Delaney released Cass and moved alongside Desi’s lifeless, blood-soaked body on the altar. Her chest was crudely torn open, revealing a large opening where her heart was once located. Delaney revealed his own fangs and punctured the dead woman’s upper inner thigh. He lapped the blood as it more slowly ran from her vein. Cass dove for Desi’s neck and tore into her jugular, sucking as much blood as she could. Both were nearly drenched in blood from their chins to their chests. They paused only a moment to lock eyes over the dead, bloodied woman. They smiled lustfully at each other through bloodstained teeth then resumed their feast.
†
After her encounter with Rafe, Hailey found it difficult to go back to sleep. His story, combined with his actions from the other night, invaded her every thought. She hated that he’d successfully turned her on. Hailey walked onto the moonlit beach a little after midnight and attempted to clear her head of Rafe. There appeared to be no one around, and she was enjoying the solitude despite the loud dance music from the lounge. The details of her first encounter with Rafe were fuzzy at best. She briefly remembered him. She remembered a dying soldier consumed with anger and hostility after a failed attempt to save his comrade. He was left for dead. He wasn’t the first. There were others. She remembered what seemed like dreams of other men who had been near death and were possible candidates for the Guardian. She had to leave them. It was impossible to save them. Only one could be saved, and against Skyler’s better judgment, she chose Rafe. Someone approached her from behind while she remained deep in thought. She was suddenly grabbed. Hailey cried out and turned in the sand.
Mel laughed drunkenly while holding her shoes in her hand. “Scared you.”
“No shit!”
“You shouldn’t be out here alone,” Mel announced and remained giddy. “Two women are already missing.”
“Yes, Penny and Amy,” Hailey informed her while folding her arms across her chest. “Doesn’t that bother you?”
“They’re not missing,” Mel replied and offered a lustful grin. “Tam thinks they met up with some horny, young men. She says it happens all the time.”
Hailey wasn’t going to argue with Mel in her current, drunken condition. It’s not as if it’d do any good anyway. She wouldn’t even remember their conversation by morning.
“You’re certainly in no condition to be anyone’s chaperone,” Hailey remarked, “and you have no business being out here alone either.”
“Shows what you know,” she teased. “I followed you. Sneaked right up behind you. What are you doing?”
“I was hoping to find Skyler,” Hailey replied while looking around. “He wasn’t in his room, and he sometimes walks the beach when he can’t sleep.”
“That creepy desk guy?”
Hailey glared at her friend with disapproval. “He’s not creepy,” she muttered.
“Please! He’s the definition of creepy!”
Both heard a low snarl and looked around. Hailey knew exactly what the sound meant. Although neither saw anything, even Mel knew the sound wasn’t good.
“What was that?” Mel asked nervously.
“Our cue to move.”
Hailey grabbed her arm and hurried her toward the hotel. A beast suddenly cut off their path. Mel screamed and turned toward the ocean. Another beast leaped down from the rocks as a third approached from the woods. With the loud music playing in the lounge, no one would ever hear their screams.
“Skyler, now would be a good time,” Hailey called out even though no one was there to hear them.
Hailey grabbed Mel’s arm and pulled her toward the cabana. Another beast leaped down from the cabana, stopping the women from reaching the poolside. Mel again screamed. The four beasts closed in.
“What are they?” Mel cried out while staring at the creatures. “What’s happening?”
“When you see the signal, run for the hotel and don’t look back.”
“What signal?”
The panther appeared seemingly out of nowhere and leaped for one of the beasts. Mel screamed as the panther and creature collided, rolling fiercely around the sand.
“Go!”
