That wall was now a crumbled pile of debris that didn’t slow the rushing memories she’d so painstakingly buried away. Squeezing her eyes closed against the abomination in front of her, she desperately tried to sink into oblivion. But she couldn’t drown out the harsh rhythm of his breathing, or his claws tapping the floor beside her head as he waited, enjoying her terror.
They say your life passes in front of your eyes when you die. It’s not life that passes--it’s a jumble of frantic images that your brain throws up in some kind of psychic defense against the overwhelming terror of the chase and the final certainty when you’re trapped without hope of escape. She was about to die.
Every muscle flooded with adrenaline, the constant pulse hurt as it raged through her, demanding run, run, run. She’d wished for death many times, but now she didn’t want to go. There were reasons to live. Raine’s smile winked into her jumbled thoughts. She’d never see him again.
The monster regained her wandering attention by gripping her jaw. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to kill you. You and I have a shared destiny.”
“No! Don’t touch me! Let me go! I’m nothing to you!”
The cruel smile widened as he dragged a claw up her leg to rest in the crease of her groin. With a little more pressure, he popped the skin. He shoved her legs apart with both hands. “Oh, but you mean everything to me. Call your Primani now! They won’t come for you!”
With that threat, he lost whatever passed for restraint. His skin disintegrated like a molting snake. The scales underneath reeked of burnt earth, gleamed with black fluid. He arched his back and groaned as the skin sloughed away. Rolling his neck one final time, he ran his black tongue over his fangs and reached for her.
Holy God!
She screamed for help and struggled to crawl away. Snarling at her resistance, he tossed her around like a rag doll, clawing her to shreds before slamming her into the futon and throwing himself on top.
Primani? Primani? What is that? She didn’t understand him. The words echoed inside of her head even as she started to shut down. She was in tatters. She was sinking into shock. Primani? Demons? Raine’s voice whispered to her now… an angel saved her. Declan? Her vision was red around the edges as he set the walls on fire. The flames slowly licked at the plaster, undulating as they climbed higher.
Fire. Flames.
“Look into my eyes, Rori Austin. I own you. You belong to me. You fight me now, but soon you will have no choice. Your soul belongs to me.”
“No… I’m not--” Her protest died in her throat. Evil. I’m not evil.
The winged creature crouched over her. Powerful wings spread wide, tips touching the walls. Black as midnight, they filtered the fire’s glow. Beautiful… she blinked up at it. Its face was carved from marble with glittering yellow eyes and a cruel slash of a mouth. It smiled down at her, long narrow fangs winking in the orange glow.
Wings.
Rori’s scream for help hit Dec like a lightning bolt between the eyes. With a horrified shout to Sean, he dematerialized directly from the patio. A nanosecond later, the two Primani rematerialized inside Rori’s apartment. Blood was everywhere, splatters and puddles of it. Glass sparkled across the floor, plaster dust floated like snowflakes in the air. The demon was massive. He turned to face them the second they appeared.
“So the wingless wonders finally showed.” He let Rori’s head loll to one side and unfolded himself to his full height. “A little late, don’t you think?” With an icy stare, he began to retract his claws one at a time.
Click. Click. Click.
Blood dripped from his chin, and he casually wiped it off with the back of his hand before licking it clean.
“Waste not, want not.”
“Get away from her!”
Dec started to lunge with his knife, but Sean grabbed his arm. “No! He’s too strong for our weapons.”
His instincts screamed for action, but he knew Sean was right. Well, let’s just do it the old-fashioned way then. How about a little fireball up your ass? It hit the demon in the chest, leaving a smoking hole but not slowing him down. He took a step forward with a grin splitting his face. Sean hit him with another blast which took a chunk of his shoulder out. He stopped smiling.
The demon created a protective barrier with a casual wave of his hand. The next three fireballs bounced off. The fourth, he caught in his fist and hurled back at Sean. Sean dove and rolled out of the way. The small explosion only added to the heat and smoke in the burning room.
He folded his wings into a neat bundle between his shoulders. “Weak Primani. You can try to protect her. But in the end, her soul belongs to me. There’s nothing you can do about it. A deal’s a deal.”
