“Go after her. It’s clear she fancies you. Invite the bird to dinner tonight. You always make extra. Skinny thing like Laura can’t eat much.”
“I’m not inviting her to dinner. It would be awkward.”
“Awkward?”
Charles nodded.
“Don’t be daft. You cook. You set the food on the table. We all sit down and eat. What’s awkward about that? People do it all the time.”
Charles dug his hands into his trousers, shook his head. “Not with their servants. I’m not your wife. I’m not your guest. I’m your butler.”
“I’ll tell you what you are. You’re a snob. You accuse me of having class issues? You’re supposed to follow my orders, are you not?”
“Yes.”
“Go invite her to dinner!”
Charles took a few steps, then hesitated.
“Go!” I said, giving him a little nudge.
“Laura! Wait!”
When Charles and I returned home Will and Jennifer had just arrived and were still standing in the entry.
“Can I take your coats and offer you something to drink?” Katherine was asking them.
“Sorry I’m a bit late, I had a sick friend to attend to,” said Wes.
“I’ll hang up your coats,” offered Charles.
“But you’re not late at all, we’ve just arrived,” said Jennifer. Holding her hand out in front of her, she walked slowly to the stairs. “She was so sad here.”
“Who?” I asked.
“Elisabeth. She died here. But you knew that.” She turned to face Katherine. “You’ve seen her.”
“How do you know?”
“I see her, too. Has she spoken to you?” Jennifer’s gaze seemed to be tracking something as it moved about the room.
“No. Has she spoken to you?”
Jennifer nodded.
A chill passed through me.
“She’s here, isn’t she?” asked Katherine.
“You’re getting better, better able to detect her. Open yourself up. She doesn’t want to hurt you, just the opposite.”
Katherine leaned against the nearby banister. “What does she want?”
Before Jennifer could respond, Charles returned. “What can I get you all to drink?”
I wrapped my arm around Katherine’s waist and showed everyone into the living room. “We’ve invited Laura. She’s on her way as well,” I told her.
“How’s Damien?”
“Kind of hard to tell. Laura thought it was scorpion bites. He was delirious.”
Charles poured a scotch and handed it to Will. “Scorpion bites? Are you serious?” he asked, after taking a sip.
“That’s what I said. But she has experience with this sort of thing. She seemed pretty certain.”
“Was he delirious last night, Wes? Do you think he’d already been bitten?” asked Katherine.
I gave her hand a squeeze. “I think he was just drunk, love.”
“Where on earth would he have come into contact with scorpions in London?” asked Julia.
“I’m terribly sorry. I’ve yet to introduce you. George Grant, Julia Lawson, this is Will and Jennifer Carlton.”
Will approached George, offering his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Jennifer was standing over by the window, gazing outside into the darkness.
“Miss Carlton?” Charles handed her a glass of club soda. Turning toward him she said, “Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.”
“I’m sorry?” asked Charles.
Jennifer shook her head and smiled weakly. “I mean, thank you. I meant to say thank you.”
I dropped Katherine’s hand and approached Jennifer. “But you didn’t.”
“I didn’t?”
“No. What does it mean?”
Will joined his sister by the window and protectively draped his arm over her shoulders. “Back off a bit. She doesn’t always know. It doesn’t work that way.”
I took a step back. “What you said just now, Damien said to me last night. As I was walking away he said hell is naked before him, and—”
“—destruction hath no covering?” Jennifer finished.
“Yes. What’s it mean?”
Jennifer shook her head. “I have no idea.”
“But you just said it. You finished my sentence.”
“It’s from the Bible,” said George.
He was polishing his glasses, not a good sign.
“It’s from the Bible, George?”
“It’s a reference to Abaddon, I think, sometimes thought of as the Grim Reaper, also known as The Destroyer, from his role as one of the destroying angels of the apocalypse.”
“Of the apocalypse?” asked Katherine. “Why would Damien be quoting some Bible verse about the apocalypse? What does this Abaddon do, exactly?”
