Grave Destinations (25 page)

“My boss will come looking for me.” She shifted her weight as she eyed the door, wondered if she could run fast enough to make her escape. “Trust me, you don’t want to be on his bad side.”

“And what makes you think he’ll ever find you?” The confidence in his voice made Ruby question Samuel’s ability to find her in the event she went missing. Time dragged as the demon looked her over, his dark brows furrowed in contemplation. Then his face brightened as if he’d just solved some great mystery. “I don’t know why anyone hasn’t thought of it before.”

“Thought of what?” The dread in her gut snaked up her spine. Whatever it was, it couldn’t be good.

“Reapers. We usually steer clear of your type.” He brushed the backs of his knuckles against her cheek and she instinctively recoiled. “But think of the possibilities.”

“What possibilities?” Ruby’s eyes darted about the room, searching for something—anything—to use as a weapon. Unfortunately, the only items within easy reach were the remote control and the room service menu.

“My kind feed on sexual energy, but we have to be careful with mortals. Can’t take too much, too quickly. Otherwise, the human dies.” His heated gaze raked over her body, staring with such intensity she could almost feel his eyes crawling over her flesh. “But with your type, there’s no need for caution. We can take what we want, without concern for mortality.”

Wonderful. Now the creep was thinking of using her like an Energizer rechargeable.

“Sounds great, but what if I don’t feel like playing along?”

“What makes you think you have a choice?” The laughter in his voice chilled her blood.

Heart racing, she forced back the fear that threatened to consume her. There had to be a way out of this. She just hadn’t figured it out yet. “From what I understand, your prey needs to be in the mood for what you have in mind.”

“True.” The demon rubbed his chin with his forefinger. “But beasts of burden have been tamed and trained for thousands of years. What makes you think you’d be any different?”

Ruby’s jaw dropped open. “Did you just compare me to an ox?”

“It’s a valid correlation, is it not?”

Screw this.
She ducked under his arm and made a break for the door. She’d barely taken three steps when the demon cut in front of her and shoved her back against the wall so hard the picture fell from its perch. This time, the frame cracked and the glass shattered.

“It’s so much easier if you don’t fight.” He crowded her against the wall, so close she could feel the heat of his body. “I can give you anything you want, be anyone you want me to be.”

His body shimmered, his features dulling until they became a blank slate, then reshaping to form a new one. Then he no longer looked like himself, but like one of the studs she’d seen at the club a few nights before.

“Does that work better for you?” he asked as he studied her like a pinned insect. He shook his head and chuckled. “No, that does nothing for you at all, does it?” He shifted again, this time appearing as one of the bartenders on the main deck near the pool. Again, he studied her, and after a few moments shook his head. “Hmm, closer but not quite. Tell me the truth, reaper, who is your deepest desire?”

She felt a dark presence brush the corners of her mind, slippery cold tendrils pushing, probing, searching for access to her innermost secrets.

“Get out of my head, you bastard.” Ruby’s eyes slammed shut while she mentally fought against the unwelcome intrusion. She gritted her teeth, desperate and determined to keep him from rooting through her most personal thoughts. The resistance was met with increasing force, the pressure inside her head turning into pain as he battled her defenses and forced his way deeper inside her mind.

“You can’t win, you know. I’m far too powerful.” On the surface, he sounded calm, but there was a hint of strain in his voice that hadn’t been there before. His features hardened, his mouth set in a grim line.

Doubling her efforts, she mentally pushed back with every last ounce of her strength. An involuntary whimper escaped her lips when the pressure grew so intense it felt like her head might explode. Her stomach churned as bile rose in her throat. She decided it was all worth it, though, when the pressure released and the demon retreated from her thoughts.

Too bad it didn’t last. Before she had the chance to fortify her position, a cold blast shot through her mind, sending splinters of pain through every synapse. Off balance, she struggled to resist, but she couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. Couldn’t breathe. An overwhelming force stormed past her defenses, an invasion that left her feeling battered and violated.

