“Then you get the point I’m makin’?” she snarled.
Harry put his hand on Nina’s, the tic in his jaw pulsing. “Be a nice Crypt Keeper and put Guido down. He didn’t do anything I didn’t ask him to.”
Mara’s stomach plunged to her feet. Oh, God. He had let Guido do something. What had he let Guido do? She pulled at Nina’s fingers to loosen her grip on Guido’s neck while she begged Harry with her eyes. “Harry? Please tell me you didn’t let Guido do anything to you.” Please. Please. Please.
Harry’s large frame stiffened as he, too, helped her tug at Nina’s fingers. He rolled his wide shoulders and shrugged as he successfully pried one of Nina’s fingers from Guido’s neck, only to have it snap back into place. “I can’t do that.”
She gulped. There was no stopping the pleading look in her eyes. “Could you lie to me—just for now? I’m on empty here. I’ve had almost no sleep and your couch is the pits in terms of comfort. It’s been a rough day.”
Harry stopped pulling at Nina’s immoveable hand and shot her a look of astonishment. “Yeah. It’s always rough when you turn someone into a werewolf. Need a massage? Maybe a nice foot rub?”
Her shoulders slumped. “Will you always grudge like this?”
“It could be a good, long while.”
“Estimated time of arrival?”
“Unknown.”
More panic rose by way of an almost uncontrollable wave of chills racing along her spine. She let go of Nina’s hand, too, pulling the sleeves of her jacket over her cold fingers. As per Darnell, if they didn’t find out what Guido had used on Harry in exact detail, things could get hinky. “What did you let him do, Harry?”
“Why are you so worried about what I let him do if he can’t really do anything to help me, Mara?” Harry taunted down at her, smug and spiteful.
Oh, this man! Her fed-up meter tilted. “Because while he can’t revert you, he can give you an extra appendage, Harry,” she hissed up at him, ignoring the shock on his face. “How do you feel about an extra leg? Or maybe a finger sprouting from your man garden?” Mr. Smarty McSmart.
Harry blanched and shook his head. “Witch doctors can really do that? He’s really real?”
Nina popped him on the chest with a flat palm, the clap sharp to Mara’s oversensitive ears. “Isn’t that why you’re here, dumb ass? Because you did the Harry again. You thought, in that big shit storm of a brain of yours, ‘If werewolves and vampires are real, then why can’t witch doctors be, too?’ Didn’t you, you big numbnuts? Jesus, Harry. Jesus Christ and Rainbow Brite.”
Guilt washed over Harry’s lean face. Yet he held onto his defiance like a champ, eyes flashing, fists clenched. “Maybe.”
Nina was right back up in Guido’s face, glowering down at him. “What did you give him, you fucking scam artist? Tell me or I’ll damn well make you scream for your mother!”
Harry’s reaction startled an already fragile Mara, when he gripped Nina’s shoulders and ordered quite deliciously, “Let him go, Nina. Please.”
Nina let her head drop back on her shoulders, her eyes glowing as she took in Harry’s face from her upside-down position. They narrowed. “You touchin’ me, Harry?”
Mara had to admire how he stood his ground. Strong and steady, legs planted firmly, determination in his eyes.
Nina was probably the scariest person she knew, and that was before she’d become a vampire. But his conviction was sigh-worthy and completely unlike her Harry. “I am. I apologize if that’s against vampire protocol, but Guido only did what I asked him to do. Nothing more. Now, please put Guido down.”
Nina let her hand open, watching with satisfaction as Guido’s lean body crashed to the ground in a clatter of limbs and jars of something unidentifiable.
She whipped around to eyeball Harry, but Mara jumped between them, trying with all she had to keep from placing a hand on Harry’s heaving chest. Because it would be warm and inviting and . . . “Okay, let’s all just calm down. Nina, this will get us nowhere. We need answers, not casts for broken limbs.” She let her eyes go round with pleading, knowing it was the quickest way to Nina’s weak spot.
In unison, they each took a step back.
Guido shimmied up the wall, grabbing a nearby broom, clinging to it with white knuckles when he raised it high above his head and waved it like a weapon. “You’re all crazy!”
Harry snatched the broom from Guido with such dexterity even Mara was left in shock and even a little awe. “Guido—do not rile the beast. We’ll leave peacefully. I’m sorry for the trouble.”