Released

by Jus Accardo

  Chapter Sixteen

  Sam

  The first thing I was aware of when I woke was a horrible kink in my back. Van had given me the couch to sleep on, and as far as furniture went, it was the least comfortable place I’d ever crashed. Springs poked up through the worn cushions, and the smell emanating from the fabric vaguely reminded me of wet dog and stale cigarettes.

  But while the abused muscles and less-than-pleasant scent were disturbing, the dream I’d been having more than made up for that. Jax and I had been on a beach, and things had just started to get interesting. God. The things that boy could do with his hands…

  Unfortunately, along with the increasing pain in my back, I got the distinct impression someone was watching me. I forced my eyes open and met a familiar pair of gray peepers.

  “What the—” I scrambled back and smacked up against a barrier—the arm of the couch.

  “You were dreaming,” Azi said. It watched me for a moment before leaning forward again, this time coming so close that Jax’s lips nearly touched mine. It inhaled deeply and smiled. “I wonder,” it whispered, Jax’s voice low and seductive. “What were you dreaming about?”

  “I—” It wasn’t Jax hovering close enough to smell—to taste—but it was his body. And his body had always wreaked havoc on my central nervous system. My heart pounded, about a million miles a minute, and my throat was suddenly dry as dust.

  “As I said before… I could help, you know.” The sparkle of mischief in its eyes combined with Jax’s airy, playfully seductive tone, blotted out everything. “Scratch the itch you can’t quite get to.”

  I opened my mouth, but the words wouldn’t come. That wasn’t to say I was soundless. A small whimper escaped, and it was obvious Azi found it amusing.

  “I’ve always preferred anger. It has such a satisfying aftertaste. But you…” It inhaled again, letting Jax’s eyes flutter closed with a low moan. When they opened, they were filled with a hunger that stole my breath away. “The lust you give off for this form is delectable. I can barely contain myself.”

  I swallowed hard and sat up, laying my hand flush against Jax’s chest. With a shove that took more willpower than I was proud of, I said, “Any attraction I feel is for Jax, not you. Not that form.”

  The demon chuckled and moved in close again. The action was equal parts desire and dominance. “If that is true, then your attraction is for me, as well. You desire the human, but my presence contributes to who he is. Are you so confident that you would feel the same way had I never existed?”

  “One hundred and twenty percent.” It made a logical point. Azi and Jax were so tightly wound together, but I could always tell where one ended and the other began. The way they looked at me, their expressions—the way they each kissed…

  A wicked grin spread across Jax’s lips. “You’re thinking about the hotel.” It brought Jax’s hand up and played with the edge of my T-shirt, slipping his index finger beneath the material to trace small circles against my skin. I couldn’t help it. Goose bumps jumped to attention all over my body, and instead of leaning away, I pushed forward.

  The one and only time we’d been together, I’d basically had to accept them both. Together. As a whole. I’d willingly submitted to having a freaky, supernatural three-way just to get a fix of Jax.

  But that was fine. I knew what was Jax and what was Azi. I knew how to separate the two. The question was, how desperate for Jax was I? Obviously very, since I hadn’t been able to—or maybe I hadn’t wanted to—make the distinction at the cabin.

  “The girl is asleep.” It brought Jax’s lips to my ear. The tip of his tongue skimmed my lobe, and the warmth of his breath streamed along my skin. The sensation nearly sent me rocketing off the couch. “I can scratch that itch of yours.” A volcanic sensation erupted across my skin. “I’ll even let him watch.”

  Reality slammed into me like a semi doing ninety down the highway. The warmth that had only seconds ago flooded my entire system turned to ice, and the air took on a stale quality. Despite the tremor of anger and disgust, I kept it together. With a forceful nudge, I said, “I think I’ll have to pass.”

  Jax’s mouth quirked, and his head tilted just a hair. With the same level of cocky confidence I’d seen in him his entire life, the demon said, “For now.”

  “If you two are doing anything funky over there, I’m going to turn you both into frogs.”

