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“Goodnight, Sky,” he said.
“‘Night, Pax.”
“If you need anything,” he said, “I’m right here. Don’t hesitate.”
“Okay, thanks.”
He reached up and tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear and then quirked up a corner of his lip as he nudged my chin with a knuckle. “Sweet dreams.”
With that, he entered his room and softly closed the door.
I wasn’t sure about sweet, but my dreams would most definitely be hot—unless my nightmares followed me, that was.
CHAPTER14
~Paxton~
Iwoke to the sounds of screams and flew out of bed, rushing out of my room and into Schuyler’s at the end of the hall. I opened her door with a crash and found her tangled in the sheets, thrashing and struggling, battling some unseen foe and calling for help.
I immediately went to the mattress, pulling her to me and assessing the situation. The minute we connected, she calmed and relaxed. Almost too much. I worried that she had lost consciousness. “Sky? Can you hear me?” Her breathing was steady, but she remained lax and unresponsive.
“Sky. Please open those pretty eyes for me.” I said a silent prayer and brushed the sweaty strands of hair away from her face, willing her to wake. “Sky?”
Her eyelids fluttered, and she finally opened her eyes, looking up into my face. The muted light through the window cast half her face in shadow, making it hard to read her expression.
“Pax?” she said, seeming a bit confused.
“Oh, thank God. Are you okay?” I asked.
“Um . . . I think so. What happened?”
I shook my head, a frown creasing my face. “You don’t remember? I woke when I heard you screaming and rushed in here. You looked like you were in the fight of your life. You don’t remember any of that?”
“Now that you mention it, my throat is kind of sore, and not from my neck, and I feel even more bruised all over.” She sucked in a breath. “Sssst. Ow.” She moved away from me to sit and clicked on the bedside lamp before tugging up the hem of her T-shirt. She had three raised, red welts on her stomach and side, the lines cutting right through her tattoo. She looked at me, and I saw the discomfort in her eyes. Her logical brain might want to explain this away, but she couldn’t.
“I must have scratched myself in my sleep.”
I reached out and grabbed the hand still holding her shirt, pushing it so she’d lower it as I looked her square in the eyes. “Sky. I think if you dig deep, you’ll realize that you didn’t do this. And given what I walked in on here, we have way more to worry about than just a few scratches.” I let go, and just as I did, the outlet behind Sky sparked, a small flame falling and igniting the rug.
“Shit,” I said and rushed over, tearing off my shirt to tamp out the fire before it could really catch hold, mumbling another prayer as I did. Seemed whatever had been attaching itself to Sky had caused her to be stressed enough to cause some poltergeist activity.
“Pax!” Sky exclaimed. “When’s the last time you had your electricity checked?”
“The electricity is fine, Sky.”
“Clearly, it’s not,Pax. I know a good electrician that I can send your way. For now, maybe we should flip the breaker for this room.”
I turned to her. “I understand that your brain doesn’t really work this way, but I know you’ve seen and experienced things you can’t explain, too. And I know you’ve seen the movies. Given what happened to us the last two nights at the Lamour Mansion, I am begging you to open your mind. Everything we’ve been experiencing has been signs of demoniacal oppression. The smells, the telekinesis, the liquid, the fire. And given that it’s progressed to inflicting bodily harm, we need to take this seriously. We need to go on the offensive, not the defensive. And, for some reason, this thing has a hate-on for you in particular. We need to get to the bottom of that before things escalate even more.” I wouldn’t tell her thatshewas causing things to happen now because of everything that had been going on. She had enough to deal with and she didn’t handle this stuff all that well as it was.
She just sat there for a minute, and I worried that I’d pushed too hard. But then she nodded a bit, surprising me. “I’m not saying I believe in this, but I can’t deny thatsomethingis going on, and that I feel personally attacked. I’m willing to entertain the idea that we need to be more careful and dig a little deeper. But the whole concept of this being a demon is still ridiculous to me.”
I knew I couldn’t push more. Not yet. And if she was willing to take steps to protect herself, that was all I could ask—for now. Deciding to cater to her more practical side, I used a different tack with what I wanted next. “Well, since this room clearly isn’t safe, I don’t really want you sleeping in here.”
“I can take the couch,” she said.
“I have a California king, Sky. There’s no reason we can’t bunk together. Besides, the doctor said you shouldn’t be alone tonight.”
“Can I paint your toenails and braid your hair?” she asked, and I laughed.
