The Protect Her Box Set: Parts 7-9

by Ivy Sinclair

  My mother had tried to forge a normal life away from everything that could be considered close to that other realm. She didn’t want any part of it. Who in their right mind would though? But fate played a cruel trick on her when it delivered to her a son that grew up to become a necromancer. That was more irony that wasn’t lost on me. Still, my mother was strong, clever, and stubborn. I had never known my father, but I always assumed I got those particular traits from her.

  “This makes me feel better,” she replied. She squeezed me tighter for a moment and then released me.

  I didn’t want to let her go, but I did so reluctantly. As she stepped back, my eyes searched the dark corners of the room around us. “Where’s Gabrielle?”

  “She’s around somewhere,” my mother said. A dark shadow crossed her face. “We are allowed to roam quite freely when we agree to let the demon have control of our bodies.”

  I felt the knot in the pit of my stomach tighten and twist. “This is all my fault. I’m sorry.”

  She held up her hand. “You have to let that go, Riley.”

  “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me. For what I tried to do. It is my fault, no matter what you say, so don’t try to make me feel better.” The words choked in my throat, but somehow I got them out. I would feel shame and guilt for the rest of my life. I cost my family their freedom and perhaps even their souls. “I’m going to make it right.”

  Her eyes were sad. “You can’t undo the past. You know that.” She looked down at her shirt. It took a moment for me to register the dark smears of red on it. “You’re hurt.”

  In the chaos, I had forgotten all about the wound that I suffered by Benjamin’s hand. He had gone for Paige, but I got to the tip of his knife first. I had suffered worse. “It’s nothing. Just a flesh wound.”

  My mother brushed my hands away as I tried to keep her fingers away from my side. As I felt her fingers brush my skin, I bit back a yelp of pain. All of the adrenaline from the earlier fight was receding, and the acute awareness of my injury was beginning to surface.

  “This isn’t a flesh wound.” My mother’s voice rose a notch. “I don’t know how you’re still standing up.”

  I started to laugh, but then the sound was cut off as I felt the rise of liquid in my throat. The laugh turned into a twisted cough. I moved away from her just as it bubbled in my mouth. A metallic taste hit my tongue, and I spat a glob of thick blood onto the floor.

  We both stared at it for a moment. Then another coughing fit overtook me, and I doubled over even though I felt the sharp protest of stinging pain from the wound in my side.

  I felt my mother’s hands on my shoulders as she tried to brace me against the onslaught and keep me upright. More blood joined the first drop on the floor. Even as the last couple of coughs left my lungs, my mother pulled me across the room. A cot seemed to appear out of nowhere, and she propelled me onto it even as I protested.

  “Paige is out there alone,” I said. I felt my thoughts starting to grow fuzzy around the edges. The pain was intensifying and blocking out everything else. I didn’t have time for this. “I need to find her.”

  “You aren’t going to do anyone any good dead,” my mother admonished. I could tell that it was an effort for her to keep her tone even. I knew that expression. She was scared shitless. “I don’t know what happened to you or how you got here, but you need to rest. I need to get you cleaned up.”

  “I can’t..stop.” Was that my voice? It sounded tiny and weak.

  “Your body won’t let you keep going, otherwise you’ll kill yourself. Stop fighting it.”

  “Can’t.” I kept arguing because it meant that I still had the will to go on despite what my body said. But I knew that she was right. I had known from the moment that Benjamin pulled his knife out of my body that there was a real chance that I was going to die. The archangel had been taking people out for years. He knew how to deal a death blow with a single thrust. But I was determined to be the exception to his rule. My whole existence was an exception.

  “I miss you,” I said. “I’m sorry.”

  Her face came into focus above mine. I felt her fingertips on my brow as she gently stroked my skin. “I won’t let anything happen to you. I promise. The demon isn’t here with me right now. Please, rest.”

  I opened my mouth to argue again, but then it was as if my brain shut off and everything went dark.

