Misfits, Inc. (21 page)

“I’d like to withdraw my earlier remark,” Rafe
announced casually, patted Logan on the back, and indicated the plant life
outside the window.  “Have fun with that.”

H
ailey peered out of the men’s restroom and looked around the
main corridor not far from the lobby.  The corridor was quiet and empty.  She
hurried into the open elevator, swiped her keycard, and was about to press the
penthouse button when she reconsidered.  She pressed her own floor instead. 
She couldn’t risk someone possibly hiding out on the twentieth floor and
hearing the elevator arriving.  As the doors closed, she leaned against the
wall and shut her eyes a moment.  She wasn’t sure she was doing the right
thing.  Every instinct inside her screamed that her plan wouldn’t work.  It was
a self-fulfilling prophecy of potential doom.  On the short elevator ride to
the nineteenth floor, she kept thinking about Lucinda’s scathing remarks.  She
had four sisters; all who failed to destroy her evil boss.  They were prepared
for the challenge, and they failed.  How could she ever hope to defeat
Lucinda?  Did she really think her misfits were up to the challenge?  Had Rafe
been right?  Was she ultimately sending them to their death?

As the doors opened to her floor, she was still
debating her plan and questioning herself.  She hurried along the corridor,
past her room, and directly for the stairwell.  Her dilemma continued as she
ran up the steps toward the roof.  All she could think about were the sisters
she never knew; how they must have died; and those four deluded men willing to follow
her to the depths of hell just because she said so.  If they died, it was on
her.  She wasn’t sure she could live with the guilt, although if they died, she
probably wouldn’t outlive them by long.  The thought didn’t offer any comfort. 
She reached the twentieth floor and suddenly stopped.  She looked up the steps
toward the roof exit, but something was urging her to stop on the penthouse
floor.

Hailey removed her keycard, which was the only way
to access the penthouse stairs, and uncertainly ran the card through the slot. 
She gently pushed the door open and peered into the twentieth floor corridor,
which was only home to Lucinda’s penthouse suite and the presidential suite. 
Lucinda’s penthouse door opened.  Hailey ducked back inside the stairwell, holding
the door open only a crack to watch.  Twenty men and women she recognized as
hotel employees left Lucinda’s suite and headed for the nearby elevator.  They
were talking softly among themselves while they waited for the elevator to
arrive.

“We’ll meet up with the others in the lobby,” a
maintenance man announced.  “When the interior door to the banquet hall is
clear of snappers, we’ll run to the door as if we’re being chased.  Once they
let us in, it’s necessary we take out Hailey and her misfits first.  The others
won’t be a problem.”

“And while you’re keeping her council busy,” a
housekeeper announced, “I’ll open the garden door and let the remaining
snappers inside to deal with the rest of the guests.”

The maintenance man chuckled, finding the thought
humorous.  “That’s going to be a slaughter.  I hope we at least get some of the
leftovers.”

The maid cringed her disapproval.  “Do you really
want sloppy seconds from a snapper?”

“We’ve been starved far too long,” the maintenance
man responded.  “I’ll take anything warm right about now.”

The elevator door opened and all twenty men and
women filtered inside.  As the door slid closed, Hailey was quick to share the
newly found information.

“Skyler,” she announced softly aloud, even though
she didn’t have to say the actual words.  “A group of your co-workers are on
their way to the banquet hall.  They’re going to ambush you once they get
inside.  Keep them out at all costs.”

Skyler responded to her warning, insisting they
would make certain the staff didn’t get inside.  Being fairly confident the
guests were safe from the murderous staff, Hailey slowly left the safety of the
fire stairs and quietly walked along the corridor.  She was still compelled to
press onward.  As she approached Lucinda’s suite, she saw the busted door
hadn’t fully closed, since there had been no time for Lucinda to have it
fixed.  Hailey could hear voices within the suite.  One of the voices was
Lucinda’s, and she was ranting like a mad woman.

“We’re certain they’re all within the banquet
hall?” she demanded.

