by C. L. Parker
Sinclair smiled. “And, I’m going to make sure that happens.”
“Why do you even care?” Kerrigan asked.
“I just want to see some wrongs righted. You see, something, someone who was near and dear to my heart was taken away from me, too. Well, two people were taken from me, and I know I can’t get one of them back, but I can and will get the other one. Unfortunately, my means for doing that was stolen from me.”
She narrowed her eyes at Kerrigan and her voice turned to venom. “Dominic. I need him to get what I want, and you stole him from me. Well, I suppose it was that bitch, Availia, who took him first, but she handed him off to you like he was some sort of family heirloom. Pfft, pathetic,” she said with an eye roll.
Kerrigan was a pretty tolerant person, especially when dealing with someone who was obviously mentally unstable, but Sinclair calling Grammy a bitch, didn’t sit well with her. She tried to lunge at her, but her restraints wouldn’t budge. Sinclair and Jackson only laughed at her feeble attempt.
“My grandmother was the kindest, most tolerant person I have ever known,” she said through clenched teeth. “Please don’t fool yourself into believing that I have as much restraint as she.”
Sinclair gasped mockingly with her fingers over her lips. “Oh my! Was that a threat? I do believe she just threatened me, Jackie.”
“It’s Jackson,” he huffed.
“Whatever.” Sinclair dismissed him with a wave of her hand and walked over to a headstone where a black crow with odd colored eyes sat. She cooed and made kissy faces at the bird as if it were a puppy.
“What do you want with Dominic?” Kerrigan asked, frustrated.
“You’re kidding me, right?” Sinclair asked, and then understanding donned on her face. “He hasn’t told you, has he? You have no clue who, or what, he is.”
The cracking of a tree limb sounded in the distance, drawing Sinclair’s attention away. She stared in that direction for a few moments, shushing Jackson when he started to talk so she could better hear.
“Well, it looks like you’re about to find out, my clueless friend. This is going to be too good.” Sinclair went to stand behind her and grabbed the hair on the back of Kerrigan’s head, forcing her to crane her neck. She could feel cold steel pressed against the flesh covering her throat, and her heart began to race with fear.
“Come out, come out, wherever you are,” Sinclair sang into the night air. “I know you’re there. You’ve been slithering around out there all night. Show yourself, Dominic!”
Dominic watched from a few feet away. He had managed to make it there as they were securing Kerrigan’s unconscious body to the tree, and he hadn’t taken his eyes off her since. There really wasn’t much he could do until dawn, a few short moments away. Kerrigan was still in the dark about what he was for the time being, but apparently, Sinclair was not. It had never even registered to him Sinclair might know what he was, but of course she would. It’s the reason Availia died that night. They knew where he was all along, and Availia died protecting him.
“You either show yourself, or I’ll kill her!” Sinclair shouted.
“You can’t kill her! That wasn’t part of our deal,” Jackson spoke up. “We’re not even married yet, so I wouldn’t get the money!”
“Shut up, Jackie! I can, and will, do whatever I have to do to get what I want.” She looked back in the vicinity of Dominic. “Isn’t that right, Dominic? That love spell I cast on you was pretty effective.”
She bent down so that her lips were at Kerrigan’s ear. “Oh, he wanted me real bad. He could hardly keep his dick in his pants. I wanted his body, too. I just didn’t want him in it.”
Dominic watched Kerrigan’s face contort into a confused expression. She had no idea what Sinclair was talking about, because he never got the chance to tell her. Well, he had plenty of chances, just no nerve.
“I swear, Dominic, I’ll do it! I’ll kill the little bitch if you don’t show yourself right now!” Sinclair pressed the blade of the knife closer to Kerrigan’s throat as she struggled beneath her grasp.
He didn’t even have to stop to consider his options. There was only one. Sinclair was just crazy enough to slit her throat, and he wasn’t about to let that happen. Where he had failed with Availia, he would succeed in making sure Kerrigan lived to fulfill her purpose.
