chapter 8
“Will’s move works well.”
Nikki closed her mouth. “Was that really necessary?”
“Nikki, you’re running from a creature that has already killed others to try to get to you. I’m not worried about steroid boy’s bloody nose. Occupational hazard.”
She rolled her eyes as he took her hand to help her step over the clump of muscle mass in the doorway.
Once inside, no one seemed to care that they were there. They passed a crew of three guys carrying wound black cords. Nikki waited for one of the guys to yell at them, but no one spoke.
Raven stopped after they passed by and turned to flag them down. “Hey, you know where I can find Kevin Finley?”
“Green room, down the hall” one said, and they walked on.
Nikki placed a hand on her chest. “You almost gave me a heart attack. We aren’t supposed to be back here, Raven. Don’t draw attention to us. Or if you’re going to, warn me first.”
“Warn you when I’m gonna speak?”
She sank a fist into his shoulder. When two girls passed by, Nikki dropped her head.
“Stop acting like a thief. Nobody cares that we’re back here. Just act normal.”
Nikki broke from Raven and stood with her hands propped on her waist. Normal. Riiiight.
“Just act like you belong here, okay?”
She let out a huff as he grabbed her hand and dragged her into a room that was, surprisingly, green.
“Raven!” A thirty-something guy jumped off the white leather couch and came at them. Nikki shrunk back a little, tugging on Raven’s arm.
Two seconds later, the two guys were in one of those slap-on-the-back bro hugs. “How are you? What are you doing here? Is Kaylyn in danger?”
Raven shook his head. “No, nothing like that. We just need to see her.”
The guy Nikki assumed had to be Kevin flashed a frown. “You have any trouble getting back here?”
“I sort of had to knock out the guy at the west door. He’ll wake up soon, might need his nose reset. So the door’s been unguarded for a couple of minutes.”
Kevin nodded and yelled over his shoulder, “Mike, go relieve Ben.” He looked back over to Raven. “It’s an obscure door anyway. Ben’s a new guy.”
“Some initiation,” Raven said, and introduced Nikki to Kevin, who turned out to be Kaylyn’s manager.
“You guys look hungry.” He led them deeper into the room, which had cleared out when Kevin made a show of waving his arms. A table ran the length of one wall and offered trays of sandwiches, veggies and dip, fruit impaled by little decorated toothpicks, a warming dish filled with meatballs that smelled like heaven, and an array of bottled drinks — everything from Perrier water to IBC root beer. “Help yourselves. I’ll get Kaylyn as soon as she’s off stage.”
“Cool, thanks.”
Raven started to reach for a plate, but turned to Nikki instead. “Go sit. I’ll make you something to eat.”
I guess that will work. She shuffled back toward the door and sank onto the couch. A huge mistake, as it must have been covered in sleeping powder — the cushion all but folded her up in overstuffed luxury. She watched Raven turn his attention to the food, but the moment she let out a long, surrendering sigh, he was beside her.
Bending at the waist, he slipped off her shoes and swept her feet onto the soft white leather. A throw blanket decorated the oversized chair in the corner, and Nikki watched through half-lidded eyes as he shook it a couple of times before draping it over her body. An instant later, everything was dark, and safe, and warm. But a song about wings and the horizon played in her head.
She woke to voices. Kevin and Raven stood over her. She was pretty sure they’d been whispering for a while, but had grown comfortable once they realized she was asleep, their voices rising with their conversation. She peered through her lashes.
Raven looked good. Fed. Awake. But lying there, Nikki felt uncomfortable. Should she continue to pretend she’s asleep? Or just hop up and say, “Hey, sorry I happened to wake up and am now interrupting your private conversation”? But then the smell of meatballs hit her nose and she decided waking was better than starving.
She stretched and yawned — just to give them a little forewarning — then blinked her eyes to chase out the remaining sleep.
“Good morning,” they both said.
She hugged the blanket and sat up.
The two guys chuckled, and Raven stepped over to smooth her hair. She reached up, felt the tangle, and decided to die of embarrassment right there. “You guys weren’t supposed to let a family of gerbils nest on my head.”
Kevin grinned. “It doesn’t look like a family —”
Raven cut him off. “No, just a couple rodents.” His cheek quirked in a one-sided smile and he winked.
How charming.
“I’ll take that plate now,” Nikki said to Raven.
Kevin stumbled back. “Oh, sleeping beauty has a bite.”
“No,” she corrected. “Sleeping beauty has an appetite.”
Raven waved a pair of tongs from the cheese tray at Kevin. “She’s also got a killer right hook, so watch your mouth.”
Kevin offered her a hand up from the couch. “Well, if she’s hanging around with you, she needs to know how to defend herself.”
