by C. M. Owens
"I should have known no human body looks or feels as good as yours," I grumble.
That was an accident. I didn't mean to say it aloud, but it definitely draws a smile to his lips.
"I think it's time you get reacquainted with my immortal body."
Everything in me flames, leaving me drenched in desire as he gives me a sexy wink. He unlocks and opens the door to my house, and I swallow hard as we walk in completely alone. The lights are all off, though I can see a faint glow of a candle light coming out from under the door upstairs. Apparently Dice doesn't take fire hazards seriously.
Kane swirls me into his arms with a motion that provokes a laugh from me. I giggle lightly until he stops spinning me and brings his lips to mine without warning. Before I think about what I'm doing, my hands are tangling in his hair and pulling him closer.
He tastes like the man I fell in love with, and he still feels like mine even though he's not. As my sanity flees and leaves me alone with my overwhelming heaps of need, my hands get greedier, sliding down his chest and then diving below the waist of his jeans. His fervent kiss grows stronger, reeling me into his seductive hold.
"Do it," I murmur against his lips.
"Plan to," he says with a devious grin.
"I mean, take my blood."
He pulls back; his eyes alight with scandal as my hand comes back out of his pants. "No, you mean bite you. But I can't... not until you're immortal and not addictive."
"I'll cure you again," I say far too casually, not believing those words are even coming out of my mouth.
He lets a small laugh out, forcing a tingle to spread throughout me, and then he pulls back.
"I knew you liked it."
He starts to come toward me again, his carnal promise glowing in his blue eyes. The green have vanished completely, leaving me with the dark, sexy night stalker, and I love it. I'm officially a psycho.
Before he reaches me this time, he's thrown backwards and pinned to the wall. Glass shatters behind his accidental trail of destruction, and then I'm suddenly joining him, shrieking as my feet lift from the ground and I stay suspended against the wall when I pound into it.
I feel powerless, almost subdued by a night stalker, as I struggle uselessly against the invisible force I can't see.
"Fuck," Kane grunts, straining with all his might to move his hand.
I can tell he's trying to get to his phone, so I do my best to aide him with my magic. That endeavor proves to be completely pointless when nothing within me stirs the least. It feels like there's a lock on my powers and an anvil on my chest.
"There you are," a familiar voice says, and Kane's eyes grow wide when he finds the girl before I do.
The blond from his party - the one Amy knocked out. It's her?
"Kane Ice and his little chew toy, how sweet," she drawls out, slowly walking down my stairs as if this is her house.
How did she get past my barrier? I'm starting to think it's pointless to even cast a protection spell these days.
"Fucking shit, Jen, what are you doing?" Kane strains out, barely keeping an understandable tone against her crushing force - the spirit's crushing force she's channeling.
Her black halter top reveals more cleavage than most women care to show, and her tight, hip-hugging pants reveal all of her perfectly shaped curves as she swishes her hips from side to side. Her hair is cut and styled exactly like mine. Creepy.
"What am I doing?" Her laughter follows the question she considers to be rhetorical.
Does she really expect us to know the reason for her insanity?
"You thought I was just some bimbo you could taste and toss away, didn't you?"
This is her reasoning behind the madness? Oh good grief.
"Jen, it wasn't like that. It was-"
"It was what, Kane? Tell me," she barks, though she doesn't allow time for a response before continuing. "It was a feed? A night of fun? You picked the wrong girl. I've been hunting down the fey for years. One of your kind killed and butchered my family before leaving me just barely alive. I shouldn't have survived, but I did. I knew I'd track down all of you and slaughter you with as much mercy as my family was offered."
Kane winces, the scars of his own tortured past suddenly tainting his face. I'm such a callous bitch that I never even told him I knew what Castine did to his family before turning him.
"I know you think I'm the enemy, Jen, but I'm not. I was a victim, just like you, only I was turned instead of left for dead. It isn't black and white. I swear I've never killed anyone who didn't deserve to die. You have though. You've killed and hurt more good people than I have."
