by Lori Sjoberg
“I guess we’ll be doing this the hard way,” the demon growled.
Fear froze Ruby in place. “Doing what?”
No answer. The demon’s hold around her waist released and she dropped the short distance to the floor. Before she had the chance to run for freedom, large hands gripped her neck and twisted. Her line of vision jerked to the left as pressure built in her neck. A loud crunching noise filled her ears, and then all sensation disappeared and her entire body went limp.
“Ruby, answer me!” Heart pounding with fear and adrenaline, Jack kicked the cabin door again. This time, the wooden frame splintered. He gave one final shove with his shoulder, and the door swung loose on its hinges. Momentum sent him stumbling inside, and his blood froze at the scene.
A dark-skinned man held Ruby by the upper arm. Her body sagged against him like a broken doll, her slender neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Eyes wide and unblinking. Mouth agape. No signs of life.
The man’s eyes fixed on Jack, a self-satisfied smirk on his bloodied face. His free hand wrapped around Ruby’s broken neck. “That’s close enough, Mister Deverell,” he said, the menace unmistakable in his voice.
Jack stared back at Ruby’s attacker, torn by the need to get to Ruby but not wanting to see more harm come to her. And then there was the question of how the man knew his name. “Do I know you?”
“Yes, but it’s been a very long time, and things have changed quite a bit since then. To be honest, I never expected to lay eyes on you again. It was quite the surprise to see you on board.”
“I can’t say I share the same sentiment.” Gilrov railed against his bonds with shocking ferocity, but Jack forced him back into submission. A power struggle was the last thing he needed at a time like this. “Refresh my memory, because I have no clue who you are.”
“Drawing a blank, are you?” The man chuckled. “In that case, why don’t I give you a hint so we can finish this trip down Memory Lane?” His body shimmered, shrinking in size until a heavyset, dark-skinned woman stood behind Ruby.
“Keisha.” The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Now he understood why Gilrov was going ballistic. The demon had probably sensed Keisha’s presence long before she revealed her true nature to Jack.
“See? You do remember me, after all.” She gave him a smile that looked more like a sneer. “And to think, you barely afforded me a backward glance when I worked inside your family’s home.”
“Is that why you cursed me? Because I didn’t pay you enough attention?”
Keisha scoffed. “Don’t be silly, Mister Deverell. You never meant anything to me.”
The answer rendered him momentarily speechless. “Then—then why?”
She gave him a look of unwashed disdain. “You were nothing more than practice. I needed to test the binding spell before trying it on myself. Once I knew it worked on you, I used the same spell to remove the soul from another demon’s body and then replaced it with my own. As you can see, it worked perfectly.” She laughed, but the sound lacked humor. “Typical male. So full of himself.”
The news settled like rocks in his stomach. “I don’t understand. You said you’d remove the curse if I called off my wedding with Victoria. Why would you do something like that if you didn’t harbor any feelings for me?”
“Because Victoria Hughes was a snobby bitch who deserved a lesson in humility. Every time she visited the Deverell estate, she looked at me as if I were less than human. You could have done so much better for yourself.”
“She died because of you,” Jack said through clenched teeth. “The curse took her life on our wedding night.”
“Is that so?” The question lacked an ounce of concern. Her body shimmered, morphed back into the hulking, dark-skinned man. “What a pity.”
All this time, he’d thought Keisha cursed him because of unrequited affection. To learn he’d been nothing more than a guinea pig, the hapless victim of another’s whim, infuriated him. He took another step closer, and Keisha’s grip around Ruby’s neck visibly tightened.
“One more step, and I’ll separate her head from her shoulders.”
“You do that, and I’ll tear you to pieces.”
“Doubtful. You’re in no position to issue threats, Mr. Deverell. It’s been a very long time since you’ve held any power over me.” Keisha jerked Ruby’s neck, and her head swiveled in his direction. “I’m sure you don’t want to find out what happens if I rip her head from her body.”
