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Chapter 12

Brady's face was set into grim lines, his eyes narrowed on the door, muscles tense. Why did he knock? I wondered. He'd never bothered before. I thought about not answering but didn't see the point. Something told me the knock didn't necessarily mean anything.

I pulled the door open and quickly averted my eyes as I stood aside so he could enter.

But he didn't.

I kept my eyes on the floor, waiting, bathing in an awkward heat that seemed to radiate through the doorway. When I finally found the courage to look over, my breath caught in my throat.

Brady's eyes never met mine. They were too busy roaming, undressing.

Electric neon blue.

I looked down, and screeched. Underwear. A tank top. I hadn't been thinking. Why hadn't I been thinking!

I tried to close the door, but Brady was too quick. With one strong arm, he pushed through and grabbed me.

Every nerve ending lit up, electric, as if his eyes were just a glimpse of what laid within, and all of it had somehow filled me at the contact.

Using his foot to kick the door shut behind him, Brady wrapped one arm around my waist and brought his other hand up to entangle in my hair as he slowly backed us towards the bed.

"Wha- what are you do doing?" I stuttered. Each breath was far too labored, making my words barely audible as I lost myself. Too intense. Indescribable. It felt unfair. How can a virgin with no experience possibly deal with this.

A small growl left his chest, rumbling against me in a way that only increased the pull inside me. He buried his face into the crook of my neck and inhaled deeply. "You have no idea what you do to me," Brady said, the stubble along his jaw rubbing against me with each word.

I made a sound, foreign, and Brady's grip tightened.

We hit the bed, and my legs lifted. Why are my legs lifting? Brady positioned himself between them before I had a chance to put them back down.

"Brady?" I whispered, his name sounding more like a plea. My mind seemed to war with my body. Inside, I knew I should stop, tell him to stop, but my brain wouldn't send the command. It didn't want to.

"In a minute," he said, then his mouth met mine.

Lightening, electricity, it hit me like an attack from Zeus himself. Maybe he was Zeus. Maybe he was a god. It was the only explanation I could find for why I so willingly complied. Our mouths battled for dominance, desperate, destined.

Right.

Then it ended.

Brady lifted himself away from me, breaking the contact but still looming above in a way that prevented any escape. I met his gaze, taking in his serious and alert expression and the return of his normal eyes.

"Amelia, what happened to your shoulders?"

My conscious mind fought to swim through the electric current still flooding my brain. My shoulders, shoulders. What was wrong with my shoulders? The pressure I'd been feeling, from the stress. Could he somehow sense it?

"I think I pulled something." My had came up to grip the spot, but Brady quickly prevented me. I gave him an odd look. "I've been feeling pressure since earlier today."

Now that the contact was broken, my mind began to come back to me. I looked up at him, all of him, so close. What the hell am I doing? "Let me up," I said, pushing myself backwards in an attempt to crawl out from under him.

Brady moved out of the way without protest. He was staring at me intently. His eyes kept roaming to my shoulders. "Amelia, I need you to stand up straight, then don't move." He sounded like one of those people you see on tv, when someone walks right up to a rattlesnake and has to be helped away from it.

The tone to his voice got my full attention. I did exactly as he asked, standing so the backs of my knees were up against the mattress.

Brady slowly moved around, until he was standing directly in front of me. He lifted his arms straight, and put his hands flat out in my direction.

My nerves jumped to attention. Am I gonna die? I took in his intense look, his hard jaw, then his outstretched hands. "Wanna play patty cake?"

He didn't laugh.

I'm gonna die.

I was about to make a run for it, when a burst of blue light exploded from his outstretched palms.

It hit me like a wave of energy, and the weight I'd been carrying fell away. "Wow," I started, exhilarated at the raw power still lingering on my skin. I lifted a hand to my shoulder once again. "What did you do?"

Brady didn't answer, but something else did. Growling, snapping, angry noises came from behind me.

I whipped around, so fast I heard my neck crick, then screamed.

On the bed, a small grotesque demon-like creature, snarled in a defensive stance. Yellow, sticky skin hung loose from its frame, and two large solid black eyes locked with mine.

Brady reached forward and jerked me away, hard, the force of it sending me tumbling to the floor behind him. He didn't turn to check, too focused on the piggybacking little monster in front of him.

He began to chant, strange sounds, a language I didn't recognize. Inhuman.

The creature let out a roar, and I decided I'd had enough excitement.

I crawled the short distance it took to reach the bathroom and immediately locked myself inside. I wasn't sure what a locked door would do against any of the weird shit that came after me, but it was better than nothing.

Outside, it sounded as if a tornado was tearing the whole building down.

Panic began to set in. Trapped. Helpless. I needed to calm down but couldn't. It was too loud. I began to count the tiles in an attempt to keep my attention on anything other than the terrifying chaos that was my life.

By fifty-five, my phone began to ring, and I remembered the email. The guy. What if it was the guy?

