Chapter Forty-two
Hamel floated freely along the desert environ. He didn’t feel any different, but he knew he was no longer constrained to a body. That must be what happened when you died. He thought he’d turn into a speck of light and go somewhere, but he didn’t have any thoughts about where. Most humans believed in heaven and hell. But his parents weren’t religious, so he never was, either.
How long had he been dead? Time seemed to have no meaning. Or he just wasn’t able to keep track of it like a human did. Either way, he was tired of looking at the same dead dirt ground and blowing dust and sand. He thought back to his home and the acreage his family lived on when he was a child. The land was filled with trees, fields of thick grass, and a gurgling creek not too far from the house. He really wished that was here.
The sound of a songbird stopped him. That was the first animal sound he’d heard since coming to this godforsaken place. A bird? There wasn’t one tree for the critter to live in. He turned, even though he didn’t have a body, per se, and saw the most beautiful landscape—his home, actually. Exactly how he saw it in his ethereal mind.
Wait a minute. How could that be? His mind thought back to the gun that showed up out of nowhere, then the ammo. The door that appeared when he needed a way outside to get to Melinda sliding down the tied bedsheets. The cloak and hamburger he wished for. Everything he’d wished for or wanted, he magically got.
But he wasn’t a demon; how had it happened? Melinda’s words came back to him. It works because we are in your dream world. In dreams, you can make anything happen.
Was he really dreaming? Okay, he needed to think about this logically. He was dead, which meant no body, which meant he couldn’t turn into his animal. “I wish to be in my jaguar form.” Instantly, he found himself on ground level. He looked down at paws and black fur. So that was the trick. In dreams, you could have anything you wanted.
His animal ears perked up. A voice came on the wind. Melinda’s. He honed in on the sound and took off in that direction. Was she back? Why? How? Then it dawned on him. Sefu sent her for something. Hamel wished to be by her side. When he blinked, she was in front of him. He could get used to this.
Melinda spun around. “Jag! You’re here.” She fell to her knees and wrapped her arms around his neck.
He inhaled deeply. She still smelled unbelievable. Wait. Was this real or just a wish?
She rubbed her face on his. “Oh my god. I thought I’d lost you, too.”
His purr was automatic. She was here with him. This was all he wanted. But then she sat on her heels and cupped his animal’s face in her hands.
“Jag”—she looked deeply into his eyes—“I need you to understand me.” He nodded since he couldn’t talk. Her eyes widened. Oh, shit. He just gave himself away. Her beautiful peepers about to pop out of her head, she continued. “Jag, you’re creeping me out, but we’ll worry about that later because I’m in a dream state, I hope.”
Interesting. How in the hell would this work?
She swallowed hard. “Jag, I need to find Parish Hamel. He’s . . .” She paused. “He’s the love of my life, Jag. I don’t want to live without him. I was so afraid of what would happen if I let myself be vulnerable with him. Last time I did, I was hurt beyond repair. So I thought.
“But Hamel fixed me. He showed me through his own actions what real love is. And to open up isn’t being weak, but being strong enough to reveal your true self to another. I was such an idiot, Jag. But I didn’t know.” She breathed in a wobbly breath. “You haven’t by chance seen a dot of white light floating around, have you?”
Before he could respond, Cuzork’s voice cut through the air. “I knew you’d come back, female.” The demon stood with a small army of demon guards who looked exactly like pictures he’d seen of China’s first emperor’s burial site of thousands of terra-cotta soldiers.
Fuck. Now he understood how everything in this place looked so familiar: the palace, the Death Valley desert, the guards, the food, the humanlike people. He’d seen all of it or something very similar before. This world was conjured from his brain, his memories.
It all made sense now. He’d never seen a demon, so the image of a demon was a blob of black material, nothing specific. He hadn’t seen the palace until Wilson said it was there and he had to believe—wish—it was there. Everything he wished for was granted, based on what was in his head.
Cuzork raised a hand and a gust of wind knocked both him and Melinda out of the portal circle. “I’ve had enough of this.” Demon eyes narrowed on his cat. “I see you have discovered the magic of this place, literally. So we have a change of plans for getting the serum.”
His jag picked up the scent of anger from his mate. Melinda’s hands fisted into balls. “I am so sick of you and this fucking serum.” She slid her fingers between her breasts and pulled out a plastic vial. “Is this what you want, Cuzork?” She held it up and, with her thumb, popped up the cork top.
The demon’s eyes turned into red dots. “You had it here all along.” A wicked smile etched his face. “Clever woman. I don’t give you enough credit. Seems your realm hasn’t taught me enough about the female species. Your movies show women to be weak, dumb, and constantly talking. Seems I need to spend time in your dimension learning how current women have changed.”
“Yes, you need to update yourself, demon, on more than just females. You’ll find the human race is no longer scared of things that go bump in the night. We won’t sit idly by and let others do what they want if it harms others.”
Cuzork stalked toward her. “Shut up and give me the serum.” Fear flashed in her eyes. She looked at the ground. “No, you don’t, bitch.” A solid slick surface instantly covered the ground. “Any drop you pour from that tube, I will easily gather. So just give it to me.”
Hamel watched panic settle on her face. She didn’t know what to do now. So she did the unthinkable.