Need You Tonight, page 30
‘I never tricked—’
‘Ah-ah-ah.’ He pressed his finger against her lips, mashing them into her teeth until she tasted blood. ‘It’s my turn to talk. Where was I?’ He tapped his finger—wet with her blood—against his lips. ‘You never responded properly to the letters, so I had to try other things. And when the band came to Australia for a break, I thought maybe Craig might give you away. Getting a job with Nigel’s management team here was so easy. My father is so easy to bribe. He didn’t care I used another name—I think he was glad of it, so there would be no connection with him in case I went off the rails again. But he got me the job and I put myself in the way of Nigel, made myself indispensable, and then I waited, playing them all. When Billy came to visit, I knew something was going my way, especially with Daemon carrying on about wanting to work with you. Of course, I did what I could to make that happen in case my plan of watching the imposter didn’t work. Lyndon always told me to keep lots of brands in the fire.’ He smiled, the gesture at odds with the horrible glint in his eyes. ‘It worked. Altogether, it worked. I had Daemon and Nigel and the band at each other’s throats to work with you and it was so easy to get Craig to slip up and admit he knew you, then the message on the imposter’s wall made you come running and bring her here so you were all in the same place. Then I got to work so you would be ready for me.’
He brushed his fingers down her cheek again in what would have been a caring caress in any other situation. ‘I didn’t mean to kill that girl. And I’m very angry with you for making me hurt Melissa.’ He tapped her hard on the nose then sat back on his haunches, tipping his head to the side. ‘Lyndon says I must teach you a lesson now. You have to learn you can never hide from us again.’ She saw the glint of the knife just before it flashed down, cutting into her flesh just above her left breast.
She cried out. Blood, warm and thick, ran across her chest and down her side. The cut burned like a firebrand.
‘I know it hurts, my love. But it is the only way to teach you.’ He pulled his shirt aside to show her the scores of long puckered scars on his chest. ‘It’s the way Lyndon taught me.’
The knife slashed again, a shallow cut across her right shoulder. Pain sliced through her. But she refused to scream. ‘Go to hell!’
He smiled as he sliced her again. ‘Oh, no, my love. You have that wrong. I have lived in hell. Now I reach for heaven by sanctifying myself with you.’
He bent over her, his warm tongue on her skin, licking her wounds. Horrified, she was beyond gagging. Her mind wanted to pull away, but she couldn’t let it. She made herself feel every shallow cut, every lick, allowed the fury to rise as she continued to pull at the stake that had loosened. He was too busy torturing her to notice.
She pulled harder, bucking against him, hoping to cover the movement of her arm against the rope. Tears seeped from her eyes, the pain almost overwhelming as she pulled and pulled.
***
Daemon and Craig arrived just as the ambulance was leaving.
Daemon pulled up next to Billy and the others with a spray of dust and pebbles and jumped out without turning off the car. ‘Where are they?’
Karl shook his head. ‘My men are searching. So far, they’ve found nothing. We saw him arrive, saw him pull out again. We assumed the person in the jeep with him was Nigel and they were going to the hospital. We’ve got the police looking, they’ve put out roadblocks but so far, nothing.’
Daemon grabbed him by the lapels. ‘You were supposed to keep her safe. Where’s the security you organised? How could you just let him carry her out of here?’
‘Dae, mate. Let go.’ Craig’s hand on his shoulder pulled him back. ‘It’s not Karl’s fault. You said it yourself. He tricked us all.’
Daemon reluctantly let go of Karl’s shirt, jaw clenched tight. ‘I know. But where is she? Where has he taken her? We have to find her. We have to.’
They turned at the sound of hooves thundering out of the stables.
‘What the hell … Cat, no!’ Billy shouted.
‘Oh, Lord. What is she doing?’ Bev cried.
Billy took off down the hill towards the stable, Daemon, Craig and Karl on his heels.
‘What’s she doing?’
‘She knows where he took her.’
‘How could she know?’ Daemon asked as they ran down the hill.
