Love Beyond Expectations

by Rebecca Royce

  Maine. Maine. Maine. Colin obsessed over whatever destiny awaited them in Maine ever since he'd appeared in Christophe's living room months earlier. That had been December. March arrived, the snow had not stopped, and Colin's refrain continued. Christophe had been resistant to go, he had work and responsibilities, but the universe had conspired against him and the perfect guest lecturer had arrived to take over his classes for a week. Now, he had no excuse but to let his brother drive them both up to an even colder state to find some unknown future.

  He had to continue speaking about an earlier topic. If he let it go, Colin would never cease to tease him about it. "And Ruby is not my girlfriend. She doesn't even know I'm alive. Why did I ever think I could tell you about her?"

  Colin snickered. "You didn't, but like with most things, I dragged it right out of you."

  "Don't mention her again." It caused too much of an ache in the pit of his stomach to know she lived in the world somewhere and he would never see her again. He'd be denied the right to even stare silently at her lovely, pixie-like face.

  A smell wafted through the room. Christophe sniffed the air. What was that? The aroma seemed akin to…sulfur.

  "Colin, do you…"

  Before he could blink, Colin rushed forward, shoving him to the floor. He hit the wood hard, rolling with a thud, just as the room lit up in a strange red glow.

  "What the…?"

  Colon shouted. "It's the demon. He's found us."

  The demon? Christophe's heart pounded hard. The last time he'd been in its presence, it had been downright civilized. The room turning red and the sulfur marked new territory for him.

  "How do you know?"

  "I've been with him before." Colin cursed. "I…fucked with him. I have something he wants."

  This might have been information Christophe could have used months ago. It didn't prove particularly helpful at the moment.

  "We need to get up."

  Nodding, he got to his knees. "What we need to do is get out of here. Fast."

  A loud boom shook the pictures on the wall. Without analyzing too much what it meant, Christophe knew nothing good could come from the demonstrations of power they were being given. If the evil being wanted to show his temper, he could do it without an audience.

  Christophe looked at Colin, worry suddenly overtaking him that he wouldn't be able to get him out. When had he become so damn fond of his brother? Not that he could think about that currently.

  "Follow me."

  "No." Colin shook his head. "He can't follow both of us, I don't think. And he wants me. We need to split up."

  That seemed like a really bad idea. "I think we'll be stronger if we stick together."

  Colin shook his head. "You're much tougher than me, you just don't know it yet."

  "Are you kidding?"

  "I'm going invisible now. Get to Maine. I'll be there or I'm dead."

  Christophe grabbed his arm. "Where in Maine? It's a big state. Lots of land. How will I know where I'm supposed to go?"

  Colin laughed, the sound cold and hard. "You'll know. Trust me."

  His brother vanished from the room like he'd never been there, leaving Christophe alone with a demon smashing the picture frames on the wall. They shattered as they hit the floor. If he lived through this, he planned on murdering his brother slowly.

  Ever since Colin had appeared in his living room, Christophe had lost whatever small amount of control he'd actually held in his life. He stared at the fire escape, knowing it would be a cold, wet rush if he could make it.

  With nothing left to lose, he charged to the window.

  Chapter Two

  Ruby Brannon had been born to do research. Or at least it felt that way most of the time. She loved it, which was how she had become the youngest professor of Ancient Cultures at Columbia University. Of course, Columbia felt very far away from an unnamed island off the coast of Maine.

  But even she couldn't fathom how she could possibly make hide or hair out of the mess of her Outsider heritage. She stared down at the ancient texts. If she got two words translated an hour, it would be progress. They simply couldn't go further until they got some sort of translator. Someone who could make sense of the gobbledygook in front of her.

  She stroked her blonde hair, desperately needing a cut, and took a sip of her coffee. If she could go back in time, she'd never ever have come to Maine.

  Leonardo Gregan, the man whose job she had taken at Columbia after he'd gone on leave and the leader of the Outsiders, sauntered into the room. He'd been awfully cheery all day, and even Ruby, who hadn't known him very long, could tell his current joviality wasn't normal.

