Phantom Pleasures

by Julie Leto

  “The athame,” she said, extending her left hand.

  He placed the hilt in her palm, but she made no move to tighten her grip around it. Instead, she waved the knife loosely above the map, as if waiting for the blade to tumble out of her hand and fall.

  Nothing happened.

  She chanted. Words Ben had never heard, phrases he couldn’t begin to understand. Then, a bit of Latin. To find. To seek. To need.

  “Take the knife.”

  Ben grabbed the hilt.

  “Cut me.”

  “What?”

  She held her hand out, palm up. “Think of your father and slice my skin.” She’d started to sway with the rhythm of the repetitious mantra, her hair sliding against her body, the strands teasing the edges of the candle flames.

  “Cat, no—”

  She cut off his protest with a glare so intense, he wondered about her supposed inexperience with her psychic powers. Her eyes flashed with power, with determination. If he didn’t cut her, she’d cut herself. Nothing would stop her from finding Paschal, especially not a moment’s pain.

  The minute he touched the sharpened tip of the athame to her skin, she closed her eyes and chanted louder. With an unspoken curse, he sliced the blade across her skin and watched, horrified, as her bright red blood beaded, then streamed across her palm. She held her hand over the empty bowl, her chanting and swaying building to a wild crescendo that grabbed him by the throat. He turned the knife on himself and sliced his hand, mingling his blood—Paschal’s blood—with hers, then, after listening intently, he repeated the prayer to her voodoo gods.

  She squeezed her injured hand tightly, cutting off the flow of blood. He did the same. Still chanting, Cat dipped her uninjured hand into the herbs and added the tiny dried leaves to the bloody bowl. She grabbed a candle, held it high above her head, invoked the goddess Orunmila, and threw the flame into the bowl. The herbs ignited and the scent of coppery blood was immediately swallowed by a burst of pungency. She stirred the tip of the blade in the charred remnants, then held the knife over the map yet again.

  Slowly, Ben became aware of how he swayed with Cat, how their bodies moved in synchronized rhythm with the melodious mantra on the CD. His palm stung and his shirt stuck to his body with cold sweat. But before he could register any other detail, the knife fell from her hand and punctured the map.

  At this, she stopped. Her eyes flew open, and from the way her irises darted from side to side, he realized she wasn’t entirely aware of what had happened. She’d fallen into a powerful trance, one that he wouldn’t have believed possible if he hadn’t witnessed the scene himself.

  She glanced at the map, shaking. Gingerly, he took her injured hand in his.

  “He’s here,” she said.

  Ben glanced at the location, sighing in relief when he realized his father wasn’t so far away that they couldn’t reach him before dawn. She’d done it. She’d found him. She’d endured both physical and emotional pain on his behalf—for a man she’d never met.

  Driven by emotions he couldn’t name, he lifted her hand in his and pried her fingers until her fist unclenched and he could see the wound within.

  He kissed her hand, directly above the cut, then led her wordlessly into the guest bathroom, where he rinsed her wound, then did the same to his. In silence, he retrieved antibiotic ointment from the medicine cabinet, applied it to her cut, then wrapped the gash in gauze. She returned the favor, slowly, carefully, without a breath of a word spoken.

  When she was done, the tiny bathroom seemed to shrink. Their bodies barely fit in the enclosed space, and yet fit perfectly.

  “Thank you,” he said, finally breaking the quiet ringing in his ears, drumming out the flare of passion that ignited the moment he realized she was just a few inches away from him, wearing next to nothing, dizzy from the magic she’d invoked on his father’s behalf.

  “We haven’t found him yet,” she said, ducking away and returning to the study. She removed the knife and was examining the map by candlelight when Ben mustered the strength to follow.

  “He’s close.”

  “Not too far,” she replied. “Hill Country. But we have to get there fast, Ben. He doesn’t have much time.”

  24

  “Don’t stand too close to the edge,” a voice warned, startling Alexa so that she nearly lost her balance on the dock.

