Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom

by Magda Alexander

  “Then claim me.”

  The smothering grew thicker. Sensation ceased to exist. All was silent and dark, but she had a terrible feeling her dream was continuing without her.

  *****

  The scents of bacon and coffee lured Jade out of bed after a restless night of sleep. Actually, restless wasn’t the right word. Disturbing was more like it.

  Though she didn’t remember the details, she knew she’d dreamt last night, and it wasn’t just her wet panties that told her so. It was the feeling that she needed to get into the shower as quickly as possible and scrub herself clean.

  She’d felt the same way several mornings ago, after the last night she’d slept in Grandma Nina’s bed. Probably just her subconscious trying to deal with everything that happened yesterday.

  Gathering up her things, she went downstairs and took an extra long, extra hot shower before following the murmur of male voices into the kitchen.

  “I don’t want her going back there,” Emmett was saying.

  “I know. I get that,” Nick said. “But I’m telling you, this thing might not be wrapped up in a matter of days. My stuff detected zilch last night. Not even weak signals. Nothing, man. Everything I’ve got on the house says it’s safe.”

  She wasn’t sure she was ready to believe that, and Emmett looked like he felt the same way. He ran his hands through his hair in frustration, but brightened when he saw her.

  “Hey, babe. Sleep well?” He got up and gave her a peck on the cheek.

  “No, not really,” she answered without elaborating. She squeezed his arm affectionately and went to the coffee pot to pour herself a mug.

  Emmett’s carafe was one of those stainless-steel insulated ones, not the glass kind. Even so, she shivered involuntarily. Would pouring a cup of coffee always remind her of yesterday morning?

  “I don’t want to go back,” she said, almost to herself.

  Emmett was pulling a plate out of the cabinet for her. He put it on the table and came to surround her with his arms. “Then you won’t. Not until you’re ready.” His cheek rested on her head, and from Nick’s grim expression where he sat at the table, she could guess Emmett was glaring at his friend.

  She felt guilty for causing trouble between them.

  “I can give you another day,” Nick said, “but I’ve got to get back by tomorrow. I’ve got a final.”

  “But it’s August,” she said. “You have classes in the summer?”

  Nick nodded and downed the rest of his coffee. “I’m doing summer term. I’m getting married in November and want my last semester to be super light.” Getting up to put his dishes in the dishwasher, he added, “After summer term, I only have seven credits left and then I’m legit. That’s like one heavy course and one light one in the fall. Should be a piece of cake.”

  “Congratulations,” she said. What did Nick’s fiancée think about him studying demonology? Probably not the time to ask. She pushed out of Emmett’s arms to scoop the last of the eggs out of the frying pan and onto her plate.

  “Thanks,” Nick said to Jade. To Emmett he said, “It’s a stumper, for sure. I mean, we could try again tonight, but I’ve got to hit the road by like four AM so I can get back and have an hour or two to study before my exam.

  “I could also hit the local library today and look at property records. Might tell us if anyone’s died in the house or if a witch lived there at some point. You’d be surprised how often that’s the case in some of these older homes. You get a history where there might have been someone séancing with the demon world, giving them like a portal to our side, and wham, haunted house from then on.”

  She stared at her plate, suddenly not very hungry. Nick’s words brought her dream last night back to mind, but she couldn’t remember why. Had she dreamt about her grandmother’s house? About someone dying? She felt dogged by a sense of something important being right in front of her and yet woefully out of reach.

  She poked at her eggs unenthusiastically and finally settled on munching a piece of crispy bacon.

  “You okay, babe?” Emmett must have picked up on her mood.

  Shaking herself, she forced a smile and said, “Yeah, just bad dreams last night.” I think. She wished she could remember. Then again, maybe it was better that she didn’t.

  “That’s understandable,” Nick said. “After what you two saw yesterday, and then not knowing whether it might happen again.” He surprised her by patting her knee. The gesture gave her some comfort. “I’m sorry I didn’t find anything. Really. I mean, it’s good news, but kind of not, because it might leave you feeling like I don’t believe you. Well, I do. You know that, right? Both of you?”

