Page 88 of Kick the Candle (Knight Games 2)
"No." I fumbled forward. My hand trailed through the air in front of me. "Mishtake," I slurred.
But he wasn't looking at me. Instead, he was fending off Logan who was getting all, 'back off buddy' in Rick's face. I stumbled to the desk, unable to process what he was saying.
"We love each other. We have something," Logan said.
Who was he talking about? I didn't love Logan. Sure, I'd been attracted to him and we shared a deep friendship, but love? I needed to explain.
I turned toward Rick but he was gone. Logan was on his ass on the floor and the door to the office was hanging off its hinges. I stumbled back out into the crowd, calling for Rick.
"Top of the evening to ya," the shy redheaded guy said to me, blocking my path. "Hope you're enjoying the little something extra in your drink." He grinned wickedly. I noticed he had a number of gold teeth. He leaned in closer. "Nobody steals a leprechaun's seat at the bar. Not even you, Hecate. See you soon." He spit on my shoes, and blended away into the blob of colors I recognized as the crowd.
See you soon? Not if I saw him first. I swam toward the door, hoping I could catch up with Rick. How long did it take me? I have no idea. Time was doing weird things just as the walls were buckling in on me. Somehow, I spilled out into the parking lot, thankful for the deep breath of cold air that filled my lungs.
A broad fist connected with the side of my face. OW! I tried to retaliate but my arms wouldn't work. BAM! A foot slammed into my ribs. Then the concrete bent up to give me a kiss. Oh, how sweet. Ouch, my head. That's all right, I decided. I could sleep right here on the pavement.
Rude Awakening
Ch-ch-ch-chatter-chat-chat
Something was clanking together. Oh, my teeth. Maybe that's why my jaw ached. I tried to slide it back and forth and it cracked painfully. I pressed my lips together. What the hell was going on? I was shivering too. And one side of my head hurt like a bitch. Actually, my whole body ached, and my wrists were stuck. I fluttered my eyes open. What the fuck?
I was not at home, and I was not at Valentine's. The room was dark, but I could make out stone walls supported by thick wooden beams. There were implements on racks mounted to the walls: canes, whips, clamps, and sharp objects that glinted ominously in the light of the single candle that burned on a small table at the center of the room. Either I was in someone's red room of pain, or this was an actual dungeon.
I took a moment to survey myself. The reason my teeth were chattering was I'd been stripped down to the white silk and lace slip I'd been wearing under my dress. Even my shoes were gone, my feet numb from the icy cold stone under them. The ache in my back and wrists was due to the latter being bound above my head to the ceiling. When I tried to tilt my head back to get a better look, I groaned.
"She wakes." The ginger from the bar appeared in front of me, his gold-toothed smile glinting wickedly. An evil leprechaun. Who knew? And to think, I'd felt guilty for stealing his barstool.
"Thank you, Naill," a woman's voice, deep but sensual, crooned to my left." She stepped into my peripheral vision. The way my head hung, I saw her tall-booted leg first, peeking out from the slit in her dress, followed by a long waist. "At last we meet Hecate, or should I call you Grateful?" Red lips pulled back from pearly white fangs.
"Hecate is fine," I said through the pain in my jaw. "I can think of some things I'd like to call you."
"Anna. Perhaps you've heard of me." She stepped closer, as if she were inspecting my face.
I looked up into her oversized green eyes and searched my memory for the name Anna. My conversation with Gary popped into my head. "Bathory?"
"The one and only." She pushed her bouncy brown curls off her shoulder and turned to pace away from me. Bathory definitely had the Jessica Rabbit thing going on below the neck. Her black dress clung like a second skin, a leather corset boosting her major assets shamelessly.
"What do you want?" I managed.
"I want the book," she snapped. "Tell me where it is, and I will let this incarnation of you live." She closed in. The scent of blood wafted over me. Whether it was my blood or the stench of her breath, I wasn't sure.
"I don't know where it is." At least this I could be honest about. If she had any powers of observation at all, she'd have to believe me.
"Hmm." She paced again, the clack of her heels creating an ominous rhythm on the stone floor.
Or maybe it was the cold that was ominous, or the fact that the warm, wet drip making its way down my cheek seemed to be coming from a painful spot on my head. And one of my eyes was hard to keep open. Yeah, now that the adrenaline was starting to wear off, I was a mess. I dangled from my bindings like a carrion treat for my vampire captor. Where was Poe? Shit, where was Rick? The events of the night came rushing back to me, and instantly the pain of my physical situation was compounded by an emotional pain that weighed down my chest.
Bathory rounded on me with a piranha smile, all teeth and a promise that her bite was worse than her bark. "I was there the day you burned at the stake. Had I known the book in Monk's arms had the power it did, I would have taken it then. As it was, when my next meal collapsed, twitching on the ground, I stepped right over my salvation and moved on to the next town. But you hear a lot as a vampire. Men talk and demons share their secrets in the night. Recently, I've learned what the book can do. I want it. And one of the last people to see it is back from the dead-you."
"I don't know where it is," I mumbled again. My right eye was officially swollen shut.
The cackle that escaped her lips made new goosebumps play leapfrog over my skin. "Perhaps Indiana can make you talk." She lifted a five foot bullwhip from somewhere I couldn't see and used both hands to make the leather snap in front of my good eye. "Have you met Indiana? I named her after Indiana Jones. Harrison Ford was a master with a whip."
Baring her teeth, she circled the whip above her head and brought the tail down across my chest. I screamed as it bit into my flesh.
"Where is the book?" she growled.
"I don't know!"
