Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4) novel Chapter 77

Natalia moved over by him. He took her in his arms, holding her tight as if he hadn’t seen her in a long time.

“I don’t ever want to throw a knife at you,” he said while he breathed into her hair. “I need you as much as I need air to breathe.”

“You didn’t miss,” she said.

“I never want to leave that to chance,” he said. “What if Mag had barged in right when I was to throw. Even I can be distracted.”

“Well, you were spot on. I know I don’t have to worry about you in Hell.”

“Don’t ever make me do that again.”

He renewed his hug.

“I won’t,” she said, feeling bad, but now she knew his aim and coordination were back to normal.

She wasn’t feeling so bad about going to Hell with him.

“Let’s go to bed,” she said.

He released her. She fetched his knife, then grabbed his hand and led him back into the house. The ladies were still playing cards and hardly seemed to take notice of them.

“Are you going to give me a sip of tea?” he said, once they reached the bedroom.

“No. Moralis thought it was getting too strong from sitting in the keg. He thinks only I can handle it because I’m not Viperian. Besides, your senses are already good enough.”

“Okay,” he said, sounding a little disappointed.

They undressed and slid into bed.

She didn’t think she would sleep at all, but Uri’s breathing was slow and calm like she remembered. He lulled her to sleep. The next thing she knew, he was whipping the covers off her.

“Time to get ready,” he said.

The house was quiet while they dressed. When they went downstairs, only Bonnie was there waiting. Natalia had no idea where the others were sleeping. She wondered if they were in the basement. Uri led the way out the front door.

The air was damp and fresh. It wasn’t raining, but the ground was still wet. The humidity was high.

Uri led them down to the end of the laneway. At exactly two-thirty, Moralis pulled up. Bonnie got in the front passenger side while Uri and she got in the back.

“Morning,” Moralis said.

“Morning,” Uri said.

The rest of the trip was in silence. Moralis parked a block away from the entrance to Hell. They were the first to arrive. A few moments later, Tia and Grazie pulled up. Behind them came Mirren and Sophia. Natalia was surprised to see Char and Mina pull up in the same car. They all gathered around Moralis’s car.

“Sophie leads. We’ll do a sweep like we’ve done before. Everyone has a partner, except, Bonnie is Uri’s partner this time. Tia is with Natalia. Char is with Grazie.”

Moralis waved a hand, and Sophie took the lead, followed by Mirren.

The gate into Hell was deserted. Natalia could already tell things were different. There was no music. There were no lights. It was dead quiet. There seemed to be no one around. Usually, there was a smell to Hell. Tonight, it seemed to have been washed away by the rain.

When they passed through the door in to Hell. Natalia noted the handle was still broken. Once inside, everyone spread out. There were even fewer streetlights working than she remembered. The streets were still strewn with garbage, but there was no other living creature than themselves.

Natalia, Tia, Uri, and Bonnie were the only ones not searching buildings. They kept an eye on the street. Bonnie occasionally climbed to get a bird’s eye view.

“Anything yet?” Natalia said.

“Nothing,” Bonnie said.

Their search was methodical and it was some time before they reached the main street. The cement truck was still there as was the flatbed trailer. The chair still sat on top surrounded by soggy discarded clothing. There were no bodies. There was hardly any evidence of the vendors other than the trash.

A few hours passed before they reached the warehouse where Moralis had stored his tea. The door to the building had been ripped off. Moralis and Sophie stepped in first, but then waved them all in.

On the floor near the keg of tea were the first bodies. There were two dead men. They were Viperian. The keg of tea was smashed to pieces.

“Definitely don’t let Uri have any of this tea,” Moralis said.

Bonnie turned the bodies over, giving them a close look.

“Red foam on the mouth,” she said.

“Yeah, what I suspected,” Moralis said. “I’d pour all that tea you have out, Nattie. The chemical formula has changed. It’s not the same stuff. I’m suspecting that it is now a neural poison… at least for Viperians.”

“I only had one sip and it wasn’t the same,” she said.

“Glad it didn’t kill you,” he said.

Uri didn’t look very pleased.

Everyone spread out through the rest of the warehouse, but those were the only two bodies.

“Don’t know them,” Bonnie said when they regrouped by the bodies.

“Nope,” Tia said, taking out her phone.

She took pictures of their faces.

Moralis led the way out of the warehouse.

At a faster pace, they did one more loop around Hell before heading back to their cars. The eastern sky was already light. The sun was just peaking between clouds.

“I’ve never seen that place so deserted,” Mina said.

