They all screamed “no” at the same time, and Parker sat down. She wasn’t told to sit, but if she hadn’t, she would have fallen on her ass. Sitting there, she tried to remember every detail about the thing that had been there.
“He had dark wings. I’d not call them black, but they were close to that. They were also drippy, like they were still wet, their color not yet dried enough to let the true color come through. I remember thinking at the time that they were bloody, but I dismissed that. I don’t know why, but I think it was just easier to think of it like that rather than any other way.” Riss asked her to go on. “I don’t think that it was just male, now that I reflect on it. Sort of both. His eyes were black. Not just the irises, but the entire orbs. There were no hands to speak of, just long stick like things that came from his shoulders and chest, like a spider. He had eight of these things like a spider would, but he wasn’t standing on all of them, just the two.”
Closing her eyes, she looked in her memories for what the thing had looked like. It was something that she’d done in college when a test would be coming up. It had helped her a great deal, and gave her the ability to graduate with honors, three full years before she should have been able to.
“I can look, if that will help. You’ll never know I was there.” She asked Riss for one moment. Please. “You’re doing a very good job, Parker. Thanks so much for this.”
“His face. He looked like someone that I know—or knew. The appendences, they were sharp like I said, but they also had this green something on the tips. At the time, I thought that it was poison. I still do. As I looked around the room for the thing that was reflected there, I realized that he didn’t want me to see him. The trick of the mirrors, I guess, was what let me look. I was staring at him and he knew it somehow. It startled him, more than seeing him did me. After a few seconds of us staring at each other, he moved. But the door opening had him looking to it. The scream. It screamed loudly when he looked at the person that came in.”
“It was because of me.” The others took a step back. Not in fear like she had thought, but to give themselves room. The spreading of their wings again, all of them, had her standing up and reaching for something to protect them with. A sword filling her hand made her feel better, but the man, he gave her comfort somehow. “Hello, Parker. Your father says to tell you that you’re doing a good job in getting information on Angela.”
The world didn’t tilt, as she’d read happened to people at times. Nor did she feel as if she’d been swallowed up. Parker just blinked out.
~*~
Kala was pissed, more than she’d been in some time. As she wiped the blood off of Parker’s head, she glared at Boss. Of all the stupid things to do, he’d frightened the poor girl. As if she’d not had enough happen to her over the last decade.
“I didn’t mean to scare her, Kala. I felt the moment that she was going to remember me. I thought it only fitting that I show her that I was on her side.”
“By scaring the bejebbes out of her? Or were you trying to make a point? I’d like to know what that was if you don’t mind.” He just shook his head, and she had a feeling that he was trying to hide his laughter. “I do not think this is the least bit funny. What if she had hit her head and died? Then where would we all be? Tell me that.”
“She’s mated to Tholan.” That shut her mouth. “Yes, I can see that I’ve slightly redeemed myself in your eyes. And though they’ve not met yet, not in the flesh, I’ve taken the liberty of making her as immortal as the rest of you.”
“Parker isn’t like him.” Kala wondered what he’d been thinking to mate a woman like this nice woman to Tholan. “She’ll eat him alive.”
“I don’t think so. He’s sort of met her. I have asked him to befriend her, as a human friend. He’s still trying to figure out what he is going to be doing for me, but he brought it up, her having no friends, and I thought he’d make her an excellent one. And before you ask, he has not thought of her as anything but a woman that has been hurt.” Kala asked him about the need for sex. And how powerful it was when mates came together. “I have delayed those feelings as well. I think that they will make good friends, do you not?”
“I don’t know.” She looked at the bump on Parker’s head and glared at Boss once again. “You could have told us. Don’t say it. I know what you’re about to say—what fun would there be in that? But Tholan is afraid of his own shadow since he’s been working again. I think this might be a mistake. I know you are all knowing, Boss, but with this, I can’t see it working.”
“It will. Simply because they need each other. More so than even the combination of all your needs, all the rest of you put together, and how much you need each other, even now, Kala.”
Parker moaned, then sat up. She looked at Boss, then at Kala.
“You’re all right now.” Parker told her that she wasn’t sure. Then she looked at Boss. “This is Boss. He’s the man that we all work for.”
Parker looked Boss over, like she was studying him for flaws or something. Kala wondered what she’d find, because there wasn’t any doubt that she’d find something. And when she stood up, they both did as well.
“You might be boss, but you are nothing even close to being just the man they work for, are you?” Boss shook his head. “That thing, the creature that was there that day, you not only know who he is, but what he is as well, I’m thinking.”
“Yes, he’s an underlord. I’ve yet to figure out what he was there for, you or someone else, but there isn’t much that I can find out about the other realm without causing a stir. And since I have no name, other than what he looked like through your memories, then I cannot go there with my suspicions.” Kala asked Boss if he had an idea. “Sadly, I do not. Parker saw him longer than I did, and he was nothing more than a poof of evil when I entered the room.”
