Thirty-three

Grace glanced at Coby. The older man drove with a focused look on his face. Cam had the seat so far back it was on her knees and Fitz occasionally bumped her with his elbow. It felt deliberate. He’d shoved her out of the way when Genevieve was put in the car. The woman couldn’t protect herself blindfolded and gagged, and to see her in those wide leather cuffs chained to the door made her queasy.

Cam turned to look back at her, “Your worry sounds like a kettle whistling, Gracie. She should  have given you that black bracelet to calm you down. Fitz, see if you can get that one off of Genny.”

She watched in horror as Fitz grabbed the dark-haired woman’s wrist roughly. The air seemed to crackle as if it were filled with static electricity for a moment and he drew back his hand.

“You’ll have to try it. She knows my name.” He sounded frosty and turned to land a closed fisted blow on Grace’ thigh. 

It throbbed but the pain faded quickly.

“She should be writhing in pain.” Fitz glared, lifting his eyes to her hair clip. “That little thing can really-”

“Gracie? Did she give you anything else?”

“No.” The answer came out clearly and it was true. She’d been told to take the bracelet.

“We’ll have to make sure my Sibyl doesn’t have anything at all when we leave, no stones, no glass…” Fitz glared ahead at the sparse traffic and the trees. “I don’t want to drag both of these ordinaries with us.”

“We’ll take Gracie. She’s prettier and she has a wealthy family. We can always double back and visit the vineyard, it should be outside of their territory. Let Gracie be afraid for her family while they serve us and it will put your Sibyl into line.”

“A vineyard would be a nice change of scenery.” 

A strange sort of numbness settled over her. She hadn’t spared a lot of thought about her parents and her brother and sisters. What would happen with them if she were killed by witches wasn’t even a thought in her head. The thought of these two in her parent’s house and her family being treated like Coby took her beyond fear.

“I think you’ve upset your pet.” Fitz sounded pleased. “The muddling holds but it isn’t as deep as it was before.”

“I don’t mind letting her have something that keeps her safe from your temper though.” Cam sounded amused. “Did I tell you she asked why I’m friends with you? I’m so nice and you’re so mean,” his voice was ditzy and girlish.

Fitz broke into laughter. “Is that why you like her?”

“She’s an artist from a wealthy family, what’s not to like? I don’t know why my mother settled for just one when she could have had… a string of wealthy… Fitz does it seem like there are more cars here than usual?” 

“Traffic does seem a little heavy, maybe. Ask the valet.”

“Valet, does the traffic seem heavy?”

“It’s the first round of elk season and it’s meeting up with the early deer. Everything is usually sold out, the rentals should be but I got a cancellation. I’d have tried to fill it but-”

“All of these are hunters?” Cam looked around oddly.

“You betcha. They come up-”

“They feel like hunters.” Fitz nodded. “When we stop I can be sure. I want her in the basement chained to the floor before anything else.”

“The car behind us is making me nervous.”

Fitz turned as if he were going to speak to Grace and then tried to surreptitiously glance at the vehicle.

“Women don’t usually hunt. But that’s a-” He stopped as someone came to the side of the road waving. The car stopped. “They’re here with hunters.” Fitz sounded slightly relieved. 

“Maybe…” Cam didn’t seem convinced. “Valet, when we get to the rental, you go get the chains out of the shed, bring in the girl’s bag and install the lock on the basement door. Fitz I want you to do what you do and make sure we still have breathing room. I’ll get the boat ready.”

“I hate boats.”

“You’d hate having your guts ripped out by a pack of wolves more.” Cam glanced back again, but not at them. “The SUV doesn’t seem to be following us anymore.”

“We’re almost to the rental.” Coby turned down a gravel road.

It seemed like an awfully long gravel road, at a curve with some houses, he turned again onto a smaller driveway. 

“Let me out here. The boat is-”

“It might be out.” Coby sounded hesitant as he stopped the car. “The other houses are rented and a family paid to use it. They wanted to take it around Whitefish Bay.”

Grace shuddered as Cam got out and slammed the car door. He went around and yanked Coby out. The car rolled. Fitz lurched forward to put the car in park, he then shoved open Genevieve's door nearly knocking the woman over.

“Don’t kill him yet. He has work to do.”

Coby stumbled back into the car and she could see that he was bleeding.

“I took his bracelet. You get hers. I’m going to go look and I’ll meet you at the house.”

The doors slammed and Fitz hit the back of Coby’s seat. “Drive.”

She heard Genevieve inhale deeply and exhale. Fitz pulled a plug out of the woman’s ear.

“I’m going to remove your bracelet and you’re not going to fight me or he…” Fitz’s voice trailed off and he removed her bracelet, and the chain between her cuffs, handing both up to Coby. 

The older man took them and let out a small sob before nodding and shoving them in his shirt pocket.

They pulled up to a pretty normal looking house and Coby got out, helping Genevieve first. Grace scrambled out of her side and followed them. They went to a shed and he got out a length of chain that might have been used for hauling things. She noticed when he fished something out of his pants pocket and dropped it between a neat pile of spare paving stones, oddly enough the bright beaded bracelet didn’t seem to stand out at all.

“I have to take you both in and-and…” He sagged as Genevieve squeezed his arm. “There’s some comfort in knowing it’s almost done. Even dying wouldn’t be that bad.”

A terrible snarling sound like a pack of movie monsters came from down the driveway and Coby ushered them into the house.

“How long will Fitz be…” Grace asked nervously, blinking as she realized Genevieve was still gagged.

“Downstairs, botha you, it’ll be safer.” He thrust the chain into Grace’s arms. “Find a way to chain the door shut.

In the little bit of light coming under the crack of the door, she tried to wrap the chain around the door knob and then tie it to the bannister. It was thick and she wasn’t sure if it would do any good without a lock even if it didn’t slip off of the knob. Turning away from her pitiful attempt, she gingerly tried to lead the other woman down the narrow stairs. It was dark and she was having trouble seeing.

“It’s ok, Grace.” Genevieve’s voice was quiet. “I pushed up my blindfold and I can see in the dark.”

“I need to find the lights and-”

“No. Just come over here and stay by me.” 

The woman guided her off of the stairs and across the dark room to a place there was a small step up. “Get behind the bar.”

There was a sound of furniture moving and Genevieve came back. They both squeezed in as far back as they could. Grace heard footsteps upstairs.

“Genny? Gracie?” Cam shouted down. “Gracie if you’re there, answer me.”

“That b***h of a Sibyl muddled me, she can do the same to an ordinary. He said he sent them down, we’ve got the bracelets that should protect us and the b***h doesn’t know your name. We go down, we kill them and we-” 

She could hear them coming down the stairs. There was shouting from the open door above that she couldn’t make out but clearly they did.

“It looks like I get to kill him first.” Fitz’s voice was much closer than she would have liked.

“I’ll find the lights and do the killing. If the Sibyl is dead their protective amulets will probably fail.”

“Give me a minute.” Fitz laughed unpleasantly. “Let me use this bracelet to fend off his attacks. If I can kill him like he’s nothing they’ll reconsider trying to come after us.”