The hum of cars and flicker of headlights winked at the edge of the woods. Nox shot from the forest, landing on the roof of a sedan, his weight crushing the top. The windshield shattered and the car swerved. He sprung from it to a pick up. It fishtailed, and he jumped in the direction of an oncoming car. He hit the hood, shoving the front end against the asphalt. Sparks lit up under the bumper, radiator fluid, and oil smeared a trail as it careened into the concrete divider. Just as the metal collapsed, Nox leaped, landing on the opposite side.
A horn blew, and tires screeched. Six tons of steel slammed into Nox. Gouges followed the path of his claws buried in the blacktop. The frame of the tow-truck folded, steam erupted from the grill, the axel ripped free of the frame. Shards of metal scattered. The gouges deepened to channels until grinding to a halt.
Cars came to a standstill clogging the highway. Nox stepped back from the mess of tow-truck remains. A piece of bumper jutted from his thigh. He pulled himself free.
People emerged from their cars.
Prey.
Nox snarled. It would be so easy to kill them.
Luca’s presence pierced Nox’s core. He dove for the woods just past the emergency lane. The trees thinned into the manicured lawns of a neighborhood.
Dogs barked. Fences blurred under his body with each jump, his long strides eating up the distance. Nox crossed two more roads before a line of halogen lights appeared in the distance.
The need to get to Luca heightened. He was close. Close and afraid.
Nox roared. He would kill them. Whoever had Luca would die by his teeth. He reached the wide-open parking lot occupied by a tall building. The nearness of Luca pulled away. Nox stopped and raised his nose in the air.
Luca’s earthy flavor drew Nox’s attention. He focused on the energy radiating from every particle, organic, nonorganic. They illuminated the darkness in starry clumps, cutting out crisscrossing paths through otherwise empty space.
Luca’s glittered brightest, a dance and swirl of light calling to the Anubis. Nox tracked the path from a set of double doors to the open space under the pavilion. There Luca’s trail broke apart, his existence moving against the flow of time as his physical body picked up speed. Other life forces accompanied him. The particle trails belonging to a vehicle clumped at the edge of the parking where it slowed before turning out into the road.
There the distance between particles spread.
A second scent clouded the air. Familiar yet wrong. Tasting of earth but where there should have been death, a perversion of life.
The other Anubis only had minutes of a head start, but it was more than enough time for them to get to Luca.
Nox tore across the parking lot, weaving in and out of cars. Luca’s direction put him on the highway. Nox veered west, following the wave of sound from tires against pavement to where the highway curved, allowing him to cut off miles.
What was left of Nox’s human mind threatened to slip away, but the memory of Luca’s smooth skin under Nox’s hands, his soft cries, deep moans, his pleas, how he trembled with the rise of his release, the scent of his body marked by Nox, the feel of his flesh between Nox’s teeth, and the tightness squeezing his cock as he fucked Luca, grounded him.
Nox’s heartbeat roared, his blood surged, every muscle in his body tightened to the point of pain as he pushed himself faster, right to the edge of Phase, sliding down the line, playing roulette with his very existence.
Nothing mattered at that moment except Luca. Nothing existed except him. Luca didn’t just want Nox, he needed him, and from the moment Nox slipped his tongue into Luca’s mouth he’d sentenced himself to live only for him.
*****
A nursing assistant pushed Luca in a wheelchair from his room to an unmarked police car waiting at the double doors of the hospital exit. Lead weighted down his muscles, and he fought to keep his head up. Cold air raced up Luca’s legs, prodding him back awake.
They’d given him some cotton scrub pants to wear under the hospital gown, but it did very little to hold back the bite of damp air. The nurse assistant stopped and applied the brake on the chair.
“We’ve got it from here.” Davies wedged himself between the assistant and Luca.
Johnson took Luca by the arm and pulled him to his feet. His knees collapsed. Johnson didn’t let go, wrenching Luca’s back. He yelled and Davies laughed.
“You think that hurt? Wait till you find out what those guys will do to you in lockup.”
Johnson pulled Luca to his feet. “C’mon stand up.” The man’s voice was deep but held no anger. He helped Luca into the back of the car. “Watch your feet.”
It took Luca a moment to realize his toes hung over the edge of the door. He strained to pull in his legs. Johnson picked up Luca’s feet and placed them on the floorboard.
“Stan, he’s a prisoner not one of your nephews. Quit coddling him.”
“He’s sedated, Davies, give him a break.”
“Maybe I will. A couple fingers. His nose.” The man’s cold glare reflected at Luca from the rearview.