“Yes, we have your pets and they are safe for now. You also want to know why we think you are useful?”
Yep, mind rape.
“You have caught the eye of the Fallen leader. With him gone, we will win our freedom.”
Gone? What do you mean, gone?
“You don’t have to scream, stupid girl,” she hissed. “I can hear you just fine. Your Malachi will not die, although he might as well be dead when we’re finished. His attention will be fractured between keeping you safe as well as everyone else throughout Dark World. His powers and strength will be gone once the barriers to this realm are destroyed. One by one, all of Dark World’s realms will cease to exist, and those chained within them will be free.”
I still don’t see what this has to do with me. I clung to the hope Johnna would wake up or Niki would return. And who are you? For all I know you are some deranged psychopath with delusions of grandeur. Oh, and a breath mint every once in a while wouldn’t hurt.
“I know not this psychopath of whom you speak, but she sounds interesting.”
Why am I not surprised?
Thanks to DC, this mind speaking was kind of cool. I relaxed when her grip eased on my neck, and she moved her mouth away from my nose. Looking at her teeth made my stomach do the jitterbug.
“I am Tarja, Mistress of the Succubi.”
My thoughts flashed back to Johnna’s earlier description and shuddered. Tarja nodded. “Yes, your friend is correct. As every female learns, beauty is both a blessing and a curse. Each must decide how to use it. Succubi enjoy the duality and embrace their dominance over the male species.”
Glad I don’t have to worry. I know I’m not beautiful. Too much meat on my bones. Besides, I don’t have what it takes to dominate anyone.
The succubus’s eyes and mouth dripped downward in an ugly grimace as her eyes roamed over my body. She pulled her gaze back up to my face, her lip curled in a disgusted snarl. “What do you complain of? Men don’t want to hug a bag of bones. We succubi pride ourselves on not only our facial beauty but also our curvaceous figures.” She smiled. At least I think it was a smile. “Men practically fall at our feet.”
Beside me, Johnna’s fingers wound through mine ever so slowly. The building knot of dread in my middle unfurled a teensy bit. She was awake and listening to Tarja’s one-sided conversation.
Feeling a kernel of defiance return, I baited the temptress. Of course they fall at your feet. They’re dead.
Her lips widened. “Why yes, they are, spawn. What tasty souls. Most filling.” Her grip tightened, the immense pressure all but stopping the breath in my throat. I tried to squeeze Johnna’s fingers with one hand, ignoring the pinching of skin underneath the ring on my middle finger, but I couldn’t move it now. I tried clawing at the succubus’s fingers with my other hand, now wrapped around her wrist, as the pressure in my chest grew. I couldn’t move anything. Every muscle seemed to be frozen.
“What is your answer? Do I get to taste your Malachi, letting your little pets suffer? Or will you aid our cause by keeping him distracted?”
What do you mean by taste? I tamped down my rapidly growing anger. He was not my Malachi. I was nothing to him.
“I’ve never seduced any of the Fallen. From what I’ve heard, their souls are exquisite.” Her expression creeped me out.
I finally found my actual voice. “You haven’t given me much of a choice, you slut. I will do whatever I have to in order to keep Malachi safe,” I choked out. “Now, give us back our pets.” My throat was raw and scratchy from being squeezed, but I wanted to make sure Johnna heard what I was agreeing to and why.
“Mmm, name calling. Music to my ears.” She patted my cheek, feeling more like sharp, stinging slaps. “No matter what you believe, you would make a great succubus. Are you sure you won’t join our little cause? I would personally see to it you found your inner vixen.” She bent closer, a coy, innocent look on her face, making the sharp staccato in my chest go double time. “It’s there, you know, just hiding beneath the surface of your anger—”
“Stop tormenting her, Tarja,” Niki growled from behind the succubus. “She’s not yours to take.”
“She should have been mine, enforcer.”
