"You ate yourself into giving birth,” she remarked wryly. “We've now got a little impling."
"What? Where?” The large imp crouched down and scanned the room nervously. “Don't let it near me!"
"What? It's your ... child...” She shook her head as it sank in. One imp was bad enough. Having two rocked her back on her heels. What am I going to do now?
Something fell out of a cupboard and smashed against the counter. The tiny imp hopped down and kicked the broken pieces of the jar to the floor with devilish glee. “What the hell are you doing?” she snapped at it.
Its answering grin, so much like its ... parent's ... was a touch on the wicked side. “Whatever I want. Why, you wanna make something of it?” Oh, god, it's going to be belligerent. This is all I need.
* * * *
"What do you mean, he's gone?” Hades eyes smoldered with a cold blue light.
"It means he's not there.” The words were out of his mouth before Carth could stop them. The back of Hades’ hand smashed across his mouth, slicing his teeth. He stumbled back, swearing silently at himself. I know better than to take that tone with him, Carth thought, wiping the blood out of his mouth.
Now that he'd suitably chastised the Fey, Hades seemed to forget all about it. His high, dark brow furrowed and he stared out the window of his office into the deep night. “How long?"
Carth shook his head. “I don't know, my lord. It might have been just for one night, or he may have been missing for as many as three nights. We have never made it a habit to check on him except for nights when we planned to feed him."
"When we find him that'll change. He has inside help, obviously. The punishment I visit upon that person will make the vampire's look like a tropical vacation in comparison."
Carth didn't say anything, though he found the simile a bit incongruous. The last thing a vampire would find relaxing would be a tropical vacation. Unless someone started selling SPF 5,000,000 sun block. Saying anything about it would be extremely unwise, he decided. He kept his mouth shut.
"Well, what are you waiting for? Go find that bloodsucking bastard!” Hades snatched a large paperweight from his desk and hefted it as if planning to throw it at the Fey. Carth bobbed his head and fled through the door.
Hades slammed the granite fist back down on his desk. “I'm surrounded by fools,” he muttered, sweeping the desktop clear with one sweep of his long arm. “I'm going to kill something."
* * * *
Raven paced back and forth in front of the small hut they'd conscripted for Mandy, glancing occasionally at the eastern skyline as if expecting the sun to jump over the Cascades and fry him on the spot.
That wasn't it, really. Ben knew what was under his skin, but he'd made his choice the night before. He hadn't returned through the ‘gate and now Hades probably knew he was gone. He hated that the vampire was feeling guilty for risking the safety of the person who'd put him in the situation in the first place. He'd given Chase enough of his time. He needed to cut himself free of those chains, once and for all.
The whole thing gave Ben a headache. Chase more or less set Cory up, toyed with his mother's emotions and fed them all sorts of bogus information, and then stole the kid away from his mother. And, as payment for having his whole world turned upside-down, Cory, now ‘Raven,’ puts himself back in jail every morning to protect the bastard.
It pissed Ben off just thinking about it. Then again, I guess we all have our burdens to bear. Mine is how I feel about Amanda. Cory's is his inexplicable need to protect the man who damn near ruined his life.
So they were both out of their minds. Big surprise there.
They'd been here two days. Well, two nights for the vampire. Raven had asked him to round up a dog or, preferably, a wolf. For a first meal, he assumed.
He had a lot of nerve even asking, especially considering what the dog he'd had as his first meal had done to Ben. Then again the last thing Raven was short of was nerve.
"Where the hell is Loki?” he growled. For the fourth time that night. He knew very well that Loki had gone back to Earth Prime. He'd bit back the urge to bitch when the immortal had announced his intention to take his doppelganger with him. 'That's all we need,' he'd muttered to Ben, 'two of them wandering around Freak City.'
* * * *
He didn't need to worry, actually. Loki returned with a dazed-looking Dr. Coyote somewhere near dawn. The two immortals trudged down the hill from the gate and Loki kicked a small log over for his doppelganger as he squatted down and warmed his hands over the campfire. “Well,” he murmured, “I've got some good news, some weird news, and some bad news. What do you want to hear first?"
