Save My Soul (A Paranormal Romance: Preternaturals Book 2) Read online

  “Call the rest of the parish. We need to find her. Get them to her house. We’ll head her off,” he said. Caroline’s footsteps trailed off as she tried to find a spot that would pick up her cell phone signal.

  There was no way Anna would be able to fight them all off if they got to the house before her, and with cars she knew they would. She was still several blocks from her house with a hurt ankle. Why not hail and lightning next?

  She felt around on the ground and found a tree limb that had fallen in the last storm. Some god was smiling down on her. Maybe not the one from this dimension, but one of them at least. She watched Father Jeffries through the bushes and felt the feral grin light her face.

  When the branch struck his head, he crumpled to the ground. She was oddly pleased with herself. Then her eyes met Caroline’s. The woman was too frightened to move. She still held the cell phone stiffly, not yet having made a call.

  “Give me the phone, Caroline. I don’t want to have to knock you out, too.” She raised the branch like a baseball bat and readied her stance.

  Caroline’s hand shook as she held the phone out. “Why are you doing this?”

  Anna slipped it into her pocket. “You can find a pay phone and call whoever you want once I’m safely back inside my house. Then you can bring whoever you want to try to drag me out of it. I dare you to.”

  “Why would you do this? You must be possessed after what he did to Sara,” Caroline said.

  “It’s not what she thinks. I saw it . . . in dreams.”

  “Then he tricked you.”

  “He didn’t.” Anna had never been more sure of anything.

  Caroline was flustered. “Still, that’s no reason to go to him. You don’t owe him anything.”

  “I love him.” It was true. She wasn’t falling in love with him; she did love him. And now that the bond was gone she couldn’t say it wasn’t real.

  The priest was starting to come around. As satisfying at it would be to hit him in the head again, she didn’t feel like pressing her luck. She ran, ignoring the pain in her ankle and didn’t stop until she was safely locked inside the house. Her weight pressed against the front door as she panted, catching her breath.

  The harem was clustered around the television in pajamas, all of them but Susan. They turned to stare at her.

  “Where’s Luc?”

  Renee smirked. “Where do you think? He’s having dinner with Susan.”

  “Cute,” Anna said with an eye roll.

  When she reached Luc’s room, she could hear soft moans coming from the other side of the door. She steeled herself and took a breath.

  In about fifteen minutes they were going to be under siege by a religious mob trying to save her from herself and from Luc. Now wasn’t the time to be squeamish. But she couldn’t bring herself to turn the knob. It was bad enough to hear it, to know it was happening. She wasn’t sure she’d ever recover from seeing him with another woman.

  He’d be angry with her for doing the ritual and causing the trouble in the first place. Very angry. Wouldn’t it be better for him to be mad on a full stomach, so to speak, than on an empty one? Anna ignored the voice in her mind that said she was a coward for not facing him.

  She still felt dirty from her encounter in the church and needed a shower to wash the feeling off. It also might be good if Luc couldn’t smell the priest on her. She didn’t want him to know what had happened before she could break it to him gently, assuming the parish didn’t arrive first to beat her to the punchline.

  A few minutes into her shower, the bathroom door clicked open. “Luc?”

  Great. He’d heard her downstairs. So much for stealth. She finished cleaning up and grabbed a bathrobe. She was still tying the robe around herself when she walked into the bedroom.

  “Luc . . . I . . . ” She looked up.

  Cain sat on her bed with a self-satisfied smirk on his lips. “You’re a very stupid girl, Anna.”

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Don’t scream,” Cain said. It wasn’t a request. “In fact, don’t talk or move, either.”

  Anna stood like a great oak tree whose roots had burrowed underneath the floor while the demon prowled around her, looking at his prize. He trailed a hand over her back and across the nape of her neck. If she could have moved, she would have cringed away.

  She was painfully aware that nothing more than a flimsy bathrobe shielded her. Note to self: showers in the middle of a crisis? Not the best plan.

  “I bet you’re wondering how I happened to be here at just the right time.”

