‘We definitely should,’ she agreed breathlessly, pulling him out into the hallway toward the stairs.
He tugged her sweater up and over her head, dropping it behind him, as she backed up the first step with her lips still attached to his. Sliding his hands underneath her shirt, he stroked her skin.
Yanking his sweater over his head, along with his tee-shirt, she ran her hands down his chest, tracing the ridges and ripples, scraping her nails over his heated skin.
‘Dammit Livy, I want to be inside you,’ he breathed against her lips.
‘Bed,’ she panted taking his mouth again.
They backed up the stairs touching every bare inch of flesh they could. Her shirt tore and buttons clattered harmlessly down the staircase, while he pulled the cup of her bra down and took her nipple in his mouth.
Her legs folded under her and they both stumbled and fell back onto the steps. Popping open the buttons on his jeans, she reached in and wrapped her hand around him, stroking him firmly.
He growled and tore his mouth away from her. Pulling open her jeans he jerked them down her thighs, causing her to lose her grip on him. He pulled one of her legs free, spreading her underneath him as he yanked her panties to the side and plunged his fingers into the deep wet heat of her.
She cried out and arched her back. Wrapping her hands around the spindles on the banister, she could do nothing but ride out the hot bright waves of intense pleasure as he made her climax brutally. Before she could come down from the high, he picked her up and stumbled up the last couple of stairs to the upper landing, intent on getting her into their bed.
Olivia wrapped her legs around him tightly. Still trailing one leg of the jeans she was now half wearing, she threaded her hands into the dark silky locks of his hair and tugged. Biting down on his lower lip, she plunged her tongue back into his mouth and he just simply couldn’t take any more. He pressed her against the wall outside their room and ripped her panties away. Shoving his boxers out of the way, he plunged inside her in one deep thrust.
Her head banged back against the wall as she let out a deep gasp of pleasure. He buried his face in her neck and rode her hard. Her back thudded against the wall, knocking an ugly picture of a vase of daisies loose to clatter harmlessly to the floor. They were beyond noticing anything but each other. A writhing mass of moans and gasps, they took all they could.
The pressure built and suddenly Olivia cried out and clamped down hard as her climax ripped through her. Theo could do nothing but follow her. They stood panting hard, their hearts pounding, foreheads pressed together.
‘I love my present,’ Theo finally breathed against Olivia’s mouth.
A delighted laugh erupted from her.
‘You know,’ she cradled his face and smiled, ‘one of these days we might actually make it to a bed.’
18.
Theo had managed to get them both to the bathroom and after cleaning himself up he’d left Olivia to take a shower and get changed into some dry clothes. He scooped up her clothes from the stairs and dumped them in the laundry hamper, before disappearing back into the dining room.
He flicked through the book on great artists of the twentieth century, marvelling at the works of Monet, Picasso and Klimt. Putting the book aside to look at later, he leafed through the book on techniques, stopping at the section on oil painting. Propping it open on the table, he picked up one of the tubes and unscrewed it. Squeezing a little of the paint out onto his fingertips, he rubbed them together, familiarizing himself with the consistency and texture. Smiling to himself he settled down at the table to explore his gift.
Olivia padded down the stairs, the house was so quiet. Wondering where Theo was she headed toward the library, but paused by the dining room and smiled. Theo had managed to find one of the small canvases she’d bought and was trying his hand at painting. She winced slightly at the splotches of paint on the rug and the table, but what the hell, he seemed completely lost in his own little world. Deciding not to disturb him, she crept past the doorway and headed into the library.
Seeing the stack of books Theo had been reading through the night before, she headed over to the desk to put them away. As she gathered up the pile she took her time, scanning through all the books that had been accumulated by her family over the centuries. Some of the books were so tatty, they looked as if they might fall apart if she breathed on them, others were crisp new paperback novels. She smiled to herself; such an eclectic collection which suited her just fine.
