Between the Waters (Symphony of Light) (11 page)

There was satisfaction in thinking I’d always be loved, although it was impractical. But we were too far lost for practicality. The delusion, even if temporary, might be what I needed to weather the storm.

Deep, hard, punishing thrusts brought me to the edge. He nipped my earlobe, and I surrendered. I shook in his arms, and my body gripped his cock like a vice.

He breathed in my ear, “I’m going to come inside you. I’m going to fill you up. In this moment, you are mine.”

“Yes.”

With that simple word he threw his head back and groaned. Pushing himself deeper and deeper inside, the thick liquid coated my walls while he throbbed.

He kissed my neck, the hollow of my throat, and my chin. “You are so beautiful when you come undone. I could watch you do that all day.”

I chuckled. “I’d be a pile of mush.”

He kissed me and rolled off to lay beside me, pulling me with him. He didn’t withdraw. “Yes, but the sexiest pile of mush I have ever seen.”

It occurred to me in that my urgency to feel alive and to find comfort in Overton, I never considered the bond and what it might do.

“How are you feeling?” Cyril had laced the bond with a spell that killed any man I slept with besides him. My husband Michael found out how determined Cyril could be when he died on our wedding night.

“I’m fine, love. What’s wrong?” He grabbed my hand and kissed it.

Surely, Cyril wouldn’t have encouraged me to seek out Overton if the bond would kill him.

“I just remembered what happened to Michael. I guess I should have thought about how that might impact you.”

He laughed. “I’m perfectly fine. You can’t fuck me to death. That doesn’t extend to me.”

“How do you know?”

“Cyril told me.”

“He told you? How did that even come up?”

He reached over and brushed the hair out of my face. “Love, Cyril had a long talk with me. I was appointed your guardian. I’m the oldest in the house. We keep getting stronger with age. Cyril told me I was to take care of you at any cost. He never expected to be captured before, so he told me if it ever happened again to make sure you got everything you needed. He was very explicit about which needs. Since I’m more like Cyril than the others, he was certain I’d be safe.”

“So if he gave you the plan, why were you so worried?”

“That plan was if he were captured. There is no communication when he’s captured. You can still speak to him. I didn’t want to overstep or make an assumption. In his study, you were in need, but it wasn’t until you confirmed it that I gave in, and even then had you not been dead in my arms, I might have been able to hold off longer. But it’s true. I’d do anything for you.” As he withdrew, he kissed me.

I felt empty without him. He motioned for me to move and placed the cover over me. “You need rest. It’s been a long day.”

“I need to see Clarence.”

“He’s still acclimating. Give him some time. Get some rest, and hopefully, it will be all good in the morning.”

He slid in beside me, entwined his legs with mine, wrapped his arms around me, and kissed my forehead. “Sleep, my love; tomorrow is going to be a long day.”

He didn’t have to tell me twice. The thick comforter, his warm familiar body, and pure exhaustion left my eyes heavy.

My last thought before drifting—I hoped Clarence could forgive me.

Chapter Nine

Consequences

The clarity I hoped the new morning might bring remained nowhere to be found. Clarence was my first priority. I only hoped that there was something I could salvage. I kept getting in deeper with Overton, but much like those nights at O’Riley’s when I should have stopped drinking but ended up having Clarence drive me home, the hangover from all this was going to be a killer. A few ibuprofens, a Gatorade, and a few cups of coffee weren’t going to wash this away.

Overton left early to make his rounds at the hospital. His quick kiss and words of love barely penetrated my heavy slumber. After a quick shower, I headed downstairs. The kitchen was the hotbed of activity in the house, so I started there.

The Spanish hotness was lingering yet again. “Rhys, so good to see you.” Did he ever leave the kitchen?

He rose from his seat at the breakfast nook and embraced me. An innocent peck on the cheek. “Sweetness! I have heard some naughty stories about you.”

“You should talk. The bed of a U-Haul. Really?” Last night my feature presentation was Rhys taking me in the bed of a U-Haul with “$29.99 Both Ways” written on the side.

“Don’t judge. If I remember correctly, you didn’t complain.”

“I never complain. It’s your dream. The only one who lets me complain is Sinclair, and that’s only so he can spank me harder.”

