Read Online Chaos Bites by Lori Handeland - Free Book Online

jumble of chaos.
    While I held Faith I opened my mind, tried to see anything that I could. But she was a baby. She lived in the now. All I saw in her head was a swirling array of faces—mine, Luther’s, Megan’s, Anna’s, Quinn’s—then a bottle and the binkie. Not a hint of Mommy, not a trace of Daddy . Must be nice to have such simple dreams.
    Luther took a shower and crawled into bed. He flicked on the television, kept the sound turned low. Before I fell asleep in the chair, I set Faith in the middle of my mattress, quickly ate a cold hamburger while I researched a few things on the Internet, then yanked off my jeans and climbed in. I lined the far side of the bed with pillows and curled my body around hers.
    “Sawyer,” I whispered. “Why the hell did you think this was a good idea?”

    I awoke to a darkness so complete, I immediately understood the power had gone out. The only thing that glittered was a thin slice of the moon. Every security light in the parking lot was black, the neon of the sign cold and bleak, the glow from the complimentary night-light long gone.
    “Liz?” Luther breathed, not even a whisper.
    “Shh.”
    I listened for the whip of the wind, the slash of rain, distant thunder. A storm having gone through would explain the power outage—although I couldn’t believe I would have slept through it.
    I hadn’t. Someone was in the room. I could feel them. I could almost smell them.
    I tilted my head, searching for the telltale buzz that would indicate Nephilim, and got nothing. That should be a good indication of a human; however, the Nephilim had found ways in the past to cloak their nature.
    Still, be they human or be they demon, the lack of light and the sneaking around rather than knocking on the door gave me a pretty good clue that they weren’t here to help.
    For the first time since I’d received it, my knife was not under my pillow. I hadn’t been able to bring myself to take a knife to bed with a baby. Go figure.
    My gun was on the nightstand, but instead of reaching for it, I snatched the kitten blanket off the floor, then lifted the bedspread, tossed the blanket over Faith, and yanked the spread back down to muffle the flash as she changed. An instant later, someone shone a light into my eyes, nearly blinding me.
    Luther snarled and went for his weapon. One of the dark shadows punched him. His nose snapped like uncooked spaghetti.
    As I came off the bed, something looped around my neck and wrenched me back down. I fell so hard I bounced several inches off the mattress. My neck burned as if the rope had been dipped in acid. Before I could try to pull it off, my wrists were captured, as were my ankles. Wherever the bindings touched, agony erupted.
    These intruders knew more about me than I liked. They’d come prepared with golden chains to bind a dhampir.
    Luther’s lion rumbled just below the surface. I glanced in his direction, hissing when the movement rubbed the chain where I was already raw. The boy lay so still I would have feared him unconscious if he hadn’t been growling. He had to be bound as well.
    “Shift,” I ordered.
    “Can’t.” The word came out choked, full of pain. Whatever they’d done, it had not only incapacitated Luther but kept him from changing.
    I counted four shadows. Big and hulking. Maybe men, maybe not.
    “I’m going to kill you for this,” I said. Although not right now. Right now I was going to lie here and ache.
    Someone laughed. A man. “All we want is the kid, and then we’ll leave y’all alone.”
    Smooth and southern, nearly genteel, the voice was at odds with the size of the shadow and the behavior of its owner.
    I took a deep breath, trying to catch a whiff of lion. The shifters who’d killed Luther’s parents were still searching for him. He’d killed a few, but I was sure there were more, and I figured these were them. How else would they know the secret that would keep this boy from sprouting claws?
    “You should have