As we neared the front door my sensitive ears picked up the sounds of cursing and shouts.
“Great.” Braxton started moving. He had the front door open and disappeared inside faster than I could track.
I followed his path inside. Exiting the hall, I ground to a halt at the sight of Tyson and Maximus fully going at it. The four boys didn’t fight a lot, they were as close as any siblings I’d ever met, but they were hot tempered men and on occasion disagreements erupted.
“Don’t talk about her like that again,” Maximus bellowed as he slammed his big fist into Tyson’s jaw. “This was not her fault.”
Maximus was bigger, but Tyson was a brilliant fighter, fast and strong. Tyson spun once and elbowed Maximus across his cheek, knocking the vampire back a few steps.
“I don’t trust her, and if you’d stop thinking with your dick you’d realize I’m right.” He launched onto Maximus, knocking him down. “Her arrival couldn’t be more coincidental … fey dead … prison breakouts.” He was punching his brother in between each word. “And it’s not just us to worry about, Jessa is right in the thick of this.”
With a roar, Maximus jumped to his feet, sending Tyson flying backwards across the room, then using vampire speed he followed.
Braxton was leaning against the wall, all casual-like. “Don’t make me break you up,” he said.
He wouldn’t get in the middle unless it got further out of control. Which it easily could. They’d let their inner hunters free and probably wouldn’t stop without serious bloodshed. Both of them had cuts and bruises, but nothing major yet.
Maybe it was the fact I was so out of it over the dragon mark revelations, but I decided to do something I’d never done before. I darted across the room, and with barely a moment’s hesitation jumped between the brawling men. If my sudden appearance didn’t shock them into stopping, I was going to be in a world of hurt.
“Jessa!” Braxton roared. He was reaching for me, but I was too far away.
The world seemed to hold its breath as the air swirled between the two of them. It almost seemed to be in slow motion as Maximus’s fist swung toward me. He’d been aiming for a body shot on his brother. Horror and fear crossed his features as he realized it was going to hit me and not Tyson. I closed my eyes and prepared for the hurt.
Silence descended over the room. I flicked my lids up to find a trembling fist right in front of my face.
Somehow he’d halted his punch a hair’s breadth from me. My heart was pounding rapidly, and my fear flooded the room, so potent I could taste it.
“Don’t fight, please.” I was begging. I had so much turmoil inside that I just couldn’t see them smash each other to pieces right now.
Maximus’ hands were still trembling as he reached for me. “Jess…” His voice wavered. “I could have killed you.” Then he was shaking me and roaring even louder than Braxton had. “I could have killed you! Don’t you ever do anything like that again, don’t ever get in the middle of a fight between us.”
I closed my eyes, willing my pulse and heart rate to slow. Then his strong arms were around me and Maximus’ scent was everywhere. “I’m sorry, Jessa.” He held me tight enough to cause discomfort and I knew by the way he continued to shake that he was full on freaking out.
“It’s okay, Max.” Braxton was behind us, I could feel him. “You stopped, you didn’t hurt her.”
“I could have killed her,” he moaned.
I opened my eyes, meeting the deep brown of Maximus’. His anguish was visible.
“Stop,” I said. “It was my own stupid fault. I know better than to jump in between you all fighting.”
“Yes, you’re in big fucking trouble, Jessa.” Braxton’s voice had that edge; he was close to losing control again. “And you are going to tell us what happened with your parents. Clearly, it was something bad enough to make you suicidal.”
Maximus still hadn’t put me down; he seemed unable to let go.
Jacob burst into the room then. All of our heads swiveled in his direction.
“There’s been another death,” he said. “Someone killed a vamp.”
I exhaled. The quads might let me get away with my hedging on what had happened with my family in the forest. Murder was a pretty big distraction.
As the five of us ran toward the gathering in the forest, Braxton quizzed his brothers hard, trying to determine the reason they’d decided to use each other’s faces as a punching bag. The most we got out of them was that Maximus was defending Mischa’s honor and Tyson was feeling a little distrustful toward the new arrivals. Our stilted conversation halted as the stench of death reached us. We were still a hundred yards from the scene. As we moved closer, the crowds came into view; already there was a crowd of onlookers.
I found it a little odd that there were so many people around the corpse. Generally the council would have cleared the evidence by now. I pushed through the masses of supernaturals who were gathered in a circle around the kill zone. I cursed as the scene came into focus. What the hell was going on? Vampires were notoriously hard to kill. The constant influx of new blood gave them amazing healing and regeneration abilities, but someone had cut off the victim’s head. The body was slumped against the large roots of the redwood, and a long machete had been speared through the skull, pinning it to the trunk.
“Is that Markus?” Jacob cursed. “Shit, he was like a hundred years old.”