before you started shooting?”
“Lady, you killed my buddy, then showed up looking for me. What the hell kind of questions was I gonna ask you? I figured I’d let you in, see what you wanted, and make a citizen’s arrest or something.”
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, sure that’s what he’d intended. “You’re a real hero. What are you doing holed up in a motel room with a gun?”
“I do construction for DeVille. They got us working on that new hospital they’re putting up outside of town.” He took a messy gulp of water and spilled half of it down his front. “Even if I hadn’t recognized you right off,” he added, “I’d have known your story was fake when you said you had the room next door. This is where the company puts us up while we’re on the job. The whole place is full of DeVille guys.”
I made a note to work on my reconnaissance skills. “So what’s the gun for if you’re here doing construction?”
“Protection. Can’t be too careful when you’re on the road between jobs.”
Liar, Alecto hissed. There was no way anyone in their right mind would have shot at me for asking a few questions. Any normal person would have just let me leave and then called the cops. Aside from that, he didn’t seem to be too broken up over the death of his buddy.
“You’re lying,” I said. “Try again.”
He licked his lips and his eyes darted sideways toward the sink, telegraphing his next movement. I reached for him, but he shattered the glass he held before I could react. Shards flew in all directions, but he managed to keep a solid grip on a nice, sharp chunk. He lunged at me and stabbed at my face while blood ran between his fingers and down his wrist.
Before he could jam the glass into my eye, I snapped my hand out and grabbed him by the wrist mid-thrust. I squeezed hard so he would drop the glass, but before I knew what was happening, I felt small bones shatter under my grip. I dropped his wrist like it was on fire and recoiled, horrified.
But there was no time to get squeamish about accidentally maiming the man. He’d begun to scream and I grabbed him by the throat, desperate to keep him quiet.
Let us kill him and be gone from here before the CSI happens, Alecto said.We clearly had some work to do on her understanding of the twenty-first century.
The CSI happens after we leave, I told her. That’s the problem.
Kill him, she urged again.
I shook my head as I looked around at the mess of blood and glass. Talk about a one-track mind. But, God, what was I going to do now?
On one hand, it made sense to kill the guy, deal with the scene as best I could, and leave. After all, he’d tried to kill me, and he was the only real link between me and Clinton Miller. Getting rid of him would make me feel a hell of a lot safer. Besides, who was to say he didn’t deserve whatever I did to him?
On the other hand…I’d never been a believer in the death penalty. And I was pretty sure the line between good guys and bad guys was drawn clearly on the side of not killing people. I could legitimately tell myself the first death I’d caused had been self-defense, but this time?
If I killed this guy, it would be a conscious decision to take a human life.
Kill, Alecto whispered again.
Her voice was persistent, persuasive. But this wasn’t like the night before, when I hadn’t realized what was happening. My actions were my own, no matter how much she whispered in my ear. Whatever I did to this guy, I couldn’t blame it on her.
I looked at my blood-smeared reflection in the mirror over the sink, then down at the man I held at arm’s length, and made a choice.
Whoever Tara Walker had been before last night, things were different now. I was a Fury and my instincts screamed at me to kill.
I pulled the man close and breathed in.
Chapter 5
A few seconds later, I stood over an unconscious but still breathing body with my hair in a tangled, matted mess around my head. Unsatisfied, Alecto had retreated,
“Lady, you killed my buddy, then showed up looking for me. What the hell kind of questions was I gonna ask you? I figured I’d let you in, see what you wanted, and make a citizen’s arrest or something.”
I rolled my eyes. Yeah, sure that’s what he’d intended. “You’re a real hero. What are you doing holed up in a motel room with a gun?”
“I do construction for DeVille. They got us working on that new hospital they’re putting up outside of town.” He took a messy gulp of water and spilled half of it down his front. “Even if I hadn’t recognized you right off,” he added, “I’d have known your story was fake when you said you had the room next door. This is where the company puts us up while we’re on the job. The whole place is full of DeVille guys.”
I made a note to work on my reconnaissance skills. “So what’s the gun for if you’re here doing construction?”
“Protection. Can’t be too careful when you’re on the road between jobs.”
Liar, Alecto hissed. There was no way anyone in their right mind would have shot at me for asking a few questions. Any normal person would have just let me leave and then called the cops. Aside from that, he didn’t seem to be too broken up over the death of his buddy.
“You’re lying,” I said. “Try again.”
He licked his lips and his eyes darted sideways toward the sink, telegraphing his next movement. I reached for him, but he shattered the glass he held before I could react. Shards flew in all directions, but he managed to keep a solid grip on a nice, sharp chunk. He lunged at me and stabbed at my face while blood ran between his fingers and down his wrist.
Before he could jam the glass into my eye, I snapped my hand out and grabbed him by the wrist mid-thrust. I squeezed hard so he would drop the glass, but before I knew what was happening, I felt small bones shatter under my grip. I dropped his wrist like it was on fire and recoiled, horrified.
But there was no time to get squeamish about accidentally maiming the man. He’d begun to scream and I grabbed him by the throat, desperate to keep him quiet.
Let us kill him and be gone from here before the CSI happens, Alecto said.We clearly had some work to do on her understanding of the twenty-first century.
The CSI happens after we leave, I told her. That’s the problem.
Kill him, she urged again.
I shook my head as I looked around at the mess of blood and glass. Talk about a one-track mind. But, God, what was I going to do now?
On one hand, it made sense to kill the guy, deal with the scene as best I could, and leave. After all, he’d tried to kill me, and he was the only real link between me and Clinton Miller. Getting rid of him would make me feel a hell of a lot safer. Besides, who was to say he didn’t deserve whatever I did to him?
On the other hand…I’d never been a believer in the death penalty. And I was pretty sure the line between good guys and bad guys was drawn clearly on the side of not killing people. I could legitimately tell myself the first death I’d caused had been self-defense, but this time?
If I killed this guy, it would be a conscious decision to take a human life.
Kill, Alecto whispered again.
Her voice was persistent, persuasive. But this wasn’t like the night before, when I hadn’t realized what was happening. My actions were my own, no matter how much she whispered in my ear. Whatever I did to this guy, I couldn’t blame it on her.
I looked at my blood-smeared reflection in the mirror over the sink, then down at the man I held at arm’s length, and made a choice.
Whoever Tara Walker had been before last night, things were different now. I was a Fury and my instincts screamed at me to kill.
I pulled the man close and breathed in.
Chapter 5
A few seconds later, I stood over an unconscious but still breathing body with my hair in a tangled, matted mess around my head. Unsatisfied, Alecto had retreated,
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