Last Kiss Goodnight

  Always lookouts had been stationed on the roads, and if the cops were spotted, they were stopped. If the authorities couldn't be paid off, the performers packed up as much of the equipment as possible and blazed a trail into the next town.

  Now, Jecis had another way to travel. One Vika despised. One she would never again have to endure once she left this place. And when she was settled into her new life and certain she couldn't be found, she would even help the police hunt her father and shut the circus down once and for all.

  "And do you ever want to leave the circus again?" he asked silkily.

  "I don't want to leave the circus," she said. Again, it was the truth. She wanted to stay. For now. Once she had enough money . . . once she'd found the key to the cuffs, her answer would change.

  "Do you think that ugly otherworlder you fed, the one you watched while the humans were out and about, no less, will take care of you once he's free of his cage?"

  He knew she had broken the rule a second time. She gulped.

  Solo will take care of you, you know. He really will protect you.

  The voice penetrated her mind, and she gasped. It was the voice from that morning. The good one. The nice one.

  "What?" her father demanded.

  "I . . . I . . ."

  "Never mind. I asked you a question. Do you think the otherworlder will take care of you?" her father insisted.

  She . . . did, she realized. He would take care of her. For a little while, at least. After all, he had used his body as a shield for hers. A man willing to do that wasn't a man who would throw a helpless girl into a pit of alligators. But that wasn't what Jecis wanted to hear.

  "He's a prisoner, Daddy," she said. "He can't take care of anyone."

  Once again, the "Daddy" worked. His expression softened, and he failed to realize she hadn't exactly answered his question. "No one will ever love you the way I do. No one will ever take care of you the way I do. Isn't that right?"

  She gave a barely discernable nod. No, no one else would ever "love" her this way. She would make sure of it.

  Pacified, he settled into a chair and picked up his cigar. "Good. Then you realize the otherworlder would just as soon murder you in cold blood as take you with him, so there's no reason to discuss this subject further."

  Before relief had time to work through her--no more punishment for her, either!--he added, "Now, for the next order of business."

  She racked her brain, trying to figure out what he was going to rant and rave about, but only drew a blank.

  "Matas," he said.

  And she groaned.

  "He wants to marry you."

  She linked her fingers, hoping to stop herself from twisting and wrinkling her shirt and revealing the depths of her sudden turmoil. "That's too bad, because I don't want to marry him."

  "He'll treat you well. I'll make sure of it."

  That sounded like--no, that was approval. "You're actually considering this?" she gasped out.

  "I am. He's given me his word that he'll never harm you, and that he will forever remain here at the circus with you. With me."

  Dark spots winked through her vision. A lump grew in her throat, threatening to cut off her supply of air. All of her fine plans were beginning to crash and burn around her. Her father was changing the very fabric of her existence, trying to rewrite the future she had mapped out for herself.

  Worry not, the voice said. Evil will not win in the end.

  Worry not? How could she stop from worrying?

  Audra abandoned the bedroom and strutted into the kitchenette. She poured herself another drink, blew a tiny stream of fire over the top, and nibbled on a cracker as the flames died down, her hips swaying to a beat Vika would never hear.

  Audra grinned when she realized Vika was watching her and said, "You might as well take Matas up on the offer. No one else will have you."

  Jecis sat up straighter and banged his fist into the counter, rattling the ashtray. "Anyone would be lucky to have her. She's the daughter of a champion, and she will bear strong children. The problem has been finding a man worthy of her."

  A man he could control, he meant. A man who would keep her here, within reach, for the rest of her miserable life. A man who would occupy her time with one pregnancy after another, keeping her too busy to get into "trouble."

  "No," she croaked. "I won't do it."

  A treacherous light glittered in Jecis's eyes--one she recognized. Danger was near. "I want this, darling little girl, and so you will do this. Audra will help you plan the wedding."

  "No," she repeated, her mouth so dry her tongue felt like a strip of sandpaper. If Jecis insisted on going down this road, she would have to run away sooner rather than later, before she'd saved enough cash, before she'd found the key to the cuffs. But she would do it, no question.

