Possess Me Please (12 page)

After taking his jacket off and draping it over the back, he took a seat on the couch.

She sat beside him, careful to leave a modest amount of distance between them. “Tell me about who you lost.”

“She was only in my life a short time, but she left an impression. Classically beautiful, charming, and damned stubborn.”

“Okay.”

This was odd. Johnny was being vague. Usually the first thing someone told her in a session was the departed loved one’s name. She didn’t need to know much about a spirit to invite one in, it was true, but she preferred to have an idea about the character of the potential guest in her body. Sometimes—many times—there was more than one spirit around at any given time, and she needed to make sure to let the right one in. Not only was Johnny being vague, but the way he watched her was…unsettling. His green eyes stared out from under half-closed, thick-lashed lids. It was a sexy, smoldering gaze that most men probably had to practice to get right. In Johnny’s case, it appeared to be a natural talent.

Isabelle cleared her throat. “Let’s get started then, shall we?”

Once she’d lit the candles she’d placed on the coffee table earlier, dimmed the lights and sat back down next to Johnny, Isabelle pulled a small vial of anchoring potion from her skirt and drank it down. “I’m going to invite her in now.”

* * * *

When he and Izzy had touched earlier, Cyrus was certain she’d felt the spark of recognition between them. Unfortunately, she must have taken it as a sign of awareness or attraction instead of familiarity.

It had only been a few days since they were together, but he’d missed the spark of anger in her eyes when he rubbed her the wrong way and the sting of her sexy, smart mouth when she let him have it. His body twitched in anticipation of claiming her again, and he took a deep, steady breath. He couldn’t jump her. She thought he was someone else.

He watched her instead, his beautiful Izzy, with her eyes closed in concentration. Her pale skin glowed in the flicker of the candlelight. Because Cyrus could see spirits, he knew there were none present, but he let her continue, seeing she was not in any danger. He hoped she wouldn’t find it overly strange that his spirit wouldn’t show—how could she, when she was sitting right beside him? Izzy sat motionless, chanting under her breath.

Ten minutes passed, and he wondered how long it would take before she gave up. After five more minutes, he was about to say something when the atmosphere in the room changed. The hairs on the back of his neck stood on end and, out of instinct, he scanned the room looking for the Havoc. He couldn’t find anything threatening, but knew, without a doubt, trouble was coming for Izzy.

He reached for her just as a black and red spirit materialized, hovering under the ceiling. Before Cyrus’s skin could make contact with hers, the mist dove into her body. Izzy’s eyes flew wide, she gasped, and jerked hard before falling sideways.

Cyrus caught her before she hit the floor and gently eased her onto the couch. A fine sheen of sweat covered her quivering body, and she moaned.

Son of a bitch!
That bastard, Stephen, was back already, and if it hadn’t been for Cyrus, the Havoc wouldn’t have
carte blanche
of her body. “Hang on, baby. I’m coming,” he muttered.

Cyrus leaned back in a position that would keep his body from falling to the floor when he left it, then seeped out of Johnny’s empty shell and into Izzy.

Stephen’s red and black soul was already wrapped tightly around Izzy’s, dimming the intensity of its light. Izzy’s screams echoed inside of her.

Rage filled Cyrus, and his dark blue form expanded and swooped down on Stephen, jerking him away from his target. The Havoc screamed and made another go for Izzy. Cyrus’s anger exploded when he saw her soul, crouched and quivering in fear. Would the emotional pain be too much for her?

When a Havoc tried to possess someone’s soul and body, the experience was similar to rape. The main difference was the absence of the physical trauma to the outside of the body. The psychological trauma was the same.

No! Izzy is strong.
She’d be okay. He had to focus on what needed to be done—evicting Stephen’s ass once again. This time he’d make it hurt more.

He squeezed his form around Stephen’s until the spirit screamed in pain. “
Stay away from my woman, Havoc.”

Stephen struggled once again, black and red tendrils creeping out from the edges of dark blue. “
She’s mine, demon. I will have her.”

Impressive
. Stephen had figured out exactly who and what Cyrus was, yet still had the balls to fight him. He couldn’t be stupid enough to think he’d win, though, could he?

