Seduction of Souls (9 page)

Next thing she knew she was on her knees in the corner of her room, screaming filling her ears. 
Ryker was shaking her roughly and calling her name.  Her face was wet from tears she had no memory of shedding.

“RayeAnn, wake up right now.  Come on, stand up.  It’s just a dream.  Here, let me help you up.”  Gently now he took her arm and pulled her to her feet.  When she winced in pain he eased her onto the bed to check her over for any injuries.  “Where are you hurt?”

“My back, oh God, it’s on fire.” 
She whimpered.

W
ithout thinking twice he pulled her shirt up.  “Shit.  What the hell did you do to yourself?  You’ve got bloody slashes across your back.”

“I didn’t do anything to myself.  Last thing I remember was thinking about how to approach my research tomorrow.  How did they get there?”

“My guess would be that someone put them there.  Someone who isn’t thrilled with the information we got today from your aunt.  Wild guess would be Charity’s father, Gideon Meriwether.  As far as we know he’s the only one that kept them apart in life, maybe he’s carried that grudge over to the other side with him.”

“But why pull this now?  We’ve been working on this for a while, why didn’t he just do this from the beginning?”

“Because now we have far more information, and he feels threatened.  Which tells me we might be getting close to an answer.  Something he doesn’t want us to find out maybe.  This isn’t unusual when dealing with angry or violent spirits.”

“Perhaps you could have shared that nugget of wisdom with me before he scratched the hell out of my back.”

He watched her struggle to get her trembling body under control.  Understandably she was upset, teetering on the brink of hysterical
, judging from the force of her shudders.  His heart melted at the sight of her, vulnerable, scared and hurt, yet keeping it together enough to try and figure things out.  Keeping his hands to himself had, up to now, been difficult. Ignoring his businessman’s internal objections, he felt compelled to be with her, help her.  Sitting next to her on the bed, painfully aware of how little they wore, he pulled her into his arms and held her, being careful not to put too much pressure on her wounds.  He stroked her hair, kissing her temple and murmuring words of comfort until he felt her body begin to relax.

He felt the electric current of desire as it coursed its way through his body, making his cock jump wildly.  She felt softer, smelled better, and looked
sexier than any woman he had ever known.  The magnetic pull he felt toward her was just too strong to ignore any longer.  It was the source of his bad mood earlier today, just watching her and wanting her had turned him into an insufferable ass.  He needed to accept the attraction he felt for her and pray that in the end no one got hurt. 

He
kissed her lips gently, then deepened his kisses, slipping his tongue into her mouth and feeling as if he had finally come home.  They were perfect together.  His heartbeat quickened as she welcomed him further into her mouth, as her tongue answered his thrusts enthusiastically.   He felt her delicate fingers glide over his back, urging him closer.  Slowly he lay back on the bed, pulling her on top of his body, careful to not hurt her wounds.  She ran her hands over his body, stopping only to help him remove her t-shirt. 

He changed positions, laying her on her side so he could cup her breast
s in his palms, feeling the heat and weight of it before closing his mouth over one already taunt nipple.  Feasting on her like a starving man, he realized that nothing he had ever done with any other woman could compare to what he felt with her.  This was electric.  He could hear the crackling in the air, knowing by her panting breaths and heated reactions that she felt the same way he did.  Words weren’t necessary.  He let his feelings flow from his body to hers. His heart soared as her body answered, his soul found her soul and they mingled together as one.  He knew, without a doubt, that she was and always would be the only one for him.  Now that he accepted that fact, for there was no argument he could think of to change the feelings he felt for her, passion inflamed him.  Unable or unwilling to suppress it, he cupped her hot, moist mound, rubbing her vigorously as she rode his hand, her hips pumping wildly while she moaned loudly.  Her panting breaths compelled him forward as he dipped his finger into her liquid pool of desire.  Finding her sensitive nub, he teased it mercilessly, forcing her to beg for relief through clinched teeth and panted out words.

