by Julia Talbot
When she left the room, he and ’Lijah stared at each other. “We have to fix this,” Liam said.
“I know. I think it’s shifted us, moved us, man.”
“Right.” That was a powerful entity. They had fed it too, with their unabashed need for each other.
“Are you hearing me? The whole town is gone. There’s us, Bella and Nova.”
Liam blinked. His head injury must really be bad. “What?”
“Everything else is empty. There’s no one else.” Elijah looked so serious.
Liam shook his head. “How can that happen, babe? I mean, that’s like a Stephen King book.”
“Uh, Liam. Demons are easy to ponder, but dimensional travel’s too much?”
“Oh, shut up.” He’d seen some weird shit, but this was a little much. “You’re way more mystic than me.”
“And you’re the scholar. So you need to school— Uh… I mean figure it out.”
Liam grunted, slapping Elijah’s butt before looking around the room. “We need to gather some stuff.”
“Name it and I’ll find it. Salt, for sure.”
“Yeah. Sage. Some candles. Maybe some oil. Just olive is fine.”
“I wonder if she has silver candlesticks.”
“Oh, good idea. Let’s get the hunt going.”
“Hey.” Elijah stopped, grabbed him and kissed him hard. “I got you.”
Liam blinked, then returned the kiss in kind. “Good, ’cause I’m wigged.”
“We’ve got each other, right?” ’Lijah made that sound so easy, and so damned appealing.
“We do.” He took one more hug before pulling away to start looking for things they could use for a ritual.
Salt. Sage. Silver. Rage. They had plenty of that.
Shiloh came running in, gloves in hand. “Nova! Nova just… She disappeared.”
“What?” Liam whirled so fast that nausea surged in his gut.
“She was right behind me in the mudroom. Right there.”
Elijah ran from the room, and they heard his boots pounding all over the kitchen and mudroom. Liam went to Shiloh and caught her in his arms. “Did she say anything?”
“No. No, I mean, she was talking, but just talking.”
“She didn’t step outside?”
“No. I mean, I don’t think so.” Shiloh shook her head.
“Damn it.” Elijah came back in. “She’s gone. Not in the bathroom, either.”
“I didn’t do anything to her. I didn’t, I swear.” Her voice was ratcheting into hysteria.
“Shh.” He kissed her gently, which cut her off, made her blink. “This is what this entity wants, us separated and hysterical.”
“I agree. Together, we’re safe.”
Elijah came to them, kissing Shiloh’s forehead, hand sliding along Liam’s arm.
“I swear, ’Lijah, I didn’t do anything.”
“No, honey. I know.” Elijah had such a soothing voice. “This is not your fault. This has been building a long time. Your father knew.”
Liam held them, kissing them both gently. They had to get rid of this thing. Now. They needed to explore each other without all this stress and influence.
They needed to get back to a real life. Maybe have a real romance.
A real romance.
What a concept. Most folks he knew would think a threesome could never be real. Some of his more witchy friends made polyamory work, though.
“Let’s get the book, honey. Let’s do this thing.”
Elijah grabbed the salt, drew a huge circle around the living room. Liam took the gloves Shiloh handed him, and he was proud to see her mouth set, her chin stop wobbling.
He looked at the gloves—green with huge pink flowers on them. At least they weren’t dishwashing gloves. He chuckled, hoping they would fit over his hands.
They did, barely, and Shiloh held the briefcase open. He took the book out and laid it on the table, opening it to the first page.
It didn’t seem to be something that could destroy people’s lives. The typeface had an old-scripty look to it, and the illustrations were still damned eye-popping.
No one could blame Shiloh for paying attention. Talk about pornalicious. Liam chuckled, and Elijah whacked him.
“Not funny.”
“Oh, it’s a little funny…”
“Yeah, yeah.” Elijah poked him. “Binding spell. Banishing. Focus.”
“Right. We need him back in the book. Did you bleed on the book, Shi?”
“I don’t think so.” She chewed her lower lip. “Maybe? No. No, I would have apologized to Bella, offered to buy it from her.”
