Panic welled up inside her. Unjustified, but overwhelming. Sera looked once more at her watch. Six minutes late. Six. You could set your watch by those damn school buses. Had it already come by? Had Aimee gotten off and gone next door to Hanna’s? Had she come home at all?
Her heart was thudding painfully, stealing the breath from her chest. Had the demon been waiting for her?
Stop it! There was no such thing as demons.
Sera rushed to the phone to call Hanna’s mom and the school, but before she could dial, the door bell rang. She bolted toward the door and pulled it open, hoping to see her daughter’s smiling face.
But instead Trent stood at the door with a squirming puppy in his arms.
“What are you doing here?”
His smile was halfhearted. “You know why I’m here. And this little girl is going to help me.” He set the puppy down and held tight to the leash.
“Now’s not a good time.” Sera’s eyes scanned the street over his shoulder, searching. Aimee’s bike was still lying in the grass under the tree. There was no book bag on the porch, no sign that she’d come home and then left again.
Trent’s gaze narrowed. “Where’s Aimee?”
“I don’t know.” Sera’s voice broke. She looked at him and almost lost it. “She isn’t here,” she whispered through a tight throat. Then she heard the roar of the bus’s diesel engine coming up the street. Relief bubbled up inside her and she swayed against the door.
“The bus. Oh, God. It’s just late,” she said, more to herself than to him. She’d panicked, which she never would have done on a normal day, on any other day that Trent wasn’t standing on her doorstep babbling about demons. Annoyance surged through her as the bus pulled to a stop outside the house and Aimee climbed down the steps and ran toward them.
“Oh, my gosh, look at the puppy,” Aimee squealed, and dropped to the ground at Trent’s feet. “What’s his name?”
Trent grinned down at her. “Her name is Shirley.”
The small black puppy covered Aimee’s face with sloppy puppy kisses.
Sera stood there fuming and at a complete loss as to what to say. How was she supposed to introduce Aimee to her father when he’d never even bothered to write, or call, or visit? And now he shows up with a puppy? The bastard. She could rip his eyes out.
“She likes you,” Trent said.
“Is she for me?” Aimee looked up at her mother with hope shining in her eyes.
Sera stiffened, then sucked in a deep breath. She stood frozen as she waited for Trent to say the dog was his, but he just stared at her little girl, at their little girl, with his face looking awestruck.
“Aimee, why don’t you take the puppy inside while I talk with Mr. Drouillard, okay?”
Aimee beamed, scooped up the puppy and hurried inside.
Sera pulled shut the door behind her, then turned back to Trent. She couldn’t deal with him right now. After the trick he’d pulled on her at Mary’s shop—the things he’d shown her, what Mary had said and then her scare with the bus, she needed to sit down, regroup, think. Make a plan. A plan that didn’t include him.
A plan that didn’t include him trying to take her daughter away from her.
“I can’t believe how big she is. How beautiful,” Trent said, his voice rough.
“Yeah, well that’s what happens when you aren’t around for a while.” A long while, she thought bitterly.
His eyes darkened. “It was better that way for both of you. I explained why.”
His audacity sent a line of fury coursing straight down her spine. “No, it was better for you, Trent. We were a complication you didn’t need or want, but you’re not taking my child away from me. Not now. Not ever.”
He rocked back on his heels. “You’re right. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to sound that way. It’s just…” He paused, as if searching for the right words. “I know what’s coming after her. Next time she might not be on that bus. I can’t let you face what’s coming alone. She needs to be trained to protect herself and you need to learn that there really are monsters hiding under the bed.”
Sera’s stomach dropped and something distasteful caught in her throat.
“I don’t believe you,” she whispered. But for reasons she didn’t understand, she did believe him. She just didn’t want to.
His blue eyes locked onto hers and her stomach tightened. “Now, are you going to invite me inside and introduce me to my daughter?”
