“None taken.”
“But he wouldn’t listen. To him, it sounded romantic. Dying for your one true love.” The bracelets around her wrist jangled as she sat on the edge of his bed. “He may look like a linebacker but he’s actually a huge softie.”
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Daemon shouldn’t have broken Mrs. Ruth’s heart. She loved him enough for both of them and most importantly; he would have remained safe in her care. “He should have stayed here.”
“I used to believe that for a long time,” Mrs. Ruth said solemnly. “It was the fantasy that helped me sleep at night. However, I never loved Daemon like I loved Laurence with wild abandon. Safe equals boring and who wants boring?”
Glancing at Daemon, my mouth tugged into a grin. “What Daemon and I have is anything but that.”
“Exactly. While it was the hardest decision I have made, it was the correct one to set him free. Daemon wouldn’t have been happy here, knowing you were out in the world unprotected, and he has enough regrets.”
If somebody told me I would have developed strong feelings for Daemon a week ago, I would have called them nuts. He was a thorn in my side that never quit, but damn it, he was my thorn and I wouldn’t have it any other way. As I smoothed hair from Daemon’s forehead, he stirred in his sleep.
“The vitality spell should prolong the inevitable. However, it hasn’t cured him, remember that.” Mrs. Ruth said sternly. “You have three days max to defeat the priest and after that there is nothing left I can do for Daemon’s soul. It will evaporate in the jar that contains it.”
I heard an imaginary clock ticking down the minutes until Daemon was ripped out of my life for good. I wouldn’t let that happen though since there were two lives on the line now. His and mine. Unfortunately, we had unearthed nothing of use in the apothecary so the details on how we were going to do that were murky at best.
“Do you have any leads yet?” I asked.
“Almost.” She rose from her place on the bed and walked out of the room, abruptly ending the conversation.
As the day turned to night, my butt stayed firmly planted in the seat next to Daemon’s bed. Mrs. Ruth’s servants came by with water and food, which I hardly touched. My stomach was in too many knots to eat. Mrs. Ruth was a gifted healer, however, when it came to magic, it appeared as if the voodoo priest ruled in that area. What if she couldn’t find anything and Daemon and I left New Orleans unarmed with targets on our backs? I chased away the discerning thought. Daemon let out a groan and opened his eyes. They were back to their normal striking green. Relief flooded my veins.
“Hey you,” I said. “Welcome back to the world of the living.”
Daemon flopped his head to the side, setting me in his sights. “Very funny. What happened?”
“You almost died and then Mrs. Ruth made you drink some kind of spell that slowed the demise of your soul.”
“I guess the voodoo priest wasn’t kidding around.”
“No, he wasn’t.”
Daemon struggled to sit up. I slid my hand underneath his arm and helped him get situated against the pillows. “This bed is too small,” he grumbled.
“That’s the least of our worries right now. We have to leave as soon as possible. Mrs. Ruth said you only have three days left before the spell wears off.”
“I told you, Sky. I don’t care if I die as long as you’re safe.”
It irritated me that Daemon had such disregard for his own mortality. He had regrets just like everybody else but that didn’t mean he had to suffer because of them. Plus he was being selfish and not thinking about the pain his death would cause to the people who cared about him the most. Namely me.
I gripped his t-shirt. “Well, I care and as far as I am concerned you are not going anywhere.”
Daemon was a smart man because he didn’t argue with me. He simply took what I said at face value and changed the subject. “How long was I out?”
I released his shirt and settled into the cushion of the armchair. “A couple of hours.”
He studied the hardwood planks of the ceiling, his brain working on overdrive. Minutes or hours ticked by in relative silence. Time didn’t exist in this little corner of the house. My eyelids grew heavy as the day’s events settled over me.
As I was about to give into sleep, Daemon spoke. “Don’t let what happened scare you off, Sky. I will never stop loving…”
“Don’t say those words.” I blurted out. Rejection skittered over his features. Smiling to show I meant no harm, my hand squeezed his thigh. “Don’t say those words until you are safe to say them.”
