Oh, well ...
Die and learn.
Cupping her face and soaking in that gleam in her eyes, he leaned his forehead against hers and took a moment to inhale the sweet scent of her skin. Yeah, this gave him strength.
"Um, guys?" Sasha said from beside them. "I hate to toss ice water on your mood, but we have a situation here, and you might want to look up and prepare or sneeze or something. Just saying."
Jess didn't have to look up. He could feel every pair of eyes on him. The three of them were standing in the center of a large round room deep inside a cavern. Pristine white and trimmed in black, the walls around them reminded him of a palace. Kind of place he'd never thought to see in real life back in the day when he'd been human.
Things changed. Not always for the good and not always for the bad.
Sasha stood on his left and Abigail in front. Because of his injuries, Choo Co La Tah wasn't with them, and Ren seemed to have disappeared entirely.
Again.
There were six Daimons coming at them. Three to his right, four to his left. And a herd of them in the back tunnel.
Ah hell, he'd had worst odds.
And that was just yesterday.
Abigail took a second longer to stare into those dark eyes that haunted her. Rising on her tiptoes, she kissed the tip of his delectable nose. "Thank you for coming for me."
"My pleasure."
She hugged him close. "And in case we don't make it out alive ... I love you, Jess Brady. I just wanted you to know it."
Jess felt his heart swell over words he'd never thought to hear from another pair of lips that set his world on fire. "I love you, too."
She smiled.
Until Sasha barked. "They're attacking."
Jess savored the sensation of her skin against his for one second longer. "Aim for the heart."
Inclining her head to let him know she understood, she reached around his waist to pull the two weapons he had on the back part of his holster. He drew the ones in front.
They turned in synch and opened fire on their enemies. The first one he struck, flipped and landed at his feet. It didn't explode, so he took that to mean it wasn't dead or it was one of the new breed of killing machines.
Daimons were coming at them from every direction. It reminded him of the Alien video game. The more he shot, the more they grew. Only difference? Daimons didn't drop from the ceiling.
Yet.
Who knew what power they might develop at a later date. Every time he got it halfway figured out, they discovered something new-like eating a gallu to augment their powers. Who the hell thought of that?
Probably the same sick SOB who saw a chicken shoot an egg out its nether region and said, "Hey, y'all, I think I'm gonna fry that up and eat it. Wish me luck. If I get sick from it, someone fetch a doctor."
Abigail fired her last round and blew one of the Daimons into dust. She was having a serious crisis of conscience about killing people she'd have died to defend a week ago. But the fact that they were so determined to kill her if she didn't kill them made it a little easier to do.
She pivoted to her right and froze as she caught sight of Jess fighting. He fired a round from his shotgun, then used the stock to swat another. Turning in a graceful arc, he fired again at a new target, then ducked, slid along the ground on his knees to reach another bad guy that he slugged with the gunstock, then stabbed. He moved so fast that he was already two steps ahead of her before she'd done anything at all.
Incredible.
Another Daimon wielding an ax attacked. Completely calm ... freakishly calm, Jess leaned his head back from the swing, letting the ax fly clear of his throat. Still, it'd been so close that she didn't know how he could trust himself not to have misjudged the swing.
Thank God he didn't. Otherwise, she'd be picking his head up right now.
As their ammunition ran low and the Daimons kept coming, Jess put himself between Sasha, who was in wolf form, and her. She loved the fierce protector in him.