SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (167 page)

Outside, a car horn honked and I winced. Thea’s father had moved back to La Sombra the month before and when he discovered that he had a nearly sixteen year old daughter he’d never known about, he’d been a little testy. Since then, he’s been making up for lost time. He takes Thea to school every morning and shows up with food at least twice a week, to wangle an invite to dinner.

Have to hand it to him. He really knows me well. Show up with food and the chances of you getting in my door are really good.

I walked outside with Thea and lifted a hand in a half-hearted wave to Logan. We had a kind of weird relationship. There was a lot of sizzle and heat, but so far, I’d managed to resist. Because at the moment, I was getting plenty of sizzle and heat from a different guy. Devlin. The demon I mentioned earlier?

Needless to say, Logan and Devlin hated each other’s guts, which, while entertaining, was sometimes a pain in the ass.

“Hey Cassie!” Logan leaned out of the driver’s side window and grinned at me. He’s the only person in my life who calls me Cassie. Irritating and yet somehow endearing. God, I’m a sap.

“Morning, Logan.”

“Wanted to tell you the deal went through.”

“What deal?”

He rolled his eyes. “You never actually listen to me when I talk, do you?”

“Not really.”

Thea climbed in the passenger side door, but Logan didn’t put the car in gear. Instead, he leaned further out the window and said, “I bought the house.”

“What house?”

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. I glanced in that direction and spotted the SOLD sign on the house across the street. No way.

“You bought the Johnson’s house?”

“Just last night,
neighbor.”

Oh, crap.

IMMORTAL POSSESSION

by Cassi Carver

Table of Contents for IMMORTAL POSSESSION

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Dear Reader

About the Author: Cassi Carver

Books by Cassi Carver

Slayer's Kiss – Preview Chapter

Immortal Possession: Chapter One

When she came to, it was to the taste of damp grass against her lips. She kept her eyes shut, unmoving, and took silent inventory, running down her usual checklist.
What’s my name?

Evelyn Vale.

Where am I?
She cracked open her lids and took in the poorly maintained grass of Westfield Park. Good. She knew this place. The sun was still high in the sky, so she could assume not too much time had passed.

Am I safe?
When a quick scan of her surroundings showed people were going about their business, walking past her prone form, unconcerned, she figured the answer was probably yes. And now her least favorite question…

Am I…hurt?

She sat up and took stock of her clothing and the feel of her flesh underneath. Nothing was sore, no scratches or bruises she could see. Her black business suit had bits of grass sticking to it, and thin tracks of mud lined the hem of her skirt, but everything felt in the right place except… Where was her purse?

She stood and scanned the park. Her purse was gone. Of course it was. She discreetly felt the pocket she’d sewn into the hip of her skirt. Identification and cash.
Check.
The decoy dollar she’d left in her cheap purse was money lost, but at least she had enough cash on her to pay for a bus ride home.

She spied her black pumps sticking heels down in the soggy lawn a few feet away, and her toes confirmed what she’d already guessed—she’d been running barefoot through the grass. She knew from personal experience that it could have been worse. It had been so many times before. But today was a simple joy ride, just some nostalgic spirit wanting to feel what it was like to live again and taking quick advantage of an easy target instead of signing a contract for possession as the law stated they must.

Evelyn glanced at her watch, and a jolt of adrenaline cleared the remaining fuzz from her brain. Funny, she never would have guessed something could be more frightening than losing her free will and control over her body, but this was. Her interview at Immortal Bounty was in half an hour, and she was still twenty minutes away.

She dashed across the grass, grabbing her shoes and racing toward the public restroom. She would probably need a booster shot if she spent more than a few minutes in there, but this was just the sort of desperate time that those infamous desperate measures called for.

“Come on!” She hit the paper towel dispenser and was able to jostle a few sheets down. The fact that this bathroom even had paper was a miracle in itself, and she chose to think it was an omen of good things to come.

She finished cleaning her grimy feet and shoes with the first two towels and used the third on the hem of her skirt. She would have loved a mirror right about then, but the best she could do was finger comb her hair and run like hell for the bus stop, praying to a God of questionable existence that bus 905 to Roseview Terrace hadn’t already pulled away.

She sprinted with everything she had, almost twisting her ankle in those damned heels, but when she saw the bus and the steady stream of people filtering in, she knew she was going to make it. After she tugged her debit card out of the pocket at her waistband and swiped it across the scanner, the automated image of a bus driver gave her a quick nod and she ascended the steps. She found a seat next to an older couple who looked like they hadn’t slept in days.

Immortal Bounty was located on the same plot of land as the region’s highest security hospital, and since the hospital received regular visits from friends and family of the victims of ML52, there was always a bus running to and from. On the downside, it was hard to practice her interview questions when she was sitting next to a couple whose family member could very well be dying of mutating leukemia.

She’d learned through many awkward encounters that it was better not to make small talk with anyone on this particular bus. So many lives had been affected by The Great Collision. Really, why should any of them be embarrassed by something they had no control over? But still, asking how someone’s loved one was doing was a risky thing. ML52 could dissolve your bones or it could give you wings—sometimes literally. And by the look of the couple next to her, she feared their family member wasn’t faring too well.

