by Sasha White
“Is this your first visit to Vancouver?” Mary asked.
“Nope. I have family here so we make the trip every now and then. Less often since Michael was born.”
“It’s just you and your husband this trip, right?”
“Yeah, an adult weekend away.” That was supposed to be all about some naked wrestling, with a little bit of art appreciation thrown in, not another paranormal mystery. Speaking of which... “It seems like I’m not needed right now. Am I wrong?”
Mary glanced out the window at the hotel, and a small smile played at her lips. “You’re welcome to stay as long as you want but, no, you’re not needed. I promise everything will be ready when the doors open at eight o’clock.”
Knowing her impatience was showing, Gina forced a sassy grin. “Thanks. I’ll see you later tonight then.”
When Gina strode back into her hotel room, she found the men spread out on the love seat and the bed. Three feet away, Melissa worked on her laptop and Jewel watched over her shoulder. All heads swiveled in Gina’s direction when she walked in. Silence descended.
“Shit.”
Caleb jumped off the bed and came over to her. “It’s not that bad, honey. Honest.”
Her heart rate began to slow to a normal pace again. If her husband said it wasn’t that bad then it wasn’t. After all, he was more likely to freak out over this sort of thing than she was.
Caleb took her hand and led her back back to the bed. They sat on the edge of the mattress and Gina stared at her brother while the women left the laptop to join the group. Drake stood so Melissa could sit on the love-seat, and Jewel perched on the arm of the small sofa next to Angelo.
“Alright,” Gina said once everyone was settled. “Give it to me.”
Angelo started. “We don’t think it’s a demon; we think it’s a man who was trapped, unwillingly, on the astral plane.”
“Not a demon is good,” she said. “But how do you know that for sure, and how does a normal man get trapped in a chunk of glass, astral plane or not?”
“It’s not a chunk of glass or even a rock,” Jewel said. “It’s a mineral — Beryl to be exact.”
“And that matters because ... ”
“Witchs and Druids used beryl for scrying before the middle ages. It’s what the first crystal balls were made of over a thousand years ago!”
“Crystal balls?”
“Back then crystal balls weren’t the perfectly round things you see today. They were more like octagons, or something. They could have as few sides as four and as many as thirty-six, but you get the idea. I think this is a piece of a very old crystal ball that might’ve been broken or shattered.”
“Which brings us to why we think it’s a man, not a demon,” Drake spoke softly. “We all touched it, to try and get a read from it. Nobody saw, heard or felt anything of note except me.”
She looked at her best friend. “What did you sense?”
“Sadness.” He grimaced. “Some anger, and latent violence, but mostly just sadness. I’ve never known a demon to feel even a drop of sadness over anything, let alone the magnitude of it I got from the crystal.”
“Sadness, eh?” she asked with a nervous laugh. “He didn’t look sad when I saw him. He looked ... scary.”
Melissa leaned forward. “Scary like a demon, or scary like a guy from the middle ages who’s been trapped in a crystal ball for a few centuries or so?”
Caleb’s arm came around her and Gina sank into his side. Wrapped in his protective energy, it was easy to think back and examine what she’d seen. “You could be right. Now that I think about it, his eyes were totally human. He was scary like William Wallace was, painted blue and stirring up all those highlanders.”
“That fits with our theory.”
Jewel shifted forward. “We think you can get him out, bring him to our plane of existence.”
Gina glanced at her brother. “Do we want to do that? I mean, we don’t know why he was trapped in there. He could be a medieval serial killer.”
“We can’t know for sure, but more information will help us figure it out, so ... Where did you get it?”
“I have no idea,” Gina said. “As far as I can remember, I’ve never seen it before in my life. I sure as hell haven't touched it and seen a person trapped inside it before.”
“It was in your backpack?”
She nodded.
“Did you leave your bag unattended anywhere when you were at the airport?” Drake asked.
