A flashlight pierced the dark recesses of the crypt with its yellow glow at the same moment someone behind them murmured, “I would.”
Nicky’s hand was on his dagger, but before he could even turn around Gerry had used her power to flash a wave of molecules at the voice. The flashlight was tossed in the air, but before it landed on the ground with a thud and flickered out, he saw the face of the person who had snuck up on them.
“Shit! Are you alright, Mére Owa?”
“Boyo, you sure got yourself a wild one there.” The dark-skinned voodoo woman cackled as she picked herself up from the ground and dusted off her backside.
“I’m sorry,” Gerry muttered, though the tone didn’t sound all that apologetic. “You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”
“Looks like your truth managed to break my spell. Good job, gal. Good job.”
Nicky saw Gerry turn to him and flash him with a look. He shrugged in response.
“No worries, no worries. As long as the wrongs were made right for heaven’s sake.”
“The potion you made her drink,” Nicky said, eyes wide in realization.
“’Two wrongs a right don’t make, tell the truth for heaven’s sake.’ You bitch! You put a spell on me?”
The voodoo woman chortled again. “So let’s find this secret ya’ got stashed in that hole there.”
When she made a move to get at the crypt, Gerry stepped in front of her with her hands out flat, ready to attack again. “Eh, eh. What the hell do you want with what’s in there?”
Nicky in turn stepped between the two women, placing a hand on one of Gerry’s. “Whoa. Listen, I don’t know what she wants with the box either…”
“Nicky!”
“Oh, come off it, Gerry. She knew you were a succubus, she knew where to find us, and she spelled you. I think she can damn well figure out about the box.”
“You two really are back to normal, aren’t you? I mean, even with the fussing you’re both actin’ like you’re having a simple discussion instead of fightin’.”
Nicky stared at Gerry, still holding her hand tight. After a moment he saw her lips move and the whites of her teeth flash a smile in the darkness. He laughed as he tossed her hand down to her side.
“So what exactly do you know about the box then?” Gerry asked Mére Owa while he fished inside the tomb for the silver box.
“You know what it is already. Now give me your hand.”
“Hey!” Gerry shouted, and when Nicky looked back he saw the black woman playing tug-of-war with his wife’s hand. Finally Gerry gave in so that the woman could inspect the lines on her palm.
Nicky chuckled. His fingers bumped the cold feel of metal and he clutched his hand around the box before standing.
“The endowment of succubae powers on twins is an evil gift indeed,” Mére said before releasing her hold.
Nicky watched his wife snatch her hand back, curling her fingers into a ball and holding it to her chest. He turned back to Mére, expecting she would have more to say.
“Whoever played that trick was a villain of the worst sort, but then demons like that sort of thing. I have only known of two such circumstances and in each, the stronger succubus destroyed the weaker when they were just children.”
“So one of us wasn’t supposed to live?” Gerry whispered.
Mére Owa shrugged and turned to walk away. “It’s a game to the evildoers. They like to see things torn apart, even things o’ their own making. They had a problem in your case.”
“Wait!”
Nicky watched his wife hurry to catch up to Mére Owa making her way toward the cemetery exit. The silver box clutched in one hand, he reached into his pocket to retrieve his cell phone before following them.
“What was the problem in our case?” Gerry asked.
“It’s what I told your husband when we met. ‘Something witchy this way comes’ and that witchiness is in your blood.”
Gerry gasped, her mouth falling open. “Are you telling me my Mum was a witch?”
“Nope, I’m sayin’ your father was a wizard, which ain’t the same thing as a witch, but it still puts the power in your blood. Your sis was strong but the blood was stronger.”
Drawing her brows together, Gerry considered this a moment before speaking again. “The blood was stronger. The babies… is that why my powers are stronger now?”
The black woman grinned. “You’re gonna have your hands full with those kiddos. Now go, you two. You got lots more to do before this affair can be ended.” And she disappeared into the darkness.
