A wave of energy burst out the circle. I had just enough time to look out the darkened window to realize I’d wasted my time and it was really too late to stop this. Nearly falling flat on my face, Paul pulled me back up against his chest.
Not sure what I expect to see, it certainly wasn’t what stood in the center of the pentagram. A tall woman of supermodel beauty leered at us, oddly dressed like a business woman in a pinstripe suit. Her jacket hung open to reveal a crisp white shirt unbuttoned enough to showcase her ample cleavage. She wore killer heels on her feet. Her highlighted brunette hair was full and hung loose around her shoulders. I couldn’t see Paul, and he hadn’t spoken. I had to assume he was gawking at the sight in front of us as well. She oozed sex.
“Human,” she purred. “What is it you desire?”
It wasn’t hard to image what she implied. She began to morph. “Is this what fills your dreams?” Her clothing changed. She was dressed in a bra and underwear with wings on her back. Her hair was blowing in the wind that didn’t exist. She looked like she was a runway model for Victoria’s Secret. “No,” she said slightly moving her head left to right. “How about this?” Her total appearance changed this time into someone who looked a lot like Katy Perry with black hair, flawless features and skin. Paul still said nothing but his grip on me tightened. The demon’s runway show turned into more like a slide show. Her entire being changed into another stunning woman equally as beautiful as the last until we were left with a string of images. Was she pulling these images from Paul’s thoughts? That seemed to be the only logical conclusion. Despite knowing the possibility that she was delving into Paul’s fantasies, I was unprepared for what I saw next. The figure that stood before us now was more beautiful than I’d ever seen in the mirror. I looked at myself thinking the demon had added something extra to my appearance she’d taken on. Because there was no way I was that pretty.
“Daughter of Lilith, it is,” she said with a hiss as if her tongue was forked like a snake. “You desire one of us.” My eyes must have bugged out.
“Don’t look so alarmed young cambion,” she said, her focus shifting to me.
No longer able to stay silent, I stumbled out the words, “How do you know what I am?”
Her chuckle was light and airy. “Young succubus, we sense our own kind,” she said.
“But,” I stammered.
“No, half-breed, you would be able to with proper training. I do see though that your allure is strong. You have this one right where you want him,” she said.
“I,” I spit out. I hadn’t tried to allure him with anything.
“Well, well, well,” she said. “You know not the power you have, do you?”
Unable to speak, I shook my head no. She could help me. She could answer my questions. She could give me the knowledge I desperately needed.
“Yes,” she said dragging out the word as if she read my thoughts. “Yes, just say the word and I can give you all that you desire.”
Out of nowhere a booming voice rocked me out from under what felt like a spell. He spoke in a voice filled with strength and courage I didn’t think I’d ever heard before. “Eisheth Nata Igrat Mahlat Zenunim.” Comprehension cleared my mind to accept it was Paul who was speaking. Whatever he said must have bound the demon because her alluring demeanor was gone. Her eyes darkened into something inhuman. Something in her stare shot goose bumps all over me.
“Human,” she spat. “How dare you use my name?”
Paul shifted. From the feel of him, he stood taller. “It is I who has summoned you here. It is I to whom you will obey.” Where did all this strength and resolve come from?
She let out a hiss and her form shifted back to the first face she’d appeared to us in. But she was no longer wearing a suit. In fact, she wore nothing but a python that curled itself around her body. If she thought that was sexy, I would be glad to burst her bubble. I happened to know that Paul was freaked by snakes. He didn’t scream like a girl or anything but he didn’t like them one bit. A flash of us walking a long time ago with him freezing because a tiny garden snake was in our path filled me. I remember him shuddering at the sight. I wasn’t too fond of snakes either, but I remember pulling him to skirt around the thing to continue our walk. It wasn’t longer than a ruler and as thin as a pencil. But the snake on the demon was much bigger.
If I thought he would clam up, I was dead wrong. “You cannot seduce me with your beauty demon,” he said.
She morphed into me again. Unfortunately, she was still naked. It wasn’t my body but it was close enough I felt familiar heat in my cheeks. “I can give you what you want. She can be yours.”
Not bothering to wait for his response, I swirled around to face him. “Don’t do this,” I begged.
Tearing his gaze from fake naked me, he locked his eyes on mine. There was so much emotion and need in his face. “I can ease your need for her,” the demon said using a siren like voice to tempt him.
His hand came up and cupped my face. His touch was soft and caring. “Can you love me?” he asked. I closed my eyes and tilted my head down. What had I done to him? His desire for me eclipsed anything I thought possible.
“Paul,” I said, half whispering. “You know that I love you, just not the way you want me to.”
“If he hadn’t come along everything would be different,” he said.
Tilting my head back up, I stared directly at him. “You’re right. If he hadn’t come along, I’d still just be your friend, hoping for something more.”
