The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) (61 page)

“How do we find Raphael, Princess?” I asked the dog.

Call him?
She wagged her tail helpfully.

Duh! “It’s worth a shot! Here goes…” I closed my eyes and called his name.

Silence.

Five minutes later, I announced, “Okay, that didn’t work out. Probably he’s super busy and can’t just pop in here. We’ll have to call the penthouse and talk to Alex.”

She yawned and rested her chin on her paws. I was boring her.

Someone finally picked up the phone after four rings. My brain froze at the sound of his voice. My tongue stuck in my throat and I couldn’t get a word to form.

“Mica? What do you want?” Sean snapped at me through the receiver. “I have nothing to say to you.”

That did it.

“I
want
to talk to Alex, if that’s okay with you, oh glorious one!”

“He’s not here. What do you want?”

“Nothing from you! I need to talk to Alex or Raphael.” I hung up the phone and fumed. He’s taking pissiness to a whole new level.

Stalking to the bedroom, I cleaned my guns and wiped down my knives…just in case. I had no help now…what on earth was I going to do if this place was attacked? I needed to get out of here and move on. The house was huge, too huge for me. I could go back to my parents’ house, but that didn’t seem like a good fit for my new life skills. No, Dad wouldn’t appreciate my demon hunting under his roof. I guess I could give up demon hunting and just work at the mall…that seemed like a waste of perfectly good ancient powers though.

Stay here or go home.

That was it. I had no other options. I had no savings. I had very little cash. My car was on E.

I had no place else to go. Crap. Tapping my fingers on the counter, I took a deep breath to slow down the panic. There was no reason to rush into a plan. I had time. I guess it wouldn’t hurt to give Sean some time to cool off. He was mad, but maybe he’d come around. After all, we didn’t have a deadline. It wasn’t like I was pregnant or anything. With that thought, my stomach lurched uncomfortably and I broke into a cold sweat. Oh, no, no, no. I AM NOT PREGNANT. Not possible! I just made it to the toilet before I threw up my lunch. Glaring at my nicely-shaped abs, I chanted “I’m not pregnant” inside my head until I’d convinced myself it was true.

Days went by and turned into weeks. The snow was gone and spring was here. I was curled up in a blanket on the patio watching it slowly rain and turn the yard green again. Mother Nature making love to the earth again…I dialed the number, again. No answer, again. Listless, I called Dani’s mom. She picked up on the first ring. The hopefulness in her voice cut me to the quick.

“Have you found her?” she asked breathlessly.

“No, I’m sorry. I haven’t. I was hoping you had.” I’d been apologizing for weeks. What kind of a psychic was I? I couldn’t sense my best friend who was in big trouble. I had no idea where she was.

She let her breath out slowly. “It’s been a month, Mica. Where could she be?”

“The police have no leads?” She’d filed a missing persons report weeks ago, but Dani had disappeared without a trace.

My working theory was that James had stashed her at his place or with the demons somewhere to wait for the baby to be born. He hadn’t counted on dying before he could get back to her. For all I knew, she was already languishing in Dante’s second circle of Hell. If James was right, I’d end up there myself someday…lustful wanton that I apparently was.

My stomach gurgled unhappily and I held my breath. Counting down the seconds, it took just 15 of them before I hurled myself to the railing and threw up my dinner. Heaving again, I gagged and spit out what was left of the toast.

I’m not pregnant. I’m not pregnant
.

Who was I kidding?

The signs were getting more ominous by the day. I was throwing up every day now and so tired I barely wanted to eat. I chalked both of these things up to stress and depression. If I was pregnant, I had to tell Sean and Sean hated me now. How would he feel about a baby? Would he even want it? Would he believe it was his? It was too much to think about, and I closed my eyes for a minute while I worked up the courage to call him.

“This sucks!” I complained to the universe in general. “How could this happen?” I asked rhetorically and shuffled into the house. Domino rolled her eyes at me and stuffed her nose between her paws.

I needed someone to help me and no one would answer the phone. I called the penthouse again. The phone rang and rang. This time no one answered. There was no answering machine and I slowly pressed the end call button. What was going on down there? I really, really needed help finding Dani and no one would answer the phone.

Didn’t anyone care about me up here?

And if I was pregnant, and I wasn’t admitting I was, well, that would be another complication. I needed to tell Sean. But none of them would answer the phone. I could be dead for all they knew! Well, let’s see them ignore me when I show up in Manhattan. With this thought in mind, I started to pack a suitcase when the hair on the back of my neck stood up.

Something
was here.

And it wasn’t human.

Frozen with dread, I listened. The sound that reached me turned my blood to ice. Scratching, like claws over stone, sent shivers down my spine like so many fingernails on a chalkboard. Domino went ballistic. The house creaked as the scratching grew louder. A shadow in the window caught the corner of my eye. I whipped around and stared into my nightmares. The demon's reptilian eyes were red with lust as he leered at me through the glass. He was joined by another.

Domino lunged and they clung to the frame and laughed. The sound reverberated inside my head. Stay calm, stay calm. The house was protected, right? No one could get inside and my body was protected by the runes.

Was my mind safe?

I could go crazy with terror alone here in this huge empty house. More and more demons landed on the roof. The scratching continued as they tried to peel the walls apart. My blood ran even colder. Snapping out of the paralyzing fear, I raced to the windows and yanked the curtains closed. Panting with exertion, I stood in the kitchen to catch my breath. Suddenly the glass shook and I screamed as a pair of fanged demons pressed themselves against the kitchen window. Not bothering with a human façade now, they appeared in their true forms. Black and scaly, their reptilian skin dripped black fluid and shimmered in the twilight.

Their singsong voices came through the glass.

