Monster match, p.12
Monster Match, page 12
“I’ve been Branka’s assistant for the last ten years. My name is Elsie.”
“And why would you tell me this? Are you setting some type of trap for me?”
If it was possible, the already pale Elsie went even paler. “Oh, she’ll come for you, too, but not yet. First, she has to get Viktor to help her figure out why her experiments haven’t worked and she’s only been able to fully reanimate one person.”
Lucy frowned. “She said something at the charity event about information he might have in his subconscious. That’s what she’s after?”
“Yes. She’s trying to figure out what her father might have known about why she was able to reanimate him.”
“What makes her think there’s any of her father left in there?”
Elsie licked her lips. “Well…she’s made some upgrades to herself over the years to stay alive. A new part here, a new part there. And she’s had some flashes of—I don’t know what you’d call them—memories, maybe? Memories of the organ donor’s life? She thinks Viktor might’ve had something similar that she could pry out of his subconscious if necessary. Because even though she’s successfully experimented on herself, she’s never been able to replicate it with multiple donors.”
Holy shit, there was a lot to unpack there. But she decided to start with the most pressing question. “You helped her steal organs from dead people and put them in her body for her?”
Elsie straightened to her full height defensively. “I had no idea she’d killed those women! I thought her new heart and lungs had been donated to science legitimately! That’s what she told me, at least. I had no reason not to believe her.” She paused to chew her thumbnail. “Until I found her notes and read otherwise.”
Lucy’s brain was spinning. This all sounded familiar. There was a link here between Viktor and Elsie, Elsie and Branka, and Branka and Viktor. All the puzzle pieces were there. Her years of experience watching murder mysteries was working to her advantage when it all started clicking together. “You said Branka killed her organ donors, right?”
“Right.”
“She killed Viktor’s donors, too.”
Elsie’s eyes widened. “She killed her father? That’s messed up.”
Lucy snorted. “You have no idea. But in her failed experiments…were they murder victims?”
“No.” Elsie frowned. “They were donated after death. Holy shit, there really could be a connection there. It’s not scientific so it never would’ve occurred to Branka, but her father spent a lot of time writing about spirituality and metaphysical reasons why some people maybe couldn’t be reanimated and others could. Like, say, that person having unfinished business on earth?”
“Unfinished business like being murdered,” Lucy murmured.
“Exactly.” Then her eyes widened. “Shit, if Branka finds out all she has to do to reanimate pretty much anyone is murder them, everyone everywhere is in danger.”
“We have to stop her,” Lucy said. “Now. We need to call the police.”
Elsie started wringing her hands. “They won’t do anything. She has diplomatic immunity. They’ll just let her go.”
Lucy threw her hands up. “Who the fuck is out there giving diplomatic immunity to crazy sociopaths? You know what, never mind. I’ll stop her myself.”
Elsie looked at her like she’d started speaking in tongues. “The process she’s gone through to keep herself alive all these years has made her strong. You won’t be able to overpower her.”
Lucy scowled at her. “You are just Sally Sunshine over there, aren’t you? Why did you come to me if you didn’t think there was anything I could do to help?”
Elsie looked down with a shrug and kicked an invisible pebble sheepishly. “I thought I could free Viktor while you distracted Branka. He’s strong enough to take her. And from what I saw at that party, no one has ever distracted Branka as much as you did.”
“So, I’m bait?”
“Um…yeah.”
Lucy thought it over, then shrugged. “Works for me. Let’s go save my husband.”
Yep. That settled it. Viktor was going to be pissed at her.
“Oh, wait,” she said. “Do you know what sedative she used on my dog?”
“Yes.”
“Can you wake him up?”
Elsie blinked at her. “You want me to…wake up the giant, dangerous, scary-looking wolf dog?”
Lucy smiled. “I have an idea.”
CHAPTER 22
Viktor wished he could say it was the first time he’d awakened chained to a table.
But it wasn’t.
