“I’m glad you called.” As he stepped into the house he favored his side, but the shirt he wore was crisp.
“I didn’t want things to stay awkward between us.” It took every bit of control to get those words out.
Gareth leaned in for a kiss but I turned my head so his lips landed on my cheek, leaving a wet smudge.
I can do this. I
have
to do this.
“Playing hard to get until the very end, huh?”
I closed and locked the door before turning to face him. “Do you want a drink?”
He closed the distance between us and grabbed my right hand. “We both know what I’m here for.” His thumb rubbed my palm as he leaned forward, until his lips hovered near my ear. “I want
you
.”
A strange smoky scent came off his collar and hair. It reminded me of the time Papan mentioned Jonathan smelled funny because he was touched by the demonic. I’d never noticed on my ex, but I could definitely detect the sulfur scent on Gareth.
“Where do you want to do this?”
My stomach heaved and I thought I might throw up. “Upstairs,” I whispered, trying to push the sickness from the back of my throat.
He stepped back but kept a hold of my hand while glaring at the stairs. His shadow expanded behind him until it was twice his height. “I’ve wanted to go up there so many times but you don’t take many men up there, do you?” Gareth rushed up the stairs, dragging me with him like a useless ragdoll. “This is a very nice room.”
He tugged on my hand and I stumbled into his chest, giving him the opportunity to release my hand and wind his arms around me.
“It feels so good to finally have you in my arms.”
I wanted to look away, but those black eyes were so wrong I was stunned into staring. His handsome features were already morphing into a hollow husk.
“He wants you as badly as I do, yet he’s trying to stop me.” He shook his head in disgust. “I don’t understand why, when we’re so close to having what we both want.”
A rush of hope swept through me.
“I won’t hurt you,” he whispered, running a hand down my face, shoulder and resting on my hip. “Well, unless you want me to.” He grabbed my ass cheek and squeezed it so hard I winced.
It took a hell of a lot of willpower to keep from lifting my knee into his crotch, but that would ruin everything. I needed to hold his interest long enough to reach the closet. I swallowed the lump inside my throat and tried to connect to the wretched night in the club, when I’d faked my way into enticing a vampire and struck when he least expected it.
A fake dance of seduction is my only shot.
I pressed my body closer to Gareth, invading his space enough that instinct caused him to take a few steps back. He flashed a knowing grin.
“This is more like it,” he whispered. “I’m going to make you forget all about the dog.”
I kept my face as neutral as I could.
Gareth’s mouth was inches away, his eyes staring into mine as he said, “The dog will be destroyed very soon.”
My pulse sped up. He couldn’t know what was going on with Papan, could he? I didn’t respond.
“They’ll make sure he never returns, which will make it easier for me to take his place.”
I cleared my throat. “How are you going to do that?”
“Starting with this…” He pressed his mouth against mine.
Gareth caught me by surprise, but if I didn’t respond, the demon would get suspicious. Now that we were kissing I regretted this plan. Yet there was only one way to go. I opened my mouth to him, allowed his tongue to sweep inside as the kiss intensified. His hands slid up from my waist until he was cupping my face. As our lips moved in tandem, the comforting scent of leather I associated with Gareth hit me. I opened my eyes and found his eyes were back to hazel, but we were still kissing.
I pulled away. “Gareth, is that you?”
He nodded as his hands slid from my face. “If you have something planned, do it now.” We were still very close so his words tickled my lips. “I can’t keep him back for long. He plans to use this against you.” He rummaged inside his pocket.
“Use what against me?” I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand and stepped back.
He clutched an evidence bag with the missing letter opener inside. I’d stabbed Mauricio the
Perro Negro
with it months ago. The tip was stained brown.
“How did you get it?” I’d gone crazy looking for this.
“I stumbled on it the day I found Willow in your office.” Beads of sweat glistened on his forehead. “I won’t let him use it against you.” He released the bag and it fell on the carpet. “Quick, hide it.”
I kicked the bag under my bed, couldn’t believe the weapon had finally turned up.
“I’m so sorry,” he said.
“It’s going to be over soon. We’re going to get rid of this fucking demon, but you need to do something for me.”
“I’ll do anything for you,” he whispered.
I took his hand and led him halfway across the room and into the closet.
“What are you doing?”
“I need you downstairs.”
“Downstairs?”
“Trust me, Gareth.”
He looked me in the eye and I pushed him in front of the opening leading to the hidden room. “I can’t hold it much longer,” he whispered, and beads of sweat dripped off his chin.
“Go.”
He took the first few steps, and we were halfway down before he spun around unnaturally. “What’s going on? Where are we?”
I panicked and pushed him down the rest of the way. He landed with a sickly thump so I ran down to the bottom. All the candles were lit inside their crevices, and some were even sitting on the cupboard at the back of the room.
Lavie had re-etched Oren’s circle into the concrete with chalk, even added to it.
“Is it ready?” I asked.
“I haven’t made the self-protection circle,” she said pointing at the bag of salt.
Gareth groaned and made a move to stand, but I stamped my foot against his back to hold him steady. “Hurry,” I called.
Lavie grabbed the salt and started pouring enough to make a smaller circle adjacent to the chalk one. “Bring him over.”
Shit, I hadn’t thought this through. How was I going to get him into the circle now? “I need your help. I can’t carry him on my own.”
She stepped out of the self-protective circle, dumped the bag and rushed over to my side. “I’ll grab his feet, you got the arms?”
“Yeah…” Together, we managed to half-carry him across and dumped him like a bag of potatoes. We rushed out before he caught on to what was happening.
