He crossed the flashlight beam over the night sky, but the thicket of trees surrounding him made it difficult to get a clear view in any direction.
Then his light caught something iridescent. He swooped back in that direction.
“Do you mind?” Andi hovered a good ten feet above him. She put her hand up to block the light. “You’re killing my night vision.”
He switched off the light. “What are you doing?”
“The same thing you are.” She put her hands on her hips. A halo of moonlight surrounded her, making her look angelic. Or at least as close to an angel as he’d ever see. “Or don’t you want my help?”
“No,” he said quietly. “I want it.” He was wholly surprised but truly grateful she was there. He didn’t deserve her help after the unkind things he’d said to her at Amelia’s, but it was absolutely welcome.
“Which way do you think she went?”
“No idea. We’re spread in every direction from the house.”
Andi nodded. “Okay, I’ll circle around again.”
“Thank you.”
She flew off without another word, leaving him earthbound and humbled. She was mad. That much was plain. And yet she’d come to help him in a desperate hour. She was beautiful inside and out, and he’d turned his back on her attempts to reconcile.
His past had made him a terrible person. But that was an excuse. He knew that. He was as afraid of being hurt again as he was of losing Chloe.
And now here he was, facing down both of those fears.
What a mess his life was.
A tinny, distant, panicky sound turned his head. Then it came a second time. Far away and low to the ground, as best he could tell. His nerves went haywire, tripping at the sudden possibilities. He took one step toward the sound. “Chloe?”
A softer mewling cry answered him.
“Chloe. I’m coming.” With nothing but the signature of that sound to guide him, he darted forward, marsh and sludge sucking at his boots.
The bayou slowed him. He was still faster than any human could be, but traversing such a piece of ground would slow anyone. Trees and vines were thick in some spots. In others, there was underbrush to contend with. Or swampland that dragged you down. Or a brackish stream that was deeper than it looked. In some places, like the area that lay ahead, the stream became a river.
Another sound reached him from the distance. The rolling, guttural boom of an alligator looking for a mate.
He wasn’t afraid of gators. They might come after him, but he would win. Even against Brutus. Chloe’s odds were very different.
He pushed himself to go faster.
A heron screeched as it flew overhead, causing him to lose his tracking. The bird’s squawk had almost sounded human. He went still, ankle-deep in muck, gnats swarming. “Chloe? Where are you, baby?”
Another mewl answered him. Not quite as distant now.
Then a voice thin with fear and pain followed. Andi’s voice. “Con, I’ve got her. But you’d better get here fast.”
Chapter Thirty-three
Andi had been in a lot of tough spots in her life—although ninety-nine percent of them had involved a man. Or his upset girlfriend.
She was really glad that those days were behind her and that this tough spot was a little different. Well, maybe it wasn’t that different. It did have something to do with a man. But this time there was also a cat.
And maybe glad wasn’t the right word either, seeing as how the current fix she was in had a lot to do with one very, very large alligator.
That gator was eyeing her and the cat from the water right in front of them. In fact, Andi’s toes were a little damp, thanks to her perilous spot on the bank of said water.
“This was not the best place to get a drink, kitty.”
Chloe seemed to have gone quiet, but Andi’s heart was thumping almost too loud for her to hear anything else.
Thankfully, Chloe seemed to sense that now was not the time to escape again and was staying very still against Andi’s chest, where she was being held in a death grip. “Please don’t go spastic,” Andi whispered.
Because if Chloe clawed her and Andi lost hold of her…
Andi tightened her grip ever so slightly on the cat. “It’s okay, baby. Don’t panic. We’re going to get out of here just fine. You’ll see. Your daddy’s a big bad vampire, and he’s coming for us. Well, he’s coming for you.”
Andi was pretty sure Con didn’t give two licks what happened to her.
Whatever love he’d once felt for her was certainly gone after Amelia’s little trick. But at least Andi still had her wings.
Although, without them, she might not be in this mess. Of course, she might be without them again very soon, depending on how this all turned out.