A wave a power hit the circle, I whirled back around. The demon was at the edge of the circle. “You can’t hold me forever. Then it will be your turn to be held captive.” The way she said the words with a gleam in her eye warned me our time was up.
“Send her back Paul before it’s too late,” I said, with growing impatience.
The way he stood all tense like he was daring her to do something frightened me more than the succubus did. “She still owes me,” he said.
“Please,” I begged again.
“So, it’s him. You’re never going to love me, are you?”
Rolling my lip to bite it, I put my hand on my necklace. His eyes followed my hand to my throat. He took my wrist then grabbed the other. Taking my necklace from my hand, he said, “It was nothing for him to buy that for you, him and all his money. But I saved up to buy you that bracelet you can’t bother yourself to wear it.” He dropped my hand. I felt inches tall. When he was standing to my side but facing the demon he cocked his head towards me and growled, “You should go.”
“Paul,” I cried out as he let me go and moved away from me.
Saying nothing to me or the demon, he’d somehow communicated with her because of her next words. “As you wish,” she said. She didn’t look at all happy, more like a disgruntled employee.
“Go, Mercy,” he said. I turned to see the demon was gone. He was standing by the window looking out into the night. I had a chance to see the piles of books stacked on his desk and floor. They weren’t average looking books either. I only had a moment longer to look. “Please go, Mercy.”
His words were firm and they vibrated through me like he yelled them even though he hadn’t. Tears welled up in my eyes. Whatever his request to the demon, it hadn’t been to change my feelings towards him. He still looked like himself, so maybe he hadn’t asked to be changed. Not knowing what else to do, I backed away and walked out the door.
Waving was the best thing I could do when I passed his mother on the way out the house. She wore a worried expression. I was worried too, but he wasn’t going to talk to me. As soon as I was out of the house, I would call Sebastian to watch over him. Somehow, he’d been keeping tabs on him. I’d failed. At least that is the way it felt.
Tears rolled down my cheeks once I cleared the house. I fumbled with my phone trying to see through blurred vision. Wiping my eyes, I managed to get to my contacts page. When I dialed Sebastian, the phone went to voicemail. Before I could make another call, my pho
ne rang. I jumped nearly out of my skin. Luckily the sidewalk was empty. I was walking with not a care as to where I was headed. My plan was to have Sebastian pick me up by whatever means and take me home.
“Maggs,” I said, exasperatedly. I missed her and felt like a bad friend. It’s only been a little over a day since I saw her last, but she was going through something. I should be there for her.
“Eme,” she cried sounding as if she were standing next to me. I turned around just to be sure. “Can you come over?” she asked.
“You’re at home?” I asked back. Then immediately, I realized that I should know that. Best friends know where there other half is. “I’m sorry I haven’t called.”
“Can you come over?” she reiterated.
“Sure, I’ll be there in a few,” I said.
After I hung up I called Sebastian again. Why didn’t he answer? I left him a voicemail giving him the condensed version which was that I hadn’t been able to stop the demon. And the fact that I didn’t know what Paul asked of it.
I could call out to Sebastian in my head. He always seemed to respond when I was in trouble. But what was done was done. Paul wasn’t in immediate danger. I was headed to Maggie’s. Sebastian will see that I called and check his messages, hopefully.
Pocketing my phone, I began the brisk walk to Maggie’s house. She didn’t live too far from Paul. It was only like a ten minute walk or so. I could only hope that nothing dire had occurred with her. I wasn’t sure how much more I could handle.
Chapter Twenty Six
scathing (adj.) sharp, critical, hurtful
Reaching Maggie’s house, with trepidation, I reluctantly knocked on the door. Things had gone from bad to worse, to colossal screw up. I just felt things were continuing in the same direction, downhill. When the door opened and a tall lumbering handsome guy with dusty red hair stood in front of me, I froze in shock.
“Mercy,” Maggie’s brother Liam said, taking me in a fierce hug.
Breathless and caught off guard, I said, “Liam, I heard you were back in town.”
He let me go and gave me a once over. “You’ve grown all up on me,” he said.
Slapping at his shoulder half heartedly, I said, “Oh, my god, I just saw you over Christmas break.”
He laughed. “Maggie’s upstairs in her room.”
I nodded and headed up the stairs with more pep than I felt. Plastering a smile on my face, I shoved open Maggie’s bedroom door bracing myself. “Hey kiddo, what’s up?”
When she turned to me, she stood and we met halfway. Her eyes were bloodshot. Her pale face flushed. She’d been crying. “Eme, where have you been?”
I didn’t want to take over the conversation from the things that were going on with her, but I blurted out an extremely short recap of the events that transpired since we’d last spoken to answer her question. “But this isn’t about me,” I said. “I want to know about you, Maggs. How are you feeling?” Okay so it was kind of a dumb question, but I didn’t know what else to say.
“It sucks,” she said flatly, wiping at her nose. “But I’d much rather talk about you and get my mind off things.”
