Bell, Book, and Sandals

by Melissa L. Webb

  My head throbbed. The sensation filling me as I swam out of the murky depths of my mind. Instant pain, creeping down the back of my head and blossoming, like a bouquet of torture throughout my whole body. Opening my eyes, I stared into the black void in front of me. Nothing. I was surrounded by nothing, the complete absence of everything, and I couldn’t figure out how I had ended up here.

  I tried to move, but I was frozen in place, the void restraining me where I was. I stopped and listened, straining to hear something that could tell me what this place was. A roar surrounded me, crashing down on something underneath me. I wasn’t in a void after all. There was something in here with me. I wasn’t alone. Inhaling deeply, I tasted the bitter sting of salt in the air. I knew what that roaring was. I could hear the ocean. It was all around me.

  I struggled against the void, trying to remember why I was here. Why would I willingly come to the ocean and sit in the dark? It didn’t seem like a very Maxie thing to do. The answer crashed into my mind the same time as the wave below me crashed into the rocks. I had been jumped. By a vampire no less.

  With my mind back in reality, I recognized the feel of a wooden chair beneath me, my arms and legs firmly held in place by some kind of metal chain. I wiggled my nose, trying to figure out why I couldn’t see. The rustle of fabric confirmed what I had been thinking. Blindfolded. Well, this was shaping up to be a super day.

  I reached down inside of me, to the very core of my essence. I’d teach them to mess with me. I was going to blow this whole place apart. But as I reached my core, I came up empty. There was nothing there. No glow. No sizzle. My magic was gone. I was numb inside. It was like the spark that had been awakened in me had been silenced. Even Jensen’s sliver of soul was keeping quiet down there. I was on my own.

  I tried to physically break free of my restraints. But that was no use. The chains were bound too tight and I was too weak. Who ever had placed me here knew exactly what they were doing. Anger trickled into the hollow parts of my essence. I had been abandoned, left to die with nothing to protect myself with. Had my powers been taken? Or was this my punishment for being so stupid?

  I stopped struggling. It was no use. I was up doo doo creek without a paddle. Tears, as hot as the shame within me, streaked down my face. I had been careless, and now I would pay.

  “What’s a matter?” a voice, as coiled as a snake, asked in my ear. “Did you just realize how much trouble you’re in?”

  I flinched, trying to shrink down into myself. I didn’t recognize the voice, but I didn’t have to. I knew how serious this situation was. Those words were made up of pure malice.

  Laughter surrounded me. The room was filled with people and this was all a game to them. I was merely a mouse being toyed with before dinner. A hand stroked my arm, its fingers hard and cold against my skin. Dead fingers. Funny how Ryan’s never felt that way to me.

  “Don’t worry,” the voice spoke again, no doubt the owner of the fingers on my skin. “It doesn’t have to be all bad.”

  If it could have, my skin would have crawled away at that. Pain flared into my system as my body rejected his touch. My shame intensified as I sat there, dirtied from the touch. To think I had let one of them touch me was unimaginable. No wonder why my friends had tried to stop me from dating Ryan.

  “Don’t you dare touch me,” I growled, wishing to God I could do more than that. More laughter erupted around me. The peanut gallery was getting one heck of a kick out of this.

  A door opened to the right of me. The click of expensive shoes silenced the laughter immediately. “What are you doing?” a deep, charming voice dripping with authority asked.

  “What you told me to,” the first voice spoke; slight fear replacing the malice as he quickly pulled his hand away from me. I sighed as the pain stopped from the lack of the vampire’s touch.

  “I told you to restrain her, not torment her.” Those expensive shoes stepped closer and my blindfold was yanked free.

  I blinked as my eyes adjusted to the beams of light shooting in through the holes in the ceiling. People stood around, staring at me, curiosity in their eyes. And people said vampires couldn’t be in the sunlight. I glanced around, trying to get my bearings. Faded posters of clowns and sideshow acts littered the walls. I looked up, staring at the skeletal remains of a Ferris Wheel through the ceiling. I was in an old amusement park. More exactly, given the ocean around us, I was in Ryan’s abandoned boardwalk park.

  The thought of betrayal stung deep. Ryan was in on this, too. What better place to hide someone, then a place no one even knew existed.

