SEDUCTIVE SUPERNATURALS: 12 Tales of Shapeshifters, Vampires & Sexy Spirits (193 page)

Ah, shit. Evelyn was still healthy and whole, but even Jesse could sense the immense power of the spirit controlling her. Plasma guns should work even on a guy like this, but not if he was in Evelyn’s body. A direct hit with too much plasma could be fatal. How in the hell was he going to get the spirit out of her?

“I’m delighted.” Evelyn’s voice was lower than usual, and it had an accent he couldn’t place.

“You are?” He kept his guns aimed at the ground. What was the point of aiming them at the spirit if he was only going to hit Evelyn?

“Yes, for two reasons.” Evelyn held up one delicate hand and counted her first finger. “The first is that this woman is powerful beyond what I anticipated, and she will make an excellent vessel until I find a man with her strengths that would suit me better. And the second is that she has the miraculous gift of being conscious at some level in her body and sharing those thoughts and feelings with me.”

“Do you know what that means?” Khagan asked as Evelyn’s eyes stared back at Jesse.

“I’d bet good money you’re going to tell me.”

“It means that when I kill you, Sentinel, I will have twice the joy—avenging my harem and seeing through her eyes as she watches her true love breathe his last breath.”

Jesse had encountered some crazy, powerful spirits in his life, but he still wasn’t prepared when Evelyn cast back her arm and launched a rod of energy strait through Jesse like a spear. It threw him back and pinned him to the wall. It hurt like he was really impaled through the chest, but there was no blood.

He didn’t think he could talk, but he had to try. “Evelyn… Stop. Don’t give in to him.” Evelyn was a mass of undifferentiated energy and this spirit knew just how to tap into it. This was exactly that worst case scenario Clark had feared. But keeping her out of Immortal Bounty hadn’t kept her or those around her any safer.

She approached Jesse and gripped the end of the pulsating spear. Just when he thought she was going to pull it out, she twisted it in his chest, and the white-hot pain that shot through him almost made him black out. “Wake up, Doc!” he called, but he couldn’t even really be sure anymore that she was still inside her body. “Evelyn, please.”

She stared at her hand and another shaft of light grew from her palm. With a smile, she cocked her arm back and plunged the shaft through his heart.

* * *

Khagan’s energy was just so strong, Evelyn couldn’t fight it. If she gave in, there was a peace in her spirit. She lost her will and her struggles along with it, and she simply became the vessel. Life could be so difficult, but this choice was easy.

Good girl
, he whispered to her mind.
It will all be over soon.

That sounded nice. Soon she would cease to exist, and the prince would be glorified through her body. It was perfect. But her eyes saw something they didn’t like. It was Jesse pinned up against the wall with four rods of light protruding from his chest.

Jesse?
Why was he here, and why was he hurting?

“Fight it, Evelyn,” her lover said.

But fight what? Flashbacks came to her like drops of water trickling in at first, but then the stream built momentum. Something about Lauren not being able to stay inside Evelyn’s body for long. About heat and the power Evelyn carried in her innermost being. She had been training it to stay under wraps, but when she looked at Jesse, her energy bubbled to the surface, angry and roiling. And the more it did, the more clearly she could see.

She blinked her eyes, feeling Khagan pushing at her conscious again, demanding control. But maybe…just maybe if her energy was enough to expel Lauren from her body on accident, it could do the same with this spirit with a little effort.

Jesse panted, his eyes glazed in pain. “Get him out, just for a second, and I’ll finish him with the plasma gun. We’ll send him to the Purgatentiary…where spirits like him belong.”

Evelyn’s eyes were clearing, and she looked at the man she loved. He was writhing in pain, stuck up against the wall like a human-sized bug pinned to a board.

How dare you!
She snarled at her captor, and she let her energy rise, calling to it. And for the first time, instead of fearing the heat in her soul, she visualized it burning hotter and hotter, until her core was molten.

“What is this? What are you doing?” he asked. She’d sensed the same panic in Lauren when Evelyn’s body had started heating up. But she’d liked Lauren. This guy…she wanted him dead.

