Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur Chapter 10

** Continuation of November 7th, 2010 post. Please click here for Chapter 9.

Ten

Rae slammed the door behind him as he stormed in to the sitting room in search of something to let loose on. His eyes landed on the bottles lining the back of the bar and he lunged for them, uncaring what it was he picked up; he twisted off the cap and poured the contents of the bottle down his throat.

My Archeia. How can she be mine? She’s…oh fuck me…my mate.

A discreet cough behind him made Rae choke on the whisky that was burning its way down his throat and he turned to see his sister reading a book in one of the wing backed chairs by the French doors. Not bothering to put the bottle down, Rae crossed over and flung himself into the chair opposite hers.

"Everything alright? You don't normally drink at, what time is it?" Remiele looked at the watch on her wrist and shot her brother a reproachful look. "Two thirty in the afternoon? Azrael, what in the world?"

Another slug of whisky found itself poured down his throat before he responded to his sister. "Did you know Ardeur is a Nephilim?"

Remiele put her book down and gave her brother a surprised look. "No. Why? Is the Angel of Death afraid of a tiny woman?" The tightness around his mouth and the way the muscle ticked in the side of his jaw told Remiele just how on edge her brother truly was and she relented on the teasing. "She really disturbed you that much, Rae?"

"Yeah, she did. I've never seen anything like the power she let loose in the kitchen a few minutes ago. It calls to me." His eyes caught a flicker of movement outside and he twitched the curtains aside to see the subject of their discussion making her way across the lawn toward the stand of Sycamore trees. "That woman could give me a serious run for my money if it came to a battle of wills, Remi."

She followed his gaze and watched the woman who sat under a tree and closed her eyes. Remi smiled as she recognized the lotus position and turned back to contemplate the foul mood her brother was letting fester. "She seems harmless enough, Rae. Look at her."

Azrael turned his gaze back out to look at Ardeur who was meditating under the trees with a ring of tiny birds calmly watching the curious creature in their midst. He couldn't resist a small smile at the ridiculousness of the image that was made even more hilarious by the appearance of a fuzzy brown bunny at the edge of the circle. It sat and watched Ardeur, both ears flopped down on either side of its head, completely at ease and unaware of the wicked power Rae knew was hiding beneath the pretty blond package that Ardeur presented. "Run you fools. Run."

The peaceful scene in the garden was interrupted by a shrill shriek followed shortly by a football that landed squarely where the bunny had been seconds before. Christian and Valencia, one of the other residents of the Abbey, bolted across the lawn to retrieve the football and Rae watched his brother's lover make introductions. He turned back to face his sister and rolled his eyes at the smirk on her face.

"Seems to me, you're the only one bothered by Ardeur." Remiele cocked an eyebrow at her brother and gave him an appraising once over. "One would think that an Angel and a Necromancer would get along famously. No?"

Rae downed another inch of liquid courage before handing the bottle to Remiele and rising from his chair. "You would think so. If only it were as simple as her being a necro – but she isn’t. She’s Nephilim…and a dark one at that." And my Archeia. My mate.

Remiele watched him leave and when she didn't see Rae's tall form crossing the lawn she made the decision to go out and join the small group laughing in the shade.



Rae sat down in the heavy wooden chair behind his desk and dropped his head into his hands. He hadn't dared tell his sister that what had truly bothered him was that his power recognized what Ardeur had let loose in the kitchen.

The darkness in her soul matched the piece of himself that Rae had lost twenty five years ago. He had given it to her so she could live, unaware of the damnation that his gift would rain down upon the unsuspecting baby. Without meaning to, he’d turned her into a lesser form of himself and the power that had been inherent in the child had transformed Ardeur into something that was beyond rare in the realm of all things angelic.

Everything that Celine had told him about the miserable life Ardeur had led came back to Azrael. "I should have known, should have sensed the power in her when I held her soul."

He dropped his head down to the thick blotter on the desktop with a heavy thud as the guilt took over. "Stupid dumbass move."



The animals scattering and the subtle quaking of the earth under me were my first indications that something or someone was approaching, and damn fast too. A female screech was the second signal and my senses kicked into gear seconds before the football hit the ground and bounced up to land squarely in the palm of my hand.

I opened my eyes calmly and smiled at Christian and a woman I hadn't met yet when they approached. They were laughing and pushing at each other, clearly having fun. "Hey, Chris. Who's your friend?"

The beautiful brunette in designer everything dropped down to the grass, she didn't seem to care whether she got grass stains on her clothes or not, and held her hand out to me. "Valencia. You must be Ardeur. Chris has been telling me about you."

Christian flopped down on the grass next to Valencia and propped his head on his hand. He reached out and plucked the football from my hand. "Nice catch. I told ye nothing beyond her name and that she is a cute package of yumminess." He flicked the football up into the air and caught it neatly. "Where did ye learn to catch a ball like that? I don't think even Val here could have caught that with her super skills."

I closed my eyes to open myself a bit and catch the flavor of Valencia's energy. My eyes popped open in surprise and looked over the darkly beautiful creature that was part vampire and part human. She met my gaze and flashed her fangs at me while making a goofy face that had me, and Christian, laughing.

"Nice to meet you, Val. Don't believe anything the Fairy told you about me. Lies - all lies."

A shadow that ended at a pair of blood red stilettos fell over our trio and we all looked up to see Remiele smiling down at us. "Can I join the party or is it by invitation only?"

Chris scooted to sit down and patted the grass between himself and Val invitingly. "Free for all. Sit, Lovie and join the fun." Remiele kicked her shoes off causing Christian to shriek like a banshee at her treatment of them. "Ye can't treat Louboutin's like that, Remi. Have ye no respect woman?"

I couldn't help but laugh at the eye rolls from both Remiele and Valencia at Christian who had retrieved the precious designer shoes and was cuddling them like small, red leather children to his broad chest. Remiele retrieved her shoes and gave Christian a nudge with the tip of one. "Weren't you two going to play football in the orchard?"

Valencia took the hint for what it was and rose, hand held out to Chris. "Come on, Rainbow Brite. I think the headmistress wants to talk to the new girl." Christian hopped up, agile as a cat, and the two of them ran off toward what I assumed was the orchard.

Remiele turned back and I could tell by the way her eyes narrowed slightly that she was assessing me while formulating her strategy. I sat calmly, and smiled back at her under the undulating shadows of the sycamore leaves.

"I hear you gave Rae a bit of a show in the kitchen earlier." Ah, so there it was. It hadn't taken long for that newsflash to make the rounds. "Can I ask why you did it?"

The second question was unexpected and it took me a second to reply. "He refused to take no for an answer and kept pushing at my shields. My demon was pushing at them as well from the inside and, when I lost control of them, my shields dropped." Our two sets of eyes met and searched each other; her slate blue to my darker periwinkle. "I gave him fair warning and he refused to listen." My lips quirked into a half smile while my mind I recalled the horror on Rae's face. "He pushed, and got what he wanted. It's not my fault he didn't like what he saw."

Blue black curls bounced with her nod of understanding. Her lips parted, as if to speak, and I watched for a moment, waiting to see what she would ask next. "Does the meditation you do help?"

A burst of laughter bubbled up and out before I could stop it getting passed my lips. The startled look on Remiele's face didn't help any and the laughter started anew. I tried, between bouts of giggling, to explain that I wasn't meditating but was actually reciting every shielding spell I could recall.

"Your brother screwed with my shields and I was trying desperately to fix things before Chris and Val showed up and startled me."

My mention of shielding spells caught her attention and we spent the next hour comparing knowledge of various spells each of us had tried and whether we had found them to work or if they were useless. "Where did you learn all of these things, Ardeur? You have a vast knowledge of things that I truly didn't expect you to understand; especially for one as young as you are."

"Here, and there." I shrugged and stood, dusting the bits of grass and dirt from my legs. "When my parents realized what I was capable of they took over my education. Only instead of having to read children's stories they had me reading spell books and learning all kinds of occult things that a child shouldn't know about." Remiele stood and I smiled up at her. "Call me Ardy, please?"

Remiele nodded and tilted her head toward the library. "Come inside. Let me show you my collection of books. There is one I think you might find of particular interest."

I followed her inside and learned just how interesting and invaluable her book was to someone such as me - a necromancer, but more importantly, someone sharing a body with a chaos demon.



The shadow falling over the page I was reading later that evening didn't startle me. I was used to the shadows moving around me after having spent years hidden inside of them. "Excuse me? Are you Ardeur?" The sweet, sultry voice that came from behind me did catch my attention enough for me to lower the book and turn to see who was standing over my right shoulder.

"Ooh, a succubus. Haven't seen one of those in ages."

Shade perked up when I looked over the tall redhead with the most amazing eyes I had ever seen. Shut up jackass. "Yep. Who are you?"

My senses were swirling with the energy that was rolling off the woman as she circled around from behind my chair and sat in the one across from me. She was dressed in a short blue body hugging dress that might have been silk, but I couldn't be sure since I'd never paid much attention to what I'd worn during my captivity and since then my wardrobe had been mostly denim, leather and cotton. Her perfume tickled my nose with the subtle scent of flowers and something musky underneath. Every inch of her oozed seduction.

What is it with these people and their designer clothes? Does being immortal equal a good wardrobe? Shade laughed but kept whatever smart answer he had to himself and left me to deal with the succubus on my own.

