The Fury Read online

  The hair falling about her beautiful face begged him to push it back so he could trail hot kisses along her cheek and jaw. A fierce longing speared his gut. You, naked on the floor, the couch or up against the wall. “Nothing,” he growled. “Get a move on.”

  She scowled at him and disappeared back behind the wall when a small explosion rocked the house.

  Reese ran into the living room. “What was that?”

  Why hadn’t he felt the death squad’s presence? He’d been too absorbed with foolish longings, his rising libido and the intense attraction to this human female. “Stay inside,” he ordered as he crossed to the door, pulling his guns out.

  “But…”

  He pointed a finger at her, his expression stern. “Do as I say.”

  She darted to the door as Dagan hurtled himself off the porch and whirled around with guns in both hands. He shot two rounds, hitting what looked like shadows to Reese, but when they fell, she realized they were alive.

  Heart pounding, she dashed to the railing to watch the macabre scene when three more came at Dagan from the other side and he easily dispatched them with deadly aim. Transfixed by terror, she barely heard the shuffling to her left. Her attention drawn from the fight, she saw one of the shadows coming toward her. It blended with the darkness which now settled as a backdrop for this nightmare. She needed some kind of weapon.

  Running back into the house, she picked up a lamp from the end table near the door and held it like a tennis racket.

  “Don’t come near me or I’ll brain you, sucker.” She lifted the lamp a little higher.

  The shadow creature laughed, if that’s what you could call the cackling sound it made. It advanced like fog, creeping closer. When it got to the doorway, it reached out for her. Reese hauled off and crowned it with the base of the lamp. With a loud crack, its head fell sideways and it dropped. She kicked it to make sure it wasn’t moving.

  Another figure grabbed her from behind, wrenching her arms and making her drop the lamp. She stomped on its toes and kicked at what she thought were its legs but it did no good. The thing had a tight grip around her arms and jacked them higher behind her back.

  She cried out.

  More shadows of varied sizes dropped down from the porch roof. She screamed and frantically looked for Dagan. A crowd of the creatures huddled in the front yard with Dagan in the middle. He fought hard, like a seasoned veteran. Using his elbow, he knocked one in the face and shot it in the head. It withered and disintegrated. He holstered the gun, unsheathed a wicked-looking knife, and with an upward swing, he sliced through the shadow’s throat, decapitating it. The figure disappeared with a fiery flash.

  Reese struggled against the thing that held her, trying to loosen its grip so she could break free. “Dagan!”

  Dagan leapt onto the porch. He reached around one body with his left hand and swiped the knife across its neck, killing it. The creature that held Reese turned her to face him. His eyes glowed bright red and in his hand, he held one of the darts. In a downward stroke, he stabbed toward her neck.

  “Don’t even think about it,” Dagan yelled, as he kicked one in the stomach and punched the face of the soldier that held her.

  The creature let go of her and stumbled back. Dagan withdrew two six-point metallic stars, and threw them at his target. With a pop, it disintegrated.

  “Look out,” Reese screamed.

  From behind, the one that Dagan had kicked now jumped up and ran toward him. Dagan easily drew another gun from its holster and fired three times. The demon was gone. A loud moan floated from the one at Reese’s feet. The creature she’d bonked with the lamp woke up and didn’t look happy.

  Dagan stabbed the creature through the middle and when it swung around to face him, he sliced off its head.

  Wide-eyed, she stared at the black mess pooled on the porch and splattered across the walls. The substance smoked like a dying fire and had an acrid smell. Her body shivered. She hadn’t paid any attention to the cold when she’d run out the door. The temperature had dropped considerably and her breath created puffs of swirling smoke.

  “Come on.” Dagan grabbed her arm and ran to the car.

  “But my clothes, my coat,” she yelped.

  “We can’t stay here. They’ll be back.” He opened the driver’s side door. “Keys.”

  “They’re in my purse in the house.”

  “Shit.” He raced over, grabbed her shoulder, and shoved her toward the porch. “Let’s go, quickly,” he said and pulled his gun.

