Chapter Forty-One
Nick
I hear my phone ringing while I shower and I kind of wish I hadn’t bothered to charge the damned thing last night. I’m already with all the people I would want to hear from. No good can come from answering a call from anyone else.
It’s still ringing when I come out of the shower. It’s still ringing when I walk back into the bedroom.
The call is from Tanya, and that doesn’t make me want to pick it up. I wait, looking at the screen. Willing her to give up. She doesn’t seem to want to.
I know I’m going to regret this, but I do it anyway.
“What do you want, Tanya?”
“Wrong sister,” Elise says.
My blood runs cold. “What do you want, Elise?”
“I want the life we should have had together, Nick.”
“You’re supposed to be in rehab. Where’s Tanya?”
“Tanya had to go, Nick. She was never happy anyway. But we can be.”
I feel like I’m tangled up in some weird nightmare right now, but somehow I don’t think waiting to wake up is going to be an option.
“We’ll never be together, Elise.”
She laughs. “I thought you might say that. It doesn’t matter. I’m going to kill your girlfriend. Maybe then you’ll change your mind.”
The line goes dead. I throw on a T-shirt and jeans and rush out into hall.
“Logan! Eli!”
Eli comes out of his room across the hall, dressed with damp hair.
I shake my phone in my hand. “Elise. She just threatened to kill Eden. It just... It wasn’t like her. She sounded weird.”
“Calm down,” Eli tells me, coming toward me. “What happened, exactly?”
“She called, on her sister’s phone. She was talking about being with me, and I don’t know what she did to Tanya. She’s supposed to be in rehab, and...”
“Elise is an addict, Nick. Strange behaviour is par for the course.”
He doesn’t get it. Being agitated probably isn’t helping make my case, but still, damn it, Eli. I need someone to get what I’m freaking out about.
“She threatened Eden,” I tell him.
“Eden is immortal.” He still doesn’t get it.
I run a hand through my wet hair, my thoughts racing. “I have to get back to L.A.”
Elise is in serious trouble. She has been forever. I didn’t do enough to help. This is my fault.
Chapter Forty-Two
Eden
I’m surprised I can walk after this morning’s bedroom gymnastics, but I guess I have Asher and a steamier than usual shower to thank for that. I move around the kitchen, drinking coffee and eating toast Asher made for me, still riding the high from having all of my men at once. When Eli shows up at my side it takes a second to realise the expression he’s wearing is serious.
“Nick’s freaking out over a phone call from that girl Elise.”
“He is?” I look past him, but Nick doesn’t appear. He’s still upstairs.
He sighs. “He said she threatened to kill you.”
I blink. “She did?”
“She’s an addict. Unstable.”
“You think it’s nothing to worry about?”
“You’re immortal, and she’s not stable. I don’t like that the girl is threatening you but I don’t see it as something to worry about. Nick, on the other hand...”
As if he heard his name, Nick comes barrelling down the stairs.
“I have to get back to L.A.”
Logan gets up from the couch, his gaze fixed on Nick as he darts around, stepping into his shoes from the day before and picking up Asher’s car keys from the counter. Asher left for work already, right after he put my food in front of me, but I doubt he’d be happy with Nick driving his car while he’s in this kind of frenzy.
“What’s going on?” Logan sounds suspicious.
A phone starts to ring. Nick winces as he hesitates to take it from his pocket.
He looks at the screen and groans. Picks it up after a few tense seconds. Everyone’s waiting, everyone’s on edge. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end suddenly. I sense the other Goddess right before she walks through my front door, phone at her ear.
“Oh, Nick, I forgot to mention, I’m in town.”
She throws the phone down and stares at us, one by one.
I guess addicts are barely in control of their own bodies. The Goddess slipped into Elise’s skin easily. She’s amused by this pick for a new body, that much is obvious.
“Sorry, Eden. I think I’ll be taking this one from you.”
I don’t take my eyes off of her, as she moves toward Nick. The room is starting to brighten, my Goddess light burning bright within me. I don’t need to touch her to use it. This is what being at full power means.
“You can’t have him,” I tell her, as she turns to smile at me, unflinching at the golden glow emanating from my body.
“Oh, I don’t want him as a lover. I just intend on taking him from you.”
The knife that appears in her hand seems to have slipped down her sleeve to her palm. Blood drips from it. She cut herself. Now she intends to use it on Nick.
Nick jumps back, his face pale with shock. I step forward to block her path to him, just as Logan and Eli draw firearms. I shake my head at Eli, and he nods, keeping the gun raised but waiting. Logan yanks her back and sticks the gun under her chin.
She laughs. “You think your human weapons can stop me? Go ahead, and shoot.”
“Don’t,” Nick says.
Logan’s gaze lifts to mine.
“Hold her,” I tell him.
Her grin is disconcerting. She doesn’t look like the same girl who was close to death a few days ago. She’s not. She’s a Goddess of Destruction now.
“Who are you?”
