She drew in a breath. “As ready as I’ll ever be. We’ve been practicing all afternoon. And we’ve been on the phone with Aubrey off and on all day. We didn’t want to drag her back into this. Miranda’s a little rusty, but she’ll be okay.”
“You didn’t really go all these years without using your abilities.”
“For the most part, yes. But there were times the pressure would build up inside me and I’d have to go out into the mountains, away from everyone, and let off some steam. More than a little. I’m a fire witch. I’m kind of like a solar panel, gathering energy all the time.” She pushed open the men’s bathroom door and went inside while he stood on the threshold. “Clear.”
“And Miranda?” He shoved open the ladies’ room door and saw at a glance it was empty. “Clear.”
“I think she really held herself to a higher standard and completely denied herself. Being a water witch, she was able to distance herself from her element a little better than I could.”
He had been focused on the dynamic between the two women the entire time he was with them. There was more to the story than they were admitting. “You mean punish herself.”
She remained silent for a moment. “We both did.”
They fell into a tense silence as they patrolled the rest of the floor.
“I’ve done a little digging. I discovered what a sleazebag your stepfather was. He’d pissed a lot of business associates off and cheated them out of money before he disappeared.” They walked down the stairs to the second floor.
“Yes.”
“There were other criminal allegations before he married your mother. Allegations of a different nature that were dropped from lack of evidence when the woman and daughter left the state and refused to testify.”
Juliet stopped at the foot of the stairs and braced her feet apart to face him. “They weren’t just allegations at our house. And our mother turned a blind eye.”
Jesus. Having what he’d suspected verified hit him with the force of a roundhouse punch. He wanted to take her in his arms and offer her comfort, but to do so now might undermine her resolve in the coming minutes.
He probed her eyes, her face. A man didn’t just disappear without any trace unless something permanent had happened to him. The pieces of the puzzle fell into place. It would have been Miranda, protecting Juliet. The signs where there.
He was an officer of the law, and it wasn’t his place to sit in judgment, only to apprehend. But in this case he couldn’t divorce his feelings. And no evidence existed. He’d bet it had gone up in flames long ago. And without a body, he wasn’t interested in trying to build a case. Or air their childhood traumas for the world. They’d more than paid for anything that had happened.
Besides, they were putting their life on the line to take two murderers off the street. Juliet was right. Mother Nature had a way of balancing things out.
“Sometimes criminals like your stepfather get exactly what they deserve. I figure one of his business associates took care of him.”
Her throat worked as she swallowed, but she remained stiff with tension.
He reached for her and cupped her face in his hands. “You told me you were working on some things before you wanted to date again. And I know my timing sucks, but how long do you think those things might take?”
Her fingers looped around his wrists and she searched his face.
“No pressure. But I care about you, Juliet. If you never want to see me again after all this is over, I’ll go with that, but—”
“I want to.”
Those three words released his tension and hers, and they both took a deep breath. “How long?” He was being pushy, but dammit, he wanted this. Wanted her. And he wanted her to know he had her back.
“I don’t know. I have a lot of baggage.”
“I’m strong. I can help you carry it.”
Her eyes grew glassy with tears.
If she cried, he’d lose it. He covered her lips with his, and he was careful to keep the pressure soft, undemanding, just a comforting connection between them. Her hands slid from his wrists. She leaned into him and slipped her arms up his back to hold him.
This might be the only time they had together. He wanted more. He wanted her to want more. And then his wish was granted. Her lips parted, and his tongue reached for hers. The kiss flared, torrid with desperation. He tasted her passion, felt her need to be close. His hands dropped from her cheeks and he reached for her, molding her against him. She smelled like citrus and her. Her breasts nestled in against his ribs.
A cracking sound from downstairs intruded, and he raised his head. Every muscle clenched in sudden alertness.
Miranda’s sharp, alarmed, “Caleb!” tore them apart.