  I glanced up, fighting tears as I stared at the man who had given me back my sight. He smiled at me, charm oozing from every pore. I had to say, if I hadn’t been tied up to the chair, fearing for my life, I might have succumbed to that charm. He was devastatingly good looking, reminding me of Errol Flynn in those old movies my mom loved so much. He looked as young as me. He looked as ancient as time itself. Someone of this magnitude could only be one person.

  Ryan’s father.

  Richard Everheart.

  “I’m sorry about that, my dear,” he told me soothingly, glancing at someone next to my chair. “Cass can be a little unruly at times.”

  I turned my head, the ache in it complaining as I did. The green-eyed guy from the parking lot stood there. He bared his teeth in a suggestive smile. “Hello, love.”

  Richard frowned at him, turning his attention back to me. “What can I say? My other son has all the charm.”

  Other son? I looked back at the green-eyed guy, the light slowly going on in my head. Ryan had a brother. How many other things was Ryan keeping from me? I was getting a very bad feeling about all of this. Ryan’s whole family was here. Had this been a set up all along? Was Ryan going to pop out of the woodwork himself and say “Thanks for the goods, now we have to kill you?” I had to stop this.

  “Look,” I said to Richard, trying to appeal to the business man in him. “You don’t have to kill me. You can call off all your attacks and let me go. I’m not a threat to you. I’m not even dating your son anymore.”

  He frowned down at me, puzzled by my words. “First of all, I have never tried to harm you. The attacks you speak of were not sent by me. And secondly, you breaking up with my son is exactly why you’re here.”

  Great. Breaking up with Ryan was coming back to bite me. Literally. “I’m sorry I broke Ryan’s heart. We were just not right for each other.”

  Richard dismissed me with a wave of his hand. “Oh, I don’t care about his feelings. He’s always been too much of a sentimental bleeding heart for a vampire. He was a disgrace to the Everheart name. Running off to play pretend, when he should have been with me, running the vampire regime.” He shrugged nonchalantly. “I’d written him off a long time ago. The boy was useless to me. But then…he goes and snags himself a witch. And not just any witch, a very powerful one.”

  I shook my head. What was he talking about? I wasn’t anything special. I was just a novice. A dumb blonde one at that. There was certainly no reason to go to this length over me.

  “You may think you’re nothing,” he said, guessing my thoughts. “But you’re destined for greatness.” He leaned towards me, a predatory smile on his lips. “I can smell it on you.” He stood back up, straightening his suit and tie. His demeanor once again casual. “Any way…where was I?”

  Cass spoke suddenly, “Ryan.”

  “Oh, yes. The disappointment. Somehow he gets a witch to fall in love with him, willingly. That’s never happened before. Most witches have more sense than that. Or their powers prevent them, or something. But you…you came willingly to a vampire and that’s all I needed.”

  “Why?” I asked him, lost among his words. Why should any of this matter? “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Richard sighed as if he was talking to a three-year-old.
“You see, I’m at war with the West Coast Vampires. If they knew I was here right now all hell would break loose. The problem is…we’re evenly matched. No other Supernatural will join our war, and I can’t say I blame them. We are a nasty lot. But…if I had a witch on my side, a witch as great as you, I could be invincible.”

  Cass shook his head as he stared down at me. “But your boyfriend couldn’t even do that job right.”

  “What job?” I asked, the terrible feeling magnifying in my stomach. That was it, wasn’t it? Ryan had been using me this whole time. I was only a pawn in his daddy’s game.

  “When I contacted Ryan about you, I told him how special you are,” Richard continued, “I told him you’d be a powerful woman on his arm and I would gladly accept both of you back into the family. At first, he didn’t want anything to do with me. He had his life, but…after that vampire attacked you in the elevator; he flew home to talk things over with me.”

  What? “Ryan knew about the attack?” I couldn’t believe it. How could he have left at a time like that?

  “Of course, he did. When a rival vampire attacks someone important to me, everyone around me knows about it. Ryan figured as long as he was dating you, you’d be a target for the other side. I told him if he brought you into the family, I’d protect you with everything I had.”

  So it wasn’t Ryan’s idea. He had only wanted to be with me. But that didn’t change a thing. Maybe he wasn’t using me, but he sure as heck knew his father wanted to.

  Richard tsked sadly. “But instead, he let you get away. What a fool. And to think for a short while I was proud that he was one of my children.”