"My name is Nevan. I suspect your demon has already told you what I am so I'll spare you the explanation." She crossed her legs at the ankles and leaned forward, her swirling blue-green eyes nearly mesmerizing me with their shifting colors. It wasn’t hard to understand how men fell under a succubus’ spell so easily. "Remiele tells me that you are quite the powerhouse under the pretty, innocent exterior. She said you're strong enough to have frightened even Azrael and I find that quite intriguing."

I pulled the silky crimson ribbon that served as a bookmark over and laid it between the pages I'd been reading before closing the book and putting it aside. The action served a dual purpose for me in that it not only allowed me to break my eyes away from hers but also held my place in the book. I'd found an interesting chapter and would most definitely be coming back to it later.

When I looked back up it was with eyes gone soulless black. "Don't push at my shields. Rae learned the hard way and I'm really not in the mood for a second go round today. Just tell me what you want and then get the hell out."

She started to laugh. The sound was like the tinkling of bells and it only served to piss me off more until I had enough and let go just enough to give her a taste of what was hiding beneath the china doll appearance. "Now that I see I've got your attention, let me repeat - what do you want?"

"Eleuaphon." Nevan blushed at the blurted out word and took a deep shuddering breath to compose herself before continuing. "Remiele told me that you could help me raise the spirit of her brother Eleuaphon to settle a dispute between Tate and Rae. I came to ask if you would, please, raise him for us."

I blinked at her for a minute while I processed what she'd just asked me to do. "You want me to channel the spirit of an angel?" I'd never done anything like that before; didn't know if I even could. "What do you care if Tate and Rae are fighting? Unless," I looked her over and grinned as something that Rae had said in the kitchen earlier clicked in to place. "You're the one. The woman that broke Tate's heart. Well fuck a duck. Isn't that just priceless?"

Something I'd said must have tripped a nerve because the next thing I knew the succubus was off her chair, in my face and the swirling colors in her eyes had fixed to a solid blue that glowed eerily from her drop dead gorgeous face. "Yes. I am the one Rae blames for turning one brother against him and for the death of the other." She took a moment to compose herself and continued, "We, Remiele and I, need you to raise Eleuaphon in order for this ridiculous vendetta of Azrael's to be put to rest."

"And how do you know I can do this? Angels are supposed to be all virtuous and good; clearly - I'm not."

The succubus and I sat in the quiet of the library for a moment while we contemplated each other. Her darker, more seductive looks in stark contrast to my much lighter, innocent ones. "You truly believe you're not good enough? Don’t you know what you are? What you can do?"

"Do you?" I watched her eyes widen when I let go of the hold on my shields. The scent of death overpowered my own sweet tangerine smell. Nevan gasped as the room began to darken, lights flickering and then going out until nothing was left to illuminate the room but the light from the windows. "Do you really think I'm good, at all?"

I watched Nevan's hair lift from her back by hands unseen or felt by her. The curtains rustled yet there was no breeze in the room and a pillow whizzed between us to land against the French doors.

"You've let your demon convince you that what you can do is evil, and that's not what it is, Ardeur." Her voice was strong, unwavering. "Remiele sensed the good in you, the innocence and I can too. You are not what your demon has tried to make you believe. You are good enough and you're damn well strong enough. I can feel it, see it."

Shade, of course, took this moment to pipe up and begin his usual evil egg, spawn of Satan speech in my head. Unfortunately for him, I'd about had enough of that particular tirade a long time ago. I smiled at the succubus and, just to piss the demon off, agreed to raise the dead angel for her and Remiele.

"Give me a few days to prepare. I'll let you know when I'm ready."

"You stupid bitch. I'll make you pay for that. Just you watch and see."

My eyes closed as if doing so would block out the obscenities that Shadekar was hurling at me.

When I opened them, the succubus was gone and I was once again alone in the library. I'd have been willing to bet that no time had passed except for the fact that the light coming through the windows was that of early dawn and the clothes I was wearing were not the ones I'd had on when I sat down in the chair.

A chill ran down my spine as I stood and fled the library in search of my room and the clothes I hoped I'd find there. My bag had yet to surface and the few items of clothes I'd been able to borrow were precious. Without them I'd be forced to wear whatever Shade found to dress me in when he broke through my shields and took over running the show.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I found the shortened jeans from Valencia and the t-shirt Remiele had given me lying haphazardly across the bed. "Thank god."

There was a knock on the door as I reached for the jeans and I turned to see Remiele standing in the doorway with an expression somewhere between shock and amusement on her face. "What on Earth are you wearing?"

"You don't want to know. Can you gather everyone in the library at five? We're raising your brother tonight."

The expression on her beautiful face solidified into shock at my request. "Oh, um, okay. Everyone?"

I started to peel off the camisole that was barely covering my assets and turned my back to her. "Yep. I've got a few things I need to read up on but I'm pretty sure I've got down what needs to be done. Trust me, the more people that are there the better." I pulled the scrap of black material over my head and looked at Remiele over my shoulder. "If you'll excuse me - I need to get dressed."

The sound of stilettos echoing down the hall told me she was gone and I hurried to change so that I could get back to the library and the book that had given me the key to getting rid of Shadekar for good.

"He'll never agree to it. No one ever wanted to help you before so why start now?"

"Buzz off Shade." It was going to be a long day.

This concludes the free preview of Possession is Nine Tenths – Ardeur. If you’ve enjoyed what has been posted so far and would like to continue reading, the entire book is available for purchase on Goodreads, Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony eReader, Apple iBooks and Diesel eBook Store.

Copyright © 2010 Danielle Gavan

Danielle Gavan
Paranormal and Erotic Romance Author
Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur
Website *Facebook * Twitter

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur Chapter 9

** Continuation of November 6th, 2010 post. Please click here for Chapter 8.

Nine

The next few days following my arrival at Mount Angel were what most people would call uneventful but, to me, they were sheer and utter bliss. No need to watch my back, wonder where my next meal was coming from or cringe when I stepped in the shower. Rae had explained the next morning, over a breakfast of the fluffiest pancakes ever, that our portion of the Abbey was shielded from the rest of the world and that unless you had something supernatural about you; you weren't going to find it. I'd asked about the other residents and received nothing more than the instruction to be patient and that I'd meet them when it was time.

I was in the kitchen devouring a chicken salad sandwich on the afternoon of my fourth day at the abbey when the sound of someone entering the room had me turning around to find what my mind refused to acknowledge as anything but a fairy, dressed in nothing but a pair of jeans and the most beautiful set of black, blue and gray wings. His short hair was like blue flames that surrounded his charming features in wild disarray. Wide black eyes blinked in surprise as he took me in, chicken sandwich and all.

We danced around the kitchen, warily observing each other as he moved toward the fridge and I moved away from it. He reached behind him, pulled open the large, stainless steel door and turned to bend and look inside. A sexy Irish lilt drifted out from the depths of the fridge while a variety of berries, grapes and cheeses piled up on the counter. "Ye must be the new lass." He closed the door and turned to face me with a wink and a smile on his sensuous mouth. "Rae failed to mention how cute ye are when he told me of ye yesterday. I'm Chris, by the way."

My chance to reply was cut off by Rae's appearance in the kitchen. I gave a low whistle of appreciation at the obviously tailored for him suit, gleaming shoes and combed hair. Startled blue eyes searched the room and finally, rested on me. "Wow, Rae, you look awesome. Got a meeting?" Chris snickered behind me and I turned to glare at him but not before catching the half-smile on the angel's face. "What are you laughing at?"

"That, Lovie, is not Rae." The Fae popped a grape in his mouth and tilted his head toward the other man in the kitchen. "I'd tell ye what he is if I didn't think it would scorch the innocent off yer ears though sweetie."

The man I had assumed was Rae chuckled and drew my attention back toward him with a small tap on the counter next to me. "Honey, don't mind Christian. Fairy is Angel drunk and doesn't know his head from his ass right now." He smiled when I looked up at him and introduced himself as Metatron, Rae's twin brother.

Christian loaded his fridge finds onto a platter and rounded the counter with a saucy wink at me before he dropped a kiss on Tate's cheek. "Not too drunk to know how much your head likes me arse just fine, hm lover?"

Lover? Head? Arse? My eyes widened as I looked at the two men, one angel, the other Fae and realized what I was seeing with their interplay. "You're gay? But you're an angel."

"Aye, he is." Christian laughed on his way out of the kitchen and left me to gape at Tate who had taken to adjusting the collar of his lavender shirt and white tie in order to avoid my confused sputtering.

"But - how?"

Rae came in just then, took a bite of the uneaten half of my sandwich and quipped through the food in his mouth, "Bad experience with a woman. We're talking horrific. Turned him into a Molly with a penchant for designers, silk trunks and shares in several lube companies." He held up the remaining piece of sandwich and asked if I planned to finish it. I waved my hand to say that he could have it but the gesture was cut short when Tate's arm swung out and clocked his twin smack in the left side of the jaw with a right hook that would have made a professional boxer jealous.

"I might prefer the boys but I can still kick your ass any day of the week. Watch your mouth little brother before someone else watches it for you."

Rae was off his chair and the two men were rolling around the kitchen before either of them could fling a who's-your-bitch-now at the other. Tate threw Rae off his back and the small table in the middle of the room split in half when the big angel landed squarely on it.

The noise from the fight must have carried down the hall and caught his attention bringing Christian back in to the kitchen in a full out run. He looped an arm around Tate's waist, hauled him off his brother with what looked like minimal effort and dragged the mass of flailing arms and legs toward the door. "Take care of that one while I see to Prissy Pants?"

