Horns jutted from her head, long and curving. Her grotesque face stretched out into a snout, and her jaw squared. She looked every bit of a bull. Her arms were deformed, and her torso blended into an animal’s body, her muscular goat-like legs running out into hooves.
“You’re one of mine, aren’t you?” the Conduit asked in a gravelly voice, though her monstrous mouth never moved. It was more like she was speaking directly into my mind. “And he is yours. Which makes him mine as well, I suppose.”
“Let him go,” I said through gritted teeth.
“Charisse,” Abram said, much calmer than I would have ever been if our positions were switched. “Do you see it? Can you see the thing that’s attacking me?”
He was looking right at her, and yet somehow he still couldn’t see her? How powerful was this chick?
I shot Abram a look, and then turned my attention back to the Conduit. “I’m warning you one more time. Let him go. Now.”
“Oh, I’ll let him go,” she answered in an almost nonchalant voice. “Right after I show him what trespassers get for breaking into my home.” Her bullish face turned to him. “They get to die, wolf.”
Her long arm flinched, and Abram’s entire form contorted. He let out a guttural, feral howl that twisted my stomach so terribly it nearly brought me to my knees.
And then, when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, I listened as every single bone in Abram’s body broke.
Chapter 23
“No!” I yelled, my throat dry and scratchy as my feet carried me toward Abram faster than I ever thought myself capable of.
The Conduit, all monstrous features and bull horns, stood over us as I knelt toward my love. But I couldn’t will myself to pay her any attention, not with Abram on the ground like this.
He was broken. God help him, he was so broken. His body—his beautiful body—contorted in inhuman shapes, and his lips trembled as though to muffle the screams.
“It’s okay,” I whispered, unable to keep the tears from rolling down my face. “I’ll fix it, I promise. I can fix it. I have to fix it.”
“Who are you trying to convince?” the Conduit asked from over me, once again not moving her grotesque bull mouth.
“Shut up!” I snapped. The whole world went red, and my eyes burned as though someone had lit a match in my brain.
“Look at you,” the Conduit said, gliding eerily closer. “All dressed up in your big girl clothes.”
The world got even redder, and a line of fire appeared at her ugly hooves. That was me. The world was red because my eyes were red, because power was literally pouring out of me.
“That’s impressive.” The Conduit flicked her elongated hand and snuffed out my flames. “Not impressive enough, but impressive.”
Abram quivered under me, and I nearly wretched. He was such a strong man, such a force. And she had turned him into this.
“I wondered when you would come. I knew if I looked long enough, if I drew you all here, then it would only be a matter of time until you graced my fine doorstep.”
“Me?” I asked, my voice shaking. Briar’s perpetual sleep, all those people who had been murdered by this bitch, was because of me? Oh, hell no.
“Of course it was because of you,” she said slyly, practically reading my mind. Or maybe she was literally reading my mind. Who knew what her power set was? “When you came into your own back in the States, you sent out a magical pulse. It was practically a song. You might as well have been singing to me.” She splayed her disgusting fingers in front of her. “A Supplicant who was also a Conduit. A creature whose magic is charged by her own blood and whose blood is, in return, supercharged by her own propensity for the magnificent. And that was when I knew.”
“Knew what?” I asked, glowering at her. I was so ready to kill this bitch, but not without answers first.
I moved my hand to Abram’s jerking body once more, touching him skin to skin. I winced at the sudden pain—his pain. It was unbearable, and it invaded every cell of my being. But I couldn’t move to react to it. I couldn’t snap my hand away. I couldn’t scream.
I couldn’t do anything.
And then it started to subside. With a jolt, I realized what was going on. The pain was subsiding because Abram’s bones were setting. We were connected, he and I. Connected by touch and, with that touch, I was healing him.
“That,” the Conduit said, waving her mutated hand toward me. “That is what I knew. That you were enough. That with your power, I wouldn’t need the rest of them. That you could do all I would ever need, forever.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, stalling her. I didn’t really give a damn. As soon as Abram was up and running, he would take her head off and the only plan that would matter then would have to do with funeral arrangements. “What do you want from me?”
“You’ll be harvested well before you need to worry about that. What is it, Charisse—a day and a half now?”
I shuddered. Not only did this…thing…know my name, but she knew my biggest secret. I looked down at Abram. He was still in pain, still writhing. Had he heard what she said? Did he now know about the ticking clock looming over me? Or had the pain dulled the sound or made her words irrelevant? Somehow, though, that prospect worried me more than the rest of it.
And it pissed me the hell off.
“Maybe you shouldn’t worry about it. Because if my power is what you need to run your little mystery machine, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. You’re not getting a damn drop of my blood.”
“They all say that,” the Conduit said. “All of them. And now look. Their blood covers my walls. It gives me power. It gives me him.”
“Him?”
“But you’re different, right?” She practically chuckled, the sound strange coming from inside her bull head. “Because you have your beast?” She waved her hand. “What a joke. You may as well halt that pathetic little healing ritual you’re doing. He won’t do any good against me.”
She waved again, and the motion sent me flying across the room. My grasp ripped away from Abram, breaking our connection.
