Elixxir (The Brethren Series) (23 page)

Before she could even say goodbye to Nathanael, she drifted off to sleep by his side.

Chapter Nineteen

“Sikes and Sounds of Sedona, Ariana speaking, how can I help you? Sure, hold on, please.” She slunk into Serena’s office. “Hey, there’s a call on line two for you. Someone asking about a bridal shower party here.”

“Okay, thanks. How are you doing today, sweetie?”

She leaned against the door jamb, knowing she looked as pathetic as she felt. “Don’t ask. Same as yesterday and the day before and the day before that, even. I’m not myself these days. I don’t know, maybe it’s the new apartment. Maybe I’m not settled yet.”

“Could be. Sometimes a move can be a big adjustment, and it takes time to return to ourselves again.”

“I think I’m missing something in my life, Serena. I know it sounds crazy, but there’s this yearning inside of me, this longing for…for…oh, I don’t know. There seems to be this hole in my life and nothing I do is filling it. It makes me so freakin’ sad and pissed off at the same time. Something’s gotta give. Hey, line two, lady. Enough about me and my miserable life.” She laughed half-heartedly and returned to her desk.

Five o’clock couldn’t come soon enough. Only fifteen minutes to go. She could leave early. Serena wouldn’t mind. Ever since waking up in the hospital, apparently suffering from a case of dehydration, her best friend had been taking it easy on her. She gathered up her purse and walked out. She laughed as she recalled how many times her best friend had called her Callie instead of Ariana that day. They’d have a very nice lunch out on the many dollars she put in the Call Me By The Right Name jar. Thoughts of a piping hot pizza and an ice-cold beer drew her to her favorite pizza joint.

Driving back to her place with the mouth-watering smells of mushroom-and-pepperoni pizza wreaking havoc on her stomach, she ruminated over the sensational news out of Las Vegas. Her Uncle Eddie had been charged with embezzlement from the curiosity shop, but no one could find hide nor hair of him for the past few months. Hordes of reporters had descended upon her.

With her old identity back, she’d received all the things her parents had willed to her. A lovely condo overlooking the red rocks had been her huge purchase, aside from a new car. As she drove up her driveway, she shook her head.
Life sure is crazy sometimes
.

From the car she noticed something out of the ordinary.
Damn it
! She’d forgotten to leave the foyer light on. It wasn’t dark out yet, but still, she liked to come home to lights on. It made her feel welcomed and at ease. She got out of the car and balanced the pizza in one hand while closing the car door with the other. Walking up the sidewalk, she dropped her keys.
I am so not meant to do more than one thing at a time
! She bent to pick them up.

“Let me help you with that.”

That voice. I know that voice. Those hands. I know those hands
! Afraid to prove her suspicions correct, she refused to look at the face to which they belonged. Instead, she cried out and stumbled backward, dropping the pizza as she slammed into a sign post.

“Is that any way to treat your long-lost bro, Callie?”

“Dennis. Wh…what the hell are you doing here?” Terror ripped through her gut like a knife. Caught completely off-guard, she froze instead of doing what she’d been trained to do in self-defense classes.

He approached her and whipped a pistol out of his waistband, pointing it directly at her. “I saw you splashed all over the news and it got me thinking about all the pain and suffering I had to endure with you living in my house. I told you way back in the good old days that you owed me. Don’t shout or make any awkward movements. Just walk over to your house with me. We’ll go inside and come to a mutual understanding of how things are going to go down. Now.”

He shoved the gun into her side and escorted her to the front door. “Open it.”

Her hands shook so, she could barely put the key in the hole. But she did, and he shoved her inside, immediately locking the door behind them. “Sit down. On the steps.”

She acquiesced and skittered silently to the stairs. It made no sense to argue at this point. “What do you want, Dennis?”

“What do I want?” He moved to loom over her. “Well, thanks for asking. You see, Evil’s not quite done with you yet.” He flashed two brilliant red orbs at her. “Seems you owe more than just me, now don’t you?” He smiled like a twisted jack o’lantern, but then he turned quite serious. “I want money. Lots of it. And you’re gonna get it for me.”