Christian left me alone with Rae and the kitchen that was now fit to be called a disaster zone. I was tempted to call in FEMA to help clean up the mess but opted for checking on Rae to see if he was able to get up under his own power or would need my help to move his carcass up off the floor. A quick trip to the sink saw a damp cloth in my hand as I made my way back to where Rae lay groaning amidst the table debris.

The beginnings of a curse died on Rae's lips. Blood welled from the split in his lower lip and he dropped his head back down to the tiles. I knelt by his head and pressed the cloth to his busted kisser. "Are you okay?" He blinked up at me and mouthed a thank you which earned him a smile as I slid an arm under his neck and grabbed hold of his opposing hand. "No problem. Need a hand up?"

"Yeah, and maybe some ice too?" I nodded and helped him stand, noticing along the way up that he winced as my arm circled around the back of his ribcage. He leaned on me like I was a man of his own size and strength and, for once, I was glad of the added strength that I thought Shade provided. Rae sat on one of the unbroken stools by the counter while I fetched him some ice cubes in a freezer bag.

I handed him the bag of cubes and watched for a moment as he debated where to put it and finally settled it on his jaw. "You guys fight like that a lot or was it just for my benefit?" He laughed and winced as the intake of breath caused his injured ribs to pain him. "How are the ribs? I don't imagine landing on the table did them much good."

Rae looked at me and I saw his eyes narrow slightly as I felt a subtle push at my shields. He tried to read me and I clamped down tighter to keep him out. No one, not even Celine, knew what I really was and I planned to keep it that way, haven or not. I felt another stronger push against my shielding and smiled at Rae while I moved away to begin putting the kitchen to rights.

"How about you make us some sandwiches to replace the one that got destroyed while I clean this up?"

"How about you tell me what you're hiding behind those shields of yours and I'll clean up the mess?" A wave of his hand had the room cleaned up and left me standing there with nothing to use as a distraction from the conversation he clearly wanted to have. My eyes met his and we faced off for long minutes while I decided whether I really wanted to show this man my true self, the true extent of what I could do.

"No. Trust me, you won't like what you see, Rae." I sighed, walked around the counter and started making fresh sandwiches for the two of us. Shade was back to yammering at me non-stop and my teeth ground together in frustration while I tried to block him out by focusing on the sandwiches.

The combined efforts of Shade and Rae pushing at my shields finally succeeded in snapping my control and my eyes flashed black as I turned to face the angel in the room. "You want to see that badly? Fine, here you go then."

I heard his sharp intake of breath when my aura began to fill the room, sucking out the light as the darkness of it took over. The scent of death rolled through, sickly sweet and pungent with the smells of the grave. I let him feel everything that I was capable of, every last bit of the power I held tightly in check until I was sure he'd never press me to do it again.

My shields slammed back down into place and I cast a glance at Rae who sat wide-eyed and silent in the cheery afternoon sunlight that had once again filled the kitchen. "Satisfied?"

Rae nodded, the bite of sandwich from earlier like a ball of lead in his stomach as he rose from the chair and backed toward the door. "You're a necromancer? You control the dead?" He had nearly reached the door and looked back to see how much further until he was out in the hall. Rae must have figured that once he was out he would be able to turn his back on me safely. He was so wrong on that one.

I put the knife I'd been using down on the counter and laughed when I saw the big bad angel backing away in fear of little old me. "Yep. I control the dead. All of them, in any shape they come in." The flash of fear in Rae's eyes made me laugh again as I advanced toward him. "Are you afraid? You asked to see what I am, tried to force yourself under my shields - and when I show you what's under them you have the nerve to be afraid? You. Have. Got. To. Be. Kidding. Me." I jabbed a finger into the center of his chest with each word, forcing him to finally back out into the hall. My eyes raked over him and my lips turned up in a disgusted sneer as he turned and walked away. "You of all people should know better, Rae. I believe the saying goes Ask and Ye Shall Receive? You asked."

The broad back covered in a light blue polo disappeared into another room down the hall and I returned to the kitchen when the slamming of the door told me he'd gone inside, and he wasn't happy.

I glanced at the two partially put together sandwiches on the counter and made a disgusted face at them before going over to finish them up and put them in the fridge. Someone was bound to be hungry later and I had never been one to let good food go to waste or leave a mess behind for others to clean up.

When I was satisfied that things were as I'd found them I took myself out to the garden. I'd found a quiet place under the canopies of a few Sycamore trees and made my way over to spend a few quiet hours meditating to quiet the inner turmoil that releasing my powers created.

Come back on November 12th, 2010 for a look at Chapter 10 of Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur.

Copyright © 2010 Danielle Gavan

Danielle Gavan
Paranormal and Erotic Romance Author
Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur
Website *Facebook * Twitter

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur Chapter 8

** Continuation of November 5th, 2010 post. Please click here for Chapter 7.

Eight

"You're certain she isn't a demon?" A male voice with an accent that I couldn't place cut through the fog in my head as my mind began to wake up. The rest of me hadn't caught up yet and for the split second it took for my body to join the awake party I thought I might be in heaven.

"No. She's human, for the most part, with a demon inside." Dr. Martals. This voice I knew well and clearly, if she was here - I wasn't dead. Damn. Wait. Hold the phone. With a demon inside? Mofo was still along for the ride? Oh jeebus cripes someone help a sister out. "Touch her and see for yourself. She's in a coma, Rae. The woman is as harmless as a baby."

The part of me that wasn't freaking out about still having Shadekar along for the ride wanted to laugh at the exasperated tone in Celine's voice when she told whoever this Rae person was to touch me. I knew that tone well since she'd directed it at me, several times over the years.

"Fine. You say she isn't evil and I'll take your word for it." I recognized Celine's satisfied noise and grinned inwardly until the next set of words reached my ears. "Is she safe to be moved or do you want me to heal her before you do so?" Stranger say what? Heal me? Every nerve and synapse in my brain was firing on full as I tried to figure out what the hell was going on.

I called on every reserve of energy I had and opened my eyes only to slam them shut again when they came into contact with a pair of blue ones the color of the sky after a summer storm.

I could hear Shade cursing in the back of my mind after having seen the man Dr. Martals called Rae and wondered why he was freaking out. "Does Rae freak you out a bit? What's so special about the new guy that's got Mister I'm-big-and-bad quaking in his...Well, you don't have any boots." Surprisingly, I didn't get an answer. For once, Chatty Cathy was silent and I opened my eyes again to gaze at the person, creature, whatever that had accomplished what I'd tried to do for years.

"Ardy, sweetie? Can you hear me?" My gaze shifted to Dr. Martals and I gave her a blink of recognition. "Oh good. This is my friend Rae from the sanctuary I told you about. I know you're probably confused and in pain but we really don't have time to explain. There have been some unsavory characters hanging about and we need to move you to the Abbey before they come back. Rae's going to put you back to sleep and when you wake up again you'll be settled in your new room."

Even if I'd been able to formulate a reply fast enough it would have been too slow to beat the touch of Rae's hand on my foot and the wave of fatigue that blanketed me and drove me back into the oblivion of comatose sleep once more. The last things to register in my mind were the sound of Shade screaming and a male gasp of recognition as the blackness enveloped me.



Brody had gone through the satchel when he'd returned home and had been heartbroken at the contents of it. A few pieces of extremely well worn clothing, toiletries in a large zippered plastic freezer bag and a notebook with a pen stuck in the spiral coils of its spine were all that he found. The first few things told him that Ardeur had been living on the run but the notebook told him just how bad things had been for her as he cracked it open and began to sift through the pages.

The first entry was a date seven years earlier and he read the words, incredulous at the tale that unfolded in rounded girlish lettering. Page after page of loneliness, desperation and courage in the face of every possible kind of adversity he could imagine. The random mentions of his name throughout the pages brought a smile to his lips each time he saw it spelled out in her round, loopy scrawl. She hadn't forgotten him either despite all of the shit life had dealt her.

He'd gotten through roughly nine months of entries when his breath hitched at the words on the next page. April 24, 2005. Today is Brody's 21st birthday… Son of a bitch. She had been six years old the last time they'd seen each other but she had remembered his birthday fifteen years later and celebrated it without him.

Unfolding his six foot four inch frame from the chair he'd been sitting in, Brody moved to put the book down on his coffee table when a rectangle of paper slipped from the pages and floated to the floor. Strong agile fingers picked up the card and turned it over. Dr. Celine Martals, M.D. It gave the address to a clinic a few blocks over and a phone number.

He looked at himself in the mirror across the room and smiled triumphantly, dimples flashing on either side of his mouth. The staff at the hospital had been keeping a close eye on anyone who tried to visit Ardeur and he hadn't been able to pay her a visit, let alone find out how she was doing. Now, he had the name of a doctor she'd clearly been to see and maybe a way to find out how she was doing.

Grabbing his coat on the way to the door, Brody headed out to the hospital for one more shot at paying his childhood friend a visit.



"She'll be angry when she wakes up. I sense a shitload of confusion from her, Remiele and the demon isn't happy either. He recognizes, and fears me."

"I understand. Wake the girl and let's have at it then."

Rae laid his big left hand on the much smaller right one of the woman in the bed and let an infinitesimal burst of energy rush from his hand to hers. He stood back next to his sister and watched while the small glow of power flowed up the right arm, through torso and limbs until; finally, it covered the woman from head to toe.



My eyes flew open in a panic and I was off the bed, crouched in a defensive position before I knew what was going on.

