Dark Matter - The Mors Mortis Trilogy Book 2

Chapter Nine - Flames

The force of her hit was strong enough that Jared staggered backwards.

He swore and spat blood on the ground. "Why do you always have to –"

He cut off as Leah wrenched her gun from its holster, aimed and pulled the trigger. He launched to the side, pulling out a spare dagger, and hurled it at her. The throw was deadly, precise, but Leah had seen it coming. She dodged out of the way, shooting again, but Jared rolled behind a tree.

Leah crept closer, dead grass crunching under her feet and her chest heaving with a barrage of emotions.

"Why couldn't you have just left me alone?" she yelled. "Why did you have to push it to this?"

Her voice shattered on the words and even she could hear the desperation in them, the plea, but they were slathered in anger as well, a deep fury that made her limbs vibrate with its need for release. She wanted to hurt him, she wanted to make him scream over and over again until she was free of him.

She heard him laugh.

"Push it to this?" Jared growled. "This was always going to happen."

She moved closer to the tree, her gun held out warily. There was a soft rustle and her eyes narrowed.

"Don't blame me because you deluded yourself into thinking otherwise."

The words were deadly, and they came from directly above her. Leah's head shot up just as Jared dropped from the branches and slammed her onto her back, knocking the breath from her lungs and sending her gun flying from her grip.

Leah pressed her feet upwards and launched Jared away. She scrambled backwards, crashing into the base of a trunk as Jared reached for her. She swung her fist wildly, connecting with his stomach and dragging a dagger from his belt. Leah sprung up, brandishing it at him.

For a moment, Jared stared, his eyes shadowed as he took in her expression. There was something manic in his gaze that Leah knew was reflected in her own. It was a twisted form of relief, a sense that finally one of them was going to lose.

And it was only then that Leah admitted to herself what she'd been trying to bury, what she'd so desperately avoided thinking about. He was going to be the death of her. Whether he took her life, or she his, this would break her, this would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Jared shot her a dark grin, the movement drawing blood from his lower lip, and Leah watched as it travelled down his chin.

"Come on, then," he said tauntingly. "I know you want to kill me, I can see it in your eyes. Do it. Knock me out and take me back to the live world to finish the job."

Leah sucked in a breath.

"Don't ever assume you know what I want," she hissed. "I didn't want any of this. But you just had to push and push."

"You shot me!" Jared yelled suddenly, taking a step towards her. "I'm not the one who started this!"

Leah ground her teeth. She wasn't going to get into this argument with him. They could spend hours screaming about the wrongs they'd done each other.

"How did you find out about Seth?" she snapped.

Jared let out a low laugh, his eyes flashing deep blue. "You should've checked who was following you before you let Danny spill his guts."

"It couldn't have been then," Leah said. "You were dead."

Jared's lip curled up into a snarl and he pulled another knife from his belt.