Page 34 of Thunder with a Chance of Lovestruck

Torid tried to get into the mix, but Drest looked quickly at the goblin. “No! Protect Rachael!”

Torid snarled at him, having never been a huge fan of Hunters, but did as instructed. Torid went for Rachael, corralling her back from the fight as footsteps sounded from the stairwell.

“Nile! Drest!” shouted Henry as he reached the bottom of the basement stairs. His shirt was unbuttoned and untucked from his slacks. There was smeared lipstick on his lips and jawline. “What’s the meaning of this?”

Nile either didn’t hear his nephew or didn’t care to answer. He slammed into Drest, acting like a rabid animal.

Drest spun him, slamming him into the thick stone wall. He bounced the back of the man’s head off it, not-so-secretly hoping he killed the prick.

“Stop!” yelled Henry, attempting to drag Drest off Nile.

“Rachael!” shouted Amice as she darted past the fray, toward Torid and Rachael, who were still in the wine cellar. “Oh gods above, you’re bleeding. How bad is it?”

Rachael was bleeding?

Drest stopped pummeling Nile and spun around, concern for Rachael taking root in him.

Henry used the distraction to yank Drest back from his uncle.

Nile thrust Henry far from him with a strength he shouldn’t possess. The feel of Fae magik filled the area once more. Nile shouted something inaudible and careened into Drest. The two of them tumbled toward the huge, old metal door to Nile’s workshop. With their combined force, the door gave way with a loud metal-on-metal crunching sound.

Drest landed on Nile and moved up enough to punch the man in the face again and again.

Screams sounded from the hall, and it took Drest a moment to realize they were coming from Amice and Rachael.

Henry was close once more, grabbing Drest’s upper arm. “Enough! He’s not moving anymore! He’s no longer fighting back!”

Drest shrugged Henry off and lifted his arms, signaling he was done beating the snot out of Nile—for now. He pushed off Nile and stood, realizing someone was still screaming.

That someone was Rachael.

He twisted fast, stepped over Nile, and pushed Henry out of the way as he rushed toward Rachael.

Amice had a hold of her and was staring in stunned horror at something behind Drest.

“Rachael,” said Drest, reaching for her.

She didn’t budge. Instead, she too looked past him, into the workshop, with nothing short of terror etched on her face. She had small cuts on her legs and if Drest had to guess, it looked as if she might have fallen on broken wine bottles. He wanted to tend to her and clean her wounds, but she wouldn’t stop screaming as she stared past him.

Drest glanced over his shoulder, looking into the room for the first time, since he’d been solely focused on punching Nile before. What he saw left the color draining from his face. He’d seen a lot of gruesome things in his long life, but this managed to take the top spot.

Gone was the vintage radio Drest had seen Nile fixing in the room months ago. The area was virtually unrecognizable. It now looked like a combination of an embalming room and a butcher’s freezer. Meat hooks hung from the high ceiling. On the end of each hook was a human body part. Legs. Arms. Torsos. Feet. Hands. And even heads.

Large blocks of ice sat on top of various metal wheeled carts. The ice blocks were in various stages of melting. The water from them was dripping onto the stone floor, mixing with blood—all of which ran toward drains in the floor.

Drest and his cousin Stratton had ended up having to deal with underground body part black markets in London hundreds of years ago. It was a time Drest wasn’t likely to soon forget, considering what he’d seen. But even that had paled compared to this.

Drest’s gaze went from the body parts to Nile, who was only just coming to on the floor, still lying on the broken-down metal door. “What in the hell have you done?”

Rachael kept screaming.

“Drest!” shouted Amice.

He went to her quickly and she pushed Rachael into his arms.

Drest hugged Rachael tightly, using his body to shield her from seeing into the room.

Torid pushed in as well, hugging her too. He wrapped his spindly arms around Drest, as well, before squeezing extra tight, as if he was hoping to crush Drest in the process. Knowing the goblin, that was his plan.

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