House Immortal by Devon Monk Read Free Book Online

like the man lying in the bed below me.
    â€œYou are
safe
,” I said. “You are in my guest room in my home. I am just about to sew up your injury.”
    For too many tumbling beats of my heart, I thought for sure he had forgotten how to understand the language. There didn’t seem to be a lot of sanity left in him, just a raw, mindless anger.
    I licked my lips and tried out a soft smile even while logic was telling me best thing would be to back up nice and slow and find my shotgun.
    â€œThese are scissors.” I lifted them so the sunlight could catch them in gold. “I’m just going to put them over—”
    The floorboards creaked.
    His hands shot out viper-fast, wrapped around my wrists, and yanked me down against him as he shoved back with his heels and pushed both of us off the bed.
    I’m a strong girl, but along with speed, that man had monstrous brute force. He was on his feet and I was too, as he manhandled me over to the corner of the room.
    â€œWhoa, hold on,” I said. “Simmer it down. We’re all friends here. We’re all friends.”
    He planted his back against the wall, seeking a defensive position. My back was against him and the heat of his blood soaked through my overalls and cotton shirt, trickling down toward my belt.
    He’d yanked the scissors out of my hand with that grab and roll he’d just done off the bed. He held them hidden, tucked by his thigh, while his other arm hung over my shoulder and across my chest, keeping me still.
    I could hurt him. He was in his stocking feet and I had on steel-toed boots, not to mention I knew how to throw a wicked elbow. I wasn’t afraid to aim for the parts of him that would hurt the most—including his wound.
    â€œYou came here to me,” I said. “I’m trying to tend your injury. Which would be a lot easier if you’d get back into bed.”
    â€œTold you he was trouble,” Left Ned said in a cold, cold voice. He stood in the doorway, a wooden bucket of water in one hand, an old Glock 20 in the other. The gun was aimed our way.
    â€œI’ve got this under control,” I said. “He’s just spooked is all. Might better unspook without that gun pointed at him.”
    Neds had once told me they controlled opposite sides of the body, so Left Ned was primarily right-handed, and Right Ned was left-handed. That meant Left Ned had his finger on the trigger.
    Didn’t seem likely we’d get out of this without him putting more holes in the stranger.
    â€œTilly,” Right Ned said, “you can’t see his face.” Henodded slightly. “I’m pretty sure you don’t have this under control.”
    â€œDo not,” the man said in a voice so low, it was almost a growl, “come closer, or you will swim in your own blood, shortlife.”
    Both the Neds’ eyebrows went up.
    All right. Maybe I didn’t have my thumb quite as tight on the situation as I’d like, but language like that was not allowed in my house.
    â€œEasy,” I said. “No one needs to swim in anything. You don’t want to hurt us. We don’t want to hurt you.” That might have sounded more convincing if one of us weren’t pointing a gun at his head. “And I’d appreciate it if you stowed your bigotry.”
    He said something in a language I didn’t understand. Russian, maybe? I was passable with French and Spanish, but Quinten had always handled Russian. Still, it didn’t sound like a bygones-be-bygones sort of speech.
    â€œWhat’s his name?” I asked Right Ned. “Did you find anything in his pockets? An identification card of some sort?”
    â€œNo. There isn’t even a label on his jacket.”
    â€œYou’re gonna let her go, big man,” Left Ned said. “Or I’ll blow you full of so many holes, you’ll be recycled for spare parts.”
    Death threats. Sure, that’d make him