Dixie kicked Emily’s shin with everything she had. It was nearly impossible to force her foot to inflict pain on her best friend, but she had to get the beast’s attention. After Emily’s face appeared for a moment, Dixie kicked her once again and waited for the fingers around her throat to relax. Emily’s features morphed back into those of something maniacal, and Dixie felt her breath being squeezed off. Darkness threatened to engulf her as the girl’s fingers closed tighter.
She gripped Emily’s fingers and tried to pry them from her throat. Emily’s strength was ten times what Dixie remembered. Even though Dixie screamed, remarkably little sound passed from her lips. She forced herself to focus on Emily’s face, but the person staring back at her was no longer the girl she’d known for years.
“Give her back to me!”
Emily’s features hardened, becoming more masculine, and with all certainty, Dixie recognized the devil inside her friend as the man she’d seen in the picture with Bindi.
“Emily, please… please fight him.” She gasped, still pushing at the other girl's hands as they pressed harder and harder into her throat.
Dixie’s vision started to tunnel. The edges of her sight became gray and then black. All she could think to do was call Blake. “Blake, wherever you are… please help me.” The sound was but a mutter even as she gave the words all the breath she had.
The creature inside Emily cackled. “Go ahead, call him. He can’t help you.”
Dixie struggled, giving everything she had to a final kick, which landed in Emily’s ribs. The two girls rolled across the mattress, still glued together. Just as time began to stall, as it all started to slow, including her own gestures, Dixie heard the door swing open. Through the haze that had taken over her eyesight, she saw Blake’s glorious smile.
Lathan entered behind him, and Dixie fought to stay conscious, wondering why his brother had come after the reception he’d given her earlier. Blake moved incredibly fast, or maybe her eyes were playing tricks on her. He grabbed Emily and shoved her across the room.
“Easy. He’s in there, but it’s still the girl,” Lathan reminded him gently.
Emily’s fingers were no longer on Dixie’s throat, and she choked as she struggled to regain her strength. Moving at a snail’s pace, Dixie used her feet to push herself further into the corner. Now that she could see Emily in whole, she feared for the girl’s life.
Lathan moved with the same quickness his brother had exhibited and grabbed Emily’s shoulders. “Ego to order thee ut solvo is parvulus,” he shouted, and then as though he was repeating it, “Leave this girl, demon.” He shook her, her body limp as it swayed to and fro. Then Lathan’s eyes softened as Emily’s face tried to squeeze out Holland’s features. For a moment, his face softened as though he recognized her.
He didn’t stall long though. Instead, he called Holland by name and demanded he leave her body. “Holland Aucoin, I command you to leave this girl.”
Emily’s body jolted as though she’d been struck by lightning. A purplish light illuminated her limbs as she fell to the floor unconscious. The thing that was Holland was left standing before them in the form on an apparition. It was translucent, but the details of its features were visible. Holland turned and his gaze moved to Dixie. Her heart stopped. The monster locked his scowl on her, and she felt as though he was sucking out her soul.
It was the loneliest she’d ever felt, like he’d dug a hollow inside her center and dumped all of his misery there. In those seconds, when he glowered at her, Bindi’s face appeared in her mind, contorted in a horrible grimace. Dixie wondered if this was how Bindi had looked during the last moments of her life. She wondered if this was the way Holland had to remember her because he’d somehow caused her demise.
Dixie was snapped from the torturous vision by the sound of what was going on in the rest of the room. As her sight filled with an image of Blake and Lathan, the intense fear that resided in her disappeared. She was lightened, yet utterly confused.
Lathan stood at his brother’s side, his skin paler, his veins pulsating at the surface. His lips were cherry red and his amber eyes were golden, the color moving within the borders of his irises. Behind him was the most breath-taking sight she’d ever seen. She closed her eyes and rubbed them with her fists. The rest of the room seemed to be frozen, as though she was being given time to take in the scene.
Attached to his shoulders was a beautiful span of crystalline white wings. They were so large that the ends were crushed against the wooden planks beneath him. Each feather was embedded with blue and limpid beads, which threw prisms across every wall.
Dixie thought he was the most majestic thing she’d ever seen. She had to remind herself to breathe as she shoved her body even further away from them. Lathan shot his brother a questioning glance and the apparition of Holland laughed liked a deranged madman.
Even though he was glorious, the sight of Blake was more frightening than even Holland. Dixie wrestled with rectifying the idea of what she’d seen and she couldn’t help but look away and then back again. Blake’s body stood motionless, a set of wings identical to his brother’s behind it. He’d glanced down at Dixie for a brief moment and she saw panic twist his expression. All Dixie witnessed occurred in a split second. Time was moving at a normal pace once again. Blake pushed the ghost with both hands, slamming it back into the brick wall above where she sat. The force created a small explosion of fire and green sparks. Dixie covered her head with her arms.
She could feel the air in the room become less dense, but she couldn’t convince herself to move her hands from their defensive position over her head. Her mind spun in confusion. Had what she seen been real, or had the craziness of The Holland House finally driven her mad.
She felt Blake’s strong hands on her legs and lowered her arms. The pain on his face was the only sign she needed to prove she hadn’t made the incident up. Lathan was behind him, his wings gone. He stared down at Emily, who’d begun to stir. In an instant, Blake’s brother looked up. “I have to go. Dixie, I’m sorry about all of this.” He backed out of the room, his eyes still on Emily, and then he turned and disappeared down the stairs.
Dixie crawled over to Emily, pushing the thoughts of beautiful winged men out of her mind by focusing on her best friend. “Em, look at me. Are you okay?” She lifted her best friend’s head and placed it in her lap.
“Yeah, but my head is pounding. Oh… what happened to your neck?” Emily reached up and stroked Dixie’s throat with her fingertips.
“Don’t worry about it. Everything is going to be okay.” Dixie brushed her own hand against the skin on her neck. She couldn’t see the damage, but she knew Emily’s fingers had left bruises around the area… or rather Holland’s.
“Did I do that?” Emily glanced at Blake and appeared unaware of all that had taken place.
Dixie shook her head. “I’ll tell you all about it later. You need to rest.”
Despite Emily’s protests, Dixie helped her to the bedroom where she tucked her friend into the bed. “I’ll be right downstairs. If you need anything, call me.”
Her words fell on deaf ears as Emily was already asleep. Dixie walked past Blake, who was standing in the doorway, and went down the stairs.