Immortal Danger (Night Watch 0.5)

Yeah, her job was finished. The case was over.

Time to get back to her old life.

She was going to miss Adam. He'd gotten under her skin.

His life was with Cammie, though. And the kid-Cammie didn't need someone like Maya in her life. Someone already touched by the darkness.

"You're just like me." Nassor's words whispered through her head. "I knew it. The darkness in us-we're the same ."

He'd been right. There was a darkness in her. She'd always known that. A hard core that blocked her heart and made her so good at killing the prey she hunted.

A kid like Cammie should never be around that darkness.

Maya stalked to her window. Gazed down at the motorcycle parked below. It had been a hell of a ride for her. Being with Adam, loving with him, fighting with him by her side-yeah, one hell of a ride.

But the ride was over now. She'd never been the type for those mushy good-byes.

She climbed through the window. Dropped to the ground twenty feet below and barely felt her knees buckle.

Her time with the dragon was up, but she'd remember him. For many, many of the long years that stretched before her, she'd remember him.

After all, Adam Brody was pretty damn unforgettable.

She started the motorcycle, refused to glance back, and drove away from the safe house, blinking eyes that were suddenly, inexplicably tearing.

Gone.

Adam gazed through Cammie's window, watching as Maya rode away from him.

The little vampire never even looked back.

His fingers clenched around the loose curtains."

No good-bye. No "see you around."

Nothing.

She'd just run, leaving him in a trail of dust and regret.

No. It wasn't going to end like this. There was too much he had to say to her, too much she didn't understand about him, about them.

"Uncle Adam?" Cammie's voice. Confused. Slurred with sleep.

With an effort, he managed to turn away from the vision of Maya leaving him. He crossed to Cammie's side. "It's all right, baby. You're safe."

She smiled up at him. "I know. Maya told me. Said I'd always be safe."

His heart tightened at her words. "You will be."

She settled back against the bed. "I like Maya, Uncle Adam. When I grow up"-a big yawn that showed all her teeth-"I wanna be like her."

Adam blinked. Two Mayas? He wasn't sure the world was ready.

"She's not…scared of anything," Cammie murmured, and even with his sensitive hearing, Adam had to strain to hear the whispered, half-asleep words. "Wanna be…like her…strong. Not…afraid."

His gaze drifted back to the window. Yeah, Maya was strong. No doubt about it. Strong. Brave.

But-

Maybe there was something out there that Maya feared.

His lips thinned.

She'd run so fast.

Maybe, just maybe, Maya had lied to him.

Maybe she feared…him.

His hands clenched into fists.

I would never hurt her. Never.

Didn't she understand? He stalked back to the window. Maya was barely a speck in the distance now. The sun was rising fast. He hoped she found shelter before it rose too high. And she was weak. She'd been bitten too many times.

If she'd stayed, he'd planned to feed her. To make love to her.

And ask her to spend the rest of her very long life with him.

If she'd stayed.

But she'd run.

"It's not going to end like this," he whispered the words, knowing she'd never hear him. "It can't."

Maya wasn't Isabella. She was strong enough to face him and the beast inside.

He wasn't just going to walk away.

Not without a hell of a fight-and he knew-his Maya loved a good fight.

"Run while you can," he said. "But then it will be my turn to hunt you, sweet vampire." As Maya would learn, a dragon was one hell of a hunter.

Run, but I'll find you.

CHAPTER 18

She'd managed to track the level-seven demon to the boarded-up warehouse in front of her. She could hear the squeak of rats from inside the building's shell, could smell garbage and the demon's own stench drifting in the air.

He'd attacked a cop last night. A rookie who'd had the bad luck to be assigned to the wrong neighborhood on the wrong night.

She knew the cop was still in the intensive care unit, his face and chest crisscrossed with deep stab wounds. The doctors had said there was no guarantee he'd make it.

But if he did, she'd be there. She had plans to go and check on the rookie. She'd try to help the guy understand just what the hell had happened to him.

Maya inched toward the building. There wasn't room in L.A. for an L7 who liked to screw with cops. Hell, the cops had enough trouble fighting the human criminals-they didn't need to tangle with demons, too.

Besides, that was really more her department.

She studied the building, looking for weaknesses, the best way to sneak in. Hmmm. Maybe she should just kick in the front door, forget being subtle and-

Maya stiffened, her nostrils widening as she caught a new scent of the wind. Hell. "You've got to stop following me," she muttered, turning around to glare at her stalker. "I told you already, Sean, you're out of this part of my life. No more night hunting, got it?"

Sean slunk out of the shadows, his glasses slightly askew on his nose. Other than looking a bit too pale and a little too thin, he was back to his old self.

His old, sometimes, annoying self.

He crossed his arms over his chest. "You knew I wasn't going to let you go out alone."

Her back teeth ground together. Jeez-was she not the powerful vampire? And wasn't he the weak human? "You've only been out of the hospital a few days, there's no way you're strong enough to-

"And you're off your game," he snapped, taking a few quick steps toward her. "Something's been different about you ever since you came back from Vegas."

Yeah, so? Couldn't she get a little tired? A little run-down? Okay, maybe she hadn't been sleeping well. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Adam. And when she did manage to catch a few minutes of rest, she woke up, reaching for him.

So she was "off her game". That didn't mean she couldn't still take care of the local ass**les.

She was more than strong enough to deal with the L7, without Sean.

"I'm not making you a target again," she told him, her voice fierce. "So walk your butt back down the street, get in your car, and go home. "

But he just shook his head. "No, you need backup, I can't let you hunt alone-"

"She has backup," a deep, rumbling male voice drawled.

Maya stiffened, feeling that voice reverberate through her entire body. She hadn't caught the man's scent, hadn't so much as heard his approach.