What a Demon Wants (15 page)

Then it was almost as if the darkness shifted, becoming a living thing, moving around her. Or rather something in the darkness was moving around her. Inside her stall with her.

Terrified, she opened her mouth to scream when something came around her waist, clamping so tight it forced the breath out of her, stealing her shriek. Another thing—an arm—came around her head, a large hand slapping over her face, sliding roughly around until it found her mouth.

“Hello, Ellina.”

Chapter 16

Jude leaned against the wall, several feet from the bathroom. He didn’t want to appear like some weirdo, lurking—as Ellina would say—right outside the ladies’ room.

As it was, one of the nurses had seen him sticking his head in the door to talk to Ellina. He’d told her that his wife was feeling ill, and he was just checking on her. The nurse informed him that without an appointment he’d need to take her to the emergency unit.

He’d thanked her and had been trying to remain unobtrusive ever since.

“Where’s your girl?”

Jude smiled as soon as he saw the old man from the chapel shambling toward him.

“In the ladies’ room.” He gestured toward the door with his head.

The man stopped, peering up at him with those opaque eyes that still managed to see everything.

“Women love to primp,” he announced. “Especially when they think they have a reason to.”

Jude nodded. “I suppose that is true.”

“And your girl knows she’s got a reason, don’t she?”

Jude gave him a questioning frown. He wasn’t quite following.

“Well, she had you chasin’. And now that you’ve caught her, she’s expecting some special treatment.”

Special treatment. Jude didn’t know about that, but he was pretty sure she was going to expect an apology at the very least.

“Oh, lordy-be.”

Jude snapped out of his thoughts to see that the old man had reached out to steady himself against the wall. His wrinkled skin looked somewhat gray. Jude immediately went to his side.

“Are you all right?”

“Ahh,” the man growled, pulling an irritated face. “Just the world gettin’ away from me again.”

Jude wasn’t sure exactly what that meant, but since he’d barged into the man and probably hadn’t done him any favors, he wasn’t going to let the poor old guy take a tumble now.

“Where are you headed?”

“Back to the waiting room.” He smiled up at Jude. “Eloisa should be out of surgery soon. Eloisa. That’s my girl’s name. What’s your girl’s name?”

“Ellina,” he said, amused by how similar the names were.

“Nice name.” The man nodded approvingly. “I’m Cliff.”

“Jude.”

They shook hands, the old man’s palms dry and callused, his fingers gnarled. Like time was literally drying him out.

Concern moved Jude to ask, “Could I walk with you?”

Then he added, because he knew the codger was too proud to accept his help, “I’d like to hear how things went with Eloisa.”

“That would be nice.” The man levered himself off the wall, swaying a little before he regained his balance and started shuffling down the hall.

Jude glanced at the bathroom door, hoping Ellina wouldn’t come out while he was gone, although he trusted she’d go back to the maternity ward.

But as he walked away, he had a sense he shouldn’t dawdle. He glanced at the door again. He couldn’t say why, but he felt a strange sense of apprehension.

“Hello, Ellina.”

A mouth was right next to her ear. She could smell the man’s breath. Sour like stale coffee and garlic. There was another smell too. Something earthy. Something she thought she’d smelled before, but couldn’t quite place.

“I imagine you’ve been expecting me.”

She made a noise against his hand, attempting to answer him, but he didn’t loosen his grip to hear what she had to say. He’d probably have been quite upset to know she hadn’t been expecting him at all. She hadn’t believed there was a him.

“Waiting is a bitch, isn’t it?”

He forced her head up and down, making her agree.

“Yes, it is. I’ve waited a long time myself.”

Ellina told herself not to panic. She needed to file away every detail she could about this man.

He seemed relatively tall, although it was hard to tell in the pitch black. She was disoriented with no focal point, no frame of reference.

His voice was strange. Oddly muffled, as if he had something over his mouth. He also wore gloves. Leather ones. She could tell from the texture against her face.

“I’ll try to make this quick.”

Fear snaked, cold and needling, down her spine. What was he going to make quick?

Somehow she didn’t think it was going to be something pleasant.

He started walking her forward. She tried to struggle, to drag her feet, but he only lifted her, his arms brutally tight around her waist.

