She stood before Kelsey and seemed to glow and pulse with energy coursing through her barely covered body. This time she wore a gauzy pink lace ensemble through which her black lace panties and bra could be easily seen. She leaned over and wrapped her arm around Jay’s waist. A far away expression came into his eyes as Raga wove her spell upon him.
“Okay, I’m out, Sister. Now what?” Raga nodded towards Jay. “Look at this poor soul. He’ll start drooling soon if I don’t let go of him. It’s not my fault he is manipulated so easily, but boy, is he so much fun. Such energy! He’d be a lovely addition to my pleasure palace at home.”
Kelsey’s cheeks reddened in fury and she gave Robbie a quick glance. An icy calm had seemed to spread over her brother’s features as he faced this demon. A creature he’d been trained for years to fight. Yes, Kelsey was pleased to see how much control he had. Robbie glanced at Kelsey and she nodded. “Do it,” she said.
Without a moment’s hesitation a flying dart flew through the air and impaled itself in Raga’s side. Raga had a single moment to utter a surprised shout before she tossed Jay violently to the ground, where he landed stunned on the asphalt.
Raga turned to Robbie, and her fingers instantly lit with flames. She threw a bolt of fire directly at him. He dodged it while sending another shower of darts towards her. Three impaled themselves in both her arms and one of her legs before she could evade them, and Raga screamed in pain.
Kelsey pounced forwards and pinned her sister to the car. Smoke rose from her skin where their bodies touched.
Raga turned her glare on Kelsey. “This is far from over.” Raga raised her bloody arms.
“Kelsey, get back!” Robbie roared and Kelsey threw herself backwards. Robbie reached for something at his side and threw it. The object whizzed across the space in front of him and wrapped itself around Raga’s waist and torso. Thick cords imprisoned her, pinning her arms at her sides. Weights on the end of the cords held them in place.
Raga bared her perfect teeth. “You think your pitiful bolo weapon will hold me, soldier?” She closed her eyes, and the air around her rippled. Smoke curled from the bindings, and in moments they burned apart, their scorched remnants falling to the ground.
She returned her glare to Kelsey. “Give Caim to me now!” She reached for the talisman at Kelsey’s throat. Kelsey gripped her sister’s wrist and held her arm high. Raga could not escape her hold.
“Let me go,” Raga screeched.
Kelsey pushed and pinned Raga to the side of the car once more. She put her face close to Raga’s. “You’re not as powerful as me, Raga. You never were, little sister. Now go home to your pets and your toys, and leave my family alone. I will return Caim when I am good and ready.”
She released Raga, who glowered in anger. Blood ran down Raga’s body, saturating her clothing and pooling around her sandals. Her demon sister breathed hard. “Play your games with your humans. But know this. I’m coming back for all of them, and now Father will know all your loves. You’re done, Tanha.”
And she disappeared in a whiff of smoke, leaving a pile of ash on the ground where she’d stood.
Robbie jumped onto the ash and brought his hand to his turquoise ring.
Kelsey knew he meant to go after her. “Don’t! You follow her and you’ll go right to the Naraka hell realm where Mara is.”
“Exactly! I’m not afraid of her.”
Kelsey grabbed his arm. “I know you’re not, but you’re not strong enough to confront any of them alone, Robbie. Mara will destroy you first!”
“Then come with me, Kelsey. Let’s deal with all of them right now and stop waiting for them to just show up. Stop being a victim! We don’t have much time. I feel the link fading.”
Kelsey gritted her teeth. She never played the victim role, but no matter how brave and strong Robbie thought himself, Kelsey knew he was not skilled enough or powerful enough to deal with her family. He was only a novice. Bruises from her beatings still covered his face. That was nothing compared to what Mara would do if he got his hands on him. She squeezed his arm and calmed her voice.
“Not now. You have to trust me.”
Robbie grunted in frustration, but dropped his hand. “You know she’s coming back. I bet she won’t be alone, either, will she?”
“No, probably not.”
“Who will be with her this time? Arati?” Desmond asked.
Kelsey gave him a look and Desmond paled. He shook his head. “No, Mara can’t come here.”
