The Werevamp Diaries: Moon Beam Dream (The Lynlee Lincoln Series Book 5) (8 page)

“Hey,” she said in a low, breathless voice when Lynlee answered. “How are you feeling?”

“Oh for goodness sakes... seriously, if one more person asks me that stupid question, I’m going to go postal.  I’m fine.  I’m as fine today as I was yesterday.”

“Would you stop that?” Finding what she was searching for, she popped a little pill from the bottle and coaxed Red to open her mouth so she could place it under her tongue. “Are you up for some action?”

There was shuffling on the phone, and she imagined Lynlee was jumping up out of bed. “Are you kidding?  I would kill for some action.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.  Although Beck’s probably going to kill me for involving you.”

“Forget about Beck.  What are we doing?”

Rhia shifted her phone between her neck and shoulder while she started looking for some clothing for Red.  The woman wasn’t naked, but with as sick as she was, she needed more than her thin prison garb.  She found a thick sweater and a long coat, then worked to get Red’s limp arms into the holes of the sweater first and then the other.

“Where... where are we going?” the woman asked, voice hoarse.

“Holy crap!” Lynlee cried out. “Prison break.  Yes!” Rhiannon could just about imagine her pulling her fist to her waist in triumph. “I knew it was a good idea.  What do you need me to do?”

“I dropped my amulet in the area Prieto said magic can get through.  You’ll need to orb there.  It’s a long winding way to get to this cell, but I’ll text you the directions.  I sent Prieto to get some supplies, so hopefully that will give me time to get Red out of here so that we can meet up with you.”

“On it.  Be right there.”

They hung up, and Rhia quickly tapped out a message with the turns Lynlee should make to find them before she pulled Red up and tucked some blankets around her.

“I don’t think I can do this.” The phoenix started hacking again, and Rhiannon quickly grabbed a washcloth to hold over her mouth to catch the bloody mucous.

“I’ll help you.  I’m a werevamp, and I’m strong enough to practically carry you down the hall.  But you’ve got to try to stay quiet.  I’ve never seen a guard in here, just Prieto, so I’m not sure how much trouble this is going to be.”

“There are poltergeists.  If they catch us, they’ll sound the alarm.  And then all hell will break loose. Literally.”

The way she said it told Rhiannon this wouldn’t be her first attempt to get out of this place.  After just a few steps towards the door, Red nearly collapsed.  When she looked at the woman, she read regret in her sickly expression, but they didn’t have time for apologies.  Instead Rhiannon reached down and hauled the frail red-head up and over her shoulder like a sack of potatoes.  Red made a mewling sound of pain, but otherwise just wrapped her arms around Rhia’s waist and held on. 

Rhiannon hadn’t ever encountered a poltergeist.  As she hurried along the granite halls, she saw a little flash of blue light flicker to her right.  It looked almost like a flame burning beneath the stone.  The strangest thing was, that it seemed to be following them.

Suddenly a cacophony of sounds erupted all around them.  Banging and moaning and thundering shook the walls, causing little pebbles of stone to begin raining down on them.

“They’re here...” Red murmured, and whether she was intending to be funny or not, Rhiannon couldn’t help the anxious laugh that welled up in her.  But with all of the noise she figured neither Red nor the poltergeists could hear her.

“What the hell?”  Someone cried out, and as they rounded a corner there was Lynlee, her hands on her ears and a pretty pissed-off expression on her face.  “What did you do?”

“I think I tripped the alarm.  C’mon, let’s go.”

They started running for the alcove. Even though Rhiannon was carrying an entire extra person, Lynlee still trailed behind.  She worried she’d made a mistake bringing her friend in on this, but there was no time for second-guessing now, because the sound of pounding steps echoed from down the corridor. 

“Here,” she said, stopping and putting Red down on wobbly feet. “Lynlee, help her.  I’ll distract them.”

“Distract who?”

They both stared down into the darkness where growling and barking were getting closer. “How the hell would I know who?  Whoever
that
is.” She shoved the sickly woman into Lynlee’s arms and pushed them forward. 

Her instincts were kicking into gear, the wolf within her so intent on letting loose she didn’t even take the time to remove her clothes before starting the shift.  Leaving a trail of shredded shirt and jeans behind her, she followed close behind Lynlee as her bones and muscle contorted her into a giant light brown wolf.

