Malevolent

by S. Peters Davis

  My cell phone rang, making me jerk away from thoughts of inadequacy. Tressa. I answered the call, but she wasn’t there. I dialed her. No answer. My stomach pitched and a rush of adrenaline pumped through my body. I headed to the elevator dialing Kendra. No answer.

  The girls are in trouble.

  Chapter Five

  Kendra

  A deep growl echoed inside my brain. The bed shook and the curtains whipped straight out. All the air sucked into a whirlwind at the foot of the bed. I struggled to breathe. Then, suddenly, everything stopped. A vacuum with no sound, other than the lewd laughter reverberating within my head and body.

  A rotten stench consumed the room. Buster appeared where the whirlwind had been. His mouth stretched into a grotesquely large opening. His tar eyes glared. I turned away from him. My chest blazed as if magma flowed within my ribs.

  “Oh. Gods. No.” Jenna’s arm flew across me and ended up sinking through me. “What can we do to keep him from eating our souls?”

  “Don’t look at his eyes,” I screamed at Jenna. Her gaze met mine, and I was sure hers reflected the same fear seizing my every thought.

  Bertellia shimmered into view beside him. “Back off, Buster. I told you that we needed Kendra, and I believe Jenna will come in handy as well, for other reasons.”

  Buster’s mouth collapsed. “I’m hungry.”

  “You know where there’s a load of marked girls. Go feed. Enjoy.” Bertellia’s wicked laughter sent chills up and down my spine.

  “Not the children,” Jenna yelled.

  “And how do you expect Buster to get sated?” Bertellia kissed his cheek, he purred at her touch. “We need him strong for what’s to come. And right now, there’s a number of my girls that need emptied vessels.”

  I didn’t want to think about the what’s to come nor about those teen girls losing their souls. “How can you be here? I don’t have anything that’s a connection to you.”

  “Oh, but you do. Your marks from Buster give me access, sort of like GPS or a homing device that we both can use to find you.” Her garish grin sickened me. She sauntered nearer, along the side of the bed, and stopped next to Jenna. She licked her lips and then smoothed Jenna’s hair from her forehead. “Don’t you look delectable. You’d make the perfect handmaiden for me.”

  Jenna recoiled. Her body slid through mine to the opposite side of the bed, sending a cold rush of mini ice cubes over my body. “Sorry, Sparky. Her touch sends electric spikes into me, like getting shot a hundred times by a nail gun.”

  “Don’t be so negatively sensitive. There’s pleasure in pain, my dear. I could teach you the ways to ultimate bliss and passion.” Her eyes darkened, turning to pitch.

  “Look away from her, Jenna.” I closed my eyes again and leaned forward to block Jenna’s view. “We can’t look at their eyes.”

  Again, Bertellia shared her blistering-wicked laughter. “Glad you’re here,” she whispered next to my ear.

  Banging on the door startled my eyes open. Buster and Bertellia had disappeared. Thank goodness.

  “Kendra, let me in,” Derek yelled.

  “Kendra,” Tressa screamed. “Let me out.”

  The sound of both doors crashing open simultaneously got me off the bed. Jenna stood next to me. Derek, Ray, Tressa, and Luke burst into the bedroom.

  “What happened? I couldn’t leave the bathroom,” Tressa said, breathless. “The door became a steel barrier. I lost satellite service on my cell phone and couldn’t hear anything. I mean total loss of hearing, similar to vacuum pressure.” She crossed her arms to rub her shoulders. “Cold as a freezer in there also.”

  Ray wrapped an arm around her and she melted into his side.

  Derek stood beside me. “I couldn’t budge that door, even with a duplicate keycard. I also couldn’t hear anything inside the room.” He encircled my waist with an arm and cinched me into his side. “Let’s talk in private.” He nodded for the others to go into the other room.

  “I want to know what happened,” Tressa said, looking from Derek to me.

  “We’ll be out in a minute. Lunch is on its way. Eat.” Derek gave Tressa a little shove to follow the guys, and then he stepped away to close the bedroom door.