Deciding she should probably call Mags, since she’d been dodging her calls for days, she pulled out her phone and started to scroll through to her number, but before she could hit connect something caught her eye.
Bending down, she realized one of the books must have toppled off the pile and fallen down the back of the desk. Shoving the phone back into the pocket of her jeans, she reached down the gap and nudged it closer with her fingertips until she could grasp the corner more firmly.
Drawing it up slowly so she didn’t lose her grip, she straightened. Dismissing it as unimportant she closed the book, intending to put it back on the shelf, but as the pages flicked past she caught a glimpse of an illustration which looked familiar. Flipping back through the pages she found the picture that had caught her attention, her mouth falling open as she read briefly through the text accompanying it.
‘Theo,’ she called out loudly.
After a few moments he wandered casually into the room. She tried not to grimace when she noticed him wiping the paint from his hands with one of her guest towels, which had been folded neatly in the laundry room.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, noting the expression on her face.
‘Look,’ she handed him the book.
His eyes widened slightly in surprise.
‘This is it exactly. This is the seal I remember Nathaniel wearing around his neck.’
He glanced down at the writing below the illustration.
‘Hoc sigillum describitur demonis duos fratres simul, quia aeternum.’
Olivia read out loud.
‘What does it mean?’ Theo asked.
‘It’s Latin,’ she replied, ‘it says, “this seal depicts two demon brothers bound together for eternity”.’
‘Demon brothers?’
‘It looks like it,’ she replied thoughtfully as she scanned through the rest of the text. ‘It basically says that each serpent depicted on the seal represents one of the two demons. One is named Seth and the other…oh.’
‘What?’ Theo asked curiously.
‘The other one is named Nathaniel,’ she frowned. ‘That’s a weird coincidence.’
‘What would a cleric be doing with a demon seal?’ Theo shook his head in confusion. ‘He was a man of God, he denounced evil and the devil. Why would he have such a seal?’
‘Perhaps Nathaniel was not as he seemed,’ she answered softly.
‘You think he may have been in league with these demons all along?’
‘I think it’s possible.’
Theo face paled as he raked his paint stained hand shakily through his hair.
‘But, we all listened to him, we believed him.’
‘Theo, this isn’t your fault,’ she reached out and grasped his hand drawing him down to the couch next to her, ‘you were all raised to trust the clergy. You had no reason not to believe him.’
‘How many though, Olivia,’ his voice was low, ‘how many of the woman we sentenced were innocent. He denounced and tortured those women, when the sin was his all along.’
‘You can’t think of that,’ she replied sympathetically. ‘What’s done is done and you can’t change that now. All we can do is try and figure this out, so no one else gets killed.’
‘Do you think the killer took up where Nathaniel Boothe left off and is in league with these demons?’
‘I don’t know,’ Olivia shrugged, ‘this is a little out of my sphere of expertise.’
‘Ho
w so?’
‘In witchcraft there is no devil, there are no demons, not as you know them,’ her brow creased as she tried to explain herself. ‘We believe that if an evil act is committed, it was a result of choice rather that an outside force of evil which influenced them.’
‘Really?’ he seemed quite surprised by that.
‘I know it’s not the version of witchcraft you were warned against.’
‘No, it seems nothing is as I thought it was.’
‘This is just nuts,’ Olivia blew out a breath, ‘there is no such thing as demons. It’s impossible.’
‘Are we really going to have a discussion on what’s possible and impossible again,’ a familiar voice startled both Olivia and Theo, causing them to glance across the room to the sturdy old desk.
Sam stood there, casually propped against the desk and wearing an amused smile.
Theo stood abruptly at the sight of the man who had pulled him from a burning barn, to drop him in the middle of the road.
‘You,’ his voice held a note of accusation.
‘Hello Theo,’ Sam replied easily.
‘Why are you here Sam?’ Olivia asked suspiciously. ‘Last time I saw you, you said you couldn’t help, that I needed to figure things out on my own.’