Parker moved into the dining area from the back room where they had brought her. The shop was open now, and they were serving a huge crowd when she made her way to the juice counter. Asking for a large smoothie, Parker stood there looking out over the crowd as Kala and Boss approached her.
“He looked like my father, but he wasn’t. And I know for a fact that it wasn’t him. My father wasn’t an evil man.” Boss said that he wasn’t, no. “I also think I might know his name. He said it once. But I could be wrong about that as well. But before I tell you that, I’d like something from you. A favor, so to speak.”
“I can grant you just about anything, my child. Just tell me what it is you want.”
Kala wondered about the favor too. She had never bargained with Boss, and she didn’t think that anyone else had either. She would simply ask, and he’d either tell her that it was coming, in the works, or in due time. Any and all of which meant that she wasn’t getting it just yet. But with Parker, he’d willingly told her that she could have it.
“Did you really talk to my father? Never mind. You would have. Is he all right? I mean...I don’t know what I mean, but is he all right?” Boss laughed and said that he was telling anyone and everyone that would listen about his baby girl, and how she’d stepped in where no one else would have. “Yes, well, I did figure that I could survive prison better than him. And it only seemed like they were looking for a body. I, however, think that taking me somehow messed things up for the person in charge.”
“And you would be correct.” Parker took her tall smoothie to a table—after trying to pay for the drink and being denied—and sat down. As she sipped it, she mumbled to herself. Boss looked at her. “She’s always done this. Talked to herself to try and figure out a clue or an answer. She’s very good at it, but people think her nuts. Or that’s what she thinks.”
“My favor—may I ask you for it now?” Boss nodded at her with a smile. “I’m sure you already know, but I’d like for you to keep everyone that I’ve been working with safe from this creature and Angela.”
“I can keep most everyone safe from her. But I would think that you’d not care so much if Angela was s
afe from the people that she’s working with. People, I’m sorry to say, that are close to you.” Parker looked at her and Kala shook her head. “Nay, she does not think you are going to plot against her, my dear Kala, but she worries about you and the other women. I think she should have a demonstration as to how protective you are. Oh, and your sword, should you need it—you should also be aware that it is there for you to use. Just raise your hand, think of it, and it will fill your hand. Your knowledge on how to use it, you have that already, don’t you?”
“An elective in college. So there is someone working with Angela that works for me.” Boss didn’t even so much as blink at her query. “I might even know who that is. Thank you. The creatures name, it’s—”
“Don’t say his name. Not here.” Kala looked around and noticed that no one was looking at them. “I will come to you in your slumber. You will tell me then.”
“Yes, all right. But I have to warn you, I don’t sleep well, nor all that much. And when I do, there are all sorts of nightmares that I’m sorting through.” Boss told her that she needed a friend to unload on. “I do. But not these people. I like them. And what I dream of, it’s not PG rated. More like triple x. Too much sex and horror to even want me to speak of it.”
“I understand.” Kala did as well. She also knew what sort of dreams Parker would be having. Not the precise ones, she’d bet, but close.
Kala had had her share of them lately, and she wondered now if the rest of the women were. At Boss’s nod, she knew they were. It was time to gather the wagons, as someone she knew used to say. And what better way to gather them than to have a meeting? One that introduced Parker to Tholan. A way for their friendship to start to bloom.
Don’t push. Kala huffed at Boss when he left them there. Parker was getting herself some lunch and another smoothie when he spoke to her again. This is a good idea, my dear, but don’t push them together. They will both push away faster should you do that.
Are they really suited? He said that they were perfectly mismatched and would have a strong happy life. That does not instill any kind of confidence in me. Not where Tholan is concerned. I want him to be happy. Both of them to be. But I have my doubts that together they can accomplish that.
Trust me, Kala. You’ll see that I’m right. She’d started to tell him that he was always right when the other women entered the deli. You will have a nice afternoon, get to know each other, and bring up the dinner. Everyone will be like you, disbelieving that they’re suited. So, I do not have to worry about them letting the tiger out of the bag.
It’s cat. But then, when I think on it, it just might be tiger. I have a gut feeling that both of them have been holding back for some time. And when their powers are released, even their love, it will blow the rest of us out of the water. He told her time would tell. I’m buying you a frigging watch. That way you can tell me a time rather than that stupid thing you say all the time.
He was still laughing when he gently closed the connection. Kala wanted this to work, if for no other reason that she wanted everyone to be as happy as she and Riss were. When they all gathered around the large table, the argument between Parker and Judith about paying for her meal made her think that Boss might really be right. There was a tiger in Parker.
Chapter 3
The dream started out horrific. As she was trying her best to run from the spider that she’d seen before, something or someone was always there to tell her where to hide, where to turn. She had a feeling that she knew who the help was, and when Boss appeared at the end of a long hall, Parker ran to him with open arms.
“His name, Parker.” She whispered it in his ear as he held her to him. She might have been a little leery of the man—there were all sorts of things in her dreams that used the faces of those around her, but none of the protectors. So of course, she found it hard not to trust who Boss was. “Remember what I told you. You have something that will help you harm him enough to slow him down.”
