Into the Light (The Admiral's Elite Book 2)

by HK Savage

  Her mouth opened but there was no sound.

  “Do you think they called for you? You or the doctor while they lay bleeding? Limbs blown off, their bodies cut to shreds by shrapnel.” Her departed’s face twisted into a sneer. “Do you think I suffered?”

  She continued to gape. There were no words that could make what he said less true. The full weight of her guilt crashed down and Gabrielle covered her mouth, only managing to muffle the sobs that erupted.

  Ryan turned his head to see her from the corner of his eye, unwilling to take his attention from the threat within arm’s reach, and his features drew together. “It’s not real, Gabs.”

  The snarl coming from the far side of the theatre, directly across from them, stopped the demon cold and its head spun around allowing Ryan to look past it to the source.

  Chapter 29

  Coherent thought was impossible. Michael took a step outside himself, letting the closely guarded monster ruled only by animalistic needs have control of their shared body. Fangs out, body crouched with one hand beside him and his feet ready to jump, he opened his mouth and roared.

  “Good to see you here, Mike,” Ryan called across to him.

  Whipping his face from the demon to the newcomers, Michael had only enough sway over his own form to turn his face from the target to his peer. Ryan gave him a brief nod. He’d been witness to what was about to happen a handful of times and knew Michael was not his friend at present. Best to keep his distance.

  “Where’s Becca?” Ryan called carefully, ushering the grief stricken Gabrielle off to the side, putting a few feet between her and the demon. He didn’t want her getting caught in the crossfire when Mike let loose.

  The demon’s wheezing chuckle answered. Michael was off the wall and had the demon by the throat in time to cut off his laughter, not his pointy grin.

  “You shouldn’t laugh, demon,” Ryan advised. “You’re about two seconds from demon dust. He’s gonna rip your head off.”

  “I don’t think he will harm me.” The brown eyes turned back to the big man next to Michael. “Or you either. Not so long as I hold them.” His black-gloved hands came up to shoulder height, palms up so that they wouldn’t miss him pointing at both women.

  Ryan’s easy manner evaporated and Michael’s struggle to regain reason under threat of harm to Becca was visible. His hand never wavered from the creature’s throat, its glow shone bright around his pale fingers.

  The vampire gave way under Michael’s fury. The only evidence it remained near the surface was the black eyes and long fangs showing prominently under his curled lip. “What hold do you have that won’t go with you when we send you back?”

  Panting, the demon ran its purple forked tongue over its bottom lip. “They let me in; now I have them to feed from whenever and however I please. If you destroy me, I take their minds with me.”

  “What do you mean ‘let you in’?” Ryan let his gaze settle on Gabrielle, chewing her knuckle, her eyes glazed over with a random tear falling onto her hand now and again when they proved too much for her lids to contain. “How did you get into their heads?”

  The hand on the demon’s throat loosened enough to let him speak more easily. “Ah, I won’t say because telling you would only spoil the fun.” The brown around his pupils began to waver, the color dissolving for lack of a better word. Within seconds, the pupils went to slits and the irises flooded red. The leather encasing his hands made a chafing sound as he rubbed them together. “Then again, maybe it’s better for me if you do know.” The tongue flicked out again, hovering for just a split second in front of him, scenting. “Yours,” he looked to Ryan first. “She was so beautiful. The golden fur, those long legs; you wouldn’t guess how fragile she is to look at her.” He made a sound low in his throat and Ryan’s back straightened putting his head just below the taller demon’s chin.

  Michael’s hand tightened again and the red, goat-slitted eyes shifted back to him. “You should be as lucky. That one,” he lifted his still-human chin, “she was more than willing. All I had to do was sit back and let her come to me.” He flashed his pointed teeth again. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a human who could do that. Did you know she could possess souls?” He leaned in and lowered his voice, “Has she ever possessed yours?” The forked tongue flashed again. “Mmm, now that would be interesting.”

  “You’re lying.” Michael backed him up until the shoulders hit the dark carpeted wall and the demon laughed. His words lacked conviction and they all heard it.

  “It’s true. You should ask her yourself.” He feigned a wince. “Ooh, that’s right, you can’t. Unless…” The human flesh morphed into a shorter female form, perfect replicas of familiar hazel eyes gazed up adoringly at him atop a wash of light freckles. Michael, horrified, found himself staring into Becca’s eyes as he choked her. “Michael, please stop. You’re hurting me.” It was her voice.

  Reflexively, Michael let the demon go and took a step backward. His ears concentrated on the heartbeat, or lack of in the Becca creature’s body. It isn’t her. He told himself. Still, he couldn’t force his hands to harm even a false image of her. That wasn’t a picture he could carry in his head.

  Ryan was not encumbered by the same concerns. His fist flew and the demon Becca’s head rocked backward. Though instead of being cowed, the demon’s response was again to laugh. Ryan’s control wavered and his teeth grew, lips pulling back as he growled deep in his chest. “I’m going to stuff you back in that ley line and make sure you stay there if I have to break both your legs to do it.”

