The Last Queen Read online

  She glanced at the clock. Seven p.m. It felt so much later. She eased deeper into the tub, let the water hide her to her chin. The tub’s jets massaged her aching muscles. The wine, the warmth, and the soothing silence all conspired to lull her into sleep.

  The hotel room door opened and shut. Nikki laughed quietly. “Comfortable? I’m going to go wait for the pizza in the lobby.”

  Adrianne roused enough to lift her hand and wiggle her fingers.

  Nikki laughed again. She detested the silence. “Don’t drown on me,” she called as she left.

  Adrianne grunted a response and dozed off.

  When she roused again, it came with a painfully sharp awareness. The hair rose at the nape of her neck. Her watery oasis felt more like a prison than a soothing retreat.

  With a sixth sense she didn’t know she possessed, she felt another presence. It didn’t alarm her as much as it surprised her. Didn’t some people have strange premonitions after surviving their own near death experience? Her eyes flicked open. “Who’s there?”

  Her hotel room was still empty. She heard laughter down the hall, Nikki teasing the clerk.

  Easy now, Adrianne.

  The voice echoed in her mind. Masculine, familiar.

  Adrianne bolted upright, water splashing across the floor. The presence remained, tickling at the base of her skull.

  Mind speech, lady. It is Navarre.

  Navarre, as in the incredibly good-looking hallucination from the hospital? She heard a quiet chuckle in her mind.

  You are very flattering.

  “Where the hell are you?” she said out loud, snatching a towel into the tub and covering her breasts.

  Not there, he replied, amused. Although judging by your predicament, I wish I was.

  Both flattered and mortified, she clutched the towel tighter. “How do you know what I am doing?”

  You are broadcasting distress at every level.

  She paused at that, clamping down on her thoughts as she forced herself to breathe calmly. In through the nose, fill the lungs, out through the mouth. She cleared her lungs and her head at the same time.

  Much better. She heard approval in his voice.

  “Am I going crazy?”

  I assure you, you are quite sane. We are here now. We need to know where you are so we can protect you.

  “Who is we? And what are you trying to protect me from?” But the image of the wolf hybrid with crimson eyes jumped unbidden into her mind.

  Exactly. And not a wolf. A hound. You do not wish to meet the Hunter, its master.

  “Prove to me that I’m not crazy.” That she hadn’t hit her head too hard. That she wasn’t freaking out from possibly mixing pain medication with alcohol.

  Have you a flame?

  A flame? Fire. After she had nearly burned to death in a plane wreck, he wanted her to play with fire? “No!” But she knew Nikki carried a lighter in her purse. Her gaze darted to the hotel bureau where the purse slumped, half opened. “No way.”

  You did not burn. His voice was very soft. The touch of his mind tried to be soothing. You will not burn.

  “No.”

  She felt his sigh, then a pause as he thought about what to suggest next. Do you have access to a black light?

  “Not here, but I could get one.”

  Find one and shine it on your skin.

  “And that will prove I’m not crazy?” She relaxed against the edge of the tub. Just thinking of actually finding a black light was probably proof enough that she had lost it. Crazy or not, though, she liked the feel of Navarre’s presence.

  I suspect what you will see will raise many questions. His tone changed. Will you tell me where you are?

  “Not until I know I’m in danger, pal,” she muttered under breath, trying to project a more upbeat attitude toward him.

  You are not that good yet and mind speech is not a place for deceit. His voice was grim. Find that black light and get back to me.

  “Sure, I’ll just give you a call on my cell phone. Oops, it burnt up with the rest of my belongings.”

  I will be listening.

  “In on my thoughts?” She was indignant.

  He didn’t respond, but she felt his presence fade so she suspected he gave her some small measure of privacy.

  She had to be losing her mind. Nikki might think it was hilarious, just a bad trip. Adrianne couldn’t be sure. She climbed out of the bathtub, dripping towel wrapped around her, and padded to the shopping bag Nikki had left behind.

