Sighing with resignation, he agreed, “We’ll have to fix that at the house. I don’t want to leave you without protection.”
John approached but hung back respectfully. “Come over and join us, John. What’s new with your family?” Killian invited kindly.
The rest of the evening passed in comfortable warmth and camaraderie. The pub wasn’t busy so John sat with us and caught up with Killian and Sean. He was obviously used to their ways and wasn’t at all surprised when Dec pulled out his blade to clean it off. The midnight hour was upon us when Sean stood up and stretched. His eyes were heavy with fatigue and I knew he was ready to go. Domino was waiting for us at home and we needed to get back.
John gave me a warm hug and whispered, “You’re always welcome here, lass. Visit any time.” He pressed a small doggy bag into my hands and kissed my cheek. Before I could thank him, Sean took my hand and we landed in our living room.
“Whoa! Is that okay? We just vanished in front of him!”
“He’s cool. His place is a sort of safe haven for us. You can always go there if you’re in trouble.”
“Nice. I have no idea where we were though and I have to take planes,” I pointed out with not a little sarcasm.
Killian agreed but added, “I have an idea. Mica, take my hand and project your image of the place into my mind. Let’s see if I can find it for you.”
“I can’t travel. This won’t work.” I looked dubiously at them. But Sean and Dec agreed it was worth a try, just to see how far my powers were progressing.
“Okay. Here goes.” I took Killian’s hand and waited for his mind to open to me. I was used to connecting to his mind so I let him slip in easily. I imagined the pub in as much detail as I could remember and let it fill my mind so he could see it too.
I sensed the change instantly. I opened my eyes and we were standing inside the darkened building. It was empty but still warm and inviting. Blinking in the darkness, I wandered around to be sure it was the same place.
Killian breathed, “Damn.”
“Wow! That’s so cool! Let’s try someplace else that you’ve never been to. Maybe you subconsciously brought us here and it wasn’t me at all,” I suggested. He told me to think of anyplace I wanted to go.
I held his hand and imagined the sandy beach of a deserted island in the South Pacific. I’d always wanted to see one of those…in a heartbeat I was caressed by the warm salty air of the ocean. Opening my eyes again, I was stunned by the beauty of the sandy cove around us. We stood on a tiny strip of black sand that butted against a tropical jungle. The beach ended in a jumble of rocks that jutted out from a hardened lava flow. Turquoise water gently lapped at the shore and a sea bird dipped its head into the water just off shore.
“Oh, my…” I breathed and looked up at him.
His hard face softened with the wonder of the place. All too quickly the practical being showed up to throw a wet blanket on the fun. “Mica, we can’t stay here. This isn’t stable. I don’t know if this is our plane. Come on, we need to get back.” His tone was stern but his mouth curved into a smile.
Turning away, I headed towards the rocks. “I’ll be right back. I just want to see what’s on the other side of these rocks!”
“Mica!” Killian shouted.
I looked back to see him stagger and sit down on the sand. He clutched at his chest as my own began to sting.
Dropping to my knees beside him, I demanded, “It’s happening again, isn’t it?”
His eyes were unfocused, the lids fluttering shut. The white color of his skin sent alarm bells clanging in my brain. Uh-oh, he can’t pass out!
An animal screamed in the trees and the sour taste of fear filled my mouth. Peering nervously at the trees, I worked hard to keep from panicking. The jungle loomed behind us, its tropical growth nearly pitch black with decay and death. No one knew where we were and we would be stuck here if Killian was unconscious.
Smacking him against one cheek, I yelled, “Don’t you pass out on me! Wake up!”
I started shaking him by the shoulders when he grabbed my wrist, grinding the tiny bones together. His eyes were black as the pain in my chest deepened. His must be killing him, but he struggled to stay awake.
“That’s better. Get us out of here,” I begged him. The animal screamed again, closer this time. “We can’t stay here, Killian. Please.”
Wrapping my arms around his waist, I shouted at him to take us home and then everything went black.