He found himself hurling in the air, his back slamming against the wall before he hit the floor hard. Dazed for a moment from the impact, he shook his head in an attempt to clear it.  Slowly the burning crept into his reality, searing pain and heat combined on his chest.

“What the fuck?”  Glancing down at his torso he saw six criss
-crossed slash marks across his chest, the source of the burning pain.  He watched RayeAnn crawl to him on visibly quaking arms and legs, her enticing breasts swaying with every movement she made toward him.

“Oh my God, are you all right?”  Tears streaked down her face as she took his face into her trembling hands
, kissing him gently on the lips. 

“My chest is on fire
, but other than that I’m okay.  Looks like someone didn’t like what we were doing.”  She grinned at him.  “In spite of the burning in my chest, I still want you like I’ve never wanted anyone before.”  His honesty shocked him.  It was one thing to think it, but another thing altogether to say it out loud.

She let out a long breath before speaking.  “Thank goodness you feel the same way I do.  I’ve never wanted anyone more than I wanted you.  It felt magical.  Like I could almost hear the electricity snapping in the air…sounds stupid
, but that’s the best way I can describe it.”

“Not stupid, accurate.  I felt your soul, baby.  It wasn’t just physical, it was…everything in the universe aligning up perfectly.  Destiny.”

She crawled into his lap, carefully avoiding his wounds, and rested her head on his shoulder, kissing his neck while he wrapped his muscular arms around her still quaking body.  After a long silence she finally spoke.

“I was dreaming about Charity when my scratches appeared. 
Her father was beating her in the stall of the barn, she screamed in pain and I felt that pain.  The man was a viscous monster.  He kept beating her, even after she had lost consciousness.  What kind of animal does that to another human being, let alone his own flesh and blood?”  A shudder ran through her body.

“In my opinion, an evil person.  I came running when I heard you screaming and found you huddled in the corner, cowering away from something I couldn’t see.  Scared the shit out of me.  I couldn’t get your attention until I shook you a few times.  I wasn’t sure if you were awake or sleeping.”

“So what are we going to do about it?  How do you get rid of something you can’t even see?”

“I don’t know for sure, but I’m going to find out.  First thing in the morning I’ll start my own research.  I’ve got some associates in Europe
who have dealt with things like this before.  Maybe they can give us some ideas or at least point us in the right direction.  Don’t think for a minute that we won’t figure this out, because now I’m pissed.”  He kissed her brow.  “Let’s get our wounds taken care of and try and get some sleep.  We’re both going to have a long day tomorrow.”

“I’m afraid to sleep alone.
”  She bit her lower lip.  “Can we sleep together in your room tonight?” 

“Sounds like a good plan.”  He helped her to her feet and
together they headed to the medical supplies in the bathroom.   

CHAPTER 10

After three days of unending research RayeAnn was seeing stars.  She looked at Ryker and saw him rubbing his eyes.

“Too tired to look at your computer screen another moment?”  She asked.  She certainly was.

“Yep.”  He stood and gathered his notes.  “Let’s head to our meeting or we’ll be late.”

In the dining room Bryn, Tim, and Jarred
set the table with paper plates and napkins.  RayeAnn’s stomach growled when the scent of fresh pizza reached her nose.  She couldn’t remember the last time she had sat down and had a meal.  No one spoke while they ate.  After three pieces of pizza RayeAnn wished she could undo her pants to make room for her full stomach.  Once everyone finished eating they pitched in together and cleared away the food mess and replaced it with all their research materials.  RayeAnn motioned to Ryker to start the meeting. 

“As all of you know
, we’ve had some very…interesting developments in the past few days.  I think the best plan of attack is to give each person the opportunity to tell us what he or she has found out.  RayeAnn, why don’t you fill us in on what you’ve found out about Gideon, Charity and Nathaniel.”

“Well, let
’s see, first I’m going to pass around the letter I got from my Aunt Juliet.  It really filled in a lot of the blanks in the story of Charity and Nathaniel.  In fact, it was only after Ryker and I read that letter that we were attacked physically by an entity we believe to be Gideon Meriwether.  Just so you understand how serious this is, I think you need to see our wounds.”

