Dark Demon Rising: Whisperings Paranormal Mystery book seven

by Linda Welch

  Royal leaned in dangerously near the hatch. “Stay Downside. You are safe here where no Gelpha army can descend on you. Agree, and we will free you.”

  He gathered me in with one arm. “There is one other condition: Shan opened the Gates. Leave them open. Let those families split asunder when they closed be reunited. Let it be as before, with Gelpha freely moving between the two planes.”

  Her narrow brows drew in. “Those are your terms?”

  “Nonnegotiable.” Royal backed into the passage.

  A tiny frown pinched her brow; she looked aside at her companions. “What say you?”

  After a long pause, Teo Papek’s young voice said, “Aye.”

  The other two spoke their agreement.

  “We agree,” Gia said. She began to say more, stopped and averted her face. When she looked back, tears made her eyes glimmer. “We must gather what is needed to lay our kin to rest.”

  “Of course,” Royal agreed.

  What Shan said about he and his brethren fighting through Bel-Athaer to reach their Gate was an empty threat. Most of them were already dead. If those remaining had cooperated with him, they were still only four, or five if the number included Shan. Not enough to overcome an army of Gelpha. It was another of Shan’s lies.

  “Do not look for Shan’s body. It’s where you cannot follow.” Royal turned away.

  Bel and the wraiths had managed to bring the dryads out. “Let us get these poor things away first,” said Bel.

  Swaying, reeds in the wind, they waved spindly arms as Rain and Bel ushered them along the passage toward the steps leading upstairs.

  “Go with them, Tiff,” Royal said.

  “Wait. I want answers.” I looked through the bars. “Why was Shan free? How did he manage to imprison you and kill the others?”

  Gia held my gaze, then dropped hers. “He coerced one of us and made him unsure of our motives and objectives as opposed to Shan’s. He freed Shan and was the first of us Shan killed. We looked for Shan for months and came to think he returned to the world above. We did not imagine he’d engage an army of trolls. They came to our homes, took us from our beds. Is it not ironic there are monsters which put our powers to shame in the one place we thought safe?”

  Her gaze drifted, moist and vacant. I don’t think she saw me. “He imprisoned us. The first night Shan sent trolls for Bregoen and we listened to him die. Then, the others, one by one.”

  Daven. I forgot Daven Clare. Did his body lie with the others? I couldn’t make myself ask. I kind of liked him, a decent guy as Cousins go.

  Gia blinked and stared me right in the eyes. For a moment I saw her as a stricken woman, grief and defeat naked on her face. Then she sniffed, lifted her chin and a tiny sardonic smile spoiled her scarlet lips’ smooth perfection.

  Royal’s hands on my shoulders eased me away from the door. “Time to go, Tiff. Go with the others.”

  “And leave you alone when they come out? No way.”

  “You are weak as a kitten. Go with them,” he said, using that tone on me.

  I made a face. “Okay, but watch yourself. If they hurt you, I’ll never forgive you.”

  But I didn’t think the Cousins would harm Royal. If I had, I would not have left him. For some mysterious reason, I believed they would keep their word.

  He gently shoved me in the small of my back and I tottered to the steps.

  We waited in the hall: Rain, River, Bel and I, with the twittering dryads. I chewed my nails—man, it felt good. And paced—that felt good, too. On the point of going back to find Royal, he strode in. Alone.

  I moistened my dry lips with my tongue. “Where are they?”

  “They left by the garden door.” Royal removed his coat and hung it on my shoulders. I worked my arms in the sleeves.

  The long black car idled at the end of the path. It took all River’s, Rain’s and Bel’s persuasion to get the dryads in the back seat.

  “We’ll take these lovely ladies to the Auld Wood after we drop you at The Station,” River said as he got in the front seat with the big blond driver.

  Rain got in after him, leaving me, Royal and Bel to squeeze in with the dryads. They cringed in one corner, so close a quick glance mistook them for one body. Royal made room by sitting me on his knees. I didn’t object.

  “So you did it?” Clide asked as we settled on the leather seats.

