by Donna Grant
Olivia blinked as the fog of her head cleared even more. His hand was on her forehead pushing back her hair again. A frown marred his forehead.
She had the insane urge to smooth it away and run her hands over his sun-bronzed skin. This was the Chiasson she had silently coveted, the Chiasson that had never looked at her.
“Your eyes are clearing,” he said.
She tried to swallow, to wet her dry mouth so she could ask what had happened.
“Answers later. First, we need to get you to safety.”
Olivia wasn’t sure if she could stand, but she shouldn’t have worried, because Vincent gathered her against him. She rested her head against his shoulder and closed her eyes. The rest of her fear melted away.
It had taken long enough, but she was finally in Vincent Chiasson’s arms.
CHAPTER FIVE
Vincent gently laid Olivia on the couch and checked the bandage on her arm. The cuts weren’t deep enough to require stitches, but the fact she had been injured, that he hadn’t gotten to her in time made him furious.
He touched her hair again as he had yearned to do years ago. He couldn’t seem to stop himself. It was like cool silk running through his fingers. The length boggled his mind, as did the thickness.
Unable to help himself, he ran the pads of his fingers over her high cheekbones down to her full lips. His body stirred, heat flaming his blood as desire engulfed him as if it hadn’t been nine years since the last time he had seen her.
Vincent recalled with crystal clarity the night he truly noticed her. He had been with his parents when they told Maria that her son and his wife had been killed by a demon. Olivia had walked out onto the porch still half asleep with that magnificent hair of hers mussed, her luscious curves on display in her tiny tank top and shorts, and he had fallen instantly under her spell.
“I’m going after it,” Christian said as he started for the door.
“No!” Vincent bellowed as he jumped to his feet, forgetting that Olivia had drifted off to sleep. He wiped his hand down his face when his three brothers turned to him. “No,” he repeated in a calmer tone.
A muscle flexed in Christian’s jaw. “You might be the eldest, but that doesn’t mean you can tell me what to do.”
“I refuse to find another member of my family dead,” Vincent said. It would likely shatter him if he did. It had taken everything he had to put that dreaded night eleven years ago behind him. And he almost hadn’t succeeded.
Lincoln leaned against the kitchen counter. “Listen to him, Christian. Please.”
“We had it,” Beau said. “It was right there. We could have gone after it.”
Lincoln’s face contorted in anger. “Gone after it? Was I the only one to see it disappear right before our eyes?”
“No,” Christian grudgingly admitted.
Beau paced the space between the kitchen and the dining area. “I can’t just wait around for someone else to be killed. Most of the things we hunt pose a danger, and few get a chance to actually hurt people.”
“Why did it target Olivia?” Lincoln asked.
Vincent glanced at her. “I don’t know. I tracked the beast here last night, but that’s all.”
“I was the one who spoke to her this morning,” Beau said.
Christian slapped his hands on his legs. “Does that mean we can’t talk to anyone for fear that they’ll end up dead?”
“We already keep to ourselves. What else does this thing want?” Lincoln asked.
Vincent scratched his jaw as he considered his brothers’ words. “We looked through that entire book of our family’s, and nothing in there could just disappear as this creature does. It knows things it couldn’t possibly know.”
“Which means someone is controlling it,” Beau said with a grin.
“Ah, Vin,” Christian said slowly.
Vincent looked to see his brother jerk his chin to the couch. Vincent turned his head to find Olivia’s black eyes open and trained on him.
“We’ll patrol the area,” Lincoln said as the three of them filed out of the house.
Olivia grabbed her head as she tried to sit up. Vincent helped ease her into a sitting position. It brought him close to her, touching her again. It was unimaginable torture.
For so long, he pushed aside the needs of his body, but with Olivia, he couldn’t. He wanted her, needed her. Craved her. It burned through him so hotly he could hardly pull breath into his lungs.
He thought he was safe from that driving, reckless desire for her when she left. But now she was back, and looking more beautiful and tempting than ever.
“What happened?” she asked in that husky voice of hers.
Vincent had to move away. He couldn’t think straight being so near her and wanting to have a taste of her lips. He walked to the fridge and opened it to grab a bottle of water.
“Vincent,” she urged. “Tell me.”
He looked around the kitchen. “Where is the aspirin?”
“Bathroom,” she said and pointed down the hall.
Most everyone living in the parish knew what the Chiasson’s did, but Maria had kept the true cause of Olivia’s parent’s deaths from her. Which meant Olivia might not know his family protected the parish by hunting supernatural creatures.
If she didn’t know, he wasn’t going to be the one to enlighten her.
He found the aspirin and dumped two in his hand before he walked back to Olivia. He handed the pills and water to her. “This will help with the headache.”
The look in her gaze was fierce as she popped the pills in her mouth and drank the water to swallow them. “Whatever you’re trying your damnedest not to tell me, spit it out.”
“Where is Maria?”
“Maman is at Grace’s house. Why?”
Vincent sat in the chair next to the couch and glanced out the window. “Did you see what attacked you?”
