Love Beyond Sight (19 page)

"Samuel has enough he has to do deal with."

He looked back at the woman he'd loved since he'd discovered she existed in the universe. "I do?"

She grabbed his arm, her sweet aroma wafted through his nose and if they'd been alone he would have closed his eyes and bathed in the sensation. In two seconds, he was off the bed and moving with Eden to the mirror that hung on the wall. He knew what he'd see—his red, horrible face staring back at him. There would be little point in finding new faces now. The group he was bound to spend time with from this point on had all seen him in his utter grotesqueness.

Eden pointed at the mirror. "Look."

"Why?"

"Because I asked you to."

For that reason alone, he raised his eyes. The face that met him in the reflection was not the one he'd expected to see. He gasped and grabbed at his face. The skin there didn't feel like the temporary version he got whenever he took someone else's look. Beneath his fingers, the skin seemed solid, complete, like no matter how much he clawed, it wouldn't disappear.

It took him a moment to realize he recognized himself. This was the face he'd looked at for the first twelve years of his life, only older. His face was oval with a perfectly centered nose that sloped downward in a slight curve. His lips were wide and if he smiled, would take up most of his face. The eyes were straight and sharp, more gray than blue, as they stared back at him.

Unable to stop himself, he touched his ears. They poked out. His mother had always said he would grow into them. She'd been wrong. They were still goofy as hell. He covered his mouth to stop the grin that threatened to overtake him at the thought.

"I couldn't help it." Jason walked up behind him. "I know I hurt you but the damage was severe. I'm designed to heal us but I've never been overtaken like that before with anyone. Usually, it's conscious. I have to think about it, but with you I couldn't stop doing it."

"I have a theory about that." Marina moved until she stood behind them.

He heard Leonardo scoff. "Of course you do."

"Can it, Leonardo." Marina grinned at Samuel. He could see her behind him in the mirror. "We're all connected. Even if we don't know each other. Our energies, our Outsider-ness. Jason had to have known, subconsciously, for years that you were out there and needed help. He's probably been saving up energy to do it."

"And," Jason added. "Clearly, the humans couldn't heal you. Only I could."

"An Outsider to heal an Outsider." Samuel cleared his throat. He'd swung at Jason. Turning around, he held out his hand. "I'm so sorry I nearly assaulted you."

Jason grinned. "No hard feelings. I'm glad I could help."

They shook hands. Samuel wanted to stare in the mirror some more but, knowing that would be really weird, he acted like he was just fine. It had been nearly two decades since he had looked like himself, since he hadn't been worried about where his next face would come from. He might never stop startling when he saw himself like this.

"Did you say something about the demon not being dead?" That seemed like it would be more pressing than his newly re-found facial features.

"He's not dead. You can't just kill the body and kill the demon. Otherwise, we would have just taken a gun to him years ago. All we have managed to do is to release him into the world, now without a body, to do whatever damage he can. We won't be able to track him. We may not even be able to see him."

Samuel stared at Leonardo. "I had no choice. We were trapped there with him and the book said we had to kill him to free you."

Leonardo raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "I'm not blaming you. It is what it is. I'm just explaining. We're now even more royally screwed than we've ever been before."

"Guys," Eden cut in, putting herself between Samuel and the others. "I want to give Samuel some time here. I'm going to have to insist. We'll do this later, okay? Tonight. We'll meet for dinner. Gabriel, pick a place."

"I can do that."

Leonardo stepped forward. "Wow, Eden. It's a whole new you."

Samuel wondered if he was going to have to punch Leonardo in the face but then Eden smiled and he felt better about the whole thing.

"Yep, I'm a totally different person. At least for today. Out. Now."

Jason tapped Samuel on the shoulder. "You should be fine. But if you have any problems, let me know."

"Thanks, man. I will." Samuel nodded at Jason but grabbed Leonardo before he could leave the room. "How do we banish a demon that has no body, now?"

"I don't have any fucking idea."

"Wonderful."

Leonardo nodded. "Yep."

The room fell quiet as each Outsider left. Finally, Eden closed the door. She leaned up against it, as they stared silently at the other for a long moment.

