Page 28 of The Bloody Ruin Asylum & Taproom (Sam Quinn #7)

Twenty-Two

He Had It Comin’

Asshole descends the stairs and turns down a narrow corridor, walking through a section of the basement I haven’t seen. There are no rooms off the corridor, just a weak lantern lighting the way.

When he finally turns a corner and emerges, I see the back of the Gray Dress sitting at the table near the tub room. He’s crossed the entire basement and is on the women’s side of the asylum now.

No, no, no. I don’t want to be in his head, seeing through his eyes. I know what he does to women. My stomach twists. Please. I can’t.

He stops at Aliz’s door and knocks three times.

An attendant opens the door a few inches, one eye looking out.

They speak and then the attendant inside opens the door, allowing Asshole to enter.

The attendant walks him to the small observation table.

He goes through the papers and Asshole nods, waving the other away. He’s got it.

When the other attendant leaves, Asshole prowls around the room. He stops at the cabinet and opens the doors. Picking up a long metal rod with spikes at the end, he smacks it into the palm of his other hand and approaches the cage.

Aliz is watching him with wary eyes. She’s curled up, making herself as small as possible.

He says something and jabs with the stick, but she rolls away from him, out of reach. He moves to the other side, jabbing and missing her. She’s fast, popping up. Even standing awkwardly, trying to cover her nakedness with her hands, she’s faster than he is.

He feints left and then runs right, stabbing through the bars, but Aliz anticipates his move and this time, instead of moving away from the sharp spikes, she moves in and rips the rod from Asshole’s hand.

Growling, she spins, sending the spikes back through the bars like a javelin. Her aim is true. The spikes go through his left eye into his brain, dropping him on the spot.

Head pounding, I opened my eyes, still sitting on the floor of the kitchen. “Good job, Aliz,” I whispered as I stood shakily and collected my things.

Returning to my room was thankfully uneventful. Two vamps and a Renfield saw me walk by, but they all pretended not to notice me, which was fine and dandy by me.

After eating the sandwich and one of the candy bars, I did the math to figure out what time it was in San Francisco. Knowing Owen should be at work, I called.

The line rang twice and then I heard Owen’s voice. “Sam! We were wondering when you were going to check in.”

My nerves settled just hearing him. “I should have made this a video call so I could see all of you.” Dang it.

“We still can,” he said, and the line went dead.

A moment later, my phone rang. When I swiped, Owen was there, standing behind the bar. “That’s better,” he said. “Where are you? The place looks fancy.”

I glanced around our room. “It is, actually. You know how vampires love their antiques, marble, and crystal chandeliers.” I rolled my eyes. “How is it there?”

“Good.” He turned the phone around and did a sweep of The Slaughtered Lamb, my bookstore and bar. “Everybody wave at Sam,” Owen said.

People turned to the phone, smiling and waving.

I missed them all so much. This trip was rough.

So much of what I was dealing with in the now—and especially in the past—was disturbing, if not downright horrific.

It was good to remember there was still light and life in the world, still wonderful friends I loved very much.

I waved back, beaming like a loon. “I miss you guys!”

When Owen’s sweep made it to the end of the bar, I saw Fergus standing up, his paws on the edge, with Dave leaning against the wall behind him. Fergus’ mouth hung open in a doggy grin before he barked happily.

“How much longer are you going to be?” Dave asked.

Fergus came around the bar and leapt up on Owen, almost knocking him down, in an attempt to get closer to the phone.

“Hi, buddy! I miss you too. I hope you’re having fun with Alice and Fyr.” I so wished he was here on the couch with me. The asylum ghosts wouldn’t be nearly so upsetting if he were sprawled across my lap.

“Alec’s the official dogsitter now. They switched off, so he was at our house last night. Since Fergus likes being in the bar—and Alec was visiting his grandmother today—I have him with me.”

“I hope he’s being a good boy,” I said.

Owen laughed. “That tail of his is no joke. He took out a very old vase, but Alec was there to catch it before it smashed on the floor. We’ve already learned not to leave drinks on coffee tables or he’ll sweep them off when he walks by.”

My heart swelled. I wanted to be there. “Sounds about right. Sorry, Dave, I didn’t answer your question. We should be home in a few days. There’s just some final stuff Clive is dealing with.”

“Good,” I heard him grumble. “There are cookies for you in the freezer.”

“Score!” As if I needed another reason to long for home. “Any problems I should know about?”

“Not a problem,” Owen said, the camera back on him. “Since it’s summer, Meri wanted more hours, and I gave them to her. You need to see the new display she’s made.” He started toward the bookstore and then stopped. “Never mind. I’ll let her show you when you get back.”

The camera bounced as he walked into the kitchen. “We got another order of books.” He went into the storage room and flipped the camera around. “Eight boxes. I haven’t touched them, as I know you love processing them. I just wanted you to know that they arrived.”

I sighed. “I wish I was there with you guys.”

Owen’s brow furrowed and he moved across the kitchen to stand beside Dave. “Is something going on?” He lowered his voice, so none of the sensitive ears in the bar could hear. “You’ve got shadows under your eyes. Do you need help?”

“No. It’s okay.” I glanced around, feeling the ghosts pressing in on me again. MEGY! “This place is crawling with the strongest ghosts I’ve ever encountered.”

Dave face was on the screen. “Can they hurt you?”

I thought about the face-gnawing ghost. “Not really. I can feel them and it’s uncomfortable, but they can’t really hurt me, not physically.

I keep getting dragged into horrible memories of the abuses they endured, though, which is no picnic.

