WeirdNights (11 page)

He smiled. If she saw him that way he wouldn’t complain. But
she clearly looked at him through rose-colored glasses.

Jonah plunged one finger inside her warmth. She sighed and
he moved his hand deeper. She was already wet. He loved that about Mindy.
Whenever he wanted her, she seemed to be ready. God knew he was always more
than able to get hard for her.

Thoughts of his cock made his erection jump and he bit back
a groan. How could he already be this hard? He’d barely touched her. His body
begged to lay claim to the words he’d spoken earlier, to show her in their
joining that he meant what he said.

Finding her clit, he rubbed it between his fingers. She
squirmed, grabbing his arms. Her eyes fluttered shut.

“Mindy.” She opened her eyes to look at him. “Stay with me.
I want to look in your eyes and see you staring back at me.”

He knew he could be a real son-of-a-bitch ordering her
around but he needed that. Mindy with him, body and soul.

“I want that too.” She smiled and he could see all the love
she professed staring back at him in her gaze.

With a quick movement he sheathed himself in the condom he
pulled out of his drawer. Then he lined himself up and plunged into her core.
She jolted and then her muscles stretched to accommodate him.

He kissed her, hard, as he began to move inside her. She
tasted sweet. He was readily on his way to becoming addicted to her and that
was fine. He’d gladly spend the rest of his life this way.

In and out they moved, their tongues dancing at the same
time. She clenched around him and he drove himself balls deep into her, rubbing
against her clit with every thrust. She rewarded him with a moan.

“You like that?” He rubbed her again. “I’ll do it as much as
you want, baby. For as long as you want, until you are writhing against me.”

Because that was all he wanted in the world. Jonah lost
track of time and his world tunneled to just them. Her noises, her movements,
the wetness between their bodies. Heat radiated from their skin. The moment was
hot, charged—so intense he wasn’t sure he could bear it except that he wanted
it to never end.

With a gasp, Mindy exploded around him. Her head thrown
back, her hands fisting the sheets of the bed. God, she was so beautiful. Like
this, he could almost believe in fate, destiny and that everything he had to
endure had been so he could have her, live in this moment.

His cock ached and his balls throbbed. The pressure built
and built. It spread throughout his body and as Mindy drove against him,
finding her pleasure, he finally had to give in to his own.

The world lost color and only his release, plowing into her
until he eked every last bit of pleasure between them—for his love—mattered.

Eventually, he collapsed on top of her. He’d move before he
hurt her. Somehow he’d manage to make his body move.

* * * * *

He must have rolled off her but he didn’t remember when. She
slept in his arms now, her breathing even and soft against his chest. Jonah
kissed her head. She smelled of strawberries.

Jonah felt so peaceful. Had he ever felt this way before?
Ever
?

A movement caught his attention. The lampshade on the other
side of the room swayed. He stared at it in the darkness.

It had to be a breeze. He was calm, happy. No way, no how
would he be creating a poltergeist at that moment.

The whole lamp jolted up and down on the table. Jonah sat up
straight, waking Mindy. He would feel bad but she did need to get out of there
if danger had poured down on their sanctified moment together.

“Damn it.” He swore.

“Jonah.” Mindy rubbed her eyes. “What’s the matter?”

“Look.” He pointed at the lamp, now floating over the table.

“Oh no.” She bit down on her lip, he could see the worry in
the strain of her neck and the clench of her jaw.

The lamp flew toward them. “Mindy.” He jumped up, taking the
blow of the lamp against his body. It stung, ached. He was sure it would leave
a mark as it banged into him over and over again. “Run.”

Mindy ducked, getting out of the way of a flying chair. Things
had gone downhill rapidly. After missing her, the chair swung at Jonah, hitting
him in the arm. She’d seen him take down a hoard of hellhounds without a
scratch. But he couldn’t fight his self-made demons nearly as well.

He kept shouting at her to run but there was no way she was
leaving him. Not for long anyway.

