She balanced in her bare feet on the window’s ledge. Hesitated and then jumped as if it was the most normal thing in the world. Landed solidly on her two feet and broke into a dead run toward the woods, her smile wide. The wind tore through her hair, the T-shirt billowed out around her and she heard her own laughter echo in her ears.
She was free—and this was no dream.
“Your brother looks good for being a prisoner of hell. The biker look works for him,” Jez said, trying to keep conversation going as Jinx brooded in the passenger’s seat. “A bold choice of tattoos, though. The women are going to love them, I’m betting.”
“Do you ever shut up?” Jinx growled.
“Finally. I was beginning to think I’d lost you in your broody bad-boy mood for the night, and we have work to do. Are you ever going to ask what I found back at the psych facility?” Jez asked. “I realize you were busy being all growly over your mate—”
Jinx wanted to say
“Most of the patients saw it,” Jez confirmed. “Several nurses mentioned that over the past four days, they used a lot more drugs than normal to keep everyone calm. One of them said that, and I quote, ‘It was like all the freaks freaked out at once.’”
“Nice nurse,” Jinx muttered.
“All the patients I spoke to—”
“You spoke to patients?”
“They won’t remember me, wolf,” Jez told him with a sigh. “You sure you want to talk about monsters rather than the fact that your brother woke up and you just found your mate?”
“You are not my therapist, deadhead. And we’re not supposed to have mates.”
“Did the Elders tell you that?”
“Centuries.” Jinx slammed his hands along the dash. “We had no one forever. And now we’re allowed to fall like dominoes?”
“I didn’t say the PTB made sense. Ever.” Jez took a corner on two wheels. Jinx hadn’t realized how fast they’d been going.
The vamp was possibly more on edge than Jinx. “What’s wrong, Billy Idol?”
“Fuck you, wolf.” Jez yanked the car to the side of the road. “I realize you’re all wrapped up in you. But I’m involved in this shit too.”
“Is this about your brothers?”
“I don’t like psych wards,” Jez muttered.
“Why didn’t you say that hours ago?”
“I didn’t think I’d have that kind of reaction.”
Jez didn’t elaborate and Jinx figured he’d share when ready. At the moment, they were facing something bigger, because they were back outside the original scene of the crime, as it were. Beyond these iron gates that stood shakily was once the opening to purgatory.
It was shut now, but would it always be there? Could Jinx be tricked into opening it a second time? Was he somehow purgatory’s bitch?
“You think the monsters would come back here?” he asked to distract himself. “I think they’d stay far away.”
“Got to cross it off the list,” Jez said firmly, his stiff-upper-lip composure back. The long leather coat whipped around his thighs as Jinx followed him reluctantly.
The ghosts clung to him. They were all still freaked about the recent events and too damned needy for his state of mind.
Needy ghosts were the fucking worst.
“Are you going to talk to them?”
“I’m not their therapist.” But even as he spoke, they dissipated like smoke in the wind. He felt naked being ghostless. “I think I was wrong about the monsters not coming back here.”
Jez circled around slowly, his fangs elongated.
“What exactly do these monsters do in purgatory?” he asked quietly.
“All they do is fight each other. Over and over.”
“I’m guessing they learned a lot about stalking their prey,” Jinx said. “And I’ve never felt more like it in my life.”
“I think we should go.”
“Way too late. Good thing we can’t die.” But it was for sure going to hurt. “What did they look like?”
“That’s the odd thing—each person described them differently. It appears that the monsters morph into whatever your greatest fear is,” Jez told him. “They feed off humans and wolves alike. Vamps too, I’m guessing. Equal opportunity monsters.”
“You didn’t think to mention this before?”
“You didn’t ask.”
A low growl emanated from the trees. “Jez, what’s your big fear?”
“I don’t really like hellhounds much,” the deadhead admitted. As he spoke, a giant black beast with red eyes darted out of the woods, making a beeline for the vamp. Jez stood stock-still, muttering some kind of prayer—if vamps even prayed.
Jinx wanted to remind him that prayers didn’t work so well for them the last time, since that’s what opened purgatory in the first place, but he refrained, if only because his heart was in his throat.
“Jez, man, what the hell?”
There was no way to outrun this thing. Fighting would be their best option. And what a fight it would be.
The hellhound bounded on a straight course toward Jez, who pulled a silver knife and prepared to slice at whatever he could. Jinx called out and the hellhound skidded to a stop as the vamp and wolf stood close to one another.
“What the hell?” Jinx repeated softly.
“Good puppy,” Jez muttered and it advanced. Jinx took a step closer to it and it backed up.
Okay, this was definitely all kinds of weird.
“What’s your big fear, wolf?” Jez asked.
Oddly enough, Jinx appeared to have none, since he was looking downwind at a hellhound, and he didn’t much fear those necessarily, although it was a big motherfucker and Brother was straining at the bit, pushing for a shift.
“Not now, Brother,” he hissed.
The monster hellhound stared him down. Snorted. But it was confused.
And then it bowed.
“It thinks you’re its master.”
“I don’t want to be in charge of it,” Jinx hissed.
“I’m not minding it,” Jez said. “Now tell the nice hellhound that the vampire isn’t a chew toy.”
“Maybe. Or maybe I’ll take him home with us. We wouldn’t need a security system then.”
The hellhound moved toward Jez and Jinx stifled a laugh. “Back off the vamp. He’s with me.”
The giant hound backed up.
“Yeah, down boy,” Jez told it. “I bet if you followed him, he’d take you to the others.”
“I’m not ready for that—what am I going to do?”
“This is like that book,
“I am not five,” Jinx said coldly.
“You’ve created quite a wild rumpus,” Jez persisted.
“I could still make you puppy chow.”
“Point taken.” Jez cleared his throat. “You do realize you’re like their king now.”
