by Tara West
“None of the rooms have them,” Roy answered. “Say hi to Dad.”
She stiffened, feeling like she was trapped in a noose, and Roy was her executioner. “I’ll go up front and ask the nurse.” She didn’t want to say hi. She didn’t even want to look at the man.
“Annie?” Roy Senior rasped, a strong rattle in his chest.
Her veins turned to sludge as she slowly spun around, forcing a smile. “Hi.”
“Look at you.” He flashed a wide grin, revealing several missing teeth. “A beautiful grown woman.”
“I’ll go make the call.” Roy nudged her toward the bed. “You stay here.”
No way was she sitting by him. She latched onto Roy’s arm. “It’s not safe for you out there.” She dropped her voice to a heated whisper. “She can’t take my body, Roy. Only humans.”
“What the hell is going on?” Roy Senior demanded.
“Nothing, Dad.” Roy shot Annie a warning look.
She refused to back down. “If we’re taking him with us, he needs to know.”
Roy Senior banged his head against the headboard. “Know what?”
Roy groaned into his hands. “I don’t even know where to begin.”
“I need to call for help.” Annie went to the door. “Lock it and don’t let anyone in.”
“Fine,” Roy relented, his shoulders falling. “But you’re not off the hook.”
She made a spluttering noise and rolled her eyes.
And that’s when the power went out, engulfing their room in darkness, with the exception of Roy Senior’s bleeping machine, which obviously had backup power.
“What the hell?” Roy Senior grumbled.
“The demon is here.” Annie pulled Roy close and hissed in his ear. “She’s doing this to create confusion.”
“Will someone explain what the hell is going on?”
Roy groaned. “I know it sounds crazy, Dad, but you’re not safe here, so we’re relocating you.”
“Annie.” Roy Senior shot her a questioning look. “You said you’re not human?”
Annie froze, feeling like she was caught in a hunter’s crosshairs. “I’m not evil, and I’m not going to hurt you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
She kept her distance as Roy loaded his father into a wheelchair, knowing Roy Senior was probably freaked out by her. Not that she cared. Now he knew how she felt.
“Where are we going?” the old man feebly asked.
“Someplace safe,” she answered. At least she sure as hell hoped so.
Chapter Fourteen
“ROY, WHERE ARE YOU going?” Nurse Gloria hollered, chasing after them.
Annie’s intuition told her she needed to protect her brother. “Go!” she said to him, pushing him toward the front doors. “I’ll handle her.”
“We’re taking him out for a bit.” She stood in front of the door, blocking the nurse’s path. “We’ll bring him back.”
The nurse tried to peek around Annie’s shoulder. “We don’t let our patients go out this late.”
“He’s not a memory patient,” Annie said stiffly, her stance unwavering. “He’ll be fine.”
The nurse made a lot of huffing and puffing noises, but Annie refused to be intimidated. She walked out, shutting the door in the nurse’s face.
The moment Annie was outside, she felt as if she’d run into a brick wall. Parked next to Roy’s vehicle was a familiar classic truck with flames stenciled down the sides.
Roy stood behind a pillar, gun drawn, while he scanned the area.
“Do you sense anything?” he asked Annie.
She scented the air. “I think we’re alone.” She looked over her shoulder at the front door. The nurse was gone. She didn’t know if that was a good or bad sign.
“Stay here,” Roy said to her.
Before she could stop him, he raced to their stolen truck.
Roy jumped in and tore out of the parking space, hopping the curb and parking next to them. “Come on!” He waved his gun in the air.
Annie pushed the wheelchair toward the vehicle.
Roy was about to scoop up his dad when the front door opened and Nurse Gloria ran out.
“Mr. Miller!” She waved a red jacket over her head. “You forgot your jacket.”
The old man looked confused. “That isn’t mine.”
“Of course it is.” Skirting the wheelchair, she lunged at Roy. “You hold it for your father.” Come a little closer, my pet.
Annie jumped between them just in time, hackles raised, growling like a rabid wolf.
