Dark Demon Rising: Whisperings Paranormal Mystery book seven (28 page)

“It
was good to see you again, Bel,” Rain said with a smile.

“Say
hi to Freyda for us,” said River.

Bel
opened the door. “I will.” He spoke solemnly. “This is goodbye. We will not
return to Downside.”

Rain
lost her smile. “I know. Take care of her, Bel. And good luck.”

We
watched the car drive away.

I
stepped nearer Bel. “The driver, Clide . . . he has fangs?”

“Vampires
usually do.”

My
eyes went wide. “You are kidding me.”

He
pulled his hood lower over his face. “This is Downside, home to dreams and
nightmares. Look for them here and you will find them.”

Leaving
the inky darkness of the bridge and finding myself in Clarion reminded me of
using the Gate to Bel-Athaer, except when I looked behind the alley was between
two white clapboard walls with a black blot at the end.

“This
is Harold Avenue.” Suddenly, my feet hurt. I stood on ice and freezing slush. A
shiver turned to shudders which wracked my body. My teeth chattered. “I’m
freezing.”

My
vision darkened as though night fell under my eyelids. I couldn’t breathe. My legs
lost all strength and I went down.

“Tiff?
Speak to me, darling.”

Royal’s
voice came from far away. I tried to open my eyes but my lids felt so heavy.
Hard, cold, under my body. A big warm hand cupping the back of my head.

I
forced my eyes open. Royal’s face looked down at me. “Tiff. There you are,
Sweetheart.”

“How
long?” I croaked.

“A
few seconds.”

I
shut my eyes. My entire body head to toe felt as if lead weights held it to the
ground. “Help me up.”

“I’m
calling an ambulance.”

My
eyes popped open. “Don’t you dare! Don’t need one. I think I’m fine, just have
to get used to this ole body again.”

He
lifted me and set my feet on the ground with his arms still supporting me. I
immediately felt lighter and my legs held me. I breathed easily.

And
I was
starving
.

“What
happened?”

“You
have been unconscious for days, you are bound to be weak.”

“I
didn’t feel too bad till just now.”

“If
I accurately remember the recording, Arthemy said Downside magic would support
you. I suppose it kept you strong while there but failed when we left.”

Mention
of the recorder made me ask, “You recalled everything when we went back. Have
you forgotten again already?”

“It
is fading fast.”

“I
haven’t forgotten a thing, so far.”

“We
should take you to the hospital so they can check your progress.”

“No!
Enough of hospitals. Take me home and get me the biggest, fattest cheeseburger
you can find. And onion rings. And a chocolate shake.”

Royal
put one arm around my waist, dipped to put the other behind my knees and lifted
me. “My place is closer.”

Demon
speed took us through Clarion to Twenty-Second, up the wrought-iron steps to
his door. We were inside in seconds.

Royal
cut the bandages from my head and carefully washed my hair. After days under
tight bandages, my hair and scalp stank. He dried it with the heat of his hands.
The surgeons shaved my scalp on the side of my head and in the back where they
opened my skull to relieve pressure on my brain. Both places looked ugly, but braiding
my long hair hid them. I had to go to the hospital after all to get the sutures
in my scalp removed. But not now.

Royal’s
arm held the curve of my back as I nestled to his side. I wore two pairs of his
socks, track pants and a cable-knit sweater. The lights were low and his
Christmas trees twinkled a bright procession along the wall.

“I
recall Shan and the other Cousins, what happened with them, but nothing else,”
Royal said.

“Maybe
‘cause Downside decided they didn’t belong there after all.” Strangely, my
memories were intact, both as a shade and after I was wrenched back in my body,
so I was able to tell Royal what he had forgotten.

“Do
you believe the Cousins will stay Downside?” I asked.

Royal
made a noise in the back of his throat. “For now. I think when their Gate or
Gates open they will do anything to reach them.”

Only
a fool trusted Dark Cousins. Gia broke the covenant with Gelpha when she came
with me and Chris to find Royal and if she entered Bel-Athaer without detection
so easily, other Cousins may have and would in the future.

