Wounded(22)

Alex had said my heart sounded funny; could I really be sick? Had giving some of my Immunity to Liam broken down my own defenses? I rolled to my side. None of that mattered right now. I had more than enough on my plate, like I was at a buffet of bad shit and someone kept heaping it on even though I’d had more than enough. No need to add to it myself with worry about something that may or may not even be an issue.

None of that was helping me decide what I was going to do and I knew it was just my brain trying to distract me. “Faris answer?” I called out from my place on the floor.

“No,” Pamela said, her voice soft. “He didn’t.”

I sat up and slowly pulled my tank top back on, forgoing the shirt. Weapons next, then leather jacket. I stood and checked my face in the mirror. I looked like shit and the splash of water didn’t really help much.

Leaving the bathroom, I headed straight to the motel room’s door. The one downside to John’s motel was that none of the rooms had a phone. He, John, said he’d had too many go missing, people ripping them right out of the walls. “I’m going to see if anyone picks up the phone at Jack’s. Assuming that is where Faris took everyone.” I didn’t wait for anyone and waved Erik to sit as he started out of his seat. “I’ll just be a minute, wait for me.”

Alex, though, didn’t listen. “I come with you.”

He no longer wore his collar that hid him from human eyes, but no one had said anything. “Yeah, that’s okay, buddy.” I dropped a hand to his head scratching him behind his ears. I wondered if there was a chance he would ever be able to shift into human form. In the last few months, he’d come a long way, losing his submissiveness and becoming more self aware. Hell, he’d stopped talking in the third person, which in itself was a fucking achievement.

I opened the office door to see both John and his wife Mary talking in hushed tones. They looked up as we stepped in.

“Was wondering if I could use the phone?” I asked as Alex tucked in behind me, peering at the elderly couple. Mary’s jaw dropped and even John looked a bit taken aback.

“That dog, he don’t look so good,” Mary whispered.

“Not a dog. Part wolf,” I said, and then Alex blew it.

“Yuppy doody. I is Alex. Werewolf. Demon killer.” He puffed out his chest and grinned at them, which was not a pretty sight.

Mary fainted, and John barely caught her before she hit the floor.

“Sorry, John,” I said, helping him lift Mary and take her to their room at the back of the motel.

“Well, I knew you had some strange friends, but Mary didn’t believe me.”

We laid her on the bed and left her there. John was taking Alex’s revelation better than I would have thought.

“Have you been around creatures like him before?” I pointed at Alex, who then pointed to himself with his eyes round and innocent looking. John scrubbed his fingers under his hat before answering.

“Not sure. But I always believed there was more than we knew out there.” He gave me a smile and clapped a hand on my shoulder. “Always knew you were one of the good ones, though.”

He led me into the back room of the office. “Use the phone. You’re always welcome here, Ry. You and your … dog.” He smiled and shut the door behind him, giving us privacy. Alex grinned up at me.

“I likes John.”

“Yeah, I do too.” I dialed Jack’s place and listened as the phone rang and rang. Fucking hell, this was not going the way I’d hoped at all. As I moved to hang up, a soft ‘hello’ came through. I jerked the phone back up to my ear. “Hey, who is this?”

“Rylee? It’s Frank. I think there is some serious fighting going on. I think Thomas might be dead.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. That was not good news. “Where’s Faris? Is he around?”

“I don’t know. He left.”

Shit on sticky toast, this was going downhill fast. “Frank, I need to know if you can open a slash in the veil, are you able to do that yet?”

“I can, but I’m not supposed to.”

“If Thomas is dead, then you may not have a choice. And if he’s dead and one of the vampires killed him—”

“No, Faris tried to save him.”

Well, that was a fucking shock. “Who killed him?”

“Berget. It was like her eyes went wonky and then she attacked Thomas, strangled him and … it was bad. She seems to be herself again, but she’s pretty upset.”

I was betting that was a mild understatement on all counts. “Anyone else right there I can talk to?”

Turned out that Frank was the only one not in the middle of the fight that was still ongoing. My heart sank with each word he said, knowing that Berget’s control over her adoptive parents, the old emperor and empress, was slipping. Far sooner than we’d hoped for. If she was going to die, though, I couldn’t let it be by someone else’s hand. I was responsible for her—she was my sister—and I would be the one to make sure she didn’t hurt anyone else.