Music from a local radio station filled the passenger compartment. As they neared the tiny community of Westmond, Kyle turned down the tunes so he could talk to Amanda and try to distract her from her mood. “I still can’t believe you found a collector so close. If he has anything suitable, we could try the ritual again tonight.”
Amanda shrugged. “It’s not that surprising. North Idaho has several reservations. Mr. Bell is himself a descendant of the Coeur d’Alene nation, although he collects artifacts from all over the West. He said he has several Navajo items in his collection.”
Kyle’s voice took on a skeptical tone. “Sounds like he’s got quite a racket going. A hundred bucks minimum to borrow an item for a week, and you’re liable for the full value, which is however much he decides it’s worth.”
“Hey, don’t knock it. We’re lucky Mr. Bell is willing to loan things out to individuals at all.”
Kyle couldn’t argue with that. Amanda had contacted this particular collector because he was loosely affiliated with the Order. He wasn’t a hunter, but he was an accomplished sorcerer who supported the aims of the Order. He recognized objects of power and understood how useful they could be for specific applications. He’d even loan them out to other practitioners—for a price.
After they cruised through Westmond and had accelerated back up to the speed limit, Amanda narrowed her eyes at her rearview mirror. Kyle turned around in his seat to see a large silver pickup truck coming up quickly behind them. Jerks in large trucks were common in North Idaho, so she was right to go on the alert.
Kyle wasn’t surprised when the truck jumped into the oncoming lane of the two-lane highway to pass. No traffic came from the opposite direction, so the driver had plenty of time and room to get around them.
“Here comes an asshole in a hurry,” he commented.
Amanda smirked and said, “Typical. Big truck, little brain.”
Kyle laughed. “I thought that was supposed to be big truck, little dick.”
Amanda adopted a superior air. “Yes, but a lady would never say such a thing.”
As the truck came alongside them, Amanda took her foot off the gas and let her car decelerate. Kyle would have done the same because cutting back in too close was a typical maneuver for jerk drivers. The truck pulled ahead as expected, but an alarm went off in Kyle’s head when the truck started to slow before its rear had cleared the front end of Amanda’s car.
The truck started moving back into their lane. Amanda steered as far onto the shoulder as she could, hitting her horn at the same time. The truck’s brake lights came on, but all that did was slow it down to match their speed. Amanda had just touched the brake pedal herself when the back of the truck bumped the front end of her SUV.
Although she had her speed down from sixty to about forty-five miles per hour, the truck had bumped the car over so her left tires rode on the pavement and the right tires bumped along in the dirt. Braking was no longer a good option, and she seemed to recognize that. Amanda had a tight grip on the steering wheel and carefully moved the car all the way onto the dirt, mowing down a few highway markers along the way. She was doing great and had slowed to about thirty-five when the front right tire slammed into a big rock that stuck up out of the ground, nearly tearing the steering wheel out of her hands.
“Hang on!” Amanda warned him needlessly.
Kyle had a death grip on the grab handle above the window. It was literally turning into a white-knuckle ride. Amanda struggled to keep control of the vehicle, but the rock seemed to have broken something and the car turned in a wobbling arc toward a line of trees alongside the highway. Amanda’s scream was cut off by the crash that threw them forward into the airbags.
The next thing Kyle knew, he was coughing up airbag deployment dust. His face burned from the abrasion of the bag and his ears rang. He called to Amanda, but didn’t hear an answer. His eyes watered and stung from the dust, but before he could rub it away, his door opened and someone pulled him from the car.
“I’m fine,” he said, unable to see who was helping him. “Make sure the driver’s okay.”
But no one responded and he was forcefully led away from the car. His eyes cleared enough for him to see that he was being dragged toward the silver truck. He struggled to free himself, but wasn’t having much luck, and then the world shifted into slow motion after something stung his neck.
He was lifted bodily into the truck. With his few remaining seconds of consciousness, he looked at the person who was fastening his seat belt, and his heart nearly stopped when he found the angry eyes of Fenris Kellen.
