Nightwalker

by Rhonda L. Print

  “Ian!” I yelled. “Don’t!”

  “He’s going to shoot you, Leah. Stay behind me.”

  I looked up to see Joaquín had indeed aimed his gun at me. He took slow jerky steps toward me, sweat rolling off his forehead. Joaquín’s eyes blazed yellow in the darkened hall. His body shook and each muscle was visibly tensed as he struggled to turn away from me. He was resisting the demon that fought for control of his body.

  “It’s not him, Ian.” I pulled at his arms but I might as well have been tugging on a rock. He didn’t move, didn’t falter in his hold on my gun as it was leveled at Joaquín.

  “It’s the demon!” Pain consumed me and I saw the sweet edges of oblivion begin to darken my eyes.

  “Demon or not, Leah, you’ll be just as dead. I won’t let him shoot you.”

  Ian’s left arm was supporting my weight or I would have slid to the floor. His right arm trained the gun directly at Joaquín’s head.

  Joaquín was shaking his head in quick jerky movements; he struggled against the demand of the demon now possessing his body.

  “Leah?” Sweat ran down his face as he struggled to control his own body. “I’m not controlling this. It wants me to kill you, I can see its thoughts,” Joaquín gasped in shaky breaths. “I don’t know how much longer I can hold this off.”

  I tried to move between Ian and Joaquín. My own blood blurred my vision and my arms and legs were weak when Ian wrapped his arm behind him and pinned me to his back.

  “I won’t let you shoot him, Ian!” I struggled weakly against him.

  “Run, Leah, just run,” Joaquín ordered against gritted teeth.

  “I won’t leave you either.” Even if I were capable of taking a single step. Shit! If we didn’t get the demon out of Joaquín he was either going to shoot me or Ian was going to shoot him.

  “We have company.” Ian spoke so calmly I wasn’t sure I’d heard him right. He was staring straight at Joaquín, his eyes pinned on him. I think he was using mind control to keep Joaquín from moving any closer, and under normal circumstances that would have pissed me off. No one had the right to take free will away from another.

  Wilson and Alli chose that moment to walk in the front door.

  Wilson shoved Alli back out the door and drew his gun in one smooth motion.

  “What the hell is going on here, Leah?”

  I was still buckled over but I held my hand up to him to motion him to stop. “Joaquín is possessed by a demon, Wilson. Don’t shoot. You can’t kill the demon without killing Joaquín too.”

  “What about the fucking bloodsucker?” Wilson growled with contempt clearly staining his voice.

  “He’s busy trying to save my ass at the moment.” I put all the annoyance I felt into that one statement, but doubled over with my own blood pooling at my feet took some of the effect away.

  I saw a brief moment of shock and indecision in Wilson. He kept his gun trained on Joaquín.

  “Demons are single-minded.” Ian spoke to Wilson, slowly and calmly. “It wants Leah dead. You may be able to force it to extract itself from Joaquín’s body.”

  “Are you saying that if I shoot Joaquín this thing will come out into the open?”

  “No,” I shrieked.

  Wilson slowly moved closer to us. Joaquín never took his eyes off me and he was no longer speaking. I didn’t know if he was even aware that Wilson was in the room.

  “Try moving to the side of us, see if his gaze follows you,” Ian ordered.

  Wilson slowly advanced toward us and to the side. Joaquín’s yellow eyes never left me. Wilson moved closer to Joaquín and still the eerie yellow eyes focused on me.

  Ian moved his gaze to Wilson. “It may be possible for you to knock the demon from his body.”

  Before I could protest, Wilson threw his six-foot-three frame into Joaquín, knocking him a good three feet back into the hall.

  The demon stood alone.

  It stood nearly seven feet tall with the same yellow eyes that had appeared in Joaquín when he was possessed. Its hair was blue and crystallized like ice, except it billowed, even with the absence of wind, as if ice had the ability to bend without breaking. Anger and cold surrounded him and for one brief moment I was overcome with the demon’s emotions before both Wilson and Ian riddled it with bullets. It vanished to dust as I slumped to the floor.

  Ian scooped me into his arms as Joaquín came up beside him. With one quick move Ian shoved Joaquín back into the hall. “Stay away from her!” Ian growled.

