Lance, page 13
“Chaotic.”
Christine reached into a large paper shopping bag that Magni had looped over his arm and pulled out a spray bottle. “We are starting on the second and third floors, then going to the basement, then finishing with the main floor.”
Jerrik raised his hand. “Do we all need to do this?”
Christine shook her head. “No. I only technically need Lance and Rhea.” She glanced at Kari. “It could be beneficial if you come too since your home is so close. Show anything that’s here you aren’t putting up with them either.”
Kari nodded. She glanced at Lance. His eyes were serious, his jaw tight.
From the first second he saw what was upstairs Lance took this situation seriously. It was something only a person with at least a little experience with the unexplained would do. It made her wonder what happened to make him not even question the severity of the situation or her friend’s ability to remedy it.
“You okay Kari?” Christine pulled her from the thoughts about Lance’s potential history with the supernatural. “You have to be confident you can handle this or it could be bad.”
Kari stood tall and gave Christine a nod. “I’m fine. I’m ready.”
“Good.” Christine shoved a bundle of dried grass into Kari’s hand. “That’s sage. It will help us push anything that might be here out.” She handed one to Rhea and one to Lance. “You guys are in charge of that.”
She pulled a stick lighter out of the bag and nodded to the door. “Open us up.”
Lance stepped forward, unlocked the deadbolt, twisted the knob, and shoved the door wide before stepping back and looking at Christine. She shook her head.
“This is your home. You have to go first.”
He took a deep breath and stepped into the foyer. Christine stood on the threshold. “Now explain why we’re here and what you’ve asked me to do. Be strong.”
He shot Christine a grin over his shoulder that belied the strangeness of the situation. “I can be that.” Lance turned his back to them and stepped deeper into the house. “Good morning. It’s eviction day to anyone and anything that has been squatting in my home.” His voice was commanding, strong, unwavering.
Should this be sexy?
Kari looked across the porch at her brothers who were watching Lance through the front windows. Jerrik’s arms were crossed tightly over his chest as his jaw twitched.
“You’re going to break your teeth off little brother.”
Jerrik barely glanced her way. “I’m fine.”
Her brother had been increasingly short and irritable over the past couple of months. Jerrik was always the charming, easy going one of her brothers. Hagen was the sour ass.
Then he met Rhea and while no one would accuse Hagen of being charming, he was certainly more tolerable. Unfortunately, Jerrik decided to fill the vacancy as town dickhead.
Kari rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to Lance. He was deep into the house now, almost out of sight, but his voice was still clear as a bell as it bounced around the empty rooms. “My friends Christine and Rhea are here to help me take care of the mess you’ve made. We are going to close whatever doorway you came through and we will push you out.” He stepped back into the foyer and looked at Kari over Christine’s shoulder. His nostrils flared. “You will go far away from here. You will stay away from anyone around this house, do you understand?”
Christine glanced toward Magni. He rested his hand on her back and together they stepped into the house. Rhea followed behind, her eyes moving slowly around the space. Kari was last. She stepped into the house and turned to close the door behind her as the chilly air raised goosebumps over her skin.
Christine stopped at the base of the wide staircase and turned. “No. Leave it open. That’s where we will force them out.”
Them.
Kari looked around her. The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, the same way it did on the day she and Lance saw the pentagram upstairs. She couldn’t suppress the shiver that ran up her spine as the feeling of being watched spread over her.
“It’s okay Pet.” Lance’s voice was low in her ear as he stepped close to her side. “I’ll be right beside you.”
Kari nodded but her feet refused to move. All her life she’d been tougher than everyone around her. Usually including her brothers. But this?
This might be scarier than she realized.
The warm press of Lance’s hand on her back eased the fist of fear squeezing the air from her lungs. Kari closed her eyes and took a long slow breath.
She could do this. She needed to do this.
Right now, maybe only to prove she could.
It was how she lived her whole life as the only unremarkable offspring to come into her family in centuries. By doing everything she could to prove she was strong too.
Even if she wasn’t like them.
Kari opened her eyes, letting the spark of determination ignite in her belly. “Let’s go.”
Christine was halfway up the stairs with Magni’s hand still on her. It was so strange to see her uncle being so gentle, so attentive toward another person. He was another perfect example of a crabby, grumpy man whose whole demeanor changed.
Over a woman.
Her brother and uncle shared a closeness with Rhea and Christine most people could never understand.
Including her.
They could tell the family’s secret. It was their secret.
Not hers. Kari would never be able to share the deepest parts of herself because even though she wasn’t affected by her family’s genetic differences physically, they’d still shaped her.
And she could never discuss it with anyone. Not her friends. Not a man.
No one except her family and the people they chose to tell. Like Rhea and Christine.
Craig.
That was it.
And she didn’t want Craig.
So that left her with dreams of an arm’s-length relationship at best.
It sucked.
Kari and Lance reached the top of the stairs, his hand still firmly pressed to her back. Christine walked to the center of the front bedroom and faced the closet in the corner. She lifted her stick lighter. “It’s time to burn the sage.”
