Page 19

Angelo

“What do you mean, you don’t know where she is?”

Wanda gave me a flat, unfriendly look. I suspected she was more upset about the state of her hairdo than Lydia’s absence. Wanda was a beautiful woman. Even I could admit that. But all the smoldering good looks in the world didn’t help when you looked like a drowned rat.

“I mean, I don’t know where she is,” she said, rubbing a trickle of water from one eye with a sigh. “She and Poppy were supposed to distract security and any personnel that might interfere with the ritual. We didn’t even get a clear visual on what was preying on Lydia’s ex before the alarm started blaring and water started gushing from the ceiling. It effectively ruined all our preparations. And I will have you know that said preparations took especially long to set up because we couldn’t bring our familiars with us. Cats or dogs might get a pass in the hospital, but not an owl, skunk, raccoon, or piglet.”

She was probably right, but that didn’t mean I had to like it. And I didn’t like it! I raked a hand through my hair in frustration, scanning the crowd hopefully for any sign of Lydia. Whatever had activated the sprinkler system had forced three hospital floors to evacuate. There were sick or wounded humans as far as the eye could see, but no alluring gypsy in sight.

“Didn’t you have a fallback plan? What about looking out for members of your coven?”

Wanda’s furious scowl was all the warning I got before the hex hit me right in the mouth. It wasn’t as painful or obvious as a swing that resulted in the crunch of bone, but it still felt like I’d been struck in the mouth with a tennis ball. My teeth clacked together painfully, and it took everything in me not to lunge at the witch on instinct.

“What the hell was that for?” I demanded, once I could find my voice again.

“For insinuating I don’t care about my coven,” she hissed, giving me an arched brow stare. “You know damn well I care about every single member, even if Lydia still hasn’t committed to the ritual. I’ll bring her into the inner circle if she wants to try. I was willing to die for my people. You only care insofar as it concerns Lydia. Would you be spitting this much venom if it was Poppy missing instead of Lydia?”

I had to think about that for a moment, and some of my anger faded. Wanda was right. I wouldn’t have been as upset if Poppy had disappeared. I should have been more concerned about my fellow monsters, but…

“Poppy doesn’t have the kind of enemies that Indigo earned,” I said quietly. “You heard what happened to Indigo the first time she died. They had to aim a curse so destructive at her that it blew her original body to smithereens and destroyed part of Lydia’s last shop. They had to bury Indigo’s remains in a plastic bag.”

I couldn’t escape the gruesome visuals in my nightmares. I didn’t share the same trauma Lydia carried from the event, but she’d screamed herself awake often enough for me to understand. And now she was in danger from the same people, all because she’d had the misfortune of fusing soul-to-soul with a witch.

Wanda’s face softened. Her fingers twitched as though she considered taking my hand to give it a squeeze. She seemed to think better of it and let her hand fall back to her side.

“I’m sorry too,” she said, though the words came through clenched teeth. She wasn’t the only one unused to eating crow. “That must be terrifying for you both.”

She had no idea. Some days, it felt like I was the last line of defense against a rapidly approaching army. I was strong and skilled. But not strong and skilled enough to defeat a half-dozen supersoldiers as capable as Indigo used to be. We were fighting things well outside our weight class, and it was going to kill us someday.

“Especially with a manananggal on the loose,” I said, watching as Wanda’s eyes widened. Clearly, she knew what the monster was, or she’d at least heard of it.

“How do you know that’s what it is?”

“Taliyah, and her deputy caught on video what attacked me in the realty office parking lot,” I explained. “And Anthony told us what it was.”

“So, what is it?”

Okay, so maybe she didn’t know as much as I thought. “It’s a type of vampire crossbreed that feeds on energy after inflicting a wound on someone. It took almost everything I had to survive. Feeding on Lydia helped, since she had more than human reserves to help me heal.”

Poppy sidled up to my side, her eyes glistening with tears. She kept glancing up at the hospital, as though expecting to see Lydia come jogging out of the emergency bay’s double doors.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I was supposed to help her. But I got caught up by a doctor who wouldn’t stop talking. I was about to throw more Confusion Oil on him before the sprinklers went off.”

Rendering Poppy’s most potent weapon useless. Of course she’d gotten caught up in the hustle and bustle. Her potions would wash off if she tried to use them to find Lydia. She had to evacuate with everyone else or be noticed and likely arrested. The cops wouldn’t look too closely at the crowds. They’d be searching for any suspicious characters lingering after the fact.

“You can still help her, Poppy,” Wanda said, steering the weepy gypsy to a stop. “I can use one of the brews you packed to start a tracking spell. It’s a good spiritual anchor.”

“Put it on me.”

Both of them glanced up at me in surprise. I was surprised to hear the words coming out of my mouth, too.

“What?” Wanda asked.

“Olga and Betanya confirmed that Lydia and I have a bond. That should mean I can home in on her whereabouts faster and more accurately than you can. Anoint me, put me in the passenger seat of a car, and let’s find these sons of bitches. I’m not letting them take her without a fight.”

Poppy’s lips quirked in a small, tremulous smile. “A bond?”

“Yes, a bond,” I said impatiently, glaring at her. “Tease me about monogamy later. We have a gypsy to rescue now.”

Wanda bounced her keys once in her hand, smirking. “So we do. Get in the car, loverboy. Let’s find your lady and save her from the mean old vampire.”

My eyes narrowed. “I’m going to get you back for that.”

Wanda bared her teeth in a feral smile. “Oh, I’m looking forward to kicking your ass. I still owe you for that shitshow with Fifi a few years back.”

“Just as long as we save Lydia’s life,” I agreed. “Then we can duel as often as you like. Just don’t go crying to your vampire lover if you lose.”

