Lauren Dane - Heart of Darkness

A knock sounded on the door and Gage handed Dominic a mug of something. “Hold your nose and drink it fast. It’ll be over soon and you’ll feel better.”

“You speak from experience?” Dominic, amused, asked Gage.

“Enough to know how to keep from gagging on it. This is a system cleanse of sorts. It’s got all kinds of crap she grows and picks and then says spells over. It works, if that helps at all.”

Meriel had had that crap when she was in high school. They’d been in a car accident and the smoke had been horrible. They’d been relatively uninjured but the smoke from the car fire had blown in their faces as they’d waited for the cops and aid cars. That stuff had cleared the gunk out, but she felt every damned minute of it. Blech. But it did really work, she agreed with Gage.

He drank it and she caught the shudder.

“He didn’t lie.”

She laughed. It was brittle. She heard it herself. Quickly, she stripped him down and then herself and took him into the shower. The goop smelled good. Clean and right. She had to stretch to reach him all, but he bent and let her get his hair. She let go for the moment, just reveling in being able to touch him that way. The water pounded on him and she kneaded and caressed, scrubbed and stroked from head to toe. Her magick had softened and warmed. It flowed from her and around him. Healing. Loving. Connecting.

The block of fear she’d been choking on since she’d left Heart of Darkness and began to really think about how much they could have lost began to melt away. Helpless in the face of the love she felt for this man. She hadn’t told him she loved him back when they’d been at Heart of Darkness; the situation had shifted and it hadn’t felt like the right time with Simon there.

But here between them she could show him.

“Wow,” he murmured as he stepped out some minutes later. “That was amazing. I feel so good. Taken care of. But that doesn’t really do it justice. You make me feel like I can come home and be safe. Be loved. Thank you for being my safe place. Tonight it was you, Meriel. You snapped me out of it. You fought some sort of major magickal battle with my mother and a dark spirit and you haven’t broken a sweat.”

“I love you too.” She leaned in to press her face to his neck. Warm and vibrant. He was alive and he was fine and everything would be all right. Gloria couldn’t have him. She’d see to that.

“I might have sweated a little bit. But that’ll be our secret.”

HOURSlater, she closed the door after the last visitor left. Dominic had been tucked into bed under a very deep sleep spell her mother had cast. He needed the rest so his system could heal.

She tossed herself on the couch next to Nell. “You need to go home.”

“William is coming to pick me up. Gage has my car. Anyway, I need to talk to you. Are you all right?”

Finally, after everyone had gone it was finally safe to let it go so she just turned and buried her face in her hands and let it go. Nell rubbed a hand up and down her back, not saying anything, just letting Meriel get all the tears out.

She cried until she got the hiccups and then slowly pulled herself back together again.

“She knows he’s alive. I think we should be expecting a call very soon.” Meriel tapped her knee. “But the good news is, she’s weak. Her magic is hollow, brittle in places. I don’t know how she’s made it this far. But I will make sure she doesn’t do it again.”

“We’ll make sure. Leave the hunting to the hunter please. And don’t assume she’s the only turned witch working with these mages either. You’re what they call a high-value target, Meriel, don’t forget that. You’re like the big bank job or whatever.”

“Pfft. She tried to take him from me. She tried to take his will.”

“We’ll get her.”

“He thinks he was weak because of what happened. But he was so strong. What she did would have taken over a weak man inside ten minutes. From what I can tell it had been cast at least two hours and all it had really done was make him aggressive. His defensive magick was working even though he had no idea. I’m the one who was weak. I didn’t even think about possession. It’s my job and I failed.”

“Really? Well, forgive me for thinking you saved him. I’m sorry you seem to think you need to be omniscient. Even Edwina isn’t all knowing, sister.”

“It’s my job to know.”

“You did your job. You can’t possibly think of every single outcome of every single thing. Even you can’t do it. No one can. Anyway, are you going to let this low-rent bitch ruffle you? Girl, you beat her. Over and over.”

This made her feel infinitely better, as she knew would happen when she laid it all out for Nell. “I have her taste now. I know Gloria Ochoa. That was a big mistake on her part. Now I can find her easier and remove this problem for good.”

“She’s gonna be calling you. You know that, right?”

“Looking forward to it. My best guess is she’ll be on my phone at work bright and early. And I’ll be waiting.”

“Good. There’s my girl.” Nell’s grin was vicious. “Calls will ring in here like we talked about. I talked to Simon. He told me you were amazing with Dom, said your skills were off the charts. You used the Latin exorcism rites? That’s pretty Hollywood.”

“Once I got inside him I could see what it was. It just came to me to try it. Seemed to me that sometimes holy men and women are shamans in a sense, their rites and rituals have meaning too, so I gave them intent. Worked out.” She let out a long breath.

She could do this. She would do this.

William showed up at the door. He gave Meriel a hug and went to Nell. “I’m here to collect my wife.”

Nell smiled up at him. “Hello there.”

He shook his head. “Is everything all right?”

“It is. I was just giving Meriel an update. Dominic is sleeping. He’ll be fine. No lasting effects. In fact he’ll come out of this stronger, Meriel’s mother said.”

William helped Nell into her coat and they headed out. “I’ll be back tomorrow morning. First thing. You can work from here, I get that. But I want to be here if she calls.”

“Fine. Just please rest. If she calls before you get here, you’re only a few minutes away.”

DOMINICwoke feeling better than he had in a few days. Refreshed even.

Her side of the bed was still warm and the scent of coffee filled the air. Meriel was there and awake. He rolled to stand and stretch and when he turned, she was standing in the doorway, smiling.

“How are you feeling this morning?”

“Better now.” He pulled her into a hug. “Damn, you feel good.”

She tipped her head up to look him in the face. “Coffee and some breakfast can be had if you’re up to it.”

“I figured I’d have to scrub the goop off. But it’s gone.”

“Gage’s mom said it would soak into the skin. You smell good. Clean and fresh.”

“Well, that’s a plus to having your friend’s mom rubbing goo all over you. Don’t know that I’ll be looking her in the eye anytime soon.”

She laughed. “Come on out then. I’ll make you something to eat.”

“Meriel?” He caught her hand in his.

“Mm?”

“I love you.”

Her smile widened. “I love you too.”

He followed her out and settled in at the table. “So tell me. Fill me in.”

“You sure you want that first thing? Before you even eat?”

“I can do both. Do you mean to tell me you went to bed right when I did and only woke up five minutes ago?” He looked toward the spare room where she’d set up her office.

“My body clock wakes me up at five. No matter how much I try to sleep in. She’s going to call today. I want to be ready.” She began to pull a breakfast together and he watched, content to have her there.