  "How's it coming?"

  "Badly." She stood up to stretch. "What has you so happy?"

  "For the first time in years, it's not me sitting in that desk staring at pages that don't make sense."

  Yes, he'd given that job to her as soon as he'd returned from a jaunt to New Orleans where he and the whole crew attempted to kill a demon named Sebastian, a strange name for a demon to be sure.

  Actually, he'd assigned her the job shortly after threatening to kill her for trespassing.

  "I'm glad my current state of misery means you get to be happy."

  He laughed, a loud hard sound. "No, you're not, and I don't blame you."

  She walked to the window. "Anything exciting happening out there?"

  "You know the usual routine. Drew is teaching Demon-Fighting one-oh-one. Eden and Samuel are locked away somewhere probably having sex."

  Ruby sighed. They were all so invested in each other's business, and she wasn't used to it. Her grandparents had been incredibly private people. Would she ever be comfortable having everyone know everything about her?

  A wind whirled into the room seconds before what looked like hundreds of earmuffs fell all over the floor like they'd been summoned there.

  Leonardo gasped before he scratched his head. "Getting cold?"

  "No." Her cheeks heated up. Damn her power. She held no control over it. "I think it got sent for another reason."

  She'd wanted privacy, and her powers had arranged it so she didn't have to hear anything she didn't want to hear. But where had they stolen them from? Had everyone in a ten-mile radius of the island lost his or her earmuffs?

  "Now if only we could get your powers to bring us the keys we need to translate these journals."

  "True." She sighed. "If only I had any control at all over them."

  "You're hardly the first of us to have trouble with control. This time last year, Eden seemed practically catatonic."

  "Hey." Eden walked into the room, holding Samuel's hand. She'd been blinded by the demon, but because of her connection to her other half, she could see through Samuel's eyes. Therefore, they never went anywhere separately. "Don't talk about me behind my back."

  Leonardo smiled. "I knew you were standing there."

  "Liar."

  Samuel snorted and shook his head at his soul mate's remark. "Eden's had a pretty intense vision."

  Ruby's ears perked up. Not much had happened since she'd arrived at the Outsider's remote island home off the coast of Maine. She'd heard about great occurrences and tragedies but had yet to experience any of it herself. If the pace remained as slow as it had, she didn't know if she'd be able to stay put permanently on the rock they called home. At least in New York City she could study, teach, and go to Starbucks. So far none of the Outsiders had been able to produce a decent cup of coffee, herself included.

  "Tell me." Leonardo moved until he faced Eden.

  "There's been an attack by Sebastian."

  "Damn it." Leonardo slammed his hand against the wall. "Why didn't you see it before it happened?"

  "It doesn't work like that, which you know," Samuel snarled at Leonardo.

  Another piece of information she'd gathered about her cohorts: the men had horrific tempers. They were forever challenging each other in shows of bravado that sometimes ended in blows. Civility had, apparently,
been left on the mainland.

  "So then what happened?" Leonardo ignored Samuel entirely and spoke directly to Eden.

  "The demon went after two of us. Two men. They looked pretty similar. Not identical but close. The men were arguing. The demon came, did some scary stuff to them, and they both took off separately. My impression is that they are on their way here."

  "Two Outsiders." Ruby finally interrupted as her mind whirled because of Eden's news. "Two at once? That's a pretty big influx, isn't it? Don't you—excuse me, we—get one at a time?"

  "I don't know that there is a standard for any of this." Leonardo exhaled loudly. "So they're coming, and the demon is on their tail. Great. We'll make preparations." Leonardo walked off muttering to himself in a tone that told her he didn't consider any of it particular great.

  When he'd finally exited, Eden regarded her with her unseeing eyes. "Are you okay?"

  Ruby shook her head. She didn't like sharing her feelings. If the Outsider men were always whacking each other, the women seemed hell bent on wanting to bond.

