Chapter 15
The storm surged on for two days, and Lucas never left Cali’s side. The bed became their home, and the storm the violent expression of the emotional rollercoaster he was experiencing. The lightning, thunder and gale force winds seemed to him both a warning and a reassurance. He prayed, just prayed, Cali would be all right. The basket of food from Ron and room temperature bottled water held them until the hurricane passed.
A thought flashed in his head. The only way to protect Cali was to get her out of Costa Rica. But that idea broke his heart. The one person in his whole life whose existence and happiness mattered more to him than anything; the one he wanted to grow old with…he had to get her to leave him. For now.
When he opened the door of her bungalow late in the afternoon the next day, he opened it back to his old life and shut it on their too brief and uncomplicated romance. She needed to head back to Wisconsin to her pharmacy job, and he needed to hightail it to Carmen’s to formulate a plan to deal with Alejandro, Anna, and the artifacts.
Holding hands, they stepped outside and blinked in the sunlight. The damage caused by the hurricane was beyond incredible. Lucas had been through storms before, but nothing of this caliber. Trees were down, some uprooted completely. Debris littered the resort. The hut built over Ron’s outdoor kitchen was completely gone. Twigs, dirt, and garbage littered their every step. Holding her hand tightly, they picked their way toward the main house. Ron told them about radio reports of thirty hurricane related deaths due to mudslides and mass flooding. He agreed to let them use his Jeep to get Cali back to Paquera.
Lucas gathered his belongings. “You’ll come to Carmen’s as soon as you’re packed?”
“Of course. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” she said.
He didn’t want her out of his sight for a moment. Her tousled hair gave him almost as much satisfaction as the tender kiss he left her with. Her lips were softer than silk. “Sounds good, see you soon.”
When he reached Carmen’s restaurant, he was relieved that the structure had sustained only minimal damage and nothing beyond repair. “Any sign of the demons?” he asked Carmen after an hour of cleaning. He’d explained his unsettling visit with Alejandro.
“No sign of them, but I don’t feel safe. How did it go with Cali—for two days? She’s a wonderful girl,” Carmen said.
“I just want her home safe. It’s far better for her to be as far away from me as possible. She’s meeting me here with Ron’s Jeep so I can drive her to the ferry.” He paused. “Tía, I want to give her my mom’s necklace…if that’s all right with you?”
She kissed him on the forehead. “Claro, mi sobrino.” Of course, my nephew.
After Cali’s farewell and thanks to Carmen, they headed to Paquera, Lucas couldn’t shake the feeling that they were being followed. He kept checking his rearview mirror, but nothing…
Hurrying her off was the last thing he wanted to do, but Cali’s safety was paramount, and if demons were in the vicinity, the less they saw of her, the better.
Maybe someday he could explain.
She needed to leave his world mentally intact and return to the normality of her own. It was the right thing for both of them. So why can’t I bear to say good-bye? They parked and made their way to the ferry.
“Cali, I want you to have something.” He removed one of the two necklaces around his neck. “This has been in my family a really long time. I have two necklaces, one that is my father’s and one that was my mother’s.” He placed it gently over her head. “Never be frightened. Hold it and think of me if you are ever scared or in danger. Do you promise me?”
“Yes. But I want more than a necklace to remember you by. I want to see you again,” she said with misty eyes.
She clung to him with a desperation that weakened his resolve. “I promise I’ll try to call you, even though the phone service here is sketchy. We don’t have computers nearby, but I could write. Please believe me that I want to see you again, too. I will find a way to make it happen. How ridiculous does it sound to tell you that you’ve changed my life?”
She looked down. “How ridiculous would it sound if I asked you to go with me now?”
“If I could… I don’t want this—us—to end. I never thought this would happen to me, but…” He lifted her chin to look at her. “I fell in love with you, Cali. Thank you.”
“Lucas, I—”
“Shh…” Then he leaned and whispered in her ear. “I know someday our paths will cross again, mi canción.” My song.
After he saw her safely leave port on the ferry, it took all his energy to turn his body around and start walking back to the Jeep. Strange thoughts of a peaceful existence with her crept around the fringes of his mind. A faint smile formed on the corners of his mouth. If he got the demons off his path, maybe, just maybe, they could be together. Was there even a remote possibility? He shoved his hands in his pockets as a knot formed in his stomach, then a lump in his throat.
Don’t I deserve to be happy?
First order of the day was disposing of those demons. Then, he’d get Alejandro back on the right team. Then he would tell Carmen he was leaving, maybe permanently, pack, and go to wherever Cali was. And stay there.
****
Shane sprawled numbly on the beach next to Nara watching the seer’s bungalow. There’d been no sign of him all day. Either the seer was sleeping or not at home. It was irrelevant to him because he wanted no part in her family’s shenanigans.
“I’m starving. Do you think that restaurant we torched is reopened after the hurricane yet?” Nara stretched.
“Whatever. We can check, I suppose. Won’t they recognize us?” he wondered.
“We’ll get the food to go.”
