Twilight Hunter

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

FRANKIE’S EYES SLOWLY flickered open. Her head pounded, pain thumping in her temple like a steadily beating drum. Her whole body ached, and her collarbone throbbed with pain every time she breathed. Damn him for using a silver knife. Pushing herself off the ground, she blinked several times until her eyes adjusted to the dim lighting. She scanned her surroundings and gritted her teeth.

A cage. He’d placed her in a freaking cage.

She grabbed one of the bars and shook it with all the strength she could muster. The iron creaked as it threatened to give beneath her strength, but it would take hours to bend it enough so she could escape. Something told her she didn’t have that kind of time.

“We’re in a warehouse. Don’t bother yelling or trying to get out. It’s impossible.”

Frankie turned around. Allsún lay sprawled across the bottom of the cage, her arms and limbs spread wide as if she were the female equivalent of da Vinci’s famous Vitruvian Man. She didn’t move.

“Allsún, are you okay?” Frankie crawled toward her. When she reached Allsún’s side, she cursed.

Iron. The cage was made of iron—even the floor.

“Holy shit, Allsún. I’m going to move you, okay? I’m going to move you so your skin isn’t touching the metal.” Frankie placed a hand on Allsún’s arm.

The small faerie cringed. “Be careful, Frankie. My...my skin is stuck to the iron. If you move me, it will peel off.”

“Shit.” Frankie hit one of the metal bars of the cage in frustration. “I’m going to have to move you somehow. If you stay like this, the iron’s just going to keep eating away at your skin.” Frankie eyed the length of Allsún’s body. She didn’t know where to begin.

Legs. She would start with her legs. The only skin showing there was a slight flash of her ankle just above her shoe, the only part of her leg not protected by her jeans.

Shifting toward Allsún’s feet, she stared down at her injured friend. “I’m going to move your legs so that your shoes are touching the iron, instead of your skin. Okay?”

Allsún whimpered, unable even to nod.

Frankie cupped her hands underneath Allsún’s kneecaps. Should she pull her legs off the floor quickly, like a Band-Aid, to lessen the pain or move slowly in hopes of salvaging some of the skin? Frankie closed her eyes and quickly lifted Allsún’s legs.

A blood-curdling scream pierced the air. Frankie’s eyes snapped open. Her stomach flipped. She held back vomit at the sight of chunks of Allsún’s skin stuck to the iron. The smell of burning flesh permeated the air. Frankie gagged.

She propped Allsún’s legs up with her knees bent and placed her shoes in contact with the iron. Her torso remained flat against the bottom of the cage.

Damn. The difficult part was next. Her arms and her head.

Frankie carefully slipped her hands underneath Allsún’s shoulders. Her blouse had managed to protect most of the skin there.

I’m doing this to help her, not to hurt her. She repeated the mantra in her head for reassurance.

“No. No. Frankie, please,” Allsún cried.

A large lump lodged in Frankie’s throat. “Allsún, I’m so sorry. I know this is going to hurt, but I have to get your skin off this iron. If your head stays where it is, the metal will eat completely through your skin until it reaches your skull. I can’t let that happen.”

Inhaling a steadying breath, Frankie hoisted Allsún’s body off the metal floor. The sound was disgusting, like peeling an old bumper sticker from a used car. Allsún’s screams vibrated through Frankie’s head as if someone had shoved a tuning fork inside her ear.

In one quick swoop, she had Allsún off the floor and sitting in her lap. The other woman weighed practically nothing, but her blood poured onto Frankie, staining her white tank top a deep crimson. Allsún screamed and writhed in Frankie’s arms.

“Shh. Shh. Allsún, it’s okay. It’s okay.” She gripped her friend tightly around the middle to hold her still. She couldn’t let her touch the iron again. “We’ll be out of here soon. I promise.”

“You shouldn’t make promises you can’t keep.” The voice came from the other side of the room.

Frankie looked up as Allsún’s screams started to fade to groans and her bleeding slowed. Leaning against one of the warehouse walls, Robert stared at her with unrelenting, cold eyes.

Frankie scoffed. “A cage, huh?”

A smirk crept across his face. “You like it? I thought it was very fitting.”

She snorted as if she’d never heard of anything more ridiculous—anything to piss him off. Anger made people sloppy, and sloppiness meant a better chance for them to escape. “You’re really subtle with your insults, aren’t you?”