Raven met his gaze for a long moment, eyes dark and probing. “Let's go with the weird news, I suppose."
"I wasn't asking you,” Loki said with a quick grin.
Raven rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically. Coyote chuckled.
"One of you is quite enough,” the vampire observed, eyes narrowing. He glanced over at Ben, who just shook his head.
"Why do you have to do it this way?” he asked the immortal. “Can't you just tell us what's going on without turning it into some sort of comedy routine?"
The two Lokis exchanged glances, then, in concert, shrugged expansively.
Ben scowled. “Raven's right. Two of you is too much. I want the bad news."
"Your lady's in danger,” Coyote said with a smirk.
He felt his teeth grinding. “And you didn't tell me this right away? What the hell is wrong with you?” He looked from one to another, saw their mirrored looks of puzzlement, and ground his teeth together even harder. If he wasn't a werewolf he felt certain the pressure would have sheared several layers of enamel from his teeth. As it was, he ended up resisting the urge to cough. He stood slowly. “I'm heading home. You want to open the gate for me?"
Loki shook his head. “Not going to happen. We'll go back tomorrow night, after Mandy rises and gets a chance to feed. We're going to need to be tricky and I've already come up with a plan."
Ben went as pale as Raven. “A plan,” he repeated. Loki's plans had a tendency to unravel rather quickly. “What kind of plan?"
"The best kind of plan,” Loki said, grinning broadly. “The kind that can't fail."
And where have I heard that before? Ben shifted his gaze to Raven, who'd gone into that blank-eyed corpse mode again. Great. No help from the bloodsucking gallery.
Loki and Coyote exchanged grins. Ben felt a chill crawl down his spine like a tarantula with little ice booties. He'd already heard—the more clever Loki thought he was being, the more trouble it was bound to stir up.
Nothing against Loki. He just had a tendency to gloss over the disadvantages of using whatever plan he'd cooked up. Ben saw no reason that having two of them involved would make this problem any less.
But, since Loki was the immortal, and, at present, his only hope of getting home, he had little choice but to give him the benefit of the doubt. Or, if nothing else, pretend to give him the benefit of the doubt.
He didn't like it though. He wanted to go home. “So what's the weird news?"
"Well, it seems like a girl back home managed to conjure up some new creature—a little blue fellow that sounds pretty interesting. When we get all your business sorted out I'm going to haul them both to my lab and try to figure out what makes it tick."
"How ... enlightened of you, Loki,” Raven murmured dourly with a glance over his shoulder at the Cascades. They were starting to take on a slight glow, giving them all some indication that dawn was coming. “I'm ready to go home now."
"I think we all are,” Loki told him. I know I am."
"You just got back."
"What's your point?"
"I've had enough of this,” Raven grunted, pushing himself to his feet. He walked away and vanished inside the hut he currently shared with Mandy's corpse.
"He sounded a little aggravated,” Dr. Coyote observed dryly with a glance at his twin.
"Must be the impending sunrise,” Loki responded off-handedly. “It's gotta make him a bit uncomfortable."
Ben gave a grunt of disgust and wandered off himself. He just couldn't deal with these two weirdoes right now. He needed to find a wolf or dog to bring back for Mandy. He just hoped she didn't kill it.
He knew he was a little soft-hearted for the line of work he was going into. He wasn't as motivated as Amanda, or as ice-cold as Raven, but he hoped he could do the job well enough not to land his ass in hot water. His mind flicked back a couple of days, to after he'd heard the gunshots from the Don's camp.
Raven had done what he couldn't. He'd gone in and gunned them all down like rabid dogs. Ben didn't blame him, but he felt a little disgusted that he hadn't been man enough to go in there himself and do what needed to be done. He'd left it for the vampire to take care of.
Can you be a monster and a pussy at the same time? he wondered. Cory says he's a killer. But not a monster.
