Possessed

KAYLA SMITH

Possessed

Published by Kayla Smith

Copyright © 2014 by Kayla Smith

Edited by Anthony Soto, Deya Rolon,
and Thomas Wilson

Cover by Stephanie Tkach

Other books written by Kayla Smith:

Luna Book 1 in the Luna series

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduction in part or in any form.

Acknowledgments

This is really for all of my fans. I know at this point there aren’t many of you and you know that’s perfectly fine. I am just so excited to be able to give you all a piece of something that is who I am. I am these books. I love anything supernatural and I’m so glad that all of you get to enter my world of weirdness.

A special thanks to Tiffany Ramos for telling me all the time that she is my number one fan. Your enthusiasm is what makes me want to give you something that keeps you waiting for the next one. I hope I didn’t let you down on this one.  I tried very hard to keep you surprised.

I also want to thank my three editors: Deya, Anthony, and Tom. You guys helped me get this book to be better and I can’t thank you all enough.

A very special thanks to Heather Hildenbrand for giving me some great tips on how to improve my business. You have helped me out a lot and I don’t feel like I have thanked you enough. For those of you who don’t know, Heather is my most favorite author and I just can’t get enough. She has helped me and coached me on things that I didn’t realize affect book sales until she told me.  So again thanks so much.

Prologue

Hi, my name is Rebecca. I'm a Witch. I'm mated to a Vampire- John. He was turned while we were out on a mission. I'm also the head of a powerful Covenant of Witches and Warlocks called Luna. I lead this group with Alana. She and John were turned into Werewolves by a Werewolf named Raphael. He was trying to take us down so we got to him first. Well, actually I did, so now I'm the Alpha of that pack. I'm different from the rest because even when they aren’t in their Wolf form they have bright yellow eyes. Since I didn't get bitten my eyes only change when I change.

A few weeks after the battle with Ralph we had to fight a member, rather the leader of the Elements Covenant. Turns out she was half Demon and half Witch. She also kept my brother Wyatt captive since the day he was born trying to get him to be her secret weapon against us, but it turned out to be the other way around; he saved us from her and her Demons. She is also the mother of Jacob, one of our members. She was trying to get him to betray us, and he did- until he realized her plan and knew he should do something. She ended up taking away his memory so he wouldn’t be able to tell us anything.

Now we are working together and trying to figure out this new evil that has come out to play. We have been monitoring the bowling alley for three weeks now, and we can’t figure out why they are just sitting around. It isn’t like Demons to just sit and wait for their next meal to come. If they know who they’re after they will go and get them that simple; but this? This is something completely strange and I’m worried for everyone.

Wyatt, Maia, Eva, and Jorge have been going back and forth between here and the bowling alley trying to see what they can find out. So far it looks as if the owner is possessed by a Demon. Most Demons can possess people, but very few have the ability to stay inconspicuous while possessing for so long. There haven’t been any complaints or police investigations about the missing people and they have not found any bodies neither. Alana and John have been going through all of our books to find a clue as to what kind of Demon we are looking for and they haven’t found much of anything, yet.

1
REBECCA

I’m lying on the couch thinking of what I can do to hurry this process along. So far, I’ve found nothing. “I can’t take this anymore. I can’t stand to just sit around and wait until someone else ends up
not
coming out of that damn bowling alley. Why can’t we just go in and start blowing them up?” I say to Sebastian as he plays with my hair. I'm looking through some books of my own.

He looks down at me and frowns. He knows how much I hate letting innocent people walk into something Demonic and then possibly get killed or injured. Humans don’t know about our world and it needs to stay that way. “Love, we are doing all we can for now. You don’t want to go in there half-cocked and start throwing fire at everything that moves. What if you kill an innocent person in the crossfire? What if you need a potion to get the Demon out of the owner? You can’t just go in there and expect that your powers are going to save your life.”

He says it calmly, probably because he knows I need to kill something. I have felt my Wolf wanting to come to the surface for a few days now and I’ve just been pushing her back down. I’ve learned to control my Wolf better and I've learned to zone in on the feelings and thoughts of my pack without much effort. I didn’t even realize I could feel their feelings until I was practicing with Justin. He told me that I should learn how to open up the wall to feel their emotions and fears. It will let me know that they are okay so I won’t go stir-crazy worrying about them all the time.

Justin is my new Beta. After Avery died, the next strongest member of my pack received his powers and, frankly, I was surprised that it was Justin. He always seemed so quiet and content; who would have thought that he was my next in line? He has been alive for a very long time, so he knows everything that Avery knew- which is good, because without him I’m lost.

I keep the wall open more often than not, this way when I send my pack out for clues or fights I know if they’re safe or not. They feel more at ease, too, and I try to control my emotions better because of them.