  Across the room, Van was standing in the doorway. She had her right hand up to partially obscure her eyes. The demon flashed me one last smoldering gaze, then turned to our host. “I thought you had no magic.”

  “I don’t have much. But I promise, I have enough for that if it’ll shield me from watching you two screw.”

  I nudged the demon away a little more and threw my legs over the edge of the couch. “I think you’re safe. Until there’s a human driving the bus, I’ve got no interest.”

  “Good.” Van dangled a set of car keys and grabbed her jacket from the back of one of the chairs. “Then I assume you’re ready to rock and roll?”

  Ready? I was past ready.

  …

  Van’s car was a tiny, ancient two door Ford with no bumper and huge burn holes in the seats. We’d elected—okay, it was my choice—to take her car and leave Kelly’s behind. The less I drove it, the more of a chance of it being returned in one piece. The demon grumbled from the back, where it had wedged Jax’s large body. There was a smell, too. I couldn’t quite place it, but it reminded me of the old cheese in the back of our fridge.

  I shifted and leaned to my right. “So where exactly are we going?”

  “Duh.” Van rolled her eyes. “To get the stone, remember?”

  Between her and the demon in the backseat, I was going to lose my mind. “And where would that be, exactly?”

  “Not far from here.”

  “You said it was protected. By magic,” Azi said. “How do you mean? What type of magic?”

  “If you’re subtly asking if you can steal it out from under me as soon as I’m not looking, then the answer is no. Only I can remove it.”

  Azi gave a soft chuckle then leaned between our two seats. To Van, it said, “I’m fairly certain I could remove you.”

  “Okay,” I snapped and pushed Jax’s body into the back. “No one is stealing anything or removing anyone. Can we at least try to keep this civil?”

  With a slight huff, Van stepped harder on the gas and sent the small car surging forward.

  We drove the rest of the way—about an hour and change—in silence and without bloodshed. When the car finally stopped, we were in the parking lot of the Pennington State Park. It was just after three in the afternoon, and the sun had long since ducked behind the clouds, making the chill in the air more prominent.

  Azi extracted Jax’s body from the backseat with a grumble. “Now what?”

  “Now…” Van closed her own door. She pocketed the keys and pulled out her cell. With a quick glance at the screen, she sighed. “We have to wait.”

  “Wait?” I was confused, not to mention annoyed. We didn’t exactly have an abundance of time to play with. “Wait for what? You said the stone was here.”

  “Technically, I didn’t say that.” The grin Van flashed was mischievous, but if the expression of fury on Jax’s face was any indication, the demon wasn’t amused.

  “Van,” I warned, and I grabbed a handful of Jax’s shirt. I yanked back as hard as I could. I did manage to move his body, but the demon held its ground.

  “Relax.” She waved her hand in the direction of the main trail. “The stone itself isn’t here, but the key to unlocking it is.”

  “All right,” Azi said. I could hear the skepticism in Jax’s voice. “Then let’s stop wasting time and get it.”

  “Yeah. See, there’s a little catch.”

  “Catch?” If she wasn’t careful, I wouldn’t be able to spare her Azi’s wrath—not to mention my own.

  “I told you, the stone is protected by magic—that includ
es the stone itself and all ways to get the stone. We can retrieve the key tonight, after dark, but the stone can only be removed on the first day of the full moon.” I started to protest, but she held up her hand. “The full moon is in less than two days.”

  I glanced back at the gate, at the sign with the hours and cringed. “They close at dusk.”

  “Then we should probably get in there and find a place to lay low for a while.”

  …

  Van had taped a sign to her car window stating that it had broken down and that she’d return in the morning with a tow truck. After that we hunkered down in the Out of Order bathrooms at the other end of the park. The sun was almost down, and Azi was restless, pacing from one end of the bathroom to the other. Not that I could blame it. I felt the same way.

  As if the smell wasn’t bad enough, being cooped up with Azi and Van was more than enough to send me binge drinking for a year. It was a constant back and forth of barely veiled threats.

