Protecting His Windflower (A Spirit Hunters Series Novel Book 1)

by Temperance Dawn

  The sight of Dave making his way over to them caught their attention. “Liam, I think it goes without saying that this is going to be hard. Banks is agitated. He may lash out. He has the power to physically harm the living. I need to warn all of you that it is more than likely he will become violent during this. And as much as I hate to insist that Emily be present, I think it’s necessary.”

  Liam’s instinct was to tell Dave absolutely not. But knowing Emily and not wanting to take her power and decisions from her, he knew it would have to be entirely her decision. “I’ll talk to her.”

  “Good.” Dave rubbed his hands together, vigorously. “We should get started soon.”

  “Why don’t you guys head back downstairs? Do one more check of all the cameras. I don’t want to miss anything. Make sure we have extra charged batteries ready to go in case anything is drained while we are down there.”

  “Got it.” Trey stood. “I’ll wait for Lexi. I’ll get her settled back out in the van. I don’t think it’s a good idea for her to be near the investigation at this point. She’ll be safer in the van.”

  Liam agreed and got up from the chair. He made his way down the narrow hallway and could barely hear the women talking in the bedroom, their voices muffled by the closed door. He knocked softly, and their voices ceased, followed by a voice he recognized as Emily’s telling him to come in. Lexi had already made her way to the door and smiled as she passed Liam.

  “Trey is waiting for you. He’ll fill you in on the plan.”

  “Okay.” She continued down the hallway.

  Liam closed the door behind him, and in three steps, made his way to the bed where Emily sat. The covers draped over her legs. She looked a little rested. A warm smile graced her face.

  Knowing they had work to do, he couldn’t help the overwhelming need to kiss her. When he reached the bed, he climbed over her and crashed his mouth onto hers. Devouring every inch of her. Liam knew he took her by surprise, but she quickly relaxed and kissed him back with just as much enthusiasm.

  Liam wanted so much more, and as much as he hated the blanket between them, he was glad there was a barrier. Had there not been, he was sure he would have taken Emily right then, and they needed to get downstairs with the rest of the team.

  Liam slowed their kiss when she whimpered. His body lay cradled between her legs on top of the blanket still, and he gave her a small thrust of his hips. He moved his mouth from hers, both of them gasping for air, and left a trail of kisses down her jaw to her neck. He made his way up to her ear and nipped the tip with his teeth.

  “Baby,” he rasped before lifting his head and looking at her. “I promise, later, I will make love to you all night. But not right now. Dave is going to attempt to move Banks toward the light. He thinks he can help him move on. He wants you to be there. Thinks you can be of help. Telling Banks again that you’re not his.

  “But baby, I have to warn you. He also said he might get violent. He’s already pissed, and with Dave opening up the door for him to move on will probably piss him off even more. It will get intense. I wanted to tell Dave no, you weren’t going anywhere near that room. But I know this has to be your decision. I’ll be right by your side the whole time. I just want you to know this will get ugly.”

  “Are you scared?” Emily asked.

  “Me? Fuck yes. We don’t always call Dave in for help. Only in the most extreme circumstances. I trust him. So, if he tells me things could get dangerous, I take that to heart. Except this time, it involves you. And that’s killing me.”

  “I love you, Liam.” Emily blurted out.

  The warmth of her words washed over him, his heart exploded. “I love you too, Em. I’ve loved you always. In this life and in my last.”

  Emily reached up and brought Liam’s head down to meet hers. She kissed him again, only this time more passionately. There wasn’t any desperation this time. This time it was truly a kiss of two lovers.

  A soft knock echoed through the bedroom. Breaking their kiss, Liam turned his head slightly to respond. “Yep?”

  “We’re ready when you guys are,” Luke’s voice came through the door.

  “We’ll be right there.”

  A thought crossed Liam’s mind then. “What’s your decision, babe?”

  “Huh?” Emily asked, confused. Liam saw she was still lost in the passionate kiss they had just shared.

  “You never told me if you want to be there with us or if you want to stay in the van. Instead, you declared your love for me. Which I am so fucking happy about. But I still need to know. What’s your decision?”