  She spun to find her stepbrother standing behind her, his walnut leather duffel bag slung over his shoulder while he puffed on a Dunhill cigarette.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “The problem in Boston was resolved,” he said. “Apparently, we don’t pay certain maintenance men what they think they’re worth.”

  Alexa had to muster all her brainpower to remember what he was talking about. Oh, yeah. The sabotage in Boston. Just a disgruntled worker. Good. But that information could easily have been conveyed by phone. Which left a question. “That doesn’t explain why you’re back in Florida.”

  “Bored.” He took one last drag on his cigarette, then flicked the butt into the ocean.

  “Of course,” she said, turning away from her brother and taking a deep breath. She loved Jacob, but his timing sucked.

  She’d stayed later than planned at the suite, trying to come up with a plan for securing Damon’s freedom without invoking Rogan’s magic. Distance from Damon had allowed her to attack the problem with all her business acumen. Without experts, she made lists of what they knew about the castle, the magic, the diary, Paschal Rousseau and Lord Rogan. Each bit of information they’d gathered produced questions—questions that might lead to the elusive solution, if Damon cooperated.

  Her brief conversation with Cat told her that Paschal Rousseau still had not been located, but that she and Paschal’s son, Ben, were nearly certain the crime was related to the researcher’s knowledge of Valoren. Meaning, he might know a way to set Damon free, if, as she suspected, he knew about Rogan and his curse.

  She supposed magic like Rogan’s would be very valuable. Look at what Damon could conjure from thin air. She’d known people who had sold their souls for less—had that been why Paschal Rousseau had been taken hostage without any request for ransom? To unlock the secrets to Lord Rogan’s sorcery? And she couldn’t help but wonder why now…just after Cat had started poking around. Coincidence of timing or not, until Cat and Ben recovered Paschal, Alexa had to keep Damon from using Rogan’s magic. If the black evil infected him completely, she might never break him free.

  In the distance, she saw the boat she’d chartered approaching the dock after refueling. Paulie, a saucy blond grad student with salt water in her veins, waved warmly from the captain’s chair.

  Alexa picked up her bag. “Go back to the hotel, then,” she told Jacob. “We’ll talk in the morning.”

  “We’ll talk now,” Jacob said. “I’m going with you.”

  “Excuse me?”

  Jacob dug his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Rumor has it you’ve been spending every night at the castle since I left. I want to see you sleep on a hard stone floor.”

  “I had a room done up,” she lied. “A room that sleeps one. And since I’m perfectly safe in my castle on my own, I’ll see you in the morning.”

  She grabbed her bag and proceeded down the pier, relieved when she didn’t hear Jacob’s footsteps behind her. As she boarded the boat, he saluted. Only after Paulie shoved off did Jacob sprint down the pier and jump onto the deck, grinning at his own moxie.

  The young captain dashed in front of Alexa. “Who the hell are you?”

  “Ask her,” he said.

  Alexa cursed. “I didn’t invite you along, Jacob.”

  “Since when does family need an invitation?”

  Since I’m going to see my phantom lover, you twit.

  “Since I need some time alone,” she answered.

  He stepped closer, but apparently, Paulie’s expression made him stop before he was too close. “What secret are you keeping?” he asked. “You
’ve never been reticent with me before.”

  Only because she’d never had secrets worth keeping until now. Work, work and more work didn’t require caution. Now larger-than-life, amazing, unbelievable, intimate things had been happening to her. Things she might never have believed less than a week ago.

  And she wasn’t thinking about the magic.

  “I’m not being secretive; I’m being private. There’s a difference. Unless, of course, you want to pour your heart out to me about where you go on those jaunts of yours every other weekend? Or the large packages that arrive at the house every month with no return address? Or maybe you’d like to show me the second cell phone you keep, the one that never rings with numbers I recognize?”

