Hell Transporter (Between) (8 page)

After he went upstairs, I paced the floor in my pink flannel nightgown and slippers, trying to decide what to do. I thought about talking to Aiden, but he hadn’t reached out to me all day.

You can go one day without him, Lindsey,
I told myself. I scanned the bookshelf and pulled out one of my mom’s paperbacks, then settled onto the couch to read. The cover of the book was torn off and I got a good fifty pages into the book before I realized that it was a bodice ripper.

“I brought you some refreshments.” Laurabelle held out the tray of lemonade and cookies, her southern drawl coming out strong.

Dax glanced up from the car motor he was working on and put one hand over his brow, squinting. The sun streamed in from behind her, lighting her long, strawberry blonde hair like a halo. He could see the outline of her naked body through her thin cotton dress.

“Delicious,” he murmured as she turned away from him and set down the tray, the light showing off her shapely legs. He came up behind her and put his arms around her waist, and she could feel his desire pressing against her. She twisted in his embrace and he leaned her against the body of the car, pulling her dress up and wedging himself between her legs. Moaning, she reached for his zipper…

“Holy crap!” I dropped the book in my lap, my heart racing. Even though I knew I was alone, I glanced guilty around the room as if someone might have seen my blush. I flipped it over and read the back cover, which would have clued me in that it was a bosom buster, if I’d thought to read that first. I tossed it back on the bookshelf, feeling shocked and disconcertedly turned on.

Standing in front of the fire, my limbs tingling, I tried not to think about Aiden. I could hear the sounds of the forest coming alive outside, the frogs croaking and crickets chirping, and decided I needed some fresh air to help clear my head.

I padded out onto the deck in my jammies, taking deep breaths of the cool night air. The stars filled the sky with their twinkling brilliance and I gazed up at them in awe. Aiden was out there in the woods somewhere, I knew, and my eyes scanned the trees looking for any sign of him. Moonlight pooled on the lake with a blue liquid glow and I ventured down the hill toward the water, drawn like a magnet to its beauty. My head swept from side to side as I walked, but I saw nothing but a screen of trees all around. A frog’s throaty call erupted loudly next to me on the trail and I jumped, letting off a high-pitched squeak. I glanced up nervously at the cabin where Dad was sleeping, but there was no movement in the window.

“Oh, to hell with it,” I said to the frog, and tramped off into the bushes along the lake, trying in earnest now to find any trace of Aiden. Visions of him filled my head and my pulse quickened at the thought of being alone with him in the woods. Hiking up and down the hill, I strained to catch a glimpse of him, but with only the silver light of the stars filtering down through the trees, I couldn’t see a thing.

I didn’t want to call to him in my mind, since he’d specifically told me he wouldn’t see me until tomorrow. But dammit, I wanted to see him. Frustrated, I kicked a pinecone and it skidded down the hill, bumping into trees as it rolled.

“Aiden, where are you?” I muttered dejectedly to myself. Finally, I started back toward home, my slippers caked with dirt.

Here.

I caught movement behind me just before a hand came over my mouth, cutting off my scream.

“You make more noise than a wounded stag in the brush. You shouldn’t be wandering the woods by yourself at night.” His voice was playful in my ear, but the warning tone was clear.

I turned in his arms with a teasing smirk, my heart racing from the thrill of being with him again. “Oh yeah? Why not? Because I could get accosted by a wild, roving Scot?”

He chuckled and held me tight. “Aye, that you could, indeed. But not tonight. You’re safe for now, at least.”

I reached up on my tiptoes to kiss his neck. “What if I don’t want to be safe? What if I want to be taken advantage of by a crazy Highlander out here in the woods?”

He pushed me back slightly and settled me on my feet. “Nae, love. I’ll not lie with you while your Da is sleeping soundly in his bed in yon cabin. Or have you forgotten so soon the look he gave you when he thought I’d dishonored you?”

The shame in his face sobered me and I let my gaze fall to the ground.

“He told me at the lake today that he likes you and that he’s glad you make me happy.” I turned hopeful eyes to him.

He touched my face, nodding. “He’s a good man, your Da. While we were out fishing, I asked for his blessing to make you my wife.”

“You did?” The words came out in a croak. After the fiasco with the skunk and the toothbrush, I could hardly believe that Aiden had had the courage to bring it up.

“What did he say?”

Aiden’s face was serious and I got nervous for a moment that Dad might have said no.

