And then she felt it: an intrusion into her mind. She assumed it must be Adriel again. She closed her eyes and focused on blocking the spidery legs tickling her brain. Her breathe caught in her throat as she struggled to protect herself mentally. The citrus smell permeated her senses again.
“We need to get outta here! The rest of them are probably on the road by now,” Nicky said as he tucked the knife Gerry had tossed him into his belt and scoped out the hallway. “Gerry, c’mon,” he muttered while he hit auto dial on his phone.
Nicky waited for Kent to answer, but received only a busy signal. He hit the end button and slipped the phone into his back pocket. “Gerry, I said c’mon.” He grabbed her arm and tugged her along with him. They made their way through the hotel, dodging patrons and staff until they arrived at the main entrance where they stepped out into the light of day.
They were normally very good at this sort of thing. Nicky could pick pockets and pull cons like a pro—well, technically, he was a pro, or at least he was formally. Gerry distracted any potentially threatening eyes when necessary and kept both of them from getting caught. One glance back at her confirmed his suspicions. She wasn’t on her game. Her mind was elsewhere, and she was no help to him now.
He left her standing at the door while he paced in front of the valet parking stand, hands in his jeans pockets. The attendant was a young pimple-faced fellow with frizzy blond hair. Nicky gazed periodically to Gerry who was still standing in a trance near the door. Finally, a guest pulled up to the hotel and the kid hurried to help him.
Quick as lightening Nicky slid his body to the stand, glanced at the kid’s notebook and snatched a set of keys from the rack. Slipping both hands and the keys into his pockets, he moved back into step, pacing in front of the stand a few more times, then moseyed toward Gerry. She was limp and cold when he took her arm and led her back into the hotel. With smooth, casual steps he guided her out a back entrance and then hurried toward the valet parking lot.
It took him several minutes to locate the correct car. “Aha!” he cried when the keys in his hand unlocked the door. He chose this particular car from the valet list because it was an older model and wouldn’t have GPS.
When he turned, Gerry was standing, tall and stony, against a concrete pillar. Her brown eyes were focused on nothing, though the pupils flitted back and forth as if she were following a pin ball. He approached with easy steps until he stood before her, then he waved his hand in front of her face. She gave no indication she could see him. He snapped his fingers trying to rouse her.
Her mouth opened just a bit and her tongue darted out to lick her lips, then her left hand reached out, feeling for him. He tried to take her fingers, but instead she slapped her palm onto his and something heavy settled into his hand.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Nicky asked and hated the fear in his words.
He clasped the object she placed in his hand. It was some sort of cold metal, but he could see nothing there. He stared at his empty hand for a moment then turned his eyes back to hers.
Her voice was sluggish, sounding almost like an old record playing back on a slow speed. “I’m sorry. You’ve got to trust me, Nicky. I need you to do exactly as I tell you. Tell–Me–You–Trust–Me.”
“I’ve always trusted you, baby. Now, tell me what’s happening.”
“Hide this. Hide it where even I can’t find it. If I know,” she paused and licked her lips again, the speed at which her eyes were darting back and forth increased. “If I know, they’ll know. It must be kept safe. Promise?”
“I promise, baby.”
No sooner had the words escaped his lips than her eyes rolled back into her head, and she collapsed like a rag doll.
The water was wonderful against her skin. The hot sun was blazing down on them from above, but the pool was cool and nice. She kicked and paddled just like her mum had taught her, bobbing her head just above the water with her floaties helping to keep her head and torso up. She could see Dy at the far end of the pool. She was making those goo-goo eyes at a boy. Geraneia didn’t know why her sister liked boys so much, but it seemed to the six-year-old that she was always talking to them.
The whistle sounded and all the children scrambled to get out of the pool for the mandatory break. Geraneia kicked with all her might until Dysis came along and took her hand, leading her to the steps. They might have been twins, but Dysis always felt older, more advanced.
Once on the concrete ground, they maneuvered to the place where their mum was talking to some of the other mothers. After Dy helped her slip off her floaties, each of them was rewarded with a cup of juice as they waited to get back into the water.
