"Want to tell me what happened, now?" Samuel looked over to where Marina stood, leaning up against the counter, which held a coffeemaker, toaster oven, and blender. He grinned as he realized he'd written the manual for the blender. It wasn't a great model, sometimes it overflowed for no reason, but that hadn't been his job to point out. His guess would be that it occasionally made whoever used it really, really nuts.
"I've already told you. The demon was in my head. He taunted me, said he was going to torture me, kill me. The same stuff he says to all of you."
She shrugged like it didn't matter, like she hadn't been utterly terrified when he knew she had been. Why was she hiding her feelings on this? Samuel reached out with his mind and stroked the side of her face. Eden didn't react, she never did. If he spoke to her, she could actually hear him even though others could not. Other than actual vocalization, she remained completely unaware of his presence.
"Then he was expelled from my mind."
Marina scratched the side of her face. "That's where you lose me. How did that happen? Because I know I didn't do it and, as far as I know, I'm the only one capable of doing that."
Samuel rolled his eyes. Marina seemed to be a good person. She worked hard, loved her fellow Outsiders but boy could she be cocky sometimes. They all had a slew of powers. Why would the woman assume she was the only one able to do anything at all?
"He did it."
Samuel turned to face Eden. She looked lovely with the morning sunlight drifting in under the yellow curtains that blocked the windows in the kitchen. Her skin, a shade just darker than porcelain, showed the dark circles under her eyes—the only indication he could see of just how badly she'd been sleeping. He'd tried to hold her, like he stroked her now, but it hadn't helped her dreams.
"Your soul mate. The one who changed your appearance in the mental institution in New Jersey so the demon left you alone."
She nodded and pinched the bridge of her nose. "That's the one."
"The one who isn't interested in meeting you." Marina didn't phrase that as a question as she walked to the refrigerator. Samuel wanted to holler at her. Not interested in meeting Eden? Nothing could be further from the truth.
"Yep." Eden sighed. "Not that I can blame him. I'm such a mess. I wouldn't want to meet me either."
"Stop that." Marina opened the door to the fridge and pulled out some milk. "Every time Drew meets me, he runs for the hills."
"I do want to meet you." He couldn't help but speak. No way could he let Eden continue thinking that the reason they couldn't be together was because there was something wrong with her. "It's just not possible, beautiful Eden."
Eden jumped in her seat and whirled around. "He's here right now, speaking to me."
"Really?" Marina set the milk down on the counter and stared off into the distance. "I don't feel anyone and I'd be able to. I set the wards. Nothing gets through here without me knowing."
Bullshit. The demon had gotten through that morning into Eden's vision. Plus, Samuel knew he was way too powerful not to be able to manipulate Marina's so-called wards.
"Then what are you saying? I'm imagining the whole thing?" Eden stood and Samuel watched in horror as a tear slipped from her lovely blue eyes. "Great, I've invented voices in my head to fill some kind of soul mate need. The demon is probably right. He killed him and I'm so psychotic I have to make someone up to deal."
Marina shook her head. "That's not what I'm saying. Who knows what you're hearing?"
Samuel wasn't at all concerned with Marina's opinions. At the moment, he wanted to alleviate some of Eden's fears. He wanted her to never cry again. She seemed so riddled with self-doubt when she'd been stronger than anyone he knew through the most harrowing of circumstances.
"He tried to kill me, sweet Eden. He almost did." Samuel could hear his voice shake. He hated thinking about that time. It brought it all back too intensely. Even saying the words made him smell the black smoke that had threatened to steal the life from his body too soon. "And Marina isn't as clever as she thinks she is. She can't feel me—it doesn't mean I'm not here. I am but just for you."
Eden visibly swallowed, her neck muscles clenching. Marina stared at her from across the room, her eyebrows furrowed downward. "You okay, Eden-beeden?"
That was the stupidest nickname he'd ever heard. "She doesn't have to know about us, darling. You can tell or you can decide not to tell her. It's entirely your business. But you are not crazy."
