Hunted

“Can I sell it back to you again to save her?” Mrs. Watts asked, cutting him off.

“We. Are. Guardians,” Kim said through gritted teeth. “We’re not in the business of buying and selling souls.”

“But I signed with one of you before,” Mrs. Watts insisted, desperation in her voice.

I materialized beside her. Surprised, she took a step away from me, tripped on a toy and plopped on the couch behind her. “What part of ‘he doesn’t work for demons anymore’ didn’t you get?” I asked.

“But—”

“Mrs. Watts,” I said, getting in her face and forcing her to lean back. “My friends have the ability to heal and restore things, but there’s a lot more that I can do. A lot more and a lot worse.”

My hand shot up and everything in her house lifted off the ground, including her TV console. Her eyes widened. I wiggled my finger and tiny bolts of lightning zipped between the bobbing things.

“You see, my friends here are pure Guardians. I, on the other hand, have demon blood in my veins and a massive headache that’s refused to go away, so you do not want to mess with me. Those three children Izzy healed can easily become ill again like that.” I snapped my fingers. Everything came back down with thuds, a few missing their places and crashing to the floor. “Then I can do things to your head that you’ll beg me to kill you.”

Mrs. Watts swallowed, his gaze swinging from me to my friends. “Can she…?”

“Oh yes,” Sykes said, grinning.

“Don’t encourage her,” Kim snapped. “She’s not herself.”

I glanced at Kim and chuckled. “Actually, Kim, I am.” Turning, I studied Mrs. Watts. “So what is it going to be, Mrs. Watts? One sick child or four?”

She swallowed.

“You’re wasting our time, Mrs. Watts,” I snapped.

“That’s enough, Lil,” Bran said.

Mrs. Watts looked at him with relief.

“Don’t look at him. He’s not going to help you.”

“Lil!”

I glared at Bran and for one brief moment, my sight blurred until all I saw was a shadow where his face had been. Dizziness washed over me again. His thoughts, along with the others’, crashed into my psyche, but they were jumbled and didn’t make sense. My knees gave away.

I’ve got you, Bran telepathed me just as he pulled me against his chest. You are okay.

Calmness settled on my mind as his psi energy blended with mine. Cool hands touched my forehead and voices echoed in my head as though filtered by a mist.

“She’s burning up,” someone said in a distorted voice.

“We’ll finish here, then take her home,” another added.

My vision and hearing cleared. The headache was slow to react.

“She’ll be fine,” Bran reassured them.

“She fainted, Bran,” Kim insisted.

“And her eyes glowed just like they did on the island,” Izzy added.

“I’m fine,” I finally spoke, but my eyes stayed locked with Bran’s. I tried to disengage our energies but he wouldn’t let me. I could have pushed him out of my head, but I might have ended up hurting him. I wiggled, hoping physical distance would do the trick, but he refused to let me go. You can’t do this.

Says who?

You’re sharing a burden that’s not yours, I insisted. You’ll get my headache and mess up your powers.

So what? You and I are mated/or better and for worse.

I frowned. We are?

Yes, so sit back and let me take care of you.

Reasoning with him was getting me nowhere. It was time to lay on the guilt. You are draining my energy, something you swore you’d never do.

He grinned. Nice try. When we are done here, I’m taking you home, where you’ll stay until your powers stabilize. He severed the link. Can you take care of Mrs. Watts ‘memories without turning her into Mrs. Hyde again?

I rolled my eyes, but at the back of my mind I kept hearing “Mated.” When? Another lost memory? Leaving that for later, I turned to see the contract burst into flame. Mrs. Watts let out a screech.

Amazed at how much better I felt, I approached her. “One last thing, Mrs. Watts.”

She cringed, “Stay away from me.”

Don’t be afraid. I won’t hurt you. I could feel the others’ stares, knew they worried about me dealing with Mrs. Watts fairly. Don’t worry, guys. I won’t blow up her head.

“That’s not funny,” Izzy said then added softly, “Are you sure she should do this?”

“She can handle this,” Bran answered.

“What did you do to her? Kim asked.

“I drained some of her energy.”

Silence followed. I shook my head. He really shouldn’t blurt out things like that. Only demons drained energies, and it was usually to enhance theirs.

“Dude, that’s messed up,” Sykes said.

“And demonic,” Izzy asked tentatively.

Bran shrugged. “So? She’s stable now.”

From the smile on his face, he was getting a kick out of shocking the others. Cupping Mrs. Watts’ face, I stared into her eyes and meshed our minds. Snapshots of her fake memories zipped past, most of them of her children, women friends. The most recent showed her eating dinner with her children, then waking up and finding her children sick.

Was that how my memories were? Hours of nothing mixed with a few treasured moments? Bran and I were mated. How could I forget that?

Focusing on Mrs. Watts, I let my thoughts flow into her head. When I let go of your face, turn around and walk out the door to your van. Wait there with your children until the ambulance arrives to take Michele to the hospital. Forget you saw us or that we were here. Forget your broken windows. Only your oldest daughter is ill. She was okay for a long time, but now she’s ill again.

When I let her go, she turned around and walked out the door without glancing left or right. She walked to the van with even, measured steps. When Remy held the door open for her, she got in without looking at him.

“What in Tartarus did you do to her?” Izzy asked.

“I just erased her memories and told her to wait outside for the ambulance.”

“But the people usually talk to us in confusion and ask who we are, what we’re doing in their home, office or wherever. They don’t walk away like zombies.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Bran cut in. “What’s done is done.” He walked to my side and touched my forehead. “You’re still feverish and—”

“Nothing.” I didn’t want to hear another lecture about going back home. “I’m fine now. We should teleport to our next stop.”

Bran frowned. “I’m not going to force you to do anything you don’t want to do, but you cannot treat humans like you just did Mrs. Watts.”

“She was being impossible.”

“I know, but you must control your anger and frustrations or they’ll control you.”

I rolled my eyes. “I’m not responsible for what’s happening to me. Are you forgetting the transfer of the dagger’s powers into me?”

“I’m not. But I know you, Sunshine. I know what you are capable of. You can control anything.” He studied me intently, love and utter belief in me shining in his emerald eyes. His hair, shorter on the sides, swung across