Seduced by Pain (20 page)

A woman
screamed from near the house and ran to him, crying.

Behind me, a
wolf howled. Rainbow turned, directing her power at him and forcing him to
shift back to human.

Derek lay on
the ground naked and semi-conscious. "What have you done? You bitch! I'll
tear you apart for this."

His threats
fell on empty ears as Rainbow directed a few members of the coven to dig up the
rose bush, roots and all, and place it in a bag to be replanted on their
property.

She glared at
the man who had stolen her daughter. "Kill him, and find Rose and bring
her home. I don't care how. We need her."

I grabbed
Derek's neck. One twist, and I'd hear a snap. One twist, and Derek would lay
dead at my feet. Nothing would stop me from having Rose, then, not if she never
found out. I dug my nails into the Shifter's flesh. I'd imagined this. A secret
part of me had hoped for it. Derek should have been protecting Rose, not
interfering here. Guess I'd have to protect her from now on.

As I began to
turn my hands, a scream turned me to stone.

"Let him
go!" Rose ran at us, her eyes fixed on Derek, her eyes filled with tears. "Let
him go, please. We don't want to fight you."

My grip melted
away, and Derek hit the ground.

Rose collapsed
beside him, shielding the Shifter with her body. Why him? Why did she have to
choose him?

"Rose, move
away," I said.

She clutched
Derek tighter.

And I threw
her off of him.

She hit the
ground, rolling in mud and rocks. Tears streaked down her face, and her mouth
opened in a silent cry.

Perhaps she
mouthed the word 'please.' Perhaps I imagined it. But her tears wiped my rage
away all the same. There was something truly dark about those tears—something
I had never seen before. Nowhere should such darkness be allowed to exist.

I looked into
her eyes one last time, stood up, and turned to Rainbow. "You got what you
wanted. Now, it's time to leave. I didn't come here for your petty revenge
schemes."

She balled her
fist, ready to challenge me, but even with the sphere, I was stronger and she
knew it.

"Very
well. Grab my daughter so we can go."

"No."

She scowled,
the sphere buzzing louder and louder in her hand. "If you want to keep your
nice, new body, you will do as I say. You will—"

I lunged at
her, grabbing for her throat, but the witch had her tricks. She slapped her
hand across the air, and a stream of rock sprayed across my face. Fire raked my
cheek, and I knew it had been shredded as I hit the ground. The witch stood
over me and laughed a thousand terrors, and the wind lashed at my skin like a
knife. Cuts exploded over my body, small but many, and blood began to replace
my clothing. I tried to stand, but the air, as if it had all gathered above me
into a giant anvil, pushed me down. Perhaps this new body would not last as
long as I'd expected.

The witch
turned to her daughter. "Come, Rose. Come, and I'll let your precious
Shifter live."

Rose's
trembling hands fell away. She stood between Derek and her mother. "I'll
leave with you if you return the roses."

"I can't
do that, dear. Honestly, I'd rather let all of you die." The witch raised
her hand, a claw ready to tear into flesh. She was hungry for blood. And she
lost focus.

I jumped up,
pushing against the wind that sliced at my limbs. My stupid flesh, so human, so
weak, tore apart like clothing without thread. It would soon be lost forever.
But it would last long enough.

I tackled
Rainbow, slamming her into the earth she'd used against me. We clung to each
other, and the air that ripped away at my body began to tear into hers as well.
A stripe of blood swelled on her cheek, and she stopped the wind, clawing at my
face with her nails instead. I grabbed her neck. One twist, and I'd hear a
snap. One twist.

And I'd never
be free again.

My hands went
limp, and the witch scrambled away, dropping the sphere, nightmares of death
stitched on her face. She had lost, and she'd remember it.

I picked up
the silver orb and walked up to Rose. She had to know what Rainbow and I
planned. She had to know how to stay safe. "We're leaving with the rose
bush. For your sake, for Derek's, don't follow us."

"How
could you help her do this? I thought you loved me, that you were different!
How could you do this?" Rose's voice carried through the woods.

I looked at
Derek, limp and helpless on the ground. He had bedded Rose. I could smell the
deed on them. "We make the choices that are right for us. Sometimes, they
aren't our first choices, because those have been taken from us, or perhaps,
because they were never there to begin with, but they're the best we have. We
try for better, but sometimes better is just a fleeting shadow, and it belongs
to someone else."

Rose glanced
at Drake and wiped the tears from her eyes.

I raised my
hand toward her cheek, but let it drop an inch away. "Rose, I have to go,
but listen to me—"

"Why
should I ever listen to you?"

"Because,
I'm not Blake. Not the Blake you knew. There's more to this than you know. Your
mother needs to perform a ceremony to acquire the power of the roses. A
ceremony that involves a virgin sacrifice."