  “So when it’s dark, then what?” The silence was starting to get to me, the tension in the small space thick enough to smother what little patience I had left. Van was acting strangely. She kept sneaking glances at Azi and me when she thought we weren’t looking. I started wondering if maybe she planned on screwing me over. “How do we get the key?”

  She hesitated, and I saw it. An unmistakable flinch. “The key should be fairly easy to retrieve. It’s in a hollowed out tree just north of here.”

  I wasn’t the only one who saw it. Azi growled and grabbed the witch by the front of the shirt, spinning her back against the closed stall door. The sound echoed in the small space and made me cringe just a little. “What are you hiding?”

  Van’s face paled. Her mouth fell open, and her shoulders shook with a sob. She twisted her head in my direction. “Sam…”

  “Don’t look to me for help. Azi is right. You’re hiding something,” I said, doing my best to keep calm. I was furious that she’d lied about something, but I was also worried about what the demon would do. It was livid, barely refraining from tearing her head from her shoulders.

  “I’m—”

  The demon gave her a good shake. “Answer me!”

  She threw her hands up in a show of surrender. “Okay! Okay…”

  Azi let go of her but didn’t back away. “Speak.”

  “There is no key.”

  I didn’t know Van. We weren’t friends or anything. But for some reason, I still felt betrayed. “Why the hell would you lie about that? I told you how important this was. And your magic—”

  “That’s why we’re here,” she said, pleading. “I didn’t lie about helping you. I will. But I told you, I want my magic. There’s a locket hidden in that tree I was telling you about. I need it.”

  “Why wouldn’t you just say that?” I glanced at Azi, who still hadn’t backed away. If it wasn’t careful, the demon would give Van a heart attack.

  Van’s expression hardened. She turned from me and fixed her gaze on the demon in Jax’s skin. “I wasn’t sure you’d let me come here. You’re obsessed with what you want. With getting the stone. This has no bearing on your task.”

  “I made you a promise,” I said, annoyed.

  Van was still looking at Azi. “And you? Would you have let me come get it, knowing that it was the only way to get my magic back?”

  Without hesitating, Azi shook Jax’s head. “Of course not. I do not care about you or your magic. Only the stone is of importance.”

  Van glared at me, justified, and I sighed. I yanked hard on the back of Jax’s shirt and dragged the demon away from her. “No one is double crossing you,” I said, gently pulling her away from the stall. “You have my word. Now can we please just be honest with each other?”

  She watched me for a moment, then nodded slowly. Just once. “Okay. Fine. I wasn’t lying about the other parts. There are certain conditions under which the stone can be removed. It’s at the Dandus Nature Preserve, tucked away in an underwater cave, removable on the first night of the full moon.”

  “Underwater cave?” While I’d never been terrified of the water, semi-recent events—almost drowning while trapped in my car the day Jax came back into town—had made me a little gun shy. “How underwater are we talking here?”

  “The cave itself isn’t actually submerged. Just the entrance. It’s not hard to get to, but like the locket, it can only be removed after dusk—and by a select few.”

  “And what does this ‘selection’ entail?” Azi took a menacing step toward Van.

  “First off, you have to be human to remove the stone, so don’t go getting any ideas, demon-boy.” She pulled her jacket tighter.

  “And second?” I asked.

  “There are specific requirements.”

  “Which you have no intention of telling us about,” Azi finished for her with a growl.

  “Sorry, demon-boy. Don’t trust you as far as I could throw you—especially since you just admitted to not caring about our agreement. If you want that stone, you need to keep me close—and alive.”

  I had no intention of screwing Van over, and I intended to make sure Azi didn’t either. “So what do we have to do now?”

  She walked to the door and leaned around the corner. When she pulled herself back inside, she was wearing a wicked grin. “Now we go get ourselves a locket.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Azirak/Jax

  Van led us down the main path, deeper into the park for about a mile. She seemed particularly interested when we came to a hulking rock, and veered off the path.

  “Are you sure you know where you’re going?” Sam asked. “It’s so damn dark, I can’t see a thing.”