Nikki folded the throw. “Sorry I turned your green room into my personal nap area.” She tried to run her fingers through her hair but they snagged instantly.
“No problem. Kaylyn had to do an interview right after the concert, and it’s taking a little longer than we expected.”
Nikki shot a worried glance to Raven, who was just turning from the table with a full plate. “Don’t worry. Stopping on that mountaintop in the Alps bought us a little time.”
Nikki’s hand went to the cut on her arm Raven had healed with his painful kiss.
He handed her the plate and she began eating like it was the last food she would see for months. Her mouth was full when the person they’d been waiting for entered the room.
“Raven!” Kaylyn squealed, and took two leaps, landing in his arms. An incredibly long and gorgeous waterfall of wavy blonde hair trailed her and sort of entombed Raven when their bodies met.
Nikki swallowed, choked a little on a half-chewed chunk of cauliflower, and tried to melt into the couch.
Blue eyes glanced around the room and found Nikki. But Kaylyn fired her questions at Raven. “Are any of the others with you? Can you stay awhile?”
Raven’s nodded to Nikki. “Just the two of us, and no, we can’t be here long.”
Kaylyn traversed the room toward Nikki. “Raven hasn’t been around in forever.” She threw an accusatory glance at him with those giant, bright eyes. Then she was back to him, clasping his hands. “Did you get here in time to hear your song?”
So she really wrote that song for him? Guess he wasn’t full of … himself.
“You sounded great.” Raven lit up when he said it. Actually lit up. Eyes, face, all brighter and … happier.
Nikki realized she didn’t like his reaction at all.
Perspective. She needed perspective. Kaylyn seemed like a genuinely sweet person; after all, she’d welcomed them, didn’t even get mad at Raven for beating up her bodyguard. Didn’t get mad at Nikki for eating her food.
She was also beautiful. Of course, Nikki had seen her on TV and on the covers Kaylyn’s numerous CDs, but in person it was intensified. She wore studded jeans and a flowing dark blue top that set off her eyes and made them look like they were alive behind her eyelids. Her face was perfect, her teeth were perfect. Her posture was perfect.
Nikki stood up a little straighter.
Kaylyn motioned for Kevin to close the door, the green door. “I know you guys aren’t here on a social visit, so what’s up?”
Raven sighed as if he really didn’t want the “getting reacquainted” party to end. “We need information about seekers.”
Her pearly skin went chalk white. She wavered, like someone had struck her with a syringe full of something lethal. Raven reached out to steady her. Not a difficult task since he was already standing so close.
Long seconds ticked past before Kaylyn lifted her chin and sort of chased away the moment by slamming it with determination—jaw set, eyes fierce, mouth firm. “I’ll help however I can. What do you need to know?”
Nikki admired her bravery — the mention of a seeker had practically knocked the girl off her feet, but she was still ready to help. Nikki cleared her throat. “I’m being hunted.”
Kaylyn nodded. “Okay,” she said on a long breath. “Let’s talk about it.”
Fifteen minutes later, they had no new information and Raven was pacing the floor like a caged tiger. Nikki wondered if he might be sensing hounds, but she hadn’t picked up on anything. Of course, last time she picked up on the hounds when it was almost too late.
Nikki turned to Raven, hoping her worries didn’t set him off. “Do we need to go?”
Kaylyn answered instead. “I need more time. It’s been a lifetime since I thought about seekers and I’m scared I’m leaving something out.”
Raven returned her plea with a stare, and Nikki was left wondering what conversation was passing between his and Kaylyn’s eyes.
“Okay, let me just run through everything again.” Words flew from her mouth so quickly, it was hard to keep up. Now and then she’d tilt her head and stare at the ceiling a few seconds before continuing. One by one, she rattled off things she’d already told them.
“You already know about blood. What about fear?” Kaylyn didn’t give them time to answer. “It feeds off your fear when it gets close. And trust me, there will be plenty of terror for it to use.”
She paced in a tight line. “You need to stay as fresh as you can. Rest, eat, keep your spirit up, and mostly, pray. Actually, you’re going to need to call on some pros for this.”
“Pros?” Raven said.
“Yeah, intercessors.” Kaylyn tapped her foot, the sequined shoe glistening from the overhead light. “In fact, I’ve got a friend who leads a church in Philadelphia. You need to go there. And I can let him know you’re coming.”
“Okay. Why?” What can a pastor do that Raven can’t?
“Two reasons. You’ll be safe there for the night, and right now they’re having an all-night prayer vigil — one orchestrated by the Throne. They can intercede for you — for when you do have to face the seeker. You will have to face it.”
“Am I safe in any church?”