Cyrus tightened his hold. “
Get out and don’t come back. If you come near her again, you won’t like the outcome.”

Cyrus ripped at Stephen’s pulsing soul, inflicting as much damage as possible and causing Stephen to let loose another furious cry as he was tossed out of Izzy’s body.

Satisfied that Stephen wouldn’t be coming back any time soon, Cyrus floated toward Izzy’s still crouching, quivering soul. It was dimmer than he remembered. He wrapped himself around her soul, trying to soothe it, but Izzy cried out. Could it be she didn’t understand who he was?

* * * *

The same dark blue soul that had saved her at Scarlett’s had saved her again, and now it wrapped itself around her soul as if it wanted to comfort her.

Something familiar slid through her—no, someone.
Cyrus?
How was that possible?

But it was. The bright white of her soul blended with the dark blue of his, and they glowed together as one, iridescent blue spilling everywhere.

“
I have to go now, Izzy. You’ll be okay. You’re strong.”

The dark blue light flickered, as if caressing her, then receded from her altogether.

It took Isabelle a moment to realize that the moaning she heard was coming from her own lips. She opened her eyes and slowly sat up. There was no sign of Johnny. She was alone.

What the hell had happened? How had Cyrus saved her from Stephen when he wasn’t even here?

Johnny walked back into the room carrying a glass of water, which he handed to her. She took it and sipped it while eyeing him carefully as he sat next to her. His golden skin had a pallor about it now.

A nearly unnoticeable shadow passed over his eyes for a second. She’d seen the same thing happen before with Cyrus’s eyes.

Izzy dropped the water.
No
. It wasn’t possible. “Cyrus?” she whispered, covering her heart with her palm.

* * * *

Cyrus would have to tell her everything now. She’d hate him, but if he could protect her, that was all that mattered. As long as she was safe, he’d handle her loathing him…maybe.

He’d have to move fast. Put his plan in motion and get rid of Stephen for good. Izzy was in too much danger while that damn bastard was free to possess her.

But if he got rid of Stephen, she’d have no further need of him.

Cyrus’s gut clenched. He was stuck. Totally fucked. The alternative was unacceptable. He couldn’t let Stephen remain a threat, so Izzy would have no other choice but to allow Cyrus to stay in her life.

He looked at Izzy. “Yes, it’s me.”

Her eyes were wide, confused like a starved animal deciding whether to trust the hand trying to feed it, bite it, or run away. “How did…what…? I don’t understand.”

“I guess you’re going to get your explanation after all, Izzy.”

“My explanation?”

“Of how I can do what I do.”

“Now I understand my dream.”

She hugged her arms around her middle and rocked back and forth.

“What dream?”

“I had a dream last night. You were in it. Well, the
first
you… Then the
new
you.” She shook her head. “Ugh! You know what I mean.”

“I understand. Go on.”

“You were there. The first you, I mean, but suddenly your face morphed into…”

“Into the
new
me?”

She nodded. “Please. My brain is going to explode if you don’t explain how you are in a different body and how you saved me from Stephen.”

She took a deep breath and waited.

“I’m a demon,” he revealed.

Her mouth gaped open, and he put his hands palm up, silently pleading for her to listen to him before judging him.

When she calmed, he continued. “I’m an Akem soul-demon, which means I take souls.”

“You steal other people’s souls?” Her voice squeaked. “But how can you do that?”

He watched her closely, afraid she might run screaming from the room at any moment. But she didn’t. That was one of the things he admired most about her. His Izzy had courage.

My Izzy?

“I only take the souls of murderers, rapists, child molesters, or the like,” he proclaimed. “I don’t take the souls of the innocent. The Creod soul-demons do that.” He went on to explain to her the difference between his kind and the Creod. He also told her the story of how he had been bound by Lily for fifty years. “My kind is not widely known. Those who are aware of us do not discriminate between Akem and Creod. They believe we are all the same—all abominations.”

“You can survive outside a body?”