  Slowly her father pushed to his feet. He flattened his palms on the tabletop and leaned toward her. "You will marry him with a smile on your face, Vika, or I will give your treasures to Audra, and place the animals in someone else's care. I will be forced to express my displeasure with you . . . over and over again. Do you understand?"

  Fourteen

  In repentance and rest you will be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.

  --ISAIAH 30:15

  THE NEXT FEW DAYS passed in a blur for Solo. He should have recovered faster, and wasn't sure if the drugs swimming through his system were the problem, if X still wasn't able to feed him strength, or if the whip had been laced with a poison his senses were now too dulled to notice. Whatever the reason, he remained weak.

  It wasn't the weakness that tormented him, though. It was the memory of his failure. He'd tried to escape, had been so close to succeeding, but "so close" wasn't good enough.

  He had never before botched a job so sublimely.

  At least he wasn't dead like the Mec.

  The thought wasn't the comfort it should have been. Guilt filled him every time he recalled the Mec's screams for mercy that had come only with the rising of the sun. Amid the silence, Solo had watched a satisfied Matas haul the dull, lifeless body away.

  Solo had fallen back asleep, only to awake to find that his cage had been removed from the clearing and placed in front of Jecis's mobile home. A monstrosity if ever he'd seen one. A skull and crossbones was painted on the side, staring at him. A giant cubby stretched over the driver and passenger seats, and the belly was almost too fat for the road.

  He would have preferred something smaller, faster, sleeker, but there were no other trailers blocking the front of this one, so evacuation would be easy. He could carry Kitten and Vika away, no problem.

  Yeah. He had a new plan.

  Obstacle one still hadn't changed: getting out of this cage.

  Most times Jecis entered or left the area, he paid Solo no attention. Every so often, he would stop and stare, saying things like, "I'm lord and master here and I'll break you yet. Just you wait."

  Audra stayed in the motor home every night. The two would call each other names, fight, have sex, then fight some more. Jecis was never afraid to use physical force, but he must have avoided the girl's face, because she never emerged with visible bruises.

  He wasn't sure what he would have done if he'd heard Jecis beating Vika.

  Vika, the contradiction. She'd sprung from the loins of the heartless Jecis, and yet she was kind. She'd helped Solo even though he'd heard Jecis order her to stay away, placing herself in danger.

  Danger. From her own father. That wasn't supposed to be the way of things. Especially with a female like her, handicapped by deafness, unable to hear her destruction coming, and as tiny as a fairy princess, unable to withstand very much abuse before breaking.

  Even the thought of a single strike to any part of her body filled Solo with one of the darkest rages he'd ever experienced.

  He wanted, needed, to talk with her. He could help her, and she could help him. She could be his biggest ally--he wanted her to be his biggest ally. But though she v
isited him three times a day, she never looked at him to read his lips.

  Every morning she appeared mere minutes after Jecis's departure, as if she was hiding somewhere close, watching and waiting. She returned in the afternoon, though never at the same time, and then again in the evening. She would give Solo food and water, and even rags and enzyme spray to clean himself, but she wouldn't speak a word.

  So many times Solo had almost grabbed her arm. If she wouldn't talk to him, he couldn't get her to help him. If he couldn't get her to help him, he would have to force her. He would have to remove her thumb with his fangs or his claws, as he'd planned the first time he'd met her. Then he could hijack the trailer and drive her to a hospital, where the thumb could be reattached. But . . . he could never get past the image of her blood running down her arm as she clutched the wound to her chest. Could never get past the horror of hearing her scream from the pain. Could never get past the idea that she would cry.

  Oh, if she cried, he would be a goner.

  He was disgusted with himself. Freedom should come before anything, especially a woman partly responsible for his circumstances. Yet he'd come to accept two startling facts. With or without the vow, he wouldn't be able to so much as scratch her and he had to include "keeping Vika safe from everyone else" in his plans.