Kelsey raised her brows. “Oh, yes he can, if he wants. He came to the Buddha many times. He most certainly can travel across the realms to Earth if he so chooses. It’s just been beneath him to bother to come here and deal with humans. They are too pathetic for him. He’d rather send his minions to do his dirty work.” She turned and held her hand out to Jay, to help him up from the asphalt.
Jay’s expression kept changing from bewilderment and shock, to anger and confusion. He stared at Kelsey, Robbie, and then at the empty spot where Raga had disappeared.
“I don’t understand. What the hell is she?” He turned to Robbie. “And what the hell are you?”
“I’ll explain everything in the car,” Kelsey said, resigned. “Desmond, why don’t you drive?”
Still dazed, Jay handed Desmond the keys and jumped into the backseat with Kelsey, while Robbie and Desmond took the front. Kelsey brought Jay up to speed on Tanha, Mara, her sisters, and the lovely sordid tales of her life as they drove the hour long trip to Armand Dupuis’s estate.
* * * * *
Kelsey stared out the kitchen patio windows which looked out over a vast vineyard. Her birth father’s estate turned out to be a beautiful French chalet on a hill at the end of a long, gated drive rimmed with Catalpa trees that she knew would be blooming with flowers come spring. The home was impeccably decorated, with hundreds of pieces of priceless artwork and artifacts from Armand’s expeditions. It was completely at odds with his cheap apartment in Egypt that she’d visited previously.
Jay leaned his elbows heavily on the wooden table in the country kitchen and gripped the stem of his crystal wine glass. He’d nearly finished his second glass of Bordeaux in his attempt to calm his nerves. Most of his bewilderment had now worn off and his former, snarky self was nearly back. “So, Raga’s your sister from the hell realms. She’s one of the three sisters who once tried to seduce Siddhartha, right?” He stared at Kelsey. “How did that turn out? The story is that he shunned you, right?”
“Something like that,” Kelsey muttered.
“See? I told you, you’re not that hot.”
Kelsey stared at her brother and did everything in her power not to put his head through the table. “You know, Jay, no matter what happens, you’re still an ass. You know that, right?”
He downed his drink. “And you’re still too sensitive. You’d have made a terrible French girl.”
Kelsey huffed. “But I’m not a sucker for the otherworldly. You, on the other hand, get a gorgeous girl to suddenly want you, and you lose your brain. You should have known better. Just like your father when Ustha came to him,” she said in disgust.
Jay uncharacteristically flushed in embarrassment and poured himself another glass of wine. “Our father,” he muttered.
Meanwhile, Robbie paced the room in frustration and kept glancing in both their directions. Finally, he stopped and turned to them. “There are demons walking the earth and no one is doing anything but sitting around a chalet drinking wine and spouting idiocy. We need to do something.”
“We will, Robbie, I promise,” Kelsey said.
He faced her and the intensity in his eyes startled her. Her brothers were so different.
“We will? When, Kelsey?” Robbie asked. “I’m a demon hunter. My people are demon hunters. Demons walk the Earth realm and my people are not doing anything to stop them. Why is my teacher giving me a full week to get things done? It doesn’t make sense. He should have sent a battalion of soldiers by now. What game is ever
yone playing? My people are the leaders in these realms. We are the keepers of the peace!”
“Your teacher may know more than he’s letting on.”
“Obviously, but what is his motivation?” Robbie asked.
Kelsey shrugged. “You know, truth be told, none of those people in Pritvhi are your people, Robbie. Only I am, and the people in this room.”
“Well, not me. I’m just a transplant,” Desmond joked.
Kelsey smiled wryly. “True. But a transplant from Aihika who lived in Xanadu for ten years and now resides on Earth. Trust me, you’re one of my people.”
Robbie shook his head in bewilderment at this news. “What?” It was all he could utter. Kelsey felt a little bad for him with the amount of information he’d had to digest in just the past few hours. Kelsey took Robbie’s hand in hers. “What you don’t realize is that every one of us has a past. Unless you were simply born into the earthly realm and remained here, all humans evolve. We all have a path. You as well. You just don’t remember yours.”
Benjamin Porter had a path. Did my father remember his?
