Like Casziel, I thought, watching him– elegant, dangerously dark and beautiful and utterly alone in the world. A true outlander. A wanderer. A ronin…
I froze, my chest constricting, as if I’d been doused with a bucket of ice water. Then heat rushed through me like a fuse racing through every nerve ending. Last night flooded back. Everything flooded back. Demons in dark alleys, flies, and… My hand flew to my mouth; I could barely hold the water glass in the other. We’d kissed. Just like the warrior and his woman kissed in my dream. Because it wasn’t a dream.
It was a memory.
He was the warrior and she was…
A gasp slipped out of me but was drowned in conversation, music, and the clink of glasses. Somewhere in my deepest self, I’d known the truth, but it had lived in the shadows. Now it stood naked and raw in the bright light of day. The ramifications flooded me, too many to take in all at once. The sense of something unresolved between us, now resolved, rushed through me, taking my breath away.
I gazed at Casziel, standing in that light of truth, new and yet achingly familiar. I knew every line of him. Every expression, every curl of his lips, every glance.
Because he’s mine. He’s always been mine.
My hand curled tightly around his arm as if he might be ripped away from me again. “I need to talk to you.”
He glanced down at me and read it all in my face. Understanding dawned in his eyes. I waited for him to tell me I was crazy or drunk or maybe speak the word that would put my memories ba
ck to sleep.
Instead, he shook his head, a faint smile on his lips.
“Maybe he was right. I just have to love you.” He touched my cheek. “Li’ili.”
Tears sprang to my eyes as my heart felt like it was breaking and healing at the same time. The warmth and fullness were unlike anything I’d ever known. The missing love of this lifetime and a hundred others now had a name too.
Abby nudged me out of my thoughts with a sharp elbow. She cleared her throat meaningfully, head inclined to Guy. “Oh my God, I love this song! Cas, come dance with me.”
She took his arm, tugging him to the small dance floor at the edge of the deck. Jana and Brian had been muttering to each other and digging in the diaper bag slung on his shoulder.
“If I had two hands, I could find it,” Jana said. “Do you mind, Luce?”
She plopped Wyatt in my arms as Cas let Abby drag him away. But he shook his head, letting me know everything was going to be okay.
He’s going to be okay, I thought. Someone is watching. They have to be…
“Forget it. It’s too late now,” Jana grumbled at her husband, and they called a bickering cease-fire. She gave me a grateful smile and reached for the baby. “Thanks, Lucy—”
Wyatt burped, and a splat of white landed on the shoulder of my dress.
“Oh no, I’m so sorry. Shit, your dress…”
“It’s perfectly fine,” I said, laughing. I patted the baby’s back. “You okay, sweet pea? You want your mama?”
Jana took the baby and flapped her free hand at Brian. “Get a wipey, quick.”
Her husband began another search. “I don’t see any wipies in here…”
“You have got to be kidding me…”
The bickering began anew, and I laughed. “Don’t worry about it, Jana. I’ll get a wet cloth from the bar.”
Inside, every stool at the long gleaming counter was occupied but for one at the end. I sat at it and asked the bartender for a wet cloth. He obliged, and I cleaned baby spit-up off my shoulder. I stood to go when a terrible stench, barely concealed behind cologne, wafted over me. Something cold and clammy clamped down on my wrist. Fingers wearing antique rings with rubies and burnished gold gripped me tightly. I raised my petrified gaze.
The man was middle-aged, but his pale blue eyes told me he was older than counted time. His suit was pure white, complete with tails and a top hat. Another lie—there was nothing pure about him. His hair flowed down his back in soft brown waves, and elegant spectacles were perched on his nose. He brought to mind Gary Oldman in Bram Stoker’s Dracula—a hideous monster wearing the suit of a dignified man.
Ashtaroth.
As I stared, a snake slithered out from under his sleeve and over my skin, cold and smooth. I tried to jerk my hand back, but the demon held me fast.