  She stifled the urge to say, Not really, I was more wondering about my current choice of outerwear.

  “How do you think Father Jeffries got the book to do the ritual? Never trust a book from a neighboring dimension. You never know the motives of those who wrote it or those who chose to share it.

  “Not that you’re much brighter. Though you are a stubborn one. I had to put a suggestion in some of the witches to get them to scare you enough to break the bond. I see it finally took.”

  No wonder Anna hadn’t liked the coven. They’d had Cain’s evil dripping off them. Tam was the only one of the group who’d taken the situation seriously enough to shield properly.

  “Turn around and look at me when I’m talking to you.”

  Anna turned like a zombie to face her captor. Cain had moved to sit in the chair beside the dresser. How poetic that she was about to die with an incubus sitting in the same spot she’d first seen Luc.

  Cain smiled and his form shifted. He was handsome still, ruggedly so, but his eyes were harder, darker, his face more gaunt. Anna realized this was his human form underneath the illusion he created to lure women to their demise. There was a strange mark on his forehead.

  “Come on, Anna. Let’s put that Catholic school upbringing to good use. Who am I? You aren’t the only one who ever had a mark of protection put on them. The difference is, I was smart enough to never try to get mine removed.”

  Not possible.

  “Oh, that’s right, I told you you couldn’t speak. You may whisper. We wouldn’t want Luc to hear and come up, now would we?”

  Anna found her voice, and true to his word, she could only speak softly. “I hope you aren’t planning on doing the whole evil villain soliloquy now. That’s so tired.” She’d gained a bit of courage since he didn’t seem about to attack. He might rant and rave forever. She had some time.

  “Is it? Well, I’m old. I don’t always keep up with what you humans find trendy.”

  She wanted to say he was lying about his identity, but maybe he really was that Cain. “How old are you?” she asked instead.

  “Now that’s rude, Anna.” He rolled his eyes. “Oh all right. I’m about eight thousand. Give or take a few.”

  “The earth is billions of years old.” She wasn’t getting into an age-of-the-earth debate.

  “Yes. Your point?”

  “Your parents can’t be Adam and Eve,” she said as if she were talking to a crazy person standing on a ledge.

  “Why not?”

  Anna gave him a duh look.

  “Adam and Eve aren’t the first people ever. They are the people the Hebrew god created when he did his little botanical garden experiment. The talking snake was his idea. The other gods found it silly.

  “The Hebrew god is the youngest of the gods. Still, he had fervent followers and managed to take control of this dimension. I’m the first murderer of his children, so he made me the first incubus.”

  “That doesn’t make sense. Incubi are all about sex.” She didn’t know why she was arguing with him, aside from buying herself time. If she could keep him talking, maybe Luc would come for her.

  And Father Jeffries would have people banging on the door soon. She might just have to keep the demon’s jaws flapping for another ten minutes. She could do conversation with a complete psychotic for ten minutes. That’s right Anna, save the day with your conversation skills.

  “No,” Cain correcte
d like he was talking to a small child. He stood as if what he had to say was so dramatic it couldn’t possibly be said from a seated position.

  “Incubi are all about betrayal. Gain someone’s trust, betray and kill them. The gender or method doesn’t matter. Of course, my brother wasn’t the only one I betrayed. Betrayal isn’t something you outgrow. When I moved to a new town, one run by one of the other gods, the people took pity on me. I found a wife . . . and slept with everyone but her.”

  He shrugged and grinned as if his behavior were cute. “I was a huge disappointment to the Hebrew god, so my punishment had to be something extra. He created a new demon breed just for me. I was special.”

  “Yeah, real special,” Anna said. It wasn’t like he’d accomplished anything that you couldn’t find on a daytime talk show. Philanderers were a dime a dozen.

  He’d returned to his more seductive form, and she found herself wanting him even as she knew what he was doing. She leaned into his touch, her heart hammering in her chest. A whimpering mewl escaped her throat as he stroked her skin.

