Stacia Kane - Demon Possessed

Could she blame them? Perhaps they weren’t as edgy as she was—they weren’t the ones who’d almost been killed—but again, if either of them had been, she wouldn’t exactly have been in a chipper mood. The thought of something happening to either of them, of the hole that would leave in her life . . . She shuddered as she slipped on her shoes.

Eleven months ago she hadn’t known either of them existed and hadn’t really had anyone in the world, except her patients, who would even have noticed if she’d disappeared. Perhaps Althea—one of her old partners in the group practice—would have worried. Althea had kept in touch, sort of, but Megan hadn’t heard from her in a couple of months. Nobody else. She’d been alone, completely and totally, not even speaking to her family.

Now she had friends. A man she loved, who she knew loved her. A real family, even if they were a bunch of little demons who fed on human misery.

All that in less than a year. And the thought of some thing happening, of losing one of the people who’d enriched her life so much, sent a stab of fear straight to her heart. She shivered again, harder.

“Meg? You okay?” Greyson must have seen her shudder. When she turned around, he was watching her, his brows drawn together.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She gave him a bright smile. What the hell was her problem? Well, stupid question—someone was trying to kill her, after all—but where was this silliness about losing someone coming from? Tera had taken time off work—probably called in sick, but Megan had no idea what Vergadering’s vacation policies might be like—and come to stay at the Bellreive just to help her. And yes, Greyson was paying for her room and everything else, but she would have come anyway.

And Greyson . . . was buying things for a witch, had actually requested Tera’s presence. That’s how much he cared, how much he wanted Megan to be safe. He’d flown Nick up here on a moment’s notice, to protect her. And Nick had come—another person who cared about her.

So why, then, did she suddenly have the horrible feeling that it was all about to disappear, the way the body of her attacker disappeared over the edge of the roof, plummeting away from her so fast she couldn’t stop it?

Greyson was still watching her. “Are you sure? You look a little pale.”

“Yes, of course.” The smile was starting to make her cheeks ache. “Goose walked over my grave, is all.”

It was not the right cliché to use.

“So,” Tera said as they walked down the hall. “What’s the deal with this FBI person?”

Megan hesitated. She glanced at Nick, walking beside them, but he just raised his eyebrows. No help there.

“I don’t know,” she said finally. This, more than the bickering, was the one thing she truly hated about being friends with Tera. Tera worked for Vergadering. If Tera had any proof that Greyson or any of the other Gretnegs were involved in criminal activities, she could haul them off to prison. And from what Megan understood, a regular human prison was Club Med compared to Vergadering prison.

She couldn’t allow that to happen. Not simply because she couldn’t but because if she did, her life wouldn’t be worth a dime. Demons may have devoted a lot of their time to figuring out how to cheat people, but they took honor very seriously. A demon’s word meant a lot; a demon’s silence was something worth dying for.

So as much as Megan would have liked to have told Tera what Agent Reid had said to her and what the woman’s suspicions were, she couldn’t. Mentioning that the FBI was investigating Greyson and the others wasn’t proof of a crime, of course, and wouldn’t exactly surprise Tera, but Vergadering could get all sorts of information. As Tera had pointed out the night before, witches were powerful. Any one of them could dig into the FBI’s files and find who-knew-what.

“She’s just here as a guest, I guess. I only know she’s FBI because we were behind her when we checked in.”

“And she got attacked last night?”

Megan gave her a carefully edited version of the story. “There was blood all over,” she finished. “Bloody towels . . . it didn’t look like she’d just cut herself shaving or anything. But when I read Walther, she looked just fine, at least to him. So I don’t know where all the blood came from.”

“Huh. Weird. How are you feeling? Still woozy?”

“No.” The betchimal Tera put on her had sent her running for the bathroom, certain she was going to be sick. She hadn’t been, but it was a close call.

The nausea had only lasted a couple of minutes, though. And the spell certainly worked; Megan could feel Tera beside her, like a spot of heat seen through infrared goggles. “Just wishing we didn’t have to do this.”

“Yeah, I guess this isn’t how you want to spend your birthday, huh? Maybe it will all be over by then.”

Megan blinked. She’d forgotten about that.

“It’s your birthday?” Nick asked. “I didn’t know that.”

“Not for another couple of days. It’s no big deal.”

“Why do you think someone is trying to kill you?” Tera asked, as if birthdays and murders were normally part of the same conversation. “I mean, have you thought about it?”

Megan shook her head. “I can’t imagine. It’s not like I’m particularly important or anything.”

“Probably something to do with Greyson.”

“Hey!” Nick said. Was it her imagination, or did he sound nervous? An edge seemed to lurk behind his voice that she’d never heard before. “You don’t know that.”

Tera shrugged. “What else could it be? You heard her. She’s not important. Nobody seems to be after her little demons, but as far as I know, you guys are always trying to kill each other for one reason or another, and with Greyson being in charge now—”

“All the more reason why this probably has nothing to do with him. What could anyone possibly gain if Megan died?”

“I am still here,” Megan said. “I’m walking right between you.”

“Who knows what they might gain? But it’s hardly possible someone wants to kill Megan just for herself. It’s got to be connected to Greyson somehow.”

“You act like he set this up or something. Don’t you think—”

“What I think,” Tera said, “is that being with him puts her in danger, and she should get out. Out of this whole thing. It’s not like they’re going to get married or anything. She—”

“Stop it!” Megan grabbed them both by the arms and forced them to halt. “Just stop it. Tera, what the hell is with you? Why do you keep picking fights?”

“I don’t want to see you get hurt.” Tera’s cheeks were flushed; Megan had never seen her so emotional. “You’re my friend, and I don’t want to lose you. And you wouldn’t be in this situation if you hadn’t gotten so mixed up with them.”

“Them?” Nick’s expression was close to a snarl. “Mixed up with them ? Jesus. You witches are all the fucking same, aren’t you? Thinking you can just order us around, telling Megan she should leave—”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Megan said, loudly and slowly. “Except on to this woman’s room. And you two are coming with me, and you will keep your mouths shut, or I’ll— I don’t know what I’ll do, but you won’t like it. Okay?”

Pause. Then they both nodded. Megan would have laughed if she hadn’t been so angry. “Good. Now, let’s go.”

She’d taken about two steps down the hall when it occurred to her to wonder why Tera had sounded so certain that she and Greyson weren’t going to get married. Not that she expected to—well, no, that was a lie. She did expect to. Hoped to. At some point, not yet; they hadn’t even been seeing each other a year, but then she was going to be thirty-two in a few days, and he’d be thirty-eight a few weeks after, they weren’t getting any younger . . .