Love Your Entity (19 page)

He tried to access her thoughts and was hit with a wave of two powerful emotions—fear and anger.

He saw the hazy image of a burly man threatening a woman and hitting her with his fists. Then he saw that woman, her eyes blackened and her lips swollen from a beating, holding the hand of a little red-haired girl.

“Where are we going, Mommy?”

“Shhh.”

“Wait. I want to bring Boo with me.” She pointed to the worn and tattered teddy bear on the bed. The man had his arm over it as he snored.

“No time,” her mother whispered. “I’ll get you another one.”

Once they were outside, Sierra had tears running down her cheeks and was about to turn back when her mom grabbed her by the shoulders. “He is going to hurt us! We have to be quiet and fast. We can’t go back. Ever!”

Sierra was silent but her tears continued to trickle down her pale cheeks. He’ll hurt Boo if we leave him. But she obeyed her mom and left her beloved bear behind.

Ronan could feel her pain. He knew she’d confided in that bear, whispered her fears to it in the night, and hugged it when she’d needed reassurance. Boo had been more than just a stuffed toy. He’d represented comfort and safety.

She’d lost that and had never quite regained it again. Ronan hated the fact that once again a dangerous bully was threatening Sierra. The need to protect her from Hal and any other threats, which had already been great, increased with a fierceness that burned deeply in his gut.

She abruptly turned to face him. “What are you doing?”

“Nothing.”

“You’re lying. I can tell, remember?” She glared at him. “So now you know why I hated my father.”

Ronan nodded.

“Isn’t it enough that you’ve tied me to you with bonds I can’t break? Do you have to invade my last bits of privacy as well?”

Ronan didn’t know what to say so he kept quiet.

“I want you to swear on your sister’s soul that you will stop reading my mind unless I give you permission to do so.”

“And have him swear he’ll bring you back while he’s at it,” Ruby said.

Sierra repeated Ruby’s words.

“I swear I’ll bring Sierra back,” Ronan said. He couldn’t swear not to read Sierra’s mind because doing so might end up saving her life. He was already reeling at how quickly Sierra had messed up his mind. After spending the night watching over her, he was more intrigued than ever.

He hadn’t been able to view her dreams while she slept, but he’d heard her little moans, which had sounded like they were inspired by pleasure not fear. She’d tossed and turned a lot after that, loosening the sheet and blanket to reveal her bare shoulder where the huge T-shirt had slid off.

She had the pale skin of a natural redhead. He already knew how soft she was to the touch, how warm, how responsive. And he knew how smart she was, how creative. He’d read her books last night, all three so far in the series. And he’d been impressed by how much of herself she put in them. The heroine, Nicki, had all the power and always won in the end. He suspected that came from the little five-year-old who had been forced to leave her teddy bear behind and flee into the night. No one was ever going to bully her again.

Yet here he was, forcing her to stay, inadvertently bonding her to him. Yes, he wanted her as much as she wanted him. He’d been hard-pressed not to go to her and caress every inch of her body. He’d been hard, period.

But he was fighting for his afterlife here. For his sister’s soul. No way should he even be thinking about sex with Sierra. He needed to stay strong and resist temptation. Maybe they’d be able to reach Adele at the séance today and he could learn more about her situation.

He held the door open for Sierra. “Let’s go.” His voice was brusque.

She wisely obeyed and didn’t bring up his mind-reading abilities again.

“Thank you for offering us the use of your house,” Sierra said as they entered the premises next door.

“You’re welcome,” Zoe said. “Bruce and Pat are already here, waiting for you.”

“Let’s do this,” Bruce said eagerly.

“You’re sure Hal can’t leave the house?” Pat asked.

“As sure as I can be about any of this,” Sierra replied.

“How sure is that?” Bruce asked.

“Ninety-five percent,” she said.

“What do we do if he does show up?” Bruce said.

“Duck,” Sierra said.

“Vampires don’t duck,” Ronan said. “We fight.”

Sierra ignored his comment. Instead she told Bruce, “I can’t guarantee that your friend will show up again.”

“I know,” Bruce said. “But she showed up before, so that’s a good sign.”

Ronan tugged Sierra aside as the others set up four chairs in a circle. “What about your father?”

“What about him?” she said curtly.

