Burnt Offerings - Laurell K. Hamilton [96]
“Padma is a harsh master, Anita. We obey or we suffer.”
“Which is why,” Gideon said, “you must all leave as soon as possible. What the petit bâtard would order us to do to you if he awoke now is best left unsaid.”
He had a point. Gregory screamed, a high shrieking, that ended in whimpering. Richard had said the legs had begun to heal, bent backwards. I suddenly realized what that meant. “If the legs had healed broken, Gregory would have been crippled,” I said.
“Yes,” Gideon said. “It was Padma’s idea of punishment.”
Fernando groaned, eyes still shut. We had to get out of here. “I need my guns back,” I said.
They didn’t even argue. They just gave them all back. Either they trusted me or they figured I wouldn’t shoot Fernando while he was unconscious. They were right, though he’d earned it. I’d killed people for a lot less than what the rat-boy had done, a lot less.
Gregory had mercifully passed out. Richard held him as carefully as he could in his arms. They’d found wood from somewhere and used Richard’s shirt to tie the makeshift splints to Gregory’s legs. Vivian leaned heavily on Zane as if her legs weren’t quite working. She was also trying to cover her lower extremities. So hurt she could barely walk and she was embarrassed about her nudity. We were sort of out of clothes to offer her. The coat I’d brought was in the outer area.
Thomas saved the day by giving her his spiffy red jacket. It was large on her and covered enough. Just making it outside the tent to the midway made my shoulders relax a notch. I picked up the coat and put a gun in each pocket. The machine gun was already across my chest.
Thomas held the door for us. I went through last. “Thank you,” I said. We both knew I didn’t mean the door.
“You are most welcome.” He closed the door behind us, and I heard it lock.
I stood in the hot summer sunlight and felt my body sink into the heat. It was good to be outside in the daylight. But night was coming, and I still didn’t know what price Jean-Claude had bargained away to get Vivian and Gregory out of there. But the thought of Gregory’s lovely body deliberately crippled forever, and Vivian passed around like so much meat, made me glad we’d bargained. I wouldn’t say that whatever the price, it would be worth it, but close. Jean-Claude had said no rape, no actual intercourse, no maiming, no skinning alive. The list had seemed safer and more complete an hour ago.
30
WE PULLED INTO the driveway of my rented house with two wounded wereleopards, two unwounded wereleopards, two very silent werewolves, a partridge in a pear tree, and enough equipment for Richard to rig up a pair of traction splints in my bedroom. Gregory needed to be in traction splints for twenty-four hours according to Dr. Lillian. The hospital was being evacuated. If Fernando was in charge for the day, the evacuation wasn’t just a precaution, it was a necessity. The rat-boy hadn’t wanted to free Rafael, and he’d certainly want revenge on Richard for beating him, so both the wererats and the werewolves were in danger. The thought of what he’d do if he got his paws back on Gregory and Vivian was too scary to think about. The best we could do was keep them with us and try not to be anywhere Fernando would think to go.
I was half-trusting Thomas and Gideon to keep the rat-boy from searching too hard. I don’t usually trust people that easily, but Gideon had called him the petite bâtard. The little bastard. They didn’t like him any better than we did. Hard to believe, but maybe true.
Besides, where could we go where we’d be safe? We couldn’t go to a hotel. That would endanger everyone in the place. Same thing with most houses. One of the main things I’d been looking for in a rental was isolation. Frankly, I liked a little city around me, but my life had turned into a free-fire zone lately. No apartments, no condos, no neighborhoods; something with lots of ground and no neighbors to get shot up was what I’d wanted. I got it. Though the isolation was about all I’d gotten that I wanted.
The house was too big for just