  “It wasn’t me.” He stood before Ian, an arm’s length away. “I would never hurt her.”

  Ian gently touched my blood-covered face. My vision was almost completely gone in my left eye and I could feel the swelling and pain throb through me. “You did hurt her,” Ian growled back, his touch still feather light.

  Joaquín looked at me as if he’d just noticed. “My God. Leah! I’m so sorry, it wasn’t me. I didn’t mean to…” He tried to move closer to me but took a wary step back as Ian tensed.

  I placed my hand on Ian’s chest. “Don’t, Ian, please. It was the demon, not Joaquín.”

  His eyes had turned black and he shook with anger. “It would be better,” he snarled through gritted teeth, “if Joaquín stayed away just now.”

  I nodded. “Okay.” I didn’t need anyone else losing control and Ian looked like I could push him over the edge with a feather.

  Wilson stood behind Joaquín with a look of concern and confusion. He was a good cop and good cops know how to defuse a situation. I forced a quick smile to let him know I was okay.

  “Joaquín? Are you okay?” I croaked weakly.

  “Me? You! Are you okay?” he stuttered.

  “I’ll be fine.” I think. “Give us some space, okay?”

  “But, Leah?”

  “Just give us some space, Joaquín,” I pleaded.

  Wilson placed his hand on Joaquín’s shoulder and guided him away.

  Joaquín walked down the hall and disappeared into the kitchen. The tension drained from Ian’s body.

  “It wasn’t him, he wouldn’t hurt me,” I stammered.

  “Let’s just get you cleaned up.” He set me on my side on the floor; then pulled off his jacket and shirt, pressed the shirt to my body wounds, and put the jacket under my head. Wilson must have given Alli the okay to come in because she rushed to my side and started checking wounds.

  I sucked in a breath with a hiss as she probed my side. “How bad is it?” I asked.

  “You need to have this stitched.” Alli indicated my eye. “We’ll take you to the hospital.”

  “No. I can’t go to the hospital. How would I explain this?” I’d be shoved in a psych ward in record time. “Honest, doctor, demons broke in my house and sliced me with their claws” would just get me put in a straight jacket.

  “I will summon my personal physician. He will be discreet, my love. I promise.”

  I winced as Alli pressed another cloth to my skin. “Okay. Give me a few minutes first. I need to talk to Joaquín.”

  “Not alone,” Ian growled.

  “This wound needs to be taken care of first.” Alli looked at Ian. “Carry her to her bed.”

  I looked into his face, only seeing him with one eye. “Yes, Ian. Alone.”

  Ian gently carried me to the bedroom and placed me under the warmth of the heavy down quilt. I sighed with relief and my shaking body started to warm.

  Ian kissed my forehead; then turned toward the kitchen to call his doctor.

  Alli cleaned up the scratches on my skin made by the demon. I was lucky they weren’t deep and hadn’t hit any vital organs. “So he’s your vampire, huh?” Alli smiled approvingly.

  I rolled my eyes. “He’s not mine,” I shrugged, suppressing a smile. “But I’m thinking about it.”

  We’d watched him as he walked toward the door to make his call and while I hadn’t seen his face, I’d known he was smiling. The room was filled with the aura of his desire and satisfaction.
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  Alli stepped out of the room as Joaquín came in and stood by the edge of the bed. His hands were fisted tightly, his knuckles white with strain.

  “I don’t know what to say, Leah. I’d never hurt you. You know that.”

  “It wasn’t you, Joaquín. Not really,” I insisted softly. “You were possessed.”

  I put one finger under his chin and lifted his face to me. Shock and horror creased his features and he looked away again.

  “You…” I pointed my finger at his shoulder, “did not do this. It was a demon, a pretty fucking powerful one at that. This isn’t the first time I’ve gone to battle with one, Joaquín. I know what they are capable of. I’m just sorry that I dragged you into my world like this.”

  I felt his anger fill the room as his head snapped up. “Your world? This,” he waved his hands frantically around him, “demons, vampires, this isn’t your world.”

  “This is my world, Joaquín. It always has been, you just didn’t want to see it.” I sighed. I was tired and hurt like hell. I wasn’t in the mood to soothe his ego right now.

