Still, although her determination to translate the texts had been solidified, she couldn't escape the fact that she still did not have the ability to make sense of them. Demon visit or no demon visit, she didn't have the tools to get the job done. Her brain didn't seem to be up to the task.
Ruby flipped on the television, mostly just for the noise. They didn't get great reception, and the satellite had been shaken with the rest of the house. She flipped until she got to some of the local channels and left the television on some commercial for women's hair dye.
Staring at the page in front of her, she didn't let herself think about the demon's appealing face looking at her as he promised her he'd been there for every bad moment in her life. Why her? There were eighteen Outsiders. Why had he focused on her?
Sighing, she tried to do a better job of not thinking about what she didn't want to think about.
A voice coming off the television screen caught her attention, and her head shot up as she realized where she'd heard it before.
Preacher Talbot. Her grandparents had been terrified of him. Any time he'd come anywhere near one of the towns where they stayed, she'd been made to basically live in the basement with the windows bolted and locked. It had always seemed really odd. Her grandfather had been a Marine. She'd once watched him take down three neighborhood thugs using nothing more than the end of the broom he used to sweep the garage.
However, one small man with a cane showed up, and her family went into some kind of catatonic state of terror. They'd always move after that, too. Some place smaller, some place her grandparents thought the man was less likely to visit.
Ruby stood up and walked to the television to get a better look. He might have freaked out her family—and she never did learn why, her grandparents had taken that knowledge to their graves with them—but he didn't scare her.
She wasn't at all interested in what he was selling. Instead, she focused on the way his lips moved. How and when he smiled, what moments he looked at the camera and when he glanced down. Truly, he seemed to be some kind of expert. The audience roared in applause. Ruby shook her head.
Coffee. She should walk to the kitchen and see if any of the coffeemakers had survived the shake-up.
Preacher Talbot shook his cane in the air, waving at the audience. All thoughts of caffeine fled her mind as her heart rate increased rapidly. "Holy cow."
She reached out to touch the television. The top of the cane held a symbol. She'd seen it before, many times, as she stared at the book she couldn't make sense of. Both sides of the cane were covered in letters, but ones she knew.
The cane…it was what she'd been searching for. A Rosetta Stone.
"Leonardo," Ruby called over her shoulder. "Can you come in here please?"
They had to steal that cane from a preacher. And maybe she was sick in the head, but it sounded like a lot of fun.
Chapter Three
Dear God.
Jacob Talbot knelt on his floor of his office with the bible clutched between his hands. It had been such a long time since the Lord had spoken to him. He'd always been so diligent, so devout in his faith, and God had always answered him during his afternoon prayers.
Except not today. For the last hour he had prayed as hard as he knew how, yet for some reason there had been no answer.
I'm sorry. I've been busy. But I have not forgotten you. Son.
Jacob smiled. I have missed the sound of your voice today.
Right.
Sometimes the Lord could sound sort of surly. Jacob pushed that thought away. It didn't do to offend him, not after the way God had blessed him for so many years.
What would you have of me today, Lord?
The one you have sought for so many years. She is near. You need only seek her out, and finally, your task will be done.
Jacob's heart picked up. It pounded hard against his ribs. Yes, this was what he wanted. Ruby. After all of the years of searching, he'd finally be able to fulfill his promise to God and destroy the baby he'd lost. The now-woman was destined to bring on the end of days. If he could have destroyed her as a baby, it would have been smoother but there was still time to stop the coming darkness.
He would get to her and eliminate her. So help him, God.
* * * *
Sebastian looked at Jacob—such a little man, standing no more than five feet five inches—who knelt so devoutly praying to a God he thought was in front of him. Sebastian had manipulated the little preacher for over thirty years now. Never once had Jacob questioned him.
The task had actually been harder when Sebastian had been bound by a body. Being incorporeal had some benefits. He could move around so much more easily. Jump from place to place without having to figure out how he was going to transport the body he'd assumed when he'd come to earth thirty years earlier.
He'd failed miserably trapped as a human. Not one of the Outsiders was dead. Well, not yet. By the end of the week, Ruby would be no more. Wrapped up and delivered to the universe by the fool who killed her mother. Or, at least convinced the woman who had been handed Ruby to kill herself.
Ruby's actual mother died when the rest of the Outsiders perished. That had been his doing. He could take some credit for that. There were only eighteen of them left. Unfortunately, the wrong eighteen.
They'd tried to kill him months earlier and instead had made his life even easier. Now no one could see him unless he desired.
And right now, he didn't want them to. It was too fun fucking with their lives in preparation for killing them in a blazing inferno the world would never forget.
But first, he would torture Colin Knight. Capturing Outsiders had its advantages.
* * * *
Leonardo Gregan stared down at the mess on his bedroom floor and shook his head. He didn't feel like cleaning it up. Down the hall, he heard Charma laugh, and he knew Jason must have said something funny. She laughed all the time now, and as much as that made him happy for the woman who, for all intents and purposes, was his sister, he basically wanted to scream every time he heard the sound.