He closed his eyes and held his breath, concentrating and willing his form to materialize. He had done it before, but it had been a long time ago because he had found it to be a bit unnerving to see himself that way. A slight tingle throughout his body signaled it was working, and he stepped from the shadows. His eyes were trained on Kerrigan’s face, not really wanting to see her reaction, but needing to all the same.
This wasn’t the way he wanted her to find out.
Sinclair loosened her grip on Kerrigan, allowing her head to face forward as a sinister cackle resonated through the air.
Kerrigan’s eyes widened, and her heart thumped in her chest when she saw Dominic before her. He was translucent, yet she could still make out every single detail of his prominent features. His eyes were a bright green, and she could see the lights of the candles flicker and dance in their depths. She blinked her eyes, thinking she surely imagined what she saw. Even afterward, she could still see through him to the landscape and eerie gravestones that loomed behind him in the dark.
“What the…” Jackson trailed off in disbelief.
“He’s a ghost!” Sinclair bounced up and down in excitement. “Isn’t it the coolest thing you’ve ever seen?
“I’ve been watching him for quite some time now, and I’m so fascinated. I mean, by day…flesh and blood, a perfectly normal human being, just like you and me. Then at midnight…tada!” she sang. “A freaking ghost! Honestly, I have to admit I’m a little jealous. I mean, think about it. He can do all the things the rest of us non-freaks can do, but at night, he gets to creep around and do whatever his little heart desires. And nobody will even know that he’s there. It’s brilliant!”
Dominic watched a tear escape the corner of Kerrigan’s eye and slid down her cheek, but she didn’t look away. He expected her to be disgusted with him. Seeing the proof, the pain he felt tearing at his heart was excruciating to the point that it nearly crippled him. In that moment, he wished Sinclair had succeeded in ridding his body of his soul permanently. At least then, he wouldn’t have to see the anguish on the face that was so precious to him.
“Are you okay?” Kerrigan’s soft voice drifted through the cold night air to Dominic.
She was tied up with a knife to her throat and finding out for the first time that the man she trusted had been keeping a secret from her for the duration of the entire time she had known him. And it wasn’t just any little secret like, “Honey, I’ve been cheating on you,” or “Honey, I’m gay.” This was huge, like “Honey, I’m half-dead” huge. Yet, there she was, asking him if he was okay.
Dominic chuckled, disgusted with himself, and shook his head. “I was going to tell you tonight. I didn’t want you to find out like this. Never like this.”
“This is what you chose over me, Kerri?” Jackson interrupted, his face contorted in revulsion as he looked Dominic over from head to toe. “He’s like…half a man.”
“He’s more of a man than you’ll ever be! So you just shut your mouth, Jackson! You don’t know anything about him!” Kerrigan spat.
Sinclair laughed and took the knife from Kerrigan’s throat. “Aw, can’t you just taste the love in the air? It’s so sweet, I think I just got a cavity.” Then her smile faded and she narrowed her eyes at Dominic. “Now get over here, and let’s get the show on the road, handsome.”
“What show?” Kerrigan was frustrated with the fact that she still didn’t know what was going on. “What do you want with him?”
“She wants my soul.” Dominic’s voice, deep and laced with contempt, echoed through the darkness.
“Let her go. You have what you want. I’m here.” Dominic’s eyes never lef
t Kerrigan’s as he closed the distance between them.
“Yeah, well here’s the thing,” Sinclair started. “I need to make sure that you’re not going to go all ghost on me and disappear. So, I think I’m just going to keep her here until I have what I want. And then maybe I’ll think about letting her live.”
“You’re not getting anything from me until I know she’s safe. Now let her go!” Dominic commanded, reaching them.
Kerrigan could see all his muscles flinching, even though they were transparent. Everything started to make sense to her. The noises she heard in the house, his aversion to the séance, and then she remembered the night at the lighthouse. Dominic had been talking to the spirit, William, and she never thought to question how he was able to see and hear him. It was because of what he had become.
“How?” Kerrigan’s voice was meek, almost inaudible, even in the deathly quiet of the graveyard.
