Eighth Note (Fire Ballad Book 1) Page 15

  “West,” Will let go of me, and I could feel the thing taking over again. My fear turned to blind rage as I climbed to my feet, smiling up at my father.

  “Sit down,” West fired, but the demon only laughed in his face.

  “Not one of you are worthy of this girl, this queen, this idol. She will bring those who are valuable to the legion, so that I may present them to my master.”

  My voice had dropped again to the same nightmarish bass, and I watched my father’s eyes turn from blue to amber.

  “Sit.”

  On his order, I hit the couch so hard, the wind left my lungs upon impact. Roaring, I fought against his magic, but he held me there, immobile.

  “What do you want?” Will demanded, joining my father’s side. “You cannot hope to rule this world through Eva. She will fight you until her last breath.”

  “Her power over music will serve as the right hand of hell. Those deserving will be brought forth to my master and join the legion in preparation for the end of days.”

  “The end of the world? Again?” Cole reached into his back pocket, fishing for his cigarettes. “Crack a window, Satan. I’m smoking.”

  I smiled, batting my lashes in Cole’s direction. “Before this is over, I will have you.”

  “Have me?” Cole spoke as the cigarette bobbed on his lips. “I think I need to trade in my crucifix for a rape whistle.”

  “Stop provoking it,” West warned. I turned to hiss at him, spitting in his face.

  He only continued to stare me down.

  “Her eyes are black. Before, they were amber. Do you think that her powers are suppressed by yours?” Will suggested, and West nodded in agreement.

  “Shatter,” I whispered, barely audible, and West leaned forward.

  “What?”

  “Shatter.”

  Every window in the entire cabin imploded, sending shards of glass flying in all directions. The moment that West let go of his magic, I could feel the freedom, laughing as I ran through the glass to the nearest window. My feet dripped with blood, and I slipped, laughing again.

  My father tried to restrain me, but I sent him flying backward, slamming into the furthest wall. “Overconfident fool,” I sang, running for the woods.

  Night was coming. The body needed to be fed; she would weaken without sustenance, and so would her magic.

  The vultures swarmed me, waiting patiently for their meal. Centering, I listened for the movement of deer or, better yet, a bear, waiting.

  Waiting.

  He slammed into me with the force of a cyclone.

  I hit the tree, flailing for a moment before gaining my momentum. Pushing off, I attacked, but his sheer size in comparison to mine was enough to deter me from winning the fight.

  With my hands.

  “You taught me everything I know,” I countered, crouching before delivering a kick to his jaw.

  He took my attack without faltering, blocking me and trying for my neck. Ducking, I tried to call on her powers, roaring in frustration when less than a spark of electricity traveled through the current in her fingers.

  I was distracted just long enough for him to grab me by my upper arms, knocking me to the ground. “Leave her! You will lose this battle,” he commanded, his face locked over mine as the ground quaked beneath us. His eyes flashed from blue to golden brown as his magic raced through his veins.

  “Disappear.”

  My whispered chant worked exactly as I’d intended; the girl was gone beneath him, and he was rattled just long enough for me to send him flying backwards.

  West stumbled, and I finally found her magic, tying him to the ground by unearthing several thick tree roots.

  The forest floor began to shake, and I turned just as a tree dropped inches from my body. I backed away, watching him tear the roots off of his arms.

  “Eva, fight!” He shouted to me. “Don’t let it take your mind. Fight.”

  Deep inside, I stirred, listening to my father’s authoritative voice.

  “She will give in. It will be easier. She is strong, but her will is weak.” I replied sweetly, tilting my head and mirroring his sorrow. “Accept that she is gone. Accept that I am better than what she was. I serve a higher power.”

  Will and Cole edged through the grass, and Cole stopped as Will held his hand out, his eyes pleading.

  “Please. Let me say good-bye to her. Allow me this one human need. Closure,” he urged, nodding to West. “He told us that you are a philosopher. You understand human necessities. Allow me my wife, one more time.”

  The demon inside of me weakened for just long enough, allowing me to surface. I dropped to my knees, my long, red curls nearly reaching the ground.

