Sucked In

by Charissa Dufour

  Chapter Forty

  I wasn't sure what they were looking for in the creepy coffin, but it was clearly missing. All I saw was what seemed to be a woman—due to the long, black dress—and the remains of a dog laying at her feet. I was deeply disturbed. Of course, it turned out I could get even more disturbed. I blinked a few times, once again thinking I was going crazy. The skeleton of the dog seemed to shiver for a brief second before it fleshed out and became a shimmering image of the real, living thing. The ghost of the long dead dog pranced around as if in full health and nipped playfully at Josh’s feet.

  “Gah!” I sputtered. Periphetes harrumphed, Josh chuckled and Nik ignored. After us vampires stared at the ghost of this woman's dog for a few seconds, I pulled my attention back to what we'd come here for. “So…” I clicked my tongue on the roof of my mouth. “Was the dog what we were after?”

  “Not in the least,” whispered the fae, his breath still coming in tendrils of cold air and brushing against my ear. “Victoria Chambers was the last known person to possess the grimoire of Sedgrave and there was a legend that she'd been buried with it… along with her dog. Clearly, that legend was false.”

  “But she was buried with her dog,” I point out, my voice full of judgment.

  “She was a bit eccentric.”

  “Eccentric? She was bat-shit-crazy!” exclaimed Josh before climbing out of the grave. He had to make a few foot holes to make it up the six-foot wall of dirt.

  Nik followed. “We’d better fill the grave again.”

  While they worked, I asked Periphetes a few questions. “So… bat-shit-crazy lady… what was her deal?”

  “She was a wealthy occultist, supposedly clairvoyant, and steeped in mysticism. The story says she stumbled upon Sedgrave's grimoire in her European travels. She spent a small fortune on it. Unlike most occultists of that era, she actually had a slight connection with the mystical world and was a true believer.”

  “Why did we need his grimoire again?”

  “It's a tool in the ritual where you become a sacrifice,” said Periphetes.

  “Keeping it out of their hands was one way to help prevent you dying,” added Nik, his tone biting.

  “Again,” Josh added a beat too late in an effort to dissolve the sudden tension.

  I felt very stupid for asking what now seemed so obvious. Twenty-twenty hindsight, as always. Periphetes patted my arm with the hand that draped over my shoulders. “The more items we can keep from them the safer you are.”

  I turned my attention to the dirt slowly piling on top of the dog ghost that continued to prance around in the grave, making soft yipping noises. To my surprise, it started climbing the dirt pile as though it was corporeal, eventually making its way out. It went straight to Josh and began to snap at the flying dirt with its tiny mouth. Of course, the dirt just passed right through his ghostly head. I was too depressed to feel sorry for the puppy’s early demise or to even find its antics cute and amusing. A while later they finished filling the grave and replacing the chunks of sod. In Washington's wet climate the roots would take hold again in no time.

  When we neared the car—the puppy following us, I started to feel as though someone was watching me again. I stopped to look for the ghost, but even with my super-vamp-night-vision, I couldn't make out anything beyond the nearest gravestones. I turned back to the group, realizing they had made it to the car, not aware I'd stopped. I was just about to look around again when something hit me in the back of the head.

  I went down face first, falling too fast to get my hands out to soften my landing. My mouth filled with wet grass and I felt mud smear across my face as I turned my head. I spit the grass out and rolled to my left, just in time to miss another blow from the two-by-four that had hit me in the head. It was wielded by a man that looked strangely familiar.

  No. Not a man.

  I couldn't hear his heartbeat. In fact, I couldn't hear any heartbeats in the bodies that danced around me in a deadly battle. I kicked up, nailing my attacker in the groin. Though it didn't affect him like it would a human, it did hurt enough to give me time to scramble to my feet.

  I was preparing to hit him again when I heard Nik yelling at me to run. I turned, trying to spot him in the midst of the battle. I suddenly realized most of Richard's seethe was here to capture me. We were vastly outnumbered, even with Periphetes freezing our enemies one by one.

  The distraction gave my attacker a chance to hit me again. The blunt piece of wood collided with my shoulder blade. I heard a sick crack and my arm went limp. Yes, running suddenly seemed like a good idea. But how could I with this two-by-four wielding fiend attacking me? I ducked away from his next swing, too hurt and confused to do anything more impressive. Just when I was about to win a gold medal in stupidity, a streak of white shot into my attacker, freezing him in place. I glanced at Periphetes.

