by Bobbi Romans
Chapter Seventeen
They pulled up to the gates within minutes of the others. Moss played hell holding Beth back from storming in blind. As for Trick and Lily, something seemed to be sparking between the two. Trick so much as looked in her direction and the girl went beet red. But both appeared standing shoulder to shoulder ready for battle.
Squire got out and came around to join him as Damien leaned over the hood of Hummer, reviewing the layout of the course on Squire’s electronic tablet contraption. To him the thing looked like nothing more than a glorified cell phone on steroids. The squared object lit up and after a few taps from Squire, a map popped up showing the entire grounds of the club including the clubhouse, the parked golf carts and the gym that housed the sauna, pool and showering area.”I’d assume he’d have her in the clubhouse. That’s where the dining and guest rooms are.” Squire stabbed at the dot on the map indicating the guest lodge.
The thought of Grace with Demetrius in a guest room soured his meal from the night before. Images of what Demetrius may be doing to Grace flooded Damien’s mind before he could stop them. Grace’s silk-like skin, bared and flushed. Nipples peaked and begging for attention. He nearly drooled as the memory of their lovemaking overtook him. The way her rose-colored buds stiffened in his mouth as he suckled and tongued them. Demetrius taking liberties with the body that had bloomed for him brought bubbling rage. Damien’s vision tunneled as the anger released the animal within. Everything zeroed in on simple, primal levels. No need for thoughts of laws, right or wrong. Only survival of he and his. His fists opened and closed, knuckles cracked, and Squire took a step back.
“Keep your shit together. We can’t afford anyone going in half-cocked and chancing her life.”
Squire was right, but he’d bypassed the time for reasoning when the vision of Demetrius fucking Grace rolled to mind.
Calm. Imagine the beach. Or snow or swamp. Whatever or wherever you find solace in.
Lily. How the girl spoke in his head so loud and clear remained a pure mystery. Grace managed to get through, but not with the frequency or strength as the girl did.
I didn’t mean to intrude, but I sensed your level of distress. You won’t be of any help to Grace in the shape you are in.
Damien stepped away from them all. Took deep calming breaths and forced a wall of stability between his imagination and reality. Made himself hold back his fears and deal only with factual information. Grace was here, alive and everything else but a rumor in his overactive worrisome mind.
“Thank you,” he whispered to Lily, who, for the first time since he’d laid eyes on the girl, beamed. He also noted the protective stance Trick took standing next to her. Kid actually had a challenging look in his eyes.
Grace was trying to send another message, but the image was so hazy Damien was unable to make out what she tried to relay.
A boom sounded right before a burn tore into his side. His ears pounded so hard he feared they bled. Everything around him went bright and hot. So fucking hot. He heard screams, the sounds of shattering glass and the odd tune of twisting metal. Nothing made sense, but instinct had him diving low for cover.
When the roll finished, he was on all fours behind Trick and Lily’s borrowed vehicle. The sounds of sobs reached him, as did the strange observation that his sleeve was tattered and blood covered his arm. His other was a replica. Both arms reflected blood spatter, deep lacerations and charred sleeves.
“Beth … Moss … you guys okay?” He prayed they answered.
“We’re fine, only scratches … but Trick doesn’t look so good,” Beth yelled but her voice ended on an odd grunt. Damien peeped over the top of Trick’s vehicle and found Moss laying across her pinning her down and reprimanding her for bolting up out in the open like she did.
Damien laid flat on his belly and crawled military style to where he came across Lily crying.
“Thanks, I’m fine, too.” He caught the sarcasm in Squire’s tone, but he didn’t really give a shit if he hurt the guy’s feelings. Truthfully he was pissed the ass had even survived.
His hands hit warm puddles of something, and as he came around he found Lily cradling Trick’s head in her lap and saw a large piece of metal sticking out from his belly. Her tears streamed as she attempted to comfort the kid. Shit. A belly wound like his didn’t bode well at all.
“Squire, you called for backup yet?”
“On their way.”
“Don’t suppose you guys have a medic on staff?” He prayed they did, because Trick needed one here pronto. He tore a strip of his shirt off and ran it around the jagged metal. He couldn’t chance removing the piece of Hummer for fear the kid would bleed out before help arrived, but they needed at minimum to stanch the blood flow.
“Don’t press, but apply slight pressure. We just need to slow the flow until help arrives. Understand?” Lily nodded, looking terrified.
“Can you make out anyone?” Damien yelled concerned they were still being watched.
“No,” came the reply from Squire. Things were quiet — of course now his hearing sounded muted, like in a tunnel.
“Damn you, Moss, lemme go,” Beth screeched, and Damien saw her pushing frantically against his friend.
“Squire — stay with them while I try to find Grace.” The man started to argue, but Lily called him to her side. Fear rode high with them all, but right now the girl appeared in near shock as she rocked the now unconscious Trick back and forth while mumbling something even Damien’s excellent hearing couldn’t make out enough to understand.