He leaned and sniffed. “Oh, chica, you have been naughtier than I thought. Seems Overton can’t keep his dick in his dreams. Lucky bastard.”

“What?”

“I can smell him. Remember, heightened senses. You may have taken a shower, but you still reek of him. Sinclair is going to be pissed.”

“Son of a bitch. Just what I need.” I eyed him suspiciously.

“Oh, don’t worry about me. As soon as you see the fantasy where I fuck you breathless under the bleachers at a Megadeth concert, you’ll come running.”

I laughed so hard I snorted. “As appealing as that sounds…I guess I’ll just have to wait.”

“It’ll be worth it. In case you were wondering, I let you keep the leather bra on.”

Another chuckle.

“See, if nothing else I can make you smile.” He placed a finger under my chin and lifted my face until our gazes met. “And that’s almost as good as getting to fuck you. Almost…but if you ever get tired of smiling, the U-Haul on Ohio River Boulevard is open twenty-four hours.”

He did make me smile. That was the thing about Rhys; he was always happy and a joy to be around. “I’m afraid to ask how you know their hours of operations.”

“Yeah, best not to ask.” He grinned. “Just so you know, we checked out the Symphony Hall and there was no sign of that beast. No sign of anything out of the ordinary. Just the same creepy shit that’s always down there.”

“Thanks. I feel like I’m constantly going crazy.”

“That will go away when you get used to being with us.”

“You’ll forgive me, if I hope that never happens.” I moved to the side of the sink where they kept the cereal.

“Do you want some breakfast before you go see the big guy?”

“Big guy?”

“Yeah, Clarence. Whatever you did to him caused him to pack on some muscle.”

“I honestly don’t know what the fuck I did to him.”

“Go see him. He’ll be happy to see you.” He nudged me toward the door.

“I doubt that. The last time I saw him, he chased me over a waterfall causing me to fall to my death.”

“Just go; he’s in the game room. You can have breakfast later.”

One big deep breath and then I turned the corner. The game room was situated at the far end of the large house.

“
That’s too fuckin’ funny.”

The voice was clear in my mind. It wasn’t Cyril. Clarence. But how?

“
Ha! He can’t do them both. Oh yes, he can.”

His rambling didn’t make sense.

“
No fuckin’ way! That’s hilarious!”

Clarence sat on the leather sofa with a smile on his face. The large flat screen television displayed a sitcom I wasn’t familiar with, but Clarence seemed to be enjoying it. His thoughts. Shit. I could hear his thoughts. Of course, Cyril had the connection to those he made. I now had that connection with Clarence. And damn, Rhys wasn’t kidding, Clarence was huge. His biceps had at least doubled in size, and he gained a few inches. I thought they kept the bodies they were bound in?

I remained in the doorway. The buzz of Clarence’s thoughts made it hard to focus. Many flew by so fast, it resembled wind, but every now and then a clear sentence or picture would emerge through the static. How did Cyril handle it with six of them? It wasn’t going to get any easier. I had to face him.

“Clarence?” I wasn’t entirely sure he’d still want to be called Clarence.

He turned his head and faced me. It took a moment for our gazes to connect. He narrowed his eyes, and then a smile tugged at the corners of his mouth. He reached out his hand and patted the seat beside him, making a slapping sound against the leather.

He had just tried to kill me the day before. Even though I trusted Rhys, every instinct I had was on high alert. Then through the garbled mess of thoughts running through his head I heard,
“Why does she look so frightened? She has to know I’d never hurt her. She saved my life.”

With that I took a step forward, gave him a weak smile, and settled onto the sofa.

He placed his arm around my shoulder. “You know, I can see much better now. I was starting to have to use reading glasses, but not anymore.”

“Ahhh…that’s great. I guess.” Maybe he didn’t know about Lance. Shit, how was I going to tell him that?

“And this body…do you have any idea how many hours I would have to spend at the gym?” He flexed the bicep behind my head.

“Clarence, we have to talk.”

“Oh, I know. Don’t think you’re getting off the hook. Just because I can see some positive in the fact that I died yesterday doesn’t mean that I’m not still pissed that you didn’t listen to me.” He squeezed me a little tighter. “I’m constantly somewhere beyond grateful and never speaking to you again…but forever is a long time. I know how crazy I feel from moment to moment, so I’m going to chalk up what happened to a boneheaded, supernatural, fuck-up.” He leaned to the side and kissed my forehead.