The tall man I recognized as Rae from the hospital room was standing next to the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen in my life. They made a striking couple but I'd learned early on that looks were deceiving. Rae stood tall at what I approximated was six foot four inches with cropped blue black hair that he wore messy and hanging over his stormy blue eyes. His nose was straight over a soft, full mouth with just a hint of a pout to the lower lip. I was sure that if he stepped in front of her, he would have completely eclipsed his companion with the sheer size of him. He could have passed for any of the frat boys I'd seen on the streets in his jeans, polo shirt and loafers.

My gaze shifted to the model beautiful woman with the jet black curls in the pink knit dress and stilettos. Every inch of her screamed super model but the soft, benevolent expression on her face told me that she wasn't. I looked up into her eyes and realized then that they were the same storm tossed blue as Rae's. Another careful examination of her features proved what I'd begun to suspect. A smaller, more feminine version of the straight nose and full mouth with a delicate, creamier complexion compared to her brother's more tanned, swarthy skin.

"You're brother and sister?" They nodded to confirm my suspicion. "Okay. Brother and sister what? I know you can't be human because Shade is quiet and he is never quiet unless something bad for him is around."

Rae stepped forward and held up his hand in what I assumed he meant to be a calming gesture but earned him a raised eyebrow instead. "Your demon is quiet, Ardeur because we've been supplementing your shielding while you were asleep. He'll be back to continue tormenting you shortly I'm sure."

I was on the cusp of giving him a peevish look when it suddenly dawned on me that I was standing, under my own power and pain free after being mowed down by a speeding BMW. All thoughts of what kind of creatures my two visitors might be fled my mind as I examined myself for injuries. "How long was I out for?"

The raven haired beauty stepped forward with caution. "You were in the hospital for three days before Celine called us to come fetch you and you've been here, at the Abbey, for a few hours while we got you settled and healed." She held out a slim, elegant hand and waited for me to take it in greeting. "I am Remiele and, to answer your question, my brothers and I are angels."

Remiele's last word caught my attention and suddenly I knew why Shadekar had freaked out at the sight of Rae and was keeping mum in his corner of my head. My eyes lit up and I gave the two angels the biggest, happiest smile I could manage. "Thank god."

A bark of surprised laughter drew my attention back to Rae and I cocked an eyebrow at him in question. He scratched the edge of his jaw and threw me a sheepish look. "While I'm sure the Shepherd would be happy that you are thankful to him, you could probably have left out the curse word and he would have been just as appreciative."

"Jeebus cripes. I can't curse here?" My eyes swept the non-descript room which contained nothing more than a dresser, a double bed flanked by a wooden night table on one side and a chair on the other. "Where is here? Where’s Celine?"

The floor beneath our feet was highly polished oak and Remiele's stilettos oddly made very little noise as she crossed the room and pulled the heavy drapes aside for me to see out of the large mullioned windows. I joined her and looked out to see a courtyard with beautiful landscaping below us surrounded by several bricked buildings. "Welcome to Mount Angel Abbey. You are in the part of the abbey that the Benedictine monks have allotted to us as a safe house for people, such as yourself, who need someplace to go to escape. As for Celine’s whereabouts – she’s at her clinic in town. You won’t see her again."

“Dr. Martals is our liaison and sends those in need in our direction. She doesn’t come here so that people, such as your pursuers, don’t find us.”

My eyes turned back up to look at the beautiful angels before I stepped back and let the curtain fall back into place. "People such as myself. Are there other people here now?"

An exchange of glances was made between the two angels before Rae finally spoke with a small shake of his head. "The one you're looking for isn't here." He held up his hand when I moved to interrupt him and continued, "Celine told us of the one you seek while you slept. You must have trusted her very much to share that bit of your life with her."

A low grumble from my stomach saved me from having to respond or acknowledge the comment about my trusting Celine.

They'd said I'd been asleep for three days which meant I hadn't eaten in four, no, five days. When you barely tipped the scales at a hundred and ten pounds, five days with no food in your belly was not a good thing.

"Are you hungry?" Remiele grinned at my sarcastic look and motioned for me to follow her and Rae out of the room. "Of course you are. You were unconscious for three days and you probably haven't eaten since lunch on the day of your accident." She continued talking and missed my muttering about it having been five days since I'd eaten last. Rae, however, didn't miss it and gave me a sharp look which I responded to with a shrug.

He hung back and shortened his strides to match mine while his sister strode on ahead to the kitchen. I looked up at Rae from my considerably lower vantage point and blinked at him as we walked. "It's not the first time I go this long without food and it probably won't be the last time either."

Rae's hand came down to rest on my arm and he stepped in front of me effectively stopping my progress toward the kitchen. "You will not go hungry here, Ardeur. If you're hungry you can help yourself to anything we have in the kitchen or ask and one of us will be happy to cook for you." The protest from my stomach was louder this time and the look I gave him spoke volumes. "Alright. I'll take you to the kitchen and feed the grumble in your belly. Then you can tell me what Celine didn't."

I returned to my room two hours later, several pounds heavier for all I'd eaten without having given up any of my secrets despite Rae and Remiele's best efforts to pull what information they could from me. Someone had turned on the bedside lamp and turned down the bed while I was gone and I made a mental note to speak with Rae the following day about this practice. No one was to enter my room when I was not there. My things, meager as they were, were mine and I could not afford to have any of them taken.

Trust issues much? Me? Not at all.



The lack of light from the hospital room doorway was the first indication that something was up as Brody strode down the hall toward the room at the end. When the charge nurse didn't jump up from behind the desk and run after him to stop his progress he scented the air and realized why they were leaving him to make his way to Ardeur's room.  She wasn't there. The bed was stripped and any sign of Ardy or her tangerine smell were gone.

He growled out a curse and spun on the heel of his boot back toward the nurse's station. Sunglasses covered his eyes and the telltale amber glow as his wolf paced just below the surface. "Where is she? The blonde in the end room. Where was she moved to?"

The young redhead, clearly fresh out of nursing school, nearly jumped out of her skin at the menacing growl that rumbled from Brody's chest. She swallowed her nerve and stared at him wide eyed. "Dr. Martals had her moved this morning. Said she was taking her to a private clinic. They left a few hours ago."

Brody couldn't smell the acrid scent of a lie on her and gave her a terse nod before marching back out of the hospital to the gunmetal black mustang that he'd rented as soon as he'd been discharged from the military. Tires screeched on the pavement as he pulled out of the parking lot and drove the nine miles back to Tigard and Dr. Martals' clinic.

A tone sounded inside the clinic when Brody pushed the door open and stepped in to the waiting room which was surprisingly empty for the time of day. He found the nurse behind the double layers of glass and flashed his charmers smile before he pulled off his sunglasses and walked over to the counter. Brody hitched Ardeur's satchel back up over his shoulder and glanced over to the doorway that led back to the exam rooms when he heard an indrawn breath of surprise.

A petite brunette in a white coat strode over and wrapped her hand around the strap of the bag. "Where did you get that? Where did you find that bag?"

A smooth, dark eyebrow cocked upward as Brody looked down at the woman. "Dr. Martals, I assume?" The brunette nodded and he relaxed a fraction. "Can we go to your office and talk? I need to know if Ardeur is okay."

"Come with me. Julie, hold my calls for the next hour please?"

Brody waited until the doctor had closed the office door and sat down behind her desk before folding himself down into one of the chairs across from her. He placed Ardeur's bag on the chair next to his and turned his attention to the woman who was patiently waiting for him to settle himself. "Ardy never mentioned that you are a werewolf."

Her words snapped him to full attention and Brody scented the air. "Psychic." The doctor nodded and he gave a short bark of laughter. "Shouldn't surprise me that a necromancer would find a psychic for a doctor. As for the other, she didn't know. I didn't go through my first shift until six years after she disappeared."

He rubbed the back of his neck with his left hand and then laid it on Ardy's bag as if it needed protecting. "Is she okay? They said at the hospital that you had her moved to a private clinic."

Celine took in the protective posture and the obvious concern for her friend and patient. "Get comfortable, Brody, I have a story to tell you and then you can decide if you want to go find Ardeur or leave and go on with your life."

Come back on November 7th, 2010 for a look at Chapter 9 of Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur.

Copyright © 2010 Danielle Gavan

Danielle Gavan
Paranormal and Erotic Romance Author
Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur
Website *Facebook * Twitter

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur Chapter 7

** Continuation of October 24th, 2010 post. Please click here for Chapter 6.

Seven

Seven years after my escape I woke up with the smell of vomit in the air was so thick I thought I could taste it. At least until I opened my eyes and realized that I was actually tasting vomit and, ew, wearing it in my hair as well as on the half of my face that was laying in the puddle of vodka, orange juice and whatever else my stomach had ejected after I'd passed out on the flimsy mattress I called a bed. I sat up and blearily tried to recall what I had done the night before that would have resulted in my waking up covered in ick, wearing the least amount of clothes possible without being naked with what was sure to be the worst hangover on record building inside my head.

Shade chose this moment to shake himself, and me, awake with a groan and a very heartfelt, "Oh, shit." The demon in my head cackled with glee and gave a hearty push against the barrier I kept him locked behind only to find it firmly slammed down and bolted up tighter than the biggest Stanley lock on the planet.

"I see you've discovered the results of how much fun we had last night. Ooh, eau-de-vomitus. Nice choice of perfume, Ardy. Couldn't have picked a better one myself."

