Diggin up crones, p.62
Diggin' Up Crones, page 62
“Where did you come from?” I demanded, both relieved and annoyed. Had he beat me here? That wasn’t right. I was the alpha.
As if reading my mind, Evan smirked. “Hello, pumpkin,” he drawled. “Are you feeling spicy?”
If looks could kill — a talent I was hoping to master someday — he would’ve dropped dead right there. Okay, I probably wouldn’t have killed him because I loved him too much, but I would’ve maimed him.
“That could be the lamest thing you’ve ever said,” I complained.
He grinned. “That’s what I was going for.” He climbed through the opening and dropped through it to land next to me. “What took you so long?”
I glared at him. “How did you even know to come here?” What I really wanted to ask was how he’d managed to get ahead of me.
Evan knew me too well. He could read my thoughts even when they weren’t fully formed. “It’s not a competition, Scout,” he chastised.
My glare grew more pronounced.
“Just because I was here first doesn’t mean I’m the superior warrior.” His smile was the stuff of earworms and paper cuts. “Coming in second is still placing.” He patted my shoulder in condescending fashion.
“I will kill you,” I warned.
He chuckled. “Save that vitriol for the hyenas,” he suggested.
“Just tell me why you’re here.” Why did I sound so whiny?
“I heard them,” Evan replied, turning serious. “The hyenas. I don’t know how to explain it. They communicate on a different wavelength.” He lifted his hand, as if to demonstrate. “Vampires communicate the same way.”
“Are you suggesting the hyenas have something in common with vampires?”
He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I’m just saying that it’s interesting. I could hear them. They were plotting.”
I nodded to get him to continue.
“It took me a bit to understand the language,” he explained. “It’s not as if they’re thinking in English.”
“Is it African?” Immediately I wanted to kick myself. “Wait … there’s no African language. Forget I asked that. It makes me sound stupid.”
“It fits your hair.” He tugged on a strand and grinned. “Actually, Afrikaans with two As is a language in South Africa. They weren’t speaking Afrikaans.”
“Do you speak Afrikaans?”
“A bit.” He shrugged. “What? I was bored when I was a vampire. I learned several new languages, which is good for us, because one of them was Portuguese.”
“How is that good for us?”
“That’s what they were speaking.”
“Why would African hyenas speak Portuguese?”
“That’s the official language of Angola,” he replied. “The thing is, it’s not straight Portuguese. It’s a mixture of another language. That’s probably because there are forty-six other languages spoken in Angola, most of which are Bantu languages.”
Did he think he was explaining something to me?
“Think of them as tribal languages,” he said. “What I heard was a mixture of at least one tribal language and Portuguese. That’s why I had so much trouble understanding them.”
We’d gone off on a tangent. “What were they saying?”
“I couldn’t understand all of it.” He shook his head. “I heard them mention the school. They seemed to be calling for all of their members to meet here.”
“So you came to check it out,” I surmised. “How long have you been here?”
He grinned. “About thirty seconds before you got here. I sensed your arrival, too.”
“Which of us was in the building first?”
“Why does that matter?”
“You know why.”
He made an exasperated sound deep in his throat. “If I say you, will you let it go?”
“Only if you tell the truth.”
“Then I won’t say.”
I was about to give him a shove when Gunner growled from his spot in front of one of the classrooms. He’d had enough of my crap.
“Fine.” I threw up my hands and stomped toward him. “I want an exact timetable when this is over.”
“I’m looking forward to it,” Evan replied.
The verbal jousting ended when we arrived outside the classroom. I pressed my hands to the door frame and allowed my magic to ooze out, which gave me the ability to hear what was happening inside the room.
“It’s clear,” I said pulling back. I looked to the larger doors at the end of the hallway. “I want to get them outside. I just texted Rooster. He’ll take a few minutes to get here.”
“I texted him when I was on the way,” Evan offered. “He’s probably already outside.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “So you beat me at that too.”
“Let it go, pumpkin.” He flicked my ear.
I blew out a sigh, then nodded. “Okay, you two need to hide.” I pointed at Gunner and Graham. “I do not want to explain my pet wolves.”
Graham whined.
“We have enough going on,” I shot back.
“She’s right,” Evan said before Graham could growl. “We have to be as smart as possible about this.”
Graham might have been miffed — he would be furious if he knew I was thinking that word — but he padded forward with Gunner, not stopping until they had dipped behind the first curve and were out of sight.
“Let’s do this fast,” I said to Evan. “I’ll usher them out; you walk them outside.”
He frowned. “Why am I walking them outside? That should be your job.”
“I’m the alpha.”
“You’re not.”
“I am literally an alpha.”
“You’re the apex, not the alpha.”
I glared harder. “I can be both.”
He opened his mouth to argue, then snapped it shut. “Fine,” he growled. “I’m only doing this because you have such delicate feelings.”
I forced his challenge out of my head and opened the classroom door. The teacher, a woman in her fifties, looked shocked at my appearance. She stepped forward to serve as a shield for her students.
“I locked that door,” she said.
