Chapter 194

Russo's POV

I trudged back to my house feeling horrible, churnings in my stomach. We lost Helen. She was now in the clutches of a half demon.

Somehow that knowledge made her situation seem worse than the last time the Huntsman had gotten his hands on her. Because then we thought he was just an evil person, but somehow knowing that a demon had his hands on one of my best friends made me physically sick.

Lisa was in the kitchen brewing something on the stove when I walked in. The scent of it burned my nose.

“What are you working on?” I asked her.

She turned around to look at me, and her spoon clattered to the stove top. “What's happened now?” she asked.

“We're pretty sure the Huntsman has taking Helen,” I told her.

She covered her mouth with both hands, gasping. “It's a good thing I'm starting on the potion that we’ll need for the rite,” she said. “This needs to stew for seventy-two hours.”

I wrinkled my nose. “What exactly is it? It smells rank.”

“We need to use a special ink to draw the symbols in the pentagram.”

She went over and put a lid on the pot, turning the heat down to the lowest setting. When she came back, she put her arms around me. Over the last week and a half we'd gotten quite close, but physically we hadn't done any more then comfort one another—and a little bit of kissing.

Every time I thought about more, my body reacted. But I still didn't know how to ask her if that's what she wanted, and she hadn't made any sort of move to take more from me. I tucked my chin over her shoulder and cuddled myself against her, soothing us both, hopefully.

“What do you plan to do with yourself when this is all over?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “I don't know.”

“Are you going to find your own kind and return to them?”

She shrugged again.

“I have an idea,” I said.

“What's that?” she asked.

This wasn't exactly the most romantic moment, but something about the situation left me feeling completely desperate. I didn't want to leave anything unsaid or actions undone or guilt behind. The last thing I wanted to do was become a spirit anchored to Earth over unfinished business. I took a deep breath and let it out hugging her that much closer to me.

“When this is over, I want you to marry me,” I said. “Would you do me that honor?”

A blush hit my cheeks. “I'm sorry I don't have a ring or anything like that to make it official. I hadn't even really thought about proposing the way most people think about proposing. All I know is that I can't stand the idea of coming out the other side and not being with you. Somehow you've become a solid part of my life, and . . .”

I didn't get the rest of the words out. She pulled back and kissed me deeply.

When she broke the kiss, she looked into my eyes. hers sparkling with emotion. “Of course, I'll marry you,” she said. “I can't imagine spending my life without you, either.”

Our lips found each other once again, pressing together and locking in a desperate kiss. Our hands wandered across each other's bodies, taking in every curve and angle. Our hips pressed together.

Inside my pants, I stiffened, and I rubbed myself, grinding against her. It had been so long since I'd had sex, and I couldn't wait. This was going to feel amazing, sleeping with the woman that I loved.

She ran her hands up inside my shirt, clutching at my shoulders and pressing her hips into my hardness.

Someone hammered at the door.

I groaned and stepped away from Lisa. “I guess this is going to have to wait,” I said. When I threw open the door I wanted to be mad until I saw the look on Randy's face. “This isn't good, is it?”

He brushed past me, inside the house, nearly panting with his distress. He put both hands on the back of my sofa and gasped deep lungfuls of air.

“It's sick.” The words ground out through his tightened throat. “We got an email from the Huntsman.” His voice shook and he sounded ready to cry.

“Oh, my God. They've killed Helen,” I gasped.

He shook his head. “It's almost worse. When she comes around, she's going to wish that they had.”

“What do you mean?” I demanded. “What could be worse?”

Randy bit his lips and turned a pale sweaty face toward me. “They used magic on her. They figured out how to do mind control. Now the Huntsman doesn't even need to control her body because he can make her mind believe whatever he wants.”

He gasped a couple more breaths. “The video is two parts. In the first one we had to witness the wizard and the Huntsman pin Helen down and use magic on her to make her fall in love with the Huntsman.”

“No.” I shook my head. “That can't be possible. Helen would never. She's devoted to Justin.”

“I know it sounds impossible, but you can actually see it in her eyes because it's a video. They were clear and she fought the two. Then suddenly her eyes glazed over and she stared off into space like she was some sort of zombie. In that state, she started expressing her undying love for the Huntsman.”

He shuddered. “But it was the second part that was worse. It's the part that really makes me sick. She . . .”

He choked on vomit which he didn't get all the way up. “Helen said wedding vows with the Huntsman while screwing him. We were forced to watch her take him as a husband at the same time they orgasmed. It was brutal.”

He shook his head. “I'm not sure that Justin is ever going to fully recover from this. The only favor the Huntsman did him was putting the part where he manipulated Helen with magic first. I think the Huntsman meant it as a show of power but at least for Justin he can rest easy and the knowledge that nothing that happened was really Helen.”

He shook his head. “Still, to watch her body and hear her voice saying and doing those things . . .” He moved around to the front of the sofa and sat, propping his elbows on his knees, and placing his face in his hands. “This is a disaster. I can only hope that when we kill the beast, it will break the spell.”

My stomach turned over in knots. Lisa came over gripping my hands. “I know I don't really have any right to tell you not to worry or that it would do any good, but you need to look for the best in this scenario. It doesn't sound like she's being hurt. It sounds like he's using her to hurt everyone else around her, and her, through manipulation rather than pain.”

“Oh, I think there's plenty of pain involved,” Randy snapped.

Lisa squeezed my hand as if trying to draw strength from me. “I'm not saying that this isn't gonna hurt. And I'm not saying that it's not going to leave a mess behind, but if you worried about her being physically tortured or killed, at least right now you know that she's safe.”

“You have a shitty definition of the word safe,” Randy snarled.

Lisa rubbed her forehead with her free hand, the one in mine grew slick with sweat. “I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help you guys cope and focus on what we need to do, which is run this ritual. And you're right, what he's done is horrible. But at the moment Helen doesn't realize it. She's completely wrapped up in the magic and she thinks she's in love. The true realization of what she's going through won't crash down on her until later. And you can deal with it at that point.”

Her expression grew stern. “But for now, just find whatever comfort you can in the fact that she's not miserable. She's not in pain. She's not bleeding. And if he wants to play the game of mental manipulation, he's given us more than enough time to wait out the last few days until the solstice, so that we can do our ritual and bring him down.”