  Jacob stared at her, expressionless. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  She crossed her arms tightly on her chest and told Paulie she could stand down. The captain headed back to her helm, out of earshot, but watching Jacob keenly. Alexa stepped closer so Jacob wouldn’t miss a single syllable of her response. “Let’s just say that our brother-sister relationship isn’t about one of us being bound to the other. I mean, I may have tried to whip you into corporate shape for the good of the company, but I don’t expect you to act submissive to me.”

  Jacob forced a chuckle at her seemingly nonsensical response, but his discomfort oozed from the pores on his forehead and above his lip. “My personal life is none of your business.”

  “Exactly. And mine is none of yours.”

  Paulie leaped onto the pier and resecured the bow line to the cleat. When Jacob made no move to disembark, the captain cleared her throat. Jacob spared her a glance and quickly accepted that two stubborn women weren’t worth the trouble. He gave Alexa another salute, grabbed his bag and returned to the dock.

  Seconds later, Paulie joined her on the boat, her gloved hands automatically coiling the line. “You okay?”

  Alexa swallowed deeply, but her throat remained dry. Something in Jacob’s eyes seemed different…and yet, familiar. Like the Jacob of the old days, when he cared more about rebellion than he did about his Rolex.

  “I’m fine. My brother is overprotective sometimes.”

  Paulie smirked as she climbed into the captain’s chair. “Is that what you call that look? Cause, hon, it looked like pure, unadulterated hatred to me.”

  The young captain turned her attention to the helm, her observation hanging heavy in the air. As the boat pulled away from the dock, Alexa watched Jacob laze his way toward the marina. He watched them depart. The distance was too great for her to gauge his expression, but a chill chased up her spine anyway. With a shake, she banished the reaction to the back of her mind. She had more important things to think about right now than her stepbrother.

  Like Damon.

  She wanted him to stay. In her castle. In her bed. Not to fulfill some fantasy and not to haunt her hotel guests. She wanted him with her, fully flesh and blood, to share her life. But once they secured his complete freedom, she knew he’d leave. She expected him to set off immediately to discover what happened to his family, to Rogan, to his estate and title. Roles reversed, she’d do the same. He had no tie to her. No obligation.

  Too bad she felt inexorably tied to him.

  The whole affair had started as a fairy-tale fantasy, but now their connection was painfully real. At least to her. He’d made her face things about herself, about her life—about her future—that she couldn’t ignore. For the first time in years, she looked forward to the next day, the next hour, the next minute—not because of the money she’d make or the expectations she’d satisfy, but because of the man who’d traveled across centuries and landed in her life like a gift.

  And Alexa knew better than to ever refuse a gift.

  Time slowed, a contrast to the swiftness of the wind against her face. Nightfall had come and gone. She’d run late and then had been delayed by Jacob. When Paulie slowed the vessel near the entrance to the lagoon, Alexa’s gaze locked on the castle looming above a wall of prickly tropical plants and prayed she wasn’t too late.

  Once Paulie released the anchor, Alexa grabbed her bag and joined her captain at the stern of the boat, where she kept an inflatable skiff. Paulie had made the journey with her once without incident, yet Alexa noticed the younger woman still looked nervous, even after the motorized raft’s hull scraped against the bleached white lagoon sand.

  The sunset had turned the sky into a brilliant prism of reds, pinks and oranges while she’d been arguing with Jacob, but now a deep indigo overtook what would be a starry sky. “You look nervous,” Alexa said, climbing out and accepting her bag from Paulie. “You know I’m safe here, right?”

  Paulie glanced at the castle. “On this island, I think safety may be relative. I’m not from around here originally, so I didn’t grow up with all the legends and lore, but those salts at the marina have a good time filling my head with horror stories.”

  Alexa tried to stifle a grin. “Do you believe these tales of ghosts and curses?”

  Paulie snickered. “Do you want me to?”

  Just a few days ago, Alexa would have said yes. She would have wanted to feed the fables until no one could resist making a reservation at her castle, if only to find out if the stories were true. Now thoughts of establishing her independent reputation outside of her father’s legacy meant next to nothing. Not when a man’s soul was at stake.

