Forgotten Visions (The Divinities Book 1) (21 page)

After hours of Liam
trying to get Kalissa to open the bedroom door—after she had sealed it with her own spell—he finally gave up and went downstairs.  She didn’t trust him to leave her completely alone. Slowly, she went to the door, pressed her ear to it, and listened. Nothing. She reached for the knob and cracked the door just enough to stick her head out.

Good, he wasn’t waiting outside the door. But he was in the house somewhere. She could feel him. It wasn’t the same way she could feel Ayden. It was the thing that allowed her to identify Liam as a demon. But he didn’t feel like a regular demon. He felt more powerful somehow. Then she realized that the feeling of being watched she’d gotten from time to time lately was from him.

Stalker.

She stepped out of the space she had been placed in and listened. Liam was in the room directly below her. She focused on him and saw him at his computer in what looked like a study or a home office. Like the bedroom, the hallway had hardwood floors the color of cherry-stained oak. The flooring continued throughout the upstairs and down the staircase. The stairs were wide enough for three people to walk down side by side. She descended them, running her hand along the top of the railing to her left. The railings on either side were hand-carved, dark, cherry-stained oak that matched the floors.

Once at the base of the stairs, she wasn’t sure where to go. She knew better than to try the front door. One, he would know as soon as she opened the door because of the wards he had in place. Two, he’d most likely booby-trapped all entry points of the house. She was, after all, his prisoner. She had already tried to teleport, but there was something in place to keep anyone from teleporting in or out of the house. Or maybe it was just her.

She shot a quick look at the office. The door was closed, much to her relief. She quietly walked to the living room. The first word that popped into her mind was
wow
. The living room was huge, with an oversized fireplace. Every piece of furniture matched. The sofa, loveseat, and armchair with matching ottoman were a creamy beige color. It was a nice contrast to the black marble floor. The coffee table and two end tables were black-stained wood with glass tops. Above the fireplace was a family portrait of Liam and his parents. They looked happy. Yet there was something in the young Liam’s eyes. It was the same darkness she’d seen upstairs.

Something brushed against her skin. It was like the cool breeze that would come from opening a freezer door on a hot summer day. Kalissa whirled around. No one was there. She walked in the direction the force had gone, walking out of the living room. In the foyer, she saw a figure go into the kitchen. It was a woman in a white satin nightgown and matching robe. She wasn’t completely solid.

Kalissa had never seen a ghost, but knew other witches who had. She’d asked her mother once about ghosts, or spirits. Her mother had told her that it was a blessing to be visited by a ghost. Most of the time, the ghost needed help or was there to deliver a message. Many of them were also sent by deceased family members as spirit guides.

She followed the spirit into the kitchen. The image of a woman hanging from a support beam in the middle of the room sent a spike of fear straight through her. Kalissa ran out of the kitchen and pressed her back to the wall beside the entrance. Her heart had fallen to her stomach and was beating ninety miles a second.
It was just a vision,
she told herself. She recognized the woman. She was the same person Kalissa had grown to love and admire when she’d dated Liam. It was his mother.

With deep breaths, she gathered her courage before pushing off the wall and entering the kitchen. This time, the woman was not hanging in the middle of the room. She was standing near the kitchen nook, looking out the window.

Kalissa slowly approached her. “Barbra?” Kalissa whispered, not wanting Liam to hear her. The woman looked at her, smiled, and nodded. “Are you stuck here?” Kalissa felt silly asking. She’d heard that some ghosts were stuck in this realm for various reasons, while others crossed over to the Afterworld.

Barbra shook her head. “No. I was sent here…for you.” Kalissa frowned, and Barbra let out a soft laugh. “Sorry, not
for
you, to bring you over, but to help you.” Barbra held her hand out toward the nook, gesturing for Kalissa to take a seat. Kalissa sat, and Barbra sat across from her. “You saw how I died?” Kalissa nodded. Barbra took a sad breath. “If I knew then what I know now…anyway, what is done is done.”

