Mixed Feelings (Empathy in the PPNW Book 1) (26 page)

“Nysgrogh, Queen Orlagh is
none too happy with thee.”

My eyes snapped open when a
deep voice rumbled through my chest. A very large, furry hand had stopped one
of Nys’
s wayward
bolts of energy from slicing
into me. The hand moved, taking the power with it, and I jerked my head around
to find Hardy to my left, a stern look on his tusked face. The demon girl
screeched and threw herself at him, hands crackling with purple electricity.

“I do not answer to the
fae
,
” she hissed. Hardy lifted one arm to block her swing, sweeping his
other under her guard to press the stolen
purple
power against her ribcage. She yowled but kept coming at him. Her arms waved,
her
nails
looking
especially sharp, as he used
one hand to hold her off while the other blocked her swings toward his face.
Her body was jerking as he continued to shove his own dark red power against
her chest, right above her heart. Meanwhile, she was scratching his arms,
drawing blood even through the fur. His blood was red, which surprised me, and
his wide face betrayed the pain he was in.

I was too busy watching their
struggle to notice that someone was undoing my bonds. At about the third
power-backed punch that Hardy blocked, I heard a whisper from my right.

“
Psst!
”

Yelping, I turned to
see
the top of Chloe’s head poking up from next to the
table. Dizziness rode through my body as my ribcage tried to compensate for the
rave my heart was throwing in my chest. I whispered frantically
, catching Chloe
’s determined expression as
she unbuckled the last strap near my wrist.

“
You
’
re
alive! You
’
re
—I thought you were—”

“
Don
’t call attention over here,”
Chloe
warned
,
reaching up to
press
a finger against my lips. “They
don’t usually deal with demons but Syham should be able to handle her. I’ll get
you out of here, get this shit out of your arm.”

I wanted to ask who Syham
was, but I was too light-headed, too concerned with the fact that Chloe was
alive
and
here
to
rescue
me! I was saved! Within moments the straps along my left arm were gone, leaving
only the needle and cord. When she shifted to crouch-walk toward my feet, I
noticed movement behind her.

“
Behind
—”
I started. Chloe
’s expression changed in an instant and I felt a brief
stab of anger arc out of her. She darted right, twisting and pushing to her
feet. Dirk’s grab missed by a hair’s breadth and she shoved her own hand up,
slamming
the heel of her hand toward his face. Dirk
avoided her attempt to break his nose, dropping downward and reaching out. I
missed exactly how he managed it but, to Chloe’s credit, she didn’t scream as
Dirk lifted her and flung her backward. She twisted in midair like a cat and
went down protecting her skull.

Unfortunately for Mel, she
used his
body
as a landing pad. He grunted
but Dirk didn’t seem to notice. He and his badly injured head were making their
way past me to assist Nysgrogh in her fight with Hardy. The wicked holes in his
skull had decimated his right ear and part of his left eye socket. I was
betting the only reason he had missed Chloe was that he was half-blind.

Mel
’s voice, raspy with confusion, called out by my feet.

“
Chloe?
”

“
Mel?
”

“
Help!
” I demanded, my body sprouting fresh panic through my
skin. I was sweating and the fact that I kept glimpsing the needle in my arm
was only making things worse. If I’d been a rabbit, I definitely would have
already died of, like, six heart attacks
.

“
Gwen?
”
Mel asked. Chloe
got
to her feet and attempted to heave Mel to his. He made
it to his knees before gravity seemed to yank him to the side
.
“
Whoa.
”

“
Help!
”
I
repeated, willing my free arm
to wave in case he couldn’t locate me. It remained draped across the table.

“
Help her,
”
Chloe barked
, dropping Mel’s heavy arm
and darting past me. I looked up, tried to follow her, but it was too dark and
she was too fast.

“
So bossy,
” Mel complained and I turned away from where Chloe
had gone. Mel pushed to his feet, but stumbled.

