“No, and I should be. There’s snow everywhere. Why am I not freezing?”
“Because it’s an illusion, Kars.” Riston growled slightly as I shifted a bit.
I turned into his arms quickly, placing the palms of my hand against his steely chest. I bunched the black material of his tee shirt in my hands and gave into the comfort of his arms. “I’m so sorry that you got pulled into this. I never intended to involve anyone else in it. Branson will make you forget. He has the power, and I do mean that literally, to wipe your memories of this, Riston.”
“What if I don’t want to forget?”
“I’m sorry but you don’t get a choice. This is my life and I don’t’ want to share it with strangers, Riston.” I couldn’t help but to slide my arms around his waist. “I don’t understand what’s going on and that’s scaring me. I don’t scare easy anymore.”
“You don’t have to be afraid anymore, Kars. I’m here now.” He ran his hands through the back of my hair and kissed the top of my head. “I’ve got you now.”
Energy seemed to move through us. I held tight to him and couldn’t help the tears that came to my eyes. “I didn’t get to tell her that I love. I....”
“Shh,” he tilted my chin up, “she knows.” Riston pressed a tiny kiss to the tip of my nose and I could have sworn that I felt love radiating from him.
Stop dreaming. A man like him isn’t for you.
“Where’s everyone else?” I asked, noticing we were alone and needing something other than him to focus on.
“They’re coming. Don’t worry, Amber’s safe.”
“How do you know?” I thought about what he’d said before, in the kitchen. His father and my father were friends. Hilary had special gifts and wasn’t human, neither was her mother. It hit me then. “You’re not human either. Are you?”
I glanced down and spotted the blood in the snow. My breath hitched as I pulled out of Riston’s grasp.
“Karri?”
“Make it stop, Riston. Please make it stop. I don’t want to be here. Please.”
He tried to pull me back to him but I didn’t give in. “Kars, talk to me. What’s wrong?”
“It’s that night--the night my parents died. It’s....”
“There they are,” Seger called out from somewhere behind me.
Something pushed past me. It was evil at its finest. It ran around me fast and then dissipated.
“Why am I stuck in one spot?” Branson asked.
“We all are,” Tripp said. “They know that one of us here can stop this but they don’t know which one so they’re temporarily binding the rest of us. They don’t want us to interfere and help Karri.”
Instantly, a very life-like illusion of my father appeared before me, laying in the snow, covered in blood. I covered my mouth and shook my head. “It’s not real. It’s not real. Not again.”
“Karri. Karri, look at daddy,” he whispered, his breathing labored. “Karri, baby.”
I looked at him. His big brown eyes locked on mine. “I need you to listen to me.” He coughed. “I need you to ask RJ to take you to his sister, sweetie. No one else. She’s right. I can feel it. Do you understand?”
Suddenly, it felt as though I were six years old again. My clothing changed back to what I’d had on to start with and I could feel the tug inside, the power trying to take me back more.
“Baby, focus on daddy, not what’s around us. They can’t hurt you if you keep up the bubble I taught you.”
I looked down at my father. “Daddy?”
He nodded. “Did you hear me? You need to make sure RJ knows to take you to his sister, no one else.”
I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Turning, I saw something, half-man, half-beast running straight at us. I screamed out and shook my head madly. It kept coming. It hit what seemed to be an invisible force field all around my father and me and lurched backwards, shrieking out as it went.
Another one of the beasts came at us. I screamed out as it hit the shield I’d somehow put up. It reared its hideous teeth mere inches from my face. Crying, I flung more power out, and barely pushed it a foot away. Somewhere deep inside me I knew I was more powerful than this and that I wasn’t a child anymore but it didn’t come out in my actions. The beast launched at us again. I threw my body over my father’s head. “No more. He’s hurt enough already.”
“Shh, Karri, baby. Look at me.”
I sat up and stared down at my father as he lay, bloody and dying in the white snow. Evil things slammed into the invisible barrier that I knew I’d put around him when he’d fallen. I also knew why he’d fallen. “I should have listened. I should have stayed hidden like you said but I saw them hurt mommy and I had to....”
