Ilona Andrews - Dark and Stormy Knights

She rolled the man onto his stomach and went to work taping him up nice and tight. He was heavy, and his limbs were thick with muscle, but she was still riding that adrenaline high and managed to get him trussed up, taped from wrists to elbows and ankles to knees.

He wasn’t going anywhere unless she let him.

Now that it was safe, Jordan pressed her finger to the side of his neck, feeling for a pulse. His beat strong and steady, and she let out a small sigh of relief. She hadn’t killed him.

Whether or not he deserved it, she didn’t like the idea of being the executioner any more than she liked the idea of having a dead man lying in her coffee shop.

Jordan heard her daughter tell the sheriff’s department what had happened. Her high, sweet voice sounded odd describing something as grim as facing off against an armed intruder.

“Mama, Cindy says she needs to talk to you.”

Jordan picked up the gun with two fingers, as though it were covered in acid, and set it on the counter. She took the phone from Anne.

“Hey, Cindy.”

Cindy was the dispatcher at the sheriff’s station, and they’d gone to high school together. Her voice was rough from years of smoking, but she’d always been calm in the midst of chaos, even during the days of high school drama. “I heard you caught yourself a robber.”

Something about the way the man had acted made Jordan wonder if that was what he’d been up to, but there’d be time to figure that out later. “Guess so. When can you send someone to come get him? I whacked him on the head pretty hard.”

“The roads are a mess. We’ve got several injury accidents and no staff to spare. If you’re not in danger, it’s going to have to wait until we get things back under control.”

“We’re fine, but he may not be.”

“Is he breathing?”

“Yeah.”

“That’ll have to be good enough. Call me if anything changes. I’ll send someone as soon as possible, okay?”

“Sure. I’ll be here.”

Jordan hung up and saw Anne inching closer to the unconscious man, leaning forward as far as she could without falling over. “Stop right there, nosy. You go upstairs and keep yourself out of trouble while I wait for the police.”

“I’m sure that’s the man from my dreams.”

“And I’m sure he’s not. Go on upstairs, now.”

“Can I go online?”

“Sure. You know the rules.”

Anne nodded and pounded up the stairs, sounding as though she weighed as much as a grown man.

Jordan sat at a nearby table to watch her captive, sipping the hot chocolate she’d made for him. Her hands were still shaking, but at least she’d gotten through the worst of this ordeal.

Anne was safe, and that’s what really mattered.

The gunman needed a shave and a haircut. Everything about him screamed bachelor, from his wrinkled shirt to his bad-boy leather jacket to his overworn boots. Still, there was something about him that intrigued her. Maybe that’s what Anne felt that made her think she’d dreamed about him.

He was definitely dreamy in a your-mama-warned-you kind of way. Six-feet-and-change worth of walking trouble.

His eyes cracked open and he sucked in a hissing breath.

“Does your head hurt?” she asked him.

“Yeah.”

“Good.”

He struggled to sit up, but with his hands trapped behind him, he had no leverage.

“I wouldn’t bother,” said Jordan. “You’re tied up way too tight to move.”

“Guess so.”

“Who are you?”

“Doesn’t matter,” said the man.

“If it doesn’t matter, then tell me your name.”

“Ryder Ward.”

“Want to tell me why you’re here?” she asked.

“Not particularly. What time is it?”

“Why? Got somewhere to be?”

“Anywhere but here if it’s nightfall.”

Jordan looked outside at the falling snow. She couldn’t tell if the streetlights were on or not, but there was enough of a glow outside to know it wasn’t full dark. “Not quite.”

“We don’t have much time, lady,” he said.

“The name’s Jordan, not lady, and we have all the time in the world until the police show up. Just sit tight and I won’t have to knock you out again.”

He looked up at her, his dark eyes haunted by something she could only imagine. “I know what this looks like, but I swear to you I never wanted to hurt you. Either of you.”

“You have a funny way of showing it. Pointing a gun at someone usually indicates an intention to harm them.”

He sighed. Incredibly, his body twisted and he managed to sit up. Sweat had broken out along his hairline at the effort, but it was more than she’d thought he could manage.

Maybe she hadn’t tied him up tight enough.

“Your daughter. She’s special.”

Anger spiked through her veins, making her voice come out in a growl. “Never speak of her again, or I’ll be mopping what’s left of you off my floor for a week.”

He simply lifted an eyebrow at her threat, ignoring it. “She has bad dreams. Nightmares.”

Jordan hid her surprise that he knew about the dreams. “All kids do.”

“Not like this. Hers are getting more frequent. She sees huge, writhing creatures that want to eat her. She thinks they’re real.”

How could he know that? Only a handful of people were aware of Anne’s bizarre dreams.

“She’s right,” said Ryder, his voice quiet with regret. “Those creatures are real, and they do want to eat her.”

“Shut up,” barked Jordan. “You don’t know anything about us.”

His shoulders fell in defeat. “I wish that were true. I wish I’d never met you or your daughter. I wish I was just a normal guy and that she was just a normal kid, but neither one of us is going to get their wish.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means that our time is up. The creatures from her dreams are called Terraphages. Certain people can call them from wherever it is they live and let them into our world. Those people are called Beacons, and your daughter is one. The fact that I knew where to find her means there’s a Terraphage on the way right now.”

Mama, that’s the man I dreamed about. The one that came right before the monster.

“What a load of crap.” Jordan’s voice didn’t hold nearly as much disbelief as she would have liked.

“You know I’m right. I can see it in your eyes. If I wasn’t right, then how would I know about the dreams? How would I know they’re happening more often?”

Jordan had no answers.

“The Terraphage is coming for her tonight. The only way to stop it from breaking through into our world is to kill her. That’s why I was here.”

“To kill my daughter.” Just saying the words made Jordan’s stomach clench in sickening anger. How dare he even imagine such a thing? She should kill him now. Tell the police it was self-defense. If he lived, he might try to hurt some other child.

Jordan looked toward the weapon lying on the counter and back at the man. Could she do it? Could she really pull the trigger now that he was a threat?

His gaze skittered away until he was staring down at his boots. “I didn’t know she was a kid. It’s almost always an old man.”

As if that excused murder. “And now that you know?”

He let out a defeated sigh. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t kill her, so the Terraphage will be here soon to do the job. I’ve failed, and now this whole town will be dead before sunrise.”

“Does that include you?”

“Yeah. It does.”

It was the bleak acceptance in his tone that made her believe him. The resignation. “You really believe this is true, don’t you?”

“Look, lady, I didn’t ask for this job. I don’t want it. I hate killing people, but it’s better than the alternative—letting Earth be overrun by these things whenever they get hungry. I’m just glad my part of this mess is over now. Let someone else worry about it for a change. I’m done.”