“Doc! I said throw a prayer out to the universe, not yak me to death.”
“Sorry, honey. Quiet. I’m like a . . . a . . . statue.Yep. Statue.”
“Good. You be a statue. I’m going to get us the hell out of here, but I can’t do it while I’m talking. Even I’m not that good. Man, I sure hope all those lessons my friend Gwendolyn gave me in juvie when it was Monday Sundaes pans out. She was a whiz with a cherry stem.”
Cherries were lovely. Big, fat red ones. Katie chuckled to herself. Whatever this drug was—it made everything better. Even captivity in a hospital gown.
Katie heard someone spit and then her bed jolted again.
“Doc! I got it! Oh, thank the gods!”
Indeed. Thank them all. Generosity abound.
“Okay, Dr. Woods, you’re going to have to help me here, which requires opening your eyes. Please, please open your eyes. I know you’re drugged, but if you want to get out of this, you’ve got to open your eyes and look at your hand.”
Speaking of her hand. It was damned difficult to scratch your nose when your hand was tied up.
“Dr. Woods? If you don’t open your eyes now, and we get out of this alive, I’m going to take all of your frilly shirts and give them to the Salvation Army! I bet that old hobo Jonas Wiggs would love that creamy confection from Anne Klein. Remember it? It’s the one with the silk ties in the front. Don’t you think he’d do it proud when he pukes all over it because he talked Wilmer Ford into buying him more booze at the Beer Bin?”
Katie’s eyes popped open. Now, hang on. That Anne Klein shirt had cost a fortune. Ingrid’s face was distorted, almost comically so. Her eyes were wide set like an alien’s, and her forehead was elongated to conical proportions. Katie giggled.
“Oh, that’s gooood, Doc! Now keep them open and focus on your right hand. You have some mobility; just turn your wrist up so I can see the keyhole, and pray this stud is long enough to crack this puppy open. Do not move. If I drop this, we’re meat.”
Do. Not. Move.
“Dr. Woods! Turn your wrist.”
“You said don’t . . . don’t something. Oh! Move. I’m not moving. Statue and stuff.”
Voices from outside the door made Ingrid hiss. “Don’t move after you turn your wrist upward. Look, if we don’t do this ASAP, they’re going to kill you, and Shaw, and the baby. Oh, God! I know you’d do whatever it takes for that not to happen. Please, we have to hurry!”
Every last nerve in Katie’s body protested movement. Yet, she gritted her teeth as her mind whirred with the horrible things Ingrid had ticked off. No one was getting their hands on this baby. Maybe she hadn’t realized it before—maybe because she’d been so caught off guard, but she wanted this baby.
Wanted.
And no one was going to take that away from her.
Sweat broke out on her forehead, her muscles tensed and wound tight as she moved just a fraction of an inch. Katie gasped, “Can you get it now?” Her head fell back on the hard imitation of a pillow in exhaustion.
Ingrid grunted, her breath’s coming shallow and harsh.
And then miracle of miracles, she was free. The silver handcuff banging against the railing on the bed with a tinkle of joy.
Voices, gruff and authoritative, grew closer.
Katie moved her wrist, bending it back and forth to get the blood to circulate. Warmth rushed through her veins, making her eyes pop open. She turned to Ingrid, who smiled and lifted her hand the inch or so the handcuffs allowed. “I just lost an expensive tongue ring, Doc. Least you could do is hook me up.”
Katie laughed. “You are brilliant! Hang tight and I’ll get you out.” Leaning to the other side of the bed, she yanked with force, but it took some doing before she was able to bend the bars and slip off the open cuff. The other still dangled from her wrist.
“As long as I live, Doc, this paranormal thing will never cease to amaze me.”
Katie jumped off the bed, rushing to Ingrid’s side to try to free her, too.
“Hurry! I hear them,” Ingrid grated. “They’re coming! Oh, Jesus. Forget me, Dr. Woods—get those bastards.You know, sneak attack?”
Something still didn’t feel right. She’d come to know her body well since the turn, and she wasn’t feeling on top of her game.
“Dr. Woods, what’s wrong?” Ingrid’s face had gone from relieved to fearful.