Any reaction I could have given Shade would have set off further cackling and torment so I gave him nothing but blankness as I rose and headed for the tiny closet that was my bathroom and stripped off the short shorts and camisole that Shadekar liked to dress me in. I gave the tap for cold a spin, gritted my teeth and stepped under the biting spray. No need to mess with the tap for hot water, there wasn't any.

By the time I'd washed the filth from my hair and scrubbed the rest of myself as quickly as possible, my teeth were chattering and a blue tinge had crept over my quivering lips. I wrapped my one ratty towel around the multiple layers of goose bumps that made up my skin and padded out to the duffel bag that held my meager supply of clothes. The shorts and camisole I'd been wearing were hanging on the edge of the towel rack to dry and would probably be there for the day. Leather took forever to dry.

"So, what's the plan for today, Blondie? Can we repeat last night? That was, undoubtedly, some of the most fun I've had since you took over the show. Hands down. Wanna know what we did last night? Well - more like what you did last night. Devil's in the details don'tcha know."

"Oh hells no. I do not want to know, Shade. You just keep that bit of info to yourself and I'm tight with that." I could sense he was gearing up to tell me anyway and quickly slammed the lid down on the garbage can I pictured Shadekar living in. I'd never actually met the bastard but always pictured him as a character I'd seen on a children's show when I was younger. Oscar the Grouch had nothing on my inner demon however, when it came to attitude. Shade had it in spades.

Getting dressed was done rather quickly. I threw my hair over my shoulder after a quick toweling and let it dry on its own while I walked down to the clinic on the next block.  The nurse behind the counter knew me well and winced when she got a look at the dark circles under my eyes.

"Rough night again, Ardy?"

"Hey, Julie. You could call it that. Any chance Dr. Martals is in? I need the usual." Lucky for me the staff at the clinic I frequented whenever Shade got out of his cage were a friendly, understanding bunch and never questioned why I needed a rape kit or a toxicology report run every now and then. Unfortunately, the now and thens were becoming more and more frequent. He had overthrown me twice already this month and there were still two more weeks left in it.

Julie nodded and quietly led me back to an exam room where I sat and waited for Dr. Martals. It had been pure luck that I had found this clinic - and her, when I'd stumbled in one morning after a particularly bad night courtesy of Shade. My face had been a mass of bruises to match the ones that covered my ribs, hands and shins but the quiet doctor had come in, patched me up, run a rape kit and toxicology screen without asking a single question. She'd then sat next to the table and looked me in the eyes. "How long has your demon been doing this to you?"

I must have blinked at the petite brunette with the soulful brown eyes for what felt like hours before I finally managed to choke out a question and ask how she knew that I carried a demon. Dr. Martals smiled and calmly told me,

"I'm psychic, Ardeur. I can see him in you. How long has he been overpowering you?"

As much as I didn't want to tell anyone about Shade, the fact that she could see him and knew what he was doing to me somehow made it easier for me to tell the psychic what was going on and I spilled my proverbial guts out to her that afternoon on the table in her clinic. I'd been back at least once or twice a month in the last six years since my escape and she had taken care of me each time. The tally in the column which counted people trusted had gone from zero to one that day. It wasn't much, but it had been a start.

Dr. Martals stepped inside the room and frowned when she saw me. "Again? That's two weeks in a row, Ardy." Celine, as she'd asked me to call her, put down the chart she'd been carrying and came over to the table to look me over. I stripped when she asked me to and lay still while she completed her pelvic exam. "Well, you're still a virgin.  He hasn't taken that from you yet. Let's draw some blood and see what else our little darling has gotten you into."

Celine drew my blood and promised to run the tests herself. She did this for me to avoid any questions from lab techs who got a curious when they saw the slight irregularities in my blood. I was human, for the most part. The odd bits that weren't human threw the lab people into a tizzy and I'd learned to avoid that type of thing when at all possible. Lucky for me, the doctor agreed with me on that point and kept my secrets locked safe inside her head. There was no file in the clinic's records with my name on it. No paper trail that could lead anyone who might be looking to find me in the direction of the clinic.

I dressed and waited quietly while Dr. Martals put my blood in the locked refrigerator that only she could access. The stern look she wore when she turned back to face me was expected and my eyes rolled in response to it. "I don't know how he got out, Celine. The shielding was still up this morning but I was covered in booze and other crap when I woke up."

"Damn. That's not good." She stood silent for a minute and I could tell she was thinking of some way to keep Shade from taking over and getting out of my room when I was asleep. How he'd managed to get out with the shielding Celine had shown me after the last time was beyond both of us. We talked through the spell and confirmed that it had been done right. "I think it might be time for you to go to the sanctuary I told you about. I fear for you."

"No. I can't. Not yet." I swung my legs off the table and jumped down to the floor with a soft thud of combat boots on linoleum. "I've got your number. I'll call if the time comes that I need to go there." Neither of us realized in that moment just how prophetic those words would be until much, much later.

I left the clinic and stood out on the sun warmed sidewalk for a moment letting the heat soak into my skin while I debated what to do with the rest of my day. Fatigue from the lack of sleep was dragging at me, making the decision an easy one - back home and catch some sack time. A good nap, followed by lunch at the shelter downtown and a bit more digging on the internet at the library before sealing myself into my bedroom was the plan of the day.

At least that was it until my eyes caught sight of the two men - one short, the other tall - standing outside the building where I'd been living for the last seven months. It was the longest I'd ever stayed anywhere and had always managed to evade them before they found my latest hiding spot. Clearly I'd overstayed this place one day too many.

I ducked in between two buildings and thanked my lucky stars that I'd taken my duffel bag with me when I'd gone to the clinic. The loss of my clothes from the night before and the soap that doubled as my shampoo was a minor thing in the grand scheme of it all when you compared them to the possible loss of my freedom.

Wesley and Boyd spent the better part of the afternoon loitering outside my front door. One scanned the street while the other ran between their outpost on the stoop and my apartment to check that I hadn't snuck past them via the back door. I hadn't, of course, I was trapped three buildings over and would have been instantly visible to them had I left my hiding spot. Shade was screaming and pushing with all of his might to catch their attention and I was hanging on with every scrap of energy and power I could muster to keep him locked down. One chink in the armor and I would find myself overpowered and back in the custody of the men who had put the demon and I together like a poorly matched china set. The pieces worked together but the end result was not pretty.

My saving grace came four hours into the standoff when a large truck pulled up and parked on the curb directly in front of where I'd been hiding. It completely blocked any view of the store fronts and allowed me to slip out of the small alley I was in and duck in to the convenience store two doors back without being seen. Mr. Chen, the owner, recognized me and smiled when I held up a finger to my lips and made my way back to the rear of the store where the employee entrance led out to another alley.

I picked my way through the debris until I felt safe enough out of earshot to allow for a full run. One did not run quietly in combat boots no matter how small they were. My size sixes were bitty but they made one helluva racket when their soles slapped against the pavement while I sprinted halfway across town. Most people would have overlooked me for a teenager running to meet with friends until they got a good look at me under the rim of the baseball cap I'd tucked my hair up under and saw the eyes, wide with fear that dominated my face.

The shout that would have slowed me came a second too late as I ran pell-mell into an intersection unaware of the BMW speeding toward me until it slammed into my body and sent me sailing through the air to land on the concrete 40 feet away on the opposite side of the road. The last thought in my head before I blacked out from the pain and shock of the impact was that I would finally be free of Shadekar and the bastard would finally be sent back to the hole he'd been summoned out of.



The sound of thick rubber soles slapping against pavement caught Brody's attention as he walked back to his apartment with his bag full of the groceries that would be his dinner in a few hours. Fear, the smell of it thick and acrid on the air tickled his nose and he turned to scan the crowd behind him to see where it originated. Hazel eyes turned glowing amber behind his sunglasses as he spotted a young girl running full tilt toward him and the intersection at his back.

Whoever she was, the girl was fast and she overtook him before he knew it. Her scent washed over his as she blew by and he inhaled the mingled scents of fear and something he hadn't smelled on anyone else but one person. The girl who'd lived in his memory for the last nineteen years. Ardeur, with her scent of tangerines and death, had just blown past him and Brody turned to call out to her when he heard the sound of an engine speeding for the intersection she was barreling toward.

Brody dropped his groceries and ran after her. He called out for her to stop, watch out - but his shout came too late. She ran out into the road.

He watched, horrified, as the BMW slammed into the tiny woman and threw her forty feet across the road. The world around him stopped while he watched Ardeur skid across the pavement and land in a heap of denim, leather and blonde hair at the base of a streetlamp.

The world sped up again and he burst into action, yanking the cell phone from his pocket and running toward her while he punched 9-1-1 to call for an ambulance. His sheer size and werewolf speed got him to her side before anyone else did and he nearly cried out with joy when his ears picked out the sound of her heartbeat. It was faint and thready but her heart was beating and it was the best thing he'd heard in a long time.

He pushed the long golden strands of hair, coated and sticky with blood, aside and looked down at the face that still bore a resemblance to the girl he remembered while he prayed to a god he'd never believed in that she would survive. The dispatcher took the information he relayed to her and he flipped his phone shut, tucking it back into his jacket pocket.

Recalling all of his training over the last eight years of military service, Brody did a quick triage of Ardeur's injuries while he listened for the sound of sirens in the distance. The blood in her hair was coming from a tear in her scalp and a gruesome gash in her forehead where the white glint of skull peeked through. He gingerly ran his fingers over the curve of her head and sighed with relief when he didn't feel the telltale give of a shattered skull. It didn't mean she couldn't have internal injuries but he had no way of detecting those out here on the street.

