Disclaimer: Just the usual gang. If you recognize them they’re not mine, and if you don’t then guess what they belong to me so :oP
Author’s Note: Well let me just thank you if you have taken the time to read this story. If you have even left me a review then I give you much love. I live to write and write because I love it. But it makes it much more worth while when I get feed back from those of you that review my work. Also if you don’t like this story the back button is ^^^^^^^^^^^^ there feel free to use it. Sorry about this chapter being so short but I have just started school again and I’m trying to do papers, work and my story so please be patient with me.
I should have known that I wasn’t going to make a clean get away. But there is always some part of me that is forever hopeful that everything will go my way. I walked into the house both Anita and Micah were tense and I had no idea why. I dropped my suitcase by the front door and went further into the house cautiously waiting for what I didn’t know. My wrists were so sore by now that I just wanted to cry.
“What happened Luna,” Micah’s voice startled me I hadn’t even thought about him being able to smell the blood on me.
I sighed I knew they weren’t going to like my answer. I took a deep breath and told them, “I was handcuffed and the cuffs must have been of a high silver content cuz my wrists are a little injured.”
“Let me see,” his voice leaving no room for argument.
I walked over to where he was and showed him my wrists. Anita let out her breath in a hiss. Micah looked noncommittal. However I knew that was not how he felt. No he wasn’t giving anything off. It was the fact that he was curiously blank of any kind of emotion, he was like a void no noise, no emotion, no nothing, and it was scary. His eyes were fastened to my wrists and I was left looking at the top of his head. Wondering what he was thinking.
Anita was easier to read. She was angry and she didn’t bother to hide it. I was just hoping that she wasn’t mad at me. “Why were you in handcuffs,” her voice barely contained.
“Because I asked them to take my guns,” my voice was flat. I was tired I just wanted to clean up the wounds and go to bed for a nice long rest but somehow I didn’t think that I was going to get what I wanted.
“Why would you do that,” Anita asked incredulous.
“Because Anita they were giving off so much fear it was making it hard to think and I didn’t want to hurt somebody.”
“So how long were they on,” her voice somewhat mollified.
“About an hour. Maybe an hour and a half why?”
Now she was back to being angry again. “Shit! They know that lycanthropes can’t be in silver cuffs very long without causing too much damage. Why didn’t you say something to them sooner.”
“Because I was fairly sure that they were much more comfortable when they believed that I was contained. I’m not sure they would have been as willing to be in the same room as me and not freak if the cuffs were off.”
Then Micah, who I had quite honestly forgotten about, touched a particularly tender spot on my wrist and I tried to jerk my hand back. His grip tightened on my hand telling me without words that he wasn’t going to let go of my hand. Then he did something that I didn’t expect. He licked my wrist and wherever is tongue touched he left a trail of heat and power. It was unexpectedly erotic and I could feel my body responding to it. I felt things low in my body tighten and my breathing speed up. But I could also feel his healing power I could feel it reknitting the skin together and leaving the wrist whole and perfect well as perfect as it had been before. And then he repeated the process with the other wrist and looked at me. I was at a loss I didn’t know what was expected of me. Micah was strangely silent. I looked at Anita hoping that she might be able to tell what was expected. Unfortunately Anita looked almost as lost as I did. I mumbled a ‘Thank You’ and he just smiled. And leaned back against the loveseat.
And then as if remembering what it was she was doing up this late she turned a steely gaze toward me. I flinched slightly as if the look were more like a blow. Anita took a deep breath in and exhaled slowly like she was counting. Then said to me, “That chest contained nothing more than a few stuffed animals. The chest did have a spell on it, Luna, it was meant for you.”
“What do you mean meant for me,” my voice half fearful.
“When the dolls and animal were released from the chest they formed a circle and started chanting,” Anita seemed to hesitated and then she fell silent.
“What! What were they chanting, Anita, tell me please,” my voice desperate and I hated that.
“It’s silly really,” Anita said but her tone belied that statement.
“Just tell me,” I begged.
She relented. She took a deep breath and exhaled slowly like she was gathering courage. That by it’s self made me want to tell her to forget it but I didn’t say it. After a while she said “One two we’re coming for you. Three four we know so much more. Five six don’t try no stupid tricks. Seven eight you have to play straight. Nine ten this time you die my friend.”
I sat down heavily on the coffee table. I was stunned. I mean who wouldn’t be when they received a death threat. Anita reached out to touch me and I leaned away from her. I didn’t want anyone to touch me right then. My world as I had known it was already skewed now it seemed that I had to deal with a psychopath as well. It was not one of my better weeks.
“Do you know anybody that would want to see you dead,” Anita asked the obvious question. I just shook my head. We had been through this before. The only people that knew I would be in St. Louis were my sister and her husband. “Think Luna this is important! We need to know who wants you dead,” Anita stated urgently.
“Well no duh, Anita. I know this is important but what I’m trying to figure out is not the who but the why. If they, he, she, whatever want me dead it’s usually because I know something I’m not supposed too. And right now I don’t even have the faintest idea of who I am let alone what I could possibly know about something that may get me killed,” I tried to convey my meaning but even to me it seemed muddled. It was probably the combination of stress and too little sleep.
Micah spoke then quietly thoughtfully, “Do you think it could have anything to do with all that information you have on Anita?”