He nodded in understanding and grinned wickedly. “You know? There is one sure fire way to stop the voodoo priest.”
A laugh bubbled out of my throat. “You’re such a boy. You almost died and you’re already thinking about sex.”
“It’s your fault.” Daemon tugged me out of the chair and onto his lap where my legs straddled his hips. “Stop being so sexy.”
“If you stop first.”
I tugged a lock of his hair, coaxing a smile out of him. Daemon clamped his hand around my wrists and held my arms above my head. Lust blossomed between my thighs as he looked at me with enough fire to set the room ablaze.
“You undo me,” he breathed.
He nibbled my bottom lip as he weakened me with kisses. He let go of my hands so that they could roam the hard apex of his muscles. They rippled underneath my touch.
I yanked his shirt over his head and groaned at the sight of his beautiful skin on display. “It’s not fair how pretty you are.”
Daemon chuckled as his fingers splayed over my ribcage, creating a path of fire underneath my breast. My eyes fell shut and my body arched into his hands. The dress I wore was discarded over my head.
“Beautiful,” he whispered.
His mouth pressed against my stomach, and his fingers brushed over my nipple while he built a fierce and furious need with his hands. Nothing else existed in this moment except our desire for each other. Whatever regrets we had, whatever pain we felt vanished into a wisp of smoke.
A knock on the door interrupted us. I tore my mouth away from Daemon’s, breathing heavily. His thickness against my thigh was a taunting reminder of what could’ve happened.
He rested his forehead against mine and swore under his breath. “I really regret not taking you on the boat.”
“Yeah, but based on your performance in this bed, the boat would have tipped over and who wants moss in their private parts?”
Daemon arched an eyebrow. “Moss?”
The knocking grew louder. I removed myself from Daemon’s lap and grabbed my dress off the floor. “Doesn’t moss grow in swamps? I thought I read that somewhere.”
Daemon pressed a kiss against my spine while he wrapped his arms around my waist, tugging me backwards. “No clue, Mrs. Smarty pants but I’ll show you a few things I do know.”
I’m sure he could. Daemon was by far the most gifted lover I had been with. The things he could with his tongue…a shudder coursed through me. If only whoever was knocking on the door hadn’t interrupted us, I’d be sedated with pleasure right now.
Laughing, I regretfully swatted away his hand. “Next time, and there will be a next time.“
“Can’t wait.” He lifted my hair off my neck and planted another kiss against my skin. “Seriously, I CAN’T wait.”
“Yes, you can because I will make it worth it.”
The knocking raged on and an annoyed expression lit up Daemon’s face. “Hold on,” he yelled.
“It’s important,” Mrs. Ruth’s voice sounded from the other side of the wooden door. “Trust me.”
Once we were presentable, Daemon nodded at me to let Mrs. Ruth in. As my fingers were about to turn the doorknob, she barged inside.
“I have great news.” Her excitement was bubbling over. “Correction. Fabulous news.”
Daemon and I shared an expectant look. Mrs. Ruth paced the small floor plan of the room while the
suspense escalated until finally it became too much.
“Will you please tell us?” I exclaimed. “Or do we need to pry it out of you? Jesus, you’re as bad as my mother.”
Mrs. Ruth skidded to halt. Mischief glinted in her eyes as her hand slid into her robe and pulled out two bottles. When she held them out for us to see, the red and green liquid shimmered through the glass vessels.
“What is that?” I breathed.
“This,” she said triumphantly. “This is the answer to your prayers.”
I hoped on all the stars in the universe it was a spell to rid the voodoo priest of his magic. Otherwise, Mrs. Ruth had an awful sense of humor. Daemon beckoned her to continue.
She shook the red vial. “It took a little tinkering, a dash of witches brew, a smidgen of ox hair, and a drop of Sky’s blood.”
My mouth dropped open. “You took my blood? How did you take my blood?” I searched my arms for evidence but there wasn’t any pinpricks or track marks.
