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Austin stood impatiently near the door of the Whole Foods market while Paige grabbed the items she thought she would need. Her idea was as ludicrous as him barreling into the devil’s lair to rescue Heather, but it was the only option. If he walked away without trying, he would never be able to live with himself.
Tom’s haunting words kept coming back to him. He was ill-prepared to deal with any confrontations, despite the meager green belt in jujitsu he had achieved since they left York. And now with a severely compromised arm, he had very little chance of putting up a fight.
He’d never wanted to feel helpless again after what happened in New York, but here he was reliving that nightmare all over again. Anger burned through his nerves, jolting his heart into a rapid beat. Another glance at the clock and his patience nearly evaporated.
They were still outside the edge of town, but at least now they could make out the strip in the distance. Thankfully, someone had taken pity on them and given them a ride to the Whole Foods market just south of the strip.
Even with the ride, Austin had as much faith in reaching Heather on time as he had in Paige’s cockamamie spell, but it was their last hope. However, if they didn’t reach the Bellagio in the next half hour, all Paige’s preparations would be in vain.
“Paige, you need to move faster,” he said, under his breath.
She glanced his way. Her eyes were filled with doubt, and he sent a reassuring smile in her direction. She turned back to her task, and with a few spices and a soda in her basket, she headed to the checkout counter.
Austin exhaled a breath. After a few moments, her purchases were bagged, and she headed to where he stood.
“I’m sorry. I wasn’t sure which spices were the right ones to do the spell in my head.”
“What happens if it’s wrong?” he asked and pushed the door open, letting her lead the way. The chill of the desert night gripped them, and the medication meant to last for hours seemed only to be taking the worst of the edge off now.
“It could do the opposite of what the spell intends,” she said.
Austin shivered at the thought. If he stepped into the room and froze, he wondered if he would feel the devil yanking his heart from his chest. They started toward the city as Paige handed him a bottle of ginger ale.
“Drink half of that, okay?”
He did as she asked and handed the bottle back to her, letting out a loud burp.
Paige pulled a bay leaf out of the spice container and shoved it into the bottle, muttering some incantation that Austin couldn’t make out. She followed by emptying the cinnamon spice into the ginger ale. The soda fizzled but didn’t overflow. Black pepper and sea salt followed.
As she emptied the thyme into the bottle, she glanced at him, and they stopped next to a rock wall. She set the bottle on the rocks and took his uninjured hand. Flipping open the small pocket knife she’d bought, she sliced the pad of his middle finger.
“Shit,” he hissed but didn’t pull away from her grip.
“The gods have heard my prayer and stand behind me, adding their might to mine. From this point forward, they will allow me to stop time. Time is mine to command until my task is done.”
As the drops of Austin’s blood hit the soda mixture, it sizzled and they traded a glance. Paige did the same to her finger and added a drop of her blood as well before capping the bottle. She opened the small plastic first aid container and wrapped the cut on his finger in a band-aid. Before she bandaged her cut, she drew a bloody pentacle on the plastic bottle. As soon as she finished covering her cut, she handed him the potion and dumped all the garbage into a garbage can sitting at the nearest corner. She pulled out a piece of paper and pen from her pocketbook and scribbled words on the sheet before she handed it to him.
Austin held the note so he caught the streetlight. “Time...”
“Shush, not now,” Paige cut him off and hauled her pocketbook over her shoulder. “We need to say that when we get there.”
Austin studied the simple words. “This is it?”
“Yes. Sometimes the simple spells are the most powerful,” she said and picked up the garment bag the hospital had given them.
Austin studied the sludgy mixture as they began walking towards the strip’s bright lights. He glanced at her. “What do I do with this?”
“When we get there, you need to shake it and then throw it into the middle of the room as we say that incantation. If this works, everyone else but us will freeze. That includes Heather, so you may have to haul her over your shoulder to get her out of there.” Paige offered him a shrug.
