Do Or Die [Nuworld 4] (7 page)

of her.

The poisons inside the roots and herbs needed to simmer for two days before the

potion would abort a pregnancy. Ana chopped a sticky root into tiny bits before

sweeping it off the cutting board into the pot on her stove. Unfortunately, the

terminating potion had a repulsive smell and she resigned herself to the fact that her

trailer would have a rather unappealing smell to it for the next few days. She also

resigned herself to the fact that she needed to stock up on food.

She spent the rest of the day sleeping and it wasn’t until the next morning that she

applied layers of clothes and walked out through her shoveled path to her glider. The

snow insulated her surroundings and made everything very quiet. A shuffle through

the trees caught her attention and she turned quickly, pulling her laser at the same time.

She was certain she saw a figure through the corner of her eye but when she gave the

area her full attention she saw no one. She fired a warning shot into the trees, causing a

large limb to crash to the ground and a pile of snow to form a miniature mountain.

“Leave me alone!” she screamed at the following silence. “I don’t want to see you

and I don’t want to talk to you. Just stay out of my life.”

There, now she felt better. She turned sharply and climbed onto her glider and then,

much to her dismay, realized she couldn’t accelerate fast enough to leave ground. As

soon as she drove into the piles of snow, she was forced to slow down and unable to

speed up. She was stuck. Damn.

Now she sensed the overwhelming sensation of laughter…humor. She turned and

glared at the trees.

“I can do this without your help,” she muttered under her breath. “Quit laughing at

me and go away.”

She knew Gilroy and Beel were with Andru and more than likely the three lay in

waiting for her to fumble severely enough that they would come to her rescue and she

would be appreciative. That wasn’t going to happen. She stormed into her trailer,

pulled out one of the furry animal skin blankets she’d purchased while with Lara,

wrapped it around her and then walked back out into the snow.

She hoped it wouldn’t take too long to find some game and bleed it so she could get

back into the warmth of her trailer. She’d seen herds of wild pigs crossing the hills

while she’d been up here and after an hour of fighting the elements she found their

footprints. Climbing a tree, she sat and waited for the herd to pass down the hill. Wild

pigs were known for following their own tracks back and forth as they searched for

food and water. She opened a cloth bag full of nuts and began munching while she

waited. She hoped she could find food, prepare it, and then settle in for the pain and

discomfort she’d experience once she drank the potion.

What if this child’s papa was Gilroy? She wouldn’t think about that. There would

be no way of knowing until the child was born, and if the child looked like her they

would never know if the papa was Gilroy’s or Andru’s. She felt light-headed and

grabbed the branch she sat on as the ground turned underneath her.

It seemed like hours passed before she heard the sounds of the wild pigs grunting

as they pounded through the snow in a large herd. She singled one out and fired,

causing the pig to fall and the rest of the herd to squeal loudly and stampede down the

hill. She waited patiently until they were gone and then climbed down to claim her

prize.

The damn pig was heavy. She grabbed it by the hind legs and pulled the rope off

her belt to tie the legs together. She threw the rope over a sturdy branch and pulled to

lift the pig and bleed it. A sharp pain ran through her groin and she just about doubled

over from its intensity. She jumped at the sound of her own voice as she yelled out from

the electric shock sensations that shot through her groin and down her legs.

What was that? She hunched over with her hands on her bent legs and breathed

heavily until the pain subsided. Oh Crator, had she just hurt the baby?

“What am I thinking?” she spoke out loud to the dead pig. “I plan on killing this

baby.”

Whoa…she didn’t like the way that sounded. She straightened and studied the

dead pig, the branch above her, and then looked around her casually half expecting to

see Andru, Gilroy and Beel walking across the snow to her rescue.

You don’t want their help, remember?

She stubbornly grabbed the rope and pulled with all her might. She was strong

enough to lift Gilroy off her, she reminded herself. They’d tested her strength once and

she’d strategically placed her legs and arms underneath him and lifted him a good six

inches off her body. She should be able to lift this damn pig.

She blew out a breath of air and pulled on the rope with all her might. She ignored

the shooting pain and watched as the pig slowly rose into the air. All of a sudden the

pig lunged and his front hoofs nailed her in the shoulder. Her screams permeated the

air and she fell into the deep snow as the pig fell again to the ground.

“I thought you were dead.” She groaned and struggled to a sitting position. Her

shoulder pulsated in pain. Pulling out her knife she quickly slit the pig’s throat and then

sat back to stare at it.

“Damn you to hell.” She leaned her head back and cried into the air. “Why did you

do this to me? Crator, why did this have to happen?” She let the tears flow, their

warmth stinging her cold face.

