Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) (22 page)

“Maybe whatever took the kids
and scrambled your brain left some sort of accidental connection. I called
Merrin’
s place
—”

I interrupted her. “In what,
Russian?”

“
Nope,
”
Choe said, pushing on
.
Her tone was calm but I felt the barest hint of worry
r
un through her, like she was scared I might ask more. “And
told her we’d be coming over. She noticed right away something was wrong and
once you were out, she got to work. My guess was right. You’re connected
through the demon to the kids.
So
Merrin was able to draw on
that connection and get a location. We’re headed there now.”

“By ourselves?” I demanded,
suddenly horrified. “We have to call someone else. We have to bring someone who
won’t pass out at the first enchanted bat that hits him in the face.”

“
Hey,
”
Mel
protested.

“Laurel and Hardy said they’d
be there when you need them, didn’t they?”
Chloe asked, ignoring Mel
’
s outrage.

“I wouldn’
t bet on it.
”

“
Let
’s just get to where the kids are and see what happens.”

“
I don
’t like that plan. What if what happens is more
enchanted bats?”

“Will you
please
let that
go?” Mel griped. I waved my hand dismissively. He let out a growl and I ignored
the tiny flutter that it kicked up in my belly.

“Look. I talked a lot with
Evadne about this stuff while you were out. You need to trust me here.”

Chloe was confident, which
was nothing new
,
and no matter how hard I
tried, I couldn’t overcome my knee-jerk reaction of bitterness over it. There
was no good reason for me to argue; there never was. When Chloe’s put her mind
to something, she’s never wrong
and no amount of jealousy
over her competence and intelligence is going to make a difference.

As I fought off the desire to
bicker with her, to demand we turn around and go back to Evadne for
clarification
, I
asked myself what it would
accomplish
.
The only answer I could come
up with was, nothing. Getting a solid promise from Evadne that everything would
be fine wouldn’t do anything except prolong the inevitable. Either we’d show up
and Laurel and Hardy would be there with bells on or Mel would get hit in the
face with another bat.

Smiling to myself at that
thought, I gave in. “Okay, let’s do it.”

***

We pulled up outside a
run-down motel in Tacoma, parking at the edge of the lot.

Chloe turned to Mel.
“I’m going to take a walk around the perimeter and make sure no one’s
hanging around. Keep an eye out
,
and for god’
s sake, don
’t hand anyone any bats this time.”

“What about me?” I asked.

“You get to tell Mel what
door to break down.”

“How am I supposed to do
that?”

Pity nudged against me and
Chloe tapped my temple. “You have but three skills and eating cake and napping
aren’t going to help here.”

With a wink, Chloe hopped out
of the car and headed toward the hotel. I watched her go, the entire plan she’d
laid out suddenly becoming clear.

“What the hell does she think
she’
s doing?
What if something’s out
there, waiting for her? What if she gets hurt?”

“She brought her guns.”

“This isn’t target practice!”
A dozen awful scenarios ran through my mind, not all of them involving Chloe
being the only one to get hurt. “What if she accidentally shoots a maid?”

“Come on, let’s go figure out
where these kids are.” Mel climbed out, not waiting for me to answer or
argue.

 
I
had
a spastic
little fit in the passenger’s seat, swearing and flailing before forcing myself
to remember what was at stake.
It wasn’t only the kids in
danger anymore. The kidnappers knew what we looked like and if Chloe was going
to throw herself into danger with us, I needed to get out and do my damn
e
dest to make sure she didn’t get knocked around like I
had.
I couldn’t just hide in the car; I had to
protect my best friend. And Mel, though I didn’t feel he needed it as much as
Chloe.

No matter how much I wanted
to find a bed and hide under it until this all blew over, I had to be brave and
do everything I could to make sure everyone made it out of this alive.

Being mature sucks.

 
Mel
caught the back of my jacket as I stormed past him,
determined steam coming out of my ears.

“
Be cool,
” he murmured
.

“
I hate you,
” I said. He laughed under his breath and jerked his
thumb at the first door we came to.

“Do your thing.”

My determination petered out,
leaving me staring at the scuffed and dirty door. Yes, I wanted to find these
kids and keep Chloe safe, but
courage
was harder to call up in the
moment.
Back in the car I hadn’t been seconds away from
possible doom. Now there was nothing stopping me from focusing my empathy on an
unseen hotel room that might contain a demon that had climbed into my head
twice before and scrambled my brain.

“If I faint, get me the hell
out of here.”

Mel just shrugged
noncommittally and I snarled, whacking him in the belly with the back of my
hand. He grinned and I got the feeling he was amping up the attitude for my
benefit. I actually appreciated it for once.

It was easier to be mad at
Mel than scared of the unknown
.

After a calming breath, I
lowered my gaze to the ground, concentrated on reaching outward with my sixth
sense. To my relief, there was no one inside. We moved on to the next room, and
the next, all the way down the line of the first floor. Most rooms were empty,
a few were occupied, none were suspicious.

