The Monsters in Your Neighborhood (12 page)

14

Alec should have wanted to scream at Linda, kind of like Natalie was now doing, her face turning strange shades of purple as she yelled in English, German, and some form of maybe Czech—he couldn’t tell because the dialect was both really wacky and really old.

He should have wanted to threaten Linda, to hate her. He didn’t. He looked at her, with her scales showing through her makeup and her eyes filled with the usual “Linda tears,” and he just felt . . .
sorry
for her. Being a monster was such a lonely existence. He could actually see how Hyde could manipulate a cat lady like Linda into believing she could be loved if she just did
enough
to prove herself worthy.

“Natalie,” he said, taking her hand and drawing her away.

“
Baldracca,
” she hissed over his shoulder at Linda.

“Was that . . . Italian?” he asked.

“Yeah, I ran out of curse words in all the other languages. Figured I’d start in on the Italian,” Natalie said, half panting from the exertion of her freak-out.

“Take a breath,” he suggested. “In fact, take about ten breaths. I know you’re angry.”

“Aren’t you?” she snapped, even though he knew her rage wasn’t directed toward him. It was more about fear, anyway.

He looked at Linda. She was full-on sobbing now into one of Pat’s handkerchiefs, leaving it covered with thick globs of makeup as her lizard face became more and more revealed. She was actually sort of . . . beautiful. Her scales were dark greens and pale greens, with highlights of pinks and blues. It was a shame she had to cover it all up. Maybe that’s what Hyde had honed in on.

“I
am
angry,” he admitted. “Angry at the Van Helsings for starting this war all over again when we’ve been able to be peaceful for so many years. And I’m angry at Hyde for betraying his kind and acting only on emotion and rage and revenge and whatever else drives his insanity.” He speared Linda with a look. “I also wish
you
hadn’t let him convince you to do the same.”

Linda wiped her eyes. “I wish I hadn’t, either, but what do you expect? None of you have ever liked me. You all think I’m an idiot. You’ve never understood that the weeping has to do with the fish thing as much as the emotion. Oh yeah, and FYI, fish
feel
things, no matter what anybody says. You make fun of my cats. You yell at me and threaten me. I’m like the bully target of the group. I feel like I’m in high school . . . at least what I know of high school from movies.”

Kai sat down and stared at Linda. “Okay, I’ll admit that’s all true. Maybe we’ve been bitchy to you. But we’re talking life and death here, Linda. So how exactly does that give you the right to plot against us like this?”

Linda looked like she was searching for some excuse, but finally she shook her head with a sigh. “It doesn’t. Look, I came home one night a couple months ago and there was Hyde, all decked out in a designer suit, leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette, waiting for me like some leading man out of a 1950s noir movie.”

“Weren’t you scared of him?” Natalie asked in disbelief. “After Jekyll died, we didn’t hear from him. We’d been spending meeting after meeting pondering if he was off on a thirty-state killing spree. This isn’t to be mean, but you’re kind of scared of everything, noir movies or not.”

Linda shrugged. “I
was
scared at first, I admit it. When I first came around the corner and saw him there waiting for me, I was pretty sure he was going to kill me right there. I was ready to call one of you to come save me, but he just started . . .
talking
to me. Talking. No one ever does that with me.”

“What was he talking to you about?” Alec pressed softly. Hearing the reasons behind what had happened probably wasn’t going to help, but he somehow wanted to know.

She shook her head. “He talked about losing Jekyll and all the feelings that swirled around in him. He apologized for threatening me back when the attacks happened. And he offered to take me to a nice dinner.”

“Wow, he totally played the tortured alpha-male card,” Natalie said with a shake of her head. “Like out of a book. He’s not bad, he just has
feelings
.”

“Case in point with the mocking, Natalie,” Linda said with a reptilian glare in her direction. “Besides, it may sound stupid to you, just like everything else that comes out of my mouth, but in that moment, he seemed genuine. We started seeing each other, and it was like I wasn’t all alone anymore.”

Alec dipped his head in a moment of shame. Their group was supposed to be the thing that kept them from being alone. Linda hadn’t ever felt a part of that. So maybe they’d all played a part in driving her into Hyde’s arms by being so hard on her all this time.

