Broken Souls (Primani Book 4)

by Laurie Olerich

  “I was feeling better, but now I’m all hot and bothered.”

  Smuggler’s Notch. Rori had heard of it, of course, but being there was not something she’d ever imagined. For a city girl raised by dead broke foster families, the idea of going to a ski resort in Vermont was as farfetched as flying to Siberia for a latte. And getting on a snowboard? Never in a million years. Yet, somehow, here they were. She was so nervous she was about to implode. Dec was 100 percent convinced he could teach her to snowboard… she was 100 percent sure she would end up in the hospital. Had he not noticed she wasn’t especially coordinated? Really... she walked into walls, for crying out loud! No, for some reason she didn’t get, he was sure she’d take to boarding like a fish to water. He was ever the optimist. Hey, if he wanted to teach her, she’d at least try. She’d seen a few miracles since they’d met--maybe he would conjure up another one.

  The mountains seemed taller here in Vermont. They’d been steadily climbing, the tree line changing the higher they drove. The bare deciduous forest thinned to snow-dusted pines. The winding roads were coated with a fresh few inches of powder. Both Sean and Dec got really jazzed about that--she wasn’t nearly as thrilled. The tires of the SUV hadn’t slipped yet, but she couldn’t help clutching at the armrest and pushing down on an invisible brake pedal.

  Sean turned around from the front seat. He’d called shotgun and jumped in before she could protest. Jerk. Now he flashed a cheeky grin. “You do realize we’re immortal, right? I can 100 percent guarantee you’re not going to die in a car accident with one of us. If you don’t ease up on that poor floorboard, you’ll be doing the Flintstones shuffle.”

  Dec burst out laughing and peered into the rearview mirror. “Relax, darlin’. I promise I’ve done this a million times. It’s just a little snow. Now, you might bust your ass on the mountain today… but that’s out of my hands.”

  It was called Magic Learning Trail. The name was perfect because it would take magic to get her ass on it. It started at the top of the biggest mountain she’d ever seen. From where they stood, she couldn’t even see the beginning of the trail. What she did see scared the bejesus out of her. It was a sheer vertical drop if she’d ever seen one. And there were trees beside the trail! Hitting them did bad things to your head. People died from trees! No friggin’ way. Nope. She wasn’t coming down that horror. It was certain death.

  Sean wagged his head with a disgusted, but very amused expression, and said, “Rori, it’s the bunny slope. Look at that kid over there. What is he? Three? He’s not crying about it.” He shook his head again. “Man up, sweetheart!”

  “You’re kind of a jerk. You know that, right?”

  “It’s been said.”

  It was time to appeal to the kinder, gentler Primani. “Dec, you can’t possibly expect me to handle this, can you? I’ll die!”

  “Don’t be such a girl. You’ll be fine. Sean, no video!”

  Crap. So much for kinder and gentler.

  After clapping her on the back hard enough to send her careening into Dec, Sean saluted with his cellphone and deserted them for a black diamond. She watched him walk away, wondering how long he’d be alone today. Dressed in solid black pants and jacket, with a dramatic splash of red from his Oakleys, he attracted attention from every woman in his path. Heads swiveled. It was that walk of his.

  And maybe his fine ass…

  “Come on, chicken. It’s time for you to spread your wings.”

  Was it her imagination, or did Dec’s smile turn just a little malicious? Shit. She was busted again.

  “You know I don’t like him, right? It’s just hard not to look.” Why on earth did she just say that aloud?

  “Whatever,” he muttered with a frown.

  According to the guys, there were three main hurdles she needed to jump to master snowboarding: Getting on the chairlift, learning to control the board, and getting off the chairlift. Ideally, all of the actions should be done without falling on her face, hitting any trees, or killing any fellow humans. They made it sound so easy.

  Clearly annoyed, Dec stalked around her, heading to the lift. Like checking items off a to-do list, he walked her through the boarding process without his usual jokes and teasing. The second the lift moved, she bounced into the back rest with an embarrassingly girly squawk. As the lift jerked and shuddered on its ascent, trees blurred past. Was it supposed to go this fast? Oh, my God. One stiff gust would dump her out. Her board flopped around as she struggled to rest it on the bar. The ground was impossibly far below. Was there enough snow to break her fall? She’d probably break a leg… minimum. With a death grip on the safety bar, she closed her eyes and tried not to panic. How the hell was she supposed to get off now?

