Page 30 of Loup Garou
Shrugging, I grinned and took off running towards the other hallway. I didn’t make it out of the lobby before Myra was on my heels. I sensed another wave of evil coming straight at me, while the one behind me remained constant. I knew I was in trouble. I came to a grinding halt. “Oh, bad idea! Really bad idea!”
Seizing hold of Myra, I knocked her to the side, put the knife in my mouth and launched into a back handspring. The power went under me just as the other crossed above me. I slashed at it, catching it and making it break apart for a moment. Coming to my feet, I sensed it headed at my head and ducked, grabbing Gina around the waist as I went. The knife fell from my grasp, and scattered across the floor.
Gina screamed as it crashed near her head. “I can’t see it, Lindsay! Where is it?”
“What do you mean you can’t see them?” I asked, watching as the power formed two dark shadows. “They’re huge! Like Exavier and Jay kind of huge!”
Myra grabbed Exavier and pulled him down. “Try to play along, Mr. Right. I can’t marry you off to her if you’re dead.”
I kicked her ankle. “Ratsaren’t deadly.”
She grinned. “Good to know you were more concerned with rats than me trying to marry you off.”
Gasping, I watched as the power went for Jay. “Jay, two o’clock.”
He dropped just in time. “Any idea how to stop it?”
“Mirrors?” Gina asked. “Can we trap its essence there?”
“No,” I said, unsure why. “We have to find something that can absorb it without letting it consume them.”
Myra rubbed the bridge of her nose. “How is it you know these things?”
“I don’t know. Lucky, I guess. Why?” I glanced at Exavier and smiled. “Umm, rats. Hate ‘em.”
“Seriously, Lindsay, you always know things you shouldn’t.”
I shrugged. “I paid attention to the stories a little boy used to tell me about bad things and what did and did not work to stop them. He used to tell me the stories to make me feel better about monsters in the dark. Instead, he made me scared to sleep without a light on.”
Gina snorted. “Only you would play with kids who would creep you out.”
“Exavier never creeped me out,” I said defensively.
“Exavier?” She glanced at Exavier and bit her lower lip. “Didn’t realize you knew himthatwell.”
“What? Not him. A different one. The one I knew was smaller. Much smaller and well, smaller.”
She laughed and I sensed the evil trying to lock in on the kids again. I jumped to my feet. “Hey, asshole, you aren’t touching my kids. You don’t really want them when you could have what you came for.”
“Don’t you dare unmask yourself—” Myra’s words were cut off when I kissed her forehead and let my power out again. “Dammit, Lindsay!”
“I won’t let it hurt my kids. End of discussion. I’ll find a way to at least trap it. We can call my dad and ask what to do if we have to. He’ll lock me in a tower somewhere to keep me safe when all is said and done, but this stuff won’t be able to hurt anyone. Well, I’d love to stay and talk but—” I glanced at the other hallway and sensed it coming, “—it’s really pissed right now. Umm, if I can’t figure out how to contain it, you might want to call the voodoo guy.”
Jay grabbed my wrist and shook his head. “You’re leaving. Now.”
“Let go of my wrist. I have a rat to contain.”
“Lindsay, I’m not fucking joking. Exavier will back me on this.”
Glancing at Jay, I let a pouty face come over me and blinked as if I was going to cry. Jay sighed and let go of my wrist. I grinned. “Damn, all these years and I really could have just gone with crying to get my way.”
“Get back here. You’re going to get yourself killed.” He reached for me and I dodged his grasp, moving to the beat of the song still thumping through the center.
“It, like you, will have to catch me first.” Stripping my outer shirt off, I arched my brows as I threw it at Jay’s face. “Duck!”
He did. The evil raced past his head before heading straight at me. Jay shook his head. “Goddammit, Lindsay, none of us are sensitive to it like you are. We can’t help if we can’t see it.”
The evil sent things flying around me. Papers scattered about the lobby and one of the computer monitors tipped over. I’d have fun trying to explain it all to Exavier later. If he had too many questions, I’d call my dad and have him wipe his memory. Really, though, something as serious as that was a last resort.