She doesn’t answer, but she doesn’t have to. The vision that sears through me tells me who she is. A Goddess hundreds of years old. She continually skips out on bodies before they get too old, never relying on her Goddess powers to maintain her youth. There’s no spark of desire in her for love, of any kind. Her thought processes feel almost alien. She cares about nothing other than survival. Nothing. This attempt to break me is rooted in instinct alone. She’ll happily see me destroyed, and expend weeks, months, even years on planning my demise, but she doesn’t really care if it works. She’s just going through the motions.
“Shoot me,” she demands, her attempt at a command falling on deaf ears.
“Logan is mine. You can’t force him to do anything.” I don’t know why I’m telling her this, she knows.
“Don’t hurt her,” Nick whispers.
“Your time’s up, Raven.” The fake name she gave the girl in the last body she hijacked is the one she prefers to go by. It’s not her original name, but it amuses her. “Leave this body and move on.”
It’s a command and she laughs, but the noise quickly catches in her throat. She gasps as if she’s choking and Logan lets her go as soon as I nod his way.
The knife drops first. Then Elise stumbles. I catch her, and my light fills her up. The dark forces Goddess might be gone, expelled to the afterlife by my command, but there’s still work to do here. This girl is troubled, lost. Her spirit cries out to me for help. My light helps mend the cracks in the broken parts of her. She’s been searching for something she already has. Strength. She just needed to be reminded of that.
“You’re okay. You’re going to be fine,” I whisper the words as she begins to sob on my shoulder.
When the light begins to pull back into me, I glance around. Everyone’s just watching, waiting.
“The Goddess is gone,” I tell them. “Elise is going to be okay.”
Eli and Logan glance at each other and Logan looks back at me. “The Goddess won’t be able to possess her again?”
“She can’t possess anyone. She’s gone.” I shake my head and look at Nick. “Can you help her to a bed? She’s going to need to rest.”
/> “What just happened?” Eli murmurs as Nick lifts Elise up and carries her away.
“I put the Goddess’s spirit to rest. And I healed Elise so she’s not in danger of being possessed by any other Goddess like that again.” I sway a little on my feet as I start to move forward. “I might need some rest too.”
Like that they move to help me. Eli gets there first and sweeps me into his arms. He carries me upstairs and lays me down on my bed. They both remove my shoes and put sheets over me.
Logan takes a seat and I smile at him. Eli stays by the door. Nick joins them within a minute. I drift off to sleep, feeling safer than I ever have before.
Everything has changed. I can handle anything, and my men have my back.
Chapter Forty-Three
Logan
My sixth sense for trouble is on high alert as the first stop on Eden’s tour starts, to let the thousands of fans through their doors. Their security checks here are much better than the Snake Pit in L.A. but I can’t shake the feeling that something big is looming on the horizon.
Eden’s guitarist is hanging around in the corridor of the dressing rooms, pacing a little and glancing my way with narrowed eyes. He’s always been an asshole, and I’m glad he was never more to Eden than a flash in the pan. I shoot him a warning glare and he darts back into the band’s dressing room.
There are more than enough eager fan girls in that room. I don’t know what he thinks he’s doing lingering out here as if he’s going to get a chance to speak to Eden. I won’t let that happen. He’s unworthy of breathing the same air as my Goddess.
Skyler walks my way a few minutes later. “Hey, Logan. What’s up? You look kind of like that stick up your ass grew a branch.”
“Don’t you have better things to do than piss me off right now?”
She just laughs. “Where’s Eden? I dropped my lipstick down the toilet and The Hellcats are on in five.”
“There are three other women in your band.”
“And your point is?” She side-steps me and turns the door handle to Eden’s dressing room. It doesn’t open. It’s locked. She rolls her eyes at me and knocks loudly. “Edie! I need to borrow a lipstick.”
The door opens and Eden lets her best friend into the room, shooting me a quick, wry smile before she closes the door again. I wait to hear it lock before relaxing enough to step away and glance around. It’s jumping backstage. Roadies, groupies and event staff fill the halls. It’s almost stiflingly warm, not that it bothers me. At least not anymore. I got used to extreme temperatures a long time ago. I always need my leather jacket to keep weapons hidden and my skin protected against mild attacks. I glance around and spot someone else wearing a similar jacket. A woman with curly dark hair. Alarm bells start to ring but she stops at the door to Eden’s bands’ dressing room and knocks there. She glances at me, her expression bored. When she turns back as the door opens, her eyes light up.
“Donnie! I was looking all over for you.”
Eden’s sleazy ex comes out of the room and frowns my way before glancing at her, giving her the same bored expression she hit me with a second ago. She doesn’t seem to notice. Her lips are on his a second later, her body practically wrapped around his. I’m relieved to begin with, until he pushes her away.
“Get off, Dina. We’re not exclusive. I already told you to leave me the fuck alone.”
She frowns at him. “Don’t take this shit out on me again.”
He goes back inside and slams the door in her face. She narrows her eyes at me before going inside after him and slamming the door even harder than he did.
It could be a coincidence, but I doubt it. I decide to wait for her to come back out, knowing Eden doesn’t see her on the same level of threat that I do. I know Eden’s immortal, and that she can take care of herself, but it’s never going to stop me from worrying about her.