“I’m going for some help. Don’t worry,” she called over the
fray of cracking and clashing in the room. Hopefully, he could hear her. She
grabbed his robe to cover the nakedness that moments earlier had been so safe.
Now exposure made her shiver.

Muttering to herself, she tore out the door into the
hallway. “Please don’t kill yourself with your bedroom furniture.”

She rushed down the hall toward the only person she could
think to help. Somehow all her research and martial arts training were proving
to be null and void when helping Jonah with this situation.

Mindy banged on Foy’s door and he answered it a few seconds
later. He raised his eyebrows when he saw her. “Problem?”

“You didn’t
see
this coming or whatever you do?” she
panted.

“It’s not an exact science.” He shook his head. “You want to
sneer at me or tell me what has you running down the hall to me with your robe
half open. Braxton told me Jonah was okay.”

“He was.” Heat infused her cheeks at Foy’s reprimand. She
adjusted her robe. He was right and she shouldn’t have said what she did. But
being out of control made her twitchy. Striking out was easier than being
afraid, even as immature as it happened to be. “But now he’s not. Things are
flying everywhere.”

“Shit. Move.” He shoved her out of the way and she rubbed
her arm as she chased him down the hall. Foy called over his shoulder. “Sorry I
pushed you that hard.”

“Just get to Jonah and all will be forgiven.”

The scene she saw when she walked in the room made her gasp.
Jonah writhed on the floor holding his head. Foy charged to him and looked
down. Nothing flew or banged so that had to be an improvement. The agony
radiating from her love was not.

She swallowed her tears. He needed strength from her, not
weeping. For the first time ever she understood why Foy had told them to pick
women who could handle the life.

“Jonah.” Foy bent down. “You okay, son?”

That was the second time she’d heard Foy call Jonah son. She
wondered if he did it to all the blood-oathed or just Jonah?

“You can’t tell me this is all in my head.”

At least he could hear them this time. When they’d arrived
in the house it had been a different story altogether. He’d been completely
unaware of them.

“What do you see?” Foy looked up at her and shook his head.

She didn’t understand his shorthand but shaking his head
like that couldn’t be a good thing.

“BoBo and flying demons. Everywhere.”

Her mouth went dry. As far as she was concerned, she
couldn’t imagine a worse delusion to envision. BoBo had been responsible for
all of her pain earlier in the year. He was gone. Dodie had killed him.

“Not here, Jonah.” Foy knelt down. “I can promise you that. This
is a no-demon zone in this house. It’s been warded so many times by so many
people I can’t think of anything bad that could get through the door.”

“I know.” Jonah removed his hand from his eyes. He stared at
Foy. She knew before he opened his mouth that he was going to say something she
didn’t like. Maybe it was the hard set of his eyes or maybe it was just that
she’d come to know him really well. Whatever he said next was going to make her
heart hurt. “You have to do something for me, Foy.”

“No.” She interrupted Jonah. “Whatever you have in your mind
get it out of there.”

He ignored her as if he couldn’t hear her, which she would
have believed back in the house but she knew not to be the case now. “Get her
the fuck out of here. You and I both know what has to happen. I won’t have her
here. I never ask for help. You know that…”

Foy held up his hand and she knew she was about to be ousted
from the mansion. “Say no more. I get it.”

“I get a say in this.” She would have stomped her foot if it
wouldn’t have made her feel ridiculous. “I know he’s trying to be noble but…”

“Mindy,” Jonah interrupted her. “You need to do this for me.
I love you. If you love me the way you said you did, and I believe you do, you
won’t make me go through this knowing you’re watching.”

“Jonah…”

He shook his head. “Please.”

“Damn it.”

She turned on her heel and stormed from the room. He didn’t
have to beg. If he wanted her gone, she’d be gone. But this wasn’t what people
who were in it together did. Did he really not believe that she could handle
it? Or that she could help?

Why did Jonah spend so much time thinking he had to do
everything alone?

Tears sprung from her eyes and since there was no one to be
brave for she let them flow down her cheeks. Screw him. He’d told her he loved
her and then threw her out the second things got difficult again.

