Homecoming (Fire Cursed Book 2) Page 3

  Bridget was the only one under CJ’s roof who wasn’t of angel blood, and for some reason, that made me uncomfortable. Especially in light of her warped thought process just before she’d tried to kill me.

  “Is it okay if I clean up?” I asked CJ and Valerie. I stood near the cracked garage door with my bags.

  “That’s fine.” CJ looked from me to Alex. “Put her in your room. You’ll sleep downstairs with the girls.”

  Alex took my bags and headed upstairs. I followed as Bridget stumbled into the house, looking like my mother had after she’d had too much to drink.

  “What happened?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

  “You tried to kill her, Mom,” April said.

  I didn’t wait to hear the rest, not with the tears stinging my eyes.

  Alex put my bags down and wrapped his arms around me. He kissed my temple and held me at arm’s length.

  “How did you do all that?” he asked.

  “Do what?”

  “The cars? The rain? The knife at Bridget’s house?”

  “That wasn’t me,” I said, but even as the words escaped my lips, doubt laced my mind. Hadn’t I wished for rain to douse the fire? The cars were just a protective reflex. I couldn’t explain the knife, except I knew I didn’t want to hurt Bridget.

  Alex let go of me, crossed his arms, and raised a skeptical eyebrow.

  “If it was me, I have no idea what I did. Where are the towels?” I asked to change the subject.

  “The closet in the bathroom has bath towels and different shampoos inside.”

  I turned and headed into the bathroom, then closed the door on any more conversation. I found the towels and set a couple on the floor near the tub before I peeled my tacky clothing off and piled it neatly on the closed lid of the toilet. Then I stepped into the tub.

  The first spray of water was frigid, and I clamped my mouth closed on a yelp. I forced myself to remain under the stream and was rewarded with the slow warming of the water. When it started to sting, I dialed it back a fraction to a comfortable heat and just stood under the spray until the water at my feet ran clear. I didn’t realize how much blood had seeped under my shirt.

  I scrubbed my skin, trying to reconcile all that I had seen tonight. The shower lulled me into an exhausted stupor. By the time I finished, the pads covering the bites I had gotten from Grace a few days ago were soaked through. After I lathered my hair and rinsed, and then just stood under the water until I was sure I would collapse if I didn’t get out and get to a bed.

  With my hair wrapped in a towel and my body dried the best I could, I wrapped a second towel around my chest, tucking it in place. The drenched gauze over my stitches peeled off easily, and I threw them away before I picked up my soiled clothing. I stepped across the hall into the room, ignoring the chatter downstairs.

  The hall light illuminated the room, and I crossed to the desk and placed my bloodied outfit onto the chair. Alex had laid out a nightgown and underwear on the bed, and the rest of my clothing was neatly stacked on the desk.

  For someone without most of his soul, he sure was a sweetheart. I towel dried my hair and grabbed the brush he also had put on the desk. I ran the brush through my hair, wincing at the new aches and pains coming to the surface now that every ounce of adrenaline had been tapped.

  “You need help?”

  I hadn’t heard him come into the room. I hadn’t even heard his thoughts among the din filling my head.

  Alex closed the door and crossed to me, then took the brush from my hand.

  “You did all this?” I waved at my unpacked belongings.

  “I figured if I didn’t, you would just do a faceplant on the bed in a towel.”

  He wasn’t wrong, but the fact that I was only in a towel and he was less than two feet away from me heated my skin more than the shower had. When he stepped behind me and gently ran the brush through my hair, I thought I was in heaven for a moment.

  “Why didn’t you kill him tonight?” he asked after a few minutes of bliss.

  “He was wearing a necklace that contained your soul.”

  His gentle stroking stopped, and he stepped to my side, hooked his finger under my chin, and turned my head so I met his gaze. “Next time, even if he is wearing my soul, you take the shot. Understand?” His blue eyes blazed through me.

  I glanced away.

  “Faith.”

