Page 24 of Cuddling Sucks in Coffins
That wasn’t something he would say. He’d be proud of my resourcefulness. This was all Paul. A hallucination.
Sawyer smirked, his face twisting and writhing with shadows and loose flesh. “How has she survived this long?”
Eddie made atsk-ing sound as he wagged his finger. “Too bad desire and sunshine goes stale so quickly. But let’s make sure, one more time, and then we can strangle her and drink her dry instead of one lick at a time.”
I needed an exit strategy, and fast. With my slayer powers dampened, I was no match against three vampires. But if they lunged at me, I would try to kill them. Ihadto, despite the awful things Paul was making them say and do. The thought ripped my heart open with the broken, jagged ends of a pencil. They’d become my only family, my friends, my lovers, my allies against an impossible force. A sob pulled at my throat as I gripped the pencil ends tight, tugging the torn skin across the back of my hand.
Night’s Fall. Ronick could help me if I called for him. I wouldmakehim help me while protecting Jacek at the same time. Unless I was forced to kill Jacek first. Or unless Paul was strolling through Ronick as well.
Fuck.
My vampires continued to berate me as they stalked closer. The door I’d belted shut that led to the rest of the police station juddered and bounced, barely containing those behind it. I backed away from all of it to buy myself some time, my muscles tightening, my arms clenched to my sides and brushing...
My boobs.
I sucked in a breath. The Holy Bra. I still wore it.
Raising one end of the broken pencil as a distraction, I groped down the front of my bra with my free hand and grabbed one of the holy water-filled pads. Then, while backed in a corner just two feet away from my vamps, I crushed the pad until the contents squirted out at the three of them. It splashed red streaks onto their already warped, melted faces. They howled and ripped their fingernails down their cheeks. Smoke sizzled out of the wounds, and the smell of burning flesh rolled my stomach.
I dodged around them. As I flung myself at the exit doors, I sprayed more holy water on the floor, on the door’s handle, all over the door itself.
Then I flew out into the night and palmed the cut on my wrist. “Night’s Fall.”
A white buzzing light flared underneath my fingers. Hopefully it wouldn’t take too long for Ronick to come. Hopefully, as an outsider, he wasn’t under the influence of Paul.
Like the rest of Podunk City seemed to be. Hundreds of them were crossing the street toward me. Their faces and bodies were bent unnaturally, their melting eyes blazing with murderous intent. Some of them carried baseball bats, shovels, pitchforks, and probably a whole slew of other weapons to take me out. But worst of all, most of them were human. I couldn’t kill them. A few vamps walked among them, completely oblivious to the blood source right next to them, and zeroed in on me.
Above them, thick clouds boiled over the moon and winked out much of my light source. Moving shadows swarmed the nearby lampposts. The static buzzed even louder.
Focus. Focus on your slayer sense.I concentrated as the city’s residents, alive and dead, closed in on me.
Still nothing. Not even a prickle up my scalp or the clarity to separate reality from this bent and broken hallucination fueled by the static noise. Not that it mattered since the city’s residents were coming after me no matter what their faces looked like. Their intent was very real.
So my slayer powers were gone. For good? Damn it, this was the worst timing ever.
My boss, Sylvia, melted forward, pressing in. “Murder, murder, murder,” she chanted.
When she was near enough, I pushed her back hard enough to topple her over and then winced. Killing intent aside, I didn’t want to hurt the residents of Podunk City. They were just humans caught up in my bullshit. It wasn’t their fault they were being controlled by Paul.
A man with a pitchfork leered as he closed in, his black, rotten teeth oozing from his mouth in a trail of sludge. “Gut her. Gut her just like Tim.”
I leaped to the side to avoid getting punctured, then kicked the side of the pitchfork hard enough to make him drop it. At least years ofmovinglike a slayer hadn’t been erased, but my body felt brand new to me. Slower. Heavier. Clumsier. And now with more bullet holes. Not at all like what I’d grown used to since I was nine years old. I jabbed outward with the pitchfork, attempting to make the thickening circle around me wider.
Hurry up, Ronick.
I glanced behind me to check on my vamps, swinging the pitchfork around in a wide arc. Still inside the police station, I guessed, though I couldn’t seem them through the barrier surrounding me. I willed them to stay put and to forgive me once this was all over.
“Slayer,” a voice growled over the static.
I whirled and came face to face with Ronick inside my shrinking death circle.
He unsheathed Night’s Fall, his red eyes flashing and his black leather coat sweeping around his ankles. He looked normal, not affected by Paul in the least. Swinging his sword out, he pressed his back to mine, helping to keep everyone away. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into?”
“Somethingyou’regoing to get me out of if you want my help finding this Jacek,” I demanded, peering back at him.
His expression lethal, he looked from me to the police station as if considering.
No. Why was he looking there? I tensed, the seconds stretching to hours. I was powerless to chase after him through this crowd and stop him before he ended Jacek. It was as if Ronick could sense him in there, beyond the holy water I’d soaked the door in, because his red eyes glowed brighter as they traced over the brick exterior.
