Bound (Secrets of the Djinn) (23 page)

I’m being possessed.  My foggy brain tries to wrap itself around th
e idea.  Slowly, I feel it, a foreign presence in my mind.  It’s dark and terrifying and strong.  It grabs hold of me tighter and tries to force the flames I carry in my heart outward, but I won’t let it.  Zane might get hurt, too.  He may have done bad things during his battles with the djinn, but I’m not going to make him relive those things.  I love him too much.

With that kernel of thought, I focus harder until I’m pushing against the presence, resisting it.  Now that I’m aware, I can feel it trying to control my body as well as my mind.  No.  I refuse to let it use me anymore.  Mentally, I push with all my might.  I take back control of my limbs and finally, my brain.  All the while, Zane is urging me on, telling me to be strong.  When I can, I bring my hands up to cover his and he smiles. 

Relieved, he says, “I knew you could do it.”

Malik’s voice comes from the doorway.  “How did you know she was being possessed?”

“I felt it.” 

My brother comes farther into the room.  I can freely turn my head to look at him
, thank god.   “That’s not possible,” he says to Zane.

Zane shrugs.  “It seems it is.”

Focusing only on Zane again, I whisper, “Thank you for finding me.”

He folds me into his arms.  “I told you, I will always come for you.  Even if that means searching your mind for you,” he teases.

Malik squats down next to us.  “You truly feel everything she feels?”

I give my brother a look only a sister can give when her brother is being an idiot.  “I think he’s made that pretty clear.”  My voice is a bit raspy, but my words are
intelligible.

“Let me look at her,” Roman says, fully in doctor mode
again.

Zane leans back from me and Roman
moves closer.  “Her pulse is back to normal and her eyes are focusing.  Physically, she seems fine.  What I would give for an EEG machine right now.”

I glare at him.  “I’m not a lab rat.”

“Who possessed you?” Malik asks.

I start to shrug but the answer pops into my head.  At the same time, Zane and I say, “The devil.”

“Sure she doesn’t need an exorcism?” Brielle asks and she’s perfectly serious.  I’m not sure when she came back into the room.  I wonder where Jalynx is.  Someplace far away from me, I’m sure.

“Why would Beelzebub want to kill Jalynx?” Roman asks. 

I think the question is more for Malik than me, but I answer anyway.  “He told me last night that she’s not what she seems.”

“The devil was here again last night?” Brielle asks, as close to shocked as she gets.

I nod.  “Right before Malik went into your room.  I was talking to him out on the deck because I didn’t want to wake Zane. I was afraid the devil would hurt him.”

Zane chuckles but it’s more of a growl than a sound of amusement.  “I would rather you not care
so much for my safety.  If it happens again, wake me up.”

I give him a sheepish look.  “Sorry.”  Out of the corner of my eye
I can tell Brielle is blushing and looking anywhere except in Malik’s direction.  No, things did not go well between them last night.

“What did Beelzebub mean about Jalynx
?” Malik asks.

I shrug.  “I don’t know.  He got mad at me and left.” 

Malik is much less amused by the idea than Zane was this morning.  “He is not one to offend, Skye.”

I glare at
my big brother.  “Gee, thanks.  I never would have figured that out on my own.”  Other than setting his lips in a firm line, he doesn’t respond to my sarcasm.

“Instead of worrying about that, maybe we should focus on the more immediate problem.  Beelzebub was able to possess Skye.  How do we keep
it from happening again?” Roman asks.  Excellent question.

“Are you sure he’s gone?  She’s not going to start snarling and biting again is she?” Brielle asks.  I notice she hasn’t come too close to me.

I was the one snarling?  Shit, that reminds me.  “Did I really bite you?” I ask Roman.

“Not too hard, and I’m fairly certain you don’t have rabies
, so I should be fine,” he teases.

Brielle
grabs his arm to look at the bite.  “You should still wash it out.  Human mouths are disgusting.” I’d take offense to that if she wasn’t right.  There are hordes of bacteria in a human mouth.  “Come on.”  Roman reluctantly lets her lead him from the room.

My curious eyes find Zane.  “It’s strange how you could feel I was being possessed but I couldn’t.”