His last thought before passing out was, where the hell is Jonathan?
Chapter 16
Sedated
Kyle awoke from a deep dreamless sleep with a pounding headache. He opened his eyes but had trouble focusing them on the featureless white ceiling. Groaning, he tried to raise his head, but a cool hand pushed it back to the pillow.
He wished he were dreaming when he heard Sherry’s voice say, “Hey, sleepyhead. I’m glad to see you’re finally awake.”
He turned his head and found her smiling down at him from a chair next to the bed he was lying on, although her smile didn’t ease the pinched look of worry in her eyes. Her left hand held his while her right hand dabbed at his forehead with a cool cloth.
“Water?” Kyle croaked, trying again to sit up.
Sherry tsked at him, but she let him push himself higher on the pillow. Handing him a glass of water from the bedside table, she asked, “How do you feel?”
Kyle took a sip of the water before answering. It tasted so good that he kept drinking until it was gone. Handing the glass back to her, he said, “I feel like I’ve been run off the road.”
Sherry squeezed his hand in sympathy. “They said there was an accident and that you were lucky they were keeping an eye on you. Your symptoms were becoming dangerous, Kyle. It’s a good thing they were finally able to start treating you.”
Kyle stared at her for a minute. “Is that why I’ve been unconscious?”
“Yes. Dr. Rutlinger said the drugs can make you drowsy, but you get a break so you can eat and drink something. He said I could talk to you as long as I make sure you eat something. There’s a bathroom through that door if you need it.”
Kyle levered himself off the bed and made an unsteady attempt to stand. The dark-blue pajamas he wore were a bit large on him and smelled of an unfamiliar laundry product. The idea of a werewolf in pajamas struck him as funny and he chuckled to himself. Sherry took his arm and helped him to the bathroom doorway. He disengaged his arm at the door. “I can handle the rest.”
Closing the door, he turned to the mirror above the sink. He looked about as bad as he felt. His hair was sticking up everywhere and his eyelids were sagging with drowsiness. The eyes that stared back at him were the most startling sight of all. His irises were almost completely amber now. He stepped forward and leaned on the counter to catch his breath. He splashed cold water on his face, feeling better with each passing second. If they kept pumping whatever it was into his system, he would have no chance of escaping.
He used the toilet and then washed up. He gripped the door handle, bracing himself to face Sherry again. She was an ignorant pawn in this dreadful game the Pack was playing. He had to figure out a way to get both of them out of there.
Back in the room, he went around Sherry to open the blinds. His breath caught when he saw how full the moon was as it rose above the spiked tree silhouettes to the east.
“Ooh, isn’t the moon pretty?” Sherry said from right behind him.
He turned to her. “What day is it? How long was I out?”
“It’s Wednesday. They brought you in yesterday afternoon.”
Kyle’s mouth dropped open and he stumbled back several steps to sit on the bed. It was too late to escape. Thursday night was First Moon, so this was the last night he had for Amanda to do the exorcism. Even if he were able to escape immediately, would Amanda have time to perform the exorcism?
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Thinking about Amanda reminded him of the violence of the crash. Had she been hurt? Even if she was okay, had she been able to get the totem? He pulled at the hair on the sides of his head. He had lost more than an entire day!
Sherry sat on the bed next to him and rubbed his back. “It will be okay, Kyle. You’re getting the treatment you need.”
He sighed in frustration. “Sherry, shut up.”
“What? Don’t be mean. I’m just trying to help you.”
Kyle turned and put his finger gently over her lips. “Listen to me. Their treatment is not the cure you think it is. It has … side effects … that will change me forever. You think it will bring us together, but it won’t.”
Sherry shook her head and grabbed his hand. “You’re in denial, Kyle. They warned me about this.”
Kyle pulled his hand away from hers. “Stop and think for a second. Isn’t this place a little off? Don’t these people seem a little weird?”
