Chapter 31

Chapter

Thirty-One

Crusher

S triding through the forest, I stay on high alert for signs of Phil. No one has seen him since he attacked Ana.

Since I let it happen.

I took Phil at his word that he'd gained control over the demon. I won't do that again. Phil's still on the island. I can sense his presence, but for some reason I can't pin down his location.

The night is overcast, a light rain falling. The forest is dense, and very little rain reaches the ground, but the humidity has heightened the earthy scents of the pine needles and the soil, not to mention all the animals living here. I pause to inhale a few deep breaths of the heady scent. It's been far too long since I spent any quality time in nature, and I've never been anywhere this remote. Even through the dense cloud cover, millions of stars are visible

"What the fuck do you want?"

I turn to find Phil sitting on a rock that's emerging from the earth between two large trees.

I brace, suddenly unsure of the man who's been my closest friend for more than two hundred years. "Are you okay?"

He shakes his head, looking down.

"What the fuck happened back there?" I take a tentative step closer.

"Demon took hold. I almost—" His throat tightens around his words, his voice coated in shame.

"But you didn't." Despite what he did to Ana, I feel for the guy. He wasn't in control of himself. I know how hard he's been trying to stay away from her, and I can't even begin to imagine the torture of having a demon inside your mind, especially one that compels you to hurt someone you love.

"Who stopped me?" He shakes his head. "Where did the silver ropes come from?"

I step closer, and he doesn't move. Phil truly seems like his old self, but he fooled me earlier.

"It was Ember," I tell him.

He looks up toward me, clear shock on his face. "That baby vamp? How?" He leans back, planting his hands on the rock.

Stopping, I cross my arms over my chest. I'm not sure if I should reveal the details. Whether or not Phil's got the demon tamed at the moment, the thing's still in him, and anything Phil learns, the demon learns too. The last thing we need is to neutralize the only weapon we currently have against this demon.

I'll keep it simple. "Ember's got magic."

Phil nods as if that's enough information for him. I didn't see what happened myself, but it sounds like Axe, who can walk in the sunlight, broke a window to get into the room, and then Ember wielded magic to create silver ropes. And she used them to constrain Phil, pulling him off Ana and containing him until she was safe.

Then she used more magic to cloak Phil from the sun, as she and Axe led him to a cave. Only then did Ember release him from his silver bindings, knowing he'd be trapped in the cave until dark. Long after the plane left the island with Ana.

They've been gone for hours, and I miss her desperately.

After the incident with Phil, she agreed to go with Ember to see the witches. There were only so many spots on the float plane, so Ana, Blade, Ember and Zuben went. Flame fought to be included, claiming Ember and Ana were small enough to share one of the seats, but Ana spoke to him, and whatever she said convinced him to stay here. And their long kiss goodbye nearly shattered my heart.

"Fuck, man." Phil punches the sides of his skull with his fists.

"Is the demon hurting you?" I remember seeing the effects of the pain the demon clearly caused Timur, or rather Rasputin pretending to be Timur.

Phil shakes his head. "Fucker calmed down after the plane took off."

I nod, taking another couple of steps closer to my old friend, my brother, and his eyes fill with what looks like anguish, his expression twisting.

"You sure it's not torturing you now?" I ask, although I'm not sure how I could help either way.

He shakes his head. "The only thing torturing me is knowing she doesn't love me anymore."

"You don't know that."

"After what I did?" The pain in his voice nearly crushes me.

Then he shakes his head. "Even if she still loves me, she'll never want to see me again." He slams his fists against the rock so hard I hear bones cracking. "Even after I get this fucker out of my head, she'll never trust me again."

"Welcome to the club."

His gaze snaps toward me. "You're in the doghouse too?"

I nod.

"What the fuck did you do?"

"Killed Timur."

"Oh, yeah right. Guess she knows now?" He flexes his hands as his broken bones knit back together.

"She's mostly upset that I kept it from her. And looking back. Fuck." I look up through the branches above us. "At first it seemed smart not to tell her. But…" I shove my hands into my pockets. "If I'm honest, once I got to know her, my reasons for not telling her changed. It changed from doing what was best for her, to what was best for me."

"I get that," Phil says.

A wave of realization drags me down. "I was afraid if I told her, that she'd hate me." The words come out on a whisper.

"Talk about a major backfire." Phil chuckles, and the expression on his face fills me with joy. He's trying to lighten the mood. He's teasing me. Poking. The real Phil is still there.

I hear sounds in the forest and spin quickly. But it's just Axe, Ryker and Flame.

"What have you boys been up to?" Ryker asks, a smirk on his face. The pirate's good looking, I suppose, but also the type you wouldn't want to cross in an alley. Or on the high seas, from what little I know of his past.

"We've been fucking." Cupping his package, Phil pushes off the rock to stand. "You want a go?"

Ryker laughs, and points toward Phil. "Demon aside, I like this one."

"You won't, once you know him better," Flame says with a wink.

"Well," Ryker says. "If you gentlemen are done buggering each other, how should we pass the time, while our ladies are off on their quest?"

I shrug. "Got a suggestion?"

"Normally I'd suggest a club," Ryker says, "but it would take hours of swimming and running to reach even the closest place that could be described as a bar. It's beyond dull out here." Ryker shakes his head. "Mind-numbingly dull. And I'm someone who spent my youth trapped on ships."

