by Jessica Sims
The floor creaked upstairs.
We froze. Lily sucked in a breath.
The growl started low in Josh’s throat.
Terror flashed through me. “Josh,” I whispered.
“I’m going to change, baby,” he said softly. “Don’t be frightened, okay? I’m going to change and take care of him, and then we’re going to get out of here.”
I nodded, tugging Lily tighter to me. This was going to be difficult for her to see and hear.
Josh dropped to all fours, and I heard the sudden, violent crack of bones as Josh’s growl continued. Alarmed, Lily slid behind me. I had to pretend everything was okay, even as I strained to see Josh. How long would it take?
I heard a rustle of movement. Something wet and raspy licked my hand, and then I watched the big cat step into the light flooding down the stairway.
“Be careful,” I whispered. “Please be careful.”
He climbed the stairs and into the light.
Almost immediately, we heard the sound of snarls. Something heavy slammed up against the door, banging it shut, and Lily and I jumped with alarm.
Josh was strong. He was a bodyguard. He knew a lot about vampires. He’d be just fine.
I repeated this mantra as the sounds of fighting continued upstairs. Lily’s fingers dug into my arm, and I forced myself to disentangle from her death grip. “I need to see what’s going on.”
“No,” she begged me. “Stay with me. I’m scared.”
I shook my head. “He might need my help.”
He probably needed my help like he needed a hole in the head, but I wanted to be ready if he did.
I climbed the stairs slowly, my long, dragging chain in one hand, the banister clutched in the other. Just climbing the stairs was killing me; it was alarming how weak I was.
To my surprise, Lily was at my side, helping me push to the door. I turned the doorknob, then eased it open a crack.
The room was in shambles. A white couch was tipped over in the center of the room, the wooden tables overturned. Broken vases littered the floor. A picture was askew on the far wall, and a rug was rumpled up against the fireplace. An enormous tan mountain lion streaked past, its claws digging into the hardwood floor. It pounced, knocking something—or someone—out of the way.
Then a man’s shadow approached from the hall, and I realized that Andre wasn’t alone. A bodyguard? Maybe they’d know Josh!
The mountain lion growled, and Andre bit out a curse.
“Get off of him,” a voice called from the hall. An enormous man came into sight; his skin was pale, like a vampire’s. Oh, no—this was bad. Josh wouldn’t stand a chance against both Andre and that vampire behemoth.
I glanced back at Lily and raised a finger to my lips, indicating silence.
She nodded.
I eased the door open, clutching my chain against my chest so it wouldn’t clink and give me away. I tiptoed out just in time to hear Josh’s yowl as the second vampire landed on top of him.
“Snap his neck,” I heard Andre shout. “Kill him!”
Fuck that!
Josh gave a snarl of pain and I heard something crack hard, spurring me forward.
“Get off of him,” the vampire bodyguard growled again.
I had to do something. I stared at the chain in my hand, then moved closer until I was in striking distance. No one had noticed me yet.
The bodyguard was still yelling at Josh. “Get off of him!”
The cougar gave a low, muffled growl, his teeth sunk into Andre’s throat, making him writhe on the floor.
The bodyguard raised his nightstick to strike Josh again, and I lashed out with my doubled-over chain, snapping it against the back of his head.
It cracked loudly; the vampire groaned and fell to the floor, unconscious.
I slid weakly to the ground, unable to remain standing anymore.
Distracted, Josh turned his attention to me, and Andre heaved his body, bucking off the cougar in a last burst of strength. The cougar dug for traction and flung himself back at Andre, but the vampire blocked him, sending him into a nearby table, where his head hit the corner.
He went limp.
“Josh!” I screamed, crawling forward.
Andre brushed at his bleeding lip, panting hard. As I stared, he drew out a gun.
No! I tried to move forward, but my movements were sluggish and slow. I had to do something, though; Josh needed me!
A small, dirty figure flew forward, something raised in her hand. Lily held it high and then stabbed downward, straight through Andre’s heart.
