by Bonnie Dee
Someone delivered a hard blow to my head. I actually heard the crack against my skull, and then I passed out.
Chapter Twelve
Amy
“Rick, you flaming idiot,” I cursed under my breath.
He was still shifting back into human form with a grinding of bones even as a guard dragged his limp body toward the stage. By the time they reached our group, Rick was completely transformed into his vulnerable human self. The guard chained him in manacles attached to a ring in the floor near the back of our happy queue of prisoners.
“’Scuse me. Pardon me,” I moved through the group toward Rick, pulling Chris along with me. Most of the others were giving Rick wide berth, apparently afraid he might resume wolf form and decide they’d make a nice snack.
Blood ran from his hairline down his temple and into his left eye. He looked so weak and damaged my heart wrenched and my nurturing instincts kicked in. I was torn between being touched that he’d come to my rescue and pissed at him for rampaging in here with absolutely no plan. How were we going to get out of this alive?
“Who the hell is that?” Chris whispered.
“My boss, Rick.”
“Is this part of a rescue plan? Does he have backup coming?”
“I doubt it. Rick’s a leap-before-you-look kind of guy. Somehow, we’re going to have to MacGyver our own way out,” I said confidently, as if I actually had an idea.
The bodies of Rick’s victims were removed from the room and the auction resumed as if nothing had happened. I sidled closer to Rick and gave him a nudge in the ribs with my foot. “Wake up!”
“Unh,” he grunted and swatted at my foot.
Chris’s body blocked me from view of the crowd. I dropped to a squat beside Rick. “Come on. You’ve got to wake up.”
His eyes flickered open to squint up at me. He glanced at my bare breasts then back to my face. What a horn dog! The embarrassing thing was that my nipples, already stiff in the chill air of the room, burned at the brief touch of his eyes. So did the bite mark on my neck.
I snapped my fingers in front of his face. “Focus! We’re in deep shit here. You don’t have any cavalry coming by any chance?”
He shook his head then groaned and touched a hand to his wound.
“They’ve already killed one guy--Owen. We’ve got to do something soon.”
“No shit,” Rick snapped, struggling to a sitting position.
“By the way, Angela Addington is one of them. She’s out there in the crowd. Her husband is a prisoner.” I pointed at Brian standing as close to the back of the group as possible. No one wanted to be next on the auction block.
Rick gaped. “What?”
“Yeah, she’s a bitch and he’s the victim.”
Bidding had begun on Guadalupe. Her curses in Spanish competed with DuShayne’s call for bids. The fiery woman seemed determined to outshout him and the audience laughed and chatted, thrilled with her display of temper, the sick bastards. Guadalupe was providing a great distraction if only we could somehow take advantage of it.
Suddenly, an idea occurred to me. “Rick, can you change again? Your paws will easily slip out of the manacles. You can attack DuShayne from behind and take him out before he can stop you. Without his magic tricks, maybe have a prayer.”
He nodded. “I’ll try.”
I continued to crouch beside Rick waiting for his body to transmogrify. Seconds ticked past.
Chris tugged on the manacle that connected us and whispered, “Do something quick! That lady with the lizard tongue is looking at me.”
“I’m trying,” Rick said. “I’ve never intentionally shifted before today. It’s not that easy to just go back and forth.” He grimaced. “Goddamn it! I can’t focus.”
“Don’t try so hard. Just relax and let it happen. You can’t force these things.” It sounded as if I was coaching a lover through a bout of impotence. I had a sudden image in my mind of Beauty kissing the Beast and turning him back to a prince. Maybe it would work in reverse.
I leaned down, took Rick’s face in my hands and planted one on him. Charged with panic as I was, it was still a pretty breath-stealing kiss. The world around me receded just for a moment and my focus was completely on our lips pressed together and the feeling of Rick’s jaw against my palms. If this was going to be the last kiss of my young life before I got killed, I intended to make it worth remembering
His lips parted and he kissed me back, one hand curled around my nape. The chain attached to his wrist manacle brushed cold and heavy against my skin making me shiver. The bite on my neck burned hot and sent licks of desire through my body.
