Heart of the Incubus
Page 13
“Oh my God.”
A spout of nausea rocked her body, but since her stomach was empty she only dry heaved.
This time she didn’t bother to fight the scream that tore out of her lips.
Dear Lord, that material wasn’t canvas. Not even close.
It was human skin.
Chapter Twelve
A lifetime of agony passed in the twenty minutes it took for Will to hunt down Tom’s address. True to Taeg’s word, he and Maya had arrived, ready to assist Cresso however they could. The three of them joined Will in the basement file room, and they pored through the multitude of file cabinets in search of the missing employee address folder.
“You really need a better filing system,” Maya muttered. “Who still keeps paper files, anyway?”
“The board of directors fears getting hacked and exposing a list containing people of different species,” Will answered. “We only keep paper files on all of our employees.”
“Ha, found it!” Taeg snatched a folder out of one of the cabinets. “It was misfiled under the letter R.”
Taeg placed the folder on the small rectangular table in the center of the room and Cresso rushed over to it. “What the hell is Tom’s adopted last name, anyway?”
“Goodman,” Will supplied.
Cresso flipped through the pages until he found Tom’s name. “Looks like he lives in the country, almost an hour away. Shit!” He flung the folder across the room.
“No use grumbling about it.” Taeg picked up the folder and headed for the door. “Let’s go.”
Taeg was right. They couldn’t afford to waste time. Cresso exited the room and led the way upstairs. “What if he’s not there?”
“A house in the middle of nowhere?” Taeg cocked a brow. “Sounds like exactly where he’d take her. If your gut tells you that’s where she is, then let’s go.”
Cresso thought about it for a second before nodding. “She’s there.”
They rushed toward Cresso’s car. Cresso hopped into the driver’s seat and Taeg took the front passenger seat, while Maya sat in the back.
If only Taeg still had the ability to flash. He could instantaneously travel there and make sure Genevieve was okay, then kick Tom’s sorry ass. But he didn’t, and Cresso didn’t personally know any other fae living in this dimension.
As if he sensed Cresso’s inner turmoil—and Cresso supposed he did, since Taeg had once had to rescue Maya from his crazed childhood friend-turned-nemesis—Taeg placed a hand on Cresso’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, man, we’ll make it.”
He hoped so. Hell, he hoped so.
What seemed like an eternity later, they arrived in the small, secluded town where Tom lived. His address was a small two-story house set half a mile off the road, and it was surrounded by several acres of property.
“How can a maintenance man afford a place like this?” Maya asked.
“He works for the Council,” Taeg answered. “He probably makes three times more than the average maintenance man.”
Cresso drove up the dirt road leading to the house. It wasn’t until he was almost upon it that he saw Tom’s van parked on the side of the property, half hidden by some bushes and an old fence. “He’s here!”
Cresso jerked the car into park and shot out, racing toward the brick cottage house. The front door was locked so he yanked on the knob, demolishing it. Thank the devil for demon super strength.
Cresso rushed inside. The entrance led into a utilitarian living room. Battered, creaky wooden floors gave way to whitewashed walls, and a beat-up brown leather couch sat in front of a flat-screen television. No sign of Genevieve, though. He ran down the narrow hall into the kitchen. It was also empty, so he backtracked to the staircase he’d passed on his way to the kitchen.
She’s got to be here.
Once he sped up the stairs, he was in a small hallway containing three doors. The first one led into a large room with nothing more than a king-size bed and a small flat screen, the second contained a bathroom, and the third looked like a guestroom, complete with twin double beds. Yet there was no sign of life within.
What the fuck?
She had to be here. She had to. So where the hell were they?
Cresso moved toward the window just as Maya and Taeg raced into the room.
“Where is she, dude?” Taeg asked. “Looks like no one’s home.”
“Don’t know.” Cresso resisted the urge to punch the window. He surveyed the property at the rear of the house. Nothing but empty land and woods. A sick feeling cramped his stomach. He was missing something. Hell, he wasn’t going to make it to her in time.
