And then everything seemed to happen in slow motion. From the corner of her eye, she saw the look on Noah’s face as he whipped his head around at the sound of her scream. There was fury and fear, as well as the understanding that he couldn’t reach her in time to use his Marker on the approaching Casus. Instead, he started running as he threw the Marker to Damon, who caught it in one hand, while using his other hand to toss an unconscious shape-shifter out of his way.
“Put the cross against your palm!” Noah shouted. “Fry him!”
Just before the monster sliced through Willow’s throat, Noah dove between them, blocking the blow and tearing what looked like a wicked set of claws across the Casus’s chest. The guy reeled back, clutching his chest with his remaining arm, then dropped to his knees on the ground.
“Hurry!” Noah grunted, already back on his feet and delivering a crunching punch to the nose of the Casus who held her. “Fry him before he dies!” he shouted at Damon, his fist flying over Willow’s head as he punched the Casus again.
This time, the guy went down, and took Willow with him.
She landed on top of the Casus, and Noah wrenched her out of the monster’s hold, tossing her aside so that he could finish him off. Sitting up, she watched, stunned, as Damon moved behind the one-armed Casus, his own arm glowing with molten, vibrant flames. The demon followed Noah’s earlier instructions, burying his burning arm in the back of the monster’s neck and Willow looked away just as a deafening explosion tore through the night, signaling the Casus’s death.
When she returned her gaze to Damon, he was sprawled on his ass with a stunned look on his handsome face, his blond-and-blue hair covered with falling ash as it floated on the wind. Looking around, she saw that the shape-shifters had gathered their wounded and finally run, obviously deciding this was a situation they didn’t want any part of. She envied them that choice, since she knew she was stuck there to the end.
Noah was still fighting the other Casus who had managed to get back on his feet, and the last one was standing by the trees, his face bloodied from his battle with the shifters. She figured there was something clever she should be doing, but she was in shock, stunned by what Noah had done. By the way that he’d risked his life to save hers. And she was still reeling from that bombshell, when she got slammed with another.
“Witch!” the Casus shouted into the woods. “Get your ass out here!”
As a gaunt figure walked out of the trees, Willow couldn’t believe her eyes. Despite Noah’s warnings, bile rose in the back of her throat as she got a good look at the wasted, almost skeletal woman who barely resembled her beloved sister. A sister who was helping those trying to hurt Noah.
“Sienna?” she croaked, her eyes burning with the hot sting of tears. “How could you?”
Her sister winced, her voice almost painfully hollow as she spoke. “I’m sorry, Willow. I didn’t know you were going to be here.”
“And that makes it okay?” she shouted, surging to her feet. “These assholes are trying to kidnap Noah! And you’re helping them!”
“I know…I know you’ll never be able to understand, but I don’t have any choice.”
“Like hell you don’t,” she argued, while Noah moved to her side, the Casus he’d been fighting scrambling away to take shelter behind her sister. “These are killers, Si. Is that what you’ve become? A murderer?”
“You don’t understand,” Sienna repeated, her pale, tangled hair moving over her shoulders as she shook her head. “You can’t possibly understand.”
Tears clogged Willow’s throat, but she managed to ask, “What would Mike think of this? Do you think he’d want to know that this is what you’ve become?”
Sienna flinched so hard, it looked like she’d been slapped. “I’m sorry, Willow.” The husky words were little more than a whisper. “But I made a deal and I have to keep my end of it. I have to let them take Noah.”
She stepped in front of Noah, shielding him with her body, and made her voice hard. “I’m sorry, too, Si. But I can’t let you do that.”
Sienna’s frail body shook harder, the look on her thin face one of tormented agony. “Damn it, Willow. I don’t want to fight you.” But even as she said the words, she lifted her hands, preparing to unleash some kind of spell.
Willow’s heart broke.
“I don’t want to fight you, either,” she choked out, the words hoarse with pain. “But I’m not letting you have him.” Then she took a deep breath, dropped her knife and lifted her palms.
NOAH COULDN’T BELIEVE what he was seeing. Damon had moved in close to Will’s other side, and now a towering wall of fire surrounded the three of them, offering them protection, the violent flames licking the skies like the flick of a dragon’s tongue.
“How long can you keep this up?” he asked, hating the strain etched into her beautiful face.
Sweat misted her skin as she panted, “Not long enough.”
“We need a plan,” he growled, looking at the demon.
“What exactly is this thing made of?” Damon asked, bouncing the Marker on the palm of his hand.
“I don’t know,” Noah snapped, wondering why the demon even cared. “I think it’s some kind of material that can only be found in hell, but I have no idea what the name is.”
Damon grinned. “That’s all I needed to know.”
“Why? What are you going to do?”
The demon’s sly grin spread into a smile. “Trust me. This’ll be more fun if you just watch.”
Knowing Willow was in pain, he snarled, “Whatever the hell it is, do it now!”
Damon rubbed his thumb over the dark metal of the ornate, Maltese-shaped cross, and then looked at Will. “When I say the word, honey, you drop the flames. Okay?”