  Twenty-Nine

  “C

  ameras are rolling. Audio is rolling. Everything seems to be working great,” Trey told Liam and Emily as they entered the basement. He lifted a walkie talkie to his mouth and spoke. “Lexi, do you copy?”

  “Yes, I copy.”

  Emily caught the grin on Trey’s face when her voice came through. “We’re getting started.”

  “Copy that.”

  Emily stood in the middle of the room. “It feels heavy,” she spoke softly. “Does that make any sense?”

  “It sure does,” Luke confirmed.

  “He knows what we are planning.” Dave lifted his head and made eye contact with everyone. “We should get started.” Dave stood in the middle of the room next to Emily and Liam. “I’m going to speak to him. You two feel free to speak up at any time.”

  Emily grabbed hold of Liam’s hand. Her heart pounded with anticipation. Her eyes adjusted slowly to the low light in the room. Her ears strained to hear any unfamiliar sound, and her skin crawled at any slight breeze, the sensation heightened by her hairs standing on end.

  “Robert Banks,” Dave began. “I know you’re here. It’s time you listen and understand that your time on this Earth is done. It’s been done for a very long time. You need to move on.”

  Dave stood with his eyes closed, his head tipped up toward the ceiling. The air in the room bared down on the group with an electrical charge. As if a lightning storm was imminent.

  “Trey?” Liam said. “Get the spirit box ready. I have a feeling we’re going to need it.”

  Trey grabbed the spirit box from the corner of the room and turned it on. The room was engulfed in the sounds of static, but no voices were audible. Liam decided to speak. “Banks,” he said with irritation in his voice. “It’s time you leave. You’re dead. You can’t have Emily. She’s alive. You’ve been dead for a very long time. You need to move on.”

  Coldness crept up from the ground at Liam and Emily’s feet. The air, like ice moving upward, washed over them. A cold so bitter it took Emily’s breath from her. She watched Liam go pale. “Are you okay?” she whispered.

  “It just got really cold.”

  Emily was still holding Liam’s hand when a force grabbed her, yanking her out of Liam’s grasp, and pulled her to the side towards the far corner of the room. An explosion erupted, the entire room shook, and they were engulfed in a blinding light. She skidded across the dirt floor at an unnatural speed and came to a stop at the cinderblock wall at the far corner. The air had been knocked out of her, and she tried desperately to catch her breath.

  When she opened her eyes, she glimpsed at Liam across the room. He had been thrown to the opposite wall, and Dave could barely keep his footing but somehow managed to crouch down and stay upright. Trey and Luke huddle together in the door, still holding their equipment. A deafening whirlwind of bitter cold swirled around.

  “Liam!” Luke shouted. “Something is holding us back. We can’t get past the door.”

  “I can’t move!” Liam told them. “Emily! Are you okay?”

  Emily tried desperately to speak, but her voice was caught in her throat. Above her stood the transparent silhouette of Robert Banks. A form she had never seen him take in this life. She had only seen his features in her nightmare. He wore the same long, black coat and carried the same heavy walking stick as he did in all of her dreams. He looked down at her
with a scowl. Emily felt nothing but hate emanating from him. Banks knelt next to her, and she felt the icy touch of his hand on her cheek. She shivered uncontrollably. From the bitter cold or fear, she couldn’t be sure. Her body went numb from the chill. In her head, she was screaming for him to leave, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t make her lips move.

  Luke made his way into the room but just barely. The sound of the spirit box still pulsing but muffled by the windstorm around them. Emily caught movement in the corner of her eye. Dave managed to crawl toward her. He stared at the transparent form above her.

  “Banks!” Dave yelled. “Step away from her. You can’t have her.”

  “Get away from her!” Liam desperately pleaded.

  “Please,” she managed to finally speak. “Leave me. I don’t want to be with you. You can’t have me. You have to move on.”

  Those few words were all Emily could manage. She was exhausted, her body weighed down with the oppression hovering over her. The smell of damp dirt flooded her nose. Images from when Banks’ men threw her in a shallow grave crept into her mind. She knew what was happening. The life was being pulled from her. She knew because she had felt it before, and at that moment, she decided she was not dying at the hands of Banks again. Emily prayed she could find the strength to fight and tried to speak again.