Dominic took a step closer, wanting to offer her the comfort of his touch. Sinclair pressed the blade of the knife tighter to her throat in warning. Kerrigan took an audible breath and squeezed her eyes shut to the discomfort. Dominic threw his hands up in surrender and took a step back again to remove the threat Sinclair sensed.
“Oh yeah, that’s right. You still have no idea what’s going on here,” Sinclair said. She tilted her chin up and shouted into the distance. “You can come out now!”
Four cloaked figures emerged from the shadows. Sinclair’s coven.
“Jesus, he is a freak, isn’t he?” Chase asked, tossing his head the side to force his long bangs out of his eyes.
Theo laughed, giving Chase a fist bump. “Yeah, we really did a number on him.”
Greta eyed Kerrigan seductively. “Mmm, she’s pretty. Can I keep her?”
“Do try to keep your hormones in check, Greta,” Sinclair sighed. “Maybe when we’re done here, Jackson will agree to let you join them in some play time.”
“Hell yeah!” Jackson bellowed, puffing his chest out and checking out Greta. “That’s what I’m talking about!”
“Keep it in your pants, Jackson. Kerrigan wants to know what’s going on, and you’re being rude.” Sinclair turned to Yvette. “My cloak?”
Chase took the knife from her and assumed her position while Yvette sauntered over and draped Sinclair’s cloak over her shoulders. Theo went to work, lighting candles in preparation for their ceremony. Dominic felt the overwhelming sense of déjà vu as he watched the scene unfold before him. As much as it terrified him, he would show no fear because if it would save Kerrigan’s life, it would be worth it in the end.
Sinclair seemed unaware of his presence. She secured her cloak around her neck, but then she spoke again, reminding him that she hadn’t forgotten about him.
“Dominic is what he is because of me. Well, and partly because of your sweet, sweet grandma-ma,” she cooed to Kerrigan, batting her lashes.
“He’s the illegitimate son of my one true love, Drake D’Mon. Drake, as you can see,” she said, waving to the platform headstone, “is no longer with us. I need Dominic’s body to bring him back. I tried once, and I almost had him, but then that witch, Availia, stormed in and thwarted my attempt. The end result is what you see before you now; half man, half immortal.”
“Complete douchebag,” Theo laughed.
“Sinclair, let her go, and I’ll willingly give you what you want,” Dominic said, growing tired of her games and in no way wanting Kerrigan to become part of them. Her gifts were very special. He didn’t want to chance Sinclair would realize that and come up with some half-brained idea to monopolize her.
“No!” Kerrigan shouted, squirming in her restraints. “I won’t let you do that, Dominic!”
“My life, in exchange for knowing the world doesn’t have to go on without you…I can’t think of a more worthwhile reason to die,” he said softly, his eyes conveying the seriousness of his words.
He turned back to Sinclair. “You guarantee that she walks free and no one, not even Jackson, bothers her ever again, and I’ll give you my soul,” he vowed. The expression on her face showed that Sinclair was considering it, but she was wavering. “You know I can just disappear. I’d be long gone before any of you even register that I’m missing. And you’d never know where I went. You don’t want that, do you?”
“I suppose you do have a point,” Sinclair said, tapping her index finger to her chin. “Okay.”
“Hey! Wait a minute! You can’t do that! She’s mine!” Jackson protested. His face twisted up in anger, and he took a threatening step toward Sinclair. The raven let out a loud warning caw. Sinclair snapped her head in Jackson’s direction, and an invisible force crippled him to his knees.
“I can do whatever I want, you little piss ant,” she said in a superior tone. “I have what I needed from you, and now I’ve grown bored. Hit the road, Jack, and don’t you come back no more…no more…no more,” she said in the voice she reserved for her chants.
She flicked her wrist at him. Jackson’s limp body rose into the air and was flung through the graveyard until he could no longer be seen. The rest of her coven broke out in laughter, singing the song over and over again while still preparing for the ritual. In their overzealous state, they weren’t paying attention to Kerrigan and Dominic, but Kerrigan and Dominic couldn’t make themselves pay attention to anyone else.
