Enemies and Lovers Amongst Us (17 page)

herself to go back to their table. First it was Sam who pushed her to

confide in them and now Jake. But how could she? How could she tell

them what she had felt or seen at the motel?

The chill of death continued to etch itself up and down her spine

like a hand would massage her back. Only it hardly felt like a

massage, more like a sharp knife slicing her skin to expose her

delicate vertebrae.

When the trampy- looking brunette came out of the far left stall

and gave her an irritated look that said,
What the fuck are you still

doing here?
, she realized she couldn’t procrastinate any longer. She’d be drawing too much attention to herself that she didn’t need.

Reapplying the blood red lipstick she had just wiped off, she then

quickly teased her curly red hair and pushed down her skintight dress

so her cleavage could be more exposed. Giving the snobby bitch a

sideways glance to tell her she could go screw herself, she headed on

out. To her unexpected surprise she almost rammed into a tall,

muscular man waiting just outside the door.

“What the hell!” Being caught off guard, she forgot to use an

accent. She frowned, gazing up into his stern eyes.

“Here, this is for you.” The raven- haired man handed her a paper.

Still taken aback, she blankly stared at him and then at the folded

paper in his right hand. He shook his hand back and forth, obviously

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showing her he no longer wanted to hold on to it, but to pass on his

cursed possession to her.

“Lady, I don’t have all day. I was asked to give this to you.”

“What is this?” She lifted her brow in curiosity.

“It’s a note addressed to you. Someone wants you to meet them

somewhere.”

“You read it?”

“Sort of.” He shrugged.

“Who gave it to you?”

“A guy here at the club paid me a hundred dollars to wait outside

this door and hand this to the tall redhead with the deep purple, tight

dress when she came out. That’s you, so here you go.”

Taking it from him and opening it up, she tried to assess what the

note said. It was in code, but she obviously figured out its meaning, at

least most of it. Her heart began to hammer so hard that it ached in

her chest.

“What? The guy who gave you this, what did he look like?” She

showed him a panicked expression and then scanned the perimeter of

the crowded area.

Everyone was busy doing their thing. No one looked suspicious,

except for a dark- figured man standing in the shadows twenty feet

away. His face was masked by darkness, but something about him

made him very familiar. She was about to walk over to him when the

man who gave her the message touched her arm.

“That’s not him. The guy who paid me is a regular in this joint. I

see him in here all the time. He is a bit shorter than me and has dirty

blond hair. He has a tattoo of a wolf on his left bicep and of a

werewolf on his right. Weird and creepy as hell.”

“If he is so creepy, why did you offer your services?”

“Hey, an easy hundred dollars is an easy hundred dollars. What

the hell do I care if he’s creepy? It’s not like I have to hang out with

him or something.”

“Where is he now?”

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“I saw him leaving after he handed me the note.”

“Damn,” Triala let slip out of her mouth. If she hadn’t spent so

much time in the stupid bathroom, she could have stopped him.

The guy stared at her for a minute. “Look, that’s all I know. I

can’t help you anymore. I’d like to go get back to my date.”

Her mind churned frantically. She barely heard his words. When

he stated again, “Lady, I can’t help you anymore,” she frowned and

focused on his dark eyes. But she didn’t see him, just pictured the

bloody inanimate bodies in her vision before.

Waving her hand, she nodded. “Yeah, that’s fine. Go back to your

date.”

Opening the folded paper once again, she took note of the address

and darted for the exit. She wasn’t too familiar with the area, but

remembered seeing the street in the message. She estimated it would

take her twenty minutes to get to the locale at top speed.

Twenty minutes…A lot could happen in twenty minutes.

That same chill of death she experienced earlier began to crawl up

and down her spine once more. She shuddered at the thoughts it

brought with its evil, tormenting return.

* * * *

Theo lit his cigarette and let the match fall to the ground as he

threw his head back to get his bangs out of his eyes. The area was

secluded. The perfect place to plan an ambush. Checking his watch,

he wondered what was taking her so long. She should have been here

ten or fifteen minutes ago.

No matter, the extra time gave him a chance to go over his plan.

Zeek helped him bring them here, but he asked him to leave after that.

Zortal told him to get rid of the Triala Barns’ problem alone. And

although he couldn’t put into motion the first part of his scheme

alone, the second part, the most important part, he needed to do all by

himself.

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127

As he took a deep intake of his cigarette, he saw headlights

approach. A smile spread from ear to ear.
Baby, you finally came
.

His cock did a little twitch in his tight jeans, anticipating her

arrival. And when she parked the car right in front of him just a few

feet away and walked out wearing that sexy number he saw her in

earlier in the club, his imagination went wild. The figure-hugging

attire didn’t leave much to the imagination. Mamma, but her body

was perfect.

She walked right up to him and stared him straight in the eye. Her

beautiful, green-eyed stare never wavered, nor her stance, when she

asked, “Where are they?”

He couldn’t help but laugh at her behavior. “You mean your male

friends? I know where they are.”

“Tell me where they are, or I will tear you apart limb from limb.”

She sneered.

“Oh, I have no doubt you would, but then where would that leave

you? If I die, you’ll never find out where they are, or if they are still

alive.”

He saw the heat built in her face. Her nostrils even flared. Damn,

she was sexier angry. “If you hurt them, I will skin you alive.”

He laughed. “Relax, sexy. They’re alive for the time being, and

they’ll stay alive as long as you do what I tell you.”

