Page 9 of Widow

They were nowhere to be found. It was like they had fallen asleep. Whoever had stuck me in the refrigerator was a smart person. Maybe the answer to getting the spiders to leave me alone was to move to a frigid place.

I could move to Antarctica and do medical experiments in the middle of nowhere. I could move to a remote village in Alaska, where they were sure to welcome a doctor.

The door opened the rest of the way to reveal Alaric and the owner of Blue Wave.

“Tell me again why you felt it was a good idea to bring her here and put her in my refrigerator?” He wiggled the gun around a bit, motioning to me.

“I don’t know, Kai. Where else was I supposed to take her?” Alaric reached over and pushed down Kai's wrist so he was no longer pointing the gun at me. “Picard says she’s human, but he senses a darkness in her.”

His monkey? His monkey had told him I had darkness in me? How on Earth could someone understand their pet monkey?

I looked back and forth between the two. There wasn’t much space to get out the door with them in the way. Alaric was all man and seemed to be solid muscle. I could see the bulge of his biceps through his button-up shirt. My eyes lowered to where his jeans were pulled tight over his thighs. He was built.

Kai, on the other hand, was a tad taller and leaner. Something told me he was a different kind of strong. He had the type of strength that just kind of crept up on you.

Just as I was about to shove my way between them to try to escape, Picard made his grand entrance. With a series of high-pitched squeaks, he ran into the refrigerator and climbed me like a tree.

He ended up perched on my shoulder like a damn parrot. I turned my head to look at him, and he kissed my chin. My heart stuttered in my chest.

“If Picard is near her, she can’t be that dangerous.” Alaric crossed his arms over his chest. "The spiders seem to be contained inside of her. At least from what I saw."

Kai sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “You said she had spiders crawling out of her. Maybe Picard just wants a snack. Monkeys eat spiders, don’t they?”

“Picard doesn’t. I mean, look at him. He’s smitten. Picard doesn’t like people very often.”

I hated how they were talking like I wasn’t standing there in the cold refrigerator with a monkey on my shoulder. I put my hands on my hips and narrowed my eyes. Then they remembered I was there.

“What are you?” Kai asked slowly, like I couldn't comprehend human speech. The gun was still in his hand and his finger on the trigger. At least he no longer had it pointed at me.

My eyes darted around the room, and I took a small step towards a clear carafe of liquid.

“I’m… I’m a doctor.” I looked down and played with the hem of my shirt. I was still aware the monkey was on my shoulder.

I took a step towards Alaric and Kai while also moving closer to what I was really after. They both backed up. I couldn’t say I blamed them. I’d back away from me too.

“We need to call Michael. This isn’t normal, Ric. A doctor doesn’t just kill a man with her hundreds of spiders.” I peeked up at him, and he was shaking his head. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his cell phone.

Alaric plucked it from his fingers. “No need to be a snitch, Kai. If we call him, he will kill her. His directive is to kill all demons not in the directory. I’m not sure how she ended up with a Widow’s spiders in her, but we need to find out if the Widow is in there.”

“Wait, what?” I choked out. My throat was dry and scratchy. “You know what did this to me? What are you?”

Picard started squeaking again in the way that told me he was talking. My life couldn’t get odder. I was almost close enough to grab the carafe. Just a few more shuffles, and it would be within my grasp.

Kai and Alaric looked at each other in silent conversation. I hated when people did that. "If you’re going to talk about someone in front of their face, make sure they can hear you."

Alaric's eyes widened and he cleared his throat. “Where I’m from, there is a demon that is part spider. They kill all the men.”

I’m sure, if I could have seen myself, my face would have gone pale. I wondered where exactly he was from.

“Is this some kind of sick joke?” I really wanted the monkey off my shoulder, but also didn’t want him to bite me if I touched him. “Maybe I’m in a coma and dreaming. That has to be it. A woman just doesn’t bite somebody and turn them into a vessel for all of her spiders.”

My words came out slurred. I was starting to hyperventilate. I could feel it in my chest, which was tightening at an alarming rate. My hands were tingling and felt sweaty, despite the cold. The last time this had happened was when I was sixteen, and both of my parents overdosed.

“What’s going on here?” a smoky voice said from behind the two men. I hoped it wasn’t Michael, whoever Michael was.

The man stepped into view. It was worse, much worse. The man that had stormed off from the bar stood there, his eyes narrowed and jaw clenched.

“Goddammit, Ric. What did you do to her?” He let out a heavy sigh and rubbed his hand over his face. “We don’t lock humans up.”

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