He gasped, clutching his chest, and toppled.
I stared. A thick pencil jutted out of his back. No—three pencils, rubber-banded together to make a thick makeshift stake. They must have been sharpened to a deadly point.
Andre didn’t move.
Lily dusted off her hands, then leaned over the vampire to examine him. When she was satisfied he was dead, she spat on his fallen body. “I’ve been holding on to those pencils for months in the hopes that they’d work. They went through his skin like butter.”
“Thank you,” I said weakly, and collapsed to the floor.
“Are you okay?” she asked, rushing to my side.
“Josh,” I said, all my concern for him. He was so still. Fear clenched my body. “Is he . . . ?”
She crouched next to him, pressing her fingers under his nose. “He’s breathing. I think he conked his head pretty hard.” Her fingers hesitated, and she touched his fur. “He’s a . . . cat?”
“Shapeshifter,” I said tiredly. “I’ll explain later.” At her frightened, uncertain look, I decided I needed to explain a little more right now. “There are a lot of creatures that hide their true nature. Josh is one of the good ones. We’re safe with him.”
She nodded uncertainly, glancing down at his still body. “So . . . what do we do with him?”
I didn’t know.
I stared at his unconscious form. At the bodyguard who was equally unconscious. At the dead vampire with the pencil sticking out of his back. We needed help.
I thought about calling Ryder, but she was at work. If I called her to help me dispose of a vampire body, she’d get fired for sure. And this was my problem.
I needed someone I could trust, who wouldn’t ask too many questions. Who would help without blaming.
I spotted a table nearby and a phone atop it, and I moved toward it slowly. “I know someone who can help.”
Lily nodded, biting her lip anxiously.
“Go find some rope and tie up the guard,” I told her. “We don’t want him attacking us when he wakes up.”
She nodded and raced off, her chain dragging on the floor. I finished dialing and waited for the phone to ring.
Five rings, and then a sleepy voice picked up on the other end. “Hello?”
“Daddy?” My voice cracked a little.
Chapter Fifteen
My dad arrived less than a half hour later. In that time, we’d tied up the guard and dragged him into a nearby room, then pushed a dresser in front of the door to put a little space between us and him. We were exhausted and it was slow going, but fear pushed us onward. Lily had to do most of the work, since I was too weak to do much more than feebly shove.
Andre remained dead. Really dead. And Josh was still out, which worried me.
My father, bless his heart, showed up without Posey. He asked no questions, just moved to my side and hugged me. I melted into his warm, strong hug, fighting my weepiness. I needed to be strong right now.
He stared at the dead vampire for a long moment, then looked at me again. His gaze went to the collar around my neck, and the chain.
“Marie-Pierre . . . ?”
“It’s a long story, Dad,” I told him. “For now, we need to get Josh out of here.”
“And Josh is the . . . cat?”
I nodded. “He’ll change back later, if we can get him to wake up. Right now we’ve got to get him home and call the Alliance doctor.”
&n
bsp; I could have called the Russells, but I didn’t trust them to not frighten the hell out of Lily. Plus, I didn’t know what to do about the vampires—live or dead.
“Do we . . . need to dispose of the body?”
I stared at my dad in surprise. “You’d help me dispose of a body?”
He hugged me again and rubbed my shoulder. “I’m your father, honey. Of course I would.”
Well, geez. I nodded, my throat tight, and gestured to Josh. “Just help me get him in your truck and to a doctor. We’ll figure out the rest later.”
But I didn’t know where Josh lived. “His wallet. It’s probably in his pants.”
Lily and I both turned to look back at the wine cellar, and dread piled up in my stomach. I didn’t want to go back there, and I guessed Lily felt the same.
I looked to my father. “It’s in the cellar. I can’t . . . I don’t . . . ” I gestured at the chain around my neck helplessly. “Can you . . . ”
My dad patted my shoulder. “I’ll go get it. You girls wait here.”