I shrieked out a terrified, “
No!
” as I saw him bring his hand up, trying to grab for
the foot of the table. His brows shot into his hair as the heel of his hand hit
the edge but continued downward. He didn’t know the table was meant to be both
vertical and horizontal
,
and Nysgrogh hadn’t locked
it into the down position.

I screamed as his weight
carried the foot of the table down, lifting me to a standing position yet
again. I felt the table hit something by my head and it made a clacking sound,
like when Dirk had snapped his teeth at me.

I jerked my head over, caught
sight of Hardy dodging a two-by-four swung by the demon. Shortly after, Dirk
shambled into view, hands pressed to his face, which had spouted a cascade of
blood. He managed a mumbled string of what might have been cuss words before
one of Nys’
s
swings hit him in the
shoulder. She spared him a glance, spat something his way that sounded to me
like gibberish, and then turned back to Hardy.

The furry fairy and the diminutive
demon eyed each other in silence for a moment and I had the briefest of hopes
that she was about to give in. Hardy, however, had no such illusions; he was
ready for her as she launched herself once again toward his face, fresh, smoky
power oozing from her hands and arms. She gripped the front of his chest fur
and jammed her feet into his gut, holding herself close to him as her free hand
went for one of his giant eyeballs.

Past them, I caught a glimpse
of Chloe as she popped up behind Dirk. She was patient, her face stern as she
mimicked his movements to stay behind him without touching. Finally, as he
leaned back, possibly to stop the blood gushing from his broken nose, she
carpe’d her diem. A knife glinted in the light as she reached around his upturned
neck. I cried out in shock as she pressed, dragged, and slit his throat.

Nys screamed as a white blur
appeared behind her, wrapping long limbs around her torso and pulling her away
from her target. She kicked out, hitting Hardy in his barrel chest, but he
barely grunted. Too busy calling more of his own red, soupy power to his hands,
he shrugged off the blow and attempted to close in. Nys kept kicking out, her
hands a flurry above her head. Her attempt at attacking Laurel with raw power
was pointless; it hit his skin, but dissipated immediately. Even the scratching
of her nails didn’t seem to faze him, sliding fast like water down a freshly
waxed car. His grip was tight around her chest, his other arm attempting to
grab at least one of her wild legs.

Past Laurel and his
struggling captive, Dirk was pressing his hands against his bloody neck,
backing up as if he could simply step away from the gushing wound. After
slitting his throat and planting the knife right into Dirk’s heart, Chloe had
disappeared again.

Mel groaned from near my
feet. Blinking down toward him, I felt the vibration of the table as he gripped
the edge next to my knee and tried to pull himself up. My free arm had flopped
to my side but I still did my best to reach out and grab him. Nothing happened.

“
Hurry, hurry!
” I demanded, my voice a high
whine. Mel had gotten one foot under him, trying to push off his knee, when
Nysgro
g
h shrieked an unholy sound. I
whipped my head over, catching sight of Laurel being knocked slightly off
balance. Nys’
s
foot shot out and Mel’s luck
continued to go from bad to worse.

Without so much as a grunt of
pain, he dropped out of sight, keeling over backward: he’d taken an energetic
steel-toe right to the face. I blinked down at where he’d been, noting the faint
blood spray across my
legs.

“
No!
” I shrieked, turning to concentrate on my own arm. Chloe was still
missing, Mel seemed to be down for the count, and Laurel and Hardy had their
arms full with the screaming demon.
I
had
to be able to get myself free, but no matter how much I tried, I
couldn’
t move my limbs.

I considered, after far more
struggling than was comfortable, that I was trying very hard to make a very
stupid mistake. Chloe had gotten my left arm free but the only reasons I was
still upright were the straps on my right arm and my legs. I was still mostly
paralyzed and if I managed to get unbound, I would likely just collapse
straight into the concrete floor, face first. Then I'd be no better off than
Mel or Dirk.