  I looked back at him and pointed to the rest of my matted hair. He obliged, but this time his strokes weren’t nearly as gentle.

  “Are you mad at me?” I asked as he continued to take his frustrations out on the knots in the tangled mess on my head.

  He didn’t answer until he finished and set the brush on the table. He moved in front of me and cupped my shoulders tenderly.

  “Yes and no.” He glanced down at the towel between us and reached for the edge that was tucked in.

  I covered his hand, acutely aware of the desire brewing inside him. “I’m not ready.”

  He stepped closer and leaned down, then pressed his lips to mine.

  Damn. The boy’s kiss clouded my judgement enough for my hand to loosen, and the towel slipped between us. His arms wrapped around me, turning us so the back of my legs pressed against the bed.

  He broke the kiss and slipped my nightgown over my head with a crooked smile. “While I’d love to take advantage of you right now, I know you’d kick my ass in the morning.” He reached over and handed me my underwear.

  Then he busied himself with hanging the towels over the back of the chair while I slid my panties on and straightened out my nightgown.

  “What do you want me to do with these?” He pointed at the ruined leather.

  “They can’t go in the washing machine.” The leather glove incident at Bridget’s taught me enough about leather and normal washing machines.

  “I’ll ask my mom how to get them cleaned because I have a feeling you will need your kickass outfit again really soon.”

  The warmth he had created evaporated with those words. I didn’t want to think about my next battle. I obviously was unprepared for any of this, and I needed to figure out how I’d made things happen today if I had a prayer of defeating Lucifer.

  “I am going to need to find that knife that Fate mentioned. April thinks that’s the key to getting rid of Lucifer for good.” I met his gaze.

  Any hint of a smile faded. “That means you have to get within his reach to do any damage.” He shook his head. “I’d much rather you stay as far away from him as you can.”

  I closed the distance between us and pressed my palm to his cheek. “I am okay with getting within his reach if it means I have the capacity to erase him from existence.”

  A crease appeared between his eyes. “Does erasing him from existence mean he never existed? Or does it mean from this point forward?”

  “It doesn’t matter. If I don’t, the world will burn.”

  Chapter 4

  My scream echoed off the walls. I sat up in a dark room as the nightmares chased me awake. The bedroom door slammed open, and light framed a man in the doorway. I shivered and pulled the blankets tighter around me.

  “What’s wrong?” the shadow asked.

  I blinked and then looked at the man again. “Alex?”

  “Who else would you think would be at your door?” He stepped inside and closed the door before switching on the overhead light.

  I squinted from the sudden brightness. “I thought you were downstairs with your sisters.”

  He shook his head. “Bridget is down in the basement on the couch, and Dad’s downstairs in the family room. After what happened at the house, they all thought it was safer for everyone. April is sleeping with Amber and Ariana in their room, and I’m in the guest room down the hall.” He hooked his thumb over his shoulder.

  He crossed to the side of the bed and took a seat next to me. “Are you okay?”

  I didn’t know how to answer him.

  The nightmare still lingered, and I didn’t
know how to articulate it. Blood. Smoke. Fire. And endless screaming. But it was the last image that had brought my scream to the surface.

  And that image remained like a sick joke—Grace bent over a table with Alex screwing her as the glowing necklace that Lucifer had worn bounced against her chest in time with his thrusts. My dead eyes had stared on as blood seeped out of the hole in my chest.

  My stomach rolled, and I covered my mouth, willing myself not to empty the contents all over the bed. I pushed him aside and launched myself towards the bathroom. I made it to the toilet just as hot, bitter bile spilled over between my fingers. The plume of liquid was vile, and I gagged again.

  When I was certain there was no more, I flushed the toilet and washed my hands before I rinsed my mouth and cleaned the taste out with toothpaste. My legs wobbled as I crossed back into the bedroom.

  Alex still sat on the edge of my bed, and I was so thankful he hadn’t followed to witness the bloody gore that had come from my stomach. I crawled back under the sheets, and he tucked me in, scooting me to the inside before he stretched out on the covers next to me.

