by Jill Myles
She was absorbing the demon. Soon she’d be possessed, just like Remy.
Remy—of course!
I darted across the kitchen and reached for the Mason jar of white rice flour in the cupboard.
Since it had trapped Remy, I figured it could work on Mae, as well. I unscrewed the cap and glanced back at the two women locked together, just in time to see the last wisp of smoke from Mae’s shifting form drift into Delilah’s mouth. The succubus stood there, her eyes fluttering backward, skin steaming and red. Blisters rose on her face, everywhere the demon had touched her.
I rushed forward and began to pour the powder on the floor. Within moments, I had a clumsy circle poured around the frozen Delilah, and I waited. Would it work on her, or did I have to be a voodoo priestess?
As I watched, Delilah gave a great shudder and the blisters disappeared leaving only a pink flush to her skin. Her eyelids fluttered and then opened. Her eyes gleamed red, then rested on me.
Delilah/Mae smiled, slow and sure, and my heart began to pound in my throat. If she came after me, the gris-gris wouldn’t protect me. It didn’t work against succubi . . . and judging from the smile on her face, Mae knew that.
She took a step forward, and flinched as if she’d run into a wall. Confusion clouded her face, and she looked down at the circle on the floor, and then back at me.
“Let me go, precious. You don’t want to do this.”
Instant relief shot through my body. She couldn’t come after me. “No. Let Delilah go.”
“You and I had a deal,” Mae said, her sultry voice odd coming from Delilah’s mouth.
I clutched the jar closer, expecting her to burst forth and come claw my eyes out. “As you reminded me before,” I said, “the deal was just for the message. Anything else would be a second deal.”
The demon stared at me, her lips twitching as if she were amused by my retort. “Do you want to make a second deal? Name your price.”
“I’ll pass for now, thanks.”
The demon snarled, an unearthly sound, and Delilah’s body writhed. “Let me go,” she screamed again at the top of her lungs, flinging herself against the circle’s invisible wall.
She was going to hurt Delilah if she kept that up. I took a step toward the circle, wincing as she flung her body against it once more, screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Jackie, no.” Noah stood up, extending his hand out to stop me. “Don’t touch her.”
I hesitated, looking over to him. “She’s going to hurt Delilah.”
He shook his head, trying to shake free the fog in his mind. “She wants you to think that she is. Remember, Delilah is a succubus, like you. She can’t be permanently injured.”
I willed myself to glance back over at Delilah’s “cage” and shuddered when she stared at me with avid red eyes, grinning.
“So what do we do, then?”
“We wait. Demons can only manifest on this plane for a short period of time.”
Like Joachim, Mae didn’t seem as if she was in a hurry to get out. “Er, how short?”
“It depends on the strength of the demon.”
Mae was a lower-class demon, but she still looked strong enough to make us miserable for weeks. “I need her help tonight. Remember? The whole vampire-showdown thing?” God, first Remy, now Delilah. It sucked to be a Suck around me. “Is there a Plan B?”
“There is.” Noah pulled out his cell phone. “We call an exorcist.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Morning turned into afternoon as Noah made a few calls, trying to line up an exorcist to make an emergency visit that day. One priest was busy, two wanted nothing to do with us, and the fourth hung up on Noah when he mentioned the address. I guessed that Delilah had a bit of a reputation around here.
Eventually, though, Noah got an exorcist from Baton Rouge to agree to drive into the city and perform the dirty deed. So we hung out in the kitchen and waited.
I perched atop one of the countertops, wiggling my bare feet. “Are you sure you got all the glass out? They still hurt.” I’d stepped in a lot of broken glass in my race to the rice flour.
Noah wore a pair of glasses and was shining a flashlight on my foot. “This is the fourth time I’ve checked your feet, Jackie,” he said, a husky note in his voice. He was probably remembering that round two of the glass removing had led to some hot sex in his bed (since my room and the kitchen were both occupied by demon-possessed Sucks).
