Forgotten Visions (The Divinities Book 1) (20 page)

Mel laughed out loud. “Ayden has amped you up. You’ll have to learn to control the extra strength. Let’s close the portal and go find the guys.”

Across the river
from Friendship Fountain was the downtown nightlife. The Landing had a courtyard with an open stage for live bands, and restaurants with outdoor seating on both the ground floor and the second level. Loud music blasted out of the speakers from the stage. Several groups of people were in the middle of the courtyard, dancing, laughing, and having a few too many alcoholic drinks—completely unaware of the danger that walked the streets.

If the demons wanted to infect a large group of humans, The Landing was the place to do it.

“You see anything?” Ayden asked as they walked along the Riverwalk.

Zach shook his head. “But there is definitely demonic activity around.” 

Yeah, Ayden had picked up on that, too. “Wanna split up?”

“Okay, but don’t go too far,” Zach said, leaving to walk around the courtyard.

Ayden felt a pleasantly familiar presence behind him. He turned to find Kalissa standing there. He encircled her waist, pulled her to him, and claimed her mouth as if it’d been days since he’d seen her last. She melted into his kiss and wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Incoming.” Zach’s voice invaded Ayden’s mind. That was another ability Zach seemed to have, communicating telepathically with his siblings and the Divinities. Although he claimed not to be able to read thoughts, Ayden had his suspicions. He looked up to find Zach across the courtyard, motioning with his thumb to the right. Ayden moved his lips to Kalissa’s ear and whispered, “There are two demons to our right.”

Kalissa looked to the right. “That’s them. We need to lure them away from the humans.” They were the same ones from her vision. She gave Ayden a quick kiss on the lips before pulling free from his arms and signaling Melaina to follow her.

Kalissa and Melaina masked their magic and walked past the Etchens, giggling and stumbling like a couple of drunken humans. They were trying to catch their attention. It worked because the Etchens started following them. Ayden was instantly flooded with fear for the woman he loved. The stubborn female wouldn’t take no for an answer.

He and Zach tailed the Etchens as they followed the women to a dark and empty area of the Riverwalk. Kalissa and Mel continued their false drunken steps towards an alley across the street.

The demons looked a little confused until Ayden and Zach entered the alley, blocking their exit. The expressions on their faces were priceless as the light bulbs came on inside their heads, realizing they’ve been trapped.   

The Etchens looked
at one another and then at Kalissa and Melaina. Melaina moved closer to Kalissa and whispered, “Don’t look in their eyes. That’s how they get in and control your thoughts.”

Kalissa nodded and shifted her gaze to Ayden, standing behind the demons. Ayden gave her a tender smile that reached his eyes before he snapped his attention to the Etchens. He had obviously caught something she hadn’t.

She gasped as one of the Etchens took hold of her mind. Apparently, Mel had been wrong about looking into their eyes. Voices and images flooded her mind. Images of her parents’ dead bodies flashed.
They did nothing to help
, the voice snarled in her mind. Shaking her head, she refused to listen.

Kill them before they kill you.
It was a different voice. A fragment of another image flashed in her mind. She was taken back to the cave where Ayden thrust a death bolt at Jacen.

“No!” she screamed, knowing it was the Etchens who were sending the false images to her. Trying to get her to turn on the man she loved. Pain hit her temples, causing her to double over. Then the scene played over. Ayden killing Jacen and stalking toward her with his hands raised.

Tears ran down her face. She reached out to Ayden through the bond, trying to find a way out of this hell.

The more she fought the visions, the more intense the pain got. She fell to her knees with her hands over her temples. Her head felt like it was going to split open. Then, everything fell quiet. The pain and the voices stopped as quickly as they had started.

She took her head out of her hands and looked up from where she knelt on her knees. Ayden had distracted them, and was now under the same attack Kalissa had suffered a few seconds ago. “No!”

Mel grabbed her hand. Kalissa shook her head.

