The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (36 page)

Nothing.

She was alone.

Amy sighed. She wanted to call
Jared. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry for pushing him over the edge.
She wanted to submit to his authority, to make him the influencing force in her
life. She wanted to be his wife; to be loved by him and to be protected by him.
Being alone was the last thing that she wanted at the moment.

But she wasn’t alone. She could
sense someone watching her and a tingle rippled down her spine. She reached for
the glass of water on her bedside table. It was empty. Her throat was dry and she
needed to quench her thirst. Amy giggled at herself as she took the glass. She
wasn’t one to be afraid of things that went bump in the night. In fact, if
things did go bump, Jared usually sent her to go check it out. Yes. She would
call Jared first thing in the morning. She would sacrifice her ego and humbly
apologize and be the least. That was what being submissive was all about. With
renewed hope she got out of bed and slowly walked to the door.

As if from nowhere Natasha stood in
front of her.

Amy gasped and dropped the glass. It
fell on the ground, crashing onto the carpet where it cracked. ‘What...what are
you doing here?’

Natasha didn’t answer. She opened
her mouth to reveal the jagged razors she had for teeth.

‘What—?’

Natasha shot out her hand and an
invisible force flung Amy clear across the room and smashed her into the wall.
Amy cried out in pain. Was she sleeping? Was this a dream? Natasha raised her
hand into the air and Amy crashed into the ceiling with a sickening crunch
before dropping back down to the ground.

‘Please...Lord—’ Amy managed, but
the words were ripped from her mouth as an invisible force flung her across the
room where she crashed into the hardboard doors of her cupboards. She tried
crawling towards the door with what little strength she had left in her.
‘Help...me...’

In an instant, Natasha was upon her.
She brought her face close to Amy’s ears and whispered, ‘He’s mine now, and
there’s nothing you or your Sssaviour can do about it.’

Amy cried. She wanted this to be a
dream, but the taste of blood in her mouth and the aching pain that wracked her
body served as a painful reminder that what was happening was all too real. She
had no strength left in her to fight back. She felt her endurance draining away
with each breath she took and she just wanted to close her eyes and go to
sleep. Just until tomorrow morning. Just until Jared could be there to hold her
and protect her; to tell her that he would always be by her side. She tried to
get up, but couldn’t force her arms to respond to her brain’s frantic commands.

Natasha pulled her up by the hair.
‘We will not allow a nobody like you to interfere with our plans,’ she growled
and with one hard pull, flung Amy across the room where she slapped against the
wall next to her bed.

‘Help...’ Amy gurgled before
everything faded to black. Jared was on her mind, but Natasha’s smirking face
was the last thing she saw before she lost consciousness.

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘I’m going to be late today,
Shaun,’ Jared said as he swerved in front of a car in order to pass another. He
ignored the honking. ‘Amy’s in hospital and I’m on my way there now.’

‘What?’ Shaun asked. ‘What happened?
Is she all right?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jared said.
‘According to her mother they found her in bed. She was covered in blood and
had all sorts of cuts and bruises on her.’

‘She wasn’t with you?’

Traitor.

‘No.’

Judas!

‘She was at her parents’ place.’

‘Oh man,’ Shaun breathed. ‘Is there
something I can do to help?’

You’ve done enough already, thank
you.
‘No
need. I’ve asked Natasha to come with me in case anything important should pop
up.’

‘Are you sure that’s such a good
idea? Shouldn’t I rather...?’

‘No, Shaun. Stay where you are and
make sure that everything’s running smooth at the company.’

‘It’s a little late for that now,’
said Shaun. ‘We’ve lost another client and had four resignations last week
alone.’

Jared cursed. ‘I’ll deal with that
when I get there. I should be there at around noon.’

A few minutes later, Jared’s
Vanquish sped into the hospital parking lot. Natasha followed Jared as he
hurried to the waiting room where he greeted Amy’s grief-stricken parents.

‘What happened?’ he asked.

‘We don’t know,’ Amy’s father said
and shrugged. The man—big and intimidating in general—now appeared weak and
frail. ‘Her mother found her like this in her bed this morning.’

‘Is she okay?’

‘She’s alive,’ her father said. ‘But
only barely. She’s in critical condition and the doctor fears that she might
not make it.’

Jared raked his fingers through his
hair. ‘Oh man,’ he said. ‘This is my fault. I should never have allowed her to
leave.’

‘It’s not your fault, Jared,’ Amy’s
mother said. ‘In fact, we have no idea whose fault it is. There were no sign of
forced entry; no indication of anyone else being there other than Amy. There
were no razors for her to have done this herself, and the doctor said that some
of the broken bones on her body could not have been self-inflicted.’

Jared flinched.
Broken bones?
Just what on earth happened?
‘What can I do to help?’

‘Pray,’ Amy’s mother answered.
‘That’s all that anyone could do at this stage.’

Jared stayed a bit longer,
comforting Amy’s parents. When he was finally alone, Natasha walked over to him
with a glass of water in her hand.

‘Here,’ she said. ‘Drink this.’

Jared thanked her and drank the
water.

‘I could stay over at your place,’
she offered, ‘just until all this has blown over.’

Jared looked up into her eyes and
his thoughts about Amy were immediately overshadowed. He wanted to embrace and
hold on to Natasha as tightly as he could manage. ‘I would like that very
much,’ he said softly. ‘Thank you.’

‘Come,’ she said and took his hand.
‘Let’s get out of here.’

*   
-    -    -    *

It was Thursday when Jared decided
to finally call Shaun. When they left the hospital on Tuesday, they went
straight to his place. They were not seen or heard from until Thursday morning.
He had thirteen voice messages when he switched on his phone. Seven were
dropped calls, and only six were actual messages; all from Shaun. By the third
message, his voice raised into a frantic scream. He demanded to know where
Jared was. He even went to the house and found the place deserted.