“Yes, but the body I’m residing in at the time can only survive for about five minutes without me in it, before it dies permanently. Any body I occupy can be killed in the same way as any human can. If that happens, I have to find another one, which is why I’m in a new one now, by the way. It turns out that Jimmy, the owner of my previous body, had more enemies than I thought. When I stopped for gas earlier, I was stabbed through the heart. Fortunately for me, Johnny here, was worse than Jimmy. I happily rid him of his body.”

“How do you know these souls you steal are evil? You can’t possibly research them all, if you jump from one to the other like you said.”

“I can read minds, Izzy. That’s how I can tell.”

“Oh my God. You can read my mind?”

Cyrus shook his head. “No. I cannot read yours. Never have been able to.” He shrugged. “Don’t know why. That’s never happened before.”

He smiled as relief washed over her beautiful face.

“What do you look like when you don’t have a body?” she asked.

He reached for her hands, thankful she didn’t pull away from him when he took them in his own. “You already know the answer to that.”

“The dark blue light?”

He nodded. “Yes, but not visible to the naked eye.”

“And what happens to the souls of the bodies you take?”

“They have the same choice as any other soul whose body dies. Up, down, into limbo, or sometimes into Havoc form, like Stephen.”

“Three souls cannot be inside one body at once, Cyrus. How is it you are able to be in mine at the same time as Stephen?”

He laughed. “I’m not any ordinary soul. I’m a demon, remember? I can do a lot of things normal souls cannot.”

“Such as?”

“We’d be here all night.” He tightened his hold on her hands. “Izzy, you’re in danger. You know that, right?” He waited until she nodded to continue. “I’m sorry things ended the way they did at Scarlett’s, but I didn’t leave you. Well, I did leave you, but only to give you some space to cool down. I was on my way here when I was murdered.”

* * * *

Cyrus was turning out to be a much more complicated man than Isabelle could ever have imagined.
He isn’t a man, remember? He just told you he’s a demon.
While the disbelief was still hot on her heels, she had a small measure of comfort knowing he took only evil souls. Yet, she wasn’t sure how she felt about that either.

Her mind was jumbled, confused. She was uncomfortable with Cyrus being a demon, yet she couldn’t deny being thankful that he’d been here to save her from Stephen again.

“I need some time to think about this,” she stated.

“I understand.”

He cleared his throat and released her hands. Then he smiled.

Cyrus’s new body would take some getting used to, but he was still pretty damn good looking. And she couldn’t deny that she was still attracted to him. The thought of being with a different man—body—on a regular basis was strange. Yet, the possibilities were rather intriguing. When she thought about it, none of those things mattered when she realized that the actual reason she was attracted to him had nothing to do with his looks, but everything to do with the chemistry, the connection they had. She was drawn to
him
, regardless of what body he was in.

“Wait,” she said. “Are you going to be changing bodies every five minutes?”

“I usually try to stay in one for a while. I don’t get sick, or suffer from disease, but I can’t stop the natural aging process of a body. I don’t like getting old. When the body I’m in starts getting over-the-hill, I’ll find a new one.”

“Are you immortal?”

“In a way. Yet, I’m not sure anything is immortal, Izzy. If something is alive, it can die. I’m positive there’s something out there that can kill me, but I haven’t come across it yet.”

“Oh.”

So in other words, if she and Cyrus were together, it could be only a short-term relationship. She would grow old, and he wouldn’t want to have anything to do with her.

Whoa there, girl. Getting a little ahead of the ballgame, aren’t you?

It wasn’t as if they were serious. They’d had sex once. It was nothing more than mutual gratification.

Then why did the reality that they couldn’t be together bother her so much?

“Why don’t you go lie down,” Cyrus said, “and we’ll talk more later. You look exhausted.”

“Thank you. If you hadn’t been here, I’d be dead.”

“No. Don’t thank me. If I hadn’t been here, Stephen would have never gotten to you. I’m the reason you opened yourself up to begin with.”

“I didn’t invite him in at Scarlett’s, and he still got to me. It wasn’t your fault.” She frowned. “Why did you ask me to do a session for you? Did you lose someone?”

“In a way.” He reached out and rubbed his thumb pad over her cheek. “She’s not dead, though.”

Isabelle leaned into him, relishing the way his touch warmed her skin.  “Why did you come here?” she whispered.