Rhea held up her bundle and Christine ran the flame over one end of the tightly packed sage stems. The herb didn’t ignite. Instead it smoldered, sending a trail of smoke into the air around it. Christine moved to Lance and then Kari.
“The smoke is what will push them out so we need to be sure it reaches every corner of this place.” Christine pointed her spray bottle at the back wall of the room’s closet and pulled the trigger, shooting a vertical line of water onto the wall. Then she sprayed a horizontal line that intersected with the first one.
A cross.
Rhea followed behind her, waving her hand gently over the smoke rising from her sage, pushing it into the air ahead of her. Christine moved to the door of the closet and repeated the cross of water on the door. She did each wall, window and all the heating vents.
Rhea waved to Kari. “Both of you come beside me.” She waited as they lined up at her side. “Do what I do and follow Christine.”
Lance’s hand dropped from her back as he followed Rhea’s instructions. Her stomach dropped a little at the loss of contact. It shouldn’t have mattered. He was still right beside her. Just like he promised to be. But there was something about the physical connection that soothed her fears. Made her feel less vulnerable.
Kari mimicked Rhea’s motion over her own bundle of sage. The smell of the burning herb was pleasant as it filled the room. Kari focused on their task, doing her best to get as much of the smoke spread around as possible.
Christine sprayed a cross at each point of the pentagram and a large one across the center. She turned to Rhea. “Clear it out.”
Rhea nodded as she continued to wave her hand in the smoke, stepping slowly toward the door. Her eyes flicked to Kari. “Spread out a little.”
Kari watched as Lance stepped away from her side, moving farther away then she would have liked. That cold feeling from downstairs crawled over her skin, making her shudder. Just as Kari started to step closer to him, a cold set of hands pushed hard and fast against her back, shoving her forward, sending her falling toward the pentagram on the floor.
She braced for the impact, putting her hands up to catch her fall. Instead her breath caught as her descent stopped mid-air. Lance’s arm braced across her chest as he lifted Kari to her feet and pulled her back against his front and held her there, tightly against him. His body was rigid and tight, almost vibrating as he squeezed her so hard she almost couldn’t breathe.
Rhea’s nostrils flared as her eyes moved slowly toward the spot behind where Kari had been standing when she was thrown toward the floor. Boots clamored up the stairs and in seconds a wild-eyed Hagen burst through the doorway.
“What’s wrong?”
He didn’t stop moving until he was wrapped around Rhea, his icy gaze moving around the room.
“Something pushed me.” Kari looked to Christine. “Why did it push me?”
Christine glanced at Hagen before turning back to Kari. “It’s trying to get to Lance. He’s the one throwing them out and they’re angry.”
“Why would that—” Hagen’s eyes moved to Kari, then over her shoulder to the man holding her tight. “Oh.”
The room was silent for a second as they all stared at Kari and Lance. Finally Christine blew out a long breath. “This means we have to do your house too then.” She shoved a sage bundle at Hagen and lit the tip. “Let’s get going then.”
They filled the pentagram room with sage smoke before filing out one by one with Lance the last one out.
“Pull the door shut.” Christine stepped beside him. As soon as Lance closed the door she sprayed a cross over the wood surface. “One down.” She stood still, her head slowly turning, like she was listening for something. “I think we should be okay now.”
They worked their way through the rest of the house carefully and systematically. Lance no longer waved his hand over his sage bundle. Instead he moved it high into the corners of the room, letting the trail of while mist curl into the spots the women couldn’t reach. His other hand never left Kari.
Hagen worked very much the same way, using his size to ensure they reached every bit of the house as he held his wife close by his side.
But it was working.
By the time they climbed out of the basement and Lance shut the door the house felt different. It was brighter. Lighter. Warmer.
Kari looked around the main level, shocked at how different it was. “It’s gone.”
Christine nodded. “It is.” She smiled. “You guys did good. We still have to sage this floor and salt outside but the hard part is over.” She looked apologetically at Kari. “Then we have to do your house just to be safe.”
The main floor went as smoothly as Christine promised and after laying a thick band of salt in a circle around Lance’s property the group moved to Kari’s house. Since it was so small Rhea was able to leave with Hagen, taking Gail and the girls to their house after Christine blessed all of them with the holy water she used to spray the crosses.
It took Christine, Magni, Kari, and Lance less than an hour to do her house, including the salt.
Christine blessed them before leaving with Magni still close at her side.
Kari flopped down on her couch, staring across her small living room. “Something pushed me.”
Lance eased down onto the couch beside her. “I know Pet.” He dropped a soft kiss on her shoulder. “If I thought that would be a possibility I would never have let you step foot in there.”
She should have been reassured that he didn’t question what really happened. Grateful that he believed her. But all Kari could think of was why.
Why did he believe her? Why did he believe in what Christine and Rhea could do so easily?