Anita gaped at him. I thought about it. But what he was saying and not saying it didn’t make any sense. “You mean Edward?” Micah nodded and Anita was staring hard at me.
“What do you know about Edward,” Anita asked suspiciously.
“Enough to get me killed,” I stated honestly. “Although I don’t think Edward or anybody else knows that I know about him. Unless you’ve told him I’m here, Anita.” I stared at her trying to gauge her reaction. She was as blank as a new sheet of paper. The longer she held her silence the angrier I became. “You told him about me didn’t you,” I demanded angrily. “Didn’t you,” I shouted into her face when she didn’t answer me.
Pushing her face up into mine, “Yes,” she hissed. I had all I could do not to punch her dead in her face.
“Why? Do you want me dead is that it,” I asked heatedly. I was irrational I know but I was terrified my life was being threatened and I still had no idea why.
Micah pushed the two of us apart. I think he knew better than I did how easily it would be to give into that anger. And by giving into the anger I would unwittingly release the beast within me. “This isn’t helping. We need to figure out who is behind the attack on the house and Luna. We need to work together and find out what Luna knows and help her remember who she is,” Micah’s voice was full of concern.
Anita sighed and leaned away from me and sat back down on the loveseat she had previously occupied with Micah. Her face was set in angry lines, her arms were crossed just below her breasts and her whole body almost visibly vibrated with tension. I confess that I wasn’t doing much better I stood up and started pacing between the coffee table and the couch. What I really wanted I wasn’t going to get. I wanted a good old-fashioned barroom brawl. I also realized that if I picked a fight with either of the people present that I could kiss my ass good-bye.
And then remembering what Dolph had said about my working tomorrow I sighed heavily. I turned towards Anita and tried to see how receptive she was going to be to what I had to say now. My hopes weren’t high. “Anita, did Dolph talk to you about tomorrow?” She remained stubbornly silent. So I continued on like she had actually answered. “He said that tomorrow you would be willing to work with me while I went to some of the new crime scenes. Are you still willing to work with me,” I asked my voice pleading with her and I hated it.
She sighed again and unfolded her arms. “Yes Luna, I’m still going to help you get through the crime scenes. But I’m telling you right now I don’t want to have to hold your hand.”
I could have kissed her but I controlled myself. Besides I don’t ever remember Anita being all that comfortable with touchy feely people. “Thanks, Anita. I really appreciate it.” She nodded her head and leaned her forearms on her knees and looked at me with such a strange expression that I was instantly uncomfortable. The weight of the day had finally caught up with me and now that I was sure that I still had Anita’s help for what I was going to face tomorrow. I felt that I could really relax and go to sleep. But first I wanted to get a shower and then I would find a bed. “Can I ask just a couple more questions,” I hesitated but Anita nodded tiredly. “Do you mind if I take a shower? And where am I sleeping?”
Anita seemed to think about that for a moment and then she made a sour face. “Shit, Luna, I forget all about you needing a place to sleep. I told Zane, Cherry, and Caleb that they could sleep with Nathaniel.”
She looked really distraught. “Anita, I don’t care whose in the bed as long as they don’t start snoring before I get to sleep. But I just wanted to make sure it would be okay to take a shower before I did it. By the way are they all in the room I slept in last night?” She nodded again. I thanked her and walked down the hall to the bedroom I had used last night. I didn’t try to be quiet because it seemed to me that whenever you tried you always ended up making more noise than if you had done without thinking about it too much. I walked over to my gym bag pulled out my over sized tee shirt and a clean pair of panties along with my small bag of toiletries.
And walked back to the bathroom turned the water on and pulled an oversized towel out from under the sink set my clothes on top and got undressed. I washed quickly more because I was tired than anything else. I dried myself off and quickly changed into my jammies. I walked back to my gym bag dropping my dirty clothes beside it and started rooting around in it to see how many more days of clean clothes I had.
As it turned out I had three more days worth of clothes and of course the books that I had forgotten all about. One was forensic textbook from my criminal science class. The next was romance novel that I had read so many times that I could probably repeat it verbatim. The last was the one that threw me I was sure that I had left all of my Anita Blake books at home. But here it was it was NIC. I hesitated what do I do with where could I possibly hide that I was sure no one would look for it. Assuming that anyone knew I had it. I thought about it a few more minutes before remembering my travel gun safe. It was here. Someone had been thoughtful enough to put it with the rest of my stuff. I quickly unlocked and removed the padding and stuck it under then replaced the padding. I put my guns in it as well. I closed to see if I could detect any sign of tampering and I couldn’t so I locked it.
I looked at the bed there didn’t seem to be any room for me and I damn sure wasn’t going to sleep on the couch. In my best bitchy voice I said, “Alright you guys someone needs to move so I can get some sleep.”
I heard some giggles and laughs and a voice barely intelligible said, “Can’t too tired.”
Giving into the moment I half joked, “If someone doesn’t make some room I’m just going to count to three ant jump in the middle and I will listen to complaints of hurt body parts.” Again with the laughter and finally I heard Caleb call me over it seemed that he had crowded Zane who in turn had crowded Cherry and Nathaniel. I lay down with my back to him he spooned me and wrapped an arm around my waist. It was nice his body heat was lulling me into sleep but just before I drifted off I felt the bed shift and someone trying to lie down in front of me. Again we shifted until Nathaniel was spooned by me. This time when I drifted off it was to a deep and dreamless sleep. I should have known this was the calm before the storm.