Maximus puts his arms back to shield me, but I know it won’t do me any good.
“Get out of the way, Max,” Dex says through me, my voice loud and firm. “You’re not doing this again. You can be selfless some other time.”
“Dex,” Lana says, and I glance over at her to see her hands out, one aimed at the demon, the other aimed at Max. “Get ready.”
Before I can say anything, I feel Dex completely take over, booting me to the back of my brain, where all I can do is watch, imprisoned inside myself.
“Ada,” Lana says to her, giving her some instruction I’m unsure of.
Then the demon lets out a bloodcurdling cry, a cry of hunger and savagery and evil, a sound that fills the room and makes the walls shake, causing the lanterns to fall over, paintings to crash to the floor.
It lunges for me, flying through the air until all I see is black.
Lana does something to Max, his energy changes and he yelps, and then the demon passes right through his body, right onto me, physically knocking me to the ground, those horrible claws digging into my shoulders. I don’t feel pain at this point, but Dex does, and he’s crying out through me.
I can feel the beast trying to get inside, trying to smother both of us from the inside out, and for a moment I think we’re just not enough. We can do so much together, but we can’t do everything.
Then I feel that flame inside me grow brighter, stronger, until my whole body feels like it’s a supernova, light filling the room. And I know that’s all Dex now.
This soul is already taken, he says gruffly, staking his territory.
Then with a final pop of energy, the demon is expelled out like smoke, then physically pulled off of us until the weight lifts.
I look to see Ada grabbing it by the tail, while Lana does something with her hands in the air, and Ada swings it around, opening a portal at the last second while it goes flying through it.
Samantha appears in the portal, staring at me in shock and horror, opening her mouth to scream, her eyes pleading, but Ada is fast. She closes the portal as quickly as she can, shutting Samantha in before falling to her knees in exhaustion.
The room goes silent, the malevolent energy sucked away.
Everything stills.
Then Max is on his feet, grabbing my arms and helping me to mine.
“Are you okay?” he asks, hands on my shoulders. He looks at one of my eyes, then the other. “The both of you?”
Dex shifts inside me and I move to the foreground again, trying to find my voice, my body. I nod. “I’m fine,” I manage to say. Feels like I’m putting on shoes I haven’t worn in a long time.
“You big dumb idiot, what were you trying to prove?” Now that’s Dex talking.
Maximus shrugs. “Can’t help what you’re born to do,” he says. He slaps my shoulder with his meaty palm, the kind of slap that was meant for Dex. “Glad you’re okay.”
Then he goes over to Ada and helps her to her feet. “Very impressive, little lady,” he says to her. “I reckon your training has been going well. You’re about as good as Rose, after we worked together for years.”
Ada blushes again, waving him away. “Oh, whatever. As you said, can’t help what you’re born to do.” She bites her lip. “Sorry again for getting you in your ginger balls, Ginger Balls.”
I bring my eyes off of them and look at Lana, who is watching us curiously.
“And thank you,” I say to her. “Though I don’t really know what you did…”
Lana gives me a mysterious smile. “I did enough,” she says. “Enough to help, anyway. I was actually hoping that Samantha would have made it out too, I could have banished her for good.”
“So what happens to her now?”
“She’ll stay in this house.”
“Still cursed?”
She frowns. “I’m not sure. I don’t know where Ada sent that demon. If she sent the demon to Hell, to the deepest layers, it won’t be back. Samantha will still be dead, still in this house, but I don’t think she’ll be on a leash anymore.”
I’m not sure how I feel about that. A curse is an awful thing, but Samantha was also the one who decided to chop up her husband, as abusive as he was. Was she ever really trying to help me, or was she trying to use me from the start? I guess I’ll never know.
“Okay, so now can we go to the bar?” Ada asks, adjusting the neckline of her top.
“Fuck yes,” Max says emphatically. “You have no idea how badly I want a drink.”
