“Sleep? Ha. I’m going to be on pins and needles ‘til you get back.” She swept her thumbs over his cheeks.
His stomach fluttered at the tender touch. And the sentiment.
“You be careful,” she said.
He nodded, kissed her soundly, and left with Nick to go demon hunting.
He’d never done anything this stupid before, and that included spray painting Elvis lives on the roof of the high school gym junior year on a dare from Theo. He got into Nick’s hybrid, silently praying for their safety.
“She’s something,” Nick said as he squeezed behind the wheel and started the car.
“She sure is,” he agreed.
“You two are good together.” His buddy flicked on the headlights and pulled out of the driveway.
“And you know this after two hours?”
“Hey, it doesn’t take stacks of personality tests and years of acquaintance to figure out you’re compatible with someone. With Ali, I knew the minute she smiled at me in Social Sciences 300.”
“Did you know you’d marry her?”
“Naw, not at first. I wasn’t thinking that far ahead, but I knew I wanted to date her.”
He was a little jealous of how simple Nick made relationships sound. “Well, I’m real happy for you two lovebirds,” he said, trying to keep his voice sarcasm-free.
“What are your intentions with Jade?” his friend asked, like he was the girl’s father or something.
Parroting Nick, he said, “I know I want to date her.”
“By the look on your face whenever she walks in the room, you want to do more than date her.” Nick’s crooked grin told him he meant “more” as in horizontal, carnal things.
“Yeah,” he agreed, “but I’m not going to.”
“But you could if you married her.”
His palms started sweating. “Even if I could stomach the thought of marriage, what makes you think she’d want to tie herself down to a guy like me?”
“A good-looking, responsible, easygoing business owner with his own house. Gee, I can’t imagine what she might see in you.”
He rolled his eyes even though he wanted to believe Nick’s description of him would be enough for a fast-paced city girl like Jade. She was the first girl he’d dated who made him think marriage might be possible for him. But it was kind of early in the dating game to think about that.
Come to think of it, Nick was out of line.
“Hey, man, you promised you wouldn’t try to sell me on marriage. What happened to, ‘cross my heart and hope to die?’”
“If you recall,” his buddy said with a finger raised off the steering wheel, “I said I wouldn’t try to persuade you once Ali and I tie the knot. I’ve got months to work on you until then.”
He wanted to slap the smug grin of his buddy’s face. “Well, shit.”
Nick chuckled. “It’s only because Jade’s a keeper, Em. I’d never try to push you into something if it wasn’t so obvious she’s the right girl for you.”
He shook his head, but he wasn’t as annoyed as he wanted to be. He changed the subject. “What do I do to help you out tonight? I don’t know how to use all your fancy equipment.”
“It’s not that fancy. It’s all stuff you can buy at Radio Shack or build yourself from a few simple circuits and parts. All I need you to do is help me set up a couple IR cameras and then hold the digital audio recorder while I walk the house. I’ll take the thermal cam and EMF detector. And I’ll do all the talking.” Nick glanced at him. “Thanks for coming, man. I know how freaked you must be after this morning. But you know that nothing demonic can hurt you, right? You belong to God. We both do.”
He swallowed in a dry throat. “But Jade doesn’t.” She seemed open to going to church with him, but he had the feeling he was the draw more than God.
“That’ll change,” his buddy said with confidence. “If she’s the girl for you, which I’d bet my hybrid she is-” He patted the dash as he pulled into Jade’s driveway. “Then God will call her to Him. And in the meantime, she’s got us to protect her from whatever’s messing with her.”
He turned off the silent car, something Emmett would never get used to. “You ready to document some demon scum?”
“Not really.”
Nick thumped his shoulder once before heaving himself out of the car.
He got out, too, scanning the house for signs of impending doom.
Across the roof of the car, Nick’s eyes gleamed with excitement. “This could be some awesome stuff, man. From what you two told me, she’s got a pretty active son of a bitch in there. If it’s had time to recharge and we catch something, I might make all the ghost-hunting blogs. Chiboza will crap himself.”
Chiboza Owusu was a professor of theology at Gordon Cromwell Theological Seminary, which Nick shortened to “Go-Crom,” and also Nick’s demonology mentor. Nick spoke about Chiboza’s movements with all the reverence of a Trekkie recounting Captain Kirk’s acts of heroism. Emmett hoped the prof had taught Nick more than how to talk big about demon hunting.
“All I care about is getting that thing out of there so Jade doesn’t have to live in fear. Man, that shit is not okay. I can’t believe what she’s been through the past week.”
“We’ll take care of it, man. We’ll take care of it.” Nick slapped the roof. “Now let’s go catch us a demon.”
*****
The incessant stroking of Mercy’s tendrils over the downy feathers of his chest was wearing on Draonius’s patience.
Take the form I love, she said. I want to pleasure you.
Be still, he snapped, nipping at her ethereal fingers with his raven’s beak.
She withdrew, curling in on herself with dejection. He rolled his eyes heavenward, wishing his little witch had the sense to see the precarious position they were in. He’d given up several millennia worth of hard-won essences to buy his way free from that bedamned house and then used a good portion of his remaining power to take this wretched avian vessel so he could follow Jade. He would be next to worthless until he could feed from the woman again, and with her tucked away in a believer’s house, he could touch neither her nor her dreams.
