Page 10 of Widow

“Did he send you a very vague text message too?” Kai finally slipped his gun away into the back waistband of his pants.

I hated guns with a passion. They caused so much damage and left lives shattered.

“All it said was to get here quick, because he had something to show us.”

“They seem to be behaving themselves now. But you should’ve seen them. There were hundreds of spiders. They ate that guy in less than a minute. Everything. But she seems human.”

The other man’s eyes narrowed, and before I could think twice, I grabbed the nearest container and flung it at them. It wasn't the carafe of liquid, but shrimp.

Since the angry one had stepped farther in, he got a face full of slimy, raw shrimp. Then, before I knew what was happening, a very sharp, very long knife was being held to my throat. I was pushed against one of the metal racks in the refrigerator.

Picard went ape shit. He jumped up and down on my shoulder and then leaped off me toward Alaric.

“You were supposed to be dead. How did you survive that?” His breath quickened, and he pressed the blade into my neck.

I scrunched my nose because he reeked of shrimp. The assault with crustaceans didn't seem to even faze him.

“Survive... survive what? Please, help me.” My entire body was shaking. It would be easier to die because I wouldn’t have to deal with the spiders anymore. I really didn’t want to die. If they knew what I was, maybe they could help me. “Get them out of me.”

“We can’t just kill her. She’s a human.” Alaric stepped into the refrigerator and grabbed the man’s arm.

The man flinched and gritted his teeth, his jaw pulling tight. He didn’t like being touched.

“Get your hand off of me, Ric.” His voice sounded deadly. I wouldn’t want to meet him in a dark alley.

Alaric backed up a step. “If we kill her, Michael will make sure I get sent back. I don’t want to go back, Lou.”

Lou sighed and lowered the knife. He took a long look at me, from head to toe. I felt my face turn red. I even felt a little hot.

“How exactly did this happen?”

“A woman bit me in the ER.” I breathed a sigh of relief as he backed away from me farther. “She was odd and should have died from her injuries. She kept trying to tell me something, so I leaned forward and she bit me. It looked like a vampire’s bite. Oh my God, am I a vampire now?”

Ric snorted. “You are definitely not a vampire. A vampire's body would never allow a Widow's spiders to take residence inside of them, or for a Widow to possess them.”

My brain must have been experiencing overload because I didn't even react to hear vampires talked about as if they were real. I wouldn't have been surprised.

“Can you help me? You seem to know a lot about this. I literally can’t tell anyone. They'll stick me in a psych ward.” I looked at each of them. “And can we please get out of the refrigerator, I’m freezing.”

“How do we know that you won’t attack us?” Kai crossed his arms. "You just tried... with shrimp."

“The spiders only want to come out and play once a month. They have since I’ve had them. So, you’re safe for at least another month. And even then, they only like certain men. That’s really weird, right?”

If it wasn’t me, I might even find it hilarious that a person could be possessed with feminist spiders.

“What do you propose we do with her, Ric?” Lou still had his knife held in front of him. He wouldn’t hesitate to slit my throat.

“Watch her. I need to get into contact with Reve. He probably knows more about Widows than I do. He used to be the only one that could ever get close to them.”

“He’ll be back in a week. I want nothing to do with this.” This Lou guy was horribly cranky.

“Aren’t you vouching for me?” Lou cursed under his breath with Ric’s question.

“Fine. Tonight you go home with her and make sure she doesn’t eat any other men. If she happens to eat you, I guess that’s that.” This guy really had a stick shoved up his ass.

“I don’t need a babysitter. The spiders only come out once a month. I don’t know if that has anything to do with my uh... hormones.” I crossed my arms over my chest. The last thing I wanted to be doing was to be talking about my hormones with three strangers.

“Regardless of how often they come out, how do we know you’re not going to run? Either Ric stays with you, or we keep you locked in this refrigerator.”

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