Devil Hills: #2 Luna & Lydia

by Diroll-Nichols, Karen

  He could still smell her grandmother, but it had been too long. There was nothing of her mother present. He lifted a folded quilt from the chair and covered her with it before sinking into the large, cushioned chair. The soothing scents of lavender and vanilla would have helped her find a peaceful sleep.

  Luna woke to the darkness, amazed at how well she could see the things that had meant so much to her once. Each little thing had a safe place in her memory that no one would ever be able to take from her. The scents and the amazing feeling of comfort inside her made her sigh.

  Then her gaze fell on the man slumped in the chair. His legs were long and encased in jeans, his arms folded over his chest and head against the winged side of the chair. His breathing was soft and rhythmic but it had to be very uncomfortable.

  She slipped from the bed and went to him, gently unfolding one of his arms. His eyes slammed wide the next instant, his hands whipping up to grip her shoulders. For a quiet minute they stared at one another, his dark eyes bordering on feral until she smiled.

  Softly. Warmly. No fear. None. Not a hint of panic in her eyes. And he knew for a moment, his hands had caused her pain. He loosened his hold, his hands rubbing at his face tiredly.

  “Luna…sorry…I…”

  “You were startled. It’s alright, I understand. You cannot sleep there, you look incredibly uncomfortable. Come with me…” She took his palm in hers and pulled lightly, turning when he came to his feet, she led him to a room at the end of the hall. “It is not a huge bed, but it will be better for you than the chair.”

  “Luna,” Sage stopped her from going to remove the sheets covering the normal double bed. “You have to stay with me.”

  “I want to open the envelope my grandmother left for me,” she said after a moment.

  “It’s in your bedroom. I brought it up with me. But I want you in here where I can…”

  “You want to protect me.”

  “I want you safe,” Sage stretched out on the bed after taking the canvas cover from the surface.

  “I’ll be right back,” she nodded and went quickly to the other room, taking the twin sized quilt from her bed and carrying it with her. She sat on the edge of the bed and removed her boots before turning the lamp on and lifting the clasp of the envelope.

  “Are you sure you want to do this now?” He’d lost the ridge of sleep the instant the adrenaline rushed into him when she woke him. It was a little chilly and he wondered if the heat was working. “You should have another cup of the tea Addy left you. How about I nuke you a mug? I could use some water.”

  “Yes, thank you. I’m sorry there isn’t much here to eat or drink.” She lifted the smaller envelope. She tried to inhale. Tried to grab a breath but a shiver ran through her as he left the room. She pulled the three photos from inside, her smile wistful and sad. One was a photo of the three of them at the lake, just sitting. She turned it over. She was nine at the time. The second photo was the pale silver-gold cougar, standing on an outcropping of rock. Pine trees and other evergreens dotted the landscape around it. And the third one was a photo copy of her will. Simple and to the point. Everything was left to her granddaughter.

  She set the envelope aside and lifted the family picture that had been taken, her fingers tracing the face of her mother. She looked up at the slight noise, blinking rapidly to try and dispel the stinging heat.

  “This is going to be emotional, Luna,” Sage set the heavy mug on the nightstand beside her. “Are you sure you want to do this now?” He asked again.

  “They came one day just after my birthday. No one cared what I wanted. They wouldn’t allow me to take my things. My books. My animals or photographs,” she didn’t care about the hitch in her voice. It hurt. It was worse than any punishment she’d ever been given. “I was afraid I wouldn’t remember her.”

  “You were ten, honey. You remember her.”

  “But I didn’t, Sage!” Eyes brimming with tears finally overflowed. “I didn’t. It was as if my mind was blank where she was concerned. How did he take that away from me for so long? Why? Why did he…what had I done that he hates me so much to take away something so…so harmless and loving like memories?”

  “Luna, when you tried leaving, what happened?” He saw confusion in her eyes and he wasn’t sure how to explain things to her without completely overloading her system. He wanted her back where Jess could be present. “Why would you try and leave one day, but another day, you wouldn’t?”