  A door opened and several people came in. Ryan stood in the middle of them, looking like he lost a fight with a dump truck. The others shoved him and he stumbled, landing hard in front of me. “Ryan,” I yelled, but whether I was calling out for him or cursing his name, even I wasn’t sure.

  He sat there on his knees. The pitiful look on his face was almost heartbreaking. “I’m sorry, Maxie,” he spoke softly. “I never thought he’d do something like this. He gave me his word he’d leave you alone. No wonder why you hate me.” He glanced over at his father. “Vampires are vile, depraved creatures.”

  Cass stiffened at those words and walked over to Ryan, pulling him up off his knees. “That is our father you’re talking about, brother. Show some respect.” He backhanded him, sending him flying into the wall behind them.

  My eyes widened in terror. I was in trouble here. Vampires were as bad as everyone said they were. I was getting a front row seat to that point. Where were my powers? I needed to stop this before it went any further.

  Ryan got up off the floor. The other vampires moved back to watch the show. He wiped his mouth, smearing the blood flowing there. “Just because he chose us to be monsters, doesn’t make him our father.”

  Cass snarled, his rage practically shaking the already crumbling room apart. He lunged forward, his deadly sights set on Ryan.

  Richard reached out and grabbed him, tossing him back as if he was nothing more than a harmless kitten. “Now, boys. Please. Stop fighting. We have more pressing issues to attend to.” Turning, he looked down at me, frustration in his eyes. “Like this little witch right here. I need her on my side,” he said, looking at Ryan. “You two can still be together. I won’t stop that. Just blood bind her and this can all be over. You two can live happily-ever-after as long as I have that witch willing to do whatever I ask.”

  What? Now that just wasn’t right. I didn’t know exactly what blood bind meant, but I could guess. He wanted to turn me into a slave. Heck, no. I wasn’t going to play slave girl to his Jabba the Hutt. How dare he even think about it. I didn’t want to be robbed of who I was and I definitely didn’t want to spend the rest of my life as a vampire’s lapdog.

  Blind panic took a hold of me as I fought the silver chains tying me down. They bit angrily into my wrists, crushing flesh, but I didn’t care, I had to get out of there. “No, Ryan. Please don’t do this,” I begged, yanking on the chains.

  Ryan spit out the blood pooling in his mouth, then turned to his father. “I will not bind her to me. She doesn’t want anything to do with our messed up family. I won’t do that to her.”

  Richard growled, baring long white fangs at him.

  “It doesn’t matter what you do to me, I won’t subject her to that.” Ryan stepped past his father, coming to stand in front of me. “I’m so sorry, Maxie,” he said, moisture forming in his eyes. “If I had known this would happen, I would have stayed far away from you. I didn’t want you to get pulled into this.”

  Richard rolled his eyes, yanking Ryan back away from me. “I told you he was a sentimental fool. Pathetic. I don’t know what I was thinking when I chose him.” He tossed Ryan back to the guards by the door, who grabbed onto him, holding him in place.

  “I still need you blood bound, my dear,” Richard said to me. “Even if your boyfriend is too squeamish to do it.”

  Cass stepped forward and looked into his father’s eyes. “I don’t know the meaning of squeamish. Never have,” he said with a shark’s grin.

  Richard looked at him, contemplation in his eyes. With a glance in Ryan’s direction, he let a smile dance across his lips, revealing his fangs. “Then…she is yours.”

  “No,” Ryan snarled, struggling against his captors, but there were too many of them, he couldn’t break free.

  Cass turned to me, a cocky look on his young face. “Who says Ryan gets everything?” he cooed at me.

  A whimper escaped my lips as I started to tremble, my body already beginning to feel the shock of what was to become of me. I knew there would be no kindness in Cass’ touch, only cold hard want and the encompassing need for blood.

  He moved closer, unspent desire coming off him in waves.

  “Don’t you dare,” Ryan called to him, his voice darker than I had ever heard it before. At that moment, I could see the true monster in him. “You do this, and I will kill you.”

  Cass looked over at his brother and rolled his eyes. “Please. You have never killed anything in your whole existence.”

  “There’s a first time for everything.”

  Cass brushed off the threat and stepped in front of my chair, trailing a finger down my arm once again. Fire ignited my skin at his touch. He leaned close, his eyes burning bright. He looked at me like my father looked at steak and lobster.