"Ha! The shapeshifter? You call him good? He was a blood-sucking demon just like you. When he was dying, I was shown the sins of his past, just as I've seen the sins of your past. Amy? The bitch that refused to just die, you call her good? She's a blood-sucking demon, too. Her beast is too savage for you to fathom, and it's only going to get worse. And then there's the werecat. That bitch had shredded more innocent lives than even you. She deserved a much crueler death than I had time to spare."
I'm suddenly curious about this sinful past of Kane's, but he's a night stalker. On some level I knew there was a destructive and deadly trail. Not to mention, this isn't the time.
Right now I need to focus on getting out from under this hold. It's so much harder than it was earlier. Apparently this bitch didn't use so much strength then.
A distressed grunt slips through my lips when I'm unable to snap free from the invisible force. I glare at her, wishing my magic would just break through the fabric I can't see.
"Feisty little snack you've found," she snarks after a long pause, and then she kneels to the floor and presses the palm of her right hand to the hardwood.
"Just let her go. It's me you want," Kane grunts out through gritted teeth, his words sounding more and more labored each time.
She tilts her head, her crazy eyes meeting mine. "But she wants her."
She?
"Who... wants-"
That's all I can manage. The force on my chest is too painful to let anymore words escape. How in the hell has Kane been talking?
The crazy girl just laughs ridiculously loud, and beneath her hand forms a flash of fire and then smoke. It clears quickly with a magical aid, and then the pentagram is all that is left on the floor beneath her hand. I get sick, knowing this is it.
"The one who died because of you," she murmurs vaguely, leaving me only more confused.
Just when I think she's about to choose one of us to be her third and final victim, she starts chanting. I cringe when I hear the summoning spell I never thought a human could use. I've only ever seen it successfully executed once, and it was my mother behind the chant then.
A gasp rips through my lips when a body appears in a fading motion. It's a girl lying there, writhing in pain as her body jolts from the hasty summon. I don't know her, but I can tell she's dark when her eyes light up a hazy purple. I hold my breath as though it will help.
It's a black widow. This is bad. This is really fucking bad.
I watch in disbelief as the dark hair whips around the convulsing girl's face. She cries out her piercing shrieks as the summoning spell leaves her in excruciating pain. I don't even know how she acquired the blood and hair necessary to complete the spell.
The black widow screeches out her pain again, only to be met by an invisible punch that jars her head back and draws blood from her mouth. The sadistic Barbie running the show just laughs.
"Are you going to tell me she's innocent as well?" she scoffs, her eyes burning into Kane's.
Despite the pain I know he has to be suffering through in order to talk, Kane tries once again to reason with the sociopath holding us captive.
"Jen, you have to stop. You have no idea what killing her will do. You'll have a swarm of widows after you if you do this. Not to mention, you'll be inviting this spirit to live within you until it sees it fit to evacuate your body. More than likely, it'll dwell within you for
ever. You'll never have control of your body again, Jen. It'll rule you, and you'll have to watch everything you do like you're on the other side of the looking glass."
Her eyes burn through him as her face distorts, the wicked humor fleeing completely. "She wouldn't do that. She's only coming into me to kill all of your filth, and then she'll leave me after she's done what I've asked."
So frigging stupid.
"Did she say that exactly?" Kane forces out with more strain.
The pressure in my chest is threatening to crack my sternum at this point. Tears are teetering on my lids from the unbearable pain.
"Yes," she growls.
"Those exact words?" he repeats.
"She promised me she'd give me what I desire the most, and then she'd leave me in peace. What I desire the most is all of your filth to be gone."
A luminescent silhouette forms in the room. It's nothing more than a weak medley of faded lights, but I can sense the powerful presence the meager light brings. The power behind our restraints tightens, deepens, and almost suffocates my weaker body. Kane struggles as well, finally unable to speak anymore.
