The Resurrection of Josephine by Melinda Barron Read Free Book Online Page B

They'd exchanged lingering kisses between the three of them, then fallen asleep tucked around each other.
    Noah had kissed them both softly when he'd left, and Martin had fleetingly wondered what it would be like to wake up that way every morning as part of a relationship, something he'd never been able to sustain in his lifetime. Things just felt so right with Rumer and Noah it was almost scary. Of course, that's not to say it would last. Maybe when things were resolved, Rumer and Noah would float away from him. But somehow he doubted it. Something inside him told him this was the real deal.
    "You look like your grandmother.” The woman's wheezy voice pulled him back to events at hand. “And your mother. She was a wild one, that's for sure."
    "I'm sure she still is,” Rumer said.
    "Josephine LeClaire murdered my sister, Lydia.” Her matter of fact tone of voice made Martin wince.
    "I'm sorry."
    Sandra turned her gaze to him. “It's why we tried to banish her, Lola, Mary Elizabeth, and myself.” She stopped and breathed heavily, reaching down for an oxygen mask and pulling it to her face. When she dropped the mask, she focused on Rumer. “We were young, and stupid, and I was angry because she'd murdered Lydia."
    She reached down again and brought up an eight by ten frame, turning it toward Rumer and Martin.
    "Josephine,” Rumer said, her eyes widening.
    "This is Lydia,” Sandra replied, turning the photo toward her and running her fingers over the glass. “She was so young, and very, very strong. Her abilities were much sharper than my own. It's why Josephine targeted her, after she failed with your grandmother."
    "I'm so sorry,” Rumer said, reaching over to take the woman's hand.
    Sandra nodded, then brought the mask back up to her mouth, and breathed heavily again. She lowered it, then sighed. “We were young, too, and very headstrong. Instead of contacting elders, or people who might have been able to help us, we followed her to the cemetery. She was burying the body she'd just discarded."
    "Makes sense,” Martin said. “That's when you decided to bind her spirit to the crypt?"
    "Yes. I knew Lydia was gone, nothing left of her but her body, inhabited by that devil. Too late we realized that if we bound her, we'd have to unbind her to kill her human body, Lydia's body. And if we did that, she'd probably kill us before we could get to her. She was very strong. The only reason we were successful was because we snuck up on her while she was placing the first body in the crypt."
    "That means—” Rumer's voice floated off.
    "Yes, to kill her, you're going to have to unleash her. Our words were wrong. When Lydia's body died, Josephine's spirit clung to the crypt, and that was our mistake. I can tell you the spell we used, but you're going to have to be prepared. Lydia's body is gone, and Josephine is no more than spirit now. The first thing she'd do is hunt for a new host, a strong magical one, probably you.” Sandra pointed to Rumer and Martin sat up straighter.
    "To kill her, we're going to have to kill her host.” Martin felt as if the words were pulled out of his body, his stomach clenching in pain as he spoke.
    "Yes,” Sandra said. “Do it on Samhain. That's the night we bound her all those years ago. Do it before midnight."
    * * * *
    "That's your plan? Not no, but hell no! Fuck no!” Noah paced the kitchen at Fletch, Dev, and Quinn's house. Everyone sat around the table except Fletch, who stood at the stove, stirring a huge pot of gumbo.
    "It's the only way,” Rumer said. “Sandra Tilbet is sick, fatally so, and when she dies, Josephine is free. We have to kill her before she has the chance to do to someone else what she did to Lydia Tilbet, and all those women before her."
    Noah wheeled on her, and Martin could see the other man's anger, and pain, deep inside him.
    "So your solution is to let her take over your body, kill it, and then she's gone."
    "It's perfect,” Rumer said. “You can bring me