  "Feeling better, I see," a female voice said, jerking him out of his head. "You're even sitting up like a big boy. You must be so proud."

  He focused on the here and now. Audra was propped against the corner of his cage. She wore a black, bra-like top, with multicolored sequins sewn along the edges, a mix of yellow, blue, green, and red. Those same sequins were pasted to her bare shoulders and down her arms, along her--

  One of the spider tattoos had moved from the inside of her elbow to her wrist.

  Temporary tattoos, then. Though he'd never seen any that looked so real. He finished his study of her. Her middle was utterly bare. A pair of black panties covered her essentials, and a pair of fishnet stockings clung to her legs, though they were only visible to her knees. High-heeled boots looked painted to her lower calves and feet. A peacock tail rose from behind her, fanning up and out.

  Her slick of dark, pink-striped hair was pinned into a bun, and her makeup was so thick and wild she almost appeared inhuman. Her eyes did appear inhuman. Contacts dusted the green with glitter. Her lashes were the color of the feathers, blue and green and black, fanning out over her brows and temples.

  "Still have nothing to say to me?" she asked, and sucked a lollipop into her mouth.

  One of the spiders popped its legs from her skin and walked down her arm.

  No way. Just no way. Had to be the drugs, messing with his mind. He had to be hallucinating. "What would you like me to say?"

  Lick. A slow, sensuous grin curled the corners of her lips, and she hummed her approval. "Why don't you start with how beautiful I am?" Liiick.

  She was beautiful, there was no denying that, but Solo knew better than most how deceptive appearances could be. He'd never been one to judge by exterior.

  The one and only girl he'd dated had lived on the farm next door to his. Plain but sweet Abigail, whom X had liked but hadn't wanted him to date and whom Dr. E had despised and had wanted him to bury in his backyard. Abigail was the first and only girl to ever want the man and not the monster. He'd picked her up every time she'd had too much to drink, protected her any time she traveled into the city at night, and helped her climb through her bedroom window whenever she'd snuck out. She'd kissed him a thousand times, said a thousand thank-yous, but had never given him anything more. Despite that, she had genuinely seemed to care for him--but only ever when they were alone.

  One day, indignation had gotten the better of him and he'd given her a choice. Take all of him, all the time, in front of everyone, or have none of him. She had cried, she had begged him to remain in her life, but in the end she had been unwilling to change and so he had walked away.

  He had never looked back.

  Vika, he would think about forever, he suspected. His attraction to her scorched deeply, inexorably, and not just because she was exquisite, the loveliest female he'd ever beheld. Again, looks mattered little to him and he would have liked her if she'd been as ugly as, well, an Allorian. It was the way she'd treated him. As if he mattered.

  What was he going to do with that girl?

  He couldn't troubleshoot with Dr. E and X--not that he was on speaking terms with either. Both males had abandoned him during the whipping and had only returned in quick snatches, vanishing the moment he opened his mouth.

  "Well?" Audra demanded.

  "I will not say any such thing," he announced.

  She straightened, her grin morphing into a scowl. "I have seen you transform into the ugliest beast alive, and yet you think you're better than me. Well, I'll put you in your place," she said softly, fiercely, "right underneath me."

  She held out her arm, and the spider actually leapt from her skin and onto one of the bars of the cage. Okay, there was no way that was a hallucination. Eight legs crawled across the metal, tap, tap, tapping as the spider--

  Hinges squeaked as the door to Jecis's trailer opened. The male stepped into the light of day. Audra inhaled sharply, and the spider jumped back onto her arm.

  Some kind of dark power was at work within the girl. Now that he concentrated, Solo could feel the crackle of it in the air. It was the same crackle Jecis and Matas emitted, only at a slighter degree. He would have to remain on guard around her.

  Frowning, Jecis scanned the area. He spied Audra, and his frown intensified. He stomped toward the cage.

  "What you are doing?" he demanded.

  As Audra pasted a seductive smile on her face and wove a lie about Solo calling her over and asking her for food, Solo performed a scan of the area himself. Tent after tent, other trailers, but no hint of Vika.