George allowed me to refill his scotch glass. “If I remember correctly, Abaddon is a fallen angel. He opens the gates of the abyss and unleashes upon the earth swarms of demon locusts.”
“Grasshoppers?” asked Katherine. “Not quite in the same category as butterflies and ladybugs, but all in all not too horribly scary.”
“Not grasshoppers.” George looked down into his scotch, then replaced his glasses. “He’s said to have the body of a winged warhorse, the face of a human and the poisonous curved tail of a scorpion.”
“Get out!” said Katherine.
“Unusual coincidence?” murmured Charles.
“Maybe it’s not a coincidence,” said Will.
“Of course it’s a coincidence. You don’t mean to suggest there’s a demon flying about London on a winged horse, do you?” I asked.
“It does explain what happened to Damien,” said Katherine. “I wonder if that’s what Elisabeth’s been trying to warn us about?”
Julia stood up and tiredly rubbed her forehead. “Who’s Elisabeth?”
“A ghost that Wes and I have been seeing. Jennifer too, right?”
“Wes?” Julia was beginning to look a tad alarmed. I couldn’t say I blamed her. We all sounded completely nutters. Thankfully, we were interrupted by the doorbell.
“Must be Laura. I’ll get the door and show her in. Dinner will be ready in twenty minutes,” said Charles.
“Sounds good. I’ll get more ice.” I reached for the ice bucket, then headed into the kitchen. I went straight for the freezer.
“I know it sounds fantastic, but don’t just dismiss it. You promised to take care of her, of them,” I heard her say. “Open your eyes, Wes.”
“Julia,” I began as I turned around. The bucket slipped out of my hand and fell to the floor. Water spilled out and chunks of ice skittered across the cold black and white marble.
“You know, Wes. You see his victims every day. He plays with them. Like a snake he slithers into their minds, creating doubt, showing them lies, bending reality, all for his amusement. But, Wes, he can’t actually change reality. He’s not that powerful,” said the woman standing before me.
I slid to the floor. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. My mind was reeling. Elisabeth stood before me, fully formed, dressed in a dark green velvet dressing gown, her copper hair hanging in a long braid over one shoulder. Her feet were bare. I watched as the puddle spread, reaching out, until the cold water surrounded her delicate toes.
I closed my eyes. “You’re not real. You’re not real.” But then I opened them again and she was still there, standing before me, as plain as day.
“Wes, you need help? I heard a crash.” Katherine walked through the door into the kitchen. “Wes?”
She fell to her knees at my side. “Are you all right?”
I glanced back. Elisabeth was gone.
“Wes?”
“He can’t actually change reality. He’s not that powerful,” I repeated.
“What happened?” asked Katherine, grabbing a towel from the counter and wiping up the spilled water.
I reached for her. “Stop it! I need to know this is r
eal. I need to know you’re real!” Desperately I ran my hands over her face and body.
Katherine looked at me, her eyes wide from fear.
“I’m real, Wes. I know we’ve been seeing and hearing some strange
things—”
Laughter bubbled up and spilled from my mouth. “Bloody right we have! I feel like I’m this close to snapping!”
“Wes! Look at me, baby. Maybe we should get away. We could go to California.”
“I don’t think running away is the answer.”
“Wes, the word apocalypse? That frightens me. You, Jennifer and I? We can’t all be crazy. I don’t understand what’s happening.”
I pulled Katherine into my arms. “I think I’m beginning to.”
“You are?”
I nodded. “My rational mind tells me it’s impossible.”
“But?” Katherine pulled back and looked me in the eye.
“Pieces are falling into place. It’s starting to make sense to me. I honestly think that’s the most frightening part.”
“Something is happening.”
“Yes.” I nodded, reaching up to cup her cheek. “And whatever it is, we’ll suss it out. I promised your mum, I promised myself that I’d protect you and I will, till the end of the world.”
