by Elisa Adams
“So what’s the plan?”
“We have to hurt her enough so that she has to disappear for a couple more centuries.”
Ellie blinked at her. “A couple of centuries? That doesn’t seem long enough.”
“It will buy us some time. We can hope that, by then, someone like Sam will have developed his powers enough to get rid of her for good.”
The thought made her blood run cold. “You mean, no one can…?”
“Kill her? Unfortunately, no. At least no one has been able to yet.”
“Then how do you expect to keep her from burrowing into Tony’s mind?”
Merida stopped eating, her gaze growing serious. “We kill him.”
Ellie gulped. Despite what she knew about him, taking a life was something she was not capable of.
“How long do you think we have before she takes Tony over completely?” Ellie asked as she pushed her plate away. It baffled her that she was sitting in a little coffee shop, discussing the differences between obsession and possession with a demon.
Merida shrugged and polished off the last of her fries before picking up her burger. “Don’t know. The more he feeds and kills, the stronger she gets. A day, maybe two. Something’s got to be done quickly if we want to avoid a big, bloody mess.”
Avoiding a big bloody mess was definitely on the top of Ellie’s list. “Do you have something planned?”
“Yep.” Merida detailed her plan to Ellie just before Eric came back to the table.
“What did I miss?” he asked as he slid into the booth next to Ellie.
Merida rolled her eyes. “Lots.”
“Do you want to fill me in?” he asked when she went back to eating her dinner.
“Not really.” She gave him a big grin and concentrated on her food. Ellie smiled at that. She was really going to like the other woman.
* * * * *
“I’m glad you and Merida got along so well,” Eric said as they walked across the darkened beach a few hours later. “What did you two talk about while I was gone?”
No way was she telling him any of that. “Did everything go okay with Sam?”
“Yeah, fine.” She heard the brush-off in his voice, but chose to ignore it since she was doing the same thing to him. “So…”
“So,” she repeated, at a loss for words.
He stopped suddenly and turned her in his arms to kiss her. His tongue traced her lips before delving inside. He ran his hands along her hips, sending tingles through her. She heard his soft growl as he pressed his pelvis against her. He’d already started to get hard, and the idea thrilled her. By the time he broke the kiss she’d just about forgotten the plans she’d made with Merida.
He pushed her back against a tall sand dune, lifting one of her legs up over his hip. “You look so beautiful in the moonlight.”
“I was just going to say the same thing about you.” Arousal coursed through her, and she was barely able to keep control of herself. She had no idea why the thought of making love in such a public place did so much for her, but it did. Her panties were damp just thinking about Eric taking her in the middle of the beach. She smiled up at him and moved her hand to the front placket of his pants. He was completely hard now, and so hot she felt heat radiate through the fabric. She moaned as out-of-control arousal ripped through her.
Eric sucked in a sharp breath. “I want you, Ellie.”
She nodded.
“We’re out in a very public place.”
She shrugged.
“We could get arrested.”
“I don’t care.”
Whatever it was that had come over her, she liked it. She didn’t know if it was from the new power thrumming through her, or just being with Eric, but she’d never felt so incredible in her life. He was so warm and solid, so sexy, that it was all she could do to keep herself from ripping off his clothes right then and there. She unbuttoned his shirt and spread it wide, running her hands over his chest. The crinkly hairs tickled her palms.
Eric kissed her, his lips crushing hers. She wrapped her arms around his neck as he ripped her panties off her and unzipped his pants. He slid inside her without any seduction whatsoever, and she didn’t need any. She was so ready for him it wasn’t funny. She moaned and clutched his shoulders, her leg ready to drop out from under her. The dune against her back was rough and soft at the same time, while Eric was all hard. He slammed his cock into her, his urgency evident in his forceful thrusts. Before long he lifted her other leg around his waist, leaning down to nip her shoulder at the same time. She clung to him as she felt the first tremors of orgasm low in her belly, afraid she might fall if she let go. Just as she felt the full force of her climax, Eric growled with his own release and collapsed to the sand below.
Ellie’s back hit the bottom of the dune hard, nearly knocking the wind out of her, but she was too sated from their quick bout of lovemaking to care. She sucked in a sharp breath as Eric withdrew. “Where are you going?”
He shook his head as he tucked his flaccid cock back into his pants. “We need to get back to the room before the couple that just walked by calls the police and we get arrested.”
Ellie froze as a sliver of fear knifed through her. “What couple?”
“That one,” he pointed to the retreating forms of two people before he bent down and helped her to her feet.
“Do you think they noticed?” She picked up her torn panties off the ground, trying to control her shaking. To say she was mortified would be a huge understatement.
“They probably stopped and watched. Come on.” Taking her hand, he walked her back to the hotel room and let them inside.
“Do you really think they’ll call the police?”
He shrugged. “Beats me.”
She wrapped her arms around herself, shaking at the thought of strangers watching her and Eric make love. It scared her, but at the same time thrilled her. She laughed at herself when she realized she couldn’t wait to do it again.
She stripped off her clothes and climbed into bed with Eric, curling around his warm body. As excited as she was, she knew she needed to settle in to get some sleep. Tomorrow was going to be a very long and difficult day.