He shrugs.  “Your feelings became muffled and dark.  I’m used to them blaring at me like a radio, and most of the time, I can tune them out.  But they’re never muffled.  It took me a couple of minutes to figure out something was wrong.”

“And you immediately jumped to possession?” Malik asks, as confused as I am.

Zane grimaces.  “I don’t know how to explain it any better.  It was like I was feeling two different people.  When I came in here and saw how Skye was acting, I knew I was right.”

“How close to her do you need to be to feel what she feels?”

Tired of being talked about instead of participating in the discussion, I say, “It doesn’t matter where I am.  Beelzebub took me away from here for three days shortly after our binding and Zane could feel my fear the entire time.”

Malik’s face darkens.  “He did what?”

Maybe I shouldn’t have brought this up.  “To me, it only felt like fifteen or twenty minutes.  It was actually three days.”

Without realizing it, Zane puts a protective arm around me.  Malik looks like he’s
about to kill someone.  I doubt it’s me, but he is giving me a death glare.  “What?” I ask.

Between gritted teeth, my brother says, “Those are the types of things I need to know.  I can’t protect you if I don’t know what’s going on.”

Cocking my head to the side, I say, “Until now, you really weren’t in a position to protect me.  Even if you were, could you really have stopped Beelzebub from taking me?”  I will take his angry silence as a ‘no’.  Standing up, I continue.  “I got some good advice this morning about focusing on what’s to come, not what’s already happened.  How do I keep Beelzebub from possessing me again?” 

Seeming embarrassed now, Malik mutters, “I don’t know.”

“Then let’s go find someone who might.”  I walk out of the training room in search of Hank and Mrs. Gregori.

Chapter 28

We find the couple in the sitting room, cleaning guns.  The loving strokes Mrs. Gregori is giving her shot gun almost makes me change my mind about talking to her, but I suck up my fear and move into the room.  “Do either of you know anything about possession?”

Considering Hank is a medium, I assume he does.  He doesn’t disappoint.  Not looking up from the handgun he’s cleaning, he says, “I know a thing or two.”

“You’re being possessed by the devil now?” Mrs. Gregori snaps.

I’m not surprised she guessed it.  “Yes, briefly.  How do I keep it from happening again?”

Hank looks up but it’s his wife who reacts.  Wheelchair motor whirring into life, Mrs. Gregori goes to one of the book lined walls and pulls out a leather-bound, dog-eared book.  “Sit down,” she orders.  “This is gonna take a minute.”  Malik, Zane and I all do as we’re told. 

“So there is a way to keep him out?” I ask stupidly.  Of course there’s a way.  If
not, she would have already told me I’m screwed.

Hank clears away the firearms while his wife searches the book for the page she wants.  Finding it, she turns the open book to me and says, “
You need this.”

Malik scoffs, “You are mad.”

“A ring?  Grams, we’re not Hobbits in a Tolkien novel,” Zane says.

Ignoring them both, I ask, “What’
s so special about the ring?”

Mrs. Gregori closes the book and sets it in her lap.  I can see the title now.  It’s a bible.  A very, very old bible.  “It’s Solomon’s ring.”

That means absolutely nothing to me.  “Solomon who?”  I’m not exactly up on my biblical lore, especially the first testament.

Malik answers.  “King Solomon.  His ring held power over demons.
  When he threw it at their feet, they had to do his bidding.  Even Beelzebub was susceptible to it.”

“If he threw it at their feet, why couldn’t they just pick it up and take it?” Brielle asks.

“I am not certain, but I believe the ring may cast a circle, or a trap, around him,” Malik says.

He’s holding something back
; I can see it in the tight lines around his mouth and eyes.  “And?”

Sighing, he says, “It could be used to control the djinn as well.
”  He rises and starts pacing.  “But it’s impossible to obtain the ring.”

“Why?” I ask.

He stops and I don’t like the hopelessness on his face.  “Because Beelzebub wears it on his finger.”

Oh.  “There has to be some other way.”

Mrs. Gregori shrugs.  “I ain’t heard of one.”

Voice pleading, I ask,
“Hank, any suggestions?” Please have a suggestion.

“Lily’s right.  Possession by a spirit or a demon, there’s rites for those.  But the devil himself?  I don’t see how anything short of Solomon’s ring could prevent it.”

