In Love by Christmas: A Paranormal Romance

by Nathan, Sandy

“Maybe we should go to the end of this block, and then get home around the back,” Leroy offered.

  “I don’t know what’s back there. The monsters could be there too,” Hannah said. “Where are my soldiers?”

  “Let’s try the back way, Hannah,” Will offered. “It can’t be as dangerous as walking down Rue de Rivoli.”

  They turned right, heading away from the front of the hotel. Less than thirty feet down the street, Hannah pulled her pistol. “What’s that?”

  “What?”

  “On the ground, on the other side of the street.” They started to follow her. “No! Do not follow me.” She crept across the street, holding her gun in both hands, moving with her stalking cat’s slink.

  “Oh, no,” she cried, dropping to her knees over the body of one of her soldiers.

  “Don’t touch him,” Leroy shouted. “If a demon killed him, he’ll become a demon. You can become one from his infected blood.”

  Anguish bathed Hannah’s face. “We are both from Israel. He was very good. How could this happen?”

  “Don’t touch him, Hannah.” Leroy crossed the street and took over. “You take Will back to the hotel. Go that way, the way we know. I’ll handle the demons.”

  “What about my warrior?”

  “I’ll handle him too. Go!”

  Will had heard speech like Leroy’s from Grandfather. Whatever Leroy was doing with his voice was compelling. He had to do what he said, as did Hannah. He put his arm around Hannah and dragged her off. “We need to get home fast.” They left Leroy by himself.

  When they rounded the corner to Rue de Rivoli, Will saw a flashing red dot on the stone building on the corner.

  “Run,” he cried. There was hardly any noise at all. A Poof! and a chunk of the building’s corner exploded. “Oh!” Will dropped to his knees, grabbing at his shoulder where it met his neck. Blood blossomed, covering his shirt and jacket. “Shit,” he said. “They got me. Oh, shit.” He dropped to the sidewalk, clutching his neck.

  Hannah pulled his hands from the wound and examined it. “It’s not a stone fragment. The bullet must have ricocheted. You’re bleeding. We must take you to a hospital.”

  Hannah looked back in the direction they had come. Leroy was running up the street toward them. A fire flamed on the sidewalk where the body had been. Hannah wailed, leaning toward her fallen soldier.

  “Get Will to the apartment, Hannah,” Leroy bellowed. “I’ll handle everything.”

  Leroy walked out to Rue de Rivoli, looking to his right. Hannah and Will were scuttling toward the apartment. He could feel the demons rustling in the garden, and see their red eyes glowing. They were converging on Hannah and Will. He had to do something, fast.

  Stepping forward to the edge of the sidewalk, Leroy raised his arms, palms pointed toward the garden in a gesture of peace.

  “Hello, good demons! You are very good demons!” He sang in his language, a few words bringing goodwill. “Good demons! Stand where you are and listen to me.” He put the greatest power he could into his voice. “You are so good. All you can do is think good thoughts and do good things.

  “You are very sleepy, so sleepy that you must sit down on the ground. You cannot keep your eyes open. You feel very good and happy. Think good thoughts and listen to me.

  “You are good. You are kind and loving. You are kind to your husbands and wives and children. You never fight. You came to this life to make the world a better place. Everything you do is to make the world better.

  “You hear my words and know they are true. You will never be the way you were. You will never need to show your scales and teeth and claws. You are so good that you’ll only need your human selves. Nothing could make you hate and hurt others. Nothing anyone can do, even the strongest demon, Enzo Donatore, can make you hateful and bad again. You no longer fear him and you no longer obey him.”

  He sang a few more words in his language. “Now, you cannot stay awake. You will find places in the garden where no one can see you. You will go to sleep there, sleeping very deeply. You will sleep for a week. No one will be able to awaken you.

  “Diego Donatore, you are the best of all. The most loving of all. You are good. No one can make you be anything but good. You are the leader, Diego, of the new demons, the demons of love and goodness. Diego, you will find the most hidden spot in all the garden. You will go there and sleep so deeply that nothing can wake you for two weeks. In two weeks, you can arise. You will be kind and good to your soldiers for the rest of your life. You will love them, and they will love you.”

