Chapter Eighteen
Jody couldn’t keep herself from screaming at Vasco. “You’re a monster.” A lunatic, too, but she left that part out.
He shrugged. “We’re all monsters, are we not? Humans wage war. They maim and steal. Shifters change allegiances with the seasons.”
“Some do,” Cruz muttered, shooting murderous looks at the others. “Others know the difference between right and wrong.”
Jody stared. What were they talking about?
Vasco went on, unfazed. “Even my kind. We stalk. Select. We suck our prey dry. Oh yes,” he said, seeing the horror on her face. “Vampires. You thought we were bedtime stories?” He laughed, showing his teeth. “Well, let me show you the truth.”
Clouds swept down the mountains, and another roll of thunder shook the air.
“Jody,” Cruz hissed. “Don’t listen to him. We’re not all like him.”
Her eyes went wide. We? What did Cruz mean by we?
“Hubner, Smith.” Vasco snapped his fingers at his men. “Show her.”
One of them grinned and took off his jacket. The other grimaced, not as happy to comply. But they both took off their shirts, revealing broad, steely chests. Then they dipped their chins, curled their backs, and—
“Oh my God,” Jody whispered, backing away.
It wasn’t possible. It wasn’t happening. Those men weren’t turning into wild beasts in front of her eyes.
Except they were. Tawny fur sprouted from their backs as they fell forward on all fours. Teeth extended from muzzles that doubled in length, and their noses darkened to black. No matter how many times Jody shook her head, she couldn’t force reality back into her mind.
“No…”
Cruz stepped forward, shielding her with his body. “Shifters, Jody. Some are evil. Some are good.”
Vasco cackled. “Evil is in the eye of the beholder, my friend. Why don’t you show her your true colors? Or should I say, your stripes?”
Cruz held her hand so tightly, it hurt. His voice was a gruff whisper. “Don’t listen to him, Jody. When I say go, run and don’t look back.”
Vasco laughed out loud. “Oh, I think she should stay and watch, don’t you? Or don’t you want to discover what your bodyguard really is? Oh, wait. Not just your bodyguard. Your lover. Am I right?”
Jody was too busy eyeing the beasts prowling at the edge of the rock pool to retort that her love life was none of his business. Somehow, the lions’ smooth, stealthy movements reminded her of Keiki. No, wait. Not Keiki. Cruz. Why would they remind her of Cruz?
She glanced at him, trying to will away the doubt crowding her mind.
Cruz balled his fists and turned his gaze to her. The green specks in his eyes grew darker, more menacing. “Don’t listen to him, Jody.”
Vasco laughed. “He wants to keep you in the dark, Miss Monroe. Do you know why?”
Jody wanted to jam her hands over her ears.
“All he wants is the jewel, you know. Do you know about his past? He’s a killer. A sniper.”
“Jody,” Cruz said. “Please trust me. No matter what, trust me.”
She didn’t have time to answer. She couldn’t answer because Cruz dropped to his knees in front of her and let out a low groan.
“Cruz,” was all she managed as she reached for his shoulders.
“Here, kitty, kitty.” Vasco laughed.
She wanted to punch the man, but she couldn’t leave Cruz. Something was wrong with him. A seizure of some kind? His torso shook, and his hands clutched at the rock.
“Trust me,” he grunted in a strangled voice.
“Cruz,” she cried, touching his back. Then she froze, because his skin was softer than it ought to have been. Furrier. He pushed his legs back, stretching out in a long line, and then—
Jody fell back and landed on her ass, frozen at the sight of a man blurring into a beast just inches away.
“Cruz?”
But Cruz was gone, and in his place was a tiger. An honest-to-God, orange-and-black-striped Bengal tiger. She stared, wondering when she’d wake from this awful nightmare, watching as the beast’s yellow-green eyes swirled and focused on her.
Trust me, they said.
She stared. “Cruz?”
His nose twitched, and sorrow consumed his eyes. Then rage took its place as he whirled to face Vasco.
“Ah, such misplaced courage.” Vasco flapped a hand. “Such futility. Either way, I will kill you, Mr. Khala. I will kill her too, and I shall take the stone. Moira will be so pleased. And I’m sure she will pay me whatever price I ask. Funny, isn’t it, how fate makes things work out?”
