"Get. Up."Demetria opened her eyes begrudgingly, feeling flutters of butterflies in her stomach. She'd been determined to ignore Jack for as long as she could, but he didn't give up. She felt his ice cold hands shaking her, and she finally stirred awake.The skeptical look on his stonelike face made her skin crawl. It was the last thing she needed. "I'm up," she said, slinging the covers from her legs, but he stopped her with his hand on her wrist."What is going on with you?" he asked.His piercing eyes could have severed her soul in half."What do you mean—,"He squeezed his hand around her wrist. "You know exactly what I'm talking about. You've been sleeping for many, many hours. What are you doing?"Demetria gave him a dumbfounded look."Seriously, Jack? Are their rules on how long I can sleep in my prison cell? I have nothing else to do. No book to read-""There are plenty of books here," he snapped. "In the library. I haven't stopped you from roaming. You have chosen to sit am
Kerry sat down across from Cynthia at the bar in his kitchen. He was glad when they got back home, because the feeling of being watched hadn't subsided. He even went to check on the bird, who didn't bother waking up when he entered the room.Though Demetria's cat sat on the edge of the bed, watching the bird as if he knew what was going on. Despite Kerry being a werewolf, he was never an animal person. Some dogs liked him, but others sensed his inner beast, and didn't bother. Cats always sensed it, and bolted.Demetria's cat knew, but he didn't seem asstandoffish as the others. Something in his eyes struck Kerry as intelligent and it rubbed him the wrong way.Cynthia slammed the book open, and began to scan the pages. "This has been in the Sullen family for ages," she said, looking at the names listed on the front page. "Demetria said there was something about reincarnation in here?" she asked.Kerry nodded, and began tapping his fingersagainst the top of the table. "Would it be we
Demetria run for her life didn't get her far. It would have been better if she did get to know the rooms better like Jack suggested. She barely made it to the front door when Ivory came back with a vengeance and dragged her back with the flick of her wrist.Her natural born magic was better than Demetria not having any at all.Ivory dragged her back by the hair, all the way to the parlor where Ike stood fuming in the corner. His shoulders were tight, both hands shoved down into his pockets. Demetria's pride told her to stand her ground, not let him see any fear in her eyes.The little girl inside screamed for a way to escape. She needed her fingers and toes.Ivory slung Demetria toward the wall, and cursed in a foreign language. Demetria's head spun, stars dancing along her vision, masking the scene in front of her."Get her before I kill her," Ivory said, rubbing her stomach.Demetria slowly crawled to her knees, and stood, using the wall as a crutch. Ivory stared daggers at her fr
Jane stared inside of the envelope and began to cry. Kerry hated to see her cry, but he felt her frustration. Cynthia ignored Jane’s cries and kept digging around for things in his kitchen, frustrating him even further."I'm going to figure out a way to track Demetria's body," she said. "You need to go torture the bird. I don't care how hard it is. The equivalent to taking someone's finger off," she said with hostility in her voice.Alex curled his arm around Jane’s shoulder, but she pushed him off and waltzed into Cynthia's room toward the bird. He gave Kerry a worried look but followed her. Jane reached inside the cage, while the lyrebird moved around like a maniac in her grip. Jane stared into its eyes and snarled. "You stupid bastard, warlock," she said. "You want to hurt my aunt. Here's what I think about it."She swung the bird around in two circles and slammed it against the wall. The mimicking of Jack’s laughter died after it hit the surface, and Jane slung it back again.A
Dementia’s finger throbbed in pain. She stared down at the red dot on the end of her bandage, and imagined Kerry opening the package. He'd be hurt, hopefully not too irrational. It was just a finger. It hurt like hell, but she could possibly save it if she made it out.She didn't pretend to know much about the other realms. Demetria knew Jack and Ivory were dead…their real bodies, so they couldn't hurt them or kill them. Since her real body was still linked to her spirit, he was able to chop off her finger, she assumed. She never imagined he would do it, but obviously, Jack wasn't that attached to his lover's finger.She groaned, and turned over in her bed, staring at the stained-glass window in her room. Jack had taken care of her finger, doctored it, and had almost been kind.She knew the only reason was that he needed her body. Part of her wanted to use that to her advantage, but this afternoon proved nothing she did would help. Jack was going to do everything he could to resurrec
The wolves left hours ago, in a hurry to sniff out Demetria's body. Kerry felt himself slipping into worry with each passing moment. Would Jack cut off another finger? A toe? What could he live without?Because Kerry knew he couldn't live without Demetria, and he didn't care what she looked like, but didn't want her in pain. He wasn't sure how much pain she felt being in that realm, and he didn't want to find out.He wasn't even receiving pleasure in Jane and Alex beating the crap out of the bird. At one point, it would have been the highlight of his day, but now he couldn't get Demetria's pain out of his head.Kerry watched the sun, waiting on it to sink down, his fingers tapping against his knees.He wanted to check on her, make sure she was okay, but the day was taking too long. He stood up and walked inside of his house, determined to pass the time to get to Demetria quickly.His wolf begged to be let free, but Kerry needed to be close and in charge. When it was time to travel, h
Dom carried Demetria from the bedroom while she grabbed tightly to every door jamb and kicked her feet. Dom hardly seemed to notice. Pure panic coursed through her, lighting a fire inside.She'd never had a more obvious need for fight or flight in her life.This was it. She had to beat Dom, this big man carrying her around like a caveman. It felt like an impossible task, but she had to try for her life.He carried her toward the kitchen, and she heard him slinging things out of his way. When she heard the utensil drawer open, her body went into panic mode. Was he grabbing a knife to slaughter her with? It hardly seemed like a quick, non-painful death that he'd promised.Demetria swung her legs wildly, kicking andscreaming. Dom shifted to get a better grip, and Demetria noticed a pot sitting on the counter. She gripped the handle and brought it up to Dom's face.He hissed, dropped her and the knife in his hand, she grabbed it, slicing it across the back of his leg. He howled, leaning
Kerry blinked several times, trying to make sure he hadn't fallen into a mean dream, that the universe wasn't going to snatch her from his grip, or turn her into smoke in his arms.He hadn't been able to look away from her since he noticed her sitting in the corner of that room, quivering in fear of Jack finding her. It'd fill him with pride to see the rage on Jack’s face.Knowing he was without his little bird, and without his source of a soul, Kerry didn't even care that Jack would come back for Demetria, because he wouldn't let her out of his sight for a moment. Jack had missed his chance. When he came back for her, Kerry would send him right to Hell where he belonged.Kerry tightened his arm around Demetria's waist as Cynthia gathered everyone into a circle to make the trip back home.Demetria turned and looked up at him. The scent of her flesh melted over him like butter. Her pretty eyes smiled back at him. "You saved me," she whispered.He shook his head and cupped her cheek wi