  "Um, yeah, I guess so. How are you guys? Enjoying the soul mating thing?" Was she supposed to talk about this stuff? They were certainly not acting particularly private when it came to their personal business.

  "Yeah." Samuel grinned. "It's great. Thanks for asking."

  "One of these guys coming could be yours, Ruby."

  Eden nudged Samuel when she spoke.

  The very idea made Ruby's head hurt. She did not want one of those people coming to be her so-called soul mate. No way, no how could she imagine acting like Samuel and Eden. Or Isabelle and Kal. Or Gabriel and Loraine. Or, even worse, Charma and Jason who sometimes spoke like they had one brain.

  No. Ruby existed just fine all by herself without someone intruding on her every thought and move. She'd always been a person who needed a little space to breathe. It might have been because her grandparents had been so incredibly tough on her, but without getting too deep into her own psyche, all she knew was that she felt more comfortable when she had a little space.

  A soul mate would destroy everything.

  "Well, I really need to get back to these books." At her current rate, it would take a million years to get through them so she might as well get back to the task. Eden nodded and left the room with Samuel as soundlessly as they'd entered.

  The room started to vibrate the moment she sat down. At first, she thought she must have been imagining the sensation. Lifting her hands off the desk, she stared at them and wondered just how far off the deep end she'd gone. But it went on long enough even she had to admit it was really happening.

  "Hey," she called out as loud as she could. Standing up, she tried to walk, unsteadily, to the door before she hit the floor. "Hey, help. This room is vibrating. It's shaking. Like some kind of earthquake."

  Except that she'd been in an actual earthquake once, and it hadn't felt anything like this.

  The pictures on the wall shook, and the desk tilted to the right. She screamed again, and the door was flung open.

  Drew Dubowski stood on the other side. Not her favorite person in the world but anyone would do right at the moment.

  He lunged forward, nearly going down once while he made his way to her. "Marina says we're under attack."

  "By the demon?" She reached out and took his hand, letting him help her.

  "Who else?"

  Ruby nodded, trying to act as cool and collected as Drew seemed to be. This was her first attack. The others, they'd all been through these things before.

  The house lurched, and she let out a scream. Drew rubbed his forehead, muttering under his breath to a person not currently with them. "Come on, Marina. You can get it done."

  Drew and Marina were soul mates who, for some reason, had not actually mated. They circled each other, alternating between silence and hostility. If it was Ruby's soul mate on his way to the island—and maybe she shouldn't be thinking about it at that moment, but if she really focused on the fact that they were under attack by a demon, she might flip out—then she thought perhaps they could co-exist like Marina and Drew did. Without so much nastiness.

  "The house will survive this, won't it? I mean, we're warded or whatever."

  Drew cocked his head to the side. "They don't seem to be holding up particularly well at the moment."

  That didn't fill her with a great deal of confidence. "Do you think you should be, I don't know, helping Marina instead of me?"

  "I couldn't leave you in that room. You need to be gotten to safety."

  "Is there safety?" She shoved Drew off her. "I'd feel better knowing you were getting this handled than babying me. Point me to wherever safety is and I'll go there."

  "If you think you can." Drew indicated the kitchen. "Beneath the floor is a safe room. Unless the demon blows up the whole island, you'll be fine beneath there. It's a different location, different set of wards."

  All right. She could manage that. Maybe. "Thanks so much for getting me out of there."

  Drew nodded, but his attention had already moved on as he unsteadily made his way down the hall.

  The house lurched again, and Ruby's stomach threatened to overturn. She didn't like boats and airplanes. She really didn't want the structure beneath her feet to be moving.

  She. Really. Didn't.

  Feeling like she might throw up at any moment, she stumbled into the kitchen. Handling the demon was beyond her abilities. She could sometimes summon random things, and she could translate ancient texts. That was about it. Ruby felt perfectly fine with hiding belowground while the crazy people she lived with handled a mad demon.

