Tainted: Book Three - Enslaved

9. She Belongs Here

Rome

I tapped my fingers impatiently against the door, watching dawn lighten the horizon. My eyes were gritty from lack of sleep, I wanted coffee in the worst way, and I'd been in a bone-jarring car wreck.

To top off such a stellar night, the girl I cared for was imprisoned in a Diabolical market and in danger of being sold to who knew what.

As my rage grew, my fingers tapped faster and hard enough to leave tiny dings in the metal framework. I clenched my hand into a fist to stop, then shrugged. The entire side of the car was a mass of dents. A few more weren't going to matter at this point.

As much as I wished I were in Kerry's role, I knew the kid had it under control and could infiltrate the traffickers' lair to get Mira and Gigi out as quickly as possible.

But it irked my honor and stung my pride to hide in a car while a kid rescued my woman.

I made a frustrated noise and glanced at Jax, who was close to chewing his thumb right off. Yeah, he wasn't in any better shape.

"What is that?"

I looked to where Chance was pointing and saw a skeleton hopping from one mud puddle to the next. He was about four and a half feet tall, I guessed, and pearly light threaded through his bones and padded his joints like gel. His skull was huge compared to the rest of him and his dark eye sockets each had a purple dot in the center.

"Is there a Diabolical creature that looks like a child's skeleton?" Jax craned his neck for a better look.
"Not that I know of," I said.

"It looks like it has writing carved in its radial bone." Chance reached for his door handle. "Let's take a closer look."

"No. Kerry said to stay in the car." I reached over the seat and grabbed his shoulder. "Curiosity could get someone killed right now."

"But how many times in your life are you going to see something like that?"

"We can ask Kerry about it when he gets back." Jax obviously didn't want to do anything that might put his girl at risk, either. "Maybe they're common around here or pets or something."

"Pets." Chance's tone was flat. "I hope not."

Finally, I saw them coming out of the front door. My eyes went straight to Mira, and I growled when I saw she had a black eye and was limping.

"Thank God. Gigi looks okay." Jax seemed to relax all at once.

I wanted to do the same, but I couldn't. Not until Mira was in the car and I had a look at her.

Kerry stopped the parade when the little skeleton dashed over to him. He patted the thing on the skull.

"Look, Kerry made a friend," Jax said.

"Pop the trunk," Kerry called as he brought the girls over, skeleton in tow.

Curious now, I turned around, but couldn't see much. I had to content myself with listening as Kerry opened the trunk and shuffled things around.

"What took you so long, Kerry?" I didn't recognize that voice and figured it was the skeleton. "You said thirty minutes."

"I had to talk to Robideaux."
"Did you kill him?"

"Not yet."

"What do you have for me? It had better be something good since I waited so long. What is it? Tell me! Come on!"

"Gah! You're so annoying! Here."

"Gremlin teeth?" The skeleton screeched with what I could only assume was joy. "Thanks, Kerry!"