“I had to harness the power of good into liquid form. Your blood was the purest I could find.” Her gaze raked over my wrinkled dress. “At least it was.”
Daemon staking claim to my body flashed through my mind. A blush heated my cheeks. Mrs. Ruth got her answer and gave me a knowing smile.
“So this red liquid is the power of good?” Daemon questioned.
“Yes. Sometimes things aren’t as complicated as you make them. Basically, I tried to think of what cancels out evil when suddenly it came to me.” Mrs. Ruth smacked her forehead like it was so obvious. “Good cancels out evil. So I ran upstairs, pricked Sky’s thumb when she was sleeping and conjured up a spell.”
I don’t recall falling asleep, yet again; these past few hours were hazy. “How does it work?”
“I haven’t had time to test it, but with luck the spell will act like holy water and strip the voodoo priest of his powers.”
The notion of going in blind without any weapons and or a spell that might or might not work sounded like an awful scheme.
Daemon came to the same conclusion. “Thank you for your help, but it sounds too risky. If the spell haywires and acts likes a mere bath instead, Sky and I are dead.”
Mrs. Ruth pursed her lips. “I understand your concerns but what other choice do you have? You and Sky will be compote if you don’t try it.”
My body sagged into the armchair next to Daemon’s bed, overcome with despair. In the corner of my eye, I saw my cell phone peeking out from underneath the cushion. It must have fallen out of my pocket. Grabbing the phone, the screen lit up with five new messages from my mom. Unease turned in my stomach. I listened to the first one.
“Sky, it’s me. Emily’s mom called and said she was missing since last night. Do you know anything about this? Where are you?” Beep. “Sky, seriously. Call me back.” My mother’s voice increased with alarm as the messages continued.
I put the phone down and sucked my teeth between my lips. Emily’s mom could simply be overreacting and assuming the worst. Though, something in my gut told me she wasn’t.
“What’s wrong?” Daemon asked.
“Emily has been missing since last night and I can bet you thousand dollars I know exactly who has a role in her disappearance.”
“The voodoo priest?” Daemon guessed correctly.
“Yup.” Rage caused my hands to shake violently. The voodoo priest already took away Melissa. He was in for a world of hurt if he harmed a single hair on Emily’s head as well.
Daemon shifted over to the side of the bed and cradled my hands. “You don’t know that for sure. Why don’t you give Emily a call?” He spoke gently, which enraged me further.
“I do know that for sure because he will destroy everybody I care about to get to me.”
“She’s right,” Mrs. Ruth confirmed. “The voodoo priest doesn’t care about anything but the end goal.”
Daemon cut her a look to shut up then turned his attention back to me. “What’s the harm in calling? Worst-case scenario is she doesn’t answer. Then you call Lucy. Somebody has to have a clue.”
His rationale seeped into my brain and talked me off the crazy cliff. Grabbing my phone, I tossed it at Daemon. “Can you punch in her number?”
“Sure.” His index finger scrolled through my contacts until he reached Emily’s name. “You ready?”
Taking a deep breath to prepare myself for the good, the bad and the awful, my chin dipped in a yes. He tapped the screen and handed me back my cell phone. “It’s ringing.”
I anxiously pressed it against my ear. Once, twice, three times…I let out a lungful of air when the line clicked on.
“Hello, Sky.” The voice didn’t belong to Emily. It was unemotional, calculating and unless Emily had switched genders, male.
“Who is this?”
“Who do you think it is? Oh, play along. I do love games,” he said gleefully.
These past few days, my imagination had built the voodoo priest into a faceless man without a voice. Now that he was on the other side of the phone, the pieces started to fit together and formed a sicker character than I could ever possibly dream up. Emily was in grave danger.
“I don’t. I hate games. Especially the kind you play,” I spit out.
Daemon’s eyes danced with questions while he mouthed, “Who is it?”
Shaking my head, I turned my back to him and walked out into the hallway. If Daemon knew it was the voodoo priest, he would force me to hang up. However, right now, gathering as much information about Emily’s whereabouts was imperative.
“Ouch, I’m hurt,” the voodoo priest said.
