Not moving my eyes from Johnathan’s, I said, “Send him.”
Johnathan clenched his jaw and nodded. He gently unwrapped his arms from around me, stood, and turned to face the Incubus.
“Paige!” The Incubus threw everything he had into that one word. “Please. I want you more than I’ve ever wanted any woman before. Let me stay. Let me show you. Please.”
I plugged my ears again and curled my head to my knees, my back to him.
Johnathan’s voice shook with anger as he said the words that would send Trey to the Netherworld. “Lacio.Expello.Locus.Exigo!”
I turned and looked up at Trey just as the void opened. Our eyes met and he said, “I’ll be back for you.” And then he was gone.
ears of relief and joy flowed from my eyes. My mind was completely clear for the first time since the Incubus’s first visit to me. The memory of his touch now made me shudder with revulsion. Johnathan was the only one I wanted, now and forever.
I turned toward him. He stood with his back to me, his head hanging. His shoulders heaved with each heavy breath he took. I stood, slowly. A dull pain still wrapped around my head from the torture of the Demon, and dizziness threatened to return me to the floor. I walked to Johnathan and laid my hand on his arm. He looked down at me. At the sight of the tears on my cheeks his face reddened, his jaw clenched. He pulled his arm away from me and walked out the front door, slamming it closed behind him.
I stood, frozen, for a few seconds. I was confused. What did I do? Why is he mad at me? I felt another tear slide from the corner of my eye and reached up to wipe it away.
“What was that all about?” Alec asked
“I’m not sure, but I’m going to find out.” I headed for the door.
I found Johnathan just outside, pacing on the lawn in front of the porch. He looked up and frowned as I shut the door behind me. As I walked to him he turned his back to me.
I touched his arm. “What’s wrong?”
He shook his head.
I stepped in front of him and stood there until he looked down into my eyes. I put my hands on his chest. “What’s wrong, Johnathan? We should be celebrating.”
His look softened as he touched my face where the tears still dried. “I’m sorry. I saw you crying when I sent that… monster… below, and I… I didn’t think he’d gotten to you that much. I saw the way he… he touched you… the way you wanted him. You kissed him. You cried when he left.”
I let out a short, sarcastic laugh. “You’re an idiot. I didn’t cry because I was sad. I cried for joy. Because he was gone from our lives. Because I could see again. Because the spell he’d cast on me was finally broken.”
Johnathan looked at the ground.
“I love you and only you. You’re all I’ve ever wanted. The kissing wasn’t real. You can’t hold that against me any more than I can hold against you the months of anger and turmoil the changeling bite caused for you. I was under his spell. And… I fought it. If I hadn’t fought it you would have had much more than a kiss to be angry about.”
I was really good at saying the wrong thing. Johnathan’s head whipped up so fast I’m surprised he didn’t get dizzy. His eyes blazed as he looked at me. “Not a picture I needed to have painted in my head today, Paige.”
He walked toward the odd tree enclosure where the Incubus had taken me. I stood still for a second and then followed him. He brushed aside the hanging leaves and stepped into the center of the little haven. I stepped in after him and marveled at the odd trees I’d felt but not seen earlier. The velvety leaves were not only strange to the touch, but they were odd shaped and the color of cream. I swear, they were shaped like small hearts.
The aroma hit me like a shotgun blast to the gut. “Johnathan,” I whispered.
He turned to look at me, anger still burning in his eyes.
I took a step closer to him. Close enough that we would have had a Bible shoved between us if we’d been at a church dance. His face danced before me, in and out of focus. The angry look faded and turned to something else. I watched as his eyes dilated, his expression softened. He breathed in deeply and his nostrils flared.
I melted into him, our bodies perfectly molded together. I snaked my arms around his neck as he pulled me impossibly closer. I tipped my head back just as his mouth came crashing down on mine. This kiss was different than all the others we’d shared. No tenderness, just pure, animalistic desire. It felt wrong.
We pulled apart at the same time. Johnathan had a confused look on his face. “Paige? What…?”