  That little problem was solved in the most humiliating way possible. The entire way up, Dec gave her instructions, tips, reassurances, whatever. The second her board hit the landing, she fell on her ass and slid over the side in a pile of body parts and a lot of screaming. Several of said body parts unfortunately belonged to a family of four who she managed to take down like bowling pins. Three little kids went flying into the bank.

  He watched Rori struggle to get back to her feet with mixed feelings. On the one hand, she had to learn to get up by herself. On the other hand, she was so friggin’ cute sprawled on her back, trying to push herself upright and failing miserably. She looked like a baby turtle… with something really long stuck to one of its legs. Probably he should be helpful and go do something. But… he was still stinging over her comment about Sean.

  One of these days he might have to strangle Sean just simply for existing. What was it with him and women? Dark and mysterious? Huh. Dark? Yes. Mysterious? Not so much. Try emotionally unavailable, volatile, dangerous. Nothing mysterious about him. Maybe it was the danger vibe women were drawn to. Hmm. If Rori wanted dangerous… maybe it was time to let her see that side of him.

  “Dec! Help!” She was on her feet, finally, but had no idea what to do next. The board began to slide with the pull of gravity. With a whoop of surprise, she waved her arms madly to keep her balance. The purple hat slipped to cover one eye; the other eye glittered with excitement and more than a little fear. Rosy cheeks, pink lips pursed in an uncertain smile, she was friggin’ adorable. There was no way he could stay irritated with her. The only solution was to kill Sean. Damn. He’d fallen to the point of no return. That was for sure.

  An hour later, she mastered getting on and off the lift. They celebrated with a long, lingering kiss on the side of the Lower Morse lift line. The wind picked up, blowing hair into his eyes, interrupting their kiss with a rudeness only Mother Nature could get away with. Frigid blasts pushed between them practically shoving them apart. Rori held his arm in a death grip to keep on her feet. Her board slid one way then the other as she tried to keep her balance. Unwilling to give him up so easily, she used him as a shield and tugged his head down for another kiss.

  “What’s up? Something wrong?” she asked while nibbling on his bottom lip.

  “Maybe.” He studied the sky. It wasn’t odd to see grey clouds hanging low above these mountains. The heavy nearly black ones weren’t harmless though. The storm was moving in fast. It was time to go before they got caught up here. A sudden gust of wind got everyone’s attention at the same time. It was almost funny to see the entire group of people around them look to the north at exactly the same time. After a collective silence, they all headed for the trail. It was bad juju to stick around this mountain top. Rori was ducking to avoid a sudden shower of snow, when she abruptly froze, eyes wide with fear.

  He sensed it the same second she froze. Deep inside the gloom of the trees, a shadow shifted, gliding around the trunks, moving closer. The shadow was featureless, but its malevolence radiated in waves of frigid air.

  The wind roared straight at them, trees bending with the force. Icy snow slapped at them now, stinging like bees. The few people who were still hanging around bolted past, yelling to get off the mountain. He was torn between
tearing after that demon and staying with Rori. Looking back and forth between the two, he realized there wasn’t really an option.

  Rori started shaking, eyes rolling up, lips turning blue. Catching her by the arm, he shouted, “Rori! Stay here!” She went limp before sliding down his side, dead to the world. Ah, hell. Not now!

  A tingle of recognition crawled down his spine. The shadow had moved. It stood less than 20 yards from them. Worse, it wasn’t a shadow anymore. The demon stood in his natural form, wings folded against his shoulder blades, eyes seething with fury. Dark energy hit Dec like a lightning bolt, sending him flying backwards to land hard on his back. Rocketing to his feet, he flashed to Rori and threw her over his shoulder.

  Azrael simply spread his magnificent wings, head lowered in a mockery of prayer. His familiar voice echoed inside of Dec.

  You cannot fight me, Primani. The woman is mine.