“Ah, there it is, just as I suspected,” he said, triumphant. The demon retreated from her thoughts so abruptly it made her nauseous. She bent at the waist and gasped for air, struggling to keep her stomach from heaving. By the time she recovered, he’d shifted again.

The bastard had turned himself into Jack. He grinned at her, cocky and victorious, believing he’d finally cracked her hormonal code. Only it wasn’t the physical Jack that pushed her buttons. No, a creature like this could never understand the intangible aspects of attraction. Of emotional investment. Of... love.

A fire ignited deep within the recesses of her soul. The fire turned to anger, and the anger quickly heated into rage. She’d be damned if she was going to let this asshole get away with treating her like livestock. He’d pay for his crimes, for preying on humanity like a parasite, for taking life without any sense of regret or remorse.

Decision made, she gave him a sly smile. Warm. Inviting. Deceiving.

“How perceptive of you. I’ve developed a bit of a soft spot for good old Jack,” she said, her voice dropping to a throaty purr. She flashed her best seductive smile, praying he wouldn’t see through her deception.

“There’s my girl.” He pulled her roughly into his arms, and she could tell he was already aroused. “I knew we’d find some way to reach an understanding.”

Understanding, my ass.
She slid a hand over the hardened planes of his chest, over his shoulder, curling around the nape of his neck. With a coy smile, she pulled his head down and gave him a deep, drugging kiss.

And then she kneed him in the balls.

“B
itch,” the demon hissed as he sank to the carpet, both hands clutching his crotch. His features shimmered, and then shifted back to their original form.

Ruby seized the opportunity, kicking him in the face before making a break for the exit. She was a few feet away from the cabin door when his hand latched onto her ankle, yanking her legs out from under her and sending her crashing to the carpet. Pain shot through her knee as the impact knocked the wind from her lungs, leaving her gasping for air like a fish out of water.

“Thought I’d let you go so easily?” He was on her in an instant, straddling her hips and grabbing for her flailing arms. Using his superior strength and weight to his advantage, he pinned her arms against her sides.

“Let me go!” She fought to break his hold, but found his grip as unyielding as iron.

“Not a chance. You’ll learn your place soon enough.” His mouth crushed down over hers, swallowing her screams of protest. He rolled, pivoted, until he was flush on top of her, the heavy weight of his body pressing her into the plush carpet.

Panic seized her. She refused to allow herself to become a victim, to be abused and discarded at another’s whim. She bit down hard, ignoring the tang of copper and saliva, until her teeth tore through the demon’s lower lip.

A muffled curse tore from his throat. He reared back, hand against his mouth, the blood dripping down his chin and onto her shirt.

She hardly registered the sound of the door lock disengaging. The knob turned, but since the interior bolt was in place the door refused to budge.

“Ruby?” Jack’s voice never sounded sweeter to her ears. The handle turned again, a thump on the door when he tried to push it open. “Ruby, are you okay? Open the door.”

“Jack!” With renewed determination she wriggled and bucked and clawed at the demon’s face. Moving on a mixture of instinct and adrenaline, she jammed her fingers into his eyes. The demon screamed, and his hands flew up to shield his face. She took full advantage of his weakened state, punching him in the throat and shoving him backward.

The demon rolled to the side and Ruby scrambled to her feet. Her left knee throbbed from the impact against the floor, but she ignored the pain as she limped across the room. She was a few feet shy of the door when the demon grabbed her from behind. One arm locked around her waist as he hoisted her in the air and dragged her back toward the sliding glass door.

“Ruby!” A heavy thud that sounded like a kick, and the door shook but held. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”

“Do I sound okay?” Ruby clawed at the arm pinning her against the demon’s chest. Kicked like a mule with her heels. She slammed her head back, heard a satisfying crunch of bone.

The demon grunted. His grip weakened, spurring Ruby to try even harder.

“What’s going on in there?” Another kick, and the door frame cracked. One more and the inside bolt wouldn’t hold Jack out any longer.

“I guess we’ll be doing this the hard way,” the demon growled.