  “No,” I cried, terror coating every inch of my body. I couldn’t stop myself. That’s what you do when a predator has its sights set on you, you beg for your life. “Please don’t do this. I’ll help you. Just don’t bind me. Please.”

  Richard looked down at me, shaking his head sadly. “Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. We could never really trust you. No. A witch as powerful as you has to be on a leash.”

  Cass chuckled, leaning down towards me, his face inches from mine.

  “I’m sorry, Maxie,” Ryan called from across the room, his voice cracking as he did. “I’ll find a way to fix this. I swear.”

  Cass leaned closer, pressing into me. My body screamed in agony as his hands roamed freely. His hair tickled my face as he lifted my chin, his mouth going straight for my neck.

  I closed my eyes, giving in to the despair. There was nothing I could do now. I had just found myself and now I would be lost forever, nothing more than a vampire’s stooge. A weapon to be used.

  A scream echoed around us, followed by another and another. Soon the whole room was filled with shouting and yelling.

  Cass pulled away from me, looking just as bewildered as I was, no doubt. I didn’t know what was happening, but I was grateful for it. I had been given a reprieve from my fate at the moment. And that’s all that mattered to me.

  “What the hell is going on?” Cass shouted to his father above the ruckus in the room.

  Richard stood there, shock w
ritten on his chiseled features. “I don’t know,” he admitted bitterly. Obviously, he was a man who liked being in control.

  I couldn’t believe what we were seeing. All of Everheart’s men had gone crazy. They were screaming as they attacked the air, landing punches and kicks on nothing at all. It was like they had started fighting an invisible army. Some of them were even falling to the floor, wounded by their unseen attackers. Richard and Cass weren’t affected by it at all; neither was Ryan, who just stood there watching the men fight around him.

  He caught my eye and shook his head, telling me he had no clue what had befallen the other vampires. He took a few steps in my direction, and even though I hated the guy right now, I wanted him close to me. What can I say? A girl will take any kind of help in crisis.

  Cass saw the movement out of the corner of his eye and reached out, stopping him dead in his tracks. “Where the hell do you think you’re going, lover boy?” he growled in his face. “She is no longer your toy.” Oh, goody. Just what a girl wants to be regarded as.

  Ryan opened his mouth and then thought better of it. He pulled his fist back, punching Cass square in the nose. His head snapped back as he fell to the floor. “She will never be your anything,” he hissed down at him.

  In a heartbeat, Cass was off the floor and tackling Ryan, both of them flying like a blur out the door. Richard quickly followed, not wanting to be left out of the chaos their gathering had become.

  I was left there, surrounded by dozens of crazy vampires, still battling nothing and losing all the same. So this is what my life had become. I felt pressure on my shoulder suddenly. Images of a vampire sneaking up on my neck flashing through my head; I squealed loud enough to shake the building around me.

  “Shh, it’s just me,” a tiny voice said next to my ear.

  I turned my head and a small shape left my shoulder, hovering in front of my face.

  “Van?” I said in disbelief. She hung there in the air, no more than five inches tall, tiny gossamer wings jutting from her back, fluttering as they kept her suspended. The soft hum they made instantly calmed me. “You’re so little.”

  She giggled, the sound like bells on a Christmas tree. “I told you I was a pixie. You think I couldn’t look like Tink if I wanted to?”

  I didn’t care. All I knew was my best friend was there with me and I couldn’t have been happier. “How did you find me?”

  “I stopped at the coffee shop on the way home. I saw your car outside, but couldn’t find you. I instantly knew something was wrong and I called the guys. Jensen was able to find you.”

  “How?”

  Van shrugged her tiny shoulders. “He did a spell to find the missing part of his soul.”

  I looked at the small smile that crept across her lips and wondered if her words didn’t mean something else. “What is happing to them?” I asked, tilting my head towards the few fighting vampires left around us.

  “Danny’s messing with them,” she said proudly. “He’s creating a distraction for us.”

  Hope soared through me. My friends were here. They were going to save me. I hoped.

  A chunk of the wall exploded, taking out a few vampires as it did. As the debris cleared, I saw Jensen standing there, his eyes hot with unspent magic. He stepped through the hole, Danny following close behind him. Their clothes were torn and they were bleeding in places, but they were still the best thing I had ever laid eyes on. Here was my cavalry, my knights-in-shining- armor, my big darn heroes, and I was going to be okay.