He raced from cover, scenting the air. If Grace were close, he’d be able to detect her fragrance. Finally a putrid smell of swamp gas, charred earth and a hint of Grace registered. He followed the odor, noting the grass turning from green to brown to ash black. A table had been overturned and shattered dishes littered the ground. As did what appeared to be the remnants of a man. Pieces of him lay scattered about, but most unusual was the fact it appeared more mummified than burned. Like a shriveled slug whose life got sucked out.
Though her scent lingered, he found no trace of Grace. At this particular spot, nearly the entire course was visible.
A clanking dish jerked him around, fist raised and ready.
“Where is she? I don’t see her.” The shrill tone told Damien Beth stood on the verge of an emotional breakdown as she heaved in deep gulping breaths, no doubt having run the whole way.
“I don’t know. She was here though. I scented her.”
He followed Beth’s gaze to the gore on the ground before Moss came up from behind her and turned her away from remains. “Uh, who do you suppose the fritter is?” Moss asked while Beth began gagging.
“It isn’t Grace. The smell signifies Demetrius.”
“Well then where is Grace?”
“That’s a damn good question,” Squire said, walking up behind them.
Chapter Eighteen
They regrouped at B.E.A.R. Everyone was aggravated, stressed and worried. Grace didn’t answer her phone, if she even still had the thing on her, which they all doubted. Trick was in surgery and by the nurses’ and doctors’ whispered comments and expressions at the ER, not doing very well.
Deflated. Summarized how Damien described them.
What had been set as a rescue mission turned into a nightmare of epic proportions. Between the bomb, Grace’s disappearance and the unusual condition of Demetrius’s body, everyone felt clueless what to think.
Lily wanted to stay by Trick’s side, but Squire worried that given her current emotional state, which they deemed unstable at best, doing so too risky. Last thing anyone needed to happen was for unexplained events to plague the hospital, drawing attention to the supernatural battle at hand. Damien agreed wholeheartedly the best situation was to stay hidden. Moss wasn’t keen on coming out of the closet about being a reptile shifter anymore than he wanted to be outed as an armadillo shifter.
“What the hell happened? And if Grace is the one who pulverized Demetri
us, where is she? Maybe Demetrius didn’t act alone in her kidnapping. She did mention the strange mystery voice she heard who claimed the society viewed her as a threat due to Demetrius feelings for her. Could they have been watching and swooped in and taken her?” Beth asked appearing drawn and fragile.
Before Damien could reply, someone else did.
“I was the voice she heard at her shop.” Lily stood before them, eyes red and swollen yet her posture straight and proud. “I couldn’t let them win. I’ve still a friend within their group. It’s too risky for her to tell me everything, but when she thinks it’s safe or if the situation is grave enough, she sends me alerts.”
The slip, I still have friends hadn’t gone unnoticed. “And how are you connected to the society?” Damien crossed his arms over his still bare chest.
“She was Demetrius’s daughter.” Squire announced in a monotone, matter of fact manner. Like they all should just be peachy with.
They whirled around to gape at Squire. He’d entered and gone to stand next to Lily, putting his arm around her and tossing Damien a clean t-shirt. “Thought you might like a change.” Squire continued as if not having just dropped a bombshell.
“Come again?” Beth’s voice hit shrill notes and shot even further. “How can we be sure Lily’s not in on whatever the hell happened?”
“My father was evil, my grandmother evil, but my mother? She hadn’t a mean bone in her body. She merely made the mistake of falling in love with the wrong man. Around the time I turned eight, she snatched me out of my bed in the middle of the night and we ran,” the young girl defended herself.
“Surely Octavia nor Demetrius would simply let you go without hunting to the ends of the earth.” Seeing how distraught she was tore Damien in two, but Grace’s life hung in the balance.
“They didn’t. They tracked us down a few years later and drug us back. They locked us in a room, and the next day ripped me from my mother’s arms and led her away. I never laid eyes on her again. Five years later Squire kidnapped me, and explained the situation as best he could to a precocious ten-year-old that life would be happy and safe here with him. They were friends of my mother’s and her last wish was for them to take care of me.”
Damien caught the look Beth gave him. She didn’t believe the entire story. Least not yet.
“I can see the doubt on your faces. I understand your reluctance to believe. Why would I trust strangers over the people who’d raised me five long years? Easy. My father and his father wanted nothing to do with me. They just wanted to harness the power they thought I held. Nothing more. I went through day after day of training. No hugs or kisses like my mother gave me. No birthdays or friends. I trained and I hated them. They were the reason my mother was snatched from me. Even still, I didn’t blindly take Squire’s word as truth. He gave me a cardboard box that contained items from my mother.”
Damien watched as the doubt ran from Beth’s face when Lily’s voice cracked.
“Among numerous personal items was a letter urging me to trust Squire and anyone he instructed me to. It was in her handwriting and as I held my mother’s note, the image of her tearfully writing it came clear. I’ve been loyal to Squire ever since.”
He believed her. But sadly nothing she said brought him any closer to finding Grace.
“Some in the society are only members for the prosperity. Their hearts aren’t committed to the extent of the elders’. They are the true dark-hearted ones. It’s not just the money. They thrive off the power that rides hand in hand with dark magic. Feed off misery and pain, and therefore do all they can to cause it. True evil in the form of men. And women I should add. Women seem drawn to the danger. I can’t count how many vied for membership and aren’t here now from failing in one task or another.”