“He said that if I ever hurt you, he’d find me and kill me. I told him that if I ever hurt you, I’d want him to. Then he was quiet for a long time.” Aiden grew quiet then, too, remembering. “Then he nodded and said ‘Take care of her. She’s all I have.’ He doesn’t know you’re all I have as well.” He brushed a hand through my hair and bent his face to mine. His lips were warm and soft, and my bones turned to liquid as he kissed me. I ran one hand up the back of his neck, pulling him closer. I wasn’t sure whether it was the smutty book or because I’d missed him so much over the last two days, but his touch sent fire racing through my blood and all I could think about was getting his clothes off. I reached down toward his kilt, but he stopped me, his hold tight on my wrist.

“No, lass. Not tonight. I promised your Da that I would treat you with honor and respect, and I will not lie with you while he is here. In fact,” his brows drew together, “I think perhaps I shouldn’t make love to you again until we’re married proper.”

“What?!” I flung myself backward out of his arms, screeching.

He glared at me, his lips set in a white line of disapproval.

Keep your voice down, lass.

But his comment had gotten my hackles up and I narrowed my eyes at him, staring him down, my hands clenched at my sides.

Don’t you ‘lass’ me, Aiden MacRae. Let’s get one thing straight right now. I am your wife and I don’t give a damn what anyone thinks about it, not even my dad. I will not let any warped sense of honor or duty come between us and if I want to have sex with you in the woods, I will! Got it?

Aiden’s eyebrows jerked up and I knew I had crossed a line, but I was beyond caring. The last two days of worrying about him and being separated from him had taken their toll, and I was beyond trying to be diplomatic about it. His face hardened into moonlit granite. I could see him trying to control his breathing as the anger built within him. He shook his head slowly at me, his eyes never leaving mine.

You will not speak to me in such a way, Lindsey. I will not have it.
The steel in his voice chilled me.

I thought we were already married. But maybe I’ve been fooling myself.

He sucked in his breath like he’d been punched in the stomach. His eyes flashed angrily and I knew that I’d hurt him. Frustrated, I turned to walk away.

He grabbed my wrist and whipped me back around to face him, his chest heaving with a barely restrained outburst.

Where are you going?
His voice was low and cold, but shook with an intensity that belied his true feelings.

I yanked my wrist out of his grasp and thrust my chin out with a lot more courage than I felt.

Home. You obviously don’t want me.

He jerked back, eyes wide with disbelief.

Don’t want you? Don’t want you?!
God in heaven!
An angry growl of frustration erupted from him and he strode away, swinging a vicious punch into the trunk of the nearest tree. Pinecones rained down at his feet and a bird flew off, flapping its wings irritably. He turned to stare at me, wild-eyed and beside himself with fury. His knuckles were scratched and bloody from the blow, but he paid them no mind as his eyes bore into mine.

How can you even think such a thing? My God, woman, you’re all I think about day and night!
His voice was incredulous and enraged, hot with passion, and he clutched my shoulders in his hands, shaking me.

I didn’t back down but matched his temper, feeling the emotion and fire consume me as I challenged him.
You say you want me but then you’re so worried about what other people will think that you’re ready to just cut me off altogether. Well, I don’t give a shit what anyone says! If you really want me, then prove it! Prove it, damn you!

My eyes flickered to the boulder behind his shoulder and I visualized a graphic scene of him proving his passion forcefully, and wished he could see how I truly felt.

He let out a strangled gasp of shock.

How did ye do that?
A mixture of fear and fascination swam across his features.

I frowned at him in confusion, my heart still racing from our confrontation.

Do what?

You sent me your thought but it wasn’t just words. It was… I mean… I saw…

No. Could he have seen it?

What did you see?

Color flushed into his cheeks like a shadow in the moonlight. His mouth twisted with amusement as he gestured to the rock with his head.

I saw you bent over that boulder and me behind you with one hand twisted in your hair and the other on the small of your back.

Now it was my turn to blush, as that was exactly the image I’d had in mind, but hearing him say it was something else altogether. He pulled me into his arms with a devious grin.

Were ye really thinking that, love? Lord above, you’ve a nasty mind on you! You never stop surprising me, do ye?
He kissed me forcefully, his fist gripping my hair as he pulled me to him. We broke away, panting and his eyes gleamed with excitement.
But how did you do it? You’ve never sent me a picture thought before. I didn’t even know it was possible.

But you did it first. When you were drinking whisky with my dad, you were thinking about licking my chest and I saw it.

His jaw fell open and he promptly shut it again.

You saw that?

I grinned at his reaction and nodded. He sank to the ground and I snuggled up next to him, grateful for the chance to finally tell him what happened that night.

