Ties That Bind: The Bellum Sisters 3 (paranormal erotic romance) (11 page)

CHAPTER 16

He left without me.

Lily slammed the taxi door behind her, marched up to Rosa's shop, and banged on it with a fist until she heard movement inside. Rosa peered through the small square window in the door then threw it open.

“What are you doing here? It's late, Lily.”

Lily brushed past her. “I need some of your magic skills. Telal went into the rift without me.”

“So?”

Lilly turned on her friend. “So? He might need help. He hasn't been back there since he left, and I'm pretty sure everyone down there thinks he betrayed them. He'll need help.”

Rosa pushed her frizzy dark hair out of her face with a sigh. The right side of her face had a red mark from where she'd been sleeping on it. “What do you expect me to do? I'm not a demon that can go transporting you around, you know.”

“I know that. But you can make a spell and send me there.”

Rosa made a choking sound, half laughing, and half snorting. “No way. I don't even know if I could do something like that, but if I did then it'd completely wear me down for God knows how long. No way, Lily. Just wait for him to get back. I'm going back to bed.” She crossed her arms like she was cold and ambled towards the back of the shop.

“Rosa, I know you can do this.”

“Blah, blah, blah. I'm not doing anything,” she said with a yawn.

Lily followed her. “Are you saying you're too weak to do a spell like this?”

That stopped her in her tracks. She slowly turned around, her eyes narrowed, lips pulled taut. “Don't you dare antagonize me, Lily Bellum.”

Lily gave her an innocent look. “Hey, if you can't do it then that's not my problem. You're the weakling.”

Her lips twisted as she ground her jaw side to side. “You are such a bitch,” she said finally. Lily only shrugged. Rosa's shoulders sagged. “Fine, I'll do it.”

Lily clapped her hands. “Now that's the spirit. Let's get started. I don't know how long he's been gone.”

Rosa turned on the lights and grabbed her spell book off the shelf. “Hypothetically, let's say I can get you to a rift. The nearest one crosses from Tennessee up to Wyoming.”

“No, not that one. I need the one in upstate New York.”

Rosa glared at her. “And why is that?”

“That's the one Telal used. Must be for a good reason or he wouldn't choose that one, right?”

Rosa fished through the pages of her book until she found the right one then started gathering ingredients and mashing them with a pestle. After a few minutes, Rosa shook her head. “And how do you plan to get by the Atal Warriors?”

Shit. She hadn't thought about that. Those bastards were stationed at intervals along every rift in the world. No getting past them. At least, for most people.

Rosa saw the look on her face and laughed. “You hadn't even thought that far ahead, have you? What about weapons? You have no idea what the
shahoulin
demons are like under the rift. They all might not be as nice as Telal.”

“I'd hardly call him nice,” she said. Though his touch had been a whole lot more than nice.

“Whatever. You know what I mean.”

“I'll borrow two of your daggers.”

“You do know I don't enchant my own weapons, right? I can't do harm—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. Give me the good old fashioned ones.”

Rosa told her where she kept them and Lily went to fetch them. Her heart beat like a big drum in her chest, not quite a frantic rhythm but one that proved just how nervous she really was. She wasn't stupid. She understood the risk she took by going into the rift alone, without any guidance. But for him, she'd take it.

She came back and Rosa started working on another set of herbs.

“How long is this going to take?”

Rosa sent her a scathing look that had Lily throwing up her hands in the universal sign for 'don't hurt me'.

“The spell won't take you to New York. If I'm lucky this will take you to the closest point of the rift in Tennessee. That's if this even works. I've never tried to port someone over long distances. Hell, even a short distance.”

Lily clapped her on the back. “See Rosa, I'm just helping you to broaden your spell crafting abilities.”

Rosa sent her another glare that had her pulling her hand off her back like it burned.

“Here's the first one,” she said dropping a potion and a piece of paper with text written on it. “Drink it then read the spell. The quicker the better.” Lily eyeballed the drink which was nothing more than a shot glass full of dark red liquid.

“That isn't blood, right?” Her taste buds curled at the thought.

Rosa sighed. “No, it's not. Here's the second one. This should, maybe, take you into the rift. I made enough for you to get back out, too. So don't lose it or this spell.” She slid over another piece of paper, no bigger than a Post-It note with her cursive scrawl on it.

Lily read both spells out loud to make sure she said it right. The last thing she needed was to summon another demon by accident.

“That's correct. So, how do you plan to get around the Atal Warriors?” asked Rosa, one brow cocked in question.

Lily nibbled her lip. “I'm just going to be really fast.”

Rosa laugh, the sound filled with sarcasm. “That's your great plan? ‘Be really fast.' Well
bambina
, I wish you all the best. You have your protection anklet on?”

Lily nodded.

“Good, get out of here and if you actually manage to do all this, then give me a call. I'd like to hear about it.”

Lily grabbed her stuff and put it in her brown shoulder satchel. At the last second, before she turned to leave she said, “Hey Rosa, when do I die?” Rosa's vision of her death had been something she wanted to ask her about and avoid forever. But if this happened tonight, with the choice she was about to make, then she wanted to know.

Rosa sucked in a sharp breath, her eyes falling to the floor. When she spoke, her voice was soft as a feather. “Sweetie, I don't know. I saw only blackness, oily blackness breaking into your chest and you fell. You do not get up from that. You know it's not up to me to help or stop this from happening. That's all on you. So be careful.”

Lily's heart stopped beating in her chest. All the dreams she'd had of the man in black surfaced. She was going to die. A dark thought curled in her gut. It might even be tonight.

A voice broke into her shattered thoughts. “Hey, hey, are you all right?” Rosa's face pulled into a mask of concern.