Branka’s basement lab wasn’t terribly different from the one she’d had back in the 1700s. It was dark, damp, and loaded with jars of questionable liquids, herbs, and medical instruments that were almost never used for their intended purpose.
It would also seem that Branka hadn’t kept up with the times. There wasn’t a computer in sight. Then again, she’d never believed in doing anything the easy way. As evidenced by the fact that he was currently shirtless and strapped to a cold metal table with 5-point leather restraints.
“Oh, good. You’re awake.”
Viktor fought hard not to flinch as Branka leaned over him on the table, flattening her hands on his chest. He’d never wanted a woman’s hands on him less in his life than in this moment. “How the hell did you get me here?”
Her grin was nothing short of maniacal. “I’ve made some upgrades to my strength since we were last together.”
So, not only had she figured out how to keep herself alive all these years, but she’d also found a way to make improvements . Fantastic. “What a shame you weren’t able to increase your capacity for kindness—or your morality.”
Branka pouted and ran the ruby-painted tip of one fingernail down the center of his chest. “Ouch. That hurts, darling. It pains me to think you look back on our time together as a chore and not the pleasure it was for me.”
“It wasn’t a chore,” he said through clenched teeth. “It was torture.”
She rolled her eyes. “To-may-to, to-mah-toe. We both know you would literally be nothing without me.”
“I’d be nothing without your father. We both know that, as well.”
Petar was the one who’d cracked the code to reanimating the dead, but probably never would’ve attempted it because he knew what Branka didn’t.
Just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.
He saw her jaw clench as she grated out, “He was too much of a coward to do the experiment, so his theories were just that—theories. I’m the one who made it work. And you’re going to help me do it again. I’ve been looking for all these years for an ingredient that I missed, some piece of the puzzle that I’d forgotten after the night you were born. But now I know. It was you all along, darling. The answers are in you.”
Viktor barked out a harsh laugh. “You can take me apart piece by piece if you want, but it won’t work. You’re not the scientist your father was. You’ll never replicate those results.”
She leaned down close enough that he could feel her breath feathering across his cheek as she whispered, “I will because you’ll help me. If you don’t, your little wife will be my next test subject.”
He knew better than to react, but he couldn’t help it. Thrashing against his restraints, he tried—and failed—to break free and headbutt her. She laughed and danced a step back. “Just remember, darling. Cooperate, and sweet little Lucy will remain safe. Cross me, and I’ll kill her right in front of you. Are we clear?”
“You won’t get away with this.”
“Oh, but I already have. I own you, Viktor. I made you, and I can take you out of this world just as easily. So, will you be a good little soldier and cooperate?”
“That’s not going to be necessary,” a new voice said.
“Lucy,” Viktor growled as his heart and stomach fought for a place in his throat. “Get out of here.”
“Not without you,” she said in a tone that let him know she meant it. She was ready to die right here with him if necessary. He couldn’t let that happen.
“Let her go,” he told Branka, desperate, “and I’ll help you. Hurt her and you’ll never get what you want.”
“That’s insulting,” Lucy grumbled. “You’re assuming she can take me, even though I have rage on my side.”
Branka ignored her and let out a tinkling laugh. “Darling, I’m afraid you have nothing left to bargain with. The bait walked itself right through my front door. We both know you’ll give me whatever I want when she starts screaming.”
Viktor had no reply because she was right. The moment Branka hurt Lucy or even got close to hurting her, Viktor knew he would cave. It didn’t matter how many people Branka intended to hurt or torture or murder, he’d gladly sacrifice their lives for Lucy’s. And if that earned him a place in hell, so be it.
“And what makes you think you won’t be the one screaming?” Lucy asked.
Branka sneered at her. “Child, you’re out of your depth. The fact that you came here alone to face me proves it.”
Lucy cocked her head to one side. “Who said I came alone?”
With a snarl that sounded like a hellhound had just burst through the gates of Lucifer’s domain, Yuma launched himself at Branka, latching onto the arm she threw up to protect her face and shaking it in his massive jaws with the brutal force of the apex predator he was.
