Page 76 of Of Flame and Fury
“Mine first,” Edith insists. She stomps her feet, pitching a hissy.
“Back off,” Liz snaps. She whips her file out like a weapon and lengthens her already deadly nails.
“Maria!” Edith complains. “Liz is trying to cut in front of me.”
“Like I give a shit,” Maria fires back. She curses in Portuguese when Edith tackles Liz.
Hissing and scratching ensue, and they go at it, knocking into theweresquietly eating their Goldfish crackers and barreling over chairs. Emme barely gets out of the way when they roll toward her and knock over a small table. The Easy-Bake Oven smashes to the ground, as well as the tiny desserts Edith prepared.
Shayna takes point by Celia, her sword out. She regards Celia, who’s doing her best to bury her face in her hand. “Dude, should I, you know, break it up?”
Celia drops her hand away. “You can try if you want. Just be careful, they bite.”
“Screw this,” I say. They screech when I zap them with lightning, but damn well separate.
Liz jumps to her feet, batting out the flames eating away what remains of her plaid skirt. “Bitch,” she tells me.
I roll my eyes. “Yeah, like I’ve never heard that before.” I do a double take when I see Edith breathing a little too hard.
“You hit me in the ass,” she says.
“Sorry, Edith,” I say. “I wasn’t aiming for—”
Her gaze turns lustful. “I kind of liked it.”
How did Celia not stake these crazies when she lived with them in that nuthouse?
Agnes adjusts her tiny librarian glasses, appearing annoyed. “Can we get on with this? Edith and I have the next patrol. I’d like her to open our gift in case we get eaten.”
“Excellent point, Agnes,” I agree. I plop down on the couch, smiling at awerewhen she offers me a small bag of pretzels. “Thank you.”
Maria passes her a pencil box wrapped in Post-Its. I take a bite of my pretzels. The gift actually looks cute and carefully wrapped. Small flowers were meticulously drawn and colored, and Celia’s name was written in calligraphy. “From me and Agnes, darling,” she says.
Celia smiles softly. “Thank you.”
She stops smiling when she pulls out two pairs of panties. One crotchless, the other sheer and small enough to fit in gum packaging.
“To wear at your next conception,” Maria announces proudly.
“Where did you get panties?” I cut myself off when I realize who I’m dealing with.
Maria appears confused. “I told you, they’re from me and Edith.” She looks around. “You all heard, correct?”
All theweresexchange glances, mumbling in their perspective languages and nodding. Celia carefully places the panties back into the box. “Ah, you shouldn’t have,” she says, grimacing when Edith shoves another juice box in her hand.
Maria bites on her bottom lip and whispers into Celia’s ear. “We couldn’t give you the ones we ordered. They’re back at the master’s house. Just think of them as IOUs for when we get out of here.”
Edith laughs maniacally, hooking a thumb Maria’s way. “Did you hear that? She thinks we’re getting out of here alive.”
“We are,” I insist.
Agnes adjusts her glasses, considering me. Out of every vamp I’ve ever met, she’s insanely smart, as in nuclear engineer and rocket scientist smart. “You might get out of here alive, witch-wannabee,” she tells me. “You are too stubborn to die.” She motions to Shayna and Emme. “I don’t know about these other two.”
Yes, insanely smart yet still a pain in the ass.
“Hey,” Shayna says defensively.
Emme glances at the door. It’s not that she wants out. Scratch that. She does want the hell out of this nutcase suite. But like me, she’s noticed how long Gemini and the others have been gone. We were supposedly gone for a few seconds. They’re gone now several hours. She wants those she loves to return alive, and I’m certain that means Bren.