He frowned. “Laugh if you want, but you’re the one locked up like the bitch that you are. You’re nothing more than live bait.”

Frankie stroked Allsún’s hair, trying to calm her panic. “What do you mean? You have me trapped. What else do you need now? Why don’t you just kill us already?”

“My, my, don’t we have a large ego.” He moved away from the wall and stalked toward the cage. “Don’t flatter yourself, packmaster. You’ve never been my target. It’s your hunter I want.”

Her stomach dropped. “What do you want with Jace?”

He grinned as if he were a cat who’d just swallowed a large canary. “To kill him, of course.”

It took everything Frankie had to hold back her anger and remain still for Allsún’s sake. “What about ransacking my apartment, kidnapping me? What does that have to do with Jace?”

He chuckled and kneeled next to the cage. If he moved any closer to the bars, she thought, she could speed-shift and slip her muzzle through the opening. She would have liked nothing more than to rip his face off with her teeth.

“You must be even less intelligent than you appear. Let me spell it out for you.” He pointed to himself, then her. “I kidnap you, which leads Jace straight to me. He won’t be able to resist saving you.”

“And Allsún? What about her? She’s not involved in any of this.”

Allsún stirred. When she spoke, her voice was hoarse from screaming. “To lure you here,” she said in a near whisper. “Only it didn’t work.”

“The troll’s smarter than she appears.”

“I’m not a troll,” Allsún said. “I’m Fae.” She winced as she said it, but her voice remained strong.

Robert ignored her comment and stood again. “When you didn’t come for her, I took a more...direct approach. There’s no question. He’ll be here.”

Frankie swallowed down the bile burning the back of her throat. Jace wasn’t involved. He hadn’t betrayed her. Her heart thumped in her chest, its pace quickly increasing until she was near panic. She’d hurt him. She’d told him that she didn’t love him, called him a liar, and all the time he’d been telling the truth.

But he was still a Skinwalker.

Frankie’s head spun. Had he really not known? Had he really thought he was part werewolf? Could anyone have faked the inability to shift as well as he had? Why had she not believed him?

Silently, she cursed herself for acting on stupid impressions, on following a gut fear rather than facing the fact that even though the man she loved shared something in common with her parents’ murderer, it meant nothing.

Frankie growled. “Jace is going to tear you to shreds.”

Robert laughed as if she’d told his favorite joke, the kind that never gets old. “Don’t fool yourself, packmaster. Do you think Jace can match my strength? My speed? My abilities?”

Frankie didn’t say a word. She clamped her mouth shut, but a smug grin spread across her lips.

A fire lit behind Robert’s eyes as his anger melted his icy shield. He marched to the cage and kicked one of the bars. “Tell me what you know.”

She stared him in the face, challenging him to give it his best shot.

When she didn’t respond, he snatched a key from his back pocket and unlocked the door to the cage, his knife pointed straight at her. “Get out.”

She didn’t move.

Robert let out a deep-throated growl. “Get out. Now. Before I get my gun and plant a silver bullet in the middle of your forehead.”

Frankie shook her head. “You can’t kill me. You need me as bait to get Jace here.”

He chuckled. “That’s where you’re wrong. You see, as soon as Jace finds the little note I left him, written in some of the delicious blood from that neck of yours, he’ll come here ready for a fight. Your death will only cause him more pain. Why wouldn’t I want that?” He brandished the knife. “The only reason I haven’t killed you yet is so I can kill you and fuck you right in front of him.” He smiled, and it was a look of pure evil.

A chill ran down Frankie’s spine. Every animal instinct in her body screamed for her to run, but she couldn’t. She had to listen to him, if not for the sake of her own survival, then for Allsún’s.

“Let my friend out of the cage, too. I’ll get out if she comes with me.”

Robert eyed her for a moment, sizing her up as a potential opponent. “One at a time. Her first.” He nodded to Allsún.

Allsún groaned, her body lying limp in Frankie’s lap. Frankie gripped her shoulders and gave them a light squeeze. “Allsún. Allsún, you have to get up. We have to get out of here.”

Allsún let out another moan and rolled her head to the side. Her eyes flickered open, and she stared at Frankie. “I can’t.”

“You have to. The longer you’re near this iron, the weaker you’ll get.” Frankie placed a hand on her friend’s cheek. “You can do this.”

“This is all very touching, but I suggest you hurry the fuck up.” Robert’s voice rose as his impatience grew.

