Dominic's Nemesis (43 page)

Inky black, rope-like hair flew wildly about
as they wrestled, her a seething harpy, all claws and biting teeth.
She came at him kicking, and screeching, with unnatural strength,
while he strove to contain her without harming her person. Within
minutes, his chest and upper arms were regaled with swollen bite
marks, and long welt-like scratches oozing blood…most in various
stages of healing. Ethan, powerful enough that he did not need
direct skin contact, effected immediate repairs as new injuries
appeared.

“
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not
want…”

Cael, Gideon and Gabriel continued to recite.
The three of them were stationed around the struggling pair like
sentries protecting the king.

“Keep it up! Don’t break the trinity!”
Greyson barked out. “It’s the only hope we have of keeping her
confined.”

Ethan watched the tussling twosome, worried.
“He will not be able to control her forever…not without hurting
her.” He said, looking to Greyson.

Stephan spoke for the first time. “Something
is off. Why isn’t she using her telekinetic abilities like
before?”

“Eden’s fighting it.” Ethan concluded aloud.
“Look, the hair, there are streaks of blonde threading through it.
There must be some sort of power struggle going on.”

Greyson frowned as he acknowledged the
brothers’ astute observations. “In order for this to work, Lillian
has to surface…completely. Otherwise, it might kill them both.”

Dom caught the grain of the conversation.
“Greyson?!”

At the seventh recitation of the twenty-third
psalms, a current rippled through the room. Dom could feel it
surrounding them. A wall of pure psi energy, invisible, intangible
but as real as any brick and mortar barricade…impenetrable. Its
emanations resonated with his own as well as his brothers’ psychic
ability, creating a pyramid of both protection and imprisonment
around the four brothers and Eden.

“I can’t heal him anymore.” Ethan announced.
“Something is blocking me. Greyson?”

“It’s working.”

Dominic managed to encase both her wrists in
a semi-quelling grip…pausing the onslaught temporarily. “The wall
is up…I can feel it. Tell me when?!”

“Not yet.” Greyson stayed him. “Your mother’s
essence has to take full possession…to maximize exposure.”

“Eden!” Dom shook the she-thing, on the
off-chance that Eden had even the tiniest level of awareness of
what was happening to her. “You have to let go. Don’t fight it. Let
her take over, Cara.”

* * *

She felt…faint, weightless. Her consciousness
ripped away from her body with a violent, disorienting tear. The
darkness, a spreading evil, seeped into her mind like blood soaking
a crisp white cloth. She clawed for a lifeline, an anchor, some
thread of reality to which to cling…even as her thoughts began to
fade away like dreams forgotten in the morning, her emotions
deadened, her sight dimmed. Her very breath hitched, the darkness
was so suffocating.

You have to let go. Don’t fight it. Let her
take over, Cara…

Her last vestige of hope died…She, the soul
called Eden, was lost. No use fighting anymore. Perhaps she would
find peace in death. The void seeped in, unbidden. Everything
around her deadened…her hold on life was so slight. Colors paled to
grey, voices faded to silence, the pain and pleasures of life
numbed to nothing. No landscape…no time… Her mind screamed at the
horror of knowing she would soon be no more.

* * *

The next instant, Eden stilled…struggling no
more. Dom doubled over from a telekinetic knee to the stomach.

“Now, Dominic! Do it, NOW!”

He vanished into invisibility, temporarily
pre-empting any further telekinetic strikes. In the close space
inside the triangle, there were few places to hide, even invisible
as he was. Lillian shrieked and struck out blindly with telekinetic
probes, one of which glazed his hip as he dropped down to the floor
and rolled left to avoid her. He’d only have one, maybe two
attempts before she located him…

“
He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the
paths of righteousness for his name’s sake…”

Dom inhaled deep, gathering all his psi
energies, and focused them on Eden. He’d never tried to send anyone
to the astral realm unaccompanied before. Centered, calm and
focused, he felt the simultaneous waver in both his hearing and
vision that signal the beginnings of Astral travel. He reached out
his hand, grasped her ankle, projecting her onto the astral while
keeping a thin psychic ‘rope’ around her ankle so he could pull her
back. Amazing…He felt a violent psychic ripple wash over him, and
reverse ricochet back over him like river rapids crashing against
rock. The force knocked him forward. His energy flickered
dangerously close to winkling out. He concentrated his efforts into
one final surge, to jerk the rope…just before he collapsed in a
dead faint.

