“No!” I shrieked, turning to concentrate on my own arm. Chloe was still missing, Mel seemed to be down for the count, and Laurel and Hardy had their arms full with the screaming demon. I had to be able to get myself free, but no matter how much I tried, I couldn’t move my limbs.
I considered, after far more struggling than was comfortable, that I was trying very hard to make a very stupid mistake. Chloe had gotten my left arm free but the only reasons I was still upright were the straps on my right arm and my legs. I was still mostly paralyzed and if I managed to get unbound, I would likely just collapse straight into the concrete floor, face first. Then I'd be no better off than Mel or Dirk.
A gun barked again, three quick times, and I heard a grunt from Nysgrogh. Laurel growled out something that, if I had to guess, was the alphabet sneezing, and Hardy sighed. Just as quickly as it had exploded to life, the fighting died. The only sounds in the room were heavy breathing and a pathetic gurgling coming from Dirk.
“You got it?” Chloe asked. Laurel made an insulted sniffing sound and I turned to watch him adjust the body of the girl in his arms. Her limbs were twitching, dark, smoky power puffing out of her fingers at random intervals. Even as I watched, the three wounds across her skull were healing.
“Of course I have, human. You need not have interfered.”
“Stick a cork in it, scout,” Chloe ordered, as if she did this sort of thing every day. “Just get her out of here.”
“Give her to me,” Hardy said. Irritation and insult fizzed out of Laurel and along my skin but rather than argue, he dumped the girl into Hardy’s arms. Hardy cradled her surprisingly gently and pressed a hand over her face.
“Cease,” he said, his tone calm, almost sweet. Instantly, the spasms wracking her body stopped. She went limp and the lack of movement seemed to startle Laurel. He hissed and jerked back. Once he was sure she wasn’t about to attack him, I watched his body loosen; he straightened up and I was reminded of a cat that had stumbled but tried to make it look deliberate.
The power rippling around the demon died down and I felt a peculiar sensation in my head. I managed a small, uncomfortable grunt before the feeling of a bubble expanding in my brain became too much to bear, and I went under.
Chapter Nineteen
There was a furnace next to me and it seemed to be breathing. I shoved at it but my attack was weak, ineffective. I whimpered and tried to roll away. Slowly, and with great effort, I pushed back the layers of thick blankets determined to cook me alive.
As I had before, I felt the tiny claws of Poopy the cat press into my leg before she made her way up my body and hit me in the face like a truck. A puff of affection and relief might have come out of her, but the cat couldn't seem to sustain such unselfish emotions; they were gone in an instant and for a second I wondered if my empathy hadn’t come back to me after all.
“Ugh,” I mumbled, but the cat wasn’t deterred. She reminded me of Mel in that moment, especially when she shifted positions, jabbed two paws into my cleavage, and started methodically massaging just above my left nipple.
“Ow, ow! Claws!” I yelped, pulling away. My back pressed against a solid line of heat as I fought the cat. She was determined; when I moved her paws, she switched tactics and shoved them into my throat. I let out a strangled gurgle and then felt a single paw press against my lips. Both the cat and I froze, though she had the advantage of being able to see me in the dark. We stayed that way for a few moments, one paw still digging claws into my neck, the other forcing my silence. Finally, as disappointment clouded through her, she huffed out a contemptuous rumble and took off. Relief at not being cowed by the cat meshed with happiness at my empathy working again and I grinned.
The furnace at my back shifted and I felt an arm wrap around my waist, cutting my contentment off at the knees. I rolled over to fight the grip as the arm pulled me against a broad chest and I found myself brushing noses with Mel. When I pushed at him again, he gave in with a sleepy mumble of assent, pulled his arm away, and rolled over. He didn’t say anything else, but he did tug hard at the covers until I was nearly free of their weight.
“What the hell?” I demanded, doing my best to sit up. My balance refused to cooperate, though, and I got halfway before collapsing back into the pillow. My skin started waking up in sections and I could feel a dozen small, sticky lines of plastic along my arms, legs, and stomach.