‘And that is still true, but it doesn’t mean I can’t give you a little nudge in the right direction,’ he grinned and his dimples winked to life, ‘starting with this issue of demons. I will state for the record, that demons are very real and not only are they real, but they are very dangerous, particularly if some idiot lets one loose on earth with no limitations.’
‘I don’t understand,’ Olivia shook her head.
‘If a demon is raised to walk the earth in its natural form, it is so powerful it cannot be controlled.’
‘So, if someone wished to raise a demon they would have to find a way to control it.’ Theo surmised.
‘Exactly,’ Sam nodded.
‘So how would they do that?’ Olivia asked,
‘That’s one of the things you’re going to have to figure out,’ Sam’s face was serious, ‘and quickly. You’re running out of time.’
‘That’s just great,’ Olivia muttered, ‘I hate running behind, especially when I haven’t seen the schedule.’
‘Is there anything else you can tell us?’ Theo asked.
He watched them contemplatively.
‘I am going to get in so much trouble for this…’ Sam sighed as he turned to Olivia. ‘The night you were lured out into the woods, where were you when you woke up?’
‘In the clearing at….oh,’ her mouth formed the word slowly as the realization set in, ‘Boothe’s Hollow…Nathaniel Boothe.’
‘So what you need to ask yourself,’ Sam told them both, ‘is how did the Hollow get its name.’
Sam suddenly tilted his head, his eyes distant as if listening to something they couldn’t hear.
‘I have to go,’ he pushed away from the desk and stepped closer to the pair of them. ‘There is one more thing though.’
His gaze turned to Olivia.
‘I just want you to know,’ his eyes were filled with sympathy, ‘Olivia, if I could spare you the pain that was coming I would…’
She blinked and he was gone.
‘Well, that just fills me with confidence,’ she muttered crossly.
‘I suppose we should find out what we can about Boothe’s Hollow then,’ Theo replied thoughtfully.
‘There’s only one person to go to if you want to know anything about the town’s history.’
‘Your friend at the museum.’
‘That’s right,’ Olivia nodded glancing down at her watch and pulling her phone from her pocket. Punching in the now familiar number, she waited patiently as it rang.
‘Hello,’ the older woman’s voice answered efficiently on the third ring.
‘Renata?’ she replied, ‘it’s Olivia.’
‘Oh hello Olivia dear, did you find any more on that cleric’s family you were researching the other day?’
‘No,’ Olivia replied carefully, ‘no, I haven’t, but I wanted to ask you something else if you have a moment.’
‘Of course, what did you want to know?’
‘It’s about Boothe’s Hollow, do you know how it got its name?’
‘I do as a matter of fact, and it goes back to your ancestor Hester West.’
‘It does?’
‘Yes,’ Renata began, ‘according to local legend, when Hester and her sister Bridget fled Salem they settled by the lake. After a while other survivors of the witch trials drifted in, one by one and in pairs, not just from Salem, but from all over. It was like they were drawn to Mercy, they knew it was a safe haven for their kind.’
‘Yes I know that,’ Olivia answered.
‘Anyway, from what I understand, the legend says a demon disguised in human form followed the sisters here. Hester lured him into the woods and caught him in a devil’s trap, sealing it with her own blood. Boothe’s Hollow is supposed to be the location of the devil’s trap and so it was named after the demon.’
‘I see,’ Olivia replied quietly.
‘Do you think it is in some way connected to the Nathaniel Boothe you were researching the other day?’
‘Who knows?’ Olivia answered lightly. Damn, the old woman was sharp as a tack.
‘Oh well, if you discover anything new, do let me know.’
‘I will,’ she nodded, ‘thanks Renata.’
Hanging up the phone she turned back to Theo, and explained what she had just learnt.
‘You don’t actually think the demon was Nathaniel Boothe?’ Theo frowned. ‘The Nathaniel Boothe I knew was just a man.’