Then I remembered. The trees. The special trees. This was one of Trey’s ‘favorite spots to be intimate’. I shook my head and tried to pull out of Johnathan’s tight embrace. He pulled me closer, nuzzled his face in my hair. Panic fought with desire inside me. I wanted to kiss Johnathan, but not like this. This was something of him, of the Incubus, and was far removed from my love for Johnathan.
“Johnathan, stop. We need to get away from the trees.”
“But, it’s so warm in here. And it smells so good. And I just want to kiss you and…”
The confused look crossed his face again. We’d decided from the beginning of our relationship that we would go no further than kissing, ever, unless we were married. I knew what confused him, that promise battled with the lust the leaves caused. I felt it too.
I moaned when he brushed the hair from my neck and leaned down to kiss the tender skin there. His lips felt cold after standing out in the crisp night air. I leaned into him. His grip on me tightened. No, we have to get out of here.
“John. Stop. Let go of me.” Uttering those words caused wrenching pain in my stomach.
He pulled away and looked at me. His skin was flushed, his eyes still dilated. He was gorgeous. I looked away from his face and swallowed hard. This was so much harder than resisting Trey. Because I loved Johnathan.
My eyes fell on my discarded jacket. The one Trey had removed from me. Johnathan followed my gaze. When his eyes fell on the jacket his body stiffened and his arms fell from around me as he stepped back.
“You were in here. With him.”
I nodded. “Didn’t you see him bring me in here?”
“No. Joe and I snuck around to the back of the house as soon as you stepped down from the porch.”
He looked back at me. “What happened in here, Paige? What is this place?” The hurt in his voice returned.
“I don’t know… what this place is. The trees are… special. They’re part of his arsenal to lure women.”
“What happened in here?” Johnathan repeated.
I couldn’t deal with the accusation in his eyes. I looked away. “Nothing. He… he took my jacket off. That’s all. He wouldn’t kiss me. He wanted to save that for… I don’t know… later, I guess. I don’t really remember. It’s all fuzzy.”
Johnathan grabbed my jacket from the ground and shoved it roughly into my arms. With his hand on my back, he urged me through the curtain of leaves, out into the yard. We didn’t stop until we were in front of the porch.
He pushed me behind him. Without saying another word he drew his channeling rod from his belt and leveled it at the group of trees with an angry thrust. “Deflagro!”
The biggest ball of flame I’d ever seen from a spell shot out of the blasting rod and completely decimated the little grove of trees. Nothing but a pile of smoking ash remained.
Johnathan flipped around without even looking at me. He shouldered past Alec and Seth who had stepped out on the porch to see what the explosion was all about, and stomped into the house, leaving me standing there holding my jacket and watching the ashes drift off in the breeze.
Okay, he’s mad. I get it. I’ll just let him cool off for a while and then everything’ll be fine.
I tried to imagine myself in his place. I would be furious if I’d seen another girl with her hands all over him. I can’t imagine how bad it would hurt to watch him kiss someone else. But it wasn’t my fault; I was under a spell. Would that have mattere
d if the tables were turned? Would it hurt any less? I didn’t think so. Love was more complicated than that. Your mind could tell you whatever it wanted to—and be right—but, it couldn’t stop the agony from taking over your heart. I had known why I couldn’t be near Johnathan when he was being consumed by the beast, but it still hurt unbearably every time he rejected me. I decided not to be mad at his anger.
“What the…?” Alec turned to watch Johnathan march into the house.
“What happened out here?” Seth asked.
“He blew up the trees.”
I shivered in the freezing cold and took one last look at the crater where the circle of trees had been then I climbed the steps to the porch. Alec and Seth moved apart so I could go inside, then they followed me in.
The lights had flickered before we’d gone outside; they were now completely blown. Probably thanks to Johnathan’s huge blast of magic. Someone had conjured a large star-bright and suspended it in the center of the room.
I glanced around for Johnathan but didn’t see him. I did see Halli kneeling on the floor in front of Joe. She looked up, worry creasing her face. “Joe’s hurt. I can’t heal him. I’ve tried like five times.”