“What do you want from me?” she asked through gritted teeth.

Turning to open the unlocked door to the abandoned warehouse,

he extended his arm in welcome. “After you,” he said with a devilish

grin.

She squinted, stepped through the door, and then turned to look at

him without saying a word. He walked past her and said, “Follow

me.”

He brought her to the lunchroom in the back of the building and

motioned with his hand to a chair and the metal table. “Have a seat.”

She huffed, pushing the chair back to sit. He strode casually to the

counter and poured two glasses of cognac in the prearranged goblets

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he had set on the table earlier. Taking a sip from one, he brought the

other to her.

“Here, have a drink.”

She pushed the glass away. “I’m not thirsty. I want to know where

they are now,” she said with a forceful tone.

He wagged his finger back and forth in mockery. “Ah, ah, ah. If

you don’t play good, I won’t tell you.”

Growling, she snatched the glass from his hands. “Fine.” Looking

at the contents, she added, “How do I know if you didn’t add poison

to my glass?”

He laughed. “No, no poison.”

Yet she still procrastinated.

He took back the glass and took a quick sip. “See?” Then he

handed it back to her.

She stared at the copper liquid and took several large gulps of the

alcohol then slammed the empty glass on the table. It shattered in

several pieces. Shards of it cut into her flesh, but she hardly noticed it.

Man, the more time he spent near her, seeing her in action, the

more he wanted her. “All good things come to those who wait” kept

ringing in his ears as he took slow, steady sips of his drink while he

stared at her over the rim of his glass.

He was going to milk it, and her, for all they were worth and savor

every second.

* * * *

The damn bastard toyed with her. Her hand stung from the cuts

the glass had inflicted on her skin, and she saw blood leaking out onto

the table, but she didn’t care. All she wanted to do was transform into

her beast form and tear him to shreds. But if she did that, how would

she find out where they, whoever they were, kept Sam and Jake?

God, she prayed they were still alive, that they hadn’t hurt them.

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This was all her fault. If she had told Jake and Sam about her

vision earlier, maybe they would have been on the lookout, more

alert, and then they wouldn’t have been captured. Maybe if she had

told them all of it, they could have changed the future and thus

changed the outcome of her vision.

So many possibilities to wonder about, yet here she sat with no

choice but to follow this annoying, brutish bastard’s instructions.

As she stared at him while he stared back, taking small sips of his

drink, she cursed. “Are we going to sit here all night drinking?”

His image suddenly turned to two. She saw double. What a

nightmare. Rubbing her eyes, she heard him say, “No, just until the

poison takes effect.”

“Poison? What poison?” The room warped before her eyes.

“The one I put in your drink, of course.”

“But you told me it wasn’t laced.”

“I lied. Sue me.” He sneered.

“You drank from it and it’s not affecting you?”

He threw his head back as he laughed loudly. For a split second he

appeared like a horned demon before her. “No, it only looked like I

did. I just brought the liquid close to my closed lips.”

She attempted to stand up so she could transform into the beast,

but her wobbly legs made that virtually impossible. Her body felt like

it weighed a ton and kept getting heavier every moment that passed.

“You bastard. What did you do to me?”

“You won’t be able to transform into your beast form, Triala.” He

laughed. “The poison is a special cocktail that is lethal enough to kill

werewolves. If you were human, you’d already be dead. But since

you’re a werewolf like me, it won’t kill you quickly. Death will be

slow and slightly painful at the end. Your mind will play tricks on you

and make you have hallucinogenic visions.”

He knew who she was. How? And why hadn’t she picked up his

scent? The Rogues must have figured a way to mask their scents

completely.

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Jessica Frost

Confusion enveloped her. His face turned into a trembling entity

that shivered with every word he spoke. She closed her eyes and

cursed. “Damn you. Why did you do this to me?”

“Because I was ordered to kill you, but I wanted some fun before

doing that.”

The room started to spin, and she lost her balance, falling to the

floor. “You’re not going to get away with this. The Voyeur Scouts are

on their way. I contacted them with my cell when I got your note.

They’ll find me, kill you, and give me the antidote,” she bluffed.

He chuckled hard and took out of his shirt pocket what looked like

a shimmering blue box. “You mean you called them with this cell

phone right here?”

When she squinted, she made out it was her cell phone. In shock,

she asked, “How did you get it?”

“I had a girl I know pickpocket it out of your purse when you first

went into the bathroom. She’s real good. It takes her just a few

seconds to snatch beauties like this.” He glanced at what he held in

his hand.

“So you see, even though there is an antidote for the poison,

which I have safely hidden, you don’t have a chance in hell of being

saved. I know the cavalry isn’t coming to your rescue anytime soon.”

“How do you know for sure? One of the Voyeurs could have had

a vision of you and what you are doing to me.”

He shook his head. “I doubt it. A special spell was cast on me

earlier for the very reason of making me invisible to you guys. No,

baby, no one is coming. I got you all to myself.”

As he bent down and picked her up in his arms, she struggled to

push him away. But her arms felt like foreign objects which she had

no motor control over.

He bent in and kissed the nape of her neck. “You smell sweet, you

sexy thing. Mmm, are we going to have fun or what?”

She closed her eyes tightly enough that tears streamed down her

cheeks. She hoped they would clear her vision so that she could focus

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on her surroundings, and when she saw a chance she would get the

hell away from this vile bastard as soon as possible and contact the

Voyeurs.