Built almost in the vein of a castle, and made of a gorgeous combination of logs and stone, it had two turrets, a guesthouse, property as far as the eye could see and eleventy-billion rooms—but not a sign of a single soul.
As they snuck around the back of the enormous structure, January struggled to keep up and wondered if this was how Nina felt these days. She was a witch with nothing more than a semi-powerful wand between her and the eerie darkness. She didn’t have super speed, couldn’t see in the dark, couldn’t smell anything but freshly mown grass.
There was little in the way of landscape lighting, making it even harder to keep up, and as they crept around the first corner, she tripped over something. Maybe a root or a rock, she couldn’t be sure, but the fall she took was jolting, leaving her breathless.
As January rose to try to catch up, she squinted into the near pitch-black dark of the night and couldn’t make out a thing. Stuffing her wand inside her sweater, she began to go in the direction she’d last seen Wanda and Marty heading—when she was suddenly steamrolled.
Whoever it was came at her so fast, she didn’t even realize she was on the ground until he was hauling her back up and shaking her so hard her teeth rattled.
“Who the hell are you?” he gritted out, the scent of his overpowering cologne assaulting her senses.
As January fought to push air into her lungs, she held up a finger for a much needed moment to gather herself.
But he was of the impatient kind. “Who. Are. You?” He growled the demand, his face a dark mask with no discernible features in the cloak of night.
“Lawn Doctor. Heard you have grubs. Came to inspect,” she said on a wheeze, still winded.
He pulled her even closer—close enough that she could finally make out bits of his face—and leered at her with glittering eyes. “At one in the morning?”
Squirming, January tried to extricate herself from his iron grip, to no avail. “Needed to get a head start. Early birds and worms and all,” she huffed.
“I’ll ask one more time. Who the hell are you and what do you want?”
Letting herself go limp, she rasped a defeated sigh and began to explain in the hopes she could stall him until someone came to help.
“Okay, I’m not really from Lawn Doctor. I couldn’t give a damn about landscaping. I’m really a Girl Scout and my troop, bunch of bloodthirsty, money-hungry chicks in berets and ugly sashes, have all sorts of connections. They sell more cookies than a damn plastic surgeon with a half-off silicone sale. I’m sick of it. How will I ever get to the mission in Beirut to help all those sick kids if I can’t sell any cookies? So I thought I’d get a leg up. The guy who lives here looks rich. Can I interest him in some Thin Mints? Samoas?”
“You’re coming with me!” he growled between clenched teeth as he literally tucked her under his arm and made a run for the back of the house.
So that was when she screamed—as loud and as long as her vocal chords would allow. “Martyyyy! Wandaaa! Run!” she called out. “Bad guy alert!”
Those were the last words she managed because she was too busy spitting the gnats out of her mouth due to the speed with which the guy was running across the lawn with her tucked under his arm. Like some freakishly fast football player running for the goal.
Everything went blurry, the dizzying motion almost making her retch until he pulled up short with a grunt. When they reached what looked like a storm cellar, he flung the doors open wide and simply dropped her in the gaping black hole, head first.
As what sounded like a heavy lock creaked above her, she tumbled down concrete steps, bucking and grunting her pain the entire way until a wall thwarted her, slamming right into the side of her face.
Rolling to her back, the first thing January did, before she acknowledged her battered body and bloody nose, was feel for her wand. Thank God it was still in her sweater. She might not be a vampire, but she could certainly create a diversion.
“Doc?”
Her eyes flew open and she found herself staring directly into a pair of dark eyes highlighted by a very dim bulb in the ceiling. “Ingrid?”
“Oh my God! Doc, are you okay? Gimme your hand and I’ll help you up.”
As Ingrid reached for her, January winced, the burn and ache in her right side a sure sign she’d possibly broken a rib.
“Easy, Doc,” Ingrid urged, helping her to a stack of crates, where she sat January gently before kneeling down in front of her.
“Is Teddy here?” she asked breathlessly, squinting into the room to scan the length of the dank cellar before getting a good look at Ingrid, her dress torn and stained with blood.