Mel and Hailey ran for the hotel. The three remaining beasts ran after them. Mel was tackled to the sand by one of the large creatures. Hailey threw herself to the sand and narrowly avoided a second pouncing beast. The first beast grabbed Mel’s dress near the back of her neck and dragged her along the sand at top speed. She thrashed and screamed frantically while being dragged toward the woods. Hailey scrambled to her hands and knees and stared helplessly as Mel was pulled onto the path and out of sight. One of the creatures tackled Hailey to the sand, knocking the wind from her from its weight. She finally managed to scream as she held it back, attempting to keep it from tearing into her throat. With most of their weight in their upper bodies, the beasts had to rely on their fangs versus their claws during an attack. It was possibly the only thing keeping the creature from tearing her apart, although she wouldn’t be able to hold it back much longer.
“Hailey!” Skyler cried out from across the beach.
Skyler treaded sand at top speed toward her and leaped onto the creature’s back. He had jumped on the creature with such force and speed that they both toppled off Hailey and rolled across the sand. The beast recovered a second before Skyler and found the perfect opportunity to use its claws to slash him across the chest, throwing him across the sand. Hailey moved into a crouched position and stared at Skyler where he lie motionless and bleeding. She heard a loud, sharp roar of pain. She looked to her right. The black panther lie in a bloody heap on the sand and no longer moved. All three beasts slowly circled Hailey. One snarled and made its move. There was the faint sound of shattering glass. Hailey looked back at the hotel. Rafe leaped through the air from the nineteenth floor, landed in a crouched position twenty feet from the hotel doors, and charged for them.
Two of the beasts ran for him while the third leaped for Hailey. Hailey rolled out of the creature’s path. It struck the sand harshly then spun with a snarl. Without slowing his momentum, Rafe spun through the air into a roundhouse kick and struck one of the creatures in the head. Rafe rolled across the sand as the creature was catapulted backwards several feet. The second beast lunged for Rafe. He kicked the large creature in the side and flipped it across the sand. The first beast recovered from the hard kick and charged him. Rafe caught the creature by the throat and kicked it in the underbelly, causing it to whine painfully. Hailey outmaneuvered the beast chasing her and rolled across the sand not far from the pile of panther. The black mass suddenly twitched, catching her attention. She jumped back with surprise and watched as a white tiger clawed its way out of the pile of black fur.
The beast chasing her stopped in its tracks and stared at the fully emerged white tiger. The remaining black fur turned to dust. The tiger roared viciously. The beast turned and ran. The white tiger chased it into the woods. Rafe punched one of the last two beasts in the nose. It lunged back for him and sank its sharpened teeth into his shoulder. Rafe cried out with pain and then countered by biting the beast’s paw. The beast yelped and pulled away. Rafe crouched down and bared his own bloody teeth. The beast slowly backed up, turned, and then ran for the woods. The remaining beast turned for Hailey. She placed her hand on the ground. The sand rippled and sank. The beast leaped backward, nearly sucked into the sand. It whimpered and ran for the woods. Rafe sneered, spit out the creature’s blood, and straightened. Hailey ran to Skyler’s fallen side. Skyler moved slightly with a low, painful groan. There were deep scratches across his chest. Rafe approached while examining the bleeding bite wound on his own shoulder.
“Skyler, can you hear me?”
Skyler moaned softly and barely opened his eyes to look at her. “Am I dead?”
Hailey felt her entire body sag with relief. She had been certain he was dead. Judging by the severity of his wounds, they’d need to find the helicopter pilot and fly him to a mainland hospital immediately.
“I don’t
know whether you’re incredibly brave or extremely stupid.”
“The answer would only disappoint you,” he muttered.
As she applied pressure to the wounds on his chest, Logan and Vance appeared from the hotel and ran for them. Rafe glared at them while clutching his bleeding shoulder.
“Excellent timing,” he scoffed.
Hailey looked at Skyler’s cuts beneath her hand. The wounds vanished before her eyes. Logan and Vance approached just in time to see the last of the wounds rapidly healing. Skyler slowly sat up and felt his chest with surprise. Hailey looked at her blood-covered hand. The blood appeared to evaporate on her skin. Logan and Vance backed away from her. Hailey looked at Rafe. He stared with a concerned look and took a step back as well.