“What do you mean fail?” he and Beth asked at the same time.
“The elders give out challenges. Those who pass are deemed worthy of lifetime membership. As you can imagine, there are no do-overs or temporary statuses. You are either in and pass, or you die.” Lily’s expression grew grim and he had no doubts the poor girl had seen more than her share of wickedness and death in her short time with the Society.
“The tasks were quite gruesome. The worst were often doled out to those members they understood couldn’t complete them for sheer entertainment purposes. The idiots never saw their demise coming. So greedy for what they didn’t have, they’d rather die than not try.”
In his time with Octavia, he’d seen men battle for her attentions. Human men she hadn’t cursed, only killed. The morons thought they warred for beautiful arm-candy. A trophy wife to display and brag about in front of their friends. He hated Octavia and hadn’t given a damn about her. She was evil. But watching the humans and what they’d tried to pull over on her made him question where mankind had gone as whole.
“Do you remember the kidnapping of the high-ranking congressman who came to town on a visit? He was found dead, as well as his alleged kidnappers.”
“Yeah, the story made headlines. Happened a few towns over.” Beth replied. Damien watched Beth wobble a bit. He worried about her, but within a second Moss was at her side. Offering his strength.
Grace, to his knowledge, had no one right now. Wherever she was, whomever she fought, she did so alone and the fact ate at Damien’s soul. Everything within him shouted to go, move, fight … do something. He hated he had no choice but to listen patiently in the hope something shed light on Grace’s whereabouts.
“Yeah. A woman named Samantha was given the test to lure the married congressman to her bungalow. They instructed her to seduce him, and they, the society, would be taking photographic evidence. She was ordered to kill him after their tryst and return to headquarters, which by the way, moves every so often.”
“I gather things didn’t go as planned?” Damien shot Moss a look. This Society far more dangerous and larger than either originally suspected.
“No. I became aware of her fate when I came across the elders watching the video surveillance of the event.”
“You don’t have to go over this again.” Squire placed a hand on her shoulder, but Lily shook her head, intent on explaining just how evil this group was.
“I agree with Squire. You owe us no further explanation.” Moss gentled.
“Oh don’t I? I’m not convinced you truly understand the level of dark they are. Octavia, my grandmother, was a saint compared to the rest of them.”
“Finish your story,” Beth urged, surprising them all.
“Other members had been given the test to kill both of them. They were aware Samantha was a member of the group vying for entry, same as them, and it hadn’t mattered. The things they did to both … to her before they slaughtered them and,” Lily’s hand covered her mouth and her eyes closed as if she feared vomiting, “ate part of their remains.”
“Oh my fucking God. Did you say ate?” Beth visually turned green, Moss hung his head and Damien just felt even more crazed to find Grace.
“They took turns pleasuring themselves with both, then stabbed, strangled, and slowly killed them. When they were dead, one ate her heart and the other member ate the congressman’s. Not only were these sick bastards laughing while viewing the tape, but they were dining during the show.”
“The news only reported the deaths seemed ritualistic. I understand now what gave them the impression,” Beth whispered, still rather queasy in appearance.
“After the horror of what I’d witnessed, I began investigating. I mean I’d understood the group was bad, but not straight out crazy people-eating evil. I’d been told my mother chose to leave rather than stay. Had prayed she’d been forced to leave, but still lived and fought to find a way back to me. But I think on some deep level I knew she would never have left me. In my snooping I discovered they’d killed her. In the same bungalow as the murdered pair I watched on the video.”
“Wait. Crap, I can’t believe I forgot about this.” Beth bounced off the counter she’d been leaning again
st like her ass caught fire.
Chapter Nineteen
Though now little more than a pile of dry rot toothpicks, Grace curled up under the faint cover of the cabin she and Henry had started together before he’d vanished. Old memories wove in comforting fashion around her heart and were the only things blocking the ivy vines of darkness trying to root within.
Bits and pieces of Demetrius still clung to the remnants of her dress and though a warm breeze carried over the placid waters before her, she shivered uncontrollably.
She’d killed them. Killed Damien.
Grace sunk to the ground beneath her, which after all the years of abandon was now more dirt than floor, and hugged her knees to her chest. Sobbing, she rocked back and forth grieving all the things that should have been and would be no more.
Her life with Henry. The happiness they’d vowed to create for themselves. She even remembered the first piece of wood they hammered up when building commenced on the shack she now sought shelter within. If she knew then she would end up here, within the paradise they thought they’d built, broken and alone …
No, I wouldn’t give up one damn moment of my time with him. There were happy moments here with Henry.
Though construction stood unfinished, one night he’d set up a surprise. He’d blindfolded her and drove her out here. Carried her over the threshold of what was to have been their honeymoon suite and home. God, she could swear she still smelled the salmon he’d smoked. Henry made them their first candlelit dinner in their almost new home. She’d laughed because he’d been so proud of himself and then tripped over a two-by-four and dropped the bottle of wine. Grace peered over to a corner where her heart skipped a beat as she eyed the still stained wood.