“Gwen?” Chloe asked as the door opened.
Mel mumbled an order for silence and pulled the covers even more tightly over his shoulders.
“What the hell?” I demanded again, still trying to fight my inner ear for dominance. Chloe laughed when she saw me and moved quickly to my side, crouching down. She put a hand on my head, pressed gently.
“You need to stay calm, lay down for a little longer. The paralytic isn’t out of your system yet and you’re still healing. Dirk took a lot out of you. Likewise the demon.”
“Shh,” Mel grumbled again. It made me want to shove him off the side of the bed. Or the side of a building.
“What—”
“The hell, yes, I heard you,” Chloe interrupted. “Do you remember anything?”
“I remember—” I paused. What did I remember? What was going on? Why was I starving? “I don’t remember.”
“You don’t remember anything? Not major world events? Who’s our president? What’s the eighth letter of the alphabet? How did you get all these scratches?” Chloe poked me hard on one of my bandages. The pain sliced up through me, making me whine and writhe. By the time it finished arcing up my body into my brain, things started to come back to me.
“Oh god!” I yowled as the last few hours snapped into focus. “Dirk? The girl? Are they—”
“Dirk’s handled.”
“Dead?”
“Don’t worry about him.”
“The demon?”
“Also handled, for the moment. How do you feel?”
I considered that, investigating how I felt, tucked against the warm covers next to Mel. I felt bad, but no worse than I’d felt over the last few days. Bad luck had taken a liking to me and I sincerely hoped that, with the demon and Dirk “handled,” it would move on to someone else. I didn’t have it in me to live in this much pain for the rest of my life.
“I guess I’m okay,” I said after a few moments, still trying to discern my chances of ever feeling better.
“Wonderful. Then, since we have some important things to discuss, I’m going to bring you a cookie.”
I blinked at her, my train of thought switching tracks at the mention of sweets.
“I love you,” I said.
She smiled, rubbed a hand over my forehead and cheek, and then headed for the other room. I heard the cat meow and Chloe cooed back.
I took the silence as a chance to take stock of myself. I was fully clothed, but not in the clothes that had been ruined by Dirk and Nysgrogh. I had several bandages along my limbs and a wad of cotton taped to my inner elbow. Swallowing my discomfort, I slipped a hand under the blanket and walked it hesitantly toward Mel’s back. When I brushed my fingertips along the fabric of his jeans and sighed in relief, he shifted.
“Gwen?” he asked, his voice groggy.
“No?” I answered, hoping he’d believe me. He remained still for a moment but I could tell he was awake. After a second, he rolled onto his back, lifting his arms and resting his head in his interlocked hands. I glared at him in the darkness, wondered how well he could see my expression.
“I recognize that scent,” he said with a grin in his voice. “Can’t fool me.”
He didn’t make any other moves toward me and didn’t elaborate on how I smelled. I was sure after all I’d been through that it was no longer roses and lilac, but I couldn’t tell how Mel was feeling about it either way. Without asking permission, I reached over, felt along his chest and neck until I found the smooth stone of Merrin’s necklace.
“Now go lower,” he purred.
“Down boy,” Chloe mur
mured from the door, a plate of cookies in one hand and a pair of juice boxes in the other. Despite the fact that most of my mind was concerned with only drooling over the incoming sugar I could feel a flutter of concern within her. When she was close enough I reached out and grabbed for the cookies without asking. I was able to stuff two of them in my mouth before Chloe pulled the plate away and set it at the foot of the bed. I pouted but let her tuck pillows behind me so I was sitting up.
Mel sat up on his own, swinging his legs off the side of the bed. He took a second to stand, waited a moment, and then padded toward the door.
“Nature calls,” he explained, making me scowl again. It wasn’t really what he said, just that he was there at all.
“Cookie,” I demanded. Chloe shook her head and shoved a juice box toward me. I slurped at it and then sighed. My throat felt dry but the juice was helping.