“Shh, Karri-Lynn, look at daddy.”
I looked at everything evil around us not him. This wasn’t right. He died when I was six yet here I was, an adult sitting next him. I fought hard with my inner emotions but failed.
“Karri, I know this is too much,” he clawed at the snow clearly in pain, “for you. But please try. He’s coming for you. I knew the minute that you screamed for me to wait,” blood splattered onto the snow as he coughed, “for RJ before we left the house that he heard you. Tell him, Karri, tell him ... his sister ... he’ll know then. That’s all daddy needs you to remember. Can you be a big girl and remember that?”
“Daddy, there’s more of them now. Get up. Get up and we’ll go home.”
“Karri, you have to listen to me. Tell RJ. He knows that you’re the one. He’s known for a while now. I told him that I asked the goddesses to help him find happiness like I found with your mother and then you came into our lives, Karri. They sent you to us to care for and love before giving you over to him to love for the rest of your life. I know this is a lot. You’re just a baby yet but you have to listen.”
I only half heard what he was saying, too fixated on what was happening around us. As I stared at the beasts trying to break through the barrier it was like I really was a child, mentally at least. They terrified me as they snarled and snapped their jaws at me.
“Karri. Please.”
“Daddy, I want to go home now. I don’t like it here. I want pink pancakes. Tell mommy to get up and make you pink pancakes.” I tugged on him. “Please get up.”
“Pink pancakes?” he asked. I watched as he registered what I was telling him. He closed his eyes tight and tears streamed down his face. “Karri, baby doll, I have to go soon but I can’t leave until I know you’re safe. Call for RJ. He’ll hear and be able to find you. They’re blocking me from contacting him. But they don’t know, honey, they,” he hissed in pain, “don’t know that you’re his mate--that you can reach him with your mind, with your words even.”
Another large demon thrashed out, catching my attention and holding it. I screamed out as it thumped madly against the protective barrier.
“Karri-Lynn O’Higgins,” he said sternly. I stopped and stared at him. “Call for RJ....” His eyes closed.
I shook him gently. “Daddy don’t go to sleep now. Please get up. I can feel you. You’re just playing sleep. I don’t want to play. I want to go home. I want pink pancakes.” I hugged him tight. “Daddy, get up. I’m scared.”
He coughed again. “Karri, call RJ to you. He can sense you. You just have to call out to him and he’ll be able to find you. Protect you and trust me, baby, he will give his life for you. You are his world, his future.”
“Daddy....”
“Karri-Lynn, this is an order. Call RJ, now!”
I sniffled and called out to my father’s best friend and right hand man, “RJ!”
My father gasped, seeming to choke on nothing. A small smile spread over his face. “I love you, honey. Ne-ver ... forget that.”
The second he went limp, I screamed. Something moved over me fast, going right through the barrier but not harming me. I knew then that RJ had made it.
“Enough!” I shouted. I jerked back fast and the illusion broke and another one
replaced it. I stood, holding a bag of groceries as I stared at an open green door. My mind fogged and it felt like I was there, living the day over.
“Tripp, is there a reason the door is open or are you physic now to boot. Even you, wonder of all wonders, couldn’t have predicted I’d stop at a, dare I say it aloud, grocery store.”
I shifted the groceries and closed the door behind me. The sound of jazz music surrounded me, soothing me with the soulful sounds of Billie Holiday as I dug into my shirt and pulled my silver chain with the triple knot charm on it out. I glanced down at the engagement ring laced through the chain, hanging next to the charm and shook my head. “No offense, but I’m still shocked I said yes. Not that I’m second-guessing you. It’s just ... something is nagging at me ... something inside. Tell me it’s not cold feet. I believe anything you tell me so make something up. I’ll go with it.”
“Oh, I got the junk food you like and fruit for me. If you throw any of it away again because it’s taking up cold pizza space we are going to tangle and I don’t mean that in a good way.”