If things went the way they’d been planned, Aiala would be destroyed and Tony freed from her forever. If something got screwed up and the plan went wrong…well, she’d think about that if the time came.
Chapter 20
“He’s in there,” Amara said with certainty.
Ellie, Amara, and Merida crouched in the woods outside a small cabin, one where Merida had learned Tony was staying. Ellie didn’t know how Merida had done it, but she’d found him with apparent ease. It made her wonder if, somehow, she had inside information. When Ellie had asked her about it, though, she just shrugged and smiled.
“What do we do now?” She squinted against the broken sunlight that came through the canopy of trees, wishing they could get this over with so she could just go home. She had a very bad feeling about this.
“We need to get inside,” Merida said softly. “And then we take him out before he even wakes up.”
“What makes you think he’s going to sleep that long?”
Merida shrugged. “Wishful thinking?”
Amara laughed nervously, but Ellie remained silent. This whole situation bothered her.
“Do we have to kill him?” Amara asked.
“No, but we have to hurt him enough to make him useless to Aiala.” Merida frowned in concentration. “That will draw her out. Then, we incapacitate her enough that she has to go back to the demonic plane to heal. Fairly simple, but effective.”
Oh, yeah. It was that simple. “How are you planning to do that?”
“Easy.” Merida waved her hand in the air and scoffed, making it sound like destroying killer demons was a common occurrence for her. Maybe it was. “Sam got her good that night you…well, she’s going to be weak, and it won’t be hard if she can’t draw her strength from Antonio.”
They crept
up to the front door. “He’s sleeping soundly,” Amara confirmed. That was all they needed to know. For now, they were safe. How long that would last was anyone’s guess. She knew they had to act quickly, but suddenly she second thoughts filled her. “The door’s locked. How are we going to get in?”
Merida didn’t answer. She grabbed the doorknob and gave it a sharp tug. The knob came off in her hand.
“Oh. Okay.” Ellie backed up a step, not at all sure if she should be standing so close to Merida. She barely knew her, and her powers were downright scary. Eric had promised her that someday she would be as powerful, but she had yet to even try to use her abilities. If she did, that would be admitting she’d become something other than the human she once was.
Merida gave the door a shove and it swung open, surprisingly soundless. They walked inside. The creepy factor in the cabin was a little too high for Ellie’s tastes. The inside was dark, so dark that if she were still human she wouldn’t have been able to see at all. As it was, she could barely make out the furniture with her newly improved eyesight. The smell of mold and must hung in the air, creating a thick aura of decay over everything. Two steps down the hall Ellie walked through a cluster of cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. She sputtered and brushed at them to get them away from her eyes. How anyone could live in a place like this baffled her.
Amara turned the knob on the only closed door in the hall, what they assumed would lead to the bedroom, and it swung open with a low groan. Ellie followed Merida further into the room. They stopped by the double bed, and alarm washed over Ellie as she realized it was empty. The covers were tossed aside, the indent of a body still on the mattress. He had been lying there until recently—so where was he now?
Merida blew out a frustrated breath, and Ellie echoed the sentiment wholeheartedly. Something about this seemed off. She couldn’t brush off the feeling that they’d been set up.
Merida seemed to be thinking the same thing as she walked back out into the hall. “Okay, I think we might be in just a little over our heads here.”
Ellie followed, with Amara close behind. The aura of the house seemed to change from decaying and abandoned to sinister. “What are we going to do now?” she asked, hoping Merida had some sort of a backup plan.
“My gut instinct is to get the hell out of here. I think it might already be too late,” Merida answered. She walked in the direction of the front door, which still swung knob less on its hinges. As they approached it the door slammed shut with a rush of wind strong enough to make Ellie stumble.
An impossibly deep voice came from behind them. “Looking for something?” They all spun around. Antonio—Tony—was standing not three feet away. His shoulders were hunched, his hair and clothing disheveled, his expression desolate.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” he said. “That was a big mistake.”
A small blonde walked out from behind him. Merida took a step back, and Ellie and Amara followed.
Merida glanced from Ellie to Amara and back to Tony. “Oh, shit.”
“What’s the matter, ladies? Too shocked to speak?” Her laugh was menacing. “Ann Elizabeth, dear. It’s wonderful to see you out and about. After that terrible accident, I’m surprised you lived. And Cardoso, be sure to give your brother-in-law my regards. If you make it home this morning.”
She turned her attention to Merida. “Ah, little one. I see you were finally able to find me.”
“Fuck off, Aiala.” Merida sneered as she spoke, her voice very close to a growl.
Aiala? Ellie looked the woman over. She didn’t look injured at all. In fact, she looked downright scary. Ellie hoped Merida knew what she was doing, otherwise they were all in very big trouble.
“What was your name again? Oh, well. It doesn’t matter. You won’t live long enough for me to bother with.”
Merida cocked her head to the side and snorted. “What makes you think you can kill me?”
