Tempting the Light: Legends and Myths Police Squad (L.A.M.P.S. Book 1) (19 page)

The Gnome swung his hand above him and jabbed his talon down into Abby’s head. She landed in a dense tree. River and Ottar surveyed the fight scene, and adjusted their position. Hercules ran to the bottom of the tree. Screeching and squawking drowned out the normal crickets and forests sounds.

He cursed under his breath.

The great Jersey Devil plunged from the tree with the Gnome flailing about her head, and cannonballed into the stream below. Hoofed feet stuck straight up in the water. River and Ottar dashed to the creek.

River circled around and cast out his net. This time the webbing surrounded the Gnome. “I got him. A little help here?”

Ottar jumped to his side, grabbed hold of the net, and helped him haul in their catch. Deep lines in Ottar’s face tensed, and his cheeks pulsed when he pulled the rope tight to help River snare the creature.

Abby flapped furious wings in the water, her balance off-kilter, like a wounded albatross on its back. Her snout thrashed about in the cascading current. Her furry legs splattered water in all directions until she sat upright. Blood dripped from the top of her head.

Hercules barked, but stayed by his side.

Her gaze locked on River.

He pulled out his gun, aimed at her chest, and pulled the trigger.

BOOM.

Chapter 29

The side of Abby’s face stuck to a cold concrete floor, in a puddle of drying crusty slime. Startled, she sat up to take in dingy concrete walls, a small cot, and a steel toilet around her. She turned her head to gaze upon iron bars. Beyond the Haber Cove Jail bars, River sat in a chair with his elbows resting on his knees, hands folded in front of him, his frozen stare latched onto her.

The previous evening flashed back to her like a drunk remembering a horrible binge.
Oh dear God.

“What happened?” Her voice was barely audible and scratchy. She wasn’t sure River heard her.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” There was no pity in his voice, only accusation. His blue eyes narrowed in contempt.

She tried to move her hands apart and realized she had been hog tied with a rope. Looking up at River she asked, “Is all this necessary?”

“That depends.” He didn’t get up.

“I couldn’t . . .” She jerked her hands up and her legs followed with the motion. The heavy nylon ropes held tight.

A squabble noise and a bang came from behind her. She pivoted her head to see through the bars in the next cell. The Gnome grunted and bucked, trying to get out of his own ropes.

“You caught him.” A smile spread across her face.

“Yes.” Monotone. No emotion. No heart.

She flinched at his scowl. River would never forgive her. She imagined what came next—he’d ship her off to their secret laboratory, and she’d become the next slab of monster for his superiors to dissect.

Abby’s throat tightened to the point she almost couldn’t draw a breath. She would rather die than be tortured because some sick scientist wanted to know more about her insides.

She laid her head back down, feeling like she owned the worst hangover of her life, and didn’t say anything for a while. The image of River, his face engulfed with worry, beating on the squad car window, shouting for her to unlock the door, flashed in her mind. How did she get out of the car and into the jail? River must have drugged her, or captured her with one of his mysterious metal nets.

Her brows rose.

She shivered, and it was then she realized the worst of it.

She was naked.

No wonder she had a case of the shakes. The cement floor was freezing. She dragged a fingertip threw the sludge-like gel that covered her backside. The cold gloppy gunk wasn’t helping matters at all.

“You couldn’t even dress me?” Her gaze shot over to the handsome but tired looking sheriff. Now she was pissed. At least he could have given her a blanket to cover up with.

Shoot. She was hogtied. What threat was she to him now?

“You changed back just before you woke up. Besides, your clothes are shredded.”

She let out a deep exhausted and frustrated breath. “Pepper could have brought me some.”

“She’s in enough trouble.”

“Is she okay?”

He gave a tight nod.

“What happened? I don’t remember.”

“First let’s start with the curse. I want to know everything.” River grabbed a red and black plaid blanket from a filing cabinet drawer. He unlocked the cell door, bent down and covered her with the scratchy wool before scooping her into his arms and depositing her on the small cot in the corner.

“Thank you.”

Crossing his arms over his chest, River leaned against the wall a good five feet away from her. “The curse?”

“Okay. A genie popped out of a tampon box and said that on the first day I get my period after I turned twenty-five, I would turn into a beast.” Jeez, it sounded ridiculous even when she said it. She rolled her eyes and dropped her head.
Could this get any more embarrassing?