I cracked the door open, and amidst the chaos, I found it. It was on the floor, discarded in my lapse in judgment. Desperate, I hurried forward and grasped it in my hand, before hurriedly returning to my sorry excuse for a sanctuary. "Hello!" I huffed as my back hit the door, and I hit the accept button.

"Amelia Snow?" The voice was deep, male, and thickly accented.

"This is she!," I screeched the last word as the bathroom door shook violently.

"Is everything alright?" the man asked.

"Fucking great! Everything's great!" I gripped my hair, rocking back and forth. "Who is this?"

"This is Owen McKenna." He sounded concerned. "You emailed me? About your problem?"

Something exploded, rattling the walls, the floor. I held my head tighter. "Yes. Yes. Please."

"Are you sure you're okay?"

"You said a Jinn was possessing all your girlfriends?" There was no point in beating around the bush. There was no time for it. I could die at any moment, and dammit, at the very least, I wanted answers before that happened.

The line was silent for a full minute, before he murmured a simple, "Aye." It was soft, low, and followed by dead silence, but it made me sit up straighter.

"I've had the same problem. Only minus the boyfriends. He always scares them off before I get that far. Now he's a man," I spoke in a rush, relaying the details.

"Are you safe?" he asked, that concern still lacing each word.

"Doubt it," I replied in a dry tone. "That doesn't really happen though. Did you get rid of yours?"

"Where are you?" he asked instead of answering.

I rolled my eyes. "In a bathroom."

"Is it there with you?" His tone remained serious, like a nine-one-one operator.

"He's fighting a demon right now." I'm fucking insane. "Did you get rid of yours?"

Another long pause. "Aye."

"How?" I all but yelled into the phone.

"Magic."

My brow furrowed. "How?"

"Scottish history is riddled with talk of ancient druids and the magic they used. I never believed any of it until– Well, you can imagine how much you're willing to believe after dealing with the supernatural firsthand."

My heart stopped beating, and a thrill of excitement ran through me. "Your life is normal now?" A normal life. Was it even possible?

"No, but it could be. If I chose for it to. Ever since it stopped, I've been helping others. Most of the people that contact me don't actually need my help. Some just want to joke about things they don't understand."

Brady let out a roar, and another explosion sounded.

"Judging by that noise, I don't think you're either of those things."

"Can you help me?" I asked as I crawled further away from the door and huddled into the opposite corner of the room.

"Where do you live?"

I paused. Strange man on the internet asking where I live. Big red flag. Then I thought about Brady. If he couldn't get rid of Brady, I had no doubts Brady could get rid of him. "Redbird Falls, Michigan. The United States."

He paused for a moment. "I'm currently in Scotland. It will take me a few days."

My heart sank. Brady was right outside the door. Would I last a few days.

Yes. I would. I'd lasted years, I could make it this final bit. Freedom. Peace. It was so close I could almost touch it. "I can make it," I said. "I'm staying at a hotel right now. I'll text you the address."

"Very good," he said, voice distant. "Are you sure you'll be okay? What's happening now?"

That's when I realized the noise had stopped completely. "Something's happened." I listened closely. I could hear footsteps, heavy, moving across the floor.

"Amelia?"

Shit! "I have to go," I hissed into the phone. "I'll talk to you soon." I ended the call and stood, then reluctantly pulled the door open.

Brady didn't have a scratch on him, and the room looked the same as I'd left it.

"Did you get rid of the piggybacking demon?" I searched the bed, then looked back to him.

He was grinning. "Piggybacking demon?"

"What? What else am I supposed to call it?"

"That, my lovely little Amelia, was a djinn. We're the same, it's just much less impressive."

"If you're so much more impressive, why'd it sound like a war zone out here?"

Brady grimaced. "There was more than one of them."

My heart jumped. "Did you get them all?" I searched the room again, and took a step in his direction.

Brady smiled. "I did. You're safe." He began to lean closer.

I took a large step back. "So, in other words, you really look like that thing, and this," I used my hand to motion to the mountain of man that was Brady, "overcompensating much?"

Brady's smile widened. "While my kind can take many forms, we are always a reflection of the magic that we possess. That djinn could probably inhabit another, but it could never choose a human form for itself. Well–" he paused, " It could, but it'd be so damn ugly, it'd never being able to walk around unnoticed."

"This," Brady gestured to himself the way I had a moment before, "is my form. Only the strongest of my kind are able to do this."

I didn't have a reply. If what Brady said was true, would Mr. McKenna be outmatched? I hadn't thought of the possibility of him being legitimate, and Brady still getting rid of him.

Like Justin.

Shaking my head, I dismissed the thought. I would just have to deal with that when the time came. I needed it. This chance. It felt like my last.

"I'm tired," I said, as if that would mean anything to the thing that had spent most of my life preventing me from sleeping. "You can go now."

"Not yet." He stepped over to the table and pulled out a chair. "I ordered some food. We need to talk."

"No we don't, and when the hell did you order food?"

