Of Shadows and Ash

by Dana Marie Bell

  Gideon shook his head and stood. “Fine. I’ll need to see Selena when I’m done.” The slight smile he’d had on his face ever since Selena left disappeared. “There’s something seriously off about her aura.”

  “How so?” Ash followed Gideon as the man made a beeline for Selena’s broken altar.

  “Later. First, explain to me what happened here.” Gideon picked up the broken goddess statue and winced. “There’s some serious rage behind this.”

  “Selena found it defiled and smashed it.”

  Gideon grunted and moved to the fallen picture that was still propped against the wall. “And this?”

  “Kept falling down.”

  “Anything else going on? Cold spots, unexplained noises, things moved from the place you left them?”

  “It started with scratching sounds in the walls.” Ash led the way into Selena’s bedroom. “She brought in exterminators, wolves, and finally Amara and Parker, but all they found was a strange smell. There was nothing on the roof to indicate that a shifter had been up there, but I can tell you that the land is reacting very poorly to whatever is going on around here. Animals are leaving their dens, the plants are pulling away and the insects are leaving the area around her home.”

  Gideon scowled. “That’s not good.”

  “There was some growling as well. I heard it one night. Then I saw a figure in white, and things started moving on their own. Worst of all, something attacked Selena from her closet, something that left bruises.” Ash shook his head. “It’s a demon, isn’t it?”

  Gideon nodded. “The only question is whether or not it’s haunting the house or Selena.”

  “If it’s Selena?”

  “Watch for severe mood swings, anger management problems, speaking in tongues, floating four feet off the bed. You know, the usual.” Gideon headed into Selena’s bathroom. “If it’s the house, then it’s attached to the land. Getting rid of it will actually be harder.”

  “Fuck.” Ash had been too afraid to tell Selena what he suspected. “We discussed the possibility that she brought something back from her time in captivity.”

  “And you may be right. This is recent, not a long-term haunting. And there was a demon there that day at the Van Helsing compound, so it’s possible it attached itself to Selena to get through the wards.”

  “And if it attached itself to her land...” Double fuck.

  “Getting it out of Maggie’s Grove will be damn near impossible.” Gideon ran his fingers through his hair. “The demon at the compound was strong, Ash. Stronger than anything I’ve encountered before.”

  “How come Selena hasn’t realized what’s going on?” That had bothered Ash from the moment he began to suspect they might be dealing with something more than a random ghost.

  “There could be a few reasons. One, her magic is wonky and she may not trust what she’s sensing. If that’s the case, it will only spiral out of control. A witch has to trust her other senses or she’ll start to lose that ability to discern the unseen.” Gideon led the way back into the living room and took a seat on the sofa. “Two, she could be afraid that it’s her magic causing the issue.”

  “By growling?”

  Gideon, surprisingly, nodded. “Yes. Her powers have been royally fucked with. She could be doing this without realizing it. If that’s the case, she needs to release the fear she experienced when she was in the hands of the Van Helsings. Only then will things return to normal.”

  “You mean her anxiety could be manifesting itself physically.” Ash nodded. “That I can help with.”

  “It could also be what we discussed, that something has attached itself to her. The fact that her magic is acting up could be making the problem worse. A demon feeds off of fear and anger, and will do what it must to generate it.”

  “And a witch doctor would be a tasty little treat for it?”

  Gideon shuddered. “More than you can imagine. Her connection to the spirit world, along with her power and status among the coven members, would be a very tasty little treat.”

  Oh, hell no. Nothing was going to make a treat of his mate. “So how do we deal with this?”

  Gideon leaned back and stared blankly at Ash. “If it’s the first problem, we fight. We get as many of the witches together as we can and perform a ritual cleansing and ass kicking.”

  Ash grinned. “Anything I can do to help with that?”

  “Yes. Keep Selena calm. The demon might be able to act through her, especially if she becomes angry.”