“I think I’ll call it a night,” Rafe hesitantly announced and turned to leave.
Hailey stood and caught him by his injured shoulder. He gasped with agony and turned to face her.
“They took Mel,” she announced with fear in her eyes. “They’ll kill her!”
“Will you let me bleed in peace?” Rafe demanded as he pulled away from her.
Hailey looked at the deep, bleeding bite wound then met his gaze with concern for his injuries. She reached for his wounded shoulder. Rafe moved back a step, defensively clutched his bleeding shoulder, and glared at her.
“Keep your hands off my wounds, witchy woman.”
Hailey stared into his eyes and again moved her hand to his wounded shoulder. Rafe slowly lowered his hand, almost helpless to her power of persuasion.
“She’s my friend,” Hailey gently informed him while clinging to his bleeding shoulder. Her look was stern. “I’m going after her with or without you.”
Hailey removed her hand from his now healed shoulder. Rafe stared at his shoulder beyond his torn shirt and uncertainly touched it with disbelief.
“If they took her to the cave in the woods, we’ll never reach her in time,” Skyler informed her.
“That tunnel led to the hotel basement,” Logan announced. “We can take the back route and meet them there. I know where we can find some weapons along the way.”
“Rescue the damsel in distress?” Vance asked while cocking his head slightly. “That’s right up my alley.”
“You’re all crazy,” Rafe scoffed while fixated on his now healed shoulder.
“You know you’ll just show up anyway,” Hailey replied.
He suddenly frowned while rubbing his shoulder. “Yeah, I’m an idiot. Don’t remind me.”
Chapter Twenty-four
Rafe stood by the storage room doorway within the basement and watched the corridor while Logan routed through several old boxes to secure weapons. Skyler practiced swinging the baseball bat he held while standing alongside Hailey, who insecurely studied the ax in her hand. She would have preferred the baseball bat. The thought of using an ax on anyone or anything made her nauseous. She didn’t understand why she had been given such a messy weapon. Vance gleamed over a nine-iron golf club he’d secured as his weapon and practiced his imaginary golf swing. He had great form, obviously having played often.
“What is all this stuff?” Vance finally asked while glancing back at Logan.
Logan routed through an old chest without looking up. “We had a very strange man on staff a few years back. He took off one day, leaving behind everything in his room. Since his family didn’t claim his belongings, we put all his stuff in storage. It’s been here ever since.”
Logan appeared to find what he was looking for and removed a pair of samurai swords. He grinned his pleasure and tossed one to Rafe. Rafe removed the sheath and touched the blade. A twisted smile crossed his face, indicating the sword was to his liking. Logan kept the other for himself. Rafe skillfully twirled the sword, took a frightening fighting stance, and smirked.
“This works,” he announced.
The nervous tension among the other men as they watched Rafe’s sick pleasure to the weapon conveyed their concerns. He was a dangerous man, and now he was armed. Hailey, on the other hand, tried hard to keep from being turned on by his skill with the sword. She brushed the image from her mind and looked at Logan holding his own sword.
“What’s in the rest of the boxes?” Hailey asked Logan as she glanced at the room filled with similar boxes.
He casually shrugged. “Employees sometimes quit and leave their belongings behind,” Logan replied. “Seems to happen a lot. It’s mostly junk.”
Skyler glanced at Logan and appeared concerned by the comment. “Define a lot.”
“I don’t know,” he responded. “A few employees here and there.”
Hailey wasn’t convinced with the response. There was a pattern among random guest disappearances and employees mysteriously quitting. What if there was more to it? Despite her concerns for Mel, the circumstances surrounding those patterns had gotten the better of her.
“Tam said a lot of guests take off for romantic interludes,” she remarked and looked at the three men who’d spent more than their share of time at the hotel. “She insists they always show up. Do they always show up?”
