Nadya’s Nights: Road to Vengeance
Night Two: Race for the Cure
Chapter Twenty-Six: Reunion
by Indy McDaniel
Copyright © 2009 Indy McDaniel
After Cyrus finished bandaging her wounds, Nadya managed to fall into a thankfully dreamless sleep. She remained on the couch much like she had been, with the shirt pulled over her and buttoned up. She hadn’t dared try to roll onto her back, or even her side, since the lash marks were still plenty tender. Her head rested on her arms crossed in front of her, only now her eyes were closed and her breathing was slow and steady. Her skin was quite pallor from the blood loss she’d sustained. The majority of the wounds she’d sustained were more or less superficial, and aside from some particularly nasty scars across her back, she’d heal up nicely.
An indeterminate amount of time later for Nadya, she felt a hand press against her shoulder. She awoke suddenly, and if not for her weakness, would have probably broken the hand that had been laid upon her. Instead, her eyes fluttered open and she looked up to the figure standing over her. Blinking the residual sleep from her eyes and forcing them to focus, she recognized the figure as Cyrus. Her first thoughts were of Ulbrecht and the cure.
“Ulbrecht?”
Cyrus shook his head, taking his hand off her shoulder, noticing that the touch was making her uncomfortable. “He’s sleeping. Thing’s are progressing as best as they could, under the circumstances.” He nodded back to the front door. “There are some people here. I thought you’d want to know.”
Alarm bells began to sound in Nadya’s head.
Had Remy returned with a group of his werewolf pals with the intention of storming the mansion and dragging her back out to finish the job he’d started?
If that were the case, she imagined she wouldn’t have gotten such a calm wake-up call. Then her mind flashed to Vladimir. If he’d found her, the results might be just as bad.
“What do they look like?” she asked, a bit of an edge to her voice.
“Professionals,” Cyrus replied, simply. “Do you want me to go see what they want?”
“No,” Nadya replied firmly, starting to push herself up.
During her short rest, her body had stiffened up, adding to the already abundant aches and pains. She winced as she forced herself up into a sitting position. “I’ll deal with it.”
She started to reach for the pants he’d brought out for her, but figured it wasn’t worth it. It was bad enough she was half crippled with pain; she didn’t want to have to be using one hand to keep her pants up. “I left a gun on your balcony. Get it for me.”
Cyrus didn’t look happy about it, but he left to retrieve her pistol anyway. Sitting up straighter on the couch, Nadya tried to force at least some of the pain away, but it didn’t seem to work too well. When Cyrus returned with the gun, she took it from him and started to rise to her feet. She almost fell back onto the couch when she tried, but Cyrus was fast to take hold of her and help her get steadied. “Are you sure?”
“Hundred percent,” she responded, making her voice seem strong if nothing else. “If it is who I think it is, they won’t give a shit about what you’ve got to say.”
Pushing away from him, she managed to remain standing on her own. Gripping the gun tightly in one hand, she started for the door, limping slightly. Whatever energy the short rest had helped to restore in her was quickly being sapped. Still, she wasn’t about to let that stop her from facing the music, regardless of how things turned out. She gripped the door handle and opened it, stepping outside.
The cool night air brushed against her, making her hair flutter across her forehead and helping to refresh her a bit. Heading down the path to the front gate, she tried to prepare herself for anything, including an unceremonious execution.
Walking down the path to the main gate, she caught sight of a group of people standing on the other side, just outside their cars. Moving closer, she caught the familiar sight of Vladimir. Beside him was Sven, which made her glad. She’d been worried about him catching hell for letting her escape with Ulbrecht.
Approaching the gate, Nadya stopped before it. She saw guns, but none of them were drawn. The grip she had on her own weapon relaxed slightly and she kept it at her side. She felt ridiculous in a pair of boxers and a shirt about three sizes too large for her, but it was better then the alternative.
She nodded to Vlad, trying to look as strong and tough as possible. “I guess you found me,” she said.
It was hard to read Vladimir’s face to determine if he was glad to see her, or extremely pissed off at her. Nadya imagined it was a bit of both. “The werewolf?” he asked, simply.
She gave a brief shake of her head. “He’s not a werewolf yet,” she replied. “And that’s something I’m working to keep from happening, which was the only goal I had when I left. Like I said then, regardless of the outcome, one way or another, it will be dealt with.” She took a step closer to the gate, her eyes glaring into Vladimir’s. “But there is one thing that will not fucking happen, and that’s me letting you in here to take him back to your little aquarium to watch him turn and try to subdue him. You and I both know that’ll never work… and I’ve seen what happens to the failures. That’s not going to happen to Ulbrecht. Not while I’m alive, anyway. So, do what you have to.”
Vladimir looked slightly hurt by her words. “I’m not here to kill you,” he said. “What’s happened to you?”
Managing a smirk, Nadya felt a tinge of relief at his words. “It’s been a long fucking night…” was the only explanation she gave to him. “The car should be just outside there with you. I’d offer you the key, but I misplaced it somewhere.” She imagined it was still in the pocket of her pants back at that hellhole Remy had taken her to, unless Ulbrecht and Cyrus had retrieved them for her. Either way, she didn’t have the key on her and she wasn’t sure where it was.
Vlad gave her a smile. “That’s alright. I’ve got a spare.”
“Well, then, you can take it back with you,” she said. “I’m done with it now. There should still be some gas left. Sorry I couldn’t return it with a full tank.” She could feel her body growing weaker by the moment, her already limited amount of energy waning rapidly.
Reaching into his pocket, Vladimir pulled out a key identical to the one he’d handed over to her earlier in the night. He extended it to her through the bars of the gate. “Why don’t you hang onto it for a while? You seem to be taking good care of it. You can return it when you’re through here.”
Nadya felt as much of a spike of happiness as her body could muster in its current state at his words. He hadn’t come right out and told her she was welcome back, but he might as well have, and that lifted a great weight from her shoulders.
Reaching forward, she took the key from him and gave a nod. “I can do that. You might also want to keep an eye out for a vampire. I didn’t kill that werewolf from last night dead enough, which is the main reason I look like complete and utter shit right now. He seems to have an infatuation with me, but I wouldn’t put it past him to go after you, too. So keep an eye out.”
Vlad nodded. “I will. Do you want me to leave some men here with you?”
Nadya shook her head wearily. “No, but if you could send some decent weapons to kill the fucker with, it would be much appreciated.”
“That, I can definitely do,” he said. “They’ll be here by tomorrow night. I only ask that you get some rest.” He reached to his back pocket and pulled out a wallet, opening it up and pulling out a fairly large number of high-marked bills. He passed them through the gate as well. “So you can get the tank filled.”
Nadya took the money and forced a smile. “The Maserati thanks you,” she said. “Have a safe trip back.” She turned and started back towards the mansion, needing desperately to get off her feet. She heard Vladimir and his men getting back in their cars behind her and a few moments later, engines revving up.
Despite all the shit she’d been through over the course of the night, things hadn’t turned out as badly as they could have. She could hear the sounds of birds chirping off in the distance somewhere and figured morning couldn’t be too far away.
Entering the mansion once more, she found Cyrus waiting for her. “Well? What was that about?”
“Employer. Checking up on me,” she said, handing the car key and money over to him as she felt a wave of dizziness flow over her. “Just wanted to make sure I was alright.” The dizziness and weakness overcame her, causing her to black out, her body dropping to the floor.