Jody forced herself to stand, though her knees shook. The tiger paced in front of her, snarling at Vasco, the three remaining men, and — holy shit — two lions. The soft fur of the tiger’s sides brushed her shins as he stalked two steps right then left, swishing his tail the whole time.
“You find killing funny?” She spat the words at Vasco.
“I find business funny.” He smiled. “This all started as a small job. One little shooting at a society event — just the thing to stir up a little publicity for dear Moira’s new enterprise.”
Jody’s lips twisted into a snarl of her own. “What kind of person sets up a shooting as a publicity stunt?”
“You don’t know Moira.” Vasco chuckled.
The tiger snarled. Or, more precisely, Cruz snarled. Jody stared at him, trying to get that through her head.
The bushes parted, and yet another lion stepped into view. A slightly smaller, younger one, from the look of it.
“Ah, my dear nephew,” Vasco sighed. “Don’t mind him.”
Jody looked around, counting foes as Vasco went on.
“The beautiful part of the plan was the idea of pinning it all on Mr. Khala with some carefully placed misinformation. Everyone would have bought it, too. You know, the unhinged war vet who couldn’t handle transitioning back.”
Cruz snarled, and Jody voiced the words coded into his tone. “What do you know about transitioning back?”
Vasco ignored her completely and rambled on. “Of course, the blunder my associate made just opened the door for opportunity. For me, not for Moira. I have the chance to sample a new flavor, and the stone is icing on the cake.” His eyes dropped to the sapphire then slid to Cruz with a look of utter disdain. “Perhaps it was an opportunity for Mr. Khala, as well.”
Jody balled her hands into fists. “You’re crazy.”
“Am I?” Vasco raised an eyebrow. “All he had to do was pretend to rescue you and take you back to that lovely estate. The perfect place to woo and seduce you.”
Cruz let out a ferocious snarl that made the lions step back.
Jody’s jaw hung open. What was Vasco suggesting?
The vampire pointed at the sapphire. “After that, he used you to obtain a Spirit Stone. Ah, Mr. Khala. You’re smarter than I imagined.”
Jody backed up as far as she could without falling into deeper water. She was marooned on a slab of rock with a tiger, wondering if Vasco’s accusations were true.
Cruz raised one paw and slashed at the air, gnashing his teeth the whole time. His tail whipped back and forth, and his shoulders hunched, one step away from an all-out attack.
“All bark and no bite.” Vasco made a dismissive motion.
Jody frowned. She didn’t know what to believe, but one thing was clear. The only reason Cruz hadn’t torn the man’s throat out yet was because she was so close. He kept nudging her back with his haunches, keeping her shielded from the others. His eyes met hers one more time, pained and sincere.
Don’t listen to him. Trust me. Please trust me.
Jody held her breath then dipped her chin in a weak nod. She might be going crazy, but she’d go with her heart on this one, for sure.
He flicked his tail once, warning her to be ready to run.
Jody’s teeth were chattering too much for her to nod, but sure — running sounded like a great option right now. Away from Vasco, away from men who turned into beasts. She nodded again and bent her knees, ready to move.
Cruz whirled to face Vasco, and all hell broke loose with a mighty roar that echoed off the surrounding mountains.
Jody watched just long enough to understand about the don’t look back part. Saliva dripped from the tiger’s jaws. Massive claws slashed four long lines across Vasco’s chest, drawing parallel lines of blood. The vampire pushed back with incredible strength, showing inch-long fangs.
Jody whirled and hurried away. Run. Run. Run!
She couldn’t begin to digest everything she’d seen and heard. With footsteps splashing behind her, though — the sounds of men in close pursuit — she didn’t have to do much thinking.
Just run, damn it, she ordered herself. Run!
She splashed through knee-deep water, using every lesson she’d learned as a kid who’d grown up on the beach. Lifting your knees high worked better than dragging your feet, but the men behind her didn’t seem to know that. She looked for a branch to use as a club, but there was nothing except Guy’s lifeless body, floating a few yards downstream. Her heart rose in her throat as she ran toward him. Guy wasn’t her favorite person, but it gutted her to see him killed. Richard, too. Both of them murdered in cold blood.
You’ll be murdered in cold blood, too, a dark voice said in the back of her mind. Hurry!