“If this goes south, don’t hesitate to use your gun, Chase. They’re too dangerous for human and witch alike. Stay hidden until it’s over. She’ll use you against me if she can.” Juliet ran for the stairs.
* * *
Juliet’s heart caught at the sight of Caleb suspended in midair twenty feet from the ground. The entire room was nothing but hard surfaces, so if he dropped, it would kill him.
Miranda’s face glowed white with fear as she looked up at him. He appeared to be unconscious. His limbs hung limp and his chin rested against his chest. Dried blood darkened the front of his T-shirt, and bruises marred his forehead and jaw. One eye appeared to be swollen shut.
Vivian sauntered further into the commons area while Justin turned and closed the two large, wooden front doors. He twisted the lock and announced, “All snuggled in, secure and safe.”
Without his Goth makeup and gelled hair, the resemblance between him and Vivian was as striking as were the pair’s gleeful faces while they soaked in Miranda’s fear. She came out from behind the desk, knocking a book from the counter to the floor. She ignored it.
Juliet’s heart drummed against her ribs so hard it hurt. She slowed her pace and sauntered down the stairs in an unhurried gait, refusing to look up at Caleb’s body again. She shoved away the idea that he might already be dead and what it might do to Miranda and her. If he was…the two witches before them would pay with their lives.
She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and rested a hand on the wooden banister. She looked from Justin to the Vivian. “Why don’t you quit fucking around and get to it?”
Justin’s smile died, a small hint of uncertainty around his eyes. After a brief pause Vivian threw her head back and laughed. “If that’s what you want.” With a flick of her hand, Caleb’s body plummeted like dead weight toward the check-in desk.
Miranda shouted out a command and a large bubble encompassed him, catching him inches from the ground. She rushed toward him, only to have her way blocked by a slithering mass of black snakes. They hissed and rose to strike at her, and she staggered back.
Justin yelled as he was jerked toward the skylight by an invisible bungee cord, coming to a stop upside down, hanging by one foot only a few inches below the skylight. His eyes looked round with shock. “God dammit, put me down. Suz, get me down.”
Juliet squelched her momentary satisfaction. He was the follower, the weak link between them, but just as deadly. He’d hung around her trying to worm his way into a date. Had she agreed to go out with him, he and his sister would have killed her without a second thought.
“You know your physics theories, Vivian?” Juliet asked. “For every action there will be an opposite and equal reaction. There are descriptions used in other contexts. An eye for an eye. Karma’s a bitch. That kind of thing.”
Juliet gestured the symbol for snake. A tiny serpent crept out from behind Vivian’s ear and dropped to her shoulder. The woman yelped, jerked it free of her hair and tossed it to the ground. It curled around to face her and lifted up, ready to strike.
Justin continued to scream above them. They both ignored him.
“What kind of action do you believe should result from your killing Tanner?”
Vivian’s features turned s
ullen and angry. “I didn’t kill Tanner. You did. If you’d left him alone he’d still be here with me.”
“How was I supposed to know to leave him alone, Vivian? I’m a witch, not psychic. You never called. You never wrote. I wonder why? Could it be because you’d already done those things before and you were afraid he’d know you were stalking him again?”
Vivian whispered something under her breath, and a pool of black appeared at Juliet’s feet. A bulbous head rose from the center, followed by narrow shoulders and a wide, concave chest. His long arms hung to his knees and his legs spread thin and bowed.
Looking into that blank, blackish-gray face was like looking into the pit of pain and guilt she had suffered since she was thirteen. But he had no eyes, no heart to see what was inside her. She had known those feelings long enough. But the memory gripped her of how those on the street had screamed—hungry, furious. At the quick pinch of fear she stepped back. Would the emotional buffering Miranda and she had created hold? Even if it did, she still needed to control her emotions.
She glanced toward Miranda to find her sister facing a similar creature, and standing protectively between it and Caleb. Concern choked her, and she turned away. If she watched too long, she’d be so frightened for Miranda it might set the thing off. She had to get her own emotions under control. She reached for the moment of peace during meditation and her feelings leveled out.