She looked up to see Beel standing several feet away from her and easily pulling the

pig into the air. He secured the rope and then stood back as the blood began to drip

from the pig’s throat.

“Are you okay?” he whispered, as he squatted down in front of her.

She simply stared at his calm face and then looked around her for the other two.

She saw nothing but snow and then looked back at her half-brother’s extended hand.

Slowly, she placed her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. The ground

moved from under her feet and his other hand moved to her back to steady her. She

grabbed his elbow and let him balance her until the spinning sensation passed.

“What’s wrong with you?” he whispered.

“Nothing.” She didn’t sound convincing even to herself.

Somehow they arrived at her trailer and she stepped inside. Beel moved around

her, glancing at the contents of the room quickly. She knew he took in everything with

one sweep. Beel didn’t miss much. He sniffed the pungent aroma coming from the

stove and shot her a side-glance that she pretended not to notice.

She turned in time to see two large figures wearing long fur coats with hoods walk

up to her door. Two faces looked up at her and she saw dark charcoal eyes and sky-blue

eyes stare at her. Immediately her hand balled into a fist and before anyone could react

she reached up and punched her brother dead in the face. He literally fell back into

Gilroy.

“You lousy-ass bastard,” she screamed and raised her arm to strike him again.

“I thought I was the bastard,” Beel spoke calmly, almost chuckling, as his arm

wrapped around Ana’s waist and pulled her back into the trailer so the two men could

enter.

“I don’t want you here.” Her voice trembled as Gilroy pulled the door shut behind

him and Andru pulled off his long, heavy coat. “Get out.” She turned away from all

three of them and her hand went to her injured shoulder as she began crying again.

“Just get out of my life and leave me alone.”

Gilroy slid his hood back as well and walked over to her. His hands went to her

waist and he lifted and turned her, at the same time placing her on one of the stools in

her kitchen. Andru also ignored her orders to leave and walked over to her landlink. He

quickly punched several keys and she knew he was removing her block and

establishing a link with Gothman.

“Do you think you’re just going to walk in here and take control like you always

do?” She slapped at Gilroy and then braced herself so she wouldn’t fall off the stool.

“I’ve had it, Andru. I’m not yours to do with as you please.”

Gilroy’s hands became vise grips on her legs. “But you are mine and I’ve had

enough of your antics.”

“My antics?” She turned her rage on him and midnight-blue eyes met her head-on.

“You’re sick of my antics? He’s the one that took me like a dog.” She pointed her finger

at Andru. “And you held me so he could do it.”

She was too mad to cry right now. She looked from one to the other and both stared

back at her. The fury on their faces was gone but she couldn’t detect what either one of

them were thinking.

“Is that how you treat all the women the two of you sleep with? You had no

concern for me whatsoever. I tried to tell you who I was and to keep him away from me

and you wouldn’t let me talk.” She jabbed her finger into Gilroy’s chest. “If I hadn’t

been there you would have just done that to some other woman, wouldn’t you?”

Like lightning, Gilroy grabbed the finger that was stabbing his chest and crushed

her hand in his.

“If we hadn’t been there then two other men would have done that to you,” he

hissed at her in a rage she’d never seen in him before.

Ana’s expression froze as the impact of what he’d just said hit her. Wide-eyed, she

looked from him to Andru to Beel.

“Then you did know it was me,” she whispered unbelievably.

“Not until I saw you leave in the middle of the night,” Andru answered quietly. He

sighed deeply and walked over to lean against the counter. “Ana, neither one of us had

a clue it was you. We were drugged and you were masked. If our guards weren’t

standing outside the tent there would have been other men in there as well. Good grief,

Ana.” Andru shut his eyes tightly and put his fist to his forehead. “You don’t know

how lucky you were. The next morning they found one of the she-witches dead. She’d

been beaten so badly her face was unrecognizable. We knew you were one of the she-

witches and that you’d show up there sooner or later. But that one she-bitch drugged

the keg of ale and we consumed a fair bit of that opium lust stuff. We saw another she-

witch carried out of there and the third was still being used when we left. If I hadn’t

seen you leave with that other one in the middle of the night we wouldn’t have known

if that dead girl was you or not. Things got incredibly out of hand.”

“That’s right. You’re lucky we didn’t hurt you.” Gilroy reached behind her neck

and pulled her face into his chest. “You’ve made yourself sick worrying about this, my

lady, haven’t you?”

He spoke quietly now and she didn’t stop herself from collapsing into his powerful