Mindy had almost made it out to the car alone when she saw
that Braxton leaned against it. How was it that one of the blood-oathed was
always around? They were worse than a high school locker room. Someone was
always watching.

“What?” She rubbed at her face, flicking away the tears. Crying
alone was one thing, crying in front of Braxton something else entirely.

“I wanted to make sure you got out to your car okay.”

“How did you even know I’d be out here?” She shook her head,
holding up her hand. “No, don’t tell me. I’ve had enough of the whole weirdness
for one night. If Foy spoke to you telepathically, I don’t want to know.”

He held up his phone. “Texted me.”

Tiredness gripped her shoulders, making her feel twice as
heavy as she actually was while she walked toward her car. She should be
asleep, wrapped in Jonah’s arms, not ordered from his side when he needed her
the most.

“You know what he’s doing, don’t you?” Braxton didn’t budge
from his spot.

“He’s protecting me. I get it.” She shook her head. “But it’s
bullshit and nothing else you have to say is going to convince me of anything
else.”

“He doesn’t want you to watch him die.”

She stopped moving. “Say that again?” Her hands shook and
she shoved them in her pockets.

“If he can’t get this under control, Foy will kill him.”
Braxton uttered the words so calmly at first she thought she must have misheard
him. But he just stood there, staring at her in the way that made her feel
exposed.

“Braxton.” She swallowed, her mouth had gone dry. “People
don’t go around killing one another. We’re not allowed to just do that. Foy
can’t simply kill Jonah because Jonah is having some kind of breakdown.”

“This isn’t a breakdown. This is a progression of a haunting.
Whatever causes it—Jonah or a leftover spirit or whatever—it’s purely
paranormal. And we have a deal with one another. None of us can be left to be
abused by the darkness. We stop it. One way or another.”

She fisted her hands, wanting to slam them right into
Braxton’s face. “Jonah can beat this. I promise you that. And if anyone harms
him, they’ll have to answer to me.” Mindy meant what she said and Braxton would
have to be an idiot not to believe her—she knew he wasn’t that. “Including
Jonah. If he harms himself, I’ll come and find him in the next life and kick
his sorry ass. Got it?”

Braxton grinned. “Good girl.”

Mindy didn’t even want to imagine what he meant by that.

* * * * *

The next morning when she pounded on Foy’s door, she was
calm. Mostly. She’d ground her teeth all night and managed to give herself a
headache. But she at least knew what she had to do and how she had to do it.

He opened the door and shook his head. “I’m not letting you
see him. He’s locked up in a cell in the basement where there is nothing he can
hurt himself with.”

“Two things.” She held up a finger and to her amazement Foy
shut up. “Number one, he’s really, really psychic, isn’t he? Like, ridiculously
off the charts. People can make poltergeist but this is over the top.”

Foy nodded. “He’s always been blissfully unaware of it but
yes, why do you think he’s so empathic? So able to immediately walk into a room
and assess what is happening paranormally? Jonah is gifted. If he could tap
into the power that makes his delusions he could be unstoppable as a force
against them.”

“Right.” She nodded. “That’s what I thought.” When he got
through this she was going to see to it that Jonah started really using his
talents. “Second thing. I need you to use your contacts. I’m getting in to see Damian,
wherever he is, and I’m bringing him to see Jonah. Don’t argue with me. If you
don’t do this, Foy, if you don’t get me in to Damian and then let me in to
Jonah I’m going to go to the police. Oh I’m sure I won’t get through to them.
You have this town in your pocket. But when they turn me down, I’ll go to the
media. To anyone who will listen to me. A blogger. I don’t give a shit. Ask
yourself if you want that kind of publicity.”

Foy raised an eyebrow “Are you threatening me?”

“Yes. Yes I am.” She’d never threatened anyone before in her
life. “But I guess it’s not really fair to call it a threat because I intend to
make good on it. People don’t get to kill someone I love, not when I can stop
it.”

