Canyons of Night Read Free

brief flicker of satisfaction swept through her when the metal barrel struck Derek on his upper arm. She hauled back for another blow.
    “Who do you think you are?” Derek snarled. “I’ll teach you to hit me.”
    His face twisted into a vicious mask. He shook her furiously. The flashlight fell from her hand. Her glasses went flying.
    Garrett laughed nervously. “That’s enough, Derek. She’s just a kid.”
    “Garrett’s right,” the man from the backseat said. “Come on, Derek, let’s get out of here. We’ve got a lot of drinking left to do tonight. I need my weed, man.”
    “We’re not leaving yet,” Derek said. “We’re just starting to have some fun.”
    He drew back a clenched fist, preparing to deliver a punch. Charlotte raised both arms in a desperate attempt to ward off the blow. At the same time she kicked Derek in the knee.
    Derek howled.
    “Are you crazy?” Garrett said.
    “Bitch,” Derek screamed. He shook her again.
    A shadowy figure materialized out of the woods. Charlotte did not need her glasses to see the obsidiandark hues of a familiar ultralight rainbow. Slade Attridge.
    Slade moved toward the driver with the speed and lethal intent of an attacking specter-cat.
    “What the hell?” Garrett yelped, startled.
    “Shit,” the man from the backseat yelped. “I told you this was a bad idea.”
    Derek was oblivious to the danger. In his rage, he was obsessed only with punishing Charlotte. He did not realize what was happening until a powerful hand locked on his shoulder.
    “Let her go,” Slade said. He wrenched Derek away from Charlotte.
    Derek screamed. He released Charlotte and frantically tried to scramble out of reach. Slade used one booted foot to swipe Derek’s legs out from under him. Derek landed hard on the pavement, shrieking with rage and pain.
    “You can’t do this to me,” he screeched. “You don’t know who you’re messing with. My dad will have you arrested. He’ll sue your ass.”
    “That should be interesting,” Slade said. He looked at the other two. “Get him in the Vibe and get out of here. Come anywhere near her again and you will all wake up in an ICU or maybe just plain dead, depending on my mood at the time. Is that understood?”
    “Shit, this guy’s crazy,” the man from the backseat whispered. He ran for the vehicle. “You guys do what you want. I’m out of here.”
    He hopped into the driver’s seat, rezzed the little engine, and put the Vibe in gear.
    “Wait up, damn it.” Garrett raced toward the Vibe and jumped into the front seat.
    Derek staggered to his feet. “Don’t leave me, you bastards. He’ll kill me.”
    “It’s a thought,” Slade said, as if the idea held great appeal. “Better run.”
    Derek fled toward the Vibe, which was now halfway through a U-turn.
    He lunged forward and managed to dive into the back of the buggy.
    The Vibe whined away into the night and vanished around a turn.
    A hushed silence fell. The eerie quiet was broken only by the sound of labored breathing. Charlotte realized that she was the one trying to catch her breath. She was shivering but not because she was cold. It was all she could do to stand upright. Great. She was having another stupid panic attack. And in front of Slade Attridge of all people. Just her rotten luck.
    “You okay?” Slade asked. He picked up the flashlight and put it in her hand.
    “Y-yes. Thanks.” She struggled with the deep, square breathing exercise the parapsychologist had taught her and tried to compose herself. “My glasses.” She looked around but everything except Slade’s darkly luminous rainbow was indistinct. “They fell off.”
    “I see them,” Slade said. He started across the pavement.
    “You m-must have really g-good eyes,” she said. Geez. Now she was stuttering because of the panic attack. It was all so humiliating.
    “Good night vision,” Slade said. “Side effect of my talent.”
    “You’re a h-hunter, aren’t you? Not a g-ghost hunter but a