“Allsún, get up. You can do it. Do it for David.”

Allsún inhaled sharply. Her whole body language changed, as if she’d found a new resolve. Frankie helped lift her onto her feet. Stumbling, back bent so she didn’t hit her head, Allsún escaped the iron enclosure.

Robert grabbed her by the arm and drew her into his body. He held the knife to her throat, then nodded at Frankie. “Stay,” he commanded, as if she were a dog. He kicked the cage door closed, and the lock snapped shut automatically.

“Hey!” Frankie screamed. She crawled on all fours toward the door, then moved to stand. If she could charge at the lock with all the fury she could muster, maybe she could break it open.

Robert held the knife tighter to Allsún’s throat, but all his focus was on Frankie. “Don’t get up.”

She put her hands up in surrender and sank back down to the floor. “I thought you wanted me to come out?”

“I’ve changed my mind.” Robert’s eyes remained on Frankie even when he leaned his mouth down to Allsún’s ear. “You first.” He backed away, dragging Allsún with him.

“What are you going to do to her?” Frankie yelled. She slammed her fists against the bars. The pounding rattled the inside of her skull.

Robert maneuvered Allsún several feet away, where a pair of shackles hung from the end of a chain that had been haphazardly attached to the ceiling.

“Let her go!” Frankie shouted. She barely recognized the voice as her own from the panic in her tone.

“Lift your arms,” Robert said, positioning Allsún under the contraption. She lifted her arms like the perfect victim, threatened enough by Robert’s knife to listen, but not scared to the point of immobility.

He clamped the wide cuffs around her wrists, and she cringed at their touch.

More iron, Frankie realized.

Shaking the bars of the cage, she tried to think of anything she could do to help her friend. As near as she could tell, she was out of options. It took everything she had in her, but she caved in. She begged. “Don’t hurt her. Please, don’t hurt her. She’s not a part of this. Let her go and kill me instead. Please.”

Robert laughed as he examined the blade of his knife. “Who said I was going to kill her?” He glanced over his shoulder at Frankie, his eyes unpredictable and mad. “We’re going to have some fun first. I’ve had lots of practice on wolves—your parents being among the first.”

Frankie gasped. This man—this monster—had killed her parents. “You killed my parents?”

“Yes. I killed them. How could I resist killing a packmaster and his wife? I was hoping for a challenge, a step up from the weak rogues I’d been killing. Unfortunately, they proved to be worthless opponents. I’ve had women, wolves...but faeries are a new favorite of mine.” He slapped Allsún. “Isn’t that right, my little troll?”

Frankie watched, completely horrified, as Robert stabbed his blade into the soft flesh of Allsún’s stomach.

THE TIRES OF Jace’s H3 squealed as he sped up to the curb outside his apartment. He barely took the time to throw the car into Park before he bolted from the vehicle. He rushed up the stairs and burst into the apartment, panting and out of breath, but full of adrenaline.

David stood. “J? Man, what are you—”

“Robert has Frankie and Allsún. Old warehouse in Honeoye.”

David swore.

“We need to go now.” Jace grabbed David’s jacket off a nearby coat rack and threw it at him. “Shane, get your coat on.”

Shane’s eyes widened. “What good will I be? I can’t—”

Jace let out a low growl. “Get your coat on and get in the damn Hummer. Pronto.”

Two minutes later Jace was speeding full-throttle toward Honeoye.

Frankie.

She was his sole focus, the only thing he had to live for. He imagined her face in agony as Robert drew his knife across her skin. The image sent his blood boiling. That sick fuck would pay. He would die the slowest, most painful death Jace could think of.

My fault. All my fault.

The words echoed in his head. Frankie. Allsún. The countless bodies piling up in filthy alleyways. All his fault. He choked down a battle cry that would have shattered the windows.

Shane cleared his throat and leaned in between the two front seats, his face hovering between Jace and David. “We need a plan.”

Jace growled. “I’ll tell you the damn plan. We kill that motherfucker and then carve his eyes out with a dull blade.” Jace’s grip tightened on the steering wheel. “No one touches my woman.”

His woman.

Was she his woman?

He thought of the first time they’d made love, the way he had slammed into her and she had taken every inch of him and reveled in it. The way being inside her had felt like coming home. The way her lips had sweetly caressed his.

