If they found her here…
A cold sweat broke out all over her body and she suppressed the need to shiver—and the need to run. Although she didn’t fully understand why.
That pendant—she had to know more about it, why he had it, where he could have possibly gotten it.
Where… She closed her eyes and summoned her own power, concentrating on that pendant. The boy flinched as she delicately slid into his mind and briefly, she was aware of him smacking at the side of his head, like shooing at a bug.
Easy, boy, she crooned to his subconscious. I’m not going to hurt you. I just want to know about that pendant.
Part of him heard her, and his fingers curled around the pendant, his mind drifting back to when he had bought it. At a shop in Louisville, where he had gone with a couple of girls.
Through his memories, Lily could see the girls. They had been dressed similar to him, trying so hard to act grown up and cool. But they got into a shop that dealt with magic and power and all they had done was giggle and snicker at the books around them.
He was the only powered one among them. She could tell that just by looking through his memories. He knew he was different. He’d always been different.
The dark, tarnished copper piece had been buried in a box of junk. He had sensed it, felt it… It had been seeking out one just like him. Szardi’s pendants were crafted to do just that. Sooner or later, it would call to Lilith, when he started working the major magics.
One of the lilum would come for him.
Lily really didn’t want to be there when it happened. Still, even though the need to run threatened to overwhelm her, she had no intention of leaving.
A shiver of sensation raced down her spine and she froze, nostrils flaring, skin prickling. There was another around. Somebody not completely mortal…somebody like the boy. Damn it, was it too late?
She continued to walk slowly, moving her eyes around. The attention was now focused on her and he watched her, whoever he was. With intent, focused eyes. She could feel him, not just his look, but him. Something familiar… Her breath locked in her lungs, fear flooding her. Blood started to pound as her body readied itself for battle. Damn it.
Battle wasn’t something Lily was unaccustomed to, but she had never fought before with human weaknesses. Although she would have the edge of experience over any mortal, she no longer had that demonic strength, no longer had a body that would heal any wound in heartbeats.
Lily knew, because she had checked. Never one to leave things to chance, she had to know exactly how different she was now. She could lift hundreds of pounds—but once she had been able to tear pure steel to shreds. The cut she had made on her right forearm took three days to heal completely, instead of three seconds.
Still a little more than mortal, but no longer demon. That was enough for her.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to figure out what in the hell to do.
Get away from prying eyes—that was first thing she needed to do. While a frightened part of her babbled like a child, and screeched, go hide, the rest of her was thinking coolly as she rounded the block and took the path that led to the lake and the park. There was a nature preserve there, vast, beautiful—and private. She started to jog along the path, her ears pricked, muscles tensed and ready for action.
She heard nothing. But she could still feel him. It was a him—the power radiating from him was strong, distinctly male. Masked and low level, but still there. And the ease with which he tamped down his power disturbed her even more. It meant it was somebody who knew his strengths, his capabilities. And he followed her. That had Lily thinking he sensed her presence as well.
Taking a trail that led into the nature preserve, Lily left the paved jogging path, following the trail as it wound and twisted its way through the preserve, farther and farther away from any prying eyes that might be watching.
Finally, she slowed to a walk and scanned the area around her. Nothing but trees and rocks.
Taking a deep breath, she tensed and leaped, her hands just barely catching on the branch five feet over her head. Blowing out a breath, she muttered, “At least some of her power is good for something.”
Not everything she had from her mother had to be used for evil. Only the good daughters of Lilith would believe that. And Lilan had never been a good daughter—at least, not her mother’s idea of a good daughter.
Actually, she was the good daughter—or at least she wanted to be.
A sad little smile tilted up the corners of her mouth. How Mother would despair if she saw me now. Instead of seeking out the boy and bringing him closer to the dark beauty of Lilith, she had all these protective urges rising within her.
Protecting, instead of destroying. Yes, Lilith would despair.
Ever the disappointment, wasn’t I?
A dark head passed below her, pausing just beneath her feet, searching. The man slid his hands in his pockets and then, before she could decide what to do, he lifted his head and stared at her through the leaves, his piercing green eyes meeting her levelly.
The pit of her stomach dropped out. Damn it, she knew him. The man from the hospital, when she had first appeared in the world as mortal.
He had been comatose until that very day, according to his records. Had woken right under her hands, and although she doubted he’d recall, he had opened his eyes and stared right at her, reaching out and grasping onto her hand like she was a life preserver.
That was her first real memory as a mortal, his hand gripping hers.
And there had been no evil in that gaze, no malice. In fact, her soul had recognized him…called out to him, on some odd level. A kindred spirit.
“Well, well, well,” he said with a tiny grin. “Don’t I know you?”
Blowing a breath out, she dropped down to the ground, landing on the balls of her feet, staring at him suspiciously. Leave, she told herself. She sent the message down to her feet, tried to make herself walk away.
And couldn’t do it. She didn’t even understand why, but she couldn’t leave.
“I was right,” he mused, cocking his head as he watched her.