I
reminded myself Gia leading me to Royal when my uncle imprisoned him was not
for my benefit, nor his. It was a tiny cog in her plan. She wanted me to reveal
the Seers as tricksters, destroy their credibility and the influence they wielded
with the High Lord and his Council. The Seers held too much power and the
Cousins wanted them out of the way when they succeeded in stirring the human
world’s governments into invading Bel-Athaer. It might have worked, too.

My
feelings for Gia were ambivalent. She used me. She and her kin plotted to
invade Bel-Athaer and conquer the Gelpha. Yet she saved Royal’s life twice,
when she gave him her blood after Shan almost killed him, and when she led me
to the Burning Man. She warned me to keep him by my side when she knew the
Cousins would close the Gates to Bel-Athaer. If not for her, Royal and I would
have been torn apart, separated in different worlds.

No,
we should not trust them, yet when I thought of what Gia said in Arthemy’s
house, her poignancy and aura of world-weariness touched something deep in my
heart, in a place belonging only to a woman.

“Did
you ever doubt?” Royal asked in a slightly hoarse voice.

I
slid one arm over his chest. “All the time. I told myself
I will get back in
my body.”
The words guttered in my throat. “Then found myself thinking of a
future where I didn’t.”

He
hesitated, drew in a long breath. “Like you, I tried to enforce a belief I
would
see you alive again, but the whole thing—Downside, the wraiths, Baelfleur—it
was as if I moved in a dream world, interacting with dream people. I went
through the motions because it was all I had. But. . . .”

He
was grieving, the whole time. I rolled, pressed to his chest, my arms circled
his neck, my cheek touched his. “I’m so sorry.”

His
arms clasped me so tight, my breath stuck in my chest. “It’s over, Sweetheart.”

I
untangled my fingers from his hair and slipped back to my favorite position,
snuggled against his side. “I’m glad you ‘
went through the motions
,’” I
said after a minute.

“I
doubt I would have, but you made me believe in you.”

“We
have a lot of people to thank. Jack and Mel. Maggie. Rain and River and
Baelfleur. Angelina.”

“And
Chris.”

“Ah,
we can’t forget Chris, can we.”
No matter how I want to.

I
pulled up short because I didn’t mean it. Chris could be unscrupulous, manipulative,
selfish, egotistical and sly. But I had seen his softer, compassionate side. And
in my mind’s eye, I did not picture the suave man in his elegant suits but a
wilder, unruly version, clad in leathers as he rode his Harley, hair streaming
in the wind.

It
is said every woman is drawn to a bad boy. I guess I’m no different. If I
didn’t love Royal so much I almost burst with it, maybe I would have taken that
sunset ride, to see where it led.

A
sharp rap on the door made us freeze, thankfully interrupting my line of
thought. Good lord, what now? Couldn’t we have a moment’s peace?

Royal
righted me and went to the door. Chris Plowman swept in with snow flurrying behind
him.

I
muttered under my breath, “Speak of the devil.”

Royal
quickly shut the door against the elements but a considerable amount had already
gotten inside and began to melt on the wood floor.

“Ah,
Tiff,” Chris crooned. He put one arm behind his back and swept the other to the
floor as he bowed. He came upright. “Back in the land of the living, eh?”

“I
was always in the land of the living.” I tucked my feet beneath me.

“How
did you know we were home?” Royal asked.

“I
lingered in the café across the street. They have a
marvelous
bakery?
And the coffee!” Chris kissed his fingertips.

He
swung on Royal. “I think we should toast Tiff’s return. Cocoa all ‘round.”

Royal
grumbled, but headed for the kitchen to make hot chocolate.

Chris
removed his brown leather coat and dropped it on the other couch. Then he flipped
his coattails and lowered his body next to mine.

“Now,
my lady.” He leaned in. “I want you to promise me, no more bullets to the head.
No more lounging in a hospital bed while your poor overworked ghost flits all about
the country and down below in search of a cure.”