As I started past the oversized foyer I glanced into the formal living room. It was in shambles. “Uhh, Tripp, I know you mentioned getting a dog but I thought I vetoed that. But I did give some more thought to your idea of adopting a baby.”
I walked into the living room and looked around. “Seger made mention that his sister and her husband have adopted a little boy who is like us, not human. I asked him more about it and after lying to his face,” I shook my head, “which I hate, I managed to find out that older children need a home too. I think I’d be lost with anything little. I don’t think I come with maternal, tiny baby instincts. Maybe we could adopt one in the double-digits. How about Branson? Shit, he’s triple digits. That won’t work.”
I set the groceries down and went to work straightening up the room. “Tell me that you and Branson didn’t get into another who is stronger fight again.” I picked a table up and found a picture of the two of us. Its glass was shattered as was the lamp that had been sitting next to it. “Tripp?”
He didn’t answer. I grabbed the bag of groceries and sighed. “Gee, no worries, I’ll just put the cold stuff away and clean up your mess,” I said, laughing slightly.
I heard something moving around upstairs and shook my head. “He showers more than any man I know.”
“Karri,” someone whispered near me.
I turned, expecting to find Tripp but found nothing. “Tripp?”
“Run, baby. Run.”
My chest tightened. “Tripp, what are you doing? I can’t see you.”
Something thumped on the level above me again and I headed towards the stairs. I made it all the way up only to find that the hallway was littered with broken pictures, clothes, torn sheets. “Okay, Tripp, answer me. You’re anal about your house and it looks like a tornado went through it.”
Something dark whipped past my head, its evil brushed past me and I knew instantly what it was--a vampire. “Tripp!”
He didn’t answer and panic seized hold of me. Something crashed through the wall next to me and slammed me into the other one quickly. It seized hold of my neck and lifted me high. Looking down, I found an oversized, partially shifted were-hyena holding me up. He snarled, showing off his bloody mouth and teeth. I clutched onto his clawed hand, fighting to breathe.
A vampire came rushing out from another room. “Who do we have here?”
Someone else appeared, another man, this one shorter than the other two. “It’s the chick from the pictures.”
“We’re here to find out who else he was working with, not some dumb fucking blonde. Kill her and keep looking,” the vampire said, staring at me with hard eyes. “We need to report back that the angel is dead.”
Dead?
I shook my head as much as I could.
The vampire smiled. “Oh, yes, blonde one, your lover, the spy sent to infiltrate us, the one who honestly thought we wouldn’t discover who he really was, is dead. Don’t fear. You’re going to follow him soon enough. Kill her.”
The idea of Tripp being dead was unimaginable to me. I kicked my legs out fast and caught the short man around the neck. Raising my power up, I used it to burn the were-hyena’s hand on my neck. He let go as I twisted my body around, snapping the short ones neck.
I dropped to the floor and punched out hard and fast, catching the were-hyena in the groin. He went to slice out at me and I flipped backwards fast. His clawed hand raked past me, missing me. I threw magik up and around Tripp’s house, determined that these men would not leave.
I rushed into the master bedroom and slammed the door shut. I let my power coat it, knowing it was only a temporary hold but a hold all the same. I turned and it took a moment for my mind to register what my eyes were seeing. It was Tripp, spread out wide against the wall. He’d been pinned to the wall, crucified.
My breath came in shallow pants as I covered my mouth and shook my head not wanting to believe what was before me. Shaking, I moved towards him slowly, sure that he’d look up and smile at any moment, that he couldn’t be dead. He didn’t move.
I lifted his head and found that his face had been mutilated. Screaming, I stepped back fast, too fast, tripping over my own two feet and falling into a puddle of his blood. I began to hyperventilate as I fought back the vomit that wanted desperately to rise.
“No, no ... no.”