No.
Cresso couldn’t let Genevieve down. He couldn’t lose her.
More than anything, he regretted not telling her he loved her earlier in the day. He needed her to know that.
“They’ve gotta be here somewhere,” Taeg muttered.
Maya moved to stand next to Cresso. “Maybe there’s a secret room we don’t know about, or a baseme—”
She broke off as she turned her gaze toward the window. Resting her hands on the sill, she took a deeper look outside. Something about her posture made Cresso’s heart race. “What is it?”
“What about there? The cabin on the edge of the property.” She pointed to an empty patch of grass.
“I don’t see anything.”
Taeg moved up behind Maya and looked where she pointed. He shook his head. “Me, neither.”
Maya’s shoulders tensed. “Wait, the space in front of it is sort of shimmering.”
Oh, hell. Cresso exchanged a meaningful look with Taeg. “An invisibility spell.”
Incantations of that magnitude weren’t common, but they could be bought on the black market for the right price.
Cresso whirled and raced for the stairs without waiting to see if Taeg or Maya followed.
“Come on, Maya,” Taeg’s voice sounded from right behind Cresso.
“You’re too fast!” she shouted. “Go. I’ll catch up.”
Cresso flew down the stairs and ran outside, heading for the spot Maya had pointed out. About halfway down the field, he felt a slight pressure, which alleviated when he crossed the barrier of the invisibility spell. A rustic log cabin materialized before his eyes. He headed straight for it and was just a few feet away from the door when the sound of muted sobs, accompanied by the harsh rasp of Tom’s voice, filtered out. “Your skin is even rosier than I’d imagined. I can’t wait to see what it will look like displayed above my mantel.”
Those words caused the mental dam to break in Cresso’s head. A loud, inhuman bellow escaped from his mouth and he barreled into the wooden door, splintering it to pieces. A bright red haze colored his vision as he took in the sight of Tom shooting to his feet and turning away from a wooden chair that Genevieve—his Genevieve—was tied to. Tom held a large, wicked-looking dagger in one hand, and Genevieve’s skirt and blouse hung in tatters along the front of her body.
“Cresso!” she screamed.
At the same exact time, Tom sputtered, “H-how the fuck did you find—”
Cresso didn’t wait for Tom to finish his sentence before he rushed him, knocking him backward into the fireplace mantel. Tom lifted his hands to defend himself and his dagger sliced a deep groove in Cresso’s arm.
Genevieve screamed his name again, and when Taeg rushed in to help, Cresso yelled, “I got it. Help Gen!”
The shifter took advantage of Cresso’s momentary distraction and jabbed the dagger into his shoulder. Cresso grunted against the stab of pain and knocked Tom to the side so he could rip the weapon out of his flesh. Fuck if he were going to focus on how much it hurt now. He could do that after the asshole was dead.
Tom wasted no time in racing toward the front door. Just as he reached it, Maya appeared. She hopped to one foot and used her momentum to dropkick him back into the cabin. “I don’t think so, motherfucker.”
Maya was one kickass female. No time to admire that about her, though.
“No,” Tom gurgled. “Please.”
As if that would convince Cresso to show mercy. His hand trembled with the desire to ram the knife into the shifter’s neck, but he forced himself to hold back for now. “Why, Tom? Why?”
“Be-because she’s a whore,” Tom spat at him. “All women are whores. Sometimes they do a good job of hiding it, like she did. But in the end she was all too willing to fuck you anyway, wasn’t she?”
Okay, clearly someone had mommy issues.
“He-he’s killed other women,” Genevieve sobbed at him. “He uses their skin for his art pieces.”
Genevieve’s words penetrated through him, and Cresso lifted his head to gaze around the room. Sure enough, the shifter appeared to have used human flesh as a form of canvas.
What. The. Fuck?
He looked toward Genevieve, who Taeg had just freed from the ropes tied around the chair. She shivered as he and Maya helped her stand up, and the remains of her clothes hung around her front in tatters. Taeg immediately tugged his shirt off and covered her with it.