She nodded, and Damon closed his eyes, his brow creased with concentration as he muttered to himself in a strange, guttural dialect. The cross began to glow, burning a deep, dark red, and then the demon opened his eyes and growled, “Now!”
Will dropped her hands, extinguishing the wall of fire, and Damon shoved his arms forward, the glowing cross still trapped within his fingers. A thunderous blast of wind flew from the demon’s outstretched arms, slamming into Sienna and the two remaining Casus, flinging them back toward the trees. And then they simply vanished, and Damon lowered his arms.
“What did you do?” Willow rasped, appearing equal parts pleased and terrified, no doubt worried about her sister.
“I just sent them on a little trip.” Damon leaned against the side of Noah’s truck, none too steady on his feet. “They won’t be far,” he explained, running a shaky hand back through his blue-blond hair, and Noah noticed that the blue streak, as well as the symbol on the side of the demon’s neck, looked paler than before. “Maybe a county or two over.”
“Oh,” she breathed out, the relief in her eyes easy to read.
As his claws retreated into his fingertips, Noah put a comforting hand on Will’s shoulder and offered the demon a gruff thank-you for his help.
“I see you’ve got a backseat in this thing,” Damon rumbled, patting the truck. “You guys mind giving me a lift? I don’t know about you two, but I’m more than ready to get out of here.”
“Didn’t you drive here?” Willow asked, picking up her knife and cleaning the blade on her jeans, which were already covered in blood. Thankfully, it didn’t look as if any of it was hers.
The demon gave a tired sigh. “No, and before you ask why, it’s a long story.”
She shook her head and almost managed a grin. “They always are with you.”
As Noah and Will climbed into the front of the truck, Damon sprawled himself in the middle of the backseat. “While we drive, maybe the two of you could explain what it is you need me to do. But first—” he groaned, sounding as if he was in pain “—we need to find me some food. You guys got here before I could eat tonight, and pulling shit like that spell always zaps me. I’m down to nothing.”
“We’ll find you a drive-throug
h,” Noah told him, turning his key in the ignition and cranking the engine.
Damon laughed. “How the hell am I supposed to do my thing in a drive-through? I’m flexible, but…damn, Winston. I don’t think any man should be that limber.”
Noah looked over his shoulder. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Willow placed her hand on his arm, and he turned his head, studying her face in the crazy neon glow flooding through the windshield. She was so damn beautiful, it stole his breath. His chest felt hot, soft, like something was melting in there, and he knew that couldn’t be good.
With a smile twitching at the corner of her mouth, she said, “I don’t think Damon means that kind of food, Noah.”
His eyes went wide. “You mean…?”
“Yep. He needs to find a woman. One who’s willing and able, and, knowing Damon, stacked like a brick house.”
“Well, shit.” Noah was pretty damn sure they weren’t going to run across a drive-through for that. Then he thought about the strange interchange they’d just shared, and he started to laugh.
They were battered and bloody, had nearly lost their lives, and he’d discovered that in addition to fangs, he’d also managed to release some pretty deadly claws that they still hadn’t talked about. He should have been worrying about what it meant, or driving Will’s crazy little ass back home, where she’d be safe. But he wasn’t doing any of those things. Instead, he was going to make sure they got the demon somewhere he could get laid.
If he’d called his friends back in England and tried to explain the situation to them, they wouldn’t have believed him. Hell, he hardly believed it himself.
“Okay, then,” he finally said in a strange, kind-of-strangled voice as he adjusted the air conditioner and put the truck in gear.
As the open road stretched out before them, Noah realized that in a world where nothing was making a lot of sense to him, there was one fact that he could be certain of, without any shadow of a doubt.
He might have managed to hold on to his body for another day, but he’d finally lost his mind.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
DAMON’S IDEA OF dinner turned out to be a nightclub located across the street from the hotel where they’d managed to get the last two available rooms. Since Noah refused to stop before he’d put some distance between them and the bar, Damon had been forced to wait for his meal. The demon had used the time to explain how the Marker was made of powerful “hellstone.” He’d used it to channel his energy into a spell that transported Sienna and the Casus to a different location. Then Willow had told Damon about the Death-Walkers, the journal and why they needed him.
Damon had agreed to take a look at the spell, but only after he’d done something about his hunger pains. They’d parted ways in the lobby, and Willow now found herself in the same situation she’d been in the night before.
Alone. In a hotel room. With Noah.
As she sat on the edge of the bed, she looked over the beige, almost painfully drab room, thinking it was a step up from the motel they’d stayed at last night. She didn’t know how much time they’d spend there. Probably only enough to get cleaned up, considering they were all a mess, and maybe grab a few hours’ sleep. She knew she needed the rest, but as she looked over her shoulder, settling her gaze on Noah, all thoughts of sleeping fled her mind.
He was standing on the other side of the bed, setting his knife on the bedside table, along with the gun he’d taken from his bag. He checked the clip on the handgun, then pulled off his ruined shirt, leaving him in a pair of low-slung jeans. Willow tried not to stare, but it was impossible. Like trying to tell someone not to look at the Grand Canyon when they were standing right on its edge. His body was that stunning. All hard and muscular and mouthwatering.