“Only one bathed in prayer. And only for a day at the most. Intercessors can keep the seeker at bay through prayer for a number of hours, but they’re human. Eventually, they will tire and the seeker will overwhelm them.”
Nikki shook her head. “There’s no way I’d go to a church and draw a seeker there to kill all those people.”
Kaylyn pointed at her but again directed her inquiry to Raven. “She doesn’t know anything about spiritual matters, does she?”
Raven shrugged. Nikki felt the urge to slap him.
“Nikki, the intercessors are warriors. They go head-to-head with the being from hell on a daily basis. It’s what they were created for.”
“Head-to-head?” Nikki echoed.
“Not physically. More like battling in the realm of the spirit.”
“So, the fight with the seeker is a spiritual battle as well as a physical one,” Raven said.
Kaylyn nodded. “Very much so. Almost more a spiritual battle than anything else. You need weapons. Faith, peace. As I said, you will have to face the seeker. You can’t run forever.”
Nikki agreed. “I’m tired of running already. I’d rather just get it over with.”
Kaylyn reached over and touched Nikki’s arm. “Not until you’re ready. Trust me on this one. But Pastor Layton can help prepare you.”
Nikki imagined herself being encouraged onto an armored horse at a jousting tournament.
Kaylyn smiled. “Layton will help you prepare spiritually. Right now, your spirit is probably just about dry.”
Nikki’d never given much thought to her spirit — practically her entire life had been spent learning to protect her body. But if preparing her inner defenses would help end this nightmare, she was game. She thought back to the faith ball, and the breakthrough she’d had. “I do have faith.”
“You don’t have faith, Nikki!” Raven’s outburst shocked her.
“It wasn’t your faith, okay?” he almost whispered. His face looked like a small child’s.
A thousand icicles sliced through her stomach. “But I felt the faith ball. I held it in my hands. I did what you told me to do and I succeeded.”
He looked everywhere but at her. “It was a trick. I used my own faith to make you think you’d found yours.”
A short puff of air forced all the oxygen from her lungs. A trick? “Are — are you kidding? Why would you —” Then she knew. He’d wanted to do something Mace couldn’t. Raven had let her think she possessed something she didn’t have — that she needed to have — just to make Mace look like a fool.
Her head was hot, her ears were ringing, and if she didn’t get away she was going to scream or faint. The tiny black spots in front of her eyes suggested the latter. He tricked me. Boiling anger chased the spots until they all but disappeared in the periphery of her vision. All that time, she’d been frustrated with Mace’s slow instruction. Now she understood he was the only one actually trying to help her. And just that quickly, she made a decision. “I’m going back to Viennesse.”
Raven grabbed her. “Nikki, you can’t. They’re on their way here. I was trying to help you back on the boat. I wanted —”
She pulled away from him. “To trick me into thinking I have a weapon I don’t? That’s not help, Raven. My life is on the line.”
He grabbed her again, this time harder, so she couldn’t even thrash. “You think I don’t know that? Look, I wouldn’t have done it if I’d had any idea this was going to happen.”
“Oh, right, because it’s so unlikely I’d be hunted and chased by people and things wanting to kill me!”
“I figured if you held the faith ball and believed in it enough, it would become a part of you.”
“You figured? Well, thanks for gambling with my life.”
Kaylyn stepped between them, and Raven let go. “This isn’t helping the situation. The fact is, Nikki, whether you have faith or not right now, you better find a way to tap into that well inside you. Layton can help you do that.”
Nikki swallowed, and Raven’s betrayal slid down her throat with all the other emotions that were bubbling to the surface. She was just so tired of being a victim, being hunted. First by hell hounds, then by evil men and demons, now by a monster from hell. It wasn’t fair to release all her anxiety on Raven, she knew, but at the same time what he did was almost unforgivable.
Kaylyn’s bright blue eyes were now pleading. “Let Raven take you to Philadelphia.”
After a long time, Nikki gave a reluctant nod. What choice did she have? She couldn’t fly, and she clearly couldn’t protect herself on her own. Why is it even a rebel like Raven has more spiritual power than me?
“Before you leave, I’m going to need some of your blood.” Both Raven and Nikki gave Kaylyn a quizzical look, but she was too busy inspecting items along the table to notice. “You’re headed to Philadelphia, we’re headed out West. Miles and miles of desert.”
Nikki and Raven exchanged shrugs, as if it was the only form of communication they could now share.
“Ah, this should work.” Kaylyn brought an empty Perrier bottle to Raven then held out the dented cap. “Bend it back?”
Raven took the lid and smoothed out the crease.
Kaylyn slid the cap back onto the bottle and gave it a couple of shakes; apparently, it needed to fit snugly. She smiled sweetly, turning to face Nikki. “About that blood …”