“That might prove to be a little difficult,” Austin said and sighed. “But if it’s what we have to do, I’ll do it. While I’m getting Heather, you need to find her purse, or wallet, or whatever the girl carries her license around in, because we are going directly to the airport. I’m not letting my guard down until we are in York, Maine. Got it?”
Paige slowed down. “York?”
“I need my arm fixed, and then we need to find a place to stay because I’m not sure anywhere else on this planet is as safe as that town is.”
“What about our stuff?”
“We’ll get it, eventually.”
Paige didn’t say anything else, but Austin didn’t take it as a sign of unhappiness. He glanced at her as they walked, and her brow was furrowed, her stare cast down to the ground. Her lips moved, and a hush filled the air around him. She glanced sideways, catching his eye, but kept on mumbling the strange words.
The strip seemed closer now. He could actually see the Mandalay Bay driveway as they headed north on the boulevard. His legs moved faster, calculating the distance. Twenty more minutes would be enough to cover the mile and a half to their destination, but they would have to haul ass, and even then, they would be cutting it close.
He wasn’t sure if exhaustion was playing tricks on his mind, but the closer they got to the city, the more Paige seemed to shine. It was almost as if the boundless energy of Las Vegas was pooling in the center of her petite being, absorbed through some odd metamorphosis.
The bottle in his hand started to vibrate, and he glanced down. Mesmerized by the swirling liquid inside, the yank on his shirt pulled his attention just in time for him to avoid a collision with a utility pole.
Paige let out a small laugh and met his gaze before nodding to her left. He turned, taking in the famous Bellagio fountain. Shock skittered through him like an army of red ants. The last hotel he remembered passing was the Mandalay Bay. They traveled a mile and a half in what seemed like a blink.
He took a closer look at Paige, and the glow was still there, surrounding her like a complex aura.
“It’s time,” she said, and they crossed the road, heading for the lobby entrance.
His entire body vibrated the closer they got to the building, and by the time they stepped through the doors, his nerves matched the swirl in the bottle he held.
“Do you know what room?”
“Yeah. She’s on the sixteenth floor of the south tower. Room 1666.” He actually shivered as the words tumbled from his mouth. “It has a view of the fountain,” he added as they headed toward the bank of elevators on their left.
They got lucky and stepped into an empty elevator, and Paige pressed the button for the sixteenth floor. As soon as the doors closed, she turned to Austin.
“The minute we step into the room, you have to pitch that thing as close to the middle of the room as you can. I suggest shaking it a little as we walk to the door. And the minute it leaves your hand, recite the spell.”
Austin glanced at the paper crumpled around the cap of the bottle and tried to smooth it out to read the words. Retaining the spell seemed almost as impossible as beating Lucifer, but he made himself silently repeat the words
Time stand still. I order you. No minutes pass until I’m through doing what I have to do. Time stand still, I order you.
The mantra replayed as the floor counter ticked. When the elevator stopped, his mind went blank, and panic filtered into his muscles, locking him in place. Paige took his elbow and gently led him out of the elevator before the doors closed. Her touch restarted his brain, and his lips moved with the silent words.
He glanced at her as they stopped in front of the door. Her eyes held the same fear pummeling his muscles.
“I love you,” he said and started shaking the bottle.
“I love you, too,” she replied and knocked on the door.
Time slowed to a crawl, and Austin was acutely aware of the pounding of his heart, the adrenaline fueling it with octane, accompanied by the shaking of his breath. The spell looped in his head, and the moment the door swung open, everything stopped.
Austin stared into Hunter’s amused eyes, and fury beyond his control filled his already jacked bloodstream.
Before he could react, Paige stepped between them. “He who came unbidden to wreak havoc upon this world, I say enough.” Her growling shout yanked his focus away from the bastard hell bent on killing them both.
A wave of light exploded from Paige, knocking Hunter across the room like a rag doll in a hurricane. Without him blocking the door, Austin got a view of the room—of Lucifer holding a knife to Heather’s throat. He pitched the bottle in his hand, and his voice bellowed with the same ferocity as Paige’s had.