  He clapped his hands. “Go now, and sleep. Take your clothes and put them near you so you can put them on when you turn back to your human form. Go! Go to sleep now.”

  Leroy heard scuffling in the bushes and saw the bushes moving as the monsters found their sleeping areas. Lots of them rustled. When he was sure they were asleep, Leroy called out again.

  “Hannah’s commandos. Come forward to me. I will protect you.”

  Four walked out of the Tuileries and crossed the street. Hannah had said she had six soldiers. One was dead. Four were in front of him. That left one wounded or dead.

  “Where is the other one?” he asked.

  “Monsters bit off his head. He’s dead.”

  “Where is he? Point.” They did. “Go to the apartment. Hannah needs help. Go fast.”

  Leroy went into the garden and found the dead body. He did exactly what he had done to the first soldier. Pointing the palm of his hand at the corpse, he sent a jolt of white-hot fire to the body, burning it to ash instantly. The man would rise as demon if his remains were not obliterated.

  He jogged home. He could feel Will calling him.

  23

  One Thing After Another

  “Hannah? Will?” Leroy marched down the passageway to Will’s room. He was lying on the bed, pale and obviously in pain. Hannah seemed to have used every towel in the place to stop the bleeding. White terry cloth rags, splotched with red, lots of red, were tossed all over.

  Hannah sat by Will’s side, holding his hand. “Oh, Leroy. Can you heal him? The wound is so bad.”

  “I’ll take care of him,” Leroy said. “You go out and see what’s wrong with your commandos. They’re in that hallway. I think they got too close to the demons. Watch yourself. You may have to kill them.”

  Will’s mouth gaped a bit. He panted in fear and pain. Leroy could see the bullet’s path, a tunnel in Will’s neck emerging out the back. Bone splinters from his collarbone gleamed white. He could see an artery throbbing deep inside the wound. The demons had almost killed him.

  “I can handle this, Will. I’ve been healin’ since I was four.” Leroy moved closer to the wounded billionaire, humming. Will’s eyes drooped and then closed. “Sleep, Will. OK, let’s see what I can do.”

  Wasn’t any harder than curing a foundering horse—though that was pretty hard. Leroy waved his hands over the bullet hole, humming and finally singing. He touched the raw flesh, and eventually inserted his finger into the hole.

  “Come now, bones and flesh, heal up. This man’s givin’ a big speech tomorrow, he’s got to be tip top.”

  The bone chips pulled together, making Will’s collarbone twice as hard as it had been. The open hole in his neck filled with new tissue. Leroy withdrew his finger as flesh filled the hole. He ran his hand along Will’s neck and shoulder. The outer damage became a round scar. Another swipe with his hand and no scar existed. He took what pain remained away, and then shook out his hands.

  “Will, wake up, you’re fine. Oh, wait a minute, I forgot all the blood you lost.” He passed his hands over Will’s body. “OK, that should be enough. You can wake up now. You’re healed.”

  When Will opened his eyes, Leroy saw he wasn’t healed. Physically, he was all right, but he was a jellyfish inside. His real healing hadn’t begun.

  “Will, can you get up and take a shower?” He’d heard the muffled Pops! of silenced gunshots in the hall. He couldn’t leave Hannah to fac
e four semi-demons. “Put some clothes on. I’ll be right back and we’ll talk.”

  Leroy slunk down the hallway and looked out the peephole in the front door. Hannah had her back to the door and was firing at her erstwhile soldiers. They were more than semi-demons. Leroy could see their fangs and claws. They didn’t have coats of black scales, but those would be next.

  “Hannah, I’m coming out,” he said.

  Two of the four lay dead in the hallway. The other two ranged around Hannah. They had weapons, but seemed intent on tearing her apart. They snarled and leapt back when they saw him.

  “Who’s he?” they snapped at Hannah.

  “I’m jus’ nobody. I work here. Why are you doin’ what your doin’? Hannah’s your boss.”

  “Not anymore. Diego is our boss.” The erstwhile commando’s canine teeth were growing longer and longer, slobber running down his chin.