But his heart was soft where Mercy was concerned. She was…precious to him. Her suffering was only sweet if there was purpose in it, and just now, there was no purpose, especially when his hope was in her hands.
There, there, love. You know I desire the pleasure you offer, but we must wait and watch. Remember, we must fix you in the woman’s body so you can give me the form of the man. Now, pay attention. We must search for a way inside. Look, our Emmett returns home with the fat one. If we are lucky, he will go to Jade and his lust will be all the invitation we need.
The simple creature perked up and forgot her offense, given something else to attend to.
What Mercy didn’t know was that he felt the pull of the abyss. With so few essences remaining to him, his hold on the physical plane was tenuous. If he didn’t forge a link to Jade soon, he’d be pulled under to be trapped until someone in the physical plane summoned him by name or he could swindle some lesser demon out of his essence cloak. Both eventualities were unlikely enough he feared it could be eons before he managed to return to the physical plane. The thought was too terrible, especially after his recent incarceration.
He would give his prince no reason to think him weak and imprison him again. He would prove his worth.
From the azalea bush, he watched the lovely Jade greet a weary-looking Emmett with a tight embrace and a tender kiss on the mouth. Open up, sweet, he coaxed. When she broke the kiss without so much as a flick from her pink tongue, he cursed.
Ah, but what’s this? He was following her up the stairs, the fingers of one hand linked with hers. Draonius flew to a tree branch to peek through an upper window. The bedroom. Of course. They sought privacy.
If he had human hands, he would have been rubbing them together. He prepared to enter the house, confident it would be a matter of minutes.
/> He waited his minutes and more as the pair sat on the edge of the bed and talked. Jade rubbed soothing circles on Emmett’s back as he relayed some sort of disappointing story, judging by their faces.
Finally, at long last, she crawled under the covers. Alone. She had not removed her garments. Nor had he removed his. Why wasn’t he joining her? How could he resist the draw of that lean, perfect body?
Draonius’s muscles bunched in anticipation as Emmett leaned over Jade and kissed her. But the kiss was over too soon, and lacked even a hint of the sort of frenzied lust needed to weaken the blessing around the dwelling.
Blast.
When Emmett snuffed the bedside lamp, he hoped his moment would come.
It didn’t. The pair exchanged another chaste kiss, and Emmett left.
Damn it to the abyss, no!
He was not going to get an invitation tonight. And Jade was not going to come outside. Her dreams would be wasted if he could not reach her. And the pull of the abyss was strong. He was weakening fast. He needed to feed, at any cost. If he could not feed directly, he would have to do it by proxy. It was time to take a risk.
Do you strive to serve me, love? he asked, sending a tiny flare of pleasure to his little witch.
Oh, yes. Always. What would you have me do?
It will hurt, he warned. And it will be frightening. And it might not even work, he thought privately. Can you bear to be separated from me, if it means we can feed and be together again shortly?
In a rare show of wisdom, she paused in thought. For how long?
His stock in her went up. There might be something left of the crafty witch she’d been, after all. An hour, maybe two. But every minute will require your utmost strength and determination.
But then we will be together again? she asked cautiously.
He decided to be honest with her. If you can feed for me, then yes. She had done admirably when he’d let her taste Jade’s dreams, but this time she would not have his will to shelter and strengthen her. If you are not strong enough, then we will be forever separated. I will be pulled into the abyss where I will remain despite my longing for you, and your essence will move on from this plane. As he said it, he drew her close and tucked her under his wing in the best embrace he could give in his present form. The thought of losing his devoted, obedient witch was only slightly less terrible than the thought of returning to the abyss with little to no hope of returning.
He awaited her answer, pleased to feel her thinking through the implications.
At last, she said with steely determination, What must I do?
Warming with pride, he told her what he desired of her.
Chapter Seventeen
The moment Draonius cut her free, the physical plane tossed Mercy like a sloop in a raging storm. Icy wind sought to tear her essence apart. She hadn’t arms to steady herself or even a mouth to scream with.
Terror flooded her.
You must will yourself toward Jade’s warmth, he had said. She will call to you like a siren if only you stop to listen.
Oh, Draonius, I pray you are right!
She attempted to stop fighting the physical plane so she could be still and listen, but how did one relax when about to be ripped apart by invisible, unrelenting hands? It was agony!
How shall I ever survive this?
Recalling Draonius’s human image and the safe warmth of his embrace, she found deep within herself the strength to trust her wispy essence to the torrent. The moment she determined to succeed or lose herself trying, Jade’s familiar vibration sang to her.
She struggled toward it, though moving through the physical plane was like swimming in a whirlpool. No matter how hard she strained for the beacon of Jade’s mind, the physical plane did what it would with her. Finally, trembling with weakness, she groaned with desperation and lunged for the safe harbor in the storm.
She made it! But there was no time to celebrate her victory. Draonius was counting on her. She had work to do.
She sank her tendrils deep into the melodic warmth of Jade’s consciousness. The storm gave way to warm solace.
