SNAP: The World Unfolds

CHAPTER NINE

I was so preoccupied the next morning that I punched the wrong elevator button.  When it dinged, I got in, swore, pushed the “Open Door” button and stepped out.  What I saw out of the corner of my eye didn’t register because I was checking my Blackberry.  I jumped and tried to scream when the arm snaked across my throat.  Instinctively, I dropped everything and grabbed for the arm, trying to pull it off so I could breathe. 

“Don’t struggle,” a voice hissed.  “This won’t take long.”

In panic from fright and beginning to feel the lack of oxygen, I thought the voice had an Eastern European accent with Vs.  The arm, and the guy it was attached to, were incredibly strong.  My clawing hands weren’t able to get any grip.  Some slick cloth covered the arm and underneath I could feel the muscles like steel bands.  They were flexed without an inch of give.

The guy leaned back and the effect lifted me up to the tips of my toes, only tightening his hold on my throat more.  Suddenly I could feel his breath on the side of my neck then a slicing pain as I began to lose consciousness. I thought I heard humming as my mind was going black.

Rushing, roaring wind hit me.  I was pulled off my feet, hit the front of the closed elevator door and slid to the ground.  That was when I realized the arm was gone.  I took a deep breath and another and another then someone said, “Slow down, slow down, you’re going to hyperventilate.”

My heart was pounding so much my ribs ached.  I concentrated on in-out, in-out, willing my lungs to take charge and shuttle vital oxygen to my brain.  It seemed like a long time before the same voice said, “There, that’s better.  Can you stand?”

My nod hurt my bruised neck.  A hand, not attached to a shiny black arm, reached down and helped me up.  I finally opened my eyes and looked at Carlos, the limo driver who’d brought me to work just a few minutes before.

“What happened?” I whispered.  My voice had a pondful of frogs in it.  I cleared my throat and tried again. “What just happened here?  Who was that guy?  Where is he?”

“He was a member of the Huszar family.”

“Who’s that?  What’s that?”

“The Huszars are the worst rival of the Kandeskys.”

“You mean that was just friendly business rivalry?  That guy was out to kidnap or kill me.”  I put my hand up to the side of my neck and felt something sticky.  Pulled my hand away and it was red.

“I’m bleeding!” I screeched.

“It’s not too bad.” Carlos was way too calm for my money.  “He was only able to break the skin before I got him.  He didn’t get any.”

“He didn’t get any what?  What did he cut me with?  I didn’t see any knife or anything.”  Admittedly, I wasn’t the best witness of what went down for those few seconds but I felt sure I’d have seen a knife if the guy had one.

Carlos looked at me the way Jazz did sometimes.  Like I asked some bonehead question or was too stupid to survive.  “The Huszars are a vampire family.  You were attacked by a younger family member, one who doesn’t know the ways yet.”

A vampire?  OK, I’d play along.  “If that was a vampire, how’d you get rid of him so fast?”

“I’m a demon.” Carlos was matter-of-fact.  “I’m extremely fast and strong and I always carry weapons.”

“What kind of weapons?”  I knew this was crazy talk, but he did chase the bad guy away, so I could listen to his story.

“I have a silenced Glock and a knife.  Hang on a sec while I get my first aid kit and take a look at your neck.  I really think it’s just a scratch.  It shouldn’t hurt and the bleeding’s slowing down.”

“Maybe I should go to the nurse’s office,” I stammered, thinking to get away from this insane person.  A vampire slice being tended by a demon?  I didn’t think so.

“What nurse’s office?”  Carlos looked honestly stumped.

“I found one last week when I got off on the wrong floor,” I mumbled.  “It was in a corridor where I hadn’t been.  It had some reclining chairs, IV stands, syringes, lots of medical stuff.  The sign said it didn’t open until 5 p.m.”

Carlos shook his head.  “SNAP doesn’t have a company nurse.  You couldn’t have seen a medical office.”