I
responded to the twinkle in his eyes and his cool citrus and ginger scent.
“Okay. I promise.”

“Swear
on the thing most dear to you.”

“You
want me to swear on Mac?” I asked with a sidelong glance at Royal. He rolled
his eyes ceilingward as he stirred chocolate powder, sugar and milk in a pan.
None of this instant stuff for Royal, he made it from scratch or nothing.

Chris
took my hand and stroked my fingers one by one. His eyes no longer twinkled.
“It may not have been apparent, but I was in the depths of despair. I cannot
bear to think of a world without you. My life would be incredibly dull were you
not here to drag me into preposterous situations.”

“Unhand
my woman, Plowman, before I take yours off at the wrist.” Royal stood behind us
with a tray and three mugs.

Chris
returned my hand to me. “
Tsk tsk
, we are sensitive tonight.”

He
stood, took a mug, downed it on three glugs and licked hot chocolate off his
lips. “I have outstayed my welcome, if welcome it was. I must forge on, into
the cold, unforgiving wind and snow. But if ever you need a shoulder to lean
on, call my name.”

And
with that he bent, plucked up my hand again, smacked a kiss on the back, placed
it back on the couch and made for the door.

“Do
you want your coat?” Royal asked. “You may need it in the cold, unforgiving
snow and wind.”

Chris
gave him a cool smile, took the coat and sauntered out without putting it on.
He left the door open behind him.

After
shutting the door, Royal crashed on the couch as if Chris’ visit exhausted him.

“He
and Jack should join up,” I said drily. “Start a troupe of thespians.”

“Is
Jack the emotive type?”

“Oh
yeah. All the time.”

“Now
I understand why you leave your house tired and irritable.”

“Me,
irritable?”

He
smiled, and sighed. “We have some clearing up to do. I must take the wraiths’
fee to them.”

“One
more trip Downside.”

“The
last, I hope.”

“I
bet Mike’s been trying to touch base. I presume you haven’t checked your phone
for irate messages.”

“Not
yet.”

“I
have to get these damn stitches out my head.”

“I
rethought returning you to the hospital. Your surgeon at Clarion General will
be confused by your rapid healing.”

I
do heal faster than regular people, my only advantage to being Gelpha. My scalp
felt a little tender if I pressed it, but not as if my skull had been opened up
and put back together with tiny plates and screws.

“A
Gelpha surgeon will remove the sutures, no questions asked.”

“Yeah?”

“We
will have to go to him, to the clinic in Switzerland.”

So
he had that covered; if Clarion General called the clinic Royal wrote on the
discharge paperwork, the Gelpha surgeon alibied us. “All the way to Switzerland
to get a few stitches removed?”

“We
have earned a vacation.”

“Mike,
though. . . .”

“Tomorrow.”
He dangled something silvery in front of my face. “I think it is time you put
this where it belongs.”

My
ring and the silver crucifix.

He
slipped the ring free and eased it on my finger. I held out my hand to see the
faceted diamond reflect all the colors from the Christmas tree lights.

“Now
you have seen a real demon, can you refrain from calling me one?” he said with
a lilt in his voice.

I
smirked. “Oh, I don’t know. You’ll always be my big, snuggly demon lover.”

He
hugged me to him with one arm. “Is that a promise?”

“Don’t
need to promise. It’s a fact.”

After
a blissful silence, he said in a deep, musing voice. “What happened to you made
me ponder life and making the most of it. We must broaden our horizons, Tiff,
see as much of this world as we can, do all of those things we have talked about
doing.”

Before
it’s too late.
I didn’t say it but the thought
saddened me. “So, we go madly dashing about
just in case?
And what are
these adventures we talked about and haven’t done, ’cause I don’t recall any
discussion?”

“We
were not serious, but we can be. Let us start with the small things.”

“Anything
particular you have in mind?”

His
eyes turned smoky. “I was thinking of something closer to home. We have often spoken
of it but never tried,” he said huskily.