Geraneia found her way back to the water’s edge, peeking down at the turquoise-hued liquid with eager eyes. It always seemed to take so long for the whistle to sound again. She slurped up some of her juice, and Dysis came up alongside her. She glanced at her sister and smiled. When their eyes met, she was mesmerized by Dy’s jade-green irises, and a creepy-crawly feeling tingled along her skin. She wanted to pull her eyes away, but she couldn’t. Her mouth opened so she could call out to Mum, but no sound came out. Tears welled in her eyes.
Dysis grinned.
Little Geraneia’s legs moved without her authority. She walked backward and couldn’t stop. A hiccup of tears welled in her throat, but without sound. Mentally, she pleaded for it to stop, but she continued another step and her feet found only air. She gulped in a breath and closed her mouth before she went under the water.
Eyes opened, she watched the bubbles flutter in front of her face as her arms and legs flailed for help. Waves of her long brown hair swam in front of her. She needed air. Unable to hold her breath any longer, she took in water. It burned her lungs and her mind got fuzzy and confused.
~oOo~
It took Nicky about an hour to realize his phone was broken. There was a huge crack along the edge, and when he tried calling other numbers, he received the same strange busy tone he’d been getting all along.
He had been driving aimlessly all this time, but he couldn’t do that forever. He was cogent enough to realize he couldn’t go to their safe house. No, the location of that place was likely blown. Should he go to their alternate? He didn’t know what to do.
Fumbling through Gerry’s clutch, he found her phone and tried it. Embarrassed he hadn’t thought of it sooner, he blamed the oversight on his mind being so occupied by Gerry’s coma-like condition.
Nothing. The phone service had been disconnected.
“Fuck!” he cried, tossing the phone back into the car.
His gaze fell upon the silver box on the back seat. He didn’t know what the hell it was. The box became visible as soon as Gerry passed out, and no matter which way he turned it or what he did to it, he couldn’t open it. For all he knew, it could be solid silver—it felt as heavy as silver. For whatever reason, Gerry wanted it to be kept safe.
If I know, they’ll know, he replayed in his mind. What did she mean by that? Could someone be reading her thoughts? He couldn’t take the chance. If someone was inside her head, then he couldn’t go to their other safe locations. He had to find a place on his own. That meant one thing and one thing only.
He slumped back into the car and drove back on the highway.
It took eight hours to get to New Orleans. He thought he would feel safer as he got closer to his old stomping grounds, but the tension in his stomach ate at him. It felt like he had swallowed a bowling ball. He had grabbed a roll of antacids when he stopped for fuel near Natchitoches, and as he turned into the Quarter, he popped the last one.
There was plenty of activity in downtown New Orleans. He slowed his speed as his eyes cut in all directions, eyeing pedestrians. It was dark out, the hour approaching midnight; the night was just beginning in the French Quarter. He found an empty spot to his right and pulled in quickly.
Gerry was still immobile in the passenger seat, her head lolling to the side. He brushed her brown locks from
her face then kissed her soft lips. Reaching into the back seat, he slipped on his black leather jacket. He grabbed the silver box and tried to stuff it into an inside pocket. It was too big to fit so he grabbed his knife and slit the pocket opening wider so he could stash it safely inside.
After closing and locking the vehicle doors, he stepped across a puddle and stopped on the sidewalk to eye the car. His intended destination was down the street and around the corner. Cursing under his breath, he forced himself to turn away despite the worry gnawing a hole into the pit of his stomach.
He had given up cigarettes a few years ago, but at the last pit stop he’d grabbed a pack on impulse. Sheer will kept him from lighting up; he had merely fondled the cellophane-wrapped pack throughout the drive. That willpower was frayed and dissolved now. He hurried to remove one from the package before tucking it into one of his jacket pockets.
