensed.

"Clever girl."

Her heart sank. She'd known all along it would be him. Brodrick. She clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering. The wind rose suddenly, completely unexpected, and unexplained, howling through the trees, carrying the voices of all the women this man had murdered, calling on her to bring them justice. The rain beat steadily, a mournful sound accompanying the moaning wind.

"Do you hear them?" she asked, her voice surprisingly steady. Keep him talking. Maybe, if she was lucky, he would get into her line of fire.

"Who?" Brodrick asked.

"The dead." The howling rose to a fever pitch. "They're calling you." She kept her voice pitched low, hoping he would have to come a little closer to hear her. And where was the other one?

"You're the one they're calling," he corrected with a growl. "Come out of there and throw your weapon away."

"I may have your blood running in my veins, but I managed to get my mother's intelligence. You want me, come and get me."

She heard another twig snap off to her left. The other man was working his way around, trying to come in while she was distracted by Brodrick. She whispered to her cat, making certain she was alert.

"Solange, you have to know our race is dying out," Brodrick said in a reasonable tone, as if they were old friends discussing a long familiar topic.

She could barely make him out, a good distance from her, pulling on a pair of jeans. She averted her eyes. He was smart enough to keep out of her line of fire, although . . . She wiggled, pushing with her feet until she had enough room to lie prone. She went to her belly inch by slow inch, using her cat's freeze-frame ability so as not to alert him to a change of position.

The thick, twisted, finlike root coiled as it rose up to join the tangle of roots supporting the tree and forming her cage. She slowly slid her crossbow to the very edge, under the root. There were only a couple of inches of clearance, but enough for an arrow to shoot through. It was a tricky angle, and she couldn't use one of the special vampire arrows, but the smaller, more traditional one would do.

"Of course I know, Brodrick. You did that and you did it with deliberate malice. You knew exactly what you were doing so spare me the `you need