  Jenna remained beside me. “Tell him everything, Sparky. He needs to know what we’re up against. You haven’t told him we’re marked and that at any time Buster could end us.”

  I wasn’t sure what Derek could handle. He’d already questioned my ability, and I didn’t need him to waver anymore. I had no idea how or if Buster could be defeated. But, Derek should have an idea that Jenna and I were like beacons, calling Buster and Bertellia to us with a direct line. We all could be in danger and never realize when it would show up. Exhaustion hit me hard, my body shivered and my legs wobbled.

  “Was it that same spirit from the hotel last week?” Derek came back to me, standing so close his breath warmed my face. He scanned the room. His gaze wandered back to mine, and our connection turned my blood into liquid fire.

  Before I had a chance to respond, his lips crushed mine. The tip of his tongue slipped in, opening my mouth. He groaned. A rivet of heat sizzled down my center. I wanted more than a working partnership with this man, and how could I even be considering a relationship when girls’ souls were at stake this very moment. How could I stop Buster from stealing them?

  I pushed away. “We’ve got to get to those kids from the truck…and I need to read Grandma Ellie’s journal.”

  “What are you talking about?” Derek tilted his head, his jaw muscles tensed. “Those kids are safe, back in D.C. We can’t just leave here, Kendra. We’re on a mission. Do you think those kids are still in danger?” He moved closer, making it hard for me to breathe or think. “What if more girls are being abused here? We have a chance to save them like we did the others.”

  Jenna stepped between Derek and me, and said, “The thing is, we don’t know how to stop Buster from stealing the souls of those young teens. Not until we read your grandmother’s journal, and that’s only if she has something in there about a soul-sucker. What if she doesn’t?”

  “Jenna’s standing between us right now,” I mentioned for Derek to back away, and he did. My body responded by slamming a desperate feeling of longing through my chest. When had I lost complete control over my feelings for Derek? But maybe part of my desperation had to do with the safety of the girls back in D.C. Their souls could be lost forever to an evil entity.

  Derek backed farther away.

  “You guessed correctly. Buster, the malevolent entity from last week, stopped in with Bertellia,” I said.

  “Did you bring the diamond watch from the Turell evidence box?” Derek’s brows furrowed.

  He’d remembered what I’d used for a connection to Bertellia, and that was a clear acknowledgment of my ability. Jenna had a point, Derek needed to know the risks involved with our team.

  “No. It seems Bertellia no longer needs that connection as Buster left a mark on Jenna and my soul. And it’s acting as a beacon for them to find us.”

  * * *

  Derek

  What the hell! My heartbeat stepped up a trillion notches as adrenalin rushed through every muscle. I stormed to the window, gaining a bit of distance to pull myself together. How in the hell could I protect Kendra, Jenna or anyone against this kind of danger?

  I swung around, toward Kendra. Her eyelids blinked back moisture as she tilted her chin high. She had every right to be upset with me after the things I’d said regarding her abilities. Yet, she trusted me enough to tell me something that most sane people wouldn’t swallow as truth.

  She huffed a deep sigh. “Either you’re going to believe what I’m telling you or you’re not. What’s it going to be?” Her hands fisted against her hips, her stance wide, defiant.

  One moment, I question everything about Kendra’s sightings, the next all I want is her soft lips against mine, feeling the real between us.

  I licked my lips with an instant recall of
her taste from a moment ago. Her eyes focused on my lips until I smiled, and then her attention wandered upward, melding into my gaze. Another rush of adrenaline ripped through me, but it had nothing to do with danger…unless it might be the danger of losing myself to her. And, I was pretty sure that had already happened.

  “Jenna wants me to remind you that she’s still in the room. We also need to talk about what has happened to her.” Kendra’s body relaxed. “Let’s sit.” She walked around the bed and buried her hand beneath a pillow. She pulled out what looked like a journal and then sat on the edge of the bed.

  “Is that your grandmother’s?” I sat next to her.