Ryker lifted his shirt, exposing the now scabbed-over scratches on his chest while
RayeAnn turned her back to the others and lifted her shirt. 

“Oh,
RayeAnn.  I didn’t realize how big the gashes were.  You should have told me.”  Bryn rubbed RayeAnn’s arm before glancing and wincing at Ryker’s wounds.

“Son of a bitch.  That asshole really did a number on you, brother.”  Tim leaned toward Ryker and took a closer look.  “Do they still burn?”

“Not anymore, but it took a couple of days to stop.”  Ryker started to pull his shirt closed before Tim interrupted him.

“Wait.  I need to get some pictures for our documentation.”  Tim pulled out his phone and began clicking pictures from all different angles.

“RayeAnn and I took pictures the night it happened but I forgot to e-mail them to you.  I’ll do that first thing tomorrow.”  Ryker promised.

“I know we
should have shown everyone sooner, but I was afraid it would freak you out.  Plus RayeAnn wanted everyone to see it at once.  Apparently she was a little shy about pulling her shirt up.”  Ryker laughed at the blush of embarrassment that colored her cheeks.

“Based on the letter,
I started to search for records regarding Nathaniel and where he could have possibly ended up settling down.  Going over the most popular wagon train routes I’ve systematically researched every town they may have passed through, but so far I haven’t found him.  Although there are still more cities to research, we have to accept the possibility that he died on the trail and was just buried somewhere in the wilderness.  Once I’m done with Nathaniel’s search I’m going to look into Charity’s son, Kade.  In the letter my aunt mentions that Charity died alone, so the logical question is where was Kade?  Also, I found the death record for Gideon Meriwether.  Apparently he was killed in a bar fight five years after he had married off Charity.  Ryker, I wonder what happened to Charity’s mother.  Is it possible she could help us control the spirit of Gideon somehow?  Heck, for that matter, even my Aunt Juliet.  Based on the information in the letter she would probably be willing to help even now.”

“Interesting idea.  It’s certainly worth a try.  Worst case scenario is that it won’t work and we could eliminate that path.  Did you have anything else to report,
RayeAnn?” 

“Umm, no, I think that pretty much covers it.”  She took her seat again, waiting for the next report. 

“Cool.  Tim, did you have anything on the EVP sessions you and Bryn conducted?”

RayeAnn
raised her hand as if she were still in school.  When Ryker directed his gaze at her she asked her question.

“What is an EVP?  I’m not familiar with all
this spook lingo.”  She fluttered her hand in the air.

Tim jumped in to answer her question.  “EVP stands for Electronic Voice Phenomenon.  There are recording devices that can record responses from spirits that the human ear can’t hear.  Bryn
would ask questions of the spirits, waited a few minutes for a response, and then would ask another question while I recorded everything.  Once we were done we played the tape back and heard some…not so nice answers.”

“Explain who and what you heard,” Ryker prompted.

“Well, first we heard Charity while she answered some of the basic questions like, what’s your name, how old are you, what do you want?  Everything was swimming along nicely, she was very cooperative.  I can’t explain it, but I couldn’t help but feel she knew we wanted to help her.  Once the subject switched to questions about Nathaniel there was this ungodly roar.  I’ve never heard anything so angry and, well, violent.  I immediately felt threatened and I knew he wanted me to stop.  I believe the terms he used were ‘leave or die’, and he wasn’t kidding around.  He never said his name, but he did identify himself as Charity’s father and ‘master’ of the estate.  If I had to guess, I’d bet money on the fact that it was Gideon that slashed both of you.  No matter what question we asked he just kept repeating the ‘leave or die’ mantra.  I have the tape queued up if anyone wants to listen to it later.  It’s very clear, one of the most hatred filled I’ve ever heard.”  Tim shuddered, putting his arm around a still pale Bryn.