Night Terrors (Sarah Beauhall Book 4) (3 page)

Blood dripped down onto the table from Katie’s fist. The napkin was a dripping crimson mess. “Katie?” I asked her, jostling her elbow. She was as rigid as Charlie, vibrating. She stared at him as if she was trying to bore a hole through his skull and see inside. Maybe that was exactly what she was doing. “Katie!” I barked and snapped my fingers in front of her face.

She flinched and lowered her eyes. Charlie jerked back, gasping. “Sorry,” she said, pushing her chair back and standing up. “Ladies room.”

Charlie was wide-eyed with panic. “How did she do that?” he asked. “What did I say?”

“Stay,” I ordered him, pointing at my index finger at his face. “Do not leave.”

He nodded once and I turned to follow Katie.

That had gotten totally out of control.

I found her in the ladies room washing her face and hands. The blood had run down the length of her arm and her pale skin was streaked with lines of sticky red.

I stepped to her, put one hand on the small of her back and looked at her in the mirror. “Are you okay?”

She nodded and splashed water on her face. I took a stack of paper towels out of the dispenser and handed her a handful. She mopped up her arm and began washing her hands with soap and water again.

She wasn’t crying, but there was something distant in her eyes. Something cold. What the hell was happening to her?

“Bleeding’s stopped,” I said, filling the silence. She nodded again and kept scrubbing her hands and arms. After a few minutes her actions became less frantic and her shoulders began to relax.

I stepped behind her and put my hands on her shoulders, kneading the muscles there. She was tight, like nothing I’d ever encountered.

“Come on, baby,” I whispered into her hair. “It’s okay. I’m here. It’s over.”

She shook a little, put her hands on the sink and sagged down onto her arms.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “I didn’t mean to. He just …” she trailed off.

“Shhh,…” I said, wrapping my arms around the front of her.

She grabbed my arms, hugging them to her.

“It was like I’d opened his head and pulling the words out,” she said after a moment. “Like I was scooping them out with a spoon and couldn’t stop.”

“It’s over now,” I said, struggling to keep my voice calm.

She turned and pressed her face into my shoulder. We stood there for a few minutes while her breathing evened out. I stroked her hair and just breathed with her.

When we’d cleaned up the mess and left the bathroom, Charlie was long gone. The envelope with the rings was gone as well.

The server was clearing the food away and I dropped a couple of twenties on the table.

“You want food boxed up?” she asked, her Thai accent thick and sweet.

“No thanks,” I said, trying to smile. Probably wouldn’t go back to that restaurant for a while.

I helped Katie out to the truck, settling her in the passenger side and closed the door.

How the hell was I supposed to fix this?

Three

I called Charlie and left him a voicemail. I didn’t blame the guy for bolting. That was some freaky shit. Katie was quiet all the way out to Black Briar, but she hadn’t shut me out. She kept glancing my way, keeping one hand on my thigh as I drove. It was a peaceful way to share each other’s space. By the time I put the truck in park at Jimmy’s, she had come to grips with the events of lunch.

“Thanks for loving me,” she said, leaning over to kiss me.

I wrapped my arms around her and kissed her back.

“Have you done that before?” I asked her, thinking of other times she’d gotten pissy and demanding. All minor things, but when you see things like that, it brings everything else into question.

“Once or twice,” she said, putting her head on my shoulder and holding my hands in hers. “Scares me. It’s like I have this power to compel people to tell me things. Maybe even do things.”

I squeezed her hands gently. “I’m comfortable at our current pace of sexual exploration,” I said, wiggling my eyebrows. “You don’t need to try that stuff on me, ’kay?”

She chuckled and hugged me again. “Makes my head hurt,” she said into my shoulder. “Definitely not conducive to intimate moments.”

We got out of the truck and slowly made our way to the house. It was a beautiful day and the sun was warm for a change. I held her hand and looked around at the farm. It was a good place. I could see the Cascade Mountains climbing to the east of us—tall and snow covered even this late in the spring. Over top of it all was a sky so blue it made my eyes water.

I absorbed all that in the second it took me to turn my head and settle back on Katie. It all paled compared to the light in her eyes. I touched the side of her face, caressing her.