  The red eyes tightened at mention of his being forced back into his cage. Like a genie being stuffed back in his lamp, it was an eternity of captivity he would face once they sealed him inside. Michael knew from what he’d read and what Black had told him that the demon would weaken over time, starved of his richer sources of energy. The ley lines had lost some of their potency over the millennia, fewer people worshipping and feeding into them while the planet steadily lost giant parts of itself due to mining and drilling. Eventually the demon would become a mindless husk, cursed to wander the full range of the lines just to pull enough energy to survive. That he’d gathered enough to gain a solid form on this side had to be due to his enslavement of the windigo.

  When Becca’s face twisted into a snarl and spat at Ryan, Michael stayed the bigger man’s hand from a second blow though he replaced his hand loosely on its neck, if nothing else than to keep its attention on him and not on those defenseless or enraged enough not to control themselves. Destroying this body could leave the demon free to possess another or take a different form. Better to have the one they could see than lose it in the streets.

  Thankfully demons didn’t bleed and his first punch hadn’t left a mark so Becca’s face remained unmarred. Turning to Michael, it sneered and spoke. “You know the changeling’s plan won’t work and you know why.”

  “What’s he talking about?” Ryan frowned. “We can’t put him back and we can’t kill him?” Worried, his gaze darted to see Gabrielle still out of it on the other side of the demon. There was a hint of her he could see in her eyes, struggling to come forward. It wasn’t too late to save her.

  “It isn’t that easy,” Michael advised him.

  A feminine titter escaped the thing’s mouth and it ran its purple tongue over its lower lip.

  The tongue, so different than Becca’s small pink one, gave Michael strength. Seeing it helped him to keep in mind this was not her. He glared at the thing and continued. “We need to find where he came through in the first place. And to do that we need,” he hesitated. The others weren’t entirely aware of all Becca could do, but what they’d seen had made them increasingly uneasy. Hearing that she was going to continue to get stronger might shake up the cohesiveness of their unit. Then again, they would find out eventually, he told himself, justifying the breach of protocol in telling them. “And to do that, we need someone who can sense those things. We need a witch.”

  Ry
an’s eyes bulged. “A witch? Well that’s just great.” He threw up his hands and walked away, into the main part of the theatre. Whirling, Ryan shoved his hands into his hair. “When were you going to tell us that?”

  Gabrielle gnawed at her fist, her eyes large and vacuous. The thought passed briefly through Michael’s mind that she might try to eat the thing. Could the demon make her do that? The answer that came to him just as quickly made him thankful he couldn’t vomit. It controlled her body and mind. It could make her do anything. Granted, he’d seen more graphic displays of cruelty, though not to someone he was close to. Not someone he’d fought side by side with. The impotent fury inside him grew yet more and his fist clenched. The demon gasped and there was a flare of sanity in Gabrielle’s eyes. Loosening, he watched the haze return to her eyes and then tightened it again to see her fighting to come back.

  Not entirely patiently, Michael let Ryan pace back to him before answering quietly. “We have one.”

  “Who?” Hands falling from his head, Ryan twisted his upper body to see the general area where he knew Michael had stashed Becca’s unconscious body. He thumbed that direction and turned back. “Becca’s a witch?”

  “What did you think she was?” He was quickly losing the skill set that allowed him to remain calm.

  The hulking man’s shoulders pinched and his face flamed for a moment. “Clairvoyant,” he mumbled, seeing in the light of day that his initial summary had been woefully inadequate. “Why didn’t she tell me?”

  “She didn’t know there was a name for what she was until we were here.” Michael tried not to think about that conversation and the state she’d been in. “This is all new to her, what she can do and what it means.” His chest ached where his heart would be as memory of her pain and distrust of him came back to him.

  The demon moaned ecstatically as their emotions escalated.

  Michael pointedly ignored it and tried to temper his feelings, an impossible task at the moment. Ryan, it seemed, was having trouble effusing his usual carefree attitude. One look at Gabs’ blank stare could easily explain why. They had to gain control over this situation and find a way to restore Becca at least enough to shove this hellion back down its hole. As unit leader, Michael took full responsibility and squared his shoulders. “Ryan, help Gabs take a seat over there.” He pointed to the front row of upholstered chairs.

  Action agreed with him and Ryan’s body slipped easily into his big rolling gait within a stride. While he tended to Gabs, Michael debated leaving the demon to attempt to wake Becca. It wasn’t like he was really holding the thing. As long as it had its hooks in Becca and Gabs, it was they who were the hostages.

  The sound of the side door slamming shut reached him just before the heavy footsteps of a human intruder. His rapid breathing and muttered orders into his phone, audible to all present, announced his identity.

  The demon’s red eyes rolled up into its head as it continued to feed. The thing’s Becca face was virtually orgasmic, then hiccupped drunkenly as a fresh surge rolled in from Michael’s direction. Kicking himself, he shut himself down. They didn’t all have to feed the thing, damn it. He was set to advise Detective Salvo to clear the premises when he rounded the corner and saw that the detective was leaned over Becca’s body rubbing her arm with one hand while he loosened her shirt with the other.