A pretty blonde approached, sucking hard on her own cigarette, and he gave her a sexy smile as he dangled his unlit one out in front of him. She giggled and batted her eyes while she dug into her purse for a lighter. Once lit, he closed his eyes in bliss as he inhaled deeply. His mind swam in a bit of dizziness. Then he held the glowing cigarette out in front of him to peer at it like a long lost lover.
The gal inched up against him with suggestive eyes and pouty lips, eager to progress this chance encounter further. He leaned in to touch her cheek with his fingers then brushed her hair away from her ear.
“I gotta meet someone, baby. You know where The Cat’s Meow is?”
“Yeah, I know that place. That’s where I was headed!” she exclaimed with overdone enthusiasm.
“Give me a half hour. An hour, tops.”
She oozed disappointment, and he could tell she was thinking of pressing the issue. He winked at her suggestively and was rewarded with a brilliant smile. She pulled one side of her lower lip between her teeth and dragged it slowly, “’Kay, then. I’ll be looking for you in a half hour. Don’t keep me waiting.” As she squeezed by him she allowed her breasts to rub against his arm suggestively.
Nicky’s left ring finger began to itch, and he used his thumb to rub the spot on the underside of his hand. He looked back, not for the blonde, but to glance at his car. He half expected to see Gerry standing there, looking at him with an acid glare. Instead, the car was still and blanketed in darkness just as he had left it.
“Fuck,” he muttered, taking another huge drag on his cigarette as he worked his way through the crowd. A stinging began to burn that ring finger now, and he rolled his eyes in frustration. One last puff and he dropped the cigarette onto the sidewalk and kept moving.
Gerry didn’t want him to smoke. She didn’t like his flirting either. Even in that catatonic state, she could still impress her will upon him. She had warned him of that the day they were married.
“I don’t do well in heels, Dy,” Gerry whined, reaching up to grasp one of the tight curls her sister had so patiently put in her normally straight brown hair. She tugged the long spiral and watched it spring back into place.
“You need to learn to be more creative with your looks, Gerry. I mean, you might not be as good looking as I am, but you should damn well be able to attract men, for Hades’ sake.
Gerry narrowed her eyes and frowned. “Why are you always saying that? Who uses that term ‘Hades sake’? I mean, where do you get this stuff?”
Dy flashed a sly smile then just shrugged as if she didn’t know. Gerry knew better. She did everything with intention. Her sister turned her around to face the long mirror, and she walked on wobbly legs to examine herself from head to toe.
She was wearing one of Dy’s dresses. It didn’t fit right on her. Gerry was curvy to the extreme. Her bust size was about three times that of her sister and she just knew her breasts were going to pop out if she took a deep breath. The stretchy material of the skirt pulled horizontally to account for her wider hips, which left less of the fabric to cover her legs. If she bent down, the back of it would ride all the way up over her rear-end.
“I look stupid,” Gerry complained. Turning to her sister with pleading eyes, she said, “This isn’t going to work.”
Dy blinked her eyes twice before her twin could stop her. When Gerry looked down, she saw that the dress was now expanded to the appropriate size. It was still a style she would never even think of wearing normally, but at least it appropriately covered all the requisite parts.
“You promised,” Gerry accused. “You promised not to use your powers.”
“Jesus!” Dy raged, “You’re acting like a damned baby. Are we going to go out or aren’t we?”
Biting her tongue against scolding her sister for her language again, Gerry just nodded her head and grabbed her purse. Happy once more, Dy looped her arm into Gerry’s and led her sis out the door.
There was a huge wishing fountain in front of the restaurant. Gerry stood and admired the splashing water and flashing coins in the bottom while she waited for Dy to catch up with her. The other sister was still checking her appearance through the reflection in the window of a truck next to where they parked.
A tickle started in the back of Gerry’s mind. She ignored it and tapped her foot impatiently a few times. Then, without her control, her body stepped forward. She couldn’t stop her legs from moving as she was forced closer and closer to the fountain. The final step tripped her forward into the pool, and she watched the force of her body’s movement scatter the pennies, nickels, and dimes all around. She placed her hands against the floor of the fountain to push herself up but couldn’t. An invisible weight pressed down on her, keeping her submerged.
