As Galen and everyone else joined her, he thanked the universe. He didn’t know how he’d gotten so lucky to come across this batch of people willing to do whatever it took to help someone in need.
But he was goddamn grateful they were.
* * * *
In the blink of an eye, Artem had them all pushed back down into the room until they were backed into a corner, his eyes gleaming, his cohorts right behind him.
Pushing Ingrid and January behind her, Teddy blocked their path to the women. “So I guess you’re Artem?”
“You guess correctly, and you are?” He sniffed the air around Teddy. “I smell dirt and…salmon, is it?”
Taking a step forward, Nina still over her shoulder, she sniffed the air back. “I smell spineless and…twat, is it?”
For a moment, January thought Artem would respond by punching Teddy’s lights out. Instead, he threw his head back and laughed a gurgling chuckle. “I like saucy, and you don’t just look saucy, your mouth is saucy. Too bad you’re a vile bear. The things I could show you if you and your kind didn’t disgust me so.”
“Really? The things I could show you because you disgust me, you vile piece of shit. Wanna give it a go?”
Artem’s lean face remained calm as he basketed his fingers together in front of him and smiled slyly. “Oh, no. No, no, no, my blonde goddess. I don’t get in the mud with the pigs. I eliminate them and make bacon. Now put your friend down right there,” he ordered, pointing to the corner.
“Do as he says,” January urged, watching as Teddy reluctantly set a passed-out Nina on the floor in the corner, against the wall.
Her long body limply slumped and she continued to remain motionless, ratcheting up the fear that something was internally wrong and January had missed it when she was checking her.
Artem peered around Teddy as she repositioned herself in front of January. “Peek-a-boo, Dr. Malone!”
January gripped her wand in her sweater, stepping in front of Ingrid as Artem taunted. Licking her dry lips, she lifted her chin. “Are you really going to kill us all, Artem? How are you going to justify the murder of four women and a baby—one of whom is a clan member—to the elders at this summit on Monday?”
“Oh, that won’t be a problem, January. You did essentially break into my home, didn’t you all? You and your filthy friends and their ruse as waitresses. Of course, your friends were quite violent. Especially the one who can’t seem to keep her eyes open long enough to know she’s going to be a real party pooper when she’s dead,” he snarled.
No. It wouldn’t end like this. She wouldn’t let it end like this. “But there are others who’ll testify against you, Artem. Others who know about you and your plans. Other clan members and the like who think you and your way of thinking should be wiped from the planet!” January snarled back.
Artem reached around January and gripped Calista’s finger, a twinkle in his eye when she cooed at him. “Do you mean those who have children with men who aren’t supposed to crossbreed? Are those the people you speak of? I mean, a baby, January? Really? Care to explain this, Dr. Malone? Babies don’t just appear. Whose sweet bundle of powdered perfection and honeysuckle is this?”
“Mine! She’s mine, you freak, and if you touch a hair on her head, I’ll staple your dick to your asshole, asshole!” Ingrid said, pulling Calista away from Artem and flattening herself against the wall.
But Artem shook his head and simply grinned at Ingrid’s lie. “Oh, come now, goose. How can a mere mortal such as yourself produce a baby who’s half witch, half vampire, and happens to be the spitting image of the lovely Dr. Malone—with shades of her species-traitor boyfriend, Galen Marcus? Methinks you were a very bad girl, January, weren’t you? Very, very bad.”
Oh, Goddess, this was bad. This was more than bad. There was no way they could take on Artem, along with twenty or so vampires with guns and eyes filled with the lust for blood.
So she decided to make a deal.
Chapter 14
Goddess forgive her for what she was about to do… But it was better to see them shunned from their respective species than dead.
“Tell you what, Artem. Let’s make a deal. Let them go. Let them all go and I’ll testify against Nina. I’ll tell the council she’s the perfect example of why she—why all of her friends—should be ousted from the community altogether. I’ll even testify that your recommendation to ban all species from mingling is a wise choice on the part of the council. I’ll back you one hundred and ten if you’ll just let them go. Who better than an esteemed member of the medical community to bring credit to your theory?”