“We have dinner with Melanie and Dena later,” she said, turning to kiss the palm of my hand. “I’ll get a nap and we’ll have a quiet dinner. Give them a chance to meet Jai Li. Maybe it will just be normal. What say?”

“If you’re wiped out, we can reschedule,” I said. “Your health is more important.”

“It’s been months,” she said, smiling. “Melanie is going to show up on her own if we don’t do it formally. She’s beside herself about the kiddo.”

I nodded. She’d seen Jai Li in the hospital after the battle with the necromancer, but a quiet evening of normal would be totally different.

That night we had one of the best nights in a long time. We let Jai Li pick out the music and we all played games. I knitted while the other four played Parcheesi. Then Jai Li convinced them to play Candyland for a while.

Dena was shy at first. I’d never gotten on with her very well, but Jai Li thought she was aces. Seemed to confuse the woman. Melanie and Katie had no trouble connecting again after a long dry spell. I felt almost like an outsider as the four of them interacted, and I was on heightened alert. Jai Li was too damned vulnerable and Katie too frail. After a bit I put aside the knitting and got settled into a wicked game of three way War with Jai Li and Dena while Katie and Melanie talked in the kitchen.

I knew Melanie was grilling her about her health. Being a doctor and an old lover gave her an insight that many people didn’t have. Twice Melanie caught my eye and just shook her head. She was not happy.

We had popcorn and cider, told stories and generally enjoyed the peace of being surrounded by family and friends.

The night was so amazing that after everyone had gone home we got the nest built in the living room again. No way we were sleeping in the bedroom. Too risky in my book. I didn’t want to wake up in the Sideways. Too many things wanted to eat me there.

I was beginning to hate this apartment, but tonight had been a slice of normal we hadn’t experienced in a very long time. After Jai Li and Katie were asleep I sat up on the big chair, watching the street lights through the front windows with Gram on my lap. A night this peaceful had to be a precursor to something nasty.

At one, Katie came and dragged me back to bed. She even made me tuck Gram away. The apartment was still. Katie snuggled up against me, naked under her T-shirt, all curvy and warm. I pulled her against me, hugging her back to me, one hand over her breasts, and fell asleep. That night, for the first time in a very long time, I had no dreams at all.

Four

We went back out to Black Briar on Saturday. I needed to spend some time at the new forge and wanted to give my kobold buddy, Bub some one-on-one time. I felt like I’d been neglecting the little guy. Forget his unfortunate habit of eating anything that wasn’t nailed down and his obsession for the old barn that had been burned down by dragon fire, he was great with the other kids and acted just like one most of the time. I tended to forget he was a fire being from another plane with a mouth that hinged open allowing him to eat things—or people—bigger than his head. It was rather creepy.

Of course, the second we got there, Jai Li took off like a shot, tackling the kobold and getting piled on by the troll twins. It had only been a few months since they’d joined our larger clan but they were already longer and leaner than the typical toddler. I bet those two topped seven feet by the time they finished growing. Glad they were being raised by our side. I’d fought their kin in the past. They were nasty fighters.

But Jai Li owned them. That girl had those three boys following her around like puppy dogs. It was comical, our little waif girl, a four foot tall scaly red kobold, and two troll twins nearly as tall as Bub though they were not quite a year old.

Trisha sat on the back porch mending something leather. An old hauberk, it looked like. One of the old sparring bits. I let the kids have at it while I chatted with her briefly, checking on things, exchanging kid stories. Soon enough I was waving at the kids and heading to the smithy. Katie went into the house to visit. I was itching to get back to some fire and steel. It had been more than a month since I’d been out here last and I was itching to make some blades.

We didn’t have a good coal forge out at Black Briar yet, but it was on my Christmas wish list. I liked the way coal heated better than propane. Felt cleaner to me, a quality heat. Propane was fine, but it felt too modern, like cheating.

