I grabbed another one of the lightning rods, aware that we only had three left. The Galvo was pulverizing them as he pulled them out of his body. It hadn’t occurred to me that would happen. I should’ve taken a lot more than I had.
When Eleanora indicated we’d gathered enough power, I attacked the demon again. This time, I jumped onto his back, stabbing him between the ribs to where his heart should have been.
He grabbed me by the arm, flipping me over him. I landed on my back in his path.
Without hesitation, the Galvo stepped on my sternum, holding me down. His face was emotionless. He didn’t even turn it toward me.
The Galvo reached up, and a bolt of lightning burst from the clouds, joining with his hand. He directed that bolt to my chest.
Apparently, he’d fully recharged because yet again, the world turned to blackness.
49
When I came to, Melissa was straddling me in the middle of a full-on make-out session with me.
I grabbed her by the arms and tossed her aside, rolling away from her, spitting as I did.
I’d forgotten she had the ability to heal.
“I tried to electrocute your heart again, but it didn’t work,” Eleanora said. “It was completely fried. Melissa healed you. If she hadn’t been present, you would have stayed dead.”
I groaned, pushing Melissa away again. I wouldn’t see the end of her for quite some time. She’d feel like I owed her something, and I would have to kill her multiple times before she got the hint and left me alone.
Still, I was grateful she’d been there.
I pushed her away yet again, finally turning my attention to her. One look was all it took to tell me she’d gone completely over the edge. There wasn’t a rational thought in her brain anymore.
The sex-crazed woman grabbed my shirt, trying to pull it off.
“She kept doing that,” Eleanora said. “I have no idea what’s going on with her, but she’s definitely not all there.”
“No, definitely not.”
I jumped to my feet, relishing the full-bodied health I now felt. All of my injuries were gone, including the soreness and bruises from the beating I’d received at the masquerade.
That was the good thing about Melissa. She’d healed me completely.
The bad thing was I could tell that all of my active protections had been undone. And the demon wasn’t anywhere in sight.
“Where is he?”
Eleanora looked over her shoulder. “Almost to Lizzie’s house. Are your protections on her still active?”
I shook my head, pushing Melissa away. “No. They’re not.”
“Let’s go.”
Eleanora and I ran down the street with Melissa trailing behind. We caught up to the demon just as he reached Lizzie’s property.
I clenched my jaw, realizing there was no way I’d be able to put more protections on Lizzie. Besides, that sort of thing would drain me too much.
Throwing caution to the wind, I held all three lightning rods with one hand to the sky as Eleanora filled them with power. And then I pressed on my adrenaline tattoo, knowing that regardless of whether I was on my last straw or not, I had to stop him before he achieved his objective. And so, I raced toward the demon with new energy pulsing through my veins, brandishing the three lightning rods.
“You’re going to have to help,” I yelled at Eleanora. “Send in lightning.”
“It’ll electrocute you!” she screamed, her voice barely audible over the sounds of the storm.
“It doesn’t matter! We have to stop him.”
Just as I pounced on the demon, Melissa came at me again. She grabbed my legs, holding on to me. I tried unsuccessfully to kick her off before turning my focus to plunging the lightning rods into the Galvo’s body.
All three rods met their target, and he pulsed under my hand, swelling and deflating multiple times as electricity coursed through him.
But it didn’t kill him. How were we going to stop this thing?
“Do it!” I shrieked at Eleanora.
She only hesitated for a moment. Lightning struck the demon’s head, blinding me. The force of the energy almost threw me off him, but somehow, with Melissa holding on to my legs, her weight and mine together kept me in place.
I pounded him with my fists, wondering how much longer until the adrenaline burst was gone. I tried to ignore the electricity that continued as I punched his head, feeling as my eardrums burst and blood poured from my nose.
Melissa scooted up my body, dragging hers along mine as she reached under my shirt, grabbing at my pecs. She licked the back of my neck and growled before trying to bite my ear.
This woman was ridiculous.
I couldn’t shake her off me, and I couldn’t defeat the demon with her attached.
The demon tried to grab me, but he was finally slowing in his attacks. Instead, he reached again for the sky.
“Oh, no, you don’t,” I said. I climbed up higher on him, pulling his arm down. And that was when my adrenaline tattoo finally wore off.
I practically deflated against the demon, and Melissa growled with pleasure, probably thinking she had succeeded in convincing me to let her have her way.
More electricity shot from the sky, hitting the demon in the head. I knew Eleanora was in control this time. The demon fell to the ground.