“Look, cut the bullshit. Where is my friend?”
“You mean Emily?” A woman’s scream sounded in the background. “Don’t worry, she isn’t dead…yet.”
“You sick asshole.” I brought the cell phone closer to my mouth. “Why are you taking innocent lives to resurrect a religion nobody gives two shits about? Not to mention following century old traditions.”
The voodoo priest’s voice dripped with hatred. “Don’t you dare question me about traditions when you have no clue what that word means. You were born to give up your life so that Santeria could thrive. Stop running away and face your fate, Sky.”
“Nobody as psychotic as you should be in charge of leading a community of people.”
“And nobody as selfish as you should have been chosen as the gifted one. Yet here we are.”
Instead of matching wits with him, I had to ensure Emily wouldn’t be harmed with a deal he couldn’t refuse, but first things first. “Put Emily on the phone and we will figure something out.”
The voodoo priest clicked his tongue as he considered my demand. A strong urge to yank it out of his mouth overcame me. “Ok. You have one minute.”
A second later Emily’s sweet voice flooded the phone line. Tears of relief sprang to my eyes. “Are you ok?”
“Considering I was thrown into the back of a van blindfolded and dragged to an abandoned warehouse, yeah, I’m perfect.”
I was happy to hear her sarcasm was still intact. It meant the voodoo priest hadn’t broken her yet. “I’m sorry, Emily. This is my fault and I intend to get you out of there as soon as possible. Promise.”
“Why is this your fault? What haven’t you told me?”
Literally everything was almost my response but since we only had a minute, I had to strip the facts to the bare bones and somehow get to the meat of the story. “Basically, the creepy guy who kidnapped you wants to drain me of my blood because it’s part of an old world tradition to become a high ranking official in the Santeria religion. You are being used as bait.”
“I have no idea how to respond or process any of that information.”
“Neither did I at first but when somebody wants to kill you, you learn quickly.”
Emily’s tough girl front dropped away and left behind a scared teenage girl. “Please just come save me. I want to go home.”
Before I could offer any comfort our ti
me together had expired. I heard Emily’s screams of protest as the phone was taken away from her. It broke my heart into a million pieces. Even if it killed me, Emily would come out of the priest’s clutches alive.
The voodoo priest came back on the line. “See, she’s fine and well. Now what’s your end of the bargain?”
I couldn’t believe I was about to offer myself on a silver platter. Nonetheless, another one of my friends shouldn’t die because of me. “If you let Emily go, I’ll give you what you want.”
“Your blood?”
The greed in his voice made my stomach turn over. Our agreement had holes in it and wasn’t thoroughly thought out. Things could go wrong and the stakes were high. I didn’t see another option in sight though. My blood was my only bargaining chip.
“Yes,” I gulped. “My blood.”
“Delightful. I knew you would come around.”
“Only because you kidnapped my friend.”
“The semantics are not important. You have until tomorrow night. We will be waiting for you at the warehouse closest to the end in downtown Castor,” he directed.
“Awesome,” I said sarcastically.
“And, Sky? I’ll be looking forward to it.”
The last thing I heard before the phone call ended was the sound of his maniacal laughter, which would haunt my dreams for nights to come. I stared at the device and debated calling my mom. Her worry was probably at sky-high levels right now. Still, there was a lot to do before tomorrow night and every second counted. Nonetheless, to guarantee my mom didn’t alert the police, my fingers flew over the keyboard as I sent her a quick text. With that taken care of, I placed the phone in my pocket and returned to the bedroom.
Daemon’s taut expression met mine when I entered. “I don’t appreciate being kept in the dark.”
“Sorry, but it was the voodoo priest.”
Both Daemon and Mrs. Ruth were taken aback at this curveball I had thrown at them. They quickly recovered though and started to talk at once.
Their overlapping voices broke the thin thread of my sanity. “SHUTUP,” I screamed. My eyelids squeezed shut as I said it again, quieter. “Just shut the hell up.”
The Accidental Kiss Page 17
