Taking the steps two and three at a time I let the wolf’s strength and stamina carry me forward at a whirlwind pace. I passed a guilty looking housemaid sneaking a cigarette in the stairwell but paid her no mind, locked on to Loki’s trail that continued down to the first floor. I followed his path out of the stairwell and into the lobby where I stumbled to a halt, overcome by the sounds and fragrances from dozens of people bustling to and fro. Spinning around in a dizzying circle, I fought to find his scent, muddled by the passage of a multitude of feet crisscrossing over its path.
A passing bellhop pushing a cart laden with luggage eddied the air, circulating the scents at my feet. Catching Loki’s sunny aroma again I darted after it like a kitten after string, following it out the revolving door and onto the sidewalk. Somewhere behind me someone was calling my name, but I couldn’t stop, I had to chase the thread before I lost it again.
Biting cold wind flowed through the thin fabric of my shirt, chilling my skin and freezing my still damp hair into stiff curls. Loki’s winding path led along the front of the building and down a side alley. Halfway down the alley, amongst the dumpsters his scent finally disappeared, lost in the stink of rotten garbage and car exhaust.
“No, no, no, no,” I chanted, fisting my crispy hair as I spun in frantic circles, tears already rising in my eyes as panic and loss fought for dominance in my chest.
Chapter 16
I HEARD THE scuff of a footfall on the wet pavement a second before I caught the scent of cigarettes and sweat, but it was already too late. Something solid and heavy struck me across the back of the head, my vision wavering as I fell down to my hands and knees, grit from the pavement grazing my palms. I struggled to get back up, fighting through the dark spots dancing across my eyes, but a sharp kick to my stomach took me down to the ground, my breath rushing out of me in a rasping wheeze. The dirty slush soaked through my jeans and shirt, freezing my skin and covering me in the stink of trash and road dirt.
“Stupid wolf bitch,” someone snarled seconds before another kick was delivered to my ribs, driving the air from my lungs to leave me gasping like a grounded fish.
My lungs burned with the need for oxygen and yet I couldn’t seem to make them work. My fingers curled in the gritty garbage juice, scrabbling at the pavement beneath me as I willed my lungs to move. A sharp kick to my shoulder worked to kick-start my breathing, a rasping breath flooding my lungs with cold air that seemed to burn all the way down to my gut.
The smell of vomit hit me a moment later, sour and acidic, and it took me a second to realize that it had come from me. I tried to get my hands under me to lever myself up, but it didn’t seem like they wanted to cooperate. I had barely managed to lift my chest off the pavement before the shiny toe of a shoe collided with the edge of my jaw. The steel grey clouds flashed by overhead as my head collided with the pavement, my skull reverberating from the impact. I felt my lip split open and blood fill my mouth, and for a moment I wondered if all of my teeth were still intact.
“Why won’t you stay down, you dumb cunt?” the man looming over me demanded, his face lost in the sparkles skipping across my vision, though the ashtray smell clinging to him was all too familiar.
Johnson. I knew there was a reason I didn’t like the fat prick.
“Fuck you…asshole,” I sputtered, spitting blood and vomit at his shoes in defiance. I missed by a mile, but it’s the thought that counts, right?
A growl of impotent rage was all he uttered in reply, opting instead for a little nonverbal communication. By the time he was done treating my ribs like a soccer ball, my breaths were coming in short gasps that sent burning fingers of pain through my chest.
Ouch.
Determined not to let Johnson take me down, I tried to push myself up to my hands and knees, settling instead for my knees and one elbow as I was forced to wrap one arm around ribs that I was quickly beginning to think were broken.
“Suck it…mother…fucker,” I wheezed, my head swimming with the effort of speaking.
A sharp stab of pain in my ass made me yelp. Looking up through the tangle of my hair, now matted with god knows what, I saw Johnson stuffing an empty syringe in the pocket of his coat, he’s eyes alight with satisfaction.
Oh, that can’t be good, I thought as my mind began to grow foggy.
“Ow!” I exclaimed belatedly. “You stabbed ’ee. In the ash. Joo…tool!” I growled, or at least tried to, my lips moving sluggishly. “Wha did joo gib ’ee?” I slurred, my mouth refusing to cooperate.
“Wolfsbane. Just enough to keep the wolf at bay,” he said. “Though I wonder if I gave you too much,” he added as an afterthought, smacking my cheek hard enough to bruise.
“You’re sush a doush…” I continued to rant, my voice suddenly giving way to a piercing scream of pure agony.