“We’ve come for you!”

Evil emanated from the black-scaled creatures as they clung and shouted at me.

With hands over my ears, I ran out of the kitchen to the bedroom. I was trapped here if they got inside. There was no place left to go. I would have to fight them or jump out of the second story window. The screeching of claws grew louder and was joined by the howling of hundreds of demons.

The house was completely surrounded.

I was under siege.

God help me.

High-pitched wailing sent fear skittering over my skin and I broke out in goose bumps and a cold sweat. Even as my mind wanted to shut down, my instincts to fight took over despite the overwhelming odds. Adrenaline pumped through my muscles and my eyes burned. Even with Killian’s powers, there was no way I could fight off hundreds of demons.

I would die here and not without pain.

Abruptly the lights blinked off and on like strobe lights. Domino whined pitifully next to me and hid her face with her paws. Oh, you think that’s funny, do you? I said to the hoard in general. I can fix that! Tuning them out, I marched to the basement and flipped the breaker for the upstairs lights. Now it was dark but at least the lights weren’t blinking.

No sooner had I gotten back upstairs, the pounding started. A thousand fists beat the roof and walls of the house with a tremendous force. The walls vibrated and bits of plaster fell from the ceiling. The glass creaked and rattled within the wooden frames.

I was trapped and there was no way out.

It was only a matter of time.

I crept slowly from one door to the next and all exits were blocked. Every time I got close, the excited squealing on the other side sent shockwaves of adrenaline coursing through my body and I was in an agony of readiness. My eyes glowed with heat and my muscles ached with too much power and no outlet for it. My skin felt barbequed from the inside out. The screaming and clawing and pounding went on for hours. I lost track of time as I huddled in the powder room hoping I’d die quickly.

Maybe they'd be in such a frenzy they'd just rip me to pieces.

Numb with terror, I was only vaguely aware of an aching low in my belly. The aching grew stronger as the night wore on. At some time in the middle of the night, I clutched my silver Primani blade and watched as my power brought it to life. The silver blade glowed in my palm and lit the tiny bathroom with its eerie pale light. Fascinated, I gazed at it and prayed to Raphael for the courage to use it on myself.

“Raphael, I’m sorry, but I can’t let them take me again. I’ll die first,” I whispered with frozen lips to the one angel I thought might still care about me.

Though why he should, I did not know.

The sounds of cracking glass and splintering wood jolted me out of my prayers and I poised for a quick death. The demons went into a frenzy of howling as the glass windows finally weakened and shattered.

The protection was breached.

The shrieking grew louder and closer. The pounding of a thousand feet shook the floors.

They were coming for me.

They were
all
coming.

I clutched the knife to my heart and prayed for strength with my eyes squeezed shut.

It was time.

Suddenly, the tone of the howls changed.

The howls turned to yelps.

Then absolute silence.

He was there, prying the blade out of my clenched fingers, whispering to me.

Raphael.

He’d come. He’d come to help me after all.

I lifted stunned eyes to his blazing blue ones and fell apart with relief.

Gathering me into his strong arms, he carried me out of the tiny little room. “Come, child. This is no place for you.” Setting me down on the couch, he said, “You’re safe now. The demons are gone.”

“You came? You came…”

“Of course I did. I would never ignore your cries for help, little one.” He carefully pulled out the pendant and let it rest on top of his shirt. “After all, you left me in possession of your very fine heart. It wouldn’t do to let you die before your time.”

Forcing a watery smile, I sniffed and tried to get my breathing back to normal. A sharp pain crawled across my belly and I pressed a hand against it with a low groan.

His regal features were calm and, well, angelic, as he met my eyes with a reassuring smile. After a moment, he asked, “You’re not okay, are you?”

“I’m fine…no, I’m not fine. I can’t find Dani and she’s pregnant with a demon spawn. I dreamed that it killed her. I’m terrified for her and I can’t find her!”

Shaking his head sadly, he said, “We’ve looked for her for you. There is no sign of her anywhere. I’m afraid that’s not good news.”

My heart sank. “Is she dead?”

Nodding, he answered, “It’s likely; though the alternative isn’t much better. She could be dead or under the cloaking of a powerful demon. That doesn’t bode well for her now that her protector, James, is dead.”

I sighed miserably at the idea of Dani shivering alone and terrified in a cell someplace. The demons wouldn’t care about her at all. They’d keep her alive long enough for the thing to be born. They’d kill her if the birthing didn’t. I had to find her before it was too late. Raphael squeezed my hand gently and went to check the house for me. With a wave of his hand, the cracked glass quickly reformed and the doors were reinforced with heavy wood and locks. He murmured a protective prayer as he wandered from room to room and then went outside. He came inside and washed his hands in the kitchen.

I wanted to ask him about Sean and the others. He’d know what they were doing. I was dying to know how they were. I missed Sean and Dec. I missed Killian. They were my family. Sean was more. But I was afraid to ask about them. Afraid to hear that they moved on, that they didn’t care about me after all. Dec’s sunny smile flashed into my mind and I swallowed the lump in my throat. God, I missed him. But they’d made their choices, and they chose to leave me here unprotected.

“Raphael, I--”

With no little sympathy, he interrupted gently, “Your destiny is nearly fulfilled, Mica. There is more to do yet, but you are nearly at the end of your tribulations. There is more pain to come. Can you bear it? Can you bear it, child, for the rewards that will follow?” His gentle eyes probed mine as he asked if I could stand more pain.

I didn’t respond because another cramp, stronger than the earlier one, ripped through my belly and a rush of heat poured out of me. I limped to the powder room to find blood soaking my underwear. Stupidly, I stared at it without understanding. Then the cramps began in earnest and I doubled over against them.