  CHAPTER TWO – PAIGE

  The switch happened so fast that it was done before I had any time to react. One moment, Riley held my hand, and we were seconds away from the portal being closed. The next moment, Riley was gone, and Bruno Proctor was smiling at me as he locked his hand with mine over the relic.

  Riley had been right. If I had tried pulling the energy required to close the gate through the relic on my own, I would have died. Well, I would have likely burned out my insides first and then died sometime in the aftermath. But adding Riley’s strength and focus to mine had been exactly what I needed. Even then, I felt the crackle on the edges of my consciousness that told me if I pushed any further, it would overwhelm both of us. Riley had trusted both of our lives to me, and I wasn’t about to disappoint him.

  If asked to explain how I did it, I don’t think that I would have been able to come up with a suitable answer. My control of magic was questionable at best. A week ago, I would have laughed at anyone who suggested that magic even existed. I had been so naïve. Yet when I reached for it with the relic in my possession, it just…happened. One moment the magic wasn’t there, and the next moment it was and I was able to grab hold of it. It filled me to the brim, and I felt invincible. I could understand how having access to that kind of power on a regular basis would be heady and addicting. It never crossed my mind to let it go when it all started to happen.

  I bent the beings around me to my will. The demons in battle around us fell almost in unison. I wasn’t sure at what point I had decided that closing the gate wasn’t enough. I needed to eliminate all threats that I could sense in my periphery and beyond. It was crazy intoxicating because when I was connected to the magic, I could feel those out there who were also linked to a similar kind of magic. I could do anything I wanted with it. There was no one that could take it away from me. This had to be what it felt like to be a goddess. Then, reality bit me in the ass. Despite feeling all-powerful, I was unable to keep safe the one person who mattered the most to me in the world.

  I don’t know what I expected. Over the course of the last week, every time it seemed like we were on the path to winning, fate threw a monkey wrench at us. That monkey wrench seemed to appear most often in the form of Bruno Proctor. Thinking back, it went all the way back to my intention to change my fate three years ago. I was on my way to Calamata Island when Bruno sent a gargoyle to retrieve me before I reached Calamata’s shores. Then his goons gave me a head wound that wiped my memories and dumped me in the bay separating Calamata from the mainland.

  I subconsciously used magic then to save myself. On the cross-country drive to the Western seaboard, returning to the scene of the crime with Riley and Klein, I had thought long and hard about Bruno.

  Why hadn’t he just killed me then?

  Why hadn’t he come for me when he found out I was still alive?

  Why didn’t he kill me now?

  I kept arriving at the same answer. It was stupidly simple. Bruno wanted me alive. Benjamin brought me to Calamata Island because he knew, even though I didn’t, that I had a demon problem. Ultimately, Bruno had dumped me in the bay for safe keeping, and whether buried in the bay’s depths or on Calamata Island under Benjamin’s protection, the result was the same. Everything had changed a week ago. But I had little doubt now that Bruno had known all along that I was on Calamata Island. He had come to claim me only after someone else threatened what he believed was his.

  I tried to pull away from him, but Bruno’s fingers dug into the sides of my hand. I had to bite my lip not to cry out as I felt his sharp fingernails break through my s
kin. The pain drew everything into sharp focus.

  “Hello, Paige.” His lip curled as he said my name. The way that he said it made my skin crawl, and I wanted to change it so that I’d never hear it again. The disdain was evident. “I see that you have procured the relic as we discussed.”

  I tried to let go of the magic filling me, but I didn’t know how. It was as if once the faucet was turned on, someone had removed the stop gap that let me turn it off. It crossed my mind to try to turn it against him, but I couldn’t tell where my energy ended, and his began. We were joined as one.

  “What do you want?”

  His grin widened, but it didn’t reach his eyes. I couldn’t be sure, but it was as if his pupils had turned into small flares of fire. “You still fight me. I can sense it. I have done nothing but keep you alive and allowed you to keep your mortal form, weak and pathetic as it may be. I’ve even let the necromancer tag along and keep his life. I’d expect something more along the lines of gratitude.”