"How do you feel?"

He grinned, unable to stop himself even though he suspected he looked like a lunatic. "I can't believe it. I never dared to hope."

"You're so… beautiful."

"I'm not beautiful. Women are beautiful. I'm kind of goofy but at least I'm me again."

"Oh, no, Samuel." Eden walked to him. When she reached him, she grabbed his neck and pulled his mouth down for a heated kiss. Her soft mouth on his made goosebumps travel up his spine. "You're gorgeous. Not goofy. Gorgeous."

"You like me like this?"

Her blue-green eyes searched for something in his and when she found whatever she looked for, she smiled. "I have always loved you, Samuel. From the moment you came into my mind in the mental institution and saved me from the demon, I have loved you. Even when I didn't know you. Even when I thought you were a figment of my imagination. Now? I love you and, sweetheart, you are so gorgeous I don't know what to do with myself."

He had some ideas.

Chapter Fifteen

Sebastian couldn't have been more pleased if the Outsiders had handed him their dimension on a silver platter and invited him to come in. Well, their parents had sort of done that but this generation seemed bound and determined not to give up. He'd been stuck playing by human rules in his human body but now that they'd released him… well, things were about to change.

He leaned back in his chair at the local coffee shop where he'd stopped to look around. It felt good to see the world through his own eyes again. There were so many more shades of things that the pesky humans couldn't see. Life was so much more vivid. No longer bound by the need to feed from blood, he could exist by simply taking the energy he wanted from whoever was around.

Like the stupid humans at the table next to him. He could just take their energy and be fine for days. In fact, he'd do just that. Reaching out he took the energy field the man existed within and swallowed it down. Yes, Sebastian felt refreshed.

"Honey." The man who Sebastian had fed from looked at his wife. "I don't feel well. I'm dizzy, and all of a sudden, I need a nap."

His wife, who looked to be about fifty with thinning hair and large thighs stood. "Well, let's go home, my love."

The guy would be dead by tonight and there wasn't a damn thing any human medical intervention would be able to do about it. He'd made a good dinner. The little man could feel good about that, if nothing else. His wife had certainly not aged well.

The man's death wouldn't defeat some eternal plan and if it did, so fucking what? This was his time now.

He stretched back in his seat to examine himself. The humans couldn't see him. Most of the Outsiders wouldn't be able to see him. But he looked fantastic. His skin was back to its natural red color. His feet were hooved, which was fine because he didn't need to walk anymore. The black wings on his back allowed him to fly—a much more civilized means of transportation. He stood over seven feet tall and his tongue was long and forked.

Was he a walking demon cliché? Sure. But sometimes clichés became clichés because they were correct. He'd dare anyone who came into contact with him to laugh at what he looked like. They'd be dead before they ever got the chance.

The thing about being a demon meant that he was immortal. They'd never kill him, not really. Even if they banished him away, he could find a way to come back. He always could. That was the beauty of being him.

And he was through with playing around. World domination started that very moment. The Outsiders first. Before the end of the day, one of them was going to wish she'd never been born.

* * * *

Zane couldn't believe he'd been sucked into the old broad's story. At least he had her will so he wasn't going to be executed in his sleep for not delivering on a contract. But damn, why had he been so dumb?

It was the same crap that had plagued him when he'd been a kid. He'd always been just different enough that he'd thought he had to be special, that fate had some sort of plan for him. Of course, that had all turned out to be total bullshit.

The internal ramblings of a pathetic foster kid looking for some reason he existed on the planet. Fate didn't have anything to do with his life. Whatever he'd done—whatever he didn't do—that was all on him. He could make safes and he could break them. If he also happened to be able to control people just using his voice—well, all sorts of weird shit went on out there. His just happened to be a useful tool in his personal belt. The rest of his life sucked. Why shouldn't one thing be easy?

But she'd said he was an Outsider. He took a swig of his beer and looked around the bar. Every night he came to this place and stared at the women. Not one of them interested him. It was like he no sex drive whatsoever.

But maybe that's because you have a soul mate
.