My world brightened gradually until I squinted against the fire’s glow. Fire? Where was I now? I scrambled upright kneeing Killian in the stomach as I did so. He was lying under me with both arms still banded around me. He wasn’t completely out though. His eyes were slanted just a bit and he was trying to blink. I peered around us and was surprised to see an altar with a brazier of hot coals. Ah, that explained the glow. It was stone and very old, much like Killian’s Eden, but in a different place. It was quiet as only uninhabited places can be. I strained my ears and heard only my ragged breathing. I reached out but sensed no humans. Something odd tickled at my awareness but I didn’t recognize it. Not Primani, not demon…something else?
Killian’s breathing quickened and I reached down to check his pulse. I wanted to get up but he held me in a death grip. Instinct told me I was running out of time. This place wasn’t safe and we were vulnerable.
“Killian? Wake up. We can fix this, but you have to wake up.” I patted his cheek but he only blinked at me.
“I’m awake,” he rasped. “Stop yabbering; I’m trying to listen!”
“Oh, nice.”
Leaving him to listen, I snooped around the cave. It wasn’t very large and the altar dominated the space. The glow from the coals cast reddish shadows that reflected some kind of sparkling minerals in the walls. It could be quartz or limestone, I wasn’t sure. The sweet smell of water tickled my nose and I swallowed painfully. My tongue wanted to stick to the roof of my mouth reminding me that I hadn’t had anything to drink for a while. Killian was still prone so I followed my nose. Near the back of the altar was a small depression, a tiny pool, of clear water. It smelled okay and I stuck my finger in it to taste it. It was slightly bitter but seemed okay. I filled a small metal cup and gulped it down. Filling the cup for him, I moved back to Killian and offered it to him.
“Is it Sgaine Dutre?”
Nodding and springing to his feet like a cat, he washed his face in the pool and paced. “Someone is wielding it…someone very powerful.” He crushed the cup and threw it into the coals. “But it’s fighting.”
“That has to be good, right?” Laying my hand on his shoulder, I asked, “Is it here?”
“No, it’s not here. We’re on another plane…like Eden. Eden’s been compromised, so I created a path to this place. It’s empty, too.”
“Are you sure it’s empty? I felt another presence when we got here. Not human, but not quite demon or Primani. Are there other beings that could be here?”
“That’s not possible! What did you sense?”
“Just a presence; like something hovering outside the cave. It seemed unfriendly.”
Clearly unhappy with this news, he ran his fingers over his jaw and glared at the walls. “Okay, let’s try this. See if you can sense it again. Can you do that?”
“I’ll try.”
I closed my eyes to concentrate on locating the strange presence and was hijacked by an unexpected image of Killian waking me up from the grip of a nightmare. He sat on the edge of my bed, smoothing my hair back from my face. As I struggled to wake up, he kissed my forehead with so much tenderness I nearly cried with the memory. Forcing my eyes open, I gaped at him.
“You…no, it can’t be.” I shook my head to clear the fog. But when I closed my eyes, the image reappeared. This time I’d woken up and he held me curled against him until I stopped shaking.
“What’s the matter? Can’t you sense it?” His impatience was obvious. He wanted to bolt.
“I can’t s
eem to focus.”
He studied my face before saying, “Never mind then; we’ll deal with that later. Come over here and let’s fix that rune.” A gust of wind whistled shrilly across the entrance and he paused to listen. Unperturbed, he waved me over again. “Let’s get this done so we can go. I don’t want to get stuck here.”
I sat and watched while he pulled off his shirt and replaced my tiny pendant with the large gold one he used for rituals. The dying embers cast a glow over his chest and the gold glimmered enticingly. Murmuring, he sprinkled a handful of dried herbs onto the coals. A sweet smell filled the cave and my head began to swim oddly. The walls undulated, shimmering faintly. Killian’s voice was reverent in prayer. He held the blue-handled blade aloft and called upon an ancient power to bless it.
“Come, Mica. It’s time,” he called from the altar.