Chris kicked me again. “Hurry! No time for that. Do something.”
Rick pulled his chains to their limit as he wrapped his arms around me. His kiss grew more aggressive and his thumb glided over his mark on my flesh. A quiet growl rumbled in his chest.
Despite the horrors I’d witnessed and the danger we were in, I was aroused. I felt his sinewy arms clasping me, the light hair on his chest tickling my breasts and his cock swelling against my hip. Rick’s grip on me tightened, and his growl grew louder.
Okay, champ, do it. I pulled away from his mouth, freed myself from his arms and watched him began to shift.
Rick’s eyes flashed and glittered gold as they took on the aspect of the wolf. His bones crunched and his body flowed into animal form. I gazed, awestruck as I’d been the first time I saw him change. I wondered if I could ever become used to the bizarre sight.
Behind me on the stage, Guadalupe had been led away by her new owner. The weeping Russian woman was on the block now and she began screaming and begging in her native tongue. Suddenly, her voice was cut off. I turned to see what had happened.
DuShayne’s hand was pointed toward her. The Russian’s mouth opened and closed silently and she clutched at her throat. DuShayne had evidently had enough of yelling women interrupting his auction. He accepted a final bid then banged his gavel. A gentleman with black, flowing hair, a pale complexion and diamond-hard features approached the stage, his smile revealing the points of fangs.
As he led her from the stage, the Russian fought his grip on her wrist. The vampire leaned closed and murmured something. The woman instantly calmed and went with him compliantly.
This scene played out in moments, but by the time I turned to check on Rick’s progress, a furry, gray body pushed past me. Wolf-Rick rushed across the stage toward DuShayne. The warlock’s attention was on the crowd and the next human offering, Brian Addington. DuShayne didn’t see Rick coming.
Rick landed on him, knocking the man face-first into the podium. Rick bit down on the back of his neck and shook him like a chew toy before DuShayne had a chance to gather his magic together and react.
I rose and poked Chris. “We’ve got to get the keys and unlock everyone.”
Together we barreled into the nearest guard, shoving him to the ground. Working in tandem, we slipped our length of ankle chain around his neck and pulled against his windpipe. The guard struggled, pulling the chain even tighter. It cut into his fleshy neck and he choked for breath. Finally he went slack. Chris and I removed the bloodied chain from his neck. Chris searched the guard’s body for the key and I glanced up at the scene in the ballroom.
Rick had finished off DuShayne. The powerful wizard lay on the floor like a limp doll with his head rolled to an unnatural angle against his shoulder. Blood flowed from the bites on his fractured neck.
The guards were herding the humans together, zapping a body here and there with tasers. The audience, at first observing the action on stage as if it were more of the evening’s entertainment, began to react. The lizard-tongued lady’s stretchy arms and bullwhip tongue lashed around Rick, lifting him in the air. But he snapped at her, grabbing her wrist in his powerful jaws and biting down until she squealed and dropped him.
I didn’t have time to see more. “Got it!” Chris held up a key and bent to unlock our leg irons.
I scanned the roo
m, assessing the quickest way to an exit where we’d encounter the least resistance. It would be a miracle if any of us got out alive. As if to underscore my thought, a sharp lick of fire seared my shoulder. I turned to face a guard whose clawed hand had scored my flesh and now gripped my arm. Using my YMCA self-defense training, I drove the base of my palm into his nose, but it was like hitting rock. My palm stung and pain jolted up my arm. Recalling another defensive move, I lunged at his face again, fingers extended to gouge his eyes. My attack took him by surprise and my fingers poked right into his wide-open eyes, popping the gelatinous orbs with a sickening squelch.
Roaring in pain, the guard released me and grabbed at his face.
I searched for a weapon, saw the cordless microphone DuShayne had dropped and snatched it up then drove the end into the hollow of the guard’s throat with all my might. He fell to the ground with a wheezing gasp.