Is there a difference? And, if there is, is there any way for me to find that balance? He wished he had an answer.
Eighteen
Jason Keening glanced toward the foyer with a frown. Who could be ringing the bell, and how did they get on the estate grounds? It wasn't one of the security men they'd brought in after Amanda's near escape. They used the kitchen door almost exclusively. They all seemed oddly nervous around him. He didn't know why. He'd only eaten one of them. So far.
He hit the ‘mute’ button on the HDV remote and crossed the room into the foyer, treading silently up to the door. He peered through the peephole but didn't see anything but than the top of someone's head. A kid? He slung the door open, ready to read some delinquent rugrat the riot act.
And stopped dead, mouth hanging halfway open. The last person he expected to see on the porch was his sister.
He shot an involuntary look over his shoulder, toward the stairs. Amanda was supposed to be ensconced upstairs, sedated and waiting for her creepy grandfather to return and suck the life right out of her.
He felt something cold and metallic grind against his left temple. He turned his head slowly, shifting his gaze to stare deep into the violet eyes of his former friend Cory Flynn. He may have been using the pseudonym ‘Raven’ these days, but Jason knew Cory nearly as well as he knew himself.
The girl, a veritable twin of his half-sister, stood a few yards back on the red cobblestone walkway, wearing a mocking smirk and a long flower print dress. She looked a lot like Amanda, but he could tell, even from here, that there were some subtle differences. First among many was the fact that she was undead. Her lack of a heartbeat was a vast empty silence in his ears.
"Shut the fuck up, Jason,” Raven snarled. “I told you that if saw you again I was going to blow your fucking head off. What do you know? I saw you again. Say goodbye."
"Wait!” Jason lifted one hand as if to forestall what he knew was coming.
"Why should I?” Raven asked, eyes narrowing into tiny slits.
"Because I can help you! You're here for Amanda, right?” He shot another glance at his sister's doppelganger and felt a sudden chill.
"You are seriously screwed up, Jason,” Raven muttered. “Back up."
Jason did so, the cold steel of the barrel seemingly embedded in the side of his head. He knew if he did anything wrong Raven would pull the trigger. A point blank shot with a 9mm would kill him as surely as standing out on the lawn watching the sun rise.
"You offer to help now, but the first chance you get you're going to betray us. The only person important to Jason Keening is Jason Keening."
Jason didn't bother to deny it. He knew Raven would be able to see right through any attempt at prevarication. They'd known each other since they were kids. “I'm not going to try anything while you have a gun pressed against my head,” he said slowly.
"It's a pistol,” Raven replied with a tense smile. “A sidearm. A gun is something else entirely."
"Huh?"
"Never mind. Tell me, did you notice that I came up on you without you even having a clue I was there? I can do that any time I want. I can make myself invisible. You try anything funny and I'll splatter what passes for your brains all over the nearest wall."
He would. Jason knew it. There was a look in Raven's eye he didn't recognize from when they were still alive, a willingness to kill that had nothing to do with being a vampire and everything to do with simply not giving a damn anymore.
Jason had taken human life—he actually enjoyed it—but Raven was just plain scary. He hadn't picked up on it the last time he'd run into him. He hadn't taken the threat seriously. It was plain as the nose on his face that Raven meant exactly what he had said. He'd kill Jason and never look back.
"Who is she?” he asked.
"None of your business,” Raven drawled. “So you want to help now, do you? Fine. What did you have in mind? Remember—don't try anything. You're mere seconds away from elective brain surgery."
"Don't worry, Cory. I won't.” Jason despised himself for the fear crawling through him at that moment. But he wasn't in Raven's league and he knew it. “She's being guarded upstairs by this big bastard named Armageddon. How ‘bout I lure him out, you slip in and grab her, and you just forget you ever saw me?"
Raven nodded slowly. “Okay. That'll work. Mandy—you ready?"
The tiny female vampire nodded, giving Jason the evil eye at the same time. He had the sudden impression that she wanted Raven to shoot him. He suppressed a shiver. What had he even done to her?