“It’s time to go,” I said before she could finish. “We’ve cleared a path. You’re going straight out the door to safety.”
“We’re supposed to stay until the police arrive when the lockdown alert sounds,” she argued.
“I’m in charge now.” I didn’t give her an opening to argue further. “We’re clearing the school room by room.”
The woman hesitated.
“I swear it’s safe,” I said. “We don’t have time to argue. There are still hundreds of kids we need to evacuate.”
That stirred her to action. She bobbed her head. “We’ll do what you say. God help us if this is the wrong decision.”
We went to each classroom to check for hyenas. Then we cleared the kids to the front of the school, where Rooster and Graham’s men had taken over and were moving each classroom to safety. It went smoothly until we got to the principal’s office.
Jay Banks hadn’t been in charge long. The school had a problem keeping principals. They kept turning evil. Or, to be more precise, they came to the school with evil intentions and then died terrible deaths.
When we entered the principal’s office we found another hyena. They’d been strangely absent from the hallways, the cafeteria, gymnasium, and bathrooms. Evan and I agreed they’d run when we started going through the school.
Until now.
Jay, his hands shaking, was at his desk. Two huge hyenas paced in front of his desk. The rest of the office was empty, making me wonder if the office staff had run from the hyenas.
“You should shift back to your human forms,” I said to Gunner and Graham. They’d been wolves for the entire trek through the school. “You need to take charge outside, Graham. This is the last place we need to clear.”
He let loose a bark of discontent.
“Yes, I know you want to rip something apart,” I said, “but Evan and I I can handle this.”
“The town is already on edge,” Evan added. “We need to do the right thing. For everybody.” The last part was almost an afterthought.
Graham looked resigned now. He cast one more glance at the office, then stalked off. Gunner lingered for a moment, not wanting to leave me.
“Go with your dad,” I instructed. “I’ll see you in a second.”
Gunner’s harrumph was oddly human. He followed his father.
With the wolves gone, I gave my full attention to Evan. “Do you know what we could really use?” I asked.
“A prisoner for you to torture,” he guessed.
I scowled at him. “You’re not always the smartest one in the room.”
He chuckled. “Kill the one on the right,” he said. “I’ll knock out the one on the left. Then you can glamour it when it comes time to get it out of here.”
I could have argued — part of me wanted to for form’s sake — but we had to finish this. “Let’s do it.”
Evan kicked in the door and was on his hyena in a blink. His vampire strength gave him the edge.
I blasted my hyena with enough magic to explode it in every direction. This was one scenario when having a body to clear after the fact wouldn’t work to our advantage. Chunks of fur flew in every direction as I unloaded.
Jay managed to warn us of the trouble we were in when it was already over.
“They’re not just dogs and they’ll kill you!” he wailed.
The office fell into silence.
He blinked. “What the hell just happened?”
I flashed a tight smile. There was one other thing that needed to be done. “I think this one is on you,” I said to Evan.
He nodded, leaving the downed shifter — who had shifted to his naked human form — on the floor and smiling at Jay. “Look into my eyes,” he crooned.
Confused, Jay glanced at him. The second they made eye contact, it was over. Jay was under his thrall.
“Don’t make him forget the dogs,” I instructed. “That will create too many holes. Just make him forget that we’re taking one of them and that I used my magic in front of him.”
“I’m not a rookie,” Evan complained.
“Yes, but I’m the alpha. I’m issuing the orders.”
“You’re too much sometimes.”
“You love me and you know it.”
15
FIFTEEN
Iwas good at torturing people. It’s a skill I’d never list on my résumé but I wasn’t ashamed of it. Once we had the hyena secured in the room hidden down the back hallway of The Cauldron, I took charge.
I didn’t expect pushback.
“I’m not sure this is a good idea.” Andrea glanced around at the few people who had assembled. Rooster still had Graham, Evan, Rick, Doc, and Marissa helping at the school. Only Andrea, Gunner, and Whistler were here to argue with my plan.
“He has information,” I replied, matter of fact.
“Okay.” She dragged out the word. “How do you plan to get that information?”
I didn’t lie. Why would I? “I’m going to torture him.”
Andrea swallowed hard. “Scout.” Her voice was soft and I waited for her to continue, but she didn’t.
“I’m not asking you to do it,” I said. “It’s something I have to do.”
Andrea gripped her hands in front of her and darted a pleading look to Gunner. “Tell her this is a bad idea.”
Gunner raised an eyebrow.
“Torture can change a person,” Andrea insisted. “I’m not talking about the hyena. He’s not the one I’m worried about. It could change Scout.”
She was cute. Annoying, but cute. “This isn’t my first torture session.”
Frustration lined Andrea’s features. “I’m sure you’ve had to do things to stay alive before,” she hedged.
It wasn’t that I wanted to upset her — that was actually low on my to-do list — but I didn’t have time to coddle her. “Andrea, it’s fine.” I lightly patted her shoulder. “I’ve got this.”
I moved to the bar and requested Whistler hand me his Echo Show, which allowed me to tap into my Amazon account. It was more than just a speaker. It had a small screen, too.
