The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) (59 page)

Patting the bed, I smiled seductively and slid my stockings together just to hear the gentle swoosh of the silk. “Do you remember the first time you kissed me?”

He was running his hand up my stocking and peering interestedly under my flounce. “Of course I remember it. You seduced me on my yacht.”

“It was a sailboat and you had no chance. I wanted you to kiss me and I wasn’t getting off the boat without one. And then you came to me and scared me half to death. I’d thought it was cute to toy with you. I had no idea about the power. When you touched me, it felt like I was going to burst into flames. I was terrified.” Lazily, I ran my hands down his shoulder and added, “But I couldn’t look away. I was lost in you.”

He raised his head and placed a playful kiss on my belly button. “You were scared of me. I saw it in your eyes. I smelled the fear. I was going to stop until the minute you realized that you were in love with me. That hit me like a cannon and I was stunned. That you loved me was a miracle. I couldn’t have stopped if I tried. I was drawn to you like a magnet.”

“And I still am.” He was level with my face again and tugged on my lower lip with his mouth. I smiled up into those beautiful eyes and realized he was hovering above me on his elbows. His body was just barely touching mine, the muscle of his chest and thighs brushing mine. I trembled with the need to touch him, to hold him inside of me, to feel that connection again.

“Look into my eyes. What do you see now?” I tilted his face until he peered directly into my eyes.

“I see the truth of things between us. I see your love for me and I see your need.” He dipped his head and kissed me, his tongue slipping against mine. My hips circled against him, pressing, inviting...He rubbed slowly across my thighs, taking his time, teasing us both. I felt the heat move up from his body to mine and marveled again at the soft golden light that wrapped around us and tied us together. Curious, I consciously pushed some of my own power outwards to see if I could add it to the
saol
that already flowed around us. The effect was immediate. The gentle heat was hotter now and more intensely concentrated.

“What did you just do?” He grinned down at me.

“Too much?”

“Did you want to melt?” He was laughing now.

“Okay, okay, I’ll turn it off.” I scaled it back and gradually the intense heat faded again.

“Now, where were we?” He grinned as he deftly unhooked the front of my bustier with one hand. The other was busy working magic elsewhere.

“Sean?”

“Yeah?”

“When do you think we should get married?”

Long pause.

“After we kill the zombies.”

The trees were skeletal as they clawed towards the heavy grey clouds. I hurried down the path with Domino trotting alongside of me. The wind pushed against my back as the storm barreled down from the west.  We were expecting a monster snowstorm and it would hit soon. I wanted, no,
needed
to meditate and felt drawn to my little clearing in the trees. Something was urging at me and I couldn't ignore it. Sean, Dec, and Killian had been gone for two days and I was alone. I’d started dreaming again last night. The dream had scared me and I’d woken with my heart racing and screams echoing in my mind.

In the dream, I was locked in a dark concrete cell with Dani. Dani was glowing with happiness and pregnancy. Her belly was grotesquely swollen but she didn’t notice. Her eyes were mad as she crooned to the unborn child in her womb. Her voice gave me chills as she chanted the strange words of a lullaby. Over and over she chanted the words as if in a trance.

This woman didn’t look like the Dani I knew. Her once beautiful eyes were jaundiced and ringed by heavy black eyeliner and her lips were painted a bloody red. Someone had changed her.

She stared at me with revulsion before snarling in a voice dripping with venom, “You’re jealous! You pathetic freak! You’ll never have babies like me!” Then she’d gone back to caressing her stomach and crooning the creepy lullaby.

I said, “No, Dani, I’m not jealous. I’m happy for you! Can’t I help you? We’ll get out of here and you and the baby will be safe again.”

Flinching away from me, she hissed, “Leave? This is our home. I’ll never leave here.”

Before I could argue with her, she gripped her belly and screamed an inhuman howl. I froze in horror as two sets of claws appeared out of her belly. Her screams reverberated off the walls as the thing inside her clawed its way out and devoured its mother.

