Fiend [NOOK Book]

Prologue

Something had woken nine-year-old Lily ... a thumping noise and a scream ... there it was again, coming from the barn. She grasped her teddy bear for comfort and crept outside. Stars blazed in an inky cavern of a sky. Her bare feet moved silently across grass wet with dew. She held her nose as she passed the pigpen, the stench was awful, and she'd never got used to it. The pigs squelched in mud and grunted. The screams were getting louder now, shrill and full of terror. Lily was afraid; she knew something terrible was happening. Should she go back to the house? There was a sudden high-pitched squeal, like a pig makes at the slaughter. Curiosity won out. She crouched down by the broken slat in the barn door and peered in. There are some sights so horrible ... so shocking ... the human mind can't take them in. She was found the next day huddled in the woods unable to speak.

CHAPTER ONE

A haze of cigarette smoke hung over Goodtime Charlie's. Waiters weaved their way through the standing room only crowd. On stage, a blond stripper was about to have sex with a donkey.

"Take it all, sweetie, no cheatin'," yelled a drunken voice.

"Yeah, right up to your tonsils," agreed another.

Tony Blake had been a cop for thirty years. He thought he was shock proof, until now. He ran a brawny hand over his shaved head and tossed back the Jack Daniel's.

All eyes were riveted on the donkey, being led in by a masked man in black.

An out-of-tune band struck up the opening bars of "Tonight's the Night."

The audience howled its approval until a commotion at the back of the room distracted them.

They watched as theseven-foot bouncer was pushed aside by a team of heavily armed police. "It's a raid," he shouted. "Clear the joint."

Panic replaced the mood of depraved merrymaking. Chairs were scraped back and knocked over in the haste to escape.

"Vancouver Police Department; stay right where you are," warned a cop through a megaphone. "You're all under arrest."

The blond made a dash for the back entrance, teetering along in the ridiculous shoes. She collided with a billboard in a metal stand advertising her show. Blond fuckstress does a donkey. She regained her balance and stumbled down the stairs.

"You're under arrest," Blake came out of nowhere and pinioned her arms behind her, "for bestiality, gross indecency and lewd behaviour in a public place."

"Is that all?" the blond retorted. "Fuck you."

She struggled, elbowed him in the gut and tried to knee him in the groin. When that didn't work she kicked him in the shins with the heel of her shoe.

Blake howled in pain. "Why you vicious little bitch." He smacked her around until she complied. Then he cuffed her and dragged her outside.

The alley teemed with refuse from an overturned Dumpster and reeked of cat pee. "I want my clothes," whimpered the blond.

"Don't tell me you're getting modest all of a sudden," Blake sneered.

"I'm freezing, you bastard." She lurched along, her teeth chattering.

He shoved her into the patrol car and locked the door. It would make the desk sergeant's night, he thought with an evil chuckle, to book a stark naked blond, wearing red stilettos, who had been about to fuck a donkey.

But he was destined never to find out, for as he jerked his prisoner out of the car at the police building, his partner appeared.

Neil Slater looked shocked. He took off his raincoat and draped it around the shivering woman.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He drew Blake aside. "What the hell's going on here?" he demanded. "How did she get those bruises on her face?"

"Resisting arrest," Blake snapped. "See what she did to me." He pulled up his pant leg and displayed the welt left by the stiletto. "She elbowed me in the gut as well."