He reached for my arm and I laid it across the altar stone with my palm down. Holding the knife out in front of him, he chanted firmly,
“A Dios entrante, Dutre gainhi.”
“A Dios entrante, Dutre gainhi.”
He recited the words and swiftly carved the rune into the top of my hand. Blood flowed freely but there was no pain. His own freshly-carved rune was still bleeding when he raised it to me. I pressed my hand into his and felt a small surge of power as his blood mixed with my own and flowed through my veins. His eyes shone with clear blue fire as the blood flowed and my own brightened in response.
As he spoke the words that would seal my fate, his heartbeat throbbed in my ears, calling me, compelling me, drawing me to him. As the ancient magic claimed me for its own, my heartbeat echoed his. Still standing with the altar between us, I closed my eyes and surrendered to the pull of the raw power. Instinctively, I grabbed his wrist and dragged him towards me. Instead of coming closer to me, he entwined his fingers with mine and held on as the magic took effect. We stood linked together with blood running between us and flames searing the walls around us. I locked my eyes to his and felt the tenuous bond crystalize into stone. Our connection was complete and we would not be easily separated now.
His raspy voice brought me back to the present. “I’m not sure that was a good idea,” he mused as he rinsed the blood off his hands. The tiny pool gleamed red in the fire’s glow.
I looked down and realized I had blood all over my hands. In a daze, I washed up and then studied him as he studied me. Minutes passed while the wind howled outside.
Pensive, he met my eyes and frowned. “I’m almost 100 percent sure that I just made you 100 percent more powerful. Sean is going to be pissed.”
“Why is it you absorb my blood and my power? No one else does.” He tossed another coal on the fire and continued his musing. With a mocking laugh, he asked, “Do you know how many times I’ve bled on Sean?”
“That’s a little gross, really.”
Laughing shortly, he said, “In war, babe, bleeding happens.”
The hair on the back of my neck prickled in warning. “There’s something outside!”
Throwing me a knife, he ordered, “Stay put.”
Putting the altar between my fragile human body and the cave entrance, I palmed the silver blade and searched for the source of life I’d felt. It was still out there…a whisper of life…not a whole soul, but a shadow, no, a pale reflection of a soul hovered malignantly nearby. The power it projected was unlike any I had ever felt before. A trickle of sweat slid between my shoulder blades and my fingers tensed around the haft. A slight shift in the atmosphere alerted me and I froze with the blade ready. There, a few feet in front of me, was a shimmering, a disturbance, in the light of the cave. I blinked but it was still there, hovering just out of arm’s reach.
“What do you want?” I growled under my breath.
A faint echo of laughter answered me and the shimmering flattened out and disappeared altogether. Killian reappeared just as it vanished. Angrily, he swung around to confront this intruder but there was nothing for him to see.
“Fuck!” He slammed his fist into the cave wall and a small shower of rocks peppered the floor.
With furious movements, he gathered up the wicked blades and sheathed them. With three steps, he went to the altar and said several angry words over it. With one final burning glance at what only he could see, he cursed the unseen presence and banished it from this place. In response to his command, the cave walls sung with a low vibration that began at the altar and radiated outward until the entire cave trembled. A faint blue light crisscrossed the ceiling and the walls until the cave was completely covered in the protective web.
Slowly lowering his hands, he bowed his head and murmured a prayer. Satisfied, and a lot calmer now, he took my hand without a word.
“Well, at least you’re not covered in blood this time.” Sarcasm greeted me the second we rematerialized. He was leaning against the fireplace with crossed arms.
Dec was draped across the recliner, wagging his head in disapproval. His mouth curled up just a little on one side as he fought back a grin. Evidently they’d been waiting for some time and he’d been stuck with Sean’s complaints.
Flushing guiltily, I got defensive. “It wasn’t my fault! We got stranded on a deserted island.”
Sean sniffed with disbelief. “Why am I not surprised?”
Killian, who had been trying to keep a straight face, finally broke down and smiled. “Mica’s got exotic tastes; she wanted to see the South Pacific. We ended up at the cave though.” He went on to explain what happened and the silence was leaden when he mentioned the shimmering presence.