“I know, I know,” I say, trying to keep calm (but failing miserably). “I just... I need to do something. Maybe we could go undercover. And try to see what we can find out ourselves. I love bowling and I’ve gone to that bowling alley every day until I lost Jorge. After that when I went with my parents the owner Dave would always say what a surprise and delight it was to see me. It wouldn’t be wrong for me to go. Maybe it would wake Dave up and he’d try and fight the Demon to get out of his body,” I say, sounding as if that was the best idea ever. And really- why wouldn’t it be?

He studies me for a while and then he finally agrees. “Okay, but I’m coming with you. I know they can sense the Vampire and Werewolf gene, but I’m not sure they can sense the Witch and Warlock gene. We should take Alana and John with us for backup and then let the pack and the rest of the Covenant know to be on standby- just in case.”

My eyes light up with excitement; I stand up and squeeze him tight and kiss him long and hard. I love this man and I’m so happy that he will let me do things my way even if I know he doesn’t completely agree with my methods all the time. After my breathtaking kiss I lean back and look into his eyes; those beautiful eyes of his that I would do anything to be able to see them another day. “Okay. Let’s do this.” And with that I leave the room in search of Alana.

******

I find Alana in the library with John. They are still looking through all of our books. They have a really old-looking book down from the shelves and they are looking through it more carefully than the other ones. “Is there something good in there? You’re looking at it like you’ve found something,” I say as I walk up behind them.

Alana doesn't even move her eyes from the pages she's reading when she speaks. “Yes, we found something- but it’s not a good something. Here, look,” she says as she hands me the book to read.

Possessor Demons are Demons that can hold the form of the person they possess while slowly killing the soul within. Only the strongest souls can stay alive and fight the Demon to get free. However, by the time they are freed of the Demon the soul is so close to death that the person the Demon possessed is barely able to survive. There is only two ways in which this Demon can be killed: one is a powerful potion with very rare ingredients and the other requires multiple powerful Witches and a powerful spell. These Demons are very powerful and will take a lot to kill, but it is possible. If the Demon is not out within a week the soul will die...

“Oh my God.” I can't process this correctly- I must have read the page wrong! How could this be happening? Dave has been possessed for longer than a week already- unless the Demon left his body and came back, but that's all too unlikely. I’m losing my mind and I can’t hide it anymore- I need to fight!

Alana looks at me and studies my face. “I know this is a lot to take in and, really, we just discovered it ourselves, but why do you look so torn up about this?” she finishes, sounding more concerned than I thought she would be.

“The owner is a family friend and, if this book is right, then he could possibly be a soulless body by now: we need to do something!” I probably sound more demanding than I should but I can't hold it back anymore. “Sebastian and I have a plan. We need to tweak it a little because of the new information from that old book, but we should act on it immediately,” I say again, trying to keep myself calm. I close the wall between me and my pack so they can't feel my anxiety rising and come to find me. The last thing I need is for them to try and comfort me; I don’t need comforting- I need to fight.

“Okay, so what’s this plan of yours?” John says, sounding very interested, and there is no doubt in my mind that he is anxious for a fight too.

Sebastian explains it to both of them and then together we adjust it enough so that we are prepared if something happens. We go in search of the ingredients for a potion and in the process find out just how rare those ingredients were when that book was written. Fortunately, they are readily available now except for one- Demon blood- but we have a half-Demon half-Warlock friend who can give us that. I don’t know exactly how it works given that he is mostly Warlock, but it’s all we have for now. If we can get close enough to the Demon and get some flesh or some of its blood by wounding it then we will start over.

This potion is not the one we need to get the Demon out of Dave, but it will stun him long enough for us to get away if needed.

Now that we are sure that it is the best we can come up with, I summon my pack and have them get the rest of the Covenant to the meeting room. They all meet us there surprisingly quickly. Alana speaks first as she is used to. I don’t mind; it gives me more time to think about what I am going to say.

“You are all probably wondering why we called you here. Well, we finally found some answers after all these weeks. They were in a very old Grimoire that we rarely use. This is what it says...” She reads aloud the words on the page that makes me shiver at the thought of Dave being dead when we kill the Demon. I pray that he isn’t, but it’s been three weeks... there is no way he is still alive, is there?

The shocked and disturbed looks on the faces in the room is enough for me to know that I am not alone in how I think and feel. “We,” I say, motioning the four of us, “have come up with a plan to get us in there and sneak around. We have noticed that not everyone goes missing that enters that building. The question is this: is it because they are being possessed as well? Or are they not the right people that the Demons are looking for? We don’t have all the answers and that is why we are going in- but we need more of you to help us.” I stop after that because the remarks that are being stated and the anger in the room are too much for me to continue.

“Are you crazy?” Jorge yells out.

“You can’t be serious!” Justin proclaims.

“How can you plan on going in there with nothing and expect us to be okay with that? You know us better than that, and I won’t let you,” Yashira says.