Chapter Two
Trent placed a hand on Sera’s arm as he stepped up beside her onto the doorstep. He looked down into her gorgeous eyes and thought—it will be all right. Trust me. The words pulsed through his mind. He inhaled sharply and pushed them toward her, hoping to influence her thoughts.
For a second, she relaxed, then she pulled away from him, breaking eye contact. She was still hurt. He didn’t blame her. He just hadn’t expected there to still be so much fire between them—pain from his betrayal, sadness for what might have been, anger for making her feel it all again, and beneath it all the burning embers of a passion that had consumed them both.
He had to help her without being sucked back into her world. He couldn’t stay now any more than he could have stayed then. The danger was still here, if anything, greater than before.
He followed her into the house. “I can help you. If you believed that, it would make this easier.”
Her eyes flashed. “Nothing could make this easier. You can’t come and go from Aimee’s life whenever you please. You can’t make her love you and then abandon her again.”
He stiffened at her words. That wasn’t why he was here. That wasn’t what this was about. “Do you still have the amulet?”
She nodded without looking at him and left the room. He had to get her to calm down. Aimee would never trust him if she sensed her mother’s animosity.
He walked toward the large back window and watched Aimee playing with the puppy in the backyard, a huge grin on her face as the puppy chased its tail.
For reasons he couldn’t understand, a demon was close by in a Podunk town of less than a thousand. A demon who never should have found Aimee. Trent closed his eyes and reached with his mind, searching for the demon. He was close. Trent could feel him. Worse, Trent could smell him on Aimee. He’s already made contact.
A few more days and Trent would have been too late.
A rush of anxiety filled him. He felt drawn to Aimee in a way he hadn’t expected. As he watched her play, he allowed himself the luxury of wondering…what if?
Sera returned, the amulet dangling from her outstretched hand.
He took it from her. “The demon won’t be able to touch Aimee if she’s wearing this.”
“Fine, I’ll put it on her and then you can go.”
Resistance and distrust rolled off of her. He took a deep breath, trying to calm the frustration growing within him and decided to try a different tactic. Knowing he was plunging into dangerous waters, he asked, “Isn’t Aimee the least bit curious about me?”
Sera’s eyes darkened, her mouth hardened. “We don’t talk about you. As far as she’s concerned, you’re dead.” Anger seeped out of her pores, so thick he could almost feel it.
He scraped his hand along his jaw. “Ouch.”
“What did you expect, Trent?”
What had he expected? Certainly not to feel so…attached to Sera and their daughter. Part of him wanted what he’d always wanted: To stay and put the hunting behind him, to be a part of their lives, to take care of them. But Sera was right; he’d given up that option a long time ago. For good reasons.
“I want you to be safe,” he said, softer than he intended.
“We’re fine.”
“You are now.” He slung his pack off his shoulder and unzipped it. “But give it a day or two, even a week, and you might not be so sure.”
“What are you doing?” she asked, eyeing his pack nervously.
He pulled out a stack of candles and some powerful juju.
“No way,” she said, taking a step back. “You are not spreading voodoo around my house.”
A musky scent filled the air. She crinkled her nose.
“Come on, chère. Be reasonable. This one’s been blessed for protection.”
Sera glanced out the window at Aimee throwing a ball to the puppy, then back down at the pack. “This isn’t negotiable. She’s already plagued with nightmares, what do you think will happen once she sees that stuff?”
“Voodoo is a part of your heritage. Her heritage. You may go to Mary’s shop and pretend it’s not a part of your life, but it is and it always has been. It’s nothing to be afraid of. And we need it. We have to use everything in our arsenal to fight this beast.”
“We’ll have to find another way. A different way.”
Trent swallowed his mounting frustration. “Okay, if you’re against bringing voodoo into the house, then we should leave. We’ll go to my place in Tennessee.”
Sera’s eyes widened. “And how long do you expect us to hang out at your place?”
“As long as it takes for this demon to lose her scent. The amulet and distance should do the trick.”
