Falter Read online

  Jason sighed. “Okay, okay. Let me just get my license and registration.”

  “I don’t need that,” said the cop. “Keep your hands where I can see them.” He reached for his gun.

  His gun was on his belt, right at his waist, but Jason was faster. He whipped up his own gun and pulled the trigger twice.

  Both bullets exploded in the cop’s face. His nose burst open in a spray of blood and gore. He fell backwards onto the road.

  Jason pushed open the door, gun out.

  Another police officer was getting out of the car behind us.

  Jason pulled the trigger again.

  The man whimpered.

  And fell.

  “Goddamn it,” muttered Jason.

  My heart was beating away in my chest like a drum line.

  CHAPTER NINE

  ~jason~

  I grunted as I hooked my arms under the cops armpits and hauled him back across the road into his car. Azazel had his feet.

  Jude was leaning against our car. “This isn’t going to work. There’s blood all over the road.”

  I couldn’t answer him, because it was taking all of my strength to stagger backwards with this guy’s dead weight.

  Azazel had a much lighter burden, however, so she shot over her shoulder, “Shut up, Jude. We have to do something.”

  “We could have not shot them,” said Jude. “That’s a thing we could have done. Oh, wait. We didn’t shoot them. Jason did.”

  I pushed the dead man back into his car and propped myself up there for a few minutes, breathing heavily.

  “I thought you said he wasn’t into killing things anymore,” Jude said. “He seemed pretty trigger happy to me.”

  Azazel tucked the cop inside the car. “They were going to arrest us, Jude. How would we get Grace back while we were all in jail? Jason did what he had to do.”

  Shooting them had been a reflex, but it had also been an ecstatic release. I’d forgotten how good it felt to have a gun in my hand. It was a powerful feeling. I was back in charge, back in control, back where I belonged.

  I wheezed, throwing my head back. “You want to help me get the other guy back in the car, Jude?”

  The second cop had barely made it out of his seat. He was half in the passenger side, half out. Pushing him back into the car would be comparatively easy.

  “I’m not helping you do anything,” said Jude.

  “Fine,” I said. “You know, it’s not like you’ve never been trigger happy yourself. You shot me, or are we all still pretending that never happened?”

  Jude’s nostrils flared. “That was a long fucking time ago. And you’re not dead. Why don’t you just get over it?”

  I went around to the other side of the car and began to shove the guy inside. It didn’t take very long. I slammed the door with him inside. “I’m over it. But you’re still angry with me. I can’t figure out why.”

  “Maybe I don’t like you,” said Jude. “You ever think about that?”

  “Stop it,” said Azazel.

  “He’s being an ass,” I said.

  “And he’s being a psychopath,” said Jude. “Who whips out a gun like that and shoots two cops? Only Jason does crap like that.”

  “I did what I had to do.”

  “No,” said Jude. “You didn’t have to do that. There were other options, but you didn’t give us a chance to explore them.”

  “Like what?” I said. “And when would you have been exploring them? While I was being cuffed?”

  He folded his arms over his chest.

  “I bet you would have loved that, wouldn’t you?” I said. “If they took me away to jail, and you had Azazel all to yourself?”

  “Shut up,” he said. “I don’t want anything to do with her. Okay?” He kicked the tire of our car. “Azazel?”

  “What?” she said.

  “You need help triggering the cop car to blow up?”

  “Maybe,” she said.

  He pushed past me. “What do we have to do? We have to get under the hood?”

  “Yeah,” she said.

  I watched the two of them work.

  It was weird that he’d said he didn’t want anything to do with her, wasn’t it?

  Or maybe I was wrong about him. Maybe he really had gotten over his crush on her. It had been a long time since we were teenagers, after all. I acted like a jealous idiot when it came to the two of them. I always had. It was stupid of me. Nothing had ever happened between them. Maybe I should drop it.