  The hold he had on her wasn’t bruising, but light. A frisson of electricity passed between them causing her fingers to tingle. She looked up to see if he’d noticed. His eyes were in constant motion around the entire area. If he’d felt the jolt, she couldn’t tell from his actions or his face.

  He rushed them inside and locked the door. “Get your purse,” he said as he snatched her coat from the back of the chair where she’d laid it.

  She hurried into the kitchen and grabbed her purse, taking a moment to breathe deeply. A sick feeling clawed at her stomach. When she got back to Dagan, he slipped her coat on her, took the keys, and clasped her hand.

  “When we get out there, don’t stop.” He gave her a stern look. “If I say run, you run to the car and lock yourself in. Understand?”

  Reese gazed into eyes she now realized were green. The intensity in them made her nod her head in response to his order. At the moment, this gorgeous stranger was her lifeline.

  Chapter Two

  Dagan drove like the fires of Hell were lapping at them. With the lateness of the hour and the deserted stretch of road, there was little chance a cop would pull them over. Reese stared out the window at the passing landscape but said nothing. Finally, he pulled off the road at a rundown-looking place called the Moonlight Motel, stopping in front of the registration office.

  “Wait here. I’ll check us in,” he said, opening the door.

  Dagan went into the office. Drab walls, torn carpet and chipped wood off the dilapidated desk showed the disrepair of the place. Not like the outside hadn’t already spoken of what type of establishment he had found. The greasy-haired man behind the counter nodded when Dagan entered. Yellow teeth and hideous breath greeted him from thin lips. Beady black eyes gave him the once over before he asked Dagan his pleasure.

  Dagan smiled at the pock-marked face. “Don’t see any cars out there. Slow night?”

  “Seems so. What can I do fer ya?”

  Dagan glanced at the side board that held all the room keys and counted twelve. “I’d like the room on the end if you don’t mind.”

  “Not a problem. It’s twenty-five dollars a night.” Again, his eyes raked over Dagan’s form, apparently trying to decide why Dagan had stopped there.

  “Okay.” Dagan reached toward his pocket.

  The old man turned and pulled the key to twelve off the board. When he whirled back around, Dagan held out his hand and touched the old man’s forehead. With the mind sweep, the night clerk would not remember him ever being there. Using a little power of suggestion, the clerk would still see the key to unit twelve hanging on the board.

  When he got back in the car he said, “There is no one else staying in the motel tonight, so I had him put us at the end.” He drove them across the parking lot to the last unit. He unlocked the door to room twelve, went inside for a moment then motioned for Reese to follow.

  While Dagan’s superhero act had been impressive, she didn’t know him and this whole scenario had become absurd. When he’d gone into the building, he’d taken the car keys with him, which had nixed Reese’s chance for a fast escape. The temperature and the fact that she saw nothing else around kept her from trying to escape on foot. Pushing severe tiredness aside, she’d opened the glove compartment to search for a weapon of some sort. She found Kleenex, the car registration and a road map, but nothing viable for protection. She needed warmth and a grande-size cup of hot chocolate. Her feet were numb and her hands hurt.

&nb
sp; It felt warmer when she entered the place. The antiquated heat register hissed and coughed.

  “I’m going to put the car on the backside of the building out of sight. When I leave, lock the door and don’t let anyone else in except me,” Dagan instructed her. He tossed the key on the table.

  The numbness had now spread to her entire body. It took great effort to turn and lock the door, certain she wouldn’t let him back in. The phone, she’d decided, but couldn’t keep a coherent thought. Her feet felt like anvils and dragged as she wandered to the double bed in the musty smelling dime-sized room.

  A wave of exhaustion went through her. Her legs collapsed and she dropped to the edge of the bed.

  She wanted to sleep.

  She had to concentrate hard to stay awake so she focused on what looked like a palm tree on the filthy wallpaper. She didn’t know how long she’d sat there until she heard someone calling her name.

  “Reese. Reese. Come on, honey, look at me.”