Cruz. What about Cruz? she wanted to protest.
“I want her alive!” Vasco yelled.
A tiger’s snarl boomed, reminding her Cruz could take care of himself. Or so she hoped. She glanced back, but it was impossible to tell who had the upper hand as the tiger and Vasco fought in the shadow of the waterfall. Water flew everywhere, and grunts punctuated slashes and growls. Thunder rolled and raindrops began to fall, splattering on her face. God, how could this get worse?
“Finally, we get to hunt. A real hunt.” One of the men stalking her grinned. “We haven’t been able to do that in a while.”
The other man chuckled, moving to the opposite bank of the stream.
Jody had no choice but to run. The sapphire bumped and bounced against her chest, and a slew of images raced through her mind. Visions of water in every possible form: waterfalls catching rainbows. Drenching storms. Pitter-pattering rain. Dewdrops. Swirling, rushing rivers… A whole menu of options, almost.
Options for what? she wanted to scream.
She nearly raced past Guy’s body, but at the last second, she reached out and yanked the camera from his shoulder.
I’m sorry, Guy. So sorry. She wanted to stop and cry. But I need this.
She ran another three steps, listening to the panting behind her grow louder. Closer. At the last possible second, she spun.
“Leave me alone!” she yelled, swinging the camera.
“Hey,” the man shouted.
The camera smashed into the left side of his face with a heavy thud, and the lens shattered. The man grunted and stumbled sideways. Jody yanked the broken camera back before sprinting onward. There were more men after her. Or rather, one man and what sounded like one lion. They splashed along the shoreline, and the man yelled at his accomplice.
“You go that way. I’ll go this way.”
Like a lion could understand that? Apparently, yes, because the lion did as he was told.
“Damn it,” the man she’d struck grunted as he slipped from rock to rock, back in hot pursuit.
The rain intensified, splattering against the water in countless tiny darts. Bruised, swirling clouds slipped overhead, dimming the valley.
If it starts raining, we need to abort quickly, Kai had said. No telling when a flash flood could rip through.
Jody winced at a burning sensation on her chest. Was that the sapphire? She pulled it away from her skin and glanced down.
Use that, Cruz had said.
Use me, the eerie blue glow seemed to echo.
How? She wanted to scream. How?
The glow flared, and the water around her legs rose an inch, swirling and rushing. Not high enough to push her off-balance, but enough to send wild images through her mind. She saw gushing water tearing through a lush landscape. Enough to create a swirling flood that swept everything away.
She stared at the sapphire. No wonder Silas had mentioned fearing the gem. The thing seemed to have a mind of its own.
Power. The sapphire seemed to say as it glowed brighter. I do have power. Not just a pretty glow.
Which was crazy, but… If men could sprout vampire fangs and turn into wild animals, who was to say a jewel couldn’t hold special powers, too?
God, Silas hadn’t been exaggerating, had he? The more you know, the more you enter a world you may not wish to be part of.
No kidding, she wanted to snort.
Another feline snarl split the air, and she jerked around, coming face-to-face with a lion.
She dropped the sapphire back to her chest in time to swing the camera with both hands, bashing the lion in the nose. The beast yowled and stepped back, then stalked forward with a low growl. Jody inched backward, trying not to panic. And damn — the irony! So many people warned her about the danger of sharks while surfing, and here she was, facing a grown lion in the closest life-or-death moment she’d ever experienced. The lion moved awkwardly, though, picking up its paws and edging around the shallows with distaste.
“Don’t be such a pussy,” one of the men called. “Get her, already.”
She thought of the rock pool near Cruz’s tree house. From what she knew, tigers liked water. Lions — not so much? Still, she doubted that would hold him for long.
I can hold him, the prickly heat of the sapphire in her hand seemed to hint.
Jody looked around, afraid to turn her back. If she lost her footing, they’d pounce and rip her throat out — or worse, save her for Vasco.
We stalk. We select. We suck our prey dry.
Her skin crawled as the stone pulsed in her hand.
Jody. Use it.
She couldn’t tell whether she was remembering Cruz’s words or hearing them all over again in her mind. But it didn’t matter. The more she tried to think things through, the more the process slowed her down.