“No!” she screamed when she saw red flash in the nurse’s eyes. “I’ll kill you!” With a howl, she wrapped her hands around the nurse’s throat, knocking her to the ground.
“Annie, no!” Roy cried, trying to pull her off.
“What in god’s green earth is going on?” Roy Senior hollered.
“Don’t touch her,” Annie warned. “It’s the demon, Roy.”
“If you kill her, you kill Nurse Gloria, too!” Roy said.
Annie released Gloria’s throat, then grabbed her wrists and pinned them above her head.
“Roy, my darling,” Gloria rasped, trying and failing to buck Annie off. “Don’t let her hurt me.”
Annie gazed into Gloria’s red eyes. Releasing her wrists, she wrapped her fingers around Gloria’s throat again. “If we don’t kill her, she’ll go on terrorizing us and selling girls into slavery.”
“No,” Roy begged. “There has to be another way.”
Annie pretended not to notice when the nurse reached for Roy Senior’s foot. Yes, it was cruel of her to want the demon to go into a disabled man’s body, but at least she could control her if she was incapacitated, and she knew a witch who could banish the demon’s soul to hell.
“Sorry, Roy. The only way is death.”
When the nurse’s eyes rolled back, Annie let her go, then looked at Roy Senior. She saw a flash of red in his eyes and dug into his mind.
She’ll never suspect I’m in here. Roy Senior cried, “Roy, get me away from this crazy woman.”
“Don’t touch him!” Annie warned Roy. Jumping to her feet, she wagged a finger at the demon in Roy Senior’s skin. “Stupid demon. You’d really go into a paralyzed man’s body?”
Roy Senior gaped at her, then looked to Roy with pleading eyes. “I don’t know what she’s talking about. I think she’s gone mad.”
“Don’t give him that look.” Annie laughed. “I know it’s you, Balban.”
Roy Senior glared at her. “How do you know my demon name?”
Annie chuckled. “That’s for me to know.”
Chest heaving, Roy looked like a bull ready to charge, but he wisely stayed a safe distance from the wheelchair. “What the hell did you do with my dad?” His voice was too calm, too even, which frightened Annie. She knew he was teetering on the edge of insanity.
“What choice did I have?” Roy Senior snarled. “Your sister was going to kill the nurse, and I know she won’t kill her father.”
“That’s where you’re wrong.” Annie clenched her hands so tight, nails broke skin. “He’s not my father.”
Roy Senior’s laughter was low and sibilant, sounding like a snake slithering across her senses. “Ah, yes. Your gods are your fathers, but this cripple thinks you’re his spawn.”
Roy fell to his knees, looking at his father with watery eyes. “Why are you doing this?”
Roy Senior’s face twisted. “They killed my lover.”
“Who?” Annie asked.
When Roy Senior looked at her, she thought she saw the devil himself in his eyes. “Your fathers.”
Annie clutched her throat. “My fathers killed your lover?”
“Over a century ago, and I have not forgotten.” Roy Senior’s face morphed into something that didn’t resemble him. “If anything, my rage has only intensified over the years. He was the best lover I’ve ever had.”
Roy let out a strangled sob, turning his back on him. “What do we do
with him?”
“You can’t touch him,” Annie said. “I’ll put him in the van.”
“The Amaroki will kill the demon and my father with him.”
“Roy, we don’t have a choice.” She tried to project a calm she didn’t feel. “Besides, we know a witch who might be able to banish the demon’s soul. We can get Agent Johnson to fly her out from Romania.”
Roy Senior’s eyes narrowed. “She lies, Roy. They will kill your father. Let me take your body.”
Roy shook his head. “I’m not falling for that again.”
Roy Senior let out a wail. “You would let your father suffer in the abyss? What a selfish son you are.”
Nurse Gloria let out a groan as she began to wake. Annie had forgotten about the poor nurse.
“Carry her back into the hospital,” she said to Roy. “I’ll put your dad in the van.”
“But he’s too heavy,” Roy argued.