The spirit is silencing him, keeping him from casting doubt upon the fragile mortal mind of the human girl who is toying with things far beyond her realm of knowledge.
Kane's hand manages to find mine, and he squeezes my hand as the girl starts the chants again. Jen pulls out a seemingly unremarkable curved knife with an ivory handle. It gleams under the light, and I clutch Kane's hand with what little strength I can muster.
She leans forward and the wrists of the widow split open beneath the blade. The red spills from her veins, running through and darkening the pentagram that is now burned into my floor. The venomous spit froths in the mouth of the spidress as she struggles to lay a deadly bite. Ineffectively, she snaps at the air, unable to break the invisible binds holding her down.
Her webs form at her hands, ready to strike and subdue the evil bitch with supernatural help, but they turn to ashes instead of finding their target. This is one seriously strong spirit.
The spidress spews some unintelligible rant in her widow language, and then she's gurgling on blood suddenly as it pools in her mouth. Before our eyes, her throat is ripped free by the invisible hand of the lit force.
I gasp and shut my eyes, unable to see the morbid sight before me. I struggle for my inner strength to emerge, but then I feel the power in the room growing stronger as the thunder and lightning ring out and crash outside. The air in the room swirls, bringing with it a dizzying effect.
I open my eyes to see the glowing force of the spirit surrounding the room with its more dominant presence.
"Alyssa, we have to find out what she wants and let her have it without provoking her once she takes over. Whatever her price, it'll be worth it to keep you alive, so just let her go," Kane whispers through strain.
As the spirit turns into a shape, I get sick at my stomach. Blond hair and a faint tattoo on the side of her neck show. She was a light user, a protected light user. Only the protected bear the symbol of our council.
She's breathtakingly beautiful even in her transparent form as she walks over to her worshiper. Jen stands to her feet, admiration oozing from her eyes as she gapes at the girl who couldn't have been older than eighteen when she died.
"That's all three," Jen releases with a breathless air.
"You did well. Now I'll give you what you desire," the eerie, chimed voice of the spirit murmurs.
Jen gives a grin full of malice as her eyes spark with sadistic excitement. "All of them. I want them all dead."
The spirit smiles, nodding as she affectionately strokes the cheek of her loyal follower.
"I know, but it's not what you desire most."
And there's the trick Kane warned her about.
"Yes it is!" Jen spurts, shaking slightly when Kane's planted seed of doubt starts to sprout.
"No," the spirit says softly, "it isn't. You desire to be with your family more than anything, and that you shall do."
With that, Jen's neck snaps, and I let a shrill squeak out as her lifeless body collapses to the floor. Kane's grip on my hand tightens, and I look over to see the spirit's lights returning and scattering before plunging into the mouth of the dead body.
Jen's body now hosts the evil spirit, and it gasps for air inside its new host as the bones in the neck pop back into place, making me queasy.
"Finally," she gushes, feeling her corporeal self. Then her eyes cut toward us. "Now for the two of you."
"Who are you? What do you want?" I ask, finally able to feel some relief from the pressure as my adrenaline pumps and fuels my strength.
Her eyes glisten, a secretive menace lurking within, and then she murmurs, "Sylvia Asine." I gasp at the revelation, and Kane swallows noticeably hard. "And all I want right now is you."
Chapter 22
Darkening Lights
Me? Why the hell does a witch that died over a century ago want me? That makes no sense.
Before I can question her bizarre request, the windows are shattering, the rain is breaking in, and a body is materializing in front of me, shielding me from whatever is about to come.
"Let Drackus in, Alyssa!" Gage yells with his back to me as he launches his multicolor orbs at Sylvia, shocking the hell out of me.
"Drackus can come in," I almost choke out, and then the dark power surrounds the house as my father appears, throwing forth a power so stout it brings the spirit to her knees.
Her hold on us falls flat with the new arrivals, and Kane catches me as I fall off the wall. I choke on the air scratching against my throat with its bountiful flow as relief floods me.