“Does having this séance put you at risk of his spirit showing up?”

He could tell by the look on her face that this wasn’t the first time the possibility had occurred to her. “It’s been my experience that once the evil have gone to hell, there is no further contact available to them.”

“We don’t have to do this,” he said gruffly.

“I sense that Bruce’s friend has something very important she needs to share.”

“We can stop if it gets to be too much,” Ronan told her.

Sierra was still angry that Ronan had invaded her thoughts earlier. It was one thing to be bonded to him physically, but it was quite another to be invaded in such a personal way. She felt as if there was nowhere she could go to have some privacy or freedom, which left her feeling jittery and unsafe.

And that was what had brought the memory of her father back to the forefront of her mind. She’d managed to squelch those fears since his death. Yes, occasionally something would happen to trigger a reaction of panic. Overall, she’d refused to let her life be ruled by that. Until she’d had the misfortune to get hooked up to a vampire.

“Would it throw things off if my grandmother and I joined the séance or should we just watch?” Zoe asked.

Sierra said, “Is your grandmother…?”

“A witch?” an older woman asked as she joined them. She had white hair and vivid blue eyes and was wearing a flowing caftan. She looked like Betty White’s twin sister. “Yes, I’m a witch. I’m Irma Adams and you must be our new next-door neighbor I’ve heard so much about.”

“Um, nice to meet you,” Sierra said. She was still trying to get used to this supernatural world she’d inadvertently moved into.

“Well, can we join the party?” Irma asked.

“I honestly don’t know,” Sierra said. “I haven’t held many séances and never with, um…”

“Vampires and witches?” Irma supplied helpfully.

“I participated in the séance yesterday,” Ronan reminded Sierra.

“Zoe, maybe you and your grandmother should sit this one out,” Bruce suggested. “Let’s see what happens with three vampires and a medium.”

“I’m not a medium,” Sierra said.

“She’s an entity empath,” Ronan said. “That’s why she can’t be compelled.”

“We can’t be compelled because we’re witches,” Zoe said as she handed Sierra a candle.

Sierra sat between Bruce and Pat. That way she didn’t have to hold Ronan’s hand and be distracted. The look he shot her let her know that he was aware of her move.

“I brought a photo of her,” Bruce said. “In case that might help.” He set it on the table near the candle then touched Mother’s face with his trembling index finger. “Parting is such sweet sorrow.” At Sierra’s surprised look, he got defensive. “What? You don’t think a clown should know Shakespeare? Mother had me read all his plays.” He looked down at the crisp blue shirt he wore. “Too dressy, or not enough?”

Sierra squeezed his hand reassuringly. “You look fine.”

“I want her to be proud.”

Shit. Those words hit Sierra hard and took her back to a milestone moment in her past. She’d been in third grade and the school was having a Father/Daughter Day. Sierra didn’t have a father. They usually told people that he was already dead before his actual death.

But on that particular day, Sierra had seen how the other girls had reacted. So she’d asked her mom that evening, “Why did he hate me?”

“Who?”

“My father. Was I bad? Carla told me that her dad is proud of her because she got an A on a test yesterday. Was my father ever proud of me?”

“I’m proud of you,” her mother had said fiercely before gathering her in a tight hug. “Very proud of you. Always. Never doubt that. And you were never bad.
He
was.”

“Sierra?” Bruce said.

“Let’s get started,” she said gruffly. “We need to hold hands.”

Bruce took her right hand and Pat her left. She was surprised to find that both had cooler skin than Ronan.

“Spirits, are you with us?” Sierra said.

Unlike in her house, she didn’t sense any strong residential spirits here. Maybe the witches kept them away. Sierra had no idea about the relationship between ghosts and witches. She couldn’t think about that now. She had to focus.

“Spirits, are you with us?” she repeated.

Nothing.

“Mother?” Bruce said aloud. “Are you here?”

“I’m here.” She showed up as she had the day before, dressed in circus garb in patriotic red, white, and blue. Her beard was dark brown as was her hair.

“She’s here,” Sierra said.

“Tell him to talk fast, I don’t have a lot of time,” Mother said.

“She wants you to talk fast,” Sierra told Bruce.

“I don’t know where to start.” He sounded nervous. “I wrote a speech with everything I wanted to tell you, but it’s in my shirt pocket and I’m afraid to let go of your hand, Sierra.”

