September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)(66)

Before anyone could react, he threw the bullet with supernatural speed. It lodged in Agent Hunter’s thigh, and he fell to the ground with a shout.

All hell broke loose. The Feds fired their weapons, launching both wooden and regular bullets at us. Arys grabbed my hand and threw an energy wall up in front of us. The bullets bounced off as if hitting a brick wall.

The sudden surge of power streaming through me was overwhelming. Arys drew on our bond to hold the wall against the onslaught. It nearly drove me to my knees. Instinctively I reached out metaphysically for Jenner. He was our blood and, being mine as he was, my power drew on him.

Willow rushed the agents. Bullets bounced off him as if he were stone. Some of them dropped their guns and actually fled. Those that remained found themselves staring into the angry gaze of a very pissed off fallen angel.

With a snap of his fingers, Willow jammed their weapons. A flick of his wrist and several of them dropped, holding their heads as an unseen force tore pained cries from them.

“Shall I keep going?” Willow approached Briggs slowly, like a cat sneaking up on a mouse.

Briggs had his gun drawn, but he didn’t seem to know where to point it. He watched Willow with a growing horror as he realized his mistake in coming here.

“Call this off, O’Brien,” he barked. “There is no need for innocent men and women to die. That’s what we’re trying to prevent here.”

I laughed bitterly. “Your people are no innocents. Your definition of the word is clearly twisted. I’ve seen the things you all do. I’ve seen the basement.”

“This isn’t about the basement, goddammit.”

“No, it’s not,” I agreed. “Not yet.”

Despite the bullet in his leg, Agent Hunter lunged forward, flinging himself at Arys’s barrier. He hit the invisible wall and fell back, dazed. Idiot.

I couldn’t resist. He was just so close. I risked breaking the barrier to get to Hunter. I all but fell on him in my haste. The scent of his blood was overpowering, taunting a side of me that I was beginning to finally accept. Straddling the injured man, I began feeding him punches that snapped his head from side to side. Blood poured from his nose and mouth, but still I didn’t stop. He squirmed beneath me, seeking to throw me off. I felt the Taser on his hip, very likely the same one he’d used to abuse me not so long ago. Pulling it free, I held it beside his face and grinned.

“Calm down, sweetheart. You’re going to like this. I promise.”

The intoxicating aroma of his fear tickled my senses. It was only the beginning though.

With their guns made useless, the Feds were left with stun guns and billy clubs, none of which would do them a damn bit of good here. Jez and Jenner jumped into the fray, happily bringing pain to any agent dumb enough to get in their way.

Arys stood close, preventing anyone from interfering with Hunter and me. When Briggs tried to go for his phone to call for backup, Arys plucked it from his hand with ease and crushed it beneath his heel.

The fight taking place all around me became background noise as I stared down into Hunter’s frozen gaze. For the first time perhaps ever, I very much wanted to make a victim suffer.

“I bet you thought you’d come here and get off watching me take a bullet to the head,” I said, stroking a hand down his bruised and bloodied cheek. Gripping his jaw tight, I forced him to meet my eyes. “I can’t wait to taste your death.”

I pushed a breath of heady sensual energy into him, encompassing him in my thrall completely. He ceased struggling and peered at me like I was the most wonderful thing he’d ever seen. I manipulated the force, seducing him with little effort. The desire rolled off him in waves that I greedily drank in.

In an act that was pure vampire, I rubbed my groin against his, just enough to feel the evidence of his growing lust. With one hand on his face and the other caressing the throbbing vein in his neck, I sucked in a deep breath and groaned from the strength it took to keep from ripping his throat out. He didn’t deserve to go that fast.

I was vaguely aware of the dead agents piling up in the parking lot. Jenner and Jez had cut down almost half a dozen already. A few of them had acquired crossbows and stakes from the vans. Willow and Arys were quickly parting them from their weapons. Briggs was shouting orders at a crew that was no longer listening. It was chaos.

“Do you want me, Hunter?” I purred. “Tell me how you want me.”

He drew a shuddery breath and moaned. “Just kill me and get it over with.”

“Now what fun would that be?” My fingernails lengthened into deadly claws and I knew if I scratched him I’d have to kill him. There was no way an * like Hunter would make a good wolf. “Tell me what you want.”

He gave a strangled sound as he fought the command. Betrayed by his body and his will, he had no choice but to comply. “I want to f*ck you. But it ain’t real. I know it’s not, you vampire whore.”

I laughed, enjoying his tortured state of want and hate. “Oh, it’s real all right. Your hard on feels pretty real to me.”

Another push of power and Hunter was almost crying in his attempts to pull free of my manipulation. I wanted to take my time with him, but time wasn’t something I had a lot of.

I looked up in time to see Arys and Briggs locked in battle. Briggs fought hard with several well placed hits. He was well trained, and it showed. When he slid a stake from inside his jacket and whirled around to plunge it into Arys’s chest, I gasped.