First Moon (The Ternion Order Book 1) Read online

  The phone rang and Amanda left the room to answer it. Kyle went back to his cleaning, but then Amanda yelled his name, saying the call was for him.

  Kyle went to the phone expecting it to be the hotel guy again, since few other people even knew he was at the ranch. But the disturbed look on Amanda’s face told him it was someone else. She put her hand over the receiver and whispered, “It’s Sherry,” before handing the phone to him. She left the room to give him some privacy.

  Kyle hesitantly put the handset to his ear. He hoped Amanda was mistaken. “Hello?”

  “Just tell me one thing. Are you sleeping with her? Miranda, or Sandra, or whatever her name is.”

  Amanda was not mistaken. How had Sherry gotten this number?

  “That’s a hell of a greeting, Sherry. And the answer is no, not that it’s any of your business.”

  “How can you say that? We were engaged to be married. I thought we were working things out. Until you ditched me at the hotel.”

  Sherry’s voice sounded off somehow.

  “What’s the matter with you? Have you been drinking?”

  “I’ve had a glass of wine or two. Who cares? It’s Sunday and I don’t have to drive anywhere.”

  Well, that explained it. Sherry didn’t hold her liquor well.

  “Where are you, anyway?” Kyle asked.

  “I’m where you should be. That’s why I called. You need to get your butt up here and be with people who care about you and can help you instead of hanging out with that dark-haired whore.”

  Kyle fell, more than sat, in a nearby chair. The blood drained from his head so quickly that he saw stars in the corners of his eyes.

  She had indirectly answered his question, but he had to hear her say it. “Tell me where you are.”

  “I’m at the Rutlinger Foundation. Dr. Rutlinger and his friends told me about your illness and how stubborn you are being about getting treatment. I told them I wanted to help, and they offered to let us use a spare room while you’re in recovery so you won’t have to keep paying for the hotel room.”

  “Sherry, listen to me. I want you to start drinking water and coffee right now and make up an excuse to leave when you think you can drive safely. Get out of there as soon as you can. Those people are not what they seem.”

  Sherry sighed noisily into the phone. “They warned me you’d react this way. You can’t play around with this degenerate nerve stuff, Kyle. Let them help you. Let me help you.”

  Kyle assumed she meant degenerative nerve disease. That was apparently what Dr. Rutlinger had told her was wrong with him. She clearly wasn’t getting his message. Kyle couldn’t come right out and tell her the truth about them because she’d never believe him. Anything he told her would sound like an excuse to avoid “treatment.”

  Dr. Rutlinger’s deep, cultured voice came on the line. “Hello, Kyle. We were hoping Sherry would be more persuasive. Perhaps giving her the wine was a miscalculation.”

  Kyle stood up, clenching his free hand into a fist. “Let her go. She has nothing to do with this.”

  “Relax. Sherry is free to leave whenever she wishes. But she wants to help you, Kyle. I think it’s commendable that she is so dedicated to you after the poor way you’ve treated her.”

  Kyle put his head in his hand. The Pack had taken the standoff to the next level. They said Sherry was free to go, but Kyle wasn’t fooled. She was a hostage. He had no choice. He couldn’t leave Sherry in their hands.

  “If I come up there, will you let her go?”

  “Whether she stays or leaves is up to you and her.”

  Bastard.

  Kyle shook his head. “Fine. I’ll be there within a couple of hours.”

  The line went quiet for a moment. “I’m glad to hear it, but it won’t be quite as easy as that.”

  Kyle blew out a breath in frustration. “What are you talking about? What do you want now?”

  “It’s not about what I want. You have taken sanctuary with your friends. They will feel obligated to talk you out of coming. You must convince them it is for the best.”

  With Sherry listening in, the man was careful with his wording, but his message came through loud and clear. If Kyle wanted to leave, he would have to release himself from the protection of the Order.

  “Okay, so it might take a little while, but I’ll be there. Please don’t hurt Sherry.”