Rainbow
crawled toward us. "Stop. She can't know."

"Silence."
I raised my hand as if to hit her, and she twisted into a ball. "Run back
to the coven, before I find another witch to do my bidding."

Rainbow
retreated out of sight, taking the other coven members and the rose bush with
her.

I turned back
to Rose. "Rainbow has been using blood magic to gain more powers. That's
how she brought me from the demon plane to help her."

"You're…
a demon?"

"Yes. But
Rose, there's more."

She choked
back a sob. "More? How could there be more?"

"Your
father, your real father, he was a demon. It's why you're different, and why
she wanted you for the ceremony. Without you, she'll be forced to pick another sacrifice."

"But,
who? Who else could she pick who's a virgin?"

I waited as
she made the connection herself. Her jaw fell open, horror on her face. "Jasmine?
She's going to use Jasmine?"

I nodded.

"You have
to stop her. You can't let her kill my sister."

"I have
to go. I'm sorry. I'll do what I can."
Yet
someone will die, even if it's not Jasmine.
I began walking away.

"No,
Blake. You can stay with us. With me."

I glanced at
Rose, and, for the first time, felt a heart full of agony. "No, Rose, I
can't. It was foolish of me to ever think that I could."

The course of true love never did run smooth.

—William
Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream

Dear Diary,

Life is a complicated mix of joy and sadness, love and hate, good and
evil. This soup of mixed flavors can sometimes leave a bad taste in our mouth,
but then with one bite of the sweetness, we remember why we feast, why we risk
it all to sample life's cuisine.

Derek and his family are my sweetness.

THE AFTERMATH OF
the attack left two of Derek's cousins
with broken ribs, an uncle with a concussion, and the rest laid up at their homes,
recuperating.

Fortunately,
no one had been killed, but the dug out rose bush looked like a child's grave,
and that scar in the land pulled at the stitches that held this family
together.

Several days
had passed, and still no one voiced any hope that we had a chance at victory.

As we sat
around the dinner table, picking at a pot roast, David, who didn't seem the
type to stay in his melancholy, explained what the loss of the roses would mean
for the O'Conners. "We still control the power of the roses, though it's
waning. But if the witches succeed in their ceremony, we'll lose everything:
our abilities to shift, our magic, our longevity, the foundation of our lives.
And it wouldn't be like becoming normal human, it's more like losing your soul.
A part of us would be ripped out. We're the guardians of that ancient power,
and we've failed at our task."

Derek squeezed
my knee. He'd needed more physical contact than usual lately, not that I
minded. Everything around him was falling apart because of my family, but I
would find a way to make it right.

Ocean, Lauren
and Tammy sat across from us. Everyone was acutely aware of the one missing
family member: Dean.

Silence hung
heavy in the room as we each considered the worst case scenario. No one had
mentioned the shocking revelation that I was half demon. I couldn't even wrap
my head around it, let alone process out what the ramifications of that was.

Unable to
stand it, I pulled myself away from Derek and stood and paced the room, my
appetite gone. "We can't give up. I spent my whole life feeling helpless
against the darkness in me, but I finally learned to control it."

That had been
a fun conversation to have with my future in-laws.

"Dean
believed that I could free him from the demon plane, which means I can. I'll
find a way. Father Patrick and Drake can help. Also, Ocean and I know the coven
and that land better than anyone. We can get back the rose bush before the
ceremony. We have to. They'll kill my sister if we don't. I won't let you lose
your power, and I won't let my sister die. And… after this, if it's too much,
having me here, because of the whole demon thing, or even because of the witch
thing, I can go. I know this is all my fault. But please, just let me help fix
it first."

Tammy jumped
up from her chair and came around the table to hug me. "You're not going
anywhere. I've been surrounded by boys too long. I've always wanted a sister."

Lauren and
David joined in the hug, repeating her words. Derek smiled and reached for my
hand through the mass of people. "I love you, Rose. Where you go, I go.
Always."

I sent a
silent promise up to Dean that I would find him and save him.

David smiled
down at us. "Thank you, Rose, for reminding me of the truth. We can't lose
hope. We have plenty of time before the solstice to plan a strategy and get the
roses back. It's time to stop allowing fear to dictate our emotions."

In the middle
of that warmth, that love, that total acceptance, a little sliver of hope dug
in, refusing to give way to the many fears and doubts that so often crowded it
out.

For where
there was love, there would always be hope.

~THE END~

Look for
Seduced by Power
,
March 2013.

To learn more about
Sam, Drake, Father Patrick and the story behind the Rent-A-Kids, check out
The
Forbidden Trilogy
or get the first book in the series,
Forbidden
Mind
.