Phantom Pleasures

by Julie Leto

  She hiccupped and then laughed. “You don’t feel an irresistible urge to kill me?”

  He chuckled. “No.”

  Cat clucked her tongue. “Just wait. The time will come.”

  Alexa rushed into his arms, and the sensations of her embrace erased any memory of the agony he’d experienced.

  “But how do we know you’re alive?” she asked, looking up at him expectantly. “You’re solid now, but how long will it last?”

  He stared at the sunlight now turning the crimson glass in the window into bright scarlet. “There’s only one way to find out for sure.”

  Despite the apprehension marring Alexa’s lovely face, he marched to the door and touched the handle. The sky remained bright. No storm brewed. He felt no resistance as he pressed the latch. He sucked in a breath, tugged and was instantly bathed in new morning sunlight.

  He blinked, then, realizing he was holding his breath, he exhaled audibly. He reached behind him and Alexa instantly took his hand. He stood there with her, in the doorway between his former prison and freedom, breathing in the fresh salt air and listening to the gentle rustling of the wind through the strange, spiky plants that surrounded the castle. His life, after nearly three centuries, had finally begun.

  Tentatively, he took a step outside the threshold. He glanced up at the sky, which was blossoming with an array of colors, from lavender to pink to tangerine, with hints of blue that foretold a clear and brilliant day. As his boot crunched on the step, covered in sand and crushed shell, he turned toward Alexa, and with no words to express his elation, bent down to kiss her sweet lips and make his rebirth complete.

  But before his mouth could press against hers, pain tore into him, the hot agony preceded by a sharp report. The world rocked. His legs buckled. His vision swirled. His knees slammed hard on the stone when he fell, but the only sound he could hear was Alexa screaming his name.

  31

  Alexa drew her hand away from the hot, slick liquid oozing from Damon’s back. Blood. Oh, God. He was real. And he was dying.

  On the path leading up to the castle, she saw the barrel of a gun. Pointed at her. A man. Two, maybe. With nowhere to hide, she tried to drag Damon’s body inside. The weight of his unconscious body overwhelmed her. Suddenly four hands dragged them both inside. The door slammed closed behind them.

  Ben cursed. “There’s no lock!”

  Alexa saw Damon’s eyelids flutter. Ben had immediately rolled him over and was applying pressure to the wound.

  “He’s alive.”

  “But for how long?” Alexa cried. “Whoever shot him is coming this way.”

  “Barricade the door,” Paschal shouted, limping fast to his brother’s side.

  “With what?” Cat screamed.

  Alexa watched Damon weakly stretch his fingers toward the door. He mumbled, then fell silent.

  Ben tugged again on the latch. It wouldn’t budge.

  Alexa’s heart froze. Damon had just broken free of the curse and the castle without surrendering his soul. But what would happen now if he employed the magic?

  “No more magic!” she begged him, even as he struggled with consciousness.

  Cat tore off the shirt she wore over her tank top and handed the material to Ben to staunch the bleeding. “Can we use it to heal him?”

  Alexa shook her head wildly. “He tried to use the magic to heal himself before and it didn’t work. Now he’s too weak.” She stamped her foot and shouted in frustration. “This isn’t fair! He’d just gotten his life back. Who would do this?”

  Paschal hurried back into the dining hall and dragged a chair to the window so he could peer out of the few clear strips in the stained glass. “There’s a whole group. At least four. Maybe five.”

  Alexa looked desperately at Cat, who nodded at her reassuringly. Ben seemed to know what he was doing. She had to take control of finding out who had just shot her lover. And why.

  “He can’t heal himself,” she offered, “but he might be able to conjure what you need to help him.”

  She rationalized that small magic wouldn’t affect him. It hadn’t before. Only when he’d pushed beyond the limits of a quick conjure or a fast disappearance had he suffered the aftereffects of the evil.

  “He’s not entirely conscious,” Ben said, his eyes—so like Damon’s, she now noticed—flashing with hopelessness and fear.