  Maybe I shouldn’t be such a dick to Jude. He’d been locked up underground by vampires for ten years, and he was probably still a virgin. Plus, he was my little brother. Sure, he always gave me a hard time, but I was technically older than him. I should be able to handle it. Maybe if I did that, we’d be able to be real brothers. Maybe we wouldn’t always be at each other’s throats.

  “You gonna stand there like a dumbass or are you going to help?” Jude said to me.

  My eyes narrowed. On second thought?

  Fuck the bastard.

  “What do you need me to do?” I said.

  “Put the car in gear,” said Azazel. “I think we’re all set up here.”

  I reached over the dead cop, the one with the caved-in face, and found the gear shift.

  It wouldn’t budge.

  I needed to be able to put my foot on the brake, didn’t I? Damn it. There was only one way to do that, and it meant I had to touch more of the dead guy than I really wanted to do.

  But I could handle dead bodies. I’d been dealing with them for long enough, hadn’t I?

  I rearranged myself so that I could get close enough to do it. And I managed to get the car into drive.

  “Got it,” I told Azazel.

  “Turn the steering wheel so they’re facing the guardrail,” she said.

  I did that.

  And then we pushed. All of us. We pushed the car through an opening in the guardrail. It was a tight fit, and the sides got scraped a little bit. But then the car was tumbling down over the cliff, into the darkness.

  A few seconds passed.

  And then there was a bright explosion, illuminating the rocks below, a small creek, and grass and trees—which were now all catching fire.

  We gazed down at it for a minute, struck dumb by the sight of our destruction. Then we all seemed to realize that we needed to get the hell out of there, and we ran back to our car. I sped off down the road, leaving the sight of the accident behind.

  * * *

  ~azazel~

  “We don’t know what information they have on us, Boone,” I said into the earpiece. “Before we shot that cop, he might have radioed something in. For all we know, they’ve got our license or something.”

  “You mean Jason shot that cop,” grumbled Jude. He was lying on one of the beds in the hotel room that we’d checked into. The bedspread was a floral print—bright pink and jade green. It was hideous.

  I rolled my eyes, looking away from Jude. He was acting like a big baby.

  Boone spoke in my ear. “Okay, I’ll try to hack into their system. Do you guys have a police scanner?”

  “No,” I said, wrinkling my nose. “Should we?”

  “I thought I put them in all of the cars,” said Boone. “But maybe not. You guys sure you don’t want me down there? Maybe I could help.”

  “No, no, you’re better back at headquarters,” I said. “We need you there. You’re our anchor.”

  “It’s only that it’s driving me crazy,” he said. “I have no idea what happened to Grace, and I’m worried about her.”

  I’d been separated from Jason before. Too many times. I remembered how terrifying that could be. “Don’t worry, Boone. We’re doing everything we can do. And you’re doing everything you can do as well. We’re going to find her. We are.”

  “What does Jason think?” said Boone.

  “He’s not in the room,” I said. “He went to scrounge up some stuff from the vending machines or something.”
/>   Jude sneered. “Apparently, killing people makes him hungry.”

  “Is that Jude in the background?” said Boone.

  “Ignore him,” I said. “Trust me, Jason would back me up in this.” It was funny that Boone was deflecting to Jason so quickly. He’d barely been back on the job for a day, and Boone already seemed to think of him as a leader. I’d been working with him for months, and I was easily displaced. Maybe it was sexism.

  Honestly, I wasn’t upset about it. I was glad Jason was with us. This was where he belonged. He acted quickly and decisively and he was good at what he did. I looked to him for leadership too. I always had.

  Jude obviously was having issues, however.

  “All right,” said Boone. “I’ll be back in touch if I know anything about the police. You guys hang tight in the hotel room.”

  He signed off, and I yanked the earpiece out of my ear.

  I sat down on the bed opposite Jude and placed my earpiece on the bedside table that separated them. The room wasn’t a luxury suite by any stretch of the imagination. We were going to be on top of each other.

