Page 86 of Grave Curse

“I’ve told you a dozen times, I don’t remember anything after that fucking mutant ate off half my face. He tried ripping my throat out and ultimately nicked my jugular. I nearly bled out.” Red Flag’s voice sounded like he gargled with gravel, thanks to the damage Pirahna did to his vocal cords.

But that damage was nothing compared to what had been done to his face.

A sigh sounded before movement came toward the open hospital room door. “Well, Mr. Vidal, I’m leaving my card here in case your memory returns. The person who did this to you is a well-known criminal by the name of Pirahna, and you’re not his only victim. He can’t be allowed to be out there with an unsuspecting populace, Mr. Vidal. He’s an animal, and his handler, Hades Colgrave, is even worse. Neither of them have anyplace left to go, so that makes them doubly dangerous. If you can think of anything that would help us capture them, you’d be doing this city a service.”

“I can’t tell you what I don’t remember, Detective. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to get my beauty sleep. As you can see, I now need all the beauty sleep I can get.”

I looked at the paperwork on a chart outside the door.

Thor Vidal.

Shit, that was hilarious.

The detective in the room walked out, and I smothered a sigh. Detective Justin Gomez wasn’t bad as LEOs went, though he had a bad habit of being more tenacious than a pit bull. Thankfully I’d detected a hint of resignation as he spoke to mycousin, and that was a great sign for us. For a week now we’d circled the wagons after Ginger’s unforgettable birthday party. Most of it had been smooth sailing, but explaining how we came across Red Flag in the parking lot with his face all fucked up had been dicey. Couldn’t have been helped, though. Ginger had insisted on getting him medical help even though the bastard had kidnapped her from her own party. My first instinct had been to just let him die. Fruit of the poisoned tree and all that.

But Ginger had sworn he’d be a stand-up guy and clearly, after hearing him with the detective, it was obvious Red Flag was ready to finally start making some good choices. He was on his very last chance with me, but I had hope the Colgrave brain would eventually start kicking in.

Detective Gomez paused in putting a beanie on when he saw me. The first week in November had turned bitterly cold, and though the first snowflake had yet to fall, the city of Chicago could feel it coming. Pretty soon the world would turn white and the bikes would be put up for another season.

“Mr. Colgrave, fancy meeting you here. I’ve been hoping to have a word with you—”

“Then you know the routine, Detective. Call my lawyer to make an appointment. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to catch my friend before he gets too deep into dreamy-land.” With a dismissive nod, I moved into the hospital room and firmly shut the door behind me.

“Just when I thought this day couldn’t get any worse,” Red muttered the moment he saw me, giving me the evil eye from his inclined hospital bed. “What the hell do you want?”

“Hello to you too, Cuz.” I pulled up a chair, plopped my ass down and made myself look at him without flinching. As much as I hated to admit it, Red Flag had once had all the Colgrave good looks going for him, from the light eyes to the squared-off jaw and chiseled Norse bone structure.

That was all gone now.

The right side of his face wasn’t too bad, but the left side—most of which was still covered in heavy white bandages—would have driven a lesser man mad. Bite marks punctured the ridge of his eyebrow. Stitches could be seen at his hairline and under his eye before disappearing under the bandages. A corner of his mouth drooped thanks to more stitches, and his bottom lip was bruised black because it had to be sewn back on after it was nearly ripped off.

I still couldn’t imagine the pain and horror of it.

His neck was also heavily bandaged. The doctors had told Ginger that it was a miracle he could talk at all, considering all the damage Pirahna had done trying to rip his throat out.

All of which could have been avoided if the dumb shit had just left Ginger alone. As far as I was concerned, Red getting attacked by Pirahna was just Karma doing her thing for daring to put Ginger in danger.

“So.” Leisurely I rested my ankle on my knee and relaxed back in the chair. “Thor Vidal. Really?”

“Fuck you and fuck that stupid name,” he said so immediately I had to laugh. Yep, my cousin was definitely on the mend. “I am so done with all of you pricks with god names. Makes you think you’re an actual god.”

“What are you bitching about? You’re one of us,Thor.”

“As soon as I’m strong enough, you and I are going to tangle assholes again, and this time you’re not going to be saved by some delivery boy screeching outfreaky-frack.”

“Don’t threaten me with a good time. And what the hell is a freaky-frack anyway?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” He seemed to deflate back against the pillow, his outburst clearly taking its toll. “What are you doing here besides raising my blood pressure?”

“Just taking care of some business before you head home.”

The evil eye returned, with interest. “Are you trying to kick me out of Chicago?”

“I’d be cool with you staying at least through the holidays, especially since my brother and sister want to meet you. But Ginger said you wanted to head back to Texas.” I waited for him to say something, and when he didn’t I leaned forward. “Did you fall asleep with your eyes open?”

“No, you weirdo, I just didn’t expect this conversation to go in that direction.”

“What direction?”

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