“You’re on.”

***

Lydia

I woke up to someone grinding their heel into the back of my palm, cruelly digging a stiletto into the fragile bones as though considering snapping them in two. I couldn’t stop myself from bolting upright with a scream, trying to pull my hand away. The heel pressed harder, squashing my fingers against the carpeted floor. Something ground into my hand, and my stomach revolted; I barely turned my head in time to avoid splattering my clothes with vomit.

That, at least, succeeded in freeing my hand. The owner of the shoes didn’t appreciate vomit on the expensive footwear. When I could wipe the tears streaming from my eyes, I found a light layer of soot plastered to my skin, the aftereffect of a nearly complete demonic transformation. Someone had attempted to wipe it off my body with limited success and had completely removed the clothing I’d worn to the hospital. The scrubs they’d taken from the hospital hung off me, barely concealing the evidence of what I’d done. I wondered how they’d gotten me out of the hospital without anyone noticing… and promptly found the answer, hovering near the ceiling.

The foot that had pinned my hand to the floor like a struggling moth was attached to a long and scrumptious-looking leg. And just the leg. What should have been rounded hips leading to a dramatic curve of a waist stopped short, ending in a bloody stump. But worse than that was the thing gripping the ceiling tiles above. I vaguely recognized the venue as a nearly defunct community center. Another, grander place had been built across town, leaving this one for kids’ birthday parties and church groups handling baby showers and dinners after funerals. No one would find me here—not until it was too late. I doubted anyone would discover my body until it was ripe, drawing blowflies from the world outside.

The thing near the ceiling was worse. The creature that had called itself Andrea Reyes had shed bits of its skin so that whatever remained stretched tight against its frame. I had the impression of bloat near the stomach, with a nest of dangling entrails extruding from the remnants of a nice bodice. The original color was lost in a burst of blood. It seemed impossible that something so mutilated could be alive, but here we were. I was staring at a flying torso with its guts out.

I’d finally seen everything now.

“ You and me both ,” Indigo said, equally put out.

To my surprise, I actually remembered the name of this particular creature. It didn’t fit perfectly with any of the creature feature books I’d sold in my store, but the visual of hanging intestines was unmistakable.

“You’re a manananggal,” I said, my voice coming out as a rasp. My throat still burned from the violent tossing of my stomach.

Andrea’s face split into a wide grin. Too wide, in fact; her lips peeled back farther than they should have, revealing rows of sharp, needle-like teeth. In full monster form, she made a vampire’s bite look like a playful nip from a puppy. If her jaws locked onto my throat, I was a dead woman.

“The little bookworm actually decided to learn something useful before she died. I personally hoped you’d be a little slower. It’s always more fun to get the drop on a completely unsuspecting victim. Their screams are so satisfying.”

“Like Rodney?” I guessed.

I belatedly realized my aggression had been misplaced. Rodney was a bad ex. He was a terrible person in general and pathologically incapable of admitting it. That didn’t mean he deserved to be a meal for this sadistic creature.

“I’d originally planned to take your mother,” Andrea said pleasantly. “Take her in one bite one night and leave you to find what I left behind. But Murrain said I had to be more oblique. Your ex-husband is a vile little man, isn’t he?”

“Sure is,” I agreed, trying to scoot away from the legs that had parked themselves beneath her torso. I wanted to be able to run if she glued herself back together. “Is that why you tried to kill him? To get to me?”

Andrea shrugged one shoulder, managing to convey grace that this twisted monster shouldn’t possess. “Among other things. I knew I could manipulate you into situations more easily if you were distracted by that pathetic waste of skin. And it worked. I would have had you sooner if Vin could have done his job worth a damn.”

A movement in my periphery drew my gaze to the incubus in question. It was satisfying to see he hadn’t come away from the fight in the bathroom completely unscathed. Rings of yellow-brown bruising had formed beneath his eyes. Indigo had broken his nose when she’d thrown my skull against the planes of his face. He’d managed to feed on someone long enough to make the wound appear weeks old, but it was still something.

“You said I should be able to lure her with my pheromones,” Vin muttered. “You and your boss were both wrong on that count. If I’d known she was going to cause this much trouble, I would have bailed. You better double my pay. A romp with you isn’t enough, especially when you look like this.”

Andrea’s mouth twisted in distaste. He didn’t catch the longing glance downward or the flexing of her intestines, as though she was dying to wrap them around Vin’s throat. The man was either stupid or spectacularly arrogant to think he could dictate that she give him anything. He was lucky he was alive and still had a penis. If he knew the alternative, he’d take what he had and be grateful.

“You’ll get what Murrain has promised you,” Andrea said, her sweet tone completely at odds with the flickering flesh above his head. I kept expecting it to burst into a flurry of movement and come after one or both of us stuck on the ground.

“I’d better. Take what you want from her and go. I want to leave town before my cousin realizes she’s gone. He’s strangely protective of this one, but he won’t be so keen when I’ve put a few extra miles on her.”

I’d kill myself before I let him have me. There was only one demon in the Hollow that I wanted, and he was at a police station, reviewing footage of what had attacked him. I knew he’d come to the right conclusion eventually. I was just afraid it would be too late to do me any good.

Andrea’s legs marched away from me as she descended toward me. I barely had time to think, let alone move, and then she was on me, her weight settling like a smelly boulder on my chest. I flailed, getting nowhere. When I tried to push her off, I found only a slippery mass that oozed through my fingers. I couldn’t get a grip on anything.

I could only watch, wide-eyed, as Andrea’s mouth unhinged like a snake’s and a gray, jelly-like tongue plunged down, thrusting deep into my chest.