The Beckoning of Beautiful Things (The Beckoning Series)

by Calinda B

  The wine hit Marissa’s body like a small bomb, igniting her courage as if the breakers in her inner breaker box had been flipped. The electricity inside of her hummed quietly, coursing through her blood stream, at the ready. Oh, yeah. I am digging this sensation. All the fear and fret just vanished. She was alive, she was strong, and she was fiercely present. Oh, yeah. This is who I am. Being me is easy. Tom’s right. Resisting being me sucks. She imagined herself to be a bird of prey or a wildcat – something powerful and fierce. She owned her sexual power. “Nice,” she uttered. She smiled a cat-like smile.

  “You’ve calmed. That is nice,” her captor agreed. “And there’s something different about you. I find it most provocative, whatever it is.” He cocked his head to the side, studying her.

  “Do you?” She flashed another private smile, yielding nothing.

  The rest of the meal continued without incident. They engaged in small talk, even laughed at times. Deliciously woozy, totally hot, and satisfyingly full, she fixed her gaze on El Demonio. He’s actually not so bad when he’s not angry.

  “Let’s take an aperitif out on the verandah, shall we?” El Demonio stood, walked around behind her, and pulled out her chair.

  “Let’s,” she agreed.

  They strode out onto a beautiful stone landing that jutted from the house. One of the staff had lit candles in small lanterns and placed them throughout the verandah.

  Marissa took in the view below. To one side lay trees enveloped in darkness. To the other side, far into the distance, lights of a city twinkled like tiny stars.

  “That city,” El Demonio said. “That city is Sao Paulo. It is the place where I was born.”

  “I see.” She made her way over to a large, generous chair and settled onto it, spreading her arms along the back. “And is that the sea in the distance?”

  “Yes. I shall take you out on my yacht someday.” El Demonio sat next to her. He clapped his hands, and a male servant appeared on the landing, holding a tray bearing a wooden cigar box, a flask of golden liquor, and two glasses.

  Marissa squinted at him. It was the handsome driver from earlier today. She smiled wickedly at him.

  His eyebrows rose, and he licked his lips. His dark eyes flicked over to his employer, and he stiffened.

  El Demonio selected one of the cigars, sniffed it, and nodded. The male waiter snipped off the end, struck a match, and extended it.

  El Demonio puffed his cigar, turning it side to side, visibly delighted. “Would you care to partake?”

  Marissa shook her head.

  “This is an excellent smoke. Are you certain?”

  “Thank you, no.”

  “You might like it, chica.”

  Oh, what the heck. Soon I’ll have chopped off everyone’s... She quashed the thought, and reached for the cigar, hoping Daniel hadn’t heard her thought. Bringing it to her lips, she took a few tentative puffs. It wasn’t bad. Her lips got all tingly as she brought the smoke into her mouth. Her dad used to smoke cigars every once in a while. She’d always liked the smell.

  “You look very sexy with a cigar in your mouth. Your lips are very beautiful.”

  She handed it back to him. “Thank you.”

  “Please continue. I can get another if I need to.”

  The servant opened the flask and poured some of the liquor into the glasses. He handed one to El Demonio and one to Marissa.

  She smiled a seductive smile. I am so sexy. And relaxed. And powerful. And I can kick some ass. The faint buzz of electricity in her head was her signature song. Me. Light Rebel. She took a couple more puffs of the cigar, savoring the fragrant tobacco. Both men eyed her with greedy lust. Her eyelids lowered seductively as she handed the smoke back to El Demonio. “Thank you.”

  El Demonio raised his glass. “To a pleasurable ending to this pleasurable evening.”

  She smiled and lifted her glass high. Not if I can help it. The bourbon blazed a fiery trail down her throat. It emboldened her, stoking her sense of sexual power.

  Marissa! You’re driving me crazy!

  Shhh. Not now, Daniel. She looked over at El Demonio and smiled.

  He smiled back, clearly pleased.

  Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. I can find you in a blackout.

  Gladly. I’m rather enjoying myself. “I’d like the cigar back please,” she said, working to keep El Demonio off the thought trail between her and Daniel.