‘Maybe that’s what he wanted you to think,’ Olivia replied. ‘Look, I’m no expert. I couldn’t even tell you what a demon in its natural form looks like, but if they are as powerful as Sam seems to think, I guess it could make itself look like whatever it wants.’
‘It’s possible I suppose,’ he sighed and cast his eyes to the ceiling as he thought back to his dream. ‘It would explain a lot.’
‘Like what?’
He turned his gaze back on her, his dark eyes serious.
‘I’ve been having the same dream for a while now,’ he began. ‘Deep in the woods, in a clearing much like you described, except it was covered in snow. There is a man staked to the ground in the circle and his chest is torn open, his heart has been removed. The tree in the center of the clearing is surrounded by a burning star.’
‘A burning star?’ Olivia frowned.
‘A shape,’ he clarified, ‘burning along the ground.’
‘Do you mean a pentagram?’
He stared at her blankly.
She flicked through the book she was still holding and held up an illustration of one.
‘Yes that’s it,’ he nodded. ‘The tree splits open and a man claws his way out of the ground and when he speaks its Nathaniel’s voice, the Nathaniel I knew. It never made any sense until now.’
‘God,’ Olivia blew out a breath, ‘this is so far above my pay grade.’
‘What?’
‘Never mind,’ she muttered, ‘I’ve just never had to deal with the concept of real live demons before and now I find one is intimately tied to my family and not just my family, but yours too. This can’t be a coincidence.’
‘You know what we need to do don’t you?’
‘Yeah,’ Olivia replied reluctantly, ‘we need to go into the woods and get a good look at the hollow.’
‘I don’t think you should go,’ Theo told her bluntly. ‘Whatever is out there in the woods, it’s already tried luring you out. I can call Jake and we could…’
‘Don’t even finish that sentence,’ she warned, her eyes flashing dangerously. ‘I may not want to go out into the woods, but I damn well will. Apparently this is my family’s mess to clean up.’
‘Not just yours,’ Theo returned ju
st as resolutely.
‘Fine then.’
‘Get your boots on,’ Theo replied tightly, ‘I’ll be right back.’
When Theo finally reappeared Olivia was already wearing her winter boots and coat, and was pulling a warm hat over her ponytail.
‘Where did you get that?’ she asked in shock, when she saw he was carrying a gun.
‘Jake,’ Theo answered, pulling his own coat on.
‘Do you even know how to use it?’
‘He showed me this morning,’ he tucked the weapon into his pocket.
‘Oh,’ she studied him carefully before finally shrugging. ‘Okay.’
‘Okay?’ he repeated suspiciously. ‘What does okay mean?’
‘It means okay,’ she smiled slowly. ‘Just try not to shoot anything important, you know, fingers, toes…me.’
‘Like that would happen,’ he rolled his eyes, as he followed her out of the door, shutting it behind them.
‘God, it’s getting cold,’ Olivia unconsciously pulled her coat tighter. ‘We’ll have snow before long.’
They looked at each other in silence, her innocent remark reminding them both of Theo’s dream.
Folding her hand in his, they trotted down the porch steps and across the grass.
‘Are you ready?’ Theo asked as they paused at the edge of the woods glancing up at the huge ancient trees.
She nodded, squeezing his hand in assurance before they both disappeared under the huge canopy of half bare trees. The floor of the woods was littered with a carpet of colorful leaves, which crunched underfoot with every step.
For Olivia, it was like stepping straight back into her childhood. Apart from the night she had stumbled drunkenly across Adam Miller’s body and the night she had wandered out in a dream like trance, she hadn’t set foot inside the woods since she’d returned home.
The rusty, slightly damp smell made her smile. Seeing it in the daylight with a clear mind enabled her to see it objectively. She’d allowed the murders and the fear to change her love for this place into something darker, but the truth was these were her woods and that would never change.
The Guardians Complete Series 1 Box Set: Contains Mercy, The Ferryman, Crossroads, Witchfinder, Infernum Page 32