The journey through the physical plane had left her so drained that at first, all she could manage was to tremble against the semi-familiar environment of Jade’s sleeping mind. But before long, she began steering Jade’s dreams the only way she knew how, by recalling her own human life.
Draonius needed her to feed and feed well and then return to him and give him every emotion and sensation she swallowed down, like a mother bird with her young. She had just the right memory planned.
She could think of nothing more powerful than the burst of sensual awareness accompanying the birth of her womanhood. It had been in a dream, but oh, it had felt so real. It would feel real again tonight, thanks to Jade’s pliable mind.
*****
Between Emmett’s news about finding nothing out of the ordinary at her house and the steamiest close-mouthed kiss she’d ever received, Jade’s thoughts raced and her body burned. She couldn’t get to sleep.
She tossed and turned, thinking about Mr. Shadow and the big, winged thing in her kitchen. Nick didn’t think they were the same, and she agreed.
Mr. Shadow had never threatened her. He freaked her out because he was a ghost, but she sensed despair from him. She almost pitied him, especially after seeing his face in her bathroom mirror. He’d looked just as startled to see her as she’d been to see him. He certainly didn’t seem like the kind of guy who’d get his kicks from scaring her.
The thing that had attacked her and Emmett, on the other hand, had been pure evil. Hadn’t it? Now that she thought about it, neither of them had been hurt beyond her tiny cuts. Given her fall and Emmett being squeezed in that thing’s clawed arms, it could have been a lot worse.
Maybe they were the same. Maybe they weren’t. But that begged the question, where had he-it-they gone? Why hadn’t the guys found anything tonight?
Not to mention, how long was she going to have to stay with Emmett? Not that it was a hardship or anything, but he was bound to get sick of her sooner or later. And she only had a couple days’ worth of clothes. What if one of the libraries she’d applied at called her for an interview? She hadn’t packed anything nice enough to wear. And she didn’t have her phone charger. It was next to Grandma Nina’s perfume bottles on the dresser.
What was she going to tell Grandma Nina? She’d talked to her on the phone for a few minutes today and hadn’t breathed a word of what had happened. Her grandmother had enough to worry about without hearing her house was haunted. She probably wouldn’t believe it anyway.
A yawn hijacked her body. Her racing thoughts finally gave way to sleep. But it wasn’t the restful, dream-free sleep she’d enjoyed the last few nights. It was a sleep as deep as quicksand, and it sucked her down into a place where her thoughts seemed only half hers.
Not again!
She tried to rouse herself, but couldn’t. The dream started, and it locked her in its clutches.
She was lying in a narrow bed in a room that felt somehow familiar. White paneling tinted blue with moonlight slanted above her, and pale, flowered wallpaper covered the walls. A doily-laden dressing table stood across the room on spindly legs that looked ill equipped to support the weight of the porcelain pitcher and washing bowl atop it. There were two doors in the room, side by side on the same wall. One was paneled and painted white. The other looked black, but in daylight she knew the paint would be watering-can green. The green door was smaller and tucked under an eave so one upper corner was cut at an angle. It was the pair of doors that made her realize where she was. Grandpa Earl’s study.
She’d always thought it odd that her grandfather had built bookshelves over the closet door. She’d asked him how he would get in if he wanted to. He’d replied, “Well, it’s empty, honey, so I don’t think I’ll ever need to open it. I’d rather have the space for my books.”
So this was what the room had looked like once upon a time.
A fee
ling of foreboding stole over her. It was almost as if she expected to be violated in this dream place. But as soon as the thought formed, it flitted away, replaced by anxious excitement that didn’t belong to her.
The grimoire Draonius had told her about was safe behind a loose board in her closet. And before hiding it away, she’d found the spell of prosperity he’d promised her would be inside. The ingredients for the spell would be easy to acquire, and he’d suggested she had the power within herself to work the magic. If he spoke true, her family would thrive this winter despite the trials her father’s God likely had planned for them. She would be their savior this year.
Bitter humor curved her lips as she remembered the proverb, God helps those who help themselves.
Now she owed Draonius a kiss. Would he come for it tonight?
She ought to dread it. She was promised, after all, to dear Joshua. But that did not stop her from eagerly anticipating the novel experience.
A kiss from the handsome, worldly Draonius would be an adventure like none other. And it wouldn’t be wrong, because it would be in her dream. Joshua would be none the wiser. And it certainly wouldn’t change how she felt about him. She would always adore Joshua.
But she would enjoy kissing Draonius.
No. I only want to kiss Emmett.
A sense of being smothered came over her, like in the dream she’d had that last night in the turret bedroom. She fought it, but it was too strong. It felt like suffocating in wet soil. Blackness closed around her, obliterating her sight. But she could still hear, and what she heard next made her blood run cold.
“There you are, my little witch.” It was a man’s voice, and it sounded disturbingly familiar. “I see you found the grimoire. You know what that means.”
“Yes, Draonius. I owe you a kiss.” And I’ll give you more if you want it, my handsome demon.
No! Those aren’t my thoughts! Get out of my head!
“I always claim that which I am owed.”
Passionate Kisses 2 Boxed Set: Love in Bloom Page 156