Annie braced herself, determined to see this through. “I’m not a weakling, Roy.”
“No, you’re not.” Roy Senior looked at her, licking his thin lips. “And yet you have soft, round tits.”
“Disgusting.” Annie repressed a shudder. “I’m gagging him.”
Roy Senior let out a yowl that could wake the dead. “Help! Help!”
Nurse Gloria rolled over, rubbing her eyes. “What’s going on?” Annie’s finger marks were around her neck. Uh oh. Roy would have a hard time explaining that later.
Roy scooped up Gloria, apologizing profusely as he rushed her inside. Annie gagged Roy Senior. Roy was right. He was heavy. She had to drag him into the truck and cringed when she banged his legs. Her one solace was that he couldn’t feel it. Roy returned, and they lifted the wheelchair into the truck bed.
Annie thought about going back into the hospital and calling for help, but she feared Gloria would call the cops soon, and they should be gone before they arrived. They got into the cab, and Roy cast a furtive glance at the demon behind them, who was banging his head against the window.
“Drive!” she said, praying he wasn’t having second thoughts. Their only option was to take Balban to the Amaroki. She hoped she was right, and they would fly Dr. Eilea Lupescu from Romania to help them.
Chapter Fifteen
MAGNUS BECAME MORE hopeful as Annie’s scent grew stronger. His feet were bleeding, and his legs were so cramped each step was torture, but his mate was near, and that’s all that mattered. His heart plummeted when he heard police sirens. He quickly shifted into wolf form and limped on three legs toward a big brick building that looked like a hospital.
Circling the place, he read several signs referring to it as “respite care.”
Sitting on the curb was a woman in a nurse’s uniform, waving her hands and yelling at the police. “They took him!”
“But if the son is his power of attorney, there’s nothing we can do,” a police officer said, looking at her with a patronizing smile. “Is there anything else you want to say?” The nurse bit her nails, and Magnus knew she was holding back. She’d seen something else, but she was too terrified to tell the cop.
He was wasting time at the respite center. He ran around the building to avoid being seen and back to the road, picking up Annie’s scent again. She wasn’t far ahead. If he pushed harder, he could catch up to her.
ANNIE SWORE WHILE TRYING to dig the amethyst out of her leg. It was dangerously close to the artery, but it needed to come out. Just because one demon had been captured, that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be others, and they were still a good fifteen minutes from the reservation. The highway cut through a swath of endless desert, marked only by a few tumbleweeds and the moon and stars.
Roy gripped the steering wheel like a lifeline. “Should you be doing that here?”
She hissed when blood spurted her hand. “Where else am I going to do it?”
“Wait until we get you to a doctor.”
“And what if more demons come after us?” she asked. “I can fight better as a wolf.” Her human form was far more vulnerable than her wolf, which had gone eerily silent since she’d been struck by the darts, making her feel panicked and alone. She’d grown so used to having the wolf always with her, it felt as if that part of her had died. The silence was deafening and soul-crushing.
She was about to dive back into her leg when Roy screamed and slammed on the brakes. Her knife fell to the floor as she flew forward, stopped by the seatbelt which dug into her chest. She saw a flash of gray fur and screamed when the truck hit it before coming to a violent halt.
Dazed, she lay back against the seat, rubbing her pounding head. “What the hell happened?”
Roy reached for her, blood dripping down his face. “Are you all right?”
“I-I don’t know.”
She looked at her ripped jeans and the bloody hole on her leg, then looked up at a long, gray snout sticking up from the grill guard of Roy’s truck.
“Roy,” she cried. “I think you hit a shifter!” Please, Ancients, don’t let it be one of my mates.
Roy Senior laughed. “One down. Several more to go.”
Annie undid the seatbelt and stumbled out of the truck, then turned at the clanking sound of the knife hitting the pavement. She pocketed the knife and walked around to the front of the truck, vaguely aware of another door slamming and Roy calling to her.
“Don’t get too close, Annie.”
Her hands flew to her mouth when she saw the creature hanging from the grill. What the hell was it? Because it sure wasn’t a wolf.
