Mercy Thompson 01-05 - THE MERCY THOMPSON COLLECTION

suppose I’m going to find another cook for you?” He took the body away and returned a few hours later with apples and oranges and bottled water—tossing them carelessly through the bars.
    His hands smelled of Amber, rot, and earth. I supposed he’d buried her somewhere.
    He took Corban away. When Chad’s father returned, he was stumblingly weak and had another bite mark on his neck.
    â€œMy friend is better at that than you are,” I said in a snotty voice because Blackwood had paused, with the cage door open, to look at Chad. “He doesn’t leave huge bruises behind.”
    The vampire slammed the door, locked it, and stowed the key in his pants pocket. “Whenever you open your mouth,” he said, “I marvel that the Marrok didn’t wring your neck years ago.” He smiled a little. “Fine. Since you are the cause of my hunger, you may feed it.”
    The cause of his hunger ... when I sent Amber away from her dead body, it must have hurt him. Good. Now all I had to do was get him to make a lot more zombies or whatever he wanted to call them. Then I could destroy them, too. I might weaken him enough that we could take him. Of course, the nearest available people to become zombies were us.
    He opened my cage door, and I had to think really hard about the present not to panic. I fought him. I didn’t think he’d expected it.
    Years of karate had honed my reflexes, and I was faster than a human would have been. But I was weak—an apple a day might keep the doctor away, but it’s not, by itself, the best diet for optimum performance. After a time that was too short for my ego to be happy, he had me pinned.
    He left me aware this time when he bit my neck. It hurt the whole time, either a further punishment or Stefan’s bites were giving him trouble—I didn’t know enough to tell. When he tried to feed me in return, I fought as hard as I could and finally he grabbed my jaw and forced his gaze on me.
    I woke up on the far side of the cage, and Blackwood was gone. Chad was making noise, trying to get my attention. I rose to hands and knees. When it was quite clear that I wasn’t going to get up farther than that, I sat up instead of standing. Chad stopped making those sad, desperate sounds. I made the sign he’d taught me for the “f-word” and finger-spelled, very slowly with clumsy fingers. “That’s it. No more Ms. Nice Girl. Next time I scalp him.”
    It made him smile a very little. Corban was sitting in the middle of their cage looking at a mark in the cement.
    â€œWell, oakman,” I said, tiredly. “Is it daylight or darkness?”
    Before he answered me, Stefan was there in my cage. I blinked stupidly at him. I’d given up on him, but I hadn’t realized it until he was there. I reached out and touched his arm lightly to make sure he was real.
    He patted my hand and gave a quick look up as if he could see through the ceiling to the floor above. “He knows I’m here. Mercy—”
    â€œYou have to take Chad,” I told him urgently
    â€œChad?” Stefan followed my gaze and stiffened. He started to shake his head.
    â€œBlackwood killed his mother—but left her a zombie to do his chores until I killed her for real.” I told him. “Chad has to be taken to safety.”
    He stared at the boy, who was staring back. “If I take him, I can’t come back for a couple of nights. I’ll be unconscious, and no one knows where you are but me—and Marsilia.” He bit her name out as if he still weren’t happy with her. “And she wouldn’t lift a finger to help you.”
    â€œI can survive a couple of nights,” I told him with conviction.
    Stefan clenched his hands. “If I do it,” he told me fiercely, “if I do this and you survive—you will forgive me for the others.”
    â€œYes,” I said. “Get Chad out of here.”
    He was gone, then reappeared standing next to Chad. He started to use ASL to say something—but we both heard Blackwood race down the stairs.
    â€œTo Adam or Samuel,” I said urgently.
    â€œYes,” Stefan told me. “Stay alive.”
    He waited until I nodded, then he disappeared with Chad.
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    BLACKWOOD WAS MUCH MORE UNHAPPY ABOUT STEFAN’S presence in his house than he was with Chad’s escape. He ranted and raved, and if he hit me again, I was