Page 93 of Suck This

My heart froze in my chest.

“Sweetheart, come here so we can go inside. Warm those cute little toes up?” I called out.

Still nothing.

“Hello?” I yelled, louder now.

I parted a couple of branches and came to a halt at the beginning of a large field.

The footsteps went to the middle of the field and just disappeared.

“What the hell?” I whispered to myself. “What the hell, what the hell, what the hell?”

“Thank you for coming.”

I jumped about a foot in the air and whirled, only to see nobody standing there belonging to the voice.

“What the hell?” I repeated.

“Must you insist on using such coarse language?”

That was said from my back, and I whirled, this time coming face to face with a woman that looked like she was straight out of a 1950s pinup.

That’s about the time I felt something touch my legs, and I looked down to see the toddler clinging to them, looking up at the woman as if she were scared of her.

What the hell?

“What do you want?” I asked. “Who are you? Why did you want me here? Is this normal for you to lure people out of their homes in the dark of night without clothes on in the freakin’ snow?”

The woman across from me pursed her overly full lips.

“I don’t know what he sees in you,” she snapped. “My name is Seraphina.”

I didn’t say anything.

“That’s my child.”

I again didn’t say anything.

Something wasn’t right here. Why would she allow her child to walk around barefoot in the snow? And more to the point, where the hell was Constantine? He never let me out of his sight, or out of the sight of his men. Something about my control, and me not eating like I should, or whatever.

For him not to be awake at this point, and aware, was enough to set me on the edge of my proverbial seat.

Something was seriously wrong. This woman had done something to keep Con, and likely the rest of the house, from waking up.

“You didn’t answer any of my other questions,” I said, bending down to scoop up the child.

The child didn’t protest, and the moment her cold feet touched my bare leg, I winced.

“She likes you.”

I turned and started to walk away.

“When you take her inside, he’ll wake.”

I froze and turned.

“How do you know he’s not already awake?” I questioned.

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