  “Well, I’m sorry to say, but Diego and his friends have had a change of heart. They’re good now and never will do anyone harm. Does that sound like a good idea to you?”

  It didn’t. They leapt at Hannah and him. She managed to hit pay dirt with a couple of rounds, but it wasn’t enough.

  “I’m sorry to have to do this.” Leroy pointed the palms of his hands at the two of them. White flames shot out, not just killing them, but burning them to cinders instantly. Leroy didn’t stop there; he did the same thing to the bodies on the floor.

  “You can’t let them go without burning them up; they’ll become demons quicker than that.” He snapped his fingers. “Sorry to leave you to clean up this mess, Hannah. We don’t want anyone to see this. I’ve got to get back to Will.”

  Hannah stared at her former colleagues. “They look like piles of kitty litter. What should I do with them?”

  “I’d find the janitor’s closet and get a broom and dustpan. Put them in a garbage can and dump them down the chute.”

  “What if someone comes?”

  “I can take care of that.” He inhaled and said in his power voice. “People, you will not come home for three hours. You are having a wonderful time. If you must come home, you will see nothing in the hall. Nothing and no one. You will sleep until noon tomorrow. You will feel wonderful.

  “That should do it.” Leroy went back to Will.

  Will lay propped up in bed, his hands clutching the quilt covering his body. He wore navy blue silk pajamas. Deep lines ran from his nose to his mouth. His skin was grey and his eyes darted from side to side. Leroy had never seen him so afraid.

  “What’s the matter, Will?” Leroy sat next to him on a fine upholstered chair.

  “It’s over, Leroy. I can’t do it anymore. I told you that my enemies are going to take Numenon from me.

  “I can’t hold out much longer. By February, the greatest corporation in history will be a rape and pillage machine run by demons. And I’m the only one who will know it. They’ll blame everything that’s ever gone wrong on me …

  “I may have been an asshole in lots of ways, Leroy, but I got some of it right. My visions showed me the way to go with Numenon.” Will looked at him, face haggard. “I’m lying, here, shot. I can’t speak at that conference.

  “Next year, Frank Sauvage or Ric Chao will be here in my place. My shoulder hurts like shit, but it doesn’t hurt as much as knowing they won. That hurts.” He ran his hand through his hair, trying to wipe something out. Leroy had seen him do that before.

  “This is my last chance to make an impact on the world at the top level. I have so much to say. We need to clean up our acts, especially at the top. We’re the ones who own the world’s assets—and squander them. Or hoard them.” He paused a while, gasping. Will grabbed Leroy’s forearm.

  “I don’t know if I can do it. Did you hear about the Meeting? What I did?”

  “You ran out into the desert in your bare feet, screaming at Donatore? Carl told me.”

  “He told you?”

  “Yeah. He said it was stupid, but amazing and you were a warrior of warriors.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. All my People know about it. You’re a hero: what you did was like one of our war chiefs standing up to the white man in the old days. He knew he wouldn’t win and would be killed, but he did it anyway.”

  Will cracked a little smile. “Thanks for telling me that. Yeah, it was stupid, but I had to do it.” He held on to Leroy’s arm. “I’m scared, Leroy. I don’t remember being scared then. I ran out of the cave because I couldn’t let him kill any more people, or hurt them. I had to stop it.

  “But he hurt me, Leroy. Your Grandfather healed me and I went on. But I’m hurt. I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” Shiny wet lines tracked down his cheeks.

  “If it weren’t for your grandfather, I’d be dead. And if it weren’t for you …” Will wept, the dry sobs of an old man. “I’m so glad you’re here. I don’t know how to repay you.”

  Leroy got it. Demons’ claws had raked Will’s soul. His grandfather had healed the gashes for then, but the gouges had festered. That was why Will had been so crazy about Cass and everything else. He was tainted by a demon’s curse and unable to fight it.

  If a grizzly had come along and bashed him upside his skull, Leroy couldn’t have been more surprised. Will was damned by the work of demons. Struggling to do right. He was grateful to Leroy and his grandfather. And a lost, scared old man. Power surged through the healer, up from his boots to the top of his skull.

