by K K Weakley
“You wouldn’t understand,” Scurlock replied softly.
“Understand what? That you have remained in this realm with the falsehood of pretending to be a normal father with normal children?”
“Be careful!” he warned, stepping forward, towering over her.
“They are half-demons who have a skill set that is unlike any other. Do you really think it was just a coincidence I’m here? Wake up, you fool! You cannot stay here!”
“What would you have me do? Watch from afar?”
“Yes! That is exactly what you will do, just like every other demon who has ever fathered a human child. You watch, you wait, and then you grant your offspring the gift… if you so wish to grant it.”
The face before him changed. No longer the woman he knew as Lucy, it was now the face he recognized all too well. Scurlock knew each and every line, how her nose twitched when finding something amusing, how her eyes would glow a bright red when excited, but glow that crimson when pushed beyond her point of restraint, as they were now.
“I can’t,” he answered, level voiced and stern. “I won’t.”
“You will!”
“Or what? You will get Lucifer to summon me back and we will all live happily ever after, fire and brimstone? Don’t threaten me!” His evil laughter was mocking to her ears, she wanted nothing more than to tear him limb from limb.
“You will, or I will rip this fucking town apart bit by bit.”
CHAPTER 18
Choice of the Heart
Sitting in Sarah’s uninvitingly hot car, following a few choice words at the AC that seemed determined to not work, Victor watched as Lucy walked from Budrow’s house, scowl on her face. He had to remind himself whom it was he was following; every time he witnessed something out of the ordinary, he mentally slapped himself for forgetting. It struck a chord within him for some oddly bizarre reason.
The woman was hardly his best friend – if anything, it seemed she had always gone out of her way to cause him strife, but the idea of Sekhet growing weary of her new form concerned him. After all, she was going to leave at some point.
When that would be, he had no idea, and that was what troubled him. Upholding her promise not to kill the little girl she had used to contact Molly was more than likely going to be her only gift during this social call. When the time came for her to leave them alone again, what would happen to Lucy?
Already knowing the answer, Victor kept his eyes low but focused as she got into the beat-up car Lucy had owned since Molly was a teenager.
The blue paint, no longer the bright color it had once been, and the dents scattered about were testament to the driver’s skill level. It had always surprised Victor that Lucy had not attacked it with a spell or two, one night when everyone was sleeping. But then again, that wasn’t Lucy’s style, and everyone knew it. Dot would joke at her daughter’s unperturbed way of rational thinking – or lack of – while, in the same breath, she made sure she knew precisely what her priorities should always be. In one word, Molly. Of course, that had rarely been successful or worked out positively. When Lucy tried to be the devoted mother, it had usually been too little, too late.
All Victor wanted now was to find out what Sekhet had in common with the chief of police, and what they had been arguing about. More importantly, how were they on such friendly terms that she would pay a visit to him and his wife? He assumed, incorrectly, that the chief must have obviously thought that it was Lucy he was speaking to. The question Victor sought an answer for was this – what did Sekhet want?
Sliding down in his seat as Lucy drove past, too fast for the 25-mph speed limit, Victor watched in his rearview mirror as the car headed in the direction of downtown. Turning his engine on, he made a quick U-turn and followed at an ample distance. The one thing he was good at was not being seen, although he had to admit that had been with the help of a cover spell from Molly on numerous occasions.
***
Watching her from across Dot’s living room, Joe paid attention as Molly’s fingers flickered, showing a bright sparkle from her index finger.
He could taste her, only, instead of the sweet nectar of lovemaking, all he could taste was the bitterness that accompanied a lie. Not that she had lied. Not that it had not happened long ago. Irrational as it was, he wanted to see it before it happened, the moment she would inform him that she had slept with his partner.
Desiring and getting were two completely different things, though, as Joe was finding out slowly. Still unable to sense anything, even when Sekhet wasn’t around, he was feeling frustrated. The desire to follow the demon, when she had stomped from the house hours earlier, had been the last thing on his mind. Coupled with the knowledge that Victor was on the case, he decided to leave it to him. Victor, who would try to face him as soon as he walked through Dot’s front door.
“She’s not interested.” Dot’s voice came from the kitchen, drawing Joe’s attention away from Molly, who, like him, turned in Dot’s direction. Sharing a puzzled look, they got themselves up and went into the kitchen, where Dot was smiling to herself.
“What is it, Grandma?” asked Molly.
“Oh, nothing, dear, just one of the ladies has decided she cannot be of aid if the occasion arises.”
“Who?” Molly asked, leaning on the back of the chair for reassurance at the very idea of Dot needing backup.
“It doesn’t matter.” Fluttering her hands in dismissal, Dot smiled again, only this time not as much to herself. “Besides, I have a feeling this is all about to end soon.”
“What is?” Molly and Joe asked at the same time.
“Sekhet,” Dot answered.
“I like your positivity,” Molly replied dryly. “All we have to do is persuade Sekhet to tell me what she is actually after, so I have a chance of saving my mother.” Glancing from Dot to Joe, Molly dropping heavily into the chair. “Do you really think she will not leave Lucy dead somewhere for me to find her, if I don’t do what she wants?” Focusing all of her attention on Joe, she continued, “Can you see Lucy at all, Joe? Right now?”