Sometimes it’s better not to think, her dad said in those first surfing lessons he’d given her, so long ago. Just do. Listen to your heart and trust what you can do.
Jody took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. Listen… Trust…
A second later, she took off, splashing over to a boulder high in the middle of the stream. She clambered up on it, ignoring the enemies in pursuit. From the top, she squinted through the rain, watching Cruz and Vasco grapple.
Don’t think. Just do.
She pulled the necklace off and held the sapphire out. The sun had long been chased away by rain clouds, but the last rays of light caught in the facets of the gem. She tilted it this way and that, magnifying the light.
“Shit,” one of the men who’d been chasing her muttered. “Fucking Spirit Stone. You don’t mess with that.”
Jody held the jewel higher and glared. “Back off.”
She had no clue what she was doing, but still. The sapphire felt more and more like a weapon, and she’d use whatever help she could get.
The lion grumbled, and the man snickered. “Sure. Try me.”
Anger rose in her, turning her thoughts into a swirling, tempestuous mess. And instead of controlling that mess, she let it run wild.
Yes, the sapphire seemed to say, glowing brighter and brighter. Yes…
Jody closed her eyes, concentrating on the raindrops dripping down her skin. Blocking out the sounds of the men around her — including the one who muttered, “Just get her, already.”
Flash floods. White water rapids. Crashing waves. She’d been sucked under a few in her time, so she could picture it perfectly. The way water crashed against rocks, then split and reformed around obstacles, plowing on relentlessly. One eddy would spin one way, while the neighboring eddy went the other. She could feel the yank of the leg rope on her ankle, tethering her to her surfboard. The force of the waves, pulling her and the board in opposite directions before releasing both. Sometimes, the power of water frightened her. Most times, it mesmerized her. She’d spent years learning to harness the power of water. Surely, she could harness it now.
“Go on, get her,” someone said.
“Damn current…” another grumbled.
She opened her eyes and looked toward Cruz. No matter how many times he slashed, bit, or kicked Vasco, the vampire retaliated. A lion backed Vasco up, jumping in for dirty strikes whenever Cruz was at a disadvantage, then scurrying back to safety again. An uneven, unfair fight — and all for her sake.
Her hand trembled around the sapphire. This had to end. She had to end it.
She gritted her teeth against the burning sensation in her hand, picturing rushing currents. Flash floods. Crashing waves.
“Shit, it’s getting faster,” one of the men said, chest-high in the water near her boulder.
Light poured out from between Jody’s fingers, struggling to break free. She kept her eyes on the water rising around the rock slab Cruz fought on and around. The men had no idea how fast the water was about to get. And frankly, she didn’t either. All she knew was that the sapphire was burning hotter than ever, its force building. The sky crackled with energy beyond that of the thunderclouds.
Let me free, the sapphire seemed to tell her. Now. Let me release my power.
So, so tempting — but, hell. She’d never been the angry, vengeful type. It was hard to summon that kind of hate — unless, of course, she thought of Vasco and his horrifying quest for “flavors.” She might not have the blood he sought, but if he went after her younger sister…
Her stomach roiled, and anger washed over her. Vasco had to be stopped.
The moment she lifted a finger, uncovering more of the gem, a rumble sounded in the mountains.
“I’m out of here,” one of the men muttered, running back toward dry ground.
Jody lifted another finger, releasing another brilliant ray of blue light.
Please, please, don’t hurt Cruz, she prayed, wondering how exactly to control a flood once she set one in motion.
The sapphire didn’t provide an answer, no matter how hard she listened or wished. The lion jumped to a nearby rock and looked toward her, judging the distance for a leap.
Now, the sapphire ordered. Now!
Jody widened her stance and opened her fingers, letting the sapphire lie exposed in her palm. A burst of energy shook her, but she focused on the images in her mind. Rushing water. Swirling eddies. Water dividing and reuniting, slamming anything in its path.
The gurgle of the stream became a hiss, then a roar. Separate strands of the waterfall thickened and joined, turning into a single torrent of water that gushed off the rock face and crashed into the pool below.
“Cruz…” she whispered, even though he was too far to hear. “Stay right there. Stand like that.”
But Cruz was anything but still. He jumped through the air, slashing at his foes. One second, he was facing upstream, and the next, he stood side-on to the river. The rocky slab disappeared under rushing water, closing over his feet.