‘They have a connection. They always have. It’s why Lexi was so shut off for years—she felt what Lyndon did to Cat. It’s why Cat finally came back to us—because she felt Lexi’s utter peace and happiness when she was with you. Cat is going to Lexi now.’ He ran into the stables and headed to Kelsey’s stall. He didn’t see anything. ‘Come on, Cat. Where’d you go?’
Daemon came to a halt behind him. ‘What are you looking for?’
‘A clue. Cat’s revengeful, not suicidal. She’d want help. She’d want us to come after her. Come on, Cat, where’d you put it?’
‘Damn it. This is taking too long!’ Daemon kicked the open stall door. It bounced against the wall and then swung shut.
Billy turned, eyes lighting as he stared at the door. ‘Thank you, Rabbit.’
Written in dripping white paint on the back of the stall door were the words: The clearing.
‘Saddle up,’ he said to the others as they came running in. ‘We know where they are.’
***
Lexi heard the thundering hooves through the ground moments before the horse burst into the clearing, Cat on its back. She didn’t think her rescuer would be Cat. Karl or one of the farmhands, but not … ‘Oh god. Cat, no! Run.’ Lyall had a gun. He’d kill her.
‘Get off her, you sick bastard,’ Cat shouted.
Lyall pushed upright and turned around.
Cat lifted her arm, a gun glinting in the light, and fired.
The bullet hit Lyall, spinning him around.
Blood splattered across Lexi’s face. The thud as he hit the ground beside her vibrated along her bare skin.
‘Get up, you bastard. I only winged you.’
Cat’s voice quivered with rage as she dismounted and strode towards them, gun held in her outstretched hand. Lyall hadn’t moved. Lexi could hear him breathing.
‘Cat!’ Her voice came out a whisper. ‘Cat, he’s got a gun.’
Cat waved the gun in her hand. ‘He left it behind with Nigel. Get up, you bastard!’ She pulled the trigger again, the bullet hitting the ground beside him, sending up a little spray of dirt. ‘Get up and face me like the man you’ll never be, you cowardly shit!’
He rolled over and something silver flew from his hand. It hit Cat in the chest. Cat looked down, eyes wide. She dropped the gun, stumbled back, hands around the knife embedded in her chest. Before Lexi could tell her not to, she pulled the knife out and then crumpled to the ground.
‘No!’ Lexi screamed. ‘Cat!’
***
They were ten minutes behind Cat, galloping as fast as they could over the rough terrain. Nobody spoke, just concentrated on saving the women they loved. Craig had stayed behind to call the cops and grab some of the men to follow in the ute. They were going to go by the road that Karl said Lyall must have taken to get to the clearing, just in case he was trying to make it back out that way too. The road meandered along the other side of the river and led to an old bridge before turning back to come up on the other side of the clearing.
Bloody-shiteing-hell. It was taking too long to get there. Too long. He didn’t want to think about what Lexi was going through. The bastard had had her for more than an hour.
A gunshot rang out. Another.
The horses snorted and pranced sideways. Jimbo reared, but Karl brought him under control. Daemon shared a look with Karl and Billy.
‘Lexi.’
‘Cat.’
They kicked their mounts to a dangerous gallop, jumping over the closed gate in front of them without a thought for their own safety. As they rode their horses across the uneven ground, Daemon couldn’t allow himself to think of what that gunshot meant.
***
Lexi stared at her sister’s crumpled form. Fury rose in her, a wild thing, hot and terrible. She wrenched against the rope, tearing the wooden stake from the cold, hard ground. She lurched upright, pulling the other stake free.
With a wild howl, Lexi hurled herself at Lyall before he could reach Cat, driving him to the ground, beating at the back of his head with the stake. He struggled, slamming his elbow into the side of her head, knocking the stake from her hand. She flew at him again as he scrambled towards the gun Cat had dropped, wrestling him to the ground.
Before she could get the upper hand though, he rolled over, pinned her under his weight.
She clawed at his face with her fingernails.
He hit her.
As her face slammed sideways, Lexi glimpsed the wooden stake lying just beyond her reach. Her fingers scrambled as she tried to buck him off, but he hit her again. She rolled, her fingers touching the edge of the peg. Desperate now to do something, anything, to get him off her so she could get to Cat.