  “We did,” Rain replied.

  Clide nodded. “Good.” He started the car.

  And off we went.

  I leaned over my knees to see past Royal to Rain. “You faced down a demon for me. Thank you.” I smiled at River. “Thank you both.”

  Rain’s eyebrow twitched. “Part of the job and not the first time we went up against something from the Netherworlds. Anyway, he was a lesser demon.”

  “Lesser? He was huge!”

  “The aspect he wore was big, yes. I mean he’s low in the hierarchy, a first level manifestation. If it’d been a seventh-level demon we’d have been in trouble.”

  I hated to think. “I don’t understand how Arthemy’s spell was supposed to work.”

  Her eyes slid to Royal. “Arthemy meant to sacrifice Royal and pour his blood inside the circle to complete the summoning. He’d give Royal’s soul to the demon. In return, the demon lassoed your soul and whipped it back in your body.”

  “Oh.” I tried to quash the images her words evoked but my stomach flipped. The bowl was to catch Royal’s blood. My head spun, my gut clenched. I gripped Royal’s hand tighter.

  “But Shan’s blood did the trick and the demon took both him and Arthemy. He got a deal.”

  “And to exchange Lawrence’s and Shan’s souls?” Royal asked.

  “After the mage ousted their souls, another demon, another sacrifice, and he had four of them in his cells.”

  I said, “Can you tell Castle thanks from us?”

  “Tell him yourself. He can hear you.”

  “I thought so, but. . . .” I squirmed a little. I’d told myself often enough I understood Royal’s difficulty relating to people he didn’t see and now I knew how he felt firsthand.

  Rain smiled. “Don’t worry, he knows.”

  “Wish I could meet him.” Castle interested me. He seemed to be a real character. “What does he look like?”

  “Big. Black hair, dark eyes, pale skin, like all of us. His scowl can strip paint off a wall but he’s a big softie inside.” Listening, Rain dipped her head on a smile. “Oh, and exceedingly handsome.”

  “And you, Baelfleur, how can we repay you?” Royal asked.

  “By never asking for my help again,” Bel said in all seriousness.

  Royal nodded his chin once. “So be it.”

  Deep in our own thoughts, we silently watched Gettaholt fly past. Mine focused on Dark Cousins and their oath. Gia lied when it suited her. Did she lie about the Cousins wanting nothing more to do with my world?

  I pushed it from my mind and wallowed in the feel of Royal’s arms around me.

  The car stopped outside The Station.

  “How do we do this?” Royal looked through the window at the brick building.

  “I will go with you through The Station and the doors when they open for you. Pause a moment to let me get ahead of you before you walk the bridge, for it cannot take us to separate destinations at the same time,” Bel said.

  “It was good to see you again, Bel,” Rain said with a smile.

  “Say hi to Freyda for us,” said River.

  Bel opened the door. “I will.” He spoke solemnly. “This is goodbye. We will not return to Downside.”

  Rain lost her smile. “I know. Take care of her, Bel. And good luck.”

  We watched the car drive away.

  I stepped nearer Bel. “The driver, Clide . . . he has fangs?”

  “Vampires usually do.”

  My eyes went wide. “You are kidding me.”

  He pulled his hood lower over his face. “This is Downside, home to dreams and nightmares. Look for th
em here and you will find them.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Leaving the inky darkness of the bridge and finding myself in Clarion reminded me of using the Gate to Bel-Athaer, except when I looked behind the alley was between two white clapboard walls with a black blot at the end.

  “This is Harold Avenue.” Suddenly, my feet hurt. I stood on ice and freezing slush. A shiver turned to shudders which wracked my body. My teeth chattered. “I’m freezing.”

  My vision darkened as though night fell under my eyelids. I couldn’t breathe. My legs lost all strength and I went down.

  “Tiff? Speak to me, darling.”

  Royal’s voice came from far away. I tried to open my eyes but my lids felt so heavy. Hard, cold, under my body. A big warm hand cupping the back of my head.

  I forced my eyes open. Royal’s face looked down at me. “Tiff. There you are, Sweetheart.”

