I didn’t need to be told again. I ran.
In my rush, I slipped on the stairs and slid down the last five steps on my behind. A gray haired woman hurried from the living room to my aid. “What’s going on?” She looked over my head at the top of the staircase. “Rurik!”
I turned to see him, his eyes blackened and fangs exposed. He hissed then retreated back to his room. The sound of the heavy wooden bedroom door slamming vibrated through the house.
The woman touched my shoulder. “Are you injured?”
I felt stunned. He hated me. My barbed wire soul should have protected me, it’s why I kept to myself and never opened my heart, but I lowered those defenses. I swallowed the pain. It burned as I locked it up with all the rest. The ache almost unbearable in comparison to rest since it was shiny and new. I deserved it.
“I’m all right.” The banister felt solid in my hand as I used it to stand. “You have a phone I can use to call a cab?”
Everything I owned sat in Rurik’s room including my wallet. Someone else would need to get them for me. No way would I go back in his room.
She glanced at the landing above and I resisted the urge to do the same. “I will call one for you but first come sit with me. I have a fresh pot of tea and we can talk.” She gave me a reassuring smile before leading me to the living room.
“It will be dawn soon.” She sat on the sofa and indicated for me to join her.
“I think I should go. He’s pretty angry.”
She raised an eyebrow and pointed for me sit. “They don’t kill and they’re not petty enough to injure others. I wouldn’t tolerate them in my house otherwise. Though I have to admit, I’ve never seen Rurik so upset.” A twinkle of curiosity lit her eyes.
It annoyed me. I sat next to her, not answering the unspoken question. Rurik’s distraught face kept popping in my mind. Each time I squashed it down it returned. He hated me. How could I ever be able to make this up to him?
She sighed and passed me a cup of black tea.
The next thing I knew, my cup was empty. I drank the tea without tasting it. She sat next to me, quiet and still, to offer a refill. My opinion of her changed. She hadn’t tried to pry but to offer an opportunity to talk. My cup rattled as she filled it. She reached out to steady my hand. “Thank you.” I tried to smile but my face felt dead.
“Marie.”
I nodded. “Rabb—Connie.”
“It’s dawn.” She stated. The birds sang outside the dark windows but the eastern sky lightened to hide the stars. “Let him sleep the day. Tonight it will be better. You can work out your differences.”
“I don’t think so, Marie. He’s got good reason to be angry.” I was so stupid. I should have confessed to him earlier, before I crawled into bed with him. Now he thinks I did it for a job. That I came here with the intention to help would be of no consequence.
“You are the first woman he’s brought to the clan in my lifetime.” She smiled and patted my knee. “Trust me, he’ll forgive you.”
Her words sank in. “The first?”
She nodded. “It’s a strict rule. Lovers are not to be brought home unless they’re to be accepted as part of the family. You’re the first he’s brought home.”
This made me feel worse, not better. The pain I tried to lock away was too strong, it broke out and attacked. I thought it would rip me apart. A tear spilled from my eye, it traced its way down my cheek to drip into my tea. He hated me.
What should I do now? I tore my plane ticket home to pieces. The last thing I wanted to do was phone Colby. I still needed help. I had Tane, and probably Dragos, looking for me. My silent tears flowed freely now.
Marie made a sound of dismay. She set her cup down and hurried from the room while she called back. “I will get tissues.”
I didn’t want any freaking tissues. I wanted a cab. I wanted out of this nest of heartbreak.
The teacup bounced as I banged it onto the table and decided I’d walk until I found a pay phone. I marched back to the foyer, opened the front door only to surprise a young man about to knock.
I wiped my tears and nose with my sleeve. “What do you want?”
“I’m looking for Rabbit.”
My eyebrows shot up. “That’s me.” He stood only a few inches taller than me, short for a man. Mouse brown hair neatly combed framed a freckled handsome face. A set of hazel eyes scanned me head to toe then glanced behind me.
I twisted around expecting to see Marie but the foyer remained empty. A white cotton cloth covered my mouth as this stranger pulled me against him. It smelled of heavy medicine. He half carried me, half dragged me out of the doorway.
I kicked and struggled, trying to hold my breath to no avail. The chemical soaked cloth won the fight. Its fumes finally made their way to my lungs when I gasped in desperate need for air. I heard Marie cry out but my vision tunneled, all I could see was the stranger’s face as he laid me on what felt like a car seat.
Chapter Seventeen
I really needed to lay off the sauce. My mouth tasted like a hamster crawled into it and died. Industrious elves hammered in my head, which only got worse when I rolled to my side. I opened my eyes and sucked in a yelp. A rub to the sockets didn’t change anything.
I was blind.
On my hands and knees I rolled to touch my face but no veil covered my sight. I groped around the unfamiliar area where I’d passed out. My heart fluttered and panic clawed at my throat. I crawled forward and tried to feel for something. Anything.
The soft threads of a carpet met my hands as I scurried aimlessly until I caught the corner of a solid piece of furniture across my forehead.
It cleared my thoughts. I sat back to squat on my heels and pressed my hands to the bump on my head. My poor brain throbbed in time with the hammering elves but the pain over-road the panic.
I gave up the bottle over a year ago. What the hell caused me to fall off the wagon? After a few deep breaths I blinked my eyes to make sure they were really open. Damn. The darkness sat heavy on my shoulders. This wasn’t a hangover. I’d been drinking tea not alcohol. Why did I feel so horrid? A vision of a handsome freckled face came back to me. I’d been at Rurik’s hideout. We’d been in his bedroom. The memory of Rurik’s last words stung and I flinched. He’d scared me and I ran. It all came back, my opening the door, the stranger, and the drug soaked cloth.
Primal instinct prey had to sense danger awoke in me. I needed to get out of here. One inch at a time I explored the space surrounding me. I felt my way around what must be a sofa when I saw a faint line of pale light that traced along the floor. It looked like the bottom edge of a door.
Angels sang in my soul and rose up in a chorus of joy. I could see something. After I scrambled to it, the doorknob refused to budge as I wrenched it.
A deep, low chuckle rolled over the room. It came from behind me and sent an ice cold-jolt down my spine. I spun and stood, pressing my back to the locked door, ready to face whoever hid in the dark.
Light from an igniting match flared within a set of long, red nails. Those well-manicured hands lit an oil lamp and adjusted the flame.
My eyes adjusted to the light and my heart skipped a beat.
Lizzy sat at a small square table, the oil lamp next to her. Her long auburn hair pulled tight into a French twist. The flicker of shadows played on her stern face and a set of tarot cards lay face up in front of her. She smiled and exposed her fangs.
“Hello, Rabbit.” She gestured to a chair across the table from her. “Would you like me to read your fortune?”
I didn’t need the tarot cards for that. Pain and death looked inevitable with Lizzy. “Do I have a choice?”