  He ran his fingers through my hair, and the silence of both his mind and his mouth unnerved me. I glanced over my shoulder at him. He smiled and continued to comb my hair with his fingers.

  “You’re going to get into trouble,” I whispered.

  He lifted his shoulder in a shrug. “I’m not under the covers with you, and you left the door open. This way, I will actually get some sleep. Before, every little creak of the house made me jump thinking something might happen to you.”

  “Really?”

  He nodded. “Bridget wasn’t the only one who that bastard was trying to manipulate.” His lips pressed together in a hard line. “She’s just the only one he was able to get control of.”

  I stared at him as his meaning sank in. “He tried to get into your head?”

  He nodded. “He tried to manipulate April, too.”

  The nightmare came back in full force, and my stomach clenched again. This time, I was able to get a handle on it. “I thought you were more vulnerable than Bridget.”

  He chuckled low. “No. I’m not vulnerable to being controlled. I think it’s the angel blood that gives me a little more willpower than someone without it, despite the loss of most of my soul. And I’m not interested in what Lucifer has in mind.”

  “What’s that?” I asked.

  “He wants the perfect archangel bloodline mix.” He met my gaze. “He wants this specific form because he already has the one bloodline that I don’t possess under his thumb.”

  I swallowed a line of creeping bile, shivering at the nightmare. “That’s what the nightmare was. You and Grace... together...”

  His gaze softened. “I’m in love with you, Faith. Heart. Mind. Soul. Or at least what’s left of it is yours. I know it’s not much.” He traced my lips with his fingers. “I’m still smart and resourceful, even if I no longer have a filter.”

  His smile was so endearing that I rolled onto my back and pulled him to my lips. Ridged surprise gave way to a gentle kiss. But it soon transcended into something wild that I didn’t want to stop. I wanted to erase my nightmare with something real and tangible. Something no one could take from either of us.

  The door swung closed, and Alex pulled away, glancing at it. When his gaze came back to mine, it was downright carnal. He grinned.

  My heart thundered at the look in his eyes, and as he came closer to kiss me, I blurted, “I don’t want her to be your first.”

  He stopped and pulled away, tilting his head. “Her?” Confusion creased his forehead, and then it smoothed out into annoyance. “That nightmare really did a number on you.”

  I bit my lower lip and nodded.

  “And that’s why you want to do this?”

  “Does it really matter what my reasoning is?”

  He licked his lips and stared at mine before meeting my gaze. “I wish I could say no, it doesn’t matter. Well, I can say that,” he said and smiled. “But in the light of day, you will regret making a rash decision based on a nightmare, no matter how amazing I might be in bed.”

  Heat filled my cheeks. I knew he was right, but in this moment, I was willing to find out just how amazing he was. I pulled him to my lips, and he fell into the kiss as fully as I did. Before I knew it, his shirt was off, and he was under the covers with me pinned under him.

  “Damn,” he whispered as he broke the kiss. His hips circled against mine, and the warm flannel of his pajama pants created such heat between us. His hand caressed me through my shirt, and he leaned forward and nipped my earlobe. “I can feel your heartbeat,” he whispered in my ear. He licked a line down my throat, then sucked the spot where it seemed to be pulsing in a wild beat. “I want to taste you.”

  A loud knock on the door stopped Alex’s downward progression. He glanced up at me with wide eyes and an open “oh shit” mouth.

  “Alex?” CJ’s annoyed voice echoed in the hallway. “Open the goddamn door.”

  CJ could open doors with just a thought. The fact he couldn’t open Alex’s bedroom door chilled me, and I blinked in shock.

  Alex had just enough time to crawl onto the covers and drape his arm over me before the door exploded inward. CJ stood in the hallway with a sleepy glare. His gaze went to the bright overhead light and then to us.

  “She had a nightmare,” Alex said.