“No,” Moralis said. “It’s never been that deserted.”

Natalia felt edgy.

“Maybe we better get home.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and there was a rush to pile into cars. She noted that Moralis seemed to be driving faster than he should, but the car stated that there were no police in the area. He pulled into the laneway and up to the door. The house looked normal.

“Want me to wait?” Moralis said.

“I’ll flash the front light if all is okay,” Uri said.

“I’ll respond with a headlight flash,” he said.

Bonnie led the way into the house and stood in the middle of the living room.

‘Pikers,’ she said in Viperian.

Mag stepped out of Uri’s office. Natalia hadn’t figured they would be staying in there.

“We’re fine,” Mag said.

She was holding Victoria.

Zena and Kate came out behind her.

Uri opened the front door and hit the front light a number of times. Natalia could only assume he had received the response from Moralis.

Mag handed Victoria over.

“She fussed horribly over the bottle, but she finally took it when she realized there wasn’t anything else.”

‘My poor sweet girl,’ Natalia said.

Victoria pouted.

“Nothing on security cameras?” Uri said.

“We watched them all night. Not a single alarm. We now have cameras over at the other house, too.”

“Good.”

“Breakfast or a nap?” Natalia said.

“I’m not tired,” he said. “But I will take some tea.”

“I’ll put the kettle on,” Mag said.

“Let’s change,” Natalia said.

Uri was changed and downstairs before her. She left Victoria in her crib and went to her office to grab two of the gallon jugs of tea. In the guest bedroom bathroom, she dumped them down the drain and rinsed the jugs. Victoria was fussing a little when Natalia went for the third jug. She checked her, but decided she was fussing only because she was alone. Once the last jug was empty and rinsed, she felt better.

‘I’m back, Victoria, sweet girl.’

She wrapped her against her body before going downstairs. Uri was in his office. A cup of tea sat on the dining room table for her. She had only just sat and taken a sip…

“Nattie,” Uri said from his office.

She rose with her cup.

“Phone meeting,” he said once she arrived.

Two minutes later his phone rang.

“Mirren and Sophie here.”

“Uri and Nattie here.”

“Grazie and Tia here.”

“Mina and Char here.”

There was a pause.

“Sorry. Moralis here. Baby’s crying and I had to find a quiet room.”

“It doesn’t look like Gussy is residing in Hell. He certainly cleared it out, though,” Mirren said.

“We found nothing in buildings,” Sophie said. “Even the few known crazy permanent residents were gone.”

“Last keg of tea is gone. Nattie?”

“I’ve already dumped what I had.”

She remembered the flask, making a mental note to empty that out.

“I’ll put out a broadcast with the Drivers Guild to watch out for Gussy and any one else they think might hang with him,” Mirren said.

“I’ll put a request out to search Viperian,” Tia said.

“I’m betting he dragged his party somewhere in A’ppollo,” Sophie said. “The only place we can’t search.”

“I’m still waiting for an identification on the two dead,” Tia said. “I just sent the pictures to Corean. Paula is taking over her duties while on maternity leave, but she doesn’t have same the skills as Corean.”

“I’m thinking we need a show of faces,” Mirren said. “Uri can you come to the club tonight?”

“Yes. With or without helmet?”

“Without, looking normal and healthy.”

“I can do. Are we squabbling tonight?”

Uri and Mirren liked to project the image of feuding father and son.

“I’m sure we can think of something.”

“Nattie, can you come to a women’s gathering tonight? Bring Victoria of course. We’ll have lots of babies,” Sophie said. “Come to our house in Viperia. Four pm.”

“Okay. What is this going to do?”

“Hopefully give us something to work with. See if Gussy is watching you guys but at a further distance.”

“I’ll come to pick you up,” Tia said. “That way you can leave your house fully staffed.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Natalia said.

“One last thing,” Mirren said. “Everyone who has knives, please be wearing them. Any other questions?”

There were five seconds of silence.

“Have a good day,” Mirren said, ending the call.

Natalia watched Uri.

“So, having us go out and about might flush Gussy or have him show his hand?” she said.

He nodded.

“Gussy’s not had much luck attacking us at the house. Look at how many times he’s tried. I think having us show up out in public, might set something in action.”

“Have your helmet in the car, just in case,” she said.

“I have to look normal and healthy. Almost there,” he said. “I had no problems tonight running around Hell. No headache. I even climbed a building.”

“Glad to hear. Take a nap today.”

“Yes, ma’am, but only if you join me.”

She smiled.

“You sound healthy.”