Chapter Forty-Four
Eden
As much as I’m excited that the tour is finally starting, I’m missing Asher and Eli like crazy. It’s awesome that Nick and Logan can be with me every step of the way though. Most performers don’t get that even with one significant other. I know how lucky I am.
Though this Goddess thing doesn’t come without its trials. According to Cupid, I’m super-attractive to most men and this goes double for guys who’ve been with me before. Which isn’t exactly a big group, but one of them just so happens to be on every step of the tour alongside me.
Donnie has been calling me all week, practically begging me to fit in an extra practice session with him, alone. So that super-attraction has hit him really fucking hard and I wish I’d thought before hand to ask Amy to replace him from the band for the tour. I should have known it was a bad idea to work with him again. Even before I turned Goddess, he never could seem to properly let go of the idea of us.
I’m touching up my hair and makeup as Nick takes a good look around the plush dressing room. Logan is on the other side of the door. He seems to realise I don’t need such close protection anymore, so he’s able to take a step back and concentrate on stopping assholes from bugging the shit out of me.
Sky’s arrival releases some of the tension from the pre-show jitters I’ve been having. I hug her and bring her over to my dressing table. I get the feeling her reason for coming to see me doesn’t have anything to do with being short on beauty supplies, but I’m sure I’ll find out the real reason soon enough.
“I brought my make-up case,” I tell her. “So take your pick.”
“So what happened to Raven?” She raises an eyebrow at me.
“What do you mean, what happened to her?”
She touches my arm and nods. I realise she’s seeing into my head, using Lawson’s light on me. “Okay, yeah. Kinda thought she might be dead, but how, when she was a Goddess?”
“Long story.”
“Well, it means we get to keep our new girl. We already replaced her anyway. I just had to know if she was going to try to come back and bite us later.” She starts looking through my make-up and picks out a lipstick. “This should do.”
She stops before leaving and turns to hug me. “I’ve missed you, Eden. I’m so glad we’re going to get to hang out all the time now. See you after the show.”
I don’t get the chance to say anything back before she dashes away to finish getting ready, but I she knows I’m happy to be here too. Nick smiles at me from one of the couches.
“I guess I’m going to have to refrain from monopolising too much of your time.”
“You’re just going to have to put up with going to some after parties,” I tell him. “I’m sure that’ll be super hard for you but you’ll just have to deal with it.”
He laughs. “Sounds like such a chore.”
I sit down next to him and he pulls me in close. The door opens and I wonder what Sky forgot. When I turn I find out it’s not my best friend but my ex. Donnie closes the door behind him and I hear the lock turn.
I get to my feet, Nick following and taking my hand.
“Donnie, I already told you I’m not...”
He shakes his head and I can see he’s sweating a little, panic in his eyes. “It wasn’t my fault, Eden. You need to hide. She’s got a gun and she thinks you’re the reason I can’t be with her.”
“What? Donnie, slow down. Tell me what’s going on.” I touch his arm and his face slackens. My Goddess light rushes through him. He’s still utterly in love with me in his own twisted way. He can’t let go, he doesn’t know how. It’s more obsession than love, really, but I don’t think he knows the difference. My heart hurts a little for him. He did own a tiny piece of it, a long time ago. That isn’t why he just locked the door behind him. He’s worried a hook-up of his is going to hurt me.
“Dina. She’s a fan. I slept with her a few times, but she started to tell me I would call out your name in my sleep. She thought she meant more to me than she did. She hates you now, Eden. Tonight she showed me a gun. She said she’s going to kill you since she can’t ki
ll my love for you.”
“Oh Donnie,” I murmur, sighing deeply. The guy was always kind of an asshole, but he’s trying to do the right thing telling me this. “Where’s Logan?” I seriously doubted Logan would have let him in here, which probably means he wasn’t right outside the door when Donnie came in.
He shakes his head. “I don’t know. Dina rushed out and I lost her. I came here and he wasn’t standing outside your door any longer.”
I’m a little surprised but not overly concerned. Logan must have realised I really don’t need guarded over so closely. He’s probably doing a perimeter check or something.
“Donnie, you have to let me go,” I tell him, healing him with my light. Fixing the broken part of him that’s making him believe that he’s in love with me. He hasn’t had the easiest life. It doesn’t excuse his behaviour now or in the past, but he’s always been a little broken. He can find love if he believes he’s worth loving. The girl he’s talking about isn’t the one, and I’m not either, but he’ll find her now that he’s open to it.
He staggers a little when I let him go.
Nick rubs my hand. “Is he okay?”
“He’ll be fine. We probably need to find the girl he’s talking about though.” Can’t let a crazy person with a gun run around backstage. I may be immortal. Aside from Sky, no-one else here is.
Tears begin to fall down Donnie’s cheeks. He moves back to the door.
“Keep the door locked,” he mumbles. “She’s out here somewhere.”
He pushes the door open and a girl with curly dark hair and wearing nothing but a bra under her leather jacket kicks him to the ground. She’s brandishing a gun. Nick tries to step forward and I stop him with a tiny shake of my head.
Panic grabs hold of me. Nick is mortal and this bitch is threatening us with the most dangerous weapon the average person can lay their hands on.
“Stop right there,” I command her as she steps inside and shuts the door.
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