He realized that Ruby couldn’t die from her injuries, but he didn’t want to test the limits of her immortality, and he certainly didn’t want her to suffer.
Ruby blinked. At first he thought he’d imagined the movement, but then she blinked twice more. Her mouth moved as if she was trying to speak, and his heart squeezed tight in his chest. It wasn’t much, but it gave him hope that they might just make it out of this mess alive and intact.
“It seems we’re at a bit of a standoff.” He glanced back at the ruined door. “But I made a lot of noise breaking in here, so it’s only a matter of time before someone calls security.”
Keisha’s lips pursed. “Well then, I guess that means I better get to work. Isn’t that right, Gilrov?”
Jack had no idea what Keisha meant by the comment, but it sure as hell didn’t sound promising. Gilrov seemed to share the sentiment, his energy spiking through Jack’s blood. If he didn’t know better, he’d say the demon was frightened.
Keisha began to chant, the words tumbling out so fast they all seemed to blend together. The language sounded vaguely familiar, but the only word Jack recognized was “Gilrov.” With each passing second the deep baritone grew louder, and a crackle of electricity filled the room. The power thickened, coalesced, as it wrapped around Jack’s body, freezing his limbs and holding him immobile.
“What are you doing?”
“Granting your wish,” Keisha replied with a malicious grin. “You wanted to be free of the curse, did you not?” She released her grip on Ruby, and her body fell limp to the floor. The chanting continued without interruption, a murmured rush of words that choked the air from Jack’s lungs.
He felt a tear, deep inside, the pain so intense he doubled over. His stomach lurched, and his knees gave out from under him. The words coalesced in his mind now, the silent scream from Gilrov confirming his fears. Keisha was breaking the curse forged nearly a century ago, splitting one back into two. But after so many years of being bound, the demon had become a part of Jack, and he a part of it. To sever the ties at this point would mean certain death for them both.
Another flash of pain, and his vision narrowed and blurred. His muscles twitched as his hearing dimmed, until he could hear only the sound of his own heart pounding, the time between beats growing longer and longer. He struggled to inhale, but his lungs refused to expand. Before he lost consciousness, he heard Ruby’s raspy voice utter one word:
“No.”
Ruby watched in horror as Jack convulsed on the floor, his life force weakening with each labored breath. With her neck broken, she could do little more than blink and move her mouth. The rest of her lacked any kind of sensation. It would take hours before her body healed the damage, and by then it would be too late.
Keisha stood beside her, her body rigid and her arms outstretched, chanting so fast the words were a blur. At this point, she paid no attention to Ruby, but that would probably change once she finished off Jack.
Never in her life had Ruby felt so powerless. In her current state she couldn’t save herself, much less Jack, from the creature’s wrath. And even if she could move her limbs, what were her chances against a demon of Keisha’s strength?
But wait. What she sensed from the creature was only demonic on the outside. Beneath the immortal shell, she sensed something familiar, something mortal, something inherently … human.
With her mind, she slipped past the creature’s defenses. She sifted through muscles, and bones, and organs, until she found the delicate seam binding human to immortal. Keisha appea
red oblivious to the intrusion, so focused on ripping Jack to pieces she paid Ruby absolutely no mind.
Eyes narrowed, she mentally sank her claws into Keisha’s mortal essence. That got the bitch’s attention. Her head whipped around in Ruby’s direction, a look of fury on her face.
It was now or never. Steeling her resolve, Ruby tightened her grasp and jarred the soul loose from its moorings.
Keisha screamed.
Showing no mercy, Ruby yanked with all her mental strength. This time, she ripped Keisha’s soul from the demon’s body and drew it into her own. The taint of evil assaulted her senses, and she had to push back against the instinctual urge to recoil from its presence. Face tight with determination, she slammed Keisha’s spirit into that special place reserved for souls who died of unnatural causes.