The creatures swayed from side to side, waiting for either a signal from Vivian or for Juliet’s emotions to rise.
“You hired the men who killed Tanner. They beat him, beat him until he couldn’t stand or defend himself. Then stomped him. Kicked him. He was one of the most decent human beings I’ve ever known, and they killed him. You created the situation that caused his death. And for what?”
“I never meant for him to die.” For the first time Juliet saw remorse, but it quickly passed, to be overpowered by her Vivian’s rage. “I just wanted rid of you. He was with you everywhere. He walked you home every night. He ate dinner at your apartment. Spent the night there. With you.” Her voice rose with her rage. “If you had left him alone, he’d still be here. We were meant to be together.”
“If you’d loved him enough to walk away, he’d still be alive. That’s what love is Vivian. Sacrifice.”
She glanced at Miranda for a brief moment. “I’m going to show you what you did, Vivian. What you took from us all.” Juliet’s hand shook as she gestured to the empty area before her. Her throat tightened with grief, and she quickly shut down her pain. She closed her eyes, pulled the memories from her, and set them free, producing more than just a movie screen. The room was filled with a three-dimensional image of what had taken place on the street that night. Juliet turned her face away to keep from watching. Every moment was imprinted on her psyche.
A quick moment of Tanner laughing, watching television with his feet propped on the coffee table, reaching out a hand to grasp hers, was followed by the attack. The meaty thuds and grunts were animalistic as Abbott, hyped up on cocaine, punched, kicked and stomped Tanner into unconsciousness while Porter held her by the hair and twisted her arm behind her back until he dislocated her shoulder. She screamed in pain. Her anger and fear had screamed with it. His high-pitched squeals when she set him on fire echoed through the room. Abbott ran to him and beat the flames with his hands, so hyped on drugs he didn’t feel the pain. The two ran back to their car and peeled away.
Tanner’s labored breathing filled the room, his broken ribs and punctured lungs making it sound soupy as blood rushed in to drown him.
“This is what you took from us, Vivian. What you did. What you caused.”
Vivian’s face was pasty white when she approached the image and stood over Tanner.
Justin’s voice rose, high-pitched and desperate, as he twisted and turned to try to escape Juliet’s tether above them. “Vivian, don’t listen to her. It wasn’t you, it was them, and we killed them. They’re dead now.” His face twisted and he balled his fist.
A glowing orb of power shot down at Miranda, and she threw up an arm and a shield against it, its impact spreading out, dissipated by her defense. She yelped in pain as some of the residual energy showered blue down on her, and she leapt away. With an angry glare at Justin above her, she thrust a hand out and the energy pooled in her palm.
Juliet released her spell, and he hurtled toward the floor just as Caleb had done. He caught himself feet from the hard tile, but stumbled as he found his footing. Miranda hit him in the back of the head with his own ball-shaped energy. He tumbled forward into a slithering stream of snakes.
He yelped and surged to his feet.
Vivian shouted, “Umbra exsisto hic.” Black pools filled the tiled floor, so dense only inches of space remained between them. Shadow creatures struggled up out of the depths from the center of each one.
Miranda kicked the book at her feet out of the way and it slid forward, the pages opening in a flutter. She faced off with the creature before her.
The fifty or more shadows around them screamed in unison. Juliet flinched and covered her ears.
“Look at him, Vivian.” Juliet yelled when their screams subsided. “What would you say to Tanner now? I’m sorry? What good would it do? He’s dead. You’ll never have him. And he’ll never be able to love you. He’ll never be able to love anyone.”
“Shut up,” Justin shouted, his features twisted with fear and rage. The shadows around him skimmed closer, hemming him in. “She’s doing to you what you were supposed to do to her, Suzette. She’s the one who should feel guilty, she’s the one who caused his death.”
Vivian moved closer to Tanner’s image. “He would have loved me if you hadn’t taken him.” Her eyes began to glow with emotion. For a moment Juliet thought she saw tears glaze the woman’s eyes. She jerked around to face the creatures standing sentinel behind her. “Kill them! Kill them both!”