“Yes.” She visibly swallowed. “Well, sort of. It was hairy and dark. It came out of the shadows. I know I was alone on the porch, and then...it was just there. You were hunting it, weren’t you?”
Damn. So she did know what his family did. Vincent was disappointed. Not that he stood a chance with someone like Olivia, but for just a moment, he would have liked to pretend.
He nodded. “It could have killed you right then, but it didn’t. It looked to be dragging you off. Did it say anything?”
“Not at all. It slammed my head against the wood before I could run away. I need to call Maman. It could be after her, and she shouldn’t come home.”
Vincent covered her hand that grabbed her cell phone. “I don’t think the creature was after Maria.”
“You think it was after me?” Olivia’s black eyes went wide. “I just got back. How could it be after me?”
“I’m afraid it has to do with my family. Beau spoke with you this morning.”
“Wow. So who did your family piss off?”
She pulled her hand away, and Vincent tried not to be upset. He stood and walked to the door to look out the glass. His brothers were staying close to the house while still patrolling. “I don’t know who is after us. This goes back years. I’m sorry you got pulled into this. Perhaps you should return to Dallas.”
“I can’t.”
No explanation, nothing. Vincent looked at her over his shoulder and saw her studying the water bottle as if it held the answers to the universe.
“Well, you can’t remain here.”
She stood quickly and swayed. Vincent was next to her in a heartbeat, his arms wrapped around her waist to steady her. He urged her back down, and then lifted her feet to put them on the couch so that she was reclining again.
“You should remain lying down for a bit longer,” he said, stopping from touching her face as he was about to do.
She had her hand on her forehead as she leveled her gaze at him. “I know you want to hunt this thing, but please don’t leave me alone.”
No one had ever asked a Chiasson – much less him – to
stay. It felt as if the sun had settled on him after eons of winter. Vincent had to remind himself that it was only because she was scared, and nothing more.
She had made her life away from Lyons Point, away from him. There was no kind of future for them, and he needed to keep remembering that.
“We’ll be staying until dawn. After that, you and Maria need to think about leaving town for awhile.”
A small smile turned up her lips as she closed her eyes. “You know my grandmother. That’s not going to happen.”
The door opened and Lincoln walked inside. “We have a problem, Vin.”
Vincent pulled his gaze from Olivia and went to his brother. “What is it?”
“We found tracks.”
“Where?”
Lincoln paused. “Everywhere. It’s like the beast is circling the house waiting to get to her, and yet we can’t see it.”
If it could disappear and reappear at will, Vincent didn’t know how to fight it. He fingered the hilt of his machete at his thigh as his mind ran through different scenarios.
“What makes you think this thing will stop at sunrise?” Olivia asked into the silence.
Lincoln leaned around him and said, “It has every other night. Why should tonight be any different?”
“Because it didn’t get its prey,” Vincent said as realization hit him. He shifted his gaze to Olivia to see fear cloud her features.
Something slammed into the back of the house. Olivia jerked as Vincent rushed to her side to protect her while Lincoln ran to the back of the house. Outside, Vincent could hear both Beau and Christian shouting at each other.
The second hit came from the front of the house near the porch.
Vincent unsheathed his machete just as Lincoln came back into the living room. Olivia rose from the couch and stood behind him, her hands on his waist.
Everything grew quiet, including Beau and Christian and the profusion of insects outside. The stillness was eerie, sending warning bells clanging in Vincent’s head.
Olivia screamed as the lights flickered and something materialized in the kitchen, only to disappear almost immediately.
That’s all it took for Vincent to grab her and head to the door. Lincoln fell in step behind them, a Bowie knife in each hand.
Vincent let out a two-toned whistle to signal his brothers as they stepped onto the porch. Christian was the first to appear, his crossbow at his shoulder and aimed. Beau was right behind him with the sawed off double-barreled shotgun.
As soon as Olivia’s foot touched the wood of the porch there was a loud growl and the creature came out of the corner of the porch for her.
Vincent yanked Olivia against him, turning his back to the creature. He winced as he felt something slash his back. The grunts and shouts behind him told Vincent that his brothers had the beast cornered.
It was going to be over. Olivia was going to be safe.
Which meant he had no reason to be with her.
Regret surged within him. How he hated himself for it, too. Olivia’s safety was more important than the stark need roaring through him.
He reveled in the feel of his arms around her, of how her body molded to his. Of how she clung to him. He bit back a groan at the feel of her breasts pressed against his chest.
“Son of a bitch!” Christian bellowed.
Lincoln touched Vincent’s arm. “It’s gone, Vin. We didn’t get it.”
Vincent slowly pulled his head back, letting his cheek rub against Olivia’s. Her mouth was inches from his, and her full lips were parted.
He made himself look into her eyes thinking it would cool his ardor. Instead, it was like adding gas to the flame when he saw desire reflected in her black depths.
Her hand on his chest flexed, and he found his arms tensing, holding her closer. His balls tightened when her tongue peeked out to lick her lips.
His head dipped, ready to kiss her when Lincoln said his name.