She turned to Lance. His eyes were shadowed with exhaustion. His jaw was covered in a thick shadow of growth. Kari lifted her hand to touch the hairs along his cheek. Hairs that seemed longer and thicker than before they left this morning.
He’d held her so tight. His body was so strong. So solid.
“Lance. Why was all this so easy for you to believe?”
She watched as his throat worked, swallowing hard.
He reached out to run his thumb across her cheek, his eyes studying her face.
“We need to talk Pet.”
12
He shouldn’t do this. It wasn’t anything he planned to share with another person.
Ever.
Then Vanessa came along and the secret Lance held his whole life was no longer his own.
It was hers too.
What was once unimportant became his number one priority the minute he held his daughter. There was so much he wanted to know. Needed to know. For her.
And now the answer to all the questions he had was sitting right in front of him.
He wanted to keep her there.
“I—” Lance cleared his throat. “I am like you.”
Kari’s brows came together in confusion. “What do you mean?”
He scratched at the fresh growth of hair on his neck. “I mean I know what your family is.”
She went completely still. He heard her swallow as the color drained from her face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Yes you do. I know it’s your brothers and Magni out there in the woods.” Lance saw it in Hagen as he ran to Rhea’s side this morning. The wildness. The ferocity.
The beast.
He saw it her brother’s eyes. Ready to fight.
To protect what was his.
Kari shook her head. “There’s nothing in the woods.”
“That’s not true Pet and we both know it.” He scooted closer. “There are most certainly beasts in those woods.”
Kari looked at him out of the corner of her eye. “That’s not true.”
She was protecting them. Her family. Their livelihood. She didn’t have to. Not from him. He would prove it right now. “Look at me Pet.”
Her breathing was shallow as she stared across the room.
Lance pulled up the memory of Kari being shoved by something he couldn’t see, something he couldn’t fight. His own beast pushed forward, ready and willing to take on whatever dared to threaten the woman he’d decided was his. His skin burned. His face itched. His muscles stretched and ached.
“Stop.” Kari stood up. “Please stop.”
She turned away from him.
“No Pet. Don’t turn away from me.” Lance stood behind her, struggling to push the beast back where he belonged, where he refused to stay.
He’d let his beast move too close to the surface since he’d been back, not that he’d had much choice. For the first time in his life the beast in him wasn’t cooperating. It was a struggle Lance only had when he was here. Close to Kari.
The beast was never a burden to him before. It was a hidden asset no one knew about but him. He never understood what he was. Didn’t really need to.
It didn’t matter where or what.
It was simply a part of him.
One that Lance used to his advantage. Being the biggest, the strongest, the fastest, it worked for him. At work and at play.
But Vanessa came into his life and suddenly the where and the what mattered.
Then Chauncey went to Greenlea and Lance came to help him. Protect his brother from the people taking advantage of him.
Only they weren’t.
One look at the Wolffsen men and Lance knew.
He wasn’t the only one with the secret.
Lance pulled Kari back against him, needing to touch her, to soothe the beast who’d controlled his every move since coming back in spite of his best intentions. “Talk to me Pet. Say something.”
“I thought I was going crazy.” Kari turned to face him. She poked him hard in the chest. “You were making me fucking crazy with all your sudden hair growth and...” She motioned around his shoulders. “All your getting bigger. I thought it was me being insane.” She poked him again. “You made me think I was crazy.”
“You might still be a little crazy.” He pulled her into his arms. “I mean that in the best way possible.”
Kari blew out a sigh, shaking her head. “Wait.” Her body tensed and she shoved out of his grip. She pressed her hand to her head. “Chauncey’s not. That means you don’t have the same father.”
“How do you know Chauncey’s not?”
Kari tipped her head to the side. “Seriously?”
His brother was many things and aggressive in his own right but big and scary?
Not even close.
“I can only guess we probably don’t have the same father either.” He stepped closer.
She stepped back. “Who’s your father?”
“I don’t know.” He lifted his shoulders. “I never cared about any of this until Vanessa.”
“I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation we’re in here.” Kari covered her eyes with both hands. “Jesus God do you think your mom and Magni?”
“What?” That explained her reaction. “No.” He held one hand out to the couch. “Can you sit back down please?”
Kari eyed the couch and then him. “Only if you can guarantee you’re not my cousin.”
“I guarantee I’m not your cousin.” Lance pointed to the couch. “Now can we sit?”
He was fucking exhausted. Mentally. Physically. Whatever else way he could be tired, he was.
“I’m really glad you’re not my cousin.” Kari flopped down on the couch and sank into the cushions. “I might have freaked the fuck out over that one.”
“First of all, I would never.” Lance sat down beside her. “I knew what you guys were. I’ve known almost from the start.”
“Really?” Kari turned to him, her eyes moving slowly over his face and body. “I didn’t. You hide it well.”
“Yes I do.” He reached for her and pulled her against his chest. “Did.” The beast eased back down, content to have her so close. “We lived on the west coast when I was younger. It’s where my parents got married and where I was born.” He paused. “Six months later.”
