Avenging Angel (The Fallen 4)

She stilled. Then, panting, Marna glanced over her shoulder at him. “He . . . he was there. I heard him. Talking to me.” Her gaze returned to the fire. “I could have killed him tonight.”

“Or he could have killed you.” Then what would I have done?

The flames and ash and smoke were clogging his nose. Choking him. Those scents were so strong that he couldn’t smell the SOB who’d been in that building. Right then, he couldn’t smell anything but the fire.

Maybe the guy in that building would do them all a favor and burn.

“Need a hand?” a cold, mocking voice asked. A voice that Tanner recognized instantly.

Though he hadn’t smelled the man’s approach, Tanner didn’t start in surprise. It seemed only fitting that the last vamp he wanted to see would be the one to come crashing this nightmare.

“Riley?” Marna asked and he heard her surprise.

Tanner turned slowly. Riley stood next to Cody’s prone body. Just the sight of Cody caused his gut to clench. How the hell was he still fighting to live?

“Don’t run again,” Tanner growled at Marna and rushed back to his brother. He lifted him, and Cody’s eyes didn’t open, but his chest still rose and fell in a ragged pattern.

“Instead of running, why don’t we drive?” Riley suggested. He lifted a pair of keys and dangled them from his fingertips. “I’ve got wheels close by.” He glanced at the fire. “From the look of things, you could all use a fast ride out of here.”

“Why are you trying to help us??” Tanner demanded as his hold tightened on Cody. His brother’s blood was on him. “You’re being a good Samaritan?” ’Cause that’s the kind of guy he was? Bull. More likely he was just looking for another chance to get Marna’s blood.

“I’m paying a debt.” The vampire was staring at Marna. Looking like he could freaking eat her. No chance, dick. No chance. “But if you don’t want my help . . .” Riley began to back away.

Dammit. “Just get us out of here.” Tanner’s eyes met Marna’s for the briefest of moments. “Then get the hell away.” Because if that fanged parasite came at Marna for a bite, Tanner would make sure he lost all of his sharp and pointy teeth.

Still carrying Cody’s unconscious form, Tanner followed them as Riley and Marna snaked through the alley turns and climbed into Riley’s ride. They hurried away, making sure to avoid the fire trucks and patrol cars that were racing to the scene.

Tanner tried to put pressure on his brother’s wounds. Cody could usually heal better than this.

But he wasn’t. He didn’t seem to be healing at all. “Don’t do this to me,” he muttered, pressing harder against the gaping wound. “You snap out of this and wake up.”

“What makes you so sure . . .” Marna’s quiet voice came from the front seat. “That he wasn’t the one who attacked me?”

“Because he didn’t have your blood on him.” Tanner didn’t look away from Cody. Blisters and deep burns covered Tanner’s body, and every move hurt, but that pain meant he was alive.

Did Cody feel the pain, too? Did he understand just what it meant?

Use the pain, boy. His father’s voice echoed through his mind. Another beating. Another day when his bones had snapped. If you give in to it, you just become weak. My son won’t be weak.

“Are you sure that’s even your brother?” she asked as the SUV hurtled to the right. They were heading away from the city and back toward the swamp.

Tanner gazed down at Cody. His brother’s face had bleached a stark white.

“I mean, if the killer can take any face, then how do you know it’s really Cody?” Marna’s voice was quiet and totally devoid of emotion.

While Tanner felt as if emotions were about to rip him apart.

Cody stirred. His lashes fluttered just a bit. A groan slipped from his lips. He swallowed. Groaned again.

Tanner leaned closer.

His brother was trying to whisper something to him. Tanner could just make out . . .

“When I . . . was . . . five . . . you . . . took first . . .” A rustling breath, and Cody rasped, “Beating . . . meant for . . .”

Cody didn’t finish. He didn’t have to. Tanner remembered that day, and the beating. Hell yeah, he’d taken his younger brother’s beating. Had he been supposed to just stand there and watch the kid suffer?

Tanner’s jaw clenched. “I damn well know he’s my real brother.” Slowly, Tanner turned his head to meet Marna’s stare. Her eyes weren’t black anymore. They were back to that blue that seemed to look right through him. “It’s him, Marna. Trust me.”

“Trust ain’t easy,” Riley said. Like he’d asked for the vamp’s input. His ride, yeah. His two f**king cents? No. But the vampire continued, “Now look, if I’m chauffeuring around a killer—”

“It’s not like it would be the first time you’ve done that.” And speaking of killers . . . Tanner leaned forward and slashed out with his claws, letting them come to rest right against Riley’s throat. He didn’t slice that throat open, though, not while the guy was driving them. But the warning was there. “If you’re trying to screw us over and take us to a den of vampires, you’d better think again. I’m not in any mood to play tonight.”

Riley’s hands tightened around the steering wheel. “I told you, I’m just trying to pay back a debt.”

“There isn’t a debt,” Marna said. “We’re even now.”

Even? How? She’d bled for the guy. What had he done for her?

Riley cast her a quick glance. Marna was sitting in the front passenger seat. “Then let’s just say I like the idea of an angel and her shifter owing me.”

Figured. And that story he actually bought.

Tanner pulled back his claws. He didn’t trust the guy. Perhaps he should just kick the vamp out on the side of the road.

“I know a safe place,” Riley said quickly. Maybe he realized Tanner was seriously considering the idea of throwing him through the windshield. “There are bandages there, drugs, whatever you need for him. And no questions asked is the only policy they follow.”

Okay. So he wouldn’t toss the guy through the windshield. Yet.

“Then haul ass,” Tanner told him because Cody wasn’t talking anymore. “And get us there before my brother dies.”