It was almost a shame the exorcist was on his way. I could have stood for another round of bed romping to take my mind off the fact that twilight was rapidly falling and Zane would be here soon.
“I promise you, there’s no glass,” Noah said, interrupting my thoughts. “And your feet will stop hurting soon. You heal fast.”
That was true; already, the soles of my feet were growing new skin. The wounds would probably be entirely gone by morning.
I looked over at the bloodied Delilah in the ring of powder. “She’s not healing very fast.” It worried me.
“She’s currently possessed by a demon. That tends to affect your recovery.”
Mae/Delilah simply smiled at me and rammed herself against the invisible wall again, causing blood to gush from Delilah’s nose.
I wrinkled my own in distaste. “I think she’s just doing that to bug me.”
The demon laughed and ran her nails down her face.
Yup. Definitely doing it to bug me.
I looked back to Noah. He looked so serious with his glasses on—very Clark Kent. I slid one foot out of his grasp. “Can we talk about something?”
He sat back on his heels and looked up at me. “Of course.”
Unsure how to approach the Serim law thing, I hesitated. What if Noah wouldn’t tell me his big secret? “Delilah was telling me—”
Something black moved past the broken window, in the front yard. I stilled, my breath catching in my throat. Was it Zane? So early? I caught a glimpse of black clothing before it disappeared around the shrubbery, and part of me cringed even though my heart pounded.
The doorbell rang.
I exchanged a look with Noah and hopped off the counter and onto the newly swept floor, taking great care to avoid Delilah’s circle.
Noah put a hand on my arm. “Stay behind me.” He grabbed one of the kitchen knives and tucked it into his hand, then strode into the foyer.
Hesitating only for a moment, I trailed behind him. Part of me really didn’t like cowering behind him. After all, Zane thought he was coming here to rescue me, right? But the entire thing still made me nervous. I clutched the gris-gris, grabbed a knife of my own, and headed after him.
The doorbell rang a second time. Noah checked the peephole, then glanced backward at me. “It’s the priest.”
“Oh.” I waved my knife at his knife. “Might want to put that away, or he’s going to think today’s daily special is priest gumbo.”
He handed it back to me. Like I was supposed to do something special with it? I glared at Noah for a moment, then hid both behind my back as Noah opened the door.
Now if everyone could please ignore the redhead with the giant pair of knives.
Noah greeted the priest with a smile, opening the door wide and extending his hand as if greeting a long-lost friend. “So glad you could make it.”
The priest was a rather small, easily dismissed type. He probably weighed ninety pounds soaking wet and barely topped five foot. His eyes were curious as he gazed at me and he lifted his ginormous Bible a bit higher. “Is she the possessed one?” His gaze fixed on the gris-gris pouch around my neck, then went down to my waist.
I looked down, following his gaze. The knives were sticking out at awkward angles from behind my back. Total concealment fail—whoops. I brought them forward and gestured at the kitchen. “Not me. My friend in there is the one possessed. She’s the one in the hoodoo circle.”
The priest’s eyes widened. Noah scowled at me and gave me a subtle shake of his head. Right. No voodoo hoodoo m
ojo in front of the fragile priest. Got it.
“Come on,” I said, leading the way to the kitchen, trying to seem nonchalant. I tucked the gris-gris into my shirt just to be on the safe side.
Mae/Delilah crouched in the kitchen, still trapped. She stood when we entered, hissing and baring her teeth at the sight of the priest. Her wild red eyes turned to me and narrowed. “You do not want to do this,” she snarled. “You will earn my undying enmity if you do this to me.”
“You’re gonna have to stand in line,” I bluffed, faking courage I did not feel at the moment. I waved one of the knives at her and moved forward, trying to provoke her. “I’ve got quite a few enemies at the moment.”
Noah stepped to my side, pulling me away and taking the knives. At the brush of his skin against mine, my knees went weak and I collapsed against him. “Jackie,” he said softly, so the priest couldn’t overhear us. “Move back. You don’t want her to touch you—your curse is getting worse. Even right now your eyes are almost fully blue again.”