  “Jenna and I were opening it to read when our creepy visitors showed up.” She looked at me, her eyes softened. “Derek, if you can’t trust what I’m telling you, how can we work together?”

  “I know you’re an honest person, Kendra. I trust you. My hang up is not you, or with anything you’re telling me.”

  “Then what?”

  I turned and stared out the window, not wanting to share my vulnerability.

  “Please, talk to me.” Kendra patted my hand.

  “How will I protect you against something I can’t see?” The sun hadn’t come over the hotel roof, which allowed me to see her reflection in the window. Bits of her hair curled around the neckline of her silky blue tank top. She’d removed her tailored suit jacket, exposing her toned slender arms.

  “You can’t, and I don’t expect you to. At this point, I have no idea how to deal with Buster or Bertellia, but between the three of us, we should be able to lay out a plan of action.” She opened the journal, flipped through to a back section of pages. “Here we go. If we’re going to be working together on cases and also dealing with the paranormal then we should all know the information my grandmother wrote in this journal. At this point, I don’t know anything more than you or Jenna regarding malevolent entities.” She scooched over the bedspread to lean her back against the headboard and then tapped the pillow beside her. “Come hither, Mr. Knight. It’s time we all get an education.”

  We read through a few pages. Kendra held one-sided conversations with Jenna, filling me in as it worked out.

  “Food’s here,” Tressa called through the door.

  “Be right out.” I looked at Kendra. “I’ll fill a plate and grab a drink for you. Keep reading, I’ll catch up in a minute.” I couldn’t stop myself from leaning over to kiss her forehead. Her smile tightened something under my ribcage. “Be right back.”

  I hurried into the next room. Luke had ordered a few types of salads, mini sandwiches, and a variety of chips and crackers. I loaded a couple plates, balancing them in one hand and carrying a couple bottles of water in the other. I headed back to the bedroom.

  “Wait. What are you doing?” Tressa stood up from the table. “I thought we were going to go over the plan for tonight. I’m supposed to fill you in on the meeting with Director Gimbel.” She jerked her head toward the bedroom. “Do you think that’s appropriate?”

  I stopped and walked back to Tressa, realizing my behavior might look bad to someone outside the room, but she didn’t have the right to question me. “Number one, I’m your superior and do not appreciate the fact I have to play that card to you, Tressa.”

  Her face flushed.

  “And, number two, my meeting with Kendra in the other room has to do with her consulting on this case, which is different than our agents in this room.”

  Her eyes widened and her mouth dropped open like I’d grown a third eye.

  Ray coughed, breaking the momentary discomfort. “Tressa, come back to the table and finish your food. Derek will fill us in when he’s ready. Let’s develop a plan of action and share it with him later.”

  Luke stood and pulled her chair away from the table, waving her in like an aviation flagman. Both men chuckled as she sucked in a breath and walked stiffly back to the table.

  I hurried into the bedroom and closed the door with my foot.

  “We found something.” Kendra slid to the edge of the bed. Her face glowed with exuberance. “We need to find a voodoo priestess. Jenna believes that her partner, Lisa, knows of one.”

  My mind raced into the sinister dark direction of voodoo, reminding me of a few cases I’d dealt with in the past. A chill ran up my spine and over my skull. On automatic, I shook my head.

  Kendra’s brows furrowed. “Why are you shaking your head?”

  I pinched my eyes shut for a second, pulling my thoughts away from the negative. “Okay, well, we won’t be able to check that out until we get back to D.C. Is there something else we can do right now in preparation for another visit from the scary beast?”

  Kendra turned a few pages of the journal. “Here’s a couple chants and some supplies I’ll need to pick up at a holistic store. We should be able to temporarily keep him at arms-length. He’s not going to like it though. If it works, it’s supposed to give him the feeling of acid eating his outsides and insides, which ought to make him leave us alone.” Her lips pressed tight together, making me want to separate them with a kiss. “The temporary part is that once he discovers nothing is actually happening to him, he’ll probably retaliate a hundred times worse.”