“Dom? Dom, can you hear me?”

Consciousness prodded at him. The first thing
he became aware of were someone’s fingers poking him in the throat,
just beneath his jawline…Ethan checking for a pulse, no doubt. Then
palming his forehead, peeling back an eyelid, and finally tapping
his wrist. “Hmm…his pupils are non-responsive.”

He kept his eyes closed.

“I
know
I saw him move. His eyes
shifted under the lids.” He recognized Eden’s worried voice. “This
cannot be normal. He’s been unconscious for three days.”

“Asleep, not unconscious–” Dom heard
Greyson’s airy tone launch into a scholarly explanation of the
differential between the two states. He was further from the bed,
judging by his voice. Egads! The man was exhausting. Did he always
speak with such…encyclopedic depth, as if he must give every last
detail of his knowledge to even the most mundane of topics. “Do not
worry, Ms. Prescott. I can assure you, it is quite common among
adepts. He is not just recovering from a physical exhaustion, but a
psychic burnout as well. He needs rest, mind and body. I have seen
adepts on overload sleep for a full week.”

“Is that true?” The angle of her voice
changed, she must have turned to speak in another direction, Dom
thought, possibly taking a step in that direction.

“I don’t…
tired
, easily.” Ahh, Stephan
was present…holding up the wall in a corner as usual. “I have never
required sleep beyond a normal night’s rest.”

“It is different for everyone, Ms. Prescott.”
Greyson again, speaking from further away.

“If that’s true then how do you know this is
normal for Dominic?”

“Eden, what Professor Greyson means, is that
it’s too early to panic. He has seen cases where this amount of
sleep is not harmful.” Cael, and he was to the left somewhere
close. Dom inclined his head to get a better angle.

“Dom?” Cael’s voice redirected, closer still.
Of course, Cael would be the first to notice he was awake.

“Cael.” His voice was hoarse from non-use. He
slit his eyes open. “E-than… everyone well?”

Again, he felt a shift in the voices, their
locations. Someone moved closer to him. He couldn’t see
who…couldn’t see anything but shadowy blurs.

“Dom?” Cael hovered, the blur on the
left.

“Dominic?” Ethan sounded worried, confused.
“Dom—”

“Too bright.” He closed his eyes
deliberately, hoping Ethan would get the hint. “Light is too
bright. Stephan, dim it please.”

He had no idea if Stephan dimmed the lights
or not; the only thing he could make out was blurred lateral
movements. Damn, he wished they would stop playing
ring-around-the-rosy.

“Better?” Stephan spoke a moment latter from
the same position. “Ethan has your spectacles, would you like
them?”

“Yes, and yes.”

Thankfully, he felt Ethan put the specs in
place on the bridge of his nose. The rest of his body seemed to be
in perfect working order, he noted as he sat up in the bed. “Ethan,
I’m hungry. Have Nell send something up.”

“Of course.” And then footsteps. So far, so
good. He’d be willing to bet that Kathleen was not present. Nothing
would have kept her silent this long. That left Cael, Stephan,
Greyson, Eden…and possibly the twins. Neither twin was chatty so
their lack of conversation did not necessarily mean they weren’t
present. He’d have to get rid of Greyson before he addressed Gideon
or Gabriel just in case.

“Dom, are you alright? You’ve been out for
three days.”

“Yes, cara, I am well.” He reassured her,
smiling, lulling his head. “Just tired. Stephan, I trust you have
been attending to my affairs during my convalescence?”

“Yes, shall I catch you up?”

“Later, after I eat. Also, can you let
Kathleen know that she is needed here, please.” Dom angled towards
where he last heard Greyson’s voice. “Professor, I trust you will
not report Ms. Prescott’s momentary lack of chaperon to the social
reformers? I would hate to have a repeat of your previous
visit.”

A chuckle followed his good-natured jibe. “I
didn’t see anything…compromising.”

