Read Hell Transporter (Between) Online
Authors: Cyndi Tefft
I knew exactly what I needed to do.
Calling on every ounce of strength I possessed, I thrust the dirk under her ribcage and straight up into her chest.
Her high-pitched screeching filled the room like the sound of a thousand bats. Her face and body transformed before my eyes into the terrifying beast I knew her to be. Her flawless beauty morphed into a grotesque skull with bulging red eyes and leathery, reptilian skin pulled taut against the hollows of her cheekbones. Her putrid stench permeated the room, making me gag. She twisted and writhed as she screamed, and her razor-sharp claws raked my coat, ripping it to shreds. Aiden grabbed her arms and pinned them to her sides. The dirk shook violently in my hand, sending shockwaves up my arm, but I held on to it with all my might.
A new sound like the hum from the rim of a champagne glass began to build in the room until it was so loud, I could no longer hear her screeching cries. Mona’s eyes rolled back in her head and her body seemed to cave in on itself. The vibration of the dirk intensified until the hilt of the weapon grew white-hot in my hand. I gritted my teeth but I did not let go.
The warm, humming sound grew louder still, drowning out all conscious thought. Mona’s skin crackled and tore as a brilliant yellow light exploded from within her. She disappeared into a cloud of oily, black smoke. Wisps of her essence curled around the corners of the ceiling like fingers trying to hold on, but then they were gone as the splendor of the light pressed all the darkness from the room. I squeezed my eyes shut, blinded by the intensity of the glow, and I felt its heat radiating through my bones like the vibrating noise.
And then, like a switch had been flipped, it was gone.
The loss of the light, the warmth and the humming sound was instantaneous. The overwhelming presence left us in the space between breaths. My hand felt paralyzed, but I unpeeled my fingers and dropped the dirk to the floor. I scrambled over to Aiden, feeling my way along the ground since I was still unable to see. He found me and we clung to one another. Blood streamed down his cheek and over my fingers.
A light moan off to the side made me jump.
My vision cleared as I became accustomed to the darkened room once again, and I remembered Ravi. He lay unmoving on the ground and I ran over to him. Aiden tore a strip off the bottom of his shirt and made a tourniquet for Ravi’s leg while I called an ambulance.
Ravi blinked a couple of times and gazed up at Aiden.
“Mona…” he breathed.
“She’s gone. Not to worry, mate. She’ll not be hurting ye again. Help is coming,” Aiden reassured him in a soothing voice.
Ravi nodded and turned to me, wincing with pain. “Lindsey, are you okay? I’m so sorry. I never thought…” His voice trailed off and he took a deep breath, as the shakes overtook him.
I hushed him and stroked his forehead. He was burning up. “I’m fine, Ravi. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I thought of the dead security guard and realized that the police were going to be asking questions. Since Mona was not here to answer for her crimes, the last thing we needed was to have suspicion cast in Aiden’s direction.
“Ravi, do you remember anything at all?” I asked.
He shook his head. “Mona… she tried to kill me but…” His eyes moved to Aiden with a newfound respect and awe. “You saved my life.”
Aiden squeezed his hand. “I never had the chance to thank you for taking such good care of Lindsey when she was in hospital. I guess we’re even now, aye?” Aiden smiled at him and Ravi’s eyes lost focus.
“Are you… her guardian angel?” he asked.
“Something like that,” Aiden responded.
I shook Ravi lightly by the shoulder, trying to keep him awake. “Ravi, stay with us.”
“Bats,” he said, drifting in and out. “I remember hearing bats. And peace, like a warm blanket. Humming…” He passed out again and this time, I couldn’t rouse him. The sound of sirens in the distance brought an overwhelming wave of relief that washed all the strength from my body. I fell into Aiden’s arms and he held me as we waited for the paramedics to arrive.
When we got to the hospital, Father O’Malley stood in the lobby of the emergency room, talking with the nurse behind the counter. Aiden held a compression bandage to his temple. Gauze encircled his forearm where Mona had bitten him. One of the paramedics told the nurse that he needed stitches.
