Phoenix13: Redemption (Phoenix13 Book 2)

Part #11: The Truth's Girl: Chapter Five

Chapter Five

Jason awoke to the sound of an arrowhead sinking into frozen earth. He was upright in a flash. "Morgan," he hissed at the sleeping figure beside him, "did you hear that?"

"Mmmhph." Morgan rolled over. In the half-light of early morning streaming through the trees overhead, he could see confusion clouding her golden gaze. "Jason? Qué es?"

On Jason's other side, Bree lifted her head. The three of them had slept side-by-side, huddled together to ward off the deep cold of late autumn. After Morgan and Jason's brief reunion in the forest, he had returned to the log where he'd left Bree and explained the situation. It hadn't taken much to convince Bree that having an expert tracker—a woman with the senses of a wolf—along on their journey would be beneficial. And although he knew that neither of the two women particularly liked one another, they were both civilized enough not to cause trouble.

"What is it?" Bree mumbled. She pushed dark curls out of her eyes, yawning widely.

Jason shook his head. Pushing his sleeping cover off his legs, he rose into a half-crouch. He un-holstered his gun. Gripping it tightly in both hands, he braced himself for a fight.

"Arrrraagghh!" A vicious war-cry sounded. A second later a flash of bright red caught Jason's attention. He whirled around just as a dark figure crashed into him; he went down in the snow-dusted dirt with a grunt of pain. His gun was wrenched from his hand. It skidded across the ground and into a huckleberry thicket. Rolling over, he struggled to get a grip on the wriggling creature atop him. A sharp lance of pain shot through his side as an elbow connected. Gasping, he curled in on himself, protecting his vital organs.

"Jason!" Bree's furious cry rose like a phoenix from the ashes. "Captain, there're three of them!"

"Fuck!" Jason yelled. Lifting his head, he reached for the knife stashed in his left boot. He gritted his teeth against the pain radiating through his chest. Drawing the weapon, he swung it up and drove it into the body of the figure crouched over him. The creature let out a harsh, gurgling cry. It threw back its head. Choking on its own blood, it twisted and squirmed on the end of Jason's blade. "What the hell are they?" Jason yelled at Bree. He pushed the seizing body of his enemy off of him. It fell heavily to the ground, twitching and jerking.

Bree's voice was faded by distance. "Bloodsuckers," she called back, "one male, one female, one half-cycle."

Jason swore loudly in Àmandinian. Scrambling to regain his feet, he wiped the blood from his knife on his jeans. Standing over the writhing form of the male bloodsucker, the Outlaw Prince placed one foot on the creature's bared throat, pressing down hard. "Suck it, sucker," he said. He brought the knife's blade down in a streak of silver and red. Blood sprayed across his face, misting him with sticky scarlet.

"You okay, Captain?" Bree panted. She limped to his side. There was blood on her twin daggers. Her knuckles were scraped raw in places.

Jason nodded. He tucked his own weapon back into his boot and wiped sweat from his brow. "Yeah. You?"

She shook her head. "I'm okay, but the bastards managed to get the jump on me. One of 'em did something to my leg. It'll heal," she added in response to his look of concern, "but it hurts like a bitch."

Jason nodded again. Looking around, he felt his heart drop. "Where's Morgan?" A dark, horrible, painful thought occurred to him. A spike of dread sent his heart into overdrive. She didn't, he thought. She wouldn't. Would she?

Bree shrugged. "Maybe she ran at the first sign of danger. She's pregnant, remember? Maybe getting killed in an epic fight isn't her first priority. Not like you."