Then he was gone, and turning slowly, she saw that the creature was there, not a foot from her. He smiled at her, as if he’d won. Thinking of the man whose face he had taken, Parker felt her back stiffen, her heart calm as she reached for the sword as she’d unknowingly done before.
“You think to slay me, little girl? You are nothing against my power. Do you have any idea how much I will toy with you? How I will play with you before I take you as my own?” She didn’t speak to it, knowing that somehow it would give him power over her. “I have all the power I need over you, Parker Jane Brooks. And I will have what was promised to me. Soon.”
All she could think about was that someone had promised her to him, and that he knew her name. So when he lashed out at her, his spindly leg nearly touching her face, she swung the sword as she’d been taught with all the power she had.
The scream hurt her ears, but Parker was afraid to put her hands over her ears for fear that he’d attack again. The small sliver of his leg smoked and burned on the floor. When he reached for it, she jabbed at him again, not hitting him but having him leap back from her.
“You think to keep me from my parts? You are nothing. Give it to me and let us go to my home.” Parker laughed. It was the first time in a very long time that she felt it race over her body. Confidence like she’d never felt before had her stabbing toward him again. “The next time we meet, we will be on my turf, you insolent child. When I have you in my clutches, you will rue the day that you ever touched me.”
“Bring it on.” She started to call him by name, but a thundering no, which sounded just like her father, had her snapping her mouth closed. “Go back to whatever rock you slid out from under, you piece of horse shit.”
He moved toward her again, and she touched her foot on the piece of him. This scream was not as painful, and Parker had a feeling that Boss had done that for her. When the creature was gone, she looked at the small piece of the thing that was still there.
Taking off her socks, she put them both on her hand and picked it up. It smelled terrible, and there was something about it that made her want to destroy it. Or better yet, just leave it where it was. But she also thought that it would come in handy at some point and felt herself being dragged awake. Opening her eyes, she looked at her hand and saw that the nasty thing that she’d had in her dreams was just a stick now.
“Now what to do with it.” She had to hide it, knowing that the thing would want it back. She was not sure why, but Parker had a feeling that it was going to be a useful tool at some point. Looking around her father’s big room for a place, Parker remembered the safe that had been installed in the floor.
It had been put in right after her da had had this room redone. He’d been wanting to do it for a while, so when he’d had the carpet replaced with hardwood flooring, the safe had been the perfect thing to put in. Getting up, holding the stick still with her socks, she pulled up the big area rug covering the safe.
The combination was her birthday, and as soon as she opened it, she knew that Angela hadn’t found it. Or if she had, she couldn’t get it open. Putting the socks and stick aside, she pulled out the things that her father had put inside.
It must have been difficult for him to do this. His wheelchair would have had to been moved out of the way and him lying on the floor to open it. She wept as the things were pulled out. Some of them were things that she herself had put in, thinking of the things as treasures at the time.
There was her dolly, the one that her father had gotten her when she’d turned five. It looked like her, from her red hair to the freckles across her nose. Putting it aside, she pulled out the box, a metal one that she knew her father had opened just before he’d passed away. The sticky note on it was dated two days before he’d passed.
There was a copy of the will that had been sent to her in prison. A transcript of the trial, as well as a list of names. Reading over it, she saw that it was a list of witnesses, as well as the people who had been at the trial each day. Laying them both aside, she sat back and op
ened the box. The letter atop of everything inside was addressed to her, and also dated two days before his death.
My darling daughter. I miss you more and more daily. I’m not going to make it so that I might hug you in my arms once again. I’m sorrier about that than I am anything that I’ve ever done in my life. You were and will always be the owner of my heart, and I wish, just once more, I could tell you face to face what you’ve meant to me all these years.
Leaning back on the footboard, she wiped at the tears that started to flow the moment that she’d seen his handwriting. Her da had a floral type writing, like what you’d find in older letters. He told her once that if you were going to take the time to write a letter, you should write it in your own hand and put as much effort in the style as you would what you had to say.
I’m dying, as you well know. And I’m not long for this world. But I will be watching over you, so behave yourself, my child.
Laughing, she read on.
And don’t be brooding in the house all the time. Get out, be young, and have fun for me. I will come back and haunt you if you don’t.
Parker thought of the people that she’d met. The way that they’d taken care that she didn’t sit around the house all the time. It was actually making her feel better, and her mind clearer about the things she was doing for the town. Looking at the letter, she wondered if he was really watching over her and flipped to the next page.
Angela did this to us. And when you confessed, something that I wish you’d not done—but was necessary, as I’ve come to realize—you made her mad enough that she destroyed several dresses of hers, keyed one of the cars, and screamed for an hour. It was the best time that I’ve had at someone else’s expense in a long time. But back to the things that she’s done.
There are a few people that you should no longer trust. While I could have fired them, I thought at the time it would be easier to keep them closer rather than out where they could do us more harm. One of them is Joseph March. He is in on things with Angela deeper than I first thought.
Tholan: Mystic Protectors: An Angelic Paranormal Erotica Page 4