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The whole day was depressing, what a waste of time and that poor girl. I was still ruminating on it, so I didn’t protest Helen’s insistence on driving home.

Maybe I’d pretend to sleep so we didn’t have to talk to each other.

We didn’t make it far before I noticed that there was something wrong with her.

She was acting strange, shuddering at odd moments. Turning on her signal to go one way then veering the other.

“Are you okay?” I asked reluctantly. I told myself I only cared that she seemed to be having small seizures because she was behind the wheel of a car I was currently sitting in. I could not be this big of a softie. “Why don’t you pull over? I’ll drive.”

She waved me off. “I’m fine. It’s just adrenaline.”

“Adrenaline? W—” I asked but was cut off as our car sideswiped hard into a wall.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

ORGAN DONOR

The impact left me stunned, but otherwise unharmed. I’d been looking at Helen, hadn’t seen the crash coming, and so hadn’t braced myself.

I was stunned enough that I just sat there after we came to a stop, turning my head slowly to look at Helen. There was simply no way on earth I wouldn’t be giving her shit for this.

“Did you forget which side of the street you’re supposed drive on here?” I asked her wryly. The bitch couldn’t take a joke, so I knew it would piss her off. All the better.

She bared her teeth at me in a snarl. “We’ve just been in an accident. If you can take a break from making sarcastic comments about absolutely everything, maybe you could think about getting out of your seat and checking on it with me.”

I rolled my eyes, opening my door.

She stopped me from getting out with a hand on my arm. “Wait,” she told me, her accent extra crisp. “I must tell you something, but it can’t go beyond this car.”

She waved me over as though she wanted to say it in my ear. It wasn’t my favorite idea, but I did it, if only to hurry her up.

This motion put my back to my now open door.

She seemed to have another small seizure, but that didn’t keep her from speaking into my ear, “I hope this hurts like hell, you bloody cunt.” As she spoke, something sharp stabbed hard into my back.

I should have seen it coming, the signs were there, but I was as stunned as I’d ever been in my entire long life when I looked down to see a slayer weapon in all of its shining blue glory protruding from my chest.

I looked up at Helen, confused at her smile.

“You’ll die for this,” I explained, every word agony as I somehow tried to be reasonable with a glowing sword gutting me.

She shook her geas at me, laughing. “I didn’t do it.”

“Everyone knows that I’m with you. Who the hell do you think they’ll blame?”

She let out a disgusted sigh. “A sword’s been buried in your back, one that can kill you, and you still won’t shut up. What he sees in you, I’ll never know.”

“Maybe you should take some notes. He’s never turned me down.” That was the last crack I could manage before I lost my hold on consciousness.

I came to with my arms chained above me, feet dragged below. Everything hurt. Even my earlobes burned. Of course they must have ripped out my earrings/trackers, likely sent them in the opposite direction as a decoy.

How would Dom find me? When?

My entire mid-section was the worst of it, on fire with a bitter, insidious pain. It was unbearable, the worst agony I’d ever born and even knowing it might be the end of me, I prayed for oblivion to take me under until mercifully it did.

When I came to again, I was strapped on my back to a metal table. My arms were still pulled above me, and there was a pretty decent-sized hole in my chest. Sharp pain in my neck and each of my wrists had me pretty sure I was being drained of blood. One mercy, though, the slayer weapon had been removed. So they weren’t going to kill me right away. Good to know. Unfortunately, I knew what they were going to do and that was harvest me for parts, and that was going to be hell.

I heard a little snipping sound somewhere above my head, out of sight. I wasn’t sure whether to make my wakefulness known or pretend to still be sleeping. It was anyone’s guess which would serve me better.