  Paulie floated the skiff back into the water. “Check your phone. Make sure you can reach me if you need rescuing.”

  Alexa did as her captain instructed. The satellite device responded perfectly, so with her usual promise to call when she wanted to leave, she waved good-bye.

  With her flashlight skimming the area as she moved, she followed the now familiar path to the fissure in the wall that would lead her to the castle. Again, the overgrowth snapped at her, and again, she persevered until the castle was only a few yards away.

  The moon hung like a priceless pearl in the sky, the glow electrifying the castle walls with a thousand points of diamond light. Candle-and firelight burned inside the stained-glass windows, igniting a rainbow of color against the glittering stone. She couldn’t help but think that all future guests to the island should arrive on a full moon so they could witness the castle as she did now.

  Joyful. Magnificent. Magical.

  She approached warily, but this time, before she even touched the latch, the door slowly swung open.

  As if someone had thrust a knife into her windpipe, she faltered. From the foyer to the stairwell and both grand rooms on either side, period furnishings, tapestries, paintings, mosaics and plush carpets overflowed with rich elegance. Damon had spared no detail. Even the cat seemed inordinately pleased as it pranced across the landing, flicking its thick, fluffed tail.

  “Damon,” she whispered, her stomach aching from what he’d done. “No.”

  She dropped her pack and shot forward to find him, then stopped before she had gone six paces. Remembering her brother’s odd appearance at the dock, she turned and secured the door. She then dug into her pack and retrieved her satellite phone and, as an afterthought, the flare gun. Despite her warnings and his promises, Damon had re-created every inch of the main floor. What had the magic taken from him in return?

  25

  Searching for him took more than an hour. Every corner she turned provided yet another stab in her heart, another blow to her ability to hope. Only a few small rooms on the upper floors and a row of small chambers beyond what she learned was the kitchen remained untouched. She was about to backtrack when a frustrated shout rent the air.

  She followed the sound through an archway at the very back of the castle. On the other side, she discovered an odd circular room she didn’t remember from her initial explorations. Very little distinguished the space from an outdoor patio, except that it had a roof and curved walls on all sides. Otherwise, the floor-to-ceiling windows invited the outdoors in so much that she was shocked to see Damon collapsed onto his
knees in the center of the room, his head buried in his hands.

  She called his name.

  “Leave, Alexa. Now. Before it’s too late,” he muttered, though even the thready words brimmed with barely checked fury.

  Disappointment and loss flooded through her. How could he use the magic so thoughtlessly? He’d known the consequences. How could he risk everything without first giving her a chance?

  “What have you done?”

  He slapped his hands against the polished marble floor, and pushed to his feet. He did not face her, but his shoulders bunched with barely contained tension.

  “Go.”

  The word was more growl than command. He’d done so much magic. Did she dare stay?

  She took a step forward, her hand outstretched. If she could only…

  He spun on her. “Go!”

  “I won’t!”

  He charged toward her, slashing his arm as if he meant her to fly backward with the momentum of his movement. She didn’t move, but a large urn near the doorway rose into the air and crashed against the wall.

  She jumped, startled, but held her ground. He slashed his arm again and the urn’s partner exploded. A hailstorm of ceramic shards rained against her legs but did no damage.

  Only inches in front her, Damon panted, furious, then stared at his hands. Horror was etched into the stunning planes of his face. Horror at what he’d tried to do? Or at his impotence to hurt her?

  When he looked up, his eyes burned. A red glaze had formed over his irises.

  “Get. Out,” he ordered.

  Her heart cracked and the emotional pain nearly doubled her over. Then, completely on instinct, she grabbed his shirt and yanked until her lips crashed against his.

  The contact lasted only seconds. He threw her backward and she lost her footing, falling and sliding across the floor. Debris from the shattered urns bit at her hands, but not enough to scare her off.

  She stood and dusted the dirt off her slacks. “I won’t go.”