Tick-tock!
With those words ringing inside their minds, he shimmered out.
Sean cursed and followed him. Dec raced to Rori’s side. Dropping to his knees, he swallowed the urge to chase the demon himself. Rori was covered with blood. She’d been clawed to ribbons. Shoving his emotions into the bottom of his mind, he went into healer mode and checked for life-threatening wounds. A quick look showed most of the cuts were shallow, except for a large gash in her groin. She was bleeding steadily from a cut in the femoral artery. More a rip than a cut, it was the most pressing wound at that second.
“Will she live?” Killian’s voice came quietly behind him.
Dec didn’t look up. He sealed the deadly tear before answering. “Too early to tell. I just started looking. My God, Killian, there’s so much blood.”
Killian studied the scene. The poor woman lying in a puddle of her own blood was tiny, untrained, defenseless against a monster like this. The place looked like a bomb had gone off. The demon had obviously lost his ever-loving mind. As he noticed the shattered window and cracked walls, he knew this demon had exploded. Something had set it off, and he had a bad feeling about what that was.
“This place isn’t safe. We need to move her to the penthouse.” He waved a hand to emphasize the general disaster that was the apartment, and added, “I’ll grab what I can and meet you there.”
As soon as they rematerialized in the penthouse, Rori’s eyes opened a tiny slit. Dec forced a tight smile and said, “You’re okay now. I’ve got you.”
Screaming bloody murder, she went berserk. He nearly dropped her in surprise. Before he could say a word, she swung her fists and tried to kick him. He did drop her then. She landed flat on her back. With pupils dilated with blind terror, she tried to scoot away, shrieking, “No! No!”
Every time he tried to touch her to calm her, she screamed even louder, swinging weakly. She was breaking his heart. He tried to reason with her. “Rori! Please calm down. I just want to heal you. You’re hurt!”
Her eyelids fluttered as some reason returned. She stared for a minute before shaking her head, the hysteria building again. “No! Don’t touch me. You’re not human! None of you are human! Keep your filthy hands off of me!”
Killian walked in on a scene he’d never thought he’d see. One of their charges was on the floor, back against the wall, covered in blood, crying her eyes out and shrieking at Dec. Dec? He was the healer--the gentle one, the nice one. He and Sean did most of the killing; Dec did most of the healing. No one ever said no to him. He had to blink to be sure he was seeing this right.
“That’s enough.” He cut her audio so her screams wouldn’t bring the police down on them. More softly, he added, “I’m so sorry, baby girl. But you’ve got to stop screaming.”
She closed her mouth but kept crying, eyes darting from one of them to the other, her fear out of control. Huge tears rolled over her swollen cheekbones. She didn’t bother to cover her face. She just leaned her head back and wept. Something shifted inside of him, and he shoved a hand through his hair.
He needed Mica. He was way out of his element with this one. Rori was not simply hysterical. She was having some kind of breakdown. She’d drawn her knees to her chest and was beginning to rock back and forth. Damn it. She was head
ing off a cliff. God only knew it wouldn’t be unrealistic after what she’d just been through. He’d go get Mica and bring her back. Before he could bolt, Dec pushed himself to his feet.
Dec said, “Don’t. I’ll handle her.”
“How?”
Dec pulled him off to one side so Rori couldn’t hear them. “I know what she needs, brother. I’ve got this. I need a favor from you though.”
He nodded. “Anything.”
Once upon a time, Dec had been the sensitive one. The time spent being dead had done things to him, though. Michael didn’t only heal him--he’d changed Dec. He’d expanded his healing powers with no explanation. He’d hardened him into a finely-honed weapon. Dec had always been a powerful warrior, but he’d hung on to his innocence, his optimism for millennia. His primary power had always been his ability to heal, to connect with humans on a physical level. He could sense wounds that no one else could. People instinctively trusted him. It was impressive.