“Nope. I’m sorry. I cannot. The last time I could was the night the chief was here. After that, nothing. It has been coming and going, I just can’t break through long enough to get a firm hold on what and who I am looking for.”
“What was the last thing you remember her wanting to do?” Dot asked Joe.
“Lucy? Again, it was that night. I could see her helping us put Budrow into the car, but she never did – her mind was cut off midway.”
“And before that?” asked Molly.
“Wanting to contact you the first night, when you didn’t return. I witnessed her entering the basement, gathering her belongings; grabbing a spell book and beginning her chant. After that, I had a sense, a premonition that she was about to chase you upstairs when you returned, which was the reason I followed her.”
“She was mad?” Molly asked, confused slightly by the statement.
“No, she was worried.” Dot’s voice was low, almost a whisper. “You and your mother may not have seen eye to eye for some time, Molly, but I will not see my daughter left on the roadside on the whim of a demon who can’t get her own way.” Leaning on the table, Dot’s gaze bore into her granddaughter’s eyes as she said, “Find out what she wants and give it to her.” With that, she was gone.
“I want your assurance that you are not considering what I think you are,” Joe said, taking hold of Molly’s arms and lifting her to face him.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Molly lied.
“Yes, you do.” Joe’s response was pained, even to his own ears, while he hoped Molly hadn’t been giving him enough of her attention to notice.
“I won’t see my mother harmed because of my mess, my mistakes.”
“So you would take her place?”
“What other choice do I have?”
Joe was horrified at her remark that she would be seriously considering taking Lucy’s place in Hell. “Take the
place of a woman who has made your life hell?”
“Stop it!” Molly replied vehemently.
“No, I will not!” Joe shouted, allowing his agitation to grow alarmingly. “I have never heard you say anything pleasant about her for as long as I have known you, and suddenly you will put your own life on the line to save her skin? Are you kidding me, Molly?”
“I said stop it! What would you have me do? This is happening because I messed up and got caught up in something I had no control over – that’s why. And everyone knows it. So why can’t you recognize the failure I am, standing before you? Not only have I brought this on my family and sister witches, I have dragged both you and Victor, not to mention Daniel, into this. And now, to top it off, my own grandmother is calling on Natasha and Veronica. Do you realize what that means?”
“Who?”
As Joe’s voice drifted in the air between them, Molly wanted to grab him and shake him forcefully, so that he would just try to comprehend that not all things in the supernatural world were as black and white as he apparently presumed them to be.
“Natasha and Veronica.” Rubbing her temples, she focused on keeping her temper under control. “They are what we call enforcers.”
“And I have never met them?” Disbelief contorted his features as he tried his hardest to put faces to the names.
“You don’t need to know them,” she spat out in response.
Joe couldn’t help but wonder who Natasha and Veronica were, not to mention what their skill set was, if Molly was unhappy about them arriving in Twisp.
“Besides,” Molly added, “Natasha is trying to convince Veronica to help her find some stupid girl who fell in love with some idiot.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know what it means.”
“No, Molly, I don’t. Why don’t you explain to me what you mean by your spiteful comment, because the last time I looked, I was the one being messed around with, or were you going to tell me at some point that you slept with Victor?”
Molly’s face grew pale. “I never slept with Victor! Is that what he said it was?” Grinding her teeth, she waited, fuming. “Well, it’s nice to know my life can be such interesting lies to everyone.” Spitting the words with venom, Molly glared at him.
As Molly’s words came at him, Joe backed up as fast as he could.
A lightning bolt hit the back wall, drawing Victor, materializing from nowhere as it seemed, and Dot from upstairs, as Sekhet glided in, totally amused by what she was witnessing.
“A lovers’ tiff already? It’s been two days.”
That chuckle made Molly’s blood go cold; she released yet another bolt of energy directly at the demon, freezing her to the spot just as it struck her full force.
Joe jumped to put his arm around Molly’s waist to move her away as fast as he possibly could, but Sekhet was there before his feet hit the ground. Lucy was lifeless on the tiled floor, cold, not moving, not breathing, just collapsed in a heap.
No longer in a human shape, Sekhet filled the room, her joyless wings dripping with blood, her skin dark, her eyes a shimmering, threatening red, while her famous blond ringlets curled down the length of her back. Joe couldn’t help but realize how awesome she was – scary, but magnificent. It made his skin crawl.
Molly’s gagging drew him out of his inner thoughts. Sekhet had enfolded her fingers forcefully around Molly’s silky neck, the very neck he had been kissing not many hours earlier, which now looked as though it might break like a twig under the pressure. Looking around frantically, he noticed Dot hovering over Lucy’s motionless body.
Molly’s lips had turned a dark bluish purple. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. The demon they had no control over roared her dislike for what Molly had just done to her. Joe’s first thought was to give himself up. As the notion entered his head, Sekhet twisted enough to focus all of her attention on him.