A gun barked again, three
quick times, and I heard a grunt from Nysgrogh. Laurel growled out something
that, if I had to guess, was the
alphabet sneezing
, and Hardy sighed. Just as quickly as it had exploded
to life, the fighting died. The only sounds in the room were heavy breathing
and a pathetic gurgling coming from Dirk.

“You got it?”
Chloe asked. Laurel
made an insulted sniffing
sound
and I turned to watch him adjust the body of the
girl in his arms. Her limbs were twitching, dark, smoky power puffing out of
her fingers at random intervals. Even as I watched, the three wounds across her
skull were healing.

“Of course I have, human. You
need not have interfered.”

“Stick a cork in it, scout
,
”
Chloe
ordered, as if she did this sort of thing every day
.
“Just get her out of here.”

“Give her to me,”
Hardy said.
Irritation and insult fizzed out of Laurel
and along my skin but rather than argue,
he dumped
the girl into Hardy’s arms.
Hardy
cradled her surprisingly gently and pressed a hand
over her face.

“Cease,” he said, his tone
calm, almost sweet. Instantly, the spasms
wracking
her body stopped. She went limp and the lack of
movement seemed to startle Laurel. He hissed and jerked back. Once he was sure
she wasn’t about to attack him, I watched his body loosen; he straightened up
and I was reminded of a cat that had stumbled but tried to make it look
deliberate.

The power rippling around the
demon died down and I felt a peculiar sensation in my head. I managed a small,
uncomfortable grunt before the feeling of a bubble expanding in my brain became
too much to bear, and I went under.

Chapter
Nineteen

There was a furnace next to
me and it seemed to be breathing. I shoved at it but my attack was weak,
ineffective. I whimpered and tried to roll away. Slowly, and with great effort,
I pushed back the layers of thick blankets determined to cook me alive.

As I had before, I felt the
tiny claws of Poopy the cat press into my leg before she made her way up my
body and hit me in the face like a truck. A puff of affection and relief might
have come out of her
,
but the cat couldn't seem to
sustain such unselfish emotions; they were gone in an instant and for a second
I wondered if my empathy hadn’t come back to me after all.

“
Ugh,
” I mumbled, but the cat wasn’t deterred. She reminded me of Mel in that
moment, especially when she shifted positions, jabbed two paws into my cleavage
,
and started methodically massaging just above my left
nipple.

“
Ow, ow! Claws!
”
I
yelped
, pulling
away. My back pressed against a solid line of heat as I fought the cat. She was
determined; when I moved her paws, she switched tactics and shoved them into my
throat. I let out a
strangled gurgle
and then felt a single paw press against my lips. Both the cat and I
froze, though she had the advantage of being able to see me in the dark. We
stayed that way for a few moments, one paw still digging claws into my neck,
the other forcing my silence. Finally, as disappointment clouded through her,
she huffed out a contemptuous rumble and took off. Relief at not being cowed by
the cat meshed with happiness at my empathy working again and
I grinned.

The furnace at my back
shifted and I felt an arm wrap around my waist, cutting my contentment off at
the knees.
I
rolled over to fight the grip
as the arm pulled me against a broad chest and I found myself brushing noses
with Mel. When I pushed at him again, he
gave in
with a sleepy mumble of assent, pulled his arm away,
and rolled over. He didn’t say anything
else
,
but he did
tug hard at the covers until
I was nearly free of their weight
.

“What the hell?” I demanded,
doing my best to sit up. My balance refused to cooperate, though, and I got
halfway before collapsing back into the pillow. My skin started waking up in
sections and I could feel a dozen small, sticky lines of plastic along my arms,
legs, and stomach.

“
Gwen?
” Chloe asked as the door
opened.

Mel mumbled an order for
silence and pulled the covers even more tightly over his shoulders
.

“What the
hell
?
” I demanded again, still trying to fight my inner ear for dominance.
Chloe laughed when she saw me and moved quickly to my side, crouching down. She
put a hand on my head, pressed gently.

