And he knew why Sundown was here.
Sundown alone knew Zarek. Knew his haunts, his habits.
Who better to hunt him down and kill him than his own best friend?
"Talk about what?" he asked gruffly, narrowing his eyes.
Sundown moved to stand in front of Sharon as if to protect her. That he would think for even an instant that Zarek would threaten her hurt most of all. "I think you know why I'm here, Z."
Yeah, he knew all right. He knew exactly what Sundown wanted with him. A nice, quick death so that Sundown could report back to Artemis and Acheron that everything was right again in the world, and then the cowboy would return home to Reno.
But Zarek had gone quietly to his execution once before. This time, he intended to fight for his life, such as it was.
"Forget it, Jess," he said, using Sundown's real name.
He turned and ran for the door.
Zarek made it back into the yard before Sundown caught him and pulled him to a stop. He bared his fangs at him, but Jess didn't seem to notice.
Zarek punched him hard in the stomach. It was a powerful strike that made Jess stagger back and it brought Zarek to his knees. Any time one Dark-Hunter attacked another one, the Dark-Hunter who attacked felt the blow ten times worse than the one who received it. There was only one way to avoid this-for Artemis to lift her ban. He just hoped she hadn't lifted it from Jess.
Zarek struggled to breathe from the pain of it and forced himself to his feet. Unlike Jess, physical pain was something he was used to.
But before he could go far, he saw Mike and three other Squires in the shadows. They were walking toward them with determined strides that said they were armed for Dark-Hunter.
"Leave him to me," Sundown ordered.
They ignored him and kept on coming.
Spinning about, Zarek headed for his snowmachine only to find its engine in pieces. Obviously they had been busy while he was at Frank's.
Damn it. How could he have been so stupid?
They must have destroyed his generators to force him into town. They'd flushed him out of the woods like hunters with a wild animal.
Fine. If they wanted an animal to track, he would be one.
He slung his hand out and used his telekinesis to knock the Squires off their feet.
Unwilling to hurt himself again, Zarek dodged Jess and ran for town.
He didn't make it far before more Squires fell in and opened fire on him.
Bullets tore through his body, shredding his skin. Zarek hissed and staggered from the pain of it.
Still, he kept running.
He had no choice.
If he stayed down, they would dismember him, and though his life seriously sucked, he had no intention of becoming a Shade. Nor would he give them the satisfaction of killing him.
Zarek rounded the side of a building.
Something hard hit his middle.
Agony exploded through him as he was flipped head over heels onto the ground. He came to rest on his back in the snow with the breath knocked completely out of him.
A shadow with cold, merciless eyes moved to stand over him.