SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (190 page)

“Well, I missed you,” Lauren said. She scooted her chair back and stood, coming to stand in the circle of his arms. He knew Lauren, and she didn’t like being seated when the shit was about to hit the fan. Having Evelyn in his arms for any reason was a good thing, and knowing she was alive and awake in her own body made all the difference.

“Commander,” Doug said in his ear. “Blue Unit is in position. Just say the word.”

Jesse kissed Evelyn’s forehead, steeling himself and her for what was about to come. “I love you, short stack. Never forget that.”

He slid his hands down her arms and squeezed her fingers twice. She nodded and he saw both Lauren’s confidence and Evelyn’s love in the eyes that stared back at him.

“Aww…look at you two,” said the neighbor with the dual-flush toilets. “You look like newlyweds instead of going on seven years of marriage.” She hit her husband in the shoulder. “Why don’t you look at me like that?”

His brows raised. “Maybe because you keep hitting me.”

“Well, I think you two are precious,” Anne said. “I’m so glad you moved in next door. I was just telling Laura that even though Jim and Candice have to leave soon, you two should stay and go in the hot tub with us.”

Jesse shrugged, eyeing the woman with the drink tray. No doubt she was in on it if the men serving the food were. “Sounds good to me. What do you think, honey?”

“Would you like another mango margarita?” the woman asked.

Jesse met Laura’s eyes and slid his gaze over to the woman carrying the drinks. Laura nodded almost imperceptibly. Jesse’s heart was pounding now. He’d never been this scared on an assignment before, and he hoped that Evelyn would leave control of her body to Lauren when the bust started. He smiled. “Don’t fight it, short stack. Just let it happen. You understand?”

She smiled, her lips trembling slightly, and nodded. “I’m ready to go. I think I’ll take a margarita for the road. You thank our hosts.”

Anne stood, and Henry was pacing by the barbeque, looking toward the direction his men had gone, knowing by now something had gone wrong.

“Leaving already?” Anne asked, and her smile slipped. “Henry, convince them to stay.”

“Please stay.” Henry picked up a carving knife from the chopping block near the barbeque and held it out. “I insist.”

“Now!” Jesse yelled. And with that, he unleashed hell.

* * *

When Lauren tackled the drink server to the ground, the woman’s eyes bugged out and her jaws elongated, her teeth coming to long, sharp points. Evelyn’s fear made her want to fight for control of her body. She remembered Jesse’s words and tried to relax her muscles, but it was like being attacked by a lion and expecting to just go calm and limp.

Lauren grabbed the woman’s hair and smacked her head into the ground, barely avoiding a crushing bite. “Immortal Bounty!” she yelled into the woman’s face. “And you’re under arrest, bitch.”

There was screaming in the background, most likely Candice or another of the guests. But then Evelyn heard the deep shouts of Sentinels above the commotion. “Immortal Bounty! Get down on the ground, now!”

Suddenly, the server flipped Evelyn to her back. Lauren had her hand on the woman’s throat and was squeezing, but the woman’s jaws were snapping so close to Evelyn’s face she could feel the rush of wind with every snap. Lauren was in control, but Evelyn’s arm shook.

“Evelyn, dammit!” Lauren yelled, her voice coming from Evelyn’s own mouth. “Stop! You’re heating up!”

She felt Lauren’s desperation to hang on and fight, her resolve to protect them both, but Evelyn couldn’t control her energy now. She felt the moment Lauren’s spirit snapped from her body like an overstretched rubber band, rocketing back to her final resting place. And then it was just Evelyn holding the beast’s throat, her arm trembling with the effort as the beast’s teeth came close enough to scrape Evelyn’s cheek and draw blood.

Her deepest survival instincts kicked in, her energy swirling in an undirected mass of energy. It rose in her, made her stronger, called out with its siren song to all wandering souls, wicked and tempting. Hungry to devour. She’d never felt it like this before, still didn’t know what it could do, but it was anything but undifferentiated.

The woman brought her fist down into Evelyn’s temple, and Evelyn almost lost her grip on the woman’s throat. Her energy swirled like a cyclone, but to her utter dismay, it didn’t reach out to the beast above her. Instead, it seemed to be drawing spectral energy. A cluster of ravenous spirits drifted from the house, moving toward her with two Sentinels in hot pursuit.