What’s the matter with his eyes
?
And evil’s not done with me
?
What does that mean
?
The man is off his rocker
. “The banks are closed. I can’t get you the tons of money you want until tomorrow.”

“That’s all right, baby sis, we got all night then to reminisce and get…reacquainted.”

“You’ve got another think coming if you believe for one second I’m gonna let you anywhere near me like…like that.” She scooted up a couple of steps.

“Oh, I’ll be coming all right.” He laughed a maniacal laugh, and she could have sworn he’d grown a couple inches taller. A flash of a memory teased at her mind and just as quickly it vanished. “You can start things off right by giving me that necklace.”

“What?” She touched absently at the charm. She’d found it around her neck upon awakening in the hospital. She still had no clue who’d given it to her, but it meant something to her nonetheless. “No. I won’t.”

“Yes, Callie. You will because I said so, and so does this here gun.” He aimed it at her head.

“Okay. Okay.” She unfastened the clasp and handed the chain and charm over to him. He shoved them in his jacket pocket.

“That’s a good little girl. Now,” he said in a husky voice, “take off your clothes.”

“No.”

“Yes.” He brought his gun up again to point at her chest and stared her down.

“You’ll have to kill me, Dennis. I won’t do it.”

She glared right back and found the courage to go for broke, because she’d be damned if he would ever touch her body again while she was alive to feel it. She took a deep breath and kicked at his hand with the gun. It fired off a shot before flying out of his hand.

“You bitch! You’re gonna pay double for this!”

He lunged at her and she rolled to the side, scrambling back down the steps to the front door. He grabbed her foot and her body slammed into the floor. She kicked fiercely at his hands to try to release her leg, but couldn’t, and looked around for something to throw at him. The gun lay almost within reach, so she wriggled across the floor and managed to grab it. Turning back toward him, she got off one stray shot before he let go of her leg and pounced. He grabbed for the gun and they struggled for possession. She wouldn’t dare let it go. He wrapped his hand around hers and forced it to turn inward.

“No!” she shrieked, realizing his intention.

He pressed his fingers against hers and another round went off.

“Uh!” Surprise flooded over her, and then searing pain tore through her chest, making it so she could barely breathe. He’d made her shoot herself! She released the gun and her hands flopped to the tile beneath her.

“I win this time. Score one for Evil! Ha! So, I’m thinking I need to go to Plan B. That’s all right. Know what I’m gonna do? I’m gonna help you write your last will and testament. And you’re gonna sign it, bequeathing me all your worldly possessions.”

Through the blur of pain she watched him scribble something on a scrap of paper and walk over to her blood-soaked body.

“Take this pen and sign your name right here.” He pointed to a blank spot on the note and put the pen in her hand. She dropped it. “Come on! You better sign this before you die.”

“Can’t….” Her breath had turned shallow and raspy, her skin ice cold.

“I’ll help you, then.” His hand wrapped around hers and moved it.

“There, all done. Thanks a bunch, sis. Your debt has been paid. You can die happy now.”

“Save me….” Her lips moved. She expelled air, but no sound came out. Her world went dark.

***

Nathanael burst through the door to the condo and Raphael rushed in after. There was no time to knock. The plea came in as the woman’s soul left her body. Raphael found her lying unconscious in a pool of blood. He immediately began his healing efforts. Nathanael left him to his work and stalked around the place, tracking any clue.

Something glinted from the carpet on the stairs. He charged over to find a necklace, a chain with an angel wing and sword charm on it. He picked it up and his senses went into high gear as a flood of memories descended upon him. The perpetrator of the crime had been possessed by Evil. He knew this woman and had wanted to rape her as some kind of retribution. He planned to head to Vegas after stealing money from her bank account.

This woman. Other memories, personal recollections, cascaded down his neural pathways like a watershed, knocking him on his ass. This wasn’t just some woman. This was
his
woman! Ariana! He ran over to find her lifeless despite all of Raphael’s efforts. His hands trembled as he caressed her cheek.

“Raphael. Save her, brother. Bring her back. She’s my woman. My Elixxir. I can’t lose her.”

“What do you mean?”

Through their threaded connection as Brethren, he shared memories that had been erased from their collective remembrances.

“I’m doing my best. Find whoever did this and I’ll do all I can. Go.”