Fear froze Ruby in place. “Doing what?”

No answer. The demon’s hold around her waist released and she dropped the short distance to the floor. Before she had the chance to run for freedom, large hands gripped her neck and twisted. Her line of vision jerked to the left as pressure built in her neck. A loud crunching noise filled her ears, and then all sensation disappeared and her entire body went limp.

“Ruby, answer me!” Heart pounding with fear and adrenaline, Jack kicked the cabin door again. This time, the wooden frame splintered. He gave one final shove with his shoulder, and the door swung loose on its hinges. Momentum sent him stumbling inside, and his blood froze at the scene.

A dark-skinned man held Ruby by the upper arm. Her body sagged against him like a broken doll, her slender neck twisted at an unnatural angle. Eyes wide and unblinking. Mouth agape. No signs of life.

The man’s eyes fixed on Jack, a self-satisfied smirk on his bloodied face. His free hand wrapped around Ruby’s broken neck. “That’s close enough, Mister Deverell,” he said, the menace unmistakable in his voice.

Jack stared back at Ruby’s attacker, torn by the need to get to Ruby but not wanting to see more harm come to her. And then there was the question of how the man knew his name. “Do I know you?”

“Yes, but it’s been a very long time, and things have changed quite a bit since then. To be honest, I never expected to lay eyes on you again. It was quite the surprise to see you on board.”

“I can’t say I share the same sentiment.” Gilrov railed against his bonds with shocking ferocity, but Jack forced him back into submission. A power struggle was the last thing he needed at a time like this. “Refresh my memory, because I have no clue who you are.”

“Drawing a blank, are you?” The man chuckled. “In that case, why don’t I give you a hint so we can finish this trip down Memory Lane?” His body shimmered, shrinking in size until a heavyset, dark-skinned woman stood behind Ruby.

“Keisha.” The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Now he understood why Gilrov was going ballistic. The demon had probably sensed Keisha’s presence long before she revealed her true nature to Jack.

“See? You do remember me, after all.” She gave him a smile that looked more like a sneer. “And to think, you barely afforded me a backward glance when I worked inside your family’s home.”

“Is that why you cursed me? Because I didn’t pay you enough attention?”

Keisha scoffed. “Don’t be silly, Mister Deverell. You never meant anything to me.”

The answer rendered him momentarily speechless. “Then—then why?”

She gave him a look of unwashed disdain. “You were nothing more than practice. I needed to test the binding spell before trying it on myself. Once I knew it worked on you, I used the same spell to remove the soul from another demon’s body and then replaced it with my own. As you can see, it worked perfectly.” She laughed, but the sound lacked humor. “Typical male. So full of himself.”

The news settled like rocks in his stomach. “I don’t understand. You said you’d remove the curse if I called off my wedding with Victoria. Why would you do something like that if you didn’t harbor any feelings for me?”

“Because Victoria Hughes was a snobby bitch who deserved a lesson in humility. Every time she visited the Deverell estate, she looked at me as if I were less than human. You could have done so much better for yourself.”

“She died because of you,” Jack said through clenched teeth. “The curse took her life on our wedding night.”

“Is that so?” The question lacked an ounce of concern. Her body shimmered, morphed back into the hulking, dark-skinned man. “What a pity.”

All this time, he’d thought Keisha cursed him because of unrequited affection. To learn he’d been nothing more than a guinea pig, the hapless victim of another’s whim, infuriated him. He took another step closer, and Keisha’s grip around Ruby’s neck visibly tightened.

“One more step, and I’ll separate her head from her shoulders.”

“You do that, and I’ll tear you to pieces.”

“Doubtful. You’re in no position to issue threats, Mr. Deverell. It’s been a very long time since you’ve held any power over me.” Keisha jerked Ruby’s neck, and her head swiveled in his direction. “I’m sure you don’t want to find out what happens if I rip her head from her body.”

He realized that Ruby couldn’t die from her injuries, but he didn’t want to test the limits of her immortality, and he certainly didn’t want her to suffer.