He would never know that joy, or at the very least, he'd never understand it. How could they be so damn happy while in the middle of a war that would determine the rest of existence?
Leonardo picked his books off the floor one at a time. Everything had a place in his life. He simply had to figure out what to do about pushing down all thoughts of his soul mate—Alexa—and the fact she'd been fucking the demon up until the point the asshole became incorporeal. Hell, maybe she still had sex with him. Leonardo had no idea how these things worked. He only knew he'd never let that bitch anywhere near him. An obvious problem since they were all, technically, supposed to be together with their soul mates in order to fulfill the prophecy.
Unless Ruby found some sort of exception to the rule, it seemed pretty clear Fate was going to screw them unless all the criteria were met.
Not a chance in hell that would be happening…
* * * *
Alexa Lane looked at her empty suitcase on the floor. It stared up at her from where she'd placed it two days earlier. Pulling it out of the closet had been an act of desperation. It wasn't like she had anywhere to go. After Gabriel deserted her for the cult, Sebastian had been her only family. Even before they'd been lovers, Sebastian had been pivotal to her happiness. He'd taken them in when they'd been nothing but starving orphans.
To repay him, Gabriel had plotted Sebastian's death. She sighed and closed her eyes.
Alexa had nowhere to go, and she couldn't even bring herself to pack a bag and pretend she could make plans. She stood up and walked to the window. Her best friend had killed her lover.
The rage she'd been suppressing for most of the day made her hands start to shake. She charged to the window.
"Alexa."
She shook her head. Sebastian was dead. There was no way, no how he could be speaking to her. This constant voice in her head had to be some kind of deranged mental breakdown brought on by stress or
something.
"I can't leave you. I can't go on to the next phase in life because I am so worried about you. I need to help you defeat those that did this to me."
Alexa shuddered. She wished he'd just…go away. Maybe thinking that made her a very bad person, but all she wanted in the world was for the ghost—spirit…whatever—of Sebastian to move on to his next existence and leave her alone.
"Sebastian." Saying his name aloud did nothing to alleviate the general feeling of being nuts. "I can't do this. I have to be able to move on. I love you. I always will. Aren't you supposed to, I don't know, leave revenge in the past when you go on to the next life?"
"Ha." Sebastian snickered. "Alexa, how can I move on with so much at stake?"
With so much at stake? She closed her eyes. Sebastian's body was probably not even cold in the ground yet, and she'd already been disloyal. Shame made her spine straighten. She'd do better than this. She had to.
Her skin felt hot as an idea occurred to her. Yes, she could call Gabriel. Convince him to let her into the cult. Make them all believe in her. Become pretend friends. And then slaughter them all.
They'd pay for what they did to Sebastian.
She slammed her fist into the wall. For a second, she stood, stunned as she stared at her hand. Blood dripped down onto her wrist. She watched it, unable to pull her gaze from the sight, even to get something to stop the wound.
It didn't hurt. Not even a little bit. She'd seriously injured herself, and she couldn't feel a thing. Not even numbness.
Lifting up her hand, she brought her mouth to the open wound. Compelled with a need she couldn't name or process, she lapped up her blood into her mouth. Swallowing it down one drop at a time, her body shuddered with need.
Yes, her soul cried. Blood. I need more blood.
She lunged backward, falling onto her ass. Panting, she looked around wildly. What the hell? Had she just sucked her own blood? A sob escaped her mouth. What was going on? How could this be happening?
* * * *
Drew Dubowski stared up at the sky. There was going to be another storm. "I don't know if this is exactly the perfect time to take the boat out."
Ruby danced from foot to foot. He didn't know the woman well at all, but he guessed this wasn't exactly a standard mood for her. She seemed downright…ecstatic. For a professor of something ancient—he never could remember what it was she and Leonardo studied—this must be like Christmas.
"If we don't go now, we might not get the chance."
Drew let out a long breath. "This preacher…Talbot…he'll just leave if we don't get there today? If we wait until tomorrow?"
"The weather may not be any better tomorrow. I've yet to see a good day since I got here."
She had a point. Drew preferred warmer climates. He'd grown up in this forever-cold environment, and he'd always thought when he settled it would be elsewhere. That is, until, Marina…
"Are you even listening to me?"
He blinked, bringing blonde-haired Ruby back into focus as he forced himself not to think of the dark-haired goddess he couldn't stop daydreaming about. Even if he'd managed to put a gulf of space between them, the mental separation had gotten so wide he might never be able to cross it to get to her even if he wanted.
Which he didn't want to do. Ever. And as long as he kept repeating that mantra to himself over and over, he might survive the emptiness inside of his heart.
"I'm listening." He was. If he could just remember what she'd said.
"Never mind him."
Drew flinched as Marina's voice filled the courtyard. He carried so many powers inside of him that sometimes he could barely handle it, and Marina still had the ability to take him by surprise like he was nothing but a human.
He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out so he stood silently instead.
Marina paused for a second before rolling her eyes. "Charming as ever, Drew."