“Sorry, Jessica.” In all the excitement, she hadn’t had the opportunity to guide Jessica through the portal to the next realm, which meant the poor girl’s soul was stuck sharing space with Keisha. “She’s the one who killed you, so feel free to kick her ass.”
“Ruby?”
Her eyes tracked toward the sound of Jack’s weary voice. She found him sprawled on the carpet a few feet away, his hair soaked with sweat and his chest heaving with exertion. With a grunt of effort, he pushed up to his hands and knees and crawled in her direction.
“Ruby, talk to me. Are you all right?”
“Sure, I’m fine. What’s a broken neck in the grand scheme of things?” She tried to laugh, but the sound hurt her throat. “How about you? Are you both all right?”
He nodded. “Yeah. I’m—We’re both fine.”
“Good, because I need you to straighten my neck.”
Jack visibly paled. “Won’t that hurt?”
“Well, sure, but it’s going to take a lot longer to heal if you don’t set the break.”
Judging by the look on Jack’s face, he’d rather perform a do-it-yourself root canal. His lips pressed into a thin line, his brow creased deep with worry. Hands trembling, he gently gripped the sides of her head.
“Go ahead,” Ruby said, a note of impatience seeping into her voice. “Just give it a good jerk to the side and everything will pop back into place.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Are you sure about this?”
Not really, but she wasn’t about to tell him that. “Positive. Now do it before somebody sees me like this.”
Jack gave a curt nod. “And what happens when all of this is over?”
“You mean between us?”
“Yeah.”
Ruby let out a huff of exasperation. “You want to talk about this now?”
He shrugged. “I could use a distraction from what I’m about to do.”
It was hard to stay irritated when he put it that way. “Well …” She licked her lips and his eyes followed the movement. “I guess—I’m not saying this has to be anything. But I kind of think it is. When this is all over, do you think maybe we could give it a shot and see how things work out between us?”
A ghost of a smile warmed his mouth. “Is that your roundabout way of telling me you want to go steady?”
Her eyes thinned to slits. “Don’t you get smart with me, Jack Deverell. You asked me a question and I’m trying to give you an honest answer. You of all people should know I’m not used to this kind of—”
The sound of bones crunching filled her ears when Jack wrenched her neck back into alignment. She opened her mouth to scream, but managed only a high-pitched whimper. Then the pressure in her neck lessened, followed by a prickly sensation along the base of her skull.
Jack’s worried face filled her vision. His gaze swept over the length of her body as if searching for signs of trauma. “Are you okay? Are you dizzy? Nauseous? Can you feel my hand?”
She coughed to clear her throat. “Yes. No. No. And a little.” The last one surprised her. She hadn’t expected the nerve damage to repair so quickly. She still couldn’t move anything below the neck, but the immediate return of sensation was a welcome relief.
“Oh, thank God. I was so scared I was going to hurt you.” He gently stroked her hair and cheeks as the tension ebbed away from his face.
A knock turned their attention toward the open door. Two men and a woman, all wearing security uniforms, stood shoulder to shoulder in the hall. The woman held what looked like a canister of pepper spray in one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other. “What seems to be the problem in here?” She cautiously stepped inside and the two men followed.
Jack turned back to Ruby and gave her a questioning look.
“Just tell them the steward attacked me, but make sure you leave out all the demon parts,” she replied in a low voice. She closed her eyes and steadied her breathing. “Then freak out about me being unconscious. It’ll keep you from having to explain as much.”
He made a guttural sound from deep in his throat. “You owe me, Beulah.”
It was all she could do to hold back the smile. “Don’t worry,” she whispered. “I’m good for it.”
Chapter 24
Ruby checked her watch for the fourth time in as many minutes. “He’s late.”
“Relax.” Adam leaned against one of the large concrete planters situated just outside the security checkpoint at Orlando International Airport. “He’ll be here any minute.”
She glanced at the wall of monitors to her right, scrolling down until she found flight 1128 arriving from Charleston. “He should have already been here.”