Everything went still, silent. The shadows wove back and forth, sightless, seeking emotion. Juliet turned to look at Miranda and raised a fist in a signal to hold on. She braced herself for their attack. Would anything she tried work to fight them off? They turned en masse toward Miranda, and her heart skipped a beat. “No!” The word escaped her in a whisper. She stumbled backwards, up two stairs, and realized they weren’t going for Miranda, but Justin.
He screamed as two of the creatures locked onto his arms. His panic drew others blindly, hungrily.
Vivian’s shout was just as panicked. “No! No! Not him—them!” She pointed toward Juliet and Miranda, but the creatures were blind to all but emotion. “Not him!” She shoved her way through the sea of black, and for a moment she was almost obscured. They couldn’t attack her, she was their creator, but Justin was just another unprotected source of emotion they could drain to feed their hunger.
Juliet slipped along the wall behind the creatures, and, reaching Miranda, gripped her hand. “We have to do it now. While they have him.”
They clasped hands and gathered as much energy as they could. A full moon beamed down through the panes overhead.
While she spoke in Latin, Miranda spoke the words in English.
“From characters inside a book you began.
To characters you will end.
Into the book you must all descend.”
A heavy whistling sound filled the room as air began to drag and pull at their clothing. The pages of the book Miranda had kicked whipped back and forth. The first shadow reached it and was sucked into its pages, then the next. The snakes Vivian had called forth streamed through the air, their hisses lost in the cry of the wind, their tails a lash that could maim or blind.
With each creature’s disappearance the speed with which the next was sucked in increased. The two who held Justin hostage were dragged forward, their bodies elongating as they sought to continue feeding off his emotions and kill him. One wrenched its hand free of the vacuum’s pull and plunged it into his chest.
Justine’s scream was an inhuman warble wr
acked with torment. Vivian leaped forward and tore the thing’s grip from him and attempted to cover his body with her own.
The wind ripped at Juliet’s clothing, flinging her ponytail over her shoulder and into her eyes making them sting. Miranda shook head to clear her own vision. “We have to end it.”
“For your own good, for others’ safety,
You will be locked away for all eternity.”
One of the shadows lost its grip and was pulled away, but the other clung like a tick, dragging Justin with it. Creature and man’s feet disappeared into pages while Justin’s anguished scream filled the cavernous space.
Vivian, realizing the danger, tried to pry his fingers loose from her arm and roll away. Her teeth clenched in a grimace as his fingernails dug into her arm, leaving bloody trails. He threw an arm around her neck.
“Don’t let me go, Suzette,” he cried. Desperate and beyond panic, he clung to her. His torso disappeared until only his head and arm remained free. Vivian braced her hands on the floor and heaved back to either pull him free or break his grip. A long, grayish-black arm extended from the pages then, its huge hand tangling in Vivian’s hair, pulling her off balance until she fell headfirst into the book, her feet kicking like someone plunged into deep water, struggling to surface.
Caleb’s protective bubble slid forward, heading for Vivian’s scissoring legs.
The vortex they’d created was intensifying and was about to suck him in! Juliet tore her hands free. “Get him.” Her tennis shoes squeaked as she twisted toward the book. Miranda released the bubble and nearly collided with her as she rushed forward.
Vivian’s shriek echoed as she was sucked all the way down into the pages. Juliet dove head-first, using her body to block Caleb’s momentum, and his greater weight struck her from behind, shoving her forward. Her arm sank elbow-deep into the pages and she gasped as something gripped her wrist and pulled hard.
Fingers grabbed the waistband of her jeans and wrenched her back. A large foot encased in a black dress shoe kicked the book closed and stomped on it. The immediate silence lay poised like the moment following a laugh. She looked up at Hollis Garr. He stood on the cover of the book with all his weight.
Deep Within The Shadows (The Superstition Series Book 1) Page 22