Damn right she was his woman. Because even when she was ripping out his heart and stomping on it, calling him a liar, he was still fucking in love with her. A weight lifted off his chest. Yeah, he could admit it. He loved her. He didn’t give a flying shit if she were a werewolf, if she were packmaster, if she’d lied about her name and who knew what else, even if she hated him. He loved her, and he would be damned if he was going to let anyone hurt her.

“If either of you want this to be successful, we need a plan,” Shane said, raising his voice, louder than Jace had ever heard it.

“What’s the point in making a plan?” David said. He twisted around to look at Shane. “We’re going to be massacred. Robert has been a Skinwalker longer. He knows his abilities and how to control them. He has the upper hand, and there’s no way Jace can ever one up him, because with his father dead he’ll never be able to access his Berserker powers.”

“Dead?” Jace asked, stunned. “What the hell are you—”

“Uh, yeah,” Shane said from the backseat. “I did some online research after you ran out like the hounds of hell were after you, and...I’m sorry, Jace, but David’s right. He’s dead.”

Jace felt as if the world had been placed on pause. There was no room for anything in his mind except for the news David had delivered and Shane had confirmed. He continued speeding toward the warehouse, but his vigor and anger flickered for a moment before reigniting. His father was dead? The old bastard was finally dead? He wasn’t quite sure how to feel. Sadness—that was what he should have felt, if he’d had a normal childhood. Instead, all he could feel underneath his drive to kill Robert was a sense of relief.

And then the rest of David’s words finally penetrated his brain.

He shook his head to clear it. “Wait. Is that true? That no matter what I do, I’ll never be able to use any of the Berserker powers?”

Shane sighed. “Unless you can go back and talk to your spirit guide again and he has something else to suggest, yeah, it’s true. You’re the last of your bloodline. There’s no one else left for you to kill even if you wanted to. And even with your Skinwalker abilities, Robert still has the advantage, because he’s been using his gifts so much longer. You can’t even shift at will.”

The tension filling the car was staggering. Jace felt suffocated. Several minutes of silence passed before he finally let out a long sigh. This was it, then. He was almost certainly going to die. But that was okay. He would do anything, give anything—even his life—if he could just save Frankie. Finally he spoke.

“Here’s the plan. We do whatever it takes to get Frankie and Allsún out of there. Shane, your job is to drive them to safety. I’ll give you the keys to the H3. David, it’s your job to get them out, then go with them and Shane and make sure they’re safe. Don’t even consider coming back to help me. There are demons in this city you need to take care of. The Execution Underground can’t lose you, and once I’m out of the picture, Damon will see that. I’ll take care of Robert. No matter what it takes.”

David shook his head. “Are you sure, J? Can you do this?”

Jace nodded. “I have to. All I can do now is pray it’s my lucky friggin’ night and I don’t go down with him.”

ALLSÚN’S SCREAMS ECHOED off the warehouse walls and rang in Frankie’s ears. Adrenaline shot through her, and she fought to hold in her anger—she couldn’t allow herself to shift unintentionally—but the rage filling her was on the point of exploding.

“Let her go, you sick bastard!” She shook the cage bars so hard the damn thing nearly tipped over.

Blood poured down the front of Allsún’s torso, staining her shirt and jeans. All the color had drained from her face, and Frankie could tell she was fighting not to pass out.

Robert laughed as he glanced at Frankie. “Don’t worry. I’m not killing her.” He brandished the knife again and stabbed the tip into Allsún’s arm.

She shrieked and writhed from the pain.

“See that right there.” He pointed to the wound, raising his voice to be heard over Allsún’s screams. “It’s a shallow wound. Deep enough to cause pain, but nothing that will cause her any permanent damage.”

He plunged the knife into Allsún’s thigh, inches away from her femoral artery. “Actually, you should be thankful I haven’t taken her life already. I find myself growing bored.”

Seeing him torment Allsún conjured thoughts of her parents. Had Robert tortured them the same way? Her body trembled with fury. She couldn’t let herself think about it.

“You are a sick, pathetic excuse for a human being,” Frankie spat.

Robert paused with the knife in the air and turned toward her. Blood dripped from the blade onto his hand as he began to laugh. His laughter filled the warehouse—the cackling of a madman.

“A pathetic excuse for a human?” He walked toward the cage. “That’s where you’re wrong, you filthy mutt. You see, I’m not human. Not in the slightest.” He knelt in front of the cage and pointed his blade toward her face. He lowered his voice to a near whisper. “I’m more powerful than any man will ever be.”

