Broken Heart 09 Only Lycans Need Apply(56)

“Yeah,” she said. “But then I remember I love my kids, and I go have vodka instead.”

I laughed.

Then a huge spray of red sparkles exploded next to me.

I dropped my quiche and stared up at a really pissed-off Karn. Fear shot through me like a cold, sharp spike.

“What the fuck?” Patsy exclaimed.

Neither of us had time to do anything else.

Karn put a hand on each of our shoulders, and in the next instant the world tilted and went black.

• • •

“Hey, kid. You okay?”

I woke slowly to the soft voice of Patsy calling to me. Metallic clanging rattled into the headache crawling around my skull. I tried to raise my arms to rub my temples, but I couldn’t move them.

My eyes fluttered open.

“Dove. You alive?”

I groaned as I moved my head, trying to find the source of her voice. She was about three feet or so away from me, chained to the wall.

Then I realized that I was pinned to the floor with the same kind of chains.

“What the hell?” I murmured. I had very little range to move, and when I did, the chains scraped the concrete floor. I shuddered. It was like someone was scraping the inside of my skull with a dull blade.

“They’re magicked,” said Patsy. “I can’t use any of my vampire powers.”

I was able to bend my head a little more to look at her better. “Are you okay?” I asked.

“Believe it or not, I’ve been in worse circumstances,” said Patsy. She glanced down at her belly. “But not with a passenger on board.”

Despite Patsy’s bravado, I could see that she was pale—paler than usual. Worry wormed through me.

“Do you have any idea where we are?” I asked.

“The old Thrifty Sip,” said Patsy. “He really knows how to treat a girl . . . sticking us in the basement of a burned-out convenience store.”

“How did Karn get through the maxi-pad thing?”

“I don’t know,” said Patsy. “Obviously he figured out a way.”

I didn’t want to think about what Karn was planning. He hoped to use me to ensure Moira’s cooperation. Patsy was queen of the vampires, probably the most valuable kidnap victim on the planet.

“Okay, you can’t use your powers, but can you still leave your body?”

Patsy arched a blond eyebrow. “Can I do what now?”

“I read Theodora’s book. She said the vampires of Amahté’s line could do soul travel like he did.”

Patsy shook her head. “I have no idea. I’ve never tried it.” She stilled. “Someone’s coming down the stairs.”

Seconds later, Karn arrived, looking as smarmy as usual. He came alone, no minions needed, apparently, and stopped next to me. He crouched down and tapped my neck with his forefinger. “Your friend has something I want,” he said. He gave me a cold smile. “And so do you.”





Chapter 21


Moira

I stared at the monster scorpion that crawled out of the dark and paused in front of us, its pincers clacking and its feet skittering on the stone floor as it danced, trying to decide which of us to eat first.

“A scorpion? Really?” I asked, lacing up my boot as fast as possible. My heart raced, and adrenaline roared through me. “Dove would just die.”

Drake, standing a few feet from me, glanced over his shoulder, shooting me a look of profound disbelief. “Dove would die?”

“She loves those goddamned Mummy movies, including the Scorpion King one. She’d be in heaven right now.” I was chattering idiotically, I knew, but I was having a hard time getting my other boot laced because my hands were shaking so badly. “Do you have a sword?”

“Yeah, but I left it in my other jeans,” said Drake. His voice was so heavy with sarcasm, it nearly crushed me.

“Why the hell didn’t we bring any guns?”

“Ruadan recommended against it.”

“Well, he’s stupid.”

“Agreed,” said Drake. “Any other ideas?”

“Stay away from its ass—that’s where the poison is.”

As if to punctuate my warning, the scorpion propelled itself forward—skitter, skitter, skitter—and waved its deadly tail around.

I screamed, left off tying my boot, and leapt off the bed on which I’d been sitting.

The sharpened tip of the tail slammed into the stone.

The bed exploded, and the destruction echoed harshly in the chamber—like a thousand gunshots.

Stone and furs flew everywhere.

A statue of Bastet, mostly intact, rolled toward me, and I picked it up and wielded it like a baseball bat.

Drake’s response to facing a monstrous poisonous creature was to take off his ragged shirt.