Chapter 21
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
V oices from far away. Sounded like a foreign language. Maybe talking too fast? Demmy must be watching something obnoxious on TV.
Cody tried to speak, to ask him to turn the volume down, but his throat was dry and his lips felt as if they’d been glued together. He couldn’t open his eyes, not yet. Now that he was awake, he was very aware of a throbbing pain on one side of his neck.
“I think he’s awake.”
The words were clearer, spoken by a woman. Demmy must be watching a cop show or something.
“Cody?”
He tried to lift his chin from his chest, but pain spiked up the back of his skull and forced him to stop. Squeezing his eyes shut even tighter, he moaned.
“Well, hallelujah, he’s awake,” another woman said, her tone icy, angry, so familiar. “Now we get to baby him into full alert mode, huh?”
“He’s hurt, Lucia, give him some time.”
“We have very limited time, Zee. Sun’s been up a while now.”
With slow, painful movements, Cody raised his head. He tried to reach up and rub his eyes, but his hands were tied behind his back. What the fuck? Easing his head to one side, then the other, he winced at the pain.
“You okay?”
He turned his head—slowly, very slowly—toward the voice and forced his eyes open. Zenona sat in a chair a few feet to his left, looking at him.
“Are you with us?” Zenona asked. “Are you fully awake?”
“What’s that?” Cody said, and his voice sounded deep and slightly ruined. He cleared his throat and tried again, going for even fewer words. “What?”
“Are you conscious?” Zenona said.
“Or at least as conscious as your usual state.”
That voice came from his other side, and it sent pinpricks of annoyance through him. He turned his head—slowly, so very slowly—and squinted at Lucia, sitting in another chair to his right. She glared back, then forced a cold smile. “Morning, princess. Welcome back.”
“Back where?” Cody croaked.
“That’s the million dollar question.”
A figure seated just beyond Zenona leaned forward into view. Cody squinted, then couldn’t help making a face.
Tracey Mumm made an exaggerated face back at him. “Feeling’s mutual, neanderthal.”
“Great. So, I’ve died and gone to Hell, is that it?” Cody let his chin fall to his chest again.
“Feels that way, since we’re here with you,” Tracey said. “And if that’s the case, who’s the bigger asshole of a demon? Three women you treated like crap fifteen years ago in high school, or one dumb ass aging jock who had a late twenties bi-awakening?”
“Damn, Tracey,” Zenona said. “Take it down a notch. We’re all in the same situation.”
“As much as I applaud the visual, Zee’s right,” Lucia said. “We’re going to need to work together to get out of this.”
Cody lifted his head and blinked, looking around again. The glass block windows were brighter, so he assumed it was daytime. But where did the vampires go?
“Where are they?” Cody asked.
“There are coffins over in that far corner where it’s darker,” Lucia said.
“Caskets,” Tracey said. “Coffins have six sides and are wider at the top.”
They all looked at her, and she lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “Sorry. Random knowledge.”
“Random and creepy,” Cody said. “You must be popular at parties. Why are the three of you here?” Cody asked, tipping his head. “And did I imagine things, or was I bitten?”
“You were bitten,” Zenona said. “That’s twice so far. Your weakness and disorientation is most likely from blood loss.”
“Great.” Cody hung his head again and focused on his breathing. “We’ll be okay,” he said quietly. “Demmy will find us.”
“He came by the library yesterday with Clarabell and Oliver.” Tracey blew away a lock of hair that had fallen between her glasses and one eye. “I helped them with some research, and they invited me to dinner.”
Cody smiled sadly. “That’s Demmy.”
“Look,” Lucia said. “There’s a reason this Aldrik brought us all together. We know this.”
“We do?” Cody said.
She continued without acknowledging him. “We need to get out of here before the sun goes down.”
“Who’s the Renfield?” Tracey asked
“The Renfield?” Cody said. “Like that creepy guy from the Dracula movies?”
“Right. Vampires always need some human to do stuff for them during daylight hours, and Demetrius and the others had been trying to figure that out.”
“That’s my man,” Cody said with a smile and a deep pang of loneliness. “He’ll figure it out.”
“As sure of an option as that is, we still need to try to get out of here ourselves,” Lucia said. “Keep trying to loosen your bindings.”
They all struggled for a bit, but the duct tape had been wound tight. It was peeling the hair from around Cody’s wrists and ankles. He was going to be looking pretty weird for a while once they got out of there.
If they got out of there.
No, he wouldn’t let himself think that way. Demmy would figure out who the Renfield was, and he would rush in with their group of weirdos and save them all. He would be the calvary; he’d always been that for him. He would be the savior, even though Cody had called him out about it.
He pulled and twisted, but that only seemed to bind him tighter. And it wore him out. Sweat dampened his pits and back, and the stink of his efforts clouded around him. After that burst of energy, he was definitely feeling more than a little light-headed. He looked over at Zenona.
“How many times were you bitten?” Cody asked.
“Overall?” she said.
“What?”
“Never mind.”
Cody shook his head as his thoughts grew sluggish. What was he trying to ask again? Maybe Lucia would know better. He turned to his right and the world spun around him. It felt like he was on the worst carnival ride ever, and his stomach tightened as it threatened to expel what little was left inside him.
“Uh,” was all Cody was able to manage before he slumped to the side. His body was dead weight now—blood loss, he thought Zenona had said before—and the chair wobbled beneath him. He managed to open his eyes, trying to find his balance. He saw Zenona watching him with an anxious expression. The dim lighting glinted along the metal legs of the chair she was tied to, changing to a warm golden glow across the edge of the wooden seat and the wood of the upper crossbar of the backrest. As he felt himself tip over too far, the sensation like a long, slow descent into sleep, Cody realized he knew where they were being held, and that he needed to get to Demmy. He needed to warn Demmy.
Then the side of his head smacked against the concrete floor and he was out.