“You need to stay calm, lay
down for a little longer. The paralytic isn’t out of your system yet and you’re
still healing. Dirk took a lot out of you. Likewise the demon.”

“
Shh,
” Mel grumbled again. It made me want to shove him off the side of the
bed. Or the side of a building.

“What—”

“The hell, yes, I heard you,”
Chloe interrupted. “Do you remember anything?”

“I remember—” I paused.
What did I remember? What was going on? Why was I
starving
?
“
I don
’t remember.”

“
You don
’t remember anything? Not major world events? Who’
s our president? What
’s the eighth letter of the
alphabet? How did you get all these scratches?”
Chloe poked me hard
on
one of my bandages. The pain sliced up through me,
making me whine
and writhe. By the time it
finished arcing up my body into my brain, things started to come back to me.

“
Oh god!
”
I
yowled
as the
last few hours snapped into f
ocus.
“Dirk? The girl?
Are they—”

“
Dirk
’s handled.”

“Dead?”

“
Don
’t worry about him.”

“The demon?”

“Also handled, for the
moment. How do you feel?”

I considered that,
investigating how I felt, tucked against the warm covers next to Mel. I felt
bad, but no worse than I’d felt over the last few days. Bad luck had taken a
liking to me and I sincerely hoped that, with the demon and Dirk “
handled
,” it would move on to someone else. I didn’t have it
in me to live in this much pain for the rest of my life.

“I guess I’
m okay,
” I said after a few moments, still trying to discern
my chances of ever feeling better.

“Wonderful. Then, since we
have some important things to discuss, I’m going to bring you a cookie.”

I blinked at her,
my train of thought switching
tracks at the mention of
sweets
.

“I love you,”
I said.

She smiled, rubbed a hand
over my forehead and cheek, and then headed for the other room. I heard the cat
meow and Chloe cooed back.

I took the silence as a
chance to take stock of myself. I was fully clothed, but not in the clothes
that had been ruined by Dirk and Nysgrogh. I had several bandages along my
limbs and a wad of cotton taped to my inner elbow. Swallowing my discomfort, I
slipped a hand under the blanket and walked it hesitantly toward Mel’s back.
When I brushed my fingertips along the fabric of his jeans and sighed in
relief, he shifted.

“
Gwen?
” he asked, his voice groggy.

“
No?
” I answered, hoping he’d believe me. He remained still for a moment but
I could tell he was awake. After a second, he rolled onto his back, lifting his
arms and resting his head in his interlocked hands. I glared at him in the
darkness, wondered how well he could see my expression.

“I recognize that scent,” he
said with a grin in his voice. “
Can
’
t fool me.
”

He didn’t make any other
moves toward me and didn’t elaborate on how I smelled. I was sure after all I’d
been through that it was no longer roses and lilac, but I couldn’t tell how Mel
was feeling about it either way. Without asking permission, I reached over,
felt along his chest and neck until I found the smooth stone of Merrin’
s necklace.

“
Now go lower,
” he purred.

“Down boy,” Chloe murmured
from the door, a plate of cookies in one hand and a pair of juice boxes in the
other. Despite the fact that most of my mind was concerned with only drooling
over the incoming sugar I could feel a flutter of concern within her
.
When she was close enough I reached out and grabbed
for the cookies without asking. I was able to stuff two of them in my mouth
before Chloe pulled the plate away and set it at the foot of the bed. I pouted
but let her tuck pillows behind me so I was sitting up.

Mel sat up on his own,
swinging his legs off the side of the bed. He took a second to stand, waited a
moment, and then padded toward the door.

“Nature calls,” he explained,
making me scowl again. It wasn’t really what he said, just that he was there at
all.

“
Cookie,
” I demanded. Chloe shook her
head and shoved a juice box toward me. I slurped at
it
and then sighed. My throat felt dry but the juice was helping.

