Aidan crouched to the side. Fresh, unblemished white roses in the vase at the base of the headstone hadn’t yet wilted in the heat. Aidan made no move to touch them. “Abby.” He looked her in the eyes. “Will’s wife.”
Will’s…wife? She didn’t even realize he’d been married, much less widowed. It explained a lot. “But—” She looked at the date again as she calculated the math. “It’s been over twenty-five years!” It couldn’t be.
Impossible.
This was turning out to be one humdinger of a Monday.
Aidan pulled up a blade of grass and worked it through his long fingers. “Yep.”
It took her a moment to force the words out. “He doesn’t look…” Her knees weakened. Still staring at the gravestone, Kal dropped to the ground. It finally hit her it was ludicrous to argue about how long Will’s wife had been dead and how young Will looked. Not when they’d talked about archdemons and wraiths and she’d just been teleported from their office in Tampa to—
“Where are we?”
Aidan finished shredding the blade of grass and started on another. “North of Tampa. Almost to Wesley Chapel. This is where Will comes every Wednesday morning, why he’s always in a bad mood that day. He always brings her white roses. They were her favorite.”
“Why Wednesdays?”
“It’s the day Abby died.”
Kal’s mind tried to stitch together what she knew, what reality and science and her faith told her was true, and what stared her smack in the face. Then she remembered the comments about Abby that passed between Will and Ryan back in Atlanta. So that’s who she was.
“How did she die?” she whispered.
Aidan shifted position on the grass, started on another blade. “She was murdered,” he quietly said. “There was…trouble. Some people trying to get to Will came looking for him and found her. He wasn’t home. They decapitated her.”
Kal fought the urge to retch. “That’s horrible.”
Aidan nodded and looked at the marker. “It killed her immediately. She was the soul mate of the most powerful archdemon in existence. Had they shot or stabbed her, anything like that, we might have been able to save her.”
Admittedly, while Kal understood what was going on, she still struggled to wrap her head around the whole “demons good” memo. “I thought demons were supposed to be evil.”
“That’s because the other side has better PR. To paraphrase one of my favorite songs, religion’s controlled by some real whack jobs.” Aidan lay back, propped on one elbow. “A lot of different beings get lumped into the demon category. The typical evil bastards that gave us all a bad name are the lowest version. They’re not really solid, they’re just energy and can manifest a form, but can easily be destroyed. Then you’ve got things like wraiths that are also mistaken for demons, given the same label by humans, especially priests who like their job security.”
Kal studied him for a moment. “Let’s say for the sake of argument that I do accept this whole crazy situation. What are you, all of you? What do you do?” She caught a whiff of a scent, maybe the flowers, or maybe Aidan was wearing a new cologne. The scent smelled vaguely familiar…
Aidan looked at the grave marker again. “You ever see the movie Men in Black?”
“Yeah.”
“Sort of like that, except without the aliens. See, the upstairs folk—and that’s also a misnomer—they don’t really give a rat’s ass what happens here because they don’t live here. They poof around as they see fit. They’re of the air, their own dimension in a way, tied to the Earthly plane of this world. They’re basically the same thing we are, only they do their floaty cloud thing. Just like our water counterparts could care less what we do on dry land. Most bad things don’t care about what happens in clouds or water, they want to stake out turf here on terra firma. We live here. We give a damn if some evil bad thing decides to go batshit and tear up the joint.”
“So Ryan is really the…” She couldn’t make herself say it.
“The Devil?”
She nodded.
Aidan grinned. “Well, theologically speaking, I supposed you could call him that. Again, that’s just PR on the other side’s part. The old myths are closer to the truth. The airheads, they like having people going all goo-goo over them. Like I said, we live here. Why would we want to destroy where we live? We’re fighting to keep it together. Cold war super secret shit times a bazillion. We can’t control the weather or natural disasters like televangelists claim. We don’t cause bad things to happen. We try to stop as many of them as we can, what we can. The weather, that kind of stuff, is out of our control. We’re the peacekeepers. We keep bad nasties out and nonhumans from trying to take over the place. We’re not evil, obviously. Geez, Ryan does good to put on matching socks in the morning, trust me.”
