Chapter 10
TEN
Istood on the sidewalk near the park gates while Sebastian hailed a cab. He was still cranky, and I didn’t have the energy to push it. We could discuss what had happened between us later—after I made sure everyone in the Bogs was safe.
A man on a bike whizzed past right in front of me, nearly running over my toes.
I heard the sound of glass breaking, then I was right in the middle of a huge cloud of odorless smoke.
I coughed, unable to see a thing as Ringo squealed.
Something pressed over my mouth and nose—cloth with an acrid scent.
Oh holy hells, I was being kidnapped. I kicked back at my attacker, but I was already dizzy and didn’t do any damage. He lifted me from my feet and started moving. I didn’t know where Ringo had gone, and I couldn’t see through the smoke to find Sebastian.
When I could finally see, I caught a glimpse of a van’s interior. My attacker had pulled me in, keeping me on the floor of the vehicle to maintain the cloth over my mouth. I gave one last surge of effort, then lost consciousness.
Sharp pain lanced through my skull. I tried to lift a hand to my brow, then realized my arms were at an uncomfortable angle, bound behind my back. I was leaning against a wall.
“Shit.” I cracked my eyes open, grateful that the only lighting came from a row of windows high up on the wall. Anything else would have been too painful to look at. Wherever I was seemed like a warehouse with tall shelves of boxes and the smell of dust and moisture.
“She’s waking up.” I tensed at a voice behind me, then that damned cloth clamped back over my mouth. I had no fight in me to resist. My last thought was, where was Sebastian? If he could find me anywhere, why hadn’t he come?
There was only one good answer, and I didn’t have time to think about it.
When I woke again, I was in a different room.
This one had a lone, buzzing bulb overhead and no windows.
The florescent light making my head pound was not appreciated.
Neither were the ropes binding my arms and legs to a metal chair.
The ropes around my biceps were tied to the metal slats of the chair back tight enough that my arms had gone all tingly.
I didn’t want to get knocked out again, but I couldn’t very well just pretend I was asleep until I met whatever ill fate was on its way.
My heart raced as I dared a glance over my shoulder, but there was no one there.
I was alone in a small, windowless room.
And what was worse, I couldn’t sense my magic at all.
The room must have been enchanted to keep me from traveling, which meant these people knew exactly who and what I was.
They had taken me as the best way to find my mom and turn her in for the bounty.
I jerked my body back, scooting my chair just an inch, for what good it did.
There were some pipes sprouting in one corner of the room—maybe I could use them to undo the ropes.
I debated the best way to reach the pipes when something started moving in my shirt.
Something with little claws and a soft furry body.
I hadn’t noticed it before where it had been resting in the pouch of my tucked in shirt.
“What the—” I hissed, then Ringo’s head popped up between my breasts. “Holy crap little buddy, I thought you were a rat!”
Ringo blinked at me. “I had to hide so they didn’t fling me away.”
Realizing Ringo had actually witnessed everything—or had at least heard what was going on within my shirt—I went still.
“Who are they? Where are we? Did Sebastian—” I cut myself off as a lump formed in my throat.
But maybe he was okay. Maybe he just couldn’t find me because I was in a magically warded room.
But I hadn’t been the first time I woke up…
“Three werewolves, two goblins, one fairy,” Ringo said, and when I looked a question at him, he added, “I could smell them. They took you one place, to wait for the fairy, then they moved you here.”
Werewolves and goblins. The werewolves were confusing, but could the goblins have been the ones who tried to steal from Isadora? They’d had that smoke potion, so maybe they got away with more than she realized…
“Did you recognize the fairy?” I asked, then realized he had never met Varian. That didn’t mean it wasn’t him, though. He had to be pissed after he’d gotten tossed out of the Bogs, losing his magic-stealing vortex when the Bogs decided to eat it. “Never mind. Can you get these ropes off of me?”
He crawled the rest of the way out of my shirt, then dropped into my lap where he started gnawing at the ropes binding my upper arms to the chair back. They were thick, but chewing through them would still probably be easier than attempting to untie big knots with his tiny paws.
He was almost through the first rope when we heard footsteps beyond the door, and a man’s voice said, “She should be awake by now, but don’t worry. She can’t use any magic in there.”
“Back in my shirt!” I rasped, worried they’d hurt Ringo if they saw him.
This time once he was inside, he wiggled around to my lower back where his bulge would be less noticeable. He settled into place and stopped moving just as the door opened, revealing two men. Neither of them were Varian.
One was tall and burly, with a mane of curly black hair.