Within the penthouse suite, Lucinda paced the
massive living room while Marcus casually leaned against the bar.  Delaney and
Cass were the only staff remaining inside the penthouse.  Cass was seated
comfortably in one of the oversized chairs while Delaney stood not far from
Marcus at the bar and refilled his scotch glass with Lucinda’s top-shelf
liquor.

“Yes,” Delaney announced as he sipped his drink. 
“I made sure they entered before I came up here.  The snappers have them boxed
in.  They won’t be able to escape.”

Lucinda stopped pacing and stared blankly at an
expensive painting on the wall.  All three watched in silence as she considered
her next move.  She spun on her heels and looked directly at Marcus with a
stern expression.

“On to more important matters.  Have you found my
necklace yet?” she demanded of him.

“I searched all their rooms,” Marcus casually
informed her.  “I didn’t find it.  Maybe it wasn’t one of them who stole it. 
How would they know its importance?  She didn’t even know who she was until two
days ago.  The girl knows nothing.”

Lucinda folded her arms casually across her chest
and strummed her fingernails on her skin while staring at Marcus.  She tilted
her head and suddenly smirked.

“You’re absolutely right, Marcus,” she announced. 
“There’s no way she’d know about the stone’s power.  It would only be of value
to me.”

“Obviously,” Marcus agreed.  “It’s nearly time for
you to reproduce.  Without the power of the stone, you’ll only produce
snappers.  We need viable workers; not more snappers.”

“Her Numinous may have foreseen its power,” Delaney
announced.  “That could be why they stole it.”

“Doubtful,” Marcus remarked.  “Have you met
Skyler?  He’s a buffoon.  Possibly the weakest Numinous I’ve come across.  The
boy can barely tie his shoes.”

Beyond the penthouse suite door, Hailey
straightened, having heard enough of their conversation to put everything
together.  Her conversation with Rafe about the necklace and his obsession with
stealing it now made sense.  Although, she was still puzzled by his instincts
regarding a great many things.  She needed to recover Lucinda’s necklace as
soon as she stopped the creatures from attacking the guests inside the banquet
hall.  She hurried back to the fire stairs, quietly exited through the door,
and ran the last flight of steps to the roof.

Within Lucinda’s suite, Lucinda again continued her
pacing while rationalizing recent events.  Her mind seemed to race for much
needed answers.

“Let’s not dismiss Skyler so quickly,” Lucinda
announced boldly.  “I’m almost certain he was responsible for what happened
here this morning.  A Numinous doesn’t have any real power, but you saw what
happened with the snappers, and something had a
telekinetic
hold on your gun.”

“Which had to be coming from Hailey’s unconscious
mind,” Marcus insisted.  “Telekinesis is not a characteristic of a Numinous.”

“Are we certain?” Lucinda demanded.

“Absolutely,” Marcus replied.  “No creature on this
planet possesses that sort of telekinesis.”  He appeared humored and allowed a
laugh to escape his throat.  “If he had that sort of power, that’d make him a
descendant of royalty, and I can’t see that idiot coming from the Emperor’s
bloodlines.  Besides, he’s too old to be some mutt love child from one of
Hailey’s uncles.  They weren’t on this planet any longer than we were.”

“You’re right, of course,” she replied then sank
back into thought.

There was an awkward silence.  Cass and Delaney
watched their boss attempting to come up with a more plausible explanation of
her missing necklace.  Lucinda studied Marcus and raised her brow with a
devious look on her face.

“What about one of our own?” she asked.  “Could one
of ours have stolen my necklace?”

“A challenger to your throne?” Marcus demanded then
chuckled softly.  “Doubtful.”  He shot a look at Cass, who appeared rigid in
her chair.  “As Lucinda’s closest aide, what’s your opinion, Cass?  Do you
think any of the young females would ever consider revolting against our
queen?”

“None that I would suspect,” Cass replied and shot
a look at Delaney by the bar.  “Any ambitious females that you’ve noticed,
Delaney?”

He shook his head without hesitation.  “No, they’re
all perfectly content with the way things are,” Delaney informed them.  “There
have been some comments about the last few breeding cycles having produced
fewer viable workers and more snappers, but that’s to be expected from time to
time.  I think we’re going to have a good reproductive season this year.”

