Two older men took his and Heather’s packs but let them keep their jackets after going through them.
Jan gave Heather a brief frisk. “She’s clean.”
“I’ll do this one,” Ernst said to his father with a nod at Jack.
He handed Klaus his rifle and moved toward Jack with sure strides. Too cocky. Jack watched everything, absorbing the man’s weaknesses and strengths from the way he moved and what he paid attention to. Ernst thought himself superior, probably because he towered above most men and women. A hint of cruelty lingered on his face, and Jack knew the man had killed before.
“Easy, son,” Ralf cautioned. “Jan told me this one can instill fear.”
Jack frowned at the old man, who winked back at him. A wink?
Thoroughly confused, Jack waited to see what Ernst would do. So far, Jan watched over Heather, but Jack didn’t trust him. Ralf jerked him to his feet but kept his arms outstretched out by his sides. Smart, because this way, Jack couldn’t wrap his hands around Ernst’s throat.
The dick roughly patted him down, nearly gelding him in the process. Ernst confiscated his gun and landed a few hard hits to his midsection, all the while watching for a reaction. But Jack didn’t give him one. He just stared at the man, infusing that gaze with his intent to do real harm. To give Ernst his due, the big man didn’t balk.
Ernst leaned in closer and whispered, “I’m going to take you back with us. Then I’ll make you watch while I fuck your girlfriend. She’s a hot piece, eh? Bet she’s a screamer. Or she will be, when I’m done with her. And I won’t kill her. No. You’ll die, knowing she had the great honor of becoming my almost-wife. I would have married her, you know, but she’s a Stallbridge. My father won’t kill her. But she will become a part of this town, never to leave again.”
“Quit playing, Ernst. We need to go,” Ralf barked at his son.
“Yes, Father.” He stood back from Jack. “My personal plaything, you can bet on it.” He leered at Heather before turning to join his father.
Jack didn’t flinch, not once. But he’d made up his mind. Before he left the mountains, he’d kill Ernst Baer. The stench of evil was too pervasive to believe the man wouldn’t harm Heather at some point. Or that he hadn’t already done damage to many others.
A gun at his back prodded him to walk.
“The trail, Ralf?” Mikhail asked, directly behind him.
Good. Jack had the pyro close. The energy from the tree surged through his feet again. Jack allowed his hand to swing back and touch Mikhail’s.
“Forward, move.” Mikhail dug the rifle into Jack’s back, and Jack started walking. Heather was three men ahead of him, quiet and doing as ordered without protest. At least Mikhail and Jan were somewhat smaller than Jack. He wouldn’t be constricted by clothing when he shifted form.
The party entered the thick forest on a trail a few feet wide, enough that men could walk side by side. Jack was in the middle surrounded by the pyro and three others. Klaus, he thought, could be behind him, though he’d lost track of that Baer. Ralf, however, kept him in sight by taking a rear position. Ernst walked by Jan’s side, too close to Heather for comfort.
From what Jack gathered from listening to the men talk, most of them were related to the Baer family in some way. Some cousins, a few uncles. Mikhail and Jan were the only two non-Baer members of this odd posse.
An hour into their journey, the moonlight above drifted away as clouds covered the moon, and Jack knew he had to take a chance. As he walked, he let his body grow bigger, stronger. He normally employed this side of his talent when in real jeopardy, but he didn’t want the others to know he could shift yet.
His only concern was that they’d use Heather to call his bluff. He couldn’t risk them killing her. The thought of them doing so sped his blood to the muscles in his body needed to crush his enemies. The scent of fear came to him, and he let the scent of menace flow from his body, pleased when the wind carried it to those around him.
“What the fuck is that?” one of the men said. “Something in the woods?”
“It’s him, idiots. Ignore it,” Ralf ordered.
He needed Heather to remember what he’d said. That on his signal, she had to break free and run. Jack needed to somehow encourage Ernst and Jan to leave Heather alone long enough to let her run free. Something to make the men guarding her focus on him instead.
Jack went for broke. He stopped in his tracks and punched the men in front and behind him. Immediately shielding himself from the mental attacks coming his way, as he’d trained with his men at home, he nailed Mikhail in the throat, putting him down hard. Ralf yelled to his men, and then Jack was there in his face.
“Yeah, I was coming for you.” He took Ralf’s throat in his hand and squeezed, then turned the man around to act as a human shield. “Come on, Ernst. Klaus. You think you can take me? Fight me, man-to-man. I dare you.”
Ernst roared and ran toward him. Though the surroundings had turned dark, Jack’s enhanced senses allowed him to see the shape of the male barreling toward him. He shook Ralf and threw him at Ernst, and the pair went down in a heap.
Jack took off into the woods, praying Heather had done the same. He heard steps behind him and turned suddenly to take them out. Four more villagers, down. The best figure he could come up with was that five, maybe six men remained ready to fight. A shot rang out. Then another embedded into a tree an inch to the right of his head.
He’d rather they shot at him than at Heather. Racing away, he stopped and paused, transitioning quickly into Mikhail’s form. He still wore Jack Keiser’s clothes, but he hoped they’d focus on the face more than the jacket.
Three of the men reached him, out of breath.
“What about the girl?” he asked in Mikhail’s voice. “We still have her?”
“She took…off.” One of them wheezed. “Toward town. Jan’s…after her.”
Another asked, “Where did…that bastard go?”
Mikhail nodded to the left. “I think that way.”
As they turned in pursuit, he nailed the three of them, taking them down. After knocking them unconsciousness, he shifted back into himself and ran away from the Source, toward town. He had to intercept Heather before the others got to her.
Except he ran into a bullet. It passed clean through his side but hurt like a bitch. He turned to find the shooter but saw nothing. Heard nothing. He hunkered down and found a rock. Tossing it to his right, he watched as another round hit the tree near where the rock had landed. Fuck. He had a crack shot, someone who could see in the dark, on his ass. And he was bleeding. If these dickheads had enhanced senses, they might smell him.
Too bad, he’d have to move. He threw another rock and ran in the opposite direction. He heard movement behind him and dropped to the ground just as another round fired at the spot where he’d been standing. The bullet would have passed through the base of his spine had he not moved.
He saw Klaus Baer’s face for an instant before the fucker darted back into the tree line. But Jack was prepared. He released his intent to kill and centered it on Klaus. Using his energy, he pushed out the danger and heard the telltale sign of a man who couldn’t keep still. That fidgeting response targeted his prey, and Jack raced toward him even as another bullet tore through the side of his thigh.
He tackled Klaus to the ground and fought the man for a few minutes, but the tussle didn’t amount to much. He broke Klaus’s right wrist and might have crushed a few of the man’s ribs, enough that he cried out in pain.
“Okay, you little motherfucker. What did you plan to do with Heather when you got back?”