Part 9 (1/2)
Pixie started to follow us, but I waved her back. My father flitted over to introduce himself. I knew between him and Adam she would be safe from Spider's disgusting attentions.
Spider shoved me up the last few stairs with a couple of choice swear words.
”Take your hands off me,” I snarled when we were out of everyone's sight.
I jerked my arm away from him, but he just grabbed my wrist and hauled me into the room Adam had indicated.
”I'll touch you whenever and wherever I want,” he spat, flinging me against the wall. I saw stars for a moment as my head cracked against it, but Spider's rubbing himself suggestively against me was what raised the nausea in my belly. ”Don't pretend you don't want it. I know how hot you polter b.i.t.c.hes are.”
I swore under my breath, put both hands on his chest, and shoved as hard as I could. He stumbled backward and landed on the bed. He laughed and patted the bedspread. ”See? Can't wait to get me into bed, can you?”
”Why did you bring that G.o.d-awful machine?” I asked, ignoring the taunts. ”Why would you bring it if you arranged for me to clean the house?”
”Because I knew you wouldn't do it. I knew you'd simply move whatever parasites are living here to our house rather than destroy them as you should.
Don't look so surprised; you don't seriously think you can pull anything over on me, do you? I've known all along about your little friends that you keep hidden whenever I'm around. I let you keep them because I knew the day would come when we'd need to test Meredith's machine.”
”Why is it so important the ent.i.ties be destroyed?” I asked, my arms wrapped around me to keep the pain and the guilt at bay. ”The end result of a cleaning is the same: the house is empty of all Otherworld ent.i.ties. Why does it matter what I do with the spirits I transport?”
”Because they're filthy, evil things,” he said, slowly getting off the bed and stalking toward me. ”They're unnatural freaks, just like you. The spirits are worthless, and the others, the poltergeists, like you and your family, are good only for one thing.”
”Why did you ever marry me if you hate polters so much?” I couldn't help asking. I didn't want to get sidetracked by a discussion about our relations.h.i.+p, but I was genuinely curious. ”I explained to you about my father before we were engaged. Why did you propose if you think I'm such a freak?”
He grabbed my hips before I could move, rubbing himself against me. ”I told you, Karma: polters are hot. Very hot. The younger, the better, and you were very young when I met you. Not quite as succulent as that sweet little cousin of yours turned out to be, but still, enough to keep me happy for a bit.”
”You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!” Rage unlike anything I'd ever felt filled me. I shoved him away, escaping to the other side of the room, the realization of what he was saying making me physically ill. ”You had s.e.x with Bethany? That's illegal!”
”She wasn't human. There's nothing in the laws that says minor polters can't have s.e.x.”
I swear to G.o.d, I was about to vomit on him. ”She was fifteen, Spider!
Fifteen! She was just a child!”
”Mmm.” A repulsive smile curled his lips. ”A very sweet fifteen. So limber.
Limber enough for two, as Meredith and I found out.”
I stared at him in horror, my skin crawling with the realization of what he was implying. ”You mean that both of you ...”
”Oh yes, both of us. Didn't you know? Meredith is my partner in all things, and he shares my taste in young polter flesh. You wouldn't believe the things your cousin did with us. We had a lot of fun, the three of us together...But then she went and slit her throat. Stupid b.i.t.c.h.”
I fell to the floor, retching up the contents of my stomach. I wanted to hide from what Spider was saying, but each word pierced my body with blade-like accuracy.
”You've looked better,” he commented, strolling to the door. ”Since you don't seem to be in the mood to talk, we will continue this discussion later.
Meredith and I need to figure out what the h.e.l.l we're going to do with this polter who thinks he can get the better of us. When will your kind learn who your masters are?”
I waited until the door closed before vomiting again.
”You look worse than ever,” a female voice said from the shadows at the end of the corridor. The darkness parted as Pixie stepped forward. ”Worse than roadkill, even.”
”Thank you, that makes me feel infinitely better. Fortunately, the migraine has receded, so I can live with looking like roadkill. What are you doing hiding in the shadows?”
Her face was inscrutable as she approached me. ”I dunno. I just seem to like them.”
Most polters had an innate ability to blend into shadowed areas, making themselves all but invisible to mortal eyes...but somehow Pixie didn't seem to be aware of that. ”Is there something you want to tell me?”
”Tell you?” She was the very picture of innocence. It redoubled my suspicion that something was up with her. ”Like what? You're not going to third-degree me again, are you?”
”I've never third-degreed anyone, and I certainly wouldn't you, but I did want you to know that if there was something you wanted to tell me about yourself, I promise I wouldn't be judgmental.”
She looked for a moment like she was going to speak, then shook her head. ”You get to have your secrets, so I get to have mine, too.”
”Fair enough. What have you been doing while I was out of things?”
”Deus, you just said you weren't going to question me! I wasn't doing anything, all right? I was over there in the shadows!”
An icy chill, spiked with guilt so thick it choked me, gripped my guts.
”Did Spider follow you?”
”No.” Her eyes avoided mine, but she flitted around in a manner that said she was agitated about something. ”You're an exterminator, right? Can you do the reverse? Can you bring Sergei back?”
A shaft of pain cut through me-but not the familiar pain of a migraine.
This was sadness and remorse, heavily painted with guilt. ”I don't know. It depends on what that machine that Spider had did to him; if it sent Sergei to the Akasha, then there is a chance he can be retrieved. If it actually destroyed him...” I sighed.
”That'll suck if you can't. Sergei was kinda cool, even if he was a grunt.”
”He wasn't a grunt, and yes, he was cool.” I looked at the towel twisted between my hands, forcing myself to relax them and toss the towel into a hamper. ”If it makes you feel any better, Spider will pay for what he's done.”
”That's a given,” Pixie said, an odd look on her face that cleared quickly when she realized I was watching her. ”So, what now?”
”Now we go down and see how we can clear up this mess. Where is everyone? What's been going on?” I walked quickly to the stairs, then paused at the top to listen for sounds of arguing. To my surprise, there were none.
”Do I look like some sort of personal-information slave?” Pixie flounced past me down the stairs. ”They're down there, I guess. I came up to escape the Monster from the Planet Flower Child. Oh, by the way, your dad is cool.”
I stopped at the bottom of the stairs. ”He is?”
”Yeah.” She twirled a strand of long black hair around her fingers and peeked at me from the corner of her eye. ”He told me if she gets too nosy, I can flash at her.”
My jaw dropped a hair. ”Flash?”
”Yeah, you know, turn on and off really fast. Matthew says it unnerves mortals.”
”You mean flicker?” I put my arm on hers, stopping her for a second.
”Pixie, what's going on here?”
She pulled her arm away, a wary look on her face. ”I don't know what's with you, but you're acting weird.”