I’d almost forgotten about our new lesson. I knelt next to Halli and looked at Joe. “What’s hurt?”
He grimaced and pointed to his lower ribs on the left side. “I think I broke a rib or two when I got thrown into the table. It hurts to breath.”
“Halli, help me get his shirt off.”
A large, red abrasion covered the area. I laid my hands over it and closed my eyes, concentrating. I could feel in my mind the jagged pieces where the ribs had fractured. One of the pieces jabbed into an organ I couldn’t quite place, but it hadn’t pierced it. I concentrated on the first break and sent my will into my hands. “Sano,” I said. Heat rushed through my body, down my arms and into my fingers, transferring into Joe, straight to the fractured rib. The broken ends of the bone ground together grotesquely as they fused beneath my palms. Joe tensed with pain. I kept my eyes closed, concentrating on the spell. His fingernails scraped on the wood floor as he balled his hands into fists.
I opened my eyes when the bone was completely healed. “You okay Joe?”
He nodded.
“Good, because we have one more to fix.” I moved my hands up an inch.
Joe groaned and clenched his jaw in preparation.
I repeated the spell on the second broken rib. I sent extra will into the spell to explore the organ that had nearly been pierced. It seemed fine. The second rib took longer to knit back together because there were a few shards broken off that were difficult to move back into place. Joe writhed a little under my touch.
I released the breath I’d been holding and opened my eyes. I could definitely feel that a bit of energy had been drained during the healing process. I looked at Joe. “How does it feel now?”
He took a deep breath and twisted his torso side to side. “Much better, thank you. I’m so glad I taught you healing earlier today and that you’re such a quick study.”
“Wish I was a quick study,” Halli whispered.
“Halli, you did just fine on Johnathan’s cuts. Bones are harder. You’ll learn. Like I said before, and I’m even more sure of it now, this is another of Paige’s talents. That’s why she was able to do it.”
Halli’s mouth turned up in a half smile. “Well, I’m just glad she’s so talented. You were in a lot of pain.”
“Gather everyone together, we need to have a pow-wow.” Joe got to his feet.
“Everyone’s here except Johnathan,” Alec said.
“I’ll go find him.” It was awesome to be able to volunteer for that. Awesome that I could actually see to look for someone.
I wandered out of the large foyer where all the crazy events had so recently taken place and into a huge great room. The living room alone was about the size of my parents’ modest house. Add the kitchen and it was as big as the house and the front yard.
I spied Johnathan sitting at the kitchen island with his head in his hands. I pulled out the chair next to him and sat down. He put his hands down on the counter and turned a weary face to me.
“Joe wants us all to meet in the other room. He said we need to ‘pow-wow’.” I tried a small smile.
Johnathan didn’t smile back, but he no longer looked angry, just defeated. “I’m sorry. For the way I acted outside.”
I shrugged. “It’s okay. I think I understand. I would act a little crazy, too, if… well, if it had been you with someone else.”
His half-smile didn’t come close to touching his eyes. “Crazy is an understatement to how I feel right now. I know none of this is your fault. It’s just gonna take a little while for me to get certain images out of my head.” He took my hand and raised it to his lips for a quick kiss. He continued to hold my hand as we walked back to the foyer where the others were.
We stopped in the doorway and Johnathan said, “I think we should have our little meeting in the living room. The furniture in there looks more comfortable and there’s more of it.”
No one protested, so we all moved to the comfort of the living room. When everyone had settled, Joe asked, “Who wants to go back to the hotel or the cave? And who wants to take up residence in this newly available semi-mansion?”
“What?” Alec exclaimed. “And give up the cold rock walls and dirt floors of the boulder-cave? Are you crazy?”
“I don’t think he meant we could stay here indefinitely. Did you?” Halli asked, hopeful.
“I don’t see why not,” Joe answered. “We know the owner isn’t going to be coming back anytime soon. And, for the trouble he caused us, I think he owes us at least this much.”
“You’re serious?” I asked.
Joe nodded.