  “I’ll get you one of your own. That way I can take pleasure in my own smoke while taking even greater pleasure watching you with yours.” El Demonio nodded to the servant.

  The male reached for the cigar box, picked one up, sliced off the end, and swaggered over to Marissa.

  Wordlessly, she accepted the cigar, put it between her teeth and puffed as he held the match up to the tip. Her eyes caught his. She gave him a smoldering gaze. She’d never see him again after tonight so who the heck cared?

  He eyed her voraciously, nodded, and backed away, looking askance at his boss.

  He’d probably get his balls chopped off if he tried anything with me. Marissa let her hand drop languidly from her wrist, holding the cigar lightly in the crook of her index and middle finger. The warm cigar smoke rolled along her skin and drifted into the sky. She brought the smoke to her lips and puffed it, peering at El Demonio through the smoky haze. I’ll bet he was gorgeous as a young man. He’s still a handsome man. A pity I have to do him in.

  “Beautiful,” El Demonio uttered. “You’re beyond compare, Marissa. I could watch you all night. But I have other plans to explore you.”

  Her breath hitched, and she swiftly reached for her glass, tipping the blazing remains down her throat.

  Just a few moments, and we’re there, cariño. We can see the lights on the hill.

  “More please,” she said, holding her glass in the air.

  El Demonio gave a stony look to the waiter.

  The male quickly refilled her glass, glancing down at Marissa’s cleavage. He averted his eyes and backed away.

  One more second, dulzura.

  El Demonio squinted at her.

  Marissa quickly diverted. “Tell me about your coffee production again. Please. I love the way you become completely animated when you speak of your coffee.”

  “Certainly. I’d love to.”

  Beyond the perimeter of the fence, shouts rang out. Gunfire punctuated the atmosphere. El Demonio sprang to his feet. “Get her out of here!” he commanded the waiter. “Now!”

  “I don’t think so,” Marissa said, releasing tiny daggers from her palms into the male’s abdomen.

  The man clutched his stomach and staggered, falling to the floor.

  El Demonio’s hand shot out and the same invisible tendrils he used before bound her wrists. He ran inside, tugging her along as he went.

  She moved her hand back and forth, seeing herself painting the floor with slick oil, and she and El Demonio slid across the floor and toppled on top of one another. While the sorcerer struggled to get to his feet, she froze the invisible restraints, jerked her hands, and broke them into icy bits that tinkled to the tiled floor.

  “Clever girl,” he hissed. He swept his arm in a grand gesture as if he wielded a matador’s cape and she was the bull.

  Her arms and legs were instantly trussed with invisible restraints. She crashed to the tiled floor with a thud. “Ow! You bastard! That’s going to leave a bruise!”

  The sorcerer grabbed her hair and dragged her across the floor.

  “Let go of me,” she screamed, wriggling like a salmon tossed onto a boat.

  He dragged her up the stars like a slab of meat, leaving welts and bruises on her arms and legs. As she bounced up the stairs, she writhed and wiggled in the dark, trying to free her limbs. She tried the ice maneuver she’d used before, but the restraints didn’t give. She tried to heat them up but only served in scorching her skin. Thinking fast, she visualized oily color dripping from her skin like soap, and she wriggled her arms and ankles free. />
  She jerked free of El Demonio, pushed past him, and ran for her room, with the elderly man in hot pursuit. She leapt through the doorway and tried to slam it shut but El Demonio barreled into the wood like a locomotive. So not frail. He’s got superhuman strength. She shoved her body against the door. He overpowered her, bursting through the door and seizing her in his powerful arms. She thrust out a hand and grabbed her clothes from the dresser. The fabric caught against the open drawer. She tugged and it ripped in two, spilling the jewels onto the floor, along with Buddy’s protection paw. A transparent, silvery little Chihuahua lunged at El Demonio, gripping his pants leg and hanging on for dear life.

  As El Demonio tried to beat away the ghost dog, she raced toward the front of the house and burst into a completely unexpected scene.

