“You have no right to do this,” the Casus cried, straining against the spikes that held him in place. “I’ve been loyal to you! I’ve followed all your commands!”
“Really?” Calder’s brows lifted with challenge. “Did you or did you not fail to capture Jackson Winston before the Watchmen hid him away?”
The Casus coughed, choking on a mouthful of blood, his gaze wild with pain. “I couldn’t get there in time. That’s not my fault!”
A cold, serpentlike smile lifted the edge of Calder’s mouth. “Oh? So I’m supposed to be lenient because you’re incompetent?”
“You can’t do this!” Richard roared, struggling to lift his head from the blood-soaked ground. “You need all the Casus soldiers you can find. After what happened in Meridian, our numbers are too low to lose another.”
“I’d rather have a strong few than legions of weaklings,” Calder murmured. “And I can, I assure you, do anything that I want. Just ask our lovely little witch here.”
He smiled as he said the words, the curve of his lips pulling awkwardly at the decomposing flesh of his face. He blamed Sienna for the gruesome condition of his body, because of the way she’d ripped him from Meridian. Of course, he’d have likely been killed in the battle, had she not kidnapped him, but that argument had done little to change his mind. As she had quickly learned, there was no reasoning with a monster. And Calder was one of the most evil, despicable beings she’d ever encountered. Which was why she needed him.
But first, she needed him strong.
Sienna wasn’t sure why Calder and the three shades who had followed him through the portal had been so traumatized by the incident. Perhaps it had been the portal itself. She was hardly an expert where the metaphysical doorways were concerned, her ability to make them a skill she’d only recently acquired, as her understanding of the workings of dark magic grew stronger. For that reason, Calder refused to allow her to “pull” him through another one.
However, the portal might not have been the problem at all. Another possibility was the fact that Calder and his men had begun regenerating while still trapped inside Meridian, gaining substance from those Watchmen they had killed, then fed on, during the battle.
Whatever the cause, the result was a problem she’d been forced to deal with. Though Calder had tried to simply continue the regeneration of his true form, the process had failed. It was as if his shade no longer knew how to exist in this realm. He and the others had been forced to take the bodies of the closest human hosts they could find, but they had yet to succeed in retaining one for long. No matter what kind of fortification spells Sienna tried, the host’s flesh began to decay from the moment they slipped inside.
Using her powers, she had been helping the four of them to move from one body to the next, and they were steadily regaining their strength. But it was a slow process, and Calder was anxious to get on with his plans.
“Considering you came back a failure,” he said to Richard, “I’d say it proves that you’re not only incompetent, but stupid, as well. And we can’t have any weak links in this war. However…you will have the opportunity to redeem yourself.”
“What?” Richard gasped. “What the hell are you talking about? How?”
The wind tore across the field as Calder explained. “Now that the gate to Meridian has been broken, our shades can no longer return there. But neither can I send you to hell without one of the Markers. So, when this body you’re in dies, your shade will simply be forced to find another host.”
“So then this is just for fun?” Richard demanded, still struggling to break free. “You twisted son of a bitch!”
Calder’s eyes narrowed. “This is to teach you a lesson so that you don’t make the same mistake twice. Weakness will not be tolerated.”
Suddenly, the man’s gaze cut to hers, and Sienna flinched at the blast of hatred pouring from his pale blue eyes. “You honestly think he’s going to keep his end of the bargain you made with him?”
“He’ll keep it,” she whispered, her voice steady, devoid of emotion. “Or I’ll kill him.”
“You’ll never get the chance,” he growled.
“That’s enough!” Calder barked, cutting him off. Then he nodded to the others, giving them permission to begin their feeding.
As the Casus began ripping Richard to pieces, Sienna turned her face away, unable to stomach the gruesome sight.
She’d made a deal with the devil, and she’d burn for it, eventually. But there were some things in life worth burning for, and she’d once had one of them. And now she wanted it back. Even if it was just for a day. For an hour.
After she’d lost her last accomplice, the Casus named Gregory DeKreznick, she could have given up and gone home. But when she’d tried, she…couldn’t. She wanted her baby back too badly. Wanted her husband. Her family. If she had to go to heaven and hell to get them, she was willing. So she’d gone after the leader. Gone after Calder, himself.
Now, all she had to do was ensure Calder continued to regain his strength, until he was strong enough to take the body he wanted. And what he wanted was Noah Winston. He wanted the man who had dared to come after him. Wanted to break him down, then take him over.
Only then would the bastard go into hell for her and bring back what she wanted.
“Poor Sienna.” Calder’s icy hand touched her chin, lifting her face until she was looking him in the eye. Despite the ice-blue color, his gaze reminded her of a shark’s. Soulless and cold. “You look positively green, my dear.”
“You’ll have to forgive me for not rejoicing in such a vulgar act.”
“A few more killings, and I’ll be strong enough. It’s time for you to collect the Winstons for me.” He slid a disappointed glance at the ground, where his men were still feeding. “I can’t trust the others to make this happen on their own. They need your help.”
“I understand.”
