“Penance?” She queried.
The power struggle was an almost visible thing. Druids moved either to back Deanna or Dr. Daniels. What the hell had I stepped into this time?
Deanna had five Druids behind her; Dr. Daniels had six. Damn, this was not looking good.
“I’m not doing anymore bowing and scraping to you,” Dr. Daniels said, her voice full of self-confidence. “I will be the leader now. Not you. There will be no penance on my shoulders.”
I cleared my throat. “You know, Deanna has already agreed to help me. So I’ll just take her with me and go.”
Dr. Daniels laughed, throwing her head back in an over-the-top move that just made me want to roll my eyes. What a twat.
Flicking my sword into the air, I strolled into the middle, right smack between the two groups of Druids. “Listen, I’m going to make this easy. Deanna is in charge right now. She’s going to stay that way until she gets back from helping me and these kids. You know how I know that?”
A glance at Deanna and then Dr. Daniel’s showed me their combined confusion. Dr. Daniels, who piped up, her attitude once again clearly showing.
“You don’t know anything of the sort,” she snorted, a dribble of snot escaping from her nose.
Grimacing, I lifted my sword up and pointed it at her right shoulder. “I foresee you spending some time in the hospital. That should eat up the whole who’s in charge business for at least a day or two. Long enough for me.”
“You wouldn’t!” Dr. Daniels screeched, but I’d already lunged forward, slicing through the meat of her shoulder, feeling her clavicle separate around my blade. She fell and my sword slid out easily. Blood spurted from the wound, quickly washing into the mud under our feet. The Druids around Dr. Daniels flew into action, lifting her up and carrying her away from us. Her screeching could be heard even over the occasional clap of thunder. The woman had lungs; I’d give her that.
Deanna glared at me. “You make me look weak.”
I wiped off my blade and slid it back into its sheath. The straps were stretching with the rain and the fit was getting sloppy. I was going to have to look into some new harness for my gear at this rate. “I make you look like you have a crazy bitch on your side. Not a bad thing in this case.”
She opened her mouth as if to argue, then snapped it shut.
With a few murmured words too low for me to hear, she sent her people away, and then moved to my side. “Come, let us get this done. You have bought me time, but not much.”
“Lead the way.”
With a huff, she strode up the embankment toward the tree where I’d left Pamela. We reached the base and the kid climbed down without having to be told. “Is she going to help us?” She pointed at Deanna.
“Yes, and if I remember correctly, it’s rude to point. So only do it if you want to insult someone,” I said.
Pamela nodded, her face a mask of sincerity. Shit, I was going to have to be very careful about teaching her bad habits. Then again, Giselle had said she’d given me a bunch of her own.
Deanna led us back through the sodden, mud-filled, rain-drenched forest with ease. She was obviously comfortable here, and while I wanted to ask her questions, I also had the feeling that it wouldn’t take much to send her back to her Druids. Which meant I had to play nice.
This was not going to be easy.
19
Back at the ‘lorry,’ as Pamela insisted on calling the car, Will waited for us. Though waited would make you think he was conscious. He most definitely was not.
Slumped over the hood of the car, blood trickled from one ear and a rake of claw marks bisected his bare back and ass.
I ran forward, Deanna and Pamela right behind. “Will. What the hell happened?”
He groaned and lifted his head. His eyes were purpled shut, lips were swollen, and it pretty much looked like he’d been shit out of a Harpy from a thousand feet up.
“The Destruction was waiting for me. That bitch Daniels knew we were coming. Must have overheard me on the phone at the station.”
Ah, that explained that. One more strike against the good doctor. Next time I’d be aiming for the left side.
I helped him to his feet and Deanna came close, laying her hands on either side of his face.
“Brother. This is not good.”
“Nothing we can do about it now,” he slurred out, groaning as we helped him into the back of the car, covering him with a blanket from the trunk. Pamela climbed in and pillowed his head in her lap. She was crying silently, her tears streaking down her mud-flecked face. Fuck, this had been some night. Certainly not one to put in the memento books.
Deanna didn’t drive, so that left me with the task of managing everything that was ass backwards. We drove into town with no problems though, and went straight to my suite, though Deanna argued against it.