I pushed to my feet and forgot logic, forgot reason. I went to him fast and began trying to figure out what was holding him to the wall. When I realized it was magik, I threw my own around it and sent it spiraling off into the abyss. Tripp’s body fell fast, too fast. It hit me, taking me to the floor and leaving me under him.
I pushed up but couldn’t budge him. The reality of it all set in and found myself fighting to keep my own darkness from rising. It was then I realized that this had all already happened once. It wasn’t happening again. It was an illusion. An illusion that I was allowing the shadow demons to use to get me to tap into my darkness, my hate, my rage.
“It’s not real,” I whispered to myself.
The illusion around me began to shake. Tripp’s body vanished, as did the blood that I’d had all over me. I closed my eyes and concentrated hard. I found the answers I need. “I call on the archangels ... before me, Raphael.”
Wind whipped around me madly and the illusion dropped completely. I found myself laying on the attic floor. I struggled to get to my feet, the wind was strong. Shadow demons shot up and began to buzz past me, slicing out as they went. “To my side, Michael.”
I kept going, calling upon all of powerful angels. One of the shadow demons came surging forward, headed straight for me. I prepared for impact but someone moved before me quickly, blocking it from hitting me.
The demon shrieked out as it evaporated. The other shadow demons began to evaporate as well and the wind died down slowly. When I realized it was Riston standing in front of me I couldn’t stop myself. I wrapped my arms around his waist and squeezed him tight, resting my head against his back. “Thank you.”
He touched my arm lightly. “You’re welcome.”
I stood there, not wanting to let go but knowing I had to. “Branson?”
He approached slowly. “Yes?”
“Make him forget,” I whispered, still holding tight to Riston.
“But....”
“Do it.”
Branson cleared his throat. “But, Karri....”
“Please do it before I lose the will to make you. I want to keep Riston and that scares me. Make him forget. This isn’t any life for him, Branson. It’s not fair for me to do this to him.”
“You’re not understanding. I can’t....”
Riston nodded. “Do it, Branson.”
“But it won’t....”
“I know,” Riston said running his hand over my arm lightly. “She needs this right now. Give it to her the peace of mind. I’ll take care of the rest.”
Branson sent his magik out and over Riston.
It sprinkled around me and made me sneeze. A tiny giggle erupted from me and I glanced at Branson. “Trust you to be the one to make me laugh after all of that.”
“Hey, at least I’m good for something.” He looked behind me and nodded. “I think Tripp has to go now.”
I turned fast to find Tripp beginning to fade away. I tried to go to him but something mystical held me in my place. When I realized it was his power I shook my head. “Tripp, let go of me?”
He smiled. “Thank you.”
“For what?” I asked, unable to believe I’d done anything to deserve a thank you.
“For teaching me that I wasn’t too old to have fun and for teaching me how to love again while I was here with you. And Karri, none of what we had was staged. I was sent to protect you, to guard you until you and your mate found one another, not to fall in love with you. That just sort of happened. I wasn’t supposed to let it and they told me that you could never love me, that it was impossible. We beat the odds, Karri.”
“Tripp.” I bit back tears. I wanted to tell him that I loved him but the words wouldn’t come to me.
“I don’t need to hear you say it, Karri. I lived it. I know that you do.”
“But....”
“You’re in good hands now, sweetie and that’s how it’s supposed to be. I picked up where another angel left off. She handed the reigns to me and now, I’ve seen you to the one you were created for. Take care of yourself, sweetie.”
“Tripp?”
I felt his magik, his power moving over me. “What are you doing?”
He smiled. “Taking the pain away. You’ve grieved enough for me already, Karri. It’s time to let go. I didn’t get to give you that dog or Branson as our kid but I can give you this--the ability to move on. To love again.”
“He faded before I had a chance to ask him what he meant about delivering me to the one I was created for. “Damn, he’s a fast one now isn’t he?” I asked, laughing. That caught me off guard. “Uhh, why am I not killing something or bawling my eyes out?”
“Because whatever he did worked,” Branson said. He smiled as he approached me. “Thanks for picking me as your adopted kid possibility.”
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