Split at the Seams (30 page)

Before I could get to it, the dog-man had it in his hand again.

“Looks like these things are tougher than they look.” He flashed it so I could see the call was in fact still connected. He pressed it to his ear and said, “I’m sorry but she can’t come to the phone right now.”

“What do you want?” I refused to let him bait me, even tried as hard as I could to keep the disappointment from showing on my face. If that was Conrad lying unconscious downstairs, surely Vixen was too. And there was no way of knowing how close Oren really was. He could still be at his house, or he could be on his way back. There were too many unknown variables right now. So it looked like I just had to deal with this on my own.

Come on, Oren…get here as soon as you can!

“It was so hard to get you alone.” He dumped the phone on the table and stared at me.

“Don’t come near me!” I took a step back, but there was nowhere left to go, just the wall behind me.

A leer formed along his thin lips. “Of course I’m going to come near you,
niña
. How else am I going to take you?”

“You need to tell your freaky friends that I’m not going to play along with whatever sick game they’re trying to involve me in,” I spat. “I took care of Troy and Travis, I’m sure I can do the same to you!”

A knowing glare captured his dark eyes and they flashed red. “Ah, so you’re not totally stupid, then? You do have some idea of what we are…”

I didn’t confirm or deny it. The only thing I suspected about this
Obscurus
group was that Jonathan was somehow involved, that they had access to the demonic, were fascinated with my power, and wanted me dead. Aside from those vague nuggets of suspicion, I was counting on Lavie to provide the rest.

“I know you had help with the brothers,” he said, holding his position on the other side of the kitchen table. “The old man takes good care of you. He’s a pesky witch, and hard to get rid of.” The leer returned. “Don’t get me wrong, I understand why he cares so much about his
granddaughter
.”

I recoiled, unable to hold back my reaction this time. He might not have physically struck me, but the fact he knew who Oren really was made my pulse beat uncontrollably. How could he know, why would he know? Did this mean Jonathan knew the truth too?

“What do you want from me? If you want to kill me, hurry up and get it done!” I yelled.

He chuckled and shook his head, as if he were dealing with a child. “I don’t want you dead. At least, not yet.”

“Then why did you attack me outside my own house?”

He shrugged. “I simply wanted to immobilize you long enough to take you. We’ve been waiting a long time to get you in our grasp.”

“Why?”

Another shrug and this time he took a step, curling his long fingers around the top of the chair in front of him. “We have a lot of plans for you,
niña
. You didn’t think we would take someone so powerful and only use you once, right? You’re going to be used, and then recycled. There’s enough power within your core to last a long while. I don’t think you realize just how special you really are.”

“I’m not as special as you think.”

“See, that’s where you’re wrong. On the outside you appear to be just another spook catcher who can see ghosts, but you’re so much more. Not only do you have witch blood flowing within you, but also other things you couldn’t possibly know about. We’ll tell you soon enough, but now, enough of the chitchat. I think it’s time we got out of here before any of your people get back.”

”Stay the hell away from me.”

“Give me your hand and we can leave without incident.”

“No!”

He rolled his eyes. “I guess we have to do this the hard way.”

“What the hell are you, anyway?”

He stopped his approach. “I’m a
Perro Negro
. Have you ever heard of the black dog?”

I couldn’t believe Oren was right about this creep.

He chuckled. “Your ignorance really does make things a lot easier for us, you know?” His eyes flashed red. “I used to be just another black dog, until
they
discovered me and I evolved into so much more. I have many different names around the world, but my power comes from sorcery. I can change from dog to man as quickly and easily as any werewolf, but with the demonic taint I’ve become so much stronger. My bite can now infect others. I can make more like me.”

At the admission, my clavicle tingled. So both Vixen and I were at risk of becoming a different version of this black dog creature next month. I was going to be sick.

“That’s enough explanations for now. Come on,
niña
!”

“I don’t think so.” I headed left, as if I were making my escape, and he bought it. At the last moment, I dodged right and ran out the back door.

I rushed across the yard, doing my best to keep from slipping on the wet grass or letting the discomfort of running with a dagger in my boot hinder my movements, and made it around the side of the house. Running up the concrete stairs, I was determined to escape before this beast could grab me. As I pumped my legs and ascended toward the front of the house, something struck me in the face. I went down, seeing stars, and landed on my back. Someone rolled me over onto my front, putting pressure against the small of my back.

I should’ve focused on what was ahead, instead of continually looking back trying to spot the hound. No wonder he hadn’t rushed out behind me, he’d had a trap ready and waiting. But who was this?

The sound of heavy breathing suddenly filled my ears as I tried to catch my breath, and I knew he’d finally caught up. Even in his human form, he sounded like a feral animal.

My face hurt so much it made my head pound a sick rhythm.

“I’m going to be sick,” I spat. The pressure on my back lifted slightly, enough for me to raise my upper body and throw up. I coughed uncontrollably, because the acid burned the back of my throat.

“Why can’t you get it right, Mauricio? How many times is she going to evade you?” A silky, female voice I vaguely recognized said above me. So this woman was the one who’d smacked me and was now holding me down.

“It’s not my fault! She can be very resourceful.”

“I don’t care what she can and can’t be, just get her into the car and deliver her for tonight’s proceedings. We don’t want to keep our benefactor waiting.”

When the pressure against my spine lifted completely, I prepared to push my body upright and run as fast as I could, but with the amount of sickness tearing through my insides and the dizziness making everything indistinguishable, I didn’t think I would get far. But it was worth a try. I wasn’t prepared to become someone’s pawn in a game I still didn’t know the rules for.

I need to get up, and run. Now!