Kal smiled, because Aidan was the last person who should criticize anyone’s choice of socks or other clothing considering his horrible taste. That she could still find humor in the situation said something about her, or about Aidan.
“Ryan certainly seemed to plan this well enough,” she countered.
Aidan shrugged. “Ever hear that saying about a hundred monkeys with typewriters eventually pounding out Macbeth?”
She nodded.
“He’s one of those monkeys. ‘What’s done is done.’” Aidan frowned. “He fricking got lucky for once.”
She smiled. She never would have pegged Aidan as a Shakespeare kind of guy. “‘Or have we eaten on the insane root, that takes the reason prisoner?’”
He laughed and shook his head. “‘Fair is foul, and foul is fair.’ We could sit here and do this all day, I bet. Old Billy boy had a way with words. He was an original. Damn good writer when he wasn’t drunk off his ass and chasing tail.” He glanced at his watch. “We need to go. Will might be back and wonder where we went. I don’t need him hunting me down and finding us here.” He stood and offered a hand, helping her to her feet. “Look, don’t tell him I brought you here today. Please?”
“Why?”
“Because he’s very private about Abby. He doesn’t want to talk about her. He doesn’t want people butting in. I just wanted you to know he’s not bullshitting you. He’s as upset about this as you are, if not more.”
She bristled and wondered if that was her emotions or the wraith stirring a little early. “Why? Doesn’t he want to sleep with me?”
Aidan turned and met her gaze. “No, he doesn’t. It’s nothing personal, Kal, I keep telling you that. It’s not that he doesn’t like you, because he does. This is why he refused to work with women and kept himself closed off. He didn’t want to put himself in a position where he’d meet someone and fall in love. He wanted to die. Another few years without a soul mate, he would have weakened enough that he could have killed himself.”
She stopped in her tracks, stunned. Aidan realized she wasn’t following behind him anymore and turned.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“Kill himself?” Will had said something about that at Ryan’s, hadn’t he?
“Yeah, sweet cheeks. Kill himself.” He pointed his finger at his temple and cocked his thumb as if firing a gun. “His powers were still too strong. Ryan wouldn’t release him from our bond, and I was under strict orders from Ryan not to help Will off himself. Not that I would have willingly done that in the first place. The three of us are bound as soul brothers, meaning unless he talked one of the higher-ups into killing him, he really wouldn’t be able to find a way to die without us stopping him first. Ryan and I damn sure weren’t going to help him off himself. That meant he had to do it himself, but he had to wait for his powers to atrophy to weaken the bond enough that he’d be able to pull it off. That was his only recourse since Ryan wouldn’t release him from our bond. So he’s cut himself off from women so he wouldn’t be tempted.”
“Will loved her so much he wanted to die?”
“Wants, present tense. Wants to die. Losing a soul mate is like losing both your arms, but the
pain never goes away. He’s always in pain. Why do you think he never smiles?”
“He hasn’t been with a woman since…”
Aidan shook his head. “No. She is the love of his life, even a quarter century later. He was looking forward to joining her here in a few years. Ryan, the little fucking shit weasel, decided that wasn’t in the cards. Not that I want Will to die, because he’s my cousin and my soul brother and I love him. But I have to tell you, I don’t agree with how Ryan went about it.”
“He’d rather die than be with someone else?”
“Well, that choice has been taken from him now, hasn’t it? He won’t let you die, don’t worry. Will returned to The Firm so he could save you.”
That filled her with guilt and a sudden, unexpected feeling of pride. She was the one woman Will would change his plans for? A man who could harbor that much devotion for a woman for so many years was a good-hearted man. He had to be. “I don’t understand why he couldn’t kill himself earlier.”
Aidan looked around to make sure they were still alone. “Look, I don’t understand it all, that’s not my job. I know when an archdemon takes a soul mate, it makes them even more powerful. The amulets we wear, it helps us focus the power. The power is within us, but to get as powerful as Will used to be, you have to have a soul mate. It’s not just bullshit that when two people make love, they also make magic. There’s a universal power when two people make love, especially when they’re in love with each other. Will couldn’t be with anyone because even if you’re not soul mates with someone, having sex with them, if you’re an archdemon, it still gives you a power boost.”