Then he pinned her against something. The wall. Her face, at an angle, smashed against the cold hardness.

The stall door she realized from the way the surface shook under his pressure. She tried to open her mouth to scream, but the odd angle and his hand painfully against her cheek only allowed a muffled croak.

He laughed and pressed harder.

Using his weight to pin her body, he moved his other hand. She could tell he was leaning down to reach for something. On the floor? In his pocket? She couldn’t tell.

But she knew this was her chance to escape. She began wiggling, using her now free arms, although the way he had her head trapped and his body against hers, she could only reach behind her and claw at his head.

She made contact with something knit. A ski cap? She pulled, tugging as hard as she could.

He made an angry noise low in his throat, tightening his grip. But she managed to yank it off, and then claw at his face, his cheek, grabbing at his ear.

“Stop it, bitch,” he growled.

Grabbing a large hank of her hair, he jerked her head back. Viciously. Then he slammed her face against the door.

She saw flashes of light, and she squeezed her eyes shut against the shooting pain in her nose and forehead.

When she opened her eyes again, she still saw light.

“Hello?” a female voice said.

Suddenly the weight at her back was gone and she was being hurled across the stall.

She lost her footing, falling heavily between the toilet and wall.

She tried to right herself to see who had attacked her, but by the time she levered herself around, the stall door was open and the man was darting through the bathroom.

All she could make out was black clothing. It looked like the cap covered his head again.

“Hey,” the woman who’d just entered cried, and then she screamed as he shoved her aside to get to the door.

Ellina managed to get to her feet and head toward the door herself, joined by her accidental rescuer.

They both ran into the hall, looking around them. The hall was empty.

“Are you okay?” the woman asked her.

Ellina realized she was a nurse from the scrubs she wore. She nodded, even though the adrenaline coursing through her was making it impossible to really know how she felt.

“Thank God I came in when I did.”

“Yes,” Ellina agreed.

“I was actually coming to check on you.”

Ellina shook her head, confused.

“I saw your husband talking to you from the doorway,” the woman said. “He said you were feeling ill, and since I hadn’t seen either of you pass the nurse station, I decided I better check on you.”

The nurse glanced around. “Where is your husband?”

Ellina, who was starting to feel a little light-headed, started to say she didn’t have a husband, but stopped. Was the woman talking about Jude? Where was he?

“I don’t know.”

She swayed. Oh dear, she really didn’t feel good.

Then she heard Jude’s voice.

“Ellina?”

She saw him coming down the hall, his steps hastening as he saw her.

“Jude?” she said, taking a step toward him, but then everything closed in like she was seeing him through a keyhole.

“Ellina!”

She saw Jude reach for her, then everything went black.

Jude caught Ellina just before she crumpled to the floor.

“Bring her in here,” the nurse he recognized from earlier said, pointing to a room on the right. He followed the nurse inside, placing Ellina’s limp body on the examination table.

“I’ll get a doctor,” she said rushing from the room before giving him any explanation as to what happened. But from the look of Ellina, something bad.

He pushed back a tangle of hair that had fallen out of the loose knot she’d been wearing. He spotted a lump on her forehead that was already turning purple. A droplet of blood trickled from one of her nostrils.

He stepped over to a counter where the examination supplies were lined up and grabbed a tissue. Carefully, he blotted away the blood.

What the hell happened?

Then disgust filled him. He should have been there. He should have listened to that strange sensation when he’d walked away with Cliff. Hell, he had a damned gun. This guy could be dead now. Or at least hurting.

He’d told himself that the agitation was because of the kiss. That he was concerned she’d keep avoiding him. Or that the job would have to end. She’d want someone else to act as her guard.

God, who would blame her now? He gently touched her cheekbone, which was turning a sickening shade of purple.

He’d come back, telling Cliff that he had to go, but he’d come back too late. He’d definitely sensed it, but he’d been too late.

He lightly dabbed her nose again, but this time she flinched away from the pressure.

The paper covering the exam table crinkled as she moved. Her eyes flickered open, staring up at him.

“Hi,” he said softly, brushing another lock of hair away from her eyes.

She frowned, clearly confused, then tried to sit up.