And we’d only had sex about three hours ago. It was definitely escalating.
Noah nodded at the exorcist. “We’re ready.”
The priest stared hard at me, then back at Noah. “Very well.” He took off his glasses and rubbed his nose, then opened his Bible. “I shall begin.”
I couldn’t take my eyes off of Delilah. “Go ahead.”
“I’ll have to ask the both of you to leave the room,” he said in his mild voice. “You’re agitating the demon, and that will make things all the more difficult.”
Relieved, I headed for the door. I certainly didn’t want to be around to watch this. “Great. Call me when you’re done.”
Noah shut the door to the kitchen behind us, looking more calm than I felt.
The priest began to chant in Latin, his voice carrying through the thin wood of the door. Mae immediately began to scream, her howls of outrage echoing in the house.
I winced, covering my ears to block out the ungodly noise. “Do you think she’ll be okay?”
His face was pensive, but he nodded. “Delilah’s strong. This isn’t the first time she’s been possessed by a demon, and it probably won’t be the last.”
Geez. “You know, someone should have told me when I became a succubus that I’d manage to piss off every supernatural I run into.”
A faint smile curved his lips. “You’ve got a knack, that’s for sure.”
Lucky me.
Mae’s wails turned into angry screams as she cursed at the priest in an unknown language. An unnatural wind whipped through the foyer, smacking my hair in my face. Twilight was almost here. “Maybe we should go upstairs and wait?”
The next hour was long and excruciating. I went in to check on Remy, but Joachim was agitated by the exorcism going on downstairs, and he babbled in the same strange language that Mae spoke. It made my skin crawl, so I headed for Noah’s room and hung out with him. I was too nervous and edgy to do more than sit on the edge of the bed.
After a while the screams began to die down, and so did the massive tension headache throbbing at the front of my brain. For the hundredth time in the past hour, I glanced out the dark window, hoping for a sign of a dark wing or the gleam of pale skin. Nothing.
Noah stifled a yawn. “It sounds like they’re almost done.”
We traipsed down the stairs, and I made Noah go ahead of me to check out the kitchen.
Inside, it was a nightmarish mess. Dishes were strewn across the floor, leaves had blown inside the windows, and everything was knocked off the walls. Bright green splatters of what looked suspiciously like puke dotted the walls.
In the midst of this, the sweating priest packed up his things as calmly as if he were finishing a day at the office. Delilah huddled on the floor panting, her long blond hair plastered to her face. She still remained inside the circle.
“Is everything all right?” Noah motioned for me to stay back.
I didn’t listen, following him inside and heading for Delilah. She seemed frail, young, and certainly weaker than I’d last seen her. Was the demon gone for good?
“Dee?” I knelt outside the circle, guilt swimming over me. She looked like she hurt really badly.
The young succubus looked up at me, her eyes back to their normal washed-out gray. “You suck,” she said, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
“I know,” I said, glancing at the priest. “Can I let her out now?”
“Hand her your cross. That will be the true test,” he said.
I hesitated for a moment, then pulled it over my neck and handed it through the circle, wincing. If Mae was still in there, she’d bite my hand off like I was a big piece of demon kibble.
But Delilah took the cross from my hand and pulled it over her head. It rested against the neck of her filthy shirt, and she tucked it under, holding it close to her skin. “No burning. No pain. Can I get out of this circle now?”
At the priest’s nod, I stood and dragged my foot through the white powder, breaking the heavy line.
“Come with me, Father.” Noah took the priest by the arm and gave me a meaningful look. “I’ll write you a check and we’ll get you on your way.”
That was code to me for “Keep Delilah out of trouble.” I wanted to ask why we weren’t going to send the priest up to see Remy, but I suspected that it wouldn’t help her anyhow.
After all, Joachim had been inside Remy for weeks and didn’t show any signs of leaving. I suspected that it had something to do with him being bound to this plane because of his curse. Where did a Serim or vampire go when he’d been kicked out of both upstairs and down?