“He’ll go insane.” Kalissa started to go to Ayden. “The voices…they’re horrible.”

“Calm yourself or you’ll only make thing worse.”

She looked into Mel’s face. Taking a deep breath, “What can I do?” she pleaded.

“Concentrate. Find the connection to Ayden and then his gift.”

Kalissa looked at the Elder with confusion. “I don’t know how.”

“You are his magical partner. You’ll find it.” 

Kalissa looked back at Ayden, struggling to gain control. She really didn’t want those voices in her head again, but she had to help him. Opening up her mind, she searched for Ayden, for the line that bound them together. In the depths of his subconscious, she found it and gripped it tightly. His pain and struggle slammed into her as if it were her own. She vaguely heard Mel tell her to hold on.

“Get…out…of…my head,” Ayden said through clenched teeth.

Kalissa used their connection to amplify his ability. He responded by tugging on her magic, drawing it inside himself. The tug made her gasp, and she almost let go. Together, they pushed back on the Etchens’ hold on his mind.

“Now,” Ayden gritted out. She pushed with him to force the attack back to the Etchens. Their magic merged and grew. With one last shove, they sent the energy into the demons.

Both demons dropped to their knees and howled in pain. Kalissa glanced to Melaina and shared a knowing look. They raised their hands, and at the same time, shot both demons with an energy bolt. The creatures disappeared into thin air.     

Ayden sagged into himself. Zach rushed over and pulled him to his feet, letting him lean on his shoulder.

“See you at the house,” Ayden said hoarsely.

“Love you,” Kalissa said as Zach and Ayden faded out.

Kalissa paused. There was something in the air.

Melaina noticed Kalissa’s hesitation. “What is it?”

“Do you feel that?”

Melaina shook her head. “No. Did you have a vision?”

Kalissa sighed. “No, maybe I’m just being paranoid. I’m wound up, I guess.”

“Come on. I know just the herb to calm your nerves.”

Kalissa smiled at the thought of Melaina’s herbal teas. Curling up next to Ayden with a cup sounded good right now.

She let out a gasp when a figure stepped out of the shadows. It couldn’t be... She’d been there when his heart had stopped beating. “Liam?”

Melaina shifted beside her nervously.

Liam smiled brilliantly and walked closer to her. “Hello, Isa. Miss me?”

Shaking her head vigorously, she took a step back. “How…?”

A dark shadow fell over his features. “What neither of us knew was that my father is a demon. My demonic powers were unlocked the day I died.”

“Stay away from us,” Melaina warned. Liam ignored her and proceeded forward. Melaina tried to blast him, only to have it backfire, knocking her into the wall behind them.

Kalissa wanted to go to her but didn’t want to turn her back on Liam. “What do you want?” She glanced back at Melaina and was relieved to see her breathing.

Liam stood a few inches from her. He reached out and stroked her cheek. Kalissa flinched away from his touch. “I have come for what is mine.” He grabbed her by the waist and vanished.

Ayden and Zach
flashed into the living room. Lydia jumped up off the sofa and came around to stand in front of them. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Ayden said waving off Lydia’s concern. Zach helped him sit down on the sofa.

Zach gave them a short version of what happened downtown. “We were able to defeat them.” He looked at his cousin and asked, “Do you need anything? Water?”

Ayden shook his head.

Khloe perched herself on the edge of the coffee table in front of them. “Where is Kalissa?”

Ayden frowned. “She and Mel were right behind us.” Panic flooded him like a dam breaking.
Kalissa
.

Khloe had sensed his emotions and her bottom lip trembled. She started to shake. Lightning flashed outside. “Oh, gods, something happened.”

Ayden leaned forward and cupped her head in his hands. “Try to calm yourself. I’ll find her.”

A shift in the air had him whirling around. Melaina materialized and staggered back against the sofa, holding her stomach. “Liam…he took her.”