  Complete darkness engulfed the world outside. It was so dark, in fact, that she put her hand in front of her face and could see nothing. She blinked several times, hoping she hadn’t gone blind somehow. It was eerily quiet, too. It was so quiet that sound seemed to have been vacuumed from the atmosphere. It made her afraid to speak lest she shatter the silence. She dared not even think. She stilled, acutely aware of her breathing. It sounded like leaves fluttering in the trees in a windstorm. She willed her breath to forced tranquility.

  Daniel? Nothing. No response.

  The electricity inside of her started to build. She pressed her lips together and balled up her hands into fists. No, no, no, no, no. Don’t burst into light, Engles.

  A branch cracked to her left. She whipped her head around and saw, or thought she saw, a dark, reddish shape slither from a crack about three feet above the ground, seize someone, and drag him into the crack. The snap and crack of breaking bones issued from where the crack had been.

  A horrified male scream sounded a few feet away. A flash of metal glinted, followed by gurgling bubbling noises, then silence. The hair on her neck stood straight out. Once more the absence of sound and complete darkness cradled her. She flattened against the door she’d emerged from.

  She blinked several times, wanting to see something, anything. It was useless. All the light had been consumed. This is Daniel’s doing. Well, hadn’t I been able to find my way while blindfolded? She shook her hands out and stepped cautiously out into the dark.

  Dead air loomed around her. The darkness swallowed up everything leaving a muzzled void. She took several more steps, placing each foot carefully. A ripping noise split the air, a flash of red slid from a jagged tear, a horrified male scream followed, and then, quiet.

  Every nerve stood on edge, every hair on her head sprang to attention. The wine, bourbon, and rich food lurched inside her stomach like they were tossed in a stormy sea. This is horrifying. This is the work of my dangerous lover. This is why I must…

  A sickening thud broke the silence, as if someone had been struck with a club. A softer rip vibrated against her ears and hundreds of buzzing wings swirled from the void, filling the air with deafening hums. The sound alone was enough to induce insanity, but when met with the screams of a man, Marissa nearly lost her composure. She plastered a hand against her mouth to keep from losing her undigested meal. Nothing in her life, absolutely nothing, had prepared her to deal with a scene like this. When the insect demons, or whatever the heck they were, were sucked into silence, the absence of noise, the absence of everything she knew as life – color, sound, smells, light - was just as disturbing.

  She stood in the darkness, in the terrifying stillness, trying to find her bearings. She knew who was responsible for this. She knew what she had to do. She knew what it was going to look like when she was done. She just had no idea how she was going to do it.

  Chapter 40

  “Light Rebel.”

  The whispers landed softly in her ear as she stepped through the night. They came from the back of the house, where the pool was. She stepped forward and paused, listening and waiting. As she waited, another crack split the air, another dark shape emerged, and another man disappeared noiselessly into darkness. I’m surrounded by men – dead men if my dangerous lover has his way.

  “Light Rebel. Come.”

  She tiptoed through her black surroundings, her mind sharp and clear. She stopped, sensing something. A hand shot out and grabbed her ankle. She shrieked. Another blade glinted, another swift slice slid through flesh, and the man gurgled his last words as he seeped out into the dark.

  Daniel, where are you? Again, nothing.

  Her hands found the corner of the house. She stepped around the corner, drawn by the whispers. The illuminated, bubbling water in the center of the pool appeared to be hovering in the air since nothing else was visible.

  “Come,” the voice called.

  She stepped out onto the tiles surrounding the pool and felt her way over to the pool’s edge, still surrounded by black.

  “Come.”

  The dark water splashed beside her and another reddish ghoul struck a man, just to her left. It opened a giant maw of a mouth and slurped. The man let out a low scream as he vanished into the briny void. Teeth crunching bones echoed into the night and then quietude ensued.

  Gah! I didn’t even sense him! The darkness folded all around her once more.

  “Come, Light Rebel.”

  Marissa slipped into the cool water. It curled and undulated around her, creating innocuous babbling noises as she paddled over to the center pool on her sightless, sound-punctuated journey of doom. She hoisted herself up to stones, acutely aware of the water dripping from her arms and legs landing noisily on the stones beneath her feet. She stood before the lit pool and looked down. She still couldn’t see her own body. She waved a hand over the illumination. Nothing. Did Daniel erase my light, too?