She crossed her arms against her chest. “There must be another way.”
“Stubbornness doesn’t suit you.”
“If it’s okay for us to go to ‘your’ place in Tennessee now, why wasn’t it then?”
“My house isn’t a long-term solution, it’s an extreme measure. You have a demon after you.”
Sera shook her head. “Aimee has friends here, a life here. She’s on the soccer team and she’s in the school play. I’m not uprooting her just because you and my aunt have seen a few signs that say a demon is coming—a demon I’m not even sure I believe in.”
He placed a gentle touch on her arm, willing her to listen to him, to believe. “Whether you believe in this demon or not, he is real and he is coming after Aimee.”
Sera flinched and pulled away from him. “Fine.” She looked out the window once more. “I’ll allow the voodoo, but we’re not leaving.”
How could she be so resistant to his mental suggestions? If she wouldn’t pull away from him every time he touched her, perhaps he’d make more progress. He picked up his pack and walked down the hall toward Aimee’s sweet scent, toward her room.
Sera stayed right on his heels. This would not work if he couldn’t get her to trust him. She’d grown hardheaded over the years, or maybe it was just him she was resisting. She’d built a powerful wall around herself, blocking him.
He stepped into his daughter’s pink and frilly room and stood in the doorway. “Cute.”
She didn’t say anything, just watched him warily.
“You’re a good mom, Sera.”
She stiffened.
He gave her his melt-them-in-their-pants smile. “Thank you.”
“For what?” she snapped, totally unfazed by his charms.
“For doing what I couldn’t. For raising our daughter. I know it couldn’t have been easy raising her alone.”
Her brown eyes narrowed. “Stop trying to butter me up, Trent. Let’s get this over with. I want you out of my daughter’s room, out my house and out of our lives—once and for all.”
Stung, he turned from her. This was going much harder than he thought it would. He walked over to the large window that looked out onto the backyard. He strung slips of gossamer silk with bells tied to the ends across the top of the window. Beneath them, he lit a candle, poured some oil into the burning wax, then set an especially large juju bag sewn in the shape of a brightly colored dog next to it.
“And what is all that supposed to do, other than cause a serious fire hazard?”
“Consider it an early-warning detection system.”
Sera stared at the candle and shivered.
“What’s going on? And what’s that smell?” Aimee asked, crinkling her nose as she walked into the room.
“Aimee. This is…an old friend of mine. Mr., uh, Trent.”
He turned to Aimee, his mouth suddenly dry.
“Hi,” Aimee said, and approached him. “I like your dog.”
“Thanks.” Trent sat on the bed and patted the spot next to him.
Aimee took a step toward him, but remained standing. He tried not to let her rebuff bother him. It was exactly what she should do for an old…friend of her mother’s. She didn’t know him.
He cleared his throat. “Aimee, I came here for a reason today.”
Her gaze swung to the bells and the juju sitting in her window. She turned big wary eyes on him.
“You see, your, um…daddy wanted me to give this to you.” He held out the amulet dangling from a chain, a ring of brightly colored gemstones circling a polished silver center.
Aimee looked at it, but didn’t touch it. Instead, she walked past him toward the dog-shaped juju.
He glanced up at Sera, whose surprised gaze followed Aimee. “Aimee, don’t you have something to say to Mr. Trent?”
“I don’t remember my daddy.” Aimee’s voice sounded small and vulnerable, twisting something deep in Trent’s chest.
“He loves you very much,” he said, his voice tight. “He carries your picture around with him everywhere. Pulls it out for anyone who’ll listen and tells them all about his beautiful baby girl.”
“Really?” Aimee asked, suddenly interested enough to turn back and face them.
“Cross my heart and hope to die.” He brushed his hand across his chest.
“Then how come I never see him?”
Good question. “Well, you need…”
Sera stepped forward. “Aimee, we talked about this. About how your daddy’s work took him far away for a very long time. We’re not sure what’s happened to him. We think maybe he got lost.”