  “This paranoia is a symptom of your illness, Kyle. We have no wish to harm anyone. Everything will be fine if you let us take care of you.”

  Yeah, right. More doublespeak.

  If only Sherry knew what she dealing with. She’d run away screaming, like he wished he could.

  “Goodbye, Dr. Rutlinger.” Kyle hung up the phone without waiting for a response.

  Kyle went into the kitchen and sat heavily at the table. Lucille and Amanda looked up from their cleaning efforts, but both waited for him to speak.

  He got right to the point. “They have Sherry.”

  Lucille wiped her hands on a towel and turned to face Kyle. Her face had the predatory glare of a raptor. “Are you saying that they are holding her against her will at the Foundation?” Her voice was cold and laden with implication.

  “Not exactly. They’ve convinced her that my unusual behavior is caused by some disease. She believes she’s helping them bring me in for treatment. They claim she is free to go, but I’m not convinced that’s true. I have to go up there and get her away from them.”

  Lucille took a step forward and pointed a finger at him. “You will do no such thing. You will stay in sanctuary and let the Order handle this.”

  Amanda had been standing silently throughout the exchange. Before Kyle could respond, she held up a hand and spoke. “Wait. Think about this. Why would they kidnap a normal, knowing that the Order wouldn’t stand for it? Even if Sherry is free to go, involving her was risky.”

  Kyle shrugged. The answer was obvious. “They want me at the Foundation before First Moon.”

  Amanda’s thoughtful expression didn’t change, but she subtly shook her head, rejecting Kyle’s answer.

  Lucille watched Amanda closely. “What are you thinking?” she asked.

  “I’m thinking this is more about getting Kyle away from me than it is about getting him to the Foundation.”

  The room went silent while everyone digested the possibility.

  Lucille frowned, giving Amanda a concerned look. “If that’s true, and they believe you may have figured out a way to free Kyle, your knowledge will become a terrible danger to them.”

  A chill ran down Kyle’s spine. It was bad enough being a target of the Pack when they wanted you alive. Both Sherry and Amanda were in grave danger, and it was all because of him.

  Kyle stood and squared his shoulders. “Look, I’m not trying to be a hero or anything, it just doesn’t make sense for everyone else to pay for my mistake. I’m the one who slept with Clarissa and got myself into this mess. Let me go to them and end this.” Amanda started to protest, but Kyle spoke over her. “I’m sorry you won’t have the chance to test your theory, but it would be a lot safer for you to accept that nothing can be done.”

  Amanda narrowed her eyes at him. “Never,” she said between clenched teeth. “I won’t let a bunch of demons scare me into giving up on you or my brother. The Order may not share my faith in finding a solution, but all of the other hunters have my back. Don’t you dare give up on me.”

  Kyle’s shoulders slumped. “But what are we going to do? I can’t leave Sherry with a bunch of werewolves.”

  Lucille came forward and gripped Kyle’s shoulder with one strong hand. “Listen to me. Sherry will be fine. They don’t dare hurt her, and when they figure out that their plan has failed, they will send her on her way. To make sure that happens, I will speak with our Director of the Hunt, the man who oversees Order activities in this region. The werewolves defy him at their peril.”

  Amanda gave him an encouraging smile. “Trust us, Kyle. Sherry is not in any real dange
r, but you still are. The best way to end this is for us to be successful tonight. You’ll get your life back, and they won’t have any reason to bother you.”

  “Okay, I’ll stay if you promise the Order will get Sherry away from them.” He glanced at both women, who nodded solemnly.

  Amanda went over to Kyle and gave him a hug, patting him on the back as she released him. “I’m glad that’s settled. Let’s get the rest of this cleaned up and take Buck and Edna for a spin around the pasture.”

  While Kyle helped with the cleanup, he continued to worry about Sherry. By the time he walked out to the stables with Amanda, he had decided to trust his new friends and their faith in the Ternion Order. Besides, the best revenge against the Pack would be to rid himself of this lupusdaemon that had destroyed his life. All he had to do was survive the exorcism.