  “Eva,” Will moved to me quickly, threading his fingers through mine. “My love. Please.”

  I sighed, so tired, my shoulders heavy and pained. Wrapping my arms around my body, I lifted my face, focusing on Will.

  “I’m hurting,” I managed, nearly hitting the ground before he caught me.

  “I’m sorry,” my father replied, shaking his head. “Will. She’s not strong enough for this.”

  “Play me a song, Eva,” Will coaxed, moving my hand in a small circle. I tried to pull from my magic, giving up as quickly as I began.

  “Kill me,” I begged, turning my face to my side and bowing.

  I was choking.

  Something was lodged deep in my throat, cutting off my air supply through both my nose and my mouth. Gagging and flailing, I heaved, turning to Will with wide, terrified eyes. He swallowed hard, pressing the sides of my cheeks and reaching inside of my mouth.

  The soaking wet feathers and talons were followed by my own vomit. Will hurled the bird at the ground, watching as even more bugs and glass splattered over the dirt.

  The bird got up on shaking legs, spread its disgusting wings, and took flight.

  “She’s suffering,” Cole growled, dropping to his own knees. “We can’t let her go through this.”

  My palms smoldered, and I pressed them against a patch of cool moss. The marks on my skin burned the symbol straight through to the dirt, searing the earth.

  And then I crawled to the moss, pressing my face to the soft spores.

  “We’ll tie her back up,” my father finally agreed, bending to lift me into his arms. Will stopped him, gently wrapping his arms around me.

  “I carry her. I protect her. She is all of my heart. I exist in a world with Eva, or I do not exist. Are we clear?”

  Will’s commanding voice rivaled my father’s.

  “Thank you, Will,” my father answered quietly.

  “Do not thank me. The day I took her as my wife was the day that she became my world. I should never have agreed for her to come here, and now I must live with that for the rest of my immortal existence. She has suffered enough. Move,” he ordered, and now I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to Cole or my father.

  The peaceful silence as my husband carried me through the yard persuaded me to close my eyes, but I was too terrified of never waking in my own mind again. Forcing my eyes open, I stared at the button on Will’s shirt, counting the four, tiny holes over and over again.

  “I will bathe her. Leave us.” He ordered.

  “Call me if she starts to change,” my father answered.

  The bathwater ran clear as Will closed the door, stripping my torn, dirty clothes from my body. My thoughts were coherent, my mind finally lucid, and the horror of what had just happened began to sink in.

  He drew the soapy washcloth over my bare skin, kissing his way over my shoulder and neck. I lowered my face and cried, wrapping my arms around my breasts and pressing my forehead to my knees.

  “There is nothing that we cannot face, together,” he kissed my neck, sending shivers over my arms and down my spine.

  “I just threw up a living bird, Will. Oh, and a bunch of bugs and glass,” I sobbed, my voice raspy and strained. “I’m evil.”

  “You are not evil, my love. This thing may not take
you. You are already mine.”

  “The man… the medium that we spoke with… told me that I was weak, and that I opened myself up to this. With greed, lust, and murder,” I brushed at my tears, trying to fight through the acrid taste in my mouth. “You deserve better than what I’ve become. Perry deserves better. I’m nothing like my mother. I don’t have honorable intentions. I take what I want. I’m selfish.”

  “Is that why you are here? Is that why you traveled with Cole all the way to New York, because of your selfish nature? You care very much for humanity. For innocent lives. Self-sacrifice is not always a conscious behavior, Eva. Your true nature is altruistic. Noble. Your father has raised you to believe that stubborn and selfish are synonymous. That is not the case. They are both qualities necessary in a ruler. In a queen. And that, you are.”

  I listened to his words, searching his ice-blue eyes with mine. “Then why me?”

  He cupped my face in his hands, focused on my gaze. “You doubt yourself. You do not trust your own nature… making you vulnerable,” he added gently. “Believe in who you are, Eva. Believe in what you know, and the goodness in your soul.”