Teddy and Ingrid were about to protest when January held up her hand. As she looked into their eyes, she silently begged them to stay quiet.
Artem paused, gazing at her with his smug eyes and his enormous ego. And then asked, “Why the sudden change of heart, Glinda? Could it be you want to save your vampire’s hide?”
Her body trembled, her hands shook, but she refused to let him see. “What does it matter other than I’ll offer my credentials and years of experience? The motivation for my reasoning is moot, wouldn’t you agree?”
“But then what am I to do about you? You know all my secrets. How can I trust you won’t someday expose me before I’m ready to rid the world of filth? In fact, your friends know all my secrets.” He sighed, raspy and long. “I’m afraid it’s a no-go, Glinda.”
“Then kill me. My life for theirs,” she said, trying with everything she had in her to keep her chin up, to keep hot tears from falling down her cheeks. “Keep me here with you until the council meeting as your prisoner. Take me to the summit. I’ll testify and when it’s done, you can kill me. But you have to agree to let the baby and Teddy and Ingrid go. And Galen lives. He’s your insurance. He’ll never tell them what you’re planning because he’ll die if he does, and leave Calista fatherless—and I can’t tell anyone anything if I’m dead.”
Calista reached forward from behind her then, tugging at January’s long braid. “Ma-ma!” she chirped, the tone in her voice making it clear she was pleased she’d finally said the word after January had coaxed her for so long.
And that was the moment January’s soul shattered. When her heart cracked in half and all she wanted to do was curl up in a ball and scream her rage. When she truly understood, truly felt what Nina was feeling.
She’d never hear Calista call her mama again. She’d never watch her go to kindergarten, find a familiar, scratch her knees at the playground, cry over her first love breaking her heart, graduate from high school, sob as she packed her belongings and went off to college. Smile through tears as she tried on wedding dresses.
But she didn’t curl up in a ball. Instead, January reached back and grabbed Calista’s chubby hand, the soft skin warm to her touch, and tried to swallow before letting go and taking another step forward.
“So do we have a deal?” she asked, her voice cracking. “My life for theirs. My sworn testimony—my sworn, highly valued testimony—for them and Galen.”
Pressing his index finger to his chin, he pondered with another long sigh. “So tempting, but in truth, your testimony isn’t really as important as you seem to think it is, Dr. Malone. The fact that you all broke into my home, forcing me to take action, is all the proof I need that these heathens shouldn’t mingle with us. Your friend Nina alone is a danger to our breed—a real threat for exposure. Surely you realize the council will see that when I, and my clan members, testify to what you’ve all done tonight. I’m afraid I’m going to have to take a pass, January. Now, say goodbye to your friends and your daughter—because this is over.”
Then that settled that. He’d asked for it. “I really wish I could change your mind, Artem,” she said as a deadly calm pooled in her feet and wound its way up along her body.
Praying Ingrid and Teddy remembered what they’d promised, January gripped her wand and yanked it out of her sweater. Snapping her wrist, she summoned a spell.
“Flames
be mine, wreak havoc and pain, source of light do not refrain!” she roared as flames rushed from the tip of her wand in two white-hot streams.
The heat of the fire was intense as it flew toward Artem and his men, making them all scatter to avoid being burned, creating a path for Ingrid and Teddy. This was their chance and she wasn’t going to waste it. “Run, Ingrid! Teddy, ruuun!”
“I have to get Nina!” Teddy screamed as a wave of fire prevented her from crossing the room.
“I’ll get her!” January yelled back. “Just go!”
January stepped to the right, keeping the path clear with the streams of molten lava spewing from her wand, swishing it back and forth as the men screamed when the flames licked at their bodies. Guns began going off at random intervals before dropping to the ground, the flames so blinding, they prevented Artem’s men from seeing their targets clearly.
Inching closer to Nina, she put her body between her and Artem’s goons. “Run!” she screamed after Ingrid and Teddy as they took off up the stairs.
Then she lifted her wand higher and summoned the wind to ensure they made it all the way to the cellar doors. “Gales of wind I call to thee, set the stage, set them free!”