It wasn’t just the image, though. When I connected with you in my mind, I felt drunk like I was the one drinking the whisky, just like I felt the poke on my finger at the rose bush.

He leaned back and stared at me like the answer was somehow hidden in my eyes.

But you didn’t feel it the second time I did it, aye?

I shook my head and chewed on my lip, thinking. I tossed out a theory.
Maybe it’s because the second time, you knew it was coming. Or maybe it’s because we weren’t connected in our minds when you poked your finger on purpose.

He nodded slowly and played with my fingers while he tried to make sense of it.

But I didn’t mean to send you that vision when I was drinking. I didn’t even know that I did. Why would that be? Do you see all my thoughts, then?

I assured him that I didn’t and he looked relieved, but still confused. I ventured another guess.

Maybe it was the alcohol. Maybe it lowered your defenses or something and let thoughts slip out that you didn’t necessarily mean to send me.

Something connected in his eyes and he smiled triumphantly.
You said that you felt the effects of the whisky. But when you saw the image of me kissing you there…
He glanced down briefly at my chest and his eyes danced in the moonlight.
Did you feel anything else?

I remembered the rush of sexual excitement that gripped me with such intensity I’d had to grab the edge of the sink to keep my legs from buckling underneath me.

Ah, you did. I can see it on your face.

He leaned forward until his breath became mine and mine, his.

So how could you ever think that I don’t want ye,
ma chèrie?

He kissed me hard and lust broke over me in waves, starting in my mind and flooding my senses until I shook with the need to have him. Now.

Instantly, a menacing voice filled my head, hissing out a single word that brought the world to a screeching halt.

Transporter…

The venomous exhalation crawled like fire ants under my skin. Aiden jumped to his feet, his blade instantly in his hand, just as an overwhelming stench punched me in the gut.

This was no skunk; this carried the smell of death, like a rotted corpse that had been sitting in the sun for days, covered in flies.

I scrambled to my feet, covering my nose and mouth to block out the putrid scent. Acid burned my throat as my stomach heaved with nausea. An unearthly howl pierced the air, like an animal being torn limb from limb. The trees erupted all around me as hundreds of birds took flight at once.

Aiden grabbed my wrist and we raced back to the cabin, desperate to get away from whatever was out there. As we ran, he kept his body turned slightly so he could cover my back.

Mine…
The voice hissed again, sending terror shooting through me. My foot caught on a tree root jutting out of the ground and I went down, face first. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth. Aiden yanked me into a vertical position and we kept moving. Adrenaline carried me the rest of the way up the hill. Spitting blood and pine needles, I vaulted onto the porch and wrenched open the back door.

I whipped around, expecting Aiden to follow me in, but he wasn’t there.

Aiden!
I screamed in my mind.

Stay inside, Lindsey. Don’t come out, no matter what ye hear.

I shut the door and leaned against it, my breath coming in huge gulps. Fear for Aiden consumed me so completely that I couldn’t even function. Blood dribbled down my chin, so I stumbled into the kitchen to grab a wet towel, praying feverishly for Aiden’s safety.

The squeak of the rafters above reminded me that Dad was still upstairs asleep. A sense of purpose burned away the haze of panic clouding my mind.

I can keep Dad safe at least.

After grabbing the fireplace poker, I ran to the front door and locked it, then checked to make sure all the windows were secure as well. Holding the iron tool like a weapon, I paced back and forth.

“Think, Lindsey! Think!” I whispered to the empty room, pounding my fist to my forehead. “Okay, the voice said ‘Transporter.’ But no one even knows that word but me and Aiden.” I scoured my mind to try and remember if I’d ever mentioned it to anyone else. I drew a blank.

“Even if I had said it,” I argued with the empty room, “that doesn’t explain how he heard the voice. He was on his feet in a second. He heard it. He had to have!” My fingernails bit into my palm and I growled in frustration.

“What the hell
was
that?” At the word ‘hell,’ my frozen brain finally clicked on.

A cold sweat broke out all over my body.

“Oh my God.”

My knees gave out and I crumpled into a ball on the floor. My mind flashed back to that day in between when I’d asked him what it was like transporting souls to heaven for all those years. And then I’d asked him that question, the one I couldn’t even say out loud:
Did you take people to hell, too?

He didn’t answer for a long time, but finally shook his head, his face unreadable.

“No, I didn’t, though I have seen one who does.”

When I’d pressed him, he’d described the hell transporter as a swirling black mass with an unholy stench.