“I have to get this other cuff off—now! I can’t hope to fight off all those men if I can’t fully utilize my strength.” Panic fought for supremacy. Think, Katie. Think.You’re all about emergencies. “Do you have another earring?”
“Damn it all—no! I played down the piercings because of Teeny. It’s bad enough I have four different colors in my hair. I didn’t want to draw any more attention to Teeny than I had to. You know what she’s like when she gets even a whiff of someone looking down their nose at me.”
Katie looked at her left hand while the voices that had lingered in the hallway stopped outside the door. There was nothing left to do.
So she did it.
And Jesus. It sounded much better when you watched the news report from the comfy confines of your living room. There, on your couch, with a nice cup of tea and a warm blanket, it was courageous.
Really doing it? Major ouch.
"DARNELL?”
“Cougar dude?”
“You don’t have to do this.”
“Riiiight. And let Wanda and that crazy-ass vampire get a load a me bein’ a coward? Oh, no, sir. That shit would not go down easy. I’m in. All the way. ’Side’s, you gotta have someone to keep yo head on straight. You can’t see right when it comes to your woman. I’ll make sure you don’t lose dat cool. Cain’t have you shiftin’ to death.”
Shaw ran a hand over his stubbled chin. “But you hate guns. They’ll have guns.”
Darnell waved a dismissive hand, shooting him an offended glance. “I didn’t say I hate no guns.”
“You did.You muttered it just as we left the hospital.You said, ‘I hope they don’t have no guns,’ leaving me to believe you’re afraid of guns.”
Darnell bristled, rolling his head on his neck. “Shoot. I ain’t afraid a nuthin’ ’cept that nuttier-than-squirrel-shit vampire. She’s one badass.”
“So the guns won’t stop you from what we have to do?”
Darnell’s dark skin turned a lighter shade. “I don’t like ’em, thass true, but the hell I’ll let them get away with hurtin’ Katie and the wee one, and don’t get me started on the old man. I kinda got attached to him with all that hoverin’ over him. You will, too. He’s a little absentminded, but he got a good heart. So guns-schmuns, I say we take the mutha-effers down!”
They’d finally managed to reach Kaih, who was out of his mind with worry about Ingrid, but had Teeny safely with him. When Shaw told him what he suspected and the location Katie had claimed she’d gone to for Ingrid, Kaih had given them directions to the old railroad tracks.
“Why aren’t those women answering their phones?” Shaw pondered out loud as the multicolored trees sped past the window of Darnell’s SUV. “We don’t have time to go and get Nina and Wanda. Can you talk to them in their minds or whatever it is that you do? Give them a heads-up?”
Darnell frowned, glancing back at his cell phone, perplexed, too. He gripped the steering wheel, covered in a leopard-skin print. “I cain’t do that with ere’body, Shaw. They have to think me up.”
“Damn it! We need more muscle than just us. There are only two of us. If what Daniel says is true, Nissa will be heavily guarded with God knows what. For all we know, she’s turned these men and they’re cougars, too.”
Darnell threw his head back on the seat of his Escalade with a bark. “Hah! Shoulda seen the last hoedown I hit. Demons. Hundreds of ’em. Ain’t nuthin’ I cain’t handle. I ain’t afraid.You afraid?”
Yes. Yes, he was afraid for Katie. The baby. But the hell he’d let some woman with a grudge and an evil wish to create some sort of super soldiers take the
two things he wanted most in the world away from him. Squaring his shoulders, Shaw let his lips thin. “I’m not afraid.”
“Aiight then. You keep dat head on straight and less go get some super cougars.”
Shaw gritted his teeth. One hair. That was all it would take. If there was one hair harmed on Katie’s head, he’d chew the bitch’s heart out with his own teeth.
“Cougar dude, I got an idea. Let’s tweet ’em. I bet you my gift certificate to the Wing Stop, dat crazy vamp’s tweetin’, ’stead of payin’ attention to her phone.” Darnell grabbed his phone from the console and hit his Twitter account to send a message.
@OOPS In trouble. Need help. Bring crazy vampire for backup!
OOPS @Demonsarethenewsexy Call me crazy again, I’ll mow your ass down next paranormal football game.
“Hoo, boy—it’s the vampire. I sho did it now. She gonna kill me. Ain’t never seen a lady take a guy out like she do. Boom! Like watchin’ bricks fall. She plays for blood, man.”