"Yes we do, and right before I called you out of the bathroom."

As if on cue, someone knocked on the door. "Room service."

"Who's going to pay for that? Speaking of which, you owe me forty dollars." I pointed an annoyed finger.

"It's taken care of." He smirked at me before opening the door.

In walked a stunning woman, probably only a couple years older than me, pushing a huge cart full of food.

I realized, once again, my lack of clothing and rushed into the bathroom. My jeans and shirt still sat where I'd left them, and I listened to the sound of her voice as I slipped them back on.

"Will there be anything else Mr.Black?"

"What do you suggest for dessert?"

My head jerked towards the door. Was he flirting? He was flirting.

Wait. I don't care if he's flirting. That's a good thing. Maybe he'll leave.

I held the sink. Irrationally, I felt a sudden need to go out there, to stop her from talking to him. Territorial. Not okay. I couldn't be like that.

What does that even mean?

I'm jealous that my monster might be hanging out in another girl's closet?

But she giggled. She fucking giggled, loud and obnoxious, and I couldn't stop myself.

I opened the door, and Brady was leaned forward whispering something to her. Close. Too close. A pain hit my chest, and heat slowly followed. Angry heat. I wanted to hurt her.

"Mr. Black," she breathed.

"Please. Call me Brady."

I wanted to turn away. To pretend it didn't matter, but I couldn't. It was too much. Why was it too much? I cleared my throat, pulling both pairs of eyes over to me, then I pointed towards the door. "If I'm not mistaken, this is my room. You," I pointed at Brady, "don't stay here, and you," I glared at the girl, my irrational anger boiling. "You're all set to go. What you two do from here doesn't mean shit to me."

Brady was smiling, silently laughing, that annoying gleam I was growing far too accustomed to returned his eyes.

The girl looked both embarrassed and annoyed as she turned to leave the room.

Disappointment was clear on her face when she looked back, and Brady hadn't moved to follow.

He took two steps forward and slammed the door in her face. "Now that she's out of the way, let's eat." He waved a hand, removing every lid from each dish in one swift motion.

"You seemed comfortable with that girl," I commented, even though every fiber in my being was screaming for me to shut up. "You should probably go too."

He grinned down at a plate of cheese. "Jealousy isn't an attractive trait, sweetheart. You should work on that."

I ground my teeth. "I'm not jealous. I want you to go."

"Yes you are, no you don't. Now, can you shut up so we can eat? I'm starving." Brady gave me a look. "Sit," he said, the word in that strange tone.

My legs moved on their own as I stared wide eyed at my feet. "How do you do that? Don't do that!"

He ignored me, walking around and setting a plate of food on the table, then one for himself. "Eat." Same tone, multiple voices all at once.

Glaring, I complied. Well, not actually, but I began eating none the less. "What do you want to talk about?" I asked between angry bites.

"I need you to stay with me."

I choked. "What? Um- no. Hell no. That is never gonna happen."

"You'll be much safer."

Safer. With him? Ha! I couldn't go with him. Mr. McKenna was coming. He was going to help me. I'd finally be free. If Brady made me go with him, I'd never get the chance again.

But how could I stop it? I couldn't stop it. I looked at him. He was too powerful, and I wasn't powerful- at all. No powers. Powerless.

This couldn't be it. It couldn't be like this. I needed to convince him. Somehow appeal to his better nature, if he had one.

"I can't."

Brady lifted a brow. "You can."

"No. I don't want to."

"It's unavoidable. I don't know why the djinn attached itself to you, and until I do, it's not safe."

"Can't you just protect me like normal? Can't I stay here?"

Brady took a bite of food, then chewed it slowly as he watched me wait for him to finish. He took his time, his jaw working pointedly, then when he finally swallowed, he simply said, "Nope," then grinned.

I imagined him choking to death. "I can't stay with you right now. After what happened–"

His grin faded, and a dark look took its place. "That's all the more reason to–"

"Then you come here and attack me," I snapped. "Is that what you think I need right now?"

He stopped talking and stared at me, for the first time looking caught off guard. "I'm sorry about that. It's hard sometimes– Thats why I knocked. I didn't expect you to answer how you were–"

"And that makes it okay?"

He flinched back as if I'd hit him. It was working.

Brady looked away from me, his eyes locking on his plate. The muscle in his jaw clenched. "Did I hurt you?"

My eyes widened, and for some reason, his change in demeanor, the look on his face, it wouldn't allow me to lie any further. "No."

He nodded stiffly. "I'm sorry."

I almost told him it was okay, but stopped myself. Why would I say that? Why would I care? "Then let me have some space. Please."

I held my breath. Brady looked torn, and it was a long, drawn out moment before he spoke. "Fine. But you need to be careful, and you need to listen to everything I say. This isn't a game, Amelia."

I nodded my head. "Fine. Deal. Can you go now?"

He flinched again, barely noticeable but still there. "I'll be around," he said, then in a burst of blue, he disappeared.