Jared knew that he had to call
Shaun. He didn’t particularly like the thought, but he realised that he
couldn’t avoid it much longer.

‘Where the hell have you been?’
Shaun screamed into the phone. ‘You said that you were coming in once you left
the hospital!’

‘Something came up,’ Jared said.
‘What’s the big fuss anyway?’

‘You were supposed to be at work,
Jared. That’s what the big fuss is all about.’

Don’t you dare tell me what I’m
supposed and not supposed to be doing!
‘I’ll be in tomorrow morning.’

‘Don’t do this to me, Jared. Why
can’t you come in today? Where were you all this time?’

‘I’ll come in tomorrow morning,
Shaun. Now let it go.’

Shaun was quiet for a long moment
before he spoke again. ‘How’s Amy?’

‘Last I heard she was in a critical
condition at the hospital.’

‘When was that?’

What does it matter? Get off my back
already!
‘Last night,’ Jared lied.

There was another moment of silence.
‘Just so you know, that Natasha PA of yours also hasn’t been here this week.’

Jared squeezed the receiver. ‘What
are you implying?’ he asked as he looked up at Natasha. She beckoned him back
to bed.

‘Nothing,’ Shaun said. ‘I just
thought that you should know.’

Traitor!

‘I gave her a few days off. Until I
got my…issues sorted out.’

Shaun sighed. ‘So I’ll see you
tomorrow?’

‘Yes,’ Jared said. He hung up and
switched off his phone before he tossed it aside. ‘Come,’ Natasha said and
extended her arms toward Jared. ‘Come to me.’

Jared couldn’t resist. His legs
moved as if by instinct, and in the blink of an eye he was on the bed next to
her. She folded her arms around him, singing softly in his ear. Jared cried at
the sound of her voice. It was as if an angel from heaven was singing to him.
She sang louder and he cried louder. He didn’t cry for Amy. He cried because
his body couldn’t handle the effect her voice had on it. He cried because he
had no other outlet through which to channel the feelings her voice instilled
in him. He wanted to break free from the shell that was his body, to fly
through the air, to expand himself beyond the galaxy. He wanted to be small and
large at the same time. He wanted to devour the universe. She kept on singing
and Jared kept on crying. When she was done, he had no more strength left in
his body. He collapsed next to her and breathed furiously as a deep, dreamless
sleep engulfed him.

*   
-    -    -    *

 ‘I need to speak to you,
Jared,’ Shaun said and thumped his foot on the expensive Persian. He shot a
glance at Natasha. ‘Alone.’

‘Anything you say to me, you can say
in front of my personal assistant,’ Jared said. ‘So, what’s bothering you?’

Shaun couldn’t help the laugh that
escaped from his lips. ‘What’s bothering me?’ he asked. His voice almost rose
to a quivering shriek. ‘What’s bothering me? Are you sure you want to know?’

‘I don’t have time to play games,
Shaun.’

‘
You
don’t have time to play
games? Oh, I think you do, Jared. You have plenty of time to
not
come to
work. You have time to
not
return my calls. You even have time to
neglect your biggest clients. Don’t you dare talk to me about playing games!’

‘Is that what this is all about? The
stupid Patterson contract?’

‘
What
Patterson contract?’
Shaun semi-screamed. ‘They cancelled it early this morning. With immediate
effect. And you will not believe the penalties due—’

‘They can’t do that!’ Jared snapped
and slammed his palm on the huge custom made desk. ‘That’s breech!’

‘No, Jared. Whyte & Greene
International was in breech. They had three months. That was
your
promise to them.’

Jared’s knuckles whitened as he
balled his fists. He clenched his teeth. It was only a matter of enough pushing
before he would react. ‘Did you even try to keep them happy?’ He hissed as he
spat out the words.

‘Of course I did,’ Shaun said. ‘What
do you take me for, an idiot?’

‘Only an idiot would lose them as a
client.’

‘Well, then you’re the king of all
idiots, Jared.’

That was the last straw. Jared’s
fist shot out and smashed into Shaun’s nose. Blood squirted from both nostrils.
Jared followed up and slammed his fist into Shaun’s face again. Shaun fell to
the ground and Jared was instantly upon him, his fist raised. It was only when
he saw his friend’s blood-soaked face, wide eyes, and outstretched hand that he
managed to stop himself.

‘You’ve lost it, Jared,’ Shaun said
as he clambered to his feet again. ‘You lost the contract, you’ve lost the
company, and you’ve also lost this friendship.’ With that he turned and briskly
left the office, trying his best to keep the blood from dripping on the carpet.

‘He’s right,’ Jared sighed when
Shaun was gone. He sank back down into his chair and ran his fingers through
his hair. ‘I’ve lost everything. I will have to sell the house and both cars just
to try and break even.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Natasha said in a
soothing voice. She moved behind him and massaged his tense shoulders. ‘This is
a minor setback. You’re meant for greater things, Jared. There’s nothing in the
universe that can stop you now. You know the right people. It’s just a matter
of time before you will have more influence, power, and money than anyone else
on earth. When that time comes, all this won’t even be a bad memory.’

Jared nodded. She was right. ‘When’s
the next benefit?’ he asked.

‘Next week, Thursday evening,’ she
said and kissed him on the neck. ‘You’ll want to be there. Trust me.’

‘Minor setback,’ Jared said.

‘Minor setback,’ she whispered into
his ear. ‘You are the one, Jared Greene. All power goes to you.’

‘I am the one,’ he repeated. ‘All
power.’