Gasping for air myself, I turned to find Chris unlocking the captives. Some were fighting with the guards; others fled but were quickly recaptured by members of the Invictus Malus. Seeing the guards had lost control, the crowd surged toward the stage. Their numbers outmatched us and the situation seemed hopeless.
Suddenly the lights in the room grew dim as if I was seeing things through a smoky haze. At first I thought my vision was clouding because I was about to pass out. But I blinked and the dark cloud was still there. It descended on the crowd in the ballroom, coiling insidiously around them like fog. Within that swirling mass, I felt the presence of—there’s no other way to describe it—a powerful entity. Some thing had manifested in that ball room, something inexplicable and ancient.
In an instant, the creatures in the ballroom acted as if they were possessed. Instead of chasing after the captive humans, they turned on each another and began to fight. Monsters in tuxedos attacked one another. A misshapen troll in a silver Vera Wang gown clouted a half shifted werepanther in the head. Some of the human conventioneers were fed on by vampires. In the mêlée, I caught a glimpse of Rick savaging his way through the crowd.
“There are children in the building. We have to get them out.” I turned to find Guadalupe beside me. She’d escaped her owner.
I remembered the horned demon saying there were little ones being held. They must have been saving the children for the grand finale of the auction. “Do you know where they are?”
“They can’t be far from where we were kept. We have to go upstairs and look for them.”
“I’ll come with you,” Brian Addington said as he joined us. He appeared to have gotten over his psychological meltdown and had one of the guard’s tasers clutched in his hand.
“Take a few people to help you. I’ll catch up in a minute,” I said. Across the room, I saw Angela Addington heading toward the door. My first priority should have been getting people to safety, but I did not want to let the bitch get away.
I sprinted toward her, dodging scuffling bodies, furred, feathered, scaled and skinned. The gray haze was thick and hard to see through. I wondered where it had come from. It seemed to make all the paranormal creatures crazy yet didn’t affect the humans at all.
At the door of the ballroom, I caught up with Angela and tackled her, sending her sprawling face down into hallway. Grabbing a fistful of blond hair, I slammed her forehead into the floor then I flipped her on her back and straddled her. “Why?”
When she didn’t answer immediately, I hauled her head up and banged the back of it against the floor. “Why?” I repeated.
“The money,” she gasped. “I offered Brian up for the auction. After his disappearance was declared probable death, I knew I’d collect insurance and inherit everything.”
“So why did you hire Rick?” The bitch didn’t answer quickly enough so I banged her head again.
She sucked in a sharp breath and black eyeliner streaked her face along with her tears. “I needed a witness to support my claim of foul play. It would speed up the court process so I could get the money released sooner. I wanted Rick to see Brian with DuShayne and draw conclusions about criminal ties and a probable mob hit. I didn’t expect him to find out about the Invictus.”
Now that my curiosity was satisfied, I didn’t know quite what to do with the woman. She deserved to be punished. I considered throwing her back into the melee in the ballroom. She’d jumped into bed with Invictus Malus; let her find out what came from an affair like that. Instead, I simply got up and let her go.
She climbed to her feet, darting a nervous glance at me. “That’s it?”
“Get the hell out of here, bitch,” I snarled. “Run!”
She didn’t need to be told twice. Angelic-faced Angela ran for the front door.
For a moment, I stood outside the open ballroom door. The pall of smoke still hung over the throng and the fighting went on. I didn’t see Rick and hoped he was all right, but there was nothing I could do to help him so I went to help the others find the nursery.
I ran up the staircase to the second floor and the rooms where we’d been held. The sound of crying led me to where a group of people was freeing children of all ages from captivity. I grabbed one lost-looking little boy by the hand. “Come on, kid.”
We moved down the stairs as soundlessly as we could with crying babies in some peoples’ arms. I looked down at my boy and put a finger to my lips. He gazed at me with solemn brown eyes and nodded. Cute kid. My grip tightened around his moist, sticky hand.
By the time we reached the first floor, the mob from the ballroom had spilled into the hallway and the carnage continued. The members of Invictus Malus pummeled each other in deranged fury. The way to the front door was too hazardous to pass, but we might be able to slip past the combatants and find another exit from the house.