Dominic reached toward Kerrigan and ran the back of his hand along her cheek. She closed her eyes and leaned into it, her flesh pebbling under his cool touch as another tear escaped her eye.
“Please, Dominic. Don’t do it,” she pleaded with her words and her eyes.
“Se valiente, guardián de mi alma.” His whispered voice was carried on a gentle breeze as it hung in the air around her. “Be brave.”
“It has nothing to do with being brave, Dominic. I can’t do this without you,” Kerrigan said, becoming agitated.
“Do what?”
“This! Live…breathe…be.” She sounded so desperate.
“Yes, you can. You have to.”
“I don’t want to do it without you. Please, don’t make me.”
“Okay, let’s break up the love fest over there,” Sinclair’s sarcastic voice interrupted them. “It’s almost dawn now, lover. Come on.”
“You haven’t assured me of her safety,” he growled as he looked over his shoulder at her.
“Oh God. You are such a drama queen. Do you know that?” She rolled her eyes and threw her hands up in the air before letting them fall back down to her sides. “Fine. You have my word, okay?”
In truth, her word didn’t mean shit to him. He knew she couldn’t be trusted, but he had a back-up plan just in case. Ricardo would make sure that she paid if she didn’t follow through. The thought had crossed his mind to send Ricardo and his men in to wreak havoc on Sinclair and her worshippers now, but then that would be many more lives lost, and Kerrigan could get caught in the crossfire. As long as his life was the only one at risk, he would make Sinclair think he trusted her word.
Dominic nodded once and turned back to Kerrigan. He knelt before her, their faces on the same level. She could feel his coolness, and their gazes locked. His eyes were greener than she had ever seen before. They reminded her of something. Kerrigan gasped when she finally realized they were the eyes from her dream.
“Vivo a través de ti siempre, Querida,” he whispered to her. “I’ll live through you. Always.”
Her heart felt like it was being massacred. Tears began to flow more freely as she sobbed, knowing she wouldn’t be able to dissuade him if he thought giving his life was for her benefit. She closed her eyes against the pain and agony of losing the only man she would ever want or love. They had just found each other, and he was being ripped away from her.
She felt his cold breath as his lips brushed against hers, and then he was gone.
“Dominic!” she called out to him, but he didn’t face her.
“Get the knife away from her. She poses no threat,” he ordered Sinclair
as he took his place on the altar.
She waved her hand at Chase and he took a step back. Kerrigan was still restrained and she knew she couldn’t get to Dominic, but that didn’t stop her from trying. She pulled and tugged at the ropes, feeling them cut into her skin with each futile attempt to get free. It was no use. She hung her head and cried harder than she had ever cried in her life. How she wished Grammy was there to help.
That’s when she remembered she wasn’t completely helpless at all. On the contrary, she had powers. What good were they if they couldn’t help her right this injustice? This is what she was born to do. This couldn’t have been Dominic’s destiny, or her grandmother wouldn’t have been able to save him on Sinclair’s first attempt to steal his soul.
But was she strong enough yet? She just had to be.
“Don’t, Sinclair,” Kerrigan said in warning, trying to sound as intimidating as she could.
Sinclair looked at her and laughed, the other members of her coven following her lead. She turned her back on Kerrigan and focused her attention on Dominic. Greta, Theo, and Yvette circled around the altar with black pillar candles in their hands. The sense of déjà vu slammed into Dominic again, and he felt smothered, almost panicked.
The first inkling of light signaling the new day broke just over the horizon. Dominic turned toward Kerrigan, needing to see her expression as he went through his transformation.
She watched his translucent body come alive with dainty little sparks of light that extinguished themselves almost as quickly as they ignited. He was majestically beautiful, glowing golden yellows and pearlescent whites. Kerrigan was enchanted and couldn’t tear her eyes away from the miracle happening before her. Within seconds, it was over. He was whole again.
Sinclair broke the trance she had been in when she raised her hands and began the ceremony. “We call to the shadows, the darkness and gloom! Hear us now, we beg of you!”
The dark clouds began to gather, dimming the new dawn as a rumble of thunder sounded in the distance. The wind began to howl.