“End of the world? No offense, Wes, but you’re just a man.”
“I’m a man who loves you and love is stronger than death, it can outlast it. This isn’t about destroying the world. That’s not what this is about. At least, I don’t think so. This is about manipulating, about controlling, about stealing.”
“Stealing? Stealing what?”
“One tortured mind, one tortured soul at a time.”
“We’ve got a fight ahead of us, you realize that?” It was Jennifer. When she’d entered, I wasn’t sure.
“What kind of a fight?” I asked her.
“I don’t know.”
“Will we win?” asked Katherine, her hand involuntarily covering her stomach.
“Lives will be lost.”
Katherine clutched at my biceps. “I want my mother out of here. I want her far away, back in California.” She turned to Jennifer. “She’ll be safe there?”
“I think so. This is all my fault. I messed with the natural order of things.”
“I don’t understand,” said Katherine.
“Wesley was supposed to die on the Tube. We cheated him—Death. He’s not happy.” She tapped the side of her head. “There’s something, I can almost see it. But not quite. Blood. A battle.”
Chills ran down my spine. “Whose blood?”
“It’s not clear yet.”
“Are we in danger here?” asked Katherine.
Jennifer shook her head. “It doesn’t end here. It ends someplace else. Someplace I’ve never been.”
“I don’t like the way you said end.” I wrapped my arm around Katherine and pulled her close to me. “Maybe you’re wrong,” I said, knowing in my heart that she wasn’t.
Jennifer sighed. “I wish I was, but I’m not. I don’t think we have long to prepare.”
“Prepare?” I laughed. “For what?”
“For whatever is to come.” Jennifer walked up to me and took my hands in hers. “This is why you were saved. But for tonight? For right now? We just need to get through dinner.”
Get through dinner, was she joking? Spending the evening engaging in casual banter was the last thing on my mind. I reached deep down inside of myself and found the courage to ask the hardest question of all. “My surviving the crash is what started this. Will my death end it?”
Jennifer knew what I was asking. “Whatever the sacrifice, it will be of his choosing. Not yours. Not mine.”
“There will be no sacrifice,” said Katherine with determination.
Jennifer smiled. “She’s scrappy. I like her.”
“Me too.”
“Drive safely!” I called out before closing the front door and locking it. The past couple hours had felt like torture.
“I’ll go let Spike in,” offered Katherine.
I reached for her hand as she turned to walk away. “I’ll do it. You head upstairs. I’ll be up in a jiff.”
“Okay.”
“Are you all right?”
“No. Are you?”
“Not by a long shot.”
“But we’re okay for now. Right?”
“If we believe Jennifer.”
“I do.” Katherine reached up and cupped the side of my face in the palm of her hand. “If I hadn’t trusted her the other night, you wouldn’t be here now. We wouldn’t be here, together. We’re going to get through this, Wesley.”
I watched Katherine climb up the stairs, then proceeded through the kitchen and opened the back door. “Here, boy!” Within seconds Spike came bounding up the back steps, wagging his tail excitedly. “Hey, you knocked your water over. Let’s give you a refill and let you in for the night.”
Suddenly Spike spun around and growled, baring his teeth.
“What is it?”
As if in response to his question the cat belonging to the person in the neighboring house flew out of a nearby bush and shot across the yard.
“Come on, Spike. She’s nothing but a tease, that one. You can do far better, mate.” He turned to look at me and then without a glance back at the cat, followed me inside, and up the stairs. Katherine was in the bathroom.
I debated whether or not to intrude. The door was left partially ajar and I was craving contact. I busied myself for a moment with the mundane task of getting undressed. When I was left with only my trousers I finally gave in and eased into the doorway. Katherine was brushing her teeth. She noticed me at once.