Of course, it was far worse for them. I’ve also pissed off the local pack. ”

I shrugged. “Nothing I can do about it, though. I was just trying to help, but now I’m the public face of the bloodsuckers and they have to hate someone, so… It’s fine. We’re almost out of here.”

“Sam,” Dave said, “you know I can be anywhere in the world. If you need me, you call me.”

My throat tightened and I nodded. We weren’t where we used to be in our friendship, not since I’d learned some hard truths about my mother’s death, but I knew he was doing what he could to look after me, whether I wanted him to or not. “I know. Thank you.”

He handed the phone back to Owen and resumed cooking. Owen gave me a concerned look but held his tongue, heading back to the bar.

“Okay, talk to Fergus one more time and then I’ll let you go,” Owen said.

He turned the phone and there was my handsome Irish Wolfhound, sitting like a good boy, eyes shining as he stared at me and whined.

“I know, little man. Not too much longer. I’ll be home soon, and we’ll go for a run on the beach.”

He jumped up and I recognized my mistake. He tore back and forth, from Owen to the stairs. I’d used the R-word and now he wanted to run.

“Now you’ve gone and done it,” Owen said. “I’ll call Alec. His lunch with Benvair should be done by now. He can run here and then run Fergus back with him.”

“Sorry and thank you, Owen. For everything,” I said.

“No problem. Alec’s probably looking for an exit strategy about now anyway.

Take care of yourself and let us know if we need to mount a rescue mission.

” The picture bobbled, as he had to get Fergus under control.

The last thing we wanted was Fergus accidentally knocking over one of the elderly wicches in his enthusiasm.

The call ended and I sat staring at the black screen.

I flinched when the bedroom door opened. Beloved stormy gray eyes had me relaxing a moment later. “Did you find Sebastian?”

“I did.” He reached for my hand and pulled me up into a hug. “I’ve missed hearing you laugh.”

Head in the crook of his neck, I breathed in his scent. “You heard me?”

“Given my kind’s sensitive hearing and desire not to be overheard, we speak in hushed tones, so, yes, I heard you down the hall. It made me happy and wish I hadn’t been so selfish to bring you here with me.”

Holding me close, he kissed my ear. “You could be home with Fergus and your friends, unpacking new books.”

I warmed at the thought. “I do love all those things, but I love you more.” I squeezed him hard. “And if I wasn’t here, Aliz wouldn’t have been found and returned to her family.”

“Starting a war with the wolves,” he added.

I ignored him. “And you never would have become friends with Vlad.”

“I don’t believe friend is the word you’re looking for.”

“Sure it is.” I leaned back to run my finger down his chiseled jaw. “You like and trust him. Don’t pretend you don’t.”

Tilting his head, he caught my finger between his teeth, licking the tip. Letting it drop, he swooped in to kiss me. Clive’s kisses were potent things.

Head spinning, I finally surfaced and found myself on the bed. “How’d I get over here?”

“You really should be more aware of your surroundings, darling,” he chided as he pulled my top over my head, my bra being flung after it.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I thought that would be obvious,” he said, nuzzling my throat.

“No. I mean, I thought you had vampy stuff you had to do tonight?”

His fangs slid into my neck as he drew in my blood, my body throbbing in time with each pull. I supposed it didn’t get more vampy than that. I was going up in flames and couldn’t think past Clive. Only Clive.

His hand dragged across my stomach and then slid down between my legs. When had I lost my pants? His clever fingers teased and swirled as I squirmed on the sheets.

Clive, now, please.

He took one last swallow as his fingers sent me over the edge and I was floating on waves of pleasure. I was only vaguely aware he was moving and then his mouth was on me everywhere, kissing and suckling, as he moved down my body.

When his tongue replaced his fingers, I was shooting up and over again, exhausted, energized, and blissed out.

He moved up my body, grabbed my hips, lifted, and then plunged into me. I lost my breath again. Straining, I wrapped my legs around him, meeting him stroke for stroke. The pressure built until my mind blanked and my body exploded.

Flying. This time, Clive was right there with me.

Vibrating, skin oversensitized, I ran my hands up and down his back as he slid down my body, resting his head on my breast.

While I was getting my breath back, I told him, It’s amazing how quickly I got used to having you all to myself when we left the nocturne.

I ran my fingers through his hair, scratching his scalp.

Coming here meant losing you to vampy meetings again for most of the night—which is fine.

You need to do what interests and fulfills you—but it’s awfully nice to have you all to myself, even for a little while.

He kissed the side of my breast and then rose, resting on his elbows, so he could see my face.

Which makes this harder to ask. Would you mind terribly if we stayed a little longer?

You’re right. Something rotten is festering in the Guild.

We could leave and let someone else deal with it, but who?

And how long before we have more coming after us?

He kissed me again. There’s something wrong with Sebastian.

We were never close, but I’ve met with him on multiple occasions over the centuries.

I tried peppering a few comments, a couple of memories, into our conversation, looking for recognition.

It wasn’t there. If that really is Sebastian, he’s been altered in some way.

Are they connected? I thought of the nightmares, the ghosts, vampires, and Renfields.

This place is filled with the strongest ghosts I’ve ever encountered.

The asylum memories I’ve relived have been horrendous.

The cruelty is unreal, and yet not. I’ve read about nineteenth century mental asylums and, yes, a lot of what’s happened tracks with those accounts, but a hidden werewolf?

That slow heartbeat you and Vlad hear? I’ve been on edge ever since you guys told me that.

Is another supernatural creature, like the wolf, imprisoned here?

Clive rubbed his cheek against my own. We’ll find out.

Is it this place? Is it the building that’s cursed and therefore cursing all who enter? I asked.

I rather hope not, but you’re right. Something’s going on and we need to figure out what it is.