“Of course not. When we were in the airport it was on my back. When we were on the plane it was in the compartment right over our heads.”
Angelo quirked an eyebrow. “And one of you had eyes on that compartment at all times?”
She grinned. “Are you implying we both left our seats at the same time?”
“Wouldn’t surprise me if you two joined the mile high club.”
Gina’s lower lip thrust out. “Caleb wouldn’t even think about it.”
Everyone chuckled and the mood of the room lightened a bit.
Then Caleb nudged her. “There was that guy that bumped you.”
Angelo stilled. “What happened?”
“We were standing in line at the ticket counter and the guy behind us tripped over a suitcase and fell into Gina. If I hadn’t caught her, they both would’ve fallen.”
The boys looked to Jewel. The gypsy was a talented pickpocket and thief, a skill that came in very handy now that she worked with the boys on their monster hunts. “That definitely could’ve been a pass.”
“But why pass it to me in the first place? It’s not like the thing set off any security sensors or anything. And why hasn’t he tried to get it back?”
“We might never know those answers,” Melissa said softly.
Jewel nodded. “Unless the guy in the crystal can tell us.”
“The good news,” Angelo said quickly, “is that it seems to have been passed to you for safekeeping and not to hurt you.”
“So it’s safe to assume the guy’s not a medieval serial killer?”
Her bother nodded. “So we go forward on the assumption he’s a good guy who needs our help but prepare for him being a medieval serial killer.”
She took a deep breath, letting Caleb’s scent envelope her. When she opened her eyes, she stared at the group in front of her. If anyone could deal with this, they could. “Okay. How do I do it?”
Jewel spoke up. “There’s a ritual, but it’s best done at night, so we can do it tonight or tomorrow.”
If this guy wasn’t a big evil thing, Gina wanted to get him out of there as soon as she could. She looked at Caleb, and no words were needed between them. “Let’s do it tonight, after the gallery opening.”
4
Caleb watched a server glide by with a full tray of glasses filled with sparkling champagne and grimaced. So much for a night of getting tipsy then raunchy with his sexy wife. And Christ was she ever sexy!
From the first moment he’d set eyes on Gina, he’d wanted her. He’d had her more times than he could count, and his desire for her only grew hotter. As if sensing his regard, she turned away from the lady speaking to her and their eyes met across the room. She flashed him a wicked grin that told him she was reading his thoughts as clearly as if he’d shouted them to the skies, and then winked and turned back to the guest.
Strangers wandered around the little gallery nibbling on hors d'oeuvres, drinking champagne and inspecting Gina’s work. Over the last couple of hours Caleb had heard Gina’s work described as ethereal, elegant and unearthly, which amused him. They were great descriptors of the work on the walls, but if they could see some of the stuff she hid in the closet at home a whole slew of other words would be bandied about. Words like hot, erotic, and naughty.
Saliva pooled in his mouth as he stared at his wife’s legs and remembered the way she’d paint naked for him.
“She’s very special, isn’t she?”
Caleb turned to the woman who’d interrupted his mental
stripping of the star of the night. Mary Randal, the gallery manager he’d been introduced to earlier, wasn’t a beautiful woman, but she was pretty and very well put together. Shiny hair smoothed back in a sleek do, lush curves barely hidden beneath a conservative dress, she was exactly the kind of woman he’d dated before he met Gina.
“Yes,” he said with a polite smile. “She’s very special — and not just because of her art.”
Mary nodded, her full lips tilting up at the corners. “Yes, I agree. People meet her, talk to her, and they just feel better about life. Her work shares that energy with those lucky enough to experience it.”
Experience it. He liked that.
“I saw sold signs placed discreetly beneath a few paintings.”
“The show’s been a lovely success. I expect there’ll be more sales this week as some of our clients prefer to ponder things before they buy.”
He studied the woman next to him. “But you do think they’ll buy after they ponder things?”
“I do.”