Halli and I looked at each other, both of our eyes brimming with tears. It had been a long while since any of us stayed in a real house. And this was an amazing house. My emotions soared at the thought. Johnathan’s next words brought them crashing down, though.
“I don’t think we should stay here.”
“Why the heck not, Johnny?” Alec asked.
“Well, Alice, the owner of this house is no ordinary human, remember? He’s an Incubus and there could still be some dangerous things lying about. Like those trees.”
“What was wrong with the trees?” Alec raised an eyebrow.
Johnathan looked at me but I had trouble meeting his gaze and looked down at my lap. He answered, “They were enchanted somehow. There could be more items like them inside the house.”
“Enchanted how?” Seth asked.
“I bet I know.” Alec smirked. “They made you lustful, huh, Johnny? They made you wanna—”
“Something like that,” Johnathan interrupted, his face red. “The point is, I’m willing to bet those trees weren’t the only enchanted things here.”
“That’s not necessarily a bad thing to have around.” Alec winked and elbowed Seth in the side.
Johnathan nearly crushed my hand in his.
“That’s enough, Alec,” I said, before Johnathan could act on his anger. “There is nothing good about the Incubus or his spells. Johnathan’s right, it could be dangerous.”
Joe held up a hand to stop Alec from saying whatever he was getting ready to say. “You’re probably right, Johnathan, that there are some things here that he used to attract women. But, the strength of such items will rapidly fade without the Incubus in their midst. In the meantime, we’ll all just have to promise that if we come across such an item, we’ll destroy it immediately, before it has a chance to work its power on one of us. Agreed?”
Everyone but Alec answered yes immediately.
“Alec?” Joe asked.
“Okay, okay. I agree. But only because a great womanizer such as myself doesn’t need any enchanted items to lure women. My good looks and charm are lure enough.”
I rolled my eyes.
“It’s decided then. Everyone feel free to explor
e and find which room you want. I don’t know about you all, but I’m exhausted.” Joe yawned to emphasize the point.
“Wait, I have one more question,” Alec said.
We all looked at him and waited for his question.
“What was that thing with the Demon all about? When he and the Incubus looked at me. I thought the Incubus was going to crap his pants right there.”
Joe sighed. “I’m not sure.”
“Bull. You know something. I can see it on your face.”
“Can we talk about this after we’ve all had some sleep?” Joe hedged.
“Joe.” Alec narrowed his eyes at our trainer. “What are you hiding?”
Joe rubbed his face with his hands. “I really don’t want to speculate until I look into a few things.”
“Joe.”
“Okay. Okay. I’m pretty sure there’s some kind of connection between you and Trey. That’s all I’m saying until I have a chance to investigate.”
“Maybe he’s your long lost dad, Alec,” Seth teased.
We all laughed, except Joe. I stopped laughing, tapped on Johnathan’s arm and nodded toward Joe. His face had paled. He looked at Seth with dawning realization. He turned to Alec with a look of dread.
t took Alec a few seconds to register what the look on Joe’s face could mean. His smile slowly turned into a frown as the implication soaked in.
“Wait. Wait a minute. Why are you looking at me like that?” Alec leaned toward Joe.
Joe clamped his gaping jaw closed and forced himself to relax back into the recliner he sat on. “Nothing, Alec. See, this is exactly why I didn’t want to get into this discussion until I’ve had some time to look into things a little.”
“But, Seth was just joking. That isn’t even possible… is it?” Alec looked worried.
Joe sat in silence for an uncomfortable amount of time as we all stared at his downturned face.
“Well? Is it?” Halli asked
Joe looked at Alec with worried eyes. “It is possible, to answer your question, but not probable. Incubi can reproduce, I think I’ve told you all that before. Most of the time the mother dies before giving birth and the offspring dies along with her. Repeated exposure to an Incubus can cause the mind to be… altered. Having the spawn of an Incubus growing inside her, is like having a constant infusion of the… of whatever causes that alteration. The impregnated woman rarely escapes even a few months of the pregnancy without completely going insane… much less the entire nine months.”
Five: Out of the Pit (Five #2) Page 7