  “And if it’s the second problem? If Selena is the one doing all this without realizing it?” For some reason, Ash didn’t believe that was the case. He couldn’t imagine anyone doing this to themselves.

  “Again, keep her calm while I work with her on restoring her powers. Once they’re back in balance, the phenomena will stop.”

  Something in Gideon’s expression had Ash coming to attention. “You don’t believe that’s the case, though.”

  “No, I don’t. I honestly think it’s coming from without, not from within. But we can’t dismiss the possibility that she’s making it worse.” Gideon sighed and leaned forward, resting his arms across his knees. “As powerful as she is, making her magic unstable is bound to have consequences. If she were anyone else I’d send her into the forest and have her commune with the land, restore her balance that way. But Selena is a witch doctor, rooted in the spirit world rather than the material one. Sending her on a spirit journey would be incredibly dangerous right now.”

  “The demon would be stronger there.” Ash wanted to punch something. “So we go on the assumption that we’re dealing with both until proven otherwise.”

  “Not a bad idea. You keep her calm and stable, I bring in the other witches. She might need to confront the demon on the spirit plane eventually, but I’d wait until we deal with her powers first.”

  “What about her house?” Ash watched as Gideon closed his eyes. He couldn’t sense what the witch was doing, but he could hazard a guess. He’d seen Selena do something similar.

  Gideon was testing the magic of the house, looking for flaws, imperfections, or interlopers.

  Gideon gasped. “Oh shit. Yeah, something is here, but...not.”

  “Is Selena in danger?” Gideon could take care of himself. If the demon had followed Selena, Ash would run to the supermarket and protect his mate.

  “I don’t know. Whatever has its hooks into the land might also be attached to Selena, but until I can take a look at her I can’t be sure.”

  “Is she in danger?” If Gideon didn’t answer him soon, the witch would see the darker side of Ashton Ward.

  “Let me put it this way.” Gideon stood, as if expecting Ash to attack at any moment. “She shouldn’t be alone in this house at any time.”

  “I want to take her to the Throne. She’ll be safe behind its protections.”

  “No. Not until we’ve got her powers under control or containment.” Gideon held up his hand. “She could infect the entire town if she goes into the sacred grove as your mate.”

  “Then I won’t mate her. Only protect her.” Ash wasn’t budging on this one.

  “We might need her to stay here while we pin down exactly what we’re fighting.”

  Ash took a deep, cleansing breath. “I don’t like this at all.”

  “I’m aware of that. If it was my mate, I’d be pissed too.” Gideon put his hand on Ash’s arm, but the gesture did little to calm Ash. “We’ll fix this, I swear it.”

  Ash grunted. He trusted the coven leader up to a point, but when it came to Selena, the only one whose judgment he truly believed in was his own. “Where do we start?”

  “We wait until she gets back. We’ll talk, I’ll see what I can figure from her aura, and we go from there.” Gideon let Ash go. “This is fixable.”

  “Unless it’s attached itself to the land.”

  “If it’s only attached to the land then removing Selena will be beneficial for her. It might restore the balance of her pow
ers. However, if it’s attached to her as well, like I suspect, we’ve got bigger problems.”

  “How so?” What wasn’t Selena, or Gideon for that matter, telling him?

  Gideon sighed. “If it’s attached to her, it can use her as a portal into the mortal world.”

  Something about the way Gideon said that froze Ash’s blood. “Just it?”

  Gideon slowly shook his head. “Selena would become a demonic gateway. Worst of all, the person we know would slowly disappear under the weight of the evil invading her. We’d have to kill her to stop it.”

  “There’s no way for me to fight this physically.” Ash began to pace, infuriated that his enemy was so far out of his reach. “My sword can’t cut through a spirit.”

  “Your bond as her mate will be your greatest weapon once you establish it. But first we need to make sure it’s safe for you to do so.”

  “Then as far as I’m concerned, that’s our first order of business.” He was willing to do anything to not to see bruises around his mate’s throat ever again. Selena would not suffer a moment longer than she had to, not if Ash could prevent it. “If I’m not here, someone will be, someone who’s aware of what’s going on.”