Aimee turned back to him. “Is he? Is my daddy lost?”
Trent stared into her beautiful blue eyes so much like his own and wanted to deny it. To shout from the rooftops that no, he was right there, and he was never going to leave her again. But could he guarantee that? Could he stay? Would it be fair for her to grow attached to him, only to have him leave her once more? He looked up at Sera and saw the stark fear in her eyes.
No, he wouldn’t hurt his child. Not again. Sera was right. He wasn’t here for the long haul. No reason to take Aimee’s heart with him when he left.
“Your daddy has a very dangerous job and he stays away to keep you safe. This necklace was your grand-mère’s. I know she would be real happy if you wore it.”
“My grand-mère is dead.”
“Yes, sweetheart, I know.”
Sera walked forward and took the necklace from Trent’s hand. “How about we see how it looks, okay?”
Aimee nodded and Sera clasped it around her neck.
“It looks beautiful,” Sera said softly. “Go see for yourself.”
Aimee ran out of the room and down the hall to the bathroom.
“Thank you,” Trent whispered, surprised by how hard that was. “I thought all girls loved jewelry.”
“It depends on who’s giving it to them. They don’t have to be grown up to know not to accept gifts from strangers.”
“I’m hardly a stranger.”
“To her you are. To both of us.”
His eyes caught hers, and for a moment, it was just the two of them. No demons or excuses or secrets. “So I got lost, eh?”
“It was the best I could come up with.”
“I’m sorry,” he said again, and he genuinely was. Fighting demons was in-your-face and dangerous, but at least you could see them coming; you could predict what they wanted and how they would act. But raising kids? Now, that was like walking an emotional minefield. One wrong step and boom.
Sera stared at him, one eyebrow raised.
“I should have realized how hard this must have been for you.”
“What, you mean being run out on? Don’t know why that should be a toughie.”
He stood. “You got someplace I can rest up for a while?
”
Sera stiffened.
“I won’t make things any more difficult than they need to be. But I have to stay here to protect Aimee.”
Sera nodded and led him into the guest bedroom. “A couple of days, that’s it.”
“That’s all I’ll need.” He shut the door as she walked away and hoped for both their sakes he wouldn’t need more than that.
For a second, Sera had felt sorry for him. As she’d watched Trent with Aimee, a part of her had wanted to tell her daughter the truth. That standing right before her was the daddy she’d always asked about. How many times had Sera wished he’d contacted them, or just come back?
But she knew better. She knew he wouldn’t be staying for long. It would be better if Aimee didn’t grow to care about him. Better for them both.
Sera let out a deep breath. How was she going to function with Trent in her house? Every time she looked into his eyes, she couldn’t help remembering…feeling everything all over again.
And when he’d kissed her in Mary’s shop? The touch of his lips against hers sent her heart lurching with an old familiar ache she thought had long since healed. And then the images came, nightmarish and frightening. How had he done that? Were the images real? Were demons real?
She’d grown up in the swamp. Her aunt owned the local voodoo shop. Folklore had been a part of her everyday life. Then there were the whispers in town that Mary was a witch, a priestess who did more than just sell sour-smelling candles and ugly dolls. But Sera hadn’t believed it.
Hadn’t wanted to.
But was it all really true? Could there possibly be a demon after her baby? She shivered as the image of the coal-black dead eyes surfaced in her mind. An image planted there by Trent’s very warm lips. She shook the thought away. Why Aimee?
Demon hunter’s blood.
Aimee was a tough little girl, always had been, but a destined demon hunter? No way. Sera gave an uneasy laugh, wondering what her God-fearing mother would have thought about that?
Her parents had died in a car crash when she’d been a teen. She’d always thought that was why she’d fallen so hard for Trent. He’d made her feel taken care of, loved. But it had all been a charade. He hadn’t been the man she thought he was. He hadn’t been there when she needed him, and he hadn’t loved them enough to stay.
His Magic Touch Page 2