  If she had a role to play in this war, it wasn't to fight the paranormal.

  The latch to the hidden room was open in the middle of the kitchen floor. Someone else must have gone down there so at least she wasn't alone in her cowardice.

  In two awkward strides, she made it to the opening and knelt down so she could make her way down without killing herself.

  "Hello?" she called into the darkness as she moved down the ladder. In two more strides, she reached to the floor. Drew had been right. As a separate structure, the demon wasn't shaking the lower level.

  She took a deep breath, loving the feel of solid ground beneath her feet. "Anyone down here with me?"

  "I am."

  Ruby jumped. She didn't recognize the voice as anyone she knew.

  She'd taken two steps backward when the man stepped out of the shadows. He was strikingly beautiful. Regal and well put together, like he'd walked out of the pages of a men's fashion magazine, she gasped as she covered her mouth with her hand.

  Marina had warned her—Sebastian was beautiful to look at. But the last she'd heard, he was supposed to be incorporeal. How could he be standing in front of her?

  He nodded. "Yes, that's a good question."

  The shaking house suddenly looked much better. "How are you reading my thoughts?"

  "Easy. I'm in your mind, which is how you can see me. Marina is correct. I no longer have a body, but it doesn't mean I'm not capable of doing even more damage without one."

  "No one has any doubt about that, you scumbag." She'd been raised not to curse. Scumbag represented the best she could do in this kind of verbal sparring. "Why are you messing with me? The people you should concern yourself with are not cowering in the basement. I'm not a threat to you."

  "Oh, if only that were true." Sebastian circled her. He smelled of expensive cologne. Or, she reminded herself, he made her think he did. As he didn't really have a body, it seemed likely he didn't carry a scent.

  "You're so cerebral. That's what I've always loved about you. Such a tough life and yet you are still so successful. Too bad you're doomed to fail where it really counts."

  "This is what you do. You place doubt. You mess with us. The others have told me how you operate. I'm not concerned. I'll do my part, and you'll be defeated. So go pester someone else."

  Sebastian laughed aloud, his blue eyes turning red for
a moment as he glared at her.

  "I was there, you know."

  Ruby swallowed. She'd challenged the demon, and he hadn't left, which meant he still had some sort of emotional pain to inflict on her. "I'm not going to ask you where you were."

  She had no intention of playing his games. None.

  "That's okay, I'll tell you anyway." He leaned forward, invading her personal space. "I was there when your mother killed herself. I was there when your house blew up. I was there when you had to escape the town where you lived in the middle of the night to avoid capture by people who had found out about your talent. Ruby, I have been there for every bad moment of your life, and I have laughed the entire time."

  Goosebumps appeared on her skin while he spoke. She swallowed through the lump forming in her throat, glad to see that it wasn't fear causing her reaction but sheer unadulterated rage.

  "Get out my head, you sick beast."

  Like she'd suddenly acquired a surge of power, she shoved Sebastian from her mind. Shaking from the adrenaline, she whirled around, looking at her surroundings. Everything appeared the same. She still stood in the underground room but without Sebastian.

  Grabbing her head, she felt slightly dizzy. "Shit."

  As if her grandparents could hear her, even though they were both buried six feet underground, she covered her mouth after her expression of profanity.

  Could she believe the demon? Had he really been present every time her life went to hell? Why hadn't he simply destroyed her when he'd had all those chances?

  "You okay?" Leonardo jumped down, not using the ladder to get to her. "Marina thought the demon got down here."

  "In my head, actually." Ruby tried to smile. "Is the attack over?"

  "Yes. They got the wards back up."

  "Good."

  "You're sure you're okay?"

  "Well." She took a deep breath. "I'm pissed as hell, and I'm going to figure out a way to translate those books."

  Turning on her heel, she walked as fast as she could up the ladder and back to the office. She'd always been very good at pretending things were fine when they weren't. So she would manage, somehow, not to feel violated that the demon had plowed his way into her mind without her knowing he had done it.