I moved back to Josh’s side, stroking his face and fur as we waited. Dad came back a couple of minutes later with car keys, a wallet, and Josh’s clothes piled on his arm. “His car must be out front. One of you should probably drive it wherever we’re going.”
“I’ll do it,” I told him, staring down at Josh. He was so quiet and still. “Let’s just hurry.”
• • •
We pulled up to an enormous house out in the country about an hour later. The big, looming two-story house had several lights on, and by the time we made it down the gravel driveway, me in Josh’s sedan and Lily and Dad in the truck with Josh, a few men had stepped out onto the porch.
I recognized Everett, Ellis, and Austin. This wouldn’t go over well. Not only did I have their unconscious brother with me but I also had two humans who now knew about the Paranormal Alliance.
I put Josh’s car in park and hauled myself out of the driver’s side. I immediately staggered, feeling that awful lethargy coming over me again.
“Marie?” Austin moved to my side, propping up my elbow. “What are you doing here? Something wrong at the agency?”
“Josh is in the truck,” I told him. “We have to get a doctor. He’s unconscious.”
• • •
The Alliance doctor was there in a matter of minutes, with Beau not far behind him. Both looked grim as they entered Josh’s room, where the cougar was stretched out on the bed. The other Russells paced nearby, watching us.
I wanted to be in there, but Austin was hovering outside the door protectively, and I was willing to bet that he had instructions to let no one pass—including me. I was okay with that, as long as they made Josh all better. I clasped my hands against my chest to keep them from trembling. He’d been so still and quiet when they’d hauled his limp body out of the truck.
If he died . . . I felt a sick lurch. I thought of Josh’s cocky smile, his eyes shining with merriment as he teased me. His long lashes. His big shoulders. His big arms holding me tight. The kind way he always gave Carol a ride home at night. Tears pricked my eyes. Why had it taken me so long to realize what a great guy he was?
I should have trusted him.
If I had to die, I could accept that. But Josh? Vibrant, sexy, gorgeous, funny Josh? He needed to live, and I clenched every muscle in my body, as if thinking it hard enough could will it into being.
Everett and Ellis hovered over Lily and my father and me. It made Lily terrified, and she huddled in a corner of the room, ignoring the offers of food and drink. She hugged her legs to herself, ignored everyone’s attempts to calm her, and stared around her with wide eyes, trembling.
My father calmly sat at my side and rubbed my shoulder. And even though Everett and Ellis glared, I explained to my father why Josh was a cougar, and who the dead man was.
The harder part was telling him why I’d been seeing a vampire in the first place. I couldn’t bring myself to explain that I was dying. There’d be time enough for that later.
To my relief, my father didn’t ask questions. He only nodded thoughtfully. “And this is secret? All this?”
I nodded. “No one’s supposed to know. At all. It endangers everyone.”
“But everyone at your job knows?”
I winced. I’d tell him some other time that I was fired. “They do. Everyone at the agency had to sign a hush order before we could get accepted into the Alliance as auxiliary members.”
He nodded, then looked at Ellis and Everett, who were still frowning at us. “You got one of those hush orders for me?”
Everett and Ellis exchanged a glance. “I’ll get Beau,” Ellis said, disappearing into Josh’s room.
“Dad,” I began.
He patted my hand. “Now listen, Marie. You’re tired. We’re all tired. There’s a lot going on right now. Posey’s expecting me home, and I don’t want to worry her. So let me sign one of those hush orders and then we can all get some sleep.”
“You don’t have more questions?”
He chuckled and tousled my hair, just like I was a child. “I have a lot of them. But I’m guessing that the less I know, the better.”
I nodded, blinking hard. “That’s probably best.”
Dad smiled at me. “I like Josh. And you trust him. I know you don’t trust easily, so when you do, I trust your judgment.”
“I love him,” I said softly, burrowing into his arms for a hug.
“I know you do, Marie,” he said softly. “But there’s nothing you can do for him right now. Let’s go home and we’ll come back tomorrow.”