The dream freaked me out more because I suspected it wasn’t a dream at all but a premonition. I didn’t have them often but when I did, they always came true. I needed to meditate and clear my head now so I could get my thoughts together before going to see Dani. I wasn’t waiting for the guys to come with me. I can handle talking to her without backup.

The trees in my clearing were bare too, but they were friendlier than the larger ones on the edges of the property. The small trees seemed to protect my clearing as they arched over it like a chapel roof. Reaching it now, I spread the blanket on the cold ground and sat down. Domino curled up by my side and set about the important business of guarding me while my mind was focused inward. I took one last glance around. The sky was roiling above me and a gust of wind whipped the blanket’s edges around us. The storm was nearly here.

I needed to hurry.

Closing my eyes, I pictured my tiny pool surrounded with purple orchids and lush leaves of green. The water was so clear I could count the pebbles beneath my feet. Warm floral air caressed my cheek with gentle fingers. I breathed slowly and deeply and filled my soul with calm. My mind cleared of all thoughts but those of sensing. For a moment the physical world drifted away and it was only me in my private world. But the calm was abruptly shattered when something hit me on the back of my head and I fell on my face.

Domino’s urgent barking gradually brought me around. I lay on the ground trying to make sense of what happened but my mind was blank. I tried to sit up but a burning pain stabbed into my skull when I moved. Carefully moving my arm, I felt the back of my head and winced when my fingers found a sticky spot. I wasn’t bleeding a lot and I could feel the cut was pretty small. The knot, on the other hand, was about the size of an egg. This was going to hurt.

What the hell hit me?

Squinting, I looked around without moving my head. It was like trying to look through a blanket. The snow was falling in huge clumps and the wind was blowing it into swirls even inside the trees. The storm had started. I felt Domino leaning next to me and gave her a weak smile. Okay, it was time to get out of here.

“Good girl. I’d hate to freeze to death out here.”

Despite the cocooning snow and howling wind, my psychic senses went ballistic. Suddenly I realized I wasn’t alone. Someone was out there, watching me.

Someone who wasn’t a friend.

“Domino, who’s here?”

She went to doggy soldier-mode and scanned the perimeter. After a few seconds, she growled low in her throat and pointed to the left.  I took a deep breath and shoved myself to my feet. The sudden movement left me nauseous and my vision dimmed to a tiny tunnel. I swayed and would’ve passed out again if Domino hadn’t been there. She barked madly and backed into my shins. With hackles raised, she pivoted and barked at something further to the left now. It was moving.

Or there was more than one.

He was on me before I could lift a finger to stop him. I was flat on my back in the gathering snow with his heavy body flattening me and his hand clamped over my opened mouth.

“Don’t even think about it. I’ve been trying to get you alone for too long to let you call for help,” James sneered into my stunned face. Something sharp nudged the skin where my jacket had ridden up.

With a smile that would have been sweet if he wasn’t evil, he lifted his hand away. When I tried to yell, I found that he’d cut off my audio. Damn it. Why does he still have his powers? He grinned down at me as if this was a flirty game between lovers. All fun and games…Without warning, he kissed my mouth in an oddly gentle kiss.

“Our first kiss. Do you remember your vision in The City? You were meditating and I watched you enter your little oasis. I came to you in your dream and showed you what it would be like. I wanted to pull you into my world and kiss you then, but you didn’t give me a chance. I'm patient though. You see, I knew even then that you would be mine. That kiss was destiny. And now, it’s happened.” His face was calm as he reflected on his brilliance even as the cold metal rested along my rapidly warming skin.

His mood shifted and he frowned, “You’ve wasted too much time. All because of Sean…your
soul mate
!” Disgusted, he spit into the snow. “You didn’t give me a chance, did you? That night…that night I showed you our first kiss…you gave yourself to that cretin. He took your body like he deserved it. The golden boy who gets everything he wants. I watched you spread your legs for him and I cried. Then I killed my first human.”