Sherry frowned and looked down at her lap. “They’re foreign,” she declared with a shrug. “Well, Dr. Rutlinger is, anyway.” She glanced briefly up at Kyle. “Okay, the obsession with wolves is pretty weird, but some people are into keeping wild animals. I don’t agree with it, but I can’t do anything about it.”
Something occurred to Kyle right then. Would the Order let the Pack get away with kidnapping him while he was under the protection of sanctuary? Why hadn’t they demanded his release? Or had they? He had been unconscious for a day and a half. But Sherry hadn’t been.
Kyle turned on the bed to face Sherry. “Did you hear anything else about the crash? Did anyone come looking for me afterward?”
Sherry’s expression changed to one of supreme disappointment. “You just want to know if she’s okay.” She flicked a glance at him, but he didn’t try to deny it. “From what I hear, the dark-haired witch is fine.”
Her use of the term witch surprised Kyle. Had the werewolves been revealing secrets? How much did Sherry understand now about what was happening?
“Did you say witch?”
Sherry waved a hand in apology. “Sorry. I know you like her. But that’s what the lawyer calls her, and I think it fits.”
“How do you know she’s okay?”
“I overheard them say she ran toward the truck when they drove away from the scene. I must say it didn’t sound like you to leave without making sure she was all right. I’m sure the cops would have wanted to get your statement as well.” She shrugged and added, “But they said your condition is making you do strange things.”
Kyle closed his eyes and buried his face in his hands. He had firsthand experience with how persuasive a werewolf could be. He didn’t seem to be having much luck with it himself, so he assumed it was one of the demon’s skills.
His stomach growled and Sherry got up from the bed to retrieve the food tray. She handed it to him and sat down. “Eat something. You have to be hungry after all this time.”
Kyle looked down at the food and tried to figure out what he should do. His thinking was still a little fuzzy from the drugs. He’d need to keep his strength up, so food was probably a good idea. He raised a forkful of the pasta salad toward his mouth and stopped. Dropping the fork back into the bowl, he set the tray aside. He was willing to bet that the food was like Persephone’s pomegranate seeds, designed to keep him at the Foundation.
Sherry gave him a quizzical look. “Try it. I had some and it’s great.”
“I think it might be drugged,” he said.
Sherry gave him a dubious look and started to argue, but he interrupted her. “Sherry, we have to get out of here. I want to leave, but these people won’t let me go. Even if you believe they have my best interest at heart, you know it’s wrong of them to hold me here against my will.”
“But you need treatment,” she said in a pleading tone.
It was time for some selective white lies. “Their treatment is experimental. It could kill me as easily as cure me. But no matter what, it should be my choice to accept treatment or not, right?”
A slight lift in Sherry’s shoulders conceded his point.
Kyle needed her on his side, and needed her to go with him. At the risk of putting her in a panic, he had to lay out some of the truth for her.
“Look, I don’t know what they told you about the accident, but it was no accident. They ran Amanda’s car off the road. We’re lucky no one was seriously hurt. They took me out of the car while I was still disoriented and drugged me before they stuffed me into their truck. They kidnapped me, Sherry. And they nearly killed me in the process.”
Sherry wasn’t buying it. Her expression went from doubt to concern. “Kyle, the paranoia is part of your illness. Think about what you’re saying. It doesn’t even make sense. Why would they try to kill you just to bring you here so they could help you?”
“There’s more going on here than a treatment facility, and there’s more to their interest in me than my illness. Part of the deal, the ‘contract’ if you will, is that I have to stay here with them indefinitely if I accept treatment. It will change who I am, and you won’t be welcome here any longer.”
Sherry blinked several times, trying to process what he was telling her.
“Let me ask you this. Do they have someone out there in the hall watching the room?”
“Yes, Reggie was sitting on the bench at the end of the hall when they let me in.”
Kyle wasn’t familiar with the layout of the building, but after being there for four days, Sherry should be.
“Is there a staircase at that end of the hallway that leads to an exit?”