  “Over my dead body!”

  Yes, most likely.

  He nearly dropped Rori when she started to struggle in panic.

  “He’s coming for me!”

  Chapter 19: Through the Looking Glass Darkly

  THEIR REENTRY WAS JACKED UP. With snowboards still strapped on, they landed awkwardly, staggered around a second or so before crashing to the floor in a tangle of twisted limbs.

  “What the hell happened?”

  “Where’s my truck?

  “Where’s Sean?”

  “Are you hurt?”

  Mica and Killian hit him with a barrage of really relevant questions the second they hit the living room. Unfortunately his brain was on hyper-drive, and he was too busy yanking the Burton’s straps open so he could bolt after dick with wings. Rori was safe. Time to fly.

  “Whoa! Hold up! Where are you going?” Killian pinned him with the WTF glare just before shoving him towards the basement door. “What’s up?”

  Spinning back around, he fumed, “Motherfucking Azrael--that’s what’s up! Sonofabitch showed up on the mountain. Scared Rori half to friggin’ death. She was a heartbeat away from vanishing again. I managed to hold her back--no idea how--but it was too close. We got out of there just in time. I’m going back. He’s bound to leave a trace, right?”

  “No, probably not. Sorry, man, but this demon is no amateur. You’re wasting your time. He’s not going to leave you a crumb to follow.”

  “But--”

  “Dec, it’s a blizzard over there. The weather is getting worse here, too. That snow’s going to bury any trace of him. There’s no way I could convince my girl to let us go anywhere in this nightmare. Let’s calm down and think this out. He’s holding all the cards. We need to come up with something other than jumping on him and trying to beat him to death.”

  The last part was said with a smirk that showed just how intuitive Killian really was. That was exactly what Dec’s brain was cooking up. Jump on the bastard until he’s a big puddle of black mush. Okay, so that’s not a realistic plan. But he could do so much more…

  “Don’t even think about it. I know what you did to Ikini.” He locked eyes with him, daring him to deny it. “Your melon was melted when you got done. I’ll knock you out myself if you try going after this asshole alone.”

  “Damn it! I’m not letting him take her! This isn’t her fault.” He was still steaming inside. He wanted to hit something, wanted to break a tree in half. He peeled out of the jacket and dragged the thermal over his head. Still too hot…

  While he was busy stripping and pacing like a caged lion, Killian flipped on the stereo, threw in some Disturbed, and cranked up the volume.

  “Let’s go.”

  He spun around. Killian stood with a huge grin splitting his face, flexing his hands and rolling his shoulders to loosen the muscles.

  “I’m still pissed,” he offered in fair warning. Killian wasn’t quite a tree, but he might be able to break him in the mood he was in.

  Killian shrugged one shoulder, but kept that cocky grin in place. “Are we going to yabber or beat the hell out of each other? I’ve still got things to do tonight.”

  Rori was still trying to drag her boots off when a sudden blast of music came through the floor. What the hell? Mica frowned at the floor. Before she could ask what was going on, Mica took off. She reappeared with a tray. On it was a bottle of Jim Beam, three shot glasses, and a first aid kit. Not much of a snack.

  “I don’t know what to say about that.” She waved a hand at the tray with absolutely no idea what it was all for.

  Seemingly resigned to whatever drama was unfolding, Mica enlightened her. “When they come back up, they’ll need some TLC and a couple of shots. What happened out there? Dec is more pissed than I think I’ve ever seen him. You look like death warmed over. And I mean that in a good way!”

  “Uh, sure. That RBD showed up at the ski resort! I don’t know what happened really. One minute we were getting ready to finish the last run; the next minute, all hell broke loose. We stopped so I could catch my breath; that led to some kissing… we got a little carried away, I guess. A storm rolled in, and then, out of the blue, the demon was there. I don’t know what else happened. I... I sort of blacked out again.” She rubbed her arms to chase away the goose bumps. She felt too exposed even here where she was safe. “He spoke to me, Mica… inside my head. He said he was coming for me.”