A month had passed since the end of their fateful cruise. During that time she’d relinquished Keisha’s soul to Samuel’s custody, sent Jessica’s soul through the portal to the next realm, and given Dmitri a full report of what happened after he’d disembarked. Most important, she’d carved out a special place in her life for Jack. It was a big adjustment for them both. To accommodate Ruby’s responsibilities as a reaper, Jack was in the process of relocating to Orlando. He’d put his condo on the market and moved his belongings into the cute little house they’d picked out together. But until all of his business dealings were completed, he would be making frequent trips to Charleston.
Like a hawk, Ruby continued to watch the arrivals gate. There was still no sign of Jack, even though his plane had landed twenty minutes before. A shuttle glided into the main terminal, loaded with arriving passengers. The automatic doors whooshed open and people poured out like ants. Her gaze darted from person to person, searching for recognition in the crush of humanity, but finding none. Passengers slowly made their way through the glass-covered corridor leading to the main concourse, some heading straight for Baggage Claim, while others reunited with loved ones waiting to greet them.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this impatient.” Adam hooked his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans. An amused gleam brightened his eyes, and his mouth seemed on the verge of smiling. “You must have it pretty bad.”
Ruby glanced in his direction. A little less than a year ago, he’d been the bright-eyed, idealistic, fledgling reaper of the group. And while time on the job had dulled him a bit around the edges, he still carried himself with a natural swagger that gave her hope for his future. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Sure you do.” His mouth split into a devilish grin. “Man, I can’t wait to tell David you’re all mushy over some dude. He’s never going to believe me unless I cough up photographic evidence.”
Ruby narrowed her eyes, folded her arms across her chest. “I am not mushy.” Well, maybe just a little, but she refused to admit that to Adam.
“Yeah, you are. I bet you’re gonna get sloppy all over this dude when he finally shows up.” He waggled his eyebrows. “Jack and Ruby, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S—”
He grunted when she elbowed him in the ribs.
“Knock it off.” She rolled her eyes before turning her attention back to the incoming passenger area. One shuttle was moving away from the depot while another pulled into view. “What was I thinking when I asked you to come?�
��
“You were thinking you needed my truck for hauling your man’s luggage.” He gave her a pointed look. “Remember?”
“Oh, yeah. That.” Since Jack was bringing back more luggage than her sporty little two-seater could handle, she’d asked to borrow Adam’s extended-cab pickup truck. He’d been happy to oblige, but insisted on driving. She should have known to expect a rash of grief in return.
Adam slung an arm around Ruby’s shoulders, tugged her close, and pressed a kiss against her hair. “Lighten up, babe. He’ll be here before you know it.”
She stole another peek at her watch. “I hope so.”
The week without Jack had felt like the longest in her entire life. She missed having him around, and she especially missed having him in her bed. Something about him centered her mind, took the sting off a lousy day, and made her heart pound with lust and longing. For the first time in her entire existence she had a companion as well as a partner, and she couldn’t possibly be happier.
Another shuttle glided into the terminal and Ruby’s spirits soared. She sensed his presence before the doors opened, that unique combination of human and immortal that belonged to Jack alone. He was one of the last passengers to step out of the shuttle, looking a little tired from the flight. He hadn’t bothered to shave that morning, and his jaw was darkened with stubble. With a duffle bag slung over one shoulder and a laptop case in the opposite hand, he skirted around a young woman pushing a stroller and made a beeline for the exit.
His eyes scanned the crowded terminal like a hunter searching for prey. When his gaze caught hers, his expression brightened and heat rose in her blood. Silver rimmed his irises for a split second, and she felt the unmistakable flare of excitement from Gilrov. Jack altered course, taking long strides to close the distance between them.
She didn’t bother saying hello. Instead, she launched herself at him, her fingers tunneling through his short, brown hair as her lips locked with his. His mouth tasted like coffee, smooth and rich. The computer bag and duffle dropped to the floor, and then his arms were around her, pulling her so close she could feel the warmth of his body through the layers of clothes.