“When it touched the ground, it formed into this…” he’d struggled to find the words to describe it, his lips pulled down in a sneer, “… thing. I don’t even know what to call it. It was small and thin like a woman, but hunched over like a wolf, with sharp claws at the tips of its fingers. It had black, snarly hair and dry, crackling skin. Its tongue stuck out over its fangs with a wicked grin of violent, lusty excitement. I met its eyes for just a second and they flashed blood red at me, then I cast us out of there immediately.”

The memory drenched me with a sick foreboding. Had a hell transporter followed him here? Why? What could it possibly want with Aiden? To take him back? To take him to…

I couldn’t even finish the thought.

As the shock began to wear off, huge sobs burst forth from deep in my gut. Burying my face in my knees so as to not wake my dad, I cried and cried, since there was nothing else I could do. Aiden was out there—alone—facing the demon that takes people to hell, with only a little dagger as a weapon.

God, please save him. You’re the only one who can.

After what felt like a lifetime, I fell asleep with the fireplace poker gripped in my hands.

Chapter 9

“Hey, pumpkin.” Dad’s voice woke me. Bleary-eyed, I blinked up at him from the middle of the living room floor. “What are you doing down here? And with this?” He pried the fireplace poker from my stiff fingers. Pain radiated down my neck and shoulder from the way I’d been sleeping, but all I could think about was Aiden.

Aiden, are you there?
I called in my mind, ignoring my dad.

Aye, I’m safe, lass. The beast ran off and I never saw it at all.
The confidence in his voice soothed me, but I could hear the exhaustion and frustration as well.

Please come back. I’ve been worried sick.

“Lindsey? Hello? Are you in there?” Dad lifted me off the ground and I winced at the stabbing pain in my back.

“I’m fine, Dad.”

“What were you doing, sleeping on the floor? And with this?” he repeated, waving the iron rod around.

“I heard something outside. I was afraid it would try to get in. I must have fallen asleep waiting.” It sounded lame even to my own ears and he didn’t look like he was buying it, either. But he just shook his head and put the poker back with the other fireplace tools.

“Well, don’t do that again. You scared me when I saw you lying there on the ground.” He pulled me into a warm hug and the little girl inside me sniffled with relief in the safety of his arms.

“Sorry, Dad.”

He kissed the top of my head and stroked my hair like he’d always done before.

I pulled back and gave him a brave smile. “Hungry?” I asked and he nodded.

The butter had barely begun to melt in the cast iron skillet when Aiden arrived. I practically raced to the door and threw my arms around him.

I’m fine, love. Don’t concern your Da.
His voice was tender with a slight tone of censure. My lip quivered as I looked at him, but I nodded. “Smells good, lass. Mind if I join ye?” he asked, loud enough for my dad to hear from the living room.

“Aiden, come to see me off?” Dad asked, heading into the kitchen to shake his hand.

“Are you leaving today, then? I’d be pleased to help you pack,” Aiden offered and Dad laughed.

“I’ll bet you would, son. I’ll bet you would.”

“Dad,” I said in my most threatening voice, “be nice.” He turned an innocent smile to me and invited Aiden to join us for breakfast.

When Dad was finished loading the car to go, he started to shake Aiden’s hand goodbye, but then muttered something under his breath and yanked him forward into a hug, smacking him on the back. Then Dad looked him in the eye, one arm gripping his shoulder.

“Remember what I said.”

Aiden nodded somberly and replied, “Aye, sir. That I will.”

Dad pulled me into a big bear hug. “I love you, sweetheart.” His eyes misted up when his arms relaxed around me. He kissed me on the forehead and gave me another quick squeeze, then turned and got into his car. We stood in the drive, waving to him as he drove away, the dust from the road swirling in a cloud behind him.

As soon as Dad was gone, I wheeled on Aiden. “You didn’t find anything?”

He shook his head. “Nae, I searched the woods all through the night and couldn’t pick up the trace.” The set of his shoulders and clench of his jaw told me that guilt was eating him alive. “It’s gone.”

‘For now’ is what he didn’t say, but it came across loud and clear.

“Was that…?” The words lodged in my throat like a wadded up ball of sandpaper. “…what I think it was?”

Aiden hesitated, like he didn’t want to tell me, but finally he nodded, his face grim.

“A hell transporter.”

Hearing the words fall from his lips mowed down my last shred of self-control. Fear slammed into me like a runaway semi-truck and I started to shake all over.

“But why? What does it want? To… to kill us?” My voice came out in a horrified squeak. My mind conjured up images of Aiden being torn to pieces by the evil creature, blood everywhere, screams echoing through the woods. I squeezed my eyes shut as tight as I could to block it out. “What are we going to do?”