  She nodded. Nick was a good guy. She looked forward to getting to know him better.

  Emmett said, “Yeah, man. I know. Thanks.”

  “I can help you, today,” she told Nick. “I know my way around a library pretty well. But would you mind if we stopped at Senior First so I can visit Grandma Nina before we go?”

  “No problem. Maybe I’ll drop you off and run over to say hey to my dad. He works in Wilmington, not far from the old-folks’ home.”

  They spent the next few minutes chatting about Nick’s parents and her degree, and then Emmett had to leave to drive the sweeper for the day. He warned her and Nick there would be guys coming and going for the lawn service and told them not to lock the door leading from the kitchen into the shop.

  When she and Nick left Senior First and headed to the library, she felt good about having something to do. Closet nerd that she was, she actually looked forward to the research project. Maybe they’d find something to explain Mr. Shadow and…Bat-man.

  She chuckled to herself.

  “What?” Nick asked from the driver’s seat of his hybrid.

  “Nothing. I was just desperately searching for humor in this situation.” She told him the names she’d given her ghosts.

  He didn’t scoff at her. Instead he kind of scolded her. “It’s good to look for humor, but be careful not to trivialize what you’re going through. The kind of paranormal activity you guys experienced yesterday was rare, like really rare. And it suggests the presence of an entity with a great deal of power. I’m not sure I’d use the word ghost in your situation.”

  “I know. You and Emmett think it’s a demon or something, right?”

  “‘Fraid so, based on your description. And that’s serious stuff. You don’t want to take demons lightly.” He gave her a severe look as he turned onto Cyprus.

  “Consider me suitably freaked.” She played with the clasp on her purse. “It’s just hard to believe this is happening. I mean, I’m not even religious or anything.”

  “If you were, I’d be less worried about you.”

  She was touched to know he was worried about her, but offended at his implication she ought to go to church. “You can skip the judgmental attitude.”

  He held a hand off the wheel in a defensive gesture. “I’m just saying, demons can’t possess anyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ. It’s an impossibility.”

  “So, what, I’m a sitting duck or demon bait or whatever because I don’t go to church?”

  “It’s not just going to church. It’s believing in God, believing he made you and loves you and has a plan for your life. It’s about being a Christian. Like Emmett,” he emphasized.

  Was he telling her she wasn’t good enough for Emmett? That stung. Then it made her mad. “Why don’t you just leave me to the demons, then, so your friend will be safe from me? Why are you even helping me if you think I’m such trash?”

  “Whoa, whoa, I didn’t say, like, any of that. Jeez Louise. You’ve got a temper on you.” He pulled into the parking lot of the library. “I didn’t mean to insult you.”

  She folded her arms across her chest. “It sounds to me like you’re saying if I’m not a Christian I have no business dating Emmett.”

  He shook his head. “I don’t believe that’s true. I think you and Emmett are great toge
ther. Honest.” He made that defensive gesture again, this time with both hands, now that he’d parked the car. “I just want you to understand how important God is to him and how important you are to God. That’s all. Church and reading the Bible and loving God, that’s all really important to Emmett. I think it would mean a lot to him if you gave it a chance. I think it would, like, deepen your relationship if you two could connect in that way. That’s all I’m saying.”

  Her indignation gave way to the understanding that Nick was just looking out for his friend. He was right. She did have a quick temper. But if she stopped to listen, she could usually cool down pretty quickly too. “Well, thanks for explaining. I really care about Emmett, so I’m willing to give all this stuff a try. But I’m not committing to anything without checking it out for myself, on my own timeline.”

  “That’s all I’m asking.”

  Inside the library, Jade zeroed in on the computer-based search-system while Nick looked at property-ownership records. It didn’t take long for her to find a newspaper article featuring Grandma Nina’s address. The article was from 1904. Only articles dating back to the 1920’s had been scanned, so she fired up a microfiche reader and began.