"Hey, buddy, what do you think you're doing? You could hurt that girl worse than she already is." A hand came down on Brody's shoulder and he turned his amber eyes up to look at the man who had dared touch him. His lip curled up in a snarl of menace that had the older man backing up, hands held up in defense in front of him. "Alright, I get it. I'm backing off."

Another one of the bystanders dropped a large satchel at his feet and Brody spared it a glance before resuming his examination. The wail of sirens he'd picked up a moment ago was getting closer and he was determined to find which injuries were the worst so the EMT's could focus on those when they arrived.

By the time the ambulance wailed up, lights flashing and bathing everything in bursts of red and white light, Brody had determined that Ardeur had broken both legs in various places, her right arm and several of her ribs were broken as well. The sound of booted feet running toward them was preceded by doors opening and shutting as the paramedics vacated their rig and ran over to where he knelt with Ardeur.

Brody stepped back and gave them what details he could while he watched the medics work. When they loaded Ardeur on the stretcher he followed and stopped them before they loaded her inside the rear bay of the vehicle. He leaned in, pretending to kiss her cheek, and inhaled all of the scents that clung to her. They would be useful in helping him find where she'd been in the last few hours and to track her down later. "Don't you die on me now. I just found you and there's a lot I need to know about where you've been the last nineteen years."

With Ardeur safely loaded inside the ambulance, Brody caught the driver before he got back in the front of the vehicle and asked what hospital they were taking her to for treatment. The paramedic replied, "Legacy Meridian, in Tualatin. You family? If you are, you can ride with us."

"Not family, no. Just an old friend." He slapped the side of the rig and cursed as he turned and walked back to pick up his jacket by the lamp post. "Take good care of her."

He slung his leather jacket back on over the broad set of his shoulders and was about to walk back across the street toward the grocery store he'd just left when an elderly woman touched his arm and smiled up at him. "You left your bag, son." Brody looked down at the satchel she held up in her wizened old hand and realized that he'd forgotten to send Ardeur's bag along with her to the hospital. He thanked the old woman and slung the bag over his shoulder, his feet turning instead toward his apartment. All of the clues he needed about Ardy's life, he realized, were right there in the bag dangling from his shoulder.



Come back on November 6th, 2010 for a look at Chapter 8 of Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur.

Copyright © 2010 Danielle Gavan

Danielle Gavan
Paranormal and Erotic Romance Author
Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur
Website *Facebook * Twitter

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur Chapter 6

** Continuation of October 23rd, 2010 post. Please click here for Chapter 5.

Six

Shade battered at the cage I had pinned him in and screamed incessantly as I walked further and further away from the hotel and the life I refused to live anymore. The obscenities he hurled at me would have made even the most seasoned trucker blush a deep scarlet; but they didn't faze me one bit, I'd heard them all before and most of them on a daily basis.

I was not a stranger to crude language before Shade was forced upon me but the level to which he took it was a new one that had shocked and stunned me with its ferocity.

The ululating of sirens sounded in the distance and caused me to speed up my pace in order to put the maximum amount of distance possible between me and the dead man lying in the hotel room I'd just vacated minutes earlier. My demon was freaking out and throwing everything he had at the shield barrier I'd erected around him. If an ambulance was headed toward the hotel, chances were that my handlers had gone to the room to retrieve me and found the man I'd killed lying on the floor with me nowhere in sight.

"Ardeur, get your ass turned around and back to that hotel. NOW. Turn around you stupid bitch or you'll pay the price when I get loose."

A short bark of laughter burst from my lips and I began to walk even faster as police sirens joined those of the ambulance. "Um, no. There is absolutely no frickin’ way you are going to get me to go back to that hotel or shit ass life. As for you getting loose? Never gonna happen. Your ass is locked inside the strongest shields I could throw up. There's no getting out of there." Shade threw himself against my shields with renewed vigor and the force of his attack gave me an instant headache. I winced at the pain but my feet kept going in the opposite direction of the emergency vehicles.

Pedestrian traffic grew heavier the further I walked and I let it carry me along until it came to a set of stairs leading below the sidewalk. A sign with a symbol displaying two t's and a c stood next to the staircase and I recognized what the stairway led to. I'd found the Toronto Subway System and certain escape.

I waded into the sea of people making their way underground and stopped at the bottom of the stairs to marvel at everything. Billboards, posters and flyers lined the walls on each side of the platforms. The smell of cinnamon, burnt coffee and hot grease from various food vendors permeated the hot air. People from all walks of life played music; others meandered about or sat and watched the flow of traffic. A queue was formed by what appeared to be a ticket booth and, after a moment of watching to see what the lineup was for, I added myself to the end of it.

The money I'd taken from the senator's wallet was put to good use as I paid my way through the turnstile and found myself faced with another set of stairs leading to a loud rushing sound. People bustled up and down the stairs which led me to surmise the trains must be down at the bottom. A loud grinding squeal of metal on metal and a sudden whoosh of air that blew back the few loose strands of my hair confirmed my assumption.

My eyes found a map posted further down the way and I walked over to inspect it. I realized that I would need to figure out where I was going if I was truly going to make my escape a successful one. An arrow pointed to my current location which proved to be St George Station and showed me I could go in any direction I chose. The decision to head south wasn't hard to make since I knew I wanted to get as far away as possible from Boyd and Wesley. Far away meant out of the country, and for that I was going to need money.

I withdrew the one other thing I'd taken from the senator's pocket and gazed down at the small plastic rectangle of his credit card. The Visa symbol was one I recognized from commercials Shade had watched over the years. Those same commercials had also taught me I could use an ATM to withdraw money from the card and in that moment I was glad that the memories of any soul I shredded stayed with me for several hours before fading away. I flipped through each memory carefully while I walked until I found the one with the information I needed and inserted the card in the machine.

Minutes later my white nurse's shoes were shushing down the stairs, my pockets - the four on my pants and the one of my shirt, were filled with crisp bills. The credit card was neatly discarded in a nearby trash can. I thanked my lucky stars for the genetic anomaly that accounted for my lack of fingerprints and made me untraceable should anyone find the card and try to identify me. There were no records of my existence after the age of twelve when my parents had sold me off like cattle to the highest bidder.

I hadn't realized how important having proper identification would be until half an hour later when I tried to buy a bus ticket and cross the border. The clerk glared at me from the other side of the glass and tapped her nails on the Formica countertop. "You need a driver's license and birth certificate or a passport to cross the border, honey. Everybody knows that."

Everybody might, I thought, unless you've been living in captivity for seven years. "Right. Thanks."

My original plan to take a bus into the United States was clearly not going to pan out and my mind began to ponder new possibilities while I wandered through the streets.

The mast of a tall ship caught my eye as I scanned the horizon. An idea began to form that made my feet pick up the pace and turn toward the ship. Where there were ships, there was water and, possibly, a means of escape.

"Ardy, no. You know I can't go out on the open water." The slight edge of panic in Shade's voice as he tried to coerce me to not get on a boat and sail out brought a smile to my lips. The closer my feet got to the edge of the dock, the more he pleaded with me to turn around. "Tell you what - turn around and I'll tell you where to find Brody. I know how to find him and I'll give you that information if you just promise me you won't get on a boat."

The words were another false promise in a long line of them that Shade had made in our time together. Whenever the demon wanted me to do something I found repugnant he would use the Brody lure to get me to do his bidding.

"Not falling for it, Shade so just zip it and be a good boy while I see if I can find someone to take me with them."

Laughter echoed through the halls of my mind and caused me to wince with the realization that what I'd just said was highly unlikely to happen. With everything that had happened in my life, trusting people was not easy for me. Trusting complete strangers to not only allow me onboard their boat but to then take me across the lake and smuggle me in to another country was more than a stretch of the imagination. This nugget of truth left me with the only other option available if I wanted to get across the lake. I was going to have to get myself onboard one of those boats and stay hidden until it docked on the opposite shore. Finding the right target was next on the plan of action I'd decided on and I scanned the people getting off the variety of boats along the dock.

Strands of pink, yellow and gold stretched across the sky above the dark blue waves of the water. Dusk had fallen while I'd been busy devising my escape and the shade of early evening stretched the shadows of the buildings across the waterfront. The ghost of a smile played over my lips as I stepped into the shadows and wrapped myself in them. If this was going to work I would need to be able to slip through the crowd, and on to the boat unseen.

Death, its scent heavy, cloying, and oh so familiar tickled my senses. It drew my attention to a couple who were stepping on to the planks of the wharf. They were leaving a large craft with the name Persephone emblazoned on the bow in elegant blue and gold lettering.

I focused on the couple, my senses and power flaring. My eyes swept over the young blonde - not much younger than myself - and the middle aged man whose aura was dimmed by the death waiting to claim him. A snatch of conversation floated on the warm summer breeze to my ears as they passed me by in my shadowed hideaway.

"Thank you for taking me over, Daddy. Toronto is the only place I can get…" They continued on down the street, their words becoming muffled by the noises of a busy waterfront, and my eyes turned toward the boat and my salvation - provided I could get aboard and find a spot to hide in. Judging by the bit of conversation I'd overheard, the father and daughter were headed for a bit of shopping and would be gone for an indeterminate amount of time.

Another five minutes of quiet observation and it was time to put my feet in motion. Shadows wrapped tight around me like a second skin as I made my way down the dock toward the ladder up to the deck of the boat. I clamored up the rungs like a spider making its way over the sticky threads of its web and swung my legs over the rail, wincing when the rubber soles of my shoes squeaked on the polished wood of the deck.

