21 Shades of Night, page 164
“The traitor belongs to my sister.”
My eyes flick to Fiona, still held by Liam.
“I’ve spared Fiona because she’s saved Liam’s life.” I said to my fair-haired aunt. “Give me the girl. I will keep her close and she’ll never enter your kingdom again.”
“If she does, the payment will be fierce,” Fiona replied.
I nodded to Liam and he released her. Eleanor waved her hand and the chains dropped from Grace’s body with a loud clink.
“Three years,” Liam said, handing me the clean contract. Grace’s addendum had been scratched through. He offered me the wax to stamp with my own seal.
“Three years,” Eleanor agreed. “Until then, make your presence infrequent.”
“I will not abandon my people,” I said. “But I have obligations in the human world. I will not interfere with your kingdoms.”
A chill passed over my spine as Eleanor and Fiona held my eye. Peace was tenuous. Liam gently pulled me away, both of us aware the battle was far from over.
* * *
ENTERING THE HUMAN world’s atmosphere was almost as exciting as Otherworld’s. The plane was a little less dramatic than flying in the arms of a dying fairy, but at least we didn’t have someone chasing us. In fact, if I had to guess, I’d say the majority of people were happy to see us go. I’d brought as many problems into their world as solutions, and Liam? Well, they were just afraid of him. Rightly so.
Liam marked Grace with a rune, binding her to his home. She gave us both hugs and flew into the sunlight, crossing the portal on her own. Once on the other side she would report to his estate. We hoped she would be an ally, not a prisoner, but only time would tell.
As we landed, I caught sight of my father, small and human on the tarmac. I nearly tripped on my way out of the plane’s tiny door in excitement. Pop’s hands trembled when he caught me. He pulled me into a swift, tight hug. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine, Pop. Promise.”
He looked me over and I couldn’t help but notice the extra gray hairs and lines around his eyes. “Don’t do that to me again. I thought I’d lost you. Just like your mother.”
“I won’t.” I hugged him again, so tight he squeaked. I loosened my grip. “I’m doing a lot of the things mom would have wanted me to do. A lot of things that help preserve her memory.”
He finally let go and his eyes shifted to Liam standing next to me. I’ve seen many expressions on Liam’s face. Confident, angry, lustful, but based on the tension in his jaw and the obvious attempt he made to appear calm, I assumed he was freaking out. I held back a laugh. Liam Caldwell, Guardian and God, was afraid of my father.
“Sir,” Liam said, formal like. He offered his hand. My father eyed him warily. Did he know? Does a father know when a man has claimed his daughter? From the way they squared off with one another, I’d say yes.
“You brought her back,” Pop said.
“I gave you my word.”
Pop shifted his eyes to me, glancing down to see our hands entwined. “You sure this is the route you want to take? Your mother left that life behind.”
I nodded, fighting back tears. My mother had left to spare her life and in turn had stifled mine. She knew she couldn’t run from her destiny and eventually it caught up to her. The same had happened to me, I just wanted better results. “It’s not going to be easy, but I’m determined to make this work.” I squeezed him once more. “Now, show me everything I’ve missed. I’m sure the whole place fell apart without me.”
Liam left me at the airport. I needed time to spend with my father and he needed to go home.
“What’s this?” I asked, pointing to my work counter. A stack of folded papers were piled high.
“I saved them for you,” he said. I looked closer and saw they were all of the horoscopes I’d missed. The one for today was on top. “This may be a frenzied day for you, Pisces, but it’s likely to settle down as evening sets in. It will be a tender night in which you should stick close to home.” They sure got the first part of that right.
Pop stuck close the rest of the day and that night made me dinner, which was a first. Maybe I should go away more often. It wasn’t until I cleaned up, washing off the dust and grime of Otherworld, and buried myself under the covers on the bed I’d had since I was sixteen that I allowed myself to think about the fact I now had two homes. Two very different homes. Sure it was familiar and known, but I considered, taking a survey of my room, incredibly small. This home had always felt like a noose around my neck—tying me to the sadness of my mother’s death. Otherworld provided me with something else—another life.
I’d nearly fallen asleep when I felt the buzz of energy. The mattress sunk and a very warm, very naked man slipped under the sheets next to me. It was only a matter of seconds before his lips were on my neck and his arms wrapped around my waist.
“I recall a specific conversation between the two of us about you needing an invitation to come to my room.”
“I vaguely remember something like that.”
“So what? You think previous agreements don’t apply?”
“You think that after you’ve let me into your bed I’m not coming back? You’re crazier than I ever suspected.”
I twisted around until our noses touched. “Did you just call me crazy?”