Nicky was already dialing Doc’s cell phone when Gerry turned back to him. He handed her the box while he waited for an answer.
Doc didn’t wait for niceties. He just answered, saying, “Do you have it?”
“We’ve got it. We’ll head back as soon as the daylight will let us take off…”
“No need,” Doc responded. “Devan’s friend Rooney showed up. Apparently she brought him back through the door from the faery realm. They separated for some reason during the rescue she and Kent made. It took him a while to find the hospital.”
“Okay, so how does that change anything?”
“I’ll hand him the phone. Tell him where you are and he’ll open a door to get you back. He’s pretty insistent…”
There was a rustle on the other end and after a moment Rooney was on the line. “Just describe where you are, man. I’ll be there in a flash.”
Nicky did, and within seconds a shimmering speck appeared before them, growing into the form of a full door. The red-haired faery on the other side motioned them both with an impatient wave of his hand. Nicky’s eyes met Gerry’s; her hand clasped the silver box close to her chest. With a shrug he placed his hand at the small of her back, and the two of them crossed through the golden door.
Everything was in place. Charlie and Belle had the children in the room farthest from the safe room. There were lots of arguments about where the children would be safest, but in the end, Gerry had her way. The purpose of the safe room was to protect the children in the case of an attack. Gerry finally convinced them that the key to getting Dysis there was to dangle the box in front of her. The only way to ensure Dy returned Kent, Devan, and Langston was to keep the box just outside of her grasp. Hence, it had to be in the safe room.
As an added protection for the children, Rooney stood guard over them. In the case of failure, he would open a portal and take all of the children to safety. Jill and Doc stood sentry at the crossing of both hallways leading from the safe room. Gerry and Nicky were on their own inside the magically protected room. Now all everyone had to do was wait for Dysis to show.
“Belle made the call?” Gerry asked, pacing in the center of the empty room.
Nicky was leaning against the wall in the corner, trimming his thumbnail with a dagger. He glanced up and watched his wife move. Her body was fluid as she skimmed back and forth through the room. “Yeah, I listened in. She told that guy Michelangelo.”
“Hmmm...”
“You think he knows the score? I mean, is the Company bad or is Dy just leading them along?”
She shook her head and her dark hair fluttered around her face. In exasperation she grabbed the locks and tied them back with a rubber band she found in the pocket of her loose tunic top. “I don’t know, Nicky. She has the same abilities I do. She could be mentally manipulating them.”
“You’re gonna wear a hole in that floor,” he commented in a bland tone, looking back at his thumb.
And you’re gonna trim that thumb down to the bone, she thought to herself. To him, she said nothing.
She sensed him looking at her again, sensed it inside her mind, and her entire body turned warm with affection. She had missed the sensation of his emotions. Looking over her shoulder at him, she smiled. “What?”
“You’re gonna make my kids dizzy, too.”
Despite the seriousness of the situation and the nerves knotted in the pit of her stomach, she la
ughed. With a cocky lift of her eyebrow she turned and approached him. As soon as her body was within his reach, he snaked an arm out and pulled her hips close to his.
“And what exactly are you teaching my kids with that lascivious look in your eyes?” she asked him.
Instead of answering, he seized her lips with his. She moaned and arched against him, opening her mouth so that her tongue could duel with his. The energy sparking between them infused her body, pumping into her veins like a fuel. She wondered briefly if he knew what he was doing, if he might be intentionally preparing her for the battle ahead with the power of sex. That thought was fleeting as her limbs tingled with the heat of their attraction.
“The happy couple.” A voice shattered the moment and Nicky pushed his way in front of Gerry, his dagger held out in front of him.
“Nicky! Gerry!” It was Jill’s voice, and Gerry hoped it was just the blonde’s way of shouting a warning and that she wasn’t under full attack. There wasn’t anything they could do from inside the room.