“That was close,” Lavie said.
Gareth sat up. “Don’t do this, Sierra!” His eyes were consumed by black. The demon had completely taken over. “You think you can get rid of me so easily?” Those freaky sockets reflected the golden glow of candlelight. “You think this parlor witch can banish me? She already tried and failed miserably.” He was glaring at Lavie.
“Shut up! Don’t engage it in conversation,” Lavie said.
“If you try, I’ll kill this human,” the demon hissed. “You want to lose more people?”
I bit my tongue.
Lavie headed for the salt circle while grabbing things from her pocket. She placed a blue rosary around her neck, followed by a voodoo gris-gris talisman, and a Star of David pendant. Good luck charms filled her pockets and jingled as she stepped inside her own circle and crouched beside her backpack. She pulled out a bottle of holy water, uncapped the top and sprinkled the contents onto Gareth’s face. His skin smoldered where the liquid struck.
“Evil spirit forcibly piggybacking on this helpless soul, hear my voice,” she chanted. “Begone, you disgusting vile creature. Leave this poor soul alone to live another day, while you are banished into the ether.” She sprinkled more holy water with every word.
The demonic screeching made my ears ache.
“Begone, evil spirit!” she yelled.
“No!” Gareth was on his knees with both hands pressed against his head as the demonic screams intensified.
Lavie’s words increased in power, sped up.
“Stop this!” Blood poured out of Gareth’s ears, eyes and nose, some of it spilling between his lips.
“Begone!” Lavie screamed and Gareth collapsed.
The candles around the circle flickered, as if a cool wind had blown them out.
“Is it done?” I asked, not moving an inch. “Did it work?”
Lavie didn’t answer. She leaned forward, rubbed a fist against the salt and did the same to the chalk.
“What’re you doing?” My heart thundered, because something didn’t seem right. “Lavie, answer me! What’s going on?”
She spun around and the leer answered my questions. Her head twisted at an awkward angle as she yanked the protective necklaces and charms off and chucked them on the ground.
“No, Lavie, you can fight it!” I stepped back.
“Why would she want to fight me?” the demon answered. “This isn’t what I had planned, but it’ll do until I can find another shell. Maybe I’ll take the dog’s body, since you like it so much.”
“Stay the fuck away from me!”
Lavie’s head snapped unnaturally to the other side. “You don’t understand, do you? I want you
so
much I’ll never stop trying to be the one closest to you.”
“Get away from me.” I had to make sure this ended now.
I can’t let this demon get out of this room alive.
“Sierra, my pretty,” Lavie said, taking a strand of my hair between her fingers. “You’re mine, and no one will ever take you away from me.”
There was only one way left to combat this. I cleared my mind and allowed the dark patch to take over. The absence of candlelight confirmed we were inside, engulfed by blackness.
The demon was too busy trying to press Lavie’s body against mine to notice.
I raised a hand, reaching for Lavie’s cheek.
“That’s it,” the demon said using her voice. Her eyes were black as tar. “Let’s get some action going…”
I stepped as close as I could, until not even a pin could fit between us. I caressed her cheeks with both hands, distracting the demon so I could rise out of my shell. I was getting better at astral projecting and could action my body to do one thing while the rest of me floated above. I lowered my spirit until I stood on the other side. Still undetected, I pushed both of my palms against Lavie’s skin. I put so much pressure on her head that her body collapsed, leaving behind a familiar hollow-eyed gray creature.
The demon’s frame shook violently.
“No,” it cried, with a brittle voice. “You are mine!”
I pressed my palms tighter, digging my fingers deep so I could tear it apart. I’d done the same thing to this creature once before, and the demon still managed to hold on long enough to enter Gareth without us noticing. That wasn’t going to happen again. Its gray skin quivered, rippled and shattered into a thousand pieces that didn’t fade this time.
The colorful fragments floated in the air.
“I’ll take care of this.” Penny appeared out of nowhere. “You did good Sierra, better than any of us expected.” She swiped both hands over the fragmented pieces—sucking them up into her palms until they disappeared. “This demon won’t bother you again.”
“How are you in here?”
“I’m Pepita’s deliberate imprint. I can enter this patch.”
“How did you do
that?
” I asked in awe.
A smile curved her lips. “Very soon, you’ll be able to do the same.”
“What?”
“I’ll tell you one valuable piece of information you don’t yet know.” Penny raised both of her shiny hands in front of her. “Your dark patch is a wondrous place with many possibilities. While inside, you have the ability to wipe out demons with the touch of your hand. But some demonic entities are stronger than most, and require a lot more than a touch—they need to be erased.”
I opened my mouth to ask more but the dark patch dropped around us.
Penny didn’t follow me into the secret room.
My legs caved beneath me, and I dropped to my knees. It took several deep breaths to clear the pressure from my head. This had taken a lot more out of me. I dabbed a hand under my nose to find I was bleeding.
Lavie groaned.
I crawled to her side. “Are you all right?”
Her nose was bleeding too. “The bugger actually possessed me, didn’t it?”
“Yeah.”
She opened her eyes. “I could feel it like mist moving inside me. Did I banish it?”
I shrugged. “It’s gone.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You took it into the dark patch?”
“I did what I had to do.”
“Thanks,” she said. “How the hell did it get out of the holding circle?”
I helped her to her feet and we made our way towards the circular chalk outline. “Looks fine to me.”
“No, it’s not fine.” She pointed at the concrete. “See this smudge, that’s enough to provide a way out. We must have rubbed it off when we were carrying him into it.”