Authors: Parker Blue
Make Me (14 page)
He nodded.
Carefully, I asked, “Do you think your buddy Wes and—”
“No,” Austin said fiercely, interrupting me. “Wes wouldn’t deliberately hurt anyone, not even an animal.”
Oookay. Not going there again. “Then who?”
He shook his head. “Some of the rogues, I suppose.”
“Doesn’t make sense. The reason they don’t join the Movement is because they want to snack on humans. Why would they resort to animals?”
Austin didn’t say a word, just stared down at the dead animal.
HEY, Fang shouted mentally. COME HERE. YOU NEED TO SEE THIS.
“Fang’s found something else,” I told Austin.
It was difficult to follow a mental voice, so Fang darted out to lead us to his discovery. I followed more slowly, using the flashlight to find my way, and he led us to a small open space. I glanced around, but didn’t see anything remarkable. “What is it, Fang?”
He pawed at the ground. LOOK DOWN HERE.
I crouched to see what he was talking about, and Austin did the same. I shone the flashlight along the ground and didn’t get it for a moment. Then I realized what I was seeing. Black ash.
YEP, Fang confirmed. FRIED VAMP.
Austin knelt down and sifted his fingers through the residue. What the heck? Then I realized what he was doing as he pulled an old-fashioned gold pocket watch from the ash, blackened and cracked by unholy fire. He was looking for identification.
“Do you know who that belongs to?” I asked softly.
He nodded.
I was almost afraid to ask. “Is it Wes’s?”
“No,” he said, rising and placing the watch in his pocket. “It belonged to Etienne, one of Lisette’s missing. He was very proud of this watch.”
Crap. “Do you think he…” I waved vaguely in the direction of the dead deer.
“I don’t know what to think. I can’t imagine what would make Etienne do such a thing.” Austin glanced down at the ash, all that was left of Lisette’s vampire. “Or why he was out in the open like this. He was too smart to let the sun catch him unaware.”
“Maybe he was wounded and couldn’t get to safety,” I suggested. As I said that, I wondered what prompted me to want to make Austin feel better. After all, he’d been nothing but snarky to me.
“Maybe,” Austin conceded. He looked at me. “You think he caught the perpetrators and was wounded in the fight?”
I could see he liked that scenario. I shrugged. “Maybe. I don’t know.”
Fang jerked up his head. WATCH OUT. INCOMING.
Micah woke, feeling stiff and sore. He blinked his eyes open, trying to figure out where he was and how he got here. As best he could see in the scant moonlight filtering into the dark room, he lay sprawled on his side on a bare mattress, his wrist manacled to a radiator.
Blearily, he remembered the demon who’d demanded the books, then shot them when they denied they had the encyclopedia. Strange, he didn’t feel as if he’d been shot. What he’d thought was a silencer must have been a dart gun with a sedative. He wondered how Gwen—
A surge of adrenaline shot through him. Gwen. Where was she? His incubus abilities should help him find any woman. He felt around mentally for her. Or at least, he tried. Something was blocking him. Perdo. Damn it, the demon had shot him with Perdo.
He bolted upright to a sitting position and found Gwen beside him on the other side of the mattress, also manacled to the radiator. She was breathing, thank heavens. And, because of the Perdo, his incubus powers wouldn’t affect her when she did wake. One little ray of sunshine.
Now, how could he get them both out of here?
Something blunt poked his leg, and he looked down. Princess. Ah, another advantage to the Perdo—he couldn’t hear her demands.
“Chill, dog. If you’re talking to me, I can’t hear you,” he said. “We were drugged.”
Princess flopped down on the mattress with a huff, and Micah looked around the space, hoping to spot something, anything that would get them out of here. Unfortunately, it was a small, stark room empty of furniture except the mattress. Narrow windows were set high on the concrete wall—this must be a basement.
So what? What could he do with that information?
Nothing, unless he could get loose. Mentally, he ran through the contents of his pockets, wondering if there was anything he could use to pick the lock. A stray paperclip, maybe?
Wait—his phone. Had Carla taken it? He could call 9-1-1 and ask for help. The police could find them with the GPS. Especially when they learned Detective Dan Sullivan’s sister was one of the kidnappees.
With his right hand manacled and useless, he used his left to fumble the phone out of his right pocket. He punched in 9-1, but that was as far as he got before Princess bit his hand.
He dropped the phone and shook his hand. She hadn’t broken the skin, but why the heck did she do that? The hellhound rolled her eyes frantically toward the door, then Micah heard footsteps coming. Damn it, no time to call. Princess sat on the phone just as the door opened.
Carla again. The fire demon switched on the light and it stabbed through the fog in Micah’s brain. He closed his eyes against the pain, but had to see what the demon was doing, so he opened his eyes a slit.
Gwen stirred, groaning, and Carla said, “Good. You’re both awake.”
Gwen scrambled to a sitting position. “What do you want?”
The demon pointed a gun at them again. Micah wasn’t sure, but it looked like the same dart gun she’d used on them earlier. That explained why a fire demon needed a gun.
“It’s simple,” the demon said. “You tell me where the books are, Slayer, and I don’t hurt you or your boyfriend.”
Princess growled a warning. DON’T HURT MY FRIEND.