  Great. She held up a pair of matching red lacy bra and panties between her thumb and forefinger. She wrinkled her nose. They were something she’d never choose for herself, but Nikki was a stickler on coordinating undergarments. A pair of jeans, a turtleneck and some socks accompanied the impractical underwear. She dressed, then padded sock-footed down to the lobby.

  Nikki was chatting with the pizza delivery man. Uh-oh, she’d seen that smitten look on the faces of countless men who paraded through her roommate’s life. Even her Doug. She brushed that thought aside.

  “What does a woman have to do around here to get a warm slice of pizza?” Adrianne loudly complained.

  Pizza boy jumped as if he’d been shot. Nikki glanced lazily over her shoulder. “So you didn’t drown?” She surveyed the outfit, a wicked smile playing at her lips. “I didn’t think I’d ever get you to wear lace.”

  “You’ll pay for it.” She shook her finger at her, then snatched a piece of pizza and headed down the hallway. “I’ll be right back,” she called over her shoulder. “Just want to see what the pool looks like.”

  “Knock first,” Nikki called back.

  Adrianne had been her roommate long enough to figure that out on her own.

  She padded around the corner, looking not for the pool but the video arcade. One of the games had to have a black light. On a Tuesday night, the arcade was understandably empty. Still, she glanced around. One of the race car arcades was silhouetted in fluorescent light. She sat down inside it, a bit cramped. Feeling stupid for listening to voices in her head, she nonetheless pulled up her shirtsleeve.

  Her skin glowed a pale white. A web of lines shone back at her. She dropped the piece of pizza and froze, mind blank. Like…like…scales? An intricate mosaic of scales ran from her fingertips to the pushed-up edge of the shirt. She jerked her arm out of the black light’s glow. Her skin was flawless. She turned her arm over. Nothing. She stuck her arm back into the game’s light. A pattern of scales glimmered back at her.

  She bolted up, smacked her head on the “roll cage” of the game, then stumbled into the hallway.

  Nikki was no longer chatting with pizza boy. She ran down the hall, fumbled with her room key and slipped in. Nikki was relaxing in the tub, television blaring, a pizza box propped on the edge of the bathtub.

  “You didn’t knock,” she reminded her. “I was going to come looking for you in a little bit. Any good-looking men in the pool?”

  “None. I need your lighter,” she blurted out. Her heart was racing badly.

  Nikki shrugged. “In my purse.” She took another bite of pizza, then sipped the wine. “Taking up smoking?”

  “When will you be through?”

  “When my hands shrivel or the pizza is gone, whatever comes first. You okay?”

  “Yeah. Yeah.” She grabbed the lighter. “Be right back.” Shutting the door, she leaned against it for a moment. She listened to a man talking in her head. Her arm looked like she was some sort of comic book character. And now she was about to set herself on fire. Insanity crept ever closer with each step she took.

  She should have taken the doctor’s advice and stayed a few more days in the hospital.

  Too late now. She padded down the hall and out the side door. Propping the door open with her foot, she flicked the lighter. The flame sputtered, then came to life. Surprised, she almost dropped the lighter. Swallowing the sudden burst of fear, she quickly stuck her right pinkie into the flame, wincing in anticipation of the pain.r />
  Nothing.

  She stared, repulsed and fascinated. The little flame lapped on either side of her finger. She felt warmth, no more. Her finger remained untouched, no smoldering, no smell of burning flesh.

  “Navarre?” A whisper? A prayer? She didn’t know what to think or say. She tucked the lighter in her pocket. The hotel door closed behind her.

  She felt his comforting presence immediately. Here.

  “Who are you? What’s wrong with me?” She wished she had someone to confront, to demand answers from. There was no one but the empty parking lot.

  We are the Dragoon. You, I believe, are our Dragoness, our Queen.

  “Aliens. I am talking to a voice in my head who says he’s an alien.”

  Navarre’s voice was patient. It is a lot to digest. I understand. But you are in danger. Adrianne, you are so very special to us. We need to protect you.

  “How many of you are here? By here, do you mean here on Earth or here in Wisconsin? Or lord, or here outside my door?”

  There are but thirteen of us left. A weighty pause followed. In the entire universe.