The woman’s spittle splashed Evelyn’s cheek, and Evelyn knew she couldn’t hold out much longer. If her worthless energy kept calling to those spirits, any second now she would be lost to possession and this woman would literally eat her face off.

She saw Jesse in all his fury an instant before the woman was yanked from on top of Evelyn and slammed to her face on the cement. She hit with a satisfying clash of teeth against stone and yelped in pain. Jesse put a knee in her spine and zip-tied her hands behind her back before Evelyn could even sit up on her ass.

“You have the right to remain silent,” a Sentinel said, and he was pointing a plasma gun at the ring of spirits easing closer to Evelyn. “Anything you say or do may result in your expulsion from this plane or your eternal imprisonment.”

A second Sentinel appeared at her other side, gun in hand. “You have the right to a fair trial, and if found guilty, you may ask to be exorcised by a priest. If you cannot enter holy ground, a priest can be brought to you.”

Gage stepped up beside her, his plasma gun pointing at the spirits. “If you attempt to flee or choose not to exercise your rights, you will be dealt with swiftly and with no mercy on your soul.”

Jesse walked up to Gage and extended his hand toward the gun. “May I?”

“Absolutely, Commander.”

Jesse took the gun. “If you should choose to appeal this decision,” he said, “you can do so from your appointed resting place by contacting the GBGA representative in Purgatentiary or your local liaison in Abaddon. Do you understand these rights as they have been read to you?”

The spirits were still fixated on Evelyn and didn’t answer. Jesse fired plasma shots at each one of the five spirits in quick succession. Their spectral energy combined with the plasma to form swirling balls of blue light. Another Sentinel opened a fallout canister and sucked the souls inside. Spirits couldn’t be destroyed, but they could be punished. And they would be.

Teary-eyed young men and women covered in blankets were being led out of the house, and Evelyn had to avert her gaze. She knew what it was like to be used by a spirit, and she couldn’t witness the devastation in their eyes. It was too much for her.

“Let’s go, jaws.” Gage hauled the drink server to her feet and pushed her toward the front of the house. Medics lifted Henry onto a stretcher and carried him out as Anne wept, her blond hair falling over her eyes and her hands cuffed behind her back.

Jesse addressed the remaining Sentinels. “Get the victims to the hospital’s maximum security ward and take the suspects back to IB. I’ll stay here with the forensics team.”

When they turned to go, Jesse dropped to his knees in front of Evelyn and took her in his arms. “Are you okay?”

The comfort of being in the arms of the man she loved calmed the raging energy inside her. “Yeah, I’m fine. Lauren is okay, too, but I accidentally booted her out.”

If it wasn’t for Jesse, what would have happened? When push came to shove, her energy had done nothing more useful than draw unwanted attention upon her at the worst possible time. No matter how much it hurt to admit it, Clark had been right. Immortal Bounty really didn’t need her. But they needed Jesse. His unit relied on him. And she had never loved him more or been prouder of him than in this moment.

Evelyn pulled away and rose to her feet. “Commander…” she said, trying not to allow the pain to choke her voice. “Consider this my resignation.”

Immortal Possession: Chapter Seventeen

Evelyn packed a small box with what was left in her bunk at Immortal Bounty. She felt nothing at all. Everything in her was dead. It had to be or she couldn’t go on with the memory of Jesse’s desolate expression or the image of his hands on his knees and his head bowed low as she had turned and walked away.

A soft tap brought her gaze up to the threshold of the bunk room. Sasha smiled back at her, that sad, sympathetic smile that said this might not be a fun conversation. “Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” Evelyn answered. “How’s Lauren?”

“I gave her a little infusion, and she’s doing well.” She stepped into the room and leaned a shoulder against the wall. “I just wanted you to know that Henry Foster hasn’t come out of the coma yet, and Investigator Reynolds is still interrogating Anne. She’s told them a little, but not as much as they were hoping for. They think she’s still protecting someone.”

Evelyn blinked. “Oh, shit. We didn’t get the head of the cartel? Are you kidding me? What does that mean for IB’s contract with the GBGA?” Not to mention the bounty money for her family or the fact that some sicko was still out there, determined to take by force what didn’t belong to him.

“We got the victims out and shut down the ring’s headquarters for now. Commissioner Hart is satisfied for the time being.”

“Well...I guess that’s good. I’m not happy we didn’t get the bastard, though.”