“Never,” he lied. “Anyway, it’s just the Sidhe running through your veins. We’re all a little “off.””
He kissed me and I kissed him back. The faint light shimmered between us. “My father will catch you,” I warned, but he’d already removed my shirt and shorts. I pressed myself against him.
“He will have to get used to it.”
“Doubtful,” I said. “It will be hard balancing both worlds.”
“This is who you are now. You’re part Sidhe. A Queen. You’ll fulfil your destiny.” He lifted my chin so our eyes met. “But most of all, you’re mine.”
He found my hand in the dark, a faint blue glowing between us. I felt the ring before I saw it, slipped carefully down my finger.
“What’s this?” The question half-lodged in my throat. I held my hand up to see. A glittery diamond sparkled in the pale light. “It’s from the case in your room.”
“Made for you—centuries ago. This ring was handed through the family line, given to me when the story of my future was told.”
“Your future.”
Me. Us. Together.
With his mouth in my ear and his body glued naked and warm next to mine, he asked, “Will you marry me?”
I saw the mark on his chest, the one that matched the one on my hip—the one that made us immortal, a shade lower than Gods. I craved that life with him. I wanted to share it all with him and then one day, when we were ready, we could ascend higher. Bound for eternity.
“Yes,” I said, breathing the word in his mouth. Energy flared between us, twin souls, shared minds. He kissed me, hard and heated. I sunk into his flesh.
Together we would claim our destiny and rule the Lost Kingdom.
* * *
About the Author
Angel Lawson lives with her family in Atlanta and has a lifelong obsession with creating fiction from reality, either with paint or words. On a typical day you can find her writing, reading, plotting her escape from the zombie apocalypse and trying to get the glitter out from under her nails. For updates on Angel’s books please join her mailing list.
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A PRESCRIPTION FOR DELIRIUM
BY NOREE COSPER
Copyright © 2012 by Noree Cosper
Cursed with Immortality. Surrounded by Madness.
Demons, werewolves, possessed bikers, madness spreading like a virus, and a revenge that has waited for over 500 years. What more could Gabby look for in a vacation spot?
Ninety years ago, Gabriella di Luca promised to protect the family of her dying lover. She failed to keep that promise. She was too far away to stop the devil that murdered the eldest Van Helsing son. Years later, Gabby learns the devil has resurfaced. She arrives in Hampton, TX, determined to stop the devil before it can lay a bloody hand on the remaining three brothers.
However, madness is spreading through Hampton. She suspects the devil is using this madness to test a drug which has a side effect of demonic possession. Gabby rushes to end the source of the madness only to fall victim to it. For a woman cursed with eternal life, dying is no threat. However, Gabby must stop the devil's plot or risk losing her most precious possession: her mind.
A PRESCRIPTION FOR DELIRIUM
© copyright 2012 Noree Cosper
The book may not be reproduced in whole or part, by mimeograph or any other means, without the permission of the author. Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could subject the infringer to criminal and civil liability. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Disclaimer: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Prologue
Rome, 1536
THE IRON SPIKES in the manacles pricked the wrists of the boy Ose inhabited, causing his very essence to burn. No mortal pain could compare to the agony that seared him to his core. His control over the body slipped again, and he slumped back in the chair to which he sat bound with sweat pouring down his face and his breath coming in small pants.
Incense clogged the air of the tiny stone basement of the church, leaving wisps of intricate and meaningless designs as remnant. The priest stood a few feet away, his head bowed so the tendrils of white hair fell before his face. He held a crucifix out before him between both his clasped hands as he prayed. A circle of candles surrounded him and the priest, another barrier to prevent Ose from escaping.
Damn Vittorio. The human wasn’t worth the flesh he’d been sculpted into. Ose almost had him at the threshold of giving up his soul with promises of riches until this priest had arrived in Rome. Ose had come to the church thinking to seal the contract with Vittorio. Instead, he’d been caught in the trap.
“God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, I appeal to your holy name, humbly begging your kindness, that you graciously grant me help against this and every unclean spirit now tormenting this creature of yours; through Christ our Lord,” the priest chanted in Latin.
How dare this ape call him unclean? Their existence depended on flesh and soul, so easily manipulated and controlled. They existed only to feed their urges, their desires. He was pure spirit, pure thought. He manipulated.
“Gabriella, the holy water.” The priest glanced behind him.
A small figure stepped out of the shadows in the corner of the room, carrying a glass vial. Everything about this girl spoke peasant, from the white linen dress and sandals to the calluses on her hands to the coif that covered the braids of her black hair. Her gaze burned into him as she set the holy water at the edge of the circle. The skin of her face tightened as her upper lip curled away from her teeth.