He gently pressed her back down.

“Don’t move, sweetheart. You just passed out. And it looks like you have some pretty nasty bruises.”

She frowned, still bewildered, then dawning memory lit her eyes.

“I was attacked.”

He nodded. “I guessed as much.”

“He shut off the lights, then attacked me in the bathroom stall. A nurse came in and that scared him off.”

“Did you see him?”

Ellina shook her head, then winced as he touched the lump on her forehead.

“He wore all black.”

“Maybe the nurse saw him,” Jude suggested, and she nodded again, this time more gingerly.

“Where were you?” she asked, and while her tone wasn’t accusatory, the guilt already tight in his chest threatened to suffocate him.

Just then the nurse returned with a woman in a white doctor’s coat.

“Hello,” said the doctor, who seemed to be in her mid-thirties, “I’m Dr. Hamilton.

Janice just filled me in on what happened. We’ve called the police, and now let’s see what we can do for you.”

Jude moved out of the way to allow the doctor access.

“Would you mind waiting outside for me?” the doctor asked him.

Jude nodded, but Ellina stopped him.

“I would prefer if he stayed.” Her gaze sought his. Fear made her eyes glitter. “He’s my husband.”

That possessive feeling came through him again. Jude held her gaze, trying, with his eyes, to tell her that she would be okay. That he wouldn’t leave. He’d already failed her once today. He wouldn’t do it again. Ever.

The doctor said he could stay, and he took a seat in a chair in the corner.

The doctor’s examination revealed lots of nasty bruises, but otherwise she was fine.

No concussion. She’d probably passed out more from fear than her injuries, and she could go home once she talked to the police.

“Until then, I recommend you just lay here and try to relax,” Dr. Hamilton told her, with a kind smile.

As soon as the doctor left, Jude moved back to her side. He took her hand, his thumb soothing over the back of her palm and fingers.

“You were right,” she said, her pale eyes bleak. Her skin was pale, making the bruising on her forehead and cheek more pronounced. “He knew me. He was specifically after me.”

Even though she hadn’t had a chance to tell him that until now, he wasn’t surprised.

Any attack would have shaken her. But there was such stark fear in her pale eyes.

She’d been terrified. He’d seen it every time she’d sought him out throughout the doctor’s exam. Crystalline terror glittered in her eyes as cold and unyielding as diamonds.

He was disgusted with himself. He’d failed her. This guy had come into a hospital and attacked her. That was pretty damn brazen. And that made this guy even more dangerous than Jude would have guessed.

He squeezed her hand, thanking every god he could think of that she was okay. That had just been pure luck this time. But it wouldn’t be luck next time. It would be him, keeping her safe. And finding out who the hell this guy was.

Then killing him.

Fuck!

He’d had her. He’d had the herbal mixture ready. He’d memorized the incantation until it was like reciting the alphabet. He had a silver dagger, pointy and ready to kill.

The whole thing should have been over in seconds. He’d already covered himself in the powder. He’d just needed to say the words, then slit. And he would have been free.

Done deal.

But the bitch had fought. Then some hospital bitch came in and really fucked it up.

He threw the paper grocery bag with his “killing” clothes onto the bed and collapsed beside it.

He knew the hospital wasn’t ideal, but he’d seen his chance and taken it. He’d been following her. Seeing where she might go if she’d ever get away from that damn Neanderthal she now had by her side every minute.

He’d actually been considering giving up for the day. Then a stroke of luck. On his way out of the hospital, he’d just happened to see her running down that hallway. Alone.

And going into the restroom.

So he’d gone into the men’s room right beside it, readied himself, and made his move. Except when he’d poked his head out, there was the goddamn Neanderthal.

But again, luck had been on his side. Along came some old geezer, and miracle of miracles, the oaf went off with man. And he’d made his move.

That’s what the Neanderthal got for being a good Samaritan.

He stretched, exhilaration coursing through him. He felt better than he had since this horror began. He felt alive. Strong.

He’d failed. But he’d been so close.

Next time, the key was to get her alone. He was taking the wrong tactic. After all, it didn’t matter if anyone knew he’d killed her after the fact. He’d be long gone by then.