“I can imagine,” Lana comments. “But if you don’t mind, I’m going to go home. I’m tuckered out from all that and I need to recharge my crystals overnight.”
We walk out of the basement and into the house, and the place already feels different. I have no doubt that there are a lot of souls trapped in this house, in fact we saw them on Halloween, but the evil is gone. It feels lighter, cleaner, like the air from the real world, from the outside, is finally flowing through it.
I open the door and step onto the porch, Lana by my side.
I turn to look behind me, to see Ada walk through the door.
Then Max.
He stands there on the other side, staring at us, then past us, into the world.
He steps over the threshold.
And grins, smile lines at the corners of his eyes. “We fucking did it.”
If he says anything about the gang being back together again, kick him in the shin, Dex tells me.
Tell him yourself. We’re almost at the car.
Fuck this, I’m leaving now.
And just like that I feel Dex leave my body. The movement is so rapid that I sway on my feet a little.
“You okay?” Ada asks me, hand on my arm.
I nod. “Dex just—”
On the street, the car door opens and Dex steps out of the passenger seat, adjusting the newsboy cap on his head. “Are we going to the fucking bar or what?” he yells up at us.
Max lets out a whoop and hurries down the steps, Ada following him.
I grin and look over at Lana next to me, expecting her to find this all amusing, even if she’s not a part of our crew. But her attention is elsewhere
I follow her eyes to see what she’s looking at.
At the street corner, under the light, in the rain, is Atlas Poe.
He’s staring right at Lana.
She’s staring right at him.
“That’s—” I begin.
“I know,” she says, cutting me off.
Then Atlas quickly turns and walks off into the darkness.
Gone.
I have to say, I feel sorry for the guy.
I nudge Lana with my elbow. “Are you going to be okay?”
She blinks and then looks at me. “Yeah. I’ll be fine.” Then she turns to me. “I’m really proud of you, you know? Not just as your doctor, but as a friend. You did good. You all did. You’re lucky to have these people in your life.”
“I know,” I tell her.
I really am.
“Do we still have an appointment next week?” she asks as we head down the steps. “I know you’re going to Hawaii next month.”
“Next month is in a week,” I say with a groan. “Time flies. It’s going to be 2018 already.”
“Might be your best year yet,” she says. “It certainly sounds like it’s starting off great. I’m jealous of all the sunshine you’ll get.”
“We’ll see if I spend most of the trip with a sunburn,” I tell her. “Might still be worth it though.”
She grins at me.
“Take care, Perry,” she says, giving me a wink before walking off to her car, her coat flowing behind her.
I wipe the rain from my face and then hurry over to the Highlander where Dex is waiting with the passenger door open, Ada and Max already in the backseat.
“Hey baby,” Dex says to me, smiling broadly.
“Hey,” I tell him. “Fancy seeing you in this body. Got to say, I missed looking at you.”
“Same goe
s for me.” He leans in and kisses me. I grab his collar, holding him tight, our kiss deepening. Even our kisses feel different now, so much more intimate, so much better.
HONK!
We both jump and turn in annoyance to see Ada leaning forward through the seats, her hand on the horn. “We’re going to the bar!” she yells at us. “Then you can get a room!”
I laugh, getting in my seat and buckling up while Dex closes the door.
I turn around and look at Ada and Max sitting beside each other. “Okay, Maximus, since this is your first time being among mortals in years, you should pick the bar.”
“Hell no,” Dex says, getting in the driver’s seat. He adjusts the rearview mirror and scowls at Max in it. “He’s got awful taste in music. It’s going to be country or some redneck shit like that.”
“Then I’ll pick the bar,” Ada says, bringing out her phone.
“You also have awful taste in music,” Dex tells her, starting the car.
“Then you pick it Dex,” I tell him.
“No, he’s going to pick some weird dive bar,” Ada grumbles. “All the men in there are so gross.”
“I’ll think of something,” Dex says, pulling the car out on the road.
We drive through rainy Seattle.
