ENTANGLED (7 page)

Soulless.

Damon snapped his fingers, and Nikki walked like toward him like a zombie. The living dead. A beautiful shell.

Tory put her hand over her mouth to stop a cry.

“Face forward,” he said, not looking at Nikki. “Toward the car.”

She turned, following his orders as if she were a Stepford wife.

“You want her?” Damon asked Tory, giving her a smile that at a night club would’ve had a dozen women within eye range whimpering over him.

It made her want to puke.

I want to puke, too
.

She glanced down at Samson.
You always want to puke
.

No, I always want to eat. Now I just want to puke
.

Tory flicked her gaze back to Damon. “You’re a vampire.”

He smiled, as if she’d given him a compliment. “There are no vampires.”

“You don’t suck blood. You eat energy.” She felt his excess power, reaching out to slam into her. But it wasn’t all his. There was something feminine in it. Something stolen from Nikki.

Tory had heard of energy eaters but thought JK Rowling invented them. Never thought they were real. Never thought she’d be staring at one.

Never thought she might be his next energy drink.

Sudden fear engulfed her. Her mind scrabbled for a way out. She could hop in the car and leave Nikki to him so he could squeeze out a few more drops.

As the thought formed, her body and mind repudiated it. A loud
NO
welling up inside her.

She raised her chin. Resolve pierced her fear, forming a wide, windless and dry spot in the middle of a storm.

This
was why she was a witch instead of an actress. Not to cast love spells. Not to dance naked beneath the full moon. Not to wear the sexy witch costume her brother Ted had given her as a joke two years ago, after she’d come out to her family (though it had been a favorite of Phil’s, despite his objections to her calling).

She’d thought she was here to save Nikki, but that wasn’t true. She was here to stop this energy eater from stealing the soul of another woman.

Could she do it? The doubts lingered. With his energy pulsing at her, she felt his Goliath-sized strength.

She was more like David with breasts.

“You didn’t answer my question,” he said. “You want her?”

She nodded. Maybe she wasn’t calm and confident, but she was an actress. And a woman. She’d faked orgasms, she could fake confidence. “Of course.”

“I’ll trade her. You come inside my house, and I’ll let her go free.”

A sob came from Nikki. He turned toward her. “Stop.”

As if he’d hit her Off switch, Nikki stopped.

He faced Tory again, gesturing toward the gray castle.

Nausea rose in Tory’s throat. Once she stepped inside those stone walls, she would never leave. Not until she was a shell of herself, her energy drained, and he had no use for her anymore.

She knew this the way she knew she was in the presence of evil.

She swallowed. “No.”

“I didn’t think you’d be so easy.” His smile widened and he seemed to glow brightly. “It makes it more fun.”

Anger spurted up in her. What an asshole. “You are such a cliché. But I suppose most psychos are.” She shrugged, as if she didn’t feel the air heating around her. As if she weren’t wondering how he did that. As if it weren’t her intention to make him lose control. Like David had done with Goliath.

Phil would say she was an expert at making men lose control.

“After all,” she added, “how many kinds of crazy can there be?”

A blast of air thrust her backward. A small shriek involuntarily emitted from her mouth.

“All kinds of ways. Are you ready to find out?”

“Fuck you.”

“You will,” he said. “As often as I allow you. And you will be happy to do so. Until I no longer want you.”

I want to scratch and bite him
.

She snorted a laugh. Across from her, on the other side of the car, Damon’s eyebrows contracted and the energy pulsing at her lessened.

Because she’d laughed.

That’s when it came to her that he was already feeding from her. Already eating her fear.

It made her wonder how much fear Nikki had suffered before she’d become this shell of herself.

And the other women in her vision? How much had they suffered?

“Do you know what this place is?” His forehead smoothed, as if the blip in his power never happened.

“A fake castle,” she said.

“An energy epicenter.” He stepped forward. So did Nikki, and he peered sideways at her. “Stay.”

She stopped on the front sidewalk, as if planted there. Not bothering to look back at her, he strolled around the car.

Tory’s hatred and disgust pushed back her fear. Enabled her to stand straight as he neared her. It even allowed her to admire his appearance, though she deplored the man.

His lips curved. “Like what you see?”

“If you were an Easter egg, you’d be the prettiest. But no one would want to eat you, because you’re rotten inside.”

His laugh held no humor. “I’m not an egg, I’m a magic man.”

“A monster. A psychopath.” She didn’t take her gaze off him, the air eddying around her, the moonlight on her face. “I bet you were the cutest and smartest boy. You should have been a wonderful man, leading a wonderful life. I read about your parents’ problems. Is that why you came out this way?”

His eyes flashed. “Don’t you dare pity me.”

“Anyone would pity you. Mental problems run in your family. You should be locked up. Kept away from sane people. I wonder if the other Lamonts know what you’re up to. I’ll email them. Hell, I’ll email the tabloids.” She reached for the car door handle. “One of them might even pay me for the information.”

“Stop!” His voice thundered. The ground shook beneath her shoes. “You’re on my territory. I have control.”

In the middle of a string of mental ‘Oh shits’ for pushing him too far, she glommed on to one word.
Control
. She’d been right about its importance to him. This monster that he’d turned into was all about control.

Somehow she could use that.