  “Let me work on you inside. What the Great One showed you in that vision was the truth. There’s not a thing a demon or anyone else can do against the truth. Tomorrow, you’re going to tell the truth as hard as you can. You are able to go to that meeting.” Will’s eyelids fluttered.

  “Go ahead and sleep, Will. Take long breaths. Let all this fade away.” Leroy did his work in silence while Will slept. He smiled when he was done. The Great One wanted Will to succeed.

  “You’re going to knock ‘em dead tomorrow. I’ll be right next to you, watchin’ your back. You’ll be safe every moment, from now until then. Now go to sleep and stay asleep until it’s time to wake up.”

  Leroy got up to leave, surprising himself by kissing Will’s forehead.

  Before going to his room, Leroy picked up all the bloody towels and threw them in the bathtub. He torched them with a white-hot flame from his palm. Didn’t even smoke.

  24

  Trying to Sleep

  Leroy couldn’t sleep; his body shuddered. Everything that happened that crazy day swam around his head. In his heart and body. How did he do that stuff? Put demons to sleep and make them good? Kill men who were becoming demons easily and with no remorse.

  How would he help Will tomorrow? Did Will really believe that someone with three months of language lessons could tell him when an interpreter was misinterpreting what he said? No, he didn’t and never had. Will wanted Leroy’s presence. He wanted Leroy’s personal support, but he was beset by demons and couldn’t say what he needed. And he’d never been good at asking for help.

  The healing that had just come through him gave Leroy that understanding. All he had to do was what he could. The chants of his People reverberated in his brain. Other chants, in Latin, the chants of the people who worshiped the cross with the nailed Jesus, wove in and out. Kathryn Duane was with him, Mother Whoever-she-was, wanting him to help her flawed husband get straight with the universe

  He clutched his eagle feathers, sat up in his bed and sang of love to the Great One. “Oh, please Great Mystery, stay with me tomorrow. Keep Will safe. He’s got some important things to say and he’s shook up. Stay with me and keep us safe. And Hannah. An’ Cass.”

  What he wanted more than anything was his grandpa. No one had seen him since the Meeting; everyone said that he had died. Leroy thought that was true; he had felt death all around him when they said goodbye.

  Holding the feathers in the air before him, Leroy prayed, “Oh, Grandfather, if you could just come to me. I need you so much. I know you never th
ought much of me when you were alive. I know you thought I was dumb and everything, but I loved you and followed your teachings as well as I could. Oh, please Grandfather, come to me.”

  Quick as that, his grandfather appeared over his bed, a little old Indian man with white braids, feet dangling from the chaps covering his legs, golden clouds of bliss surrounding him. The only difference from the last time they met was that Leroy could see through him.

  “Why did you think I didn’t think much of you?” Grandfather asked.

  “Because as hard as I tried, I messed up everything. I couldn’t remember what you taught. I missed half the Meetings, even though I wanted to be there real bad.”

  Grandfather floated down so he was standing on Leroy’s bed. Then he was in it, slipped between the sheets.

  “Ah,” the shaman said, wiggling to get comfortable. “I have never had such a bed. I should travel with rich people more often.” He seemed oblivious to Leroy’s distress, until he turned his million-watt, strobe-light eyes on him.

  “Leroy, I have always known you would lead the lineage when I died. I had no doubt.”

  “But why did you look at me like I was a joke? Why did the People laugh at me, even your shaman friends?”

  “You do funny things. What you said, and other things. You didn’t follow my directions. You couldn’t leave the scorpions and rattlesnakes alone, for instance.

  “But they liked me …”

  “I know that, but how many of the other young warriors were stung or bitten because they copied you?

  “Leroy, you have always had the greatest potential of all my students. From the very beginning, I knew you would be the greatest shaman and continue my line.”

  “What about Wesley? Everyone said Wesley was better than me. He was the next leader.”

  “Wesley is Wesley. I knew his darkness could one day claim him. I knew he was flawed. You are not. You are perfect inside, Leroy, a perfect warrior. My successor.”