“Yes.” She stood up and looked down at him with alarm. “Why are you asking me this? Are you planning to sneak out?”
“So, they are watching the room. I can go to the main building, but I can’t slip out the back. Doesn’t that sound like I’m a prisoner here?”
Kyle stood up. If Sherry went for the door to warn Reggie, he’d have to restrain her. He was getting nowhere. If she didn’t come around, he might have to gag her and tie her up, hoping the Pack would let her go when she was no longer useful to them. So far, they hadn’t killed anyone, but they were demons after all.
A light flashed on the wall through the blinds, catching Kyle’s eye. He went to the window and looked out. The window was on the second floor of the building, so he could see part of the plateau near the entrance to the compound. The trees blocked his line of sight to the main gate, but a headlight shone through the trunks.
A shout out in the hallway was followed by the pounding of feet. Had Reggie left his post? While Kyle watched, another set of headlights flickered through the trees, approaching the front gate. Could it be the Order?
“What’s going on?” Sherry asked.
A thrill of excitement ran through Kyle. Even if it wasn’t the Order, it was a distraction. If he was going to escape, the time had arrived.
With that thought, a wave of dizziness hit him so hard he had to put his hand on the wall to maintain his balance.
Sherry put an arm around him. “Are you okay?”
He couldn’t answer. The room was spinning and tipping in a way that was frighteningly familiar. The demon was trying to take over again. Kyle’s vision tunneled until all that remained was the bright moon. He fought against the pressure in his mind, determined not to let the demon have its way. The moon froze in his vision while he struggled.
Slowly, he started to regain control. Images of the room flashed before his eyes and the sound of Sherry’s voice stuttered in his ears like a bad phone connection.
Kyle’s hand was on the doorknob, and Sherry was sitting on the bed. She sobbed into her hand as tears trickled over a red mark on her cheek.
He let go of the doorknob as if it had burned him. He slowly approached Sherry and sat next to her on the bed. Her look was wary as he gently touched her face.
“What happened?” he asked her, concern creasing his brow. “Did I do this?”
She cringed from his t
ouch and glared at him. “What’s wrong with you? I was just trying to help you back to bed. I know you don’t want to be here, but that’s no reason to hit me.”
“I’m so sorry. You know that’s not my way. This is what I’ve been trying to tell you. Their treatments are turning me into someone I don’t want to become.”
She stared into his eyes for a moment and then spoke in a hurt tone. “You’ve never hit me before. And you’ve never been so mean.”
“Now you understand. I have to get out of here. If I stay it will only get worse. Something is going on outside, and I think this might be a good time to escape.”
Sherry took a deep breath and wiped the tears from her face. After giving him a considering look, she nodded her head. “Okay. But I’m afraid to stay here now. Please let me come with you.”
Kyle hugged her. “I was hoping you’d say that.” She initially went rigid when he pulled her close, but she tentatively returned the hug after a few seconds.
Kyle released her and started looking around the room. “Where did they put my clothes?” He got up and checked the closet, but it was empty except for a few plastic hangers.
“I don’t know,” she answered. “I helped put you into those pajamas, but didn’t notice what they did with the clothing you were wearing.”
After a brief search, he concluded that his clothes weren’t in the room. That meant the tincture Amanda had given him wasn’t in the room either. Without the tincture, he had nothing to keep the demon in check. It could try to take over again at any time. Clothes or no clothes, there was no time to waste.
He evaluated the pajamas and decided they were dark enough to hide him. They’d probably rip on the first stray branch, but there was nothing he could do about that. Not having any shoes was probably going to exercise his quick-healing ability.
He glanced at Sherry. Her clothes would be adequate for an evening of slinking through the forest. Her red blouse would be practically black in the moonlight, and her jeans would keep her legs from getting scratched.
Her shoes were another story. The white-strapped sandals would do little to protect her feet, and they’d slip on damp grass or leaves. Still, they were probably better than going barefoot.
First Moon (The Ternion Order Book 1) Page 20