"Speak for yourself." Axe glares at Ryker, and his chest and shoulders expand, reminding me that this vampire could shift into a grizzly bear at any given moment. Or at least I assume it doesn't require a special phase of the moon or any such nonsense.

"Not all of us find tree hugging exciting, bear-man." Ryker playfully shoves Axe, who growls again, but it all seems to be in good fun. It would be horrible for Ember, if her three mates don't get along. Ana is lucky there.

That thought makes my chest squeeze. She is lucky that the four of us knew and liked each other before we met, but her future won't include me.

"How about games," Flame says.

"What kind of games do you have in mind, handsome?" Ryker winks at Flame who shoots him the finger.

"Something physical," Flame answers. "Without Ana here, I need to blow off some steam."

Flame and I make eye contact. We both watched while Ana and Blade drank from Ember.

Mercifully, they went outside after feeding, going down to the dock to wait for the plane. Since the sun was up, we couldn't follow, but it was impossible not to hear what went on. The two couples, Ember and Zuben, Ana and Blade, both had sex as they waited. Sex under the sun. Imagine.

I was almost grateful when the plane arrived, so they couldn't go for round four or five or whatever they were up to at that point. I glance toward Phil, wondering if he heard them from the cave. I hope not.

"We could race around the island," Flame suggests.

"Running or swimming?" Axe asks.

"Why not both?" Flame's eyes light up with excitement, reminding me of when he was a little boy. Always up for mischief and adventure.

"Let's have a tournament," he says. "A series of events. Swim around the island. Run across it and back." He counts off on his fingers. "Canoe races. Fastest one up a tree." He turns toward Axe. "Pretty sure you'll win that one."

"Splitting wood," Axe says.

"Sure, why not." Flame grins.

Axe shifts. "We're running low. Two birds…" He shrugs."Okay then." Ryker rubs his hands together. "Let the games begin." He looks toward Phil. "You and the demon in?"

Phil

"Go, Crusher, go!" Flame cheers as Crusher repeatedly swings the heavy axe. He's the last of we five to compete in this wood chopping contest.

Over and over, Crusher sets up a log on a massive stump and brings his axe down, splintering it into smaller pieces. Ryker's watching the time on what looks like a nineteenth century pocket watch. Hardly accurate.

I've already had my go, and my competitive side kicked in. I'm in second at this point, behind Axe.

I won the swimming challenge, came third in the three scaling, and likely would have won the wrestling match, but decided to disqualify myself from that round, because the demon seemed way too excited about being that close to any one of these men.

Would he have urged me to kill? I can't see what good that would do for the demon.

Then, I realize it would give him—me—another dead soul to impersonate. Fuck. The witches better have some damn answers.

If Ember and Ana don't come back with answers, I'll need to leave her, once and for all. I'll go far away. Go somewhere I won't be able to sense her or track her. I'll live underground. Find an oubliette. Seal myself in. Because this morning proved I cannot trust myself around her.

It might take hundreds of years, but eventually the demon will give up and leave me alone. Tightening my grip on a piece of split wood from the pile, I press my fists against my temples. For a century, this fucker stayed in Rasputin's head, waiting for Ana to resurface. Who the fuck knows how many centuries I'll have to stay away from her.

"Ten seconds left!" Ryker calls out. "You're seventeen logs behind Axe!"

Crusher swings the blade so quickly, I barely see it move. Splinters scatter in clouds around the stump while he rapidly chops.

"Time!" Ryker yells. Crusher stops mid swing, and then brings the blade down to lodge in the stump.

"That was close," Ryker says, eying Crusher's result and comparing it to Axe's. "Shall I be referee?"

"What the fuck is that?" Axe yells, and the ground vibrates as the big hairy man moves toward me.

I bring my arms down to my side. "What is what?"

"That!" Trembling with rage, Axe points to my side.

I look down to see that, while I've been sitting here holding this piece of wood, I've been rubbing it against the granite, sharping its end into a point.

In a flash, Ryker grabs the axe from the stump and moves up beside the bear man.

"Try to use that," he says menacingly, "and I'll chop off your fucking head!"

"Hey, hey." Crusher steps up beside them, and Flame does too.

"This tournament doesn't have a beheading event," Flame says. "Does it?"

I laugh.

"There's nothing funny about you making a stake." A low growl rumbles out of Axe's chest.

I have definitely poked the bear. Poked the pirate too. They're out for blood. Or rather, they're worried that I am.

"Drop the stake, Phil," Crusher says.

I turn toward him, shocked at the fear I see in his eyes. Also shocked that I not only made a stake but am still holding it.

"Drop it," Flame adds. "Come on. I'll toss it into the fire."

It takes a shockingly great effort to release my grip, as if my joints are full of cement. But my fingers eventually unfurl, and the stake clatters over the granite I'm perched on, landing softly on the pine-needle cushioned ground.

Flame retrieves it, throwing it onto the roaring campfire.

"Fuck, man." Crusher takes a small step toward me. "Who the hell were you planning to use that stake on?" The hurt in his eyes is clear, and the lack of trust in his voice rips me in two.

I look down. "I should have used it on myself." Leaving the men, I race through the woods and then dive off the high cliff I discovered that first night. The cold water takes my breath as I cut through the surface.

I'll swim, stay well out in the lake until the sun rises, and then spend another day in that cave. If I had any courage, I'd stay in the water past sunrise, letting its rays burn me each time I come up for air.