Giving her credit for knowing her business, and her clients, he let out a satisfied sigh. “Good.”
A young man in a suit came up and whispered in Mary’s ear. Caleb nodded goodbye to her as she left to deal with whatever it was she had to deal with. He didn’t really care; all he cared about right then was Gina. He searched the room and realized he’d lost track of his wife. Melissa and Drake were in the southeast corner of the room, and Devil and Jewel were near the door, but he couldn’t see Gina anywhere.
Devil caught his eye and gestured up at the mezzanine. With a nod, Caleb moved through the thinning crowd and up the stairs to the closed part of the gallery. When he reached the top, he saw that the display up there was a blend of sculptures and sparkly jewels. He found Gina staring down at a gleaming emerald pendant.
“Did you know emeralds are a type of beryl crystal?” she said when he stopped behind her.
He didn’t have to be an empath to know what she was feeling. Reaching out he twined his fingers with hers, and squeezed. “I didn’t, no.”
“Sorta makes me wonder if I touched that would I see some poor soul trapped on the astral plane.”
Trying to lighten her mood, he didn’t bother holding back his own thoughts. “I’m still trying to adjust to the fact that there is an astral plane.”
“Really?”
“I guess it makes sense. If a lesser demon can posses a human, and a demon lord can manifest on earth then it sort of goes without saying that there are other planes of existence, right? I mean, heaven, hell .... Metaphorically, they’re on this plane, they’re all around us, but physically they’re not. Right?”
By the time he finished talking, she’d forgotten the emerald pendant and was staring at him with big eyes, her lips twitching. “You’re making my head hurt.”
“Hell, I’m making my own head hurt.”
She leaned into him, her fingers toying with his tie. “So much for a drama free weekend away, hmm?”
“It’s okay.”
“I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Horror washed over him. “Of course not. Honey, it’s not your fault.”
“I wish I didn’t care who was stuck in there.”
He kissed her forehead. “If you didn’t care you wouldn’t be the woman I fell in love with.”
She sighed and he gathered her into his arms. Almost immediately, his blood started to heat and flow south. “I really should learn to be less responsible,” he muttered.
She laughed and pressed against him, her breasts, belly and hips fitting against him perfectly. “You were the one who ran out of the shower before we could have any fun.”
“I didn’t want you to be late for the opening,” he said as he skimmed a hand over her back to grab her hair and tug her head back. “But we’re alone now.”
Calloused hands cupped her jaw and tilted her head up as his hungry mouth slid over hers. Desire flooded her system and she opened to him with a moan.
God, he tasted good. He always tasted so good.
She reached around and cupped his rock hard ass through the silk of his suit. Pulling him closer, she nipped at his bottom lip then soothed it, before slipping her tongue between his lips. Tongues danced together and bodies pressed, rubbing in all the right place as they gathered friction and heat. It was instantaneous, the love and arousal that flooded her with only a touch from this man. Her man.
“Caleb,” she hummed when his mouth left hers and trailed down her jaw and he nipped at her neck. “We’re in public.”
“I know,” he replied.
She bit back a laugh and arched into the hands that now cupped her breasts through the material of her dress. Music and chatter from the gallery below faded away as her husband’s touch stole her inhibitions. Oh, hell, who was she kidding? She didn’t have any inhibitions.
But Caleb usually did.
Determined to take advantage of the lapse, she reached between them and made quick work of his zipper.
“Gina.”
They froze when Devil’s amused voice floated up from the stairs. “Go away,” she called back.
“No.” He stood at the top of the stairs, a smirk on his handsome face. “Mary has locked the door, and it’s time to go.”
“Fuck.”
Devil laughed. “I just said not now,” he tossed over his shoulder as he headed down the stairs again. “Let’s go.”
Gina tucked her husband’s rigid cock back into his pants and carefully zipped his pants. She patted the hot bulge and ignored the slickness between her own thighs. “Let’s go do this so we can keep the plan of all day and night tomorrow alone intact.”
