Children of the Sea 02 - Sea Fever

baby blob or . . . your little boy.”
     
    228
     
    Regina’s chest hurt. Her mind spun. She couldn’t breathe. Where was Dylan? Where was Caleb? Oh, God, where was Nick?
     
    “Don’t hurt him.” Was that her voice, that begging, breathless whisper? “Don’t kill him. Please.”
     
    “Kill him?” The doctor cocked her head as if considering the possibility. “Oh, I don’t think we’ll do that.”
     
    “I don’t think”?
     
    A trickle of rage dripped through the icy ball of fear in Regina’s gut.
    But the fear was greater.
     
    “You don’t want him,” she said, her voice shaking. “He’s not . . .”
     
    “He has no value to them,” Dylan had said.
     
    “He doesn’t have anything to do with this,” Regina finished.
     
    “No, he doesn’t, does he?” Donna agreed pleasantly. “What a shame, for the child to have to suffer for the sins of the mother.”
     
    Suffer. Oh, Nick . . .
     
    Regina’s hands clenched helplessly, convulsively.
     
    The thing smiled slyly, watching her, enjoying her reaction. “But you’re wrong to think we don’t want him. Some of us have been forced to take human form for some time, living in camps, sleeping in the rough. A little distraction, a fresh . . . sensation, would be welcome. And Nick is such a pretty boy. So . . . clean.”
     
    Anger rose like bile in Regina’s throat, sick and bitter.
     
    “Take the pills, Regina.” The thing’s voice hardened. “And maybe we’ll let him go.”
     
    Maybe?
     
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    Blind, white rage geysered inside Regina. She wanted to kill the devil woman in front of her with her bare hands. Wanted to gouge and bite, scratch and kick, with outraged maternal instinct.
     
    But her rage, her instincts, wouldn’t save Nick. This devil had no intention of letting him go. They would use him to control her and then abuse him because they could.
     
    Unless she stopped them. Unless, for once in her life, she was careful and smart.
     
    She met Donna’s bright, malicious eyes and saw Evil peering out at her. She clenched her hands. Raised her chin. “How do I know you’ll do what you say?”
     
    The thing’s mouth stretched in a grotesque imitation of a smile.
    “You’ll just have to trust me.”
     
    “Trust me,” Dylan said.
     
    Yes. The choice had never been so clear or so hard. She couldn’t do this alone.
     
    She must, she did, trust Dylan to deliver Nick, to save her child any way he could.
     
    Just as she would fight for their baby with everything she had. Fight to buy him time.
     
    She loosened her clutch on the crumpled cup to reveal the pills inside. Cleared her throat. “You gave me something else before.”
     
    “Methotrexate.” The demon watched her closely. “Did you take them all?”
     
    “I . . .” Regina’s mind blanked. Should she lie? Keep her talking.
    Keep an eye on the door.
     
    The demon shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. These will finish the job.
    Take your medicine now, like a good girl.”
     
    Regina stiffened her spine. “Not unless you tell me what they are.”
     
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    The demon made a dismissive sound. “Why bother? It’s not like you’re a doctor.”
     
    “Neither are you,” Regina shot back.
     
    Donna Tomah seemed to grow before her eyes. “I know more than you ever will, you ignorant little slut.” Her voice was guttural and deep.
    “I am ageless. I am immortal. One of the First Creation who saw the stars when your kind were wriggling in the muck.”
     
    “Then why are you so afraid?”
     
    “I am not afraid!” the demon shouted.
     
    Regina shrugged to disguise the fact that she couldn’t breathe. Her heart thundered in her ears. “Whatever.”
     
    “You’re just human. And not even a particularly successful human.
    A miserable little cook who got knocked up so you wouldn’t have to take responsibility for your own failures.”
     
    Regina winced as the demon’s words slid through her ribs to touch a tender spot. Ouch.
     
    “You should be grateful I’m delivering you from repeating your mistakes.”
     
    “Grateful,” Regina repeated. Anger elbowed for space in her chest.
     
    The devil’s eyes danced with delight. “Well, it’s not as if you had a future with Aqua Man, is it? You know how those selkies are. Four or five quick ones, and they’re back to sea with the boys.”
     
    Regina could barely speak around the burning lump in her throat. “I didn’t know.”
     
    “And now you do. Take the pills,” the demon urged