She felt it when Khagan’s spirit jerked inside her, wanting free. All of Evelyn’s life, she’d been desperate to expel these lost souls as fast as she picked them up, and she’d been frightened of all of the energy inside her with seemingly no function. But her righteous indignation swelled as she stared at the man she loved, wanting to save him. And she realized, like opening her eyes for the first time and really seeing, that her body wasn’t made to keep bad spirits out…but rather to draw them in…and keep them.

She burned hotter and hotter and the prince unleashed his power, his energy exploding inside her in a desperate fight for life. Her spirit expanded with blast, stretching and bending but not letting go, then as his power faded she squeezed him tighter. She heard his cries in her head, but she felt no compassion for him. He was a monster and her energy wanted to feast on him.

* * *

Evelyn seemed to be struggling against the spirit and as she did, the prince’s hold over Jesse slipped away. The spears of light piecing his chest faded to nothing, and he dropped to his hands and knees in the dirt, coughing and panting. No matter how real and excruciating it had been, his chest was unmarked, not one drop of blood stained his skin.

“Evelyn,” he rasped. “Just try, baby. Try to get him out.”

Jesse picked up his plasma gun with shaky fingers and held it ready. Believing Evelyn could do this…because if she couldn’t, Jesse had no defenses against Khagan’s power. As he watched, he saw the spirit begin to peel away from her body. He was glowing orange, his face contorted in anguish. Pieces of him would materialize outside Evelyn’s body, flailing and warped, then would seemingly be sucked back in.

What he was seeing didn’t make any sense. He should have been seeing Evelyn attempting to expel the prince’s spirit, but instead, it seemed Khagan was desperate to escape and her body kept drawing him back in.

Evelyn’s eyes glowed orange, and Jesse was terrified for her when her head fell back, her arms stretched out wide, and she levitated from the dirt floor, floating three feet above the ground. As the prince’s screams of agony got louder, his frenzy to escape reached a fever pitch. Jesse could do nothing but watch as Evelyn’s whole body glowed as bright as an inferno. Khagan’s image was layered over hers, and with his mouth agape and his eyes bulging, his spirit began melting away, burning and sizzling like fat exposed to a fire.

He shrunk smaller and smaller until he was nothing but a handful of embers being sucked into Evelyn’s core. When the last of the prince was consumed, Evelyn gasped for air and fell on her back to the soil, like the laws of gravity had reengaged. She lay immobile, her eyes and skin quickly losing their glow until she was just a woman again.

Jesse crawled over to her and picked her up in his arms, cradling her to his chest. He’d never seen anything like that…didn’t even know what had just happened. And what was almost just as shocking was that her face was perfect again. The lump of broken cartilage on her nose was gone, the bruises and dried blood and cuts on her arms—vanished. She looked absolutely radiant.

He held her head in his hands. “What the hell just happened?”

She blinked, looking shocked and embarrassed and a little horrified herself. “I think I just ate him. I think my energy…I don’t know how to describe it. I think I’m an f-ing spirit eater.”

“You ate him?”

She nodded slowly, still processing it. “I didn’t banish him or send him away…I consumed him. Prince Khagan is gone.”

If Jesse didn’t love this woman so much and know how good she was to the depths of her soul, he might have been frightened. They could trap spirits. They could send spirits back to the other dimension, but up until now, everyone had thought the spirit itself was indestructible. If news of Evelyn’s…gift got out, it would change everything.

“Oh, shit,” she said. “If Clark finds out, he may label me a danger to self and others. He could make good on his threat to put me in cryo-freeze.”

“I’m not going to let that happen. Besides, if Clark finds out, he’s going to think you’re the greatest, most unique weapon in his arsenal. You’ll be invaluable.” She looked like she was in shock, finally realizing what her body was made to do after all these years. Jesse grinned at her, so thankful to have her safe in his arms that he hardly cared about the rest. “So what I’m saying, short stack, is I think you can ask Clark for a raise.”

Jesse jerked in surprise when his earpiece sounded and the steward’s voice came on the line. “Tell Dr. Vale that I expect to see her back on campus tonight for debriefing. Effective immediately, she’s reinstated as an Immortal Bounty employee and will be reassigned to the supernatural specialist unit.”

“What is it?” she asked. “Ops control?”

Jesse stood with Evelyn still in his arms and then slowly set her on her feet. “It’s the steward. He said he wants you in the specialist unit, and he’s giving you a raise.”