Eden smiled at Marina. "I'm fine."
"You sure?"
His soul mate nodded. "Yep."
"That's good. We'll figure it out, whatever it is. In the meantime, I need to tell you that Kal has outlined a plan. We're going to go bust into Sebastian's house and get the information we need to finish translating Abraxas's journals."
Marina turned around and poured the milk into her cup of steaming coffee. Samuel turned his attention back to Eden who had turned two shades paler. "I'm not going, am I? You're going to leave me here alone."
"You'll be perfectly safe. I told you, I've warded the place so thickly no one is getting anywhere near it."
Shit.
Chapter Three
Sebastian stared up at the ceiling of his hotel room. For the amount of money he paid, he shouldn't have to look at cheap popcorned plaster. Lying next to him, Alexa, the Outsider he'd taken as a lover in order to thwart the prophecy—and just to prove he could—snored lightly with her head pushed up against her pillow. Her dark brown hair spread out over her nude form, making her looks, he supposed, sexy. To him, she just appeared pasty white—like a well-cooked chicken dinner.
He didn't require sleep. His human body—the one he'd stolen in utero—would have needed to shut down every night and dream if he didn't drink his steady diet of virgin blood. The purity of that destruction allowed his demon-self to circumvent the human needs that would otherwise thwart him.
But Alexa needed to sleep. In fact, the more he screwed her, the more she needed to rest. What she didn't understand, but he grasped perfectly, was that the more he infected her with the evil, the more her Outsider-self died. Every night when she went to sleep, she woke up a little bit changed. In fact, lately her shift to becoming a full-fledged demon had sped up. She was really letting herself go.
Poor Leonardo, never to have his soul mate because she belongs to me.
Sebastian sighed. He either needed to eat some blood soon or he needed to fuck Alexa and continue to steal her soul.
Decisions, decisions.
Not to mention the problem he'd had in Eden Roan's mind. What the hell had expelled him from the weakling's vision? He'd taken care of that problem years earlier when he killed Samuel Quinn. It hadn't been his finest maneuver but setting that fire and locking him in a closet had solved the issue for him. He should have done something similar to Drew Dubowski when he'd had the chance. But by then he'd been so strong in his powers he had wanted to play. Drew had eventually escaped him and continued to be a thorn in his side whenever he appeared.
Lesson learned.
Why couldn't he simply manage to kill them all, eat Alexa's blood, and finish his plans for world domination? It had been so simple in the other planes of existence his family had conquered.
Kal and Isabelle had thwarted him. Now they were mated and he couldn't even detect them when they were around. Charma had managed to snatch Jason out of Sebastian's sister's clutches and save his life. They mated. Same problem as Kal and Isabelle. Then, and his blood really boiled when he thought about this, Gabriel—who had been a problem for him since he'd first found him—had mated Loraine. Killing Gabriel would be much, much harder now.
Since he'd already killed Samuel, the next logical step had to be to eliminate Eden. That would take out one full-mated pair from the Outsiders. The rest of them would fall apart.
Only Eden had some sort of defensive ability that had shoved him from her vision. That was no good. He couldn't have her gaining control of her powers. Prophecy was too danger
ous an ability for the Outsiders to have. If Eden could adequately use her prophetic visions, if she was able to determine which ones were real and which weren't, his life would become monumentally miserable.
Well… if he couldn't get her from the inside out, he'd get her from the outside in. She couldn't stay protected forever.
He looked at Alexa. Yes, it was time to fuck.
* * * *
Leonardo Gregan sighed as he stared across his paper-strewn desk at Eden. She'd come into his room demanding answers, a change for her. Maybe it meant she was finally gaining a backbone. The Fates knew they needed her to.
All of the Outsiders—and they only knew where nine were—half the number they required to complete the prophecy—needed to be at full power. Eden consistently slowed them down. Not to mention the huge problem that his soul mate, Alexa, currently resided with the demon. A major, major issue.