After a long moment of silence, Kalissa asked, “You said you are here to help me?”

“Yes. Connie asked me to come.”

“Mom.” It came out as a breathy whisper. Kalissa wished she could see her mother one last time. “Why can’t she come?”

“Connie has fully crossed over. The time has come for her to join her
magickin
family in the Elysium Fields. I, on the other hand, still have some things that are unfinished.” Barbra reached out with her ghostly, transparent hand and covered Kalissa’s. Surprisingly, it wasn’t cold but room temperature and soothing.  “Connie says she’s sorry for not protecting you. She said if she’d known about the memory spell, she would have found a way to break it.” The ghost paused for a moment. “Your mother loved you and Khloe so deeply. She’s happy that you found the Sinew. The demons must never possess the power it holds.”

“How do you know about the Sinew?”

“I am a guardian, one of the few chosen souls that are blessed with the knowledge of all things.” Barbra gave Kalissa another gentle smile. “My great-grandmother was a witch. I have
magickin
blood. I can also choose where I can cross over once my time comes: Elysium Fields with my
magickin
family or Heaven with my human family.”

Kalissa let what she’d just learned sink in for a few minutes. She looked into Barbra’s angelic face. A wave of sadness came over her. “You know I have to…”

“Shhh,” Barbra interrupted and reached over to place a hand on Kalissa’s cheek. “I know. You are at war.” Barbra removed her hand and sighed. “My son and husband just happen to be on the wrong side of that war. I wish my Liam could be saved, but he has chosen his path.”

“What are you doing in here, Isa?”

Kalissa jumped at Liam’s question. She was so focused on Barbra that she hadn’t picked up on his presence. She stood up from her seat at the nook to face him. She felt Barbra stand up behind her. “He cannot see or hear me,” Barbra whispered in Kalissa’s ear. “I have to leave you now.” Without another word, Barbra vanished, leaving Kalissa feeling alone.

“Answer the question,” Liam said. He was standing at the entrance to the kitchen. Kalissa didn’t miss how his eyes flickered to where Barbra had hung herself and then back to her. He didn’t like to come into the kitchen, Kalissa assumed.

“I went for a walk,” she said, hating the way her voice shook. “And since I can’t go outside, I was walking around the house.

“Who were you talking to?” He motioned to the nook.

“Myself. It’s something I do when I’m upset,” she lied. She couldn’t tell him she was talking to his dead mother. It would anger him. Besides, something in Barbra’s voice had made Kalissa feel as if she shouldn’t tell Liam about his mother.

“Come here.” It came out as a demand that made Kalissa flinch. Liam closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He held out his hand to her and softened his voice a little. “Please.” She didn’t move. Liam fisted his hands at his sides. “I can come in there and drag you out,” he said through clenched teeth.

He had more mood swings than a female tiger in heat.

Kalissa slowly walked toward him. She knew it wasn’t a good idea to test the demon’s patience, but she didn’t want to be anywhere near him. This Liam scared her. He wasn’t the young man she’d loved fifteen years ago. She walked a little faster to close the distance between them. She stopped at arm’s length from him. “Can I ask you something?” She decided to play nice. Play his game a little to confuse him, make him think she was warming to him. He gave a short nod. “You found her?”

His gaze moved to the middle of the room and back to her face. “I did.”

Kalissa knew from the pain in his face that she wasn’t getting any more of an explanation than that. She remembered how much he’d loved his mother when Kalissa had dated him. It was hard not to love Barbra. Kalissa looked into Liam’s midnight-blue eyes. “I’m sorry.” She meant it. She knew what the loss of a mother felt like.

He waved it away. “Not your fault. My father holds that burden.” He turned to walk back toward his office.

Khloe sat at the
kitchen table, staring off into the darkness of the backyard. Her laptop lay open in front of her, providing one of two light sources in the kitchen. The second were the small, dim lights under the cabinets.

