The Darkest Kiss (Riley Jenson Guardian 6)

I flexed bloodied fingers and shifted my feet. "Like hell you will."

And with that, I leapt at her. If she remained in human form, I had a chance. But it wasn't my only chance.

Iktar and Kade had to be close.

She sidestepped fast, but her speed seemed to be restricted by either her human shape or her wounds, and I hit her hard, my boot sinking deep into her side and sending her flying.

I swung round. The bakeneko had regained her balance, but rather than attack, she ran backward. I ran after her, wondering why the fuck she was suddenly retreating when the bitch was so confident of a win.

A second later, I had my answer.

The door behind her was torn off its hinges and two figures appeared, one little more than a shadow and the other blood covered and battered.

"Shoot her!" the bakeneko screamed, her voice my voice. "Blow her fucking brains out!"

Neither man hesitated.

They both raised their guns and fired.

Chapter 13

Only they didn't fire at me.

They fired at the creature wearing my face.

One bright laser beam sliced through her legs, the other through her neck. There was a brief moment when shock registered, then her head parted company from her body and all three bits plopped to the floor.

I stared at her for a moment, unable to believe it was over so suddenly, then wiped a trembling hand across my face and met Kade's gaze as he limped toward me. "How did you know?"

He gave me a smile that was all aching weariness. "She's not missing her left little pinky. You are."

"Then you're both more observant than me, thank God." I hadn't even fucking noticed.

He wrapped a bloody arm around me and dragged me into a hug that was so damn fierce and comforting I felt like crying.

"You're a mess," he said, after a while.

"Now there's a case of the pot calling the kettle black."

"You both should go to the hospital," Iktar commented.

I looked around Kade's arm and saw him lightly toeing the bakeneko's body. As he did, smoke began to rise, twisting and curling skyward. It swirled around its human remains, finding shape and solidarity. Briefly gaining the form of a cat.

She turned, and her ghostly gaze met mine. She didn't say anything, simply bowed, then her form broke apart and began drifting skyward before disappearing completely.

"She's gone," I said, and wondered what sort of afterlife things like her went to.

Iktar glanced at me, his body fading into the shadows and featureless face unreadable. "It is always best to be sure."

And with that, he aimed the laser at her heart and shot the hell out of it. Spirit lizards believed that the soul resided in the heart, and that by destroying the heart you destroyed the soul, preventing it from moving on. In this case, he was too late, but I doubted it would have made a difference anyway. Souls seemed to rise from the whole, not just from the heart.

"He's right," Kade commented. "We should take ourselves to hospital and get checked out."

"You can take yourself there. I'm going home to shower and eat." Although I'd have to shift shape and stop the bleeding first. Not to mention help start healing the missing chunk out of my arm.

But after all that, I would head to the hospital - to hold my brother's hand and wait for news on Liander.

"You are bleeding rather heavily, you know. I mean, I'm loving the hug, but between the two of us we're creating quite a puddle."