Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Behind me, there’s a panicked squeak and I turn my head to find a man wiggling in Owen’s grip. “Larry?” It’s the guy that checked me in, the missing staff member.
Owen’s muscles are tense as he drags Larry around the back of my chair. The smaller man’s hands claw desperately at the hellhound’s wrist. His shoes squeak on the floor as he tries to scrabble away, and his eyes roll in his head like a frightened rabbit.
My hands shake uncontrollably from the adrenaline rushing through me. I wobble to my feet. Sitting makes me feel vulnerable. For a moment, I thought my new friend was going to hurt me.
Crikey, my heart is having palpitations. He scared the shit out of me.
“Tuesday, I’m sorry,” Larry wails as our eyes meet. “I thought you’d be mad, so I used the tablet you made to talk to you. It was me.” I knew it! Was he laughing at me too? “My job is to help you. But I don’t know you and I didn’t want you to kill me. Tuesday, please don’t kill me.”
“Tuesday kill you? I’m the one with my hand wrapped around your throat, dickhead,” Owen says with a growl as he gives Larry a rough shake in emphasis.
“He’s not what he pretends to be,” he grumbles.
“I don’t know what this thing is. He doesn’t make a sound, and he doesn’t have a scent. He was invisible until I grabbed him.”
Larry’s face is getting redder and redder.
“Don’t pretend you need to breathe. She is not doing it to save you.” The carefully hidden hellhound power ramps up and hits me square in my chest as Owen’s other hand lights up with a blue flame.
I gulp.
Apart from the scuffle in the hotel room when I was struggling with the effects of the null band, I haven’t witnessed the full effects of his power.
Not really. I haven’t seen Owen’s grrr side.
Not like this. The violence is shocking.
The fire magic is shocking. The hellhound has been nothing but kind to me.
But going from his sleepy, relaxed state to aggressive in the blink of an eye, even when it’s not directed at me, makes my heart race crazy fast. The alien magic inside of me flares and my pounding heart misses a beat.
Oh God.
My magic doesn’t like it. No, not mine. The realm’s magic doesn’t like this confrontation. The word sanctuary screams inside of me over and over. It echoes till the word is running through my blood and stamped on my very bones.
Okay, I get it. I grit my teeth and slam my eyes closed. The magic is like a living thing. I mentally grapple with it and it rushes out of my useless grip like a waterfall. No, like a tsunami. It hurts as it smashes inside me, wanting to get out and wreak havoc.
None of that, I growl in my head. Settle the fuck down.
I can’t do this, a small part of me whispers. This is way too much. I can’t do this.
A whimper slips from my lips. Oh no, I can’t do this.
I am not going to be able to stop it. My hair is moved to the side and a warm hand wraps around my neck and massages it gently.
“You are okay, Flash. I’m sorry I scared you.
Just breathe.” His voice sends a soft rumble through me.
With his touch, goosebumps rise all over my skin, and I can’t help the shiver that racks me.
The hellhound is lending me his strength.
I swallow and then take a single deep, shuddering breath. Then another. His hot, heavy hand on my neck grounds me, and with an aggressive prod from me, the magic of the realm dissipates—no, it retreats and allows my magic to settle back into a pool in the middle of my chest.
I cautiously open my eyes and I nudge Owen with my elbow. “You are hurting him. The realm doesn’t like it. It doesn’t like the violence.” The big hellhound immediately lets go of Larry and he stumbles a few steps away.
Larry stands there, wide-eyed and shaking as he rubs his neck.
“The truth,” Owen spits out.
Larry swallows and his Adam’s apple bobs.
His face screws up as he tries to think of an answer that will satisfy the growling, terrifying hellhound.
“I was created by the first host.” His eyes implore me, and he presses his hands together as if in prayer.
“Please don’t kill me, Tuesday. I didn’t mean to desert you.
I was frightened. I thought you’d be mad that I lured you here.
Then when you started crying…” He throws his hands up in the air and his lower lip wobbles.
“I felt so bad. Then the big guy came and tried to strangle me.” Larry plucks at his fingers, his green eyes wide with fear.
“Only the host of the realm can destroy me. I was only made to be temporary, but I’ve been here for over a thousand years, looking after the hotel.
I feel pain.” He scowls at Owen and rubs his neck.
“I’m as real as anybody. Please, I can help. ”
“You’re a magical construct?”
“Yes. Yes.” Larry points at me as if he’s a teacher and I answered a question correctly in class.
He even gives me a double thumbs up. His eyes crinkle with relief and he nods his head so fast, I worry it’s going to pop off.
“I direct the magic to where it’s needed.
I was made to keep the world functioning until a new host could be found.
But the host never came and as Sanctuary slowly crumbled, I got worried.
In desperation, I put feelers out into all the worlds.
I was so sure I could find a new host. I found you. ” He grins.
A realisation pokes my brain as I make a connection. “Ah, it was you. You stopped the car.” I narrow my eyes.
Larry’s happy face creases with worry. He nods and twists his hands. “And the phone. I didn’t want you to call for help until after you’d entered Sanctuary. I knew that once you got here, you’d find your home. You need this pocket realm, just like we need you.”
I stare at him. I should be so mad. I should be raging mad. But… I’m not. I guess he has a point. As soon as I stepped inside the hotel, my non-existent magic took over my body and got to work. I lift my eyes to take in the beautiful lobby. I did this.
I just wish I had a way of knowing he was telling the truth.
“Alright, magic man, say we believe you. Which I don’t. What about Tuesday signing the book? What was that all about?” Owen drops his voice to a threatening growl. “What did you do?”
Larry takes another step back and holds his hands up in front of his chest as if to ward off an attack by the angry hellhound.
“Wow, he really doesn’t like me, does he?
” he mumbles. Owen takes a menacing stride toward him.
Larry frantically waves his hands. “Everyone, every guest, has to sign in,” he squeaks.
“It is a normal procedure. She didn’t sign her life away.
I did nothing but get her here. I swear, I wouldn’t hurt her. I would never hurt you, Tuesday.”
My magic oddly chimes inside me with some sort of creepy magical confirmation, as if agreeing with his words. Crap-on-a-cracker, what now? What the heck was that? A weird magic lie detector? I shake my head and blink rapidly. That was freaky. It felt like my brain was tickled.
“He isn’t lying to us,” I mumble as I rub the side of my head.
Owen takes a deliberate sniff, perhaps smelling for a lie. Can shifters do that? He grunts in acknowledgement.
“Okay?” I whisper.
“Okay.” The hellhound agrees while giving Larry the stink eye.
Larry grins and claps his hands together. It is like the sun has come out from the gleeful expression on his face. Then his smile disappears, and he slants his head to the side. In a monotone voice, he says, “They know you’re here and request an audience.”
“Who?” I ask at the same time as Owen grumbles.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake. What now…” He washes his hand across his face. “Who?”
“The collective of dimensions.”
Oh. Now this sounds like a whole new level of fun.
Arrrah.
“Do I have to meet them in person?” I whine as I brush my hands down my black trousers.
“Not in person. None of you will meet in person. Hosts, as a general rule, don’t leave their pocket dimensions.
Here, you are at your strongest, and the longer you stay, the less inclined you are to leave,” he says with blatant honesty.
“The conference call will start in ten minutes. Come, let me show you to your office.”
Oh heck, talk about short notice. What a bunch of twats.
Don’t they know how to schedule meetings properly?
They’re doing it on purpose to throw me off my game.
Well, we’ll see about that. The idiots probably don’t realise I’m already floundering.
What’s one more thing to add to the overflowing bag of crap my life has become?