  Jensen’s eyes darted around the room, his hands lowering as he realized there was no threats left. His gaze moved to me, relief flashing across his face as he took me in. A smile that mirrored my own lit up his face as he crossed the room to me.

  I opened my mouth. There was so much I wanted to tell him. So much I needed to apologize for, but before I could say anything, Richard Everheart stormed back into the room.

  “What the hell?” he demanded, seeing the state of the room and my friends standing there. He glanced over at the few vampires still there. “Get them,” he demanded.

  Danny laughed, the sound rich and full, like a child on Christmas morning. He was having a great time. “They’re a little busy right now, Pops,” he told him, smiling a perfectly innocent smile.

  New screams issued from the men and they scrambled for the opening in the wall, pushing each other out of the way.

  “Chickens,” Danny mocked as they ran past him. I didn’t know what he showed them this time, but it had to be good.

  A look of despair crossed Richard’s face as he realized he was on his own. No one was going to do his dirty work for him this time. He bared his fangs, threatening us.

  Jensen stepped in front of me, standing his ground. “I wouldn’t if I was you. There’s a reason vampires don’t take on witches. The same reason you had to restrain Maxie, isn’t it?” He glanced over at me, at the silver chains binding me to the chair. “Enchanted silver from Tuscany, I believe? It absorbs any magic that touches it until there’s none left.”

  Richard stood taller, trying a more menacing look, but I could tell fear was seeping in. “You’re outnumbered, witch,” he growled through his teeth.

  “Look around you. There’s no one left to help you. You’re on your own now. And that’s never happened to you before, has it?” Jensen took a step forward. “End this. Let my friend go and I’ll forget you were even here. You can go back to leading your vampire dictatorship any way you want to. Just stay away from us.”

  Anger blazed in the vampire’s eyes as he stepped away from us. He was nothing but a bully. Cowardness ran through his veins and he knew it. “Fine. You might have saved her today, but can you keep her safe for the rest of her life?”

  Jensen stood there, not even blinking at those words. “I’ll sure as hell try.”

  Richard scowled and then turned his gaze on me. “There’ll come a day when you want to know what this world really has in store for you. You’ll come to me willingly then.”

  I just looked at him, disgust on my face. “Like I’ll ever want anything from you.”

  “You will, my dear. That is one thing you can be sure of.” He looked back over at Jensen. “The Apex will rise, and when it does, I will be there,” he said, turning around and disappearing through the opening in the wall.

  The room was silent as I looked around it. We were alone now. Only my friends and I were left in the wreckage that had once held merriment and mirth.

  Jensen looked down at me. “Are you okay?”

  I shrugged sheepishly. “I’m fine. I’m the world’s biggest idiot, but I’m okay,” I told him, avoiding his gaze. He had saved me from a fate I had thrown myself into. I wasn’t too clear on how he did it though. “What happened here? Nobody had to fight anyone? How did we win?”

  “That’s what happens when you’re as good as us,” Danny said, joining us.

  Van flew over and landed on his shoulder. “Is that what they’re calling it these days?” she squeaked up at him.

  “Hey, watch it, bug breath,” he teased, his eyes showing the love he really felt.

  Van stuck her tiny nose in the air, but smiled, returning the love.

  Jensen smiled and returned his gaze to me. “No. Vampires don’t like to confront witches when they are alone. There’s not much we’d let them do to us.”

  I suddenly understood, feeling very stupid indeed. “We have more power than they’ll ever have,” I said softly.

  He nodded. “Vampires are like a pack of wolves. A wolf takes on a guy with a gun, the guy shoots it. A whole pack attacks that one guy and he’s going to be in trouble regardless of what weapons he has.”

  I had let my feelings for Ryan almost get me killed. “Magic is our gun.”

  “Yes. That’s why Everheart took it away from you,” he said, tugging at the chains around my arms. “Unfortunately, I can�
�t free you from these chains. Any magic I send out towards them, will just be absorbed and neutralized.”

  Perfect. “Does that mean I’m stuck here?”

  They all stared at me a moment, contemplating the situation. Despair was starting to build up in me, when Danny cleared his throat.

  “That’s just regular wood right?” he asked Jensen.

  “I would imagine so.”