She didn’t want to take her eyes off the gator that was inching ever closer, but she had to see how badly her wings were tangled.
She risked a glance up at the thorny vines she’d gotten snared in. “Did I mention you picked a terrible place to get a drink, Queen Chloe?”
Andi hadn’t even noticed the thorns when she’d swooped down and wiggled through the underbrush to grab the cat. She’d been too focused on the muddy, but still mostly white, ball of fluff drinking from the stream.
She’d grabbed Chloe, then stood, only to push herself farther into the prickly mess. That’s when the pain at her back alerted her to what she’d done.
Trying to free her wings had resulted only in deeper tears in the membranes and more pain. She wasn’t sure she could fly with them as tattered as they were, and at this point, ripping herself free would result in the kind of wounded-animal sounds and movements that gators probably loved.
She was up the bayou without a paddle, so to speak.
Her attention shifted back to the gator. Its head looked like a suitcase floating in the water. Except for the beady eyes that shone red in the moonlight. Some seven or eight or three hundred feet back, the dinosaurian ridge of the beast’s tail cleared the water.
She shivered. The thing was terrifying.
Death by gator was not how she’d thought she was going to die. She supposed she’d at least make the paper.
Where was Con?
The gator floated a centimeter closer.
Andi was getting angry-scared now. That place where there wasn’t much left to lose, so getting crazy didn’t seem like a bad idea.
“Get away, you dumb lizard. You are not eating either one of us tonight, you understand me?”
The gator opened its mouth and hissed.
Andi jerked back, meshing herself farther into the brambles and causing Chloe to meow even as a gasp of pain left her own mouth. “Sorry, baby. I didn’t know gators could hiss. I thought only your kind did that.”
She swallowed, but the knot in her throat went nowhere. A twig snapped nearby. Was there another predator out there? What else lived in this wretched place? “Con, please, if you’re on your way, hurry. We might not last much longer.”
Like a dream, he appeared out of the mist on the far bank. “I’m here and—” A soft curse slipped from his lips. “Are you stuck?”
“Yeah, pretty bad. I could probably get free, but I’m afraid I won’t be fast enough to avoid the gator.”
“Gator?” Con’s gaze shifted to the water, then he exhaled a curse. “Brutus.”
If the gator heard, he didn’t care. Nothing took his focus off Andi.
Con jumped off the bank and into the water with a soft splash.
Brutus swished his tail, but stayed put. He was at least ten feet away from Con. Maybe more. And still inching closer to her and Chloe.
“Andi, you have to get ready to fly out of here.”
“I don’t think I can. My wings are really caught in these brambles. They may not support me if they’re too torn up.”
He glanced at her, then the brambles and frowned. “But you can at least get free?”
“I’m pretty sure I can.” Although it would no doubt cause se
rious injury to her wings. Not flying wasn’t the end of the world, though. She could walk out.
“Good. New plan.”
Before she could ask what that plan was, he lunged forward and landed on Brutus’s back.
The gator hissed and thrashed, rolling and flexing for all he was worth. Con stayed latched on to him, though.
They pulled away from the bank, moving to the middle of the river. Con and the gator slid under. The water churned in the spot where they’d gone down.
Andi hugged Chloe close. “He’s going to be okay, right? It’s not like he needs to breathe.” But a hard knot was forming in Andi’s belly, and her eyes burned with tears. “I should have told him one more time that I love him.”
Chloe mewed softly.
“Right. We need to get free while we can.”
With Chloe in her arms, Andi started the arduous task of liberating herself from the brambles. Each painful little movement created a new tear in her wings, or deepened an existing one. Seconds ticked by, and she made very little progress. The pain of each slice nearly caused her to blackout, but she held on. For her sake and Chloe’s.
There was still no sign of Con either, and the water had nearly stopped moving.
She didn’t want to think about what that meant, but she had to save herself and Chloe. “This isn’t going to be fun,” she muttered.