  A rock slammed into his left shoulder, and he glanced down, watching as jagged silver rolled to the floor of his cage.

  "Are you listening to me? I said do not dare to speak to my woman again," Jecis snarled. He curled his fingers around the bars and shook the entire wagon. "You got me? Otherwise I will kill you and send whatever's left over to your family."

  Solo raised his lashes and met the man's gaze. He kept his expression blank, refusing to give any kind of reaction. One day I will escape. One day I will end your reign of terror. "Sorry, but I don't have a family."

  After a long, flustered moment, Jecis said, "Your friends, then."

  "What makes you think a man like me has friends?"

  Jecis ran his tongue over his teeth. "Then we'll let the dogs have you. If they will. They like their meat tender, and you look rotten."

  Solo just stared.

  "Speaking of food," Jecis gritted out, "you have been eating, haven't you, Beast Man, despite asking my female for a morsel? Your color is too good for a starving man. Who's been feeding you? My sweet little Vika?"

  "Probably," Audra said. She traced the lollipop over her lips. "I saw her running this way last night."

  "Because her trailer is beside mine, you stupid whore."

  Audra flinched. "O-of course."

  Not so brave in the light of day, and he could guess why. Jecis would tolerate her temper when they were alone and there were no witnesses. But the man would not be so lenient in front of others, when every challenge to his authority would have to be defused in the most violent way possible to stop others from thinking to rise against him.

  More than that, Solo knew his type. Knew Audra's type, too. Jecis was used to everyone bowing and scraping. Audra wanted to be something different, someone capable of holding such a "strong" man's attention. So she acted out. In the end, however, Jecis would tire of her and she would pay for every one of her perceived crimes. A man like Jecis never forgot a wrong.

  A man like Jecis--yet Solo was the same way.

  He massaged the back of his neck. He didn't like the comparison. But he wouldn't think about that right now. A
n important revelation had just unfolded. Vika's trailer was beside Jecis's. Solo could see no sign of it, and could only assume hers was smaller, obstructed. He could steal it instead of her father's. A kindness on his part, letting her take a little piece of her life with her--since Solo would never allow her to return.

  And just how long do you intend to keep her?

  "All I was saying," Audra added with a tremble, "was that she might have been feeding him to anger you and invite punishment to herself, thereby delaying her wedding."

  Vika was getting married? To whom? he nearly snarled.

  Jecis, who'd been watching him intently, scowled. "I finally got to you, as promised, but not for a reason I approve. You are not to lust after my daughter, slave. She is off-limits to the likes of you, and far too good. If ever again you look at her, I'll remove your eyes. If ever again you talk to her, I'll remove your tongue."

  Not one to cave to intimidation, Solo said, "Try it." He would do everything in his power to ensure Jecis went down with him. "Let's find out what happens."

  The man's nostrils flared with shock and anger. "Perhaps I will. Perhaps I'll even give you back to the man who sold you to me. He's not as nice as I am."

  "Who sold me?" Gregory Star, he knew, but he wanted to hear the name from Jecis.

  Grinning now, Jecis grabbed Audra by the forearm and said, "Let's go, woman, and leave him to wonder."

  The moment they snaked the corner, X materialized on Solo's shoulder.

  "Where have you been?" Solo demanded.

  "Recovering."

  "All this time?" He was steady on his feet, at least, his color high.

  Silence.

  "You were weakened yourself, but you were trying to heal me, weren't you?" he asked, realization dawning.

  X didn't confirm or deny.

  But Solo knew that he had been doing just that. "Thank you," he said.

  A pause. A nod.

  "But I'm still angry with you," he added. "You didn't save the girl when you had the chance." He'd planned to yell, but could no longer bring himself to do so. "You told me you had succeeded."

  "Such little faith," the tiny male tsked. "I did not lie. She's alive, isn't she?"

  "She was hurt."

  "She was, yes--before you bid me to aid her. I did exactly what I told you I would do. I saved her from further harm."