My unease twisted more at the twitching of her thick lips. Niki’s power swirled around him, yet she didn’t seem to care. Why wasn’t she worried? What did she know that we didn’t? Unlike her harsh slaps to my cheek, the pats she administered to my leg were the opposite. They were softer, almost nice, as she turned to face Niki.
“We have no quarrel—yet. Know we are watching you and your coven, Tarja. Whatever you’re planning won’t succeed.” Niki’s voice remained ominously quiet, each word laced in steel.
Tarja’s mysterious grin widened. She glanced back at me but only for a second. “We are counting on that, demon enforcer.” Her focused gaze returned to mine. “We are definitely counting on that.”
Like everyone seemed to do here, she also vanished in a blink. With the succubus’s hold on us now gone, Johnna and I sat up, our hands still linked together. Johnna briefly squeezed tighter, gradually relaxing her grip while her thumb repeatedly circled the top of my ring.
My heart quit racing, but my stomach stayed wrapped in nervous knots. I wasn’t sure how much more of this I could take. What had I just done?
Niki dropped down and pulled Johnna to his chest. “You took your sweet time, imp. Either we need to work on your response speed or your sense of danger,” he muttered into her hair. But even muffled, I still heard the relief in his deep voice.
“Silly demon. You try talking when you’re frozen. I grabbed Willow’s hand then everything went dead. Now I know how a quadriplegic feels. The mind knows what’s going on around it but can’t control or react to anything. I couldn’t warn you sooner because my thoughts were sluggish, and I had a hard time forming words.”
I nodded and scrubbed my shaking hands over my face. The succubus’s forced domination of our bodies really had been a form of rape. “She took away our free will.” I forced the words through pinched lips and dropped my hands down into my lap, linking my fingers together. “How long were you behind her, Niki?”
He stood and pulled Johnna up with him. “I arrived when she told you to decide. Why? What answer do you think she wanted?”
“Your showing up is probably why I was able to answer her out loud. She must have realized you were there, distracting her.” I was even more exhausted than before—all my energy had been sucked away.
“I don’t understand. What choice was she talking about?”
“I have no idea. She claimed to have Al and DC, and if I didn’t help their cause by keeping Malachi distracted, they would be tortured—or worse. How is Malachi tied to all of this?”
“How am I tied to what?” His rich baritone washed through me, cleaning the succubus’s oily residue from both my body and mind as if they’d never been there to begin with.
Simply too tired to examine my reaction, I ignored it. At least this was the excuse I told myself. He held out his hand. I hesitated then placed my hand in his and let him pull me up to stand on shaky legs.
His head dipped close to mine. “I can’t leave you alone for one minute, can I?” His soft whisper tickled my ear.
“Evidently not.” I raised one eyebrow. “What took you so long getting back?”
He smiled, and my heart did a funny hiccup. Years dropped away from his face. He definitely needed to stop doing that or my heart was going to combust. Keeping my vow to stay away would be much easier if he did. I looked closer and noticed not even the pallor clinging to his skin detracted from his good looks. Damn, but I’m in serious trouble.
Without thinking, I cupped his cheek with my hand, rubbing the dark stubble along his cheekbone with the pad of my thumb. “You look tired. Have you s
lept at all?”
His smile disappeared. “Not in a while.” His brown eyes darkened, and I knew he’d gone back to his all-business persona, the one who lectured all the time. “We will now be discussing your most recent injury. The lance, I believe it was.”
Widening my eyes in what I hoped resembled disbelief, I feigned ignorance. “What injury? I’ve never left Johnna’s side. She’s taken really good care of me. Niki too.”
His lips tightened in a straight line. “Interesting lie.”
Anger flared and I pulled my hand from his face. His eyes narrowed. It was time for a change of subject.
“Johnna and I managed to get some sleep until the resident prostitute showed up.” I glanced down at my very dirty sneakers, noticing how filthy I’d gotten. While I loved my sweater and one-time, cute sailor-style jeans, I’d give my right arm about now to put on anything other than my current outfit. It wouldn’t do me much good to change, though, without a bath first. I wrangled my wayward train of thought and forced it back on the subject at hand, telling Malachi about the succubus.