The knife point dug into my skin, and I forced myself not to struggle. “I should’ve been your first. You deserved me. Then.”

Killian! If you can hear me, I’ve got James for you! I don’t know how long I can keep him distracted though. Hurry!

With eyes turning a sickly shade of greenish yellow, James continued to talk. “I would’ve been good to you. I wouldn’t have bailed on you like he did. He said he was
scattered.
Ha!” He looked pityingly at me. “For a whole year? And you believed him. Why don’t you ask him where he really was all that time? Your golden boy lies just like everyone else.”

Killian’s sharp voice snapped inside my head.
Are you in danger?

I considered the knife in my side and the half-crazed evil demon-thing working itself up to killing me.

Nah, piece of cake.

Nothing to fear here.

Oh, sure, take your time. I’m good. He’s spilling his guts though. Maybe you guys should listen to this instead of blazing in and vaporizing him?

James was lying of course. There’s no way Sean would’ve stayed away unless he couldn’t get back. I wasn’t even going to entertain that story in my head. So I tried for a calm expression of sympathy and grimaced gently. That was the best I could manage…he leaned over and stroked my cheek with the back of his hand.

He sighed dramatically. ”What am I going to do with you now? You’re everything I’ve ever wanted. Would you consider leaving Sean for me? I don’t want to kill you like the others.”

With a soundless cry of fury, I took a swing at his face and he ducked with a sharp laugh and shoved me back down.

He patted my cheek and boasted, “Yeah, that was me. Your old boyfriend was the perfect distraction. He did some side work for us that put him right in my path. He was already a friggin’ time bomb. It was too easy.”

He shifted his position so he was sitting on me, but the knife stayed pressed into my side close to my kidney. Furious, I choked on angry tears as I pictured Lia’s pretty face the night she walked away with James. She’d trusted his lies and she was dead. He’d butchered her…because of me.

Mica, we’re here watching. Keep him talking; we need to know what he’s done.

“Why would you kill all those people? I thought you were…nice last year.” I was trying to stall but really just wanted to rip his throat out. Killian better know what he’s doing.

“Those humans were just cheap imitations of you. You have to understand. I didn’t want to kill them, but I couldn’t kill
you
…It wasn’t your fault, after all. Your golden boy cheated. He took away your will so you’d stay with him. Oh, I thought I could get you out of my system with some substitutes; but no, that didn’t work for me.”

He glanced around us, waiting, and I tensed to launch myself up. He grinned and shifted the blade to just below the rune on my chest. I froze again gritting my teeth in frustration. Fine, James, just keep talking, you creep.

They say confession is good for the soul.

“And now, here we are. I can’t stand him having you while I settle for second best. He makes me sick. Everything about him makes me want to kill him. And the irony is you think he’s so pure, so honest. You only know what he wants you to know.”

At my mutinous glare, he sighed and pinched my cheek. “Still loyal, I see. Well, since you won’t come to me, I’m going to have to kill you. Sorry love, but that’s the only way. You see, I don’t like loose ends. Killing you is the best solution. Sean won’t have you and I’ll be able to move on with my Plan B.” He winked at me, his expression boyish. “You were Plan A. But you didn’t cooperate so I’m moving on; nothing personal.”

“Leave Dani alone!” I ground out from between my teeth. Oh, my audio was back on.

“Sorry, can’t do that. She’s my little brood mare. My family tree needs some new branches. I’m running short on descendants, and she’s pathetically eager to climb into bed with me. My blood is now half and half. Combining this with the human blood will give me a child with the best qualities of all three. He’ll be unstoppable.”

“Three? I don’t get it. You’re Primani. You should be happy with that.”

His arrogant expression sharpened. “Ah, yes. But you see, Primani have limited powers. Our friends from the underworld now, they have their own special abilities. For instance, did you know they can remain invisible and keep all of their physical capabilities?”