And who was she, anyway?
* * * *
Ben crept through the house on tiny bunny feet. He could hear people bustling around in the kitchen, apparently preparing a meal, but otherwise the place was quiet as a tomb. Until the roar of rage from upstairs preceded an avalanche of footsteps down the long circular staircase and toward the front door. He sprinted that direction, moving as quietly as possible as the front door crashed open.
He ducked around the banister and took the stairs three at a time. Upon reaching the top he spotted Raven standing in the hall, motioning to him. “She's inside,” he said, as Ben came up beside him. “She's unconscious—probably sedated. Mandy's already switched clothes with her. If you haul ass down to the garage you should be able to get her out of here before we make our move."
Ben smiled. “By ‘make your move’ you mean beat the crap out of this Armageddon guy, don't you?"
Raven shrugged. “Jason says he's an alien immortal—one of the enemies our immortals are always nattering about. I'd like to know a little more about what the bastards are planning."
"You're going to try torturing an immortal?” Ben looked dubious.
Raven shrugged. “Something like that. Jason says he's susceptible to magic—so we'll bend his will around a little."
"Jason says,” Ben snorted. “If that's not ample warning enough, I'm not going to add to it."
Raven gave a little shake of his head. “Enough jawing. Go in and grab her. Mandy will take her place. I'll do my invisibility thing and, when this Armageddon comes back, we'll shock the shit out of him."
Ben nodded. “Be careful anyway. I don't want either of you hurt."
Raven met his gaze and nodded once. “We'll be careful. You never know—this guy might have some insights we need."
"Doubt it,” Ben muttered, ducking past his undead friend. “Watch my back."
* * * *
Armageddon stormed back through the front door, blood in his eye. “Where is he?” he roared. “Where's that little punk?"
What few servants were left in the mansion scurried to avoid the giant's wrath. Furious at not receiving an answer, Armageddon smashed his way through the foyer, leaving a mangled table and several badly perforated walls in his wake. “Where is that little snake?"
He charged up the stairs and into the room where he'd left his prisoner. He'd had the sudden wild impression that he'd return and find her gone. But she still lay there on the bed in the same position he'd left her.
He breathed a long sigh of relief and settled back into the chair beside the bed. When he caught up to that bloodsucking freak he'd tear a hole in him so big squirrels could take up residence. But, in the meantime, he had another way to alleviate some of his tension.
When he'd first carried her into the room he'd stripped her down to her panties and tee shirt, stuffing her under the blankets without paying much attention. But since then he'd found himself drawn to her child-like innocence. The chair had started out near the window, but day by day he'd slid it closer. Not really intending anything, but unable to resist the urge to do it.
Tonight he'd finally gone so far as to touch her, to run his thick fingers through her long hair, to press his grizzled cheek against the bare flesh of her arm. She smelled like jasmine and sweat, with the slightest hint of a bitter tang he'd come to associate with the sedative.
Now he slid his fingers beneath the blanket, tracing the arc of her arm up to the gentle swell of her breast. He shifted in the chair and let his hand trail over the curve and across, trailing his dangling fingers over the little nub at the center of the tiny, firm mound of flesh.
Then she shifted and, in the blink of an eye, five fingernails were pressed against his throat like tiny little daggers. Her eyes, the color of the estate lawn, bore into his as her lips drew back into a smile. “Having fun?"
He tried to jerk away but she was too strong. He may as well have been rooted to the spot. He opened his mouth to scream for help but nothing came out. She'd effectively closed off his breathing passage on an exhale. He had nothing to scream with.
"Don't struggle, you fool,” she breathed. “You might be able to survive having your esophagus torn out, but I seriously doubt you'll enjoy the experience."
"And if that's not bad enough,” came a male voice from behind him, “imagine what a couple of 9mm rounds will do bouncing around the inside of your skull. Sure, it won't kill you, but you'll be a carrot until your brain heals itself."
Freak City Page 22