A whoosh of arctic air almost slammed her back against the wall as she held her trembling wand steady, blasting the room with wave after wave of brittle air, pushing at Artem and his men until they were forced to the far walls, and even their strength couldn’t push past the force.
And then Galen was there, calling her name from the top of the steps. “January!” he bellowed, racing down the stairs with Heath, Keegan, and Greg right behind him.
She lost her focus then, and just as Galen set foot in the room, Artem rose up, his smaller body a ball of angry flesh and limbs as he ran for Galen, charging him, hitting him in the gut, sending him smashing to the wall.
January almost ran for him, but one of Artem’s men tackled her, knocking her to the ground, sending her wand high in the air.
Marty, like some crazy female version of LeBron James, leapt from the steps and caught it, holding it up as she came down hard on Artem, making him squeal in rage.
Heath and Keegan raced toward three of the other men, Keegan shifting to wolf form with a keening howl so loud, the room shook. His coal-black body arched and twisted as his clothes fell away and he went straight for a cluster of the men. He latched onto one of their necks and began to tear, the echoed sound of flesh ripping, ringing in January’s ears.
“I’ll kill you!” Galen howled at Artem just as January began to rise, her ankle twisted from the fall. Running at the vampire, his beautiful face a mask of determination and hatred, Galen rammed into Artem just as the sound of a gun went off.
“Galen!” she screamed, only to see Wanda—prim, proper, elegant Wanda—tear the gun from the man’s hands and crack him in the head with it just before she grabbed his arm and flung him high in the air so he crashed against the concrete wall.
Galen was down, and in the confusion, January lost track of him, lost sight of his beloved face. But she saw Greg hovering over Nina, scooping her up, launching her over his shoulder and running toward Marty, who took her from him.
And that’s when she finally found Galen again—pressed against the wall, Artem’s back facing her as he jammed something against Galen’s strong body.
Galen’s eyes met hers from across the room and she knew the message he was sending. Read it as clear as if he’d spoken the words or sent them in one of the cute notes he was always slipping under her office door.
If I don’t make it out of this, I love you. Always. Take care of Calista. Take care of you.
He sent that message the moment Artem jammed a shiny knife into his chest.
Chapter 15
January’s scream of anguish tore from her throat in a raw howl. “Nooo!”
But someone else’s scream of protest matched hers. Someone whose voice was husky, low…someone she’d come to care for in a very short time.
Heads swiveled toward the stairs, eyes lifted at the sound of the bloodcurdling scream, and almost everyone who was still standing gasped at the sight.
It was Nina, her mouth open wide, fangs flashing, her warrior cry loud and fierce as she flew across the room like some pale dark horse, aiming directly for Artem.
“Look who’s back, bitches!” she roared, landing behind Artem with the grace of a cat. Her hands grabbed his shoulders, tearing him from Galen, twisting his body until he faced her, his eyes wide with surprise.
Leaning close, she lifted him so he was eye level, her face eerily pale, her eyes wild with hatred. “I will kill you, you piece of shit motherfucker! You will not hurt my goddamn friends, you fucking sicko!”“ She roared the words so loud, Artem’s hair actually lifted off his forehead.
And then she hurled him across the wide expanse of the room like a baseball, slamming him against the wall, watching as his scrawny body fell to the ground then stalking him until she was right back in his face.
Artem was only able to raise a hand in protest before Nina grabbed it and jerked it backward, the bones in his hand cracking with sharp snaps. “Do you hear me, you crazy psychopath? I’m going to kill you for touching that baby and then I’m going yank your fucking guts out through your throat and barbecue your fucking liver for my damn dinner!”
January hobbled toward her, toward Galen, who’d apparently managed to block the knife from his belly with his hand—a hand that now had a deep, sizzling gash in it. He rose to his feet to try to help with Nina, his arm going around January’s waist as she dragged him with her.
“Nina! Oh my Goddess, Nina! Stop. Please stop!” Throwing herself on Nina’s back, she clung to her, pressing her face into her spine. “It’s okay now. Stop. Shh-shh. It’s okay. Stop,” January soothed, tears falling from her eyes. “We’re okay. Everyone’s okay.”