I hit hard against the floor, but the pain that hurt worst was the one I was sure Abram was feeling now.
Not that you could have told by looking at him.
He stumbled to his feet, still bloody and a little broken.
“Stay down,” I mumbled as the metallic tang of my own blood filled my mouth.
But, hardheaded as he was, he didn’t listen. The stubborn bastard got to his feet, undoubtedly aching with every step he took toward the creature.
For her part, the Conduit simply stood there, taking Abram in with appraising eyes.
He swung...way too far away from her, and it occurred to me that he somehow still couldn’t see her. I’d never heard of a Conduit able to do magic like that before, but this world was still new to me. At least maybe he couldn’t hear her, either, which would mean my unwanted secret was still safe.
“You see, Charisse,” the Conduit said, not even moving as Abram swung at the air around her. “A beast, a creature like the one you’ve taken league with, is simply a reflection of the Conduit who created it. As for your boy toy here—” Abram swung again. He was closer this time, but still no luck. Part of me wanted to scream to him, to give him directions. But if he hit her, she would only hurt him again. No, I was going to have to do this on my own. “—he’s a magical extension of the pauper girl who brought him into existence.” The Conduit’s bullish head tilted. “And while that little thing was full of righteousness and rage, she’s no match for someone like me. And thus, neither is your beast.”
She flicked her hand again, and Abram went flying. He hit hard against the wall and slid down beside me.
“If it makes you feel better, I’ll let him live until you’re dead. That way, you won’t have to watch him die. And—because you’ve been such an unexpected treat for me—I’ll send him to the afterlife to meet you right after you go tumbling to your demise.” The Conduit moved
closer to us. “And you don’t even have to thank me.”
Bile rose in my throat, and my entire body started to tingle. Apparently Abram was no match for her, as ridiculous as that sounded. Abram was the most capable man I had ever known. He could move a mountain with his bare hands, and likely would if that mountain was keeping him from me. But he was also writhing on the floor, pained in a way I had never seen him before.
He had saved my life so many times. He had given me joy, satisfaction, and meaning in ways I never thought possible. And now it was him who needed me. I would be damned if I was going to let him down. Not now. Not ever.
“You,” I ground out as the emotions within me bubbled over the top. The power spilled out around me, coloring every inch of my sight, every inch of my being. “You messed with the wrong woman, Conduit.”
I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. God knew that if I did, I probably wouldn’t be able to do it. All I knew was that I wanted her to stop hurting him. I wanted her powerless and weak, the way she had made us powerless and weak. I wanted her to feel the way I felt anytime I thought about the likelihood I was going to die. I wanted to reduce her to the sniveling, groveling, shadow of a person she really was. And I wanted to do it now.
I slammed my fist against the ground, not because it was part of an incantation or anything, but because I was as mad as hell and I wanted to hit something that couldn’t hit back.
The world spun under my fist. The magic in the room cascaded outward, and in that instant, I knew how to stop her.
I had barely even let the idea grace my mind when it happened. The blood on the walls, the stolen Supplicant power that coursed through this room and charged the Conduit’s batteries began to glow—all of it—and then it just…vanished.
She threw her hands out, probably to toss Abram and me around like ragdolls again, but nothing happened. I had stolen her mojo. But she couldn’t steal mine.
“Let’s see who doesn’t have a chance now,” I said through gritted teeth.
I struck the ground again, and it wretched out under her. The cave shook, knocking her to her knees. Then a stray rock flew across the room, striking her in that grotesque helmet she called a head.
Abram breathed heavily next to me. “I can see her.”
“Good,” I answered. “Watch this.”
Another rock flew across the room, striking her. And then another. They came fast and heavy until she was on her back.
I stood, red coloring my eyes and hate filling my heart. I wanted to kill her. I should have killed her. But where would that leave me? Like she said, I was hers now. I had already been cursed. I needed to know how to break this curse, how to break all the curses.
Like one of those unkillable sociopaths from a slasher movie, she jumped up, tearing at me with her claws.
Abram darted toward her, but it was too late. She drew her claws back, covered in blood.
My blood. The absolute best source for a creature like her to do the absolute worst things.
Chapter 24
“Time’s up!” She snarled. “I’m done playing games with you. No more poetic justice, no waiting for you to jump. This ends now!”
But then, like a gift from the heavens, she started to shake and convulse. She screamed as she crumpled onto the floor and, looking past her, I saw the culprit.
Ramsey Duldridge stood in the entrance of the cave, taser in hand. It ran all the way into the Conduit’s back.
“You end now,” he said, sneering.
“Ramsey,” I breathed. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“The same thing you are,” he said. “We’re finally getting somewhere, Charisse. I’m going to show you how to make this bitch give us some answers.”
Electricity jolted through the Conduit’s body. She jerked and pulled, but I didn’t show her even the slightest bit of compassion. She had caused too much pain for too many people. She deserved this. She deserved worse. Besides, I had more important business to deal with.
“You tasered her…”
“Oh, that,” he said, dropping the weapon to the floor. “As it turns out, when it comes to wife, I’ve decided I rather be a fighter than a mage.”