  When she tilted her head, she saw Dagan bent over her, a worried expression on his face. How did he get back inside the room? He lifted her up, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled off her coat. Next, he sat her down and removed her shoes. He turned her, placed his hands on either side of her face, and using his thumbs, pulled down her lower eyelids to stare into her eyes.

  “Dammit.”

  Dagan grabbed the bottom of her shirt and lifted it over her head. Gentle fingers caressed her neck, shoulders and arms.

  “Your arm was nicked by the melari dart when the galla fell. They are coated with a potent sleeping drug. That’s why you’re so sluggish.”

  Sliding his hand under her knees Dagan picked her up and placed her head on a pillow. In a haze, she watched him go into the bathroom, come back to check the lone window then bolt the door.

  In murmurs so rhythmic they sounded like song, he repeated a chant several times. His sultry voice made her want to curl herself around his body and purr.

  She felt him slide the cover and bedspread over her before climbing into the squeaky bed and spooning up against her spine.

  “What are you doing?” she managed through numb lips.

  “Your body is like ice. My body heat will warm you and we both need rest. Go to sleep, Reese.”

  A thought that she should be outraged and embarrassed came to mind, but passed as she closed her eyes and got lost in the cocoon of warmth and sleep.

  When he’d knocked on the door and Reese hadn’t responded, a trickle of fear had clutched his throat. He used his powers to open the door and found her sitting on the bed in a kind of trance. Luckily, only some of the melari had gotten into her system. If more of the drug had been injected into her bloodstream, she would have become comatose. She should be fine in the morning.

  It had been a while since he’d lain with a woman. Her even breaths told him she slept. She still had an occasional shiver, but the chill had at last left her body. The soft fragrance of the woman tempted him with a delicate aroma, but this was no fragile female. With his fingertips, he felt the rise and fall of the swell of her breasts, which shot sensations straight to his groin. The power in her blood, the ancestry in her DNA, sang to him. Dagan gritted his teeth. Thoughts of Reese beneath him, those soft blue eyes looking up with desire instead of anger or fear, while he sank himself deep inside her, caused his entire body to burn.

  His powers hummed with vibrancy and her essence surrounded him, invading his keen senses. Her body called to him in ways he’d not thought possible. Having sex with her wasn’t an option. As a time walker, he should be immune to her—oblivious.

  But that was not happening.

  For some reason, her blood drew him, seduced him. Things would be clearer after a few hours of sleep.

  He hoped.

  A beam of sunlight shot through the crack of curtains and into the dank motel room. Reese came awake with it momentarily blinding her. A thigh wedged between her legs, warm breaths caressed her neck and a large hand skimmed circles around her breast. For a brief instant, she imagined running her hands along Dagan’s bulging chest, around his neck and letting her fingers play with his gorgeous dark hair. She couldn’t breathe without smelling the flavor of him—warm, dark mocha. Reese tensed when she felt Dagan’s bulging erection against her butt. The continual swirling of his fingers around her breast upped her heart rate and branded her with a high level of desire.

  She glanced over her shoulder. Apparently, he was sleeping. “Hey, slick, wake up.”

  At first, he nuzzled her closer then snapped fully awake. When he realized where his hand lay, he jerked it back.

  She twisted to look at him. “Tell me that’s not a pistol nudging against my ass.”

  He rubbed his hands down his face then looked at her and winked. “It isn’t.”

  She rolled to her back and pulled the covers up when he got out of the squeaky bed. Her mouth went dry and her gaze traveled hungrily down the length of his toned body. Warmth spread through her that had nothing to do with the temperature in the room. Her nipples grew so hard they hurt and she had a strong urge to rub something between her legs. Her face burned with embarrassment. She didn’t even know this guy.

  He tucked his shirt into the waist of his pants then shrugged into his dual holsters, pulling the guns out to check the magazines. She got a glimpse of his shoulder, but saw no visible signs of where the bullet had entered. How odd. He hooked steel stars to his belt and strapped a dagger to his right thigh.