“Andi, that you?” Cassi’s voice rang out.
Andi looked up. “Yes. And I need help.”
Cassi hovered overhead. “Coming down.”
“Be careful. Everything here is out to get you.”
As Cassi descended, Val crashed through the brush on the same side of the river where Con had first come out. “Where’s Con?”
“In the water with the gator,” Andi answered. “They’ve been under for at least three or four minutes. Maybe longer. There’s no sign of movement anymore.”
Eyes aglow, Val ripped off his leather jacket and dived in.
Cassi landed on the bank. “You want me to take the cat?”
“No, I’ve got her, and I’m afraid we could lose her in the transfer if she gets spooked. But if you could free my wings, then I can get out of here.”
Cassi hesitated. “Why don’t you store them in your vial?”
“You think they’re healthy enough to survive that? Storing damaged wings can kill them.”
Cassi glanced at Andi’s wings again. “It’s too dark to see much, but you might be right. They look pretty torn up.”
Andi nodded. “Just get me loose as best you can.”
“On it.” Cassi stepped up and started gingerly removing the vines and brambles imprisoning Andi.
Daniella and Juliette were next to come through the brush on the other bank. “Where are Con and Val?”
“In the water,” Andi answered. “With a very large—”
Just then, Con and Val emerged. But there was no sign of Brutus.
“Where’s the gator?” Andi asked.
Con shook his head, looking paler than usual. “Not a problem anymore.”
“Gator?” Juliette grimaced. “Wasn’t Brutus, was it?”
“I think it was.” Val swam for the bank, dragging Con behind him.
That’s when Andi realized Con wasn’t okay. His shirt was torn and bloody. “You’re hurt.”
“I’ll live,” he responded.
Val dragged him onto shore. “Brutus bit through his shoulder. Severed some tendons or something. Anyway, he can’t move his arm.”
Con shrugged his good shoulder. “I’ll heal.”
“Yowch.” Andi glanced at her sister as pain burned through her back. “You sliced me there, I think.”
“Sorry. That was a tough one. I didn’t mean to.”
“I know. It’s okay. Just wasn’t expecting that.” The pain in her back seemed to be spreading up to her shoulder. Weird. “Keep going. I have to get out of here.”
Clouds slipped across the face of the moon, casting them all into new darkness.
Cassi sighed. “I can barely see what I’m doing.” She called across the bank, “Could you shine that light over here?”
Juliette held up her flashlight. “I can do better than that.” She leaped across the river, landing safely on the bank. “Where do you want the beam?”
“Right here on her wings where the—”
“Cass,” Andi whispered. Her knees felt oddly weak, and her vision was getting dim. “I don’t feel so hot all of a sudden. Actually, that’s not true. I feel really hot. Super hot. Someone should probably take Chloe.”
Juliette repositioned the flashlight, and Cassi sucked in a breath. “Oh no. Oh, Andi. This vine. It’s fever nettle.”
“That would explain…” Andi slumped down as she passed out.
* * *
Con propped himself up on his good arm as chaos took over again. Juliette grabbed Chloe as Andi collapsed. A new surge of panic swept over him. “What’s going on? What’s wrong with Andi?”
Daniella leaped across the river to help as Cassi answered him. “Fever nettle is poisonous to fairy folk, and that includes us sprites. One of the thorns scratched her while I was trying to get her wings free.”
“Poisonous?” He got to his feet, pain raking his body where Brutus’s teeth had sunk in. “Dani, Jules, get Andi out of there. We have to get her to the hospital. Cassi, back away before you get nicked, too.”
Juliette jumped back across the river with Chloe in her arms. “Val, go help. I’ve got Chloe. I can take her and Con home.”
Con stood his ground. “I’m not going anywhere without Andi.”
Val joined Dani on the opposite bank. “Do you have her?”
“I do.” Dani lifted the limp sprite in her arms. “She feels like a furnace.”
