Gena Showalter - Playing With Fire (tales of an extra ordinary girl)

“This is going to work out, baby, you’ll see.”

I admit it. I love it when he calls me “baby,” and he seemed to do it more when we were in dangerous situations. “Be careful, okay?” I wrung my hands nervously. “There could be armed men in the house, too.”

His lips twitched. “Could be? No, there are.”

My mouth fell open. He said it so casually, as if it was perfectly normal. “Maybe we shouldn’t-”

“Create the storm, baby, and I’ll signal when it’s safe to enter the house.”

“You going to distract everyone with another explosion?” Tanner asked drily.

“Hopefully not” was the only answer Rome gave.

I wanted to protest, but didn’t. He was the expert here. He knew what he was doing. He knew how to survive. After all, he’d been doing it for a long time. Forcing my attention from him, I blinked up at the night sky. Stars twinkled from the black velvet. I didn’t ask Rome to filter for two reasons. One, once the storm erupted he needed to leave. And two, I didn’t want him to diminish my sadness in any way. The more intense it was, the more intense the storm would be.

My emotions were already frayed from their use and abuse today, but I dragged them front and center once more. Concentrating on all the things that saddened me, I drew forth a large wave of sorrow, plumped it with more depressing images, encouraged it to grow. It sprouted wings inside me, spreading. Spreading.

“That’s it, Viper. Let it flow.”

Overhead a crash of thunder boomed. Lightning bolts lit the sky, one after another. Fat droplets of rain began to descend, slowly at first, then gaining in speed and density. My chin trembled and tears flowed down my cheeks. I’d never been this sad in my life. I verged on total depression. Feelings of aloneness swamped me. Feelings of helplessness consumed me.

“Stay safe,” Rome breathed into my ear. He kissed my lips and was gone, disappearing into the darkness like a nocturnal phantom.

Rain pounded the ground, soon joined by the hail I’d predicted. The golf-ball-size ice smacked everything in its destructive path.

Tanner and I huddled under a tree. Its thick branches shielded us from most of the ice, but the rain managed to slip past the leaves and soak us. I shivered with cold as I searched the streets and houses for any sign of Rome, but I couldn’t see him. The SUV stopped humming with life, I noticed, the black plumes of smoke disappearing. The rear wiper stopped in the middle of its glide.

I didn’t see any movement in the car, though. Several more minutes passed. I didn’t see any movement outside the house, either, but suddenly I heard the growl of a jungle cat echoing off the walls and into the night.

I gripped my stomach, hoping the puny action could prevent it from twisting painfully. Obviously, Rome had discovered his prey. He’ll be okay, he’ll be okay, he’ll be okay.

Another growl.

A tortured scream.

Tiny flickers of light flashed from Dr. Roberts’s windows, as if someone-or multiple someones-were firing several rounds. The rain stopped as fear held me in its tight clasp, but I forced my sadness to return. Rain fell again.

“He’ll be okay,” Tanner whispered, voicing my thoughts. “He has to. I mean, he’s Agent Kick-ass, isn’t he, with an impenetrable force field or some kind of shit. Right?”

“Yes.” The word sounded broken, hollow. A tremor raked me. Two men stumbled out of the SUV, blood dripping from their necks. Both had weapons drawn.

Without thought, I stretched out my hands. I don’t know what I expected to happen, and wasn’t given a chance to ponder. A bolt of lightning instantly slammed into the first man, throwing him backward and into the other man. The two sailed several feet before hitting the SUV. Both slumped to the ground.

“Holy shit, Viper. How did you do that?”

“I don’t know!” I said, pointing my hands toward the ground before they could do any more damage. “Come on. Rome needs us.”

“He didn’t give the signal.”

“I know.”

“Oh, hell.”

I sprinted into action, racing into the thick of the rain. No, not rain. With my fear, the rain had turned to snow. The cold infiltrated my bones.

When I reached the porch, I withdrew the Taser Rome had given me. If I’d had a gun, I would have pulled it out, too. I would have shot someone, with no hesitation. And yes, now I knew for sure I’d stab someone, if necessary. Anything to protect Rome.

Tanner stepped up beside me, panting. Water dripped from his hair onto his face, and ran like a river from the clothes now plastered to his body. “We opening a can of whoop-ass now?”

“Fo sheezie,” I said.

He paled, but slid a gun from the waist sheath hooked to his side. He rolled the… whatever the hell that was called. Cylinder? I don’t know.

“Locked and loaded,” he muttered.

I hadn’t realized Rome had given him a gun, and blinked at it, stunned for a moment.

He kissed the barrel. “I’m a wild man, Viper, and I’m ready for action. Let’s get this showdown started.”

I positioned myself beside the front door. It was opened slightly, so getting in wouldn’t be a problem. “Guard my back, you hardened outlaw. Okay?” I could hear the scramble of feet, the scrape of furniture. At least there was no more gunfire.

Tanner closed in behind me. “I used to hunt with my dad. I’ll hit anyone who aims at you, promise.”

I couldn’t believe I was doing this, but I didn’t want to leave Rome in there alone. No telling how many men he was up against. “On three. One. Two. Three.” I kicked my way inside, Taser raised and ready for action. The lights were out, but my eyes had already adjusted to the darkness so I could make out the total chaos. Overturned tables and chairs, pillows strewn in every direction.

It was oddly silent now. The sound of footsteps had faded.

Suddenly a huge, black blur sprang at me. A part of me realized it was Rome in his jaguar form, but the rest of me acted on pure, terrified instinct. Those lethal claws were coming at me, and Rome might not realize exactly who it was he was attacking.

When he hit me, his massive body knocking me down, I allowed my instinct free rein and nailed the beast with the Taser, shooting volt after volt of electricity into his heart. We fell to the ground, the cat roaring and convulsing.

Behind me, a shot suddenly rang out, the sound so loud it nearly busted my eardrums. In the next instant, a human man (who, I would discover, had been about to shoot me) collapsed on top of me and the now-immobile cat.

SO I’D TASERED MY boyfriend. Other girls have done worse. I felt bad, really, but I wasn’t going to beat myself up over it. He’d come at me, claws and fangs bared.

Anyone else would have done the same thing.

Yeah, he’d been in the process of saving my life. Had I known that at the time? No. Had he given me any type of warning? Again, no. I might feel (slightly) bad about this, as mentioned above, but I wouldn’t accept blame. Rome was the only one at fault. Well, the assassin who’d been behind me was at fault, too. But not me!

Tanner switched on his flashlight and moved it over Rome, whose body still vibrated from the electrical charge. What did that mean? Crap, maybe I needed to examine him or something, and make sure I hadn’t damaged him worse than I’d thought.

While I scooted out from under him, as well as the dead body draped over his back, Tanner’s babbling assaulted my ears. “I shot him. I shot him dead. One bullet, just boom. Did you see me?”

“Don’t beat yourself up about it,” I said. God, Rome weighed a ton. “He was a bad guy, and he wanted to hurt us. You had to kill him.”