But the magic part? She would not believe the magic part. So she might think I was in an even crazier cult.
“Why are you talking to Dakota and not me?” I asked.
“I’m—I’m very flustered.”
“Nicole, you’re my best friend. You’ve always been there for me. So I’m going to just be direct. That island is magical. Literally. It’s part of another realm and those guys have elemental powers and they protect the island. But they can’t fully protect it without a wife. That’s why they sent me the brochure. Their magic suggested I might be open to the idea.”
“What.” Nicole’s voice was low.
I don’t know. The rest was kind of a blur of me trying to offer detailed explanations and the whole thing descending into screaming: “Magic is not real. I can’t believe this. Are you really saying this right now?” “Prove it, then!” “Oh, of course it only works on the island. How convenient.”
Nicole was in tears, telling me she was going to call my mom and she refused to let me go with them, the guys pounding on the door, Nicole telling them to go the fuck home. I knew Nicole was only trying to protect me, that was the worst of it, and I understood why she was doing this. She had talked me down from other bad relationships and from the somewhat unreal world of the internet, and I knew she thought I had just traded the virtual world for a greater delusion.
In the middle of this, around sunrise, Dakota’s phone rang.
“I think it’s…the other guy,” she said.
“Give it to me,” I said.
“I don’t know if that’s a good idea,” Nicole said, but Dakota handed me the phone anyway. Dakota had barely said a word this entire time, but I had this feeling that she really really wanted to believe me. She already believed in astrology, reincarnation, guardian angels, aliens, and pretty much everything else that was up for societal debate.
“Hey,” Van said. “I’m sorry it might be too early. That just occurred to me. Is Alister there?”
“Uh…not at the moment.”
“Are you all right? I hope the trip is going well. Can you give Alister a message?”
“Okay…”
“Tell him 5545 Old Clock Street, Shady Haven, Pennsylvania.”
I froze. “What is that?”
“He’ll know.”
“Van, tell me. That’s—the address of my first boyfriend’s parents’ house.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. I’m almost positive. I went with him to visit them once.”
“Then…he’s your troll. Alister had me use a divination spell to track the guy who’s been saying all those things to you.”
I was hyperventilating a little. “I’ll call you back.” I looked at Nicole. “He says that Joseph…is the troll. He’s living at his parents house in Pennsylvania. Van’s still on the island so Alister asked him to track him down with a spell.”
Nicole made a pained face. “That’s—I mean—obviously they used some kind of technology to trace him.”
“Those guys don’t know how to use a microwave or a remote control,” Dakota said. “They talk like frickin’ time travelers who are trying their best to fit in. Dante didn’t know what a microaggression is, and he’d never heard of the Daily Show and I’m not entirely sure he knew what the Oscars were either.”
“When were you having this much conversation with Dante?” I asked. “And what on earth was it about?”
She shrugged. “I can’t remember. It started when I was telling him about the concept of body shaming.”
“Yikes,” I murmured.
“Anyway. What I’m trying to say is, if they know how to trace random commenters on the internet from your phone, they must have a guy, because they are clearly clueless about everything. And if they do have a guy, I have to ask why. And if they don’t know have magical spells that can find particular people, then how did they know to send a brochure here on the very day that you decided to go on this vacation? And also, have you seen them, Nic? They are unnaturally hot. I mean, way beyond even that one bartender hot. And they actually wanted to like, hook up with Edie together. Have you ever met two super hot guys in real life who were cool with sharing you between them? That is a unicorn.”
“You actually believe this?” Nicole asked.
“I mean…maybe? And if it’s true, I want to know if this is the only island…like, I’m serious. If there’s a mailing list for these brochures…”
I could see wheels turning in Nicole’s mind, scrambling for an explanation. “No. I’m sorry. There has to be a scientific explanation. I would go to this island and find out, but I’d rather not end up involved in some kind of foreign crime ring or whatever this turns out to be.”
“Nicole…please. I need to go… I—I really feel this is what I was meant to do and the guys can’t leave the island for long. I can’t go back to my normal life now. But you’re my best friend.”
Nicole just sat there brooding. “If you need to go, go,” she said, before putting her head in her hand.
Dakota stood up and showed me out the door. She gave a faint smile to Alister and Dante, who were waiting right outside. “I believe you, Edie. It’s crazy, but I really do. The way everything unfolded, and besides that, you seem so much happier since you came back. You really are like a different person.”
“We need to go,” Dante said. “Are you with us, Bright Eyes?”
I lingered by the door. I knew I would be able to return someday, but leaving Nicole like this…without even a hug…after we’d been best friends since college…
“I’ll come visit,” Dakota said. “And report back to her.” She held her arms open.
“Thanks,” I said tearfully. “Love you, girl. Tell Ms. Stubborn that I love her too…”
“Of course.”
This time, I packed more stuff. It went fast with the guys helping me. We climbed into my car and I pulled out of the driveway.
“How far is Pennsylvania?” Alister asked. “Should we be inside of a car for that long?”
