Page 118 of Bonds of Hercules
Wincing, because I’d only meant to knock him out, I nudged him with my boot.
Cerebral fluid leaked out of his ears.
Not my best work.
Katie gasped, raising her bruised arms in front of her face protectively as pieces of the man’s brain oozed from his nose.
Fresh rage filled my chest, and I wished I could kill him a second time.
“Really?” Kharon looked at me.
I focused on Katie. “Madam, you’re safe now. This man can’t hurt you anymore.”
Slowly, she lowered her arms, wide eyes staring up at me in disbelief. “Why … why would you help me?” She looked confused.
Alexis’s admission about her ear echoed in the back of my mind.
“Men who hurt women don’t deserve to live.”
Katie made a strangled noise.
Gazing around the decrepit trailer, I patted down my emptypockets with increasing frustration. “I’ll come back with some healing paste and money so you can—”
“Here.” Kharon pulled a Spartan gun out of his holster. “You should be able to pawn this for money. Right? Also, you can use it to protect yourself if anyone else tries to hurt you.”
Katie blinked in disbelief as Kharon placed the gun in her hand.
Kharon wiggled it. “Careful—don’t shoot yourself.”
Katie jumped.
I slapped Kharon across the back of the head. “Sorry, madam, he doesn’t get out much.”
“It was just a joke,” Kharon grumbled, but he stepped back and gave the woman space to hold her new weapon.
“Do you have anything else you can tell us?” I asked her, letting my desperation show on my face.
She shook her head no, and stared down at the gun with awe.
I tasted bile.
Her face morphed into Alexis, then Helen, then back to Alexis.
I left as quickly as possible, needing to get out of the trailer. Kharon followed without a word.
“Wait!” Katie yelled from the door.
We stopped.
I couldn’t look over at her.
“The rug rats—we couldn’t help them, because rumor was …” She lowered her voice. “Someone threatened to make grizzly food out of any folk who helped them—that’s all I know.Swear to God.”
“We appreciate it,” Kharon said calmly, even though his eyes flashed with wrath.
Katie disappeared inside her trailer.
Both of us scowled.