Fury like Cresso had never known before burned through him, tensing his muscles and clenching his hands into fists. What kind of monster would do this to defenseless women? To Genevieve?
He was going to kill Tom.
Maya glanced in his direction, and her eyes widened. “Cresso, watch out!”
Cresso swiveled his head back toward the shifter, but before he could even process what had happened, four razor-sharp blades sliced the side of his face, cutting bone deep. He fell to the side and yelled at the fiery agony of what felt like his skin being sliced from the bone.
“Cresso!” Genevieve screamed.
Tom wiggled away and ran toward the door, and from the side of his face that wasn’t bleeding, Cresso noticed he’d partially shifted. Sharp claws extended out of his hands.
“He’s gonna change!” Taeg yelled. He started after Tom, but Cresso wiped the blood from his eyes, grabbed hold of Tom’s dagger, and leapt to his feet.
“Stay with Gen. I’ll get him!”
Taeg halted and nodded. He understood what Cresso didn’t say. He needed to be the one to do this. For Gen.
Cresso forced his feet to move and, on a burst of super speed, he shot across the lawn toward Tom, who was continuing to shift to his hyena form. His clothes fell off his body and dropped to the ground as he ran. Just when Cresso was mere feet away, Tom lowered his hands to the ground and they became paws. Now on all fours, he started to gain some ground.
Oh, hell, he had to get the bastard. Genevieve would never have a moment of peace unless he did, and Cresso was going to lose him if he didn’t do something. Now.
On a final burst of momentum, Cresso made a flying leap that caught the shifter around one ankle. Tom yelped and rolled to his back, changing back to human form. His now nude human form. Tom lifted his hands in front of his face for protection.
“No, I—”
Cresso didn’t wait for him to finish before he yanked Tom’s arms down and, with a roar that perfectly expressed all his feelings of rage, sliced the dagger through his throat. It severed Tom’s head from his body and, mouth open on a silent scream, it rolled to the side. Cresso stayed there for one moment, crouched over the body, panting while he assured himself the shifter was truly dead.
Gen.
He dragged himself to his feet and yanked off his dress shirt, using it to wipe the blood from his hands and face. The zigzagging bolts of agony on his cheek told him the flesh was in the process of knitting itself back together. Thank the devil for demons’ hyper-healing ability. Otherwise he’d likely carry ugly scars the rest of his life.
“Cresso!”
He turned to see Genevieve, Taeg, and Maya standing right outside the cabin. Genevieve started racing toward him. He broke into a run and met her more than halfway there, dragging her into his arms.
“You’re safe, you’re safe.” He repeated the litany, not certain who he was trying to convince—her or himself. “I’ve got you.”
She pulled herself back to examine his cheek. Her face crumpled. “It’s healing.”
“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.” He yanked her in for another hug, knowing he should be gentler. He just couldn’t help himself.
Finally, he forced himself to set her back and examine her for wounds. The left side of her face was bruised, as if she’d been struck, but that was all he could see. “Did he hurt you?”
“I’m okay.” She grabbed his hand in her own and pressed several kisses to his knuckles. “I’m okay.”
Thank the devil. He’d been so worried.
Unable to help himself, he crushed her to him once again, breathing in her unique scent to calm himself. “When I found out you were gone…I thought I’d go insane.”
“He caught me off-guard, used chloroform on me.”
“I know.” He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. Unable to hold back, he confessed, “I love you, Gen. I love you so much.”
“I know,” she whispered. “I love you, too.”
His heart stuttered at her words, ones he’d never expected to hear from her. He choked in a breath, pulling away so he could gaze into her eyes. “You do?”
She smiled and pressed a kiss to his lips. “As if I had a choice. You’re completely irresistible. Now, let’s get out of here. Please.”