  “It’s a pity I don’t have more time with you. Oh well.”

  Cain turned from her and sank back into the chair. Anna felt the sexual desire ebb, and she could breathe normally again.

  “Everything in this dimension is about punishment, you know. There is no redemption. Not for anyone. Not even you. You’ll go to Heaven, you’ll be there for awhile, and then you’ll be sent back. You’ll never escape the loop. But I’m above it. You see, to be punished, you must have some humanity to begin with. They trapped me in my sin for eternity, but I can’t start suffering until I allow humanity to taint me like Luc has. He suffers now because he’s allowed his punishment to catch up to him. I’ve eluded mine for thousands of years. He feels remorse and has become an unhappy whore instead of the predator he was meant to be. My brother is only a shadow now.”

  “You mean your clan brother.” Anna was bothered that he insisted on affecting the illusion of family when he had none.

  Cain’s mouth twisted in a grotesque grin. “Is that what he told you? See, little girl? Even Abel can lie on occasion. I’m not the only bad seed. No, he’s my brother, brother. From when I was human. When I get Luc out of this house, I’ll help him remember who he was. He’ll forget about you, and he’ll forget about the witch who put him in this situation to begin with. Unless I can save him, his punishment will be eternal. Do you understand? Your life is a small price to pay for his freedom.”

  “My life?” Anna wasn’t as good at stalling as she thought. He seemed to be getting to the climax of his PowerPoint presentation of evil.

  “Do you know why we consider humans one of the lower life forms?” He didn’t wait for her answer. “Because you haven’t figured out how to attain physicality and immortality at the same time. When you’re immortal you aren’t physical. While you are physical you aren’t immortal. You want to live forever, and when you have that you want to come back so that you can feel. But you are immortal. You just forget and have to rediscover it each time. This is your punishment . . . this constant loop and forgetting. You’ll never escape it.”

  Anna’s eyes widened as Cain took a jug of kerosene and started dripping a trail of it around the room. “You can’t light the house on fire. It won’t work,” she said, recalling Luc’s words about the magic.

  “I know. That’s why you’re going to do it. Luc is too nice to push you, but you’ve always known this was what had to be done. You’ll have to burn down your beautiful house. Just think, if you’d done it sooner, you might have lived to tell the tale.” Cain put the jug of kerosene down and placed a matchbook in her hand.

  She waited like a robot for the command to strike the match. “You don’t have to kill me to do this.”

  He laughed. “I told you, you’re immortal. Scared of a little death? You’ve probably done it hundreds of times already. Now be a good girl and light the match, then toss it over there on the bed.”

  Her hand trembled as she fought not to follow his command, but how could one fight someone who’d spent thousands of years perfecting hypnotic suggestion? “Please, don’t . . . ” she said, even as the fire came alive in her hand. She flung the match onto the bed and the flames began to engulf the room.

  “This has been fun,” Cain said. “As soon as I’m gone, you can move and scream and run, and whatever else you silly humans do in a crisis situation. I’ll stay out of the way until it’s time for me to pop back in and say something insightful.”

  As soon as he dematerialized, Anna found her ability to move, and scream. “LUC . . . LUC!”

  Smoke streamed out of the bedroom into the upper hallway as she raced down the stairs.

  Luc was called out of his room by the pounding on the door. The parish had finally arrived. “Anna, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Cain made me set the house on fire.”

  Scarlett and Rhett ran through the foyer, while the harem darted after them. “Get the cats!” Anna shouted to no one in particular.

  The door opened to reveal the entire parish standing on the lawn with flashlights. Somehow it was upsetting, even without torches.

  The harem rushed out the door, taking what little of their belongings they could carry. Anna could hear the din of voices outside as they shouted for her to come out. Luc turned her in his arms, lifting her hand to inspect the unmarred flesh where the scar had been.

  “I’m sorry.” Tears streamed down her face. “I got scared. I didn’t want to share you, and I was too scared to give you forever. It was the only way I knew to be free.”