She kept her ears cocked so that she could hone in on the creatures approaching, straining to differentiate between them and the continual racket of the poltergeists.  Just as they made the last turn to get to the alcove, she pivoted and came face-to-face with two enormous hellhounds.

“Holy crap,” Lynlee screeched from behind her.  She couldn’t see her friend, but she hoped to hell the woman was kicking it into gear so they could get the hell out of there. 

The hellhounds were growling and panting, red and black smoke emitting from their nostrils as they pawed the ground in front of her.  Rhiannon bowed up her back, attempting to make herself look larger.  It was a pitiful trick considering the demonic dogs were at least twice her size.

“We’re almost there, Rhiannon.  Get your ass over here and don’t do anything stupid,” her friend called out to her from down the corridor.

Too late
, she said in her mind.  The dogs paced in front of her, taking turns advancing and sniffing in her direction.  She backed up slowly, raising the lip of her snout and snarling at them.  One of them got a little too close, and she swiped with a clawed paw at him.  She wasn’t sure, but she thought he might have smiled a little.

And that was when she started to get pissed.  Her blood pounded red hot in her veins, and instead of backing up, she bounded at the one closest to her, the one with the grin.  She aimed her razor-sharp claws at his face and lashed him straight across the eye.  The hound issued a puppy-like howl and rolled back, rubbing his bleeding face.

Serves you right.  You’re nothing but a big bully.
  They might be bigger, but she was faster.  She dodged before the bully’s friend could take a chunk out of her thigh, but his mouth got close enough she could feel the burn of his breath on her.  She leaped on agile paws, catapulting off the wall so that the massive hellhounds couldn’t even follow her with their eyes.  The dogs bumped into each other as they tried to get to her, and she used their confused delay to run full-tilt towards Lynlee and Red, sliding into the alcove.

The hounds recovered just as the three women were encompassed in glittering colors then disappeared.

T
he second their bodies orbed into Lynlee’s grotto, Red issued a loud whimper and collapsed.  Since Rhiannon was still in wolf form, there was no way for her to catch the woman before she hit the floor with what must have been a painful thud. 

“Wow, I thought I looked bad after my demon encounter.  This chick is death warmed over.”

And that wasn’t a joke.  Sweat was pouring from Red’s brow, the rivulets tinged pink with blood.  Her skin was so pale as to be transparent, her lips tight bluish lines.  Even though she perspired, the woman was racked with the sort of chills that must have rattled her teeth.

It took a few seconds for Rhiannon to morph back into her human form.  Even if her clothes hadn’t been destroyed when she shifted, what remained of them were back in the prison catacombs.  So there she stood naked as a jaybird, though she was so concerned for Red that she barely even noticed.

That was until Prieto arrived, appearing within a big puff of purple smoke.

“Geez, Louise!  Not again!” she cried out, using her hands to try to cover the important parts. 

The fallen angel immediately turned around, raising a hand to cover his eyes.  “I didn’t see anything this time either.”

“You’re lying!”

Lynlee gently pulled one of the blankets from under Red and wrapped it around Rhiannon’s body. “Angels don’t lie,” she whispered to her friend.

As soon as her nakedness was covered, Rhiannon stepped in front of Red, her shoulders back and her body prepared to shift again if necessary to protect her patient. “You’re not taking her back, Prieto.”

He turned around to face them, and when she saw the expression on his face she immediately knew that taking her back wasn’t on the table.  His eyes glistened with concern, the movement at his temples clear evidence that he was gritting his teeth.

Red moaned behind her, and when the agonized sound reverberated off the cavern walls, Prieto flinched as if he too felt the woman’s pain. 

Rhiannon turned and knelt beside her, wiping the wet from Red’s brow in a sign of comfort. “I’m sorry, I didn’t bring my bag and my meds with me.  I thought... well, I thought when I got here you’d go ahead and pass on and there would be no more pain.”

Red swallowed, tongue darting out to try to wet her parched lips so she could speak. “It’s okay.  Thank you.  There aren’t many people who would have done that.” She stopped to cough, though her energy was clearly in such short supply that she could barely even complete that action.  Panting for breath, she reached out a hand and grasped Rhia’s arm, her skin cold and clammy. “I’ll repay you one day.  I promise.”