“Bloody hell,” Malachi snapped. The anger and frustration riding his voice forced my head back up. “It’s worse than Lucien and I thought. The rules for each realm must be infallible—for everyone’s protection. Without them, the realms would lose stability. The end result would be complete chaos.” He jerked his fingers through his short hair, leaving the ends sticking straight out. “None of this makes any sense.”
“If you’re finished with your temper tantrum, I was about to tell you what the succubus told me. It might be the answer to your little dilemma. Tarja seemed to think you are some kind of chess piece.”
I held up my hands when all three began talking at once. “Hold on and let me finish, please. Tarja said the succubi want their freedom from demon rule, and Malachi was getting in their way. She wants to use me as a distraction of sorts in order to make it happen. That way, Malachi won’t be able to save Dark World because he’d be forced to choose between saving me or everyone else, although I don’t see why. It’s simple. Everyone else comes first.”
“As the great Spock said, ‘The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,’” Johnna said.
“There was also something about people chained within the realms being freed too,” Willow added, “but I didn’t understand that part.”
“Humph,” Johnna snorted. “And here you thought you wouldn’t be able to help us.” Her grin was contagious. “But what did ol’ kiss-of-death mean when she called you ‘spawn?’”
Malachi’s gaze moved between Johnna and me. “Who’s Spock?”
“A Vulcan in Star Trek. Don’t change the subject.” I gave Johnna a small shrug. “I have no clue what she meant. I was hoping you would know. She actually said, ‘watcher spawn’ the first time.” Whatever it meant, my gut told me it was important. “Niki, what did Tarja mean when she said I should have been hers?”
“I’m not sure. There are simply too many unanswered questions, and you deserve the truth, Willow, not presumptions. As soon as I know something for certain, you will be the first person I tell. Deal?”
I nodded, not sure my voice could handle talking without cracking. No one had ever treated me like I mattered. Until now.
A part of me was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Chapter 12
Nothing good ever lasted where I was concerned. I swallowed a couple of times and cleared my throat, making sure my voice was steady, and met Johnna’s blue gaze. “How did you know she was here?”
“I woke up when my necklace started burning and realized we weren’t alone anymore. She must’ve seen me when I wrapped my hand around yours. Next thing I knew I couldn’t move.” She grimaced in disgust. “And what was that gawd-awful smell? Did you smell it too?”
I laughed. “I know, right? It was her breath. I thought I was going to throw up on her. Probably should have.” I tried to ignore Malachi’s soft chuckle behind me, but I couldn’t, and something in my chest shifted.
“So true, so true. It would’ve been a sight to see, for sure.” Johnna turned to place her forehead against Niki’s cheek. “I tried to manipulate whatever metal I could find, but she wasn’t wearing any. Her blood didn’t have any metal in it either. How is that possible?”
“Succubi are a type of wraith. They exist on souls, feeding their forms like blood feeds ours. They aren’t really alive,” Malachi replied.
“Oh, that’s why they go all fright night without souls. I’ve wondered about that,” Johnna said. Niki relaxed his arms and still somehow pulled her against him.
Do they ever let go of each other?
Nope, Malachi’s voice whispered.
My lips froze in place, and I hoped no one noticed their slight trembling as I stared through Johnna and Niki without really seeing them anymore. I’d heard his voice in my head, as I had DC’s. I wasn’t sure why, but it probably wasn’t a good thing at all. My lungs picked up their pace and everything went hazy.
Breathe, Willow. Everything will work out. His dark, sexy baritone ribboned through my mind, and my body slowly relaxed.
The fluttering in my stomach, however, remained. From the corner of my eye, I noticed Johnna and Niki still discussing the succubi, their words sounding like the adults in the Charlie Brown commercials—bwa, bwaa, bwa, bwaa. I was torn. I didn’t want to miss what they were talking about, but I definitely needed to understand how Malachi was able to talk in my head.