  “Then I’ll just find something to break the chair with,” he said and wandered back to the hole in the wall. Van flitted along behind him.

  “That’ll work,” Jensen said, heading over to the other side of the room, searching the rubble for something he could use.

  I wasn’t too keen on them chopping away at the wood around me, but really, what choice did I have? “Thank you for rescuing me…again.”

  He looked up at me, a smile on his lips. “What can I say? I seem to be making it a habit lately.”

  “Thank you,” I said again and meant it.

  “Why you little bitch,” someone snarled from the doorway.

  We both turned to look, surprise washing over both of us.

  Cass stood there, rage engulfing him at the sight of me all alone. He moved like a blur, coming straight for me, determined to blood bind me, even if it was the last thing he ever did.

  Jensen threw out his hands, sending a ball of green sparks right at the vampire, but Cass was too close to me. Jensen’s energy was absorbed into the chains, pulling it out of existence.

  Cass collided with my chair, knocking me over. I could feel the chair splinter behind me and then the vampire was on top of me, pressing me down into the floor.

  “No,” I screamed as I tried to push at him, but my arms were pinned between us. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t free myself from the horror looming over me. Just when I had thought I was safe, he was grinning down at me once more.

  “Oh, I’m really going to enjoy having you at my side,” Cass whispered, his fangs nipping at my throat.

  Everything was happening too fast. It was like Cass and I were in some speeded up version of time. Jensen was moving across the room, but he was way too slow. He’d never reach us in time, and even if he did, Cass would snap his neck in an instant. I was going to become Cass’ pet. There wasn’t anything either one of us could do now.

  A blur caught my attention as Cass’ teeth pressed against my flesh. It collided with him, knocking him away from me. Suddenly Ryan was there between Cass and me, keeping him back. Saving my life. “Leave her alone,” he growled.

  “Make me,” Cass snarled back like any brother would do. And then they were moving, nothing but a blur of fangs and fists, ricocheting off the walls.

  I moved, pulling myself away from the broken pieces of the chair. My body felt like one giant bruise, but at least I was free. I sat up, pulling at the chains draped over me. Hands joined mine, as arms went around me. I flinched, expecting another attack.

  “It’s just me,” Jensen whispered in my ear as he helped pull the chains from me. Once they were off, he tossed them into the far corner and pulled me to my feet. “Are you alright?”

  “Yeah, I’m good,” I said, my eyes drifting back to the supersonic fight around us. A body suddenly flew passed us, slamming into the wall. Cass slid down and sat on the floor, his body broken and bleeding.

  Ryan stalked towards him, looking better off than his brother. “It’s over, Cass,” he said, his voice husky with anger. “They’ve won. Leave now and forget you ever met her.”

  Cass placed his hands against the floor, pushing himself up. He stood in front of his brother, glaring up at him. “You’re a fool, Ryan, if you think this is over. Father will never stop wanting her. We need her.” He glanced over at me as he wiped blood from his eyes. “And for that reason…I will never stop hunting her.” He bared his fangs with a menacing hiss.

  Jensen stepped in front of me, hands spread wide at the same moment I reached inside of myself and found my spark once again. I was whole and Cass would pay if he even got close to me.

  But it was Ryan who lunged forward as Cass started to move. As they collided, Ryan latched on to his brother’s head and twisted with all his might. With a sickening crunch, it came off, his body dropping instantly to the ground. Ryan stared down at the lifeless head in his hands, eyes wide at the shock of what he had done. He dropped the head, backing slowly away from the mess he had made.

  “I can’t believe I just did that,” he said, staring down at his brother’s lifeless form.

  “Whoa,” came a voice from the hole in the wall. “Looks like we missed all the fun.” Danny stepped closer with a normal sized Van at his side.

  Ryan’s eyes stayed locked on the corpse, a sickened look across his face. “I’ve never killed anyone before.”

  My heart ached as I realized what he had done for me. He had thrown out all his morals in an instant. I had turned him into the killer he didn’t want to be. “Ryan,” I said softly as I headed over to him.

  He looked up at me, tears in his eyes as reality set in. He slowly shook his head, stopping me in my tracks. Suddenly, once again a blur, he darted out the door and was gone.

  Danny looked over at me, a deep sigh emerging from his chest. “Well, it looks like we’re on cleanup duty.”

  Thirty Four