“You will do what I need or I will rip her head off, do you understand?” Not a question but a demand, and he knew all too well not to say no.
Throwing Molly against the kitchen wall, Sekhet was beside Joe in one swift motion, her hand gently upon Joe’s cheek and leered down at him. Joe didn’t move an inch. She moved intimately close until he was completely aware of her magnitude, while the heat from her breath made beads of sweat form on his brow.
“Aren’t you a faithful one?” she cooed in a softly malicious tone. Tracing a nail along his neckline until it was stopped by the material of his T-shirt, she grabbed it in two fists and ripped it off his body, leaving him naked from the waist up.
Victor let out a roar as Joe’s body went up in flames before his very eyes. Joe’s feet no longer touching the ground, his scream was bound within what looked to be a force field from top to bottom, surrounding Joe, enclosing the inferno inside the shimmering effervescence of hell.
Sekhet was gone, nowhere to be seen or heard, except the lasting echo of her wings as they opened to their fullest and closed with a tremendous whoosh. Everything went dark, except for burning flesh as Joe seemed to glow in the dimly lit room.
To Victor’s astonishment, there was no smell of scorching flesh, but he was horrified to see that Joe was still breathing. Sekhet had not killed him, not even close. In place of death, she had given him servitude. His skin was hot and sticky, while deep-edged words showed up on his chest and stomach. Victor had no idea how to pronounce the words, let alone what they meant.
“Shit!” Victor whispered as his fingers gingerly touched Joe’s shoulder. “You’re okay, Partner,” he said in an attempt at reassurance, but his voice quivered. It was painfully apparent that his words were not true.
“Sekhet desires something from him.” Lucy’s voice shook as his had done, only no one else could hear her except Victor. Molly watched from a distance as her grandmother cried over her mother’s still body. “Hmm, I guess, even when I’m dead, Molly still doesn’t care.” Sadness colored her tone now, drawing Victor’s attention to her line of vision, and he watched as Molly closed the distance between her and where Joe lay, breathing heavily. Molly dropped to her knees beside him.
“Joe?” she whimpered. “Can you hear me?” No response came, forcing her to lean closer over him, her shaking hands touching his chest timidly, so unlike the other time they had come to one another with an eagerness she had never thought existed. “Joe?”
For a second time, her whimper held doubt, until his eyes flashed open. “Joe?” Tapping on his chest now, Molly’s face was so close, she could feel his breath on her cheek. “Can you hear me?” Her hand went to his cheek in one swift motion as his eyes focused on nothing but hers. “Grandma!”
“I’m on it.” Rushing away, Dot descended into the basement to begin her poultice. His body needed healing, and fast.
“Are you okay?” Joe’s voice was husky, not his own, but his smile was, and that was enough for Molly.
“Yes.” Laughing nervously, Molly’s hug was tight as his arms came around her waist, his head lowered into that place between her shoulder and neck, the place only a lover snuggles into.
Victor moved over to Lucy.
As much as Molly wanted to claim insanity, that what she just witnessed wasn’t real, she couldn’t. Joe’s chest, now clear of all marks except the writing which now looked like words had been carved into his skin by a skilled sharp blade, but more importantly, what did they mean?
CHAPTER 19
Shattered
Molly didn’t move. She suffered through her need to go to him, but she couldn’t bring herself to risk waking him. He had been through so much. Because of her.
How would they move forward? His words had told her all was fine, but he had suffered something none of them, not even Molly, would ever understand.
What had he seen? Ignoring her wish to force the subject, she dug her heels in, refusing to give in to temptation. She had already caused him so much pain, why force him to re-live it? It For now, it made sense to allow him some peace.
Her mouth crooked with a smile when thinking of the first time he had kissed her. So gently at first, until she coiled her arms around his neck, dragging him in closer; deeper.
He had kissed her what seemed for hours, leaving her lips tingling and swollen but it had felt glorious. He had devoured her with his tongue leaving her feeling like liquid in his arms. Her hair left messy and sticking out from all angles from his fingers as they dug deep into its thickness, while her cheeks showed a mixture of delight and shyness. She had never been kissed by anyone who made her insides burn the way Joe had.
Only now she cursed herself and his damn sensual mouth when she thought of what the outcome could have been. What if he hadn’t survived Sekhet’s attack?
Would she be doomed to remembering his lips, his arms as they hugged her tight against his chiseled chest, that smile that made her knees go weak when he wasn’t looking? Without Grandma, I could have lost him, she thought as her eyes grew misty.
Turning away from his still sleeping form, Molly gazed out the window to the road. How many times had she watched people coming and going over the years, standing in this exact spot? How many times had she herself longed to drive down that same road, never to return? More than she could count, but she always returned, no matter how deeply she felt it sting her heart and willpower to be unable to stay away.
This time was different. If Joe didn’t pull through, could she ever step past the gate and into the welcoming embrace of her grandmother, knowing the man she…that Joe died in this very house because of her? They would all tell her she was wrong in blaming herself, but she knew the truth, as did everyone else.