Scarlet Rain (The Escaped #2) (17 page)

“You know what? You’re right.” Eva leaned her hips against the dining room table and slowly unzipped her jacket. The heavy hardback hit the wood with a slap.

“Well, of course I am.”

“There’s no point in being so stressed about something I can’t change.”

“Why would you want to change it? I know it’s brought you a lot of shit, but you have something some people would kill to have. You’re a completely unique individual in a culture that wants nothing more than to smash us into clichéd little groups.”

“Wow, Bridge, that’s actually really insightful.”

“Just because society has put me in the dumb, slutty blonde category doesn’t mean I’m not really a smart, slutty blonde.”

Eva flipped the book open to the page she’d earmarked.

“That has to be the same stuff, right?” Bridget peered over Eva’s shoulder.

“I’m pretty sure. I mean, it looks the same, but that’s why we’re calling Tartarus.”

“You said that this book said we’re in trouble. The picture is creepy, and I definitely get that it looks the same as what we saw in the video, but I don’t see anything that says we need to freak out and run for the hills.”

“You can’t just look at the picture. You have to read what they wrote about it.”

“I would, but there aren’t any words on the page.”

Eva glanced down at the paper, then back up at Bridget. “They’re right there.” She pointed to the few sentences she’d read and reread in the car. “It says, ‘Breathe in this creature, and perish. Bearer of disease and plague. No mortal will survive the Nosoi.’ I’m probably not pronouncing it correctly.”

“You’re just messing with me, right? I don’t see any words on the page. Only this mildly disgusting picture and those weird design things up in the corner.” Bridget nodded toward the sentences Eva had just read aloud.

“Those weird design things are what some of us call letters. I know you’re not a big reader, but you sure as hell know what words look like.”

“Those aren’t any letters I’ve seen before. Let’s just call Tartarus. Maybe someone there will be able to explain why you’ve suddenly gone crazier than usual.”

Eva rolled her eyes and pulled the gold chain out from under her shirt. She unclasped it and let the vial of water slide into her hand.

“Need a bowl or something?” Bridget asked.

Eva shrugged. “I guess so. In Tartarus this water is kept in a big, pretty birdbath-looking thing, but they do have way more of it.”

“Well, this should work. It
is
water anyway, and water is water is water.” Bridget set down a small bowl.

The tiny bottle cooled Eva’s palm as she wrapped her fingers around it and removed the cork. “Well, here we go.” She poured out the beryl blue water, and stared into the bowl.

“Now what? Is a keypad going to pop up so you can dial?” Bridget asked.

“Maiden said all I have to do is put my fingers in the water and think of Tartarus.”

“So, what are you waiting for? Let’s get this show on the road,” Bridget cheered.

“I don’t know. I’m nervous all of a sudden.”

“Oh please, the man pretty much died trying to protect you. I’m sure he won’t care that you have horribly flat hat hair.”

Electricity popped, and an initially tame breeze rolled into forceful gusts, tangling Eva’s hair and sending fear snaking down her spine.

“What’s happening?” Bridget’s words were swept up in the wind.

“I don’t know!” Eva tried to shout back over the crackling roar.

The air settled as a shape took form.

“Alek?” Eva breathed.

Sweat glistened off his bare arms and the sculpted muscles of his chest and abs played peekaboo through the rips in his shirt. The corner of Eva’s mouth curled into a lascivious half smile.

Bridget leaned into her and whispered, “Insta-love.”

“Eva,” Alek gasped, before falling into one of the zebra-striped chairs.

Eva rushed to his side. “Are you okay?”

“I only need a moment to recover.” He took a few deep breaths, and the color returned to his cheeks. “Have you been in contact with Tartarus?” He wasted no time getting down to business.

“I was just about to call. I thought you were waiting to hear from me before you came here.”

“Hang on,” Bridget interrupted. “What happened to saying hi to people when you materialize uninvited in the middle of their living room? It’s pretty impressive how totally spot on you are with your landings, by the way.”

“Yes, I know.” Alek cleared his throat. “But there isn’t time for that. Something went wrong. I had to come to the Mortal Realm sooner than planned.”

“What happened? Are your mothers okay?” Eva asked. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been fighting.”

“Considering what happened, I’m fine, and for now Tartarus remains the same. It is this realm I am worried for. An infection is spreading. It’s alive and it does not belong with mortals.”