“Me either,” Sasha said, and then she took a deep breath. “Have you…thought about staying? I could talk to Clark. There are a lot of people here who would vouch for you.”

“Thanks, but no. I’m done. Sometimes you have dreams…and then you wake up. It’s for the best.” God, she needed to get out of here. Everything reminded her of Jesse, of the life she’d wanted with him but could never have.

“Where will you go?”

Evelyn tried to smile. “I’m going back to the house to get Caesar and Leia right now, and then I’m going to sneak them back to my family’s apartment until I can find us a little bigger place. There’s actually an apartment building just a couple streets down that’s not so bad. With the bounty I’m getting, I can finally afford to move everyone with me.”

“And then what?” Sasha asked.

“I’ll spend a couple of weeks getting my bearings, and then decide what to do from there. Probably try to get a teaching job when the semester starts again.” If they would give her enough classes this time that she could support herself without the coffee job, would that be so bad?

“Call me when you get to the house, okay? I can’t help but imagine you getting possessed on the way. Jeez, how did your parents deal with this all those years?”

“I’ll be okay, Mom,” she teased. “But really, Sasha…you’ve helped me so much already. Just know that I’ll be fine.”

“Okay. But call me. Promise.”

Evelyn laughed. “Okay, I promise.”

Sasha smiled, but her expression told Evelyn she wasn’t finished yet. “Are you going to say goodbye?”

“I have an automated taxi waiting outside. Will you tell Lauren goodbye for me?”

Sasha shook her head. “No…I mean, are you going to say goodbye to Jesse?”

Evelyn hugged the box to her chest. “It’s better just to go, I think. He’s going to be okay, Sasha. I have to believe that.”

“Please, Evelyn. I’ve known Jesse for a while now, and I’ve never seen him like this. I don’t think he’s even planning to get out of bed today, and if he does, he just might hurt someone. Don’t you think you could—”

“No,” she answered, cutting off whatever had been coming next.

Now Sasha was starting to look pissed. Great. Just what Evelyn needed before she left—a fight with one of her only friends.

Sasha shook her head. “I don’t get it. I know you’re mad that he didn’t tell you about Clark, but if you think that what you and Jesse had was just part of the act, then you’re wrong.”

Evelyn closed her eyes and the pain she’d been holding at bay flooded in, making her feel so small, making her hurt beyond recovery. “I love him. Don’t you get it? That’s why I have to go. He wants to leave Immortal Bounty and get a house with me somewhere. Probably with a kid and a white picket fence to go along with it. Have you seen him, Sasha? Have you?”

“Yeah, I’ve seen him. He was never happier than he was with you. Why are you making this decision for him?”

“He was made to be a Sentinel. Letting him retire to the suburbs would be like stuffing a killer whale into a gold-fish bowl. I love him too much to ever allow that to happen. I love his guts out.”

Evelyn couldn’t hold back her tears any longer. Damn it! Now she was going to have to walk out of IB with her head held high and snot dripping down her face.

“But…” Sasha’s brow knit. “I know what you’re saying, but just talk with him. I know if you gave it a chance, you could figure something out.”

Evelyn poised the box on her hip and with her free arm, hugged her friend. “I have to go. But I’m going to miss you. I’m going to miss all of you.” And the love of her life most of all. She couldn’t stop crying. “But this isn’t goodbye forever, right? I’ll call you soon.”

* * *

The awesome part about being able to afford a private taxi was that Evelyn was able to cry the entire trip from Immortal Bounty to the estate with no one the wiser. It was as wonderful as it was painful to pull up into the driveway of the home she’d shared with the man she loved one last time. She couldn’t wait to throw her arms around Leia and Caesar and claim at least one real piece of the counterfeit life she’d had with Jesse.

Evelyn jumped out of the car and went around to the side yard. Sasha had put food out for the dogs last night when Evelyn had had to leave, and Jesse had checked on them in the middle of the night after the forensics team had finished gathering evidence. But even so, when she unlatched the gate and entered the yard, they came tearing around the corner, ecstatic to see her—probably wondering why they’d had to suffer the injustice of sleeping outside last night.

Leia was yipping and jumping almost to Evelyn’s knee height. She reached down and picked up her little princess and gave Caesar a quick ear massage. She needed to feed them, pack her new clothes, and get back on the road before she spent half her earnings on that taxi. A bark from the yard next door drew her attention. “Oh my God. Gizmo!”