“No…” she muttered, afraid of what she’d unleashed.
“Fuck,” a man yelled, looking up.
Jody held her breath as a wall of water swept around a curve of the river and over the falls. A two-story wall of water, rushing at her.
“Cruz!” she cried. The tiger had pounced upon Vasco, who lay on his back, trying to wrestle the beast off. But the tiger opened his jaws wide and—
Jody looked away as blood gushed.
“Oh God. Cruz…” she whispered. The flood was about to hit.
There was no way he could have heard her, but his head whipped around.
“Don’t move,” she breathed, every muscle in her body tensing.
He did move, though — long enough to shove Vasco’s body off the rock ledge. Then he crouched low, looking up at the wall of water. His tiger claws flexed at solid rock in a desperate attempt to hold on.
“Don’t budge,” Jody whispered — as much to herself as to him. The only movement she allowed herself was tilting the sapphire the slightest bit.
Split, damn it, she ordered the water. Split. Go around him.
She nearly screamed when the wall of water engulfed Cruz’s position, but she forced herself to focus. As the water roared toward her, she imagined a mighty mountain in front of Cruz. One big and solid enough to withstand the greatest flood. Big enough to split the water and force it to seek a new course.
“Run!” a man yelled.
The lion fled, too. Both too late, because a second later, the flood hit and swept them away. They flailed and shouted as the water stole them away. Then they were gone, sucked under for good.
Jody leaned forward as if she were bracing against a barn door and not the sliver of thin air dividing her from the rushing flood. But the sliver held, and the water rushed by on either side, leaving her untouched. It splashed and grasped greedily at her hair and her feet. But she fought off the onslaught and kept the sapphire high, imagining a path for the water to follow down and out of the valley.
Vasco, she wanted to chant. Take Vasco and the others. Do with them what you want. But leave Cruz.
I take whom and what I want, the hissing water said.
Jody held her ground. Take the evil. Leave the good. Leave Cruz.
Leave me, she wanted to add, but she didn’t dare.
The roar built to a crescendo so loud, she was sure she’d be swept away, too. But the sapphire gradually dimmed along with her fading focus. Exhausted, she lowered her hand. The water level lowered, too, going from a gush to a jog and finally a babble as the rocks in the riverbed reappeared. Jody fell to her hands and knees, unable to look. What if Cruz was gone? What if the flood had spared her but claimed him?
Rain tapped on her shoulders. Wind teased her hair. Both those forces were dying down, too. Everything grew quieter — everything but her nerves. Her heart thumped erratically as she clutched the jewel. What had she done?
A minute ticked by, then another. The surrounding forest went from too-silent to humming with hidden life. The water bubbling around the boulder flowed evenly — until something disturbed it. Something big and four-footed, Jody realized after a breathless minute. The pitch of the splashes indicated shallow water, which wasn’t a good sign. The moat that had arisen to protect her was flowing away.
She cracked one eye open and looked at the sapphire. The fire had gone out of it, and she was tempted to dismiss everything as a hallucination. Until a soft growl sounded beside her, that was.
She froze and tensed all over again, closing her eyes. The growl sounded again, closer still, and her arms shook. She shouldn’t be such a weenie, but somehow, she just couldn’t work up the nerve to look.
Everything went quiet, even the growl, until the only hint of company she heard was the deep, ragged breath of an animal that had been through some great trial.
An animal. Shit. An animal.
Moments later, two soft thumps sounded against the boulder. Jody took a deep breath, opened her eyes, and—
Startlingly clear greenish-yellow eyes gazed into hers from six inches away. The eyes of the tiger, standing on his hind legs. His front paws touched the boulder not far from her toes.
He huffed once and twitched his nose. Please, those eyes said. Please trust me…
Never had such a powerful creature looked so lost or lonely. Never had a moment of triumph been so muted and sad, as if he’d lost a battle, not won.
“Cruz,” she whispered.
One by one, her muscles loosened — every one but her tongue, because she still couldn’t utter a word. Slowly, she inched a hand forward until she touched his chin. The tiger closed his eyes and sighed. Really sighed, as if that was his greatest victory — being accepted by her.
She scratched his surprisingly soft fur until he hummed with pleasure.