His gaze locked with hers once more. “Fail me, and I promise you’ll never see that man of yours again.”
“I will not fail.” Her voice was hollow, the complete opposite of the fast, happy notes that had always made her husband smile. He’d been big and gruff and so in love with her she hadn’t known what to do with all the happiness. Maybe that was the problem. Maybe she’d had so much it had upset the balance in nature, and so she’d lost everything to even the score. She didn’t know the why or the reasons. All she knew was that she wanted her family back.
And she was willing to do whatever it took to get them.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A DAY AGO, if anyone had told Noah that his best day in nearly a year would be spent on a road trip with Willow Broussard, he would have told them to unload their money on a shrink. Especially after the way the night had gone. And yet, despite everything that had happened and his worry about what was to come, it was true.
Not even Kellan’s endless text messages demanding to know more about his “mystery woman” had been able to irritate him. He’d simply ignored the texts, which had made him smile, since he knew it would drive the good-hearted idiot out of his skull.
And oddly enough, he wasn’t even obsessing over the fang episode, which kind of surprised him. Noah didn’t know what it meant, the fact that he’d suddenly spouted a set of fangs when he’d been on the verge of driving inside her—and he wasn’t sure he wanted to. Whatever the reason, it wasn’t likely to be good, but he decided he could worry about it later.
Which had left him free to focus on Will.
They’d taken turns driving, which had allowed them to both grab some sleep earlier on. It was nearing twilight now, and though they’d searched four bars that day, they hadn’t had any luck finding the demon. About an hour ago, they’d crossed the state line into Tennessee and were now heading to the fifth bar on Will’s list of possible places she might track the demon down. Considering the situation, Noah figured he should have been edgier than ever, but instead, he found himself feeling almost…mellow. Yeah, the sexual need was always t
here, growing more urgent each hour that went by—but he’d also experienced a strange kind of pleasure in just spending time with her. In eating burgers and fries and talking about movies and places they’d been. In trying to figure out how her mind worked, and what was important in her life. What she hated, and what she loved.
As if by some silent agreement, they seemed to be avoiding those topics that were bound to make them argue. He hadn’t asked her about Harris, and she hadn’t brought up what had happened between them the night before. That is until she turned toward him and said, “Are you going to tell me about that bite on your arm?”
Noah glanced at the scars Calder’s fangs had left in his skin, the wounds finally beginning to lose that raw, angry color. “What about it?”
Carefully, she said, “It’s hardly my field of specialty, but after last night, I’m thinking Calder’s bite might have come with some…side effects.”
He cut her a sharp look, but she had her face turned away from him, staring out the windshield. After a moment, she asked, “Exactly what changes are you experiencing?”
“Sharper senses. Faster reflexes. Shit like that. And I’m not complaining. In a way, I like it. It’s making me a better fighter. But…”
“But what?”
He rubbed his fingers along his jaw, which definitely needed a shave. “It’s just that I’ve been having some fairly gruesome dreams lately.” Ones that involved lots of violence…and blood, like something from a horror flick. But he kept those disturbing details to himself, and simply said, “They had started before the bite—but they’ve gotten a lot worse since it happened. That part I could do without.”
“Hmm.” She took a deep breath, then slowly let it out, as if she was preparing herself for something difficult. “Do you, um, want to tell me about them? About the nightmares?”
“Not particularly,” he muttered.
“Okay.” Noah could feel the power of her gaze as it settled against the side of his face. “But do you think that’s healthy?”
His voice was getting rougher. “You got something you want to say, Will?”
“Only that I think you shouldn’t be so hard on yourself,” she told him. “The dreams are probably nothing more than a natural reaction to stress. And as for the changes…well, I don’t think you should worry that you’re turning into a monster.”
He grunted in response, more than a little irritated that she could read him so easily. And hell, if it turned out he was turning into something monstrous, he knew what to do. The minute he thought he was a threat to her safety, he’d put himself down. End of story. He could eat a bullet if it was needed. Hardly the most palatable solution, but it was the best he had. And it meant he could have a little more time with Will.
Noah was trying to work out how he might be able to talk her into sticking around a little longer, once they’d found this demon friend of hers, when she asked him a question he’d been dreading. But one he knew she’d ask eventually.
“When you saw Sienna,” she murmured, “what did she look like?”
Noah locked his jaw, wanting to tell her anything but the truth. An honest answer was only going to cause her more pain. So he didn’t give her one. “She just looked like Si. A little older than I remembered her, but still beautiful.”
Taking another deep breath, she lifted her chin. “I know you don’t want to tell me the truth, Noah. But I need to know.”
He arched his brows. “And just how do you know that wasn’t the truth?” he drawled. “You read minds now?”
“No, but I’m good at reading your expressions.” She gave a wry, breathless laugh as she leaned her head back against the seat. “When we were younger, I used to study you for hours on end when you were working at the bar, or just hanging out with Harris. You never knew I was there, but I was watching you. Learning you. So I know when you’re lying.”
Noah exhaled in an audible rush, caught off guard by how easily those intimate words slipped under his skin. How powerfully they affected him. “It’s not something you want to hear,” he grated, his voice suddenly raw with frustration. “Damn it, Will. I don’t want to hurt you.”