Brian Addington with a kid riding piggyback had taken the lead. He darted away from the main hall, to the left down another corridor. Everyone else followed. My kid and I were at the tail end of the group. The boy was moving too slow so I picked him up, heaving him onto my hip. His arms clasped around my neck and his legs around my waist, but before we could dash for safety, a scaly creature with buck fangs spotted us.
The alligator-faced monster had just vanquished an opponent, the bloody remains of which were strewn around its Prada-clad feet--size extra wide for claws. For one long moment, we stared at each other. Its eyes were yellow with vertical pupils and when it blinked, a translucent membrane swept across its eyes.
I broke from my momentary freeze and leaped to the floor beside the stairs as the gator-thing charged toward me. I ran down the corridor as fast as I could, which wasn’t very fast with a heavy kid bouncing on my hip. My chances of outrunning a monster with super strength and speed were zero. Within seconds, the creature hit the middle of my back and knocked me to the floor. The kid, half-crushed underneath me, cried out.
I smelled fishy breath, felt its heat against my cheek and knew this was the end. With one snap of its powerful jaws the gator was going to bite my head off. I discovered something I’d always wondered about. Your life doesn’t really flash before your eyes just before you die. Mostly mine was filled with a desperate prayer to a deity I wasn’t sure whether I believed in to save me. Suddenly the weight on my back lifted. Praise Buddha, Allah, and Baby Jesus, my prayer was answered!
I rolled to the side to find Wolf-Rick locked in battle with the gator. The creature was covered with scales, making it difficult for Rick to find an unprotected area to bite. He darted back and forth, nipping, herding it away from the kid and me.
I jumped up, hauling the boy along by one arm, and fled through the nearest open doorway. It led into a large parlor with plush carpets, oversize armchairs and tall windows. Letting go of the child’s wrist, I picked up an ottoman and hurled it through a window with a satisfying crash of broken glass. After sweeping the boy up in my arms, I jumped through the window frame, clearing the remains of jagged glass but landing on broken shards scattered across the lawn.
A piece of glass embedded in the fleshy sole of
my foot and I cursed as I extricated the jagged shard. Blood welled from the wound. Taking the boy’s hand once more and limping across the grass, I took stock of our location--the middle of fucking nowhere. It was a cloudy night, devoid of moonlight, and the darkness couldn’t be any blacker.
I hobbled around the side of the house toward the front where the glow of a sodium lamp illuminated a row of expensive cars. If only I knew how to hotwire one of them. Then I noticed a cluster of pale bodies near one of the vehicles and realized some of my naked comrades were doing just that. The engine of a shiny, black Caddy roared and people piled into it. The person who’d hotwired the car slipped out of the driver’s seat and moved on to another vehicle. More people loaded up the next car as the first vehicle drove away.
It was almost too easy. My naturally pessimistic nature expected something to go wrong and it did. Just as the kid and I reached the parking area, the rest of the group that had rescued the children came running around the side of the house. Simultaneously, several of our persecutors charged out the front door of the mansion. Whatever had possessed them and turned them on each other appeared to have dissipated. Their focus was now on recapturing their victims.
A creature with black batwings and a backless red evening dress took down a woman carrying a baby with the speed of a cheetah felling an antelope. I shoved my little boy into an already overloaded automobile, slammed the door and then ran to save the woman. I screamed and waved my arms at the attacking creature as though shooing a giant vulture. “Get off her!” I scooped up a handful of gravel and threw it.
The creature lifted its head and stared at me, a torn piece of flesh dangling from its mouth, wings idly flapping and talons picking at the woman’s flesh. I figured it was too late for the woman and probably for the baby trapped beneath her body but I found a fist-sized rock and chucked it directly at the gargoyle’s head, nailing it between the eyes. I hadn’t spent seven years of my youth playing softball every summer for nothing.
Once more, like an avenging angel in wolf form, Rick came to the rescue. He exploded from the shadow near the house and leaped on the winged creature. He knocked it off its victim and proceeded to shred the bat-wings with rips of his claws.