“If it weakens us, it weakens us,” Dante said, his eyes practically glowing with the prospect of vengeance. “I’m sure we’ll still have enough muscle to take this guy on.”
“If the troll is your ex…,” Alister said, “do you still want us to pay him a visit?”
“Are you kidding? If the troll is my ex, I especially want you to pay him a visit.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Edie
Who would have guessed I would be pleasured by the hands of a demon while driving on an empty country back road?
I probably shouldn’t recommend it for safety reasons, but damn. Way to take a girl’s mind off things. And I certainly had enough to distract my mind. I’d been driving along in simmering silence around mountains, bouncing between thinking of Joseph being the troll—I officially had the worst taste in men, although hopefully not anymore—and how Nicole just couldn’t believe me. I felt almost bad for even subjecting her to that much of a shift in her world view. Nicole didn’t even believe in ghosts despite that I swear our dorm had one.
And then Alister oh so casually slipped his hand onto my thigh. I didn’t stop him. Before I knew, his hand had deftly unbuttoned my shorts and plunged between my legs, teasing my clit.
“Eyes on the road, dear,” he said, when I drifted a little.
“We’re going to plunge off a mountain because of you,” Dante grumbled. He didn’t like being stuck in the back.
“Edie looked like she needed to relax,” Alister said.
“Yeah,” I gasped. “It’d be nice if you guys could drive.”
“I can drive a horse,” Dante said.
“Oh…we should get some horses…on the island…” I was panting hard as Alister’s stroke grew less teasing and more firm, and Dante’s hand reached out and steadied the wheel for me.
“We’re getting close,” Alister said, taking back his hand and looking at the map as I made an attempt to compose myself.
“Close
…yeah…”
We’d been on the road for about five hours already. Some of this was looking familiar. I met Joseph in college. He was from some mountain town sort of outside of Pittsburgh, but not close enough to actually be anywhere. He complained about it a lot, but then he wanted to take me home to meet his parents. While my parents hated him, his parents were absolutely delighted with me. They were older than my parents and I remembered how his mom served us canned vegetables and cheap ham sandwiches. Joseph was the first person in his family to go to college. When I reached the ranch house, it was smaller than I remembered, with a sporty but beaten up Toyota in the driveway along with a mud splattered truck.
Looking at it, I felt like kind of a jerk.
“Is this it?” Dante asked.
“Yeah…”
“Don’t tell me you’re having second thoughts.”
“Well, I don’t want to like…beat him up. This place isn’t exactly a mansion. I don’t know what the point is.”
“I don’t care if he lives on the street,” Dante said. “The point is revenge.”
“He was upsetting you and scaring you and he didn’t tell you who he was,” Alister said. “It just so happened that you know the guy, but he might be saying that stuff to other girls too. Do you deserve that just because he doesn’t live in a mansion? And this doesn’t exactly look that terrible either. In fact, it looks like your house.”
“No it doesn’t!” Okay, good point, I also lived in a brick ranch from the 60s. “It has…a tacky door.”
“Sinistrals don’t take shit from people, Bright Eyes.”
I looked at them, gripping the steering wheel. The idea of me, sweet save-the-world Edie, not taking shit, still sounded kind of alien. But I was getting better at it, and a lot of that was thanks to them. I fought for them on the island without really knowing what I was getting into, and when it came to the three of them, I had noticed how they fought together when it was important, but they also provided a check on each other. I was starting to see how you could balance these things.
“Yeah, you’re right. Let’s go.” I turned off the car and threw open the door. I was so nervous about this but Dante had a point. Maybe there was something to be said for confronting your enemies. It’s so much easier when they’re just animals, and I’m carrying a shovel…
But when I thought about the pile of messages he’d sent, and how he always knew exactly what to say to get under my skin… He had taken advantage of our time together and the fact that I put myself out there on the internet, and he used it torment me, hiding under a veil of anonymity so it was never a fair fight.
I banged on the door. Dante and Alister were behind me, hanging back on the sidewalk, but whoever answered would definitely see them.
The door opened and Joseph answered. He still had the penetrating hazel eyes that drew me to him once upon a time, but I remembered the anger in them too, and that certainly hadn’t gotten better. He looked more built than I remembered, like he’d been working out, which surprised me. I didn’t expect internet trolls to hit the gym. He looked really old for his age, I thought; his brow had a permanent angry crease.
As soon as it dawned on him who he was looking at, his expression changed. I saw a flicker of…lust?
Ugh.
“Edie. Man. I don’t believe it. You look great. What are you doing here?”
“I want an apology.”
He laughed. “For what?
“For trolling me.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
For a brief second, I freaked out. What if he was actually telling the truth and the guys had messed up? But then I reminded myself—I’d seen enough magic to believe in it. There was no way they could have known this address. “Okay, fine. I want to see your Youtube account right now.”
“What? Do you have a search warrant? What the hell is this? I’m not trolling you. I thought maybe you were in the neighborhood and thinking back on old times.”
“Someone has been sending me messages for months, Joseph. This person has watched all my old videos. They seem to know my insecurities. They hate Adam Lambert, which seems to fit you… And they’ve called me a bitch and implied they would like to choke me and assault me and that they know where I live.”