  “Try,” Alexa ordered before running into the other room to join Paschal at the window.

  “Will the charm protect me from guns?” she asked.

  Paschal frowned. “Only from Rogan’s magic. I’m sorry.”

  “Who are they?”

  “K’vr, undoubtedly. Trouble is, which side?”

  “Does it matter?”

  “I was not the soldier in the family, but I have learned that the identity of your enemy always matters. We could hole up here indefinitely, I suppose, with the magic at our disposal, but they’d only send reinforcements. And though Ben has picked up some battlefield medicine during his days as an adventurer, he’s no surgeon.”

  “My phone!”

  Alexa dashed back into the other room and dug into her bag until she found her satellite phone. She dialed so quickly, she missed a number and had to start again. Finally, she had Paulie on the other end of the line. She explained as quickly as possible and her captain promised to send the Coast Guard right away. Alexa then threatened Paulie with the loss of her job, her captain’s license, her lease and her student loans if she came anywhere near the island alone.

  “Help’s coming,” Alexa told them, but with no sense of relief. Damon was still hurt, though he had regained consciousness.

  Ben and Cat had rolled Damon onto his back, though they’d elevated him against the chair they’d dragged into the hallway. Cat tilted a bottle of something into Damon’s mouth. He grimaced, but swallowed.

  “I went three centuries,” he coughed, “without sustaining a mortal wound. I don’t intend to die today.”

  Alexa allowed herself a dose of happiness, her heart bursting with love for this man—yes, a man!—who’d come into her life as nothing more than a fantasy. “You won’t die. As soon as the Coast Guard comes—”

  Alexa jumped when someone pounded on the door from the other side, then ducked out of the way when what sounded like a hail of gunfire blasted against the thick wood. All of them ducked, but the bullets failed to penetrate the castle’s defenses, magical or physical.

  She looked up when the hammering stopped.

  “Alexa Chandler!”

  The voice was muffled, but the name was clear.

  “Alexa, please!”

  “Jacob,” she breathed, her stomach dropping.

  Cat ran toward her. “This could be a trap.”

  “It’s Jacob,” she insisted.

  “With the gunmen,” Cat pointed out.

  Alexa gaped at her friend. “He’d never hurt me. They must have forced him to come. I know your history with him is ugly and hurtful, but—”

  Cat’s lips drew into a severe line. “You have no idea how ugly, Alexa.”

  “Don’t I? He’s into weird shit,” Alexa said, anxious and angry and on the brink of an emotional meltdown. Damon was hurt. Jacob was in danger. She had to fix this and she couldn’t let Cat or her pride stand in her way. “He wanted you to join him and you refused. I don’t blame you. And since then, he’s been mean and spiteful. But he doesn’t deserve to die because he’s got fetishes neither one of us understands.”

  Cat’s dark eyes widened. “You knew?”

  “The staff to the rich and famous have ears, though thankfully, they also have confidentiality agreements and excessively high salaries.” After gulping a deep breath, Alexa forced herself to calm down. Cat wasn’t her enemy, and though Alexa had downplayed Jacob’s questionable tastes, she knew her friend had every reason not to trust Jacob. “I’m sorry I let you think I didn’t know, but I figured you’d tell me if you wanted to, and since you didn’t, I just respected your need to
be mean right back to my brother ever since.”

  “Your stepbrother.”

  “But still a brother.”

  Again, Jacob called from the other side of the door. Alexa pressed her ear against the wood to hear him more clearly. The other voices were muffled, as if the gunmen stood at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Jacob, I’m here,” she shouted. “What’s happening?”

  Silence ensued, followed by a thud and vibration of the door, as if someone had thrown his body against it.

  “Jacob?”

  “They’ll kill me, Alexa. They’ll shoot me right here if you don’t give them what they want.”

  She glanced over her shoulder at Damon. At the fire opal still glittering on the heavy black cloak.

  “What do they want?”

  A jumble of voices argued on the other side. Alexa’s chest ached as she held her breath. The answer would determine their course of action. Or inaction? She couldn’t wait. She couldn’t allow Jacob to die.

