Broken Heart 06 Come Hell or High Water (19 page)

Two of the doors led to restrooms, one to a break room with empty vending machines and rusted lockers, and the last to an office with listing file cabinets and a black metal desk. It smelled even mustier here, the sense of abandonment so strong I wanted to leave. It was almost like stumbling into a forgotten cemetery.

Still, without Connor to stand with me, or at least tease me until I forgot to be scared, I hesitated on the second set of stairs.

Scrymgeour, however, had no problem bounding up the steps. He got to the top and barked.

"You are so bossy," I said as I climbed up to join him. I opened the door, and we went through, the fairy lights following us.

Scrymgeour went off exploring, his claws scoring the dusty red carpet. We were behind the oversized check-in counter that stretched the length of lobby. The lights revealed scattered papers, blank monitors, and boxes of card keys. I went in the direction of the hellhound, still feeling uneasy about this place.

The place was massive. The lobby led into a bar that still held its pretty display of dusty liquor bottles behind black marble countertops. Tables had been turned over, chairs broken. I didn't doubt the occasional person had broken in here to wreak havoc or do drugs or hide out, but it seemed the Knights Inn had been abandoned for so long, even the troublemakers had gotten bored with the novelty of it.

I found Scry digging in a turned-over trash can near the bank of elevators. The elevator doors were painted to look like wrought iron, the kind you might see in a castle's dungeons. I grinned. I imagined what this place must've been like when it was open; it had the kind of cheesy atmosphere that made people enjoy it.

Even though poking around the musty old place still made the hairs rise on the nape of my neck, I thought I was falling a little in love with it.

I heard a bang, and an, "Oh, shit!" I turned around and saw two tiny blond women dressed in red robes scuttling behind me. So much for my vampire senses. I'd been so busy nosing about the hotel, I hadn't heard them creep up. One held a long, thin, bejeweled object that might've been a staff except it was too short.

"You are such a fucking klutzoid, Drusilla," said the one holding the glittering pole. She swiped it at me.

I ducked and backed up. Scry rushed to my side and growled.

"Look at the puppy, Mita! Isn't she adorable! C'mere, puppy. C'mere!" Her empty gaze wandered to the lights bobbing around me. "What are those?"

"Who fucking cares!" The one called Mita took another ineffectual swipe at me and I backed away.

"What are you doing?" I asked. I was more annoyed than scared.

"I'm trying to hit you. Duh."

I zipped past her using vampire speed, stopping when I was in the bar, and whirling to face the crazy girls. They both stared at me with open-mouthed astonishment. Why were they wearing such weird clothes? The crushed-velvet robes were bloodred and covered them from neck to feet. They had to be sweating buckets.

Scry bounded past them and sat next to me. He barked, just once, to let them know who was boss.

"How the fuck did you do that?" asked Mita. "Did you fucking see that? Fucking A!"

"Dude." Druscilla nodded.

"You two are such twits!" The irritated female voice came from behind me. I didn't get a chance to turn around, because something heavy whacked me across the base of my skull.

I saw sparkles dance before my eyes, and then I fell straight into a pit of darkness.

When I woke up, I realized two things: One, I was on my side, bound to something cold and flat. Two, I faced someone else with tearful blue eyes. Her oval face and brown hair were familiar.

Ella.

"Are you okay?" she whispered. Her face was dirty, and tear tracks were evident in the grime. Her lips were crusted and chapped, probably from the way she was currently nibbling on her lower lip.

"I'm really getting tired of people smacking me around," I answered. "Where's my dog?"

"I d-didn't see a dog."

"Everything's gonna be okay," I said. I sounded more grim than reassuring. I could just imagine how much Larsa would enjoy my being trapped by two ditzy girls and whoever whacked me over the head. I felt like a freaking idiot. "What are we strapped down with?"

"Duct tape."

"Classy."

She offered a quivering smile.

"You're Ella, right?"

"How'd you know? Are you here to get me?" Then she blinked, and the hope in her gaze crumbled. "Oh. You didn't get captured 'cause of me, did you?"

"No, honey. Don't you worry, though. We're getting outta here."

"Probably not in the way you plan," said the same irritated female who'd bashed in my head.

She came around the table, or whatever the hell we were taped to (duct tape, really? Talk about your unimaginative abductor) and leaned over Ella to peer at me. She wore her dark hair in a choppy cut that was highlighted with purple streaks. Both of her ears were pierced all the way around. Silver skull earrings dangled from the bottoms of her lobes. Her eyes were kohled, and unfortunately, her gaze held the keen intelligence the two blondies lacked. Her robe was also crushed velvet, but it was black. The leader, then.

"Lilith will be pleased with a double sacrifice," she said.

"S-sacrifice?" echoed Ella.

"Aw. Now I've spoiled the surprise." She patted the girl's apple-blossom cheek. "My mistress needs blood."

"More like a lobotomy," I said.

