Page 67 of Waifs And Strays
‘Downstairs,’ he said. ‘In the basement.’
‘In the same room?’
He nodded reluctantly.
‘What are they?’
He knew what I was asking. ‘Vampire, witch, ogre and two druids.’
Interesting. ‘Who’s in charge?’ Someone had to be running this shit show; I reckoned I knew who it was but I wanted Liam to confirm it.
This time he pinned his mouth closed and I sensed he wouldn’t tell me, no matter how much I threatened him. He was scared of me but he was terrified of his boss.
‘Never mind,’ I said cheerfully. ‘I’ll find out.’ I crouched next to him, reached out and stroked his cheek. He flinched. ‘And the boy?’ I asked. ‘Where is he?’
‘He’s with them.’
‘Is he still alive?’
Liam swallowed hard. ‘Probably.’
As far as I could tell, he was being truthful. From the way he’d answered, the Umbra bastards were harvesting Nick’s blood until there was none left. He was alive for now but wouldn’t be soon. I had been right not to delay outside.
I leaned over Liam, hooked my arms underneath his armpits and started dragging him out of the room. He kicked, thrashed and tried to dig in his heels. The blood seeping out of his wound left a wide trail across the dusty floorboards.
‘What are you doing?’ he gasped. ‘Stop!’ He licked his lips and I knew he was preparing to scream loud enough to alert his colleagues.
I paused. ‘Make another sound and Iwillkill you. Stay quiet and I promise you’ll leave this building alive.’
‘Go ahead and kill me then.’ He sneered as he belatedly remembered that he was supposed to be a zealot whose life was nothing compared to his cause. ‘If I die, the demons will reward my sacrifice tenfold when my soul joins them.’
I still didn’t think he believed what he was saying because he wouldn’t have answered my questions so easily if that had been the case. Liam possessed the bluster but not the followthrough. ‘Have you talked to them about this yourself?’ I enquired.
This time he only stared at me.
‘Maybe if I hurt you more, your reward will be even greater.’ I tilted my head. ‘What do you think? If I chopped off a hand or a leg, will that make your afterlife in the demon netherworld even better? Shall we give it a try and find out?’
Again he chose not to answer and I grunted with satisfaction that I’d finally managed to silence him. At least he was too confused with pain and his silly visions of a glorious death to ask me what I was really planning – or maybe he was just too stupid.
I adjusted my hold on his body and continued dragging him out of the door towards the front of the building. Some sort of trap had been rigged around the front door. I examined it; it was considerably more elaborate than the booby trap Thane had constructed at the Galbraith house. This one would not release magical herbs designed to hurt rather than maim or kill but a spray of tiny silver darts; they wouldn’t kill me but I suspected that even one of them could kill a werewolf.
I glanced at Liam’s face. He was gritting his teeth and sweat was running down his pale face. Although my bullet hadn’t nicked any of his arteries, it might have hit bone and I knew from personal experience that the pain must have been intense. It sucked to be Liam – and it was about to get worse.
I released him for a moment to disarm the trap. As soon as it was safe, I opened the front door to reveal a hundred gaping werewolves on the opposite side of the street. I caught a glimpse of Alexander MacTire, who looked ready to explode.
I put a finger to my lips, indicating that I needed him and his furry minions to stay quiet. The rest of Umbra hadn’t registered my intrusion yet, but the sound of dozens of furious werewolvesshouting at me could penetrate even the best sound-proofed basement. MacTire’s eyes narrowed in anger but he raised his hand to order everyone to shut up. I flashed a smile of thanks.
‘What are you doing?’ Liam whispered. ‘What the fuck are you doing? You said you wouldn’t kill me.’
I scooped him up again. ‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I did say that. And I meant it, even though you said you’d happily die.’
‘If my death means that Umbra wins…’
I waved a hand dismissively, tired of his ridiculous statements about death that even he didn’t believe. ‘I won’t kill you,’ I repeated. ‘But I can’t make any promises about the werewolves. What they do with you is their choice.’
With that, I shoved him out of the door with enough force that part of his body landed beyond the wolfsbane line. Samantha darted forward and took hold of him, placed a hand over his mouth to muffle his screams and pulled him away. I didn’t know what would happen to him now, but I could imagine.
MacTire continued to glare at me. He didn’t need to worry too much; at the far end of the road, I spotted a group of witches heading towards us. They’d start dismantling the wolfsbane and if they were the Wicker Witches, as Liam and his buddy had surmised, it would probably take them less than two hours to complete their mission.