Vincent was ready to punch him. He turned to give Lincoln a piece of his mind when he felt his back pull. That’s when he remembered the creature’s claws had gotten him.
“Vincent, you’re hurt,” Olivia said.
He shrugged it off. The slashes hurt, but it wasn’t the first time he had been cut hunting a creature – nor would it be the last.
Vincent was about to tell Olivia that when something caught his eye in the board at the corner of the house. He ran his thumb over the Hoodoo symbol.
“Well, Maria. I didn’t expect this,” he said aloud.
CHAPTER SIX
Olivia barely had time to register what Vincent said before she was surrounded by all four Chiasson brothers and marched to her car.
Vincent got behind the wheel with Lincoln taking the passenger seat. Olivia was squished between Christian and Beau in the back. No one said a word as Vincent spun out the wheels in his hurry to leave.
Olivia looked back as they drove off, and she could have sworn she saw something step from the shadows of the house. She shivered as she turned back to the front.
“My grandmother doesn’t practice Hoodoo,” she stated, because she felt someone had to say it.
Vincent met her gaze in the rearview mirror, but it was Lincoln who said, “You’ve been away a long time. Do you really know what’s going on in Maria’s life?”
“My grandmother is devout Catholic, just as your family is.”
Beau grabbed the headrest in front of him as they bounced along the road. “The fact is, Olivia, someone marked your house with that symbol. I think it was meant to keep evil out.”
“But evil got in. That creature showed up in the kitchen,” Lincoln said.
Vincent jerked the wheel to miss a raccoon. “It didn’t stay. It flashed in, and now that I think about it, it might have been trying to get Olivia out of the house.”
“So I was safer there?” she asked and rolled her eyes.
Christian grabbed her seatbelt and strapped her in. “You’ll be safer with us. That thing wanted you, and it isn’t going to stop until it has you.”
“I’m screwed then.” Just what she wanted to hear. Her professional life was falling apart, and now, apparently, so was her private life.
Beau rested his shotgun over his legs. “Not where we’re taking you.”
“And that is?”
“Home,” Vincent said.
Home. He couldn’t mean... Oh God, he did. They were taking her to their home. As far as she knew, few people had ever seen the Chiasson house. It was even deeper in the bayou than her grandmother’s.
Olivia remained silent as Vincent wound them through back roads she hadn’t even known were there. She worried her little car wouldn’t make it over some parts, but Vincent managed to get them through each time.
She leaned forward when she spotted the drive that was lined on either side with massive live oak trees. As impressive as the trees were, it was the house that took her breath away.
The two story white house was the picture of a perfect plantation home with its huge columns, porches – upper and lower - wrapping all the way around the house, and black shutters.
Olivia was still staring at the house when Christian unbuckled her seatbelt, and Beau pulled her out of the car. She was ushered into the house quickly.
But once the door was closed behind them, all four brothers let out a sigh of relief. Olivia could only gape at the splendor before her. The wood floors were dark and had rugs of various sizes and colors placed throughout. The staircase was front and center as it curved to the second floor.
The walls were painted a soft gray and the crown molding was thick and ornate. A round table sat in the foyer with an array of pictures of the family.
She wanted to explore every inch of the house. How did she not know about something so grand in her town?
Olivia walked around the table and started for the stairs, only vaguely aware that Beau, Christian, and Lincoln went off to different parts of the first floor.
“How’s your head?”
She stopped, her eyes closing at the deep timber of Vincent’s voice. The house forgotten, her body trembled as she recalled the hard press of his muscles, the heady scent of him when he had yanked her against him.
And then when he had looked down at her. Her stomach quivered just remembering how his bright blue eyes had filled with desire.
She had thought he would kiss her back at her house. For just a moment, the desire, the yearning had burned bright in his gaze and on his face.
And then just like that, it was gone.
“It’s better,” she answered.
“And your arm? I’ll need to check the bandages.”
She bit her lip as she thought about his hands on her skin again. All she could think about around Vincent, was him. On her.
In her.
Thrusting hard and fast, slow and deep.
She nearly moaned at the thought. How was it that he could inspire such erotic thoughts? No other man had ever affected her this way.
“Olivia?”
She jerked open her eyes to find him standing in front of her. He was frowning, searching her face as if he could determine what was wrong.
“Your face is flushed.”
So was so much more of her, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. “It’s just all the excitement. How am I safe here?”
“The house is warded against...well, everything. No evil can penetrate these walls. Most can’t even get on our land.”
She was duly impressed. Olivia rubbed her hands along her arms and gave a shake of her head. “I need to call my grandmother. She’ll be worried.”
“One of us will see to that,” he said and motioned her to follow him.
With nothing else to do, Olivia did just that. She found herself in a large kitchen with a map spread out on the breakfast table.
“We’ve been hunting this thing for a week,” Vincent said as he stared down at the map. “It has killed three women already.”
“What?” Olivia hadn’t heard any of this. Then again, she hadn’t been in town long enough to learn the gossip, nor had she seen any of the papers.