  On Friday evening last, Mrs. Gertrude Birmingham, wife of the Very Rev. James Ulysses Birmingham, on hearing a scream in the night, raced from her home at 169 Little Turnpike Road to find “a man of irreconcilable proportions” ravaging her daughter. As Rev. Birmingham was away comforting an ill parishioner, Mrs. Birmingham took matters upon herself and fired her shotgun at the stranger’s back, killing him dead. Her efforts were sadly not in time to save her daughter, Miss Mercy Abigail Birmingham. Furthermore, upon closer inspection, Mrs. Birmingham discovered she hadn’t shot a stranger at all, but Joshua Ellis Harrison, Esq., Miss Birmingham’s fiancé.

  Distraught, Mrs. Birmingham informed investigators that Mr. Harrison must have been trying to assist Miss Birmingham against the beastly stranger and she, the well-meaning goodwife, must have accidentally shot Joshua instead of the stranger, who must have fled under the cloak of darkness.

  The article ended with a warning for the townsfolk to avoid the woods around Swallow’s Pond for a time.

  She read it again, her memory hitching at the names. Mercy. Joshua. They seemed familiar, but the harder she tried to remember where she’d heard them before, the deeper the information seemed buried in the catalog of her mind.

  Shaking her head, she stood up from the microfiche table and searched what she could see of the library for Nick’s pageboy cap. She couldn’t wait to tell him what she’d found. Maybe this gruesome and partly accidental double murder had something to do with her house being haunted. Would it count if the death was on the property but not in the house? She spotted Nick sitting at a row of computers and headed that way.

  Next thing she knew, her gut rolled like she’d plunged down the big hill on a rollercoaster. Nausea bent her double. When the sensation passed, she tried to straighten up, but her body wouldn’t cooperate. In fact, she felt light as air, as if she had no body, no real substance.

  She tried to scream, but she had no mouth. Everything was dark. She was touching nothing and nothing was touching her. She was floating. Then she was sinking.

  Down, down, she dropped until it felt like the library was miles overhead.

  This must be what it felt like to die.

  Chapter Eighteen

  What the hell? Had she just stroked out in the middle of the library? Would Nick find her dead body splayed out on the floor by the microfiche table?

  Oh, God, Emmett!

  She couldn’t leave him. She’d just found him.

  Death was unacceptable.

  I’m not dead, she insisted. There’s some rational explanation for this. Maybe I just fell asleep at the library and I’m dreaming.

  Dreaming.

  She remembered the dream she’d had last night with sudden crystal clarity. And the one from Friday night that she’d woken from feeling violated.

  Draonius and Mercy.

  They’d been haunting her dreams and messing with her big-time. And she’d forgotten all of it. Those slimy bastards!

  She wanted to scream as she remembered the smothering sensation of her consciousness being overridden. But she couldn’t do anything to vent her frustration. She was nothing. She was nowhere.

  She had never felt more helpless.

  You have to focus, said a voice that wasn’t exactly a voice as much as it was a thought that pushed its way into her awareness. If you want to see, you have to think, ‘eyes, give me eyes.’ If you want to scream, you have to think, ‘give me a mouth.’ You’re right. Draonius is a slimy bastard, indeed.

  Fear paralyzed her. Who’s there?

  Joshua Ellis Harrison, Esquire, at your service, ma’am. And you must be Mistress Jade Alderwood. It’s a pleasure to finally speak with you, if you’ll pardon the term speaking. Come, now. Let’s at least get you eyes so you can see me. Just think about having form and wanting to see. You can do it. I know you have strength in you. You have shown it to me several times.

  The kind and formal tones in the “voice” would fit well with the image of the young man she’d seen in her mirror. Mr. Shadow must be Joshua, whom she remembered from the article had been shot by Mrs. Birmingham. But that hadn’t been what killed him. From her dreams, she remembered Mercy had killed Joshua, with a knife to his heart, so Draonius could take his body.

  God, it all sounded so crazy. But she’d seen it. She’d lived it, with Mercy driving her dreams.

  Poor Joshua. He’d gone down to the pond to have a good time with his fiancée and he’d ended up possessed by a demon.

