AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rust-coveredpipes vibrated every time one of the city’s trains rushed by overhead, shedding tiny orange specks onto the dirty tile floor. The walls were gray except where paint curled away to reveal its former yellow color. With their proximity to dozens of screeching machines in the nearby maintenance area, Danny Milton could scream, and no one would hear him, but sadly, Bones couldn’t do anything to make him scream.
He had a promise to abide by, after all.
“Good job on selecting this place, Rodney,” Bones said.
The bearded ghoul grunted. “Private and close to the hospital, just like you wanted.”
Danny sat in the folding chair Rodney had provided. Bones knelt in front of him, holding Danny’s frightened stare. He’d commanded Danny to be silent ever since he snatched him from his hospital room, but now, he needed him to talk.
“Tell me how you ended up in a cave with Catherine Crawfield, and don’t lie about a word of it.”
Danny hunched as if expecting a blow. “I remember I was somewhere I didn’t like, but I don’t know where or why.”
“You don’t know?” Bones repeated. Had the sod been unconscious the entire time?
Danny nodded. “Whenever I focus on it, my head hurts, and I keep hearing a voice saying ‘it never happened’ over and over.”
Ah. Cat’s boss must have set human brainwashers to work on Danny. Clever of him, but it wouldn’t be enough.
Bones turned up the power in his gaze. “You don’t hear those voices any longer. Your head no longer hurts, either. In fact, nothing does. You feel completely relaxed, and you remembereverything.”
Danny slouched in the chair as all the tension suddenly left him. He even smirked like the smug, entitled shite he was.
“Hey, I remember now! My friend Laz brought me to the cave. His eyes turn green like yours do, but I didn’t know that then, and Ithoughtwe were going out for a beer, but Laz chained me to the cave’s wall until Catherine showed up.”
Laz must be short for Lazarus, the vampire bounty hunter. “Tell me in detail how you met Laz, what he said, and what Catherine said, too.”
“Catherine.” Danny spat her name out. “That girl was the biggest mistake of my life. She wasn’t even a good fuck, either. She cried through most of it-”
“Because you forced her,” Bones said while clenching his fists until his fingers broke.
Danny gave him an aggravated look. “’Forced,’ my ass. She knew what she went up to my room for. All that ‘wait, not yet, it’s my first time’ crap was just for show-”
Rodney lunged at Danny.
Bones yanked him back. “Don’t.”
“Why?” Rodney said in disbelief. “If this pisses me off, you must beenraged!”
“I am,” Bones said through gritted teeth. “But after I crippled his hand, Cat forced a vow from me that I would never harm, maim, blind, bleed, torture, or kill this wanker,orstand by and watch as someone else did.”
Rodney’s eyes widened. “That’s not fair!”
Dry laughter barked out of Bones. “My reaction exactly.”
“She did?” Danny’s tone brightened. “Well, that’s cool, but it still doesn’t make up for the bitch shooting me.”
Bones raised a brow. “Start with when you first saw her, and repeat every single word she and everyone else said.”
“’Quit stalling, I don’t need to see one of your chew toys to believe you’re all badasses,’” Danny said in a high falsetto meant to represent Cat. “’Really, I’m quaking. Where’s Bones?’”
Bones closed his eyes. She’d thought that he was at the cave? And that she needed torescuehim? Bloody hell.
“Then Laz said, ‘Bones? Where?’” Danny went on. “And then Catherine saw me and was all, ‘Danny Milton?You’rethe reason I had to drag my ass all the way from Virginia?’”
Bones’s eyes snapped open.Virginia.
“And I said, ‘You ruined my life, bitch!’” Danny went on. “’First your freak boyfriend crippled my hand, then you’re not dead, and now these creatures kidnapped me. I hate the day I met you!’ which is so true, but she said, ‘Right back at you, asshole!’ like any of this wasmyfault. And Laz was all, ‘He said you used to be in love with him. You’re pretending not to care now so I won’t kill him,’ and Catherine yelled, ‘Want to kill him? Go ahead. Here, I’ll help!’ and then sheshotme.”