  “I take classes. Always classes,” her head shook, working through her thoughts. “Some days…something…”

  “You can talk to me. I’ll understand,” he urged gently, waiting while she lifted the tea and sipped slowly. That wall slammed down on him again when she turned a little smile on him. “Honey. I remembered.”

  “Would you wonder why she left me a photo of the cat?” She asked abruptly.

  “Why did she?” He knew why, but he doubted she did.

  “When I was little, I told my mother I dreamt of this cat because of the photos, I’m sure. But she spoke to me. I could hear the cat whispering to me. Sometimes I think she is trying to protect me.” She took another sip of the tea. “There are times when it feels I am in the center of a web. The mist is so thick and…and I learn…I read and I speak with people in my classes, but it isn’t me. It feels as if it’s someone I don’t know. Always peaceful, always…compliant, even when something deep inside was telling me it was all wrong. But sometimes…” a shudder raced through her. “Sometimes I just know I must go. I must leave. I never get very far.”

  “But you didn’t stop trying.”

  “He says I am a wild child and it must be taken from me. That…I can’t live with normal people because I don’t belong,” she stared past him. “I told him I belonged here. With my grandmother. That was a few days ago when we traveled here from Montreal. That’s when he told me she was dead. He told me there was nothing to return to and that I should forget those thoughts.”

  “Is that when he beat you?”

  “I remember the anger. It bubbled inside me…so hot and furious. I could see my cat…it was as if she was calling me,” green eyes turned to his. “I behaved like I didn’t care. Not about her death. Not about the beating or the words about the evil lurking inside me. I remember that,” she blinked abruptly. “I remember the hotel and being left in my room. He didn’t bring the nurse this time. Just one man on the door of the suite. He took the other guard with him. I don’t know why we were there. He never said…”

  “What happened?” He felt a stirring of trepidation as he watched her face, head slightly tipped as if she were watching something inside her head.

  “I…I wanted to come here. But I knew he wouldn’t allow it,” the mug shook slightly. “I pretended to need help with a case in the closet. I…I hit him,” she whispered, eyes widening. “The guard who tried to help me.”

  Sage took the cup from her hands and set it down. Her hands had begun to shake. One rose and covered her lips, her eyes on his.

  “I hit him with the lamp. Oh, god! I took his money, tied him with the straps and belts from the suitcase and put him the closet,” she swayed slightly, Sage’s hand on her head and helping her bend forward.

  He kept his palm on her neck. “You’re breathing too fast, Luna. Close your mouth…good girl…slower…okay?”

  “Yes…no….oh, god…I hurt someone…”

  Sage decided it was past time for a little reality 101.

  “Did he care that you were hurt, Luna? Over and over again,” his palm moved from holding her head down when she burst upright, her mouth was closed but she was still breathing too quickly. “Take a breath and stop a minute. Stop and think.”

  She stared into his eyes, deep, dark pools. The color was just short of midnight, the hint of a shimmering blue sparking the edges.

  “No. No, he didn’t. I think…” She drew in another long breath and stopped, her eyes shifting to the side until his palm came out and gripped her chi
n, forcing her to look at him.

  “Don’t stop talking now, Luna.”

  “I think they liked it,” she whispered hoarsely. “The old guards. This one was one of the new ones. The old one went with father but I don’t know where they were.”

  “Why do you say that?” He knew but he wondered if she did. “Why do you think he enjoyed it?”

  “Sometimes…when they didn’t think I saw…or my father wasn’t there…they told me…told me…” She felt the flames striking her cheeks, her lashes slamming down in self-defense.

  “Are you embarrassed?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Because they said if my father wouldn’t find out, they wanted to administer the punishment themselves. I think…they wanted to have sex with me. I heard my father threatening two of them once. And then he was removed. I wasn’t supposed to be there. I was supposed to be at the end of the hall but…when we go to different places, I like to explore at night when it’s quiet and no one is watching me,” she confided quietly.