Clark sighed. “I didn’t mention a raise, Commander.”

“Really?” she asked, blinking back tears.

Jesse nodded solemnly. “A big one.”

“A
small
one,” the steward countered.

Jesse took her hand and led her out of the basement, through the house, and into the Foster’s back yard. When the investigation was finally closed, he was going to have that basement refilled with dirt so that no one would ever be able to step foot into it again.

He touched his earpiece. “Nick…some privacy please?”

“You got it, Commander.”

He took Evelyn by the shoulders and stared into her eyes. She was okay, and if Sasha could be believed, she might even have feelings for him. He wasn’t going to let another minute pass without finding out for himself.

“I know I messed up, Doc. I know I let you down. But I love you. I’ve never felt this way before, and I will do whatever it takes to prove myself to you. I don’t ever want to be without you again, Evelyn. It was the worst twenty-four hours of my life.”

She nodded. “Whatever just happened in that basement…saying goodbye to you was worse. I don’t care where I work. I don’t care where I live. So long as it’s with you.” She cupped his cheek in her hand. “I love you with my whole heart, Jesse. From now to forever. I always will.”

He crushed his lips to hers, so hungry for her kisses and her love. There was no way a man like him could be lucky enough to get a girl like her. “So you don’t care where you live, huh? Because I know Clark, and he’s going to want to keep you close to campus for a while. I have a big apartment I can share for now. But once we’re married, I bet he won’t mind so much if we spend weekends at our house. In the meantime, we can move your family in and maybe your dad can help take care of Caesar and Leia.”

“Married…” She blinked. “Our house?”

Jesse laughed. “I know it’s been a rough twenty-four hours, but you do remember it, don’t you?”

He jerked his chin in the direction of their place. Caesar and Leia were still standing at the fence, looking like they were going to make plans to tear up the rug if someone didn’t come pat them on the head and reassure them soon.

“It’s…so expensive. There’s no way I could ever afford a house like that.”

Jesse shrugged. “You won’t need to. Buying it outright is going to make a dent in my retirement account, but I figure with your raise coming, we’ll be fine until I can build it back up.”

Her lips quivered, her expression somewhere between a smile and frown, and his heart sank. “Ah, shit. It’s too much too fast, right? I’m sorry. I’ll wait as long as it takes, Evelyn. A shot at a life with you is worth it.”

She grinned up at him, her eyes sparkling like the diamonds in the ring he wanted to buy her. “Don’t take back your offer quite so fast, Commander. I think some people will say we’re crazy, but I think we’ve proven we’re tough enough to handle that, don’t you?”

“Hell yes! You’re tough as nails, short stack.”

She snuggled her head against his chest, and he squeezed her tight. Then a thought occurred to him. “Uh…remind me to call your dad, please. Sasha is over there right now with a couple of the guys, and I may not be his favorite person at the moment for giving him the scare of his life. We didn’t know where you were or if you were going to show up there.”

She nodded. “I’ll call them right now. Then I’m taking a shower. Rolling around in the dirt is not going to be a new hobby of mine.”

“A shower, huh?” He cleared his throat. “I got kind of dirty myself.”

The look in her eyes almost took his breath away. “Have you tried the shower in the master suite? It’s a waste of water for just one person.”

The sound of armored vehicles screeching to a stop brought him back to reality. They weren’t quite headed to the shower yet. A cacophony of boots beat the pavement.

“Follow me!” Haveland burst through the gate with guns drawn…naked as the day he was born. And behind him came a dozen other men from Blue Unit.

Evelyn’s eyes went wide at Haveland’s state of undress. Then she seemed to get it. “Eric—there was a dog here earlier, but he was really a man, like you. He’s a golden retriever named Gizmo, and he was working for the spirit who planned this whole thing. He’s armed and dangerous and may need to be tracked.”

Haveland shook his head. “Nah. He’s dead.”

Evelyn pressed closer to Jesse’s side. “Okay then.”

Red Beard frowned. “We came all the way here and you two are like…standing there hugging. Where’s the emergency, Commander?”

“Sorry. The Doc here already took care of it.”

Red Beard’s eyebrows rose. “By herself? That little thing? How?”

Jesse shook his head and tried to hide his smile. “It’s classified. I can’t tell you that.”