Guardian's Joy #3 Read Online Free

He roared
again when he hurled the throwing stars across the space that
separated him from the creature.
    It fell to the side at the last moment and
rolled to its feet with a grace unusual in a demon. In a deliberate
action, it flung out its bloody hand toward him as if flinging a
weapon, again unusual for those who usually relied on brute
strength. A streak of bright light shot across the darkness,
momentarily blinding the Guardian.
    Now it was he who leapt aside, but not
quickly enough. Recognition of the attacker caused him to hesitate
and the hesitation cost him. The streak of fire seared the flesh of
his thigh.
    He roared again and should have flung a
series of stars at the retreating back, but he ran to the victim
instead. The young woman lying on the floor, legs sprawled and arms
flung wide, was a member of the Race and her murderer was no
mindless demon nor was it a human innocent. It was the leather clad
woman from the club. He wanted this kill to be up front and
personal.
    “Take care of her and call Canaan,” he
shouted to the twins as he headed out the partially opened bay
doors in search of the killer. No human could outrun him and he
wouldn’t use white light to catch her. He wanted her to know she
was being stalked. He wanted her to feel the same terror as that
poor child in the warehouse. The jangle of chain link told him
where she was headed and he trotted off in the other direction to
cut off her escape. She was certainly making no effort to soften
her footsteps or control her ragged breath.
    Nardo ran at an easy lope, always keeping her
within sight or sound. Occasionally, he crossed her path to let her
know she was pursued. He cut off her retreat, made her jog and
backtrack and turn, driving her deeper into the concrete jungle
where only the rats liked to play.
    He was angry with himself for not seeing her
for the killer she was. Dammit, he was a member of the Paenitentia,
a Guardian of the Race and he’d been blessed with talents and
powers most humans only attributed to their gods. He should have
been able to sense her evil from across the room. Instead, he’d let
his imaginings wander to thoughts of those long shapely legs
wrapped around his waist and feeling that wide sensual mouth
against his own.
    And what about the demon smell? It was in the
air, but it wasn’t in the warehouse. It was still on the loose and
as long as it was out there, it was a danger to everyone. He had no
business playing games with this bitch. It was time to end
this.

 
     
     
    Chapter 4

    JJ ran without thought of where she was
going. She knew now what made those men different. They were
vampires, another myth come to life and one of them was responsible
for the death of that poor child.
    They were every bit as bad as the beasts she
hunted, so why couldn’t she kill him when she had the chance. She’d
aimed true and only had to throw the fire, but at the last second,
the fire sputtered and her aim faltered. If he hadn’t moved, she
would have missed him.
    The wound didn’t seem to slow him down much.
Shock and panic had her running in circles and she no longer knew
in which direction lay the safety of the street and her car. Her
only hope was to keep moving until the sun came up, if that part of
the mythology was even true. She was a marathon runner and she
could keep this up for as long as she needed to. She heard him
coming at her from the right and she sprinted forward, ducking into
the next alley.
    With the occasional patch of yellow moonlight
providing the only illumination, JJ was running blind and the brick
wall at the end of the alley appeared out of nowhere. She slammed
her palms against it as if her fury could knock it down and then
she spun away to run back the way she had come. He was there,
standing at the mouth of the alley, hands on hips; a blacker
silhouette against the darkness of the night.
    She watched him walk toward her with long,
slow strides, his shoulders rolling with each step and she knew,