Ose smiled at her. It was a shame he was about to be exorcised. She would have proven a delight to toy with. The priest patted her on the shoulder and picked up the holy water. The droplets he sprayed on Ose seared through the flesh to his spirit.
“I cast you out, unclean spirit, along with every satanic power of the enemy, every spectre from hell, and all your fell companions; in the name of Lord Jesus Christ, be gone, and stay far from this creature of God,” the priest murmured in a raspy voice.
Why should these humans have the right to cast him out? He’d walked this world in their flesh before they were even aware enough to know their Creator. Ose shuddered, his fingers contorting in a twisted claw motion, and concentrated his will on keeping control of the boy’s body even as the words pushed at him to depart. It couldn’t end like this. He was one of the First. How dare this human presume to have control over who he chose to inhabit?
“For it is He who commands you, He who flung you headlong from the heights of heaven into the depths of hell. It is He who commands you, He who once stilled the sea and the wind and the storm.” The priest grimaced and clutched his chest.
Why must he suffer, be eternally forsaken by his brothers and Father for a decision he’d made? He’d been given the will to choose. If it had been wrong, why give any choice at all? The body convulsed, jerking him out of the chair and onto the ground. The spikes dug into the flesh as he strained against the chains.
“Hearken, therefore, and tremble in fear, Ose, you enemy of the faith.” The priest fell to his knees, wheezing. “You foe of the human race—”
The priest choked; his fingers clutched at the sackcloth robe he wore as his face drained of color. He stumbled forward, knocking the candles over and causing them to roll about the circle. Ose straightened from his hunched position as the jarring of his spirit subsided and the body once again began to obey his will. He laughed at the holy man. The frailties of humanity. If the priest intended to die, Ose was keen to help him do so. He strained against his bonds to pull the priest closer and wrap his hands around his neck. The vial of holy water skidded across the floor in their struggle.
“Padre Ricci.” Gabriella’s voice rose in a panic.
“I’ll be right with you, my dear,” Ose said.
The padre’s face flushed a purplish red, and his hands batted at Ose’s hands. The spikes dug into his wrists, and for a second, his hands fell limp on the armrests. He forced his will over the boy’s body and tightened his grip. The key to his shackles had to be on the priest. Once free, he would deal with the girl at his leisure. She ran back to the corner, shifting objects around in a bag until she pulled out a journal. What could she do? She was only female.
The girl flipped through the pages. “I exorcise ye, and powerfully banish ye, commanding ye with strength and violence by him who spake and it was done; and by all these names.”
Impossible. How could the girl know the Hebrew incantations of Solomon? They were supposed to be lost and replaced with lies written by the very demons Solomon bound. Ose let go of the priest, who lay back coughing. The devil dug through the holy man’s robes. There had to be a pocket or chain that held the key. He had to stop the girl before she continued.
“El Shaddai, Elohim, E–Elohi, Tzabaoth, Elim, Asher Eheieh, Yah, Tetragrammaton, Shaddai,” Gabriella said, “which signify God the high and almighty, the God of Israel.”
The Father who had forsaken him, all because of Lucifer’s plan to reach the Celestial Throne. The body shuddered, as a grip, colder than any glacier, pulled at him, and he fell forward on the priest. He struggled to maintain control. The key had to be beyond the circle. Ose pulled at the chains, and the chair scraped against the floors with a grinding squeal as he tried to drag it with him. Damn, this iron inhibited his power.
“Through whom undertaking all our operations we shall prosper in all the works of our hands, seeing that the Lord is now, always, and for-forever with us, in our heart and on our lips,” the girl said.
She’d stumbled over the words. The banishment wouldn’t work, yet why was the pull becoming stronger? He collapsed, unable to move the boy’s body any farther. Wisps of greenish black light flared before his eyes. The cold burned him. This couldn’t be happening.
“And by his holy names, and by the virtue of the sovereign God, we shall accomplish all our work.”
With Gabriella’s last words, the body jerked upright. The green and black surrounded him as he rocketed from the earthly world at a speed even beyond his own thought. The light faded into a black void. This wasn’t his home in hell, where he should have ended. Instead of his legions of demons, emptiness surrounded him. Or perhaps not. A shadow pulled itself from the blackness.
“Welcome, little brother,” it said.
Chapter 1
Hampton, TX, Present Day
NOT FIVE MINUTES in this backwater town, and I had a demon sniffing my trail. He scanned the room with narrowed dark eyes and the nostrils of his wide nose flaring. His hair lay plastered against his forehead in greasy brown locks. He towered over everyone, even the people standing, as he squeezed between the large round tables and the gathering at the bar. The frayed threads of his jeans and his leather vest matched the dress of the rest of the roadhouse.
