“Like Medusa, but not immediate?”
“Only men are susceptible to her seduction. The Roman gods took hosts and never revealed their true forms. Once Juno found out about Lilith’s change to goddess status, she destroyed her human form. This mosaic is the only remaining depiction of Lilith prior to her body’s death. Her last victim, Juno’s lover, wrote the inscription you read. Furious over the scholar’s reported suicide, Juno destroyed the temple and caused a massive mudslide meant to cover the ground for all eternity. It might have stayed hidden but Blain convinced the university that the villa possessed historical significance. If you are indeed cursed, legend says the madness will drive you to commit suicide when the full moon reaches its zenith.”
“If I believed in this kind of stuff.”
With all you’ve witnessed, you dare doubt the curse?
Had someone previously told him real magic existed, he would have laughed and called them delusional. After what Cindi demonstrated today, it would be stupid of him to discount the reality of his position. He retrieved his phone to check the moon phase when she laid a hand on his.
He looked into her frightened eyes and his stomach knotted. “It’s tonight, isn’t it?”
She nodded and her fingers closed around his. He forced a smile for her benefit. “You said destroying the eye would stop the curse. Is that true?”
“Yes, that’s what I said.” She dropped her hand.
He nervously adjusted the bill to his cap. “You don’t seem very sure.”
“This is a potent talisman, one only a god can destroy. Unfortunately, gods aren’t allowed to show themselves or interfere in human lives. However, there are some who break the rules in ways you might never expect.”
“Okay.” He tried to process the unbelievable situation “Care to tell me where we can find one of these rebellious gods?”
Her expression softened. “Look over your shoulder and tell me what you see.”
Great, now she pitied him. Exactly what every guy wanted from an attractive girl. “I see blue sky, Mount Vesuvius and the moon. If the moon is our destination, I’m screwed.”
She pointed to the mountain. “That’s where I need to go.”
“Piece of cake.” He felt an unexpected shot of relief. Now that he had a destination and a purpose, he was ready to act. “It’s fifteen miles from the mainland, tops. We’ll make it no time.”
She shook her head. “I’ll make it. You will be in your room where my friends can make sure you come to no harm. Like it or not, you’re my charge now.”
She actually thinks she can leave me behind. Not a chance. Being on the losing end of the curse made him even more determined to defy his fate. “I’m coming with you.”
She lowered her head and murmured on a sigh, “TSTL.”
TSTL? TSTL? He turned the phrase over in his mind until recognition dawned. “You think I’m too stupid to live?”
“That or you have a death wish. I’ve told you what’ll happen. Instead of staying somewhere safe—free of weapons you could use to take your own life—you want to climb a dangerous mountain.”
“If what you claim is true, I’ll turn mad whether I climb the mountain or stay in my room. If it’s my turn to die, I’m doing it on my terms. Besides, you need my help.”
She clutched the backpack like a lifeline, the action speaking of her uncertainties. “You’ll only slow me down. I have to move fast if I plan on making it to the top in time to save your life.”
“I can move fast.” He grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her into him. The point he had been attempting to make took a backseat to the feel of her tall, shapely body against his. Hip to hip, her full breasts were pressed to his chest, and he had to curb a mad urge to kiss her. “I have skills you aren’t even aware of.”
Her head snapped up, her eyes wide and startled.
He grinned at the blush that spread across her freckled cheeks. “In addition to my many charms, I’m a sergeant in the Army Reserves. I have combat and survival training, not to mention I’ve been on numerous mountain climbs with my cousin, Zan. He’s a tour guide who specializes in extreme sports. You’ll have to believe me when I tell you we’ve never taken the easy route. I’ll get us to the top. You worry about destroying the eye.”
Chapter 2
Cindi’s knuckles rested on her hip as she glared at Marc. “Get in the car.”
“I’ll get in the car when you give me the key,” he said, fingers outstretched.
“It’s my car.” She tried to ignore the appeal of his hand, his fingers lean yet strong, palms broad and slightly calloused. He possessed the kind of hands a woman dreamed about having touch her body. She swallowed at the unsolicited thought. “I’m driving.”