Aidan ran a hand through his hair. “Will wants to die. He had to go without a soul mate and go without being with anyone else, let his powers weaken and atrophy enough he would be fully human and then he could kill himself. If he hadn’t been bound to me and Ryan as a soul brother, he probably could have done it when she died. Another few years alone would have done it. Because you’re a virgin, the wraith has attached to your soul, and Will’s the only one with a soul strong enough, and without a soul mate, who can get rid of the wraith. Ryan the shit weasel did his homework when he set this all up.”
He shook his head at her. “I mean, honestly, I love you, sweetie, but didn’t you ever stop to do the math? Ryan planned this from before you were born. Get real. A girl six months out of film school gets her own network show? A top-rated show? C’mon.”
He smiled and hugged her. “No offense. I’m not saying you’re not good, because you are, but real life doesn’t work that easy. Ryan needed you, specifically, to bring Will back to The Firm. You have a pure soul. You’ll bring Will’s powers back to full strength. You’ll become Will’s soul mate when he makes love to you and gets rid of the wraith, and you’ll live happily ever after in love with each other.”
The idea of making love to Will wasn’t an altogether unpleasant one. She had wanted to be married when she first did it, but considering the circumstances, there were worse—
“Wait a minute. I’m not in love with him. How can I be his soul mate if I’m not in love with him?”
Aidan shook his head. “Doesn’t matter. You will be.”
She sensed he knew more than he let on. “What’s going on?”
Aidan looked at the ground. “Ryan did his homework. You’ll be bound to Will, he’ll be obligated to The Firm, and Ryan gets his head archdemon back to fight the bad nasties. Anything else you want to know, you need to talk to Will or Ryan. I’ve said too much already. Not that I use them as often as I’d like, but I’m rather partial to my nuts being attached to my body.” He reached for her hand. “Come on, kiddo. Back to the salt mines.”
Chapter Twelve
The enormity of the situation hit Kal as she sat alone in the edit room and tried to focus on the footage she needed to work with. Why was she waiting? She had this evil darn thing stuck inside her, and she would probably kill someone if it wasn’t removed. It’s not like they asked her to sleep with half the Chinese army, just one very sweet, sad, hunky man.
A man she’d immediately felt attracted to from day one. A man who obviously had a lot of pain he took great efforts to hide from the world.
Kal didn’t care what Ryan said about how permanent it was supposed to be. That pushed the envelope of her credulity.
Okay, yeah, that makes sense. You’ll believe popping in and out of places, wraiths, and archdemons, but not that you’ll be in love with Will forever automatically once you do the horizontal bop with him?
Kal shook her head. This was too much. As she felt the wraith stir a little, she knew waiting was stupid. She didn’t want to spend another night in handcuffs, she wanted to spend it in Will’s arms.
She closed her eyes and let out a deep breath. Lord help me, I do want to sleep with him.
There. She’d admitted it, and no holy bolt of righteous justice from Heaven struck her dead. Not like she’d go scream from the rooftops that she wanted to have premarital sex, but admitting it to herself was the first step, right? All she had to do now was spend the next couple of hours talking herself into it.
Will brooded at his desk after returning to the office. Aidan caught Kal’s attention, and they ducked out the back door for lunch at a nearby diner. She welcomed the distraction she knew Aidan would provide. Her father certainly wouldn’t approve of her having lunch with Aidan alone—or all the other time she spent alone with him—but she was happy to have a friend she knew she could count on.
* * * *
Will watched them leave. Part of him wanted to follow them, join them. How many times had he and Abby had lunch with Aidan or any of the guys?
He tried not to think about that, the throbbing ache in his soul even worse than normal over the memories.
How long until Kal agreed to this? Maybe he should call Ryan, ask him to take her as his soul mate if he agreed to willingly return to The Firm. Then he could cross off-Earth to Tavares and find something there bad-assed enough to kill him and put him out of his misery.