Cat!
Her sister’s name was a sob in her mind.
His shrieking barely registered on her, neither did the pain as his fingers and nails tore at her skin. In one swift move she grabbed the stake and rolled back, stabbing. The wood caught him in the shoulder, jamming there.
He howled and fell away.
She kicked at him again, her feet just missing as he pulled the stake from his shoulder. Face enraged, he lunged at her. They struggled. She got pinned under him again, this time with nothing to defend herself. His blood, warm and sticky, dripped onto her skin as she pushed at him, smacking his hands away. There was a fresh knife in his hand, his arm raised to plunge down into her chest.
A loud bang. Half his neck exploded. Blood and gore sprayed across her. For a moment he hovered over her, surprise in his eyes, the knife falling from slack fingers. Blood pumped from the gaping wound in his neck, soaking her and the dry ground. Then, in slow motion, he slumped on top of her, a heavy dead husk.
Shocked, Lexi looked over Lyall’s shoulder to see Cat stagger sideways, the gun clasped in front of her. There was a dark patch of blood soaking her sister’s top just below her breast. Then slowly, Cat collapsed.
Adrenaline pumped through Lexi. Pushing and shoving at the dead weight of Lyall, she managed to crawl out from under him. She grabbed the knife, threw it away and crawled the few metres to where her sister lay.
Looking down at Cat’s pale face and blood-soaked chest was like reliving the nightmares. She touched her sister’s face, so cold. ‘Cat?’ she sobbed. ‘Cat, please don’t die. Please. Don’t leave me again.’ Tears ran down her face and she screamed with pain and fury into the night. ‘Help me! Somebody help me!’ Her sob echoed in the clearing. She bent to pick up Cat’s still body, cradling her.
Cat’s eyes flickered open, a small smile twisting her mouth. ‘I thought I was the drama queen.’
Lexi’s sob caught on a laugh as she grabbed Cat to her, hugging her tightly. ‘Don’t ever do that to me again!’
‘Once was enough,’ Cat mumbled into her ear.
Lexi held her more tightly, laughing hysterically.
‘Do you know you’re hurting me?’
Lexi loosened her hold. ‘I’m sorry. Hang on, I need to find something to use as a bandage.’ She raced over to Lyall’s bags and pulled out a t-shirt and belt. Making a pad out of the t-shirt, she used the belt to secure it as firmly as possible against Cat’s wound. Cat winced as Lexi pressed hard. ‘I’m sorry. But I have to slow down your blood loss.’
Cat’s eyes widened. ‘What about yours?’
Lexi looked down. She was covered in blood. Some of it was hers, but most of it was his. ‘I’m fine.’
Cat closed her eyes. ‘You’re naked again.’
A bark of laughter broke from her lips. ‘I know. It’s bloody freezing out here.’
‘I think—’ She winced. ‘You should put something on. I didn’t … save you to then lose you to pneumonia.’ She coughed, wincing. ‘Bloody hell that hurts.’
Lexi’s chin trembled, tears blurring her eyes. ‘He almost killed you.’
‘But he didn’t. He didn’t get … either of us. They lost. We won. Now we get to live our lives … while they get death.’
Lexi gripped her sister tighter, stunned. If Cat could move forward after what had happened, then what was she if she didn’t do the same?
The coward Daemon had called her?
She shook her head. She wasn’t a coward. And she wasn’t going to live her life as if she was. She’d already made that choice before Lyall had grabbed her. She wasn’t going to step back from it now.
Cat shifted in her arms. ‘Can you do anything about the pain?’
The warmth of her sister’s blood seeped through the makeshift bandage. ‘Not here. I’m sorry.’ Lexi pressed down harder to slow the bleeding.
Cat winced and closed her eyes. ‘I meant what I said about putting something on. Aside from … catching your death … the others should be close behind. I wanted to take care of the bastard myself, but just in case I couldn’t, I left a note.’
‘Oh Cat.’ Lexi blinked back tears and grabbed her twin’s hand. ‘Here, press down hard. I’ll be right back.’
