Page 33 of Possessed

“Perhaps. We could wait and see. If you drop to the land—you have died. If not—maybe you’ll live. Maybe we’ll trade then.”

“No, Kent!”Aubrey’s voice was weak. He could see that her mouth was barely above the churning liquid.“You can’t trade with him! He’ll cheat you. You have to beat him. Remember what I taught you! That’s all you need to—”

Braggs snarled, and one of his tails snaked out and forced Aubrey’s head under the liquid. Raef wanted to go to her—wanted to kick Braggs’s ass and pull her and Lauren out of there—but Braggs was so fucking big that he covered the entire lip of the pit. Raef glanced down at himself, hoping for just an instant that he might have materialized in this realm as something other than his all too human, and all too vulnerable, body.

Sadly, he had not been turned into a knight in shining armor. He was just himself, albeit a less substantial version of himself.

The creature of hatred continued to circle the pit, watching him warily, tails writhing, jaws snapping.“Why not come even closer? Let’s fight for the twins.”

Raef wanted to—he wanted to so damn bad! But he wasn’t an utter moron. Until he’d brought out the Glock, Braggs had been beating him. Actually, Braggs had probably killed him.

“Fight for the twins? If I’m gonna come down there to kick your scaly ass, I want more than just two women if I win.”Raef stalled as Braggs taunted him, hissing insults while his tentacled tail tortured the struggling souls in the pit.

Think!Raef ordered himself again.Listen to Aubrey! Remember what she taught me.

What the hell had she taught him? She’d made him feel. She’d taught him that instead of holding on to suspicion and negativity, he could feel joy and laughter. She’d reminded him that there was pleasure to be had in life.

She’d taught him to have hope.

Hope was exactly what was missing in the Land of the Dead!

As the understanding came to him, Raef felt the truth of it swell within him—and joy and laughter, happiness and pleasure and hope filled his floating spirit, warming him like a hearth fire.

“What are you doing?”Braggs snarled. He’d turned all of his attention from the pit to Raef.

Raef looked down at himself and blinked in amazement at what he saw. From the middle of his chest light glowed scarlet and orange, yellow and white, like an otherworldly flame.“I—I don’t know. My Gift’s not supposed to work here.”

He hadn’t realized he’d spoken aloud until Aubrey, obviously using the last reserves of her strength, shouted up at him.“It’s not your Gift—it’s you. It’s who you really are, so you brought it with you.”

“Silence, bitch! It is time for you to cease to exist!”Braggs pressed a clawed foot against Aubrey’s head, holding her under the liquid.

“No, Braggs. It’s time for you to cease to exist!”Acting on instinct Raef reached within himself and found the Gift that was truly his—the joy and pleasure and hope that Aubrey had awakened in his life. And, like he was the starting shortstop back in middle school—back when he’d been an unlikely hero for anyone who was weaker than himself—Raef threw the ball of luminous emotions directly into Braggs’s face.

Blinded, the creature shrieked and began lunging and snapping and biting so violently that it attacked itself—tearing huge hunks from his own flesh, which seemed to goad him on, making Braggs writhe and shriek and bite himself even more desperately.

With no hesitation, Raef rushed down, slipping past the creature that, blinded by hope, was destroying itself. He found Lauren first and held out his hand to her.“Grab my hand!”he shouted over Braggs’s panicked roars.

Lauren grasped his hand, but as he began pulling her up she shook her head and resisted.“No, I won’t go without Aubrey.”

“I’ll come back for her. I’ll come back for as many as I can,”he said.

“No. I’m not leaving without her—not without the rest of them.”

“Lauren, we don’t have time for this. I don’t know what the hell is happening back in Tulsa with my body. You’re alive. You’re the only one here who I am one hundred percent sure is alive.”

“If you believe that, we’re all doomed,”Lauren said.

“Damn it! I’m just being logical. I can’t pull you all out. No damn way I’m strong enough. I’m gonna lose everyone that way. I have to—”His words cut off as Raef realized what he was doing. It wasn’t force or logic that had blinded Braggs and caused the creature to turn on itself. It was hope and joy, pleasure and laughter. He met Lauren’s eyes and smiled.“You’re right, girl. We’re all going home today. Find her. I know you can do it, and I’ve got you until you do.”

Lauren’s smile was almost as brilliant as the beam of light that shot through Raef’s body, sizzling with heat and hope, speeding down into Lauren, lifting her as it lifted Raef. As Lauren’s body slid from the slimy pit, the ray of light extended down and Raef watched as a hand reached from under the surface, grabbing on to it. Aubrey’s head broke the surface. She gasped and coughed, but she held tight to the ribbon of light, which passed through her and snagged another fading swimmer—a teenager. Lifting, Raef saw another swimmer grab the life light, and another and another until he had all of them free of the pit and of the creature of hatred as it completely self-destructed.

Raef’s ribbon of light whipped up and up, carrying a whole trail of spirits, bright and glistening, all with colors of their own. Laughter filled the air, along with luminous light as the spirits Raef had freed floated around him, causing the bleak sky over the Land of the Dead to shimmer and shine, rainbowlike. And then, with a bright flash, each of the spirits began spinning off, reminding Raef of shooting stars, until he was left there hovering with Lauren and Aubrey.

“You did it!”Lauren cried. She was still holding tight to his hand, which she lifted to her lips, kissing his palm softly.“Thank you, Raef. Thank you so much.”

He started to respond. To tell Lauren that she’d had a whole hell of a lot to do with the saving part, but before he could speak her eyes widened in surprise, then she gasped and disappeared.

“Lauren? What the hell?”