  That didn’t excite me. “So, in the short term he may run away once, and then in the long term, you’ll be dealing with a beast that’s been poked with a sharp stick. I’m not sure I like the odds of an angrier monster.” Not at all. A duped evil entity that I couldn’t see didn’t sound like any sort of fix.

  “Well, it might buy us some time, and it could potentially save us. That’s better than nothing.” Kendra jotted a few things on a small hotel tablet. “There, that should do it.” She looked up at me. “Maybe Tressa could help me find a holistic store close to our hotel.”

  Wasn’t sure how that would go over with Tressa after our little ‘who’s the boss’ scene, but I did know she was excellent at research. If anyone could find a supply store for Kendra, it would be Tressa. “That’s a good idea. I know she won’t mind helping you.”

  Kendra set the journal and tablet on the nightstand and held her hand out for a plate of food. I sat next to her on the edge of the bed, and we ate in silence.

  My thoughts went back to voodoo, ghosts, and evil entities. Then, on to Kendra’s comments about the soulless children and Bertellia’s prostitutes. And, Jenna…how was she with all of this? “You had some things to tell me about Jenna. Is everything all right with her?”

  Kendra filled me in on what happened in Jenna’s safe place, how she became locked in.

  “How did you get Jenna back?” I’d never thought about where we go after death, other than to the light. And how would we be able to deal with Jenna being locked away?

  She took my empty plate and set it with hers on the nightstand, and then she explained the rose quartz connection between her and Jenna. How she’d physically called Jenna back into the earth plane, another new thing for me to know about.

  So, there were otherworldly planes, other than earth. Who knew? That would definitely blow the minds of the agents sitting in the next room. Hell, everything Kendra just shared blew my mind.

  I needed real. A plan I could work within the here and now. Ray, Luke, and Tressa would ground me to our mission. Meeting time.

  Chapter Six

  Derek

  The meeting with Ray, Luke, and Tressa worked wonders on my mental state. We couldn’t plan much until the meeting with Gimbel, and then afterward with Tory James. I went to my room and changed into some flashy dinner attire for the five-star restaurant. Tressa volunteered to help Kendra get ready. We’d decided to use her as my date for show and leave the other agents for the required mission work, or not. That depended on how creative Tressa could be with changing Kendra’s appearance. I wanted Tressa to stick with the surveillance in case something went twisted.

  We needed to be prepared. Even though I didn’t recognize anyone connected to Merretti on my trip through the hotel, Vinny had an activ
e surveillance formed from his connections and his own thugs. Now that they got a good look at our team from last week’s mission, we would need a miracle of creative genius.

  A tap came from the joining room door.

  “It’s unlocked,” I said.

  Ray walked in, followed by Luke. Ray had spiked his hair in a fashionable style, and Luke wore his slicked back from his forehead.

  “Damn, you guys can play dress-up.” I chuckled but meant it. They looked natural in their high-end threads.

  “With your wild hair and glitzy wear, you get my vote,” Luke said, nodding, his brows rounded.

  “Hey, boss. Do you want us in the bar lounge? Or, one of us at the bar and the other at a table in the restaurant?” Ray asked.

  I checked my watch, only a few minutes before the meeting. “Maybe one at each place but wait for Kendra and me to be seated before whichever one of you are going into the restaurant. I want you at a table near us.” I nodded at them. “See you down there. Make sure to wear your camera and coms for Tressa. Scan the patrons so she gets a good facial shot of everyone in the room.”

  “Done and done, and will do,” Luke said. They went back to their room as I walked out of mine.

  I tapped on Kendra’s door.

  “Just a minute,” Tressa called as rustling came from inside the room, and then the door opened.

  My breath drained out of me in a whispered sigh, “Kendra.” Her brunette shoulder-length hair formed a wispy-curled bun at the back of her head, tendrils tipped in blonde outlined her face. Her violet-blue eyes had become soft brown. I was sure with contact lenses. Her stunning red form-fitted dress splashed out around her knees to her ankles. Ample curves rose above the neckline where her rose quartz nestled. She wore white elbow length gloves that only added to her arresting feminine glamour.