“You said tigers don’t purr,” she murmured in a shaky voice. Her hands trembled in his fur, but she went on scratching all the same.
The tiger blinked at her. Once. Twice. Then he leaned forward, asking for more.
“You like that?”
I love that, the dreamy look on his face said. At least, Jody was pretty sure that was a dreamy look. She wasn’t exactly an expert on tigers.
“And…um… If I come down from this boulder — you promise not to bite, right?”
He blinked like he’d never heard such a preposterous thing.
Jody grinned in spite of her fear. That was Cruz, all right. She shuffled around and slid off the boulder, hopping to the ground two feet from the tiger’s side. Cruz came down on four paws and held his ground, giving her no choice but to approach.
“Is that really you?” she asked, crouching down. The eyes were all Cruz. But the black dots around his whiskers, the orange centerline, the paintbrush stripes… Well, those would take some getting used to.
He blinked. Yes. This is me.
Jody decided it was another one of those Do, don’t think moments and fell into a hug. A huge human-to-tiger hug that worked surprisingly well. Cruz held perfectly still, but she could hear his heart hammering inside. A little like hers, she guessed.
“Cruz…” She hugged him tighter as they both lay on the ground. Then she cried — and laughed a little, too — out of sheer nerves. She leaned more and more of her weight on Cruz, letting go of more and more fear, until at some point she opened her eyes again and found herself eye-to-eye with a man. Her man. Cruz.
His dark hair was a mess, his eyes as deep and mysterious as ever. But his arms were firm over her shoulders, and his brow was furrowed in a pattern that matched the stripes that had disappeared.
“You okay?” he whispered, brushing a finger across her cheek.
The sun pierced the sky on the tail edge of the storm, shooting rays through the thick, low clouds.
Jody swallowed away the lump in her throat. “I feel fine, but I might be going crazy. Can you live with that?”
His gaze, she noticed, jumped briefly to the sapphire, and part of her feared Vasco was right. But there was no greed in Cruz’s eyes. More like relief and a healthy dose of respect. A heartbeat later, his eyes locked on hers, and a smile ghosted across his lips.
“I can live with you if you can live with…” He searched for words before trying out two. “This. Me.”
She glanced around. The rain had ceased, and the outline of the sun was starting to show behind the cloud cover.
“You, I can deal with. But the others…”
He touched her shoulders before she could start trembling again. “They’re gone. The flood took them. We’re safe.”
She nibbled her lip. “So I’m not going crazy?”
“Only crazy enough to trust me.”
She laughed and dropped to his chest. Maybe the truth didn’t have to be terrifying. Maybe she could deal with this if she followed her heart.
“So, a tiger, huh?”
“Tiger shifter.”
She thought it over. “Silas and Kai, too? Or are they lions?”
Cruz made a face. “Not lions. They’re—”
An engine roared to life not too far away, and both of them looked up as a helicopter took flight. The helicopter Vasco and the others had arrived in. Which meant…
Cruz rolled to his feet and pulled her up. “Quick. One of them got away. We need to get out of the open.”
Jody’s heart pounded in her chest. Now what?
The helicopter made a slow turn then rushed straight at them.
“We need to—” Cruz started, then pulled up short as a dark shadow swept overhead.
Jody ducked. “Whoa. What the—?”
“Get down.” Cruz pushed her to the ground and covered her body with his.
Jody looked up, watching the helicopter rush into a tight U-turn. Its engine strained as it hurtled toward the mountaintops, suddenly the hunted instead of the hunter.
“Go, Silas,” Cruz breathed, letting her up.
Jody wasn’t sure she wanted to get up. Not when she saw what the helicopter was fleeing from. An impossibly huge creature with leathery wings and—
The dragon rushed after the helicopter, belching fire until both disappeared over the ridge.
“That’s Silas?” she squeaked.
Cruz nodded.
“Silas is a…a…” She couldn’t quite get the word out.
“Dragon,” Cruz said, helping out.
Jody took a deep breath and looked down at the sapphire. “And this is…”
“A Spirit Stone.”
“A Spirit Stone,” she echoed in a careful monotone. “Boy, do you have a lot of explaining to do.”
Cruz gave a solemn nod, and she threw her arms around him.
“But not right now,” she begged, holding him tight. “Right now, all I need is you.”