Page 56 of Hooked on a Witch
Merck flinched at the guy’s rancid breath. “What job?”
“To get rid of you.” He leered yellowed teeth. His eyes darted downward.
“I’m immune to poisons.”
“Not this one. It’s going to drag your ass straight to hell.” Reevo cackled. “They’re coming for her and there’s nothing you can do. Not now.”
Reevo wiggled and popped a pill into his mouth. Dark foam formed on his smiling lips. Convulsions wracked his body. Within seconds Reevo slid to the floor. A pulse check confirmed he was dead. To be thorough Merck should incinerate the body, but he couldn’t haul a dead man out the front door in the middle of the day without drawing attention.
To top it off, he’d left Shannon unmonitored to come down here, the pinnacle of stupid. Now he had to contend with whatever toxin had been on the knife. He’d been the victim of many poisons over the years. Although most concoctions hurt for a half hour or so, they never killed him. This was different. None before burned as if half of his body was under a blowtorch.
Deus Mortempoison? If it could kill a goddess, then he was toast. He needed the ocean.
His side felt sticky, but the small knife wouldn’t have left a large wound. The bleeding would be over soon. His dark clothes hid the blood well.
Merck walked away from the body, snagging Danny’s arm to propel him toward the exit. “He’s gone.”
“What do you mean gone? As in not here?”
“Don’t speak,” Merck ordered. “We’re leaving.”
Outside, Danny asked, “You okay? You’re walking stiff.”
“I’m fine.”Liar. One foot in front of the other. Make it to the car.
Once they were in the car for several minutes, speeding home, Danny exploded, “What happened?”
“He’s dead. Suicide.”
“Why?”
“Distraction? Don’t know for sure why he lured us here.” Bit of a lie, but Merck didn’t want to chitchat. He needed every bit of concentration to speed through traffic. He had to make it home and get to the ocean to heal. Then he’d check on Shannon.
That was too long. He should send her a note or a call or something to warn her to be on alert. Danny could go.
Muscles twitched up his injured side and scorched as the poison’s sting spread. He compulsively swallowed to fight back nausea.
Thirty minutes into the drive he concluded this wasn’t a typical poison. Given the fog clouding his mind by the time they hit the Port Royal city limit, if he didn’t get to the ocean fast, the poison barreling through his body might succeed in killing him. He had to get home.
Danny asked, “You think someone went after Shannon while we were down here?”
“I hope not.” Merck hadn’t felt his phone vibrate with a call or text from her, not that she’d necessarily have time to send him a message, depending on what went after her. He worried, but had to trust her army of druids to do their job. Or she could pop away to her other dimension. “I’m going to drop you off at the office to start translating, but before you do that can you call Shannon’s place? You can look up the number online. Call and make sure she’s fine?”
“Why don’t you drop by? You live next door and all?”
“I’ve got something to do. Gotta go.”
As Danny hopped out at the office, he frowned. “You sure you’re okay, man? You look off.”
“Tired,” he forced out.
Danny’s forehead crinkled. “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
“I have something at home I’ve got to do. You call Shannon’s place and then get to work. Call if you get anything good in translation.” He put the SUV into gear before Danny had fully shut the passenger door.
By the time he pulled into his driveway, his vision blurred. His hands shook. Hell, his arms were trembling. He shut off the car and stumbled up the few stairs to the front door. His hands couldn’t coordinate to fit the key into the front door lock. Finally, it opened. He dropped his keys and shuffled through the house, ping-ponging off furniture and walls on his way to the back door. A hundred or so feet into the backyard, and too far away from the dock to invite the water near him, his mind shuttered. Lightheaded, he wobbled. He wasn’t going to make it.