“How do you feel?” She touched my forehead again, reminding me of my big sister. I wondered, for a second, if I would ever be able to tell Robin about what had become the weirdest week of my life.
“I’m still dizzy. And hungry. Cookie.” I pointed toward the plate and watched Chloe’s shoulders slump. She leaned forward, pulling me into a tight hug. She squeezed me and, after a moment, I heard her breath catch. Sadness and relief welled like an overflowing jug.
“Hey,” I said, shocked. “Are you crying?”
“No,” she insisted, her voice betraying the lie. Empty juice box in hand, I wrapped my arms around her, hugging her back.
“I’m okay,” she said, but still wouldn’t let go. I settled against her, resting my head on her shoulder with my nose in the crook of her neck. I felt her body shudder as worried relief and tears rolled out of her. I didn’t have the energy to shield against the sadness as it tried to leech into my skin like radiation, and I felt a few falling tears of my own. Chloe’s sadness wasn’t entirely to blame, though; I had a lot to cry about.
After a few sobbing hiccups, she seemed to calm.
“I’m sorry,” she said, her voice shaky. “I can’t believe I let you get taken and sucked nearly dry. I should have been paying more attention, realized the demon was sneaking up on me.”
“You couldn’t have known. Me, on the other hand… I should have known Dirk was around. I don’t know why I didn’t feel him until he was right there—I couldn’t feel him when I woke up, either. Him or the demon. Not until you guys showed up.”
I mulled it over as Chloe sniffled and steadied herself. It had to have been the demon’s doing. She’d been in my head reorganizing, after all. I couldn’t figure out what she would have gotten out of blocking me from knowing how happy she was to torture me, but it was the only thing I could think of.
“Well, then, it’s all your fault,” Chloe said, and I could feel the smile even if I couldn’t see it. “The kidnapping, the blood loss, the fact that Mel got his butt beaten six ways from Sunday.” I snorted, taking a second to enjoy the mental image of him getting kicked in the face by a girl. Truce or not, Mel had spent over a year abusing me whenever he got the chance and had flat out told me he wasn’t planning to stop. I needed that mental image to keep me strong in the future.
Chloe squeezed me again and we stayed like that, breathing against each other’s necks for another few minutes.
Mel stepped back into the room and I saw him blink his eyes in the light from the living room. When he got a good look at the two of us wrapped in each other’s arms, he waggled his brows at me.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, his hands going to the button on his jeans. Chloe shifted out of the hug and grabbed the juice box from my hand, heaving it at his head. Mel weaved as if it was a bowling ball and not a juice box, but caught it. “Fine, then. Be that way.” He sniffed and strolled out of the room, head held high. Chloe snorted and turned back to me.
“I was so worried about you.”
“What the hell happened? I thought you got shot!”
“I did. Bulletproof vest. Hurts like a bitch, though. I hit my head when I went down, which was unacceptable. By the time I came around enough to realize what was going on, I was the only one left. I wasn't even out long, but the demon has tricks I don't.”
“How the hell did you find me?”
She went silent and I wished I could see her expression in the darkened room. After a tense moment, she shook her head. Taking another second for herself, she spoke.
“Merrin,” she lied.
I didn’t call her on it. She’d saved my life, after all.
***
Mel and I sat around Chloe’s retro kitchen table, slow music playing quietly through the room. I wasn’t sure why Mel was still hanging out, but with the necklace, I actually wasn’t too bothered by him staying. He looked worse than I’d ever seen him, his face filled with splotches of black and blue, his chin scraped up. He managed to avoid complaining, which was better than I would have done in his situation. If my face had looked like his, I would have been wailing, demanding all manner of treats to distract me from the pain.
Chloe brought me hot chocolate in a giant mug stamped with Luke’s Diner. Mel looked up at her with a frown.
“Where’s mine?”
“You can get it yourself, you’re an adult,” she said as she settled in next to me. Mel let out a small snort and the look they shared was friendly, despite her rudeness. Getting to his feet like it was an incredible effort, he moved to the kitchen, picked through Chloe’s rack of individual portion coffee cups, and popped one into her machine. He leaned against the counter, arms crossed as he waited for his drink to brew.