  “If I hadn’t screwed everything up you wouldn’t even be involved in this.”

  “You didn’t kill those women.”

  He paced. “If I hadn’t messed things up with you you’d be picking out flowers or cake or … something for the wedding. Not mucking through the desert to examine dead bodies!” His voice rose.

  The heat of his anger prickled along my skin and my own anger flared. “I would still be doing this!” I yelled. “This…” I mockingly waved my hands around to mimic his movements, “is what I do. Hell, it’s who I am, Joaquín.”

  I realized in that instant that it was true. This was who I was, like it or not for a reason God only knew, I had been given these gifts and I was meant to use them. The shock of that knowledge reverberated through me and I had a moment of sheer panic. This was who I was meant to be.

  Shit.

  Now I just had to figure out what the fuck to do with it.

  “It is not who you always have to be!” He yelled back.

  Ian appeared in the doorway, his anger mixed with both Joaquín’s and mine, the combination taking my breath away.

  I held my hand up. “Stay out of this, Ian,” I warned.

  Ian stayed by the door, his arms crossed over his chest. The room was filled with testosterone-charged anger and I just wasn’t in the damn mood for it.

  “Sorry,” Ian muttered and the anger in the room subsided immensely.

  I took a slow, deep breath. “This is who I have always been, who I will always be. What did you think? We’d get married and I’d stop feeling emotions, stop seeing souls? This is not optional for me Joaquín. The person causing this…”

  “Vampire,” he interrupted, “not person.” He sneered at Ian. “A vampire is doing all this, not a person.”

  I felt Ian tense. I ignored it and continued, “This person, she sensed my power. She was coming after me whether I wanted it or not.”

  Joaquín narrowed his eyes at Ian. “Is that true?”

  Ian’s eyes bore into Joaquín. “It is.”

  I knew he was controlling his anger for my sake and I gave him a small smile of thanks.

  Joaquín’s shoulders slumped and I felt the anger leave him, leave the room, and it was quickly replaced by the desperation that surrounded him.

  He placed his face in his hands. After a couple of moments of tense silence he sighed deeply. “I can’t protect you from this.” He brought his eyes to mine. “You need to go with Ian?” He made it part question, part statement.

  “Yeah, I guess I do.”

  “Now just wait a goddamn minute,” Wilson bellowed from the hall. “She’s not going anywhere and someone better explain to me what the hell is going on here.”

  Ian moved into the room on the other side of the bed to allow Wilson and Alli into the room. Ian reached for my hand as he gently brushed my hair back from my face.

  I took a deep breath to taste the emotions in the room. Anger and defeat surrounded Joaquín while concern and confusion flowed around Wilson and Alli. From Ian I felt warmth and something else; I couldn’t quite put a name to it but it was there, something secure and peaceful.

  Alli raised her hand to brush a stray hair out her eyes and I couldn’t help but notice how pale her skin had become and how her hand shook.

  I placed my hand gently on her shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Alli. I never wanted to involve you and Wilson in this mess. I’ll do everything I can to protect you, I don’t want you to be scared.”

  “I’m frightened for you, Leah, not myself.” She covered my hand with hers. “Wilson and I can take care of ourselves but you,” she held my hand tighter, “you have to face these things all the time and I can’t imagine things will get easier once legislation has approved citizenship.”

  She glanced at Ian who nodded in agreement.

  There was a slight knock on the door a moment after Ian announced, “Lucas has arrived.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Ian held me gently to my bed while Alli assisted the doctor. “Ow!” I complained as he put another stitch near my eye. It turned out that my stomach wound wasn’t deep enough to require stitches but my eye did. “That one fucking hurt!”

  Ian squeezed my shoulders. “We can’t risk using an anesthetic this close to your eye. Just a few more, my love.”

  “I’ll need to apply an antiseptic soon.” Dr. Lucas looked up at Ian. “It will hurt,” he warned ominously.

  “Shit!” I muttered.

  Alli had given me an injection and it dulled the pain but not nearly enough. Wilson and Joaquín waited in the living room.

  “Thanks for coming out here.” I was deeply grateful the doctor hadn’t insisted that I go to the hospital. “What’s your first name?”