She’d removed her skirt, but she was still wearing the tall, brown suede boots. Her silk blouse was unbuttoned and lying casually open, giving me a glorious view of her cream colored bra and knickers. The hollow of her neck, swell of her breast, curve of her waist, they beckoned to me. Despite the stress, despite the gravity of the moment, the gravity of what was to come, she had the power to move me, to excite me. That was something to hold on to.
“Do you have any idea how sexy you look?”
“No one’s sexy while they’re brushing their teeth,” she declared before rinsing, her mouth full of foamy toothpaste.
I wrapped my arm around her waist and ground my erection into her silk-covered behind teasingly. “Is that so? I have evidence to the contrary. Look at yourself.” I wanted to slip my hand inside her knickers and seek out the wet heat between her legs.
“Wes.” Katherine closed her eyes and leaned her head back.
“What do you want?” I kissed up the length of the long column of her neck.
Her eyes connected with mine in the mirror. “I want to feel alive.”
“I love you.”
Katherine moistened her lips. “Tell me you want me, not just sexually. Tell me you really want me.”
“This, between us, it’s not just about sex. You know that, right?”
For a moment Katherine looked as if she were about to cry. She wrapped her arms around my neck and held on tight. “I know,” she whispered. “I’m sorry. I’m feeling insecure, overly emotional.”
“You’ve been through a lot. We both have.”
“I signed up for the package without the moodiness, really I did.”
“Shh.” I lifted her into my arms and carried her to the turned-down bed. “You’re tired. Sleep. Things will seem clearer in the morning.”
I unbuttoned my trousers and stepped out of them. The fact that I was semi-erect was readily apparent. Katherine climbed to her knees, positioning herself in front of me, then she reached inside my boxers and freed my cock. “I want you to make love to me.”
She started to stroke me up and down. It didn’t take much, the slightest touch and I was hard and stiff and ready.
“Are you sure?” I climbed onto the bed and lowered her back onto the mattress. “We don’t have to.”
“What if
this is all we have? What if tonight is all we have? I want to. I need to feel your arms around me, you inside of me.” Katherine tilted her hips up in invitation. Her hands were holding on to my biceps in a way that telegraphed a sense of urgency. She wanted me, this. And she wanted it now.
I understood her desperation. Bloody hell, I felt her desperation. I didn’t take the time to undress her any further. Instead I pushed her knickers aside and slid into her quickly, deeply. God willing, there would be time for slow, for savoring, later.
Everything else in the room disappeared. Everything else in the world disappeared. Everything but the sounds of her keening, the feel of her pussy surrounding me and the wonderful aroma of unbridled passion, of sweat and sex. The rhythm we created as we climbed together was almost dizzying. I devoured her, nibbling her ears, then pulling down the cups of her bra to nip and suck on her peaked nipples.
“God, you feel so good!”
Katherine ran her nails down the length of my back, to my ass. She grabbed it and squeezed, making me shudder. I almost let go. But I didn’t. I held on and instead I arched up so that I could get a better angle. I reached for one of her legs and opened her even more so that with each thrust my cock was rubbing against her clit.
She was writhing beneath me now, her body trembling. I crushed my mouth to hers in a forceful kiss. It occurred to me that I was being greedy and inconsiderate, just taking what I wanted. At that very moment I didn’t care. I should have, but I didn’t. In part because the sex was so intoxicating, because she was so intoxicating, my thirst for her unquenchable. In part because she took control, showing me she could, making me realize that nothing would ever happen between us that we didn’t both want to have happen.
Katherine threaded her fingers through my hair and pulled, ending our kiss. She was gasping for breath, her eyes shining with a wanton lust. She was right at the edge and I’d taken her there.
“I want to be on top.”
No sooner were the words out of her mouth, we switched positions. Katherine rested her hands on my chest and closed her eyes, her body becoming completely still. It was a sharp contrast to our earlier lovemaking and slightly alarming.
“Is this all right?”
She nodded, slowly, and began to rock, gently, back and forth. “You’re so deep. Never felt it this deep before.”
The Sacrifice: Forbidden, Book 1 Page 15