Seduced by Power (5 page)

She pulled away first and sat back down, running her hand over the book. "I always figured that when you used your power, you fried the person's brain. But if you're a Cambion—"

"I send them to the demon dimension."

She nodded. "Right. And who's in the demon dimension?"

She sounded like a teacher.

Ocean flicked her hand in annoyance. "Other demons?"

Jasmine flipped through the pages and stopped at a picture of different glyphs. "Exactly. If you want real answers, you need to contact them." She pointed to the page. "With this ritual."

If you can look into the seeds of time,

And say which grain will grow, and which will not,

Speak.

— William Shakespeare, Macbeth

MY PHONE BEEPED,
pulling me from my dreams. I reached for Rose but her side of the bed had gone cold. A text from Tammy told me they were coming home—with company.

"Rose?" I checked the bathroom, but it was empty. Pulling on pants, I kept my phone with me and left the room to find her.

The library lights were on, but no one was there. I heard voices from the kitchen and went to investigate.

Rose, Ocean and Jasmine all sat with cups of tea at the corner nook.

"Ladies, couldn't sleep?" I stood by Rose, needing to feel her, to be close to her. I hated waking up without her, fear steeling my breath at the thought of all the things that could tear her from my life right now.

She stood and wound her arms around my waist, kissing me. "We were doing some research and got thirsty. You okay?"

I hugged her tighter. "I am now. Tammy texted. They'll be here soon. You should get dressed. I'll get my parents."

Ten minutes later, everyone was clothed, if sleepy, and waiting in the foyer for Tammy to arrive.

She walked through the front door, dark circles under her eyes, as Rob and Spencer, our cousins, dragged in an unconscious man.

Rose ran forward, and my heart nearly stopped.

She leaned down to look at the man. "Blake." Then she stared up at Tammy. "Is he okay?"

"What does it matter? He's working with her." Tammy's eyes blazed with hate.

I'd never seen my sister so full of rage. "What happened tonight?" I asked.

Tammy turned her eyes to me. "She got away with the roses, but we caught him. Shifting hurt us pretty bad, but the fight didn't last long. We're getting weaker, Derek. We may not be able to shift again."

Rose's eyes filled with tears, though at Tammy's admission or the bruised and beaten body of Blake, I couldn't tell and wasn't sure I wanted to know.

I'd told her it didn't matter what she'd done after I left her and broke her heart, but the truth was much harder to swallow. I knew she hadn't slept with anyone else, but there was a lot of room between nothing happening and full on fucking and it made me physically ill to contemplate where in that grey area she'd fallen, and with whom. Seeing how she looked at Blake, I had a better idea of the “whom.”

If he wasn't already dying from the beating he'd taken tonight, I might have to kill him myself for touching Rose.

After Rob and Spencer carried Blake to a spare room upstairs, I turned to Rose, her eyes still full of tears.

Before I could say anything, she threw herself into my arms. "Are your powers really fading that fast?"

Maybe she had been crying for us and not the demon. I couldn't be mad at her, not as tears for my pain soaked through my shirt. I pressed a kiss to the top of her head and held her close. "I'm okay, Rose. Don't worry about me."

"How can I not worry? As your family loses power, Mother is closer than ever to gaining it. We need to talk to Blake and find out what he knows."

I wished I could have kept her out of that room and away from him, but she'd never agree to sitting out on this, and I knew when to pick my battles.

Rob and Spencer guarded the front door, but when we entered, Blake, bruised and unconscious, hardly looked a threat to anyone.

Rose approached the bed first, sitting on the chair next to him.

Squeezing my hands into fists, I counted to ten and resisted the urge to send him back to the demon dimension with blunt force trauma to the head.

Rose glanced up at me, as if sensing my pent up rage. Her lips curved down in a frown, but she turned back to him. "Blake? Can you hear me? It's Rose."

His bruised eyes peeled open like purple grapes. "Rose. I'm sorry. So sorry."

She reached for his hand, and I growled under my breath, feeling my wolf rise to the surface for the first time since the roses were taken. I didn't resist the shifting, didn't fight the wolf as he took over. My eyes changed first, then my hands as claws extended from my nails. They retreated as fast as they'd come. My eyesight shifted back to normal, and my body shook with fatigue. I leaned against the wall, taking deep breaths to regain my composure. I couldn't shift. My magic was dying inside of me, and soon I would die with it.

We all would.

"What are you sorry for?" Rose asked the demon.

Rose didn't notice my near shifting, not with all of her attention devoted to Blake. I balled my fists and glared at him.

"I tried to stop her. Tried to change things." Blake flinched in pain, but the swelling in his eyes had already subsided and the coloring looked like a bruise a week old, not freshly made. "Is Jasmine safe?"