  “Gratitude?” I felt the goose bumps of disgust roll up my arm. I didn’t want him touching me. I didn’t want him anywhere near me. He was pulling Eva’s magic through me, and he wasn’t letting go. Bruno had far more experience than me with using magic, plus he was of an indeterminate age. I had no idea how long demons lived. I didn’t even know if Bruno had started out life as a demon, or if he had been mortal once. What I did know was that he was the most powerful demon official currently in existence, and unfortunately, he was fixated on me.

  He had wanted the relic too. It was hidden on Calamata Island under Benjamin’s watchful eye for a century. Then it clicked into place. He had needed a decoy to get it. The decoy had been me.

  “You knew that he’d find me, didn’t you?” The question flew unbidden from my lips. “You didn’t toss me into the bay for safe keeping like you told me before. You knew that Benjamin’s men would find me. You knew that he’d find out I had been attacked by demons, and he’d bring me here.”

  “Benjamin’s always had a soft spot for pretty blond girls,” Bruno said. He yanked on my hand and forced me forward a step. There were only inches separating us now. His eyes swept over my face and down my stiffened form. “Honestly, it was almost too easy. You are just his type.”

  “You knew that I was the vessel of Eva. If he had found that out, he would have killed me. Why risk it?” I said. I had to keep him talking. My brain was in overdrive trying to reason a way that I could wrest the relic away from him. Then I’d reopen the gate, and I’d find Riley. But I had to stay calm. Panicking wouldn’t help the situation. I just prayed that he’d still be in one piece when I found him again.

  “That was the beauty of the plan,” Bruno said. “You were already on your way to the island to find the relic. You were the devious sort. Manipulative, deadly, and hell-bent on finding a way to get away from your destiny. I figured you’d do to Benjamin what you had done to every other schmuck who had the misfortune of meeting you. You readily agreed to help. Don’t you remember?”

  I didn’t, but the time around the accident was still hazy in my mind. It was a harsh reminder of the person that I used to be. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the fact I just lost the first man that I had ever loved, or the fact that my emotions were heightened because of the energy running through me. But Bruno’s words hit me like a sucker punch.

  I wanted to deny his words, but I knew that they were the truth. Benjamin came to me like a moth to the flame. He considered rounding up survivors of demon attacks and bringing them to Calamata Island part of his humanitarian efforts. He offered them safe haven in return for the chance to be a contributing member of Calamata’s society. In my case, he had given me a job and a place to live. That place to live had conveniently been with him.

  “You should have told your goons to take better care of me then,” I said. “Especially if I was playing such a critical role in your plan.”

  “The amnesia was a problem,” Bruno admitted with a small shrug. “But I figured your memories would come back eventually, and you’d be back to your scheming ways. I never wanted Eva to tread this realm again. I told you that when we first met. So I waited.”

  “Someone else found out I was here,” I said. Another puzzle piece fell into place. “They came looking for me.”

  “I had no choice but to come back to retrieve you,” Bruno said. “A set of loose lips on what was supposed to be a tight ship. Frankly, I’m surprised it took three years to happen. My kind isn’t known for keeping big secrets like that. Your picture was leaked. It was enough incentive for those who wanted to grab power away from me to risk everything by coming here.”

  I sensed that I wasn’t hearing the whole truth. It wasn’t unexpected. Of whatever Bruno said to me, I could only truly count on a small portion being the complete truth.

  “What do you want?” I asked again. “Let me go.”

  “Of course. All you had to do was ask nicely,” Bruno said. His hand detached from mine, and I felt the crash of the world come down and dull my senses. I immediately felt regret. Bruno held up the relic and flashed it at me from the palm of his hand. My connection to Eva’s magic had been broken. “Good work, by the way. You did exactly what you promised. You got me the relic. Thus, our bargain is fulfilled.”

  I felt relief and panic at the same time. My blood pact with Bruno had been the relic in exchange for Riley’s life. But Riley had been sent through the portal into Hell.