"Are you going to answer me?"
He sat forward in his seat. "I'm not sure what you want me to say, Eden."
She put her hands on her hips. "I want you to tell me why I'm being left behind, by myself, when everyone else is going to New Orleans. Surely, I can contribute something."
Now this was fascinating. Standing in front of him, in a fury, was a version of Eden he'd never seen before. She had a temper? A real one?
Since he'd returned from being strung up from the ceiling by a demon, Leonardo had tried to adopt a more Zen philosophy of life. He tried to find peace and love for all his fellow Outsiders, who he had somehow come to lead although he'd never wanted the task.
Now, however, he thought he might do better to give Eden more of a tough love challenge.
He sat back in his seat and tried to pretend he was Kal or Gabriel. How would they place themselves if they wanted to look as if they didn't give a shit what the other person in the room thought?
Swinging his feet forward, he placed them on top of his desk. He hoped he looked tough because he felt ridiculous. He was a history professor at Columbia University, not some drunk cowboy. Still, he watched Eden's eyes widen. The effect must be working.
"We're not bringing you because you are too much of a liability to us, Eden."
That wasn't entirely true. Kal had suggested, and Leonardo agreed, leaving Eden made the most sense because she couldn't be risked while she lived in such a precarious state. She had to be kept safe until she could help herself.
But, perhaps, coddling Eden wasn't getting the job done. Maybe she needed to get mad to make it.
"If you feel that way, Leonardo," she said his name like it tasted bad on her tongue. "Perhaps I should just leave."
He crossed his hands in his lap. Drama had never really appealed to him. "Where would you go? When we found you, I believe you were living in a mental institution, all but comatose. If Charma hadn't dragged you out, you'd still be there. Rotting."
Her eyes watered and he wanted to curse at her. No, she wasn't supposed to cry—she was supposed to yell. Still, he'd started this. He was going to have to finish it.
"What skills do you have? Could you get a job? Aren't you from the middle of nowhere? Despite your trips to the cities to preach with your parents, have you been anywhere?"
"Wow." She took a step back. "I had no idea you hated me this much, Leonardo."
"I don't hate you, Eden. Far from it."
He wanted to wrap her up in soft cotton blankets and keep her safe until the demon was no more. But that wasn't an option for their lives.
She turned and ran from the room. He hoped what he'd done had worked because otherwise he was going to feel like a piece of shit for the rest of his life. Yelling at Eden felt akin to kicking a puppy. It was wrong on so many levels.
Abraxas Moore's journals were the only thing they had to go by, the only roadmap in the horror that was their existence. He had been clear. The prophecy was clear. For years, he'd hoped there was another way to handle things but there was not. Eighteen souls—all of them invested in ridding the world of the demon. That was the only way they were going to survive let alone win the war they had to wage.
She had to get with the program. Maybe leaving her alone would force her to gain some perspective.
He hoped.
* * * *
Dr Christophe Roux stared out at his students as they took his final exam. Soon, they'd all be home for the winter break and he'd still be living in New York City, an ocean away from his family in France, having accomplished neither of the goals he'd set for himself when he'd arrived in New York—find Leonardo Gregan, get him to explain the town that had appeared, out of nowhere, on the Pyrénées, and get Dr Ruby Brannon to fall in love with him.
The first task had stalled before it had even begun because he'd accepted this job in order to get closer to his second desire. Ruby. Even now he could feel his eyes glazing over with lust for her. In his thirty-one years on the planet, he'd never wanted anyone like he craved her and the woman seemed determined to avoid him everywhere he went.
If they had faculty meetings, she was away doing research. Ruby seemed to have designed her schedule so whenever he taught, she was off and vice versa. The most he ever got to do was stare at her from the hall outside her classroom.