“Aiden! Lindsey! What happened?” the priest asked, worry creasing his brow. The EMTs wheeled Ravi past on a stretcher.
He reached out a hand and answered the priest in a weak voice, “He saved my life.”
Father O’Malley’s eyes grew wide and his jaw dropped open. A barrage of questions flickered across his face, but he clamped his mouth shut and didn’t say anything. The paramedic tucked Ravi’s arm back onto the stretcher and whisked him down the hall.
“I’m going to need your insurance card, sir,” the nurse said to Aiden in a calm, professional voice. He stared at her in confusion.
Father O’Malley snapped to attention then and put his hand on Aiden’s shoulder.
“I’ll be responsible for his claim, Gladys. Send the bill to me,” he said. Surprise flickered across her face, but then she shrugged and handed me a clipboard with the paperwork.
The next week was filled with tension and stress. A massive manhunt had been undertaken to try and find Mona, and the whole college was abuzz with gossip about the shootings. I visited Ravi in the hospital, and Aiden and I went to the funeral for the security guard, which was heart wrenching. I tried to put everything out of my mind so I could focus on my finals, but between school, answering the same questions over and over at the police station, nailing down the final arrangements for the wedding and dealing with Aiden’s sullen mood, I was at my breaking point.
He’d been testy and irritable all week and I’d tried to give him his space, but my patience was running thin. I wasn’t in the best of places myself, feeling pulled in a thousand different directions, so it didn’t take long before one of us snapped and brought things to a head. We were at his place, packing for the airport, and I asked him for the umpteenth time if he’d remembered his passport.
“For God’s sake, I already told ye! Leave off, Lindsey!” he barked and I reared back. The pressure of the last week finally got to me, and I was ready and willing to fight.
“Well, excuse me! I’m a little distracted. What the hell is wrong with you anyway? You’ve been sulking around for the last week and I’ve had just about enough of it! You were excited about the wedding when I first told you, but lately you’ve been acting like you don’t give a damn.” My words were like a spark to his fuse and he exploded in a roar.
“I don’t see what difference it makes! I’m not even sure we should get married, for what kind of husband would I be when I can’t even protect ye? That wicked she-devil put a gun to your head, Lindsey and I just stood there and let ye tie me up. I should’ve known she was controlling your mind and mine along with it! I should have killed her myself but you had to do it for me!” He threw down the clothes he’d been packing and stormed out the door. I followed him out into the freezing cold, my cheeks on fire with anger and some kind of sick satisfaction about finally having it out with him.
“Is it my turn now? Are you done with this little pity party?” He glared at me. “You had no choice, Aiden. She would have killed me and you know it. God knows I’ve gone over it a thousand times and I can’t think of anything we could have done differently. You did what you had to do and I am sorry that your pride is hurt, but I won’t let her come between us anymore. Who cares if I killed her or you did? We’re alive and we’re together, and that’s all that matters.”
For now.
The unwelcome thought skittered through my mind as I remembered Mona’s declaration that Aiden was destined for hell because of me. Guilt and remorse pressed down on me with a leaden fist and I turned away from him, suddenly unable to look him in the eye. He must have seen the tremor run through my body because he took me by the shoulders and gently turned me to face him. His voice was suddenly soft and close, all the fight gone out of him.
“Are you afraid of what she said, Lindsey? You needn’t be. She was lying, lass. She said I turned down heaven, but ‘tis not true. Once the way was open, I could go at any time but instead I chose to wait, just like you did when you chose to wait with me before. Heaven is no more closed to me than it is to you. Dinna fash, love.” I hadn’t realized how scared I’d been until the truth of his words sunk in. All of a sudden, I felt lightheaded, like I’d been holding my breath for a really long time. My eyes welled with tears and he drew me into his warm embrace.
“I’m sorry I shouted at you,
mo chridhe.