  Her skin prickled as she stood. She sensed three large forms to her right and left. She opened her inner sight and made out two teeming shapes, like enormous wild animals, shifting back and forth liked caged beasts. Another bull-like creature stood further back. They paced behind curtains of darkness, waiting, watching, thirsty for blood.

  Marissa brought her gaze down to the pool.

  Josephina gazed up at her smiling.

  This is just wrong. I can’t go through with this.

  The face smiled. “Yes.”

  Do it for the sisterhood of women everywhere. Do it for every woman who has been forced to do something against their will.

  Is that my thought? Or Josephina’s? Marissa couldn’t tell. She thought of her sisters, whom she’d seen very little of lately. She thought of her aunt. She thought of their betrayal of her. “That’s not a very good reason,” she whispered back. “I’ll do it so you are free. I’ll do it because it’s the right thing to do.” Then she thought of Daniel, this dangerous man whom she loved. Even now, in this maelstrom of fear and silence and gruesome surroundings, even now her body yearned to conjoin with his. She wanted all of this to be done with. She wanted her lover inside of her throbbing core. What am I thinking? I can’t go through with this.

  A horrifying shriek sliced through the air like metal scraping against metal, followed by a ripping sound ten times louder than Marissa had ever heard. Marissa’s hands flew to her ears. She turned to see the two shapes launch into the air above the pool, like two huge lions warring over a female. They fell into the pool like a giant blur and then rocketed from the water onto solid ground where they proceeded to tear at one another.

  The atmosphere exploded into growls and snarls and shrieks and screams, as demons and creatures of the night discharged through cracks in the sky like cannon fire. They bombarded the air, zinging in every direction, seizing the retreating forms of man upon man.

  The two warring, muscled creatures were in it to the death. The ghastly looking beasts tore and lunged at one another, tearing at each other’s necks. Tell me that’s not Daniel, tell me that’s not Daniel. Tell me that’s not… His face flickered in and out of focus, appearing where the monster’s head affixed to the terrifying, powerful body. Daniel’s arms ended in c
laws as big as daggers. He tore and slashed at the other beast. He created chasms in the air out of which flew all the demons of the night. Horrible creatures emerged at Daniel’s beckoning. Wicked fanged things and small vipers and spiky faces of rage cascaded from the split between worlds created by Daniel. They looked about with soulless eyes, searching for food. They launched themselves at anything and everything, feasting, slurping, howling and horrid.

  Repulsed and horrified, her body was numb with fear. She fought to keep from vomiting as she watched men die. Many of the men were consumed on the spot. Others disappeared behind eerie drapes of darkness, gripped tightly by the creature’s teeth. A few of the men hefted rifles, took aim, and fired, but the shots just zinged right through their intended recipients.

  El Demonio was focused on one thing – Daniel Navid.

  A ghoul erupted near Daniel’s chest. It was bound in an instant by El Demonio’s invisible restraints.

  “Is that all you’ve got, Night Numen?” the old sorcerer said, laughing. He pitched the ghoul over his head where it landed with a thump on the ground and evaporated. He swept his arm in the matador maneuver, and Daniel was bound like a pig on a spit.

  Daniel’s clawed fingers made a miniscule swipe in the air and a host of tiny, winged demons fluttered from the darkness. They were urine yellow and smelled like foul, decaying meat.

  Marissa clutched her nose, as the weird little creatures swiftly chewed the unseen restraints, snacking on them like they were candy. When they were done, they flew off in a swarm looking for something else to eat.

  Daniel sprang to his feet. “Is that all you’ve got, you old fool?” He flicked his fingers and two evil looking demons galloped out of the void. “Meet the New Jersey Devils. They’re down here on vacation.” Their small, goat-like bodies had bat-wings that propelled them forward with lightning speed. They let out a unified, high-pitched scream, and launched themselves at El Demonio.

  He sneered and brushed his hand through the air as if shooing a fly from his arm.