  His hands moved over my breasts, my belly, and between my thighs. I lay back in his arm, feeling him grow still.

  “Will…,”

  “An eighth note?”

  Cringing, I closed my eyes. “Can we fight about this later?”

  His jaw set. “I want nothing more than your happiness, Eva. If you want more from me, you have only to ask. If ever you would like for me to change, to allow for your abandon, I will make sure that we are in a safe place.”

  “Please forget those horrible things that I said. That wasn’t me, Will. I don’t want Cole. Not like that.”

  “Be that as it may, we will make it through this. And when I take you to our bed, I hope that you are making clear your needs, and that I am fulfilling them.”

  “Are you telling me you’re willing to get freaky, and let me set shit on fire?”

  He smiled distantly, lowering the washcloth between my thighs. “I am promising you pleasure, love. In whatever form you wish.”

  God. Only Will could turn me on right in the middle of a demonic possession. I turned more fully into his arms, and he dropped the cloth, catching my fingers in his.

  I felt the darkness creeping over me, sickening, peeling away at my consciousness.

  It was coming.

  “Will,” I climbed to my shaking feet, and he wrapped me inside of a large, white towel. “Hurry.”

  He tugged my AC/DC tee-shirt over my head, helping me to step into my panties. “Stay with me.”

  “Dad!” I shouted, and he was at the door in seconds.

  The floor opened.

  Will grabbed for the edge of the hole just in time, grasping, while West flattened himself against the wall. The rotting cadaver smell filled the steamy bathroom, and I lunged forward.

  Cole caught me around my waist, hurling me around and throwing me to the ground. Before I could crawl to my feet, I flew backwards to the bedroom, slamming into the mattress.

  “I’ve got her. Help Will,” West called, and my hands and legs were bound to the headboard and footboard.

  “You continue to torture her, your own daughter,” I laughed deeply, slowly, arching my back. My leg twisted at an unnatural angle, and I screamed through the pain, losing my breath.

  My femur snapped.

  “Eva!” Will dove for me, but West stopped him, throwing him backwards. I cried, breathing through the pain, waiting.

  Waiting.

  It will pass… it will pass…

  “No! He won’t kill her. He won’t. He needs her,” West urged.

  I grinned. “Lights.”

  Every bulb in the entire cabin flickered, sizzled, and then exploded. My frequency began, and I tried with all of my strength to play something.

  Anything.

  “She has one task. When it is complete, I will release her to death,” I promised, smiling at West. “She will play the song for the world to hear. I will take those worthy of joining me.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Night.

  Panting. I was so thirsty, but the thought of any liquid, even water, sickened me.

  “She’s coming around.”

  Cole’s voice. My hair was matted to my forehead and cheeks, and cool fingers pulled the damp ringlets away from my mouth.

  “Can you hear me, my love? Eva?”

  Will’s voice. I turned to him, nodding, trying to speak.

  Do not try to speak.

  “Do not try to speak,” his voice echoed his thoughts, and I marveled in the fact that I could hear him thinking again.

  I tried to form a word, but the numbness in my mouth sent me into a panic. Jerking at the leather binds on my wrists, Will held my shoulders.

  “Please. Please, don’t, Eva.” His eyes watered, and the weariness in his words sliced through my body. Will never cried, and the look on his face told me that whatever he was seeing in me was terrifying. “Your tongue is… injured. Give it time to heal.”

  Moaning, I realized why my mouth felt so strange. I tried to touch my tongue to the roof of my mouth, to my teeth, and the muscle that was once there failed.

  There was no muscle.

  Flailing now, I kicked at the straps on my ankles, searching the room in a frantic series of breaths. My father sat at my feet, his hand closing over my ankle gently.

  “Babe, please. You’ll heal… please just stay with us a little longer. God, Eva, I love you,” he lowered his forehead to my leg, and I gasped, trying to block the prick of tears burning the corners of my eyes.

  “He’s here,” Cole’s voice again, and Will knelt at my side and tightened his hold on me.

  “I will not allow him to harm her. She will not experience pain. She is conscious, for now,” my husband ordered. I recognized Kellan as he entered the room.