“Hey guys,” Maximus says after a minute. He leans forward, his head between us. “I reckon I’m homeless for the next while. Can I sleep on your couch?”
Dex and I exchange a look.
Twenty-Three
“You’re going to turn into a lobster. What kind of Italian are you, anyway?”
A shadow passes over me and I lift my head to see a Mai Tai dangling in front of my face.
I lazily pluck the drink from Dex’s fingers and manage to bring it to my face with minimal effort, my lips wrapping around the straw. Damn, I’m addicted to this shit.
“I have SPF 50 on me,” I remind him, as if he doesn’t recall slathering it on me every hour.
“Maybe we should raise this,” he says, going to the back of the wooden lawn chairs and lifting up the half-moon canopy.
“Suit yourself, I’m going in the water soon,” I tell him.
This is literally all we’ve been doing for the last few days. We go back home to Seattle the day after tomorrow, and I’m only now finally feeling like we’re on vacation. Next time we come here, we’re going to have to stay longer.
Kauai has been beautiful. We’ve been staying at the Sheraton on the south side of the island, which has the perfect crescent-shaped beach with clear warm water, soft sand, fun waves, and snorkeling too. We rented a Jeep (and now Dex wants to trade our Highlander in for a big black Jeep, which I’m not opposed to since it’s a pretty sexy car), and we’ve done a lot of the touristy scenic stuff, like checking out the waves on the North Shore, or looking at waterfalls, or hiking the canyon.
But mainly we’ve just been here at the hotel, either by the pool or renting one of these cabana loungers on the beach. It’s so cool, you have a menu and you just put up a flag beside you and someone comes and takes your order and brings you drinks whenever you like. It’s amazing.
Okay, obviously my experience with resorts and tropical vacations have been pretty nil, since I get overly excited about the littlest thing, but still. This has been my idea of heaven and I’m kicking myself for not suggesting something like this sooner.
Thank god for Dex, who is always thinking ahead. He’s been enjoying himself immensely. I think his favorite part is how tanned and brown he’s gotten and the fact that when he walks around the pool and the beach in just his swim trunks, his body all oiled up from the tanning lotion, he’s got every head swiveling, men and women. The jerk has turned this resort into his own little catwalk.
I stare up at him and smile as he brings the canvas forward, covering me from the sun.
Yes, then there’s me. Cautiously pale. I’ve been slathering myself in the goopy stuff and it’s only in the last two days that my skin has been getting the slightest hint of sun. And no, I haven’t burned myself yet.
Dex sits down next to me and I prop myself up on my elbows, pushing my sunglasses to the top of my head. “Where’s your drink?” I ask him.
“I finished it at the bar,” he says.
“You know, if you put the flag up, they come bring it to you,” I say, telling him what he already knows.
“Yeah, but then I can’t parade past the people by the pool.”
I laugh. “Your ego is out of control, mister.”
He shrugs. “Only cuz I’m with you, baby,” he says with a grin, teeth white against his skin, so handsome it hurts.
My heart skips several beats in response.
You’d think that things between us would be strange after the whole possession thing, but it’s only made us closer in ways I can’t even explain, because we were already super close. I think it’s given Dex an idea what it’s like to be me, to think my thoughts, to be in this body, to feel things as deeply as I do. And it’s certainly made me realize that I have nothing to fear in sharing my feelings with him.
And while our relationship and marriage has strengthened, other areas of my life have too. Granted, it’s only been a few weeks since we rescued Max and got rid of Samantha and her demon, but I’m taking every little improvement as a win.
I’ve seen the psychiatrist Dr. Chan. I’m not on anti-depressants yet, he’s going to have another session with me when I get back, but it seems promising and he’s a cool dude. I think he’s just a regular shrink, nothing like Lana, but even so, he’s easy to talk to.