Not the answer I was hoping for.  “I seriously doubt Beelzebub is going to hand over the one thing that can keep him from possessing me.”  A shiver runs down my spine.  He almost got me to kill Jalynx.  What else will he try to make me do now that he has a taste for possessing me?  I lean back against the couch cushion.  “I am so totally screwed.”

“Seems so,” Mrs. Gregori says, motoring back to return the book
to its place on the shelf.

“Grams.”  Zane’s voice is sharp in warning.

“Don’t get mad at her for telling the truth,” I grumble.  I wish Beelzebub was here, I’d love to knee him in the groin again.

“Maybe you could seduce the ring off his finger.”  Staring at Zane, my mouth drops open.  I don’t know how to respond to that.

“Do not be fooled by Beelzebub’s attraction to my sister.  He would not let himself be swayed by sex,” Malik growls.

Zane’s face is beet red.  “I didn’t say she should have sex with him.”

Anger creeping over my soul, I ask coldly, “What are you suggesting?”

E
mbarrassed, my boyfriend shrugs.  “He seems to like you enough to be somewhat swayed.”

“You’re on dangerous ground, son,” Hank warns.

He’s right.  “If you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go figure out how to get the ring without turning myself into a prostitute.”  Rising, I shake off Zane’s hand trying to grab my arm. 

“Skye…”

“I think you’ve said enough for the moment,” Malik snarls.

“Your mother believes there is another way.”

My heart skips a beat as my head turns to Hank.  “What did you say?”

“She ain’t here anymore, so don’t get your hopes up.  I told you, I’m not a strong medium.  She did appear to me long enough to give her opinion.  She says to bind him to you.”

That sounds as easy as getting his damn ring off his finger.  “Did she say how?”  Was my mother really here listening to our conversation?

Pensive, Malik says, “It could work.”

I snort.  “Are you going to hold him down long enough for me to recite a binding rite?”  This is ridiculous.

“Your hu…Zane was on the right track, I believe.”

Once again, my mouth drops open in shock.  “Now my own brother wants to pimp me out to the devil?”

Zane scowls at me.  “Nobody said anything about pimping you out.”  I don’t miss the guilt hiding in the shadows of his face. 

To my surprise, Mrs. Gregori comes to my defense. “Sure as hell sounds like what you’re suggesting.  Telling her to seduce the devil himself, you should be ashamed.” 

Acting as if he didn’t hear Mrs. Gregori, Malik says, “I don’t believe you
need to speak the binding ritual.  You successfully bound others to you without it.”

Putting my hands on my hips, I glower at him.  “How do you even know the devil can be bound?”

“Solomon’s ring is proof,” Hank says.  I scowl at him.  I expected him to be on my side.

“Okay, fine, he can be bound. 
How do I bind him to me without seducing him or having his ring?”

Malik shrugs.  “The same way you’ve bound the others.”

I throw my hands up in the air in frustration.  “I don’t know how that happened.  I didn’t
do anything
to make it happen.  Even if I did know what to do, from what you’ve said, I bound those who care about me and I care about keeping safe.  Neither of those things applies to Beelzebub.”  Whatever games he’s playing with me, caring about me is certainly not on his agenda.

“You want to bind the devil?  Are you out of your fucking mind?”  Good, another clear mind in the conversation.  Brielle comes into the room and leans against the back of a chair. 

“I’m not, they are.”  I point an accusatory finger towards my brother and Zane. 

“What are the other options?”

“Steal a ring off his finger that can be used to control him,” Zane says.

Shaking her head, Brielle says,
“Right, I get it.  We’re playing a round of ‘Who’s the biggest fucking idiot in the house’.  For my turn, I’ll suggest that Skye fucks the devil, gets pregnant, carries the devil’s spawn until she gives birth, and then teaches the little demon to bite off fingers so he can bring her daddy’s ring.  Do I win?”

“Yes,” Zane drawls, not impressed with her sarcasm.

“Why don’t you just ask him?  Maybe you could trade something besides your body to keep him from possessing you again,” Roman’s calm voice says from where he’s now leaning against the door jamb.

“Ask him?”
  Just come out and ask him what he wants?  A flash of Jalynx’s face as I try to squeeze the life out of her zooms through my mind.  “I’ve already killed for him once.  I don’t intend to do it again.”