…
A few hours later, Genevieve was back at Cresso’s apartment. As soon as they’d arrived with Taeg and Maya, he’d filled his Roman tub for Genevieve and let her soak in it while he contacted Elcorp regarding Tom. While she was beyond elated that this whole ordeal was finally over, she was also confused. So much had happened in the last several hours. Almost too much to process.
She slipped on her robe, which Cresso had picked up from her house along with a few other belongings, and stepped into his bedroom just as the door opened. Cresso slid inside, and when he saw her he crossed the room and pulled her close to him.
“Feeling better?”
“Much,” she mumbled into his chest. “Where are Taeg and Maya?”
“They left. We’ll see them tomorrow. I told them we’d be taking a much-needed day off.”
Genevieve stifled a laugh at the warning note in his voice. “You’ll get no arguments from me there.” Though he probably expected her to, considering how rarely she took a day off work.
She pulled back to look in his eyes. “I don’t understand. How did you find me?”
“Dr. Summers.”
That was right—she’d almost forgotten about her. “Tom struck her so hard, I thought she might be dead.”
“Apparently he assumed she was. Didn’t bother to stop and check.” Cresso smoothed her wet locks away from her forehead. “When I woke her, she told me about her vision. She tried to warn you, but banshees aren’t able to tell the victims what they see in their visions. All they can do is wail when they see them.”
Genevieve shuddered at his words. “Thank God she got that one wrong. If you hadn’t come for me, I’d be dead by now.”
Cresso nodded, his lips tightening. “I owe a huge debt of gratitude to her. If she hadn’t told me it was Tom who’d taken you, I’d never have gotten there in time.”
Genevieve shook her head. “I wonder what happened to him. He always seemed so nice.”
Cresso led her to the bed and sat with his back against the headboard, pulling her to a straddle on top of him and closing his arms around her. “I’ve just learned Elcorp did an evaluation on him prior to giving him the job. Apparently there was some concern about his mental state. Hyena-shifters are prone to emotional imbalance, and his mother had left him and his father for another shifter when he was a child. After that, his dad ended up turning into an abusive drunk. In the end, they decided he was stable enough, but now we know they were wrong. They’re going to reconsider their evaluation process as a result o
f this incident.”
“That’s good, at least.”
She sat up to stare into his eyes, and they narrowed in on her. His pupils dilated, and slivers of allure floated off him, coating her body in heated sexual awareness. She would always respond this viscerally to him, she realized. Well, there were worse things.
“I meant what I said, you know,” she said. “Much as I tried to fight it, I couldn’t. I love you, Cresso.”
His eyes brightened and he started to smile, but then a glimmer of worry settled into his eyes. “I need for you to know that I haven’t lived the perfect life. I…I’ve killed before. I never intended to, but it happened. I guess, in a way, I’ve been trying to atone for it all these years.”
Something warm and soft settled inside her chest. He actually feared she would reject him. Cupping his cheeks, she pressed a kiss to his lips. “I know who you are, and I accept it. I think we’ve both been stuck reliving the past. We should let it go. Focus on the future.”
Relief slackened the tightness in his jaw. Cresso tangled his hands in her hair and pulled her in for a long, hot kiss that left her squirming with need. Finally, she broke away to ask, “So…what happens now?”
He grinned down at her and flipped her onto her back before she could even blink. Then he covered her with his body, resting between her outstretched thighs. “Now, Gen, we live happily ever after.”
That sounded beyond wonderful. But, before she ravished him like she full well intended to, she had to ask. “Do you really think you’re up for that? One woman for the rest of your life?”
Cresso’s soft and sweet laugh washed over her, bringing with it intense waves of allure that left her breathless and deliriously aroused. “Try me.”
Acknowledgments
I’d like to thank the amazing team over at Entangled Publishing for all the hard work they’ve done—not only on this book, but on the entire series. Libby Murphy, Heather Howland, Suzanne Johnson, Liz Pelletier, Cathy Yardley, Misa Ramirez: you are all incredible, and I’m so blessed to have you on my team!
To Mary Abshire, my friend and crit partner, thanks for all your insightful comments on this one.