Aiden gripped my shoulders with both hands. “Lindsey, we cannot let fear overtake us. The enemy wants us to be afraid so we make mistakes. I won’t let that happen.” His eyes held my own with fierce determination until I finally nodded, though my insides still churned with terror at what could happen. “We will defeat the beast. I won’t let any harm come to ye. I promise.”

“But how?” I asked and immediately wished I hadn’t because I wasn’t prepared for his answer.

Aiden’s face crumpled into a frown. His fingers curled into tight fists at his side.

“I don’t know.”

He strode across the dirt driveway to the woodpile and grabbed the axe with one hand. He placed a new log on the chopping block, swung the axe up in a wicked arc and brought it down with brute force like he was cleaving the beast’s skull in two. The loud crack reverberated through my bones. The pieces of wood rolled in opposite directions, bleeding splinters onto the ground. The axe stuck in the block and Aiden yanked it free, then grabbed another log.

“Think,” he said under his breath before hoisting the axe up for another blow.

Crack!

“What do we know about the beast?” he asked to the woods in general while he bent to throw the broken pieces onto the pile. He recited the details of his first encounter with the hell transporter in between, the same thing he’d told me before.

“It started out as a swirling black mass with a screeching sound like ravens fighting over a carcass. And that smell...” He swallowed hard and wiped a hand down his face. “Then when it touched down to take the soul, it turned into that wolf-like beast with fangs.” He stared at the ground like the answer was written there. With a hard shake of his head, he turned and picked up another log.

Crack!

The sound ripped through me like I’d stuck my hand on a live wire. I started grasping at straws in an effort to make him stop.

“Did it try to talk to you when you saw it? Were you able to communicate with it using your mind back then?” I asked.

“No. You’re the only one I’ve ever been able to hear in my head.”

“Until now,” I said.

His head snapped up. “What?”

“Last night, it said ‘Transporter’ and ‘Mine.’ You didn’t hear it? You jumped up and took off running, so I figured we both—“

He shook his head hard. Staring at me, he said,
“I recognized the stench.”

“Oh,” I said, unable to wrap my head around what this might mean. I could hear the hell transporter but Aiden couldn’t? Or was it just talking to me and not him? Why would it care about me?

“Is that all it said? What did it sound like?”

I described the guttural, hissing noise and Aiden’s face grew even more fierce. He wasn’t afraid. He was angry. Muttering to himself in Gaelic, he resumed his ritual slaughtering of the wood.

Crack!

I just about jumped out of my skin.

“Was it wearing clothes? Did it have any specific markings?” I tried again.

He shook his head. “The beast was lightly furred, with a skeletal face. Part wolf, part reptile... I don’t know. It wasn’t like anything I’ve ever seen on earth.” He wiped sweat from his brow with his forearm and leaned on the handle of the axe. “Markings? No, not that I recall. Just the blood red eyes.” He leaned down to retrieve another log and everything in me screamed to find something—anything—to keep him from making that sound again.

“Wait!”

He stopped, the axe clutched in one hand.

“Um…” Rolling a fallen pinecone between my feet, I racked my brain to find the missing puzzle piece that would give us some clue. “You said ‘touched ground’ like it was in the air before.” He nodded, staring at the chopping block, waiting for me to continue. “So it was a black mass that reeked to high heaven before it turned into the beast. And we heard that screech, too. Maybe last night, it never touched down and that’s why you couldn’t find any trace of it.”

His eyes met my own for a heartbeat. And another. Hope and guilt warred across his face.

“It’s not your fault,” I said. His shoulders relaxed a fraction and he dropped the axe to the ground.

Hope won.

Relief spread through me. I offered him a weak smile.

“Perhaps that’s true. But I still don’t know how to defeat it,” he said.

“Yet,” I said with more confidence than I felt.

Finally, he smiled.

“Yet.”

Chapter 10

The remaining days of summer slipped away and the hell transporter never returned, though I swore I felt its shadow everywhere I went. Aiden searched the woods constantly, but never found tracks or any sign of the creature. Unwilling to sit and do nothing, he raided the rusty, spider-filled shed that held tools from when the cabin was originally built decades ago. He fashioned a spear from a tree branch and an ancient pair of clipping shears, forging the metal into a sharp point and binding the tip to the wood with leather cut from an old chair. His ingenuity and determination amazed me, but his constant target practice served as a painful reminder that our carefree honeymoon was over. I forced myself not to dwell on it since having to go back to school was stressing me out enough.