Warrior (Relentless #4)(55)

“No!”

Sara’s scream pierced the air, and the troll snarled ferociously in response. In the next instant, my heart leapt into my throat when she ran from the kitchen and threw herself in front of the creature.





Chapter 10





“Khristu!” What in God’s name was she doing? I stared at her face, which was devoid of fear even though she stood inches from one of the deadliest creatures on the planet. A new chilling thought hit me. What if she hadn’t come away from the Hale witch attack unscathed after all? Why else would she do something so suicidal?

Worry about that later. My only concern now was getting her out of here alive. If we survived this, I’d find her the best healers in the world.

Roland ran from the kitchen. “Sara, are you insane? Do you know what that is?”

She took a defensive stance in front of the troll, raising her hands to ward us off. “He’s my friend! His name is Remy.”

I jerked to a stop mid-stride, and my jaw fell.

“That is Remy?” Roland’s shock echoed mine.

“Yes. Now back off, both of you,” she yelled as fiercely as a mother bear protecting its cub.

If the archangel Michael himself had appeared in front of me, I could not have been more dumbfounded. My hands fell limply to my sides as I watched Sara turn to the troll and take its hand.

“Are you okay?” she asked tenderly as if she expected it to answer her.

The troll immediately stopped snarling, and it wrapped its long fingers around hers.

Roland recovered first. “Is he okay?” He looked at me. “I nearly had a heart attack and she’s worried about a troll. A goddamn troll!”

“Roland, shut up,” Sara snapped, still facing the creature. “Remy, what’s wrong? Please tell me.”

The troll looked at her, and I could have sworn I saw fear in its eyes. “Minka gone. Creah and Sinah, too,” it replied, sending me reeling again. A troll speaking English?

“Gone? What do you mean gone?” she asked fearfully.

“Humans take them.”

She gasped. “We’ll find them. We’ll get them back.”

A dull throbbing started in my head, and I rubbed my temples wearily. I wondered vaguely when I’d last had a headache, and decided it had to be that time Chris and I battled a thirty-foot rageon demon in Nebraska in nineteen seventy-three. The serpentine demon had slammed me into the ground so hard my ears had buzzed for an hour after we’d finally killed the beast. After taking on a rageon demon, I knew there was nothing I couldn’t handle.

Of course, a monstrous demon with diamond-hard scales, ten-inch claws and paralyzing venom had nothing on Sara Grey.

I almost laughed at the absurdity of the situation. “Does your uncle have any alcohol here?”

Sara turned her head to stare at me. “How will that help us?”

“It won’t. I need a drink.” Or twenty.

Roland looked as wrung out as I felt. “I’ll help you look.”

She glared at us, still holding the troll’s hand. “You guys are not helping the situation. Remy’s little cousins are in a lot of danger, and we have to find them.”

I leaned against the wall as the pounding in my head grew worse. “We have enough problems to deal with without going out looking for missing trolls. Have you forgotten your own considerable troubles?”

Her eyes took on a haunted look. “But this is my fault. I have to help them.”

The troll spoke up. “Is our fault. Sara warn me it dangerous but I not believe it. I need medicine for boggie.”

“What on Earth is he talking about?” Roland asked. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know.

Sara chewed her lower lip. Any other time, I’d find that endearing. In our current situation, it filled me with misgiving.

“Remy has this boggie friend who was sick, and they needed a special medicine that you can’t get here,” she said. “It only comes from Africa, and it’s very hard to find – and really expensive. I found someone to get it for us, but we needed it as soon as possible so Remy gave me something to trade for it…something very hard to find.”

Oh, hell no. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

She shook her head.

“Sukin syn!” I bit out, followed by some choice words I rarely used. If we survived the night, it would be a bloody miracle.

Roland frowned. “What? What am I missing?”

I paced the short hallway. “Iisus Khristos! You used troll bile to buy the medicine? What the hell were you thinking?”

“Oh, Sara, you didn’t,” Roland croaked.

“I was careful,” she said. “I went through a guy I used a few times before for other things, and he’s always careful. He said he went through a middle man with an overseas buyer and there was no way to trace it back to me. But a few weeks later I found out that someone was posting on some of the message boards, asking about troll bile, and I got worried. I never believed they would find us, let alone be brave enough to do something like this.”

“Not brave, incredibly stupid.” Whoever had taken those young trolls had just signed their own death warrant, and possibly ours as well.

Her shoulders slumped miserably, but there was no time to comfort her. I had no idea how long the trolls had been missing or when the clan would retaliate. It might already be too late to get Sara out of here.