“Red?”

It was Prieto, the sound of his voice almost foreign.  For all his cold and caustic tone on most days, now he seemed almost broken.  Clasping her blanket at her neck in one hand and her waist in the other, Rhiannon stood and stepped back. 

Immediately he dropped to his knees beside the phoenix, and after just a moment’s hesitation, he pulled her close so that her head was against his chest.  Lynlee leaned in, clearly intent upon eavesdropping, but Rhia crooked her hand around her friend’s elbow and tugged her back.

“You’re no fun,” Lynlee whispered with a frown. 

Rolling her eyes in disdain, Rhiannon held the covers around herself and waited, watching closely as the couple spoke words to one another.  A tear slipped down Red’s cheek, and she wondered if it were the physical pain or some emotional pain.  How had the hearts of the prisoner and his captive somehow become intertwined? 

Suddenly Red drew a gasping breath, tilted her head back and closed her eyes.  The edges of her skin began to glow orange, a vapor of black coiling up from her mouth and eyes and nose.  Prieto released her, falling back onto his backside as the woman levitated, her arms thrust down so that her chest rose higher than the rest of her form.  She opened her mouth, and the screeching sound of a bird filled the cave.

And then her entire body collapsed in on itself until it drifted to the floor, nothing more than snow white ash.

Lynlee rushed forward, standing over the pile with a quizzical look on her face. “Is that it?”

“No.” Standing, Prieto spoke in a gritty tone. “That’s not it.” He put out one arm and used it to sweep her back just as the pile of dust burst up to the ceiling.  From the fine powder formed a magnificent flaming bird of red and gold.

Just like that, Red was reborn.  She unfurled her wings and exited the cave so fast that all Rhiannon could see was a blur of fire trailing after her.

“Are you going to go after her?” Rhia asked.

Prieto’s chest rose and fell with a long sigh.  “I must.  This is my responsibility.”

Lynlee frowned at the angel.  “We’re the ones who broke her out of prison.”

He crooked a long black eyebrow at her. “Yes, you are.”

“Crap.” Rhiannon stomped her foot as she moved to stand beside her friend. “You let us do it.  You set me up and then you let me make Lynlee an accessory.”

He shrugged. “I didn’t set you up.  I hoped you could find a way to treat her and at least stop the suffering of the curse.  But when you weren’t able to, I knew the only way was to allow you to help her out so that she could find her own release.  But it doesn’t change what she is.  It doesn’t change the wrongs she’s committed.  She must pay for her crimes.”

Lynlee was still staring at him, a funny expression on her face. “I’m not really feeling that pull I used to feel around you.”

Prieto’s lips stretched into a line, but he didn’t respond.  Rhiannon could pretty much figure out what that meant.  His attention and affections were focused on someone new now and without his attraction to Lynlee, his angel powers weren’t an issue for her.  Beck would be happy to hear that... that was, if he got over how pissed he would be about their prison break escapade.

“How ya’ feelin?” she asked her friend.

Lynlee opened her mouth, and Rhia knew good and well the witch was about to start fussing. Then she snapped her jaw closed, and her shoulders fell a little. “I’m actually pretty tired.  But I’m not sorry you called me, okay?”

Rhiannon nodded, then turned to Prieto. “I think she’s had enough excitement for tonight.  You mind delivering me back to my place?”  

“Wait.  I have to know something.” Lynlee put her hand up, then leaned in so that only Rhiannon could hear her. “How many times has Prieto seen you naked?”

F
rom the second she arrived back home, Rhiannon had the sense something was off.  She sniffed the air, studying the dark apartment with intense black eyes.  Prieto didn’t seem interested in staying, which was okay with her.  She was, after all, still naked as the day she was born.  She could just about imagine how Sandy would take that, so she hoped she could slip into something before her boyfriend woke up.

But just two steps down the hall, her hackles immediately went up.  She sucked a quick pinch of air into her nose again and recognized the scent.  Dropping her blanket, she raced to the bedroom and found it empty, no sign of either Sandy or Remy.  Worse, the dresser and the baby’s bed were both overturned, the room in complete disarray.  When she turned to head down the hall, she heard the flush of the toilet from the bathroom behind her and whipped around quickly to see a tall, broad-shouldered man step out, adjusting the button on his jeans.