  Jude eyed me. “Boone have anything interesting to say?”

  “What’s your problem?” I said. “Why are you being the way you’re being with Jason?”

  “Oh, gee, I have no idea,” said Jude. “Why do you think?”

  I gulped. “I don’t want to talk about what happened with us.”

  “Not that.” He looked at me as if I were particularly stupid. “He’s out of control. He’s trigger happy. I thought that was why he didn’t want to work with us in the first place. I thought he didn’t want to kill people.”

  “Well, he changed his mind.” I flopped back on the bed. “Besides, he’s good at it.”

  “Oh, you got that right.” Jude pounded one of his pillows and collapsed into it.

  “Look, maybe it would be better if you and I didn’t really… talk.”

  He let out a bitter laugh. “Sure.”

  “Maybe I’ll just go find Jason.” I got off the bed. Now that I wasn’t talking to Boone, there was no reason to be in here. And I felt uncomfortable around Jude. I didn’t like to be close to him. He triggered all my feelings of disgust and confusion and guilt.

  I went for the door.

  “Azazel?”

  I turned to him. “I thought that we weren’t going to—”

  “Maybe we should talk about it,” he said. “I mean, it happened, and I can’t stop thinking about it, especially when I’m around you, and it’s—”

  “Just try not to,” I said. “Push it from your brain. Pretend it never happened.”

  “That what you’re doing?”

  I looked away.

  “Just… are you okay?”

  I yanked the door open. Fuck Jude.

  * * *

  Jason was coming back to the room, and I met him in the hallway.

  “I was coming to check on you,” I said, trying to keep my voice light, even though I felt like everything was falling apart.

  He had his arms full of junk food and sodas, and he handed some to me, so that I could help carry things. “What did Boone say? Anything?”

  “He’s checking on the police, trying to find out if they know where we are,” I said. “And he wanted to come down here and help.”

  “No, he’s better where he is.”

  “That’s what I told him.”

  He grinned. “That’s my girl.”

  I smiled back at him. “Here we are in a hotel room, huh? Just like old times.”

  “Yeah. I’m shooting people. We’re on the run. It’s exactly like old times.” There was a tired edge to his voice.

  “You did the right thing with the cops,” I said. “I’m happy to have you here.” I leaned close. My arms were full of soda cans, but I was able to get close enough to kiss him on the cheek.

  He turned.

  Our lips met.

  The kiss was tentative, as if we were both trying to make sure the other person was okay with it. But it was sweet, full of all the pent-up feelings we’d been struggling with for weeks.

  I opened my mouth to let in his tongue.

  And the kiss deepened. Thrills ran through me. Kissing Jason was still so, so nice, even after all this time.

  I let out a little gasp.

  He pulled back. “Azazel, we really should talk, you know?”

  I glared at the hotel carpet, which was green and well trodden. Why did everyone want to talk about stuff that was better left alone?

  * * *

  “What?” I said, sitting up in bed.

  “They’re coming for you,” Boone’s voice said in my ear.

  It was late at night. I’d been asleep for what seemed like a long time. I flung my legs over the side of the bed. “You know how close they are?”

  “Close,” said Boone.

  Jason was sitting up straight next to me. “Trouble?”

  “Police,” I said. “Coming.”

  He turned on the bedside light.

  Jude stirred. “What’s going on?”

  “Get your gun,” said Jason. “Get dressed.”

  I grabbed clothes. “I call the bathroom.” I ran inside and shut the door. To Boone. “You got an ETA on these guys?”

  “Nothing definite,” said Boone. “But we’re talking minutes.”

  I tugged on a pair of jeans. “Fuck.”

  “I’m staying with you,” he said. “I’ll be right in your ear the whole time.”

  “Okay, Boone,” I said. “Let’s do it.” I threw open the bathroom door.

  Jason and Jude were dressed.