Ingrid bit her lip. “Bad news.”
January froze, gripping Ingrid’s hands. “What?”
“She’s here, but she’s out like she’s been on a weeklong pub crawl. They drugged her or something. I don’t know. It’s all kinda hazy, but I remember as they were dragging us down here to Chez Dungeon, someone saying she had to be kept quiet because she was a bear. Obviously I was no big thang, because I’m human and don’t have the strength to gnaw my way through cinder blocks with my bare teeth.”
Fear sped up her spine, making her grip Ingrid’s hand. “Is she hurt? Show me where she is! For that matter, are you hurt?”
Ingrid waved a dismissive hand and shook her head as though a good pounding was no big deal. “Just some bruises, my ego amongst them. I’m fine. Really. But you’re not fine. You’re bleeding, Doc.” Using the edge of her skimpy skirt, Ingrid pressed it to January’s nose.
Now January waved her away. “I’m fine, too. And I brought something that’ll help.” She drew the wand from her sweater, showing it to Ingrid.
Ingrid beamed a smile and did a little dance. “Oh, happy day! Can you zap us out of here?”
“I wish I could. I don’t have the gift of teleportation, but I can heal my ribs and maybe wake Teddy.” Raising the wand, January began the chant. “Ease this ache, heal this pain, remove all memory, of which I complain!” Pressing her wand to her side, she let her magic flow through her, allowing the soothing vibrations to heal and mend.
Closing her eyes, January let the process complete itself before she opened them and braced for the answer to her next question. On a deep breath, she asked, “Are Nina and Calista here?”
Ingrid froze and grabbed her hand, eyes wide. “What? No! Why would they be here?”
“It’s a long story; I’ll tell you all about it. Just get me to Teddy. She might be our only hope of getting out of here unless someone from the group finds us.”
As Ingrid led her deeper into the cellar, January noted its depth. It was as deep as the house, spanning the structure with room after room of nothing but dark openings and spider webs.
Teddy was slumped in a corner of a room at least two hundred feet deep into the musty space. Her lightly tanned face was pale, her blonde hair matted against her face with blood, her shoes gone, her dress torn.
“Oh, Goddess, did they hurt her?” January asked, dropping to her knees to run her hands over Teddy’s face and neck to check for damage.
“She put up a hella fight, our girl. But there were too many of them. She was bound to get some bruises.” Ingrid slid down on the other side of Teddy, gripping her limp hand. “What happened with that spell by the way? I mean, one minute he thought I was a tasty vampire morsel, the next he was screaming ‘infiltrator’ and calling in the hounds.”
January held her wand over Teddy, keeping it perpendicular to her body, and began to move it up and down, using it to heal every exposed inch of her. “He spilled blood on you, didn’t he?”
“Shit, shit, shit!” Ingrid cried, using the heel of her hand to thump her forehead. “I forgot we couldn’t get wet, Obiwan. Like that movie with all those fuzzy things, right?”
“Gremlins. It’s sorta like that. When he spilled the blood on you, it broke the spell and revealed your scent to him.”
Ingrid held a fist upward and shook it. “Damn. I’m sorry, Jan
uary. It was an accident. He had me pressed so hard up against that wall I thought I’d have to become one with the hinky-ass wallpaper. And he was strong. Really strong. I couldn’t get away from him and I lost my grip on my tray and then everything went to total shit.”
January patted her hand to console her as she took in the creepy, mostly dark cellar with its long and winding halls. “It’s all right. You did the right thing, Ingrid. Now, gimme a sec and let me see if I can’t wake up our pretty Amazon.” January repeated the spell she’d used on herself and focused so she wouldn’t miss a single hair.
As Teddy began to stir and moan, January explained to Ingrid their theory on how Nina and Calista were taken.
Teddy’s head popped up as she braced her palms on the floor to keep from wobbling. “They have Nina and Calista? Those stupid, stupid bastards! C’mon, we need to get the hell out of here before someone comes back and wants to finish what they started.”
