Heart of the Hunter

He neared a large metal box on the roof. It probably contained electrical equipment for the building, or was an air filtration system. Either way it was a perfect structure to hide behind.

Sweat soaked the back of his shirt under his jacket and it beaded on his top lip. Adrenaline pumped through his body, making him keenly aware of every movement, every sound around him.

That was why the slight swish of fabric on fabric made him stop and spin around.

Its face twisted in rage, the demon levelled its razor-sharp claws at Jake’s throat. As if in slow motion, Jake could see the arc of its hand. He hoped he could pull the trigger on his bow before it reached him.

The arrow zinged by the demon, narrowly missing its shoulder. An error that would likely cost Jake’s life.

“Conroy! Drop!”

Instinctively, Jake dropped to the ground.

He heard the knife swoosh through the air, but he didn’t see it. But he did hear the telltale thunk of the blade hitting its mark. Turning his head to the side, he saw the demon stumble backwards, and its shriek of fury and pain echoed over the rooftop.

Its claw wrapped around the hilt of the knife and it pulled the blade out of its chest, dropped it to the ground and turned and ran the other way. It dashed to the edge of the roof and jumped.

A pair of black boots came into Jake’s view, and he rolled over onto his back and looked up at his savior.

A woman with fire-red hair and golden eyes looked down at him, a bemused expression on her face. She offered her gloved hand to him.

“Need some help getting up, Conroy?”

Jake sighed. Just what he needed. His ex-girlfriend, Gianna Morgan, saving his life.

Chapter Two

Gianna pulled Jake to his feet. What he secretly wanted to do was to pull her down with him, just to be childish and spiteful—two things she accused him of being years ago when they broke up.

He wiped at his jeans, trying to be cool. “What are you doing here?”

“What, no thank-you for saving your ass?”

He stared at her, not wanting to give her any satisfaction. “What are you doing here?”

“Same as you. I’m hunting.”

“This is my demon.”

She shrugged. The movement gaped open her jacket, revealing her ample cleavage. Despite his dislike of her, his gaze dropped to her breasts. That was one thing he’d always admired about her. Her bustline.

Gianna caught him looking, and then zipped up her jacket. She shook her head. “Why does that look not surprise me?”

“Because I’m a guy.”

“That’s always your excuse.” She sniffed, and then bent down to retrieve her blade. She wiped the blood off on her pants then sheathed it back into her ankle holster.

“Yeah, well I can’t help it if it’s true.”

She glanced at him with one eyebrow quirked up as if thinking, “You are such an idiot.”

“Like I said, this is my demon. I’m being paid to hunt him down and kill him.”

“So am I.”

He gaped at her. “What? By who?”

“I’m not at liberty to say. You know clients are confidential.”

“Don’t give me that shit, Gi, just tell me.” He flinched inwardly at using his nickname for her. If it bothered her, she didn’t show it.

She gnawed on her bottom lip, which was a sign she was seriously thinking. She’d done that right before she tossed him out of her apartment along with all his clothes and his toothbrush.

“Daniel Frost.”

Jake sighed, then clenched a fist and banged it on his leg. “Damn it.”

“I take it he hired you as well.”

He nodded.

“Well, I guess I can’t blame the guy. He wants to find whoever killed his daughter. I can get behind that.”

Jake wanted to bitch and complain about the situation, but the fact of the matter was he didn’t blame the guy, either. His daughter had been tortured and raped and killed, left in a dumpster like day-old trash. Jake would’ve done everything in his power to find her killer, too.

“What now?” he asked.

She shrugged. “Don’t know about you, Sport, but I’m going down and tracking this bastard again.” She turned on her boot heel and headed toward the fire escape.

“Wait. We should work together. It’ll be easier and we can pool our resources.”

She stopped midstride and turned to glare at him. “No way. I remember the last time we worked together.”

“That was different. We were sleeping together then. Mixing business and pleasure never works out well.”

She eyed him as if she were dissecting him. He used to love that look from her. Her gold eyes were so bright and intense that they usually gave him chills. Before it was a look of desire, hard lust, saying she wanted to rip his clothes off and have him right there and then. Now, the look just said: I don’t trust you anymore.

Some two years later, it still hurt.

“All right. But we are in this fifty-fifty. You don’t tell me what to do.”

“Okay. That goes the same for you.”

“Fine.”

He smirked. “Do you want to shake on it? Or we could hug and kiss, if that’s what you want.”

She shook her head. “Not likely.” She turned back to the fire escape, but not before Jake saw a slight lift of her luscious full mouth.