“Right about what?” Lily frowned and looked down at her feet, wondering if they’d sprouted roots. She really did need to leave now.
“About you—you’re a witch.”
Lily jerked her head up and stared at him. “I most certainly am not,” she said, her voice icy. Once upon a time, it would have been laughable, comparing a demon’s power to that of a witch. But she was no longer demon, or at least not fully demon.
“What else would you call it? You’ve got power. I feel it.”
Lily sniffed. “Having power doesn’t make me a witch.” She didn’t want to be a witch. She wanted, more than anything, to be simply human. She didn’t even want the ability to heal—she wanted to be normal. Completely normal, like she’d never been in her life.
“Well, it certainly makes you something. If you’re not a witch, then what are you?”
Innocently, she offered, “A nurse?”
White teeth flashed as he grinned. “The typical nurse can’t fix wasted muscles with just a touch of their hands.”
Lily frowned at him. He wasn’t supposed to remember that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t play dumb.” He caught a lock of her hair and tugged. “It really doesn’t suit you.”
She wished she knew how to respond to that. But she didn’t. “Do you live around here?”
“Yeah.”
A few seconds of silence stretched between them and Lily rolled her eyes. “Aren’t you the chatterbox?”
He shrugged.
Move. Move now, feet. But her feet were still playing tree, like she was rooted to the ground. Licking her dry lips, she gave him a bright smile and asked, “So you’re out for a morning walk?”
“I’m out looking for you.”
Lily blinked. “Me?”
“Just following the power,” he said.
&n
bsp; Following the power…abruptly, she realized something that should have been clear as day. The minute she saw him—the minute she’d felt his presence. “You were the one who stopped the boy last night.”
Before, at the hospital, she hadn’t even sensed his power. As deep as she suspected his power ran, it should have swathed him.
She hadn’t been able to taste his power then, but perhaps it had still slumbered within him. She should have sensed it, but then again, she had been struggling to adjust to her sudden mortal state. That, too, could be why she hadn’t realized what he was.
The power inside him was considerable, for a mortal. Combined with a nebulous darkness. It wasn’t anything she could call evil—Lily knew evil. Nothing understood evil like a demon. Or a former demon. No, there was just that nebulous darkness, a hesitancy.
“Stopped what boy?” A brow lifted, giving that canny, handsome face a quizzical air.
“Now who is playing dumb?” Lily rolled her eyes. “It doesn’t really suit you well, either.”
His grin widened. “Doesn’t it?” Then he shrugged and slipped his hands into his pockets. “How do you know about the boy?”
“The same way you do, I imagine. I felt him. He’s strong, and he has absolutely no idea what kind of trouble he’s asking for.” Sighing wearily, she brushed her hair back from her face. “Somebody really needs to address that.”
“How long have you known about him?”
“Not long. The spell he was trying to work last night was the first time I can recall sensing him.” Lily shook her head. “And if he’d been using that sort of magic before, I would have sensed him before.”
“I can believe that,” he said quietly, watching her intensely.
Under that intense gaze, she felt her belly tighten.
“You were healing people in that hospital, people who should have died,” he said softly. “I don’t know if I’ve ever felt anything quite like what I’m feeling from you. You aren’t just a healer—but the longer I stand here, the more likely I am to agree. You really aren’t a witch.”
“No. I’m really not.” But she wasn’t about to tell him that she was the daughter of an ancient demon. One corner of her mouth curved up at the corner as she lowered her lashes. “What I am really isn’t that important. What matters is that boy, what you want with him. I felt you watching him. He will feel it, sooner or later.”
The boy really shouldn’t concern her so much. He was no blood to her. She did not even know his name and until last night, she’d been unaware of his presence. Now that she was aware of him, he presented a threat to her. Sansan had said that her mother, her sisters couldn’t harm her during this time. But mortals could. The boy was most certainly mortal and if he fell into her mother’s clutches… Could she handle a boy witchling if her mother decided to take him under her scaled wings?
Lily really didn’t know the answer to that.
“I’m curious why he matters so much to you,” Jonah said softly.
“Why does he matter so much to you?” she countered, unsure how to answer him. Reaching up, she threaded her fingers through her hair, fisting the heavy locks into a ponytail at the nape of her neck. Slowly, she said, “This is a boy, a sullen, angry, defiant boy. When he becomes aware of somebody who poses a threat to him, he’s going to do what anybody in his shoes would do. He’ll fight—he’ll sense a threat and he’ll fight.”
“I’m not a threat to him,” Jonah snapped, pushing off the tree, his arms hanging loose at his sides, hands curled into loose fists.
Lily shook her head and sighed. “You’d be the biggest threat to him that he can imagine. A threat to what he thinks he is, what he thinks he should be,” she whispered, her eyes closing to half-mast. Damn it, she could sense something… What was that? Reaching out with some obscure part of herself, she tentatively touched that obscure picture…and sensed a boy. A young one. Full of power, and already turning down a dark path, not because he wanted it though…because it was the path that lay in front of him, the one he could travel the quickest.