“You will
not
email or call my family. You will
not
email or call the tabloids. I
will
tell you about my home, about this hill, and you
will
listen.” His voice lowered to its former silkiness. He swept his hand toward the left side of the house, at a ring of trees. “This was once a holy place. First the Indians, but they dispersed or disappeared. No one seems to know exactly what happened.”

“But you’re going to tell me anyway,” she said.

He smiled, his teeth the whitest shade of white. “Settlers massacred them, of course.”

“Yeah, right. Those first German farmers were mean sons of bitches.”

He laughed, this time with real amusement. “Anyone who can kill a rabbit can kill a man. Especially a man who’s different from him. Shortly after the Indians disappeared, a monk built a chapel. A historian has written that miracles happened here. Healings. Always when the moon was at its brightest.”

Shivers started inside of her. She curled her hands at her sides and stiffened her muscles. He was like a wolf waiting for the scent of fear before pouncing.

“Tonight the moon will be bright enough to hunt small animals. That’s where the hunter’s moon got its name.”

“You’re full of these little facts, aren’t you?”

Full of himself
.

She choked on a laugh. Damon frowned at Samson.

“So, what’s the point of this mini lecture?” she asked, regaining his attention, suddenly fearful. Not for herself. For Samson.

Frown lines scoring his forehead, he raised his gaze to her face. “Prayers leave traces of energy behind them. Between the prayers and the chants and the hunter’s moon, this is the most powerful place in Wisconsin. Perhaps North America.”

Now she understood why he’d given her the little history lesson. To show off his knowledge. Show how brilliant he was. As if she gave a damn about the size of a man’s brain. She cared more about a man’s heart. Lamont’s was made of Styrofoam.

“Why not make it the world?” she asked. At least he was talking to her. The more he talked, the more she’d find out how she could use this to beat him.

His pale blue eyes, the color of the sky at its lightest, flashed. She steeled herself to keep from taking a step back.

“You mock me?”

“You have a thing about power.”

“Power is everything.”

“It’s everything to people who have none. Is that from your childhood, too?”

His face darkened. His eyes turning icy again. “Enough!”

She jumped, unable to help it. But he didn’t gloat, pointing at the circle of trees. “If you think so poorly of me, we’ll have a war.”

“War? With what weapons?” The ‘oh shit’ monitor in her head beeped again.

“Magic. Your witch magic against my warlock magic. Winner takes all.”

“I don’t—”

“You do. You called me, you came to me, you tried to take what’s mine.” His hand swept out in a grandiose gesture. “Here’s your chance take it. You win, you take Nikki. I win, I take you.”

“No.”

“Then go. Go away and don’t ever come back.”

She turned toward her car. Reached for the door handle. Sure that he would call her back. Actors hated to lose their audience, and he was the biggest ham she’d seen since a pig roast when she was in college.

As she opened the door, moonlight rayed around her, lighting her arm, her hand, the car door, surrounding her. Her senses strengthened, grew, her nerves lifting out like an antenna, and she knew he wasn’t going to stop her. He was doing something worse. Leaving it up to her.

She had two choices. Fight him or leave Nikki and be haunted by her soulless eyes for the rest of her life.

The images of the six women flickered in her head.

Nikki would make seven.

It wouldn’t stop there. Once he was through with Nikki, he would find another one. He’d devour her energy, leave her soulless, too.

Then he’d find another victim. Become so powerful, no one could stop him.

She looked up at the hunter’s moon, gold instead of silver, and she felt its power, just as he did. She breathed it in, feeling it seep into her lungs, her blood, her cells. Not a full-on blast that he couldn’t miss, but a silent trickle of power.

Silence could be deadly.

David took down Goliath with a slingshot.

Casually, as if her heartbeat wasn’t thundering in her ears, she twisted to face Damon. “I’ll stay and fight you. But when I win, I won’t just take Nikki, I’ll take the energy of all of the women. Give it back to them.”

“You saw them.” He smiled, pleased.

“You sent them to me.”

“I wanted you to know what you were up against. When Nicole’s mother told me a friend was going to take her from me, I sensed it was a woman with a strong power. That’s why I want you.” He gave her the same smile the wolf must have given Little Red Riding Hood. “Let’s go then. Ladies first.”

She turned toward the circle, and had the feeling that he’d left five words unspoken.

The better to eat you
.

Seven trees encircled them. Tall and strong and giving off the rich woodsy smell of age, illuminated starkly in the moonlight, not one cloud in tonight’s sky to block the moon’s rays. Damon had positioned himself at the furthest end, and she stood with her back to the castle. He’d taken the position of power, but she preferred to be at this side. He had to be about ten feet from the edge, just before the sheer drop. Not that she was afraid of heights, but she trusted him the way she trusted a mosquito.

They both wanted to suck something out of her.

Besides, she had her own advantage. Samson had positioned himself halfway between her and Damon.

My knight, she thought.

I will protect you
.

She suppressed an urge to laugh, easy to do because Damon was lifting his arms to the moon, his eyes glowing orange like a cartoon character’s.

“Mars,” he shouted, “I’m your faithful servant, and I want this woman. Give her to me like you gave me the others, and I’ll make you strong again. I’ll make you master of all people.”

She rolled her eyes. Mars? Was he kidding? He didn’t even have his mythology right. Mars was the god of war. Diana was the goddess of the moon and the hunt. Obviously she owned the hunter’s moon.