  “That’s some hardware.” And she wasn’t just talking about the weapons.

  He gave her a cocky grin as if he knew exactly what she’d been thinking. “You need to get up and take care of any necessities.” He raked a lustful gaze over her covered breasts before saying, “Get dressed and meet me outside in ten minutes.”

  Under different circumstances, she might find this whole situation interesting and plead with Dagan to come back to bed so she could explore his incredible body. Unfortunately, it was all too real and she needed to remember that. She still didn’t understand why anyone would be after her and she planned to grill her kidnapper/savior for answers.

  Dagan started the car and turned the heater and blower on high. A good three inches of snow had fallen last night. He got out and scraped chunks of ice from the windows. By the time he got back into the vehicle, the heater had begun melting the remaining ice and warming the car to a more comfortable temperature. He checked the gas tank, which showed a half tank left. It should be enough to get Reese back to her house.

  “Dagan.”

  “Flame?” Through the mind link, Flame’s thoughts came in loud and clear.

  “Where in hell and damnation are you?”

  “I’m in Colorado, twenty-first century. A strong congregation of galla is here. I came to investigate.”

  “Did you find them?”

  Flame, son of Utu and Dagan’s best friend, was a time walker, like himself.

  “They were after a woman.” A fiery woman with spunk, he thought, but he didn’t let Flame hear it.

  “Did you stop them?”

  “Yes, for the time being.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “They attacked us at her house, so after I dispatched them, I took her to a motel.”

  “By all the gods, you mean she saw everything and you haven’t wiped her yet?”

  “No.”

  “Well, wipe her clean and get back here. Pyre is having a conniption because you haven’t picked up your weapons yet. You know how he is when he’s anxious to show you something new he’s created.”

  “I will do it today once I get her back home and post a guard.”

  “Okay. Stay true to the cause my friend.”

  “Always.”

  Dagan grabbed the cell phone from his coat and dialed. “Rufus, it’s Dagan.”

  “Do you know what time it is, purebred?” said the sleepy voice on the other end of the phone.

  “Of course I do.”

  “The
n why the hell are you calling me?”

  “I need you to guard a human for me.”

  “Trouble?” the man asked, now more alert.

  As a doghume, a human with special abilities who helped the time walkers in their quest, Rufus had worked with him on numerous occasions when he’d been in this century.

  “I’m afraid so. Go to the house, make sure no sentries are waiting then stay out of sight.”

  “I’m getting dressed now. Give me the address.”

  Dagan recited the address to Rufus and hung up. At least that would help. The hard part would be performing the go’ras on Reese. He should never have touched her, but caressing her soft skin and holding her close while they slept made his fingers burn to play with her breasts again.

  Red particles clumped together to form Feral, the captain of the squad Kur had sent to capture the Whittaker woman. The gaping hole in his chest was the last thing to close.

  Kur, King of the Underworld, lounged in his throne room. He needed the galla to bring him some humans. He hated these times in between feedings when he got weaker. The weakness kept him secluded in Divinity, the ironic name he’d given his kingdom in the Underworld.

  “What happened?” he asked Feral.

  “A time walker…Dagan.”

  Anger lit across Kur’s face and he jumped to his feet. “Dagan?” He growled. “Damn.” The time walker’s presence was unfortunate.

  “It will make it harder to get to her.”

  “Harder, yes, but not impossible. How many did we lose?” Kur sauntered over to the massive table covered with exotic foods.

  “I don’t know yet.” Feral rolled a gold coin across his knuckles.

  “Failure is not an option.”

  Feral acted nonchalant, but Kur smelled the faint scent of fear. “I need her,” he snarled.

  A sneer marred Feral’s face and he palmed the coin. “I will try again soon. I need to gather my force.”

  “Good, don’t wait too long.”

  Feral bowed and left.

  Kur roared his displeasure. He didn’t find pure blood descendents very often and one from Enki was rare. Her life force would heighten his abilities and make him stronger than he’d been before. He would not allow Dagan to take away this opportunity, even if he had to go himself.