Love Beyond Expectations (2 page)

"Yes." She nodded, tears flowing down her face. "I've killed myself."

Okay. He rubbed his forehead. She knew. Still, he'd never encountered this particular problem before. She'd committed suicide and realized it was a mistake.
All right.

"I am not an expert on such things, mademoiselle. But others I've encountered talk of a pull, of a warm light guiding them. Do you not feel anything drawing you forward?"

She shook her head. "My baby. Someone has to look out for my baby."

Christophe whirled around, searching for a baby anywhere nearby. Nothing. "When you died, what happened to the baby? Is it still here?" If so, Christophe suspected he'd be searching for a baby ghost somewhere in the house…

"No, my parents took her." She tried to grab him again, and her hands moved through his body like a brush of air traveling through the room. "But the preacher, he wants her. He's always wanted her. And I didn't see until it was too late."

"I don't understand."

His powers tugged at the back of his neck. He'd move soon and have no control over it when he did. Damn it, he never got to stick around long enough to really understand anything.

"He told me since I'd had her out wedlock I was a sinner, evil. Unfit to live on this earth." She covered her face with her hands and shook with her violent sobbing. "But I'm so confused because I don't think I had her at all. I don't even remember being pregnant. She just appeared one day. How does a person not remember an entire pregnancy?"

"It sounds to be me like you were deeply misled." Christophe didn't consider himself religious. Like everything else in his life, his interest lay more in the academics behind things than an actual belief or investment. He'd read most of the major religious texts several times. Whoever this preacher had been didn't know of what he spoke.

"He did it so he could take the baby. Ruby. She's special. Things happen around her.
Poof
. I don't know how to explain it. Please, you have to find my baby. Please."

Christophe didn't have much time. Already he struggled to simply stay put. "Tell me, where am I?"

The ghost blinked rapidly. "Woodstock."

A light shimmered before his eyes, and he jolted as the loud noises from the streets in New York City assaulted his ears.
Damn it
.

Woodstock. He'd seen it in movies, and dilapidated farmhouses didn't come to mind when he envisioned it. The Internet would have to help him in this search. He plowed forward, head down as he looked at his watch. Thank Fate he'd left enough time because if he didn't rush, he would now be late to meet Colin, and his brother had a bad temper when he had to wait.

Nodding to the doorman, he entered his building and opted for the stairs instead of the elevator. Confined spaces made him uncomfortable, always had. His cellphone beeped as he reached the third floor, and he stared at the number. His mother. Ignoring the message, he shoved it back in his pocket. Ever since he'd discovered he didn't actually share her blood and she'd never told him, he could barely speak to her civilly.

"You're late." Colin had his feet up on Christophe's coffee table. "By two minutes."

"Your watch is fast." He walked over to hang up his coat. "And take your shoes off my furniture."

Colin looked just like Christophe except more worn. His brother delighted in reminding him how different their fortunes had been. Apparently, a spell gone wrong had separated all of what Christophe called the
Outsider
children and sent them to various parts of the world to live in hiding from a demon. While Christophe had been given to a wealthy French family, Colin had been dropped into an abusive household and eventually run away from home at sixteen.

Hence, his complete lack of decorum and manners when it came to the coffee table.

"You're so stuffy." Colin stood up. "Are you ready to go?"

"No." Christophe rolled his eyes. He should really throw Colin out. He didn't owe the man anything simply because of the circumstances of their upbringing. Only, he'd gotten used to having the ruffian around, and he didn't know if Colin would actually leave. The man could turn invisible. He might hang around and cause trouble just to be spiteful.

"No?" Colin looked out the window. "The weather isn't going to get any nicer. If we want to get to Maine by morning, we really want to leave now."

Christophe opened the fridge, letting it bang against the wall. "Look…" He pulled an already opened bottle of red wine out of the fridge. It had been a lousy drink the night before and the day spent half re-corked, thanks to Colin's laziness, would most definitely not help things. But he really didn't care because he needed to feel slightly drunk.

"What is the matter with you? I've gotten used to you being sullen. Tonight, however, is a new low for you."

Fuck it. Christophe threw the bottle across the room shattering it against the wall. Red streaks mixed with glass as the remnants of his tantrum ran down the wall. He cursed. That had been a dumb move he alone would now have to clean up.

"Something happened." Colin's voice held no censure as he moved to stand beside him.

"I had another episode."

Colin let out a long breath. "They're not
episodes
. Your traveling is your power. It's a gift…"

Christophe waved his hand in the air to stop him. He didn't need another lecture about the Outsiders. He'd heard it enough, and he didn't know if he had any time in his life for some great quest. Handling day-to-day troubles took up enough energy.

"I met a ghost."

Colin jolted next to him. "Really? Wish I could meet ghosts."

"No, brother. You do not." Christophe grabbed a towel and went to the wall to clean up the dripping red mess. The problem with his show of idiocy was that he now had to fix his own display of temper. Ultimately, he'd only punished himself and the bottle of red wine, which had done nothing except to not be a particularly good vintage.

To his shock, Colin knelt down next to him, broom in hand and began to sweep up the glass. "Don't cut yourself. I don't want to stop and take you to the emergency room when we finally get our asses to Maine."

"I'll do my best."

Colin raised an eyebrow. "Care to elaborate about why this particular ghost sent you into such a tantrum?"

Christophe could have argued over Colin's choice of words had he not been completely correct in his assessment. Christophe had, indeed, had a
tantrum
.

"Young mother. She knew she'd died."

Colin took the broken glass and dumped into the garbage with a thud. "That's good. You didn't have to give her the bad news."

"She'd committed suicide."

"That's a shame."

Christophe never knew when to expect Colin to show human compassion. Sometimes his brother seemed to have none at all. Now, however, he behaved almost civilly.

"Some man of God convinced her it would be better for her to kill herself than to live as a single mother. She must have been very susceptible to his influence because she did it. Left behind a baby named Ruby."

"Ah, now I see. It's triggered your interest because the baby shares the same name as your girlfriend."

Christophe rolled his eyes. Colin had returned back to his full form of asshole-ness. "I'm invested in this because I want to know what happened to the baby and I want to find this horrible preacher."

"Both good goals but you can't do anything about them right now because we have to get to Maine."

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."