“No. You need to watch my back,” he insisted, hip cocked, brow raised in challenge. “I thought we decided I’ll be the brawn, and you’ll be the brains.”
“Not true. You assume you have some say in all of this. What if you go mad and drive us off a cliff?”
He adjusted the bill of his cap. “Look, we’re only a couple of hours into this debacle. You said I wouldn’t go mad until the moon reaches its zenith.”
She shook her head. “No, I said you wouldn’t kill yourself until then. But I can’t say for sure, now can I? I wasn’t alive three thousand years ago to witness her particular brand of poison.”
“You’ll just have to trust me. Now give me the key. We’re wasting precious time. I called Zan. Lucky for us, he has a captain friend with a boat nearby. She promised to swing into port, but she’s on a tight schedule. Besides, the sooner we get there, the less of a chance Blain will have to catch up with us.”
As she fisted the key, pride warred with common sense. She hated to admit it but his argument was logical and with a defeated sigh, she tossed it. “Fine.”
The amulet seemed to vibrate in protest at the same instant the keychain flew into the air. A seagull caught it in mid-arc. The large bird swooped down and the gulls unnaturally gilded-steel eyes glowed.
“Oh no.” She formed a spell in her mind when a shot reverberated. The loud snap halted the bird’s progress and the seagull fell to earth, the demon light gone from its dead eyes. The amulet stopped vibrating. Cindi’s gaze slid to Marc, his lips compressed in a grim line as he lowered the gun.
“Call me crazy, but that bird didn’t look normal.”
“No, it didn’t.” She knelt on the ground in front of the lifeless bird and retrieved the keychain from under the soft feathers.
He offered his hand for assistance. She tentatively placed her fingers in his palm, his skin warm and rough against hers. For a fleeting moment, she imagined him stroking her arm, his fingers flexing as he hauled her closer. She gave herself a mental kick. As her charge, his life rested in her hands, not his body.
He stole the keychain out of her limp fingers. “Let’s go. You can explain on the way.”
She climbed into the passenger seat of the two-seater convertible. “Explain what?”
“Why a seagull would attack us without provocation.”
After he clambered into the driver’s seat, the interior of the car seemed to shrink. There was plenty of legroom, but his broad shoulders encroached into the passenger side. His arm brushed against hers, and she shifted her weight away from it.
“A stick shift, nice. This’ll be fun.” He grinned and laid his palm on the gearshift.
“You do know how to drive it?”
He cast an are-you-kidding-me look before he started the engine and eased onto the road. “When you were speaking to Blain, you said I wasn’t the only innocent. Is he possessed by Samuel?”
He took a hairpin curve with more speed than she expected and the force of it slung her against him. Her hand automatically latched onto his thigh, the muscles hard under the soft khakis. Her shoulder slammed into his arm and her nipples rose to attention at the contact. Yearning flooded her being and her cheeks and other parts of her body engulfed with heat. She removed her hand and
gripped the dash to steady herself.
To cover her embarrassment, she focused her attention on answering his question “Yes, he is possessed by Samuel.”
“So Blain is the devil.”
“No, Blain is a professor, Lucifer is the devil, and Samuel is a fallen angel with a god complex. He does, however, possess enough magical abilities to be somewhat dangerous, definitely more than I anticipated.”
“Blain or Samuel?” Marc asked.
“For now, they are one and the same,” she said, her smile grim.
“Then let’s stick with Blain, it’s less confusing that way.” They rounded a bend and came upon the first tiers of urban sprawl that made up the tiny island town of Procida.
“Regardless of what we call him, he’s still a formidable foe.”
“A formidable foe? How positively Machiavellian,” Marc mocked in a high-pitched, nasally, British accent.
He grinned mischievously at his own joke and her pulse picked up at the sight. Trying to gain a handle on her unexpected attraction to him, she forced herself to look at the sweeping vista of the sea and the coast of Naples in the near distance. “Is it me, or do you find it odd we haven’t seen anyone on the road?”