“You’re kidding, right?”

“No.” She wished she was.

He chuckled one of those this-is-just-great laughs, but his eyes still bore condemnation when he shook his head.

“What?” she asked, in defiance of his cold laughter. “It’s not my fault.”

River’s beautiful but frosty blue eyes were aimed straight at her soul. No joy. No adoration. Just disgust. “Why did the genie choose you?”

“Growing up my grandmother used to say that our family was cursed. Only every other generation was affected.”

“So, your grandmother was a Jersey Devil also?”

“I have no idea. She died when I was young. My mother’s neighbor sent me her journal and I should get it today.” She wiggled in her ropes and tried to stretch her aching neck.

His gaze narrowed. “What’s in the journal?”

“My mom said my grandmother had found a cure or something so she wouldn’t be cursed.”

“So we may be able to lift the curse?” River’s eyebrow rose and his face softened just a touch. She felt a flea size flutter at his first words of hope.

“Yes. Maybe? I don’t know. I have to read the journal first. Can you untie me now?” She thrashed against her bindings.

River slowly shook his head. “Not so fast. What if you can’t remove the curse? What do you plan on doing?”

“I haven’t thought that far ahead.”

He dropped his arms and inched closer. “You
should
have told me.”

She eased back. “Why? So you could laugh at me, and then lock me up in your secret agency’s laboratory? Why should I trust you? Why should I trust any man, ever?”

River stared at her with an intense puzzled look for five minutes, which seemed like an eternity. Finally, he blew out a long breath and shook his head like he couldn’t believe what he was about to do. “I’ll cut your ropes free if you can assure me you won’t change back.”

“I won’t be able to change for a few more weeks.”

He pulled out a huge knife that meant business and sawed the ropes off her wrists and ankles.

As the bindings fell away, Abby moved her hands and straightened her legs. “Can you call Pepper and ask her to bring me some clothes?”

“She’s already on her way.”

Shivering, Abby wrapped the warm blanket around herself. “I can’t believe you left me on that filthy floor, naked, for even an instant. Do you know how many germs could have accumulated on it from the drunks and criminals over the years? I hope I don’t catch anything.”

A flash of guilt crossed River’s face.

She glanced over to the Gnome in the cell next to her. His hat lay on the floor out of his reach. He scrunched his elflike features into a scowl.

“How did you catch him?”

“Pepper and Ottar were monitoring you on the computer. Ottar found a landmark and joined me. When we got close, you were dive-bombing the Gnome. It was easy to net him with you as a distraction.”

She helped him catch the gnome? Score one for Abby the flying beast. “How about me? How did you catch me?”

“I was given orders to kill the Jersey Devil. You’re lucky I switched the bullets to the darts. I shot you with the tranq gun.”

“Thanks.” Her voice spooed sarcasm. No wonder she hurt. “You shot me in the chest?” She rubbed the throbbing spot between her breasts.

“Yep.”

“How about my head?”

He nudged his chin in the direction of the Gnome. “You have your little buddy over there to thank for that.”

Her eyes flew wide open at the insult. “Seriously? Great, just great. You know you’re a real jerk.”

River flinched and bowed his head.

Pepper walked in with a tote bag of clothes and a package. River led Abby into his office to sit in a chair next to his desk, the blanket still wrapped around her body.

“Look what just came.” Pepper waved the US mail package in front of her and grinned like it was Christmas. “It’s from Florida.”

“Oh, let me see.” Abby eagerly took the bundle and tore the brown paper off. “It’s two journals.”

She flipped through the pages of the first one. “Most of this one contains high school drama.” She set that journal aside and grabbed the next one and started scanning the weathered pages.

Bingo.
This one talked about the curse, only her grandmother’s curse came on the full moon. “At least
her
genie hadn’t been a total ass.” She skipped through the pages to the back of the book.

Abby cleared her throat. “It says here, the genie has to be summoned before he can be banished.”

“At least you were on the right track,” River said, his words lifted in an optimistic way.

She flashed him a you-shot-me-you-jackass glare, then returned her attention to the journal. “My grandmother wrote we have to do the banishment spell on a full moon so that we can tap into the lunar energy. Oh, and we have to find a strong airtight container.”