Branka shrieked and flailed, desperately trying to dislodge the beast, but Yuma wasn’t letting go. He was doing his best to get to her throat. And he was chasing her out of the room, away from Viktor and Lucy to do it.
If they all lived through this, that dog would get the highest quality steak money could buy for dinner that night.
As Branka’s screams grew more and more distant, Lucy rushed over with a small woman Viktor hadn’t seen until that moment, and the two of them started clawing at his restraints.
“Run,” he told her again. “Get out of here now.”
“Not happening,” she said through gritted teeth.
It took a bit of cussing and maneuvering on their part, but the women eventually got him out of the restraints and on his feet. Branka must have drugged him in addition to tasing him, because his knees weakened as soon as he tried to put his full weight on them, and if not for Lucy bracing him by shoving her shoulder under his, he would’ve face planted.
“Gather the research,” Lucy told the woman. “We’re burning it all.”
Elsie started grabbing notebooks and dumping petri dishes and flasks in the trash as Lucy eased Viktor toward the door.
They were so close. So close to escaping.
But not close enough.
Out of nowhere, Branka appeared in front of them, bloodied, broken, and disheveled, with one shredded arm tucked up against her chest, her black dress hanging off her in tatters. And if looks could kill, they’d both be dead already.
“You,” she hissed at Lucy.
“Where’s my fucking dog?” Lucy hissed back. “You better not have hurt him.”
“It’s not your dog you need to worry about, child.”
Time seemed to speed up and slow to a crawl all at once. It happened so fast, and yet, Viktor saw everything. Branka’s hand shooting out, punching through Lucy’s chest, fisting around her heart….and ripping it out before dumping it unceremoniously on the floor.
Lucy had only a half a second to glance up at him apologetically and whisper, “I’m sorry” before she crumbled to the ground next to her heart.
His roar of pain shook the rafters of the basement lab. But he couldn’t even hear it over the pounding of his own heart against his ribcage as he stared down at his wife.
His. Wife.
No. This isn’t happening. It can’t happen.
He wouldn’t let it.
Gathering every bit of strength he had left, he grabbed Branka by the throat and let the rage that lived inside him, the beast, slip its leash.
CHAPTER 23
In the split second before she died, Lucy figured that the next time she opened her eyes, she’d see some cherubs floating over her head. Or maybe Saint Peter asking for her name to see if she was on the list to get into The Good Place.
Worst case scenario, she thought she might see Lucifer (the real one—not the hot one from TV) and he’d read her a list of her sins, including the time she crawled out a restaurant bathroom window to escape a blind date that wouldn’t stop talking about his mom, the time she stole a lip gloss from Walgreens when she was nine, and the time she smoked pot at a Van Halen concert when she was supposed to be on a school trip to Washington DC. But she didn’t see any of those things.
She saw Viktor.
“Where’s Yuma? Is he alright?” she croaked.
Viktor was looming over her in a way that suggested she was probably still flat on her back, probably on the ground. “He’s favoring his left side a little, so he might have a bruised ribcage, but it would appear that nothing is broken.”
She let out a relieved sigh. “Oh, thank God.” Then she got a better look at Viktor and added, “You look terrible.”
He did, too. Disheveled and miserable.
“Did that bitch kill you, too?”
Somewhere on the other side of the room, Elsie snorted. Viktor, on the other hand, continued staring down at her, looking all kinds of serious. “How do you feel, Lucy?” he asked, his voice cracking on her name.
Poor guy. It must’ve been awful for him to see her die like that. She imagined it wasn’t pleasant for her, either, but she didn’t remember much, other than seeing her heart laying on the ground a few inches from her feet. If there was pain, she didn’t recall it. But she was sure Viktor remembered every second of her death.
She groped for his hand and gave it a good squeeze. “Don’t beat yourself up about my death. It wasn’t your fault.”