“All joking aside…Thank you.” He did not like
being beholden to anyone, particularly a man whom he knew so little
about. “I have not forgotten our gentleman’s agreement. You may
have an audience with me at a later date. I will receive you, on
the estate, whenever you like, with a day’s notice. Is that
agreeable to you?”

“Certainly, Conte Ambrosi.”

“There is no need for pomp and circumstance.
Call me, Dominic.”

Just then he heard someone enter the
room.

“Aye, tha rascal is awake, is he?”

“Ahh, Kathleen. Forgive me, but I promised my
sister-in-law she could have a go at me and I think she has decided
to collect.” He smiled despite himself. “Cael, would you see
Professor Greyson out?”

“Certainly. After you, Professor.”

“Ms. Prescott, Mrs. Raine.” Dom imagined the
professor genuflected before following Cael out of the room. No
Gideon, no Gabriel.

Once he heard the click of the door and
Kathleen’s rustling skirts, he exhaled. “Who is here?”

“Just me and Kathleen. Dom, you can’t see,
can you?”

“No, Cara. My vision is tied to my ability.
Once I am fully recovered my sight will return. It is not a
weakness that I wish exposed.”

“Then why tha devil admit as much in front of
me?” Kathleen’s snappish reply amused him.

“I dare say that Ethan has figured it out by
now and I doubt there is one secret between the two of you.”

“Aye, my Ethan tells me all.”

“Out. I want to be alone with my fiancee’…”
He held up his hand, knowing the Scotswoman’s proclivities. “She is
quite thoroughly compromised and a wedding is eminent so please
spare me the matronly protests.”

“Impudent bastard, dat ya are…Procreating and
such before tha banns-”

“OUT!”

Dom waited for the still-murmuring Kathleen
to exit before he spoke again.

“Eden…Come, sit.” He patted the bed next to
him, and smiled when he felt the bed depress to his left. “Are
you…alright?”

“You mean, am I
me
again? Yes, Dom.
The other one is gone. My hair is back to normal. Dr. Raine…eh,
Ethan, says my wound signature looks good, whatever that means. And
Atherton was all smiles after my last interview. Even without the
‘Dr.’ it sounds priggish, but I just cannot get used to calling him
‘Cael’. You were still out so….eh, Dom?”

“Hmm?” He sighed. He wasn’t so much listening
to her words as he was soaking in her presence…the soft lilting
voice, her delicate scent from the perfumed baths she took at
night.

“The spectacles…do you mind?” He felt her
nervous fingertips at his temple even as she spoke. “I have grown
to prefer you without them.”

He nodded, closing his eyes to savor the
gentle touch of her as she slid the wire-rims off. Unable to stop
himself, he caught her in his arms and pulled her further onto the
bed, half in his lap.

She yelped at the unexpected movement.
“Dom…
Kathleen
–”

“–is not here to protest.” He cut off the
rest of whatever she was going to say. “And I doubt she’ll be back,
if Ethan has anything to do with it. I missed you. Lillian was a
grotesque substitution.” He caught hold of a handful of fabric, and
pulled her forward for a kiss…and he came up with all nose.

“Your aim is off.” She snickered against his
cheek.

“Are you still going to marry me?” He
murmured, nuzzling his nose against the soft skin of her cheek.
“Now that you’ve seen the worse of us…the Ambrosi’…Oh Bloody hell,
there is still Nonna in Italy.”

“Yes, Dom.”

He kissed her cheek briefly, the smile dying
a little as he contemplated just what he was asking of her. “Even
though, there is no guarantee that our children won’t be…like
me.”

“What? An Italian Adonis with odd eyes and a
massive inferiority complex?”

“I am serious, Eden.”

“I know, Dom. That is what makes this
conversation so ridiculous.” She shifted back from him and he felt
her hands on either side of his face. “Now you listen to me. I am
no picnic either. I channel demons and dead people into the living
world…and I clearly have no control over it. Because of this I have
suicidal tendencies. Plus, I’m an only child and wretchedly
spoiled. Can you live with
that
?”

“Yes.” He answered with no hesitation.

He felt her kiss his forehead. “Well, if you
are willing to take a chance on me…then I am willing to take my
chances with you.”

“I love you, Eden.”

“Good…Show me.”

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