Will leaned back in his chair and contemplated that possibility. He could get himself offed, and Ryan could have a soul mate again. Everyone would end up happy.
Well, not everyone.
No, Ryan wouldn’t agree to that. Even though Will saw the look in Ryan’s eyes when they were at his Atlanta condo with Kal. Maybe Kal was Ryan’s insurance policy to get Will back under his thumb, but that wasn’t all. Ryan had been without a soul mate a lot longer than Will had. How had Ryan survived the pain all these years?
Will decided maybe he didn’t want to think about it. Despite his simmering anger, Will felt badly enough about the potshot he took at Ryan that night. He knew damn well Ryan understood the pain he was in. He just happened to resent the fact that Ryan had forced him to continue enduring it. If Ryan wanted to be a masochist, fine, but life without Abby hadn’t been any kind of a life worth living.
Could he not disappoint Kal? That was his other worry. He didn’t want to screw up and make her miserable for eternity.
Will tried to focus on his work and push other thoughts out of his mind, including the throbbing, persistent pain in his soul.
* * * *
Sitting in their usual booth by the front window, Kal noticed a man in tight jeans walk past on the sidewalk outside. Her eyes couldn’t help but follow.
“He’s cute,” she murmured.
“Yeah,” Aidan breathlessly replied.
It took Kal’s brain a moment to catch up with her ears. She looked at Aidan. His horrified expression told her all she needed to know. She realized what a naive idiot she must look like to all of them.
He immediately tried to backpedal and sat back, his face red. “Um, I mean, yeah, of course you’d think he’s cute, he’s got a nice body—uh, I mean you’re a hot-blooded woman, of course you’d notice…” Realizing it was useless, he closed his eyes. “Shit,” he whispered.
Everything clicked into place. She smiled, then reached out and touched his h
and, her fingers gently closing over it and squeezing. “It’s okay,” she said, reassuring him.
He shook his head. “Me and my friggin’ big mouth. I told you it’d get me in trouble.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before?”
He looked at her. “Yeah, sure, no problemo. The straightlaced Baptist minister’s daughter is going to cozy up to the token closet queer on the crew. Riiight. I’m not always the brightest bulb, but give me a little more credit than that, Kal.”
“If you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly the closed-minded bigot you’ve suddenly stereotyped me as. Give me a little more credit. I thought we were friends.”
He sighed and nodded. “Touché. You’re right, hon. I’m sorry.” He looked out the window again, to where the guy had turned the corner. “He had a nice tight ass, didn’t he?”
“Don’t push it,” she said with a grin.
“Right.” He looked at his food. “Don’t go making hairdresser, fashion, or Broadway show jokes, okay?”
She snorted in amusement. “You’re the last person I’d accuse of having good fashion sense.”
He smiled, then realized what she meant. “Hey!” he indignantly exclaimed.
They had a good lunch. It allowed her an hour of not thinking about wraiths, archdemons, or losing her virginity to Will Hellenboek. Aidan’s playful, funny sense of humor kept her laughing the entire time. When they finished eating and walked back to the office, Aidan hooked his arm through hers.
“We okay, sweet cheeks?”
She nodded, resting her head on his shoulder as they walked. An aura of calm always seemed to envelop her when she was with Aidan. “Yeah, we’re okay. But I’m gonna nominate you for that show where they remake your wardrobe. You definitely aren’t a stereotypical gay guy. No wonder women love you, you dress like a Salvation Army reject. Your straight-guy image is firmly intact.”
He looked at his loud tropical shirt, today red and blue macaws on a screaming yellow and green floral background, unbuttoned over his purple tank top and khaki shorts. “It’s my image. I’m the doofus, Will’s the brain.” He thought about it. “That guy who’s the cohost of that show. What’s his name, Clinton? He is pretty hot. If you want to nominate me, it wouldn’t hurt my feelings.”
Good Will Ghost Hunting: Demon Seed [Good Will Ghost Hunting 1] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 13