Last night he’d said they were going to have to talk about his physical reaction to her. She suddenly wondered if that was a conversation they could just act out instead. Because she had some really important things…to say.
She knew she’d never be able to trust Noah Winston with her heart. She just didn’t have that kind of faith inside her anymore. But she trusted him with her body. The man had already proven he was willing to risk his life to save hers. As long as she stayed in control and set the limits, she wanted to touch him…and to be touched. Damn it, she wanted as much of him as she could get. And she knew, without any doubt, that if she didn’t do everything she could to get her fill of him now, she was going to regret it for the rest of her life.
But a shower was mandatory, since she smelled of Casus blood, so she grabbed her bag and headed for the bathroom. She didn’t take long, and Noah went in right after her, leaving her to prowl the room in her sweats and tank top, too restless to lie down.
She was standing at the window, staring through the blinds at the silver moon, when the bathroom door opened, and she listened as Noah took a seat on the couch. Resting her shoulder against the window frame, she said, “I didn’t want to believe you. About Sienna.”
She’d been trying not to think about her sister all night, but flashes of memory kept stabbing into her brain like a knife. When Sienna had walked out of those woods, she’d looked like something from a horror movie. Long, ragged white dress splotched with blood. Snarled, waist-length hair that was nearly white. And those cold, almost lifeless eyes.
“I’ve been trying not to think about her,” she added, “but I can’t stop.”
When he spoke, his voice was low and deep, brushing across her skin like a physical touch. “I want to be able to help, Will. But I need to understand why she’s doing this.”
Her throat constricted. “Who knows?”
“Come on, Will.” His voice was soft, but she could hear the bite of impatience he’d tried to hide. “I’ve been searching for information about Si for months, but haven’t been able to find anything. Nothing in the media or from the authorities.”
“There wouldn’t be,” she murmured, closing her eyes as she leaned her head against the window frame. “You know what my family’s like. We keep things private. Jessie wasn’t joking when she said we never go to the police.”
“Will, please trust me.”
She opened her eyes and stared out at the dark, endless landscape of the night. Trees swayed in the wind like dancing figures in an ancient ritual, and she kept her gaze focused on those swaying limbs as she said, “It happened last spring. Do you remember Mike Jones?”
“The guy who played high school football with Bryce, then went on to play at Ole Miss?”
“That’s him. He came back home after he’d been injured his junior year, and he fell in love with Si. They got married, and later had a little girl named Angie.” She took a shaky breath, wrapped her arms around herself and went on. “Angie was killed last spring while over at a friend’s house. The friend’s family was attacked by a couple of rogue vampires who had flirted with the little girl’s mother earlier that day. They hadn’t liked the way she’d blown them off, so they followed her home and waited until nightfall. No one in the house was left alive.”
He cursed under his breath, and she could hear him move to his feet. He paced from one side of the room to the other.
She cleared her throat, then went on. “Despite being human, Mike managed to track down the vampires who were responsible and he got his revenge after a long, bloody battle. But he didn’t survive his injuries, and Sienna lost him, too.”
“Christ,” he grunted. “Poor Si.”
“It was awful,” she murmured. “Everything she loved was taken from her so quickly. She went from having everything in the world, to having nothing at all.”
“I remember Sienna studying healing when we were kids. Was there nothing she could do to bring them back from the dead?”
She shook her head as she turned to face him, her arms still wrapped tight around her body, as though they might be able to hold her together. “We’re taught the Life-Spell from an early age, but few have ever used it successfully. I’ve only heard of thr
ee cases in history where a Chastain was actually able to bring someone back from the other side, and it was done within minutes of them dying. By the time she’d found Mike’s body, it was too late. And it was the same with Angie.”
“What do you think she wants with Calder?” he asked, his hard muscles coiled with anger. He was still moving in that restless, powerful stride, like a tiger pacing its cage. Predatory and primal. And stunningly gorgeous.
Realizing the mouthwatering sight of him had sidetracked her, she cleared her throat and answered his question. “Mike’s parents had never liked Sienna. They believed the rumors they’d heard about our family. I think they were even afraid of Angie, who was already showing signs of incredible power.”
He stopped in his tracks, his handsome face etched with shock. “They were afraid of their own granddaughter? Jesus, they sound like idiots,” he growled, and she loved him for thinking that.
Letting her head fall back on her shoulders, Willow stared at the ceiling, but she didn’t really see it. All she kept seeing was her sister’s gaunt, skeletal face. That soulless look of pain that had been in her eyes. “Anyway, Mike’s parents were awful when they learned what had happened. They told Si that their son was burning in hell because he’d taken lives in anger, and they accused her of forcing him to make the kills. Said she’d controlled him with witchcraft and that she was to blame for his death…and his punishment.”
She sniffed, and there was a tremor in her words as she continued. “Sienna was never the same after that. I stayed home to help Jessie take care of her, and we tried everything we could think of to reach her. But she just kept drifting further away. Then I woke up one morning and she was gone. I hadn’t seen or heard from her since.” She lowered her head and found him staring right at her, his blue eyes burning with emotion.
“Until tonight,” she whispered.
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