His deep set eyes were just as black, looking me up and down as he entered with the other man, who stood a whole head shorter than him.
He had violet eyes, the irises big and vibrant.
His short hair was a dusky purple. I assumed he must be the fairy Ringo had mentioned.
The big guy—I was pretty sure he was a werewolf—wore street clothes, while the fairy wore a pale gray button up and pin-striped pants. He hadn’t needed to dress down for the actual kidnapping.
Both men stepped into the room, shutting the door behind them.
“What do you want?” I demanded.
The two men looked at each other, and neither of them answered. Instead, the fairy said to the werewolf. “You’re sure it’s her?”
The werewolf’s bushy brows lowered. “She was with the devil, right where they said she’d be.”
The fairy waved him off, then glided toward me, his impressive eyes looking me up and down. “You are Eva Nix?”
I thought about lying, but since I was still alive, they probably wanted me that way. If I wasn’t who they wanted, they might just kill me. Giving him my best withering glare, I nodded.
“Well, that was easy,” he snorted. “I hope you’re ready for a family reunion.”
I inhaled sharply before I could stop myself. He couldn’t mean my mom, could he? Had she been captured? Unless—
The fairy had turned back to the werewolf. “He’ll come for her tonight. Keep an eye on her.” He turned away and left the room, shutting and locking the door behind him.
I looked at the werewolf, and the werewolf looked at me.
“Harry is going to be pissed when he finds out what you did.”
The werewolf wrinkled his nose. “Not every wolf in the city is part of the pack.”
Damn, it was worth a try. I knew there were plenty of lone wolves in the city—Harry couldn’t police them all from Willowvale—but there were also many others like Braxton, loyal to the pack even though they lived apart from the group.
“Who’s coming for me?” I asked.
The werewolf only smiled. He had a few scars on his face, and more on his arms. He was no stranger to fighting, and probably outweighed me by a good 80 pounds.
Even with the rope around my arm ready to snap, I wouldn’t have the physical strength to make it past him, nor the speed to get my legs untied in time.
So that left the potion still in my pocket.
With the concentrated magic, I should be able to jump even from within the warded room, and I only needed one free arm to do it.
Now to snap the rope and reach the potion before he could stop me. The chewed portion wasn’t noticeable against the folds of my shirt, but once I started straining it would be. If it didn’t snap fast enough—
The werewolf tilted his head, listening to something, and I forced myself to relax. Maybe he would go investigate, and I could snap my rope in peace.
His brow furrowed, and I found myself listening for whatever was drawing his attention. At first I heard nothing, then I jumped at a sudden shout, followed by a crash. Had Sebastian finally come for me? I was starting to worry that he hadn’t made it out of that smoke cloud alive.
The werewolf looked at the door, then at me, debating his next move.
More shouting made his decision. He pulled a set of keys out of his pocket, then fumbled them as he tried to find the right one to unlock the door.
When one finally slid easily into the lock, he gave me a triumphant look as if I had something to do with the crashing out there, and now he had bested me.
Then more shouts sounded and he quickly let himself out into the hall, shutting and locking the door behind him.
The second he was gone, I strained against the rope, but it wasn’t breaking. “Ringo!” I rasped.
He scurried around to the front of my shirt, tickling my belly as he made his ascent up my chest, giving me a few more scratches along the way.
“Hurry,” I said as he dropped out of my shirt and got to work on the rope he’d been chewing before.
After a few final chomps, it came free, and I realized it was the same rope binding my other arm, tied behind the chair back.
With my arms free, I struggled with the separate ropes around my legs, my hands having lost sensation after my arms had been bound for so long.
I had just gotten the final rope free when the door slammed inward, tearing off its hinges with the force of the blow.
I staggered to my feet with Ringo on my shoulder, reaching my hand into my pocket for the potion vial. I didn’t recognize the massive gargoyle standing in the doorway, but now the door flying off its hinges made sense. Gargoyles were incredibly strong.
I hesitated with the potion halfway to my lips. Gargoyles lived in the Silver Quarter with the angelics, and often ran errands for them. This guy might have been sent by Lucas, who I didn’t trust, but my mom did, and that was good enough for now.
The gargoyle’s impressive gray wings flexed behind his back. He wore a low cut muscle shirt with plenty of open room for the wings. Noticing the potion, his eyes narrowed and he lunged for me.
I downed the potion, prepared this time for the immense power washing through me. I should have thought of Gabriel or Mistral, since I knew where they were, but my worry over Sebastian made him come to my mind first. The world spun, and I left the terrible room and the angry Gargoyle behind.