“An infection?” Eva carried the book to Alek and pointed to the picture. “Does it look something like this?”

“That is exactly what we saw.”

“We? Who’s we? Isn’t Eva the only one you’re supposed to be teaming up with?” Bridget asked.

“The detective. Has he made it to you?”

Three quick knocks echoed from the direction of Bridget’s front door.

“I’m going to just take a stab in the dark and say that that’s him right now.” She opened the door without looking through the peephole.

“We need to talk.” James burst through the door. PJ trailed him and waved shyly at Bridget. She shot Eva a puzzled glance.

I have no idea,
Eva mouthed back.

“You’re alive.” He looked at Alek, expressionless. “Good. Don’t want your body muddying up an already complicated scene.”

“Wait a second. What’s going on here? I’ve only been gone for a day and you two are having sex, you guys are off fighting crime together, and there’s some otherworldly infection attacking my city.”

“I knew it!” PJ clapped.

“And who the hell is that?” Bridget asked.

Alek took a few steps toward the visitor and puffed out his chest. “Yes, my thought exactly. Who are you?”

“He’s direct, right to the point. I like that in a man. Name’s PJ. That’s short for Patrick Johann. But, I can assure you, it’s the only thing short about me.” He extended his hand to Alek, and his cheeks flushed pink. “Sorry, that was not my best line.”

Alek turned to face James. “Why did you bring him?”

“It’s a long story. We have more important things to talk about,” James said.

“Yeah, but how are we going to do that with this new guy lurking in the background? No offense.” Bridget offered PJ a polite smile.

“James, Bridget’s right. Bringing him here was a really bad decision, and we don’t have time for those. No offense, PJ, but now is not the time to make new friends.” She grinned and waved at him cordially.

“PJ.” Alek plopped a broad hand on his shoulder, and he wobbled. “Has anyone ever struck you in the face before?”

PJ’s eyes widened as Alek’s fist made contact with his cheek. Instantly his legs buckled, and he crumpled to the floor.

“Jesus Christ, Alek!” Eva rushed to PJ and gently tucked his bangs behind his ear to survey the damage. “He’s out cold.”

“Our PJ problem has been resolved. You are welcome.” He shook his shaggy mane from his eyes and smiled broadly.

“At least help me get him to the couch,” Eva instructed.

Effortlessly, Alek scooped him off the floor and dropped him onto the sofa.

“Now, can we just take a minute to figure out what’s going on?” Eva asked.

“We only had sex the one time. Well, two if we’re being specific,” Bridget said.

“That’s so not what I’m talking about.”

“Oh.” She crossed her arms and sunk onto the couch next to PJ.

“We made contact at the hospital,” Alek began.

“Where we saw some crazy shit you’re not going to believe. Actually, I forgot where I’m at; you’re definitely going to believe it,” James added.

“We encountered the creature you showed me. The one from the book,” Alek said.

“The Nosoi?”

Alek nodded. “My mothers spoke of this evil, but they said there is no way the Nosoi could be in this realm. It’s jailed in Tartarus.”

“I hate to say this, but they’re probably wrong. All the evidence points to the Nosoi being here, now.” Eva marched to the dining room table and stared at her reflection in the bowl of water. “We have to find out what the Furies know.”

Sabrina Masten walked into the Brook Restaurant and Bar, and swept her gaze around the room until she saw her friend waving enthusiastically from a table across the way. She hurried to her, hung her purse on the back of the high-backed barstool, and collapsed onto its cushy seat. “Sorry I’m late. Traffic was horrible. A bunch of roads are closed off, and I had to go about five miles out of the way to get here.”

“No problem. Breanna and Whitney have texted me pretty much that same exact sentence already.”

“You work for the city’s planning department. What kind of never-ending construction are they starting now?” Sabrina asked.

“There isn’t anything new scheduled for this area, but they did just say the cops have blocked off a big section around the hospital.” She pointed to one of the many TVs hanging around the bar.

“Hmm, weird. Hopefully they’ll have gotten their shit together by the time we leave.” Sabrina caught the bartender’s eye and motioned for him to come over. “I’ll have one of whatever she’s having, and bring us each a shot of Fireball.”

“Fireball, wow. I don’t know if I’m up for it. Work that bad, huh?”