Minutes passed and no one came running to investigate the noise which told me it was safe to get up and search out my hiding spot. I took my time getting up anyway on the off chance someone was looking. No point in getting caught now that I was mere feet away from the open hatch to the living quarters which promised fresh clothes, food and escape.

I took the nurses shoes off and picked them up. I walked barefoot across the deck and bolted down the stairs into the galley kitchen at the bottom. The hallway that stretched out ahead ended in what appeared to be the girl's bedroom. A pair of black leather boots lay haphazardly at the foot of the bed that was strewn with several pairs of jeans and other articles of brightly colored clothes that drew me like a magnet.

As comfortable as the nurse's uniform was I knew that a change of clothes would eventually be needed and that was the deciding factor that had me stripping it off and reaching for the nearest pair of jeans. Soft denim slid up my legs and over my hips, faded blue against pale cream. The button fastened loosely just below the concave dip of my belly. It wasn't a perfect fit but it was close enough and I turned to search through the pile of clothes on the bed for a shirt. What I found was a collection of camisoles that were so low cut I'd be lucky if my chest didn't tumble out with the slightest of movements.

"Throwing out that bra wasn't the smartest move you've ever made Ardy. Check her dresser."

Help? From the demon? What the - ? "Fuck that noise. I'm never wearing one of those again." I slipped three camisoles, blue, green and red, over my torso and reached for the boots - black leather, rubber sole and laces up the front. My right foot slid inside the first boot and brought a smile to my face. If I could find a pair of socks in the drawers the boots would fit perfectly.

Before I knew it I was fully dressed, had a bag full of clothes stowed in the closet I'd found beneath the stairs and was helping myself to an apple from the fridge while I rooted around for sandwich fixings and anything that wouldn't go bad to take with me when I jumped ship later. The sound of feet up on deck drew my attention and caused me to almost drop the canister of chips in my hand.

“Busted. Girl, your ass is about to get caught and hauled off to jail."

My grip on the chips tightened convulsively. The footsteps approached the top of the stairs and then, just as quickly, turned away in the opposing direction. I breathed a silent sigh of relief and decided that being discovered was not worth the risk of taking a couple more minutes to find anything else to eat. The closet door closed with me behind it seconds before the boat's two occupants came down into the kitchen. One set of footfalls continued on and soon the sound of engines rumbling to life told me that we were heading out.

Even had I not heard the churning of the engines, the grumbling and cursing from inside my head would have tipped me off to the fact that we were heading out to open water. My co-pilot had an aversion to freshwater and we were about to speed out into the middle of a huge lake full of his worst nightmare.

The whirring of the engines and the satisfied fullness of my stomach must have worked together to lull me to sleep. One minute I was listening to the sounds of the ship and the next I was waking up in a panic, legs gone numb from sitting cross legged on the floor too long. No other sounds reached my ears but that of my own breathing in the small, closed in space where I sat. I closed my eyes once again and listened.

"I know you won't believe me but we docked about half an hour ago."

Okay, so apparently the ride over hadn't quieted the bastard or done any lasting harm since he was yapping in my head again. I sighed and rose to my feet, the pins and needles nearly toppling me over as the blood rushed back down and circulation reasserted itself.

I gave myself a minute to make sure the feeling had fully returned to my feet before pushing the door open a fraction to poke my nose out and see if what Shade had said was true. The lack of engine sounds told me that we were, at the very least, stopped. Whether we were docked or at anchor somewhere on the lake for the night remained unclear.

The hall and doorways that stemmed from it were all dark, no sound of shallow breathing or snoring came from the bedrooms. I smiled and bent to pick up the bag, heavy and filled with things that would make the start of my journey an easier one than I had expected. There were a few items I'd need to pick up on shore but those could wait until I was away from the waterfront and a couple of cities over.

I treaded lightly, the soles of my pilfered boots soundless against the wood of the floor and stairs. Panic, overwhelming and cold, ran through my veins when I looked up and realized that the hatch had been closed. My palms flattened against the wood panels, pushed and kept moving as the hatch opened to show that I was inside a building of some sort. "Oh thank god."

Shade grumbled as I climbed the stairs and exited the boat, the sound of my boots hitting the dock echoing through what I realized was a very large boat shed. Freedom was within sight, so close that I could smell the sweet fragrance of it on the air.

"Lookie here, Shade. I'm free." I adjusted the straps of the backpack to fit the bag snuggly against my back and strode for the door. "You said I'd never make it yet here I am - free and out of their grasp. Hell, I even managed to cage your stupid ass without you realizing what I was doing."

"Yeah, you laugh now, Blondie but you won't be doing any when Boyd and Wes are sent after you. If you think your life was hard before…", he chuckled darkly and let the sentence hang. I knew just what kind of pain and torture the men who had held me could mete out and I had no desire to go back for more of the same or worse.

My hand found the handle for the door that would release me out into the world and twisted.

"Oh, hello karma. Locked. Surprise. Now whatcha going to do Ardeur?" I laid my forehead against the cool metal of the door and fought, hard, to keep the tears that threatened to spill in check. There was no way that I would let myself get this far, this close to freedom and let a locked door be my undoing.

"Shut up, you stupid shit. Remember who you're talking to here, hm?"

I took a deep breath, gripped the handle tightly and twisted with everything I had; sheering it clean off and swinging the door open into the night. The light above the door shone down on me and spurred me to action. If anyone had been drawn by the sound of the door crashing open, standing in the doorway with the light pointing accusing rays down on me was not a good place to be when they arrived.

Several steps to the right had me covered in shadows again, affording me a few minutes to figure out which direction to head in and to see if anyone would come to investigate the noise that my exit from the boat shed had occasioned.

Ten minutes later I walked up the dock, cut through the marina parking lot and disappeared into the night. I was safe, for now.



Come back on November 5th, 2010 for a look at Chapter 7 of Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur.

Copyright © 2010 Danielle Gavan

Danielle Gavan
Paranormal and Erotic Romance Author
Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur
Website *Facebook * Twitter

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.

Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur Chapter 5

** Continuation of October 22nd, 2010 post. Please click here for Chapter 4.

Five

It took me six years and ten months to plan my escape from my captors after that day in the park. Two thousand four hundred and ninety two days from Saturday, September 21^st, 1996 when I was forced to watch while Shadekar blew an entire park full of innocent children, parents and grandparents to bits. The echoes of screams, theirs and mine, stayed with me for what felt like an eternity until I learned to block them out and turned my focus toward other, more important tasks; like getting myself out of the hell I was living in and free from the men who ruled my every movement.

As the years progressed and my body developed more into that of a woman, the frilly dresses gave way to barely there miniskirts, low cut tops which accentuated a chest most porn stars paid for and high heels that made me look less like the teenager I was and more like the woman I wasn't. Despite having the body of woman abundantly blessed by Mother Nature, my eyes were pools of innocence until Shade took over.

I gladly retreated to the sanctuary I'd built myself while he killed, maimed and destroyed. The walls of my shelter were covered with childhood memories of Brody, spells and any bit of information I could recall that would eventually help me break free and take back control from Shadekar.

Learning how to keep my memories and thoughts separate and blocked from Shade had been my first priority after the park incident. The second one had been planning how to permanently get away from Wesley and Boyd and stay away.

Shade took advantage of every moment I hid behind my shields to watch or study every manner of martial arts he could find and then force my tiny five foot four inch body to attempt each and every move. The martial arts caught my attention after the first few attempts and I began actively participating in our exercise sessions.

A steady diet of Pop Tarts, pizza and greasy fast food was eventually going to catch up with me no matter how supernaturally strong I was, and since I wasn't allowed out on my own I relished the hours of exercise Shade's obsession provided for me. On the upside, I got the exercise I needed to keep my body fit but the downside to it was as I got older Shade began using my body to satisfy other needs I was too innocent to know about or acknowledge. He would watch porn while I slept which meant the images were entrenched in my memory whether I wanted them or not.

Regardless of how hard I shielded, everything he learned, saw or did was burned into my brain until I figured out how to compartmentalize even those things and block them out. By then most of the damage had been done. I was physically innocent but the knowledge of what men and women did to each other behind closed doors was forever lodged in my head.

My chance to escape came on the afternoon of July 19th, 2003.

As with every mission day, my wakeup call came before the crack of dawn and was very, very rude. I was thrust into the usual short shorts and camisole and hauled out to be turned into the pretty doll everyone expected me to be when our targets looked at me. Hours of having my waist length hair pulled until it looked just right and then just a touch of makeup to accentuate the periwinkle blue of my eyes, the fullness of my lips.

My outfit for the day, a short dress the color of poppies that would show off my toned legs and the deep swell of my cleavage, hung on the back of the bathroom door. At five foot four, with a petite frame, my clothes tended to be on the smaller side and this dress was no exception. The scrap of Lycra looked more like something a Barbie doll would wear than an actual person but, I would wear it and hate every moment I had it on.

The manicurist they'd brought in tsk'd at the tattered state of my bitten to the quick finger nails when she picked up my left hand to start applying the acrylic tips I always managed to pry off immediately after the mission was completed. "What have you done to your fingers, sweetie? Your nail beds are so damaged that I don't know if I can put these on."

I gave her a bland look and blinked at her with the typical bored sarcasm of most teenagers. "I ripped off the last four sets they put on me. Pried 'em off with my teeth." The shocked look on her face earned her a grin and a flash of my pearly whites. "Put another set on and they'll meet the same fate - sweetie."