As she attempted to pull Nina from Artem, from the corner of her eye she saw her wand, obviously lost in the melee of vampires and warring.
Artem’s long fingers reached for it. Wrapping them around the length and lifting it high, he roared, “I’ll kill you, you filthy, impure bitch!”
But Nina’s hand snaked out so fast, with such force, January fell from her back and to the ground with a bone-crushing crack. As Wanda rushed to help her up, Nina snatched the wand from Artem and drove it into his neck.
And then something absolutely bananapants happened.
January’s wand—her wand, her own personal magic stick—lit up like a Christmas tree in Nina’s hands. Sparks flew, flashing lights beamed, and smoke billowed.
Lemony-yellow tendrils of smoke wisped upward into the air before Greg was pulling Nina to him, forcing her to let go of Artem as the room filled with people who looked incredibly official. They began to gather up the piled bodies while Heath and Keegan spoke to them.
“Oh, Goddess. Does it hurt? Let me look!”
He grabbed her hands and smiled, keeping her from tugging at his filthy shirt. “I’m okay, honey. Had he gotten me between the ribs, it might be a different story, seeing as the knife was dipped in something meant to kill.” Galen held up his hand and showed her the remnants of his wound, still jagged around the edges. “But thanks to Nina, Artem only nicked me. It looked far worse from your perspective, I’m sure.”
A squeal of delight made them both turn to see a filthy, muck-covered Marty, running straight for Nina, lunging at her and planting kisses on her cheeks. “Oh my God! You’re vampire again? What the hell is going on?”
“Get the fuck off me, Fakey-Locks! Jesus in a sweat suit, Marty. You’ll get that damn lip gloss all over me and I’ll never get it off. And why do you smell like you just rolled around with a bunch o’ pigs at a damn barnyard jubilee? Jesus and fuck!” Nina flapped her hand at Marty, but she let her hug her hard, and even hugged her back.
January looked to Galen when the smell Nina complained of finally registered, almost making her gag. “What in Goddess’s name is that?”
G
alen chuckled with a wince. “Manure. Long story.”
“Thank the universe, our girl’s back!” Wanda, equally covered in the vile stench, yelped a cheer, dragging the reluctant, newly turned vampire into her arms and hugging her until tears fell from her eyes.
Nina shrugged them off but her smile, one she fought to hide, was inevitable as it spread across her lips.
Greg, also drenched in manure, pulled her close, resting his chin on top of her head and closing his eyes, his relief obvious. “I love you,” he whispered.
“Good damn thing, too, because it looks like I’ll be around for a long time. Someone’s gotta tell you to shower more,” she teased on a chuckle, pressing a kiss to his jaw, stench and all.
And then she turned and looked at January, her eyebrow raised, her arms outspread. “You want one too, don’t you, Dr. Feels?”
In that moment, January cracked, her shoulders shuddering, a whimper escaping her lips as she limped to Nina and threw her arms around her waist—so grateful. “You were amazing, just amazing. Thank you. Thank you for looking out for Calista and saving Galen. I’ll never be able to thank you enough. Never.”
But Nina shook her head. “I should be thanking you, Doc. You made shit better. I won’t forget that anytime soon. Trust that shit.”
Galen put his hand on Nina’s shoulder and gripped it. “You’re about as fierce as they come, my friend. I’m forever in your debt.”
“Nah. No big thing. Just take care of my little Smooshie Face and anything you owe me is golden. Oh, and take a GD shower. You smell like fucking shit—literally.”
Speaking of Nina’s Smooshie Face, January asked, “What happened back at the cabin, Nina? How did they get both you and Calista?”
Jamming her hands into her hoodie, Nina shook her head. “I heard her cry from outside. So I hauled my Cheetos-lovin’ ass over the balcony and went to check on her. Those motherfuckers jumped into the window so fast I almost missed it, knocked Farley out, blindsided me, grabbed the baby and me and dragged us back here. I fought like hell, but I’m…er, I was human. Almost forgot how strong us vampires could be until that fucking moment when I couldn’t even move my head, let alone scream.”
How Nina Got Her Fang Back: Accidental Quickie (Accidentally Paranormal Series Book 13) Page 14