  “I’m not going with you!” she yelled, mustering all the power she could to enunciate her words. “Go to hell where you belong!”

  The icy touch she felt on her cheek earlier was now around her neck. Emily tried to get up, but she was paralyzed. She could faintly hear Liam and Dave yelling in the background, but she couldn’t focus on their words. All she could concentrate on was her vision going dark.

  Thirty

  The son of a bitch was choking Emily, and Liam couldn’t do a fucking thing about it. He had never been a violent person, but at that moment, he wanted nothing more than to kill Banks with his bare hands. Too bad the bastard was already dead.

  He was screaming but couldn’t make his body move. A force held him in one spot while he watched in agony as Banks hovered over Emily with his hands around her neck. The realization that he may not get to her in time was closing in on him. “Dave! What can we do? He’s going to kill her!”

  Dave was on his knees in the middle of the room with his eyes closed. Liam knew he was trying to communicate with Banks. He also knew that it wasn’t working. Liam prayed. Tears streaming from his eyes, he prayed to god—all of the gods—anyone above who was listening to help him. He closed his eyes and heard his father’s words.

  “What you allow is what will continue.”

  “Dad?” He’d heard his father speak those words to him his entire life. Only now he knew that voice wasn’t his father’s. It was familiar, but he couldn’t put his finger on who it was.

  “Fight!”

  “There’s a voice trying to come through the spirit box. I can’t make out what it’s trying to say,” Trey shouted.

  “It’s family. It’s his family,” Dave yelled.

  As soon as Liam heard Dave’s words, a glimmer of hope washed over him, and he spoke to his old friend. “Phil. It’s Phil,” he told the rest of his team. Liam concentrated, gathered all of his strength, and brought himself onto his hands and knees. He made his way to Dave, who gestured that he was okay, then he crawled his way across the room. Through the raging windstorm that encircled Emily. He pulled her onto his lap. Her eyes were closed as he pressed two fingers to the side of her neck. There was a faint pulse under the tips of his fingers. He looked to his friends in the doorway, who he gave a nod to. Both Luke and Trey nodded back in a silent exchange of his confirmation that Emily was alive.

  “Banks, please. Let her go. Go with Phil to the light. He’s here to help you. He’s your kin, your family. He’ll take care of you. You have to let Emily go. Please.” Liam hoped to all that was holy that his plea to Banks would work.

  “It’s working,” Dave shouted. “He’s backing away.”

  Liam looked at Emily as she took a deep breath. Her eyes were still closed, but she was alive and breathing.

  “Come, cousin. It’s time to come with me,” Liam heard Phil’s voice through the spirit box.

  “What will happen to me?” A gruff voice, different from Phil’s, came through, and Liam knew it was Banks.

  “I don’t know. But you can’t stay here. This isn’t the answer,” Phil replied. “Now. Come with me. Let them be.”

  “He’s moving on. He’s going toward the light.” Dave looked up and gave a small smile to Liam.

  “Phil,” Liam shouted with desperation.

  “Yes, Liam?”

  Liam wasn’t sure he would be able to speak. He was being flooded with so many emotions he wasn’t sure he could find the words. He breathed deeply, swallowing past the lump in his throat, and said, “Thank you. For everything.”

  “Take care, Liam. All of you,” Phil’s voice came through again but was faint and had carried more static. But the team had used the spirit box enough over the years that they could decipher the voice’s message.

  “Thanks, Phil.”

  Luke and Trey stated in unison. The air around the team settled. At last, they could hear each other. The room had gone quiet.

  “Is everyone okay?” Liam asked.

  He received a nod from Dave.

  Luke and Trey rushed to their feet and ran to him. “How’s Emily?” Trey asked.

  Liam stared down at her and stroked her face. Her red-rimmed lids fluttered open. “Hey,” he said.

  “Hey,” she croaked, then cleared her throat.

  “Tell me the truth. Are you okay? Does anything hurt?” Liam asked her, firmly.