“Okay, well, that’s good. That helps.” He hoped. Liam turned pages, hoping something leaped out at him. As he moved through the pages, his eyes began to catch on words instead of pictures. Lust. Need. Desire. Passion. Rage.
Yeah. There was a hell of a theme here.
He knew Shiloh wouldn’t have read closely, not without backing away from the book. Maybe it wouldn’t let her see. If it could shift their universe it could do the sexy kitty dance for a reader.
Come on. Come on, give me a hint. How do I put your cocky ass back in the book?
“Anything?” ’Lijah stared over his shoulder. “Shit, that is some strong language.”
“Yeah. This is all about lust, feeding the need.”
“And about violence. That seems to be the endgame.”
“Feeding…” Liam frowned, pondering that. Okay. Okay, it took Bella’s lover, kept her away. Fed off her, maybe?
“I wonder if it has to take someone every so many years.” Now he was tossing out ideas, just brainstorming.
“It’s only been three years, I think? Four?” Shiloh shook her head. “Someone would notice.”
“Okay.” Liam chewed his lips. “So, why now?”
“Maybe… I just wanted someone to touch me, so badly. It was an ache.”
“Lonely.” Elijah put an arm around their girl. “We were all so lonely, love. It’s not your fault.”
The pages in the book began to flip, slowly at first, then faster. Liam stepped back, the action instinctive.
Elijah stepped forward, staring hard, and Shiloh stood there and gasped.
“Wait.” Elijah stopped him when he would have grabbed the book. “What does it want us to see?”
The book turned to the image of the horned god, Cernuous. “That doesn’t make sense. He’s a fertility god. Not evil at all.”
“That’s the one that kept making me crazy, though.” Shiloh crossed her arms over her breasts, hunching her shoulders.
“So, the demon uses the image?” Liam wouldn’t believe the horned god had manifested here in Culper for evil.
“That has to be it,” ’Lijah agreed. “I mean, it’s an attractive image.”
“Stop it.” Liam laughed though, the tension easing.
Shiloh actually chuckled too. “Yeah, I might not have bled on it, but I drooled.”
“Man, I might truly get a complex. Look at his dick,” Elijah said. They were all laughing together now.
“Okay. So this guy is not our problem. Maybe he’s our help.” Liam threw out more ideas.
“Our help?” Elijah asked.
“Like the book isn’t the bad guy? You mean it made things better?” Shiloh appeared dubious.
“Why not? What if Bella brought the book in to make things better?”
“What things?” Shiloh asked. “How can I not know about this stuff if something is threatening my town?”
“Oh, honey. As if Culper, Colorado is Normal Town, USA.”
“Well, I know we’re a strange bunch, but I didn’t think anything was dangerous.” Shiloh was beginning to look a little belligerent. “Hell, why didn’t Bella tell me? She left me in the damn bookstore.”
“I bet she never thought you’d be in danger.” In fact, he had a feeling Bella had given herself in Shiloh’s place after finding out whatever this entity was had come back.
The pages of th
e book flipped, moving back and forth, faster and faster.
“Shit!” Liam didn’t know what to do, and ’Lijah was no damned help, staring at the thing as if it were a snake. “Okay, you. What the hell do you want?”
Feeling as though now it was do or die, Liam put his hands on the book again. As soon as he did, he saw an older man appear near them, someone oddly familiar.
Liam stared. “Where did you come from?”
Shiloh gasped. “Daddy?”
The man smiled, there, but not. He was somehow insubstantial, just as Bella had been for him in the mist.
“It’s summoned by need, love,” Shiloh’s father said, even though his mouth never moved. “That’s what called it. Bella’s need for Jenn. Your loneliness. Enough people in town generate that energy, and it comes.”
“How do we get rid of it, Daddy?”
“You can send it away. For now.” Shiloh’s dad looked at him, at Elijah. “Keep the book. Keep it safe. Look just past the Horned God.”
Shiloh moved toward the apparition, staring. “Are you… I miss you.”
“I miss you too, baby girl. I love you so much. Remember that you have what you need.” He vanished after that sentence.