Delilah stood and stretched as the men left the room, coming to my side. “That’s better.” Delilah jiggled her hands, shaking out her limbs like a runner. “God, I feel disgusting.”
“You don’t look so hot, either,” I said with a faint smile. “Throw-up definitely doesn’t go with the décor in this kitchen, by the way.”
“Which reminds me,” she said coolly, clenching her hand into a fist.
As I stood there smiling with relief like an idiot, she pulled back and slugged me in the face.
Lights popped in front of my eyes and I went stumbling backward. For a small girl, Delilah had one hell of a right hook. And when she jumped on me and pounded me with a left, I collapsed to the floor.
“You stupid bitch,” she seethed, climbing over me like a monkey and slamming her fist into me again. “You let a demon into my house? Stupid, stupid idiot!”
The room spun crazily, a mass of red and black stars. I shoved my hand in her face, trying to get her off of me, but she was slippery with sweat (and God knows what else). I squirmed underneath her, trying to free myself.
“Get off of her,” a new voice yelled.
Cool air swept over me as Delilah went flying. She crashed into the refrigerator and slid to the ground.
Zane moved into the room and stared down at me, his eyes glittering. His dark trench coat swirled around him, creating a dark aura. His eyes were red and wild and he breathed hard, staring down at me, his fangs bared.
I flinched, scooting backward until I hit the kitchen island. My hands flew to my bloody face and mouth, wary. Two other vampires stood behind him, dressed in black leather and scowling down at me.
Zane started toward me looking as if he wanted to comfort me, but at Delilah’s groan of pain, his face changed and he leapt onto Delilah.
I scrambled to my feet as the other two vampires behind him separated and headed deeper into the house, leaving me alone with Zane and Delilah.
Both of whom probably wanted to kick my ass.
The sound of choking reached my ears, and I stumbled forward. Zane crouched on top of Delilah, choking her, his body tense with rage.
“Zane,” I said, putting my hands on his shoulders. “Stop it! You’re hurting her!”
He ignored me, lost to everything but hurting Delilah. Her eyes bugged, and she stared at me, her face purpling. She shot him the mid
dle finger even as he choked her, glaring at the both of us.
Okay, she couldn’t die, but it looked like it hurt like a bitch, and it was scaring me. When Delilah’s fist clenched in his hair and yanked a handful out and he didn’t react, I freaked. I slammed my hand into Zane’s shoulder. “Stop it! Zane! Listen to me!”
I might as well have been talking to a rock. He ignored me. I grabbed his collar and heaved. “Zane!”
The hissing sizzle of burned flesh broke through the near-silence and Zane flew off of Delilah, slamming into me. I was knocked back to the floor. With a groan, I forced myself to sit upright, holding a hand to my head.
Zane had backed against a nearby wall, a hand to his cheek as he touched the cross-shaped welt rising there. His fangs gleamed in the light and he panted as if trying to recover. Against the fridge, Delilah held the cross in front of her, her gaze darting back and forth between me and Zane.
He hesitated for a moment, clearly torn between the two of us—anger and lust—and then bounded to my side. He helped me to my feet, and when I stood staring at him with uncertainty, he leaned in and cupped my face in his hands. “Jackie, Princess,” he said, his voice soft as he ran his thumbs over my bruised skin. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said, forcing myself to push his hand away. “Don’t touch me.”
He scanned my face with worried eyes, then nodded and pulled away. “Get your things, Princess. We’re getting out of here.” His gaze went to Delilah and his lip curled with disgust. “I’m here now. Everything’s going to be okay.” He slid his hands over my shoulders possessively.
His casual ignorance rankled, even though it hurt my heart. I slid out of his grasp. “No, it’s not okay. I can’t leave with you.” I moved away from him to go stand at Delilah’s side.
She finally seemed calm, glancing at me, then back at Zane. Her hand slid into her pocket, probably searching for another cross.