“What hasn’t been strange today?” he countered, his shoulders becoming tense at her inquiry. “I suppose it’s possible everyone’s at the festival. Our class was scheduled to go there later this afternoon. I was kind of looking forward to attending.”
“You can still go. The event is a popular tourist draw. You might actually be better off with all those people around.” She fingered the ring as the underlying nervousness in the pit of her stomach grew. “Samuel lost a lot of his power after Lilith died. His resources are limited and since his battle is with me, if we were to part ways, you’d be safe.”
“If the curse is real and you die, I’ll die too. I’m coming with you, so you can quit trying to get rid of me. But I’m curious. If he is weak, why didn’t you simply kill him when you had the chance?”
He eased the car up a small incline and a woman on a bicycle came into view.
“I’m not a murder,” she said, disturbed by the casual way he spoke about taking an innocent human life.
“I never claimed you were. I was stating the obvious so don’t get all uppity. I’m not an advocate of killing but we do have to face the facts. Only those TSTL would be naïve enough to think he won’t use any opportunity to take you out,” Marc reasoned.
She wrinkled her nose and resisted the urge to stick out her tongue at the infuriating man. “Blain is a real person who is being possessed by a demon. He has no free will. If I kill him, Samuel will only skin jump into another host.”
“Skin jump? Is that what it’s called?” He slowed down to pass the woman. She smiled coyly at Marc and her long dark hair whipped around her shoulders. She wore a floppy hat and sunglasses, her tanned arms and legs bare. He rested his elbow out the window and pushed back the bill of his cap to better check her out. Cindi wanted to punch the idiot.
“Ciao,” he said flirtatiously.
“My first, tho’ water, cures no thirst, my next alone has soul, and when he lives upon my first, He then is called my whole,” she recited with a throaty laugh.
The amulet began to shiver in earnest. “Marc, get us out of here. She’s a sphinx.”
No sooner had she spoken than the sphinx opened her mouth. Her lips curled back to expose long, wicked fangs, and her jaw retracted. The once slender legs began to morph into a lion’s haunches while her arms elongated and sprouted sleek, black feathers.
“Answer me or die!” the beast screeched.
To his credit, the visual of the once beautiful woman mutating into a monster kicked Marc into action. He cranked the car to the left and stepped on the gas. It shot forward and the engine screamed with the effort. Cindi looked back at the sphinx. The creature was close enough to see her golden cat-eyes. A sharp talon shot out. Cindi batted it off. It came back at her just as fast, this time drawing blood. She twisted her wrist and tugged out a feather. The sphinx screamed in outrage at the blatant assault and pulled back. The momentum from her withdrawal gave them the break they needed.
Marc maneuvered the car around a series of sharp turns. “Are you all right?”
Cindi dug into her backpack until she found the vial she needed. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, worry about the road.” A shadow passed over them and she spied the sphinx flying up to the cliff face that skirted the road. Her sharp claws gouged into the ground and released a spray of rocks and dirt onto the pavement.
Marc steered the car around a large boulder and the tires skittered on the mounds of debris. “Holy shit. Can’t you do something?” He let up on the gas.
“I’m trying. This isn’t exactly easy.” She drew the stopper out of the bottle with her teeth. “Try to hold it steady,” she mumbled around the cork. Legs planted on the floorboard, she prayed for her own safety while she used both hands to complete the potion. She managed to shove the feather into the bottle and held on tight.
Cindi eyed the sphinx who circled overhead like a big, ugly vulture “Okay, stop the car.”
“What? Are you serious?” He protested, although he complied.
“Trust me, it’s the only way to draw her to us.”
The moment the car came to a complete stop, the sphinx performed an impressive nosedive, wings spread wide, sleekly furred legs shining golden in the sun.
“Okay, any time now,” Marc said.
Her heart raced and her palms grew sticky with sweat as she stood on the seat. She gripped the metal frame of the open roof before she chucked the vial and said the spell she’d composed on the fly. “Keeper of the temple, I’ll make this simple. Die bitch.”
She hit the creature between the eyes with the potion and a horrible screech burst from the sphinx. Fire sparked from her eyes, poured down her neck, and dripped onto her chest like hot, molten lava. The creature shot higher into the air, spun in a tight circle as if to rid herself of the flames, and imploded.
