she?”
Like a snake, she coiled her leg around his. “Closer than you think.”
He gave her a rough shake. “Where?”
She laughed then. Laughed and laughed. “I would not try to find her, Winston Lane. The knowledge will only bring you misery.” The whites of her eyes disappeared with a wash of inky black. And then she disintegrated. Winston blinked, his mind not catching up with his eyes as she literally fell to pieces before him, her body crumpling, turning to black lumps. Lumps that moved. Spiders.
With a shout, he jumped up. Hundreds of spiders swarmed, crawling over his arm, up his boot. The door slammed open with a bang. Poppy stood in the doorway, her gaze fierce as she took in the scene.
“Get back!” He ripped off his coat and flung it. Spiders scurried and surged as he stamped at them.
She did not heed. A shiver lit over the room, a swirl of air. The arctic blast of cold hit hard and fast, sucking the air from his lungs, biting into his skin. More forceful than what he’d felt on the ship, this air tore through the room with the strength of a gale, tossing spiders about, freezing them where they lay. He trudged toward Poppy, his teeth chattering, his body hurting from the cold. When he got to her side, she cut the power loose.
“C-c-cold…” His teeth rattled.
“I know,” she said, grimacing. “I’m sorry.”
“Cold b-blooded.” He glanced at the piles of little black spiders littering the room. “Spiders are.”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Horrid little beasts.” Poppy fought a violent shiver as Win shoveled the last pile of frozen spiders into the roaring hearth to assure that they were destroyed. The spiders popped and crackled in the flames, and she swore she could hear tiny screams. She shuddered again, her stomach turning sickly.
Win caught her eye, and though a touch of humor lit his gaze, he spoke with solemnity. “You were very brave to face them.” He knew how much she detested spiders. She’d rather face a horde of undead than those little creatures.
They’d been all over him, swarming and scurrying. She rubbed her arms. “Are you injured? Did one of them bite you?”
Win set the coal scuttle back on its stand. “No.” Shadows rippled along his face as he stared into the fire. “That wasn’t Mrs. Noble, I gather?”
“No.” Now that the spiders were gone, Poppy dared to come farther into the room. The gilded little sitting room appeared too lovely, too proper to have witnessed such horrors. In fact, it was almost peaceful now, cozy and quiet. She stopped beside Win and let the heat of the flames seep into her freezing skin. Cold did not bother her, but this cold was in her bones. “Mrs. Noble’s body is currently stuffed in a vat of bath salts.”
“Jesus.”
“The demon you were tangling with used her blood to take on her form. Although from the condition I found Mrs. Noble in, the demon got a bit carried away. Most demons have better control when stealing blood.”
Poppy glanced at Win, noting that despite the casual way he stood, his muscles bunched with tension. His look of fierce concentration worked away the coldness better than the fire had. Frowning, Win massaged the back of his neck with one hand. “She killed the colonel.”
His fingers tightened on his neck until his knuckles stood out white, the skin around them too red. “The colonel said he was invited here. But Mrs. Noble—or whatever that was—claimed he was an unwanted visitor who needed to be silenced.” He flung his arm down. “I think Jones brought the colonel here because he wants us to find Moira Darling, but someone else does not. Mrs. Noble was most unhelpful before she turned into a mountain of spiders…” He ran a hand over his face. “Hell, I can barely bring myself to say that aloud.”
Yes, that had been most… She gave his arm a light nudge, lest she think too hard about spiders and be tempted to faint. “I gather the lady found you intriguing, Mr. Lane.”
Cool blue eyes pinned her with a glare. “You knew perfectly well what she would be about, did you not?” When she pursed her lips, he leaned in, and his breath caressed her cheek. “You never truly answered me before, sweeting. Were you curious to see if I’d rise to the occasion?” He moved closer, his hard chest pushing against her shoulder, his lips tickling her ear. “Or did you simply long to see my cock manhandled?”
Futile