The new and improved Dec had added strength that had served him well over the past few years. When Mica had been savagely tortured and killed by a powerful demon, Dec had been devastated, barely able to contain his grief. Now faced with Rori’s mutilated body, he ticked off the list of items with a hard clip to his voice, no sign of the compassion or anger Killian knew were both just under the surface of his control. He was damn proud of him.
“I need the name of that demon. I need a history on her mother. The demon is linked to her mother and her mother’s dead. Probably not a coincidence. He kept talking about a deal. ‘The clock’s ticking’, and that kind of bullshit. Deals are usually related to events or significant dates like birthdays. Rori’s turning 25 in March. That’s only five months from now. We need to track this down and nix the deal before then.”
Killian agreed and added, “I’ll talk to Raphael too. He’s been snooping on his own.” He slid a sideways glance at Rori. “She’s completely freaked.”
“Yeah, well, she just found out demons are real. Her safe house of denial is toast.”
“Will you tell her about us?”
Rolling his shoulders to ease the tension, he replied, “Probably, yes. I don’t see any other way to get her to trust me. She has to trust me so I can help her.”
“And will you let her keep that memory when this is all settled?”
Chapter 13: The Long and Winding Road
“PEEK-A-BOO. I SEE YOU.”
The neon orange sun popped out from its hiding place as Dec pulled the Challenger off of the interstate and onto a two-laner deep in the Adirondack Mountains. It winked for a split second before vanishing behind yet another peak. They climbed steadily higher for another couple of miles, playing peek-a-boo with the blob of gas and singing along with Tool’s “Sober”. He checked the dash clock. Awesome. They were right on schedule. They should be inside before nightfall. He flipped the headlights on as the next curve flung them into a pitch of full night. Another curve brought a slash of blinding sunlight. The next curve threw them back into darkness as they entered a particularly murky stretch of road where a thick canopy of branches loomed overhead. Creepy? Yes, but in a good way. He loved this place! He really appreciated Mother Nature hanging onto her party clothes for a wee bit longer than usual. Rori would love these trees.
Thanks, Mom!
A million shades of red, gold, brown, and the occasional orange, would show their beauty in the warmth of daylight. Fall was one of his favorite seasons to explore the mountains. The curves of the road brought amazing views that the heavy foliage of summer kept hidden. The sparkle of the narrow waterfall they just passed would’ve been impossible to see through the usual dense greenery. Man, he wished there was time to stop and explore. He knew exactly how the rush of freezing water sounded; how it would feel on his hands if he stopped and cupped them. It had been awhile since he played in these mountains. He missed the earthy smell of rotting leaves, the smoke from campfires, the sweetness of apples stacked up at the farmers’ markets. Would he admit to Sean that he liked the smell of apples? Probably not, but there it was.
He slowed waaaay down when the road disintegrated to a gravel lane. His baby wasn’t excited about bouncing over the ruts. Shit! That did not sound good. Screeching and clunking were not sounds he wanted to hear. They were barely moving at a crawl, but he tapped his brakes for a small herd of deer that decided to hopscotch across the road. Two does stood closely together and were as beautiful as a song. Their eyes seemed to stare right through him for a split second before they ambled by, looking back over their muscular shoulders as they moved in search of another buffet. How long had it been since he’d hung out in a forest? How long had it been since he ran his fingers over the tawny pelt of one of these creatures? In his most humble opinion, it had been entirely too friggin’ long. He was overdue for some wildlife. He let the motor idle, in no hurry now. No reason to run Bambi over. He rolled the window down, stuck his head out, and took in a lungful of the fresh air. After consulting the GPS inside his skull, he edged past the last pokey deer.
He glanced at Rori in the rearview mirror. Her silence was unnerving. Her eyes were closed in an unnatural sleep. No doubt she would be pissed when she woke up, but it couldn’t be helped. He’d apologize later. Probably he should dig up some body armor. There was a slight break in the brush line to the left, just after a massive gnarled oak tree. A splash of color drew his eye to the right of the grassy driveway. Perfect. A few remaining blooms of wild pink roses dotted the brush. This was a good sign. Delicate they might be, but they refused to give up, refused to be blown away by the stormy fall weather. They clung to life, filling the air, the world around them, with color and scent.
