Hell's Rayne (Book 1)

Chapter 30

At that point Jesse couldn't control himself any longer. Whether it was the drink in his system, or the constant antagonism from Eric, it didn't matter, he lost it. He lunged across the table, the glasses flew aside and tumbled, spilling their contents onto the plush carpet; while Jesse quickly had Eric by the throat. Knees up on the table, that rocked precariously beneath his weight, Jesse kept Eric pressed hard against the back of his chair, both hands wrapped around his neck.

Eric appeared so shocked by the sudden attack that he made no move to defend himself. His eyes, though, were narrowed in anger as he clutched at Jesse's wrists to try and stop the man from choking the life out of him. The commotion had drawn the attention of the whole pub, yet no one came any closer nor made any move to stop them, they just watched unable to tear their eyes away. It was like watching a car crash.

Do something, the voice in my head grabbed at my attention, he can't kill him here, he didn't even admit to being guilty. Though that fact was neither here nor there for Jesse by that point, the slight on his sisters character had been more than enough to tip him over the edge. But it couldn't be this simple, a random rage killing wouldn't cut it, the intent would be all wrong, the corruption wouldn't take and I'd face returning to Hell a failure. They were already dissatisfied with my performance on my last case, I couldn't head back after a month – a month too long at that – with nothing to show for my effort. I may as well hire the hit-man myself.

At the voice's insistence I jumped to my feet, this was an incident where I really did need to interfere. I rushed to their table side and tugged, fruitlessly, at Jesse's shoulder; I wanted to pull him off, but I also didn't want to send the wobbly table falling to the floor.

“Don't you dare insult my sister like that!” Jesse hissed through gritted teeth. “You're a dirty liar, what did you do to her? Tell the truth.”

“Jesse, let him go, you're going to kill him,” I shouted, giving up on trying to pull his arms away.

I watched his fingers tighten; he wanted to do it, he wanted to kill him right in that moment, with over a dozen witnesses watching on. But if I talked him out of it now, would he still be so keen to spill Eric's blood later once we knew for sure where the guilt lay? It was too hard to be sure and I felt so torn between tearing him away and letting him carry on choking the life out of the man.

It won't work, you know it won't work. Not yet. Eric's face had turned bright red and he drew large, panicked welts along Jesse's arms with his nails. Oh, for fuck's sake.

“Dammit!” I shouted, rolling my eyes. I shoved over the wobbling table that Jesse had planted himself on top of. “Let go.”

The instant he felt his balance going Jesse loosened his grip. He pitched forwards as the table fell and sent Eric's chair tumbling backwards. Eric hit the floor with a heavy thud and just about managed to pull his legs out of the way before the table went and Jesse crashed onto the floor next to him. It was then that all hell seemed to break loose.

Not at all stunned by the fall, Jesse was soon up on his knees and he lunged for Eric again, fists flying as he aimed strike after strike at Eric's face. He'd raised his arms to try and block the blows but Jesse was relentless. I stepped in between them and caught Jesse's wrist, squeezing hard as I let a little taste of my preternatural strength leech out, and stopped him in his tracks.

“That's enough, Jesse, please. Just let him up.” My voice was cold and firm as I stared him straight in the eye. He looked up at me like he didn't recognise who I was, perhaps he was seeing a glimpse of the real me for the first time, and I couldn't judge what he saw in me.