This didn’t mollify her brother. “You should have let me go after Raga.” He suddenly tensed and removed his hand from hers. He took a step away from her and squinted, suddenly wary. “You’re a demon. Maybe you were protecting her, and that’s why you didn’t let me go after her. She is your sister, after all.”
She glared back. “And you’re my brother. Don’t punish me for remembering my past. Raga is my sister, but I’m not living in the Naraka Palace with her. And if you haven’t forgotten, I’m human right now.”
“You’re not a regular human, so don’t act like one,” he spewed.
Her anger rose along with his and she raised her voice. “And I am not just Kelsey Porter and I’m not just Tanha. I’m also a thousand other human girls. A thousand other innocents who were murdered countless times by Mara. Don’t you ever forget that. I suffered every lifetime by my father’s hand, so how dare you suggest that I’m only a demon!”
Desmond tried to calm her down. “Kelsey, it’s okay.”
She whirled on him. “No, it’s not okay.” She turned back to Robbie. “I made this choice to become a human. I’ve lived with that fateful decision for countless centuries, and I have paid the ultimate price for it many times. So, if you want to call me a demon, fine, but I am much more than just a demon. In this lifetime, I was born to Margaret Porter. Our mother, Robbie. I am your blood half-sister. The one that would sit with you and read you books when you were little. The one that played with you and held your hand when you got sick. Don’t ever forget that. Don’t punish me because I have a spiritual past as well that I remember. We all do, and so do you. You just don’t remember yours.”
Robbie bit his lip and stared down at the ground. Finally, he met her eyes and they had softened. “I’m sorry, Kelsey. I really am. This is all just very new to me. Nothing is what it seems.”
“No, nothing is, and we have to stop thinking things are following an ordered path. If we keep doing that, we will fail in this mission.”
Robbie nodded and turned to Jay, his annoyed expression back. Jay had a singular knack for alienating everyone he came in contact with. “Let’s see if the three glasses of wine has loosened your tongue enough yet. Tell us how you met Raga.”
“Why? Want a date with her?” Jay shot back. “I think I could still set that up.”
Robbie took a threatening step forward and gripped his fists into tight balls. “I’m not sure how you’re related to Kelsey. Where she’s strong and capable you’re abhorrent and utterly useless. I don’t even know why we’re here bothering with you. You can’t do anything to help us.” He turned to Kelsey. “He’d have made a terrible soldier in Pritvhi. Drunk before noon. Absolutely pitiful.”
Jay’s eyes blazed, and he put down his wine. “I’m pitiful? Well, all I see in front of me is a hotheaded snot-nosed kid trying to play soldier, with his face still covered in bruises given to him by his own sister! Couldn’t even fight her when she was sleeping, could you? You’re no more special than anyone else. I can do anything I set my mind to.” Suddenly Jay started coughing and couldn’t stop. He quickly doubled over in a fit. “Merde!” he yelled in frustration. He removed his inhaler from his pocket and took a hit. For a minute everyone just watched him get his asthma attack under control.
He glared at Robbie, who couldn’t contain his smirk. “What, I can’t have asthma, idiot? It’s because Kelsey is near me. Lucky me, I get a reaction whenever one of my relatives descended from Kenmut comes by. Thanks a lot, Kelsey.” Jay moved over to the counter, rummaged in the drawer, and pulled out a necklace with an opal pendant on it. He put it on and took a deep breath, and Kelsey could see he was instantly breathing better. He moved back to the table. “As for your information about Raga, I was at a nightclub in Paris. Not that I’m sure you’ve ever stepped into one. It was late, and this exquisite, barely dressed girl came up to me and started dancing in front of me. Pretty soon we were making out on the dance floor. It was pretty obvious what she wanted. You’d have said no?”
“Yes, I would have,” Robbie said.
“Bullshit.”
“It’s true.”
That’s because you’re still a child,” Jay retorted.
“Boys! Will you come on!” Kelsey took an exasperated breath. “Then what happened, Jay?”
“We got a hotel room around the corner from the club. What, you want details? Want to know this cool thing she does with her tongue?”
“Spare us. Did she ask you anything? Try to remember.”