You’re right that my pride is hurt but I shouldn’t have taken it out on you. ‘Tis my duty as your husband to protect you and keep you safe. And I feel like I let you down, just like I failed my family before.”
The dejected tone of his voice broke my heart. “Aiden, no one could have kept me safe from her. She was the one manipulating the whole thing, not you. And I never could have killed her if you hadn’t shown me how.” He pulled back to look at me, obviously not following. “Back at the castle, you showed Willie exactly where to strike when you handed him the dirk and told him that you loved him. He used it to kill his attacker and I did, too. I’m only safe because you taught me how to defend myself.”
“Ye remember that?” he asked, incredulous.
“Of course I do. I remember everything you showed me about your family, from your sharp-as-nails Aunt Margaret to your fragile, beautiful mother and the way she looked at your dad like he held the sun in his hands.” I gave him a quick squeeze around the waist. “I even remember the boy we saw at the jungle gym in the mall who reminded you of Willie, and how I got to thinking about the little red-headed son we’re going to have someday.”
Aiden’s laugh was more like a burbling, wet cough. He blinked once. Twice.
“Thank you,” was all he managed to say, and even that came out in a strangled voice.
“Come on, it’s freezing out here and we need to pack. I can’t wait to see you in your dress kilt,” I said with a wicked grin as I pulled him back into the house.
Aside from the joy of watching Aiden’s face as he gazed out the window of the plane in sheer wonder, the flight from Seattle to New York and then to Edinburgh was long and uneventful. We were both exhausted by the time we got to the front of the customs line in the Scottish airport. Ian and Sarah went through before us without any problems, but when Aiden stepped up and handed his passport to the agent, the man eyed him suspiciously.
He was a thin, wiry man with a sparse goatee and sunken cheeks. His official uniform hung on his bones like clothes on a hanger. His badge said his name was Robert.
“Never traveled outside of the states before, aye?” he asked Aiden, who shook his head.
“No, sir, I have not,” Aiden answered in a strange Americanized accent that made me nearly choke with surprise.
“What brings ye to Scotland?” the customs official inquired further.
“I’m getting married,” Aiden replied in that strange tone. Robert said something in Gaelic to his counterpart, a tall, fat man with bright red hair who was overseeing a second line. Aiden kept his face carefully blank as if he hadn’t understood a word. The second man grunted and responded in Gaelic with a terse tone. He stamped the passport of the woman in front of him and waved her on. Then he came over to our line, pulling his pants up by the belt. It was a wasted effort, as his rotund belly pushed the belt back into place over his hips a second later. He squinted at Aiden. I held my breath as he took Aiden’s passport from Robert and examined it.
Sarah and Ian had continued walking, but realizing we’d been held up, they turned back.
“Aiden, honey pie, hurry up now. We don’t want to keep the MacKinnons waiting. They’re really anxious to meet you and Lindsey,” she called in a very motherly tone, her southern drawl coming out particularly thick.
“We’ll meet ye outside when ye’re done, son. Dinna be long, aye?” Ian said gruffly in his own distinct Scottish accent.
The redheaded man’s name was Andrew, according to the plastic tag hanging from his shirt. He narrowed his gaze at Aiden and asked, “What brings ye to Scotland, lad?”
Aiden very calmly replied, “My stepfather’s family lives here. We’ve come to be married.” He reached out and took my hand and smiled at the man, who turned his gaze to me.
“Married?”
I gave him my most winning smile and tried to sound as touristy as possible. “Yes, at a really old castle in the Highlands. What can I say? I am a sucker for a man in a kilt.” He laughed and gave me a quick once-over in approval. He stamped both of our passports and waved us on. He said something to Robert in Gaelic that sounded like dismissal and walked back to his line.
Robert’s reply had a distinctly sexual note to it and he caught my eye with an obvious invitation as I brushed past him. Even though he totally creeped me out, I smiled brightly at him and tried not to break into a run. Andrew laughed at Robert’s comment and shook his head.
When we were safely out of earshot, I whispered to Aiden, “What were they saying?”