Ruby blinked. At first he thought he’d imagined the movement, but then she blinked twice more. Her mouth moved as if she was trying to speak, and his heart squeezed tight in his chest. It wasn’t much, but it gave him hope that they might just make it out of this mess alive and intact.

“It seems we’re at a bit of a standoff.” He glanced back at the ruined door. “But I made a lot of noise breaking in here, so it’s only a matter of time before someone calls security.”

Keisha’s lips pursed. “Well then, I guess that means I better get to work. Isn’t that right, Gilrov?”

Jack had no idea what Keisha meant by the comment, but it sure as hell didn’t sound promising. Gilrov seemed to share the sentiment, his energy spiking through Jack’s blood. If he didn’t know better, he’d say the demon was frightened.

Keisha began to chant, the words tumbling out so fast they all seemed to blend together. The language sounded vaguely familiar, but the only word Jack recognized was “Gilrov.” With each passing second the deep baritone grew louder, and a crackle of electricity filled the room. The power thickened, coalesced, as it wrapped around Jack’s body, freezing his limbs and holding him immobile.

“What are you doing?”

“Granting your wish,” Keisha replied with a malicious grin. “You wanted to be free of the curse, did you not?” She released her grip on Ruby, and her body fell limp to the floor. The chanting continued without interruption, a murmured rush of words that choked the air from Jack’s lungs.

He felt a tear, deep inside, the pain so intense he doubled over. His stomach lurched, and his knees gave out from under him. The words coalesced in his mind now, the silent scream from Gilrov confirming his fears. Keisha was breaking the curse forged nearly a century ago, splitting one back into two. But after so many years of being bound, the demon had become a part of Jack, and he a part of it. To sever the ties at this point would mean certain death for them both.

Another flash of pain, and his vision narrowed and blurred. His muscles twitched as his hearing dimmed, until he could hear only the sound of his own heart pounding, the time between beats growing longer and longer. He struggled to inhale, but his lungs refused to expand. Before he lost consciousness, he heard Ruby’s raspy voice utter one word:

“No.”

Ruby watched in horror as Jack convulsed on the floor, his life force weakening with each labored breath. With her neck broken, she could do little more than blink and move her mouth. The rest of her lacked any kind of sensation. It would take hours before her body healed the damage, and by then it would be too late.

Keisha stood beside her, her body rigid and her arms outstretched, chanting so fast the words were a blur. At this point, she paid no attention to Ruby, but that would probably change once she finished off Jack.

Never in her life had Ruby felt so powerless. In her current state she couldn’t save herself, much less Jack, from the creature’s wrath. And even if she could move her limbs, what were her chances against a demon of Keisha’s strength?

But wait. What she sensed from the creature was only demonic
on the outside
. Beneath the immortal shell, she sensed something familiar, something mortal, something inherently . . . human.

With her mind, she slipped past the creature’s defenses. She sifted through muscles, and bones, and organs, until she found the delicate seam binding human to immortal. Keisha appeared oblivious to the intrusion, so focused on ripping Jack to pieces she paid Ruby absolutely no mind.

Eyes narrowed, she mentally sank her claws into Keisha’s mortal essence. That got the bitch’s attention. Her head whipped around in Ruby’s direction, a look of fury on her face.

It was now or never. Steeling her resolve, Ruby tightened her grasp and jarred the soul loose from its moorings.

Keisha screamed.

Showing no mercy, Ruby yanked with all her mental strength. This time, she ripped Keisha’s soul from the demon’s body and drew it into her own. The taint of evil assaulted her senses, and she had to push back against the instinctual urge to recoil from its presence. Face tight with determination, she slammed Keisha’s spirit into that special place reserved for souls who died of unnatural causes.

“Sorry, Jessica.” In all the excitement, she hadn’t had the opportunity to guide Jessica through the portal to the next realm, which meant the poor girl’s soul was stuck sharing space with Keisha. “She’s the one who killed you, so feel free to kick her ass.”