Liam couldn’t meet Shiloh’s eyes. That was so unfair, making her miss her dad. He kept his attention on the book, finding the page with the god, then turning to the next.
He just hoped the whole thing didn’t involve getting it up right now, because his head hurt too bad, his blood pounding in his temples. Forcing down his nausea, he nodded. Okay.
“Herbs, Elijah. Sage and rosemary. Juniper or garlic. Holly and oak.”
“There’s holly all around the house. Rosemary too, by the garden gate.”
“Get some.” He was on a roll now. He had no idea whether the Horned God was a guardian or a distraction, but he did stand watch over a banishing ritual so ridiculously simple Liam wanted to scream. Shiloh brought all the components and a shitload of salt.
“Bowl.” He had to mix and toss.
“I have a silver one.” Elijah brought one in.
“That’s my Aunt Cathy’s good silver.”
“Do you ever use it?” Elijah asked. “She’d be pleased you’re putting it to some purpose.”
Liam swallowed a chuckle. They sounded old and married.
“Smartass.”
“Children, play nice.” He took the bowl and threw in the herbs and salt into it, then tossed it like a garde manger. “Now, we chant.”
Chapter Eight
They chanted until Shiloh’s voice was gone and she didn’t think she was ever going to speak again. The wind howled, the lights went out, and still they chanted.
Liam flung herbs. Salt. Maybe he would mix margaritas next.
She felt numb, as if anything could happen now and she wouldn’t care. Liam and Elijah both looked as though they were about to keel over. She didn’t know how much longer they could go on.
The door flew open, the wind pouring in, and the demon-beast was there, standing on the far side of the porch, framed by the doorway.
They all wheeled around and stared, but damned if they didn’t keep chanting. Man, that thing looked—pissed off. Not sexy. Less a horned god, way more a goat that had been on the spit at a barbecue.
She reached out for Liam, for Elijah, so scared.
Each man took her hand, and ’Lijah led them, advancing on the demon-thing. They kept chanting, but Shiloh’s head was filled with promises, lies.
“They want each other, not you.”
“You’re not sexy enough to hold them.”
“Come with me, I can love you.”
She blinked, and tears rolled down her cheeks. God, what an asshole demon. Even if Liam and Elijah never saw her again after this she was a smart, desirable woman. She didn’t need any demon to love her. She stuck out her chest and her chin.
“I don’t need you,” she screamed. “I’m just fine on my own! Besides that, you fuckwit, you’re not real!”
Liam took the last bowl of herbs they had in his free hand and tossed it right at the demon, the salt and all the damned tree parts finding their mark easily.
She sort of expected a scream, an explosion, but the reaction she got was as if a cinder landed on a piece of tissue, the fire fast, almost too fast to see. Shiloh tried to jump back, but the boys held her in place. When the smoke cleared, there wasn’t so much as a burn mark on her porch.
The sun was fading, the birds hunting the early evening bugs. She could see into town, the lights of a few cars on the road.
Oh.
Cars on the road. Moving. With people in them. Shiloh sagged with relief. “Look, guys.”
“Looks like we’re back in business,” Liam said, laughing right out loud, the relief crushing.
“Yeah.” The world started to sparkle around the edges, and suddenly she was in a tunnel, the world pulling around her.
“Shiloh?” Elijah held her tight, her hand throbbing.
She opened her mouth, and the world fell away in a rush.
Elijah eased Shiloh down on the couch. He’d caught her when she passed out, and carried her over. Liam followed, face gray, eyes cloudy.
“You think she’s okay?” Liam asked.
“I think we’ve all had a shitty day and need to sleep. All of us. Together.”
“I like that idea. We need to contain the book, though.”
“How? Did Bella have somewhere she kept…things?” Elijah had no idea. His people tended to bury things.
“I don’t know. Shiloh’s dad must have been in the know.” Liam looked around as though hoping something would simply appear.
Elijah focused on Shiloh, tapping at her cheeks to encourage her to wake. They needed her to tell them where her dad would have put things for safety. “Come on, honey. Wake up and we’ll go to bed, sleep. Rest together.”