They left the gallery as a group. Drake and Melissa went in their car and Gina and Caleb sat in the backseat of Angelo’s SUV for the drive to his and Jewel’s condo. She laid her hand on her husbands thigh, loving the flex and shift of his muscles as she stroked him with her thumb. To keep her mind off of what was to come she asked about Nadya, Jewel’s younger sister, and sat back to listen to the tales of her adventures.
Nadya was a pureblood shapeshifter on her fathers side, and true gypsy on her mothers. Gina couldn’t help but laugh at some of the things she put Angelo and Jewel through. The best thing about it though, was seeing the effect the young woman had on Angelo. He’d grown up too fast, taking care of her after their father died, and by the time she could take care of herself, he’d been fighting wars, either with the military, then afterwards with HPG, hunting the monsters that go bump in the night. While it was clear to Gina that Jewel was his soul-mate, and they shared a deep love, she enjoyed the hunt just as much as he did, so it was good for both of them to have someone around to remind him that there was more to life than the hunt.
From what the couple said on the drive to their condo, the mischievous teenager did that on a regular basis.
“Nadya’s at a friends for the night,” Jewel said as the entered the condo. “But she did a cleansing and set everything up for us before she left.”
Drake and Melissa were already there, waiting for them, so Gina straightened her spine and headed into the living room. “Let’s get this done, then.”
She stared at the small coffee table in the middle of the condo’s living-room. It was draped with a black cloth and there was a candle in each corner of the table. When she got closer to it, she saw that the crystal already sat in the middle of the table and a big cushion was on the floor, so she kicked off her shoes and knelt down on it.
She looked up at their resident gypsy and tried to smile. “What do I do?”
“We’ll all be here, but you’re the only one who can perform the ritual. If you have trouble connecting, we can leave the room.” Jewel hesitated for a second. “But we don’t really want to do that, just in case.”
“You mean just in case we’re wrong and the guy comes into our realm swinging?”
“Exactly.”
Gina met her husband’s eyes and he nodded, finding a seat directly in he
r line of vision. “I won’t be going anywhere, no matter what.”
Comforted, she nodded. The others would never let anything happen to her; they’d kill without hesitation to protect her. She knew that. But Caleb was her rock. His love turned her inside out and kept her grounded at the same time.
“You’ll light the candles, do your vision thing. When you see him, even if you can’t communicate with him, recite the spell. If it all works, he should pop into the room.”
“Just like that, he’ll pop into the room, right? I won’t pop out, right?” God, if she got sucked into that crystal who would get her out? How would she live without Caleb?
“I’ve never done this before,” Jewel said. “But Kaz has, and I trust him.”
She looked at each person in the room one more time, and her heart calmed. They wouldn’t put her here, wouldn’t ask her to do this, unless they were sure she wouldn’t get trapped. Plus, even though she’d never met Kaz, Gina trusted the gypsy medicine man /guardian. If it hadn’t been for him, a couple of years ago she might’ve lost her mind to a demon spirit that had held Nadya hostage. She had to trust that this would work the way they wanted it to. And if it didn’t, the others would find a way to get her out.
Gearing herself up, she gave the butterflies she’d tamped down earlier free rein in her stomach. Her hand shook slightly when she lit the candles, but she ignored it. When they were lit, she settled back on her heels and, after one last look at Caleb, she closed her eyes. Breathing deeply, she let go of all the heebie-jeebies she’d had since she first picked up the crystal and cleared her mind in order to open her inner eye.
When everything inside her was calm and all she saw in her mind was energy waves, Gina opened her eyes and reached for the crystal. Focusing her thoughts on the face she’d seen earlier, she stared into the gem. It grew warm in her hand and the air around her grew heavy. The murky film began to swirl over the surface of the stone before it parted to reveal the man. He wasn’t glaring this time; instead, he was studying her as diligently as she studied him.