I could no longer see or hear. My tongue was swollen triple its size.
The weight of my body kept the demon on the ground, and I blacked out.
When I came to again, I was surprised to find I’d been moved away from the demon. Melissa still straddled me, kissing me. I didn’t have the strength to fight her anymore, and blacked out again.
I came to only a moment later, surprised to find my pain gradually going away. Melissa was healing me as she kissed me. Wow. That was the first time something like that had happened before. She was obviously so far gone mentally that her magic was at her disposal without her needing to think about it.
It only took me a moment to realize the demon was gone. I jerked to a sitting position, pushing Melissa away.
“Where is he? Where’s the Galvo?” I asked Eleanora.
She pointed at a man I hadn’t noticed. “He took care of it.”
The man flashed me a smile. “Sorry to steal your kill,” he said.
I stared at him, anger and hatred boiling up inside me. “You,” I spat.
“Oh! You do remember me. I wondered if you would.”
How could I forget? This man had stolen everything from me. My family, my freedom, my future, my happiness. It was the bounty hunter who’d kidnapped me when I was eighteen.
Heedless of the fact that I still wasn’t fully healed, I jumped to my feet, ready to destroy him then and there. “What are you doing here?”
“You aren’t the only one tasked with hunting down the Galvo,” he said. “I’m definitely grateful you prepared him for me—it was pretty easy at that point.”
I turned my glare on Eleanora. Did she have something to do with this?
“Don’t get any thoughts,” she said, hands up. “I was busy pulling down lightning. He swooped in and destroyed the Galvo before I even knew he was here.”
I pushed Melissa away, but only halfheartedly. I’d need my full health if I was to destroy him. “Who hired you?”
He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter—but he’s going to pay me handsomely for destroying the Galvo. I’ve been tracking that demon for over a year. Imagine my surprise to find him here, with you.”
50
The man stepped toward me. “You’ve definitely bulked up, Abel.” He circled me, making appreciative noises as he did so.
He laughed. “It’s no surprise this woman can’t keep her hands off of you.”
“She’s not aware of what she’s doing.”
“Of course she is—the succubus inside her is aware, anyway.”
Succubus? Melissa was a succubus? No wonder she used passion to heal.
The bounty hunter stopped i
n front of me. “Do you want my advice?”
“No.”
“I’m going to give it anyway.” He stepped up to me and whispered, “Don’t hesitate to complete a job. It makes you look weak. And weakness in our profession is a bad thing. A very, very bad thing.”
“Our profession?”
“Surely you realize by now that you’ve become what I am? Don’t you remember me telling you that I don’t normally sell my targets? Most jobs I get hired to do require killing, not selling. I made an exception for you.”
“And if I remember right, you were handsomely paid for it.”
“Mmm.” He appraised me. “I’ve heard you took on a contract a while ago that you’re struggling to complete. Perhaps it’s time you had some competition.”
My heart froze in my chest. “What are you talking about?”
“Your boss just might be looking for someone to pick up the rest of your contract. At least, that’s the rumor circulating.”
I glanced at Melissa for confirmation, but she only had eyes for me. Not one ounce of sanity remained.
If what the bounty hunter said was true, Lizzie and I were in a very, very bad position.
Before I could ask him more questions, the man hopped onto a bullet bike and sped away.
The expression on Eleanora’s face mirrored what I felt. We were in trouble if the Shadow Prophet was looking to hire out the rest of my contract.
Knowing I’d need Melissa’s sane opinion sooner rather than later, I pulled my knife out and slit her throat. Healing would take the edge off her urges.
She dropped to the ground. I knew from experience she’d degenerate quickly, seeping into the earth beneath her, regenerating a day or two later. Hopefully, when she returned, she’d have answers for me.
51
Eleanora and I walked side by side to the wicker furniture on Lizzie’s porch.
Despite the fact that Melissa had healed me, I felt a horrible weariness over my entire body. Melissa’s healings couldn’t recharge my tattoos, and me dying twice—or was it three times?—definitely left me exhausted. I would need to sleep for a great deal of time after this.
The bounty hunter’s words haunted me, though, spiraling around and around in my brain. What was I going to do? How would I proceed?
I definitely wouldn’t be leaving Lizzie’s side unless I absolutely had to.
Neither of us said anything as we rocked back and forth in our rocking chairs, watching the sun rise.
“That’s really interesting,” Eleanora said, motioning to Melissa’s body.