Marc stood outside the car with Cindi at his side. He studied the spot where the creature had incinerated. A scorch mark on the pavement was the only sign of its existence. “That was kick-ass,” he said, amazed and totally freaked out by what had happened.
“And scary,” Cindi said, her voice low and slightly wobbly. "Are you okay?”
“Fine.” He shifted on his feet. “And you?”
“I’m good,” she said with a shaky laugh, her face unusually pale. The freckles across the bridge of her pert nose became more pronounced. Her wide, haunted eyes shredded his soul and he reached out to stroke her cheek.
“You did well. Die Bitch, what a classic,” he teased, noting how supple her skin felt under his fingertips. Her cheeks flushed and her pupils widened. She cleared her throat and the action drew his attention to her slender neck. More pale skin led to the opening of her shirt, the V-neck showing a hint of abundant cleavage. The adrenaline from their flight sparked the underlying allure and he dropped his hand before he gave into the impulse to kiss her. Sex was a complication neither one of them needed at this point.
“I suck at spell composition, but it was effective.” She slipped back into the car. “We should probably leave before more creatures show up.”
He opened the driver’s door and climbed inside. Starting the engine, he eased the convertible onto the road and slowly maneuvered through the damage the Sphinx had caused.
“Hold on,” he warned the moment they escaped the debris. He gunned the engine and took the turns as quickly as he dared. The downwardly curved road forced her body close to his, her touch drawing his attention off the road and into areas he shouldn’t be thinking about. A supernatural maniac intended to kill him after all. But if he was destined to die, he deserved some pleasure, right? Cindi was obviously attracted to him whether she wished to be or not. His thoughts on the tantalizing prospect of seducing her, he nearly missed an oncoming vehicle. He swerved to correct the car.<
br />
“Sorry.” He had almost done what she predicted and drove them off the road. He wasn’t mad, not yet. Horny? Yes, which obviously meant trouble if he allowed his hormones to distract him.
“My history is a little rusty,” he said, trying to elevate his thoughts out of the proverbial gutter, “I thought all sphinxes were male.”
“Egyptian sphinxes are male. They are the benevolent guardians of the temples. In contrast, the Greek sphinxes are female and malevolent. History suggests she shows no mercy once her prey fails to answer her riddle.”
“I forgot all about the riddle. And although you haven’t voiced it yet, you’re right. That was a TSTL moment on my part. It’s what happens when I think with my… ” he trailed off, chuckling ruefully at his own private joke.
Laughing, she pointed to a turn off. “The sign says the marina is this way.” Her outstretched arm brushed his and her silky skin sizzled where it touched. Immediately he pictured her long legs sliding along his. A bump in the road jarred him out of his imaginings. Yep, he was definitely in trouble all right.
Cindi leaned against the railing of the Cancer, a small retro ferry converted into a Constellation Cruise tour boat. For some reason, it reminded her of the ferry in Hutchison, a private island off the coast of Georgia where her coven’s headquarters were located.
Marc came to stand next to her. “A penny for your thoughts.”
“I was thinking about home,” she said, allowing her gaze to scan the muscles of his arms as she admired the way his bicep curved into a hard line. The veins of his forearms stood out under a dusting of dark hair and she felt an unwarranted need to touch him. She turned her back to the rail and studied the decal of a green-shelled crab cleverly wrapped around the upper level. The shell consisted of the entire cabin area with the back legs running along the length of the car deck, and the front claws extending to the railing where she and Marc stood.
He flashed a charming smile. “You are obviously from the States, but I’m curious about your speech. You definitely have a southern accent, and yet sometimes the way you pronounce the r sound after a vowel suggests a hint of a Scottish brogue. Of course, accents are often muddied by external influences. The incantation you spoke was in Gaelic, although a variant I’ve read but never heard spoken by the general public. Taking all of this into consideration, I’d say you spent some time in Scotland on or around the Outer Hebrides.”
Shadows in the Mist: A Paranormal Anthology Page 22