  His ensuing growl ripped the detective’s attention immediately from the woman beside whom he knelt and landed it squarely on the captain’s distorted face.

  Salvo’s eyes went wide right before he squinted, trying to see. It was dim in there for a human’s eyes. “Captain Rossi?”

  “Get out of here, Detective,” he ordered, his voice low and gruff.

  His eyes returned to the prone figure on the floor, Salvo’s stare lingering there as well. Michael waited impatiently for the comparatively slow human to work through what he was seeing. Part of him considered the fallout of picking him up bodily and throwing him out of the theatre. It was almost enough to force the cranky vampire’s tight lips into a smile. Not quite.

  “What’s going on here?” Salvo stage whispered. “Is the suspect in here?” He rested a hand on the slight shoulder by his knee. “Did he do this to her?”

  For once Michael ignored the man’s familiar touching on her flesh for expediency sake. “Everything’s under control. We need you to leave now.” He put a little more emphasis on the urgency for the detective’s brain, woefully behind his. He wasn’t long on patience.

  Frustratingly dense, Salvo shook Michael’s orders off. “I’ve called for backup. We’ll have this place surrounded any minute.” His fingers strayed to the open throat of Becca’s shirt and pressed down, his eyes growing distant while he counted out the beats he felt there.

  “It’s fast, I know.” Michael wanted his hands off his woman and his feet moving back the way he came but had to be careful. This was a delicate place for him. Not only was his control in jeopardy, any dustups would result in making the demon stronger. He had to get Becca’s mind back so they could get rid of this thing and the stronger it was the harder her task. Then, an idea popped into his head. The vampire inside him screamed in frustration and he swore he heard the demon laugh. Taking a breath to speak, Michael ignored them both. “Detective,” he spoke quietly, adding just enough influence to guarantee his orders would be followed. “I need you to take Becca outside. Get her clear of here.”

  Salvo’s mouth dropped open and he leaned in toward Michael for only a few counts before shaking himself and blinking. Anger sprouted in his eyes and his cheeks reddened. “I would be more useful here.”

  The human was stronger than expected and Michael couldn’t risk raising more heat from him. Desperate, he appealed to the human instead of controlling. “If she stays, she’s in danger. I can’t risk harm coming to her.” He felt the human wavering. “Please.”

  Another painfully slow couple of seconds dragged by while the detective weighed decency against being on the front lines of bringing in what could be the biggest criminal his town would ever see. Michael saw his victory just before the dark head dipped once.

  “Thank you.” His gratitude was genuine. Risking the detective seeing more than he should, Michael crept toward her and waited a second while the human backed up a step. He leaned in, lips so close to her ears he brushed them when he spoke. “Becca, love, come back to me.” And as he leaned back, he paused to press a kiss against her forehead.

  He waited until he had returned to the shadows to risk eye contact again with the detective, giving him a grateful nod. Forces within him threatened to tear their way through him as he seemingly peacefully watched the human gather up his woman against his chest and carry her bodily from the darkened theatre.

  For the first time in half a century, Michael prayed.

  The demon’s scream, half Becca, half demon, from behind him brought a smile to his lips. He’d been right. It wouldn’t destroy something as powerful as Becca by wrecking her mind. Michael had done the right thing. Now he just had to keep it here and distract it enough that it loosened its hold.

  The vampire inside him roared with pleasure that it could finally be free.

  Chapter 30

  Broken voices, static-filled communications over radios filled her ears. The strobing light bars illuminating the dim morning flashed against her closed lids as Becca returned to consciousness. Her fingers splayed out to feel leather and stitching under her fingers. A sniff of lemon air freshener covering the remains of what was either terrible b.o. or vomit or both hit her nostrils in a powerful wave. Becca’s eyes popped open and she was sitting in the back of a squad car, door open with her feet hanging out.

  Sitting up slowly, she tested both her body and mind for injury. Partially spotted vision told her she was near danger though not imminently so. Her head swiveled carefully, taking in what had to be the entire River Falls police force. Six squad cars, numerous blue uniforms stretching yellow tape and waving gathering gawkers back to establish a perimete
r and the backs of two plain clothes men talking with their heads together at the hood of the car she found herself in.

  Chief Kowski saw her first as she walked up beside Detective Salvo. His eyes widened a touch. “Captain Sauter, you’re awake?” He sounded tired.

  The detective’s head whipped around and his eyes were full of concern. His hands went out as if to catch her should she fall. “Should you be up? Are you feeling alright?”

  Becca offered them a quick smile meant to reassure but didn’t look like it hit its mark. Unable to keep her eyes from the building they all faced, she lifted her chin toward the marquis sign and wiped at the drying blood on her forehead. It itched. “Are they in there?”

  The chief gave her a grumbled “as far as we can tell,” and the detective laid a hand on her shoulder. “I saw Captain Rossi in there, but he wouldn’t let me in to see who else might be inside.” He lowered his head to look her in the eye and, feeling his precarious state, Becca gave him her full focus for a few seconds.