Four rooms into the second
floor, though, I found what we were looking for: three sleeping people, likely
children, definitely enchanted and under
extreme
stress from the feel of it. The
kids
were alone, their emotions
clumped together like they were all sleeping practically on top of one another.
I used my keen powers of deduction to decide this was the room we wanted. And
Mel had said I was dumber than a dung beetle.

“This is it!” I cried, not quite
managing the whisper I was trying for. Mel tipped his head, listened to the
door for a second
,
and nodded.

“
Gotcha.
” Without hesitation
,
he took a step back, lifted his leg
,
and kicked in the motel door. I yelled wordlessly as it bounced off the
wall, rebound
ing
back toward him. He caught
it easily and I hopped back, shocked.

“
Mel!
”

Ignoring my outburst,
he
leaned in
,
looking
cautiously around the room
before leaning back to check the rooms on either side. The one to the left was
empty and a quick psychic poke into the one on the right revealed that whomever
was in there was no threat. I could tell from the soupy mess of pleasant
intoxication that unless I sent Mel inside to get shirtless and
sing “Hotel California
,” we weren
’t in any danger of being noticed.
 

For the first time since we’d
gotten wrapped up in this mess, we’
d gotten lucky.

“Stay out here for a second,”
Mel said quietly. “
I
’m going to check it out real
quick.”

“
Careful,
”
I
whispered back, watching him.
He was thorough, checking under the beds and in the narrow closet. He even
opened the cabinets under the sink at the back of the room and then went in to
check the bathroom. I took a look around the lot for Chloe, but couldn’t see
her. I hoped she was okay.

When Mel stepped back out and
nodded the all clear, I
went
inside,
feeling
along the wall for the light switch.
I
found it right as I felt a familiar sort of gooiness seep over my
limbs, latching on and making me let out a small whine. I flipped the light on
just before jerking to the side, twisting to
see
Blondie step around the corner and into the room.

“We meet again,” he said, his
eyes on me.

“
Crap!
” I squeaked, trying my best to back up as far as I
could.
Panic
was yelling at me to run and
hide in the empty cabinet under the sink but
my legs
were ignoring the orders. Blondie grinned, revealing
fangs that weren’t hidden by shadow this time. They were real and they were
deadly
.

Panic made way for terror and
its voice was louder, convincing my
legs
it
was time to
move.
I scrambled back maybe three
steps before my calves hit the bed and my ankle smashed against the metal
frame. Pain squeaked through my lips and Blondie laughed before rollin
g
his gaze past me to the back of the room.

“Mel, it’s been awhile
,
” he said, smugness scalding along my skin like
I
’d spilled a pan of hot oil down my front. I whimpered
and twitched as if I’d find escape if I just tried once more.

“
Dirk?
”
The shock in Mel’s voice
pulled my gaze toward him and hope started
to murmur
beneath the terror still gibbering in my mind.
Mel didn
’t look sure, but if this was in fact the
vampire
he
’d spoken fondly about at The
Bouncing Bunny, maybe we weren’t in trouble after all.

“In the flesh,”
Blondie said,
the smugness I’d felt before
boiling along my skin as it congealed into what I could only guess was envy. “
You
’ve been quite a pain in my ass this week.”

“Imagine how
we
feel.
”

I whipped around and found
Chloe crouched low at the edge of the doorway, a small gun aimed at Dirk’s
head, hiding as much of her body behind the doorjamb as she could. I
looked
back to the vampire and
flinched at the sizzle of annoyance that splashed out of him.

“What the hell, Dirk?” Mel
asked
.

“What the hell what?”
Dirk wasn
’
t watching Mel
;
he was staring at Chloe’
s gun
but the
envy still
seared my limbs, refusing to give way to worry or fear
.
My eyes darted twice to the weapon and I wondered
ho
w he was unbothered. Chloe’s my best friend and I
trust her more than nearly anyone, but if she’
d
aimed a gun my way and made that face, I would have at least been
concerned.

“What the hell, 'why am I not
a walking germ bag?'“
Dirk
continued, turning back to
Mel to give a small smile. The envy warped again, disdain spewing forth like a
burst water main. “I made a new friend. And here she is.”

Dirk didn’t gesture but I
felt a spike of
shock
from Chloe and looked over
just in time to see a girl close in on
her
like
a snake. Gun still in hand, Chloe reacted impressively
fast, her
shock
burning away in a flash
of anger as she was forced to block and deflect the girl’
s
attacks.

My hope that we weren’t in
trouble was gone, squashed to bits by the gibbering terror
.
Confusion wedged itself at the edge of my mind, too, mumbling small
questions
about
Chloe
and her impressive fighting moves. I knew she could
wrestle me to the ground before I raided her fridge for a chocolate-filled
vegan croissant but I’m not exactly Chun-Li.

This was a whole other level
of skill that I’d never seen outside of an action movie.