“I’ve been hurt before, and I’ve survived.” There was no heat or anger in the words. They were a simple statement of fact. But they still made him feel like shit. “And it’ll hurt more if I don’t know what to expect. The odds are high that we’ll be seeing her, and I…I don’t want to be caught unprepared.”
He cursed something foul under his breath, knowing he was going to give her what she wanted. That he didn’t have any choice.
Before he could think better of it, Noah reached out and caught hold of her hand, gripping it in his. “When I saw her, I knew it was Sienna, but…she’s changed. A lot. She’s much thinner now, almost…gaunt. She looks kind of like she’s just…wasting away.”
She trembled, her hand cold in his, but she didn’t try to pull away. Instead, she tightened her grip, holding on to him while she stared through the windshield at the endless stretch of highway. “Did she look like she’d been…hurt?”
“Not from what I could see.” He stroked his thumb against her palm, too aware of her to miss the way she shivered in reaction, even though she tried to hide it. “But she won’t be easy for you to look at,” he added, frowning as she pulled her hand from his and crossed her arms over her chest. She huddled in on herself, as if she were cold, so he reached down and turned off the air conditioner.
She didn’t say anything more, looking as if she were miles away, completely lost in her thoughts. Noah waited until she finally began to relax again, some of the tension easing from her frame as she lowered her arms and leaned back against the seat, before saying, “So, about this demon.”
WILLOW BIT BACK a brief smile. She’d been wondering how much longer Noah was going to be able to hold out before he asked her about Damon. She was actually surprised he’d lasted as long as he had.
Rolling her head toward him, she watched the way the ethereal shades of twilight played over the rugged, masculine angles of his face. It didn’t seem fair for one man to be so delicious. “What about him?” she asked, flicking her gaze over him. It was impossible not to notice how the soft denim of his jeans hugged his muscular thighs…as well as the impressive bulge behind the fraying fly.
“Why’s he hiding out in bars?”
The sound of his voice made her give a little jump, and she quickly jerked her gaze back to his face, before she got caught ogling his package.
“Aren’t there other places that would be less…conspicuous?” he added.
The bubble of laughter in her throat was a welcome relief after the choking tightness she’d felt only moments before. “I could tell you, but I think it’ll be more fun for you to figure that one out for yourself.”
He grunted, clearly not caring for her answer. “Then tell me why he’s in hiding.”
“I already told you when we were at Jessie’s that it’s because of his ex. His ex-wife, to be precise.”
He slid her a quick glance, before turning his attention back to the road. “An acrimonious divorce?”
A wry smile touched her mouth. “You could say that. She did something not only illegal, but downright evil, and Damon turned her in for it. It was the right thing to do, but she escaped the demon prison she’d been put in, and now she wants revenge.”
“She serious about it?”
Willow nodded. “Enough that she plans to carve off pieces of his body, one by one.”
He gave a low whistle under his breath. “I’d say that’s pretty serious. No wonder he’s on the run.”
“Luckily for Damon, he does the whole running thing like a pro,” she offered with another quiet laugh. For all his faults, Damon was just one of those males it was impossible not to love, so long as you weren’t in love with him.
“You seem to know him pretty well,” he said, his voice sounding a bit grittier than before. “You date him?”
The knuckles on the hand he grippe
d the steering wheel with turned white, and Willow almost believed he was actually jealous. He certainly sounded it. And with that muscle suddenly pulsing in his clenched jaw, he definitely looked it.
So what exactly was she meant to do with that?
He’d told her, last night, that the reasons he’d had for not sticking around twelve years ago no longer stood. Which meant…what? That he planned on touching her again? And if that was the case, then what the hell was he after now? An affair? A one-night stand? Not that it mattered. She couldn’t give him either of those things, even if she wanted to.
And yeah, she definitely wanted. Which just pissed her off, since there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it.
With a frown pulling at the edges of her mouth, she shifted into a more comfortable position. Or tried to. But it was damn hard to get comfortable when your insides were getting twisted like a pretzel.
Instead of answering his question, she asked two of her own. “Why all the questions about Damon? Are you really that interested in my love life?”
“Just curious.” His shrug was casual, but she could still see that telltale tension in the set of his jaw. “From the sound of it, you’ve been…busy.”
“And what about you, Noah? How many wrecked hearts have you left behind over the years?”
The shadows were deepening around them as the lavender of twilight faded into evening blue, and his eyes burned in the soft glow of the truck’s instrument panel. “Sex doesn’t equal love.”
“Meaning what?” she asked with a stunned laugh.
He jerked his shoulder again. “Just that the women I get involved with don’t expect anything more.”
“What a crock,” she said, shaking her head. She rolled down her window, enjoying the feel of the summer-scented air as it blew against her face. It was rich and warm, like a living thing, offering a kind of primal comfort from the chill creeping through her system. Keeping her face turned away from him, she quietly added, “They may not own up to it, Noah, but all women are looking for love. Some just hide it better than others.”
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