“Come on, darlin’, let’s get inside. The light’s fading fast, and I’m sure you’re ready to stretch your legs.” He scooped her into his arms and carried her inside. She didn’t protest since she was conveniently still asleep. That was about to change. He was pretty sure she’d protest her ass off in a few minutes. He swallowed with more than a little regret as he thought about her reaction. He prayed she would be cool with his plan.
‘Cool’ would be awesome… grudgingly accepting would be okay too. Anything other than pissed off and ready to kill him would work at this point. Back in the penthouse, she’d looked at him and Killian like they were monsters. He’d do just about anything to change her mind.
Her face was serene. When she wasn’t covered in bruises, she was lovely. Her smile, when she deigned to give him one, was a punch to the gut. Would she ever smile for him again? He smoothed some stray hairs away from her eyes and frowned at the scabbed cuts on her face. Maybe he’d just take care of a few things before disturbing her. Sure, he would be a terrible protector if he didn’t make sure they were all safe and secure, right? A few more minutes of rest wouldn’t hurt her.
The cabin was a safe house for any Primani with a need. Most of his fellow operatives didn’t really like being so far off grid, but he didn’t mind. He and Rori would have this place for as long as it took. The cabin had all of the physical security they needed--alarms, cameras, bulletproof windows and walls, perimeter sensors. A redundant generator system would keep the lights on and supply heat if they decided against the fireplace. He checked the alarms and cameras. They were state-of-the-art tech and all working fine. He flipped on the lights and checked the fridge. Killian and Mica had traveled in with some supplies for them. There was enough fresh food to last a week. Mica had even brought two bottles of wine. She was a shameless matchmaker, that girl. The sight of two glasses and a bottle gave him hope, though. Maybe things would work out.
Moving to the bathroom, he checked the water pressure before giving the porcelain throne a couple of flushes. Finally ending his walkthrough in the living room, he checked out the small area. Great, there’s firewood ready to go. He lit the kindling with his hand, watching as the tiny splinters caught and smoldered. Once they were stable, he added some bigger pieces of dry wood. Maybe the pretty fire would put Rori in a good
mood…
All right, there’s only one more place to check out. There was an arsenal of spare weapons and ammo in the basement. He grabbed a flashlight before heading down the steps. As required, someone had been by to rotate the ammo and clean the guns. Wracking his brain for details he might’ve missed, he used his fingers to add everything up--food, water, power, fuel, weapons. Check, check, check. Perfect. They could live here for months without having to see another person. He was going to need the time for what he had planned. One last thing. He dragged out some sheets--they smelled okay--and made the bed. The king-sized bed was ready for Rori. He’d rack on the couch.
How long had he been standing there staring at the couch? Rori winced in her sleep. He hadn’t healed all of her injuries. She’d gone completely ballistic when he’d tried to heal her in the penthouse. He’d managed to heal the most dangerous wounds before she gained consciousness and refused to let him help. She was covered with claw marks, bruises, and probably had some broken bones. She would never understand how lucky she was to be in one piece. Clearly the demon wanted her alive and unbroken for future use. Most vics ended up missing parts they found useful… like their heads!
He and Killian tried to reason with her, but she wasn’t hearing them. They backed off for fear she’d have a complete breakdown. Guilt punched him straight in the side of the head now. She looked horrible. Both eyes were swollen and black with bruises. Her skin was peppered with cuts from the window she’d smashed. Most of them were clotted, but he picked up the metallic scent of fresh blood. Some of those clots had been disturbed when he picked her up. She had to be in agony. This was the first time ever he’d purposely chosen not to heal someone. Every instinct screamed to heal her now while she’s out cold. Let her be mad later…
Sure, then she’d never trust him again. Or Killian. Or any other Primani. Once lost, trust was nearly impossible to regain. He had to tread very carefully here. She was allowed free will, and her will was clear on this. Crystal! She didn’t want his hands anywhere near her. Period. Soooo, he’d brought a nice big first aid kit too.
Broken Souls (Primani Book 4) Page 19