  When Kyle emerged at the top of the stairwell on Sunday night, the moon shrine didn’t intimidate him nearly as much as it had the night before. Then, the room had seemed dark and heavy and every object in it was mysterious and potentially dangerous. He commented on the change in atmosphere as Amanda entered the room after him.

  “It does tend to get that way if I’m away from it for a while. The nature of the work I do attracts both light and dark spirits. Sometimes the shadows are so thick in here that the lights barely push them back.”

  Kyle shivered, thinking about how he had tromped around the shrine the prior night, oblivious to the reason for his unease.

  “Are the dark spirits dangerous?”

  Amanda went around him to the covered table, or her “altar” as she called it, and started moving items to the concrete pad. “They aren’t dangerous so much as meddlesome. They mess with your head by exaggerating your dark emotions. If I don’t banish them, they’ll interfere with my work.”

  “Can’t you permanently consecrate the shrine?”

  “You mean like a church? No. This is too private a space. A church remains consecrated because it’s in almost constant use by the clergy and the congregation, and that continually refreshes the wards. But even a church quickly loses that protection if it’s desecrated or abandoned.”

  Kyle relaxed in the chair to stay out of the way while Amanda prepared the circle. Unlike the night before, she put everything outside the circle. After placing the colored candles, she surveyed her collection with her hands on her hips.

  She beckoned Kyle. “Would you please move the chair to the center of the circle?”

  Kyle picked up the chair and carried it to the pad. He stopped at the edge, reluctant to step up onto it.

  “Go ahead,” Amanda said. “Cross between the candles.”

  He stepped up into the circle and set the chair down. He leaned back and adjusted it a couple of times until it was as centered as he could make it.

  He looked at Amanda for approval and she nodded once. “That’s fine. It doesn’t have to be perfect.” He was about to leave the circle when she added, “Have a seat.”

  Kyle sat down and wiped his clammy palms on his shorts. The demon surged from the shadows of his mind and struggled to exert control, and Kyle held his breath while he fought against the surprise attack. It clawed forward into his consciousness so far that Kyle nearly echoed its growl of frustration when he finally pushed it back into its dark corner. Nervous sweat trickled down the nape of his neck, and Kyle calmed himself with the thought that anything the demon disliked was probably a good thing for him.

  Even though the concrete pad was only a couple of inches thick, the higher elevation made him feel like he was on stage. The circle seemed much smaller from his new vantage point, and the claustrophobic impression made his flesh crawl. If Amanda intended to join him, she wouldn’t have much room to work. Glancing down at her tools sitting outside the ring, he suspected she had other plans.

  He started to ask a question, but the first word came out as a squeak. He cleared his throat and tried again. “Why am I inside the circle?”

  Amanda seemed to notice his distress for the first time. “Sit back and relax, Kyle. The circle will protect you while we cast out the demon. If we can get it out, it won’t be able to go back.”

  Kyle was relieved to hear that, but if the circle was protecting him, what was protecting Amanda? Rather than distract her with the question, he decided to trust that she knew what she was doing.

  Amanda checked the moon’s position using the lines on the north wall. The moon line was about a foot from the meridian line. She gave Kyle an encouraging smile. “Are you ready? Once I get started, don’t speak unless I ask you a question, okay?”

  Kyle nodded and clenched his hands together in his lap. “Ready.”

  Amanda started by putting on a strange necklace that had a loop and pendant at both the front and the back. She asked the spirits of the light to shield her, and a glowing nimbus spread from the pendants until it encased her entire body.

  Amanda moved on to perform a ritual that was similar to the one she’d used the previous night to consecrate the crucible, but she went around the outside of the circle instead of the inside. She had her back to him when she called to the spirits of each element, but the candles lit exactly as they had the night before. The wording of her spell was significantly different, asking the spirits to prevent the demon from escaping.

  When she began painting the shimmering wall of force with her feather fan, a headache bloomed in Kyle’s head. By the time she had completed the circle, the pain had grown so strong that he pressed his hands to his temples. The demon was trying a new tactic. It strummed his fears and doubts like an instrument, triggering an urgent desire to leave the circle. Kyle fought the impulse, certain it would unravel all of Amanda’s work.