  Even from where I stood I could see that the fae was wounded. I had no idea by what means faeries could die, but it was clear that he would soon be out of the battle. His tall, lean body slumped to one side. From what looked like a gash in his stomach, silver ichor dribbled down his groin and legs. Curls of mist plunged to the ground from the liquid seeping out of his wound—as though his blood was made of liquid nitrogen. He looked like a junior high science project gone wrong.

  I didn't hesitate this time. I charged away from the fight, just trying to make it to the nearest road. When my feet hit the pavement I veered toward the main thoroughfare a few blocks away, not straightening my trajectory until I reached the other side of the road. I hoped there would be some traffic to keep my enemies from attacking me straight out.

  Before I made it to the wider road, a strange noise from within the cemetery made me reconsider my plan. Maybe I need to simply get away from the graveyard, I thought. I turned down the next path that wasn't a driveway. It took me between two dark houses and dumped me into a parking lot for a small business building. Another unnerving sound made me stop. From there, I saw that even the Safeway gas station was deserted. So much for finding a crowd. Granted, it was two in the morning.

  “Ashley,” whispered a voice. I glanced around, trying to figure out where it had come from. Though it was soft, the voice echoed off the surrounding buildings. “Ashley… come out to play,” it taunted.

  My eyes widened with fright. Whoever it was wasn’t a friend. I bolted in whatever direction I was already facing.

  I hurdled over a low fence dividing the parking lot from a dead-end, residential street and ran like mad. Tendrils of pain shot down my injured arm and burst out of my fingertips. I tried to hold it against my body, to keep the broken bones in my shoulder from shifting, but this just made it hard to run. I needed both arms to keep a steady, even pace.

  After a few blocks, the street ended in a T. Without thinking or slowing my pace, I turned, just as the black clouds above released their burden. Pelting rain began to fall, forcing me to blink furiously to clear the water out of my eyes. As I straightened my angle, my surroundings were suddenly lit by a blinding flash of lightning. I had to slow my pace as my eyes readjusted to the darkness. The night rumbled with the following thunder just as I fought to speed up again.

  At the next junction, I stopped, glancing down both deserted streets. “Ashley… ” echoed the voice again. “Why are you running, Ashley?”

  I didn't wait to answer. I took off at a sprint down another street. More lightning flashed through the sky, blinding me. I didn't stop but hoped my feet would stay on the pavement as I ran forward. At the next turn, I realized I didn't have a clue where I was, but that didn't stop me. I kept running in the direction I hoped would lead me away from the graveyard.

  A few steps later, my tennis shoes slipped in a puddle and I went skidding onto a nearby lawn, landing on my damaged shoulder. I screamed. I couldn't help it. The rain had already filled the porous earth and was now forming puddles in the lawn. I sat in an inch of muddy water and I shook my head, trying to get the wet hair
out of my eyes.

  Another flash of lightning.

  Once I could see again, I spotted the lights of a car moving away from me at a fast clip. That must be a main road, I thought. Thunder rolled across the city.

  “Ashley… what's wrong?” simpered the voice again.

  I dove toward the thoroughfare, trying to move quickly and keep my injured arm from screaming at me, positive anyone within a ten block radius could hear it.

  I felt hot tears began to mingle with the rain water running down my cheeks. Just as I got close enough to recognize it as Capitol Boulevard—which would easily lead me back to the seethe—three men jumped out of an alley and surrounded me. I hadn't heard even a whisper of their approach.

  I turned, prepared to keep up my momentum, but instead of getting away, I collided into a muscled chest. Two hands reached out and grabbed me by the shoulders. Fire shot from my cracked shoulder blade and down my arm. I screamed, causing him to relax his grip a little. Once I had blinked the tears away, I saw that Isaac had captured me at last. His blue eyes stared down at me as his full lips tweaked up into a half smile.

  “You have wasted a great deal of my time,” he hissed. Instead of being gentle with me, as he always had been, he pushed me roughly over to the other men. Two of them took hold of my arms while the other grabbed my feet. I screamed again when they carried me by arms and legs toward a waiting vehicle. I couldn't help it. It felt as though they were tearing my arm away from my body with each jarring step.

  Just as they tossed me into the backseat, I noticed the porch light of a nearby house flicker on, but it was too late for them to help me; besides, I knew Isaac would only kill any human that came to my aid. I clamped my mouth shut as they joined me in the back seat, jostling my battered body. Isaac and the third man jumped into the front seat. I tried to be as small as possible, not wanting to touch my captives, but the small movement had me gasping for breath. I couldn't take it. Instead, I leaned back in the seat and tried to relax. After all, it's not like there was anything I could do now. My goose was good and cooked.