  “They want the magic,” Jacob said.

  Cat rushed to her side. “Don’t buy this. Jacob’s not in any real danger,” she insisted. “Those are his people. He gave you the necklace. He wants the magic, too. He’s working with the K’vr.”

  “One faction perhaps,” Paschal said, shuffling toward the door. “But that doesn’t mean he hasn’t been captured by the other. We don’t know who’s out there. They might not have been aiming for Damon at all or even know who he is. They might have been aiming for you.”

  Alexa turned her face toward the door, pressing her palm against the thick wood, trying to divine what to do. Under other circumstances, she’d wait for the Coast Guard to arrive, but she had no idea how long it would take Paulie to contact the authorities and not only convince them of the severity of the situation, but order a cutter with armed men to the island. If they were off on another call…

  “I have to go out there,” she decided.

  “What?” Cat shouted.

  “You will not!” Damon insisted in the same breath.

  She darted across the floor to Damon’s side. His color had returned, but his breathing was still thready. “He’s my brother.” She glanced at Paschal, who’d returned to the window in the dining hall. “You’d do the same for yours.”

  “My brother didn’t get me into this predicament,” he replied, indicating the necklace with his eyes.

  “No, your sister did,” she shot back.

  Damon scowled. “That’s a blow unworthy of you.”

  “It’s the truth. You were willing to die that night you rode after Sarina, if it meant saving her from Rogan. How can I not do the very same for Jacob?”

  Again, Jacob shouted her name, each time sounding more and more pained.

  She splayed her hands on Damon’s cheeks and took strength from the heat on his skin. “I have to negotiate, but I don’t have to give them what they want.”

  With that, she ripped the fire opal off the cloak, amazed at how the gem buzzed in the palm of her hand. She held the jewel toward Ben. “Take this. Keep it on you, but don’t invoke the magic.”

  “The gem is not required to call the magic,” Damon said.

  “When you were still tied to the castle through the curse, you didn’t need the gem. But now you’re free. Try doing magic now without it.”

  Damon complied. Nothing happened. He placed his hand over the stone in Alexa’s hand, and instantly, he faded from sight. Ben tripped backward. Alexa could still feel the warmth of his skin on hers.

  “You’re scaring your nephew.”

  When Damon reappeared, a sly grin battled with the pain in his eyes.

  “Any side effects?” she asked.

  “A mild annoyance offset entirely by your touch.” Damon drew Alexa’s fingers to his lips, kissed them, then snatched the stone back. “I’ll keep the source with me. I can protect it.”

  “How?” she questioned. “You’re barely able to move.”

  “My strength is returning, thanks to my nephew’s skill. You will not attempt to save your brother alone.”

  “No, she won’t,” Cat said. Alexa recognized the change in her friend’s demeanor immediately. Though frowning, Cat pointed toward Paschal but addressed her words to Ben. “Get your father somewhere safe. This castle is huge. Find a good hiding place and stay in it.”

  Damon cleared his throat. “There’s a storeroom beyond the kitchens,” he said, indicating the direction with a minimal wave of his hand. “It’s well hidden. You should be safe there.”

  “I can’t bail,” Ben said. “In case you haven’t noticed, I’m the only able-bodied male around this place.”

  “You’re not bailing,” Cat reassured him, grabbing him by the shirt, her eyes betraying her determination to send him away. “But your father is the most vulnerable of all of us. The K’vr has already captured him once. I’d suggest Damon take him, but he’s hurt. And he won’t go anyway.”

  “You take him,” Ben suggested.

  Cat shook her head. “He won’t go with me. Besides, Alexa might need my parlor tricks. You never know.”

  The kiss that followed was short in duration but powerful in emotion. Even Alexa looked away, mildly embarrassed by the intimacy.

  Damon broke up their affectionate display with a cough.

  Alexa smiled and took Cat by the hand, tugging her away from Ben, who’d left to convince Paschal to cooperate with their plan. “What changed your mind?”

  “Jacob.”

