Kate Evangelista - Til Death

Too many things were happening all at once. Rainer grappled with Ormand. Garret and Riona barely kept the puppets at bay. Kyle still lay in a heap the last time he’d seen him. The slacker. He’d better heal himself fast or Dillan would have to kick his sorry ass from here to hell and back. His hands shook. He couldn’t think beyond the tunnel vision.

“Sebastian!” He didn’t recognize his voice because of the overwhelming panic. “Dammit, mutt! Get your ass over here.”

A dark shadow loomed over him. He instinctively moved between Selena and the shadow, protecting her. But he couldn’t do much without letting her go. Sebastian touched his snout to his chest, pushing him back gently.

Dillan . His voice stood out from the noise in Dillan’s head. I need you to focus.

“I’m fucking focused,” he growled.

Sebastian’s skeptical head tilt met him the one second he lifted his gaze away from Selena. All he needed was to hear her voice again and everything would be okay. Her face was losing color fast and her skin already felt clammy to the touch.

“I’m focused,” he repeated with a calmness he barely felt. “Tell me what I have to do.”

There is no guarantee I can bring her back.

“Just tell me.” It came out rough. Too rough. The walls of his throat closed.

The hellhound he pinned all this on nodded once. You have to heal her as you pull out the sword. Channel your energy through the blade instead of the pommel.

“You will not die on me,” he ordered. He touched her ashen cheek with numb fingertips. One second she looked at him, the next she was gone. He shook out his badly trembling hand. Unable to stop the tremors, he moved it to the hilt. The second his fingers wrapped around the grip, Selena’s eyes opened. He gasped, wide-eyed. Instead of the usual aquamarine, clear yellow stared back. Before he could call her name, she shoved him aside.

Everything seemed to stop at once.

All eyes stared at the girl who stood up with a sword sticking out of her back. Even Rainer and Ormand, locked in battle, stopped and stared. They all stared like idiots.

“Sebastian, what the hell’s happening?” he asked from his seated position.

This is not me. I swear.

A transparent white aura enveloped Selena, fanning her curls—making them seem like a wild mane around her head. No one moved while she scanned the awed expressions of those present.

In the silence, she reached for the hilt of Dillan’s sword and pulled it out of her chest. The blue light from the blade burned bright white the second she touched it. The flames danced from hilt to tip. He had never seen or felt such power. All the hair on his arms stood on end. Sebastian’s hackles went up. A low growl came from deep within his chest. He closed a hand on the hellhound’s fur.

“Don’t. Move,” he whispered.

Selena’s yellow eyes flicked from him and Sebastian to Ormand and Rainer. A second later, she moved toward them. Without hesitation, she pushed Rainer aside. Then, with teeth bared, she stabbed the shocked Ormand in the chest. With Dillan’s sword. To the hilt. The flames on the blade engulfed Ormand fast. The Maestro had no time to scream before he turned to ash. From the flames came a shockwave.

Holy shit! He shielded his eyes.

The puppets surrounding them melted into black goo. In one stroke the chaos ended. This wasn’t the Selena he knew. Not by a long shot. What the hell did they just get themselves into?

“Da-yum! Did Selena just save us?” Garret asked from somewhere.

Sebastian snorted.

Dillan was too shocked to speak.

“I don’t think that’s Selena,” Rainer said cautiously.

Like lightning, she flashed from the ash mound that once was Ormand to Rainer. She brought the sword down so fast Rainer barely had time to block the blow. The power of her stroke brought the Boogeyman to his knees. A part of Dillan took perverse pleasure in seeing Selena kick his ass. She was scary beautiful. But something also told him they’d all be dead after she finished with Rainer. He swallowed.

Rainer kicked at Selena’s feet. He sent her stumbling back. It gave him time to get on his feet. She charged again, sword over her head. She brought the blade down when a shadowed blur ran between her and Rainer. In seconds, the sword’s blade was sandwiched between Selena’s grandmother’s palms.

“Caroline?” Rainer asked, just as shocked as everyone in the clearing.

“Not the right time.” She grunted, barely holding on to the sword.

David ran into the clearing and delivered a perfect roundhouse kick against Selena’s torso. She flew back, but didn’t go down. He stood by Caroline. They both had their shoulders squared. Their Council powers pulsed around them.

“What the hell’s going on?” he finally managed to ask.

“Shut up, Dillan,” everyone except Sebastian said.

Selena, sword at the ready, didn’t back down. She growled at David and Caroline like she didn’t recognize them.

“Enough, Serena,” David said.

Serena? Dillan’s eyebrows came together.

“Selena’s not in danger anymore, Serena,” Caroline urged in that calm voice of hers. “Please return her to us.”

“She’s dead.” A voice more mature than Selena’s came from her lips. It sounded like two voices. Hers and this Serena’s, who killed Ormand with one blow and brought Rainer to his knees. What did they say about Karma?

Heal her heart and I can return her soul into her body , Sebastian finally spoke up.

The lack of confidence in his voice didn’t convince Dillan.

Selena—Serena—relaxed her stance. “What you propose will not work. For her to live, I must attach her energy to someone else’s.” She scanned all their faces. “The next time she is harmed, I will not hesitate to kill any of you. Am I making myself clear?”

The seriousness of her tone and the way she gripped the handle of the sword brought home her silent threat. Nods and grunts affirmed her words. Another new secret. Dillan hated it. But other than that, he had a feeling anyone in that clearing would have volunteered to save Selena by attaching their energy to hers. He opened his mouth to do just that. Unfortunately, she pointed at Sebastian.

“You’ll do,” she said.

Selena

Four Kisses and a Funeral

Death—not all that it was cracked up to be. No matter what anyone said. No bright lights at the end of tunnels. No pearly gates. No burning pit. Depending on where you were supposed to go, of course. If you believe in that sort of stuff. Take it from me; death was just pitch black darkness. Quiet. A floaty kind of feeling. Peaceful.

Coming back to life however…hurts like a freakin’ freight train running you over. Electric hooks pulled me out of that floating void. My body—the one I couldn’t see, anyway—spasmed. Hot electric currents zinged through my veins. My blood sizzled beneath my skin. I screamed, maybe. Not too sure. Too much pain. I had to punch the jerk who thought bringing me back to life was a good idea.

Sparks from a warm hand on my cheek woke me. I opened my eyes, blinking slowly to clear my hazy vision of a dark figure sitting at my bedside. The corners of Dillan’s cobalt-blue eyes crinkled. His lips parted slightly as he smiled. The warmth from his hand on my cheek quickly spread all over my body, pushing away my memory of the pain. He wore a sexy black suit with a crisp white shirt and a slim black tie. The guy cleaned up nice.

“We should really find out where the electric shocks are coming from,” I said sleepily.

He chuckled. “We can do that.”

I ran my fingers through his tousled hair. “No faux-hawk today?”