  “Thirteen total? Men, women and children?”

  He paused. Thirteen males.

  Thirteen men seeking a woman? And they thought she was that woman. She slumped against the glass door, sliding down until she felt the cold concrete through the seat of her pants.

  “I’m having a hard time with all this.”

  Understandably. She felt his regret for not being there, for springing this upon her and leaving her alone. Adrianne?

  “Can you meet me at my apartment?”

  If you are safe, I would prefer you stay where you are. Let us come to you.

  Motion at the edge of the parking lot caught her eye. A black shape detached itself from the shadows and padded across the lot. She began to shake. A second form followed, then a third.

  Feeling her heart begin to race, Navarre asked, Adrianne, what is amiss?

  “Hounds.” She slid up the door, keeping her eyes on the creatures. Groping for her key card, she flashed it across the door. She heard the lock click. Yanking the door open, she slipped inside. And not a moment too soon. A body struck the glass. The door shook in its jamb.

  Adrianne, where are you? Panicked now, his calm façade crumbled.

  “The Sunset Motel in Wausau.”

  Pictures, a map, give me something, he demanded. Words and titles meant nothing to him.

  She tried to focus, but her heart hammered in her chest. There were more hounds than she could count, all snaking their way through the parking lot. She backed away from the door, moving down the aisle.

  Adrianne!

  She pictured a road map in her mind, narrowed it down as best she could with the images she remembered and more she didn’t remember but which he plucked from her mind. His touch was no longer gentle. She felt his concern as if it were her own. It spurred her to move.

  Turning, she ran down the hallway, turned a corner and skidded to a stop by her door. Keying her door open with her card, she burst into the room. Nikki lay on the bed, wrapped in a towel, television and radio still blaring.

  Nikki raised an eyebrow. “You look like shit.”

  Adrianne slid the bolt lock across the door.

  Nikki sat up straighter. “Reporters?”

  “Hounds. More of those black wolf things.”

  “In here?” Nikki was on her feet before she could finish her sentence. “What’s going on?”

  “I don’t know.” Exhaustion washed over her in the wake of the adrenaline rush. “Look.” Pulling the cigarette lighter from her pocket, she flicked it open, and stuck her finger in it.

  “Are you nuts?” Nikki grabbed for her hand.

  Adrianne jerked back, out of her reach. “Look at it!”

  They watched as the flame danced on either side of her finger. Nikki batted the lighter out of Adrianne’s hand. It hit the wall and fell to the floor. Taking Adrianne’s hand, she turned it over in her own. The skin wasn’t even reddened.

  “That’s how I survived the crash.” She watched Nikki closely.

  “How? Why?” Nikki bent down, retrieved the lighter and passed the flame under her own palm. “Ow!”

  “It’s not a joke.”

  “Okay. Okay. I can believe this because I am seeing it. It makes sense. A hell of a lot more sense than a miraculous reprieve from a burning plane. Ever sunburn?”

  “What?”

  “Did you ever get a sunburn? I’ve seen you slather on the sunscreen, but I’ve never seen you with a burn.”

  She had to think about that. No, she’d never been burned. Not cooking. Not by the sun. “No.”

  “Hmm, well, that explains that. I didn’t like thinking there was a God up there playing roulette with our lives.” Nikki dropped the lighter in her purse. “You’re getting your color back. Now, are you sure you saw another one of those wolf things?”

  Adrianne nodded, too shocked by Nikki’s casual acceptance for words. And why not? Nikki dealt with the fringes of society and their fetishes nearly every day in her bar. But a foot fetish was a far cry from someone who couldn’t burn and who seemed to attract giant wolf things like moths to a lantern.

  Nikki stepped to the phone and punched a button. “Hey, Brian, yeah, you’re right, it was the best pizza I’ve had in a long time. Look, my friend was just outside and thought she saw a big stray dog.” She paused, listening. “It’s a big dog, Brian. Can you take a peek? Thanks! Thanks so much.”

  Adrianne flicked off the lights closest to the window, leaving the room lit with just the bathroom lights and the fluorescent glow cast from the television.

