Bellwether

Bellwether Chapter Twenty Eight

Disclaimers Apply

A/N Goddess Foxfeather, Queen of Mad Plotbunnies, BUSIEST
WOMAN ALIVE ™, Prophetic Muse, Hamster Witch and Uberbeta… Stress ahoy…style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  InterNutter, TC, Maxwell Pink, Dracena and
Greywolf are loverly and wondermous for archiving/hosting.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  J ProPhile: I’ll see
what I can do later.  Morgan: *test stalk
* Readers/Reviewers: Due to flash flooding there is some MAJOR stress going on
here right now so this chapter is a wee bit shorter than the others as I try
not to throttle insurance and various assorted others.

            class=SpellE>Rahne paused, exhaling noisily as Jono
caught up with her quick stride.  “For a
tall guy you sure walk slow!”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Ignoring his shrugged response, she pressed
onward, readjusting the weight of her bag on her shoulder as she traipsed
lightly down the old concrete steps.  “It’s
going to be just around the corner…”

            _*Remind me
again why I agreed to this… * _

            “Because I
know things,” Rahne grinned, pausing as they reached
a sealed metal door, slimy with humidity and dirt.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Her lupine senses were assailed by the scent
of unwashed humanity and years of filth that had built up in this access tunnel
to the main sewer lines but she swallowed the wave of gut-wrenching nausea and
glanced up at Jono. 
“Don’t suppose you have a lock pick in that coat?”

            He raised a
brow at her and shouldered her aside, blocking her view of the door’s lock as
he fiddled with something out of her sight. 
After a moment of eerie silence broken only by the sound of metal
clicking against metal, the door creaked open a few inches.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  _*Don’t give me that
look, * _ he intoned sternly, not looking back at his companion.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  _* Just because I’m dead right now doesn’t
mean I never lived.  * _

            “I wasn’t going
to say a thing,” she grinned, slapping him on the back as she wriggled past
him, insisting silently on going first. “Paige will wait only for an hour
before she drives off to keep from being accused of loitering or class=SpellE>somesuch.  We need to
hurry because I sure as Hell don’t want to walk back to the house.”style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She padded softly ahead of class=SpellE>Jono, her senses picking out the smell of cooking food and
the sound of murmuring voices far ahead of them in the tunnel.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Not so very far, she amended.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  The acoustics make things seem different, she
thought as she moved slowly along the damp tunnel, Jono
close behind her.  She had considered
bringing Jamie but, as much as she cared for him she knew that it would not
have worked, not for this.  Paige was
better at this than most people would have thought, Rahne
mused as she paused again to gain her bearings. 
The former farm girl had been the one who found the old tunnel class=GramE>maps, she had been the one who had contacted Evan.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Someone, she had told Rahne
with a slight smile on her lips, had to pick up Kitty’s slack while the brainy
girl was away at school.  “class=SpellE>Jono, come closer…” 
He had no smell, she reminded herself with a grim smile.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He was virtually undetectable unless you knew
to look for him.  Even now, mere inches
away, he seemed to blend with the darkness around them, his matte black
clothing and bandages masking his presence to the untrained and unsuspecting
eye.   “Evan needs us, you understand? I
know you don’t know him as well as others but you’re a steady sort, very
calm.  He’s not well, Jono.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  We’ll get him out an’ run like the class=GramE>devil’s at our heels. 
We’re not taking him home…”

            _* Yes,
yes.  Let’s just get moving.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  It’s nearly dawn.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  * _style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  He gave her a nudge and she hesitated,
then nodded, turning to lead him deeper into the tunnel.style='mso-spacerun:yes'> 

            Paige
hissed in frustration as the windshield wipers on the old station wagon dragged
in a screeching slowness across the windshield. 
Lance had not replaced them as he had promised to and the entire car
stank of stale cigarette smoke and burger joint trash.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  _I have half a mind to go wash this mess and
spray perfume all up in it, just to piss him off…style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  _ 
The traffic light at the end of the block changed and she let out an
impatient breath.  So far, no patrol car
had been by to ask why she was sitting in a running car outside of the burned
out shell of Saint Dymphna’s outpatient clinic.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She was, for the moment, safe. style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  She closed her eyes and yawned, her mind
drifting back several hours to Rahne’s sudden arrival
in her room, Jono in tow.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Paige doubted that Jono
had *seen* anything but still…her cheeks reddened at the thought.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  Part of her thrilled at the idea of being
bare before him, his eyes moving over her flesh, drinking her in, but another,
larger part of her wanted to die from embarrassment.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  It’s not like a fantasy, she thought.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  It’s not like I had good lighting, cute class=SpellE>underthings and a captive audience… She was snapped from
her reverie by the car door being jerked open. 
She gasped, swallowing a scream, as a darkly hooded form slid into the
back seat.  She fumbled for her own door
latch but a heavy, wet hand fell on her shoulder, pinning her in place.style='mso-spacerun:yes'>  “Drive,” Evan hissed. “Just drive!”