My moment of reprieve is short-lived though. Drackus is thrown backwards and then pinned to the ground as he starts clasping his throat. Gage is hurled upside down into the far wall, cracking it, and then he too struggles to move.
Kane rushes the spirit, avoiding her blasts until one finally connects with him and flings him through the window that hadn't been broken with Gage's entrance. I feel something inside me snapping, rattling free, and coming to an end with a war I've unwittingly been fighting.
I don't know how, but when her next strike comes my way, it bounces off me without so much as forcing a stumble in my stride. Her eyes widen, and my stalk continues.
"What does she want?" Gage strains out.
"Me," I murmur, feeling my anger only grow like an infectious disease inside me.
Sylvia's hands burn white, her orbs forming as she flings them at me, but I dodge them as my silver ones emerge from my hands. Drackus's labored breaths become easier as I distract her further, throwing my own attack forth.
She staggers backwards when one of my silver beauties strikes her in the waist, and the magic in me begs to break free even more. The toxic lust of power rises to the surface stronger than it ever has before, and I lunge at her.
"Alyssa, don't! She'll kill you with a touch if you're her target!" Gage yelps, struggling harder to free himself, but it's too late.
I land atop of her as we topple to the ground with a thud. She gives me a triumphant grin, prematurely celebrating her win. Her hand on my arm starts feeling like a skin-meltingly painful burn on my flesh, making me release a small cry of pain, but it quickly turns into a mild annoyance at best.
The look in her eyes is priceless when I rip free, and then I slam my fist that is laced with a silver orb into her face. Blood spews from her nose and mouth and then I feel a sharp pain as she delivers a painful jab of her own. As her white orb strikes my abdomen, I'm launched backwards, sailing over to Gage who finally breaks free from his hold.
I can tell she's focusing most of her strength on Drackus, and in her new body, she doesn't have all of her spirited strength. Gage starts launching several orbs, and he manages to connect enough to send her staggering.
His arm wraps around my waist, and I feel the air beneath me as he vaporizes us away from her next attack I never saw coming. The wall we were in
front of smolders in ashes after her fiery attack, and I cringe as I feel Gage's hand on my wounded side.
She strikes again, but Gage can't vaporize us in time. At the last second, he throws his barely-there body in front of me and absorbs the impact meant for my death.
I scream out as he collapses to the floor with an unconscious thump, and then the house rattles as Drackus overpowers her hold and charges at her while throwing out a deadly blast of power that almost throws me to my knees just from the side effects.
She dodges it enough to send out a lash of white, and then Drackus is bound and out as he falls to the ground. I didn't know that sort of power still existed, and until now, I never thought it possible to take Drackus down.
I glance out the window to see Kane bleeding and unconscious as well, leaving me alone with the girl desperate to make me a victim. If she was able to take down Drackus, I don't stand a chance.
"They don't know the favor I'll be doing them," she says while wiping her mouth, spitting out the blood staining her teeth and lips. "You're the destroyer."
Destroyer? That body must be toxic, because even the spirit is talking crazy now.
"The only thing I plan to destroy is you before you unleash whatever hell on earth you plan to."
The power burns with the promise of darkness taking me, and I push forth one large ball of energy toward her, striking her in the gut before she can dodge it. The taste of total domination lingers on my greedy tongue, making me want more than just a taste as I throw another deadly assault toward her.
She cries out this time, more blood staining her exposed flesh. The tattered remnants of her clothes barely keep her covered as she stands to her feet much slower this time. She wobbles like dying prey, exciting the predator in me.
"You shouldn't be able to do this. You can't withstand my force. You're still just mortal. She swore this would work," she snarls out.
I tilt my head, curious about a new she. "Who said this would work?"
She growls deep in her throat and charges me with swirling white orbs crashing toward me by the dozens from her frenzied attack. I deflect them almost too easily before the fire in my touch connects with her throat.