  The sarcastic laugh that escaped CJ didn’t calm my heart, and his glare pierced me.

  “I’m not sure I would categorize her thoughts as a nightmare. And the fact she blocked me from opening the door again...” He pressed his lips together and put his hands on his hips. “You can’t stay in here.” He turned his sharp glare at Alex.

  “Please,” I said before I could stop it. Some of the images from the dream flashed through my mind, and I wrapped the covers tighter.

  His brow creased, and he wiped his face and then pointed. “The door stays open, young lady.”

  I agreed emphatically.

  He looked at Alex.

  “And you get your sleeping bag and get on the floor.”

  “Yes, sir,” Alex said and rolled to his feet, grabbing his shirt from the end of the bed and strategically used that to hide whatever excitement still remained in his blood. He rolled the sleeping bag out and slid his T-shirt back on before he crawled inside while his father watched.

  With the sham pillow under his head, he gave his father a nod.

  CJ turned off the light and pointed at the two of us before he headed towards the stairs. I caught some of his grumblings and turned toward Alex with a smirk. The man wanted to be with his wife, but instead, he was trying to sleep on the lumpy couch in the event that Bridget went off the deep end again.

  “Your dad is mad because you might be getting a little action and he isn’t,” I whispered.

  “I heard that!” CJ’s voice barreled up the stairs.

  Alex snorted. “Well, I’m now in the same boat as he is and understand the aggravation.” He winked and rolled on his side, facing me. The humor faded. “Would you have really said yes?”

  I stared at his blue eyes reflecting in the hall lights and decided not to answer him. If we had gotten that far uninterrupted... I sighed just thinking about the way he felt molded to me. I wasn’t sure I would have stopped him in my current state of mind, but I had the feeling he was right. I would have regretted being so rash in the morning.

  “I love you, too,” I said after a few moments.

  He smiled and closed his eyes.

  I watched him fall into the slow cadence of sleep and then rolled and stared at the ceiling. Doubts started layering over my thoughts. Doubts about whether I’d made the right decision on not blasting Lucifer back to hell when I’d had the chance regardless of the form he took or the lure he had dangling around his neck.

  If I had taken the shot...

  A shadow passed by in the hall, and CJ stepped into the doorway.

  “You can’t do that
to yourself,” he said softly. “Second-guessing your actions isn’t going to prepare you for what’s coming. And while I know Alex is okay with you taking the shot while Lucifer has his soul as ransom, I’m glad you didn’t. It means there is still a chance for him. Besides, I am not sure I could watch my brother die a second time today.”

  A lump formed in my throat and I nodded.

  “Thank you.”

  “You do know I will need to take him out eventually, even if he is in Tom’s form.”

  He nodded. “We need to get your powers under conscious control.” He covered a yawn. “Tomorrow, we start those lessons.” He disappeared again, and the stairs creaked with his weight as he descended.

  His directive turned my nerves on edge, and I stared at the ceiling, wondering what absolute disaster would rear its ugly head.

  Chapter 5

  “Again,” CJ demanded. His barrier covered the entire backyard right up to the back door where Alex sat within his father’s protective dome.

  The rest of the family stood just inside the glass door, watching me stumble my way through the power control gambit. It was laughable. The only thing I had succeeded in doing was reduce the funeral pyre to ash. My natural talent as well as the added bang of angel fire worked in my haphazard way, but that was the extent of it.

  All my attempts at moving things with my mind utterly failed. As did anything remotely similar to what my subconscious had manifested last night. I couldn’t control matter or minds no matter how hard I tried.

  I got so frustrated that I burnt a patch of lawn all the way to the rock wall, and my hands were in a constant state of flame. I was surprised I didn’t spontaneously combust.

  “Douse the flame,” he ordered as he approached me.

  I stared at my clenched hands and slowly opened my palms. A bead of sweat rolled into my eye, and the sting caught me enough off guard that I almost rubbed my eye while my hand was fully engulfed.