The bottle exploded on impact, and a strange fog rolled across the floor. Paige’s voice joined in with his, and he darted towards his friend even as Lucifer started the deadly drag of the blade across her neck. All motion, including the knife biting into her flesh, stopped. Austin’s brain calculated her chances of survival as he smacked Lucifer’s hand away, sending the knife clattering across the floor. No blood escaped from the shallow wound.
Austin chanced a glare in Lucifer’s direction and caught the building rage in his nearly black eyes. Demons flanked the chair like frozen sentries, and Austin focused on Heather. Paige slid next to him, still chanting the spell, and she flipped open the pocket knife, tearing through the bonds holding Heather to the chair.
Austin leaned forward and jammed his shoulder into Heather’s stomach before he wrapped his good arm around her waist and hauled her up. He turned in time to see Paige swipe Heather’s purse off the desk. The fog surrounding them flowed into the hallway, thickening and dulling sound.
Paige’s mouth formed the word run.
He followed her fast footsteps down the hall to the elevator bank. She stabbed her finger into the down button. The numbers moved in slow motion and Austin’s chest burned from the exertion of holding Heather and the strain of waiting for the damned elevators.
His adrenaline jumped as he glanced the way they came. Shadows crossed the fog, and his gaze darted, looking for a staircase. The moment he spied the exit sign, the elevator doors opened, swallowing a trail of fog along with both Paige and him.
The doors closed and he shifted, leaning against the wall and getting the full view of the elevator. They were not alone, but the other couple didn’t move. Their eyes remained glued to the floor counter, and he couldn’t detect even the motion of breathing.
“Did we freeze the entire hotel?” he asked, turning to Paige, who had the same wide-eyed gaze he guessed he sported.
“I don’t know. And I’m not sure how long that will hold Lucifer. I don’t know about you, but one look at his face scared the crap out of me,” she said.
He huffed a laugh. “He was aware of what was happening. I am hoping it holds him long enough for us to be in the air on our way home.”
The doors to the lobby opened and they, along with the fog, spilled out, but it seemed lighter than it had in the enclosed space. Movement in the lobby slowed to a crawl, but it didn’t freeze. By the time they reached the front door, Heather let out a small moan.
A couple climbed out of a cab, and before they had a chance to close the door, Austin slid inside and Paige followed. He dropped Heather onto the seat, and her head landed on Paige’s lap.
The driver glanced in the rearview mirror.
“I’m off duty,” he said.
“Please, sir, we need to get to the airport as fast as possible,” Paige said, her glance bouncing between the front seat and the hotel.
“I’m sorry,” the driver stated.
“Drive,” Austin growled. He’d had enough crap for the day and getting into an off service cab wasn’t going to stop him from getting out of town. “Or your guts will be painting the dashboard.”
Paige’s head snapped in his direction. “Please, just drive,” she whispered.
The driver’s gaze jumped from Austin’s to hers and back. He put the car in gear and pulled away from the hotel lobby.
Heather’s eyes opened the minute they pulled off the property and onto the road. Her breath sucked in and then huffed in almost a pant, and she popped into a sitting position. Austin kept his focus on the driver, even with Heather’s wheezing breath and trembling form sitting next to him.
“How?” Her shaking voice finally interrupted the silence.
“I’ll explain later. All you need to know is we got you out. But we aren’t safe yet,” Austin said without looking away from the rearview mirror.
The driver met his gaze and a crease formed between his eyes.
Heather’s arms ensnared Austin in a hug. “Thank you,” she said through a sob.
“Don’t thank me, thank my wife. She provided the diversion.”
Heather’s arms retreated, but Austin knew if he lost eye contact with the driver, he would lose his chance of escape. There were more questions in the eyes periodically glancing back at him in the mirror than he had answers for.