  Luc sighed. “We’ll talk about it after this is over. You have no idea how pissed off I am that you would do this. You knew your safety was at stake. The mark was to protect you. What if Cain had done more than just make you set the house on fire? Do you know what that would have done to me?”

  “I’m so sorry, but we can’t do this right now.” She tugged on his hand. “Come on, we have to leave.”

  “I can’t yet. The spell was very specific. The house has to be burned to the ground.”

  “But . . . it’ll hurt you. You’ll burn.”

  “I’m strong enough to change my form. I don’t have to be physical. I won’t feel anything. It’ll be fine. Go on, I’ll be out there as soon as it’s done.” He shoved her toward the door.

  “What about them?” Anna pointed out the window at the angry mob. “They’ll try to take me away. There’s too many of them. I’ll be in another dimension somewhere. You won’t be able to find me without the mark.”

  “I’ll find you.” He pulled her to him for a kiss. Hungry. Desperate. As if he wasn’t actually sure he could find her again without the bond.

  “I’m sorry,” she repeated, pulling away from his mouth enough to speak.

  “I’ll yell at you later.” His lips moved over hers again as if he were memorizing the taste of her. He finally managed to tear himself away. “Go!”

  Anna took one last look at him before turning to leave. Sirens blared as the firemen dragged hoses around the back. Someone must have called as soon as the flames started.

  “What if they put out the fire?” she asked, pausing in the doorway.

  “Anna . . . ”

  She put her hands on her hips. “It’s a legitimate question. How can someone burn a house to the ground in a nice neighborhood where the firemen will get to it to put it out? It’s a lost cause. You’ll never get out of here.”

  Cain materialized beside the staircase. “The reversal spell has started. They can pour water on it until Armageddon. It’s not stopping the flames.”

  “You!” Luc growled.

  “Me.” Cain smiled. “Anna, darling, you should probably go on outside. You wouldn’t want to burn alive, now would you?”

  She looked uncertainly between the two.

  “Go, Anna, I’ll be fine. As much as I’d love to, with our abilities, we can’t really hurt each other. It’s hard
to get into a fist fight with someone who keeps dematerializing,” Luc said, disgusted.

  Anna moved to step across the threshold and bounced off the barrier. Her eyes widened. Oh, Fuck.

  Cain laughed. “I love this part. Do you know how long I’ve waited for this part? I’ve been like a kid waiting for Christmas with one of those stupid advent calendars with the candy. You can eat the candy early, but it doesn’t make the holiday come faster.”

  “What did you do?” Luc ground out.

  “It isn’t what I did. It’s what your little Beatrice did. You see, the seer discovered the owner of the house had to burn it down to break the curse. But once they set the house on fire, they’d be trapped, too.” He turned to Luc. “I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you. I knew you’d never sacrifice an innocent to save yourself. Not now with your pathetic guilt complex.” He paused to admire the carnage. “I think I’ve wrung all the fun out of this event. I’m sure once the house is down you’ll be back to your old self. We should hook up and have drinks.”

  Cain dematerialized.

  “Dammit!” Luc said, smashing a lamp over the mantel.

  Anna stood numbly by the door, her arms wrapped around herself, so close to freedom but unable to get to it. The smoke was drifting down the stairs.

  “Luc?” she said quietly, tears threading her voice.

  “Yes?”

  “I don’t want to die like this.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Luc had something like pity in his eyes. She hated that. After all she’d done, dragging his emotions all over the place, and he still cared. He took her hand and led her down the hallway to the library and shut the double doors behind them.

  Anna sat huddled against one of the bookcases, shivering. That stupid gypsy. Long lifeline, my ass. And then there were the tarot cards. Tam’s voice sing-songed in her mind. The death card doesn’t always mean death.

  “I don’t want to die like this. I don’t want to burn to death.”

  Luc gave her a strange look. “You wouldn’t burn to death. You would die from smoke inhalation.” He must have seen her face pale because he continued. “But you aren’t going to die like that either.”