“Compared to me, you’re just a child.” Aiala stalked toward Merida and circled her slowly, stopping in front of her. “You overestimate yourself. You’re very much like your brother.” She raised her hand to Merida’s face, but just before her fingers made contact, Merida’s hand snaked out and snagged Aiala’s wrist. Aiala sucked in a sharp breath and yanked her hand away as if Merida’s touch had burned.
“Don’t toy with me, child. I’ll make your death more painful than you can imagine.”
Aiala turned toward Ellie, her eyes glowing red in the darkness. “You weren’t supposed to live.”
“Obviously I’m a lot harder to kill than I look.” Ellie fought to keep from showing her fear, although she suspected the demon already knew how scared she was. Ellie locked her knees so she didn’t fall to the floor.
“By yourself, you would have been such an easy kill.” Aiala shook her head. “Sam is not here to save you now. At first I’d thought to kill Eric, but now I think I’ll kill you instead. Living his life without you would be torture for him. So much worse than a simple death. I’d much rather make his pain everlasting.”
Merida went silent. Her hands were clenched into fists at her sides, and her eyes were closed. Ellie thought she was fighting anger, but knowing Merida she had something else planned. She knew it was the latter when Merida opened her hands, blue electricity glowing over her palms.
Ellie turned back to Tony, and she felt a sharp rise in her anger. A tingling started in her palms, moving slowly up her arms.
“Your silly organic magic won’t be able to hurt me,” Aiala said to Merida. “I know what you are, and I know what you’re capable of. I’m too quick for you.”
Aiala lunged for Ellie, but Tony grabbed a handful of her hair and pulled her back. “Stop.”
She spun on Tony, fury in her eyes. “How dare you go against me, slave?”
“I’ve had enough. I’d rather be dead,” he growled, giving her hair a sharp tug. She slashed her hand across his face, her long fingernails slicing the skin. Blood dripped from the welts and Ellie caught the scent of burnt flesh in the air. He pushed her away, clutching his face.
Aiala dismissed him with a wave of her hand, obviously thinking he wouldn’t be a threat to her, and turned her attention back to Ellie.
Ellie glanced to Merida, silently begging for help. Merida gave a slight nod before focusing an intense stare on the beautiful demon. She raised her hands, the blue light jumping between her palms and crackling through the otherwise silent air.
Despite her protests, Aiala moved in back of Tony where she would be at least partially protected from Merida. The bleak look on his face made Ellie’s heart clench. As much as she wanted to hate him, her mother and grandmother had raised her better than that. His interference had saved her from certain death at Aiala’s hands. He’d been under her spell for far too long, and maybe now it was time to do something about that.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on the totem around her neck—the animal that had given her strength all her life and now was an integral part of it. She let herself imagine what the panther would see, what she would feel. She imagined her muscles and bones changing shape, stretching and elongating. It wasn’t until she opened her eyes that she saw the changes weren’t imagined. She’d become the panther. Just as Merida released the electricity gathering in her hands, Ellie leapt at Tony and pushed him out of the way.
The jolt hit Aiala in the chest, sending her slamming into the decrepit fireplace across the room. She slid to the floor amid a shower of brick bits and mortar dust, writhing for a few seconds before exploding into light and dust. Lots of dust. It filled the room and caught in Ellie’s throat. She coughed as she sat up off the floor, realizing she was now back in her human form, lying on top of Tony. Naked. She squealed and slid off him. “What happened to my clothes?”
“They get destroyed if you change into panther form with them on,” Merida told her matter-of-factly, as if it was a common occurrence in her life. “Antonio, the woman just saved your miserable life. Go and get her someth
ing to wear, will you?”
Ellie wanted to protest—she’d been wearing other people’s clothes more than her own lately—but common sense told her it wouldn’t be good to go wandering around in the buff, so she held her tongue.
Tony disappeared into the bedroom, emerging minutes later with a long T-shirt and a pair of cut off sweatpants. He handed them to her, his eyes locking with hers. “Thanks. I didn’t deserve that.”
She didn’t know whether she agreed or not.
“You’d better get out of here,” Merida told him. “Or else I might kill you myself.”
He looked at Ellie again before he turned and ran out the door.
“What happens now?” Ellie asked as she watched him disappear into the trees.
“Now we go home. There’s nothing else for us to do here.” Merida waved her hand in front of her face and coughed as a remnant of smoke fluttered near. “Aiala will be out of commission for a long time, and hopefully by the time she resurfaces Sam will have figured out a way to kill her.”
Amara cleared her throat. “What about Tony? Will she try to possess him again?”
Merida shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. She’d probably try to kill him instead. He failed her, and I don’t think she’s going to take that lightly.” She sighed and shook her head. “I guess that’s something he’s going to have to deal with when the time comes.”
“If he doesn’t stay away from my sister, he’s going to find out about problems a lot sooner.” Ellie put the way-too-big clothes on and they walked out of the house. The air outside was fresh and clean and, despite the oppressive humidity, Ellie drew a deep breath. At least for now, it was over.
But some of her problems were just beginning. They’d only made it a few steps down the path when Eric approached. He glared at them, barely contained rage in his eyes.
“What the hell do you think you’ve been doing?” he yelled.
“Just doing my job.” Merida said, smiling smugly.