Logan and Skyler exchanged curious looks as if never really considering the question before now. Rafe looked back at them with a similar expression. A few thoughts on the subject were obviously going through his mind, but no one expected him to share those thoughts.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever heard anything either way,” Logan replied, now looking concerned.
“Yeah, I mean, no one has ever said anything,” Skyler announced.
“Women disappearing for ‘flings’ seems common around here,” Rafe added, surprising everyone with the offering of information. He then considered his own comment. “It always sounded plausible, but maybe there’s more to it than what we’re told.”
“Is there any way to figure out how many people have disappeared over the years?” Logan asked.
“I could do some digging,” Skyler informed them. “Might be something in the computer. I mean, there would have been investigations if someone’s son or daughter never returned home after a trip.”
“You’re overthinking it,” Vance insisted. “If tourists start vanishing from the island, it would eventually become suspicious, and we would have heard about it by now.”
“We’ll worry about that later,” Hailey informed them, her curiosity now replaced with concern for her friend. “We need to find Mel before those creatures do something to her.”
All four nodded in agreement and prepared to head out of the storage area. Although no one else heard anything, Rafe suddenly turned toward the doorway with his samurai sword skillfully wielded. Marcus saw Rafe with the sword clutched in deadly fashion and jumped with surprise. Rafe lowered the sword and frowned. Either he didn’t care to see Marcus, or he was disappointed he didn’t get to use the sword.
“What’s going on here?” Marcus demanded, eyeing all five with a look that conveyed his concern.
“We don’t really have time to explain right now,” Hailey informed him with growing concern. “Mel’s been taken, and we’re positive she’s down here somewhere.”
She attempted to move past him to leave the storage room. Marcus stopped her and firmly indicated the weapons they carried with a nod.
“I can’t allow you to gallivant around the hotel armed to the teeth,” he announced.
Rafe placed his hand on Marcus’s chest and easily pushed him against the doorframe. His eyes remained locked on Marcus. The usually intimidating man stared back with surprise. What should have escalated into an altercation was quickly defused by Marcus’ unwillingness to engage Rafe.
“We’d love to stay and chat, but you heard the lady,” Rafe growled.
Hailey, Skyler, Vance, and Logan hurried from the storage room, glancing only briefly at the tense scene in the doorway. Rafe released Marcus, who immediately straightened and attempted to compose himself. Marcus seemed unprepared for a confrontation with Brody’s guard dog and backed down.
“F
ine, but I’m going with you,” Marcus informed Rafe without taking his eyes off him. “I’m in charge of missing persons, and I’m in charge of security in this hotel.”
“Suit yourself,” Rafe replied without emotion then casually twirled his sword and left the room.
Marcus sneered his obvious distaste for the man and hurried after him.
Chapter Twenty-five
Rafe led the five through the basement and into the sub-basement along the dimly lit corridor with his samurai sword ready for action. Marcus brought up the rear with his gun in his hand. Rafe looked around and seemed moderately troubled by something, which concerned Hailey. He suddenly stopped at a junction in the corridor then looked right and left. He remained preoccupied by whatever he was unwilling to share.
“We need to split up,” he suddenly announced while barely glancing at the others in his group.
“Split up?” Hailey gasped, sharing the same reaction as the others. Was he insane? What could possibly be gained by them splitting up?
“This is the right direction,” Logan insisted, refusing to be bullied by the intimidating man. “My sense of direction is perfect. Straight will take us in the direction of the cave. We go this way together.”
Logan shared Hailey’s distrust of Rafe’s authority and was the only one willing to call him on it. Rafe suddenly grabbed Logan by the shirt, startling the big man, and pulled him a couple of feet away. Despite Logan’s size, he was too much of a teddy bear to be confrontational. Although she couldn’t hear what Rafe said to him, Logan seemed concerned and defensive while nodding in agreement. As they returned to the group, Logan nodded Vance in the direction of the left corridor.
“We need to check this corridor,” Logan informed him. “We’ll catch up with the others.”
Misfits, Inc. Page 14