The dark cylinder was suspended outside the door to the safe room. Gerry smelled the familiar mix of sex and citrus, and she recognized the voice speaking from inside the tube. A press of her hand moved Nicky aside, and Gerry walked toward the door. A glittery flash bled from the top and bottom of the tube, and the darkness inside melted away to reveal the slender and lithe form of her sister Dysis.
“Aren’t you going to say hello, sister? One would think you might have missed your twin in the intervening years.”
“Dysis, I don’t have any pleasantries to exchange with you. Bring the others back.”
The woman shrugged as if disinterested. “I can’t. The Council has ruled. They disobeyed our instructions and a penalty must be paid.”
A cold chill spread across her body, but she refused to show any sign of worry. “I know you better than that. You wouldn’t harm the only bargaining chip you hold.”
Dy laughed and Gerry remembered how much the shrill cackle used to get on her nerves.
“I said nothing about harming. And why would I need a bargaining chip?”
A grin tugged at the corner of Gerry’s lips. “Then you don’t want the box?” For dramatic effect she held out her hand and released the magic hiding the box so that it shimmered to sight within her palm.
There was a flash of anger behind Dy’s eyes and she narrowed them into slits as she looked at her sister. She stepped forward, but a blue light burst around the silhouette of her body when she tried to cross the threshold into the safe room.
Gerry flinched when a sharp burning sensation developed in the palm of her hand. When she looked, the box appeared to be glowing red hot. She sucked in a breath, gritted her teeth, and fought the need to drop the box. The burning became nearly unbearable before it suddenly stopped. That was when she realized what was happening.
“You’ve gotten better,” Dy remarked as she placed her hands behind her back with her legs wide as she stood relaxed in the doorway. “There was a time when we were kids and I could get a reaction from you.”
The burning was all inside her head. Dy couldn’t breach the safe room physically, but she could still send her mental feelers inside to do her dirty work. She glanced to the side when she saw Nicky take a few steps forward, but he said nothing while the twins focused on each other.
“Just bring the team back and I’ll come out with the box. I don’t care what you want with it. Just let them go.”
Dy shook her head and clicked her tongue in disapproval. “Geraneia, darling... Have you become so attached to these people? You think I didn’t watch you after you ran away from me? You think I didn’t see how you cut yourself off from those around you? I was certain it would bring you back to me eventually.”
“That would never have brought me back to you, Dy. And what do you want with me? To kill me? Isn’t that the way it works with succubus twins?”
Dy frowned as if hurt. “Oh come now. I changed the Master’s mind about that long ago. You’re much more valuable to him as one of his own. He bequeathed you with a gift, Gerry. Would you forsake him?”
The words had a familiar ring to them. She thought of the things she learned in the church. The Master might have been Jesus himself. The term “his own” might have come from the parable of the lost sheep. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” were the very words quoted from Christ himself in the Bible. Dy was using the faith that had once sustained Gerry. She was using it against her in reference to the Devil himself.
“I want them here now, Dysis. Bring Kent, Devan, and Langston back!”
Her evil sister laughed, the sound more sinister this time. “You think I can’t get another Antipandore? I have served my Master for many years and deserve the gifts he’s given me.”
Now it was Gerry’s turn to laugh. “If that were true you wouldn’t have gone to so much trouble to find it. I think your Master expects you to get this box and finish whatever deed he charged you with.”
Dysis looked over her shoulder but Gerry couldn’t tell what she was looking at. She heard a rustle down the hall and the sound of many footsteps. From the sound of it, Dy must have brought backup.
“Fine,” Dy spoke, turning her green eyes upon her sister. She snapped her fingers and three more dark columns dropped from the ceiling and into the hallway beside her. “They’re here. Now let me inside that room and let’s finish this.”
The shadowed figures of Kent, Devan, and Langston were evident in the cloudy dark tubes. Gerry turned to speak to Nicky and that was when she saw the dazed look in his eyes. He took a few steps closer to the door, closer to Dysis.