He frowned at her sternly in a way that shouldn’t turn her on, but did. “Please answer my question. How do you feel?”
“Well, I’m a little cold.”
Another snort from Elsie, followed by, “That’s because you’re laying on a steel table.”
Lucy thought about that for a second. Yeah, that tracked. “But what are you guys doing here? Are we all in Purgatory? ‘Cause that’d suck. I hope it’s not like the Purgatory in Supernatural with all the fighting and stuff. That would get old really fast.”
Viktor swallowed hard. “I have to tell you something, and it’s going to be difficult to hear.”
She sighed. “Oh, boy. What now? Is that cuntbag here in Purgatory, too?”
Man, that might be the only saving grace of being stuck in Purgatory. If she could hunt that heifer down every day and destroy her over and over again, it might not be so bad after all.
“Elsie and I aren’t dead. You’re not dead, either,” Viktor began. “But…you were.”
“So…this isn’t Purgatory?”
“No.”
“And it isn’t Heaven? Or Hell?”
“No. You’re in Sanity Falls. Branka did kill you. But…”
He looked so ashamed that everything started clicking into place in her groggy brain. “You brought me back,” she whispered.
Tears filled his eyes as he stared down at her. “I did.”
“Branka was right,” she mused. “She told Elsie you knew how to make her experiments work.”
He nodded. “I do. I…did.”
“It worked because I was murdered, right?”
“Yes.”
Lucy glanced down and lifted the sheet covering her naked body. She gasped at the long, vertical scar and sutures down the length of her chest. It was true! Branka had ripped her heart out, and Viktor had brought her back! “How did you fix my heart and get it back in there?”
He cleared his throat. “I didn’t. Your heart was damaged beyond repair.”
She waited for him to clarify, and when he didn’t, Elsie supplied, “He used Branka’s heart. It’s the first good thing that bitch has done in three hundred years.”
OK, this was a lot to take in. Especially since she’d apparently just come back from the dead with someone else’s heart. “So, I have all my memories and everything…why?”
“We acted very quickly,” Viktor explained. “You were only dead for moments. Your brain was still viable and didn’t need to be replaced.”
She quickly patted the rest of her torso. “And everything else is…still mine?”
“Original, factory-installed parts,” Elsie said. “Only the heart is new.”
Lucy lifted her head again and glanced around, quickly sighting Branka’s broken, dead body on the ground….and the giant gaping hole in her chest. She waited, assuming she’d eventually feel bad about Branka’s death. And waited. And waited…
The feeling never came. As it turned out, she didn’t give a single fuck that Branka had died so that she could live.
She glanced down at her scar again. It didn’t even hurt. It felt…normal.
Viktor followed her gaze and let his head drop, his posture defeated. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I went a little crazy when you died. I couldn’t even fathom a world without you in it. I completely understand if you don’t want to stay married to a…murderer who would do this do you without permission. You can stay in the mansion with the dogs. I’ll move out. You’ll be taken care of for the rest of your—”
She pushed up on her elbows and glared at him. “Whoa, hold on there. Are you trying to weasel out of this marriage now? After you go to all the trouble to bring me back? I don’t think so. We took vows and no way am I letting you off the hook that easily.”
His head came up and tipped to one side like a confused terrier. “Easily? I killed someone! Ripped her heart out, stuck it in your body and reanimated you. If that’s not grounds for a divorce, I don’t know what is.”
“Well, I don’t really care that you killed her, because she was an evil bitch who hurt my dog and abused you for years! And yeah, it’s weird that I was dead and now I’m not, but it’s not like you had any other options, because I’m way too young to die and have way too much to live for. Look, you’re always worried about the wild, beastly part of your nature hurting me, but you controlled it, Viktor. You went a little crazy, but you got it under control and saved me. I’m not afraid of any part of you, and I never will be.” She poked him in the chest with her index finger. “And I’m not giving you a divorce, because I love you, you idiot!”