Shaw took his cell phone from him and couldn’t help but laugh. “You’re demonsarethenewsexy?”
Darnell’s eyebrow rose. “Iss true. I’m all about the sexy. Now tweet that crazy lady!”
Shaw sent the next message.
Demonsarethenewsexy @OOPS Shaw here. Hurry. Big trouble. Railroad tracks. Ask Kaih 4 directions. We need your muscle, Mistress of Doom!
OOPS @ Demonsarethenewsexy Don’t fucking tell me they have Katie!
Demonsarethenewsexy @OOPS Yes. Reinforcements needed. Baby in danger!
OOPS @ Demonsarethenewsexy one hair out of place on the sperm’s head and I’ll suck the fuckers dry! On my way w/Wanda!
Shaw took his first breath since they’d gotten in Darnell’s SUV. As ridiculous as it sounded, he was grateful for the extra manpower.
Wanda and Nina were no joking matter when it came to brute strength.
KATIE’S limp, broken wrist hung at an awkward angle. She caught a glimpse of it as she glanced down at the guard she’d just taken out with the heel of her hand to his forehead.
Wow and wee. The element of surprise plus a bionic thwack to the face equaled the feeling of omnipotence.
“Nice shot, Boss—now get me the hell out of here!” Ingrid clanked her hands around, still tethered to the bed. Katie took hold of the first handcuff, putting two fingers inside of the circle and flipping it open while footsteps rushed down the hallway.
Katie gave a frantic glance to the door before popping Ingrid’s other cuff and lifting her off the bed with one hand. She dropped her to the ground and yelled, “Bend your knees, Ingrid!”
The solid thunk of Ingrid’s feet behind her left Katie rounding the backside of the open door in order to stay out of sight. “Whatever you do, stay quiet. I don’t know how many of them there are, but if we can catch them by surprise, maybe I can take most of them out.”
She looked over her shoulder, holding a good finger to her lips to quiet Ingrid. An Ingrid whose face was full of fierce determination and whose eyes were aglow with fire.
Footsteps crashed, screeching to a halt at the outside of the door. A head, shortly cropped and dark, peered around the corner. Katie swung around the door, grabbing his head and bringing it hard to her raised knee. He crumpled to the ground, his gun dropping with him.
Ingrid’s hand snaked out, her fingers snatching the gun and dragging it to her side. Katie gave her a surprised look. “You don’t know how to use a gun.”
She shook her multicolored head. “Nope, but I’ve been listening to Nina. I know how to threaten,” she whispered, pointing the barrel of the gun at the ceiling.
Loud voices grew closer to the room, barking orders, making Katie’s stomach clench and her heart thump. “Okay, you be the brains. I’m the brawn,” Katie said.
“How’s your hand?” Ingrid asked. “You can’t be a lot of brawn with only one hand.”
Katie took a cautious turn of her wrist. “Better. Don’t worry about me, Ingrid. Just do what I say. When they hit the doorway, be prepared. Ready?”
Ingrid gulped for the first time, allowing her slip in bravado to show. “I think so. May the power of Nina compel me.”
The moment several pairs of feet stomped through the doorway, Ingrid acted.
Though she just didn’t act in quite the way Katie had anticipated.
Ingrid threw her arm around Katie’s neck, pulling her backward. “Don’t shoot, or I take the bitch out!” she screamed.
Katie pulled at Ingrid’s arm, struggling against her hold. “What the hell are you doing?” she whispered out of the side of her mouth, rearing her neck upward.
Ingrid leaned into her ear. Her words short and crisp. “Just trust me, Boss. Please. Play the game.” And then in a harsh tone for everyone to hear, she sneered. “Shut up, you bitch!”
“Oh, Ingrid. You do know you’re outnumbered, don’t you, dear?” Nissa asked, entering the room, an army of unreadable, scowling-faced men behind her.