“I'm fine.” She smiled as if to prove it. “I better go. Thanks a lot for all the help.” She turned and left before Rosa could say anything else.

* * *

Outside, she walked down the street and into the alley behind the row of shops. It smelled awful back there like rotten garbage and week-old stale coffee. She pinched her nose up and pulled the spell and potion out of the bag.

She started to take a drink then stopped and cursed. Pulling one of the daggers out of the satchel, she gripped it in one hand. She'd need it for where she was going. Closing her eyes hard, she tossed back the contents of the drink with a grimace. The vile taste coated her tongue like sludge and she gagged, her cheeks poofing up with the urge to vomit it all up. She swallowed hard though and forced the nasty contents down. Suddenly, the alley didn't smell nearly as bad, not with that awful rotten taste on her tongue. Gagging, her stomach convulsed with the need to vomit the shit back up, she pulled the spell out of her pocket and read the words.

The second the last word fell from her tongue, the world spun around her like a record player spinning too fast. Everything blurred, she couldn't be sure but it felt like she wobbled on her feet, her mind going dizzy. The awful shit sitting in her stomach swished around and she pressed a hand to it to keep it steady. It lasted for seconds or maybe an hour. Either way it was entirely too long.

The world stopped moving with a violent stop. Lily cried out at the jarring motion and fell to the ground, wincing as the blade in her hand slipped and bit into her palm. Panting, she sat trying to get her bearings. She was in a forest but not deep in it because she could hear a road or highway in the distance with cars traveling. Coming to a stand, she wobbled, her knees nearly giving out. With a grimace at her bleeding hand, she wiped the blood on her pants to get a better look at it.

It wasn't so bad, more like a good paper cut, though this one spanned her entire palm. Voices came at her, shouts in accented English. Shit, the Atal Warriors! Lily searched the woods but couldn't hear anything else, not even a footstep on a twig. The rift sat to her right in a long black ashy line. She made a break for it, knowing the Atal Warriors were close by.

Frantically, she pulled the other potion out of her bag. In her rush, the dagger dropped to the ground and she cursed. Another shout, this one much closer. She grasped the bottle and chugged the contents, no time to analyze the foul tasting liquid. Her hand felt around in the bag for the other note with the spell.

“Fuck!” Where was it?

Heart racing at frightening levels, every muscle in her body froze at the deadly words. “Stop or we will shoot.”

Lily stopped searching. The pounding of adrenaline, blood, and her heart sounded too loud to her own ears. She turned slowly, her hands held out in front of her. Her gut sank to the floor. Not just two warriors, but three.
Fuck my luck.

The three spread out until they covered her from all angles. One held a black crossbow, notched with a sharp arrowhead pointing right between her eyes. She could practically feel the metal already digging into her skin.

“You need to leave here, succubus.”

“What?” she said confused. “How do you know I'm a succubus?” She eyed the dagger near her feet but knew there was no way she could somehow reach for it and take out all of these warriors like some kind of Hollywood ninja in a movie. She'd be lucky to bend down before that arrow pierced her skull. Besides, these men worked for her brother-in-law; she didn’t want to hurt them.

“We were warned you might show up.”

Her jaw dropped, then she choked on a laugh. “How? I didn't even know I was coming here until about ten minutes ago.”

“Our Commander ordered us not to let you go into the rift. He's ordered all of the warriors across the world's rift to keep an eye on you in case you decided to show up. He's worried about your welfare”

“Oh is he?” she said dryly. “And I suppose Telal Demuzi had nothing to do with this?”

The warrior with the crossbow shrugged, but didn't lower his weapon. She sagged in defeat, dropping to her knees and burying her face in her hands.

“This is so embarrassing.”

“We need you to stand and come towards us, Ms. Bellum,” the guard behind her said.

She sighed, shaking her head and opened her bag. The small white piece of paper winked at her from inside. She narrowed her eyes on it.
You little bastard...

She'd already drunk the potion; she had little time before its effects wore off. Acting fast, she pulled out the spell and read the words in a rushed whisper. Her entire body clenched, waiting for the arrow to pierce her skull, to end her life, but it never came.

She had only a moment before the dizzying, rushing action began again. She looked up with wide eyes at the man holding the crossbow. He cursed then lowered the bow. Another guard charged for her, looking like he was ready to make a tackle, but then the forest spun and spun around her.

She felt a horrible sinking feeling in her gut, like everything inside her rushed up to her brain then back down to her toes. She slammed her eyes shut and waited for it all to end. She fell to the ground, the feeling much softer beneath her than the woods had been, and her eyes lazily blinking open. She didn't want to open her eyes. Not because some blaring sun scorched her irises, but because she suddenly felt so tired. Like she hadn't slept in days.

When she did open her eyes, she saw several dark shadows leaning on the ground at a sharp angle in front of her. She blinked then peered upwards.

She'd never been in the rift, had never known a demon besides Telal, but she knew she was looking at one. And she knew he was some kind of warrior or guard. He had dark red skin that reminded her of a fictionalized demon albeit minus horns and a tail. His eyes were blue, surprisingly, she'd have guessed they'd be yellow or something equally heinous. He growled something at her, his words garbled and very deep.

“What?” She cringed, her throat felt raw and her question came out hoarse. Probably from that nasty shit she'd drunk.

His dark black eyebrows pulled together. Even his hair was dark, but long; it hung down to his shoulders in thin braids that reminded her of dreadlocks.

“You trespass,” he said this time in English.

She had only a chance to look up at him with wide eyes, before he grabbed her by the shirt collar and lifted her bodily to meet him face to face, her feet dangling from the floor. In the background, she vaguely noticed the sky had a pinkish glow to it; the trees were white, pink, and red with vibrant colors; and far in the distance, a magnificent castle stood like a beacon of gothic excellence.