Focus Evelyn. Keep your head in the game.
She’d waited five years for this opportunity, and she couldn’t blow it now. She had her own family to think about, people who depended on her, and she
needed
this job.

When the bus stopped at the hospital, every seat vacated except hers, and she watched as the people shambled off the steps and headed toward the main doors of Roseview Medical Center.

“Are you exiting the bus, ma’am?” the computer-generated driver asked from the screen mounted above the dashboard.

Evelyn wiped her hands against her skirt, trying to dry her sweaty palms. “Actually, I’m at the next stop. I think.”

She hoped the bus still stopped at the main gates of IB central because she had about four minutes until her appointment, and she wouldn’t make it if she had to jog from the hospital.

“The next stop is Immortal Bounty, Central California Operations,” the computer said, almost seeming perplexed that she wasn’t getting out now.

“Perfect. That’s my stop. Is there any way we can hurry?”

“No, ma’am. I’m programmed not to exceed the speed limit. Trying to manually adjust my speed would result in serious fines and/or imprisonment.”

Evelyn tried not to clench her teeth. “I’m not trying to adjust your speed. I was just hoping we could get moving…like before your computer chip is outdated.”

“I have the most advanced navigation chip in the fleet, ma’am. If you would like to file a complaint, please log on to—”

“No! No complaints here. It’s all good. I’m ready to go.” The bus started back on the road, and if it were possible, she’d think she’d offended the thing. The advances they were making in artificial intelligence were getting ridiculous. Did the world really need overly-sensitive computers?

She ran to the gates when the bus finally let her out at Immortal Bounty Central. She beamed a professional smile at the two heavily armed guards at the security checkpoint and pulled her driver’s license from the pocket at her hip. “Hello, I’m Dr. Evelyn Vale. I have an appointment with the steward.”

The man closest to her took her ID and swiped it through his handheld reader. Next he held up a finger print scanner and she quickly placed her thumb against the glass. “Yeah, this is Dr. Vale,” he said to the other man. “You’re cleared to do the secondary.”

Ah, crap. With only a minute to spare, she’d hoped she would be able to show ID and go straight in. “Is there any way to skip that part? I’m sorry, but I had to catch a later bus, and my interview is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.”

The man’s brows rose. “Oh. I see. You’re in a hurry? Okay.” He turned to his partner. “Let’s skip the secondary.” Relief flooded through her…until he turned back to her and added, “Because, you know, I’d love to risk my job and the security of this entire compound to accommodate you, Dr. Vale.”

Her cheeks burned. She was behind schedule, and to top it off, she looked like an ass. This getting possessed and being late routine really sucked. The second man gave her a sympathetic chuckle and led her to a room just inside the gates. She knew about the technology that kept Immortal Bounty free from wandering spirits and electrical interference, but learning about it in school and experiencing it firsthand were two very different things.

By the time she was done being scanned, x-rayed, and assessed for threats, it was 2:35 p.m. The guard pointed her in the direction she needed to go, and she took off like a shot, walking as fast as she could go without breaking into a jog.

The facility, while new, was sprawling and bleak. It reminded her of plain white shirt boxes stacked atop each other, and it stood in stark contrast to the remains of the old sanatorium on the hill behind it. History taught that Roseview Terrace Sanatorium hadn’t exactly been a tender refuge for the criminally insane, and Evelyn had never understood why they would choose to locate the IB campus here.

Evelyn headed down the main corridor that was supposed to lead her to the steward’s offices. She shifted her ankle in her high-heel as she walked, hating the small squelch that told her she hadn’t dried her foot well enough. She was about to interview with Steward Tanner Clark for a position she’d been vying for
for five years
, and she was going to prance in late on squeaky shoes and lay a sweaty mitt on him. Wonderful.

She cast a furtive glance around, noting the cameras tracking her progress down the carpeted hall, but she decided to risk it anyway. She dragged her palms down the fabric of her black skirt, figuring if her unwilling nap in the grass hadn’t killed this outfit, a little sweat would be okay. After all, it wasn’t like she could have changed into a different business suit anyway. When it came to professional attire, this outfit was all she had and consisted of a black coat, a gray, collared shirt, and a well-used pencil skirt. And of course, her go-to black heels. When you stood five foot one on a good day, heels were essential.

She stopped outside the door that read
Tanner Clark, Steward, Immortal Bounty, Central California Operations
.

Suddenly her throat went dry and itchy. She had to clear it several times to get everything working again. Was her tongue swelling? Why was her mouth so dry? Well, maybe it was the fact that she had dreamed of this moment since she was old enough to recite the alphabet. Even then, her favorite letters had been I and B.

She’d known she would have to stand out among her peers to be chosen by Immortal Bounty, because she seemed to be resistant to mutating leukemia. On the bright side, that meant she wasn’t at risk of dying from ML52. But it also meant she wasn’t going to be a survivor who manifested some impressive mutation that they wanted to get their hands on. No, a degree was Evelyn’s only option.

So she had labored, and struggled, and done everything she could to be deemed worthy of joining the Immortal Bounty ranks, including working her way through college, from bachelor’s degree to PhD, and serving over-priced coffee drinks to snot-nosed brats while still trying to bring in enough money to support her family.

And she’d never been chosen.