Quick had been necessary for him. There was somebody depending on him. Somebody who needed him. She shook her head, trying to push aside the fog his memories induced on her mind. Watching him through her lashes, she said, “You’ve been where he is.”
A muscle jerked in his jaw, but he didn’t deny it.
“You sought it because it was quick.”
Now those green eyes turned to ice and he said stiffly, “Stay the hell out of my head.”
Lily shook her head. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t looking… It’s just sort of there for me.” She licked her lips and looked away from him, but she was still too aware of him. His very presence crowded her, his memories, the remnant emotions—doubt, guilt, anger, frustration, all of them pushing at her shields until she had to struggle just to keep him apart from her.
“The boy doesn’t think he has much choice, either. But he doesn’t really want one. He thinks it’s cool, senses power down that road. He doesn’t think he belongs anywhere else, and he’s too young to realize he has to make his own place in the world.” Lily looked up and studied him closely, saw the answers she needed without having to do anything more than look into his eyes. “You know how deadly that path is. He won’t know, or care, until it’s too late. And maybe by then, he will be so mired in the evil, he won’t remember how to care.”
I feel drunk… Touching her fingers to her head, she fought to shove the foreign memories aside, to focus on the man in front of her. “You never really stopped caring, did you? It was just easier, that path you walked.”
His voice was cool, stiff—distant as he said, “Yes. It was easier. Damn it, I told you to stay out of my head.”
Lily blinked and wished she could understand why she felt so dizzy, why she felt so off balance. “I can’t stop it—it’s like something is dumping it into my head and I can’t shut it off.”
“Find a way,” he snarled.
Swallowing, she lifted her lashes and stared at him, at his pale, cold face, the diamond-hard eyes. “I don’t think I can,” she whispered, lifting one shoulder. Actually, she didn’t think she was meant to find a way.
Jonah felt stripped raw, laid bare, and he didn’t like it one damn bit. He almost shoved past her and stormed away, but then she reached up, rubbed her temples. A pained sigh escaped her lips and her shoulders slumped.
When she looked back up at him, her eyes were still dazed, almost drugged. He didn’t want her looking at him, not considering how easily she saw him. There was something…fey about this woman. He couldn’t think of any other way to describe it. Something fey, something surreal…something unlike anything he had sensed before. And she knew pieces of him he hadn’t even thought about.
Yes, his path had been the easier one—he saw that, now. Even Sansan, though he had said it many a time, hadn’t driven that home as hard as this woman just did.
Back then, he had felt trapped. But he had been given a gift that could have done so much. Hell, he could have taken other paths, let the state take Lyssa, could have finished school, done a million things if his pride and his own independence hadn’t stopped him.
“Who in the hell are you?”
She gave him a shaky smile. “You know who I am.”
“The hell I do. How do you know so much about me? How did you find out about that kid?”
“I already told you…I just know. As to finding out about that kid, if he hadn’t been trying to use darker magic, I don’t think I would have even known he existed.”
She wrapped her arms around her middle and rubbed them with the palms of her hands. When she looked at him again, the fog in her eyes had cleared and she watched him with a direct, open stare. “I know you were trying to help him last night. But you can’t do it that way again. You can’t overpower him again, not like you did. It worked then…but he’ll fight back next time and when he does, something will come for him.”
“What are you talking about?”
Then, without saying another word, she turned and walked away.
***
Later that night, he remembered her words.
As he stretched out on the bed and tried to sleep, those words haunted him. Something. Whatever this nebulous something was, he suspected Lily knew an awful lot about it.
There had been fear in her voice as she’d said that. A deep, abiding fear that had chilled his flesh. The kind of fear that comes from experience.
But what was she talking about? If the kid kept using magic, he was going to draw somebody to him…somebody like Dominiqua, maybe, assuming the woman was still alive.
But Lily wouldn’t fear Dominiqua. He didn’t know how he knew that, but he did. Lily made that evil bitch’s power pale in comparison. He could feel something immense inside her, like a hurricane’s power, harnessed.
Dangerous—she was very, very dangerous to his peace of mind. In more ways than one.
The man he’d once been might have seen that power and hungered for it. Hungered for her, hungered to control her power, hungered to taste that lovely body, feel it move against his own. But he wouldn’t have dared to touch her.
Jonah was having much harder time convincing himself to steer clear.
“Stop thinking about her,” he muttered.
As the night passed, he waited for the power to start to build, waited to see if once more the boy tried again to call the power to him.
It never came and finally, near dawn, he drifted to sleep.
And dreamed of a woman, with dusky skin, black eyes…and wings…she huddled in the corner, her eyes dark and terrified as she stared at something that was beyond Jonah’s limited line of sight. There was blood streaking her nude body, dried, no signs of the wounds that could have caused the bleeding. She was shaking, trembling, keeping most of her face hidden behind her arms, her body jerking every so often.
He could hear a voice, talking to her, derisive and cruel. But he couldn’t understand the language—it was unlike anything he had ever heard.
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