My neck prickled. “She said that.” I tilted my head, remembering. “Ruthie said, ‘The final battle begins now.’“
Jimmy’s face tightened; fine white lines spread out from his mouth. “It has.”
“So not only do I have to be a seer when I have no idea how, but we’ve got Armageddon coming down on us?”
“Pretty much.”
“Who in hell is the leader of the darkness? The Antichrist?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not? If I remember correctly, he’s the leader of the whole end-of-days dance.”
“True. But according to prophecy, he’ll be a huge international figure. We don’t have that. Yet.”
Yet. Hell.
“Leading up to the appearance of the Antichrist,” Jimmy continued, “is a period of chaos.”
“Doomsday.”
“Bingo.”
“So who do we blame for starting this mess?”
“I wish I knew.”
Add not knowing who our enemy was to the list of things I hated about my new life. Right below the sudden appearance of creatures that wanted to kill me.
“Your knife came in handy the other night,” I murmured. “Thanks.”
“It was a precaution. I—” Jimmy paused and several expressions flitted over his face—sadness, confusion, fury. “I killed all that I could at Ruthie’s, but there were so many, and a few of them—”
He fluttered his hand to indicate… I’m not sure what. Running? Lumbering? Flying? Maybe a bit of each.
“No one noticed zoo animals streaking through a suburban neighborhood?”
“Most of the people around there work for a living. And the beasts that attacked Ruthie were shape-shifters. I doubt they were beasts very long. Once they were men and women—”
“They blended right in.”
Jimmy nodded.
“Silver works on all of them?” I asked.
“Most,” he clarified. “Not all. But it’s always worth a try.” He took a deep breath. “I didn’t think they’d seen you, or I never would have left you alone.”
“I can take care of myself.”
“Against human opponents, probably.” I scowled and opened my mouth to argue, but he kept right on talking. “These are beings beyond anything you can imagine. If we had the time you’d be studying the ancient texts, becoming familiar with every known type of monster.”
“But we don’t have time. The final battle is now. So what do we do?”
“The best that we can.”
That never worked out half as well as people hoped.
I hadn’t noticed Jimmy moving closer as we spoke, but now he was too close, trapping me on the cot. If I stood, my entire body would slide against his. If I stayed where I was he’d continue to loom over me, his crotch level with my mouth. I licked suddenly dry lips.
“There’s something I have to tell you,” he said, and his voice was rough, as if he’d been running several miles through ice and snow.
I lifted my gaze to his, the movement brushing my chin across the suddenly bulging zipper of his pants. I had a flash of wine as rich as blood. “Tell me.”
He winced as my mouth moved, my breath cascading over him. We’d always been like this—one stray movement, a single glance and we were so hot for each other we couldn’t think straight.
Talk about doomsday.
I could smell him; I could almost taste him. All I had to do was reach forward, flick open the bronze button, draw down the zipper tab, reach in and trace a finger along his length, then take him in my mouth and—
Jimmy cursed and grabbed me by the elbows, hauling me to my feet and dragging me along his body just as I’d imagined.
Our mouths melded, tongues searching, teeth scraping. I yanked his shirt out of his waistband, ran my thumb across the ridges of his abdomen, spread my palms over his chest and allowed my nails to trace his nipples. He moaned my name; lust shot through me, enticing and familiar.
Behind my closed eyelids, images wavered. I caught a flicker of fangs, the tangy, metallic scent of blood, and then a single word in Ruthie’s voice.
Dhampir.
I tore out of Jimmy’s arms, stumbling away when he tried to drag me back. “Don’t touch me.”
He froze. “It isn’t what you think.”
What was it then? I knew what I’d seen, what I’d heard, and I knew the truth about Jimmy as surely as I’d known the truth about so many others.
He wasn’t human.
Chapter 8
My eyes flicked to the closed door, which had taken on a sinister aspect as quickly as Jimmy had. Suddenly I wanted that silver knife I’d left in the fanny pack as badly as I’d wanted him. I should have followed my instincts and grabbed the weapon as soon as he’d come in the door.
He stepped toward me again.
“You need to stay the hell away,” I snapped.
“We don’t have time for this.”
“I always have time to kick your ass.”
His lips twitched. “You can try, but it won’t be as easy as it used to.”