“But—”
“No buts,” he said. “Don’t worry. The words from my books will be erased for breaking code, and I won’t be able to assist in any rituals, but they can’t take away what is in my mind. I still know enough to guide you.”
I nodded and took a deep breath. “Okay, then. Keep her down while I take care of Abram.”
Abram grunted. “I’m fine.”
Always the old-world gentleman, he would never admit to needing anyone. This was me, though—me and him. And, whether he asked for help or not, he was going to get it.
“You’re not fine,” I said, “but you will be.”
Pressing my palm against his arm, I felt the connection between us rage back in full force. His pain was mine again and, with a shift behind my eyes, my healing powers flew into him.
With no pesky Conduit to break us up, I had no trouble putting back together what the Conduit had torn apart. I mended his skin and tissues. I set and knitted his broken bones. And then, when I was done, I gave him a kiss to mend whatever else this horrible day had bruised or ruined.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” he breathed when I was finished.
“Kissed you?” I asked.
“Healed me,” he answered, standing up.
I stood to meet him. “That’s not exactly the thank you I was looking for.”
Abram shook his head. “The more precision you garner with this sort of thing, the more powerful you become, and the more danger you’re going to find yourself in. This makes you a commodity, Charisse. Don’t you understand that?”
“This makes me a commodity?” I balked. “I’m already more popular than a fifty percent off sale at Nordstrom’s. And I don’t care what you say, I’m not about to let you suffer through something like that just because you feel like you need to keep me safe.”
“I do need to keep you safe,” he muttered. “And what I do or do not suffer through is my choice, not yours.”
“I have to protect you, too,” I shot back. “Not for you, but for me. Because if anything happened to you—” I swallowed hard, my eyes darting away from him. “So no. I don’t think it’s your choice.”
“While all this is very touching,” Ramsey chimed in from behind me, “we still have the business of an unconscious Conduit to deal with.”
Turning, I glared at the Conduit was still on the floor. She had stopped shaking. She had stopped moving altogether.
“Is she…”
“Dead?” Ramsey provided. “Hardly. It’ll take more than a couple hundred volts of electricity to put an end to someone with her kind of power. Besides, we can’t kill her yet.”
“And why’s that?” Abram asked, brandishing beastly claws.
“Because she’s still connected to people,” Ramsey said. “Briar, the Supplicants who are currently under her spell. If you kill her, then they all likely die with her.”
Me included, I thought.
“So what do we do?” I asked, looking down at her massive frame on the floor. She looked almost peaceful there, her deformed chest rising and falling in shallow breathes.
“Something that’s going to hurt,” he answered.
“Hurt who?” I asked. The way he looked at me, deep and apologetic, left no room for misunderstanding.
Abram grabbed my arm and pulled me closed to him. “No, Ramsey. I will not put her through any more pain. I suggest you get that idea planted firmly in that thick skull of yours.”
I eased Abram’s hand from my arm and caressed his shoulder. “Abram. Calm down. I can do this. I was meant for this.”
His nostrils flared. “You don’t even know what ‘this’ is. There’s no way you can possibly know if you can handle it.” He pulled me close, my face inches from his own, and tipped his forehead against mine. “I told you I didn’t want
you involved in this. I’ve been around enough to know that magic always comes at a cost. I won’t have you paying it.”
I closed my eyes as I answered—afraid that, if I didn’t, tears might spill down my cheeks.
“I’m already involved,” I said quietly.
He shook his head. “Not yet you’re not, and damned if I’ll let that change.”
“There’s no other way,” Ramsey said. “If we’re going to have any chance of stopping whatever this wench has in store, then we need to inform ourselves of her motivation, her history, and her weaknesses. To do that, we need to get into her mind. But it takes a Conduit to get into another Conduit’s mind. So unless you think we have time enough to scour the Earth for another one—one willing to help us, I might add—I suggest we use the Conduit standing in front of us. Especially considering she’s her own power source, which means we won’t have to track down another Supplicant, too.”
A low growl came from Abram’s throat. His eyes opened and slid over to Ramsey, glowing red.
“It’s okay,” I said, taking his head in my hands. “I can do this. Just trust me, okay?”
He stared at me for a long moment before finally answering. “The instant I think it’s too much for you, I’m putting a stop to it.”
“Okay,” I agreed, even though I knew I wouldn’t let him. I turned toward Ramsey. “What do I need to do?”
“First? I wouldn’t be opposed to you telling me why the both of you are half naked.”
I looked down. I had almost forgotten. I stood in Abram’s shirt while he was bare chested in a pair of pants so battle-worn they were barely hanging on.
“There was a magic incident,” I explained.
“Silk,” Ramsey nodded. “Wear silk. Magic doesn’t burn through it. Don’t ask me why.” He rested his elbow in his opposite hand and tapped his finger against his chin. “Though that is just one of many helpful little tidbits having a mage on your side affords you.”
I moved toward him, one eye on the Conduit as I settled next to Ramsey. “Can we please just get this over with?”
Sleeping with the Beast: an Adult Paranormal Shifter Romance (The Conduit Series Book 2) Page 16