Lyall had cut her clothes into shreds to get them off her so she put on a sweatshirt and track pants she found in his bag in the jeep. They were better than nothing. She dragged them on quickly then returned to Cat. ‘How did you find me?’
‘I felt something was wrong … Billy and I went to find you … We found Nigel instead.’
‘Nigel! Is he …?’
Cat shook her head. ‘He was … still alive when we found him. He said enough that I knew … who had taken you and where. I picked up the gun and came.’
‘You idiot. You could have been killed.’
Cat shook her head. ‘I had to come. I had to face him. I had to save you.’
Lexi hugged her sister, kissing the top of her head. ‘You did. You did.’
***
Daemon thundered into the clearing, Karl and Billy right behind him, to find Lexi holding Cat. Both of them looked up.
Relief washed over Daemon as he hastily dismounted and rushed to Lexi’s side, followed by Billy while Karl secured the horses, his gaze flitting around the scene, rifle cocked and ready.
Daemon held Lexi tight, trembling. He couldn’t stop trembling.
‘Where is he?’
‘He’s dead.’ She pulled back, pointed. He glanced aside, saw the body lying on the ground. ‘Cat shot him.’
Daemon’s eyes raked over her as if he couldn’t get his fill.
She was alive.
But she was covered in blood. It was matted in her hair, splattered across her face and down her neck and shoulders. ‘You’re hurt.’ His hands ran feverishly over her.
Lexi took his hands in hers and looked him in the eye. ‘I’m fine. He cut me a little but they’re superficial. Most of the blood is his. And Cat’s. We need to get her to the hospital. Now.’
He held her for a moment, wanting to say so much, but Craig arrived with the other men and helped get the sisters into the ute. Police arrived before they could leave, wanting to ask questions and secure the scene, but Karl made it clear they’d have to wait to ask Lexi and Cat any questions at the hospital.
Karl drove, leaving his men behind to deal with the horses and the police. Billy sat next to him on the bench seat, Cat draped across his lap, wincing through every pothole, but alive, so wonderfully alive.
Daemon sat in the back with Lexi, holding her, unable to let her go. She didn’t seem to object, snuggling into his chest. He wished there was a faster way to the hospital, but there wasn’t. Soon they were out on the main road, speeding towards Mansfield. ‘We’ll be there soon.’ He kissed her forehead when she tried to move to check on Cat. ‘She’s going to be fine.’
‘So am I,’ Lexi said to him.
He nodded. She was. She was safe. He intended to keep her that way for as long as he lived.
Longer if possible.
Chapter 36
The media are everywhere,’ Daemon said as he walked into the hospital room.
Lexi turned from packing her bag, lifting her face for his kiss. His lips touched hers, but the reserve was there. A reserve that had been worrying her ever since they’d gotten to the hospital. A reserve that had worsened when Nigel hadn’t survived surgery—he’d lost too much blood and had a massive heart attack on the operating table. A reserve that had almost solidified into ice when Daemon wasn’t allowed to make arrangements to have Nigel’s body sent back to England for burial and the quiet funeral Nigel wanted, because his murder was part of the investigation into Lyall and the entire James family.
She thought maybe he blamed her for it. Nigel would still be alive if Lyall hadn’t come after her. Jenny would be alive and Melissa wouldn’t be in a coma. But she refused to feel guilty for any of it. She’d felt guilty for too long. She knew who was to blame. Lyall. Lyndon. Their parents. But still, it hurt to think Daemon didn’t see it that way. She wished he’d talk with her, but every time she tried, he found a reason to be somewhere else.
Slipping away. He was slipping away.
It also hadn’t helped that the media had somehow gotten their hands on Lyall’s diaries that the police found in his ute. In them was an outline of insanity and of a psychopathy that mirrored his brother’s. Lyndon had broken his brother when he was a toddler and then had spent every year after grooming him. Even when their parents sent Lyall away to an asylum, Lyndon had managed to still get to him. The diaries were full of clippings of the trial, his thoughts, his rantings and a history of abuse and neglect. They were manna to the media, who were baying for blood, voracious for every salubrious detail in the case of Lyall and Lyndon James and their victims.