Her lashes fluttered, her hazel eyes finally opening to focus on him. “We’ll put the book in Dad’s safe.”
“Oh, good girl. Combination?”
“Key.” She slowly rolled up, moaning low.
Liam helped her, and Elijah stood, nodding. “Tell me where to look and I’ll get it settled.”
“It’s in Daddy’s office. Over here. Bring the book.”
“Gotcha.” He tugged on the gloves first. Just in case. Then he grabbed the book and followed.
The office screamed magickal energy, the room damn near glowing with it. Shiloh didn’t seem to notice at all. Her dad… Wow, he’d been powerful. Elijah would love to explore his library here. Later.
Shiloh tugged out a safe, hidden away under a desk, and unlocked it so they could wrap the book in a piece of cloth and put it away. He had no idea if the demon was back in there, but locking it up seemed safer than not.
Shiloh locked it back, fingers trailing over the top of the safe. “I’m sorry, guys. I didn’t mean to start this whole ball rolling.”
Liam glanced at him, then went to take Shiloh in his arms. “According to your dad, it wasn’t just you.”
“Right.” She sighed, then her pretty hazel eyes widened. “Nova! I need to call her.”
“Yeah. Yeah, because…” Liam twisted his lips. “Just call.”
She dialed, the phone taking forever to connect. Elijah crossed his fingers, hoping Nova answered.
“Nova? Are you okay? What? Okay. No. Do you need me to come get you? I mean—” Shiloh chewed her lower lip. “Sure. Okay. Love you too. Bye.”
She hung up and blinked at them before snorting out a high-pitched giggle. “She’s fine. I think.”
Elijah arched an eyebrow. “You think?”
“Well, she said she must have passed out. She woke up in bed.”
Liam made an approving noise. “Well, there you go.”
“Uh-huh. Her ex-husband’s bed. Max. They got divorced three years ago.”
Elijah hooted. “No shit? He’s not remarried, is he?”
“Nope.” Shiloh started giggling again, shoulders shakin
g. She clapped a hand over her mouth, but she couldn’t seem to stop the laughter.
Liam cracked up too, and Elijah stared at them both with affection, amused as hell. “Can we go to bed now?” he asked.
“Please. I’m exhausted. Shiloh?” Liam asked.
She nodded, her lower lip shaking again. “God, yes. I need to rest and hold you two.”
“Good girl.” Elijah scooped her up. “Come on, Liam.”
Liam came behind them, stumbling once on the stairs, movements clumsy. Poor guy. His head must be ready to crack. Elijah herded him into Shiloh’s bedroom, the big bed already familiar.
They helped each other strip down, then piled in the bed, covers cocooning them, the big down comforter giving a pleasant pressure against his skin. Elijah slid a hand along Shiloh’s back, feeling Liam scoot up against her from the other side.
He thought Shiloh cried a bit, but she was asleep before it started, so he let her, just holding on.
Liam started snoring before Elijah even closed his eyes. He smiled, loving how they all felt together.
He was going to figure out what to do so that he could keep them.
Both of them.
Liam woke up suddenly, his heart pounding because he couldn’t figure out where the hell he was. Then someone patted his upper arm, and he realized he was in bed with Shiloh. And ’Lijah. His head didn’t hurt, and there was no wailing wind out there. Nothing moving out in the trees when he looked out the window.
Hallelujah.
They’d done it. He wasn’t even sure how, but they had. He was fucking proud of them. And still horny, so his desire for these two wasn’t all about the book at all.
Elijah’s dark eyes opened, fingers coming up and tracing Liam’s lips.
“Hey.” He smiled, then kissed the tips of Elijah’s fingers.
“Hey.” Elijah sounded as though he’d swallowed a crow. “She okay?”
“I think so.”
“Well, I was sleeping,” Shiloh grumbled. “Warm. Safe. Hot dreams.”
Ooh. Grumpy pants. He grinned at Elijah, cupped one of Shiloh’s breasts and squeezed a little.
She moaned and arched for him, a slow, sexy roll that any movie star would be proud of, but with her it came naturally. He loved that. Her blonde hair slid over the pillow, back against Elijah’s dark skin.