"Shade." Wesley yelled from the kitchen where he was pulling strawberry Pop Tarts from the toaster. The smell of burnt pastry tickled my nose and told me it was going to be yet another morning where I would have to force down scorched strawberry junk.  "Shut the bitch up before she says something she shouldn't."

The sunglasses atop my slightly upturned nose weren't just because I thought I was cool or even because I needed them. They were there so when Shade took over as suddenly as he was about to my eyes would be covered and no one would notice the total blackness of them. When the demon was in control, unless he made the effort to make my eyes look like their normal blue selves, they were entirely black. No white, no iris. Nothing and looking into the black, bottomless pits my eyes became tended to freak the humans out just a bit.

Human wasn't a term that exactly fit me as we'd learned over the years. The men who gave Wes and Boyd their orders had them put me through a plethora of tests and exercises to see just what I was really capable of under all of the cute blondness. They had been surprised at what they found and would find themselves surprised yet again when I put my escape plan into action.

I yanked my shields down and stepped back seconds before Shade rushed forwarded, took the proverbial steering wheel and commandeered my body. My shields fell back into place and I set to work pulling down all of the mental sticky notes and memories I had pinned up over the last seven years. I chanted through all of the spells I'd found that would reverse the effect of my shields and keep Shadekar trapped behind them when the time came. The bastard riding shotgun in my head wouldn't know what hit him when I kicked his ass inside the cage I was building and slammed the door shut. Stupid ass wouldn't see it coming and I couldn't wait to see his reaction.



Several hours later I was dressed to kill and hustled in to the backseat of a car looking nothing like the nineteen year old I was underneath all the window dressing. The red dress hugged every inch of me like it was a second skin. My breasts were thrust upward and on display for all to see thanks to the unnecessary push-up bra my captors forced me to wear in order to achieve the effect of even more cleavage - as if I didn't have enough already. Strappy black stilettos that scarcely covered my bare feet and a small clutch purse completed the outfit. Boyd and Wesley had told Shade no weapons were needed on this job, all he needed was my pretty face and the strength that lay hidden below the deceptive surface. Could I lift a car? No, but I could kill the biggest of men with my bare hands and not break a sweat doing it. I could also yank a soul straight out of someone's body and according to the mission plan; this is what we were doing today.

I sat behind my shields and waited, watching for the moment when I could put my plan into action and run for my life.

The target on this mission was a Politian visiting from the United States whose wife had caught him cheating, numerous times, with an intern on his staff. The Missus had contacted the powers that be and here I was, half an hour after being dropped off, with the wayward husband in the bar of his hotel. Dressed as I was, there was no way the philandering bastard would fail to make a move.

Reeling the victims in was the part Shade enjoyed the most about our missions. The flirting, teasing and sexual tension created by the mannerisms he used all perfected via his hours upon hours of porn. A hair toss over the bare skin of a shoulder, a coy smile or even running my hand down the man's arm; all of it designed to lure the target in and make him feel safe, wanted.

Within minutes of having sat down the bartender had placed a glass of white wine in front of me and directed my attention to a tall, well-dressed man approaching from the left side of the bar. Graying light brown hair feathered back from his temples and he wore a cocky, self-assured grin as he approached to introduce himself as Senator So-and-so. I wasn't paying attention to the name and Shade didn't care. He was a target and we had a mission to complete.

Shadekar took his time chatting with the Senator, luring him in with the occasional sweep of my tongue across the fullness of my lower lip and frequent touches to his arm while laughter, husky and feminine, slipped from my lips. I watched as lust and calculating greed crept into the Senator's gray-blue eyes and listened while Shade crowed with success when the older man asked if I'd like to come up to his room for another drink in a more private setting.

Sir Cheatsalot leaned in to whisper in my ear and I caught the woodsy scent of his expensive cologne when his lips brushed my ear and he inhaled my own citrusy perfume. "You smell delicious. Are you ripe for plucking sweetheart?" The clock on the wall in the lobby told me we'd been in the bar no more than half an hour and were well ahead of schedule as we waited for the ding of the elevator arriving to take us up to the suite that would spell out freedom for me and death for the man standing next to me in the expensive dark blue suit.

Finally, the elevator arrived and we rode up to the fourteenth floor while the cheesy instrumental music played quietly in the background. I felt sorry for the man who stood next to me, an unwitting victim walking straight in to his very own death scene. The soft ping indicating we'd reached our floor had me jumping on the inside but with Shade in the driver's seat the rest of me was cool as a cucumber. We exited and walked passed a series of non-descript white doors until we reached the one bearing number fourteen eleven in elegant lettering on a shiny gold plaque.

I stepped inside once the door was unlocked and held open in invitation. My shoes sunk in to the plush tan colored carpet and the fuzz of the fibers was a pleasant tickle against the tips of my toes. I walked across the room and pulled aside the heavy velvet drapes to gaze out the window. A large hand reached out and pulled my hand away from the burnished gold fabric and it swung closed, re-establishing the shadows in the corners of the room where the lamps couldn't reach them. "Come sit with me, take your shoes off and relax a bit."

We sat together on the smaller of the two couches and before I knew it, my feet were in the Senator's lap and my sandals were being cast to the floor. It took every ounce of will power I could muster to stop myself from running victory laps around my shelter as my plan fell into place bit by bit. I needed to focus because my turn was coming and shredding the soul out of a living body was never an easy task even when I was calm. My life, my escape depended on getting this right and I couldn't afford to screw this up.

Shadekar's voice snapped me back into focus just at the same time as the Senator's greedy hands found themselves full of a breast in the one and the top of my thigh high stocking in the other.

"Ardy, baby, any time you wanna kill the idiot is fine with me. You know I'm not in to men."

My shields dropped and I stepped out, ready for action and the freedom it would bring. The Senator's mouth was coming down toward my own when I placed a hand against the soft cotton of his shirt, just above his heart and opened my eyes to look up at him with the black, empty voids they'd become. I flexed my metaphysical fingers against his chest and reached in to grasp his soul and pull it free. The soul quivered like jelly in my hand, terror the emotion at the forefront of everything as I squeezed and began to separate it from its owner.

I watched dispassionately while the face hovering inches from mine convulsed and registered the pain that came with having your soul shredded. What he was feeling in that moment was the most excruciating pain a human body could experience. The heart beating beneath my fingers sped up as the adrenaline brought on by the fear of what was happening coursed through his veins. His mouth was working to form words, call out for help but none came out and I smirked at him.

"You didn't really think you could have me, did you?" I tsk'd at him and laughed. "Come on, you cheating bastard, give up the ghost."

Never before had I needed to use both hands to rip out a soul but it was becoming clear, I was going to have to do it now. I brought my other hand up, pressed it to the Senator's chest and thrust my energy inside to wrap around his dark soul and pulled with everything I had until the whole shrieking mess came screaming out of the body.

I murmured binding and banishing spells as fast as I could to get rid of the soul before the body hit the floor. Shadekar was cackling with glee at the success of our mission and the extra show of force I'd displayed and I took advantage of his gloating to start putting the shields up around him while I picked up anything that could be traced back and identify me. Shoes, clutch, even the two long strands of my golden hair that had gotten caught in the dark, chocolate brown upholstery of the couch. I emptied the cash from the dead man's wallet and put the leather rectangle neatly back inside his pocket. No need to wipe it down for finger prints, I didn't have any.

By the time my hand pulled open the suite door, I had erected my shields and Shade was unknowingly trapped in the back of my mind. I called the shadows of the hallway to me and cloaked myself in them as I walked down the hall in my stocking feet and headed for the stairwell. It was then Shade realized something not on the plan was going down and tried to take over, put me back on track for the elevator and the lobby where the driver would be waiting for me.

"Ardeur. Where in the hell do you think you're going girl?" He hit the wall of shielding and bounced back screaming as he tried to break free. "What is this? What the hell is this, Ardeur?"

My shoulders shook with suppressed laughter and I flew down the stairs as fast as my feet could take me. "I'm taking my life back. No more killing, or missions, no more Wes and Boyd. By the time they realize I'm gone it'll be too late." I started reciting the last, and strongest shielding spell as I rounded the corner of the final set of stairs before flying out the back door of the hotel and finding myself in an alley filled with dumpsters and startled hotel employees. A few of them gaped for a moment but returned to work with a shrug. To them I looked like any other high paid prostitute in my short dress and tousled hair.

I tossed my shoes inside a nearby dumpster and continued down the street until I cleared the hotel and found myself behind another and then another as I worked my way down the alley.

A uniform company truck was parked, its rear door wide open and inviting, behind one of the hotels toward the end of the street. I ducked inside after checking to make sure the coast was clear. Luck proved to be on my side when I found not only a pair of dark blue scrubs but a pair of white nurse's shoes in my size. I slipped them on and jumped out, dress and brassiere in hand to find the nearest trash can and toss them inside. It felt good to finally be covered and comfortable.

Quickly pulling the pins from my hair and twisting it into a bun as I walked transformed me from hooker look-alike to young nurse in a hurry to get to work. Never once did I look back to see if anyone was following. I would have lost any of the courage I'd mustered to see my plan through and I was determined to get myself free no matter the cost.

Come back on October 24th, 2010 for a look at Chapter 6 of Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur.

Copyright © 2010 Danielle Gavan

Danielle Gavan
Paranormal and Erotic Romance Author
Possession is Nine Tenths - Ardeur
Website *Facebook * Twitter

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, locations, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination, or have been used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, locales, or events is entirely coincidental. No portion of this work may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the author.