by Jessi Gage
Fear paralyzed her. Who’s there?
Joshua Ellis Harrison, Esquire, at your service, ma’am. And you must be Mistress Jade Alderwood. It’s a pleasure to finally speak with you, if you’ll pardon the term speaking. Come, now. Let’s at least get you eyes so you can see me. Just think about having form and wanting to see. You can do it. I know you have strength in you. You have shown it to me several times.
The kind and formal tones in the “voice” would fit well with the image of the young man she’d seen in her mirror. Mr. Shadow must be Joshua, whom she remembered from the article had been shot by Mrs. Birmingham. But that hadn’t been what killed him. From her dreams, she remembered Mercy had killed Joshua, with a knife to his heart, so Draonius could take his body.
God, it all sounded so crazy. But she’d seen it. She’d lived it, with Mercy driving her dreams.
Poor Joshua. He’d gone down to the pond to have a good time with his fiancée and he’d ended up possessed by a demon.
Dread slammed into her. Was that what just happened in the library? Had Draonius possessed her?
Eyes, Jade, if I may be so familiar. You will be less frightened if you have sight. You can trust my authority on that. And no, it’s not Draonius who has your body, but Mercy. Draonius is helping her hold it, though.
Fear thrummed through her, but she did what Joshua said. She wished for sight, and a moment later, she could see.
She was surrounded by a red, rocky desert. The arid ground she floated over was reddish brown and cracked like it hadn’t seen rain in eons. The sky was blood-red with orangey clouds. Massive stalagmites of scab-like rock jutted up like fingers reaching for the sky.
Her body, if it could be called a body, was something between smoke and spider webs. She could move. And she could feel, kind of, though what she felt was more like a weight of expectation where sensation should be. It was uncomfortable, but not intolerable.
She twisted around until she saw Joshua. At first glimpse, he looked like a shadow, black and man-shaped, with a top hat and cape. But looking more closely, she could see tiny strands of substance like a billion fine threads weaving him together.
She felt a small burst of warmth at the sight of him. He was something familiar. A friend.
The shadow smiled. I am pleased you seem happy to see me. However, I wish with all my heart we’d never had occasion to meet.
Where are we? Oh, God, please don’t let this be hell.
Hell is hotter, he answered, his face somber. This is the abyss. It is where Draonius resided until he ascended to the physical plane to feed on you. It is a prison of sorts for evil spirits.
A prison? For evil spirits? So what am I doing here? What are you doing here? You’re not evil. Wait, did you just say Draonius was feeding on me?
His shadow-mouth twitched. I am gratified you noticed I am not evil. I don’t know the why of this place. But I suspect it is located between Hell and the physical plane. It takes immense energy to cross from here to where mortals reside, so I gather this is where demons rest and plot. Draonius has given Mercy lease over your body and placed you here until he gains the strength to take your soul as an essence. And yes, he has been feeding on you. That is how he summoned enough power to cross to the physical plane.
There were so many things in what he’d just said that freaked her out to the point of screaming, but she still had no mouth. She had no lungs to hyperventilate with, either. Okay, okay, she thought as her mind tried to explode with terror. Keep it together.
To Joshua she thought, I’m no philosopher, but I’m pretty sure I don’t want Draonius to take my soul. And how the hell has he been feeding from me? A terrible realization struck her. Oh, God, it was all those sex dreams, wasn’t it?
The shadow nodded.
She burned with shame. She felt so used. So violated.
Rage surged through her. She wanted to cry and scream. She thought, mouth, give me a fucking mouth!
“That slimy, cock-sucking fucker!” she shouted in a voice that sounded remarkably like her own, but petered out too quickly in the flat atmosphere of the abyss.
Joshua cringed. I daresay that is some fairly strong language for a gentlewoman.
“Oh-ho, there’s nothing gentle about me. Tell me how I can get out of this place and I will kick that bastard’s ass. I will so avenge your death, and I swear on all that is holy I will get my body back.”
His eyes were wide black holes. While I appreciate the sentiment, might I suggest conserving your strength? Every action in the abyss requires energy, and seeing as you have no demon to care for your essence, your supply is woefully limited.
“What are you talking about? What’s all this about essences?”
I’d suggest you think to me rather than speak. It requires less energy.
She reluctantly obeyed. What happens if I run out of energy?
You die.
Not one to mince words, are you?
The shadow smiled sadly. Not when it’s a matter of life and death, my dear.
* * * *
Mercy trembled with excitement and trepidation. She had a body!
Draonius had helped her push Jade all the way out, and now the body was hers! But the fat man was walking toward her, and he would expect her to sound a certain way.
Speak as little as possible, Draonius had warned her. Obtain the items for the ritual and hide yourself away to await our Emmett.
“Hey,” the man said with a nod as he brought his tremendous mass to a stop before her. His meaty hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his short trousers. “Find anything?”
She had been riding unobtrusively along with Jade all day, doing her best to learn the woman’s speech patterns and mannerisms. She knew Jade had found the article about her death, and Joshua’s. That’s why she and Draonius had scrambled to take her body at such an inconvenient time. It wouldn’t do to have her tell the large man with the narrow view of demons about the fiasco at the pond.
