Fangs and Fennel (The Venom Trilogy #2)(25)

The vampires circled in tighter, laughing. “Look out, boys, she’s going to brain us with her kitchen wares!”

“Five against one, that’s not very fair,” I said.

“Oh, it isn’t five against one.” Santos grinned. “I have a crew outside too, just in case you manage to slip”—he made a snake-wiggling motion with one hand—“through our fingers.”

Another sizzle crackled in the air, and the smell of burning material tickled my nose. Heat suddenly erupted on my leg where the noose had hooked in tight.

I screamed as I went down, writhing with an intense burning pain, not unlike an oil burn I’d had when I’d made my first attempt at deep-frying apple fritters. Only this was a thousand times worse. I couldn’t think past it, couldn’t make myself care that I was surrounded by enemies.

“See, I told you that potion would work,” Santos crowed, but I barely registered his words; I had to get the noose off. I scrabbled at my leg, but every time I touched the noose, my fingers burned, scalding.

“Grab the handle,” Santos instructed, “and I’ll get on top of her.”

This was going down faster than a stack of pans off the top shelf. I had to do something now, or I was going to end up in more trouble than I’d been in so far in my new world.

And that was saying a fair bit.





CHAPTER 6


With my teeth gritted tight, I reached for the noose as one of the vampires reached for the long handle. I grabbed the metal wire, crying out with the pain in my hands that mimicked the unreal pain in my leg, and loosened it just enough to slide my foot out.

I jerked away from the noose as though it were a snake. Scratch that, as though it were a snake catcher. I pushed myself to my feet and climbed onto the kitchen counter.

“What, you can fly too?” Santos laughed up at me, his dark eyes filled with anything but humor. “My, my, Remo is going to be upset when he sees the damage on you.”

Breathing hard, I struggled to think straight. The pain encompassed every aspect of my mind and thoughts. I wanted away from the vampires; I needed somewhere dark and quiet and cool to heal my wounds. Somewhere to hide.

I turned my back and dove for the tiny window over the sink. The shattering glass didn’t hurt me except where it landed on my hands and leg that had already been damaged, leaving me open to yet more injury.

Shouting erupted all around as I hit the ground with an unladylike splat. I pushed up and took off, running as fast as I could, doing my best to ignore the intense pain as it spread up my leg. I’d had burns before and worked through them; I could do it now too. The snake in me urged me on, self-preservation kicking into overdrive.

A flutter of wings drew my attention to the left, and I followed Ernie, blindly, unable to see through the wash of tears.

“Get into the water!” Ernie seemingly appeared at my side, and I stumbled to a stop. “Get into the water, you’ve got to wash it off!”

The sound of flowing, gurgling water drew me to it. A haze of pain coated my vision, so I followed the sounds until I was standing knee deep in a fast-flowing current. I sank down, burying my hands into the ice-cold water. A shuddering breath escaped me.

Ernie was in front of me; I could feel the wind off his wings as he trod air. But I kept my eyes closed, swallowing down the nausea that rose even while the pain eased a little.

“Alena, talk to me.” He touched the side of my face, and I slowly opened my eyes. The world shimmered and slowly solidified.

“I feel like I’m staring through a bowl of gelatin.” I shifted my leg and groaned as the pain spiked again. I let it float back down to the rocks on the riverbed and forced myself to remain still, the flowing current pulling whatever had been on the snake catcher’s loop away from me.

I blinked up at Ernie, a sudden thought making my adrenaline surge once more. “Did I lose them? Do I have to run again?”

He flew straight up into the air and stared back the way we’d come. “I think they gave up. You were moving too fast, even injured, for them.”

I lay back in the water. “Tell me if they come.”

He stayed where he was, but he kept glancing at me. “How bad are you hurt?”

“I don’t know, it’s like I dipped myself in oil and set it on fire.”

He grimaced and looked out around us again, doing a slow circle. Where was Remo when I needed him? Dang it all, this was kinda his fault; he could at least have the decency to show up when . . .

I lifted one hand out of the water. My fingertips were seared right through both my human skin and the snakeskin underneath, showing muscle and even a hint of bone. I shuddered, and not from the icy water. My snakeskin could take a rocket launcher. Santos had said the potion would work. Was that what had done it, or was it a special kind of metal on the snake catcher? Whatever it was Santos had used cut through me like fat-nosed Colleen going through a cheesecake. “Ernie.”

“Yeah?”

“What kind of material was that he had? It was like my kryptonite, wasn’t it? Silver, maybe? Could I be reactive to a metal like some other Super Dupers?”

He dropped like a stone, his feet dipping into the water, his whole body shaking. “They found you. You have to run again.”

I lurched to my feet and stumbled out of the water. “Where?”