She tried to scream but only managed to force all of the air from her lungs. She tried to hold on to her breath, but her lungs convulsed, insisting that she should inhale. The burning in her chest became so intense she couldn’t ignore it. Just before blackness enveloped her, she peered up through the water and saw Dy standing before her with a lipstick red smile.
~oOo~
Nicky was the one who had insisted their nuptials be kept a secret. Beautiful shapeshifting witches like her didn’t marry dhampirs. His kind were the pariah of the otherworld: hated because they were half-vampire, needed because they were the best weapons against the bloodsuckers. He didn’t need the formal vows. He was pledged to her, knew he would remain true, and would love her until the day he died, but he knew her well enough to recognize her yearning for the real deal.
So they made it official. They had a white dress, tux, flowers, a priest–the entire bit. She used her powers to convince the poor padre that they’d already been through the requisite pre-marital classes as mandated by the Catholic Church. She told him that Nicky was leaving the country to go into the service and they needed to be married so she could go with him. Somehow Gerry managed to also con an entire church full of witnesses to appear for the assembly.
They would celebrate their first anniversary in just a few weeks. At least he hoped they would as he rubbed that itchy area on his left hand. A magical wedding band. She wouldn’t let him go without a wedding ring, and he refused to wear one since their marriage was a secret, so his ever resourceful wife conjured an invisible band. It was perfect, she said, because he could never take it off without her help.
He took comfort in the burning itch now because as long as that magical ring was still on his finger, it meant Gerry must be all right.
He was relieved when he edged into the dark bar and saw Penny-Pete behind the counter. Pete could squeeze anyone and everyone for a little extra. Rumors were, even the IRS got conned to pay Penny-Pete a few extra copperheads each year. And that was all he needed—a few added cents from all the guys he ran rackets with, all the people who patronized his bar, and even the US government. Those pennies added up. Hence, the name: Penny-Pete.
Pete was busy telling some wild story to a circle of patrons, so Nicky ordered a drink from the gal in a tank top working the bar with him. She had a huge tattoo of a blazing multi-colored sun around her nave
l. Some of the flames of that sun peeked down her slim belly and into the waist of her skirt. He glanced at the guy next to him, who was practically drooling over her. He figured the fellow was wondering just how close those finger-like flames got to kissing her…
“Nick! You prick! Where the hell have you been all these years?” Pete exclaimed, interrupting Nicky’s wandering thoughts. He came from around the bar and approached with an enthusiastic gait.
“Hey, man,” Nicky replied, reaching out a hand to exchange a complicated handshake. “I see business is still good.”
“Ah, it’s crazy, man. You wouldn’t believe how good it really is. You want back in? I always got a place for you…” He rambled, leading Nicky toward the far corner of the bar.
“Nah, I’m sorta in a spot man. I need a place to hide out for a bit.”
“What kinda spot? The kind with the blue suits with the badges on their chests?”
Nicky grinned. “Is there any other kind?” It was easy to lie. Pete didn’t know anything about dhampirs or magic or vampires. The only kind of trouble he could relate to was the legal kind. “I just need a day or two. Is there some place you know of?”
Pulling a soiled towel from his back pocket, Pete began idly wiping off the counter, pursing his lips in thought. “There’s this place over not far from here. It ain’t much more than a room and bath, but it’s up for lease. Owner’s gone back to Alabama or some shit. No one’s gonna know if you hole up there for a while. It’s furnished, though I can’t tell ya’ how clean it is.”
“That’ll work. I don’t need much. Where is it?”
Pete grinned and Nicky noted he had lost a tooth, probably in some sort of bar squabble. “Whadya got for me, Nick? Nothin’s free, you know.”
He knew and wasn’t surprised. He didn’t have much cash and had already been through Gerry’s clutch. She was bare bones, too. The rest of their possessions were in Kent’s truck, and there was no telling where he was now.
The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Page 38