Kalissa paced the
large master bedroom suite in the house Liam had taken her to. He’d teleported them to the bedroom and left her there. He told her the doors and windows of the house were protected by a spell. She could leave the bedroom, but couldn’t leave the house. The bastard had covered his bases.

The first thing she noticed when she arrived, was that she was in his bedroom.
As if…
Then she saw the pictures of her on his dresser mirror. They were recent photos. Shots of her at work, walking to her car after work, going to the police station after her parents’ deaths. The most disturbing one of all was the one of her and Ayden at the cabin in Blue Ridge. He’d been stalking her.

Fucking psycho…

The bedroom door opened, and Liam came in with a tray of food. “I thought you might be hungry,” he said as he carried the tray to the small table next to the window. He hadn’t changed much since she’d last seen him. Though his blond hair was longer, brushing the tops of his shoulders, his blue eyes were darker, making them almost navy blue. Everything else was the same, including his ego.
No surprise there.
What did she ever see in him besides a handsome face?

Oh, yeah, she had been under a spell.

She watched him walk over and set down the tray. He turned toward her. She tensed. It was a reflex. She didn’t want him touching her. He’d lied to her. Put her under a memory spell. Now, he’d kidnapped her and taken her from her family and her true love.

He reached out to touch her face. She blocked his hand with hers and pushed it away. He laughed and reached for her again. She wasn’t fast enough to block him the second time, and he grabbed a handful of her hair, jerking her against his body.

“You will not deny me.” His breath was warm against her skin. She tried to pull away, but he had a tight grip on her hair at the roots so she couldn’t move. This wasn’t the same Liam. He was more aggressive and very angry.

He released his grip on her and gently ran his fingers through her hair. “Why do you make me angry? Do you think I want to hurt you? I love you, Isa, and it kills me to use force, but I will if I have to.”

That was another thing she’d grown out of—the nickname, Isa. The sound of it made her skin crawl. “Then why didn’t you stay dead?” Kalissa spat the words at him.

He backhanded her hard enough that she fell back on the bed. Picking up the tray of food, he flung it across the bedroom, sending it crashing into the wall and sliding to the floor. Stalking over to her, he yanked her up by her forearm. He opened his mouth and then closed it. A look passed across his face but was gone instantly. She was sure it was regret.

He pushed her away, letting her drop back on the bed, and stormed out of the room.

Raising a hand to the right side of her face, she felt the warm, rising lump forming. She was utterly shocked. He’d never hit her before.

Oh, gods, I wanna go home.

Ayden paced his
grandfather’s study like a caged tiger. He couldn’t think. Kalissa was being held by a demon. But Liam wasn’t just any demon. He was more powerful than a Regal, the class of demons that were known as the meanest and cruelest of the Underworld. Mel had said she’d never felt a demon that powerful before.

“Explain to me how a human dies and becomes a demon.” Ayden looked over at Noah, who was looking through some old books.

“It doesn’t work that way. For a human to turn into a demon, he or she would have to have demon DNA. Liam was half demon, and for some reason, he didn’t change over until his death. Usually, when a hybrid demon child is born, they go through the change within the first five years. They grow at a rapid rate, and many are fully grown by the time they are ten. Some, even younger. For some reason, I don’t know why, Liam grew at a human growth rate. He must have been about to go through his change when he died.” Noah continued to flip through the book in front of him. After a few more turns of the page, he said, “Ah! Here it is. Paul Loomis.”

Zach looked up from his laptop. “That was the junior high football coach…and Liam’s father.” Zach frowned. He got up from his seat at the small, round table next to the bar and walked over to Noah to look over his shoulder. Noah was sitting in his recliner next to the sofa where Khloe was sitting.

Ayden moved to stand behind Noah’s other shoulder. The book Noah was looking through was a binder with photo album sleeves. The sleeves held old newspaper clippings.