Jasmine walked forward to stand next to Rose. "I'm here, Blake."

He smiled. "The Wintersong girls. You two are the only humans I've ever cared about."

He reached into his pocket and I jumped forward, grabbing his wrist. "Don't try to pull anything, asshole."

He opened his hand to reveal a silver sphere that pulsed with some kind of magic. "Take this. It's not mine, and I'll need to get it back to the person it belongs to, but it will help increase your power. Maybe it'll help the Druids hold on a little longer to defeat Rainbow."

Rose grabbed the sphere from him, and I plucked it from her hand. Her eyes widened, but then she nodded in understanding. If it increased someone's power, Rose shouldn't get anywhere near it, not when she was trying to subdue her particular gift.

Blake fell into unconsciousness, and we left him to meet in the living room as a family to discuss our options.

Rose sat beside me on the loveseat. My parents each took a chair and Jasmine, Ocean and Tammy took the couch.

Tammy's cheeks had more color and she sat taller, straighter, less zombie-like. I wondered if the sphere was the cause. While we didn't like the idea of messing with powers we didn't understand, we'd seen how powerful the witches became when they attacked us. Tammy had put the sphere in Dean's hands, hoping it would ward off the death that haunted him.

My dad started the discussion. "There will be no torture or beatings of our guest. He has not posed a direct threat to us and unless he does, we won't harm him. Is that clear?"

Tammy seemed ready to spit fire, and I didn't blame her. I spoke up before she could. "He's a demon and he's working for our enemy. He has information that could help us. We should do whatever it takes to get that information from him."

Rose tensed beside me. "I'm a demon, too," she said in a quiet voice. Everyone turned to look at her. "I'm a demon, but that doesn't make me bad. He hasn't always made the best choices, but he did spare our lives before, and he gave us a tool that could help all of you. Besides, there's another option for getting answers—answers he doesn't likely even have."

Dad nodded for her to continue.

She sucked in a breath and let it out. "I can contact the demon realm and try to find my father."

I stood, muscles tensed as if for battle. "No way in hell am I letting you mess with demon powers."

Rose got up and faced me. "Let me? I didn't realize that you own me, or that I need your permission to do something."

Were we actually fighting about this? "Rose, this isn't an option. It's dangerous, deadly even." I made eye contact with each member of my family. "Back me up, guys."

Tammy shrugged. "We need answers, Derek, or we're all going to die, and you know it. If she can find out something that could help, if she can bring Dean back, then we need to at least consider it."

Had everyone lost their minds? "Mom? Dad?"

Mom sighed. "I know this is hard for you, son. But she's an adult and can make her own decisions. And Tammy's right, we are running out of options and time."

Rose brought my hand to her heart. "I love you, Derek. I can't lose you, or anyone here. I'll be as safe as possible. Blake can help me; he knows more about the demon dimension than anyone. We can also call Father Patrick as back up. I'm sure he'd be happy to help. I won't go into it blindly, but, as your family has said, we can't write this off when we have no other options available. You have to trust me."

I caressed her face, so smooth under my hands. "It's not about trust, my love. I'm scared. If anything ever happened to you… " I couldn't finish the thought for fear of making it a reality by speaking it out loud.

Tears filled her eyes. "It's late. We should all get some sleep and talk about it more tomorrow." She glanced at the grandfather clock in the corner. "Er, later today."

It wasn't thoughts of sleep that occupied my mind as Rose undressed for bed in front of me.

When she moved to pull a shirt on over her naked body, I grabbed her wrists. "How tired are you?"

Her lips curled into a naughty grin. "Not that tired."

An electric current ran through her hand, and a line of pain shot through my head like lightning.

She yanked her wrist out of my hand, looking panicked. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Just a small headache. It's already gone."

Stepping away from me, she clutched her nightshirt to her chest. "Maybe I should sleep in a different room tonight. My power doesn't feel quite stable right now."

"No." I wrapped my arms around her and refused to let her go. "You're not sleeping away from me. We can manage this like we always do. How adventurous are you feeling?"

She relaxed in my embrace, eyes wide with fear and desire. "What did you have in mind?"

I grinned. "I bought toys."

Reluctantly releasing her, I dragged a bag from under the bed and dumped the contents on the chair.

With tentative strokes, she ran her fingers over the metal hand and ankle cuffs. Her breath hitched when she saw the leather whip and feathers.

I turned her to face me. "We don't have to do anything you're not comfortable with. But I know you need more pain to stay in control, and I want it to always be fun for you. I can make this fun for you, for both of us, if you're interested."