Chapter Twelve

No, stay with me

I command it

The room is cold, oh so cold

How dare this man and his two companions presume to come in here and take my toy

She may not be worth anything, but she’s all I have now

Candice!

I can see you floating, wavering

Your spirit is lighter than it has been in years

She’s mine! Mine! Mine!

You’re happy now, laughing

Talking with the woman who tried to take you away from me all those years ago

It didn’t work then, it won’t work now

Wait…wait…wait

No!

She’s fading…fading…fading

The woman is crying

The man is smiling

Candice is gone

Now I’m alone

Until my new love comes back

And she will

She must

Or I will have nothing

* * * *

“Are you sure you’re up to this, Martin?” Franco put a hand on his friend’s shoulder and gently squeezed. Tempest could see the concern in her lover’s eyes as he studied his friend.

“Yes, I’m sure. Besides, Pebbles will be doing most of the work since I crossed Candice over this morning.”

“That takes a lot out of him, but we helped build his energy back up today.” Rumer stepped up and kissed Martin. Behind him, Noah wrapped his arms around Martin and pulled him into his chest and they effectively made a sandwich. Martin and Noah shared a kiss and Tempest smiled.

The love these three had for each other was strong, as strong as that of Quinn, Dev and Fletch.

Franco turned to her and winked. The message was clear. “We’ll get there. Allow the game to play out, tilts and all.”

“Tell me exactly what we have to do,” Tempest said as Pebbles stepped through the gate. They were all in her garden now. It was the first time she’d been back to the house since “the incident” almost two weeks now, and she hadn’t realized how much she missed it until she’d seen it.

She wanted to be back here, at the place she was making her own. But she didn’t want to live here alone anymore. She wanted Franco here with her. They’d discussed it quite a bit lately, finally deciding that, when the incubus was gone, he would move in with her. He’d go to work at Franco’s Grill every night but he’d come home to her.

There had been no declarations of everlasting love and marriage. Yet. But she knew they were coming. With Franco, you couldn’t rush things, and that was something she loved about him.

“I’m going to cast a circle in the middle of the room,” Rumer said in answer to her question. “You two will be in the center of it.”

This was the part that Tempest wasn’t sure she liked. Sex would attract the incubus, but it would also give him power.

“That’s why we’re not going to have sex,” Franco said. “Remember what we said. The one thing the incubus doesn’t understand is love. He understands the physical aspect of it, but not the emotional. We’re going to neck and pet, just enough to attract him, but not enough to give him a jolt of energy. When he’s there, Pebbles will do the rest.”

“Which is?”

“Incubi are hard to kill,” Pebbles said. “I’m going to try and banish him with a prayer, and if that doesn’t work, then Rumer and I will work together to capture him in a spirit jar. There he’ll stay until I can find a way to get rid of him permanently.”

Tempest nodded, grateful when Franco wrapped his arms around her. She felt cold, and more than a little frightened. This was something she’d never expected to happen in her house. Hopefully this would work, and the thing would be gone. Forever.

“It’s getting close to eleven,” Dev said. “We need to go inside and get this done before Samhain ends.”

Franco took her hand and led the group into the house. It felt cold to her, and she grasped Franco’s hand more firmly. He squeezed her, the movement telling her it would be okay, that he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

They moved into the living room and Tempest saw all the furniture pushed against the wall, except for one fainting couch that sat in the middle of the room. Candles glowed around it, and Pebbles and Rumer went to work, quickly lighting them all.

When they finished, Fletch turned off the overhead light, leaving the room bathed in candlelight.

“On the couch, you two.” Pebbles indicated they should move, but when Franco started toward it, Tempest stood still.

“Shouldn’t it just be me? Won’t Franco’s presence scare him off?”

“If you think I’m letting you go in there on your own, you’re nuts,” Franco said. “We’re in this together.”

“But if he gets angry…”

“He’s drained,” Martin said. “That’s why we left him alone for so long, so that he wouldn’t have any energy left to fight us tonight. He might have a little, but not a lot. And Franco’s right. There’s no way we’d let you go in there alone, not after what happened before.”

Tempest wanted to remind Martin that the beast had been feeding off her then, and he’d had power. She decided, though, not to fight. This was their bailiwick and she should follow their directions.