  “I think I’m okay. I’m sore, but nothing feels broken. But my head is pounding.”

  “I saw you hit your head when you were thrown back to the wall,” Luke stated.

  “Alright. Let’s go.” Liam stood up, scooping Emily into his arms, and walked out of the small room.

  “Liam, I can walk.”

  “Nope.” He could tell that his short answer irritated her. In the back of his mind, he kicked himself for acting like a caveman, but he couldn’t help it. He’d lost the love of his life once. He wasn’t about to lose her again. He was taking Emily to the hospital to be checked out whether she liked it or not. And he was prepared to fight her on the matter if it came down to it.

  At the top of the stairs, in the hallway on the main level, Liam sat on one of the steps leading up to his apartment. “Look at me, babe.”

  Emily turned her gaze to him.

  “I want to get you checked out at the hospital. Luke said you hit your head, and you told me you have a bad headache. I want to make sure you don’t have a concussion. So, we will go get you checked out, just to make sure. Okay?”

  “I’m really okay,” she argued.

  “Baby, listen. I’m not losing you again. Will you do me a favor? Humor me, yeah? Go to the hospital. Let me hear the doctor say you’re okay, and I’ll bring you back here. Please.”

  Dave brought up the rear of the group, and when he passed by Liam, he stopped to check on Emily.

  “She says she’s okay, but we’re going to the hospital to get her checked out. Her head is still hurting, and I want to make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.”

  “Smart,” Dave told Liam as he knelt down, putting himself at eye level with both Liam and Emily. He stared intensely at them. “He’s gone. I felt him cross over. And your friend, Phil, he went with him. You’re free now. Both of you.”

  “He went to the light?” Emily asked.

  “Yes, he’ll face his judgment. I’m a true believer in that.”

  Emily threw her arms around Dave and hugged him. Liam threw his free arm around Dave as well and whispered, “Thank you.”

  Dave nodded. “If you two ever need anything, you call me. No matter what the time.”

  “We will,” both Liam and Emily stated, and Dave stood to head toward the fr
ont door. Liam watched as Lexi bolted between Trey and Luke and beelined for her best friend.

  “Em! Are you okay? The cameras went out after that burst of light. What was that? Why are you sitting down? What’s wrong?”

  “Easy, Lex,” Liam soothed. “She hit her head when she was thrown to the back wall. We were all thrown across the room when you saw that flash of light. I’m taking her to the hospital to get checked out. I’m sure she’s fine, but I want to make sure.”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “No,” Emily interrupted. “You’ve had a long day. I want you to get settled. You can stay in my flat because I’ll be staying upstairs with Liam. Stay here, get settled, and rest, so we can hang out and talk tomorrow. Liam is with me, and he’ll keep you updated.” Emily looked at Liam for confirmation that he would update Lexi. He gave both women a smile and a nod.

  “Okay. But if anything happens, you call me!” Lexi held out her hand and pointed at him.

  “I will, Lex. I’ll take good care of her.” Liam stood, still holding Emily in his arms. He proceeded to walk to the front door.

  Thirty-One

  Amonth had passed since the night of the investigation. And since that night, there had been no sign of Banks. Emily no longer felt the ominous presence that she had grown accustomed to her entire life. She hadn’t even known what it felt like to truly be relaxed. She no longer had the faint feeling of someone watching over her every move.

  Emily had moved into Liam’s flat for good that night. After the doctors at the hospital had diagnosed her with a minor concussion, they discharged her and told her to come back if her headaches didn’t improve. Liam spent the rest of that night and most of the next day letting her sleep, only waking her up periodically to make sure she knew her name, who he was, and what year it was. Then he would let her fall asleep again.

  Liam’s parents had come to see them both a few days after. Janet had brought enough prepared meals with her to last both of them a month. She put them in the freezer and told them she would be back in a couple of weeks to restock their refrigerator. Janet had called a couple weeks after and asked if they needed anything. Liam had been out of town on an investigation, so Emily decided to head down to Carmel to visit on her own. She spent the entire day talking mostly with Janet. She was comfortable being around Liam’s parents. They were sweet and funny, and everything she imagined good parents would be.