Descended from royalty, with a doctorate and several published papers, he'd never had a hard time meeting women when he wanted to. Except for Ruby. When he'd first met her, six months earlier, she wore her hair short—like a blonde pixie. Now, she seemed to be growing it out. He often wondered why. She looked gorgeous no matter the length. But it burned his stomach to think of her doing it for another man.
As he sputtered around in an attempt to attract her, he couldn't stand the idea of her dating others.
"Professor."
He blinked. A tall redheaded girl who wore light green glasses raised her hand. They were in the middle of an exam. Really, these Americans had no idea of decorum. One did not just speak in the middle of a test.
Placing his finger to his lips to indicate he wanted her to shush, he tried to take a deep breath. If he couldn't have Ruby, he'd find Leonardo. That would be accomplished before he returned to France in the summer. Although his heart ached at the thought that there was a very good chance he'd be doing that without ever knowing Ruby with the light blonde hair.
He just couldn't have a repeat of what had happened six months ago. His power had flared up and he'd ended up involved in some business with a creature he suspected had not been human. No, if he had to suddenly appear somewhere he preferred it to be either Ruby's bedroom or Leonardo's study. Other than that, he'd rather travel in the regular fashions.
Staring up at the clock, he sighed. Ten more minutes and then all of his students would leave for a whole month. Time felt like it crawled by.
* * * *
Drew Dubowski stared out at the ocean. He loved the island, St John, even though he'd never pictured himself living in the Caribbean. Most of the time, he preferred cold weather locations. But the need to get away from Marina before he infected her with his dark side had pressed him to put some serious space between them. An engineering job for the new luxury resort they were building on St John had seemed like the perfect opportunity to use his skills and keep Marina at bay.
From the moment he'd stepped off the boat onto the island he had known he'd made the right decision. He couldn't feel her at all. For a while there he'd thought there was nowhere he could go where he would be free from the pull she had on him.
Drew walked slowly away from the beach, holding his coffee in his hand. He took a sip as Marina's lovely face appeared before his eyes. Biting down on his bottom lip, he pushed away the image. Why should he be surprised? He'd been completely connected to her from the time they were children. It wasn't like he could easily rid himself of the habit of obsessing over her.
Plus, it didn't help she was so darn lovely that all he wanted to do was lick her all over until he could smell his own scent covering her body. Yeah, he was a sick bastard.
He needed to
stay away. St John might not prove to be far enough.
* * * *
Ruby couldn't believe what had happened. No matter how hard she tried to control it, she couldn't seem to stop it from happening. She looked down at her living room. It was filled from top to bottom with things that shouldn't be there.
She bit down on her thumbnail. This was bad—very bad. All she'd done was think about daisies. She liked daisies. During her daydream on the subway, she'd thought how wonderful it would be to have the cute French professor with the snotty attitude give her daisies. Not that he would do that. He preferred to stare at her with disdain.
Well, whatever he saw in her to dislike, he might be correct because she was clearly a freak of nature. This had been happening to her since she was a child. If she thought about something too long, she ended up somehow calling the object to her.
In this case, apparently she'd managed to decorate her entire room with daisies. Everywhere she looked—there they were. She'd also managed to acquire vases she hadn't had earlier.
Ruby paced the room. She did not need this right now. Who did these daisies belong to? Whose vases were they? She wanted to scream but she didn't need her nosy neighbors banging on her door or complaining to the building manager. The walls in her way-too-expensive New York City apartment were too damn thin.
At least it wasn't diamonds. Oh heaven help her the day she'd dreamt about diamonds. The whole city had searched for a jewel thief. The gemstone swipes of the century. It still baffled authorities why someone had 'taken' them and returned them in a bag mailed anonymously to the district attorney.
Were flower shops bare all over New York City?
She couldn't let anyone in her apartment until she worked out what to do, not even the cleaning woman who came once a week. This wasn't an easy disposal situation. Not like when she'd been a child and she'd found all her friends toys in her bedroom. A quick trip out back to shove the toys into the garbage cans had taken care of those items she hadn't meant to own.
Love Beyond Sight Page 3
