Jericho Read online

  The voice in her head could very well be coming from the female who kidnapped her from Jericho’s compound. No one could read her thoughts it seemed, but Abe knew there were always exceptions and maybe this female was it.

  She wasn’t falling for it – it had to be another trick.

  Her head ached and spots danced in front of her eyes. She shook her head slowly, trying to gently dislodge them while blocking out the throbbing pain encasing her face.

  She had to stay focused.

  Somehow.

  Now was not the time to lose consciousness – that could be bad, very bad – only second to losing her sight as her eyes continued to swell. She took a couple big gulps of air to steady herself while focusing on anything, but the constant pain.

  Instinctively, Abe knew she had to find an escape route. Hunched down, back braced against cold stone, she listened – no sounds, nothing moved.

  If she couldn’t find a way out she would die in this dank stone cell.

  Abe didn’t consider herself a threat for Jericho’s affections, least of all to the female who kidnapped her because the bitch had a revenge hard on for Jericho. Well, she was in for a real surprise since Jericho had made it abundantly obvious he didn’t want Abe.

  Dropped into this dark cell to get back at Jericho made it sickeningly obvious that he had a female problem or two. It was crappy to be in the middle – between him and one of his jilted – cast off? – lovers.

  Pushing thoughts of Jericho and her kidnapper aside, Abe closed her eyes – it was the only way she could concentrate. Ears straining for any sounds, she hunched down slowly on hands and knees, crawling to the door and still heard nothing. Her eyes were swelling badly and her nose was a big bulb. Was it broken? It hurt like hell, but was minor compared to her forehead.

  Cheek pressed against the heavy wooden door, she fought back the pain and agony, doubt and fear, resolving to never give up.

  Light footsteps tapped on stone, coming closer as an arc of yellow light spread under the heavy wooden door. Quickly, Abe scurried into a corner. Recognizable and cringe worthy laughter erupted when the lock turned and the heavy wooden door flew open.

  Abe blinked rapidly against the harsh yellow light intentionally meant to blind her as pain exploded in her head. Braced against the stone wall, she trembled.

  “Oooh, you’re a mess aren’t you,” the female laughed. “Humans are too fragile.”

  Abruptly, Abe’s spinning world stopped. Human? Her? White spots danced in front of her eyes. “Who are you?”

  “Moi? Jericho’s worst enemy. I’m Tess.”

  “Go after Jericho then. Leave me out of it.”

  “Hah! So he was telling me the truth when he admitted you were nothing to him. Didn’t seem too concerned I’d snuck you out from under him. Hey! I’m assuming you’ve been under him. Hmmm? Eventually you’ll share all your secrets.”

  Teeth clenched together, Abe refused to be drawn in even though Tess’ words struck hard. It cut deeply that Jericho had shared with Tess his lack of interest. A harsh, brutal male – it was uncalled for to have him say she meant nothing to him. He wasn’t that cold was he?

  Wisely, she didn’t believe Tess – wasn’t the first time the bitch lied to her. Besides, she’d spent too much time with Jericho, had seen how he cared about his team, Rad in particular.

  “Enough nattering. Strip! I wanna see what Jericho’s been hiding.”

  “Ungh…?” Abe couldn’t seem to get what Tess was asking.

  Tess reached for a heavily rusted chain dangling from a round bolt embedded in stone and yanked hard. Dust puffed into the air, but the chain stayed anchored. “Don’t make me repeat myself. It’ll only go worse for you.”

  Abe’s entire body shook as utter fear spread through her. “Please. I’ve got nothing to do with this. Why me?”

  Tess blinked a couple of times. Stupid human didn’t have a clue that King of the Jinn had never taken a single female under his direct protection before – which made her special. Very special. Dumb bitch hadn’t any idea how special she was to Jericho Sullivan. Hot damn – that just made it all the sweeter.

  This was getting better by the second and Tess spilled out tinkling, tinny laugher. “Why you ask? Because, my pretty, we’re going to play. Have a little fun. My kinda fun. Need to be gentle though, cause your kind dies really fast if I’m not careful. Can’t get too rough too fast since you're only human.”