  Mica pondered the bottle for a minute before pouring Rori a shot. Handing it to her, she ordered, “Drink it. You need it.” She tossed her a quilt from the back of the couch. “You’re shivering. I can see it from here. Listen, sweetie, this place is pretty well protected from demons. You can relax. No one can get to you here. Killian won’t allow it.”

  She curled her knees up and tried to relax. Between the screaming metal vibrating the floorboards and her lingering fear of the demon, relaxation wasn’t a sure thing. She hoped Mica was right about that. Killian seemed to have a strength the other Primani didn’t. She couldn’t put her finger on it; there was a power in him that intimidated her to no end, but also left her feeling strangely protected.

  Mica handed her another shot and smiled knowingly. “Dec is the one, isn’t he? I can see how it is between the two of you. He loves you, Rori. He loves you with every ounce of his being. I feel it when you’re together. The intensity makes my head swim. And a few other parts too!” She laughed softly before adding soberly, “That’s a rare, rare thing. There’s no one else like Dec. He’s more special than you know.”

  Despite the residual shakiness, she beamed at Mica’s words. “I’ve never felt this way. He’s done so much for me; saved my life, protected me… but it’s more than that. When we’re together, I feel like my soul connects to his; like we’re bound somehow.”

  Mica didn’t comment. Her eyes went wide in surprise, just before she laughed so hard she ended up crying. “Bound? Did you say ‘bound’?”

  “Er, yeah, it was, um, sort of freaky and mystical…” She closed her eyes to picture the first time they made love… the intensity, the raw hunger, the delicate filaments of gold. At the time, she was too into Dec to wonder about that. She thought it was a figment of her imagination… but she’d sensed the binding every time they made love. It was more subtle each time, but the sensation was there. Every cell in her body seemed to reach for him even as he plunged into her.

  Mica fizzed with barely restrained humor, trying so obviously not to laugh. Her face went through a series of expressions before finally bursting into an ear-to-ear grin. She shook her head and said only, “Oh, my.”

  Before she could jump on that cryptic comment, the doorbell rang and the excited chattering of little boys filled the room as they burst inside. Mica jumped up to greet them and swayed abruptly.

  She said, “Oh, crap,” and sank back to the chair again. Ashen faced, she put her head between her knees, muttering, “breathe in, breathe out.”

  Michael was the first to reach her. And though he might have been in the lead, Rafe and Killian were right behind him. The three of them climbed onto her l
ap, all talking at once. Was she sick? Did they need to call Daddy? Was she going to read them a story? Were there any cookies? The noise was overwhelming. Rori couldn’t help laughing at the look on Mica’s face… she obviously felt ill, but the boys were so damn cute and worried that it was impossible to be annoyed with them. Instead, Mica wrapped them all in a hug and shushed them in between giggles.

  After the volume came down, Mica fixed her with a hard stare and said, “Don’t breathe a word about this to Dec. He’s got enough to worry about.”

  “Cross my heart. Can I get you anything? Water?”

  “It’ll pass.” To Dani, she said, “Hey woman! Come in and sit down. How was the movie?”

  Dani had been waiting by the door so quietly that Rori hadn’t noticed her. Once the boys had settled down, Dani came over to talk to Mica, while pointedly ignoring her. The stiff set of her shoulders spoke volumes. She was still not over Dec. Huh. From what he’d said, they hadn’t had a real relationship--hadn’t even slept together. So what was her problem? The more she thought about it, the more she just didn’t give a shit. Dani could go screw herself. She fucked up with Dec. Snooze, lose, etc.

  Two could play the bitch game. She was just as good at ignoring people. In fact, she’d start right now. She crossed to Mica and said, “I need to get out of these clothes. When I come back out, I’ll make dinner. You should rest.”

  Dec and Killian stumbled up the stairs feeling exhausted and exhilarated. Bloody and bruised, they limped and winced their way through the house. Blowing off steam was just what he needed. All that clawing frustration was nicely tamped down for now. He didn’t feel driven to tear down the forest, so that was a good thing. Nothing like a good ass whooping to burn off anger. Yeah, he felt much, much better. He needed a shower though. He smelled like ass. The last thing he needed was Dani. And that was the first thing he saw when he staggered to the living room. She rolled her eyes over him before turning away.