“But how did it go from hooking up with a bad boy to betraying the group?” Kai asked. “I can get wanting to change someone who was bad, but that’s the leap that seems like it would be too far.”

Linda folded her arms. “Well, it’s not like he said,
Hey, I want to hurt everyone, help me or else
the first night during dessert or something. I’m not nearly as stupid as you think. It was way more subtle than that. We talked about being outcasts and he sort of just let his desire for revenge slip in here and there.”

“When he did, what did
you
say?” Natalie pressed.

Linda shifted uncomfortably. “I thought we were just talking, really. And my feelings were hurt, so I allowed myself the fantasy of what he was describing.”

Alec nodded. “Of getting us all.”

“But not killing anyone,” Linda said. “I didn’t know how far he’d go, I swear. When he asked me to call Alec and get him to come down and meet me, I didn’t realize he was going to grab him and haul him off for surgery. But once we were in the back of a van, Alec out cold and Hyde getting ready to cut him, I panicked. I was in it, I was an accomplice, so I did what he said.” She shook her head. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Alec, I know it isn’t enough.”

“But why not tell us afterward?” Rehu asked. “You were sitting there with us all when Alec resurfaced that Sunday morning.”

She swallowed hard. “Hyde kept telling me that he was my only friend now. That if you ever knew what I’d done you’d hate me even more than you already did. That you’d destroy me. I was scared and confused and, trust me, I’ve felt super-shitty ever since.”

Alec held her gaze evenly. He’d always been pretty good at reading people. His instincts were honed and he
listened
to them when he thought what they were saying was important. There were subtle nuances to tone, even to scent, when a person was lying or not. Deep down, he knew Linda was telling the truth now. The whole truth, even though she was afraid of him, of Natalie, of all of them.

“I have not been with the group long,” Pat said, his deep, buttery voice a balm on the ragged nerves of everyone. “But it seems that Linda
has
come to us now. She did not have to do that.”

Drake moved toward her. Linda flinched, but he reached out a hand and touched her arm briefly. He smiled, revealing that one silly fang. “It was right of you to tell us.”

“Seriously?” Natalie burst out, her face a deep pink. “So we’re just all going to forgive her for nearly getting Alec killed and aiding and abetting a robbery of a book that can kill Kai and Rehu, too?”

“This from the woman who is
still
seriously thinking of giving the same book to the Van Helsings herself?” Drake asked, spearing her with a pointed gaze. “No matter what Alec has to say about it?”

Natalie stepped back. “What? No. Wait. I just—how did you know?”

Drake smiled as he reached up to tap his forehead. “What is it you call it? Monster powers, darling.”

Alec shut his eyes. All this bickering wasn’t going to help anyone. And it seemed like somehow he had ended up being the one who had to fix it.

“Okay, can everyone just calm down? Just chill.”

The rest of the monsters stopped arguing at his quiet statement and they all stared at him expectantly. Huh, so he was supposed to do
more
than shut them up? Great, he hadn’t taken his hero pill that morning or anything.

“Look,” he began, feeling exceedingly awkward in this, his Big Moment. “Who wanted who dead, who did what, why someone said something to someone about their cat . . . it’s all meaningless at this point. It’s the same shit we’ve been yapping about in therapy for, like, a decade or more. Right now we have to figure out what to do to get this chip out of my head so I don’t have the biggest freak-out in the history of monster shit, and to get that book back so that Hyde or the Van Helsings don’t use it to turn Kai and Rehu into little ugly piles of dust.”

“My dust pile would be fabulous, thank you,” Kai interjected with an arched brow. “But yeah, that’s what we have to do.”

“I think it’s pretty obvious what has to happen next,” Natalie said, folding her arms. A steely quality had hardened her jaw and her stare. Alec wasn’t sure he liked it. “We have to get that book from Hyde.”

“Yeah,” Rehu agreed. “Thanks, Miss Obvious.”

“And take it to the Van Helsings,” Natalie finished with a challenging glare for Rehu.

“Wait, the real book?” Alec asked.