  Sage got the impression that whatever they were giving her, her system was fighting and adjusting to. He also had the feeling that he was the first person to know what Luna St. Germaine was like inside.

  “Rebellious little thing,” he grinned at the spark that struck her eyes. “Never be sorry when you fight back, Luna. No one had the right to…” he stopped and dragged in a slow breath to quiet the anger. “You had a right to your freedom when you turned eighteen. You should have been permitted to go and do whatever you felt like, including returning to Morning Star Lake and your grandmother.” He found himself looking forward to a confrontation with Therrin Gaudarville’s bodyguards. As for the man himself, he wasn’t sure it would be smart or safe to allow him to be alone with him.

  “I think it was the only time I felt grateful to my father,” she said slowly, her shoulders slumping. “They still look at me. I feel them.”

  “What did you do after you hit him with the lamp?” Sage leaned back in the comfortable chair and watched her. Even white teeth nibbled on her cheek.

  “It told you. I took his money and used things around the suite to tie him up and…and put a towel over his mouth and rolled him into the closet.”

  “Then?” He urged, hoping talking about the one thing she remembered would trigger other things. But some part of him wondered if she knew why her father had treated her as he did.

  “I left the suite and took the stairs. I…I had a headache and bought a bottle of water and a hat and sun glasses,” her eyes crinkled at the corners. “I saw that on a television show. To hide my hair. Then I went to the kitchen and asked for another way out than the front door. They were very helpful.”

  Sage laughed. A deep, honest sound that made her stare at him.

  “Why is that funny?”

  “You got all that from watching television. Professional guards and you slipped out right under their noses,” he decided he liked the uncertain way she twisted her mouth to think, the barest hint of teeth showing as she nibbled.

  “I like to think I was determined,” she scowled at him, lifted the cup and drank more of the tea.

  “I believe, Miss St. Germaine, that the real Luna was escaping her cage,” he said softly.

  “Are you teasing me?” Luna asked curiously, her frown puzzled and uncertain if she was miffed at him or amused.

  “Absolutely not. How’s the tea?” He leaned forward, elbows on his knees and hands clasp. He had questions. Hundreds of questions, probably. “How did you get so tanned?”

  “Addy makes a wonderful blend of tea. I hope she’ll show me how,” she finished the tea and set the cup aside. “I have many outdoor activities,” she explained, her head tilted like it did when memories returned to her.

  “But you were always watched?”

  “Yes. Swimming is my favorite. In the water, it was just me. I could pretend no one was watching.” She picked up the envelope, turning it over and over in her hands. “The memories aren’t gone. But some are…shrouded.”

  His head dropped forward, one palm up and rubbing his neck, considering his options. She didn’t need another person in her life that kept the truth from her.

  “What’s wrong, Sage?” She met the dark eyes when he lifted his head. “If I’m permitted to speak my thoughts, so should you be.”

  He was about to when his phone sounded. He pulled it from his shirt pocket and glanced at the read-out. “I need to talk to Jess, then I’ll share my thoughts with you, alright?”

  “Yes. Of course,” she set the envelope down on the bed, her fingers going to the photographs and then to the window. She bent and quickly put her shoes on. She could hear Sage in the other bedroom as she went to the front door.

  Chapter Five

  “Jess, thanks for calling me. What’s up?” He sunk into the chair in what he guessed had been her grandmother’s hobby room.

  “I just got the results in on the blood. Evidently we sent enough of a puzzle that Frank stayed late trying to figure out what was in there.” Jess exhaled thickly. “Are you alone?”

  “Yes. A different room from Luna.”

  “Close the door and keep your voice down.”

  “Alright,” he did as Jess asked and moved to the far side of the room. “You’re making me nervous, doc.”

  “Her blood was a drug soup, Sage. The predominant item was a very strong debilitative drug designed, yes, designed, to take her will down to next to nothing, without impairing her ability to socialize and…appear normal. She would be susceptible to orders and instructions.”