  “Tess, listen to me. I don’t know you or what’s gone on between you two, but trust me when I say Jericho doesn’t care about me. Remember, you said so yourself.” Abe pleaded, stalling for time as she screamed inside – I’m not human. A sharp, strong gut instinct told it was true. Most definitely she wasn’t human.

  Did she know what she was? No…but she wasn’t what Tess thought and even if it was the tiniest edge, Abe meant to somehow use it to her advantage.

  Tess ignored her, a crazy gleam to her eyes. “Ohhh, this is gonna be fun. I’m gonna cut on you, mark you up some. Most likely kill you, but since you’re only human, it really doesn’t matter. I’m gonna work hard to keep you alive as long as I can. After all, I do so enjoy playing.” She never bothered to mention she had to keep the human alive to present her to the Council of Nine – so all in all it was going to be an unsatisfyingly soft play session. Only problem was, she didn't really have much control once the bloodwork started. Hmmm.

  Call me out. I’ll take care of it. You’ll be safe.

  Hearing Bear's growly demands, Abe realized it wasn’t Tess trying to manipulate her. The imaginary Bear from her dreams was talking to her in the real world and sounded like he wanted to do serious damage to Tess.

  Overwhelmed, Abe hesitated. Whether Bear was real or not – he seemed her only hope. Still, it was better the devil you know than the one you don’t. Tess being the devil and Bear an unknown quantity was not an easy choice to make. Maybe might even make things worse.

  Could she trust Bear? Was he truly a part of her waking world and not some heroic apparition caused by fear, shock and pain? Would he be the same gentle giant as he was in her dreams – good company, always a bit of fun with him goof balling around?

  Abe was torn and very uneasy about making major decisions. She’d been so stupid and trusting with Tess. Now, she didn’t trust anyone. Even her last hope – Bear.

  Fists clenched and her head thrown back, Tess screamed at the top of her lungs, “Get. Naked. Now!” When Abe didn’t immediately start undressing, Tess removed a slim sparkly silver chain from her waist, looping one end around her leather clad fist, wrapping it tight, the other end left to dangle just above the stone floor.

  It was only then the spikes became apparent – tiny rows of teeth lined the sparkly silver chain.

  Horrified, Abe watched as the dangling end lashed out, dropping low to dig into the soft skin and muscle above her knees. It tore deeply while brutally binding both legs together. Going down hard, Abe twisted so her left shoulder hit cold stone with a loud painful pop. She knew her head couldn’t take another blow without losing consciousness. An endless scream ripped out as pain swarmed every nerve ending in her body.

  To stop from passing out, Abe locked her eyes on Tess. Fear kept her lucid, but she was out of it – in a strange way it was as if she were standing beside herself. Panic consumed her as thoughts dripped in her mind. Chain made of metal… leather bodysuit…stone room…wooden door – all had one thing in common.

  All were natural elements.

  Abe sensed a strange tingle in a deep recess of her mind and she reached for it.

  Everything clicked into place.

  Automatically and not quite aware of what she was doing, a part of her mind focused on the cellular level of Tess’ leather outfit, withering and drying the hide out. Just a tad. Then, another for good measure. All while strengthening the threads that held the garment together – they were now fused and as strong as fishing line – ensuring it wouldn’t split open under pressure.

 
Still blocking some of the pain clawing at her, Abe peered through swollen eyes at Tess – in complete disbelief at what was happening as fear engulfed her.

  Slightly leaning closer, Tess gasped out a grunt of air. “One good tug will cut off both your legs.” She grinned. “Actually, I kinda like the idea only you’d probably bleed out too quick for me. Wanna lose your legs first?”

  Violently, Abe shook her head, mumbling, “I’ll take off my clothes.”

  “That’s a good little chickadee. Do be quick about it.”

  Fist unclenching, Tess yanked hard on the thin taunt chain as it loosened and fell away. With a snap of her wrist, the bloodied chain – chunky with torn bits of flesh – coiled at her feet.