  “I know,” Van replied. “I could find my way to the locket blindfolded.”

  We continued through the brush, stepping over fallen trees and through pricker bushes. No one came out this way—it was obvious by the heavily overgrown foliage and nonexistent path. Yet Van was sure. Azi went with it but stayed on alert.

  “What’s so important about this locket,” Sam asked. She stumbled, and Azi caught her just before she toppled to the ground. She looked at me and smiled for a second before remembering it was Azi she was looking at—not me.

  “I was wearing it the day Sadie stole my magic. Some of it transferred to the locket. I need every bit of lost magic there is if I hope to get it all back.”

  “And to what extent do your powers remain?” Azi asked.

  She slowed and tensed slightly, but didn’t stop. “Why? Weighing the possibilities of betraying me again?”

  “Not at all.”

  Careful. You’re a horrible liar…

  “I am simply assessing your worth should we encounter a problem.”

  Should we? Wishful thinking, asshole. In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re problem magnets.

  “A problem?”

  “I’m trying to weigh how useful you’ll be when we are attacked again.” Which was true, but the demon was also fishing for information.

  “I can do simple stuff. Curses and small spells of defense, but my primary magic, my specialty, is impossible.”

  “Specialty?” Sam asked.

  “All witches have what we call a specialty. A predisposition toward a specific kind of magic.”

  “I didn’t know there were different kinds of magic.”

  “Oh, yeah. My mom used to use the snowflake analogy. No two are exactly alike—like witches.”

  “What is yours?” Azi asked. “Your specialty.”

  The sadness that rolled off her then was pungent and thick. “No idea. My magic was stolen before I could figure it out. But I always felt a predilection toward—”

  A shrill howl filled the air. We all froze.

  Van glanced back toward the path. “What was that?”

  “That…” Sam said and grasped the other girl’s arm. A tuft of gray lifted into the air, barely visible against the darkness. “…was definitely a problem. You remember those dog-things back at your apartmen
t?”

  “But—” She poked a finger in my direction. “He killed it!”

  There was a rustle in the trees a few feet away, followed by another, much closer, howl. As Sam screamed, “Run!” several carnivi broke through the trees. We scattered, and Van let go of a terrified shriek. She scrambled to the left just as the first one touched down, inches from where she’d been.

  “Keep moving!” Azi rushed forward and, with a snarl, threw my body at the carnivus. We both careened sideways. This gave Van a chance to move farther out of the way. Until the demon got the stone, the girl was under its protection.

  “There are at least three,” Sam cried. She ducked as another exploded from the brush and sailed overhead. It landed with an earthshattering thump, and let out an otherworldly howl.

  The one beneath me reared and snapped its powerful jaw, but thankfully Azi missed the attack. It wrapped my arms around the thing’s hulking neck and twisted. It wasn’t enough. The beast was too strong, and it bucked us off.

  Movement to our left caught my attention, and Sam screamed. One had her cornered, teeth bared and saliva dripping. It advanced slowly, herding her toward the open end of the path.

  Azi sprang to action. It lunged to my feet, shouldered our own carnivus aside, and dove for Sam’s. My body crashed into the monster, and it felt like my bones came dangerously close to shattering as we were knocked apart upon hitting the ground again.

  As I’d hoped, the carnivus switched focus and turned. It rushed me, and Azi’s excitement flooded my system. These things were different. The demon couldn’t pull sustenance from them, or the Trackers, but the fight was something the demon craved almost as much as feeding.

  Searing pain erupted as the monster’s teeth clamped onto my arm. It tore a scream of rage from my throat that only made Azi more determined to take it down. It balled my fist and delivered a series of thunderous blows to the creature’s rock-hard head. An enraged roar filled the air, and one of the others flew at me, knocking my body away from the semi-injured beast, almost protectively.

  No. This wasn’t right. Carnivi weren’t herd animals. They didn’t hunt in packs. They were lone creatures, set to a task by their master. They’d been used in the great wars, but had to be used in small numbers because of their habit of ripping each other apart.