Natalie tilted her head. “Do you think they’re so stupid as to fall for a fake book? Of course the real book.”

Kai’s mouth dropped open in shock. “I’m sorry, but what the fuck are you talking about?”

Natalie leaned closer. “I’m sorry, did I stutter? I said we need to take the book to the Van Helsings. Should I say it in Egyptian?”

Kai lunged, but Rehu caught her by the sleeve, hauling her back so they wouldn’t all get to be witness to the hottest girl monster fight ever. Alec might have been disappointed by that fact were he not just as shocked by Natalie’s suggestion as the mummies were.

“Natalie, we aren’t going to let the Van Helsings kill Kai and Rehu just to save me.” Alec shook his head. “I think I made that pretty clear, right?”

She looked at him with a frown. “I never said we were. But Rehu and Kai aren’t the only ones who need saving. You do, too. And we have to do this in a way that gets all of that done.”

“What do you propose?” Kai asked, her anger seemingly under control, at least for the moment.

Natalie let out a nervous sigh. “We get the book from Hyde. Then we take it to the Van Helsings and make sure they take Alec’s chip out. Once that’s done, we bolt with the book. Even if we have to kill every damn Van Helsing in that house to escape. Alec is safe. Rehu and Kai are safe. Oh, and I want to rescue that Creature they have under their control, too.”

“But he’ll still have a chip in him,” Alec said.

She shook her head. “I don’t care. We’ll get the controller and we’ll find a way to fix him or something. But I’m not leaving him there. He’s my . . . well, I guess he’s kind of my brother.”

“
That’s
your plan?” Igor said blankly, with a “you are crazy” stare piercing into her.

She nodded. “Well, that’s my general idea—the actual plan is more complex, of course. But what I need to know is are we going to work on this together, or are we all just working for ourselves?”

Alec held his breath, as everything in his world depended on what was happening right now. On what their answer would be, because he knew for a fact that he and Natalie couldn’t do this alone. Even though that girl would try. Because they apparently loved each other. That was a thing now. And it was weird, but he liked it. But it wouldn’t help them win.

Pat stood up. “I will help. In any way I can.”

“Great,” Natalie said with a grateful smile. “You know the sewer access points, right?”

“To just about everywhere.” Pat grinned.

“Then I think I have a place for you.”

“I’ll help.” Drake sighed. “I hate the Van Helsings, and I don’t mind all of you. So I suppose it’s an easy enough choice.”

“I’ll help,” Linda said with a swipe at her teary eyes. “I owe you.”

Igor grinned, stood, and bowed. “You know my nature is to serve. Of course I’ll help.”

Alec turned toward Rehu and Kai, standing together, both with their arms folded and frustratingly unreadable expressions. “What about you two?”

“I don’t like the idea of taking the book into the heart of Van Helsing country,” Kai said. “It’s a risk.”

Natalie blinked. “All of it is a risk. I’m just asking you to take it with us. Even if you decide it’s the last time and you’re done with all of us after, will you help us now? We need your brains, as well as the muscle power mummy strength affords.” She gritted her teeth. “Please.”

“Wow, ‘please’?” Rehu chuckled. “You must be desperate.”

The two mummies exchanged a look and then Kai shrugged. “Okay, okay. We’ll help.”

Natalie squealed in delight and rushed over to hug Kai. Alec laughed as Kai’s face twisted in confusion and a mild revulsion.

“Ew, stop. Personal space.”

“Sorry,” Natalie said as she backed away. “Sorry.”

Kai’s lips twitched with humor despite herself, humor she erased as she raised a finger and wagged it at Natalie. “But we’re going to need a lot more detail on your plan than ‘get book, take book to evildoers, save everyone.’ It’s a bit vague.”

“A bit?” Rehu repeated, incredulous as always.

Natalie nodded. “Of course. We’re going to have
tons
of detail. Right now.”

She scurried over to the rest of the group, asking for paper and pens and a bunch of other crap. But as Drake went to find everything she asked for, Alec couldn’t help but wonder: Natalie said she had a plan. But would she say anything . . . anything at all to get their help? Even if it was a pack of lies?