  “How long?” I croaked.

  “A few seconds.”

  I shut my eyes. My entire body head to toe felt as if lead weights held it to the ground. “Help me up.”

  “I’m calling an ambulance.”

  My eyes popped open. “Don’t you dare! Don’t need one. I think I’m fine, just have to get used to this ole body again.”

  He lifted me and set my feet on the ground with his arms still supporting me. I immediately felt lighter and my legs held me. I breathed easily.

  And I was starving.

  “What happened?”

  “You have been unconscious for days, you are bound to be weak.”

  “I didn’t feel too bad till just now.”

  “If I accurately remember the recording, Arthemy said Downside magic would support you. I suppose it kept you strong while there but failed when we left.”

  Mention of the recorder made me ask, “You recalled everything when we went back. Have you forgotten again already?”

  “It is fading fast.”

  “I haven’t forgotten a thing, so far.”

  “We should take you to the hospital so they can check your progress.”

  “No! Enough of hospitals. Take me home and get me the biggest, fattest cheeseburger you can find. And onion rings. And a chocolate shake.”

  Royal put one arm around my waist, dipped to put the other behind my knees and lifted me. “My place is closer.”

  Demon speed took us through Clarion to Twenty-Second, up the wrought-iron steps to his door. We were inside in seconds.

  Royal cut the bandages from my head and carefully washed my hair. After days under tight bandages, my hair and scalp stank. He dried it with the heat of his hands. The surgeons shaved my scalp on the side of my head and in the back where they opened my skull to relieve pressure on my brain. Both places looked ugly, but braiding my long hair hid them. I had to go to the hospital after all to get the sutures in my scalp removed. But not now.

  Royal’s arm held the curve of my back as I nestled to his side. I wore two pairs of his socks, track pants and a cable-knit sweater. The lights were low and his Christmas trees twinkled a bright procession along the wall.

  “I recall Shan and the other Cousins, what happened with them, but nothing else,” Royal said.

  “Maybe ‘cause Downside decided they didn’t belong there after all.” Strangely, my memories were intact, both as a shade and after I was wrenched back in my body, so I was able to tell Royal what he had forgotten.

  “Do you believe the Cousins will stay Downside?” I asked.

  Royal made a noise in the back of his throat. “For now. I think when their Gate or Gates open they will do anything to reach them.”

  Only a fool trusted Dark Cousins. Gia broke the covenant with Gelpha when she came with me and Chris to find Royal and if she entered Bel-Athaer without detection so easily, other Cousins may have and would in the future.

  I reminded myself Gia leading me to Royal when my uncle imprisoned him was not for my benefit, nor his. It was a tiny cog in her plan. She wanted me to reveal the Seers as tricksters, destroy their credibility and the influence they wielded with the High Lord and his Council. The Seers held too much power and the Cousins wanted them out of the way when they succeeded in stirring the human world’s governments into invading Bel-Athaer. It might have worked, too.

  My feelings for Gia were ambivalent. She used me. She and her kin plotted to invade Bel-Athaer and conquer the Gelpha. Yet she saved Royal’s life twice, when she gave him her blood after Shan almost killed him, and when she led me to the Burning Man. She warned me to keep him by my side when she knew the Cousins would close the Gates to Bel-Athaer. If not for her, Royal and I would have been torn apart, separated in different worlds.

  No, we should not trust them, yet when I thought of what Gia said in Arthemy’s house, her poignancy and aura of world-weariness touched something deep in my heart, in a place belonging only to a woman.

  “Did you ever doubt?” Royal asked in a slightly hoarse voice.

  I slid one arm over his chest. “All the time. I told myself I will get back in my body.” The words guttered in my throat. “Then found myself thinking of a future where I didn’t.”

  He hesitated, drew in a long breath. “Like you, I tried to enforce a belief I would see you alive again, but the whole thing—Downside, the wraiths, Baelfleur—it was as if I moved in a dream world, interacting with dream people. I went through the motions because it was all I had. But. . . .”