Nathanael raced out the front door and took to the skies. He knew exactly where to find the bastard. And he knew who he was, too. Dennis. He would surely die tonight at the hands of Brethren justice.

Alighting at the entrance to a dark, dead-end alley in a seedy section of Phoenix, he tucked away his wings, knowing at the other end Dennis and an underage hooker were getting it on. He stalked toward the two of them, the addictive rush pumping hard through his system, feeding the rage that had built since he’d left Ariana in Raphael’s capable hands. In mere moments he arrived at the couple. Dennis had his pants down around his ankles and she knelt on the ground before him.

“Dennis! I’ve come for you. Say hello to your own personal angel of death.” In a grand display, he unfurled his massive, luminous wings and unsheathed his sword. Dennis shoved the prostitute away from him and staggered back against a Dumpster.

“Who the fuck are you?”

He watched as the witless man fumbled with pulling up his pants and closing his zipper. “I’m Nathanael, Brethren Warrior, the first and the last angel you’re ever gonna see, fuckhead. So get a good, long look, you sorry excuse for brain matter.”

“What the fuck are you going on about? I have no beef with you. I don’t even know you.”

“But I know you, you sick, perverted sex offender.”

“She told me she was eighteen! I swear it!” His eyes were wide and he held his hands up in submission.

Nathanael turned to her. “Why are you still here? Run, and don’t look back. Run home and get out of this whoring business.” The girl picked up her purse, took off her shoes, and ran all the way up the alley. He turned his attention back on Dennis. Raising his sword, he began doling out his revenge.

He flicked the sword twice within seconds, and Dennis let out a howl as his hands flew up to the sides of his head, where his ears used to be.

“That’s for not listening to Ariana when she said no.”

Next, he jabbed and skewered his manhood. The man let out a wail so loud it actually irritated Nathanael’s sensitive hearing.

“That’s for sticking your dick in places it never should have gone.”

With his addiction being fed right now, invincibility controlled him. “Dennis, for the crimes you have perpetrated against children, I hereby sentence you to Brethren justice, swift and permanent.”

“No! Don’t kill me. It’s not my fault. I’m possessed by Satan. I’m sick. I need help. I’ll do anything you say. “Dennis tried to climb up the Dumpster, but his pants had fallen down again and he kept sliding on the smooth metal. He turned around and his face filled with horror.

Nathanael raised his sword high in the air and brought it down in an arch, slicing straight through Dennis’ neck. His lifeless body crumpled to the ground as his head dropped like a bowling ball and rolled away. The blade shimmered a fiery orange as it absorbed Dennis’s blood, and Nathanael fell to his knees in agony, trembling and fighting against the need for more bloodshed.

“Ariana!” he cried out in desperation, knowing it to be a fruitless endeavor. “Ariana! Help me.” A voice touched his soul and a ray of hope dared to break through his inner storm.

“
I’m here with you, Nate. Don’t give in to the rush. Sense me inside you instead and let that be enough. Come to me
.”

“Ariana?” He calmed a bit more and raised himself to his feet. Before him she stood, a ghost, a spirit, a soul. And he wept. She’d left him. But he wouldn’t give her up without a fight. He beckoned to her. “Come back to me, Red! Don’t leave me here alone, without you. I love you. I need you.”

“And I need you more.” She offered a hand to touch him, and he to her, but they passed right through each other.

“Raphael is working so hard to bring you back to me.”

The ephemeral visage nodded, smiled, and faded into nothingness.

“No!” he roared, and shot up into the sky, breaking all kinds of speed records to make it back to her place. He refused to believe she’d gone for good.

***

“I’ve got a pulse! It’s slow and steady.” Raphael lifted his fingers from Ariana’s neck and turned to Serena to kiss her soundly. “Wife of mine, I love you with every fiber of my being, but tonight, I adore you as a servant cherishes his goddess. Thank you.”

“Aren’t you the sweetest?” She gave him a peck. “I couldn’t very well lose my best friend. That would be absolutely unacceptable. She deserves far better than the messed-up life she’s been dealt and to leave it in such a horrifying way. She’s acted selflessly for the Brethren and, in my opinion, belongs with us. If E.L. has words about it, let him take it up with me.”