  Amanda sat cross-legged, facing Kyle, with the brass crucible in front of her. She poured a small amount of what appeared to be sand into the vessel and lit a chunk of charcoal, which continued to glow when she blew it out. She appealed to the spirits again, burning small amounts of pungent herbs on the charcoal.

  “Spirits of the light, I call you to help save this mortal soul known as Kyle Nelson from the dark spirit that seeks to possess his body. Bring the power of light to bear on this dark shadow and drive it forth. Send it back to its origin and let it plague the living no more.”

  Kyle gasped as the pressure in his head intensified. His vision narrowed until all he could see was Amanda against a backdrop of shadow. He touched his nose in response to a tingling sensation in his nostrils and glanced down to find blood on his fingertips.

  A long, mournful howl broke the stillness of the night and penetrated the windows of the cupola, causing Amanda and Kyle to both look up. Amanda’s face settled into a determined mask. She picked up the double-edged blade she called an “athame” and pointed it toward the circle; her eyes widened when she noticed the blood on Kyle’s face, but she didn’t stop. She called to the spirits again, using the same words.

  The pressure in Kyle’s head suddenly relented, but it was like pushing against a door that suddenly gave way. Reeling disorientation took the place of the pain. He gripped the chair arms tightly to stop the room from spinning, but it was no use. His heart was pumping so hard that his pulse pounded in his neck.

  And then he was falling. It was as if the concrete pad had dropped open like a trap door and dumped him into a black chasm. But there was no sound and no rush of air. He had no mouth to scream with and no arms to wave in panic. The entirety of his experience was total darkness and the sensation of falling into an abyss.

  He mentally cringed, expecting to crash-land any second. The fall continued. He couldn’t feel his arms or legs, but he tried to reach out tentatively anyway. He found nothing. After another few moments, the falling sensation faded. Had he been floating the whole time? It was impossible to tell. But even falling was better than the total sensory deprivation that had taken its place.

  He tried to call out to Amanda, but he couldn’t hear his own voice or feel his lungs taking a breath to shout. Where was he? How
did he get there? Why was he disconnected from his senses?

  That was when it hit him. The demon had shoved him aside. Kyle was learning what it felt like to be fully possessed. He could look forward to that kind of existence for the rest of his body’s biological life if the exorcism failed. Would the death of his body free him at last, or would his awareness be trapped in the darkness forever?

  He doubted that he’d ever know the answer, since he would probably go insane within a few days.

  He couldn’t let the demon win. He had to retake control of his body. But how? Mentally probing the darkness that surrounded him, he found the same nothingness in every direction.

  Then he heard a voice calling his name. It was Amanda! A tiny fuzzy light-blob appeared in front of him. The blob grew and slowly resolved into an image. It was Amanda, still seated outside the circle. Tears streamed down her face as she repeatedly called his name and begged him to answer her.

  Kyle’s awareness slammed back into his body with such force that every nerve ending tingled. It was as if the circulation to all his limbs had been constricted and then released. He rolled his head back and took deep breath, reveling in the simple act of drawing air into his lungs.

  Amanda had brought him back. Was the demon gone?

  No. Its lurking presence still crouched and growled from the shadows of his subconscious.

  She gulped and stared, her chest heaving while she tried to catch her breath. “Kyle, say something. Are you all right?”

  As good as it was to be back in his own body, Kyle was so exhausted that he could barely hold his head up. He nodded and managed to whisper, “Been better.”

  Amanda immediately launched into her ritual for ending the session and releasing the spirits. After she drained the water from the circle, she kneeled next to the chair and took his hand in hers.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said.

  Kyle closed his eyes and bowed his head. “It didn’t work.”

  She squeezed his hand. “The demon manifested. It said … unpleasant things. I couldn’t drive it out.”

  Kyle squeezed back. “Thanks for trying. Can we talk later? I need to lie down.”