Rescued By the Mothman (Monster Bounty Hunters #1)

Chapter 15

Sable

A familiar click rang out and before I could even consciously process it, I swung Clarissa behind me. Delaney pointed a gun at my face. It hadn’t been in his belongings when I’d gone through them earlier. Whether he’d found it at the cabin or stored it there himself, I didn’t know. I had to assume it was in full working order.

“John, please don’t do this.”

Clarissa’s voice trembled. I’d promised to bring him in alive. Not to hurt him. But he’d upped the stakes. Kidnapped my mate and was now waving a gun around in her presence. I assessed him. His eyes locked on me. His face was pure disgust. He would happily kill me, and I couldn’t dodge bullets. I had to make sure that whatever happened, Clarissa didn’t get hurt. That was all that mattered.

“Delaney, why don’t we let Clarissa go? She doesn’t need to be involved in this. Neither of us wants her hurt.”

His eyes flicked to the side of me where I assumed she was peeking out. I spread my wings to cover her. His face turned red.

“She chose this!”

He was liable to explode at any moment. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a dark shape moving cautiously towards us and a woman peering out of the bushes to the right. She was waving Clarissa towards her. Vedrac was gliding silently. Skeletal face peering out of a long, hooded robe. I’d asked him not to kill Delaney. But he was holding a gun at us.

“And you chose this path. Remember that when we reach the end of it.”

Despite my attempt at distraction, Delaney must have sensed the movement behind him. He spun around and pointed the gun right at Vedrac. I pointed in the direction of the woman that I assumed was Vedrac’s mate Heather, so Clarissa would see her and moved to cover her as she ran. A shot rang out and made a sickening sound as it entered Vedrac’s body. I watched Delaney’s face change to a grin, and then to confusion as Vedrac grinned back and pulled the gun from his hand.

“What? I just shot you?”

“I’m already dead. I was dead when you dragged me to a basement and told me to eat rats. I was dead when you threw a human woman in my cellblock with some of the worst monster criminals in the realm. I was dead when you nearly caused the death of my mate. I’m very good at being dead. You won’t be.”

Recognition flicked across Delaney’s face. I rushed forward, using my wings to propel me faster, sending Delaney sprawling to the ground. He went down hard and groaned. I reached to my belt to pull out some cuffs, still determined to bring him in alive, but in desperation he head-butted me. It surprised me just long enough for him to grab a knife from his boot and hold it towards me.

“Delaney, you know I can wrestle that out of your grasp and break your arms before you kill me. Give up.”

His face looked frantic. He pulled his arm back slightly, ready to slash at me, and I caught his arm. A quick push of it against my knee and the bone snapped. He screamed in agony. The scream was met by the howls of wolves closing in. He cradled his arm and glared up at me with hate.

“Delaney, I’m the only one here not trying to kill you. This lich and his friends want you dead for what you did to them in the prison. The wolves probably want you dead for what you did to Rez. Fuck, I want you dead. But Clarissa doesn’t.”

He spat on the ground.

“Maybe if you kill me, she’ll see you for what you really are.”

He leapt up again to charge at me. I punched him in the face just hard enough to send him back to the ground.

“Stay down.”

He started scrambling back up again, moaning from the pain in his arm. I’d given him too much. He knew I wouldn’t kill him now, because of Clarissa. Vedrac looked at me. I nodded. The lich stood next to Delaney and reached out to him. Delaney recoiled instantly.

“No! No. I’m sorry. Please don’t kill me. I’m sorry. Please.”

Tears ran down his face. Vedrac gently placed a hand on Delaney and his face paled and twisted in horror before he collapsed silently onto the ground.

“John?”

Clarissa ran up behind me and fell to her knees next to her brother. She looked up at us desperately. Vedrac answered.

“He’s not dead, as much as I’d love him to be. I can control myself better than most liches ever try to. He’s just drained. He’ll wake up exhausted and with less hate in his heart.”

My mind turned that over.

“You… ate his hatred?” I asked.

“Yes, it’s very acidic and sort of fermented. Not pleasant at all. I might not be in the best of moods for a few days.”

Heather appeared at his side and wrapped her arms around him, nuzzling into his side. He leaned into her as though taking strength from her. Although I hoped not literally. I reached down for Clarissa and pulled her into a hug. She buried her face in my shoulder. I inhaled her scent and tried not to sway with how intoxicated it made me feel.

“What now?” she mumbled into my fur.

“I’ll take him to the authorities with Vedrac, along with all the evidence we’ve got.”

“And then?”

I heard Vedrac and Heather moving away to give us privacy.

“And then, my love, I’m going to come back and claim you. And we’ll do whatever you want. Nothing else matters but you.”

When I arrived at the police precinct back home with Delaney, there was a group waiting in a line outside the doors. I spotted the huge blue shape of Falkon next to my sister immediately. Vedrac and Heather left the car first and joined the line. I walked Delaney past them slowly. Monsters and humans together. Each one of them staring him down as I delivered him to face justice.