“Just tell her what you’re feeling,” Sierra suggested gently.

“I wanted to thank you for everything you did for me, Mother,” he said in a rush. “I’m a vampire now. Maybe not what you envisioned for me. But I’ve found happiness with Pat here. I’m … I’m … I miss you. You were gone so quickly that I never had the chance to say how grateful I am and how much I love you.”

“I always knew,” Mother said.

Sierra repeated her words.

“I hate that you died alone,” Bruce said. His eyes had the glimmer of dampness. “I should have been with you. We were going to watch a movie together. If I’d been there and we’d gone out to the movie theater, I might have been able to save you.”

Sierra could feel Bruce’s fingers trembling in her clasp and the emotion in his voice was evident.

“My time was up,” Mother said bluntly.

“She said her time was up,” Sierra relayed.

Bruce shook his head, as if unable to accept that. “Are you okay, Mother?” he said. “Do you need anything?”

“I need you to move on with your life,” Mother replied. Her expression softened. “And I loved you, too. You were a good kid.” She turned to look over her shoulder. “I have to go now.”

Her image was fading. “Wait,” Sierra said. “Do you know Adele McCoy?”

Mother shook her head. “But I know of Hal. You’ll find what you’re looking for in his grave.” Then she was gone.

“What? Did she need anything?” Bruce said.

“She wants you to move on with your life,” Sierra said, still surprised by Mother’s final words about Hal.

“What about Adele?” Ronan said.

“She didn’t know her.”

“Can’t you try to reach Adele the way you did for Bruce?” Ronan said.

Sierra knew how desperately he wanted to reach his sister, so she tried to do so. “Spirits, are you with us? I’m looking for Adele McCoy.”

Instead of a luminescent ghost, Sierra saw the dark image of something dangerous. Evil incarnate. She was so startled that she released Bruce’s and Pat’s hands and leaned back in her chair as far as she could go.

The entity disappeared as quickly as it had appeared. It hadn’t been Hal. She had no idea who it was and she really didn’t want to know. She hadn’t seen features or anything other than the overwhelming aura of malevolence.

“What’s wrong?” Ronan demanded. “What did you see?”

Before Sierra could answer, the front door flew open and Daniella rushed in. “Danger and death. It’s coming!”

Chapter Sixteen

“Danger and death?” Zoe repeated. “But we’re all immortal. Except for…”

They all turned to look at Sierra.

“What’s going on?” she asked suspiciously. That image of evil she’d seen had spooked her and she didn’t spook easily.

“I’m not immortal,” Daniella said.

“Just about,” Zoe said.

Which left Sierra wondering how you could be “just about” immortal?

“Daniella is a hybrid. She’s part druid,” Zoe explained. “So she gets premonitions sometimes. She and Nick are a couple. Yes, Nick is a vampire as well, in case you were wondering. But you probably already figured that out.”

Would it never end? Was no one normal around here?

“My premonition wasn’t about me or about Nick,” Daniella said. “It was about someone in this room.”

Once again all eyes turned to Sierra.

Enough already. Sierra wanted out. She leaped to her feet and nearly stumbled over the cat Bella.

“Watch it!” Bella growled. A talking cat. Of course. Why not?

“Let’s not panic,” Zoe said. “Daniella’s premonitions aren’t always what they seem.”

“That’s true,” Daniella said. “The last one I had warned that Damon and Zoe shouldn’t have sex or Vamptown would go up in flames. Clearly that didn’t happen. Although there were flames involved and fire hazards. Never mind, that’s not relevant now.”

Sierra sat down again. She had to. There was no escape. She was tied to Ronan as surely as if he had her bound with a rope or chains. How convenient for him. How dangerous for her.

She wanted Ronan to read her mind so she opened her thoughts and let them pour out in his direction. She let him know how much she hated this, how deeply she resented it.

She could tell by the set of his jaw that he’d received the message loud and clear.

“I saw ghosts and headstones and graves,” Daniella said with a shiver.

“Maybe that’s because we had a séance here,” Zoe said. “Bruce was able to communicate with Mother.”

“Not directly,” Bruce said. “Sierra communicated with her.”

“How do you know that really happened?” Bella the cat said. “I’m just asking.”