Master’s eyes got huge. “Kill him? Where on earth did you
get that idea? I’m not going to kill Jonah.”

“But Braxton said…”

He shook his head. “Braxton said whatever he thought you
needed to hear. And that makes me compelled to help you. Because, like Jonah,
Braxton is a man of talent. You want to bring Damian to Jonah? Fine. We’ll do
that. Why not?”

“How do any of you live with so much game playing?”

Foy laughed and for the first time she saw that he had a
dimple in his left cheek. It actually made him look…gentle. “We stop evil from
overtaking the world. Sometimes it takes a little juggling to get there.”

* * * * *

Jonah stared at BoBo. The clown leaned against the bar of
the cell, staring at him with red demonic eyes. The creature hummed a
distracting tune and Jonah groaned. He didn’t want to spend his time down here
with that…thing.

“You’re not real. You know that, don’t you? You’re dead. My
friend’s fiancé ended you by wielding a sword. She turned out to be really
amazing. Perfect for Christian.”

BoBo laughed, a high-pitched giggle. “Does it matter? If I’m
real? If I’m not real? I can still harm you because I’m in your head. And
that’s all that matters, right?”

Jonah closed his eyes. “I can make this stop. I did once. I
can again.”

He could remember now. The nights that had been filled with
terror when he’d lain on his bed in Foy’s house, Christian across the room,
Braxton and Ivan through a small door, just next door. It had stopped. He’d
been able to let this stuff go. So why couldn’t he now?

“You did stop it and it came back. We all came rushing back to
you. So you didn’t really stop it. All you did was delay it. Just in time for
your girl to see what a fruitless future she’d have with you.” BoBo stretched
before pulling out a knife. “Should we start cutting you up now?”

“Jonah.” He looked up through the bars of his cell and saw
Mindy standing there with the boy they’d saved. Damian.

He blinked several times to make sure she remained where she
was. When she didn’t fade, he looked at BoBo. It couldn’t be good when he had
to speak to his own delusions to get clarification but what other choice did he
have?

“Do you see her and the kid?”

Mindy huffed. “I don’t know who you’re talking to but I’m
here and so is Damian.”

“I see her.” The clown shrugged. “But I don’t care. I’ve
already cut her up once. Who needs a repeat performance?”

“You are never going to touch her again.” He spoke through
gritted teeth.

Mindy threw her hands in the air. “BoBo again. Great.”

“Okay.” Jonah stood up and walked to the bars. “What are you
doing here?” He’d told her to go. He’d thrown her out. Why had she gotten back
in? Why wasn’t she running so far from him that he couldn’t possibly cause her
any more pain?

“I came to bring you Damian.”

He shook his head. “Yes. I can see that. The question is why
did you bring me Damian?”

Damian looked up him. “You can see them too.”

Jonah bent down. Did Mindy expect him to make sense of this
for the kid? He could barely understand any of it himself.

Still, he tried to make himself at least appear calm when he
spoke with the boy. “What can you see?”

“The clown. The images on the wall. The ghosts floating by.”

Jonah didn’t want to disappoint him but at that moment all
Jonah could see was BoBo. “Yep. Sounds about right.”

“And none of it exists.” Damian rubbed his eyes. “Except
somehow it does.”

“Right. That’s the problem.”

“No,” Mindy interrupted and he looked up at her. How could
she be so beautiful in the midst of all this mess? “It’s not a problem. You’re
both simply channeling your energy incorrectly.”

“What?” He patted Damian on the head. Maybe there would be a
better ending to this for him than there had been for him.

“I’ve done some research.”

He sighed. Mindy and her research. He never did get around
to getting her better books. Where had she come up with this current idea?
Wikipedia?

“I can see the scoffing going on in your mind.” She shook
her head. “But someone else agrees with me. Don’t say anything disparaging
until you speak with him.”

“Foy?” Jonah wasn’t convinced that his Master would know any
better than Mindy. Foy was good for fighting—reading had always been much more
Jonah’s field.

“No.” She grinned. “Your buddy. The Shaman.”