“How do you feel?” She
touched my forehead again
, reminding
me of my big
sister. I wondered, for a second, if I would ever be able to tell Robin about
what had become the weirdest week of my life.

“
I
’
m
still dizzy. And hungry. Cookie.
” I pointed toward the plate and watched Chloe’s
shoulders slump. She leaned forward, pulling me into a tight hug. She squeezed
me and, after a moment, I heard her breath catch. Sadness and relief welled
like an overflowing jug.

“
Hey,
” I said, shocked. “Are you crying?”

“
No,
” she insisted, her voice betraying the lie. Empty juice box in hand, I
wrapped my arms around her, hugging her back.

“
I
’
m okay,
” she said, but still
wouldn’t let go. I settled against her, resting my head on her shoulder with my
nose in the crook of her neck. I felt her body shudder as worried relief and
tears rolled out of her. I didn’t have the energy to shield against the sadness
as it tried to leech into my skin like radiation, and I felt a few
falling
tears of my own
. Chloe
’s sadness wasn’t entirely to blame, though; I had a
lot to
cry about.

After a few
sobbing hiccups
, she seemed to calm.

“
I
’
m sorry,
” she said, her voice shaky
.
“
I can
’t believe I let you get
taken and sucked nearly dry. I should have been paying more attention, realized
the demon was sneaking up on me.”

“You couldn’t have known. Me,
on the other hand…
I
should have known Dirk was
around.
I don
’t know why I didn’t feel him
until he was right there—I couldn’t feel him when I woke up, either. Him
or the demon. Not until you guys showed up
.
”

I mulled it over as Chloe
sniffled and steadied herself
.
It had to have been the
demon’
s doing. She
’d been in my head
reorganizing, after all. I couldn’t figure out what she would have gotten out
of blocking me from knowing how happy she was to torture me, but it was the
only thing I could think of.

“Well, then
,
it’
s
all
your fault,”
Chloe
said, and I could
feel
the smile even if I couldn’t
see it
.
“The kidnapping, the blood
loss, the fact that Mel got his butt beaten six ways from Sunday.” I snorted,
taking a second to enjoy the mental image of him getting kicked in the face by
a girl. Truce or not, Mel had spent over a year abusing me whenever he got the
chance and had flat out told me he wasn’t planning to stop. I needed that
mental image to keep me strong in the future.

Chloe squeezed me again and
we stayed like that, breathing against each other’s necks for another few
minutes.

Mel stepped back into the
room and I saw him blink his eyes in the light from the living room. When he
got a good look at the two of us wrapped in each other’s arms, he waggled his
brows at me.

“Mind if I join you?” he
asked, his hands going to the button on his jeans. Chloe shifted out of the hug
and grabbed the juice box from my hand, heaving it at his head. Mel weaved as
if it was a bowling ball and not a juice box, but caught it. “Fine, then. Be
that way.” He sniffed and strolled out of the room, head held high. Chloe
snorted and turned back to me.

“I was so worried about you.”

“What the hell
happened
? I thought you got shot!”

“I did. Bulletproof vest.
Hurts like a bitch, though. I hit my head when I went down, which was
unacceptable. By the time I came around enough to realize what was going on
,
I was the only one left. I wasn't even out long, but
the demon has tricks I don't
.”

“How the hell did you find
me?”

She went silent and I wished
I could see her expression in the darkened room. After a tense moment, she
shook her head. Taking another second for herself, she spoke.

“
Merrin,
” she lied.

I didn’t call her on it.
She’d saved my life, after all.

***

Mel and I sat around Chloe’s
retro kitchen table, slow music playing quietly through the room. I wasn’
t sure why Mel was still
hanging out, but with the necklace, I
actually
wasn
’t too bothered by him staying. He looked worse than I’d ever seen him,
his face filled with splotches of black and blue, his chin scraped up. He
managed to avoid complaining, which was better than I would have done in his
situation. If my face had looked like his, I would have been wailing, demanding
all manner of treats to distract me from the pain.