Read Online Chaos Bites by Lori Handeland - Free Book Online Page A

thought of that before you broke his nose,” I said.
    “Not him. Her.”
    “Her, who?” I asked.
    Another shadow backhanded me. My teeth sliced my lip, and I tasted blood. My stomach rumbled. My collar might contain the demon, but it still crouched inside me, and blood called to it like a siren on the deep blue sea.
    I wished I knew enough magic to take off my collar without benefit of hands. There wouldn’t be anything left of these guys but toenails. Unfortunately, once my demon was loose there wouldn’t be much left of Faith or Luther, either.
    “We came for the baby.”
    “Do I look like someone who’d drag a baby around?”
    “Then what’s that?” He jabbed a gun at the lump on the bed. A third shadow grabbed the comforter and yanked it from the mattress. The lump beneath the kitty-cat blanket wiggled. The sound of a gun being cocked echoed in the sudden heavy silence of the room.
    “Are you insane?” I must have surprised whoever was holding my leash because I managed to throw myself over the lump just as the gun went off.
    Agony stabbed my shoulder. I had no time to dwell on the pain since the chain around my neck tightened, effectively cutting off my air, scalding my skin, and dragging me off the bed.
    I twisted and kicked and wound up slamming face-first into the carpet. My nose went crunch, too, and blood flowed like rain.
    The room went silent. My shoulder stung, but whatever had been in the gun had not been gold, so the pain was bearable. I scrambled to my knees—not easy when bound hand, foot, and neck—and discovered that when they’d dragged me off the mattress, I’d dragged the blanket off the baby. Now everyone could see that she wasn’t a baby at all.
    The adorable black kitten yawned, blinked into the bright light, then began to wash a paw with her pretty pink tongue.
    “It’s a . . . cat. Where’s the baby?”
    “I don’t know who gives you your info, pal, but that”—I lifted my chin toward the kitten, and a few droplets of blood arced through the air—“is the closest thing to a baby I’ve seen in years.”
    Luckily I’d repacked the diaper bag, which now sat on the dresser looking like just another ugly purse. Of course, if they checked the garbage they’d find a used diaper. I’d try to BS my way out of that somehow, but I didn’t think they’d buy it.
    “Why would you believe I had a baby?” I asked quickly. If I kept them talking, they weren’t searching the place. “And why do you want one?”
    “I do what I’m told, sweetheart. I don’t ask questions. That’s how I’ve lived this long.”
    I frowned. “How long?”
    The man laughed again. I could make out nothing but the shape of his face, his height. The spotlight in my eyes kept me from seeing specifics like hair color or nose size. But I’d remember that voice and that laugh for a very long time.
    “Let’s go, boys.”
    “Shouldn’t we—” one of the others began, but he cut them off.
    “I wasn’t paid to do anything but take that baby.”
    I twitched my shoulder—the one with the bullet still inside. “You weren’t paid to take her. You were paid to kill her.”
    “They told me you were smart,” he said, and then he was gone.
    As soon as the door shut behind them, I was up and hurrying toward Luther, who lay on the bed, still as death but snarling. Faith stretched, yawned, tucked her nose beneath her tail, and went back to sleep.
    “Why didn’t you see them coming?” I asked. “Didn’t Ruthie warn you?”
    My hands and ankles were bound with golden cuffs. I wasn’t sure how I’d ever get them off, but first things first. I needed to free Luther.
    I had to use both my fingers and my teeth on the ropes—and thank God they were ropes, not chains. Still, they tasted like mud soup seasoned with pepper. The blood from my broken nose dried on my skin and began to flake off, casting onto the white sheets like rust-colored dust. As soon as Luther was loose, he unwound the golden chain