  “One of my witches will watch over her.” Gideon frowned. “I’ll keep some of the black on stand-by. Let me know when you’re going on patrol and I’ll send one over.”

  “Thanks.”

  “Convincing your mate might be the most difficult part of that plan.”

  Ash looked at Gideon and smiled.

  Gideon laughed. “Or not.”

  Ash nodded. Damn straight. He’d tie Selena to his tree if he had to, starting the bonding process. After that?

  It would only be a matter of time before they became one.

  Chapter Six

  Selena dropped those stupid cupcakes into the cart with a snarl. She couldn’t believe she was caving already, but that cute little blush he’d been sporting when she’d teased him was too much to resist.

  Besides, it was nice to find the perfect Ashton Ward wasn’t so perfect after all.

  She grabbed another box of the cupcakes and sighed. Having him in her home, sharing her bed, had been better than she’d thought it would be. Selena was used to living alone and taking care of her own problems, but...

  Damn it. She hated to admit it, but it was kind of nice to have someone else to lean on.

  Selena pushed the cart out of the sweets aisle, doing her best to resist the temptations the treats offered. Her ass didn’t need powdered donuts or jelly filled sponge cakes, thank you very much.

  Her badonka didn’t need any more donk, or it might take over the world. Or at least the supermarket aisle.

  “Miss? I think you dropped this.”

  Selena turned to find someone holding out a package of cupcakes. Selena glanced at her cart, and sure enough, one of the boxes was missing. “Thanks.”

  The woman smiled and pushed her cart past Selena’s.

  “Huh.” She hadn’t heard the box fall. The supermarket wasn’t that busy on a Tuesday morning, most people having done their shopping over the weekend. Still, she’d been distracted...

  She picked up a loaf of bread and placed it in the cart. She checked her list. Damn, she wasn’t even half-way done. She should totally have Ash do this next time. She hated grocery shopping. Couldn’t some genius come up with one-click groceries? Hell, it worked for e-books, why not cantaloupe?

  Selena coughed at the dirty image that immediately popped into mind, trying not to giggle as she grabbed a box of cereal. As much as Ash loved his cupcakes, Selena loved her sugary morning cereal. So it was for kids. So what? She needed her fix just as badly as he did his.

  At least hers was whole grain.

  Three other boxes fell on the floor at her feet. She picked them up, carefully placing them on the shelf.

  They fell right back off again.

  Selena went on tip-toe to see if there was anything on the shelf pushing the boxes over.

  Nothing was there. The shelf was completely empty.

  Selena picked the boxes up and put them back, making sure they were far enough away from the edge that they couldn’t accidentally fall over. She pointed her finger at them. “Stay.”

  An older man with a hand basket laughed. “Thank God I’m not the only one who does that.”

  Selena grinned at him. “Ditto.” She grabbed the cart handles and began going through the aisles again, grabbing the items she needed. She grabbed three different kinds of coffee, not sure which one Ash liked. Her friends would drink what he didn’t. Mel would—

  Oh. Right. Damn it. Mel was gone, dead, killed by Van Helsings. Her funeral had been two weeks ago, led by Gideon as the new coven leader. It had been sweet, but there had been fewer mourners than Selena had expected. True, she’d been shaky, barely able to stand. Ash had argued viciously for keeping her in bed, but Selena had been firm. She needed to be there to say good-bye to the former coven leader of Maggie’s Grove.

  None of the white witches had come to Mel’s funeral, shocking her badly. She still didn’t know if that had more to do with Mel’s lackadaisical leadership, or the fact that the new coven leader was of the black. Either way it had been a slap to Mel that had several of the gray and black witches grumbling.

  Unfortunately, Selena was in no position to help Gideon deal with the transition at the moment. As the unofficial second in command and a de-facto member of the white, Selena would have made sure that the white witches accepted the new leadership even if he was of the black. Gideon’s take-over would have gone smoothly. But because Selena was out of commission and the gray backed Gideon, the white had felt free to snub him.