“What are you going to do with that?” Andrea asked, scampering behind me. “Are you going to hit him in the head?”
“His head is probably hard. Why would I hit him with this when Rooster has a toolbox with a perfectly good hammer in the storage room?”
Andrea looked horrified and I had to hold back a laugh.
“I’m not hitting him in the head,” I assured her. “I will make him wish I had, though.”
“I don’t understand.” Andrea gnawed her bottom lip. “We should wait for Rooster to get back … and Graham. And your father. We should definitely wait for your father.”
“That’s not necessary.” I hummed to myself as I carried the device into the converted cell. The hyena, in his human form, was on the cot that had served as Emma’s bed for weeks. “What’s up, Buttercup?” I smiled and plugged in the Echo Show. “How you feeling?”
“Let me go,” he rasped.
I studied him. He was naked because we’d taken him down in his shifter form. Gunner had found an old pair of board shorts in the storage closet and we’d left them in the room for the hyena Thankfully, he’d donned them without being prompted.
“I’m Scout Randall,” I said, lowering myself into the lone folding chair in the room.
“Do you want an award for knowing your name?” the hyena growled.
“I introduced myself, now it’s time you do the same.”
“No.”
I narrowed my eyes. I could zap him with magic until he acquiesced. I wouldn’t even come close to killing him. I didn’t want to go there just yet.
“Fine. I’ll make up a name.” I cocked my head and scanned him from head to toe. “You look like a Roscoe.”
Surprise had the hyena, now to be known as Roscoe, narrowing his eyes. “Roscoe?”
“You’ve got a beer gut.” I pointed for emphasis. “You clearly don’t believe in manscaping. I don’t think a guy has to be dolphin smooth — that would be ridiculous — but a little trimming never hurt.”
Roscoe growled.
“Your feet are a travesty,” I continued. “You should try a pedicure. People say they’re just for women, but my boyfriend loves a good pedicure. Get those yellow things clipped and the cuticles cut back and you will feel so much better about yourself.”
Another growl.
I leaned back in my chair. “Did you ever see The Dukes of Hazzard?”
He didn’t respond.
“It’s about these cousins who live with their Uncle Jesse in a redneck part of the country. They run moonshine or something. I don’t think I’ve really ever understood that part, but it doesn’t matter.” I waved my hand.
“They have this fast car,” I continued. “They welded the doors shut for reasons that make zero sense. I think it’s just so they could make these guys who were considered hot by 1970s standards climb in and out of the windows in tight jeans.”
Still no reaction, other than a pronounced sharpening of his glare.
“The cousins constantly fought with the same cops,” I continued. “They had an elaborate car chase every episode. They jumped cars over huge gullies and stuff. It was very odd. One of the cops was named Roscoe. You look like him.”
I paused.
“Plus, you’ve got ‘bumbling fool’ written all over you,” I added.
Roscoe lunged at me. I caught him with magic, slamming him back into the cot. With him pressed to the thin mattress, I secured him to the cot with the cuffs that were already there.
“Okay,” I said when he was locked down, my hands landing on my hips. “It’s time we talk about etiquette.” I leered over him, grinning. “I’m in charge.”
He snarled.
“You have no power here,” I added.
He snapped his teeth and I saw the moment he tried to shift to overpower me physically. He expanded in size and then retracted, his eyes going wide when his shifting attempt was slapped back.
“You’re not the first shifter we’ve had here,” I said. My expression was designed to grate. “Of those we’ve kept here, you’re dead last in the terror quotient.”
He looked as if he was trying to set me on fire with laser eyes. Or maybe take a dump. It was honestly hard to tell.
“I’m going to kill you,” he seethed.
“Good luck with that.” I smiled because I knew it would irritate him. “I have a few things I’m going to leave you with.”
I trailed my fingers down his bare chest and singed him with just a touch of magic, causing him to squirm. “You are going to tell me the plan. You’re also going to tell me where your people are hiding.”
“No.”
“Then you’ll die here.” I needed to wear him down. I left him chained to the cot and turned on the Echo Show. I cued up The Love Boat and started the playback, cranking up the volume as loud as it would go. The theme song was enough to strike a chord of horror on Roscoe’s face. “I’ll see you in a few days.”
I left him to his torture and walked into the hallway, pulling up short when I found Andrea waiting.
“Is he dead?” she asked, looking legitimately worried.
I smirked. “No. We’re just getting started. He’s going to wish he was dead by the time I’m finished with him, but he’s still defiant right now.”
She cocked her head as sounds of the theme song wafted through the door. “Is that … ?”
“The Love Boat? Yeah. I’ve been researching television shows that can psychologically break a person. I’ve used Dawson’s Creek in the past and Designing Women. The latter only works for misogynists.
“I’ve never seen this show before, but it came up in a Reddit discussion on the most annoying television theme songs,” I continued. “I checked it out, and since I would rather die than watch a full episode, I figured it was a good choice.”
Andrea’s face was full of confusion. “You’re going to torture him with television?”