Jay eyeballed her. “We didn’t do a lot of talking, Kelsey.”
Desmond snorted and Kelsey gave him a maddened look.
Kelsey then stood up and moved over to Jay, bending down until she loomed over him. Her desire to remain calm had left. Jay had a way of irritating her more than anyone else she knew, and regardless of how brave he’d been in Egypt, she wanted to wring his neck. “Think! Raga came here for a reason. She had to have wanted something from you. It’s the only explanation she would have to return to Earth.”
“Or, maybe she just liked what she saw.”
Kelsey made a low growl in her throat, and Jay’s eyes widened, seemingly realizing he was finally pushing his sister too far. “Okay, okay! The only thing she said as I was about to fall asleep was something about our father. She wanted to know how he died.”
“She wanted to know about Armand? What did you tell her? I hope you were discreet.”
“What, it was a secret he died in Egypt when a statue fell on him? I told her we were in Ustha’s temple, and when the two of you were fighting God knows where, an earthquake hit and her stone statue fell on my father and killed him.”
Desmond’s jaw dropped. “You ever hear of keeping family secrets, Jay? What the hell is the matter with you?”
Kelsey gritted her teeth. “Anything else you vomited from your mouth? She ask about me?”
Jay stared at the three of them glowering at him and wrinkled his nose. “No, why would she do that? Not everything revolves around you, Kelsey. She didn’t want to know anything about you. The only other thing she asked me was if I knew who Jagan and Adra were. Geez.”
“Jagan and Adra?” Startled, Kelsey turned to Desmond and Robbie. “She wanted to know about Caim’s stepdaughter and her lover that he killed. Why would she want to know about them?”
Jay shrugged. “I have no goddamned idea. When I said I didn’t know, she didn’t seem to mind. I was barely awake, but had sex with her again and then passed out. She’s quite exhausting. We woke up early, ate some croissants and then picked you up at the airport, where your brother did a whole kamikaze thing on her and she vanished like a witch. Anything else?”
Ignoring him, Kelsey turned to Robbie. “You see, everything is connected. You ever study anything about them?”
Robbie shook his head. “There’s nothing about Jagan and Adra in any texts I’ve ever read. No mention of the b
eginnings of the Emperor and Empress. Which is startling, because everyone’s beginnings affect who they are.”
Wasn’t that the truth? Kelsey grabbed her bag, found her laptop and booted it up. “I’m calling the team.”
She skyped her brother at his office. It was now 1:00 pm in France, so everyone would have just been coming into work in New York City.
Ari’s face loomed on the screen. “Hey, Sis. What’s going on? Julia told me she booked you, your sex toy, and your amazingly once dead, now alive, realm-hopping brother on flights to France today. Going to see the French ingrate for one big happy family reunion? Sorry I’m not there. Sounds like a swell time.”
Jay leaned over and got his face into view. “You know, I’m here listening, you asshole.”
Ari smirked. “Well, look at this. All you’re missing is Patricia and your hell demon sisters and it would be a party.”
Kelsey huffed. “Raga’s here, Ari. She keeps showing up. Things are escalating and I need information. Is Julia there with you?”
Her brother’s eyes widened in surprise. “Did you say Raga is here? On Earth? Why the hell didn’t you say so? When were you going to tell me this? Yeah, hold on. Let me conference Julia in.”
Julia’s voice popped up. “I’m here. I’m just in the library downstairs doing some research since early this morning. What do you need?”
Kelsey brought Julia and Ari up to speed on their morning. “I need information on two people named Jagan and Adra in ancient lore. See if you can find anything about them that I haven’t discovered yet. Get this. These are the people that Caim killed when they were human. Do you both want to know who they are?”
“Who?” Ari and Julia both asked at once.
“The Emperor and Empress. Those were their names when they were human.”
Ari appeared stunned. He measured his words. “The demon imprisoned in your talisman actually killed the Emperor and Empress when they were human?”
Julia sucked in her breath. “That’s some connection! Caim’s the one Raga claims as her boyfriend, too?”
“Yes,” Kelsey said. “But why come back to Earth and ask about them specifically?”
The Search for Starlight Page 16
