Return to the Darkness - Ripley Proserpina Page 0,49
guys got out of the car. Thorn held his hand out to help me, and then we faced the playground.
One of the ghosts jumped off the swing and giggled. Then he whirled around and pointed. I didn’t have to guess what he was pointing at. Erdirg was here.
This was not the first time I was seeing him, but the guys hadn’t seen him in a decade. I tried to step forward but was yanked back by Aaron who grabbed my hand. “Not by yourself this time.”
I nodded. Yes, he was right. We were all here. It was a fair request to make that I let them help. Funny. It was such a pretty day. Why did horrible things happen on such blue-sky days? Couldn’t the weather match my mood for once?
“Thoughts?” I spoke aloud. “Keeping in mind that he can hear us and speaks our language and all that.”
Surprisingly, it was actually Colton who answered me. “The years I’ve spent studying beings like him have taught me a few things. They die. They don’t have to be put to sleep, they don’t have to be temporarily handled. They just have to be killed. We find their remains all over the place. So we’re going to kill it.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “Sounds good. What do you have in mind?”
“Remember what we used to handle Mara? The stuff that we used on you that made you… ah… unhappy that we’d done it without discussing it. How about if we use it now? My guess? It’ll do to him what it did to you. And then it’s easy to take care of it,” Colton said.
They’d kissed me to get the sleep tonic on my lips. I wasn’t kissing Erdirg. “How would we administer the drug?” And what was more, when had they created it?
Erdirg stared at us, but stayed in one place. Huh. Why didn’t he move closer?
I started talking fast. “I have so many questions about this,” I muttered. What did they do? Carry around a stash of herbs, just in case? “What else you got up your sleeve? Rosemary? Thyme? Parsley? Sage?”
“Sarcasm noted,” Colton replied. “It’s not that we were carrying it around, per se, but we have what we need to create it. Look.”
I followed his gaze. Aaron had turned his back on us. When I met Colton’s gaze again, he lifted his eyebrows. I got it. Aaron was doing a fancy Salt Bae move over there, and then I’d have my tonic.
“We promised ourselves we’d never be blindsided again.” Colton leaned down and kissed me.
Beyond us came an angry growl so low that I felt the vibrations in the soles of my feet. As one, the guys crowded around me with Ray taking point.
Erdirg’s gaze flashed toward him, and he smiled. One cloven hoof lifted, and he stepped closer.
Aaron took my hand, sticking what felt like Vaseline in the palm of my hand. He kissed my cheek. “Move fast because it’ll hit you, too. But know we’re right behind you.” He squeezed my hand.
“Ray Chee,” Erdirg called. “We’ve met in many realities. But you don’t destroy me in this one. And you don’t keep her from me.” He took another step closer, lifted one huge hand and crooked his finger at me.
It was only because I needed to get close, and I was playing a role, that I stepped away from the guys. “No,” Aaron said. It had to be him who tried to stop me, because he knew what I was supposed to do. If it had been Oliver, or Colton who told me no, I would have hesitated, uncertain.
“It was always going to happen like this,” I replied.
Erdirg’s smile got wider. And more repulsive. This shit better work, because if these demon ghosts ended up being my stepchildren, I was going to be pissed.
The guys yelled out behind me, and I hazarded a glance over my shoulder. They tried to come closer, struggling as if something held them in place.
Shit. They better be acting. That better be an invisible wall, and they sure as shit better be mimes, because if I was out here on my own, I was fucked. And maybe literally.
He crooked his finger again, and I stepped closer to him. His other hand was out now, palm toward the sky. He wanted me to take it. My knees shook a little. I had to move faster. One step. Another. And I slid my palm against his.
He jerked me forward, entwining our fingers. He didn’t