“Okay. Okay. I understand where you guys are coming from but you need to listen to us, we’re not dumb; I will not go in there blind or unprepared. We came up with a plan. We created a potion and in order to complete the potion all we need is Demon blood.” Now everyone stops talking. They look at us like we have ten heads.

“Um, I don’t know about you, but I’m not exactly on speaking terms with any Demons,” Milissa says, standing up and looking around the room as if she said what the rest of the room was thinking.

Jacob stands up and now all eyes are on him: “I have Demon blood in my body, would that be enough for the potion?”

“We are unsure as to how potent the Demon blood needs to be, but we do need your blood for our first potion,” I say, implying that we are planning on making another one.

“Okay. I’ll do it. Give me an Athame and I’ll give you enough of my blood, so you can destroy those Demons.” He says it with so much malice that I have to hold back the chill that threatens to make me shiver. Sebastian grabs his Athame off the table and walks over to Jacob. He slices his arm long and deep to get enough blood out of his arm, but not too deep to cause any real damage. They collect the blood in vials and then they take their seats again. Then I heal the wound back up.

The rest of the meeting consists of us relaying our plan and working out how we are to stay in touch with everyone. There is to be a minimum of one Werewolf with each group so they all know what is going on through the bond. We discuss that we are to go out tomorrow and make it seem as normal as possible for us to be going bowling. This should be interesting considering that none of them have ever gone bowling before.

“We leave at noon,” Alana says to the group. “I want everyone well-rested and well-trained for tomorrow. This could go so many ways and I want you all prepared, we aren’t even sure our potion will work.” She sounds a little worried that we might not make it through tomorrow.

“Okay,” everyone says in unison. They leave to train in various situations and I go to train my Wolf. I am with Justin, Sebastian, Alana, and John, trying to let our Wolves take over so that our Witch scents, if we have them, aren’t as strong as our Wolf scents.

After our array of exercises, we just sit in the garden, talking. Not about tomorrow, but about us; about our lives and how we became the people we are today. Justin shares a very interesting story with us, explaining how he was always the odd-ball out and how no one wanted to be near him or have him join the training teams. He was always a loner. I feel bad for my Beta, I wish that I was able to take his pain away, but all I can do is try to make him feel more welcomed and more desired to be around than before.

For some reason I catch a glimpse of everyone staring up at the moon. And so I look up at it, too: it is a full moon. To Wolves, there is something special about a full moon. Looking up at it... it just calls to us, like it has some kind of power over us. It’s captivatingly beautiful. I don’t know how long we all stare up at it, but I am the first to let out a long (and much needed) howl of sadness and anger. It has been built up for so long, but it still surprises me when I hear Alana, John, and Justin let out the same howl. It is echoed by the pack that had left to go inside and I feel a big weight being lifted off my shoulders. They need a fight; they need to feel
me
being alright; and they need to be happy again. I will do everything in my power to make them feel happy. Everything.

*****

The next morning we are all ready early. I can’t eat breakfast because of my anxiety so Alana gives me a drink with something in it to calm my nerves. “The Demons will sense your anxiety and that will give us away.” She hands me my drink and makes me drink it, then she hands it to Sebastian and John and then she drinks some herself. I wonder if it is due to her worrying about her daughter, Destiny. It hasn’t been long since she delivered her and she hates to go out and leave her stranded. We head for the door. When we get there we are met by a few members of my pack- Justin, Jorge, and Eva.

“Hi,” I say as I walk over to them. They all bow their heads as they respond back: “Alpha.”

Justin speaks up. “We brought you something.” He hands me a bag. I open it and inside of the bag contains weapons and what looks like a potion.

“We have potions,” I say, indicating my cargo pants with potions inside every pocket.
“And weapons.” I show him my belt with all kinds of daggers and blades inside of every possible opening.

He just smiles at me and says “The weapons are an added bonus, but that potion is not for the Demons, it is for you.” He gives me a look that asks if he is okay to talk freely. I nod and he continues: “It is to protect your baby, while you fight. In case anything should happen to you, your baby will be alright. Think of it as a kind of shield for your womb.”

All of our mouths hang open in astonishment. “But I am not pregnant. I would know! My Wolf would know!” I say, getting a little loud as I try to calm myself.

Alana is about to respond but Justin cuts her off as he talks to me. “You have been neglecting your Wolf’s instincts and relying on your human ones instead. Your Wolf would know as soon as you let her out completely and stopped trying to think as a pure human. You are no longer a mere mortal Rebecca: you are a Wolf, and you need to start acting and thinking as one."

We are all quiet as the news of my pregnancy sinks in. I am ashamed that my Beta knows before me. “Okay. I will as soon as we get back. And for now I’ll drink the potion and protect my baby.” The words sound foreign coming out of my mouth. Me, a mother? Now? I didn't expect or want this. Not yet anyway.