"You shouldn't say such things about the goddess of the Underworld!" she hissed. "I'll kill you first, nonbeliever!" She bent closer, her robes nearly suffocating poor, sweet Ella. "I've already killed once." Her voice held the kind of relish that suggested supreme job satisfaction. I couldn't think about the victim she'd sliced open and bled out in Lilith's name, only that she wasn't going to do the same to Ella.

"Let us go," I said, keeping my gaze on hers. I added the glamour, lowered my voice. "Cut through the tape like a good little psychotic. Tell the others we're leaving and not to bother us."

Her pupils dilated; then her eyes went dreamy. "Yes," she said. "Of course."

She unsheathed a sharp silver dagger and used it to saw through the tape binding Ella.

"Penelope!" screeched one of the blondes. Mita, maybe. "What are you fucking doing?"

Yeah, definitely Mita.

"Letting them go."

"Are you nuts? We need them for the ritual!" She removed the knife from Penelope's hand and snapped her fingers in front of her face. "Fucking A, dude!"

Penelope blinked, looking at Mita as if she'd never seen her before; then she stared down at Ella's half-severed bonds. Her crafty gaze met mine.

"I know what you are," she said. "Lilith told me about the creatures who walk the night."

"Like your boyfriend?" I asked.

She yanked the knife from Mita's hand and jabbed it deeply into my side. I hissed as pain tore through me, but I pressed my lips together to keep from crying out. Crazy Penelope probably enjoyed it when she heard her victims scream. Ella stared at me with wide eyes. I tried to convey that everything was gonna be okay, but I probably wasn't all that convincing.

"You're a vampire," cried Penelope. "And sunrise is in an hour." She grinned at me, her gaze finally showing the edge of her insanity. "You're gonna fry, bitch."

"Aw. Your mother should be so proud," I said.

Penelope screeched and jabbed the knife into my side again. Agony ripped through me, but I clenched my teeth. I guessed Penelope had mommy issues on top of everything else.

"Quit hacking her up," said Mita. "She'll be fucking dead before we can invoke our queen."

She dragged Penelope away, but not before Miss Crazy sent me a look that said,
I can't wait to carve you like a Christmas ham.

Yeah, well, she had another think coming. I'd drain her dry before I let her throw me into the sunlight.

"You're b-brave." Ella's lower lip trembled.

"So are you," I said.

My words managed to stall her quivering lip, which she started chewing on again.

"Did it hurt when she stabbed you?"

"Oh, yeah." I grimaced. "But I heal fast."

Ella stared at me and kept gnawing her lip to bits. "Are you really a vampire?"

I'd already decided to glamour Ella. Why let her remember being abducted and talked about like a side of beef? It wouldn't hurt to be honest, since she wasn't going to remember the experience.

"Yeah," I said. "I'm a vampire."

Doubt seeped into her gaze. "I thought vampires were scary. And strong."

"We are." I sounded defensive, and for a second, she looked as though she pitied me. Then she just looked scared, and I realized I needed to get my ass in gear with the whole rescue operation.

It wasn't like they'd bound me in any magical way. Penelope and her cohorts were having a hushed convo near a table filled with food and drinks. I counted thirteen wandering souls. Twelve in red robes. Lucky thirteen. Nice. How much cheesier could this outfit get?

I could escape, but thirteen humans was a lot, even for one pissed-off vampire. And I couldn't be sure I could save Ella before the Lilith worshipers descended on me. My double wounds had begun to heal, but they still throbbed. I owed Penelope for her petty vengeance.

Phoebe!

Connor's shout reverberated in my mind and made me wince. I felt like an idiot for not remembering about the telepathy.

I'm here,
I sent out.
With Lilith's cult members.

What!?

Ella's here, too. We're somewhere in the hotel. The leader is a real nut job. And I don't know what happened to Scrymgeour.

He came to get me. Why didn't you use our link, lass?

I just woke up from another head bashing.

The "again?" remained unspoken.

Sunrise's in an hour. Use your magic so I can find ye.

Won't that alert the hunters?

I dinnae care! Use your magic!

His accent had gone syrup-thick even in his thoughts, and I flinched from the mind shouting.
All right! Sheesh!

"Do you have to go to the bathroom?" asked Ella.

"What?"

"You're making the same face my brother does when he's constipated."

I laughed, and she gave me a watery smile. It was harder to whip up demonfire with my hands bound. I was used to making the appropriate gestures to control the fire I invoked. Still, the ball of black flames appeared above us like a fiery beacon.

Got it, lass,
sent Connor.

"Oh, my God!" squealed one of the red robes.

"Lilith's here!"

Everyone turned to look at the pulsing demonfire. I let it float toward the group, and they scattered. I looked at Ella. Her gaze latched onto mine. She looked amazed. "You're like a magician."

"That's me, all right." I drew on my glamour and sent it into the girl. Her eyes went wide and then glazed over. "I want you to go to sleep, Ella. Sleep deeply; sleep well. When it's time to wake up, you will remember only that yesterday you missed your bus. You went to walk home, but you fell and hit your head."

Her eyes drifted closed, she took a shuddering breath, and then she was asleep. Safe. She wouldn't remember Penelope, or being taped to a table, or me.