She would have preferred to take Jade over just as she and Emmett were coming together for an embrace. Seduction she could do—she’d learned from the best. But conversing convincingly with this large, soft man who did not seem attracted to Jade’s lovely body in the least, that she was not at all confident she could manage.
She shook her head in answer to his question, resisting the urge to speak.
“Me either.” He sighed and looked at his timepiece, a chunky affair set into a broad leather band on his wrist. “It’s past lunch time. You hungry?”
Was she? It had been so long since she’d felt sensation of any kind other than the occasional jolt of pleasure or pain gifted her by Draonius. She suddenly became aware of the soft weight of Jade’s hair—no, her hair—on her shoulders, the caress of air on the skin of her chest, where her outer garment opened in a V to expose the neckline of a tiny, tight camisole. She would have blushed to have a man glimpse so much of her skin when she’d been alive. Beneath her outer garments, she felt the pleasant squeeze of an undergarment around her rib cage and under her breasts and the slight pressure of the garment Jade called underwear between the mounds of her bottom. Clothing in this century was really quite erotic. How did anyone focus on anything other than sex?
But she must focus or all could be lost. Her companion had asked about hunger. She thought about her stomach, realizing it did, in fact, feel somewhat empty. She’d known much greater hunger in her lifetime, but she nodded. A meal would be luxurious. And it would keep her new body strong.
“Mickey D’s or Subway?” he asked as she followed him out of the library. It took her a moment of searching Jade’s memory to decipher the question. Ah, these were names of shops where food might be acquired. “Mickey D’s” brought to mind images of Jade not being able to button her trousers. Jade preferred lighter fare.
“Subway,” she said, keeping her answer to the single word.
It seemed to satisfy her companion, who led the way to his “car.”
Draonius would b
e pleased with her for not drawing the man’s suspicion. She didn’t like being separated from her master, but she’d learned last night she could manage without him for a short time. Fortunately, the warm tingle of his power, shared with her in reward for her successful feeding last night, remained with her, reminding her he was sustaining her even if she could not communicate with him.
Once outside, she searched the trees for Draonius’s blackbird form, hoping to catch a glimpse of him. A caw drew her gaze to the full, green branches of an oak. There he was, peeking through the leaves, a sparkling bead of an eye and a sleek black beak. She smiled at him as he cocked his head in appraisal.
I love you, she thought, not sure if he could hear her.
He ruffled his wings in response, making her smile grow wider. It felt wonderful to smile again. A little laugh of joy escaped her lips as Emmett’s friend got into his shining, silver coach. She brought her hand to her mouth to smother it. She mustn’t let the delight of having a body distract her.
Standing alongside the “car”, she dreaded going inside. But if she didn’t, she would draw unwanted attention. Helped by Jade’s memory, she reached for the latch and after a moment of fumbling, lifted it to open the door. She swallowed her nerves and lowered herself to the fabric seat inside.
“You all right?”
She met her companion’s eyes and nodded. He patted her knee and she instinctively jerked away. His blond eyebrows pinched in concern as he drew his hand back.
“You sure? You seem awfully quiet.”
Frantically searching Jade’s memory for speech patterns, she said, “I’m just disappointed we didn’t find anything.” She took care to enunciate the words as Jade would have and tried not to look too nervous.
“Yeah. Me too. I don’t know what to say. Em’s going to be disappointed, too.” He blew a frustrated breath out his nose as he pushed a key into the car’s “steering wheel.” The car purred so quietly she almost couldn’t hear it. “I guess we’ll try to catch something at the house tonight. But then I’ve got to head back to school.”
She gripped her seat as the car backed up and then moved smoothly forward. Gradually, she relaxed her hands, telling herself there was nothing to fear. Jade had traveled in such a coach many times before.
She said, “Perhaps we can look for clues at my house after lunch. You and I might find something of value there.” She bit her lip, realizing her mistake. In her haste to get him to agree to take her home, where her supplies hopefully still were, she’d forgotten to consult Jade’s lexicon.
Her companion sketched a look at her. “All those old news papers have you talking funny, Jade.” He chuckled, then frowned in concentration. “Yeah, that’s probably a good idea. At least it’s something to do. Hey, put on your seatbelt.”
She jumped at the sharp, unfamiliar command but quickly deciphered it. Seeing in Jade’s memory how to do it, she obeyed at once and locked herself to her seat with the soft straps and their shiny metal clips.
“Sorry,” she said, this time using Jade’s words. “I’m a little distracted, I guess.”
“Yeah, tell me about it. Me, too. This is a noodler for sure.”
She raised her eyebrows at the man’s strange dialogue but said nothing.
At the Subway, she nearly had a panic attack trying to answer questions about what she wanted to eat. But Jade’s memory helped her once again and she managed to “order” acceptably. It was with a great deal of relief she realized her companion did not wish to talk with her as they ate their meal.
The bench she sat upon was hard, and the surroundings were overly bright, but she found herself enjoying the fare a great deal. It took all her control not to moan in ecstasy at the burst of sweet and tangy flavors on her tongue as she devoured her “six-inch turkey on wheat with lettuce, pickles, and low-fat dressing.”