  Nikki turned to her, still holding the phone. “He’s checking.”

  Numbly, she pointed to their window. She felt the blood drain out of her face.

  Nikki followed her finger. Four-legged shadows moved across their curtains, their oversized images cast from the parking lot lights. Adrianne managed to put her hand over Nikki’s mouth before she screamed. Adrianne was having a hard time not screaming too.

  “We’ll get through this,” Adrianne said evenly, trying to make herself believe it. She desperately wished for Navarre’s supportive presence, but he was gone. He’d deserted her. Adrianne dropped her hand. If he even existed at all. “I don’t know what they have to do with us,” she lied, “but I saw what they did to that guy on the road.”

  Nikki swallowed hard. “Me too.” She reached for her discarded clothing. “I feel like I’m in a bad B movie. All we need is a shower scene and a psycho with a knife.” She pulled on her jeans.

  “Then I’ve got some bad news. We’re locking ourselves in the bathroom.”

  Chapter Eight

  “Okay, you win,” Nikki teased, although it sounded forced. “I never thought I’d be eating pizza off a toilet lid,” she whispered nervously. Her cell phone lay beside her. The half-dozen calls she’d placed to Brian at the front desk went unanswered.

  The pizza was cold, but Adrianne forced herself to eat another piece even though her stomach insisted it was too upset to eat. She was starting to get twitchy, a sure sign of low blood sugar. It’d been nearly an hour since she spotted the hounds. From occasional forays back into the main room, she knew their shadows hadn’t ceased their roving.

  If she believed in Navarre, then she had to believe those were hounds. And Navarre didn’t want her to meet their master, the Hunter. What kind of creature commanded those hounds’ obedience? She shuddered, pizza untouched.

  With her head buzzing with wine, the bathroom’s heat light on, and curled up in the coverlet from one of the beds, she fought back the urge to sleep and lost. Her body could only endure so much. She didn’t know how long she had dozed when Nikki finally shook her awake.

  “Listen!” Nikki hissed.

  Footsteps echoed down the hallway, a set of hard, fast steps followed by the patter of many light feet. The fire alarm went off in a rush and was abruptly cut off mid-squeal. The bathroom lights
flickered, then went out. Nikki grabbed her arm.

  More light footsteps were accompanied by one set of heavy deliberate steps. They heard knocking and muffled voices.

  “Probably Brian checking to make sure everyone’s okay.”

  “Could be.” Adrianne pressed herself between the toilet and bathtub, as far away from the closed door as she could get.

  Both women flinched at the rap, but neither moved. The handle jiggled, then unlocked. The door hit the bolt lock with a clank, then shut, then opened again. This time there was no reassuring sound of a bolt lock offering resistance to their intruder.

  If an alien could speak within her mind, then another one should be able to undo locks without breaking down doors. What a stupid place to hide, she realized. Trapped. Whoever it was might not recognize her, unless he had a black light or could see her phosphor. Then again, he’d managed to follow her here, hadn’t he? And his hounds had been holding vigil until he arrived. Obviously they recognized her.

  Nikki flicked open the cigarette lighter and held it up. It lit the bathroom in an unsteady glow, reflecting off the mirror above the sink. The bathroom door handle moved imperceptibly. They watched as the lock flipped to an open position.

  Adrianne met Nikki’s terrified gaze, made a pushing motion with her hands and pointed to their only exit. Nikki nodded.

  The door moved outward, open.

  They slammed their full weight against it, flinging whoever was behind it against the wall. Adrianne seized Nikki’s arm and tugged them both into the hallway.

  The bathroom door smashed back against its hinges. Something or someone growled in frustration.

  The growl built into a roar, the sound biting into Adrianne’s skull. She wanted to lie down and die right there. The sound ground on. She clamped her hands over her ears as she ran. Nikki shoved her forward when she stumbled. They passed the empty clerk’s desk, dashed through the lobby and paused, gasping for breath, in the parking lot.

  The winter air was crisp, searing their lungs. Their breaths created puffs of frost in the air. The roar within her skull dimmed. She could at least hear her thoughts now…and her racing heart.