She welcomed the darkness. It fit her mood.

“You should get some sleep,” Lydia said, coming into the kitchen.

“I can’t sleep,” Khloe quietly replied.

“Here.” Lydia handed Khloe a cup of tea. “This will help you relax.”

“Thanks,” Khloe said. She brought the cup to her nose and breathed in deeply. It was chamomile and mint tea with a touch of honey.

She missed her sister. Ayden was in no better shape than she was. Playing this waiting game with the Oceanway Coven was wearing on all of them. She was so on board with Ayden’s idea of marching into the Loomis house, full speed ahead. She wasn’t stupid, and neither was Ayden. But they knew Zach was right. They had to wait and pray to the gods that Kalissa came home alive.

Khloe looked across the table at Lydia, and a tidal wave of sadness hit her. Lydia had lost her father, husband, and brother all in a two-year span. And her mother was missing, taken from her like Kalissa had been taken from Khloe. “Have you any leads on where your mother might be?”

Lydia shot her a surprised look but then dropped her shoulders. “Not really.”

“We know more now than we did before,” Khloe offered.

Lydia looked at her with raised eyebrows. “How is that?”

Khloe took a sip of her tea and sighed as the cool taste of mint hit her tongue. “Well, Noah said that Demetrius owns a distribution company. Wanna bet it’s a cover for other activities?”

“Oh,” Lydia said, realizing where Khloe was headed. “You plan to hack into the company records?” Lydia grinned at her new friend.

“It wouldn’t hurt. Zach and Ayden would want to put them on surveillance, anyway.” Khloe smiled. At times, she surprised herself with her intelligence. It would also give her something to do while they waited to hear from Eleese.

“What wouldn’t hurt?” Ayden’s voice drifted in, followed by his body.

Khloe frowned. Ayden looked terrible. His hair stood on end more than Zach’s usually did. It looked like he’d tried to pull it out. Glancing down, she noticed how he rubbed his Divinity marks. “Putting Grayson Distributions on surveillance,” she answered.

“Zach’s already on it,” Ayden responded flatly.

“Since when?” Khloe asked in surprise.

Ayden looked down at her from where he stood, leaning against the island. “This morning.”

The phone rang. She jumped up and flew to the phone, but Ayden had it to his ear before she got there. Standing on her tiptoes, she pressed her ear to the back of the phone to listen.

“Hold on,” Ayden said into the receiver, pushing her slightly to back up.

She was about to snatch the phone away from him until he pushed the speaker button and held it out for everyone to hear.

“Go ahead,” He prompted.

“Wrong address.” Zach’s voice came out of the speaker.

“What do you mean?” Khloe squeaked with fear.

“Eleese said the house is abandoned. It’s up for foreclosure. No one’s lived in it for years.”

“Are you sure?” Panic started to set in, squeezing her chest. Her eyes filled with tears, blurring her vision.

“I checked it out myself. Ran another check on the address, and it appears the property appraiser’s office had a mix-up on their website,” Zach gravely stated.

“Well? What’s the other address? The one it was mixed up with,” she urged. There had to be something, anything.

He released a heavy sigh from the other end of the phone, sounding as tired as she felt. “It was
misplaced
.”

Misplaced? Was he kidding?
“How in the hell can they misplace property records?” Anger bubbled up inside her. Lightning cracked in the sky over the house.   

Ayden reached out to comfort her. She slapped away his hand. “I don’t want comforting. I want my fucking sister!” She turned and ran up to her room.

Kalissa sat curled
up on the seat of the bay window in Liam’s study. She’d asked if she could have the window opened and was surprised when he allowed it. She felt a little better sitting in front of the open window with the light summer breeze blowing inside, bringing the smells and sounds with it.  There were gardenia bushes somewhere in the back yard. She smelled the fragrant flowers on the night air.

“I had forgotten your element is air.”

