This was all wrong, she thought. It wasn’t supposed to go this way. She was supposed to come to the Underworld and easily get the key. Go back to the Paradise Inn and use it for her and Barlow, lickety-split. A to Z in a couple of hours. But everything had gone wrong.
Horribly, horribly wrong. And now she was just waiting there until Julian decided to kill her.
Like one of those stupid, big-haired bimbos who always got into trouble and needed Magnum
P.I. or the A-Team to come to her rescue.
But this was real life, not TV. And Julian was going to kill her.
Not that I have anything to live for anymore.
She snorted into the mattress. Could she be any more dramatic?
Her mild laughter turned to self-pitying sobs after a moment.
She was going to die. Slowly.
Then she heard a sound. A quiet click as the door behind her opened. It was Julian, she knew it. He was ready for her. She tried to pretend to be asleep, but her heart was beating like crazy, her breathing uneven. She’d never felt so helpless. Just like one of those lobsters staring plaintively out from the tank at Red Lobster—her favorite restaurant other than McDonald’s—begging not to be picked.
The floorboards creaked. Then there was no sound for a few moments. She strained her ears to hear anything, deciding that maybe it had only been her imagination. Maybe—
A hand clamped down over her mouth and she screamed against it, but the sound was muffled.
“Shh,” a familiar female voice said. “Be quiet, or they’ll hear you.”
She tried to turn around. “Lisa? Is that you?”
“In the flesh. Talk about déjà vu, huh?”
“Where the hell are we?”
She laughed softly. “Interesting choice of words. We’re in the mayor’s mansion.”
“Oh no. Not again.”
“Yeah. Just when you think you’re out . . . they pull you back in.”
Val brightened. “Godfather quote. Nice.”
“Now hold still and I’ll undo these ropes.”
She heard another voice. “Val? You okay?”
Val tried to turn around again. “Reggie?”
“In the fur.”
The ropes slipped off her hands and Lisa started to untie the ones at her feet. Val’s eyes were adjusting to the dim lighting enough to see the outlines of bodies. Lisa’s small, shapely one, and Reggie’s small rat one sitting proudly on her shoulder.
“You’re not dead!”
“Shh!” His tail twitched. “We’ll all be dead if you keep screaming.”
She lowered her voice. “I’m not screaming. I’m just so happy to see you.”
“There,” Lisa announced. “You’re free.”
Val rubbed her sore wrists. “What are you doing here at the mansion again? I thought you would have been long gone by now.”
She shrugged. “I had a little unfinished business to take care of. I sneaked back and saw Julian drop you off earlier. I’ve been waiting for everyone to clear out so I could come in and repay you for saving my ass earlier. Are you complaining?”
“Not in the slightest.” Val slipped off the bed and stood on shaky legs. Her head throbbed from the hit she’d taken earlier from Julian.
“Come on.” Lisa grabbed her rope-burned wrist and pulled her toward the door. Before Val had a chance to gather her thoughts, she’d opened it, and they were making their way down an abandoned hallway.
Val asked, “Where are we going?”
“Oh, I guess I should give him back to you now.” Lisa stopped and gently picked Reggie off her shoulder before placing him on Val’s.
“Thanks for the ride, sweetheart,” Reggie said.
“Anytime.”
“Really, you mean that? Because I just might be in the market for a new girlfriend soon. It would be a rebound thing, but I don’t see why we couldn’t make it work.”
“I don’t date outside my species.”
Reggie nodded. “Can I get your number anyhow?”
Lisa rolled her eyes. “Is he always like this?”
Val managed to grin at that. “Pretty much. But you didn’t answer me. Are we getting out of here?”
“Soon. Like I said, I’ve got a little business to take care of.”
“And that would mean—?”
Lisa shushed her again and started walking, keeping close to the wall, ready at any moment to slip inside a room if someone started coming their way.
“So, Val,” Reggie said, “last time I saw you, you were hot-tailing it out of here and Nathaniel was giving Julian a ride on the pain train. You probably didn’t see me.”
Her heart sank at hearing Nathaniel’s name.
Reggie continued, “I hung out under a potted plant for a while, then slipped out. I’ve been checking this place out ever since. It’s big. Especially at my current size. Even if I was normal-sized I think it would still seem huge. Anyhow, I wasn’t panicking. I knew you’d come back for me. Of course, I thought you’d come back of your own free will, not trussed up like a Thanksgiving turkey, but I’m not complaining. I’m just happy to see that you’re okay.”
He paused. “So where’s tall, dark, and gruesome?”