“But where is Nina? Where’s Calista?” January asked, trying to keep her panic out of her voice. Knowing Calista was likely with Nina helped a little. She knew Nina would do whatever it took to protect her. But only if she was actually allowed to stay close to the baby. Terror began to seep its way back into her psyche in full force.
Don’t let your mind wander, January. Stay focused.
“Any thoughts on how they found out where Nina was to begin with?” Ingrid mused as they began retracing their steps and peering into each dark room in the cellar.
“Our scents must’ve led them right to you. They retraced our scents back to the cabin, found out Nina was there, probably assumed we were doing exactly what we were doing—spying on Artem—and as a revenge tactic, took Nina and Calista. Fuck all, this is a mess!” Teddy spat. Then she stopped dead and held up a hand.
“What?” January hissed, banging into her back.
“Do you hear that?” she asked, making them all lean in and listen.
As they paused, January keened her ears, but heard nothing…
Until there was a soft coo.
She froze, her limbs dead weight, her pulse the only thing moving at breakneck speed.
“There!” Ingrid whispered as another tiny coo rang out.
January’s heart crashed in her chest, her pulse racing, her limbs weak in relief. Calista was somewhere in this damn moldy and musty den of spider webs.
And if she had to tear it down with her bare hands, she was going to find her.
Chapter 13
Teddy began pulling her toward the cooing noises, her legs moving so quickly, and she easily took one stride to January’s three. Down a winding hallway, across two connecting rooms, deeper and deeper they went until they came to a tunnel, making Teddy pause.
Calista burbled a laugh, tiny, soft, innocent, and January tried to dart after it, to follow the sound, but Teddy yanked her back, almost dislocating her arm.
“No!” she ordered in a whisper. “Let me track the scent, Doc. No sudden moves, no rushing into a situation without thinking it through.”
“But I hear her!” she whisper-yelled back. “I know my own baby. She needs me, Teddy!”
Teddy grabbed her shoulders and forced her to look into her eyes. “Stop it! That’s my point, January. They want you to react. They want you to make a mistake. I know a thing or two about this. Please. I’m begging you. No rash moves!”
Sucking air into her lungs, she forced her pulse to slow, forced her mind to stop creating scenarios of doom. Teddy was right. She knew better, and January wasn’t going to be the idiot who went into the basement while the audience screamed at her to not go into the basement.
Steeling herself, she said, “Okay. You’re right. Just tell me what to do and I’ll follow your lead.”
Gripping her hand, Teddy tucked both she and Ingrid behind her and began the winding path toward the sound while she sniffed the damp air. The lighting was dim; so dim, January found it hard to make out two feet in front of her.
Teddy halted and looked both ways, hitching her jaw to the left, where yet another tunnel led to an opening with crude stairs descending into darkness.
And Calista gurgled once more, making the effort very real to not knock Teddy and Ingrid over and fly down the steep steps to see if she was there.
Just as they hit the bottom, Teddy stopped, craning her neck into the room. “Nina? Oh God, Nina!” she whispered, leaping into the enormous room from the last step, with January and Ingrid hot on her heels.
The ex-vampire lay apparently unconscious, huddled in a corner, her hand still loosely wrapped around Calista’s tiny wrist.
Calista sat beside her and cooed baby talk to her favorite new friend, her eyes alight as she patted an immobile Nina on the cheek and leaned forward to give her wet kisses, tangling herself in Nina’s long hair.
January’s heart turned over in her chest at the sight of her chubby daughter with Nina. Calista had adored Nina from the moment she’d laid eyes on her. It was evident in the way she now tried to rouse Nina with gentle gummy kisses, just like the ones she so lovingly gave January and Galen.
There was no stopping her at this point. Slipping between Ingrid and Teddy, January raced to her, scooping her up and pressing her cheek to Calista’s softer one, inhaling the very essence of her child in deep gulps. “I’m here. Mommy’s here,” she whispered, thanking the goddess she was safe before she knelt and brushed Nina’s hair from her face.
Teddy took Calista from her, bouncing her upward as Ingrid and January spread out around Nina.
“Boss! Wake up!” Ingrid husked out, patting her cheek. Nina stirred, but her eyes remained closed, her face slack, and she was cold—so cold.