  “Is Riley okay?” I hated that I had to rely on this demon for that answer. I felt that I should be able to sense such a thing, but the bond that I had with Riley didn’t extend that far. It wasn’t like the bond that had been shared between Eva and her Protector. They had a merged life force binding them together. I forced myself to stand up straighter. “You have the relic. I want Riley back.”

  Bruno threw back his head and laughed. It was an ugly sound. “You fulfilled your end of the pact, but I suspect that wasn’t your intention. The Necromancer, on the other hand, is another matter. I don’t think he ever had any intention of fulfilling his, and so I plan to keep him a bit longer.”

  My senses were definitely leaning more toward panic now. “You can’t hurt him. That was part of our deal. He helped me get here. He helped me find the relic. Your deal with him was that he’d help me, and he did that. He fulfilled his part of your pact.”

  “That is really for me to decide, isn’t it?” Bruno asked.

  Riley’s pact had been to save his family. I couldn’t let Bruno do anything that would jeopardize Riley’s chances of pleading his case. “You have the relic. You achieved your goal.” I needed to distract him. “You told me that you’d tell me how to ward off Eva’s possession without the relic. I still need to know that. Who knows when she’s going to try to come after me again, and I need to be prepared.”

  Bruno looked at me considering. “I’m surprised at you. I expected you to be at my feet pleading for your boyfriend and his family. Instead, you are asking me how to save your own skin?”

  Bruno expected me all along to turn on Benjamin. He thought that he knew me because he had seen what I had done before I lost my memories. I couldn’t deny the fact that there were large portions of those that I wished remained locked away, but they were all part of me. They were all part of who I was. Why a goddess would still consider that person a desirable vessel was a mystery to me.

  It was time to pull out that devious, scheming girl that I used to be, and use her to my advantage. It was time to go on the offense. I had nothing to lose. “You want something from Riley.” I didn’t intend it be a question. That was something else that I had mulled over in the quiet hours in the van on the road.

  Five years ago, Riley did something that put him on Bruno’s bad side. He was hired to retrieve the relic, but he tried to give Bruno a fake. Bruno retaliated by making Riley believe that he killed his mother and sister. But, Bruno kept Riley’s family in Hell instead and let demons possess them. Riley royally pissed Bruno off with his stun
t, and the demon official should have killed them all. Instead, they were all still alive. The only thing that made sense was that Bruno also had other plans for Riley, or he wanted something from him.

  There was a slight tightening of Bruno’s mouth. It was the only indication he gave that I was right. But there it was.

  “He’s nothing more than a mosquito that’s about to be swatted,” Bruno said. “I’ve been waiting for a while to do it, but now it’s time.”

  My heart lifted. Riley was still alive. At least, he was for now. I had to keep it that way, and I had to convince Bruno to take me to him. “You tell me what you want from him, and I’ll find it out. He trusts me. Even swap then. I’ll give you what you want, and you give me what I want.”

  Bruno looked at me suspiciously. “You care about him. I think you might even love him. It was written all over your face when you bargained to save his life. You were willing to offer yours for his.”

  I swiped the knife at my waist up, and Bruno caught my wrist mid-arm. I cocked my head at him and held up the palm of my other hand. I didn’t try to pull away. Instead, I brought my palm up to the knife’s blade, and slid it across the mark that had begun to heal there. Blood dripped down my forearm and onto the floor.

  “New deal. Bind me with your blood if you don’t believe I’m willing to do it.”

  Bruno licked his lips. “You realize that I will finally kill your boyfriend when I have what I want, right? You think you can protect him from me? I won’t give you his life again. No deal.”

  “I didn’t ask for his life,” I said. “I’m asking for mine. I need to know what to do to block Eva if you won’t give me back the relic.”

  “You won’t interfere,” Bruno said. “You will find out what I want to know, and then I will tell you how to fend off Eva. You will not interfere in what happens after that either, and you will not breathe one word of this arrangement to him. He has to believe that you are asking those questions on your own accord.”