Lucinda approached Delaney and seductively ran her
hand along his chest.  He didn’t move or react as her hand traveled his chest
to his abdomen.

“Yes,” she cooed while smiling slyly.  “It’s going
to be a fine reproductive season.  Perhaps, this time, you’ll put a little more
effort into your duties.  You seemed
distracted
last year, almost as if
you were laying your seed elsewhere.”

He drew a deep breath and straightened proudly. 
“We’re not supposed to discuss reproduction in front of other females,” Delaney
reminded.

Lucinda and Marcus both shifted their attention to
Cass, who appeared uncomfortable where she sat in the oversized chair.  Lucinda
chuckled softly and approached Cass.

“She doesn’t mind,” Lucinda replied and gently ran
her hand along Cass’s shoulder as she walked behind her chair.  “Cass is my
closest and most dependable aide.”  She stood behind her chair and gently
massaged her shoulders in a caressing manner while looking at Delaney.  “She’s
the only female of our kind I’ve ever allowed in my bed.”

Cass tensed beneath Lucinda’s caressing hands. 
Delaney attempted to show no reaction then took a large swallow from his
glass.  It clearly bothered him.

“I find the entire conversation inappropriate,” he
casually remarked as he set his glass down on the bar.

“Oh?” Lucinda questioned while staring at him as her
hands caressed Cass’s shoulders and moved their way toward her breasts.  “I
have to wonder if there’s been some unauthorized breeding among my subjects. 
The birth of illegitimate snappers could explain the recent rash of attacks
around my hotel.”

“There has been no unauthorized breeding,” Delaney
announced with some agitation in his voice.  “Each and every snapper on the
island came from you and is loyal to you.”

“Four women have disappeared in the last few days,”
Marcus snarled at Delaney.  “Sure, a snapper occasionally strays and finds its
own meal, but four isn’t a coincidence.”  His eyes shot across the room to
Cass, who remained uncomfortable beneath Lucinda’s caressing hands.  “Four
random attacks sounds more like a wannabe queen building her strength for
reproduction.”

The look in Cass’s eyes was that of alarm.  She was
about to protest when Lucinda’s claws appeared and firmly dug deep into her
flesh and tore across her throat.  Cass barely had time to cry out as blood
flowed from the four deep gashes through her jugular.  Delaney jerked, his eyes
conveying his horror.  Lucinda stepped away from the gasping woman and showed
no reaction for the life she claimed.  She casually licked the blood from her
claws.  Cass thrashed slightly as the life ran from her throat.  Marcus
indicated the dying woman to Delaney with hostility in his hardened eyes.

“Drink her blood,” he ordered.

Delaney shot looks from Marcus to Cass.  He was
horrified by the command.

“You’d side with that wretched girl over your
queen?” Marcus demanded.  “If you value your position as well as your life,
you’ll do it.  Desecrate the female who dare betray our queen and prove your
loyalty now.”

Delaney slowly approached the nearly dead woman in
the chair and stared into her dying eyes.  She stared back at him and attempted
to speak, but blood flowed from her mouth as she gurgled her words.  He placed
his mouth to hers and licked the blood running down her lips.  He then lowered
his mouth to the blood flowing from her jugular.  As he slurped and lapped up
her warm blood, Lucinda and Marcus exchanged satisfied grins from across the
room.

“You don’t know how lucky you are that it’s mating
season, and we’re low on males,” Marcus snarled at the man licking and sucking
the warm blood spilling from his dead girlfriend’s neck.  “A great deal of
having to exterminate those within the resort falls on your selfish need for
power.”

Delaney obviously heard him but didn’t comment,
instead, he continued with his duties.

“We had to cover your clumsy kills with the
massacre of those playing poker in the laundry room,” Marcus sternly
announced.  “Too many of them had come forward when Penny disappeared claiming
they’d seen her in the basement.”  He shook his head with disgust while
watching the man hovering over the blood-soaked dead woman.  “I’m very
disappointed in you, betraying your queen like that.  You’re lucky she doesn’t
have your head for this.”