"Shit," he muttered aloud and then looked to make sure no one had heard him. Everyone else was involved in his or her own life. It was only Zane left alone, always, by himself. Until he'd robbed the old lady, gotten caught, and heard a story he couldn't forget.

He drummed his fingers on the counter. Soul mate sounded great. Fight with a demon? Not so much. Yeah… he was pretty certain he wouldn't be seeking out anyone to go off to war with. Not when there were jobs lining up for him to do. This was his life, not fantasy and unknown people.

* * * *

Alexa paced the living room of her home. Something was wrong, terribly wrong. She just knew it. Her arms erupted in goosebumps and she tried to rub them away but they wouldn't disappear.

Something has gone terribly wrong
.

A pounding on her front door made her jump and it was seconds before she could stop shaking long enough to go to the front door and look outside. Where was Sebastian when she needed him? She rubbed at her eyes to make sure she wasn't seeing things. Gabriel and his girlfriend, Loraine, stood outside with two people she didn't recognize. They were both dark-haired. None of the people on her front porch looked particularly happy and as she stared, Gabriel pounded on the door again.

With a deep breath to try to calm her nerves, she approached the door and, feeling really shaky, pulled it open.

"Lexi." Gabriel nodded at her. "You remember Loraine, right?"

Alexa tried to nod. Her whole body hurt. "We met briefly, yes."

"And this is Kal and Isabelle."

She took a step back. "Kal?"

Alexa had once helped Gabriel and Sebastian kidnap Kal. They'd been trying to save him from the cult he'd gotten involved in. Nothing had gone correctly that day and it had been the cause of Gabriel's defection and eventual joining of the cult they had promised Sebastian they would help defeat. Gabriel had brought Kal here?

"Get that look off your face, Alexa. Kal is a better person than either of us. If he's not going to take his anger about that day out on me, he's certainly not going to make you pay for it."

Alexa swallowed. That was good. Or at least she hoped it was. Her head hurt. "Did you get my message? Is that why you came?"

Gabriel shook his head. "I didn't get any message. What did you need?"

Just then a black and white border collie ran past her feet. She darted backward. Loraine sighed loudly as she turned to Gabriel. "Now he decides to show up."

Gabriel shrugged as he watched the dog turn down her hallway. "Futon does what Futon does."

"How profound of you, Gabriel." Loraine rolled her eyes.

"Sebastian doesn't like animals in the house. You know that." She realized she sounded like an idiot but if Gabriel hadn't come because he'd gotten her e-mail then she had no idea what was going on.

Gabriel shrugged. "Yeah, well, Sebastian doesn't much care for me in the house but I'm coming in, too. And no one tells Futon what he does or doesn't do."

Gabriel brushed past her, Loraine by his side. Alexa couldn't help but marvel at the way they moved together like some kind of unit. Their steps were in tune with one another. If Gabriel looked to the right, Loraine's gaze traveled that way too. They hadn't been together for very long. How had they gotten so in sync with each other so fast? It usually took couples a lifetime to achieve what they had.

She put her hands on her hips. Alexa needed to get control of this situation. "What are you doing here if you didn't get my e-mail?"

"We're here to take back what Sebastian, as you call him, took from us." Kal answered for Gabriel, brushing past him with Isabelle by his side. They followed the dog down the hall.

She shouted. This was her house, strangers didn't get to simply waltz in and take what they wanted. "Where do you think you're going?"

Gabriel finally spoke. "We're here to get the rest of the stuff we didn't get the first time. It belongs to us. Sebastian stole it, we're taking it back."

"You mean the last time your cult robbed the place and nearly killed Sebastian?"

"Try the last time we came to retrieve our books and Sebastian tortured and nearly killed Kal—again. Then nearly killed me—and you sided with him over me. That time, you mean?"

Alexa never knew what Gabriel talked about. It was like he'd made up these wild, fanciful stories in his head where somehow the cult he belonged to were the good guys, while she and Sebastian had become evil. Where had the guy she'd grown up with gone? Who was this crazy lunatic staring at her like he wanted to wring her neck?