“It’s the nettles,” Cassi said. “They cause a terrible fever, hence the name.”
He turned to Cassi. “Are you sure you haven’t been affected?”
“So far, I feel fine.”
“Then let’s go. Back to Con’s house where all the vehicles are.”
With a nod, Cassi extended her wings to take off. She got a few feet off the ground, then landed again. “Scratch the feeling-fine part.” She put a hand to her head. “I don’t think I got scratched, but I might have inhaled some of the nettles’ pollen. I’m starting to get warm and faint.”
Val lifted her. “I’ve got you.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
“Hold on.” Then he jumped the river and joined Con and his sisters. “Let’s move.”
As a family, they trekked with as much haste as possible through the bayou to familiar ground. Val carried Cassi, Dani had Andi, and Juliette held the slightly squirmy Chloe.
Con scratched the muddy creature with his able hand. “I’m glad you’re safe, baby. We owe Andi a big thanks for this.” He glanced at the sprite. “She’d better be okay.”
“Dr. Jekyll will know what to do,” Dani said.
Con gave her a look. “He won’t be in his right mind at this hour, and we can’t wait until morning.” The doctor was a descendant of the first man to bear the monstrous curse of his family. As a result, he transformed into the demented beast known as Edgar Hyde when the moon rose. He became Jekyll again only when dawn returned.
Juliette ducked to avoid a branch. “Someone at the hospital will be able to help. This is Shadowvale. Nothing is impossible here.”
“I hope that’s true.” Daniella looked at the woman in her arms. “Because not only is she burning up, but her wings are destroyed. When she passed out, they ripped free.” She shook her head. “Most of them got left behind in the tree.”
Con nodded, more to assure himself than to agree. Andi had to be all right. Because he couldn’t lose her.
Not when he’d suddenly realized what a fool he’d been to turn his back on his one true love.
Chapter Thirty-four
Andi was deep in a dream. Or a nightmare. Or a hallucination. She didn’t know, coul
dn’t figure it out, and at times, lost herself to the sweltering madness that seemed like it had become her new reality.
Con was there. Sometimes. He shifted from a kind, loving man who was always just out of reach, to a raving, pursuing monster with bright eyes and sharp fangs almost on the verge of catching her. Her sister slipped in and out, too, as did the faces of her gran, Con’s family, and Con’s cat, Chloe.
The gator was there, too. Brutus the beast. Waiting, jaws open, teeth gleaming. Hissing at her. Spitting out vines with thorns the size of daggers.
The air was thick and damp. Constantly. Even the breeze blew hot.
A barrage of sounds accompanied it all. Water running, branches rustling and cracking, Chloe’s distant meow, the gator’s hissing. A soft unexplainable beep. But always, the fluttering of wings.
Sometimes she also thought she heard voices talking to her. Or talking about her. But definitely saying her name.
When she tried to shut out the dream and listen, they went away, and the dream pulled her deeper.
She fought as hard as she could. So hard that she had nothing left. She was exhausted, but there was no way to rest in this delirious world. She couldn’t give in, she knew that. There was fighting. Or there was dying.
And yet giving in felt like all she had left.
At last, the haze of pain and heat began to lift. Her grasp on reality grew stronger. She found the strength to fight again. To swim against the murky river trying to drown her.
The sound of beating wings faded, and new noises took their place. The beeping grew louder.
Andi woke to the subtle hum and purr of machines. Then the throbbing in her head started, making those weaker sounds disappear. She moaned softly, glad she’d kept her eyes closed.
“Andromeda?”
That voice. She’d heard it in her dreams. And her nightmares. She shuddered, but the wash of emotion held hope, too. Was she still delirious? Or had she broken free of the madness? “Con?”
“Right here.” A hand enveloped hers. Big and strong and real.
She opened her eyes. “Con.”
He nodded. “How are you feeling?”
“Terrible. But not as bad as before. How long have I been…what have I been?”
The Vampire's Cursed Kiss (Shadowvale Book 2) Page 23