With practice, you’ll be able to talk to me the same way. But now isn’t the time. We need to concentrate on other things.
No duh, I answered, pleased to see his shocked expression.
Wow. You learn fast.
I wanted to laugh but restrained myself. Never having received more than a handful of compliments in my life, mostly from Tish, I didn’t quite know how to respond. But since it had come from Malachi, I relished the growing warmth where the butterflies had been tickling my insides moments ago.
A thought niggled at the back of my mind, and I focused on Johnna again. “Wait a sec, Johnna. Go back to the necklace. Why did it start burning?” I tilted my head. “Is it supposed to be an early warning system?”
She shrugged. “No clue.”
Niki dropped his arms and wrapped his large hand around hers. “Let’s discuss this with Lucien. He’ll want to know what’s going on, especially if it pertains to the upcoming war.”
Just like that, my happy bubble burst. My new friends were going to leave me here. I ground my jaws together, relishing the pain. I didn’t want to be alone again. Before, at least, I had DC, but now even she was gone. Lost in my own morbid thoughts, I only heard the end of what Niki said next.
“. . . she comes too.”
“What did you say?”
Johnna smiled at me. “He said you’re coming with us.”
I hiccupped. My lungs had been through too many stop and start sessions and now my diaphragm was on strike. Hic. But I didn’t care. Hic, hic.
Grabbing Niki’s arm, my fingernails unintentionally dug into his skin. “Seriously?” Hic. “You mean I can leave? Really, truly leave?” Hic. “I don’t have to stay behind?”
Johnna laughed as she carefully uncurled my fingers from Niki’s arm. Linking her fingers through mine, her thumb automatically traced the gold ring on my middle finger. “Yes, silly. Now, while I’m explaining this to you, hold your breath. Hiccups are so annoying. As Niki explained, Lucien reversed whatever spell was holding you here. Since you’re so new to Dark World, it would be best if you stayed with us, no matter what happens.”
She frowned, her pout adorable. “You didn’t think we’d leave you here, did you?”
My bottom lip trembled as I studied the sadness in Johnna’s eyes. I could also see the same emotion in the depths of Niki’s gaze. I could
n’t look at Malachi. Call me chicken, but my long-damaged psyche couldn’t deal with what I might see on his face.
I forced the corners of my mouth up and hoped I didn’t look like I was about to vomit. Although, the thought had crossed my mind several times since their arrival. “The one thing no one from my past has ever been able to take from me is hope. Not completely anyway. I’ve carried it with me a long time, no matter how bleak my life got. One of my first memories is when I wished on a falling star. I was maybe three years old, and all I wanted was a family who loved me. I’ve gotten used to disappointment, but deep inside of me, I hoped you wouldn’t leave me here.”
You are breaking my heart, kitten. Malachi’s beautiful voice had turned husky and seeped through me like rich molasses. I hugged the thought, carefully tucking it away in the small lockbox of my heart where I kept the two or three other special moments of my life safe.
However, the imaginary cloud I floated on was fleeting, and I forced my emotions back under lock and key. Although this time, I felt different. Some of the heaviness from my hoard of bad memories evaporated. I stood up straighter and pushed my shoulders back with renewed determination. “Can we please leave now?”
Johnna squeezed my hand. “Hold on tight. You’re in for a surprise.”
Malachi’s palm wrapped around my other hand, his fingers threading through mine. A heavy mist appeared, blocking out the landscape. It picked up speed, fueled by a heavy wind swirling around us. I closed my eyes, but my stomach flip-flopped, escalating my dizziness. I forced them back open and, as fast as it had begun, the nauseating motion stopped and the haziness cleared.
My mouth fell open as I took in the surrounding landscape. Everything was beautiful and so green. I pulled my hands from theirs and stepped away, trying to take in the magnificent scenery.
Saved by the Spell (Of Mystics and Mayhem Book 2) Page 12