If Micah could hear the hellhound again, the Perdo must be wearing off. Too bad his headache wasn’t.
Carla laughed. “That’s up to her. If she tells me where the books are, I’ll let you all go.”
Is she telling the truth?
Micah asked Princess silently.
YES. BUT SHE THINKS IT WON’T MATTER. WHEN THEY GET THE BOOKS, NO ONE WILL BE ABLE TO STOP THEM.
Not good. With those books, she’d be able to wreak total havoc.
DO SOMETHING, Princess insisted.
The only thing he could do was convince Carla she had the wrong woman. “We told you before, she’s not Val. She’s Val’s roommate, Gwen.”
Carla snorted. “Nice try. Do you think I’m an idiot?”
“No, I think you’re mistaken.” How could he convince her? “Look, she’s wearing hospital scrubs because she’s a nurse. Do you think the Slayer would wear scrubs?”
“Maybe.” Carla looked doubtful for the first time.
Micah searched for something else that might convince her. “You shot us with Perdo. In demons, you know that the aftereffect is one hell of a migraine when the eyes are exposed to light, right?”
“Yes. So?”
“So that’s why I’m squinting. But what’s she doing?”
Gwen stirred. “My eyes are wide open. No headache.”
“That’s because she’s
human,
” Micah said. “You kidnapped the wrong girl. Gwen is Val’s roommate.”
“The boss ain’t gonna like this.” Flames flickered on Carla’s hand for a moment before she closed her fist and punched the wooden door. It left quite a dent.
BAD LADY ANGRY, Princess said.
No kidding. But at least she believed what Micah said.
Too bad Micah’s incubus powers wouldn’t work on her. Unfortunately, Gwen was inside his personal field, and now that the Perdo was wearing off, she was feeling the effect and cuddling up against him. Not that he minded, but it felt as though he was taking advantage of her, even if it was inadvertently. He tried to pull his personal field in close to his body, but because of the drug and the lack of practice, it wasn’t easy.
Though his head felt as though it was about to split, Micah attempted to follow up on the advantage. “So, now that you know Gwen isn’t Val, you can let us go.”
Carla let out a bark of laughter. “Not gonna happen. And now that we know she can’t control the boss, he can talk to you himself. But I’ll make you a deal. You tell me where Val is, and once I squeeze the books out of her, I’ll let you both go.”
AND ME, TOO, Princess declared.
“Will Asmodeus agree to that?” Micah challenged. Where was this shadowy boss, anyway? Did he even exist?
Carla ignored him. “What’s it gonna be?”
“Val went out of town,” Gwen said.
“Where?”
Val could take care of herself, but there was no reason to send this demon after her. “We don’t know,” Micah lied. “Some kind of family problem.”
Carla turned to Gwen, flames flickering along her hands again. “She woulda told her roommate where she was going.”
Micah felt Gwen tremble. “No, she ran out real fast, saying it was an emergency. She took the books with her.”
“You’re both lying,” Carla said flatly. “You gotta be. So, how about I give you a little incentive?” She walked over to the mattress and glared down at them. “What do you think would happen to the bitch’s pups if I kick her real hard in the stomach?”
NO! Princess yelled, and jumped up to scurry away from her. DON’T HURT MY PUPPIES.
Carla grabbed for the hellhound and missed.
A tinny voice came from the mattress beside Micah. “9-1-1, what is your emergency?”
Damn. Princess must have butt-dialed the last number when she was scrambling away. Micah tried to grab for the phone and muffle it before Carla heard it.
Too late.
The fire demon whirled and snatched it out of his hand, saying into the speaker, “I’m sorry, my kid accidentally dialed your number.” She hung up without waiting for a response, then hefted the phone, smiling. “Well, well. What else have you got in your pockets?”
She came toward him, and Micah’s hands curled into fists. Though his right hand was immobilized by the manacle, his weaker left hand could still deliver a punch.
Carla paused. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you, bub. For every punch you land on me, the girl and the dog get two just as hard.”
Micah bit back his anger as Carla roughly rifled through his front pockets. If she’d forgotten to search them, she must not be very good at this. Or maybe this was her first kidnapping. And maybe she’d make another mistake Micah could exploit.
The fire demon tossed Micah’s keys across the room, but left the coins behind. She turned Micah over and slid his wallet out of his back pocket. Grinning, she opened it. “Nice. Whatever kind of work you do, it must pay real well.” She pocketed the cash, then tossed the wallet and the rest of its contents into the corner.
Next, she searched Gwen. Since Gwen only had her scrubs on and her purse had been left behind, the only thing Carla found on her was her hospital badge.
She backed away from them and squinted at it. “Gwen Sullivan. Huh. Guess you were telling the truth about that, anyway.” She dropped the badge to the floor. “Congratulations, chickie, Asmodeus can use you as a bargaining chip.” She turned to grin at Micah. “But you, why would I need you?”
“Don’t hurt him. He’s Val’s cousin,” Gwen blurted out.
Not strictly true, though since they had the same type of power, they were probably related somehow. They considered each other family, anyway.
“Okay,” Carla said. “Two hostages. Even better. Now, tell me where Val took those books, or I’ll kick the dog.”