  The moment he turned his eyes in my general direction, he made the sign of the cross over his chest.

  “It has come for her, then.” He nodded, and Cole’s fist clenched at his side.

  “Yeah, but it’s not fuckin’ takin’ her. She would have died by now, if she was mortal. The things that it’s doing to her… it has to stop. We have to stop this somehow. She’s being tortured.” Cole’s eyes flashed dark, and Kellan nodded again.

  “You spoke of a grandfather that may be able to help? One with magic like Eva’s?”

  West sighed. “She would have to call him, but she can’t, not like this. I possess some magic, but I’m not strong enough to fight this thing without hurting my daughter. What are our options here?”

  Kellan watched me carefully as me moved toward the bed, his fingers working with something in his palm. As he approached, I realized that he held a rosary in his hand. “It has spoken? This demon? It’s made known its intentions?”

  Will reached for a washcloth on the bedside table, folding it neatly before pulling the cool cotton over my brow. I closed my eyes for a long moment, only opening them to thank him with my tearful gaze. “It wants her to play the song for the world. Opening the people to his influence. He mentioned a legion of hell, and taking those who were worthy.”

  Kellan continued to stare in my direction. “And she refuses?”

  Cole scoffed. “Of course she refuses. She’s brave. She’s gone to hell and back to protect everyone. What can we do?” He demanded.

  Kill her. He is going to say kill her, and that will never be an option. I will not let you go, my love.

  I could hear Will’s mind before Kellan could answer, and I turned to him with all the love that I had in my gaze. He smiled, appeasing, continuing to wipe my brow and drop two soft kisses above each cheek. “You will defeat this evil,” he whispered to me, almost a command, and I nodded against his lips.

  Kellan’s deep frown was enough to erase any hope that Will’s soft words had given me.

  “This demon has hunted you, primed you, and weakened you for some ti
me. Caused strain between you and your husband. Taunted you with visions; dreams of infidelity, am I correct?”

  I knew my face reddened, and I tried to hide the shameful thoughts as Will laced his fingers through mine.

  “No, Eva. This is not your fault.” His firm grip, coupled with his rigid words, made Cole take a step back.

  “She was just as confused as I was about her dreams. Our dreams. Nothing happened,” he fired, and Will sent him a look that left me trembling.

  “Did you touch her?” He growled, clipped, and my father burst to his feet, scowling.

  “Goddamn it, we don’t have time for this. It’s been following her, waiting, yes, we see that. How do we stop it?” West demanded.

  Kellan backed away. “As I told Cole and Eva when they came to my home; one does not stop a demon. There is a deal, and the obligation must be fulfilled. If she can separate herself from the demon, speak to it, and bargain… it may be her only hope.”

  Will tightened my fingers in his. “You want her to make a deal with this monster?”

  “I don’t want any part of this,” Kellan argued, turning on his heel and heading toward the door. Cole tried to stop him, but Kellan only slapped the rosary against Cole’s chest, shaking his head. “My debt is paid. Coming here has made me vulnerable to an evil that you’ll never understand, Mathison.”

  Cole glanced my way before nodding. “Thank you.”

  I tried to pull at the binds again, watching my dad pace. “We don’t know how long we have with her,” West began, moving toward Cole. “Will, we’ll be right outside. Talk to her privately. Let me know when you’re done,” he added.

  Say good-bye, he means. He is her own father, and he has lost faith. I will never say good-bye to Eva. She is my wife. I will save her or die trying.

  I tried to speak, but my slurring moan came out garbled and unintelligible. Hearing Will’s mind tore my heart to shreds. He loves me so much, despite all that I’ve done, and all that I’ve become. A tear slipped from the corner of my eye, and he caught it with his thumb. “No, Eva. When I take you home to our life, to our beautiful daughter, you will see that faith is all that we have. The future is what we make of it, love,” he reminded me softly. “I will give you happiness. An immortal lifetime of happiness. Fight, Eva. Control. Separate yourself from this demon.”