“That’s freaking creepy.” Dec’s brow furrowed as he sank deeper into thought. He absently scooted over so Domino could curl up with him. She leaned against his side and rested her chin on his lap. It was past her bedtime.
Sean asked, “Did this feel the same as our invisible Peeping Tom? Maybe it’s the same guy.”
I thought about that for a few minutes. Was it the same, uh, entity? Not a person, surely. It hadn’t felt like an angel either. I didn’t sense an aura of goodness that usually surrounded Primani and the other angels I’d met.
“This presence seemed malignant; it gave me the chills and I wanted to run away.”
“I asked what it wanted and it laughed at me,” I added ruefully.
Dec unfolded himself and stretched. “I’m going to do some research on this. Something seems familiar, but I can’t put my finger on it.”
“I think we need protection over this house. It’s not secure anymore and we need to be able to talk,” Sean pointed out to Killian.
“And you should do that now…” I murmured while slowly jabbing my thumb towards the window without turning around. Three pairs of eyes followed the motion…and then vanished along with their host bodies.
Chapter 22: How Hard the Fall
“WHERE IS IT?” Killian’s voice was deadly quiet when he questioned the prisoner.
The prisoner squirmed in the chair and tried the bonds around his wrists. With profound dignity, he stared unblinking at the wall in front of him while Killian prowled the room. Sean observed with a blank expression that masked his thoughts. He was reserving comment for later.
Yanking the prisoner to his feet by his neck, Killian asked him again. Again, the answer was stony silence. Frustrated but hiding it with immense control, he dropped the bound demon to the floor. He grunted as his face hit the concrete. Killian’s boot pressed down on his back and shoved him harder into the floor.
“I asked you a question, demon, and I’m running out of patience.” He bent closer and dragged his favorite knife from its sheath.
The metallic hiss sounded loud to me but the demon stayed cool. He remained silent with his reptilian eyes tracking every move Killian made. The black pupils were unusually large in the yellow irises. The putrid yellow color was only visible as a ring around the huge pupils. Like most demons, he wore a human mask to cover the scaly skin that would give him away. This one had the dark skin and aquiline features of an Egyptia
n. His thick dark hair was cut close to his scalp and he had prominent cheekbones. Not a bad looking disguise overall.
With a twist of the wrist, Killian slid the blade against the demon’s cheek bringing a tendril of smoke curling from the wound. Sensing progress, he held the blade just above the skin on the other cheek and waited.
“Loyalty is an admirable quality. I’m surprised to see it in a demon.” The blade trailed down the cheek leaving a pale curl of smoke. This time the prisoner sucked in a breath but didn’t cry out. I was impressed with his stubbornness.
I tended to scream when someone cut me.
Killian wrenched him upright again and shoved him back into the chair. Switching tactics, he sat down across from him and steepled his fingers on the table. Apparently bored, the demon considered him without a sound. The clock ticked and the wind screamed outside, but the basement room was silent.
I glanced over at Sean and raised a shoulder in question. He moved over to the stairs and motioned me up them. Once we were out of the basement, he closed the door and stalked into the living room.
“How much longer is he going to go at this? This guy’s not talking.” I tried to keep the admiration out of my voice, but he noticed.
“Please tell me you’re not impressed?” He hissed, “It’s a frickin’ demon, Mica! They have no redeeming qualities, remember? It’s not loyalty that’s keeping his mouth shut. Don’t be impressed.”
Backpedalling, I denied it. “Of course, I’m not impressed. Well, not really. But he’s been at it for hours now and this demon is just stubborn.” I paused for the right words. “It’s like…his brain doesn’t realize that Killian’s about to kill him…”
Sean’s whole face lit up and he sprinted towards the basement calling, “You’re a genius!” on his way down the stairs.
What did I say? I caught up with him just in time to hear Killian rumble, “Zombie?”
Zombie?
Did I say that?
The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) Page 57