Page 20 of Tangled Threads Of Fate

Turning toward my room, I rushed in and grabbed some of my things. Clothes. Shoes. My laptop. The picture of my parents. Things that I needed until I was feeling stronger. Until Nate was with me and we could come and scrub the evil feeling from this apartment.

I needed an entire army of wiccans with a barrel of sage to smudge the fuck out of this apartment.

Stuffing everything in my bag, I slung it over my shoulder and got the hell out of dodge. I locked the door, like a lock had kept out the last thing that went bump in the night. Gripping the handrail, I waddled down the stairs, trying to think of ways to explain to Nate that I had to stay with him permanently, because my apartment had bad vibes, and Mrs. B’s apartment was too painful to live in. He was going to be stuck with me for a little longer.

“Excuse me?”

I spun around and gasped. I hadn’t even heard the woman on the stairs. She had a package in her hands and a tan outfit.Crap. I’d forgotten I started buying baby shit online.

She winced. “Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you. The front door was open, and I thought that maybe this was an apartment complex. You didn’t have a package drop at your front door.”

I waved her away. “It’s fine. Just let me get the door.”

As I turned to open Nate’s door, the hairs on my neck stood up. I looked over my shoulder at the delivery woman, scanning her from head to toe. She was pretty, with honey-blonde hair and a wide smile. But there was something wrong; I knew it in my gut.

Stepping inside the doorway, I white-knuckled the heavy wooden front door. “Just leave it there, and I’ll get my husband to bring it in.”

Her smile never faltered. The uniform she was wearing looked too big, almost like it wasn’t made for her. “I can bring it in. It’s absolutely no problem,” she crooned at me, and her voice made goosebumps rise on my skin.

I was already shaking my head. Every instinct I had was screaming to get away. “It’s fine. Have a nice day.” I tried to shut the door, but the box was jammed inside.

“Let me in, Vessel,” the woman growled, her voice no longer sweet. I raced across the room and grabbed Nate’s ax.

And then promptly dropped it. That fucker washeavy. How did he swing it like it weighed nothing?

The woman was still on the other side of the doorway, and the pretty visage of a delivery driver peeled away, leaving something from my nightmares. She had huge, sunken eyes, and lips that were raw and red, like they’d been burned into her face. A long snake tail whipped behind her in agitation.

She screeched as she lunged at the doorway, but was propelled back by some unseen force.

“We’re coming for you, Vessel! You have to leave these wards eventually, and we’ll be waiting. You won’t always have the Celtic traitor with you.” She licked her lips. “And when you die, I’m going to eat the young from your stomach.”

I clutched my rounded belly protectively. “Fuck you!” I screamed at her. I ran into Nate’s room and hid in the closet, like that could stop her. I seemed to be protected here, but I couldn’t stand there and listen to her vitriol, and my heart was beating a million miles an hour.

Grabbing my phone from the front pocket of the hoodie, I dialed Nate’s number. He answered in two rings. “What’s wrong?” I could hear him puffing, like he was already running.

“There’s some kind of monster here. A snake woman. She—” I choked on the words. “She can’t get in, but she said she’s going to eat the babies. I’m so fuckingscared,Nate.” I was trembling so hard, I dropped the phone. I could hear the snake monster taunting me from the doorway as I picked it back up.

“The fucking Lamia. Where are you right now?”

“In the closet in your room.”

I heard the door of his truck slam shut and the engine roar to life. “The apartment’s warded against the supernatural. Don’t move from there. I don’t care what she says.”

“Okay,” I whispered.

I could still hear the Lamia alternating between shouted obscenities to cajoling promises. “I’m going to burn you out of your hole like a boar hunt of old, Vessel. It does not matter to me if your flesh is cooked,” she sing-songed from the doorway.

I was breathing so heavily that my lungs were burning. “Did you hear that?” I whispered, hoping Nate was still on the other end of the line.

He growled. “It’s going to be okay. I’m almost home.” I could hear horns blaring in the background. “Three more minutes. You’ll be okay. She can’t get in there, and it would take longerthan that for a fire to spread through my apartment. Get up and shut my bedroom door, then get back in the closet and shut that one too. Put clothes along the bottom, in case it gets smoky.”

Doing as he asked, I slid along the floor, blocking out the demon’s ranting vibrato voice. I repeated his instructions back to myself.

Shut the bedroom door. It would keep the fire from spreading into here.

Shut the closet door. That would keep the smoke out.

I climbed to the very back of the closet and buried myself beneath a pile of Nate’s clothes, like the scent of him could protect me from monsters and fire. I wrapped myself protectively around my stomach, the phone beside my head.

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