  Pain was driving her mad. With no strength left and her mind wandering, Abe still fought the urge to drag the bitch to the ground and strangle her. Her left hand was numb and there was something wrong with her shoulder so she used her right palm to press into the nastiest slashes above her knees, but blood continued seeping between her clenched fingers.

  It was no use. The wounds were too deep and she had lost a lot of flesh and blood. She couldn’t do Tess’s bidding – her body was too broken – it was impossible to take off her clothes and that surely meant she was going to die here in this hideous place where no one would ever find her.

  Instinctively, a portion of her mind refocused on the cellular level, turning the fine silver chain to dust. Tess, in a fugue state of excitement, didn’t even notice. Her glossy, crazy eyes were an omen a lot more pain and blood was on the way.

  Relief flooded Abe that at least the silver chain could no longer be used on her. She then began to dry up the water in Tess’s body, knowing it would slow her down a little.

  Tess was as sick as they come – unhinged in a big way – her wide smile said how much she was enjoying the torture.

  Again, a segment of Abe’s brain remained concentrated on methodically drying out the leather hide, the sleeves shrinking up her arms, tightening at the elbows and across the chest. Tess’ necked started turning purple.

  Out of her mind with pain, Abe focused on her kidnapper to keep the worst of it from ripping her in two. Spots danced before her swollen eyes and her body shook so bad she couldn’t control it. Warm blood continued to bathe her legs and feet and she was grateful that Tess seemed to have forgotten all about her stripping down.

  Grunting and gasping for air now, Tess stooped over Abe, a sharp knife digging into the top of her right foot, opening a wide slit. Tess giggled. “Much better. It excites me when blood spurts.”

  “You sick bitch.” Abe concentrated on the metal knife in Tess’ gloved hand. Almost instantly it melted – molten heat burning through leather, skin and bone.

  Eyes closed, Abe lost touch with what was happening as her world spun with horrific pain.

  As if from inside a long tunnel, wails of pain from Tess scratched at Abe’s brain as she scrabbled backwards. Her entire left side was totally numb now and her right foot throbbed as blood gushed from the new wound. Like a pendulum, the tiny cell tilted back and forth and nausea rose up her throat. Everything around Abe became washed out gray as if she were somewhere else and viewing events through dirty glass.

  Exploding pain ratcheted to level ten when Abe’s left shoulder hit the stone wall. Rapidly, blood pooled around her feet and yet a powerful part of her mind remained solely focused on the natural elements of the leather hide as little by little it strangled Tess, cutting off her circulation. A once smashing leather bodysuit was now too small to take off.

  Acid bile bit at the back of Abe’s throat and spots danced across her vision as she waited silently, Bear pounding at her to be let out. She still wasn’t taking any chances. Leather creaked and Abe tried to focus, needing to stay aware. If she were unconscious Tess would likely kill her.

  No longer able to move her arms or legs Tess fell over, head bouncing once or twice on hard stone as she strangled trying to get even a tiny breath.

  Abe glanced around, trying to orient herself. Tess was on the ground gasping and that was good, but she wasn’t really sure how it had happened.

  She noticed the widening pool of blood beneath her feet and knew she was in trouble. Rad’s image floated across her mind – he never gave up and went through way more. Then she wondered if Jericho would bother looking for her.

  Abe knew she couldn’t take much more. Truth – here and now – Tess was right. She was going to bleed out in this dank cell and die here.

  Consciousness started to slip away when movement caught Abe’s attention and Tess rolled to the side with a big metal star clenched in her teeth and her head bobbing as she slashed at the shrunken leather encasing her neck. When her chest heaved upwards with each new slash of the metal star she took in a couple big gasps of air.

  Abe panicked then and everything went gray. Utter stark fear made her shake like a leaf in a nor ’wester and she drew on energy from within, forcing it outwards in a raw blast.

  From Tess came a sickening slurp as her vast array of weapons turned to molten metal. Abe couldn't see Tess's shock when her mouth fell wide open and nothing came out.

  Big gulps of now smoky, moldy air only made Abe’s head pound even more. Still it helped. Eyes glazed with pain, she held her breath not sure or really even aware of what just happened, but determined to inch towards the open door and escape. It didn’t spook her that the unknown lay beyond that door. If she got out alive nothing would ever spook her again after this.