“I’m sorry I had to force my hand,” Austin said to the driver. “I’m not usually a violent man,” he added and gave a sideways glance at both Heather and Paige. “But my friend was in danger, and this is the only way I knew how to get her far away from the bastards that kidnapped her before they figured out she was gone.” He met the driver’s stare. “You just happened to be at the right place at the right time.”
“Is what he said true? Someone kidnapped you?” the driver asked Heather.
She let out a shaky laugh. “I guess you could call it that. They had no intention of letting me leave there alive,” she said.
His eyes hardened in a way that made Austin flinch, and then his gaze jumped to Austin’s. The cab driver gave him a nod. “Son, you can put your weapon away, this ride’s on me.”
“Thank you, but I don’t really have a gun,” Austin said.
The driver raised an eyebrow in his direction and let out a little laugh, but he kept on driving.
Austin relaxed, resting his head on the back of the seat a second before he glanced at Heather and Paige. His gaze dropped to the slow trickle of blood flowing from the cut on Heather’s neck. “Do you have that little first aid kit, Paige?”
Paige took the hint and had Heather face her while she put a bandage on the cut.
“Your ex is a twisted fuck,” Heather said softly.
Austin chuckled at Heather’s choice of words. “You have no idea.”
“Oh, yes I do. He got off on telling me exactly how he was going to kill her,” she said, hooking her thumb towards Paige.
The cab pulled to a stop next to the airport departure gates, interrupting the conversation at just the right time. Austin wasn’t sure the cab driver would be able to stomach any more of the conversation, especially if Heather started talking about Lucifer himself.
She had been in their hands for twenty-four hours. He knew all too well what kind of damage Hunter could do in that timeframe and highly doubted Lucifer would intervene.
He pulled out his wallet and shuffled a twenty out of the billfold as the girls climbed out onto the curb. The cab driver put his hand up, refusing the money.
“I’m grateful you helped us, even if it was under duress, so please consider this my way of saying thank you.”
The driver took the cash, and Austin crawled out the passenger side and stepped onto the curb with the girls.
“What are you two into?” Heather asked after the cab pulled away.
Austin corralled them into the airport where each of them changed their flights to the one taking off within the next hour. With only their pocketbooks, the bag with Paige’s wedding dress, and his tuxedo as carry-on items, they were through the security gates in minutes.
They arrived at the gate just as the beginning boarding call was announced. It wasn’t until they’d collapsed in their assigned seats that anyone spoke.
“Seriously, what the hell are you two into?” Heather whispered from the aisle seat.
Austin turned his head towards her. “We aren’t into anything, Heather.”
“Then what the hell was that all about?” she hissed. “And I thought your ex was dead?” she added, glancing at Paige.
“Hunter Garrett died five years ago,” Paige said.
“Then who the hell was in that room?”
“The devil and Hunter’s ghost,” Austin said just loud enough for Heather to pick up. “The same ghost that nearly killed both of us in New York.”
“Excuse me?” Heather gasped. “Are you telling me those men weren’t real?”
Austin glared at her. “They were very real and very dangerous. I still have no idea how we pulled this off. Hell, we still could be gutted by Lucifer, so I’m not letting my guard down until we are somewhere safe.”
Paige remained silent between them. Her lips moved in that silent chant he had become accustomed to, and he closed his eyes, leaning his head back against the headrest. Whatever spell she was creating was meant to keep them safe, and after the power he witnessed in that hotel room, his doubt of her magic had all but disappeared.
“We’ll get you up to speed on exactly what’s going on when we get home. Okay? It’s complicated, and I’d rather not discuss this in public.” He opened his eyes and glanced over Paige’s head. Heather met his gaze and nodded.
Paige laced her fingers between his and squeezed as the plane began to taxi. He squeezed back, keeping his attention out the window as they accelerated and lifted off the ground. His arm throbbed, and all he wanted to do was close his eyes and sleep. But the fear that the bottom would drop out on him if he let his guard down kept his eyes open and focused on the dark shadows of the landscape below.