When it let out a heart-wrenching cry, Annie lunged for it.
“Stop, Annie!” Roy yelled.
The beast snapped at her with its long snout, nearly biting off her hand. She jumped back.
“That’s it!” Roy pulled his gun. “It’s the chupacabra.”
“The what?”
“It’s already eaten five humans.”
Annie held out her hands. “It’s dying, Roy. You can’t shoot it.” The beast’s back leg was bent at an awkward angle, and it was missing an eye. Blood poured from its mouth.
With a resigned sigh, Roy lowered his weapon. There was a howl in the distance. The chupacabra howled back.
“There are more.” Roy raised his pistol again. “They’re talking to each other. Let’s go.”
“No, no!” Annie protested. “That’s not a chupacabra howl. I know a protector when I hear one.”
The chupacabra howled again and was met with a distant answer.
Roy’s hand trembled as he centered the site on the beast. “You’re wrong. Get back in the truck.”
The chupacabra suddenly untangled itself from the grill, letting out an ominous roar. Roy fired two shots, and the beast lurched. After releasing an ear-piercing yowl, it turned on its heel and ran into the desert, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.
Annie screamed when a protector jumped on top of Roy’s truck, caving in the driver’s side of the cab. She looked into a pair of familiar, menacing eyes and breathed in Vidar’s scent.
“Run!” she said to Roy, her heart pounding wildly when Vidar leaped from the truck, straight toward her brother.
Roy fired several shots into Vidar, but it didn’t slow him down. When Vidar lifted her screaming brother over his head, Annie barreled into his legs, but it was like running into a brick wall. He didn’t budge. Just as Vidar was about to toss Roy, she jabbed the knife in his leg, right in the tender spot behind his knee.
Howling, he released Roy, who fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Rolling onto his side, he moaned and went eerily still.
“You sick son of a bitch!” she screamed.
Roaring, Vidar threw back his head and pounded his chest like an ape. The rust-colored fur on his torso was matted with blood. She tried to stab him again when he reached for her, but he knocked the knife out of her hand and threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
Furious, she pounded his back, but he ran into the desert, bouncing her around until her br
ain felt like a jar of marbles. What the hell was he doing? She probed his thoughts and froze in fear when she learned his objective.
Now Magnus will know the pain of losing a mate.
MAGNUS COULD HARDLY believe it. The front of Roy’s truck had been crushed, and the highway was painted with blood and fur. There was no sign of Annie.
He found Roy lying motionless on his side. Turning him over, he felt his fading pulse. “Roy,” he called, gently shaking him.
Roy groaned, his eyes fluttering open. When he looked at Magnus, he let out an unholy, phlegmy wail.
Magnus feared Roy’s lungs had been punctured, but there was nothing he could do for him.
“Roy, it’s Magnus.” He shifted back into a naked human, offering a weak smile. “I’m not going to hurt you. What happened? Where’s Annie?”
Roy lifted a hand and pointed east. “V-Vidar,” he said, wheezing.
Every muscle in Magnus’s body tensed, and his vision clouded red. “Did he take her?”
Roy nodded, then cried out, his hand flying to his side, his breathing becoming more labored.
Magnus hung his head. “I’m sorry I have to leave you, Roy. Help will be along soon,” he promised, praying to the Ancients his brothers and the Thunderfoots were right behind him.
Roy winced, releasing a shaky breath. “Doesn’t matter. Find Annie.”
Urgency fueled his movements as he jumped to his feet, determined to save Annie from his lunatic father. “Don’t worry, I will.” He shifted back into protector form and raced into the desert, forcing his legs to pump faster despite the screaming pain that shot through his calves. He’d not fail another woman he cared about. He’d save Annie from Vidar’s clutches, and then he’d do what he should’ve done a long time ago—kill Vidar.
Chapter Sixteen
RAINE SLOWED DOWN WHEN he saw the carnage on the road. Putting the truck in park, he jumped out. His brothers remained behind but the Thunderfoots followed him.