“Why?” I said reluctantly, not really wanting to go there. “I basically already told you the whole story though.”
“Eme, come on. What happened with Luke?” she asked.
Sighing, I sat on her bed and she followed suit. I balled my hands into fist. Maggie had a tendency to put me in my place. I knew after I told her the whole story she would berate me. But I went ahead and told her about things that happened in more detail. “Well, he overheard Sebastian say that Flynn and I had been kissing in the woods,” I said at the ending the whole story.
“Jesus, Mercy,” she said. I on the other hand cringed at hearing my name coupled with the son of God. Wasn’t that blasphemy? “And you haven’t heard from him since?”
“No,” I said simply. “But like I said, he’s in trouble. I need to find a way to get to him?”
Maggie was quick, like I knew she would be. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea. I mean, Nina said that you couldn’t go there. What if they like punish you or something?”
I looked nervously at the ceiling then back at my hands. She was right. I had no idea what I was doing. “You may be right. But I can’t let him get in trouble because of me.”
Burying my face in my hands, I tried not to cry. I was here for Maggie not the other way around. Placing her hands on my shoulders in a half hug, it was her turn to sigh. “I guess we both have our cross to bear.”
“But what about you,” I said trying to turn this conversation around. I let go of my face and looked at her. “Have you talked to Tom?” I asked.
“Yeah, actually,” she began. Tom explained to her that because she lived could mean one of two things. Either Brent’s blood hadn’t transferred to her or she in fact had some recessive shifter genes somewhere in her blood line. But if the latter were true, it didn’t mean she would shift. It could be that not enough DNA was transferred to activate the recessive gene or nothing was ever transferred. But without genetic testing it would not be possible to know for sure before the next full moon.
Maggie began to tear up. “I just don’t know what I’d do if I have to be all furry,” she said.
“Have you talked to Brent?” I asked.
The tears fell harder now. “Yes,” she said. “Briefly. I said something like How could you? He only kept apologizing and telling me how much he loved me.”
“I hope you gave it to him with scathing words.” I said, before I asked, “Do you still love him?”
She gave me her version of the Duh look. “Of course I do. You can’t get over that so easily. You know that better than anyone,” she said, looking at me. Yeah, I didn’t get over Luke and look where that got him. “But I told him we were done in the most scathing way,” she said mocking me. But then seriously she said, “I mean I can’t be with him now. He’s so caveman like, telling me things like I’m his mate. MATE? I mean really Eme, I’m too young to promise myself to someone for life.”
“Is that what Tom said it meant to be someone’s mate?” I asked. Unlike me, I was sure Maggie would have called Tom right away to give him an ear full and find out what the heck it meant to be someone’s mate.
Bobbing her head, she said, “Yeah, and he said that while I’m still human I can’t be Brent’s mate. And I told him it didn’t matter either way. I mean honestly, this isn’t the dark ages. I’m not anyone’s property.”
“How’s Doug?” I asked trying to move the conversation away from Brent. I wanted to kill him for what he may have done to her. But wasn’t he as much as a victim? It didn’t matter though. He had no right to condemn others to his same fate.
Guilt marked her expression. “He’s still in the hospital. Tom’s been talking to him and I guess he’s taking it okay. He barely spoke to me. But Tom assures me that Doug knows I had no knowledge of what Brent was. I guess he’s just as shell shocked as I am.”
Holding her, I let her cry for a long while. Later, heading home, I walked for a while before I finally made my next call.
Chapter Twenty Seven
temerity (n.) audacity, recklessness
“What,” a curt voice said on the other end of the phone.
“Flynn, I…” I started to say but was cut off.
“Look, are you in trouble, otherwise I have to go.”
His words were clipped and abrupt. He had never been so cold to me before. “I’m not in trouble like that, but I need your help,” I proceeded to say. Our diminished friendship had nothing to do with the task at hand. “Can you pick me up?” I asked.
Bracing myself for the worst, sounding like he spoke through clenched teeth, he said, “Fine, where are you?”
I explained where I was and waited. Sebastian hadn’t called and I couldn’t wait. Even thinking his name hadn’t brought him to me. It’s was getting late and we had school tomorrow, but there was no way I was going. My mom and David woul
d be back in less than a week. I would just have to deal with my mom about skipping school then. Up until now, I’d been a really good student. So my absence would be noticed, but at the same time my explanation should be accepted.
Fifteen minutes later, Flynn SUV came lumbering down the road as I sat on the curb. I could have gone back in and waited inside Maggie’s house. But she was sleeping and I wasn’t good company for her brother or any of her family at the moment.
Standing up, I wiped the seat of my pants before opening his car door. He was so meticulous about his car, the last thing I wanted to do was to bring grime into it. He didn’t even look at me as I slid into the passenger side. His hair was wet but still very much spiky on the top. I couldn’t find it in myself to hate him for his good looks today. I faced forward but he didn’t drive off.
Waiting for Mercy (Cambions) Page 27