  Dread slammed into her. Was that what just happened in the library? Had Draonius possessed her?

  Eyes, Jade, if I may be so familiar. You will be less frightened if you have sight. You can trust my authority on that. And no, it’s not Draonius who has your body, but Mercy. Draonius is helping her hold it, though.

  Fear thrummed through her, but she did what Joshua said. She wished for sight, and a moment later, she could see.

  She was surrounded by a red, rocky desert. The arid ground she floated over was reddish brown and cracked like it hadn’t seen rain in eons. The sky was blood-red with orangey clouds. Massive stalagmites of scab-like rock jutted up like fingers reaching for the sky.

  Her body, if it could be called a body, was something between smoke and spider webs. She could move. And she could feel, kind of, though what she felt was more like a weight of expectation where sensation should be. It was uncomfortable, but not intolerable.

  She twisted around until she saw Joshua. At first glimpse, he looked like a shadow, black and man-shaped, with a top hat and cape. But looking more closely, she could see tiny strands of substance like a billion fine threads weaving him together.

  She felt a small burst of warmth at the sight of him. He was something familiar. A friend.

  The shadow smiled. I am pleased you seem happy to see me. However, I wish with all my heart we’d never had occasion to meet.

  Where are we? Oh, God, please don’t let this be hell.

  Hell is hotter, he answered, his face somber. This is the abyss. It is where Draonius resided until he ascended to the physical plane to feed on you. It is a prison of sorts for evil spirits.

  A prison? For evil spirits? So what am I doing here? What are you doing here? You’re not evil. Wait, did you just say Draonius was feeding on me?

  His shadow-mouth twitched. I am gratified you noticed I am not evil. I don’t know the why of this place. But I suspect it is located between Hell and the physical plane. It takes immense energy to cross from here to where mortals reside, so I gather this is where demons rest and plot. Draonius has given Mercy lease over your body and placed you here until he gains the strength to take your soul as an essence. And yes, he has been feeding on you. That is how he summoned enough power to cross to the physical plane.

  There were so many things in what he
’d just said that freaked her out to the point of screaming, but she still had no mouth. She had no lungs to hyperventilate with, either. Okay, okay, she thought as her mind tried to explode with terror. Keep it together.

  To Joshua she thought, I’m no philosopher, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want Draonius to take my soul. And how the hell has he been feeding from me? A terrible realization struck her. Oh, God, it was all those sex dreams, wasn’t it?

  The shadow nodded.

  She burned with shame. She felt so used. So violated.

  Rage surged through her. She wanted to cry and scream. She thought, mouth, give me a fucking mouth!

  “That slimy, cock-sucking fucker!” she shouted in a voice that sounded remarkably like her own, but petered out too quickly in the flat atmosphere of the abyss.

  Joshua cringed. I daresay that is some fairly strong language for a gentlewoman.

  “Oh-ho, there’s nothing gentle about me. Tell me how I can get out of this place and I will kick that bastard’s ass. I will so avenge your death, and I swear on all that is holy I will get my body back.”

  His eyes were wide black holes. While I appreciate the sentiment, might I suggest conserving your strength? Every action in the abyss requires energy, and seeing as you have no demon to care for your essence, your supply is woefully limited.

  “What are you talking about? What’s all this about essences?”

  I’d suggest you think to me rather than speak. It requires less energy.

  She reluctantly obeyed. What happens if I run out of energy?

  You die.

  Not one to mince words, are you?

  The shadow smiled sadly. Not when it’s a matter of life and death, my dear.

  *****

  Mercy trembled with excitement and trepidation. She had a body!

  Draonius had helped her push Jade all the way out, and now the body was hers! But the fat man was walking toward her, and he would expect her to sound a certain way.

  Speak as little as possible, Draonius had warned her. Obtain the items for the ritual and hide yourself away to await our Emmett.

  “Hey,” the man said with a nod as he brought his tremendous mass to a stop before her. His meaty hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his short trousers. “Find anything?”