  Determined and thinking about how angry she was at Jericho for not caring about her or even bothering to look for her, Abe flashed in and out of consciousness. Hot blood continued streaming down her legs, revealing her time really was up – she was bleeding out.

  Close to the open door, Abe leaned heavily into the wall and hoarsely croaked, “Bear…help.”

  Bear appeared, crouching low, looming over her as he nuzzled her with his wet nose. Even his touch brought a measure of healing.

  A wave of relief swept over Abe that he was real and not just some crazy dream. She blacked out a couple of times, but each time she came to she was driven by an inner demand to stay awake and aware. Eyes fluttering open, reality returned, but it morphed with her seeing double and triple of everything and sinking fast.

  For the first time a sense of helplessness overwhelmed Abe.

  Not even Tess’ harsh screams, slurred howls or shrill pleas bouncing off hard stone seemed to affect Abe.

  Unaware and forgotten in the hash of events, Abe had no inkling her innate power remained locked on its mission.

  An unforgiving mission.

  Unknowingly, she had unleashed the full extent of her power – on Tess.

  A simple woof and oomph, then a long whoosh like a balloon releasing air and Tess was done.

  And, quite contained too. In a Suzy Homemaker kind of way since she’d imploded inside the shrunken leather bodysuit with all her melting weapons nicely adding fire to the mix. The force of the implosion fried most of her head to ash. With all the water from her body gone and no other liquids remaining, there really wasn't all that much left of Tess Danbury.

  Bear nosed through the remains, a big huff and what little of Tess' ashes that were left scattered as he used his furry shoulder to remove any traces. He then scented the neck of the burnt shrunken leather and pulled away the only portion remaining – a hank of bloodied curly black hair, scalp and all its bits attached. Intently, he wove the strands deeply between his out stretched claws before letting many folds of fur roll over to protect his little treasure.

  Abe sank to the floor, in and out of consciousness, shock causing the shakes and the swelling from the gash in her forehead had closed both her eyes. Where was Tess? Her brain ready to explode, she didn’t push for answers.

  Bear returned to her side, licking her face and legs, his big rough tongue gentle – his healing saliva coating her skin – as one big paw with his claws retracted stroked her back. Not a healer, Bear could only
close her wounds. His touch did contain power and they had a strong bond, he would feed her bits of his energy.

  Full of sorrow, he hung his head, grunting and whiffling with his tongue pushed into the roof of his mouth as air gushed out both sides of his cheeks. Ears cocked at an angle listening, Bear returned to gently tending her wounds.

  Purposely, he nuzzled her face with his wide wet nose. It did the trick as Abe shifted towards him and her eyes fluttered open.

  A million questions piled into her mind. She needed help badly. Where could she go? She didn’t know anyone but Jericho and the others at the compound. Even with torture and another blow to the head her memory hadn’t returned. Did that mean it was gone forever? Reluctantly, Abe asked, “Bear, can you take me to Jericho?”

  Automatically and again mostly unaware, she sent him images – mind to mind – of the compound and flat lands around it. Smells and scents from the house she shared with him too. His nose was unbeatable. How she knew that was anyone’s guess. Images of Jericho, his team, Matty, Elron and Fifi all streamed into Bear’s mind.

  Finally, she sent him a last quick image of SR, a lonely young basset hound in need of a friend.

  CHAPTER 10

  Roald Gildwood's head snapped up and he opened his mouth to huff in a huge gob of air, letting it play over his tongue. Impressions came – something big and all fucking male heading directly for him and his crew. Faintly laying overtop the beast's scent was the one they’d been searching for – lemons, honey and rain. An utterly unique scent – it was so fresh and bold, tangy and sweet – like nothing they had known before.

  It washed over them, lingering and laced with the heavy scent of blood.

  They scattered, pulling back – no shit by at least a mile – to ensure their scents didn’t set off the big beast until they knew more. Why was a bear’s scent mixed with Jericho’s female? For they all thought of her like that now.