Roman comes farther into the room.  “I think he has an end game that he’s not letting you in on.  He could have possessed you before and used you to kill any number of people.  He could have demanded a hell of a lot more than a kiss he never actually took for saving
your life.  He didn’t.  He wants something from you; you need to figure out what that is and how much it’s worth to him.”

Shaking my head, I say, “No, he’s just toying with me.  He told me that someday he has to choose to love me or kill me.  He simply hasn’t decided what he’d rather do yet.”  I don’t think it would take much to tip the scales towards kill me.
  Remembering I bit him, I ask, “How’s your arm?”

A wave of nausea hits me
when I see no trace of a bite mark.  The djinn heal quickly, but not that quickly.  He’s not really Roman.  With a wink, he says, “Caught on, I see.”

I’m not the only one.  Malik is on his feet and Hank has moved in front of his wife.  It doesn’t take Zane and Brielle long to figure out what’s going on. 

Trying hard to keep the tremor out of my voice, I ask, “What do you want?”  

He laughs.  “You want me to share my secrets in front of all these people?”

“Anything you have to say to my sister is my business, as well,” Malik snarls.

“Temper, djinni.  Mind your temper,” the devil says with a smile that is anything but pleasant.
  Malik got the better of him yesterday, but he caught him off guard.  That’s not the case now.

“
If I talk to you alone, you’ll tell me what to do so you’ll never possess me again?”

Zane grabs my arm so tightly, I’m sure there’ll be a bruise.  “Skye, no.”

“Skye, you can’t make a deal with Beelzebub.  He doesn’t honor them,” Malik says, his eyes never leaving the devil, his power practically dancing at his fingertips.

“On the contrary,” Beelzebub says.  The air around him shimmers and he is no longer in Roman’s shape.  He’s back to
the handsome Mr. Darcy.  “I kept my deal with you.”

Open mouthed, my head swivels to my brother.  Malik’s lips are in a tight line and he’s losing his grip on his power.  “You made a deal with the devil?”

“I had no choice.”  I can barely understand him his teeth are clenched so tightly.

Placing my hand over Zane’s, I gently pry his fingers away.  “He won’t hurt me. 
He needs something from me and he can’t get it if I’m dead.”  I ignore the pleased grin on Beelzebub’s face. 

“Skye…” Zane begins but I stop him with a kiss.  After a second, his lips are gone.  Beelzebub has taken me from the house.

“How charming you are with the human.  A tinge of jealousy rings my aura now.”

I turn to the leering devil.  “It’s not noticeable amongst all the black.”

He chuckles.  “I’m certain you are correct.”

“Where are we?” I ask.  We’re in a room that
was obviously decorated at the height of seventies fashion.  The shag carpet is pea green and the walls are orange and green swirls.  The only one piece of furniture, an orange chaise lounge, Beelzebub takes for himself.  “It’s like someone puked up the seventies in here.”

The devil shrugs.  “I took a soul from a room just like this one in 1972.  It was so hideous, it
enchanted me.”

Rolling my eyes, I ask, “Can we get on with this?”
  I’m surprised to hear that he collects some souls himself instead of letting his reapers do it.  Whoever lived here must have been over the top evil.

Rising from the chaise lounge, Beelzebub comes closer.  “Patience is not a virtue of the djinn.”
  He doesn’t stop until he’s right in front of me.  I fight my instinct to take a step back. 

I can’t show fear even though my heart is trying to beat hard enough to break through my ribs. 
Showing my fear gives him too much power and he already has enough of that.  “Can you blame me for not wanting to be left dangling?”

Poor choice of words.  The floor underneath me disappears and if it wasn’t for Beelzebub’s sudden grip on my arm, I’d fall into a chasm so deep, I can’t see bottom. 
My shoulder wrenches as my body jerks to a halt mid-air.  “Yes, I can see how this would be uncomfortable.”

Refusing to look down, I spit out, “I wasn’t being literal.”
  Jackass.

“Oh, pardon me.”  As quickly as it happened, the floor is back in place underneath me.
  Vertigo hits me and I almost stumble into Beelzebub.