“Before you let me off the hook, I think you need to understand everything that happened. Hell, I don’t know if I can even explain it to you.”

“It’s OK, your buddy the priest…”

“He’s not a priest.”

“OK, Overton was here to see me and filled me in.”

“Really?”

“Yes, ma’am.” He let the Southern drawl in his words thicken. “He told me about the confusion. He said I got through it in record time. He told me about how I tried to kill you. Sorry about that. I didn’t know it was you.”

“So he told you about Lance, Mary, and the beast?”

His head slumped forward. “Yes, I know about Lance. Goddamn it, Linden. He could have been the one. We were getting along so well.” He tightened his grip on my shoulder.

“Oww.”

“Sorry, I’m a lot stronger than I was yesterday.”

“I know. You shouldn’t be. In all of the other cases you should be no stronger than the Clarence you were yesterday, and if everything worked you shouldn’t remember anything but fragments. You should be an entirely new person.”

“No offense, but that would suck. This is so much better.”

“Clarence, don’t you understand?” I gripped his leg. “I screwed up. I don’t know what the lasting repercussions will be. For God’s sake, I combined yours and Lance’s souls with a beast, a shape-shifting female beast at that. Neither one of those things should have been possible.”

“You what?”

“The third soul. There wasn’t one. Well, there was mine, but I couldn’t exactly complete the ritual if I used my own. I thought for sure you were dead since I was one short, but the beast that attacked you was…sort of human. I believe it was Mary, the housekeeper. She somehow transformed into it. She never attacked me. They used Cyril’s blood somehow.”

“I’m one-third creature?”

“Sort of. Cyril was never able to combine the souls of women with much success. My aunt, for example. Which could explain why you don’t have a new identity. The fact that Mary moonlighted as a killing beast might explain the body changes.”

“Can I turn into the creature? That might be kinda cool. Are people at risk?”

“I don’t know. Just stay here until we find out. Do not leave this house. The beast never attacked me, and the best I can figure is that it was made using Cyril’s blood. I smelled it when I found you and Lance lying mangled in the woods. They must have been bleeding Cyril out when they held him captive for all those years. I wonder what else they have done and for what purpose.”

“You’re right. Staying here is best, but what about the guys? No offense, but I’m so badass now I could probably whip any of their asses.”

I rolled my eyes. “Keep your ego in check, OK?”

“Don’t worry. Rhys has been assigned to babysitting duty.”

“Do you remember Moreaux?”

“Yeah, they said he’s kind of fucked up. He keeps to himself. Rhys said he’s in town, but they won’t let him stay here. Damn, how creepy do you have to be excluded for eternity?”

“I don’t know, but I’m going to find out. He’s the only one of the six who never fully combined. From what Overton said, he kept the memories and personality of the composer Cyril loved so much, but it took a toll on him. He has invited me to the centennial celebration.”

“He’s the one who donated all of those antique instruments, isn’t he? We’ve been trying to find out who that was. We received an anonymous donation saying that one of the large auction houses would truck them in the night of the event.”

“I believe so. I wasn’t going to go with him, but if I can find out some more information to help you it’s worth it. Plus, he’s spent time with Mary. Maybe he can help me make sense her involvement.”

“Just be careful.”

“I will. It’s a public place. I’ll be fine. Worst that might happen is he might try to hump my leg because of the bond.”

“Speaking of humping…”

“Don’t even start.”

“You’ve created quite a stir. They are all trying to figure out how Overton rates over the rest of them.”

“It’s complicated.”

“It always is with love.”

“Love! Who said anything about love?”

He patted my shoulder and slouched a little in his seat. “You’re incapable of sex without love.”

“How would you know anything about my sex life?”

“I watched you for five years turn down every prospect. Every single one. When you turned your back on that hotness in the hotel lounge on our trip to Memphis, I knew your game.”

“Bullshit. I slept with Michael and I didn’t love him. If you remember, he died on our wedding night. At least I thought he did. Couldn’t it possibly be that I was too traumatized?”