  He was grieving, the whole time. I rolled, pressed to his chest, my arms circled his neck, my cheek touched his. “I’m so sorry.”

  His arms clasped me so tight, my breath stuck in my chest. “It’s over, Sweetheart.”

  I untangled my fingers from his hair and slipped back to my favorite position, snuggled against his side. “I’m glad you ‘went through the motions,’” I said after a minute.

  “I doubt I would have, but you made me believe in you.”

  “We have a lot of people to thank. Jack and Mel. Maggie. Rain and River and Baelfleur. Angelina.”

  “And Chris.”

  “Ah, we can’t forget Chris, can we.” No matter how I want to.

  I pulled up short because I didn’t mean it. Chris could be unscrupulous, manipulative, selfish, egotistical and sly. But I had seen his softer, compassionate side. And in my mind’s eye, I did not picture the suave man in his elegant suits but a wilder, unruly version, clad in leathers as he rode his Harley, hair streaming in the wind.

  It is said every woman is drawn to a bad boy. I guess I’m no different. If I didn’t love Royal so much I almost burst with it, maybe I would have taken that sunset ride, to see where it led.

  A sharp rap on the door made us freeze, thankfully interrupting my line of thought. Good lord, what now? Couldn’t we have a moment’s peace?

  Royal righted me and went to the door. Chris Plowman swept in with snow flurrying behind him.

  I muttered under my breath, “Speak of the devil.”

  Royal quickly shut the door against the elements but a considerable amount had already gotten inside and began to melt on the wood floor.

  “Ah, Tiff,” Chris crooned. He put one arm behind his back and swept the other to the floor as he bowed. He came upright. “Back in the land of the living, eh?”

  “I was always in the land of the living.” I tucked my feet beneath me.

  “How did you know we were home?” Royal asked.

  “I lingered in the café across the street. They have a marvelous bakery? And the coffee!” Chris kissed his fingertips.

  He swung on Royal. “I think we should toast Tiff’s return. Cocoa all ‘round.”

  Royal grumbled, but headed for the kitchen to make hot chocolate.

  Chris removed his brown leather coat and dropped it on the other couch. Then he flipped his coattails and lowered his body next to mine.

  “Now, my lady.” He leaned in. “I want you to promise me, no more bullets to the head. No more lounging in a hospital bed while your poor overworked ghost flits all about the country an
d down below in search of a cure.”

  I responded to the twinkle in his eyes and his cool citrus and ginger scent. “Okay. I promise.”

  “Swear on the thing most dear to you.”

  “You want me to swear on Mac?” I asked with a sidelong glance at Royal. He rolled his eyes ceilingward as he stirred chocolate powder, sugar and milk in a pan. None of this instant stuff for Royal, he made it from scratch or nothing.

  Chris took my hand and stroked my fingers one by one. His eyes no longer twinkled. “It may not have been apparent, but I was in the depths of despair. I cannot bear to think of a world without you. My life would be incredibly dull were you not here to drag me into preposterous situations.”

  “Unhand my woman, Plowman, before I take yours off at the wrist.” Royal stood behind us with a tray and three mugs.

  Chris returned my hand to me. “Tsk tsk, we are sensitive tonight.”

  He stood, took a mug, downed it on three glugs and licked hot chocolate off his lips. “I have outstayed my welcome, if welcome it was. I must forge on, into the cold, unforgiving wind and snow. But if ever you need a shoulder to lean on, call my name.”

  And with that he bent, plucked up my hand again, smacked a kiss on the back, placed it back on the couch and made for the door.

  “Do you want your coat?” Royal asked. “You may need it in the cold, unforgiving snow and wind.”

  Chris gave him a cool smile, took the coat and sauntered out without putting it on. He left the door open behind him.

  After shutting the door, Royal crashed on the couch as if Chris’ visit exhausted him.

  “He and Jack should join up,” I said drily. “Start a troupe of thespians.”

  “Is Jack the emotive type?”

  “Oh yeah. All the time.”

  “Now I understand why you leave your house tired and irritable.”

  “Me, irritable?”