“Aubrey, you have no idea. They’re restructuring things, which is just a nice way of saying that they’ve fired a bunch of people. Not only does it not make any sense, but they’ve also not bothered to do anything about the workload. I’m doing myself what, just last week, I shared with four other people. It’s a big fuck you to everyone left.”

“Why don’t you just quit?”

“Right, and work where? I have a business degree from a crappy state school just like 80 percent of the people our age. I don’t want to be out of work and living back home with my parents. I should probably be happy I have a career at all.” She raised her shot glass and her smile widened. “I want to stumble out of here, and preferably not alone.”

“Cheers to that!” Aubrey clinked her glass against Sabrina’s, and the women downed their shots. “How long has it been anyway?”

“How long has what been?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about. You broke up with that asshole Anthony over four months ago, and I haven’t heard you talk about anyone else. I’m not saying you need to date someone, just, you know, maybe spread the love a little bit.” Aubrey laughed and waved her hand over Sabrina’s crossed legs.

“I know. I know. Believe me, I am more than over this dry spell. I’ll make sure tonight’s the night.” She smiled and cast her gaze around the sparsely populated room. “So, what happened with that guy you met on Match.com? Bryan, right?”

“Close. This one’s name is Ryan, but I don’t know if I’m going to keep him around.”

“Why? Did he order four shots of Patrón and get hammered in the first twenty minutes like the last guy you met up with?” Sabrina laughed.

“Oh, don’t remind me. He was so sloppy. I’m trying to block that encounter from my memory.”

Sabrina laughed and took a sip of her Chardonnay.

“Oh, shit.” Aubrey stared over Sabrina’s shoulder, her eyes wide. “Speaking of encounters you want to block.”

“No fucking way,” Sabrina groaned. “God, this city is way too small.”

“Brina!” Anthony bellowed, and stumbled over.

Cigarettes and beer assaulted her nostrils, and she craned her neck away from the stench. “Don’t call me that.”

“What, you never had a problem with it when we were together.” His heavy arm slithered across her shoulders as he ordered a drink from the bartender.

“Yeah, but we’re not together anymore, Anthony.” She shrugged his arm off of her back.

“And whose fault is that?”

“Yours, you fucking skeeze,” Aubrey interjected. “Now go away. It’s obvious no one wants you here.”

“Thanks, Aubrey, but I’ll leave as soon as Brina tells me to go. And, so far, it looks like she wants me to stay.”

“Leave, Anthony,” Sabrina said without missing a beat.

“C’mon, Sabrina. You know I’m sorry.” He picked up the bottle of beer he’d ordered and took a long swig. “Fine. I can take a hint. Gonna go hit the head, but I’ll be around for awhile in case you realize.”

“In case I realize what?”

“In case you realize,” he repeated wistfully. He lifted her hand, and gave it a quick kiss before shuffling off to the bathroom.

Aubrey cringed. “Ugh, he’s so disgusting.”

“Tell me about it.” Sabrina used a cocktail napkin to wipe off the back of her hand.

“I have no idea what you saw in him. You can do so much better.”

“Yeah. Thanks Aubrey.” Sabrina’s stomach knotted. “I, uh—I’m not feeling so hot. I think I’m going to head out.”

“What? You never go out, and you just got here. Don’t let that asshole ruin your night.”

“No, it’s not because of Anthony,” she lied. “I just have to be up early, so I really need to get home.” Sabrina stood, dug her wallet out of her purse, and waved her credit card at the bartender.

“At least stay with me until one of the other girls get here,” Aubrey whined.

“Ugh. Fine.” She set her card on the bar top and flopped back into the chair. “But I’m leaving the second one of them shows.”

The door chimed as more patrons entered the bar.

“Maybe they’re here!” Aubrey stood on her tiptoes and peered at the front door. “Oh, gross.” Her face wrinkled like she’d just gotten a whiff of something rotten.

“Who is it now? I don’t think I can handle another ex.” Sabrina craned her neck to check out who’d arrived.

A man dressed in a remarkably convincing zombie costume shuffled into the bar, growling and twitching like a feral animal.

The bartender stepped out from behind the bar, blocking him from coming in any further. “Hey, man. We’re kind of far out from Halloween.” The bar went silent.

The man bared his teeth and growled ferociously.