I shook my head, pulling out of his arms. “I want to stay. I want to see Josh when he wakes up.”
He nodded. “If you want. Your little friend can come home with me, though—”
“She stays,” Everett said in a flat voice. “Everyone stays until Beau says so.”
Beau emerged a short time later and had a private discussion with my father. I sat on the floor next to Lily, feeling the need to comfort her with my presence even if she didn’t want me there. Nondisclosure contracts were produced, and my dad signed one willingly. Even if Posey asked, he’d never say a thing.
And suddenly, I realized . . . it was all right to tell him. I was dying, and that was okay. My dad would be terribly sad, but he would be by my side until the bitter end. Just like he had with my mother. Tears brimmed in my eyes.
Life wasn’t about being alone so that no one would get hurt.
It was about loving the ones you had, while you had them. My dad loved me. I loved him, too. It would devastate him when I died, but more so if I hid it from him until the bitter end.
Once the papers were signed, my father gave me another fierce, warm hug. I declined his offer of going home again, determined to see Josh as soon as they’d let me. When I was out, I’d call him, I promised.
We’d go to breakfast and then I’d let him know everything. A strange feeling of relief swept through me. I didn’t have to go through this alone, after all. I gave him a hug and he left.
To my surprise, Beau didn’t like the idea of Lily leaving. “She stays until we figure out what to do with her. In the meantime, you and you,” he said, pointing at the twins, “need to go to that address and clean things up. Austin’s going to contact the vampire liaison and let them know what happened. She’ll meet you there. I suspect there’s going to be a lot of explaining over the next few days, and we need to make sure everything is in order.”
I struggled to my feet. “Can I see him?”
“You,” Beau said firmly, “need to rest. You’re so tired you can’t even stand up straight. We’ll talk in the morning.”
• • •
I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking of Lily and Josh. She’d been terrified at the thought of being dragged into a strange room and had fought Beau, kicking and screaming. They’d had to call in the doctor to sedate her.
I didn’t know what was going to happen with her. She was pretty messed
up. What did you do with a human girl as damaged as that? They couldn’t turn her loose, like they had my father.
Even though my father had signed the nondisclosure, I knew they’d be watching him carefully for the next while, just in case.
I drifted in and out of a light doze, my body so exhausted that the room was hazy. Hallucinations flashed back and forth, as they always did when I was exhausted. The walls wavered, then shifted to my own room. Then they changed to blood. Then spiders. Then back to blood, the plain white walls streaming crimson as I stared at them.
My mother had been institutionalized a few months before the end, and I was heading toward that.
I hoped I had enough time to tell Josh that I was sorry and that I loved him.
• • •
My hallucinations turned again, and I whimpered when the walls of the guest room changed to Andre’s cellar. In the dark, it was suffocatingly real. I still had the collar around my neck, too, since we’d had to put off going to a locksmith until the morning. It wasn’t a good feeling, and it was clearly feeding my dreams.
“Marie!” Josh called.
I squeezed my eyes shut, my mind clearly replaying my rescue from the cellar.
“Marie! Where is she, damn it?”
I heard an unfamiliar feline snarl, then footsteps pounding through the hallway.
“Now, Josh—” began a calm male voice, only to be cut off by another angry snarl.
I sat up, rubbing my eyes, trying desperately to piece my confused mind back together. Was this a hallucination? Or was that really Josh? Desperate with hope, I started to get up to see for myself.
Then the door was flung open, and a tall, broad silhouette stood in the light.
And oh, God, he looked so good that I didn’t trust my eyes. I rubbed them again. “Josh?”
“Marie,” he growled, the sound fiercely possessive. He stalked into the room and moved to the bed.
Relief hit me so hard that I began to tremble, tears spilling from my eyes. “Oh, Josh—”
He tangled his hand in my hair, tugging me forward and pulling me against him. My arms went around him as he sat on the edge of the bed.
“Marie,” he half-growled, half-whispered. “Baby. You okay?”