“That was some nice shooting today, Tex,” he said after a bit. Chloe shrugged like it was no big deal.
“I’m just glad Laurel and Hardy did most of the heavy lifting. Without them, I can’t say rescuing our girl would have gone as well.” Chloe caught my eye. “I mean, I don’t consider myself a demon expert and Mel wasn’t exactly any help either, lying there on the floor, getting kicked in the face.”
“I helped,” he grumbled.
After a giant gulp of chocolaty goodness, I nodded his way. “The way you fell right on your nose and hit him with the table? That was aces.”
Mel pouted in the kitchen and I felt Chloe’s amusement mix with pity.
“Normally a vampire his age wouldn’t be an issue to any of us, but Nysgrogh fixed that. I do feel bad about the girl the demon’s possessed, but she was lost well before I got there. Besides, my whole goal was just to get in, not die, and make off with Gwen. Once Laurel and Hardy had the demon distracted, she wasn’t my problem.”
“Make out with Gwen, you say?” Mel asked, coming back to the table. I rolled my eyes as Chloe took another sip of her coffee, ignoring him. He plopped down in the chair across from me and took a giant gulp of his coffee. On a sound of disgust, he pursed and swished his lips, trying to overcome the taste before popping back to his feet.
“We have to talk,” Chloe said quietly, elbowing me gently. I cringed, mostly at the twinge of pain in my side, but also at her tone. There was no threat of Chloe dumping me for another cake addict, but nothing good ever came from that phrase.
“About how much you love and missed me?” I tried for a grin, failed miserably. Chloe looked down into her cup and let out a slow breath. Mel had started picking through her kitchen, yanking open cabinets at random.
“The kids are still missing.”
“So I’m still on the hook with Laurel and Hardy?”
“I’m not actually worried about them. They took care of Dirk and they have the demon, but they don’t exactly have much power over her. They can’t cancel out any enchantments she’s laid down, including anything she’s done to you and the children. I brought you here to sleep it off, but you need to go back to Merrin. We need to use you to track the kids again before we can truly stop Nysgrogh for good.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad.” Mel had found a liquor bottle that had been de-labeled and filled with cane sugar; he upended it over the cup. I
watched him dump a mountain of sugar into his coffee and found myself grinning his way.
I scolded my brain as I realized it was once again thinking pleasant thoughts about a man I had decided long ago I despised. Thankfully, Chloe distracted me from the slimy feeling of not disliking Mel.
“It might not be as simple as it was before,” she said. “We searched the house where they were keeping you and the kids weren’t around. Considering the fact that we were able to track them through you, there’s a good chance that they used harsher enchantments when they moved you all in order to guard them better. It may not be as easy as kicking in a door this time. Though I guess it wasn't that easy last time, either.”
I went quiet, considering her words. It wasn’t that I had qualms about being used to locate the kids. I could suffer through floating about as a ghost and getting slapped around a bit if it was for the greater good. But I wasn’t sure how much use I’d be if things were as dire as Chloe suspected. Mel had come back to the table, watching me carefully as he stirred his coffee. When I didn’t say anything after a few minutes, he piped up.
“Plus I’m still weak as a kitten. It’d be nice if we could take care of that.”
I didn’t bother fighting off a smile. “Maybe my payment for finding these kids can be to make sure you stay that way.”
Mel scoffed but Chloe jumped in before he could pick a fight. “So you’re game? We can’t do this without you agreeing.”
“We could,” Mel insisted. “I may not be myself, but I could still stuff her in a sack, drag her there, and hold her down while Merrin does her thing.”
“Mel,” Chloe said, her expression a warning. He couldn’t quite manage to hide a smile as he held his hands up in surrender.
I thought about little Devon and his parents, Ashley and hers. We hadn’t actually met the parents of the third girl, Felicity, but that didn’t mean she meant any less to me. I nodded.
“Whatever you need, Annie Oakley.”
Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) Page 21