I only glanced at the dead woman briefly. “It would be if I hadn’t seen it happen a few hundred times already.”
“Who is she?”
“One of the Shadow Prophet’s minions. Her task is to keep me on task.”
“She’s quite taken with you.”
I chuckled humorlessly. “She is that.”
Eleanora didn’t say anything for several moments. Then, “Are you going to tell Lizzie about any of this?”
I shook my head. “I don’t generally tell those I’m protecting what has happened. It’s better for them not to know.”
Eleanora nodded. “What about that man? Who was he?”
I leaned my head back, staring at the ceiling of the porch. “The man who kidnapped me when I was eighteen. He’s an assassin who acts as a bounty hunter.”
“Was what he said true? Is the Shadow Prophet shopping out the rest of your contract?”
I understood why she wanted to know—she was a part of that contract.
“I don’t know. He didn’t lie to me a lot back in the day, but he also wasn’t ever fully honest. He misled me regularly. It was a game to him.”
“Do you have a way to contact the bounty hunter? Do you know anything about him?”
I shook my head. “Not a thing. I don’t even know which dimension of earth he’s from.”
“What’s his name?”
I shook my head again. “I don’t even know that much.”
“When you get the chance, gather all the information you can find on him, and we’ll go over it together and learn as much as we can about him.”
I looked over at her. “Wouldn’t it be better to approach the Shadow Prophet and ask him?”
She shrugged. “Might be. Would he tell you?”
I nodded. “Yes, he would. He lies to me regularly, but he’s usually up front about things like this. If I have competition, he’d want me to know.”
“Okay, then. Once we’ve rested enough, we’ll get to work. Put together everything you know about your bounty hunter, and I’ll take it to my contacts while you approach the Shadow Prophet.”
She reached across the little table that separated the rocking chairs and took my hand briefly, giving it a solid squeeze. “We’re going to get this figured out, Abel. I know it.”
I wished I shared her positive outlook.
We sat like that for a while, watching the sun rise in the east and enjoying the solitude.
I could tell that Eleanora and I were going to become good friends.
Sometime later, we heard Lizzie moving around in her house. Eleanora made a quick call on her phone, and a car came and picked her up.
Realizing I still had Lizzie’s keys—and that I needed to get started on replacing the lightning rods—I unlocked the front door and stepped inside.
Lizzie was sitting at her kitchen table, her hair messed up. She looked at me with an expression of surprise.
“I thought you’d left.”
“Not on your life.” Especially not now. I’d really need to make sure she had extra protections on her before daring to leave her again.
She stretched, and I heard the resulting pops from where I stood in her kitchen doorway.
“Did you hear that storm last night? It was huge. I only caught bits and pieces of it, though, and that makes me sad. I love summer storms. I wish I could have enjoyed it.”
I smiled to myself. I’d done more than just enjoy the evening storm.
I’d experienced it.
###
Continue Abel’s story with Twilight Rogue, book three in the Midnight Chronicles!
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Note from the author:
Thanks for reading Evening Storm! I hope you enjoyed it. :-) It’s Thanksgiving Day as I write this, and I’m finding myself thankful for so many things, especially my readers, and their love of my books. I appreciate you for going on so many journeys with me.
If you haven’t already, make sure you grab Twilight Rogue, book three in the Midnight Chronicles. :-)
Much love!
Andrea
About the Author
Andrea Pearson, author of several series including the Koven Chronicles and Mosaic Chronicles, lives with her husband and children in a small valley framed with hills. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor of science degree in Communications Disorders.
Andrea spends as much time with her husband and kids as possible. Favorite activities include painting, watching movies, collecting and listening to music, and discussing books and authors.
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Books by Andrea Pearson
Mosaic Chronicles:
Discern
Praxis
Perceive
Observe
Reclaim
Conceal
Obscure
Enshroud
Withhold
Forsake
Kilenya Chronicles:
Forsaken Prince
Ember Gods
August Fortress
Rise of Keitus
Eyes of the Sun
Golden Symbol
Kilenya Romances:
Samara
Midian
Koven Chronicles:
The Shade Amulet
The Black Masquerade
Temple of Flames
Crimson Hollow
Forbidden Knowledge
Demon of Darkness
Midnight Chronicles:
Shadow Prophet
Evening Storm
Twilight Rogue
Raven Huntress
Sable Heart
Ashen Star
Evening Storm (Midnight Chronicles Book 2) Page 16
