Hit List by Laurell K. Hamilton Read Free Book Online Page B

hurt you yet. The next thing I do to you, you won’t doubt that you’re hurt.”
    “Leave her alone.”
    “We will if you give us what we want.”
    “What do you want?” I asked. I had the gun pointed in the direction of the voice, but there was nothing to shoot at. If I was patient maybe there would be; nothing is faster than a bullet.
    “You,” and it was such a direct echo from my dream that it startled me.
    “What do you mean, you want me? How? Why?”
    “Does it matter? If you don’t come with us, I’ll kill your friend.”
    “Don’t do it . . . ,” Laila said, and was cut off abruptly, and this time the pain sound was a little louder.
    “Ask her if she’s hurt again,” the growling voice said, and he sounded eager.
    I’d heard that tone before in voices; I knew that they liked causing pain, so I did what he asked so he wouldn’t hurt her again to make the point.
    “Laila, are you hurt?”
    Her voice was shaky. “Yes.”
    “What did you do to her?”
    “Nothing permanent, yet,” he said.
    “She’ll heal?” I asked, and as in the dream I pointed my gun toward the voice, but also at the open door. Most of the Harlequin traveled in pairs or more. But with their speed I wouldn’t have time to shoot twice. I’d need a target and a decision before I’d really had time to decide anything.
    “Yes,” he said.
    “What do you mean you want me? Sexually?” I was almost hopeful on that one; it wasn’t a fate worse than death and it certainly wasn’t a fate worse than having Laila murdered while I listened to her die.
    “We’re not allowed,” he said, and he sounded sad.
    “You’re not allowed to have sex?”
    “Just not with you.”
    That was interesting. “Then what do you want with me?”
    “My master is outside. Simply put down your weapon and walk out the door to him. I will release the girl and follow you.”
    Laila said, “Don’t do it, Anita!” She yelled it, and then she screamed for real. Edward and the other marshal were next door. Help was coming.
    The cloak rose up, and I saw the white mask, but Laila was held in front of him like a shield. Her eyes were fluttered back in her head, but she was alive. I raised the gun barrel higher so I’d hit the white mask and miss her. Then he was gone; I swear that he moved so fast Laila simply stayed in the air where he’d held her, and he was through the door and gone before she began to fall.
    Edward shouted, “Anita!”
    “I’m okay, did you see that?”
    “I saw something,” he called back.
    I kept an eye on the doorway as I searched for Laila’s pulse. Edward was in the doorway: shirtless, boxers, with a gun in each hand. I let him watch for bad guys and looked down at Laila. Her arm was broken at the wrist and maybe higher up. There was blood, too, and it wasn’t from the arm. Fuck.
    I heard the other marshal go back toward the room. “I’ll call for an ambulance, and then will someone tell me what the hell just happened?”
    Edward kept watch out into the night, but said, “Her warrant is vacated. I guess we have our warrant of execution.”
    “I didn’t want it this way,” I said.
    “She’s alive, Anita. It could have gone the other way.”
    He was right. I knew he was right, so why did I feel so shitty? “I don’t know where the blood is coming from, but somewhere on her back. I don’t want to move her, but there’s too much blood. We need to find the wound and put pressure on it. If she bleeds out, nothing else matters.”
    He knelt down to help but kept his side toward the door so he could still see movement. “We can hunt them now, Anita, our way.”
    He helped me lift her and try to keep her neck from moving. It probably wasn’t a spinal injury, but back wounds can be tricky, and cautious was better than being wrong. He helped me lift her just enough so I could search for the wound. But it wasn’t just a wound, it was several. I found at least three. “Shit!” I said.
    “What’s wrong?” he