The Reluctant Vampire Page 0,82

fluffy cat she's been stepped on and fla ened to a big fluffy pancake cat," Alessandro argued.

"Well, perhaps a little," Leonora conceded.

"I hate the smelly cats," Alessandro vowed, and Drina thought she heard a shudder in his voice. "They smell like - Like that!" he cried, as the smell apparently reached him. "Make her to go away, Teddy!"

"How the hell am I supposed to make it go away, Alessandro?"

"Throw the ball of the snow at it," Alessandro said, and Drina nodded. It was exactly what she'd suggested.

"He can't do that, dear," Leonora said soothingly.

"Why not?" Alessandro demanded.

"Because the damned thing has nowhere to go," Teddy snapped. "Drina's in the way. It's trapped in the corner of the garden. Throwing snowballs at it will just piss it off and make it spray again, and I have no intention of getting sprayed."

"Then you must to get the bella Alexandrina out of the way," Alessandro said with distress. "We must to get the smelly cat to go away."

"Drina, pull yourself toward my voice a few feet. I can help you up and out of its way then," Teddy called.

"Pull myself?" she asked with disbelief, and then demanded, "Come here and help me. I can't even see."

"I can't. You're too close to the skunk," Teddy explained. "Just pull yourself this way."

"Where the hell is Mr. Big Brave Police Chief who was willing to take on a rabid rogue?" she asked dryly.

"A rabid rogue, by the way, who could twist you into pretzel shapes and laugh while he did it?"

"Rabid rogues are one thing, skunks are another en rely," Teddy said dryly. "Just pull yourself over here and - "

He fell silent as the sound of smashing glass sounded.

"What was that?" Drina asked sharply.

"It came from the back of the house," Teddy said sharply, and then she heard Harper shout and Stephanie scream, and Teddy barked, "Wait here."

"What? Wait!" she cried, then cursed and forced her hands from her eyes to try to see as she heard his footsteps rush away. She could hear Leonora and Alessandro moving away as well but couldn't see a damned thing. Opening her eyes merely brought on the pain again and forced her to close them once more. Though she thought this time they hurt a little less. Maybe.

Adrenaline rushing through her, Drina started to roll onto her stomach to get up, ignoring the growl the ac on immediately caused from the corner of the yard. Worried sick about Harper and Stephanie, she merely snarled, "Go ahead and spray me again, bitch! My eyes are closed, and I can't smell any worse than I do now."

Drina staggered to her feet and stumbled blindly toward where she thought Leonora's and Alessandro's voices had been coming from earlier. She'd only taken a couple of steps when she stumbled into what felt like a snow-covered boulder and fell face-first in the snow. Releasing a string of curses she'd learned while a pirate, Drina started to scramble back to her feet, then froze as a faint wa of smoke reached her nose. Li ing her head, she sniffed the air, but whatever she'd smelled was gone. All she could smell was some horrible combina on of ro en eggs, burning rubber, and very strong garlic. She could hear the hungry rush of flames, though, coming from what she thought was the side of the house. Gri ng her teeth, Drina didn't bother trying to get up and risk running into something else but began to crawl forward on her hands and knees. She'd only moved a foot or so when her senses made her pause and stiffen.

Drina's head rose like a deer scen ng the air for danger though she apparently had no sense of smell at the moment, and it was sound she was testing the air for. Someone was there. She knew it. She could feel their presence in the prickling along her spine.

Her first ins nct was to go for her gun, but she no longer had that. She must have dropped it when she'd fallen back a er being sprayed, Drina realized. Christ, she was a blind idiot, crawling around in the dark without a damned weapon, she thought bi erly, and then recalled the crossbow hanging from her shoulder. Not that it would be much use since she was presently blind. She might as well be wearing a stupid nightie and wailing please don't kill me.

"Screw that," Drina mu ered, and immediately fell back to sit in the