Kalissa looked at Liam when he spoke, startled. She’d been in here with him for hours, and this was the first time he had said anything to her. He was working at his computer, not giving any information regarding what he was working on. She really didn’t care, as long as it took his attention away from her.

“Did you hear me?” He was annoyed that she hadn’t responded.

Good.
“I heard you.” She turned to look out into the dark of night. It was well past midnight.

“You should go to bed,” Liam said sharply.

“I’ll go to bed when I’m ready,” she snapped back.

After a few moments, she looked at him and asked, “How did you get near the cabin without Willow knowing?”

He shot her a dark look and then shrugged. “I’ve been to the cabin before, remember?”

Yes, she remembered. They’d all gone to the cabin for weeks at a time. She’d invited Liam to come with her when a group of the coven kids went. Now that she thought about it, Willow hadn’t cared for the young Liam. She’d said he carried a darkness she didn’t recognize.

“Why does your aura feel different? Why didn’t you die when your heart stopped beating?” she asked, feeling very brave.

“What’s with the questions?” he asked sharply.

Kalissa winced and turned back to look out the window once more. “No reason. Just feeling chatty.” 

After several moments of silence, Liam answered her questions. “I am half demon. My mother was half witch. My father is a full-blooded Amiddian demon. He gave me a serum that slowed the development of my demon DNA to keep me in my human state longer. He didn’t realize that the serum also caused a reaction to my
magickin
half from my mother. We didn’t know at the time that she carried witch DNA.”

“What kind of reaction?” She had her suspicions, but she wanted to hear him say it.

He looked at her full in the face. She shivered at the shadows behind his eyes. “It mutated my DNA, making my magical side stronger. I am what my father calls a Dark Divine. I am the opposite of a Divinity. You were born a demigod. I’m a demonic witch.”

Kalissa had never thought much about the Divinity gene. She wasn’t sure where it came from, but the Elders believed it was a gift from the gods. Maybe they were right. If what Liam said was true, then the Divinities were actual children of the gods like their ancestors claimed. Liam was…their dark counterpart.

“How many more are there like you?” Kalissa asked.

Before he could reply, his phone rang. He answered it, and Kalissa went back to looking out the window. She took the opportunity to make her way upstairs so she could seal the door before going to sleep.

When she reached the entry to the study, Liam said, “Where are you going?”

She stopped, closed her eyes, and answered, “To bed.” She walked out of the room and ran up the stairs to Liam’s bedroom. Locking and sealing the door to hopefully keep him out, she went snooping. She was looking for anything that would give a clue as to where she was. She wasn’t quite sure what she’d do with the information when she found, but she had to do something. She was going stir-crazy. Looking for a way out was a good enough distraction for now. 

The closet looked like a good place to start. She opened the door and gasped. It was huge. Big enough to be a nursery.
Don’t even go there, Lis.
She shuddered. Peering inside the oversized closet, she frowned at the number of female items in there. He really didn’t expect her to wear those clothes, did he?

His clothes were perfectly placed on the left side and hers on the right. It was creepy how he’d moved her in like she belonged there. It made her wonder how long he had been planning this. Since his death and rebirth in college? That was almost eight years ago. Had he stalked her for eight years?

Twenty minutes later, she had gotten nowhere. Releasing a frustrated sigh, she sat down on the edge of the bed, wondering what to do now. The room was clean, too clean. She wondered if he ever slept in here.
Do demons even sleep?
she asked herself.

She knew for sure she wouldn’t get much sleep. Not with
him
in the house.

There was a knock on the door. She jumped slightly and rolled her eyes as she got up and walked over to it. “What do you want?” she demanded through the door.

“Isa, let me in.” It came out as a demand, which did nothing but piss her off.

“My name is Kalissa, and you’re not coming in,” Kalissa snapped back at him.

Liam was quiet for a few seconds before saying, “There are clothes in the closet for you.” Another pause. “By the way. Your spell won’t keep me out of there.” He turned away from the door and walked down the hall toward the stairs.

Nope
. She wouldn’t sleep tonight.