“That’s easy. I’ve got loads of Tupperware.” Pepper let out a snort.

Abby glanced around the room.

“What are you looking for?” River asked.

“A calendar. I need to find out when the next full moon is.”

Pepper pulled her smart phone out. “The Farmer’s Almanac says the next full moon will be in eight days.”

“Okay. Make sure you have everything ready by then,” River said.

A huge weight lifted off her chest. Only eight more days and this nightmare might possibly be over. Ignoring River, she ran to the bathroom to get dressed and noticed a shower stall. She jumped in, and the warm pulsing water felt like pure bliss, except when it hit her chest.

He shouldn’t have shot her. Especially not right between the boobs.

River’s heart softened with relief when Abby read that her curse could be lifted.

The way the light had shown through her deep brown eyes made his heart beat at hummingbird speed. So what, she turned into the Jersey Devil and trashed his cop car? The agency would probably end up buying the town a new one. He could really care less about that.

She wasn’t a monster, just a cursed woman that needed his help. Besides, it wasn’t as if she was flying around eating people. His precious, sweet Abby was just a woman with a major case of PMS. Which could be cured. Still. She’d hid the whole truth from him even though she knew he searched for the Jersey Devil. And that didn’t sit well.

Pepper sat down at his desk. “May I?” she asked and pointed to his computer.

He nodded.

Her fingers typed on the keyboard with lightning strokes. “Hey, do you want to see what Abby was doing as the Jersey Devil? She was wearing the camera collar I gave her the whole time. Check this out.”

“So you’re the one responsible for the collar.” He had taken it off her neck before she woke. “Hell yes. I want to see what she was up to during those hours I searched for her.”

They both focused on the screen.

The footage was clear, but jiggled up and down quite a bit. There were branches and more branches. She perched out on an unsteady limb, and faced a darkened cave. Two people walked out of the black mouth in the rock, a man and an older woman with their arms loaded down with golden cups, crowns, and coins. “Well I’ll be damned. That’s Mrs. Livingston and Thomas. I should have figured it out.”

“Wow. Where did they find all that money?” Pepper asked.

River cocked his head. “I’d heard that pirates had buried treasures along the East Coast but would have never believed it.”

Ottar walked in as if River had called him via ESP. “I’ve finished the iron reinforced cage for transporting the Gnome. The girls should leave now.”

River nodded, and looked to Pepper who stared at Ottar as if he were visiting from another planet. Of course Ottar would want the girls to leave. He couldn’t wait to interrogate the Gnome before they took him to L.A.M.P.S. Headquarters.

“We may not have to question the Gnome. The girls found out who’s responsible for bringing him over. Take a look.” River rewound and played the footage for his Aussie boss.

“Well, I’ll be damned.” Ottar’s face went rigid. “Let’s go pick them up, then, right?”

“In a bit. I want to watch the rest of the footage.” River moved closer to the laptop and clicked the play arrow. Every once in a while a leathery wing would show up in the screen. Even as a monster, Abby flew with grace.

“Hey. I hope you don’t mind, but I borrowed your shower.” Abby strode out of the bathroom dressed in jeans and a light baby blue T-shirt, rubbing her wet auburn curls with a towel.

“Not at all.” River turned to look at her and smiled. She smelled like clean sheets on a fresh spring day. He looked back to the computer with the footage.

“What’re you watching?” She leaned over River’s and Pepper’s shoulders.

“The footage of when you were flying around, terrorizing the town. Oh, and the cop car scene—you have to watch this—simply priceless.” Pepper nudged Abby with her elbow.

“Rewind it. This, I’ve got to see.” Ottar pushed his way in front of the screen.

“Maybe we should charge admission.” Abby’s sarcasm spilled through her words.

The scene played, only it looked different to River than he remembered. Small hands grabbed the dash, frantic, as if they hung on for life. She had been terrified. He could see it now in her motions. Hair sprouted on her arms and then her hands shifted into talons. The way the bones grew, snapped, and rearranged, it must have hurt like hell. He shifted in his chair and tugged on his collar.

“Abby, what does it feel like to shift into the monster?” River softened his tone, but his eyes searched for any indication of deceit.

“I never want to go through that again. Think of every bone in your body breaking and then moving and then breaking again. The most pain I’ve ever experienced. But this time it didn’t hurt as much.”