He almost crumbled.
He shook his head. That was the demon trying to persuade him, twist his mind to believe in the madness. He looked at her and then down at the scourge.
“Please,” she said, her voice reaching deep inside his soul causing his to hand freeze. “Please let me go, I’m begging you. Please, Jock, don’t do this. Don’t hurt me. You promised you’d never hurt me.”
He looked from the scourge to her and back again. She continued fighting to free herself and he knew he could not leave her like that for much longer.
The demon would soon give her the strength to escape his bonds and his castle. Then the clan would deal with her. They would never let one of the possessed roam free around the highlands.
He had to make a choice.
Let her go? Condemn her to death in this life and damnation in the next?
Or beat the demon from her but lose her trust forever?
He took a deep breath, muttered a silent prayer, and then made his decision, taking a single, slow, step toward her.
Chapter One
Daisy’s journey to the past began with a sneeze. The sneeze that woke her up that fateful morning, did not come from her. It came from her housemate, Tabby.
Sitting up in bed, blinking sleep from her eyes, Daisy tried to remember the dream. She could almost see the person’s face this time. It was a man, she knew that much.
He had taken her hand, pulling her away from a hooded figure, a hooded figure that wanted something she had. But then the dream was gone, drifting away like the morning mist when the summer sun begins to rise.
Another sneeze from downstairs. Tabby clearly still had a bad cold. “Daisy!” her weak voice shouted up. “I need you.” A loud cough and then another sneeze.
With a sigh, Daisy swung her legs out of bed and headed downstairs, putting the dream out of her mind.
She thought about telling Tabby about the dream but decided against it. She knew exactly what her housemate would tell her.
She would fetch down her big book of dream interpretation and tell Daisy she needed to find a man. That was her answer to everything. Get a man.
The last thing Daisy needed in her life was a man. What she needed was a cash injection. As things were going, she was going to be two months behind in paying her half of the rent in precisely three days time.
Tabby was in the living room, wrapped up in too many blankets.
“You look like a Tabburrito,” Daisy said as she walked in. “Tabbyarrito.”
“That’s nacho funny. I’m dying here.”
“You’re not dying, you have a cold.”
“The worst cold in the history of everything.” She sneezed again, blowing her nose into a tissue which she then dropped onto the close to overflowing bin beside the couch.
“How are you feeling?” Daisy picked up the bin and carried it outside, dumping the contents outside in the trash.
“Awful,” Tabby said when she returned.
“Need me to run to the store for more painkillers?”
“No. I need you to deliver a package for me.”
“Not again.” She shook her head, waving her hands in front of her. “No way, I’m not doing it. Last time took all day and anyway I’m meant to be job-hunting. I owe you a fortune, remember.”
“This is different. I’ll pay you this time.”
Daisy rubbed her hands together and boomed out her most evil laugh. “You fool, that’s exactly what I wanted from you. All the money, mwuh hah hah. How much exactly? Enough for the rent?”