She couldn’t wait to experience this new world with Draonius. What amazing delights these modern people had. What conveniences! She wanted to explore it all, savor everything. But that would have to wait. For now, she had a mission. And she must not fail.
Draonius was counting on her.
Chapter 19
One hundred years had changed much.
Mercy stood before her former home and took in all the similarities and differences. There was a porch made of glass jutting from the front of her house and a walkway of brick leading up to the door. The road was light gray “asphalt,” and the purple maples and other trees dwarfed the heights she’d thought impressive when she had been alive. The small barn where they’d stored the carriage and their two horses, three sheep, and dozen chickens was gone, replaced by a small shack with a crooked door. She wondered if there was still a large vegetable garden in the back.
Her companion produced a key and unlocked the door. She wanted to snatch the key out of his hand. This was her house. But she behaved. Jade wouldn’t have done such a thing, so she wouldn’t do it. She must do nothing suspicious.
“Where do you want to start?” he asked her.
She curled her lip at his expansive back as he stood in the hall with fists on his hips.
“How about you search downstairs and I search upstairs,” she suggested.
He gave her a skeptical look over his shoulder. “I don’t think so. Emmett would skin me alive if I let you out of my sight.”
Then Emmett would have a great deal of pale blubber on his hands.
She kept her thoughts to herself and said, “I thought you found nothing last night. It is safe to be separated, is it not?”
His eyes narrowed, and her heart skipped a beat as she realized she had spoken without consulting Jade’s lexicon again.
“I mean, Mr. Shadow’s not here anymore, right?”
His expression relaxed. “Just because I didn’t pick anything up last night doesn’t mean the entity isn’t here. It just means I wasn’t able to lure it out.”
She resented Draonius being called “it.” He was not some sort of animal or thing. He was her lover, her tender, powerful master. And he was most definitely male, not an “it.” She bit her tongue to keep from saying so.
Her companion went on. “I don’t want to take any chances with you. You might be the very thing that sparks the activity. We’re staying together,” he said with finality.
She huffed. So much for quickly gathering her supplies. She would have to pretend to look for “clues.”
They started in the basement. Fond recollection washed over her. This was where Jade had been the moment her essence had resonated with Draonius’s, letting him know the mortal had power to feed him with. She shivered with the remembered sensation. Then she puffed her chest with pride. They had as good as won. She had Jade’s body. And soon, Draonius would have Emmett’s.
As she imagined Draonius loving her in the flesh, her womanly parts swelled and moistened. This time, he would maintain control. He would not hurt her again. His loving would be bliss.
Working their way up through the house, she answered questions about the times Jade had seen Joshua. Her companion asked her repeatedly if she felt anything out of the ordinary, and she always answered, “no,” even though it felt extraordinary to have the senses of the living again.
Upon reaching the second floor, her eyes flew immediately to her bedroom door. It was stained a deeper brown on the outside than it had been when she’d lived here. Or perhaps it had darkened with age. She itched to look inside, to see if the inside face of the door was still painted with eggshell-white enamel, if her floral wallpaper was the same, if the smaller door to her closet was still the same green as the handle of father’s best hoe. Most of all, she longed to throw open her closet door and discover whether the hiding place she’d found behind a loose plank had kept her secrets all these years.
“What about outside?” she asked, hoping to separate herself from her companion so she could search for her supplies. “Could there be any clues out there?”
He shrugged as he fingered a blanket on the bed in the
turret bedroom. “I don’t know. I’m not noticing anything strange. Other than seeing exactly where the activity has been, I’m not getting a whole lot out of this.” He put his hands on his hips, looking weary and irritable.
“I know. Sorry. I just thought, you know, maybe daylight would turn something up.” She felt like a dimwit speaking so casually, but her companion spoke similarly, and he didn’t seem suspicious of her.
He moved forward and patted her shoulder, shaking his head.
She forced herself not to flinch away.
“Come on. Let’s go. There’s nothing here. I’ll look around again with my equipment tonight, see if anything makes itself known. But until then, I think we’re wasting our time.”
“Okay,” she agreed. “I’ll meet you down stairs. I just need to—” She cleared her throat. “Look, I need some...woman things.”
He blushed. “Oh. Uh, sure. I’ll just…” Looking awkward, he retreated down the stairs. “I’ll just be in the hall, here. Shout if you need anything.”
“Okay, thanks.”
Finally! With no time to lose, she dashed into her old room, shutting and locking the door behind her.
The shell of her room remained the same. There was the eggshell-white enamel under her palms as she leaned back on the door, there was the floral wallpaper, and there was the green closet door. Unfortunately, the latter two were almost entirely obscured by wall-to-wall, floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
Books and hand-hewn shelving covered every available surface, rendering the room little more than a closet, itself. The floor space was scarcely sufficient to hold the two pieces of furniture within the room, an overstuffed reading chair and a lamp near the window.
Ire brought a growl from her throat. She hadn’t the time to deal with this obstacle!
Yet she must. And quickly, lest her companion come searching for her.
