The Darkness Within by Jaime Rush Page B

rolled onto the hood. Tucker. One had to be Tucker. She rammed on the brakes when they both began tumbling off the front of the car. She couldn’t risk running him over,.
    A third beast reeled off the side of the roof when the car lurched to a stop. She couldn’t tear her eyes from the two beasts fighting in front of her: the misshapen tiger and a wolf nearly as big. They looked like they were made of black quicksilver.
    Tucker’s that wolf.
    Another paw smashed through the side window, tearing her attention from Tucker. All she could see in that panicked moment was a creature neither wolf nor panther, but eerily in between. Elgin. Even in Darkness, he had the gray eyes. A stream of rope-like smoke trailed into the car, to the ignition, and the engine died.
    She missed the stream that unlocked the door. He jerked it open and morphed to man as he clamped his hand over her wrist before she could pull away. “Bengle, I’m taking off,” he called to where the two beasts fought. “Finish him.”
    She couldn’t free herself. “That’s your son. You can’t—”
    He smacked her hard, sending her banging against the passenger door. Before the ringing in her ears stopped and the black spots cleared, he’d locked the doors and settled into the driver’s seat.
    “My son who would use the Darkness I gave him to kill me,” he muttered.
    She tried to get up from where she’d slid to the floor. He opened the glove box and pulled out a piece of rope, grabbing at her hands and tying her wrists. She fought him, and he gripped her arms so hard she expected to hear the snap of her bones. Then he shoved her back to the floor. Something hit the car on her side, then another whump! Tucker.
    Elgin put the car into drive and lurched away. She tried to loosen her hands, but he’d cinched them tight. She stared at the lock switch. Could she move it?
    Talk to him, cover the sound.
    She focused on moving that lever. “What are you going to do with my mom?”
    “Don’t you want to know what I’m going to do to you ? You should have been my daughter. Nikkita should have stayed. I didn’t hunt her down before, but now . . . now everything’s changed.”
    Because of the attack. She could hardly think about that—the locks clicked. He didn’t seem to notice. She focused on the door pull now.
    “Why? Mom didn’t kill that man last night. Neither did your son.”
    She tightened the muscles in her legs, readying herself. The door opened and she threw herself against it, falling out and rolling. Not asphalt, her first thought. She landed hard, but on the packed dirt of what used to be someone’s front yard.
    As soon as she came to a stop, she heard a car engine. The world hadn’t stopped spinning, and all she could see was the front of a car coming at her. She couldn’t move fast enough to get out of the way. She cringed, ready for the impact.
    “You all right?” Tucker’s voice. He’d pulled up beside her, opened his door, and was helping her up.
    She nodded as he hauled her into the car, got back in, and tore out. “He has my mom! She’s in the trunk.” She scrambled to a sitting position, looking for the green Buick. “Where is he?”
    Tucker searched as he drove. “He used the Disappearing act. The one I inherited from him. I don’t see him or his car anywhere. That’s how they snuck up on us.”
    “We have to find her.” The words ripped out of her.
    He did a U-turn and went back to where they’d had the initial scuffle.
    “Where’s Bengle, the other one?” she asked.
    “I hurt him pretty bad. When I saw Elgin get in the car with you—saw him hit you —I went nuts on him. He was trying to hold me down, to keep me from getting to you.” He scanned the area. “I don’t see him either.”
    She’d seen his expression go fierce when he’d said ‘hit you.’ It made her shiver. His hands were trembling as he shifted. She felt a frenetic energy vibrating from him. His hair was mussed, and he had several cuts