Gerry sensed his emotions as surely as she knew her sister did. He saw his friends and he wanted to help them. He heard the fighting down the hall and he wanted to enter the fray. His inner being wanted out of that room even though he and Gerry had agreed he should stay in there with her and the box. Dy was using his true desires to make him leave. Placing the box in her pocket, Gerry looked up to face the other woman.
The confident smile on her sister’s face was proof enough. She had returned the rest of the team but only so she could get her sneaky hands on Gerry’s husband. Her sister had learned her true love for Nicky months ago when she was inside her mind. Now she would use it against her sister in order to get the box.
“No!” Gerry cried, reaching out to grab Nicky’s shoulder to stop him.
He swung wide to get her off of him and in the process nearly slashed her forearm with his dagger. He was just about through the door when she took hold of him again, this time digging her fingers into both shoulders and yanking him away from the doorway.
Nicky slid along the floor but quickly got back up. Gerry reared back and slammed him in the jaw with the heel of her hand before using both hands and her powers to propel him into the wall near the door. He slid down with a thud, unconscious. Her stomach lurched with worry, but she knew he would be all right. He was dhampir and it would take more than a tumble like that to permanently harm him.
Turning slowly, Gerry cast her brown eyes on Dysis. “Okay, sister. Now I’m pissed.”
Usually Gerry used her power to manipulate molecules, forcing air at people and objects. It helped to tip enemies off balance and allow her to take hold of a situation. This time, however, she put her hands out in front of her and tugged the particles backwards so she could pull her sister past the protections and into the room.
Dy wasn’t expecting the move. Her guard was down and she went tripping to the floor near the far corner. Before she could find time to collect her senses, Gerry grabbed her unconscious husband, dragged him to the door and reversed her power to toss him outside the safe room.
A foot struck Gerry hard in the small of her back, and the air left her lungs so fast she choked on her own spit trying to recover a breath. Rolling to the side, she avoided the next swipe of her sister’s boot and managed to get to her feet, still coughing.
“You’re so noble, Geraneia. Saving them an
d then locking yourself in here with me. You can’t win, you know?”
“How many Antipandores have you been given, Dy? Is this the first?” Gerry asked, circling the room with her sister; both of them poised for battle. She inhaled before taking a jab, but Dysis easily deflected the blow.
“Of course not. I have served my Master faithfully for all of these years and he’s rewarded me for that service. Without the Antipandores I wouldn’t be able to do this.”
Dy faced her palms to the floor and her body lifted off the ground as if weightless. She flew around Gerry, grabbing her by the arm and tossing her like a ragdoll into the wall. Sliding down the wall to her knees, Gerry groaned and touched her lip. She tasted blood on her tongue.
“Or this.” Dy still floated on air when she spoke, pointing her finger to the floor at Gerry’s feet. The concrete and tile exploded in the midst of a bright fireball shot from Dysis’ fingertip. “My first Antipandore was a test, even before I took my vows. The Master is careful of those he accepts into the fold. He would have taken you in as well, but you threw away your chance.”
“So that’s what you’ve spent all these years doing? Stealing powers to strengthen yourself?”
Dy laughed, drifting to the floor just in front of her sister. Her green eyes sparked with dark excitement. She was enjoying every minute of this game. Gerry stood slowly since each flex of her muscles was painful. Allowing her eyes to go void, her expression to fall slack, she gazed into her sister’s eyes. She allowed Dysis to believe she was falling into a trance under her mental coercion as her sister placed a hand on her chin and squeezed hard.
“Every box and every person’s magic I’ve taken have all been preparation for this moment. Outside that door, inside that cylinder stands one of the most powerful creatures I’ve ever known. Your friend the faery witch is a natural Antipandore. She takes other’s powers unto herself and magnifies them. Once I acquire her magic, I will possess all.”
Gerry knew Dy was reaching for the box in her pocket. She waited, staring into those jade eyes as if looking into an abyss. Just as her sister’s hand brushed against her hip, Gerry shifted her weight from one foot to the other, pulled an arm back, and then put all of her strength into a blow to Dy’s jaw.
The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Page 51