“That’s terrible.”
He was only stirring up my anger. “I traced him to you.”
“It must be a mistake. I would never do that. I’m insulted that you would even think something like that. You know I really respect strong women.”
“Yeah, and you used to get mad at me when I cried,” I said. “Maybe you don’t think I’m a strong woman. You certainly know what makes me cry. If it’s not you, then really, is it a big deal to show me your Youtube account?”
He laughed incredulously. “You’re crazy paranoid! You can’t trace a Youtube comment. I think you must have somehow created this scenario in your mind because I guess you’re still upset about our breakup or something, which is even more stupid considering you broke up with me.”
“Let me in,” I said. “Or else.”
“Or else? Or else what? Or else I call the cops on my crazy ex?”
It seemed like he had not actually noticed Dante and Alister standing on the sidewalk outside his house. Probably because his eyes were so divided between my face, my breasts, and my legs. When I was eighteen and just coming out of my high school gawkiness, and I thought he was the hottest boy on campus, I actually loved how he ogled me. Now I thought, If you’re going to ogle my lady bits, you better be prepared to back it up with some fucking worshipping of them…
Dante and Alister came forward now. “Or else we—“ Dante began.
Alister cut him off. “We know you’re the one who has been harassing Edie,” he said.
“Who are these guys?” I will say one thing, Joseph didn’t back down. He had always had his fair share of macho posturing but it wasn’t all talk.
“We’re with her and that’s all you really need to know,” Dante said.
“Look, guys, it’s not me. Come on. There is no way you could know that. And of course I’m not going to let you come into my house and look at my accounts. That’s an invasion of privacy and you know, I’m a single guy. I don’t want my ex to see what I’m looking at on my damn Youtube account. If I pulled this shit on you, Edie, you’d be furious.”
“I do know it’s you,” I said. “Which means you also know it’s you, and you’re lying to my face this whole time. Well, I’ll have to break it to you. I’m leaving the internet. Not because of you, but because I’ve met someone, and I’ve fallen in love with a place, and I’m going to live a life where you can never touch me.”
“But we’re keeping an eye on you,” Alister said. “If I find out you’ve been trolling anyone else, I’m going to tell that person who you really are. I will find information that will ruin you. I will hire witches to curse you. My magic doesn’t work here. But it works in the world between. That’s how we found you, Joseph. We don’t need to trace your ‘comment’.”
“And I want you to apologize to Edie,” Dante added.
“You’re—really crazy. I’m calling the cops.”
“Try,” Dante said, slapping a hand on the door frame.
Joseph’s front cracked slightly for the first time. He wouldn’t look at me.
“You’re pathetic,” I said. “Just tell me you did it. And we’ll leave. That’s all I want. I want you to admit it.”
“I—look.”
“No! No ‘look’. I don’t want to hear a bunch of excuses.”
“Well, you weren’t exactly an angel when you broke up with me.”
I snorted. “It was a break up! You know me. It was killing me to hurt you. I was trying to explain and you kept asking for more details. And then I had to walk away. Even if the breakup was ugly, are you actually trying to say that you were justified in stalking me and threatening me? If anyone should be calling the cops right now, it’s me!”
“We
ll, I think you’re not as nice as you think you are.” He leaned in close to me.
“You’re right. I’m not.” I kneed him in the groin. Which was more contact with his groin than I had ever wanted to have again, but the result was wicked satisfaction as he staggered back with a look of surprise.
“Fuck!” He tried to slam the door on us. Alister caught the knob.
“Do you want us to do anything else to this little shit?” Dante asked.
“No,” I said. “I hope he thinks twice before doing that to anyone again, that’s all. I hope he gets some help. I’m not trying to wreck his life, I just don’t want him wrecking anyone else’s.”
Joseph tried to shut the door, but Dante’s hand shot out and wrapped around his neck. Joseph turned red. “Yeah, we will,” he said. “You have choking fantasies, huh? How’s this one going?”
Joseph tried to sputter out some words as he clawed at Dante’s rock solid hand. Alister just smiled as his face reddened.
Dante finally let him go when he started to thrash more urgently. “Magic can find you anywhere,” he said. “I would start believing in it now…for the sake of your safety.”
Joseph slumped back against the door, rubbing his neck. Alister shut his door for him.
Dante took the front seat for the next leg of the journey. “Sorry, Bright Eyes. You told me not to beat him up, but I had to do something.”
I slid back into the driver’s seat and tried not to smile.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Edie
It was a long drive back to Maine. The guys were dragging and looking kind of pale from all the exposure to electricity. We found some cabins to stay in at one of the state parks with forests surrounding, and that helped a little, but I saw how much they were bound to their island and their own world with my own eyes.
It’ll be good to get home, I thought.
I would still have to figure out how to explain this to my family, but as I lay in bed between two of my guys (Dante thrashing just a little), looking at the stars out the window, I was determined to run toward and not away from.
Tempted by Demons: A Reverse Harem Paranormal (Brides of the Sinistral Realms) Page 14