  “I’m Jerimiah, but you, Leah, can call me Luke.” He pulled on another stitch. “That ought to do it.” He stood and smiled brightly at me.

  “Have I met you before, Dr. Luke?”

  He exchanged a look with Ian. “No, Ian has told me a lot about you. And it’s just ‘Luke’.”

  I let my head fall back to throw a look at Ian. “Really?” I slurred suspiciously.

  “Sounds like you’re feeling the pain killer.” Luke glanced up at Ian. “I’ll need you to hold her still now.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that,” I slurred.

  “Let’s just lay you down for a minute, my love.” He braced his hands on my shoulders.

  “Hold her, Ian,” Luke said sternly.

  Luke poured something that smelled foul over my face. I no longer noticed the smell as soon as the liquid started to burn my skin. I bit back a scream. I didn’t notice when Ian let go of me. I struggled not to scream my pain to the ceiling when I felt his hands stoke through my hair.

  “It is done now, my love.”

  I wanted to run, to run away from this nightmare as fast as I could but I couldn’t will my body to move. Luke put a patch over my eye and bandaged the entire side of my face.

  “It burns,” I managed to whisper.

  “I know, dear, it will fade soon. He needed to put the antiseptic on it to keep it from getting infected.” Alli spoke soothingly.

  The room spun and the lights streaked before my eye. I waved off the glass of water Ian offered. “No more, I’ve had enough.” I was pretty sure those were the words I spoke but Alli, Ian and Luke laughed. Their laughter struck me as funny and I giggled. The pain was lessening as the drugs took over my system. Ian cradled me up into his arms and set me under the covers as Luke mumbled some words to him that I couldn’t understand.

  They left the room and I drifted off to sleep with their voices flowing in lightly from the living room. I knew they were discussing what to do next but right now, I just didn’t give a damn.

  * * * *

  Sometime later, I don’t know how long, Alli came in and started packing my suitcase.

  “Am I going somewhere?” I was still groggy
.

  “It would be safer for you if you stayed with Ian right now.”

  “I don’t need a bodyguard, Alli. I can take care of myself.”

  “Of course you can take care of yourself, my strong and couragous Leah. You always could.” She gently brushed at my hair. “You are the most independent woman I’ve ever met and I am so proud of you. But,” she raised her eyebrows and smiled, “you don’t always have to take care of yourself. This,” she waved her hand in the air, “thing that is after you? It is more powerful than even you. Let Ian help you. Let him protect you.”

  I nodded numbly. What could I say? She was right. She was always right, so I didn’t argue. In truth, I was still too loopy from the meds and tired from the fight to argue. I let Alli help me dress and Ian carry me to the driveway. I said goodbye to Wilson, Alli and Joaquín as Ian placed me in his car. I wondered where we were going. “Where can I hide from the monsters?”

  “Someplace safe, my love. Rest now.” He kissed my undamaged cheek and shut the door.

  I don’t remember the drive, only that we drove past the gargoyles that flanked the gates to Ian’s house. I felt him carry me into the house, heard voices, familiar and unfamiliar.

  “What happened?” someone asked. I heard fragments of Ian’s conversation with the unfamiliar voice. “Demons … gun … Luke … Elizabeth.”

  I protested as I felt Ian’s arms leave me. I opened my eye and was assaulted by light. I knew I was on the sofa in Ian’s house but the light felt like daggers through my head. I closed my eye again and felt Ian’s hand trail across my forehead.

  The incessant sound of tapping, like tiny hammers echoing through my head; then a shrill voice startled me. I opened my eye and tried to locate the source of the sound.

  “What is she doing here?” This voice I knew.

  Carolyn.

  “Not now, Carolyn.” Bear warned.

  “You don’t tell me what to do, animal,” she spat at the man.

  “Carolyn, now is not the best time for this,” an unfamiliar man’s voice chimed in.

  More tapping coming closer, getting louder. Then a deep, painful sound that I realized was coming from me. I focused on Ian as he knelt beside me, his face concerned and gentle even though I could feel his agitation surrounding him. As the tapping grew closer his eyes darkened to near black. He whirled around, his arm stopping a hair away from Carolyn. “Now is not the time for your pathetic jealousy, Carolyn. Elizabeth is out and she is after Leah.”