  In the briefest retelling possible, Cat explained how her psychic powers—the ones Alexa had doubted so strongly before—had grown since her departure for Texas.

  “It’s the magic,” Paschal offered. “You spent a great deal of time in my house, around my things. So many of those items had been touched with Rogan’s magic, I’ve no doubt they amplified your natural abilities.”

  Cat glanced lovingly at Ben. “Or else I was just properly motivated by someone who believed in me.” With a breath, her dreamy expression disappeared, replaced by her usual determined glare. “Either way, I can feel Jacob’s fear. The threat to him is very real. If we don’t act, he’ll die.”

  “I thought you hated him,” Alexa said.

  “I do,” Cat shot back. “But you don’t. And you’re my friend. Tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

  After a heartfelt shaking of hands among the reunited Forsyth men, Paschal and Ben headed toward the kitchen. Cat and Alexa helped move Damon so that when they opened the door, he’d remain hidden from view. Jacob had said the gunmen wanted the magic. Did they know about the stone? Did they know about Damon? Were they using her to get to him—or at the very least, to the magical source that he’d tucked into his pocket?

  “A bit of Rogan’s evil might go far right about now,” Damon muttered as he leaned heavily on a thick stone column.

  Alexa grinned. “The magic itself will be enough.”

  “I don’t know that I can control it.”

  Her heart skipped a beat. “You locked the door. And you just made yourself invisible.”

  Pain caused tight ridges around his mouth. “Rogan had a lifetime to learn how to manipulate this stone to keep the magic from turning him mad. Now, I’m just a man who doesn’t want the woman he loves to step into danger.”

  The woman he loves.

  The woman he loves.

  With each repetition in her head, Alexa’s confidence grew. She took a moment to kiss Damon strongly and thoroughly, then pulled away before he could wrap his arms around her and keep her inside.

  She took two steps back and nodded toward Cat at the door, who shouted to the party outside that they were on their way.

  “Hold that thought,” she said. “And don’t use the magic unless you have to. I just got you, Damon. As a man. In my life. I can’t lose you.”

  He patted his pocket. “You won’t. I promise.”

  But as Alexa turned toward the door and nodded for Damon to unlock the castle, she wondered if she already had. />
  32

  With a click, the door slowly swung open. Alexa squinted against the sunshine, but as the day had just dawned, her eyes adjusted quickly. She spotted Jacob lying across the top step, his eye blackened, his lip bloody and a nasty gash running across the top of his nose.

  She squelched the instinct to run to him and instead focused her gaze on the raiding party below—two big men carrying equally big rifles. One shifted nervously, even as he kept his gun trained on Jacob. The other, pointing the weapon toward her, appeared steady and sure.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped when Rose walked out from behind one of the large armed men.

  “No one has to get hurt here, Ms. Chandler.”

  Alexa gaped. It was one thing to be attacked by strangers, but a trusted employee? Clearly, there had been a reason why she’d been reticent about getting close to Rose.

  “It’s a little late to claim nonviolence, don’t you think?” she asked, holding up her hands, still red with Damon’s blood.

  Rose sneered, then gave a little shrug. “A necessary show of strength. We want the source of the magic and we want it now.”

  Alexa stared at her boldly. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  You’re…pissing her…off.

  Alexa wavered, the intrusion of Cat’s voice into her mind distressing on so many levels, she didn’t know where to start. But with few weapons at her disposal, she had no choice but to exploit Cat’s newly honed psychic abilities to try to get the upper hand against their attackers.

  “Tell me something I don’t know,” she whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

  Cat stood only a few feet away from her, flush against the threshold, trying to interpret the feelings and emotions swirling around them.

  Jacob’s terrified. He…doesn’t…trust…

  For a split second, a backwash of emotion rushed into Alexa’s brain. The events of the last two days and warring emotions between saving Jacob and letting him rot had exhausted Cat to the point where she was not reliable. Cat knew it. Alexa knew it, too. With an imperceptible wave of her hand, she sent her friend farther into the castle.