I quickly knock her out and curse at the knife sticking out of my leg.
“God dammit, where did she hide that?” I exclaim in exasperation.
I quickly pull out the knife and heal myself, and then wipe the knife clean and pocket it. I cannot take the risk of leaving blood behind. The waitress had rushed over the moment the commotion at our table started. She looks at us not sure what she’d seen.
“Hi, can we have the check please?” I ask politely my arm wrapped around my grandmother as she rests her head on my shoulder. “My grandma doesn’t feel well,” I explain.
She quickly gives us our bill, and Victor pays. We hustle out with me “helping” my grandmother.
“Okay, we need a safe place to go. Somewhere where we can find out who this really is,” I say giving the woman I’m supporting a shake. “And to keep you safe, too,” I add looking at George.
“There’s a Bed and Breakfast in the next town. We need to get George someplace safe, preferably out of Paradise Falls,” Victor supplies.
“Okay, we’ll need my car. Can umm, you get it for me please, as you’ll be a lot quicker?” And then on a quick thought, “Can you drive?”
“Yes, I can drive. Give me your keys. I’ll be back soon.”
I fish my keys out of my pocket and hand them over. Victor quickly disappears. We carry on walking. After a couple of minutes, George helps me drag the unconscious woman.
****
“How long were you...?”
“Chained up,” George supplies. “Yeah.”
“A week, well I think it was a week. I don’t know how it even happened. I mean one minute I was talking to you, and being an ass, the next minute I arrive home and wake hours later, chained up and feeling weak. The worst was feeling helpless.” His chin trembles making him looking like he’s going to cry again.
With effort, he pulls himself together and gives me a shaky smile. “I don’t know who she is, or why this happened. What I do know is she, if she is a woman, gave the orders.
“There were two werewolves with her, and they were huge. But they did what she told them to do and when she told them to smash her face and break her legs, they looked terrified, as if they could already imagine the punishment they would get for doing it, even though she told them to do it!” continued George in a terrified whisper.
“I’ve never been so terrified in all my life,” he finishes on barely a whisper.
In sympathy Jasmine goes to him and presses her side against his leg. I awkwardly pat his arm from where I can reach it while holding up the woman between us.
I’m thinking she’s been unconscious a long time when she tries to make a break for it. Jasmine must have been thinking the same, as she runs in front of her and trips the woman up. With a high-pitched curse, the woman falls flat on her face, and I jump on her back knocking her out again. Poor George almost passes out from fright. He’s been through a lot, and I don’t think he can handle much more.
“George, do you know someone called Benny?” I suddenly ask as I sit on the unconscious woman.
“Benny? Yes, he’s my butler. Why?” Surprise flickers across his face at the sudden change in subject.
“He tried to get me to come to you this evening. He said you had sent him to my grandmother’s to retrieve me,” I reply trying to figure out how to phrase my answers.
“Why would he do that? I never told him to. Mind you I haven’t told anyone to do anything since being abducted,” George replies remorsefully.
A couple of minutes later, we hear a car speeding toward us. Quickly I jump off the woman and drag her into the bushes. Jasmine herds George into them, and I gesture for them to get down. Following my own instructions, I crouch down too, keeping my ears tuned toward the oncoming vehicle.
As it comes closer, I realize I definitely don’t recognize the car, so we all flatten ourselves down even farther and listen to it speed by. A couple of seconds later we hear it screech to a stop and reverse. It drives into the trees where there is no road.
I share a look with Jasmine, and I hear George’s gasp of shock. Guess none of us knew about that particular entrance.
“Fucking hell.” I gasp in sudden realization and punch the unconscious woman in the head. At George’s squeal of terror, I give him a look. “It’s where she tried to make a break for it,” I all but growl in anger.
A couple more minutes pass before we hear another car coming at a regular speed. This one I recognize as mine, and I quickly hop up to wave Victor down. As he pulls over to the side of the road, I gesture for the others to get into the back seat. Once they’re safely inside with George buckled, I close the door and collect the woman from the bushes.
Hefting her up over my shoulder, I run to the boot and dump her inside. This time I search her and remove her phone, switchblade, and keys. I quietly close the boot and run to the passenger door, climb in, and close the door as Victor drives off.
****
We reach the next town just before dawn, but Victor carries on driving through it. We pass through Bandon without stopping, and turn off at the next exit on the left by Innishannon where we finally stop. George is snoring happily in the back, and Jasmine’s resting. Every now and again, she’ll shift ever so gently, or lift her head up to see where we are. At a nod from me she stretches and gives George a gentle nudge to wake him up. He wakes with a start and looks like he’s about to pee himself and throw up.
“It’s okay, George, you’re safe,” I murmur quietly, so as not to frighten him any further.
“We’re letting you out here,” Victor informs George in a matter-of-fact voice.
“I don’t understand. Where am I, and why can’t I stay with you guys?” whines George in a petulant voice.
“We’re in Innishannon. You’ll be safe here, and you can go wherever you want to. I can’t take you where we’re going, and I would advise you not go back to Paradise Falls any time soon, as it’s apparently not safe for you there,” replies Victor. He hands George a wad of money.
“There’s a hotel a bit farther down the street, and a bus stop in front of it. I have to take care of the demon, and I don’t fancy the police wanting to know what’s in the boot if she starts banging on it again. George, you’ll be fine, you’re safe.”
After five more minutes, George finally gets out of the car, slamming the door closed. He glares at us, with his arms crossed as if to change our minds about leaving him behind. Victor puts the car in gear and drives off.
I see him glance at me out of the corner of his eye, as if wondering if I will say anything about leaving George behind. Victor’s right, we can’t get caught with a demon who looks like an old lady in the boot. As for taking George with us, I don’t even know where we’re going, but, I agree, George isn’t safe in Paradise Falls, our ultimate destination. In answer to his silent question, I give him a slight smile of understanding and close my eyes to rest.
As dawn approaches, the sky pales and starts to brighten with shades of gold and red mingling with blue. The birds wake and start their morning chorus, and my jaw cracks with an enormous yawn. It has been a long twenty-four hours, and I’m knackered. Victor gives me a smile as he glances in my direction.
“We’re almost there,” he whispers.
I don’t know where almost there is, but I’m surprised at how much it doesn’t bother me. I trust Victor, end of story, so the details don’t matter.