Amy Blankenship - Tainted Blood

“I rest my case,” Syn said conspiratorially, making Angelica look away to hide her amused smile.

*****

“Did you see that?” Nick’s voice shouted from behind a crypt. “I just saw a flying head wiz by here.”

About that time a Skitter stumbled into view trying to escape its death. There was something funny about seeing a boogieman having a frightened look on its face.

“Yes Nick, I saw it,” Kriss answered and walked into view.

Nick shot at the Skitter’s legs with an expression that bordered on sadistic, “Come on. Let’s see if you can dance.”

“Nick, stop playing with that damn thing,” Steven growled, then rolled his eyes realizing he was taking up for a monster.

Jewel walked up to the Skitter and blew its head off with the shotgun before smiling sweetly at Nick, “Your dancing partner just died.”

“H-hey!” Nick whined. “That was my kill.”

“Actually it was mine,” Kriss said with his arms crossed over his chest. “Who do you think it was running from?”

“Too many hunters and not enough prey anymore,” Dean said as he stepped out of the shadows of a nearby tree.

“At least Nick got rid of that arm,” Steven muttered then did the rendition of an all over body shake while adding, “Eww.”

Kriss made a face, “Don’t mention the arm… EVER again.”

“Why?” Jewel asked not getting the joke.

Nick grinned, “Well, I…”

Kriss turned on him and growled, “Say another word and I will give you a one way trip to St. Peter myself.”

Dean smirked, “Don’t test him kitty cat… he looks mad enough to do it.”

Kriss looked over at Dean and his eyebrows shot up into his hairline when he saw the underlying desire shining in Dean’s eyes. He couldn’t help it… his gaze shot down Dean’s body and a light blush dusted his cheeks making him look away.

Jewel smiled, aware of what the two men were thinking. However, Steven and Nick were completely clueless.

Dean’s eyes darkened attractively as he watched Kriss’ reaction to him. Stepping up behind the other Fallen, Dean wrapped his arm around Kriss’ waist and placed his lips near his sensitive ear, “I think you guys can handle it from here.” He smiled when Kriss gave a light shudder from where his warm breath had touched him.

The three people blinked as the two Fallen vanished into thin air.

“How do they do that?” Steven asked softly.

“I don’t know,” Nick answered trying to mentally bleach his mind of the fact that Dean had been holding Kriss so closely.

Footsteps from the side made them look over as Quinn and Kat walked into sight from behind the crypt.

“Well, that’s almost everyone,” Nick said. “I’m ready to leave the rest of this mess to PIT.”

“All that’s missing now are Envy and Devon,” Steven said.

Jewel looked around, “I wonder where they are?”

“Last time I caught sight of them, they were with Envy’s brother and our favorite gun-toting carebear. I’m sure they can catch a ride with him,” Nick stated. “So if you’re riding with me, this train is leaving now.”

“You ready?” Quinn asked Kat, snagging her around the waist. “Like an hour ago,” Kat smiled up at him. They’d made a great team tonight but all of this fighting had gotten her in the mood for other things.

Steven slipped his arm over Jewel’s shoulder and steered her toward the front of the cemetery.

Nick rolled his eyes. He was starting to feel like a third wheel.

In another area of the cemetery, the four people in question were patrolling through the cemetery picking off demons one by one. Trevor had his cell phone to his ear giving orders to the people he had planted in the precinct.

“Yeah, we’re gonna need a couple road blocks to keep humans away from Hollywood Cemetery. Make sure all side roads are covered.” Trevor became quiet for a minute while the officer on the other end of the phone was talking.

“Set it up as soon as possible,” Trevor continued, “It’s going on nine now… we need it set up within the next ten to fifteen minutes. Spectators are already showing up but luckily I have sent people out there to stop them. The thing is they are not cops so it’s causing a huge hassle. We can’t have just anyone tampering with the crime scene… if you know what I mean… vandals and arson… about three days…. No, if anything tries to get out, I don’t think it will use the roads.”

Trevor rubbed his temple with his other hand. “Look, if you see something you’ve never seen before… just shoot it.” He hung up the phone and sighed heavily. “I hate having to spell out everything.”

“You can spell?” Chad asked with comically wide eyes.

Devon snorted with laughter and Envy smirked.

“No,” Envy quickly answered feeling a little goofy. “But he can come close by sounding out words.”

“Let me guess,” Chad interrupted. “He spells ‘the’ like it sounds?”

Envy nodded, “Yep, t… h… u… h.”

Chad nearly fell over laughing while Trevor sulked beside him.

“Will you two knock it off?” Trevor growled.

“Knock what off?” Envy and Chad said simultaneously which started a chorus of giggles between the siblings.

Envy smiled at her brother remembering all the times they’d gotten in trouble while growing up because they’d caught the giggles and wouldn’t be quiet. Come to think of it, it had usually happened when they were supposed to be going to sleep. She glanced closer at Chad. Yep, his eyes were glassy.

Devon wasn’t really paying much attention to the teasing now. He’d spotted Warren off in the distance dismembering a demon and fought the urge to shift so he could run with him.

Envy caught Devon’s expression and saw the longing in the way his eyes changed color. She followed his gaze seeing the jaguar and it dawned on her that it was in his nature to shift. He was probably staying human only because of her and that wasn’t really fair to him.

“Why don’t you go help?” she said reaching out and laying her palm on his upper arm. “I’ll be fine.”

Devon looked back at her, “How will you get home?”

“I’ll take her to my place,” Chad offered actually liking the idea. The apartment hadn't felt the same since she’d left. “I’m ready to get the hell out of here anyway. You can stop and pick her up when you get done here.” He quickly added, “And take your time because we will probably be crashed out anyway.”

Devon was about to object but looked between the two siblings, realizing for the first time that they were so tired they were damn near high. He felt a twinge of guilt for not noticing sooner. Humans need twice the amount of sleep a shifter did… if not more.

“Okay,” Devon conceded and gave Envy a lingering kiss. “I’ll be by to pick you up… go get some sleep.”

Envy nodded and watched as Devon stripped off his clothes and shifted into his jaguar form. He took off across the graveyard after Warren and she marveled at how graceful he looked in all forms.

“Can we go now?” Trevor's voice was dark, not liking the way Envy was staring after Devon.

Envy and Chad both nodded in agreement.

“Good idea,” Chad said. “I’d hate to make an easy target for some lucky Skitter just because I decided to lay down in the graveyard and take a nap. I haven’t had any sleep for the last couple of days.”

The three set off for the cemetery entrance, killing a couple more Skitters along the way. When they finally reached Trevor’s car, Chad had to stop and stare for a moment, unable to control the sadistic grin that appeared on his face.

“Where’s your old car?” Envy asked as Trevor approached the new black beauty. “Not that this one doesn’t look awesome, because it does.”