I’m still seeing Lana of course, working through a lot of things from my childhood, as well as dealing with my mother’s death and afterlife. Even Pippa. Apparently I have a shitload of grief connected to losing her in my life, even if it was always in such a cryptic way. It helps that Lana already knows every single thing about me, which makes working though things easier.
Ada has been doing fine.
So has Maximus.
Actually, when Ada went back to Portland, Max went with her. As much as we loved to have him in the den for a week, and as much as Dex misses fighting with someone all day long, Maximus found himself back at his old apartment in Portland. He’s over at the Knightly’s a lot now, since he actually used to be friends with Dawn and Sage back in the day (I know, there are so many twisted webs here), and of course he knows Jacob. He hasn’t been able to get a hold of Rose yet, so I know that’s weighing on him, but he’s been keeping busy.
The last I talked to Ada, it seemed like Jacob was having Max train her instead. I think their training started when we left for Hawaii, so I haven’t been able to check in with her too much, but I assume it’s going okay. At least her and Max have a lot of history together and they seem to get along great. Sometimes I worry that they might get along too well, but I trust Ada to keep her head. There’s no way she’s over Jay yet anyway, and also I would murder Maximus if he touched her in any way. So would Dex.
My father seems to be doing well too. He texts and calls me now if he sees my mother, and she’s still repeating the same thing, almost like she’s stuck. I’m not always sure how the worlds work between the Veils, but I told him it’s possible that this is a message she’ll keep repeating until something budges. What that is, I don’t know.
But the good thing is, he’s doing better and gotten closer with Debbie (Deebee) from down the street, and we’re both checking in with each other more often.
Then there’s Dex, my husband, who is currently taking the Mai Tai from my hand, complaining that I’m drinking too slowly, before he quickly sucks back the rest of it.
That Dex is doing just fine. Better than fine. He’s talked about using the vacation as a reset button and that when we return home, we’ll list the apartment, start looking for a new house, get a Jeep, start back at work on the documentary. He even mentioned Lana joining our little paranormal investigator team, saying we could probably use an actual psychologist in our midst when dealing with ghosts.
Not to mention a witch.
I’m not sure about that yet. It might be weird if she’s still my therapist, though I think she’s already broken a whole bunch of rules and oaths by both helping us in the house, and also going into my head. And advising us to use sex blood magic as well. But hey, it all worked out. I don’t even have scars anymore.
“Okay,” Dex says, pushing the empty drink into the sand and then grabbing my arms, trying to pull me up. “Let’s go in. I’m hot.”
I push myself up, swinging my legs around, and we walk down the slight incline of the beach toward the water, the sand burning the soles of my feet. I check the skin around the straps on my tankini and so far it looks like I’m not getting burned.
Dex runs the last few feet to the water, splashing through the surf before diving in effortlessly.
I take my time, yelping as the waves break on me, and then he’s swimming over to me, grabbing me by the waist and hauling me into the water.
“Stop!” I yelp, but he’s laughing and throwing me through the air so I land with a splash, saltwater going up my nose. The water is so nice and warm but now I also have sand in my bathing suit, the waves pounding me.
Dex pulls me back away from the break, and then I wrap my legs around his waist, my arms going around his neck, laughing.
“Can you touch the bottom?” I ask him, peering down beside us at the sand below.
“Just how tall do you think I am?” he asks me. “I’m treading water.”
Of course he’s so strong that when he treads water, he’s barely moving.
“So where do you want to eat tonight?” he says, kissing the salt from my lips. “How about room service,” he adds before I can even answer. “We stay in. I eat you for dessert.”
I grin. “Room service sounds great,” I tell him, kissing the tip of his nose.
His lips curve into a wicked smile. “Where in your cycle are you?”
His question doesn’t take me by surprise because we’re always double checking my cycle via the various period apps I have. I didn’t want to go back on birth control so soon after going off of it, so we’ve been going by my cycle when it comes to sex. On the days where I’m most fertile, he usually just comes all over me instead, which I actually kind of like. Guess the blood play desensitized me or something.
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