Cursing, he kicked the cowboy back, into the wall.
Jess's foul oath matched his own as Jess rebounded off the wood. Zarek's back and arm throbbed in response to Jess's injuries.
But he didn't care. He intended to add so many more injuries to the cowboy that neither one of them would be able to walk without limping.
He owed the bastard for the shot in his back.
And he always paid his debts in full, with interest.
Zarek came out of the bed snarling, ready for battle.
"Whoa, Z!" Jess said, ducking the punch Zarek swung at him. "Calm down.
"
Zarek stalked him like a lion eyeing an injured gazelle. One that intended to make the gazelle its dinner…
"Calm down? You shot me in the back, you son of a bitch.
"
Jess's face turned to stone and he gave him a cold, chilling stare. "Boy, don't you dare insult my mama, and you better stop and think about that one for a minute. I was a paid killer since I was old enough to hold a gun. Had I shot your dumb ass, you wouldn't have a head right now. Having been shot in the back by a friend, I sure wouldn't want to return that favor to anyone. Not even an ornery cuss like you. And why the hell would I hurt myself just to get to you anyway? Lord, boy, use your head."
Zarek still wasn't ready to believe him. Though mostly healed, his back was a sore reminder that someone had tried their damnedest to kill him. "Then who shot me?"
"One of them idiot Squires. Hell if I know which one. They all kind of look alike when they're not yours."
Zarek hesitated as he tried to sort out everything that had happened over the last few days.
Everything was a bit fuzzy in his mind. The last thing he really remembered was trying to leave Astrid's cabin…
He frowned as he looked around, realizing he was still here.
Jess had awakened him while he was lying fully dressed in a bed he didn't remember climbing into.
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) He frowned as he saw Astrid lying in that bed, too.
The dreams he'd had…
What the hell?
Jess reloaded his shotgun. "Look, I don't have time for this. Do you know who Thanatos is?"
"Yeah, we met."
"Good, 'cause he's already killed one Dark-Hunter tonight and he's right behind me. I need you up and running. Fast."
Zarek's stomach went south at his words. "What?"
Jess's face was grim and lethal. "He took out a Dark-Hunter without breaking a sweat. I've never seen anything like it in my life. Now Thanatos is coming for you, Z. It's time to make like a fox and get the hell out ofDallas ."
What did that mean? If Zarek's head hurt before, it was nothing compared to the ache he felt trying to decipher that last bit of cowboy colloquialism.
"Whatever you do," Jess said, his voice deep and thick with warning, "don't let Thanatos near your bow-and-arrow mark. Apparently it works like the Daimons' ink blot in the center of their chests. One tiny stab and we're dust."
Zarek scowled at his words. "What bow-and-arrow mark? I don't have one."
Jess scoffed. "Of course you do. We all have one."
"No I don't."
Jess looked up from his gun, his face completely un-amused. "Maybe it's in a spot you don't look at.
Like your butt or something. I know you got one. It's where Artemis touched you when she captured your soul."
Zarek shook his head at him. "Artemis never touched me. She couldn't get near me without cringing so she used a stick to make me a Dark-Hunter. I swear to you, there's no mark on me."
Jess's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you telling me they stick you out here where there are no Daimons and you don't have a weak spot? What kind of shit is that? I live in Daimon Central with one hell of an Achilles' heel that no one ever bothered to mention, and you live where there's no danger to you and yet you don't have one?"
Jess paced the floor. It was a habitZarek had learned about during one of their late-night phone
Create PDF files without this message by purchasing novaPDF printer (http://www.novapdf.com) conversations. Once Jess started on a rant, it was hard to get him off it.
"What's not fair with this picture?" Jess railed. "And then Ash asks me to come up here to save your ass and here we are dropping like flies while you're Teflon.
"No, I have a problem with this. I love you, man, but da-yam. This just ain't right. I'm up here freezing my balls off, and you, you don't need protection. Meanwhile I have a bull's-eye on my arm that says,
'Hey, Daimon on steroids, kill me right here.'"
Still Jess rambled. "Do you realize, I put my keys in my mouth to pull out my wallet to pay for gas and they froze there? The last thing I want to do is die up here in this godforsaken place at the hands of some freaked-out something no one has ever heard of before except for Guido the Killer Squire fromJersey ? I swear I want someone's ass for this."