He stood and backed away from her, but his eyes never left hers. “And now, courtesy of your little outburst, I’ve become very angry, and believe me, you really won’t like it when I’m angry. Because when my anger builds up, I need to relieve it, so if you’ll excuse me, the faerie and I have some much-needed business to attend to.”

He turned away, and Frankie heard him unbuckle his belt before he unzipped his pants.

Allsún screamed and struggled against the chains holding her. “No, please. Frankie, help!”

Frankie pulled against the bars so hard the metal bent several inches and the cage actually toppled over. “Don’t you fucking dare!”

Robert chuckled. He pushed his body flush against Allsún’s, and she cringed at his touch. “Don’t worry. I won’t rape her.” He ground the bulge in his pants against her small hips. Allsún whimpered, and he placed the knife against her throat. “At least, not while she’s alive.”

SHOTS ECHOED THROUGH the warehouse as Jace fired three rounds from his Mateba straight into Robert’s back. The bastard staggered, falling forward and sending Allsún, who was shackled and hanging from a chain, swinging in the air.

Jace’s eyes darted around the room. Frankie was struggling with the metal bars of a large cage that had tipped onto its side, her attention trained on him.

Tears poured down her face and blood covered her chest. “Jace!” she yelled.

Jace placed a single finger over his mouth to silence her and pointed to the rear exit door where David was even then slipping inside the building. As Jace watched, David limped toward the cage, making sure Robert didn’t spot him.

Slowly Robert rose to his feet, still much too close to Allsún. The bullets pushed their way out of his back as the skin stitched itself back together, visible through his torn shirt. He turned to face Jace, the desire of a murderer burning in his eyes.

“Haven’t you learned? Your silly little bullets can’t kill me, Jace.” Robert smirked.

Jace held his gun steady, pointed straight at Robert’s head. “Maybe. But they can sure as hell cause you a lot of pain.”

Robert stepped forward, arms wide in a welcoming gesture. “Why bother fighting, Jace? Give yourself up now and I’ll let them both go. Untouched.”

Jace shook his head. “You really think I’m that stupid?”

A wide grin spread across Robert’s face. “That’s debatable. But considering your bloodline, for my own sake, I hope your lineage alone makes your intelligence above par.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” Jace focused his eyes on Robert, trying hard not to glance in Frankie’s direction as David quietly picked the lock on the cage. If only Robert would move toward him, David could get to Allsún, too.

Robert stepped toward Allsún and ran his hand down the length of her thigh. She writhed in a fruitless attempt to avoid his touch. “You still haven’t figured it out yet, have you?” he said, then turned to leer at Allsún.

While Robert wasn’t looking, Jace inched forward. One step. Two.

Turning to face Jace again, Robert wiped the blood off his knife with the edge of his shirt. He eyed Jace up and down. “You never once questioned why? Why your name was carved into the arms of my masterpieces? Why that werewolf bitch was attacked just after you fucked her like the whore she is?”

Jace let out a low growl. “I don’t try to understand the logic of psychopaths. If you wanted to kill me, you should have just done it that night at the park. Enough with the theatrical games.”

Robert frowned. “Killing you then would have been too easy and entirely lacking in emotional satisfaction. I wanted you to know exactly why I chose you as my sacrifice. We have so much more in common than you realize.”

“I am absolutely nothing like you.” Jace’s jaw clenched into a tight line, and he ground his teeth together. If he didn’t fight back his rage, he would charge Robert right then, and that would be a mistake. He needed to wait for the opportune moment.

“We’re both a rare breed. Skinwalkers destined to follow the Berserker bloodline.” Robert laughed mockingly. “To think that you were convinced you were half-werewolf. Self-righteously killing for years to atone for your absent-daddy issues. No reason to cry in fear now, Jace. He’s long dead.”

Jace stepped forward. He couldn’t let this creep get into his head, under his skin. But how...?

“How do you know about my father?”

Robert shook his head and clicked his tongue as if he were disappointed in a small child. “I thought you would have been smarter than this, Jace McCannon.”

Anger pulsed through Jace’s veins. “You heard me, asshole. How do you know about my father?”

A twisted look twinkled behind Robert’s eyes. Jace had seen that look before. His breath caught.

Robert grinned in triumph. “Because Thomas McCannon was my father, too.”