  “We leave the room?” I said.

  “If we can make it out without engaging, that would be best,” said Jason.

  But there was a pounding on the door. “Police! Open up!”

  Jason’s eyes widened. He pointed at Jude and then pointed to the bathroom. He pointed at me and pointed behind the bed.

  I saw his meaning immediately and hit the floor. I could see underneath the bed, the door and Jason’s shoes. Jason was moving into the corner behind the door.

  The pounding again. “Open the door!”

  My heart sped up. My breath grew shallow.

  The door burst open.

  I saw about five pairs of black boots enter the room. To them, it must look completely empty. Jason was behind the door, I was under the bed, and Jude was in the bathroom.

  “Fan out,” yelled a voice.

  Jason shot through the door. I heard his quick bursts of gunfire, precise and accurate.

  The men went down. I saw their bodies crumple to the ground, each with a red hole perfectly centered between their eyebrows. Jason’s signature shot. They fell, and their lifeless eyes stared through me. One. Two. Three. Four.

  The final guy had seen where Jason was.

  I saw his feet pivot, turning on him.

  I leaped up, leveling my weapon. I pulled the trigger.

  The bullet drilled into the man’s back, and he fell.

  Jason nodded at me. “Thanks.”

  “Anytime, baby,” I said.

  Jason kicked aside the body and peered out into the hallway. “Coast is clear.”

  “Jude,” I called. “Let’s go.”

  He came out of the bathroom, surveying the carnage. “How many people have we killed today?”

  “Shut up,” Jason and I said at the same time.

  We stepped over the bodies and into the hallway.

  Once out of the room, we took off running. Jason went first. I followed, and Jude brought up the rear.

  We didn’t bother with the elevator.

  We took the steps.

  “Azazel?” Boone again.

  “I’m here,” I said.

  “Everything okay? I don’t hear any more shots,” he said.

  “We took out five in our room.”

  “Five?” said Boone. “There are at least three more cars.”

  “Three cars? Why are they sending so many after u
s?”

  “Don’t know,” said Boone. “But watch yourselves.”

  Three flights later, we stood in the parking lot. It was still, empty, and dark. But the sky was lightening. Dawn wasn’t too far off.

  Jason dashed to the first car he saw, trying the door handle. Locked.

  I caught on immediately and ran for another car, trying to open it.

  “What are you doing?” said Jude.

  “They know our car,” I said. “We need something else.”

  “Oh,” said Jude. “I guess you guys have done this before.”

  “Got one,” yelled Jason.

  We hurried two cars down, where Jason was reaching under the dashboard to hotwire the car.

  Flashing lights. Sirens.

  Two more police cars pulled into the parking lot.

  Damn it. Boone had been right.

  “Jude,” I yelled. “We’ve got to hold them back until Jason can get the car started.”

  Jude looked at me with wide, frightened eyes. “Me? I’m not the shooting guy, Azazel.”

  “You can do it,” I said.

  The cars pulled to a stop. The doors opened.

  The shots came first, before the police even showed their faces.

  I felt a sharp pain in my side, a biting agony. I stumbled. “Fuck!”

  I’d been shot.

  “Azazel,” yelled Jude.

  I leveled my gun at the police officers. I opened fire.

  Two went down.

  And then I heard Jude’s gun going off next to me.

  One more guy was on the ground.

  Ouch. Dammit, a bullet in the gut really fucking hurt. I knew I was going to heal and all, but still.

  Jude’s next shot went wide. He didn’t hit anything.

  There were still officers left.

  I took a few more shots.

  Got another one.

  “Get in the car!” yelled Jason.

  I took off for it, Jude right at my heels.

  We dove inside.

  One of the police officers was yelling after us, his voice high pitched and wild, “You’ll never get away with it. There are eyes everywhere! We know what you are. We know!”

  Jason ducked out of the car, raised his gun, and shot the guy. “That screechy voice was really annoying.”