She turned her eyes from him, and he immediately felt bereft at the loss of her attention. Marina could make friends with a tree if she wanted to and yet she hated him, made not a single effort to be even remotely nice to him any longer.
Did it make him sick in the head that he missed the days when she pursued him like getting his attention was the only thing that mattered in the world to her?
He couldn't have her, not with the evil he carried inside of himself. It had to be a good thing that she'd moved on to new pursuits. So why did it make him feel sick inside?
"I'm trying to talk him into taking me to the mainland but he's objecting to the weather."
Marina glanced up at the sky before smiling with no mirth in her eyes. "Drew only does things when they're convenient for him."
He let out a loud breath, trying to contain the retort he wanted to make. "I just don't want anybody to get hurt. We've already been attacked once today. The water is rough and how do we know if…"
"I'll take you," Marina interrupted him without even a glance in his direction.
Oh hell no.
"You're not going out there on a boat in that water with Sebastian lurking around."
"Come on." Marina placed her hand on Ruby's shoulder. "I'll take you. If you say it's important we go, then we go."
Drew put his hands on his hips. "You two are not going out in that boat by yourselves. It's not safe."
Marina ignored him as she walked toward the boathouse. His gaze traveled until it landed on her firm ass. The gentle sway of her hips did nothing to help him pull his eyes upward or to simply look anywhere else. His cock jumped in his pants.
"I guess you'd better come with us, then."
Drew blinked, Ruby's voice bringing him back to the here and now. He cleared his throat. There's no way Ruby couldn't have seen where his stare had gone.
He cleared his throat, hoping his cheeks weren't bright red. Warmth traveled up his spine. "Yeah, I guess I'm going to have to come."
'Thank you, Drew."
Nodding, he ran after Marina. The last thing in the world he wanted to do was to get in a small boat in the rain with Marina and Ruby so he could go steal some kind of stick from a preacher.
And what did it say about him that the part of the trip that bothered him the most wasn't the thievery but the small boat where he'd be pressed up against the soul mate he could never have?
* * * *
Zane Walsh stood in the rain, letting the large drops pelt him in the head. He pulled his dark brown leather jacket closer around him. It didn't cover his head but it helped with the shakes. Not that he cared about freezing. He'd spent too many years living on the streets to fear the cold. If Mother Nature planned to kill him, she would have done so years ago.
"In there. You'll find the others in there later."
Blinking, he reached into his pocket for a cigarette. The package felt soggy but at least one or two of the smokes would still be fine. Why had he listened to the voices in his head? He'd made a point of ignoring them for thirty-two years.
Come to Maine. He rolled his eyes. The second he'd heard that set of instructions, he should have hightailed it to California. Yet, here he stood like an idiot, getting wet, outside of some kind of church service.
The last time he'd been in a religious house had been the day he'd run away from the orphanage when he turned fifteen. He didn't have much time for this type of thing in his life, given that his chosen career kept him on the wrong side of right.
"Shit."
Zane turned on his heel and stormed away from the building. There had to be a bar open somewhere. He looked at his watch. At five o'clock in the afternoon, someone else in the small town had to be looking to get drunk.
"Go in the building."
"Nope." He never spoke aloud to his delusions but today seemed a day to break his rules. "I'm not going in there sober. If you want me to go to church, you're going to have to put up with me getting drunk first."
Silence met his proclamation. Good. They could deal with it or they could take a hike. Of course,
if they didn't leave him alone soon he might take a long dive off a short cliff.
After wandering the streets for some time he finally found a place that looked sketchy enough to serve his needs. Zane didn't do respectable if he could help it. People with buttoned up collars and nine-to-five jobs gave him the creeps.
Storming in like he owned the place, he walked straight to the bar. After a few seconds, the bartender looked up. He guessed she'd be considered hot. Tall, curvy, and redheaded, he'd spent enough time in the world to know that she'd be a prime candidate to be hit on all the time. Except that he didn't find her the least bit attractive.
He slumped down in the stool. Zane never found anyone attractive. Even the few women he'd managed to sleep with after massive amounts of alcohol did nothing for him the next day. Men didn't turn him on either. It seemed like he had no sex drive whatsoever. Was that even possible?
"What are you going to have?"
He stared up at the woman he really wished he could find a turn-on and smiled. "Whiskey, straight up."
"You've got it." She smiled. "And give me twenty dollars."
Blinking rapidly, he tried to figure out what she'd said. "Why would I do that?"
The woman in front of him took a step back before she exhaled loudly. "I said, give me twenty dollars."
"If that whiskey is twenty dollars, I don't want it."
"No." She shook her head. "I just want you to give it to me."
"I'm really confused. Why would I do that, honey?"
She leaned over the bar. "You just resisted what I said." She stuck her breasts out further like he was supposed to look at them. "How is that possible?"
"Look, I get that you're pretty or whatever, but I'm not giving you twenty dollars because you have boobs."
"You're not?"
"No." This would be comical if it wasn't so strange. "Why would I?"
Redhead blew out a breath. "Because everyone does. Since puberty. I show them my body and they do what I want."