As they were about to cross the muddy road to Carmen’s restaurant, they saw a Jeep pull up, and their seer jogged out of the restaurant and pulled off his cooking apron.
It was then that Shane’s world fell apart.
The car door opened, and Calise Rowe got out.
Shane recognized her immediately, and the whole world stopped revolving for him. Her body was tan and slim. Her shoe sank into the mud by the road, and she flipped her hair over her shoulder and laughed. Her mouth spoke words to the female seer he couldn’t comprehend. Her luscious blond hair bounced and reflected the afternoon sunlight. Then she did something he couldn’t accept. The whole thing happened in slow motion. She reached the seer and touched his cheek. Then she wrapped her arms around his neck and he lifted her into the air and kissed her. Slowly, tenderly, with carnal knowledge. As he carefully set her down, his hand ran down her side and his thumb momentarily caressed her nipple.
How dare that grubby insignificant human seer come near the love of his life?
He’d held his breath and his heart stopped when he saw Calise, but when the seer touched her, all his senses roared to life like his motorcycle on the first warm summer day of the season.
She was his.
He opened his mouth and emitted a guttural war cry as he jumped forward to separate them. He had a fleeting thought: the seer could tell Calise he was a powerful angel. She would love him again.
Someone grabbed him mid-flight, and they tumbled in the air, fighting each other like two lovers rolling together in a tangled heap of limbs. It all happened in a split second.
He landed breathless in a group of shrubs fifty yards away from his heart’s desire. His pulse was thready and his breathing shallow, and his brain was pounding with some sort of warning knowledge he couldn’t bring to the surface.
Nara slapped him cold across the face. “What the hell are you doing? You’ll expose us,” she hissed.
He turned to challenge her. “That’s Calise with that seer. What’s she doing here? I have to get her away from him. But first, he can tell her what a beautiful angel I am, then she’ll see me in my glory and know how much I love her.” He grabbed Nara by the shoulders. “Do you think she’ll take me back?”
She rolled her eyes and slapped him again. “Wake up. Look down at yourself. You’re no longer an angel. You want the seer to tell your beloved Calise that she dated a transitor? Will that impress her? You are certifiable. If you want her to be safe from him, help me capture that seer.” She turned to the road and pointed at the car speeding away.
His anger grew, taking him over from the inside out like a creeping weed. Then he smiled, but it wasn’t innocent. He wanted blood. The seer that touched Calise—he wanted his blood smeared on his hands. “Let’s go get him.”
Running for the road, they happened on two restaurant patrons hopping off their dirt bikes. He nodded to Nara. She stepped in front of the local couple and flashed her true form for a split second. He relished the fear it instilled in the couple. “Give us your keys. Now.” They probably only saw her for an instant, but it was long enough.
Nara’s true form was an ultra emaciated demon with sunken cheekbones and heavy black shadow on her eyelids. Her eyes, of course, glowed red. Her ears flattened against her head like holes, and her bald head had parallel rows of what looked like age spots that formed a point on the back of her head where pieces of bone protruded straight out. Her nails had long claws, and her back opened to expose her spine. Long protrusions of bone stuck out from her spine every twelve inches or so and were connected by webbing, like the wings of a dragon.
She was hideous, and Shane couldn’t be happier. The terrified couple dropped their keys and ran. He snatched them up, threw a set to Nara, and they jumped on the dirt bikes and roared off, following Calise and the seer.
They kept a safe distance all the way to Paquera.
He watched Calise and the seer park and lock the car. He carried her suitcases. Nara nudged him. “Look, she’s leaving. We need him, not her.”
“But I need to talk to her for a second and warn her.” Shane started to move forward but Nara caught him and pulled him back.
Did the seer’s eyes flicker in our direction?
“Shane! The seer looked over here. Think about what you are doing. Leave her be. Calise will never see him again anyway, not after we’re done with him.”
Nara was mighty persuasive. He sighed and watched the proceedings.
With the seer’s back to Shane, his all-consuming thought was ripping him in two. The filthy human lifted something off his neck and put it over Calise’s head. Nara was distracted looking at the road back to Mal Pais; Shane said nothing. If there was any chance that the seer entrusted her with an artifact, Calise’s life was in danger. Nara couldn’t find out if that was the case. When she turned her attention back to the seer and Calise, Shane stepped in front of her to block her view, and kissed her. Her lips were slimy, and her breath reeked of mold and garbage. He forced his tongue to interact with her barbed one.
She was taken aback. “What was that for?”
He tried to look at her like he cared. “I’m antsy to slice up the seer and see our child in a few months.”
She practically melted in his arms. Were her feelings for him her weakness?
Calise boarded the ferry, and the seer waved goodbye, then turned to walk to his car.
They waited until he was out of eyeshot of any of the locals, then attacked from the trees. They were on him in a flash. Shane punched him so hard in the jaw that Nara simply caught him as he fell backwards.
She stared at his unconscious form. “C’mon, seer, Daddy’s waiting.”