Free Jared by Sarah McCarty Page B

from her hand. He held it for a
good two minutes, concentrating, but to no avail. He didn’t feel a thing.
Absolutely nothing, which was unusual. Everything gave off some residual energy
of its function—the people who touched it, its power source. But this device
lay in his palm like dead air.
    “Are you sure you’re not imagining things?” he asked
her, giving the object a squeeze.
    She cut him a disgusted glare. “Positive.”
    “No need to get feisty. Just asking a question.”
    She stared at his closed fist. “I’ve always been
sensitive to energy.”
    That was possible. Every vampire, when they turned,
developed some special skill, usually an enhancement of something they already
had. He’d never met another vampire gifted with the ability of see-and-throw
energy, but that didn’t mean they didn’t exist. And apparently Raisa was one of
them. That unique energy that flowed around the edges of his, slipping into the
folds with familiar ease, soothing the raw edges. Too familiarly and too
easily. If she could do with her energy what he could do with his, he needed
some distance between them until he figured out how involved she was with the
Sanctuary. She could be a Sanctuary collaborator. That would certainly explain
her resistance to killing Sanctuary warriors. Or she could be just another
victim with a soft heart, his vampire whispered, uncomfortable with anything
that put her outside its acceptance.
    Jared pulled his energy away from Raisa’s. It wasn’t
as easy as it should be. A ping of hurt came from her to him. He had no reason
for the guilt that flicked through him. She reached for the device again. He
shook his head and put it in his shirt pocket. “I’ll keep this for Slade to check
out.”
    He grabbed up her pack. Her energy flowed around him,
seeking a reading of his emotions. He blocked it.
    None of the hurt he could sense inside her at his move
showed in her voice as she asked, “What about him?”
    “I’ll take care of him in a minute.”
    Her lip slid between her teeth, pressing into the
plump fullness, honing his attention. She had a gorgeous mouth—full lips behind
which he could see even white teeth. Her mouth held an appeal for him he
couldn’t afford to indulge.
    “You can’t kill him.”
    He shot her a look. “Why not? He was going to kill
me.”
    Her jaw flexed. The flesh around her teeth glowed as
white as the gleam of the enamel on the teeth pressing into it. “It’s not
right.”
    “Are you worried for my soul or yours?”
    “I don’t understand?”
    He walked over to where her blanket had fallen,
scooped it up, and tossed it to her. “Just what I asked. What’s your worry
about how that piece of shit dies? He wanted to kill me, rape you, so what does
it matter how he meets his end?”
    She rolled the blanket up in a ball. The snow, falling
heavier now as the storm gathered, sheltered her in a swirling flurry. “Because
we’re not them. We don’t kill because it suits our purposes or makes life
easier.”
    “Speak for yourself.”
    “I am.”
    “And your point would be?”
    She settled her weight into her shoes, shoulders
squared. “I can’t let you kill him in cold blood, no matter what he intended to
do.”
    “You can’t?”
    “No.”
    “How do you intend to stop me?”
    “I’m going to start by appealing to your moral
barometer, and then I’ll resort to physical methods.”
    He shook his head, marveling at the woman’s ego. She
barely reached the center of his chest and was about as big around as a
match-stick. On top of that there were dark smudges under her eyes, her skin
was pasty white, and every time the wind gusted she shivered. And she was going
to get physical with him?
    “You go right ahead, then, and give it your best
shot.” He took the rifle from her. The fact that she didn’t even try to hold on
to it showed how poorly prepared she was for a battle. He glanced over at the
were before looking pointedly back at her. “You might want