  “She’s remembering. She’s told me they have her in classes for all sorts of things, including outside activities. Like a kid on summer vacation,” Sage recalled some of her comments. “And the other drugs?”

  “That’s where it gets tricky,” Jess paced the floor of his living area, his glasses off and free hand rubbing his neck. “Frank thinks the mix he found is designed to stop her from shifting. To literally remove it from her thoughts. It’s….he says he’s never seen anything like it and has calls out to some specialists in the field. Shifters that he can trust. He says it’s designed specifically to her DNA to…”

  “He’s trying to pretend his daughter isn’t a shifter,” Sage supplied coldly.

  “He says other than her shifter, it isn’t hurting her. He also says it has a very short blood life. Which means, if she doesn’t get a dose of it…”

  “She’ll be capable of shifting and maybe ripping them apart.”

  Jess hung his head for a minute. “Lily checked with some people she knows at the Institute. People who work to stop pure blood organizations. The one her father funds is called simply, ‘For Humanity’. They have a façade that let’s donors think they’re supporting the well-being of all humans in all countries.”

  “He stripped her of her right to choose. Since she was ten fucking years old, Jess!” Sage knew his voice was raised. And that wasn’t all. “He kept her pliant and in a cage with invisible bars.”

  “I agree.”

  “I have other information you might want. And let Seth Anderson know,” Sage dragged in a long, slow breath. “We met a woman who knew the mother and grandmother. Who knew Luna before she was taken away from Morning Star. Her mother’s name was Ariane. Ariane didn’t remember having sex to become pregnant, Jess. She remembered gaps. Times when she would wake in a different place and be hurting. Addy Powers also told me the doctor they had examine Ariane was willing to swear the woman had never had sex.”

  “Christ, Sage…you know what you’re suggesting?” Jess was up, pacing his living room with one hand gripping his hair. “That they impregnated her mother on purpose? Without her knowledge. To get Luna?”

  “To get a child. She also told me that Ariane was hunted and killed, Jess.”

  “I’ll talk to Seth. Tonight,” Jess said flatly. “Oh, Lexi said to tell you she has the information you wanted. Capsulized version…he used her on his arm at politic
al events. The beautiful daughter. Intelligent, charming and obedient.”

  “I’ll read the file in the morning. I’m going to convince her to come back with me. She won’t be safe on her own. He knows she’d come here. He only just told her about her grandmother’s death a couple days ago,” Sage walked into the hall, his head snapping up suddenly. “I gotta go. Tell Lucas to call me if anyone shows up. Thanks, Jess.”

  “Luna!” He ran through the second floor, throwing open doors and swearing.

  He followed her scent, out onto the porch and across the yard. His feet hit the concrete hard and fast, his gaze on the figure he could see by the lake. Then he remembered the photograph. He came to a stop and bent over, his hands on his knees.

  Sage straightened and stalked across the parking lot, his hands cold and shoved into the pockets of his jeans. He’d left his coat in the SUV and she only wore that puffy vest and her jeans.

  “Damn it, Luna! I told you not to go off alone!” He growled at her from behind.

  Startled, she spun around and took a step back, forgetting where she was.

  Sage heard the crack of the light coating of ice on the edges of the lake at the same time he saw her feet slip on the frost slick grass and dirt.

  Fuck. This was not how his day was supposed to go.

  She’d said she could swim but probably not in frigid water. Her arms flew up, but not a sound came from her lips seconds before she disappeared beneath the water. He ran into the lake, reaching for her and pulling her onto the bank. Damn vest was pulling her down! He grabbed the back and pulled, dropping her on the bank and falling to his knees. He gripped the zipper and tugged it down, shoving it off her shoulders to the ground.

  “I…it’s so cold…” Luna’s teeth clanked before she ground them together. She shoved against the ground, trying to stand up and stumbling forward. “I’m sorry. You startled me. I was….was thinking about being here with my mother…”