“Very funny,” I say, rubbing my arm.  “You can let go now.”  His hand is still clutch
ing my wrist.  I don’t like the smile that curls his lips upwards.  It’s cruel.  Chopping up babies and eating them for dinner cruel.  “Will you please tell me why I’m here?”  I ask.

The room shifts again and I find myself against a damp, cold stone wall.  Shackles appear around my wrist and ankles.  I pull against them but
my efforts are futile.  There’s no give in the chains, not even enough to allow me to cringe as the devil comes closer. 

“I do appreciate you said please,” he says.  This time, he doesn’t stop advancing until his body is practically pressed against mine.  What I would give to be able to knee him in the balls again.  “You and your friends are full of surprises.  I had no idea your mother was still hovering about
, nor that the weak medium could sense the presence of the long dead.”  He curls some of my red hair around his finger and then tugs just hard enough to hurt, but not hard enough to pull it out of my head.  I grit my teeth and don’t give him the satisfaction of crying out.

“Why do you care where my mother’s spirit is?”  I can’t keep the tremble from my voice and I hate myself for it.

“Let’s just say, your mother and I were close.”

“I don’t believe you.”

He nods.  “Fair enough.  I am prone to lying.  In this case, however, I am being quite sincere.”

Malik, my mother,
they both made deals with him?  He can’t be telling the truth.  At least, not about my mother.  Otherwise he’d possess her soul, wouldn’t he?  “What deal did you make with Malik?”

A grin crawls onto his lips.  “I agreed to let you be until your powers manifested.”

No, he must be lying.  If he’s telling the truth that means Malik knew the devil would come for me and he didn’t warn me.  He left me to defend myself.  “I don’t believe you,” I say again, hoping this time I can convince myself.  It’s not working.

Beelzebub grasps my chin between his thumb and forefinger.  “I am not the only one who lies,” he says. 
I try to turn my head away from him but his grip only tightens.  “Can you bind me to you?”  I get the sense he’s asking the universe the question, not me.  “What an intriguing thought.”

Difficult to move my jaw to speak with him holding it, I can only manage, “No.” 

For the first time, I notice a glint of metal on his finger.  I try not to stare at Solomon’s ring longingly, but I’d give anything to have it in my possession.  A thought jackknives its way into my brain.  Are Zane and Malik right, can I seduce the devil?

“You said you would help me for a kiss,” I utter, my jaw still unable to move normally.

Dropping his hand from my jaw, he settles it on my waist instead.  Amused, he says, “So I did.  What, exactly, do you want me to help you with?”  I can’t tell if he’s laughing at me or if he’s intrigued again.

My mind whirring, I struggle for the right words.  Since he’s probably not going to
help me with anything, I decide to go for the gold.  “Help me learn to keep you from possessing me.”

Beelzebub is visibly stunned.  “You beg for th
is and not your freedom?  Even though you are at my mercy and I could keep you here forever?”

“Yes.”  I want to add that I’m not begging, but I hold my tongue between my teeth.

Abruptly, he says, “Deal.”  I half expect a contract to appear that needs to be signed with my blood.  It doesn’t happen. 

Dipping his head,
the devil’s lips come within millimeters of mine.  Once again, he stops short of touching my lips.  “Is this really what you want?”

No.  No from the very bottom of my soul.  “Yes.”

His lips close the gap.  They’re soft against mine, undemanding, just a gentle pressure.  Something in me unfurls.  A craving for more.  My lips part ever so slightly and that’s all the encouragement he needs.  The devil’s tongue slides into my mouth and I moan softly as it dances with mine.  His hand slides up and down my side and tingles rush through me at his touch.  I wish I could move my arms.  I would wrap them around him and pull him closer, tangling my fingers in his hair to keep him close.

Son of a bitch.  I jerk my mouth from his.  “You bastard,” I breathe.

Beelzebub laughs.  “It is in my nature to cheat.”

This was more than cheating.  “You possessed me again,” I hiss.  “You controlled my reaction to you.”

Unapologetic, he nods.  “One last time.  Now, I will tell you the secret of keeping me out of your head.”  I don’t say anything.  I just wait for him to continue.  Stepping away from me, he says, “The secret is…you’ve already accomplished it.  It’s way too murky in there for my taste anyway.”