But that’s what I had, so that’s what I used. I had a dozen or so sword blanks prepped from old leaf springs we’d salvaged at a junk yard down near Lacey. I’d been doing some studying in guerilla smithing circles about using what is around in case of apocalypse—zombie, nuclear, alien invasion, or the generic technological break down. I expected that last one over any of the others. I’d fought the recently risen dead with the necromancer before Christmas and there’s no way they could translate into a global epidemic. Not enough blood mages out there willing to keep them animated. They were not self-regulating. With the magic present in the battles I’d been in, firearms were problematic. Give me a solid hammer and Gram and I was ready to rock.

Leaf springs would be plentiful, no matter the apocalypse, if you knew how to salvage them off old cars. I figure I was just preparing for the end of civilization. It was silly, but I guess part of me wanted to be ready, just in case.

I was heating and punching out the first blade when Bub rolled into the smithy. I felt him before I saw him. The amulet around my neck was tuned to his presence—that thing that tied him to me. It had belonged to Anezka for a lot of years, but somehow it had given me its allegiance. I don’t think she’s that chuffed about it these days. At the time she was a little on the crazy side, in no small part because of the amulet’s connection to the fiery little guy.

Of course, he kept the flaming rages to a minimum most days. If he got a little over excited or scared he would sprout blue flames, like burning off alcohol. I bet if pressed he could raise a righteous flame. Luckily I’ve never had the occasion to see him in full rage. The one time I’d fought him, he’d been toying with me, back when he was feeding off Anezka’s crazy.

But, once the amulet transferred to me, he changed. His personality got a lot more mellow. Then we introduced him to Jai Li, and the troll twins, and he’d turned into a lovable muppet. And he kept the burning thing under control here at Black Briar. I think he’d become attuned to the place, felt it was home for him. It was bizarre. He called me master and wanted to be in my presence, but was at home here at Black Briar.

“More swords?” he asked after a few minutes. He’d just stood in the doorway and watched. He usually helped tend the forge, but with propane, there was no real need to keep the bellows rolling or stoke the coal.

I shrugged at him. “I like making them and it’s Ren Faire season. Time to get some stock made up, ya know? Get some money rolling in.”

Bub didn’t have any use for money. Oh, I’m sure he’d love a lifetime supply of frozen bean burritos, but beyond that, what did he really need?

“You should make something for your motorcycle,” he offered. “You have strength within you that you have not tapped.”

It was strange carrying on a conversation with a smith. You could only get words in while the metal was firing. Then you had to wait while we pounded the metal in whatever fashion we were working at the time. Bub and I had a good rhythm. Didn’t seem to miss a beat.

“The bike, huh?” I asked, setting the sword on the work bench and putting aside the tongs and hammer. “What did you have in mind?”

“You’re a maker,” he said, shrugging. “Make something useful.”

“Swords are useful.”

He shook his head and scratched his backside.

I grinned at him. He was very clear on his opinions. “Do you have any suggestions?”

The smithy we’d built here had the lifting walls like the one out at Anezka’s place. They were hinged at the top, allowing me to push them out from the bottom and prop them open, leaving most of the four walls open to the outside. Only the load bearing parts didn’t move. That and the doors.

Bub kicked his feet on the dirt floor of the smithy and shrugged again.

I caught a glimpse of Frick and Frack chasing Jai Li around the yard and up onto the deck of the main house—not looking at Bub, giving the little guy some space to formulate his thoughts.

“Well,” he said. “You could put a rack mount for your sword instead of carrying it on your back. That way you could carry someone behind you without the sword smashing their face.”

I sat on the work bench and thought it over.

“Bub, my friend. That is a smoking hot idea.”

He beamed at me, raising his head and pulling his shoulders back.

“It’ll take some design work but shouldn’t take a whole lot of work to make it right.” I walked over to the desk, pulled down one of the sketch pads we kept around, and picked up a charcoal pencil.

We spent the next hour drawing out ideas and calling up specs of the bike on my laptop. The bike was out at Circle Q in one of the barns. There was no place for it and the pickup at the Kent apartment. And I couldn’t get both Katie and Jai Li on the bike.

In the end we opted for a latch mechanism that would allow me to lay the scabbard along the frame at a forty-five degree angle to the ground. It would rest flat against the bike to keep a low profile and not impact my leg position and allow for the tip to stop just to the side of the rear tire.