As I prepared to do just that—even if most of the preparation involved visualizing what I wanted to do, without any evidence I could actually do it—I was plucked off the ground and thrown over someone’s shoulder.

By the stink of his body and the feel of his sweaty skin and hair, I knew it was the dog-man. All I could see was the ground and his dirty, hairy feet as he took me from my house, and I couldn’t even call out to anyone. My throat refused to work, but there was no one around to help me anyway.

I couldn’t even see the woman who’d helped him. Where had she gone?

The street was dark, and the thunder I thought had gone now rumbled in the distance. Not a single soul was outside right now, and why would they be, so close to midnight? The thought of missing Mace’s deadline because of these two made me sick all over again.

I lost all sense of direction when my body was literally thrown into the backseat of a car. It was a generic-looking model, more plastic than metal. I crawled onto the seat, trying to keep my vision from tilting.

“Buckle up. I need to get you there in one piece,” he instructed seconds before shutting the door behind me.

I threw myself against it, lifting the lever. It was locked. I couldn’t even get the window open because everything was controlled from the driver’s side. As I tried to move faster than him and hopefully lock him out, the sound of a wolf’s call made me pause.

Mauricio stepped inside, closed the door and put his seat belt on. He peered into the rearview mirror and frowned. “Shit.” He started the car and stepped on the accelerator so hard I fell off the seat. “Put your fucking belt on, you silly girl!”

I used the driver’s seat in front of me to get to my knees and climbed onto the backseat to look out the back window. Something had unnerved Mauricio and I wanted to know what.

My heart skipped a beat. “Papan,” I yelled.

“Shut the fuck up,
niña
!” Mauricio warned. We were speeding down the deserted suburban roads and Papan was giving chase.

Even though he was still far, I could see Papan’s wolf eyes glare into mine. He looked pissed and seemed to hit nitrous, getting closer by the second. As he sprinted toward the car, I started to think that maybe he would reach us before this asshole took me wherever the hell we were going, but Mauricio sped up every time Papan seemed to gain ground.

“No, Papan!” I slapped my palms against the window, so hard it wobbled. Maybe more pounding would make it break.

I watched as Papan kept his eyes on me, determined to close the distance and stop this car. And he almost did. I watched, hopeful, as he closed in on the bumper.

His body kept moving but he pulled back enough for me to recognize he intended to leap onto the car. Just as his body left the ground, another car raced out of nowhere and hit Papan, barely avoiding the backend of this vehicle.

Mauricio laughed. “About time.”

“No!”

Papan’s body tumbled onto the road, spinning fast until he was stopped by a tree trunk. The car that hit him did a U-turn, leaving him discarded on the side of the road like road kill. I hadn’t seen the driver’s face, just caught a flash of long, dark hair.

Mauricio continued to laugh. “You didn’t think your boyfriend was going to save you, did you?”

I slid back onto the seat, feeling depleted. Pressing my face against the backrest, I let the tears fall down my face.

“Just shut up, will ya? We’ll be there real soon.” Mauricio stared at me in the rearview mirror, obviously annoyed.

I ignored him and continued to cry until the tears dried on my cheeks. I didn’t need saving, I would somehow get myself out of this. Hadn’t I told Papan I could look after myself not even an hour ago? It was time to stop moping around and get proactive.

Pressing my cheek against the seat, I felt something dig into my ankle and remembered the athame. Carefully, so Mauricio wouldn’t notice my hand moving, I pulled my jeans over my boot. The reassuring weight of the dagger still in its case gave me some hope. The fact neither of my attackers noticed I was carrying a weapon confirmed Oren’s shrouding incantation had worked.

Too bad the protective spells around my house hadn’t been strong enough to keep this dog and his mistress away.

Just for a moment, I toyed with the idea of pulling the dagger out, throwing myself against the back of the driver’s seat and slitting his throat. But I wasn’t exactly in top shape at the moment and doubted I could outmaneuver anyone in this condition. My head still ached like crazy and I had the shakes after throwing up on the grass.

Besides, if I killed him, the car would crash and I’d probably die with him.

Mauricio had to let his guard down sometime. The rage and fear building up inside me would help keep me company until then.

I lifted my head and pushed myself to a sitting position. “How did you break the protective spells around my house?” I asked, though I certainly didn’t expect an answer.

He snickered and stopped at a red light. The loud noise of the city overtook every one of my senses and I glanced out the windshield. What the hell were we doing in the city? I’d expected him to drive me out to the sticks and shove me into some abandoned house where they could torture and use me up appropriately.

“Where are we going?”

“Oh, you’ll see soon enough. You’re not the only one with powerful friends.”

This told me plenty. The
Obscurus
were certainly behind this, and one of them
was
strong enough to remove Oren’s protection spells.

Fuck the waiting.

Before he could put the car into gear again, I sat forward and held on to the back of the driver’s seat with one hand while carefully sliding the dagger from my boot with the other. The silver glinted inside the car.

Mauricio glanced over his shoulder, giving me the perfect angle. I wrapped my hand tightly around the hilt and brought my arm around in front of me fast enough to catch him by surprise. I plunged the blade into his left shoulder, because he moved at the last second. I’d been aiming for his chest, but the satisfying feel of the double-edged blade slicing into his hairy skin was enough to keep me focused.

“What the fuck?” he screamed, reaching for my hand. “What did you do, you bitch?”

I pulled the blade out of his shoulder, intending to stab him again, but instead he took off before the light turned. Headlights whizzed past and someone honked, but he sped across the intersection. When he slammed the brakes, I was sent flying into the backseat and the athame slid out of my hand.