“‘Jr. High Coach makes it big,’” Noah read the headline out loud. “It says here that ‘the small town junior high coach traded in his football and tennis shoes for a suit and tie.’ The article goes on to say that Paul was looking for a change after his son’s and wife’s deaths. He went to work for a large medical distribution company that moved into town.” Noah looked up and shook his head. “Now how does a football coach become the director of shipping and receiving for one of the largest medical distribution companies in the U.S.?”

“You know the owner,” Ayden said. ‘Knowing someone’ was how he’d gotten the position of sheriff. He knew Zach and most of the townspeople.

“Exactly. And who is the owner?” Everyone looked at Noah, waiting. He rolled his eyes. “Hector D. Grayson.”

Ayden and Zach cursed at the same time. It was Zach who spoke. “I never made the connection before.”

Demetrius was using his father’s name. Ayden bet there was a lot more going on then distributing medical supplies. “I don’t think Kalissa knew,” Ayden said sadly. Gods, he missed her. The time apart from her was too much for him. He had to do something to bring her home. Once he had her home, he was never going to be apart from her again. “Is there an address? Maybe if we go to Paul’s house, we’ll find out where his son lives.”

“I’ll do a search. There has to be an address somewhere,” Khloe said softly. It was the first time she’d spoken since arriving. She’d been quietly sitting on the sofa, sipping tea and watching them. “I picked up a few things from my mother.”

“Come on, then,” Zach said as he went back to his laptop. Khloe got up to follow him to the table. Zach let Khloe take the driver’s seat in front of the computer.

Ayden looked down at the binder his grandfather was still flipping through. Now he knew why Noah saved all that stuff. You never knew when it would come in handy. “Is there anything in there about Liam’s mother’s death?”

Noah nodded but stayed silent until he came to a page that held two articles. He turned the book so Ayden could read the articles. The first one was about the alleged suicide of Barbra Loomis. There was nothing out of the ordinary about the article. She had taken the death of her son very hard and had taken her own life. The second article was about Paul’s new executive position at Grayson Distributions and the brand new, expensive mansion he built on the north side of Jacksonville a few weeks before his wife’s suicide.  

Ayden walked to Zach and Khloe at the table. Khloe tore off a Post-It note she had written on and handed it to Ayden. “That’s the address to Paul’s home, or at least one that he owns,” she said.

“I’m going to check out this address.” Ayden held up the Post-It note.  

Khloe stood up and followed. Ayden was about to say something, but Khloe held her hand up. “She’s my sister. You’re not shutting me out on this one. Plus, I owe the bastard a few lightning bolts up the ass.”

“Wait! You can’t go in there half-cocked. What if she’s not there? We would spend valuable time following an empty lead or worse, a trap,” Zach said with his cop hat on tight.

Ayden dropped his shoulders. “You’re right. I’m not thinking straight.”

“I know, cuz. There is a small coven not far from there. I can ask for someone to check it out, do some snooping,” Zach said and then directed Khloe to bring up the online
magickin
social network he’d set up a couple of days ago.

“Hey, this is pretty cool,” Khloe said, browsing the site. There was a chat room, and each coven had their own page with lists of residents with contact information, blogs, and news postings. Khloe was surprised by the number of active users. “What did you do to get this many covens to participate?”

“Papa has the contacts for all the U.S. Elders. I set the site up, tested it with our coven first, then emailed the site address and scope to each Elder. I also asked for it to be passed to any coven I missed, including the international ones,” Zach said with a proud-of-himself grin on his face.

Khloe laughed. “It seems to have taken off.”

Zach turned the computer so he could send the Oceanway Coven a message. “You can set up your own profile and play with it later,” he said.

“Can you set me up as an admin? I can help you monitor messages and emails.”

Zach smiled and nodded. “Sure.” He left a message for the Elder, Eleese Sanders, telling her about the situation and advising her to use extreme caution. A few seconds later, she replied, saying that she would help in any way she could and would be back in touch with him if she found out anything.

All Ayden had to do was wait. That was not going to easy.