The Good Life (Book 11, The Life Series, Supernatural)

Keep Calm and Carry On

My brother-in-law Sam Winchester had gone after the Darkness, who was in possession of my daughter Amara, on his own, with a bomb of hundreds of thousands of souls in his chest. If the sun was still here, if we were still alive, it meant that Sam was dead, and there was no way that Dean and I would get Amara back.

Toni Bevell had shot me in the leg, and then kidnapped me from the bunker.

Dean's and my son, Aiden, was still there.

I was tied up and gagged in the trunk of Toni's driver's car.

I knew that we had stopped after the sun had risen, struggling.

I could hear voices outside.

"Dr. Gregory Marion?" Toni asked.

"Uh-huh," Marion answered.

"I need your help," Toni told him.

"It's--it's 6:00 AM," Marion told her.

"It's an emergency," Toni told him.

"Lady, hold up," Marion told her.

"You have a clinic at the back of your house," Toni told him. "I trust it's fully stocked."

"Lady," Marion told her. "Lady, seriously. Unless your, uh, your puggle got hit by a car or something, it can wait."

"It really can't," Toni told him. The driver of the car opened the trunk so they could see me. I struggled in the ropes, unable to speak with the gag in my mouth, in severe pain because of the gunshot wound. Marion was in shock. "She was shot in the leg. A single, .38 caliber bullet. I need the round dug out the wound sutured, and some anesthesia to go."

Marion shook his head. "No. No way." He turned to walk inside. The driver showed him his gun to stop him. Marion looked at Toni. "I'm a veterinarian."

"Animals, people," Toni told him. "They're all meat. But I understand this is an unusual request, and I want to do everything I can to ease your concerns."

Marion shook his head. "Yeah, not happening. Mm-mm."

Toni showed him a bag full of money. "Hear me out."

Marion didn't like this, but he could be bought into doing what they wanted.

***********

I woke up barefoot without my jacket, chained to a chair.

A woman woke me up with a cattle prod, shocking me into alertness, making me groan in pain, winking. "Be a good girl."

Toni walked downstairs.

I glared at her. "You."

I struggled to no avail.

Toni walked toward a chair, sitting down, picking up a notepad and a pen. "Now, Vanessa. Let's begin."

***********

I sighed in annoyance. "Toni Bevell, London chapterhouse."

"That's right," Toni told me.

"So, you're what?" I asked. "You're, uh, English Men of Letters?"

"British," Toni corrected.

I nodded sarcastically, sighing in annoyance, looking around. "Where's my son?"

"You don't have to worry about baby Aiden, Ness," Toni told me. "Your son is safe at home."