“Use your wand, Doc!” Teddy urged, keeping Calista amused by tickling her under her chin.
January pulled the wand from her sweater and roamed the length of Nina’s long body, but she wasn’t responding. So she leaned in and whispered in her ear, “Nina! Wake up now, honey. We need you alert. Calista needs you to help us get out of here!”
Her eyes cracked open at the request, staring straight ahead before she blinked. “What the fuck…” she mumbled—then her eyes closed again, slamming shut.
Ingrid slung an arm around Nina and hauled her upward with a grunt, the echo of it harsh. “What’s wrong with her, Doc? Why won’t she wake up?”
January tamped down her panic and kept her voice even. Her wand almost always worked, unless the person was…
No. Nina was not dying. Tears stung her eyes. She would not die on her watch. She wouldn’t allow it. “I don’t know. My wand isn’t helping at all. I don’t know what’s wrong. Maybe she’s concussed? If that’s the case, we have to keep her awake.”
Teddy handed Calista down to Ingrid. “Take the baby and give me Nina.” In one fell swoop, she gathered Nina and hauled her upward, wrapping her arm around Nina’s waist. “Okay, Badass, it’s time to open those beautiful eyes. C’mon, Tough Guy. Walk!” she demanded, pulling her across the hard, dusty floor.
January went to the other side of Nina, dragging her limp arm over her shoulder. “Nina! It’s January—remember me? Dr. Pain in The Ass? Wake up, Nina!”
As they dragged her back and forth, she still hung limply, giving little to no effort to aid in her plight.
“Jesus, Nina—how many dang bags of Cheetos did you eat? You weigh a ton,” Teddy razzed, poking Nina in the ribs, but still she didn’t respond.
Ingrid hopped up, cradling Calista close. “Guys, maybe we need to take this show on the road and head toward the cellar doors? Now that Teddy’s awake, she can break the lock.”
January nodded. “Agreed. But promise me one thing. If Artem or any of his goons show up, take the baby and run. I’ll try to clear a path for you with my wand, but do whatever you have to—get her to safety.”
“Swear it,” Ingrid said, tucking Calista close, her voice strained.
“Then let’s move.”
Teddy held up a finger, unwinding Nina from her grasp. “I got this,” she
said on a grunt, slinging Nina over her shoulder fireman style. “Let’s do this, ladies!”
As they began the climb upward, a voice admonished them with the click of a tongue.
“Tsk-tsk, ladies. It was all you could do to get into my party and now you want to leave it so soon? Where’s your sense of adventure? The night’s just begun!”
January’s heart jumped and her mouth went dry as she pressed a hand against the wall to steady herself and her shaking limbs.
Artem.
Artem had arrived.
* * * *
Galen paced the area between the house and a thicket of trees where they all hid, minus January, his chest tighter than tight. But he would not give in to panic for the sake of January and Calista. “So she was behind you when you heard her scream?”
Marty nodded, her blonde hair a beacon in the otherwise dark night. “Yes. Both Wanda and I heard her scream to us to run.”
“Fuck!” he said more to himself than anyone else. He was responsible for this, he was the catalyst for this chain of events leading them all here, and if something happened to Calista and January…
“Don’t go there, man,” Keegan urged, gripping his shoulder. “They heard January right around there.” He circled an area with a finger, pointing out what looked like a storm cellar in the middle of the back of the house. “I’d bet my life they’re in that cellar.”
The moment Keegan spoke the words was the moment they watched several men with guns pull the doors open, the creaky hinges squeaking in the night air.
“We have company,” Heath said. “But if we’re smart, we can get these sonsabitches from behind. You all up for a sneak attack?”
“They’ll smell us, honey,” Wanda warned.
“Not if we roll in this,” Galen said, toeing a patch of horse manure. “If nothing else, it’ll throw them off enough for us to at least get in there.”
Wanda was the first to kneel down, eyeing the manure. “Whatever it takes,” she said, scooping up a glob and slathering it all over herself without so much as a wrinkle of her nose.
How Nina Got Her Fang Back: Accidental Quickie (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 13) Page 13