Chapter 105

 

Tim was in front of us a second later, his huge sword drawn and ready. With a nod to the kings, he grinned at me. “My Huntress.”

Pulling the Sais out, I held them back against my forearms, with a quick glance at the brothers, I took off with Tim into the rush of bodies. There would be no pausing to admire the action taking place all around us as three advanced on us before we could get our bearings. Tim grunted as he lunged forward and blocked the first swing.

Putting my new moves to good use, I went down under his swing and came up beside the man he was presently preventing from making a hotdog bun out of him. Stabbing the Sai into the thin man’s leg to distract him, I pulled the scanner off and buzzed him before he could even howl in pain.

There was no time for praise of a smooth move as the other two growled and came at us. Flipping around again, I came up beside Tim and made sure to stay clear of the radius of his swing as he got into it with the first one to swing.

Side stepping, I cleared the blade that was swung at my head. Kicking up, I knocked the blade back to a comfortable distance, more comfortable for my health. With a twist of my wrists, I managed to score a double whammy on the guy before he could swing again. Enough fun with this one, I pulled the scanner and gave him the poof back to the holding cells.

No time to pause, I turned back to see Tim holding his guy on the ground with one well-placed foot. Ouch. No breeding for that one any time soon, I thought as I quickly moved the scanner over him.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw a blur. Spinning on my boot, I whipped the Sais out and came an inch close from dicing up Shelby. She raised one eyebrow at me, and took a step back to a safer distance. Her determined look faltered for a second as she took in the tattoo running down my arm, a longing appeared in her eyes. Shaking it off, she moved over and motioned to the last building. “Marcus is in there.”

I knew her coming to me with it was the biggest suck up ever after she’d tried to relocate my face that time, but I’d take it. There was one way to stop this quickly and taking down Marcus was it. With a nod to her, I started toward the end building, skirting my way around any bodies that were scuffling in the path.

Tim was on one side of me and Shelby on the other. I wasn’t going to tell her not to come, I knew she had one hell of a swing on her and if it was for me instead of against me, I’d take it.

We passed Rafael and Leone double teaming this giant of man, and I mean he made them look tiny. I paused for a step to see if they needed help, but then Victor started heading in their direction and I knew they wouldn’t be needing my usefulness.

Turning, I watched Quinton take a guy down with a blow that would have stopped a Mack truck. With a satisfied grin, he turned and advanced on the next poor soul in his reach.

My boys could do the dance, of that there was no doubt. Pausing, I quickly scanned anybody that wasn’t charging or swinging cutting the numbers down to a more manageable amount. Shelby and Tim had my back the whole time. I’d never had a woman fight with me before and I started to wonder if it might not be a bad idea, later on.

Just before we reached the building, a shadow appeared in the darkened doorway. A wave of something moved over me and I knew we’d just found Marcus. Slowing, I glanced to the two behind me. “Watch my back while I deal with this jerk.”

Tim looked like he wanted to object, but he nodded and pointed Shelby in the direction she was to take. Shelby sent me hesitant look but moved to do it anyways.

I stood back from the door, keeping a good twenty feet between us. “Are you going to hide in the dark, Marcus? I thought you were a man.” Another wave moved over me and I knew he was trying to disable me in some way with his hoodoo junk. “Come on, Marcus, surely you know how to fight like a man, don’t you?”

I chanced a few steps closer and shrugged. “You don’t need magic tricks to fight one girl.” That did it, he stepped out into the early dawn light, and looking pissed off like I’d never seen before.

“Do I look like a gullible child, Huntress?” He held open palms toward me.

Another wave moved over my skin, I shook it off and held my ground. “I’m too ladylike to say what you look like, dear Marcus.” Motioning with my Sais all around us, I sent him an exasperated sigh. “Is this really what you want?”

“You have no idea what I want,” he sneered, his eyes glowing that funky purple.

I snorted. “Gee, let me guess.” I paused. “World domination.”

He lifted his hands a few inches from his body and I realized I needed to keep this guy talking so he had less time to spin his little tricks.

“Come on. Whatever the problem is, I’m sure it can be resolved in a civilized manner.” I remembered the last group we’d taken down. “We know about all the lies you’ve been feeding everyone to get them to side with you. How long do you think you can pull that off?”

A shocked look briefly crossed his face before he could mask it from me. “I don’t need much longer…”

I sighed. “Let’s cut the shit and get to the bottom line. It’s over, take a look around you. This is the second time we’ve tracked your ass down and we’ll just keep coming.” I took a few steps in his direction and for a second I thought he was going to bolt, or worse do his disappearing thing again. “You’re an intelligent man, do the math.”

“I don’t want to be anyone’s servant ever again.” He stated with a tone of determination.

I shrugged. “I hate paying taxes, but I know there’s no way around it so I suck it up and do it.”

When he lifted his hands with purpose, I reacted before I could even think about it. My raptor was in my hand and flying toward him. I caught him in the thigh and was momentarily shocked I’d managed to get a hit in on him.

With a snarl, he looked down at it and then it popped out and clattered to the pavement. Now, that I didn’t see coming, it was like his body had repelled the knife. Frowning, I took several steps in his direction, hoping if I got a shot at him again I’d be able to do some real damage at a closer range.

“You’re quite skilled, Huntress.” He said sounding bored.

I shrugged and palmed the second Sai back into my free hand. “Ditto.” The sound of clanging metal behind me started to fade as I focused solely on the lethal man in front of me. I would have felt better if he’d at least take a swing with something physical, but instead he raised his hands and began moving them in a graceful pattern. I tried to pick up something familiar in the movement, but it was nothing like any of the ones Rafael had shown me. “Come on, Marcus. I have a bit of pull with the Kings, we could discuss things in a civilized way.”