  That would stop as soon as Selena had her powers under control once more. She’d make sure Gideon got the recognition he deserved from the white, or kick their asses until they at least pretended to listen to him. Gideon didn’t deserve what they were doing. He’d proven himself to Selena and the leaders of Maggie’s Grove.

  She put the espresso back. Mel had been the only one who drank it, and Selena had made sure to keep it on hand just for her.

  The can jumped out and almost smacked her in the face.

  Thank the gods no one had been in the aisle with her. Selena left the can where it fell and dashed away, pushing the cart to the far safer vegetable aisle.

  Fuck the coffee. She’d send Ash to a drive-through.

  She grabbed what she needed, but not even the sight of a big fat cucumber could get her to smile. Selena made her way to the checkout aisle, tapping her foot impatiently when the single cashier took her sweet time with the shopper in front of her.

  Twenty minutes later, Selena had her car loaded up and was on her way home.

  Damn it, her hands were still shaking. Whatever was happening in the house was now happening outside it.

  Selena started to make the turn onto her street. She was going to have to talk to Gideon about suppressing her powers completely until—

  She slammed on the brakes, screeching to a halt barely an inch from a light pole. She scrambled out of the driver’s side, panting as she stared at the car in shock.

  There was nothing in the back seat. Nothing at all.

  There is nothing. She was safe.

  But she couldn’t convince her racing heart or her shaking hands that what she’d seen couldn’t be there.

  She threw open the back seat door anyway, looking for anything that could have made those glowing red eyes or that shadowed face.

  She slammed the door shut on a curse. She had seen it, damn it. Her powers weren’t that fucked up.

  Selena pulled out her phone, glad she’d put Ash on speed dial. Within moments he’d picked up. “What’s wrong?”

  It said something about their relationship that the first words out of his mouth showed he knew that something had happened to her. “I think our spectral visitor decided to go grocery shopping with me.”

  She winced at how badly her voice was shaking.


  “Where are you?”

  “On the corner, not far from home.” Selena slid behind the wheel and put Ash on speaker phone. No matter how badly she needed to hear him she wouldn’t drive with the phone plastered to her ear. “I’ll stay on the line until I’m there.”

  She wasn’t going to inform him of how close she’d come to ramming the light pole. He’d probably order her never to drive again, and she’d be forced to stick the cupcakes up his ass.

  When she pulled up in front of the house Ash was waiting for her in the driveway, his arms over his chest, his green eyes stern. She turned the car off and he was there, opening the driver’s side and gently tugging her out. “What happened, Selena?”

  “I thought at first it was nothing. The cupcakes fell out of the cart, no biggie. Then the cereal fell. Then the coffee can nearly hit me in the face. So I left the supermarket, thinking if I forgot anything I’d send you back for it.”

  “I can do that.” He led her gently inside, ignoring the bags in the trunk. “So was that what shook you up so badly?”

  “No. I was making the turn onto my street when I saw something in the rear view mirror.” She sat on the sofa and put her head in her hands. “Ash, it was in the car with me.”

  He cursed, nodding when Gideon ran out the door. “Gideon will check it.” He knelt in front of her and took hold of her hands. “You’re safe now.”

  “It’s a demon.” She was certain. She hadn’t wanted to name it before, just in case she was wrong. Some ghosts and poltergeists could get mean and angry, but that didn’t make them demons. But the eyes had clinched it. There’d been pure evil in the creature’s gaze, and a hunger that terrified her. “Too much is following the pattern of a demonic haunting for it to be anything else.”

  “Gideon thinks so too.” He kissed the back of each of her hands. “The good news is, if it’s attached to you we’ll be able to get rid of it easier.”

  “And if it’s attached to the house we might never get rid of it.” She thought over what they’d have to do to contain it if it had already attached itself to the land.