Ingrid’s teeth clenched so hard, Katie heard them grind. “I know that if I kill her, you got nothin’, bitch! So I guess there’ll be no killing the quiet receptionist today, will there? If I go, she goes with me. That’d suck for you. She’s the key to your whole dastardly plan. You fucking hear me?” She waved the revolver around for emphasis, and Katie hoped only she could see the tremor in Ingrid’s fingers. “I’ll take her ass out if you make one hinky move. Juuuust one. I’m hanging on to her until we’re down that hallway. One eyeball crossed, and she gets it in the heart. Now, all of you, move the fuck out of the way!” When no one moved, Ingrid yelped again, “Do it! Fucking do it now, whores!”
“What the hell kind of plan is this?” Katie mumbled, the heels of her feet scraping the floor as Ingrid dragged her toward the door.
“Trust,” she growled in her ear.
The crowd gathered at the door began to move, but they were only shuffling their feet, guns trained on her and Ingrid.
“I said back the fuck off, you bunch of green-wearing ass-licking motherfuckers!” Ingrid screeched so loud, Katie’s eardrums vibrated. When no one moved, Ingrid cocked the gun and let a low rumble out. “Move the fuck out of my way, assholes!”
“Wow, Dirty Harry,” Katie murmured.
“A lot on the eff word, Boss?”
“Oh, no. You say it with such flare.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Nina’s got a point. It definitely works.” As Ingrid shoved her toward the door, feet shuffled. Everyone’s feet but Nissa’s.
“Ingrid,” she chastised. “You’d harm the woman who took you in when no one else would?”
Ingrid smacked her lips, not showing a shred of surprise that Nissa knew her circumstances. “She blows as a boss. The pay’s for shit and the hours suck donkey balls. Need I say more?”
Katie coughed in rebuttal.
“Sorry, sorry, sorry. Just go with it,” she whispered, then cleared her throat. “Now move, Granny. If you want this bitch alive, you’d better let me the fuck by!”
Katie was so shocked by Ingrid’s ferocious words and awardwinning performance, she played along, hoping to bypass the throng of men.
With guns.
Jesus. So many big guns.
As they passed hard faces chiseled from über-workouts and disciplined eating habits, Ingrid growled at them. “Huddle over there near Granny, you fucktards! Get where I can see you.” More shuffling resulted in the men surrounding Nissa in a protective stance.
Ingrid whipped her around, her many bracelets digging into Katie’s neck, scraping and burning her skin. She continued to drag her backward, pulling her to the end of the hall where she stopped. Her breath hitched, her mouth almost pressed to Katie’s ear but a moment before she said, “Trust,” in a fierce whisper. “You want her, motherfuckers?” she screamed. “Come and get her!”
A hard shove with the flat of her hand sent Katie sprawling forward into the mass of men like she was the chum and they were shark
s.
Katie had but one thought.
I goddamned well fed you Tater Tot hot dish, you ungrateful bitch.
CHAPTER 20
Just as Katie cursed Ingrid’s existence, there was a loud roar—a mutinous screech—and Shaw was there, in front of her, picking her up and forcing her behind him.
He rounded on Nissa, hitching his jaw in her direction. “Nissa Lithgow?”
She smiled. Just like she’d offered him a fresh batch of cookies and a side of milk. “Look at how you’ve grown, Shaw. Strong. Handsome. Fertile.”
Katie sensed something then, something she couldn’t identify but made her nostrils flare. Shaw’s muscled back rippled with rigid tension.
With fists clenched at his side, Shaw moved in on Nissa, unmindful of her band of thugs. “You murdered my father.”
“Indeed. I eliminated him when I got the information I needed: Daniel Green’s location. It took me a long time to find him. I waited many years for the moment I could taste his blood on my lips.” She smacked them for effect. “It was just desserts. I owed him for ruining my life. For allowing your existence to ruin my life. He took everything away from me. I see no reason why you shouldn’t suffer the same.”
Katie tensed when she saw Shaw’s fist jerk at his side.
Nissa reacted to his stance by taunting him. “He deserved it, don’t you think? He was, after all, an infidel. A disgusting, rutting pig with a bastard child I certainly wasn’t going to raise.”
“A bastard child who has what you want.”
Katie’s head popped up. Why was Shaw so calm? She couldn’t get a handle on where he was going . . .
“Whatever are you saying, Shaw?” Nissa asked sweetly.
“I’m saying, you let Katie and Ingrid go and I’ll be your rutting pig. You can do whatever you like with me. I’m your test subject as long as Katie leaves safely.”
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