I know it’s been forever since I’ve posted any writing….life has been nuts Anyway, since Luna so kindly nudged me to get back to writing, I’d share the latest with y’all.
Hugs!
Maggie
Disclaimer: Laurell K. Hamilton and the Berkley Publishing Group do not authorize this author. All characters that you recognize belong to Laurell K. Hamilton except for the ones created by the people in this group. This is solely for entertainment purposes.
Rating: R for Strong Language and Vivid Imagery
Special thanks to Luna not only for being an excellent beta but for
inspiring me to write this in the first place and including me in her crazy
adventures. *grins*
Hot, I was so very hot. Scorching heat burned my skin. My hands rubbed together. Shards of pain shot from the back of my hand up my arm and straight to my brain. Too afraid to scream, I looked down. My skin was covered in blisters. Puss oozed down from an open sore on my hand to drip to the stone floor below.
Trapped in some sort of oven, I panicked, struggling to move, to find a way out. Something was holding me in place, daring me to look up. Shaking, curiosity finally outweighed better judgment and I ventured a peek. Nothing was there. Not just dark, there was suddenly a complete absence of light.
Fighting one hand free, I tried to claw my way out, struggling for air. Gasping, the air tasted stale; I could feel something fluffy in my mouth. Fluffy? Shaking my head, I stopped struggling and realized I could sit up. As I opened my eyes, I looked down. The blankets were twisted around my body preventing me from moving and there was a gaping hole in one of our down pillows. I must have ripped into it in my sleep.
Talk about adrenaline. Throwing the pillow off the bed, it hit a nearby chair knocking it down. So much for the sturdy durability they promised. I reached across the bed for Lija but he wasn’t there. Closing my eyes I remembered he was in Ireland, some sort of druid mumbo jumbo with Liam. My eyes shot open. So why wasn’t Luna here then? She hated to sleep alone even more that I did.
Sighing, I got out of bed and headed toward the kitchen to get a glass of juice. Stopping at Luna’s room on the way to see if she wanted anything, I knocked. Her door swung open on her canopy bed, still freshly made from when we did laundry the day before. I could still smell the fabric softener on the sheets. Maybe I added too much to the wash this time.
Hearing someone or something trying to break in, I grabbed one of Luna’s knives from her closet, wishing I had paid more attention to those shooting lessons and headed downstairs toward the source of the noise. It was coming from a window the front room. Knife in hand, I whipped back the curtains only to find a tree branch brushing against the glass. It’s funny how sounds echo in an empty house. I guess I hadn’t been here alone enough to notice it before.
Reaching the kitchen, I set down the knife, got my glass of juice and grabbed the cordless phone. Standing at the patio door, watching the sunrise, I tried to decide where to call first for Luna, Anita’s or the police station. She has obviously had to work last night. Would have been nice of her to leave me a note or something considering I was home alone.
Lost in thought, I jumped as the phone rang in my hand. Smiling that maybe Luna was calling to let me know she was on her way home, I answered. Who knew, maybe I could talk her into stopping to grab us some Krispy Kremes.
“Hello. Lonely Kitten Central.”
“Lonely? Why are you lonely? Isn’t Luna there with you?” Noah’s voice sounded strained, almost shaken.
“Hey Superman. Why are you calling so early?” I tried to stall.
“Because…..um…well Micah and Anita are going to have to stay here in Illinois a few more days. Merle said this is our last chance to call home for a while. I wanted to make sure everything was okay on the home front before this cell phone gets out of range and cuts us off from contact. I had a bad dre….feeling. Nothing strange is happening with you is there Doll? Where is Luna?”
The nightmares..he was fishing and if he was fishing maybe it wasn’t a nightmare. Trying to keep my voice normal. “Nothing unusual in the house this morning Noah. I haven’t talked to Luna yet. Just woke up. I’m sure she’s around…somewhere. I gotta get dressed for work. Why don’t you try later?”
Hanging up the phone before he could answer, I called Cherry hoping she knew where Luna might be. With most of the alphas obviously out of town, Luna was the one the Pard would contact in case of trouble. They should know where she was. Cherry confirmed that Luna was supposed to keep an eye out. As far as she knew, Luna was supposed to be staying close to me until the boys got back though.
She did mention that Luna had pulled the Pard out of a jam a few days before and made a point of asking Elizabeth if she would be around if there was more trouble. Luna had said she had to do something to make sure I was going to be safe while she had the chance.
As Cherry offered to help me track Luna down I caught my reflection in the patio door. My normally blue eyes were completely green. Gasping I told the leopard, “Don’t worry. I just figured it out.”
Slamming the phone down, I ran back up to Luna’s room, banging the door into the wall in my haste to get in. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary. I headed out into the hall and looked around. The door to spare bedroom directly adjacent to Lija and my master suite was slightly ajar. Nervously I walked down the hall, cautiously entering the room. The bed had been shoved to one side of the room. A circle of power was drawn on the floor. The stubs of some burnt out candles sat on the focal points. There was a splatter of something red, something that had the metallic scent of blood. It looked dry so how the hell could I smell that?
Noticing a spell book laying on the floor outside the circle, I picked it up and saw the page it was open to. FUCK! We had agreed not to do this. There were too many unknowns. I had told her more than once that she might be able to pull it off but how did we know what the price would be? There WOULD be a price to pay. There always was. Power didn’t come cheap. I had to find Luna and make sure she was safe. Once I did that, I would kill her!