Franco lay down on the couch and guided her on top of him, caressing her sides before settling his hands on her hips. Her heart was beating like an overworked drum, and he reached up and stroked her cheek.

“Relax, darling Tempest. I’m here, don’t forget that.”

Yes, he was there, and now that she was on the couch, she was thrilled that he was. She wanted to be brave and say she should attract the demon on her own, but in truth, it felt right to be here with Franco’s arms around her.

She leaned down and kissed him, wrapping her arms around his neck as he caressed her cheek with his thumb.

Tempest lost herself in the feeling, vaguely aware of words floating around her, of motion near the couch. Rumer, the witch, casting the circle.

Franco deepened the kiss, darting his tongue into her mouth, licking her gently as his hand stroked her cheek, her neck, her shoulder.

Soon everything was gone but the two of them. She wasn’t aware of the cold, the light or the other people. All that mattered was Franco, the man laying under her, the man wanting to protect her from the evil that had threatened her house, her very life.

“I love you,” she whispered against his lips. “Can you read what I’m thinking?”

“Always.” The air around them stirred and Tempest heard a voice call her name. It was him. The demon. But she didn’t care. All that mattered was the man under her, who was now describing how their life would be together. “Home. Life. Babies. Us. Forever.”

“Yes.” She arched into him as he cupped her buttocks, then traced his fingers up her spine, causing tiny tremors of bliss to rush through her.

“I love you, too, Tempest.” He grasped her face between his hands and kissed her possessively. The air around them seemed burst with static and from what seemed like far away Tempest could hear chanting. It was Pebbles, or was it Rumer? Or was it both of them?

Frankly, she didn’t care. Franco had flipped her expertly, his hands pulling up her shirt, roughly pushing up her bra. His lips found a nipple and she gasped, seeking to hold him as close as possible as he suckled her.

A male voice screamed “no” and the voices around them rose in anger. Tempest ran her hand down Franco’s side, grasping his hips, then fumbling with the zipper on his jeans. He groaned in pain and she whispered she was sorry. When she finally had them undone, she grasped him tightly in her hands, stroking him up and down.

His own hands had found their way up her skirt, his fingers probing her wetness.

“It’s working.” The words barely registered with Tempest as she built toward climax. Energy seemed to run in circles around herself and Franco as they worked to bring each other to completion.

His cock pulsed in her hand as her clit twitched under his fingers.

“Now! Now!” That was the same voice she’d heard earlier. Pebbles.

Franco pressed his thumb into her clit and Tempest came, yelling out his name as she felt hot jets of semen soak her fingers.

The room grew quiet, and then there was a chuckle. “You weren’t supposed to have sex,” Dev said.

“We didn’t.” Franco’s chest was heaving and he gazed down at her, his eyes filled with desire. “That was just foreplay.”

The laughter increased and Franco sat up. Tempest looked at the people surrounding them. Their faces were as flushed as she felt right now.

“Is it gone?”

“Yes,” Pebbles replied. “He’s gone from your home.”

“Is he dead?” Tempest noticed a slight hesitation on the other woman’s part. When she finally nodded no one else challenged her, so Tempest decided she’d just imagined her misgivings.

“That’s great news,” Franco said. “Now, get the fuck out so we can turn foreplay into real sex.”

The laughter increased and Tempest laid her head on his shoulder. The demon was gone, the house belonged to her and the man next to her was hers, too. Life was perfect, much more so because of the man sitting beside her.

Rumer instructed them to stay where they were until she’d done something with the circle she’d cast. When she’d said things were fine they stepped out. Franco headed for the bathroom, coming back moments later with a wet towel.

“Well,” he said. “As much as I’d like to stay here with my lady, I suppose a celebration is in order. “Dinner’s on me, so let’s head out.”

“Wait.” Tempest looked around the room. “How can we be sure he’s gone?”

“Do you feel him?” Pebbles cocked her head and glanced at her.

Tempest closed her eyes and relaxed. All she could feel were the people around her, their love and friendship.

“No.”

“Then he’s no longer attached to you,” Pebbles said. “You can relax and enjoy yourself. I promise.”