Homecoming (Fire Cursed Book 2) Read online

  “She has too many memories in her head. All the way back to the beginning when Damian was born. Thousands of years. And she is time jumping from one to another to another,” CJ yelled over the din.

  “They’re fucking everywhere,” Alex said. “And she is shaking so hard I don’t know if I can hold on.”

  Time jumping.

  Those two words pulled air into my lungs, and I blinked back into the room with CJ and Alex. My breath wheezed, and then everything went black.

  Chapter 7

  I woke in the bedroom tucked under the covers with a cool, damp wash cloth on my forehead. Valerie sat next to me, holding my wrist as she looked at her watch. She still wore her doctor’s coat.

  She looked from her watch to me, and the tightness of her lips told me enough. I reached up and moved the cloth over my eyes so I wouldn’t have to be subjected to her overwhelming disappointment, but the cloth didn’t hide her feelings. They pummeled me like a battering ram, and it was worse than when CJ had lost his brother because this time it was aimed at me.

  “I know you’re awake.”

  I lifted the cloth and looked at her. She cocked an eyebrow, and heat filled my cheeks.

  “No protection?” she asked.

  I stared at her and glanced at my hands which now had my gloves on them.

  She rolled her eyes. “Not talking about your hands, girl.”

  My eyes slowly widened with what she was referring to and I gasped. “No ma’am.”

  “Next time, make sure my son has a little bit of his head on his shoulders. Even if his soul is gone, his common sense should still be in there somewhere.” She took the cloth off my head. “What’s done is done.” She sighed. “Now, let’s talk about the seizures.”

  “Seizures?” I knew it was ridiculous to repeat her, but I couldn’t get my head wrapped around that word. It had medical connotations, and I didn’t need any complications beyond Lucifer.

  “I have seen CJ have enough seizures after his first pummeling from Lucifer to understand what he described. Your brain couldn’t handle the volume of information, and it shut down, leaving your body to deal with after effects it really can’t handle.” She took a deep breath. “In your case, it is much more dangerous than ending up in a vegetative state.” She picked up one of my gloved hands to make her point.

  I pulled my hand away from her and slumped down in the covers. “I’m sorry.”

  Valerie smiled at me. “No need to apologize. They are as much in your control as your time jumps are, and we need to fix that.” She leaned back in the chair. “I want to hypnotize you so we can put up some organizational barriers in your brain so this doesn’t happen at a critical moment, okay?”

  The thought terrified me more than the barrage of memories. Allowing someone inside my head, playing with my psyche while I was not in control, just freaked me out.

  “I’m a doctor,” she said softly. “I will not take advantage of your vulnerabilities, and I won’t make you walk around and cluck like a chicken. I promise.”

  I blinked at her a few times, and then her attempt at humor seeped into my befuddled brain.

  “If you take a closer look, you would know that.” She tapped her temple. “It’s how I knew you had the best of intentions with us. Chris sees it, too.”

  “I am just learning,” I mumbled. I didn’t want to pry in others’ heads. With the exception of Alex, I hadn’t looked closer at those around me. “Besides, it just doesn’t feel right to go sneaking around other people’s thoughts without their permission.”

  She nodded a little. “I used to agree. However, just a peek into someone’s thoughts can mean the difference between life and death. I have saved more lives with this than with the healing ability. Consider the teenager who is thinking about suicide. Or the kid with a gun under his mattress at home who is angry with the world. When you encounter someone so deep in that hole, you offer your hand and pull them out of the darkness. This is the blessing of this particular power, and to not use it isn’t right either.”

  “But isn’t that... snooping?”

  Valerie sighed. “Yes. I guess it is, but if it helps someone or protects the ones you love, isn’t it worth it?”

  I couldn’t argue with her logic.

  “Try it,” she said.

  “You mean, right now?” I didn’t know if I could at will. I did know I could hear people’s thoughts when I wasn’t trying, but I sort of blocked it out. Well, except for Alex. I wanted to know what was in his head, but even so, there were some times I could only hear static or nothing at all.

  “Everyone in this house knows how to create static in their minds. It makes reading thoughts impossible. But out there?” She pointed to the window. “If you are getting static from someone that isn’t within our little circle, you give them a wide berth. No thoughts usually mean psychopathic at some level, or they are an investigator of sorts and have to look at things like a complex three-dimensional puzzle, which requires multiple trains of thought at the same time. Even so, they should be avoided at all costs.”

  I glanced at her skeptically then closed my eyes and tried to get inside her mind. It was like walking into a warm and welcoming home. I completely understood what she had been talking about. Her intentions were pure. I shivered at the thought of what a mind with ill intent felt like.

  She smiled as I opened my eyes. “Do you trust me now?”

  I was sure she already knew the answer, but I nodded anyway. “Yes.”

  “Okay.” She reached over to the desk, picked up a metronome, set it on the baseboard shelf of the bed, and turned it on. “Keep your eyes on the peg,” she said. “When you are feeling sleepy, raise your finger.”

  I thought hypnotism was more than just falling asleep to a metronome. When I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer, I lifted my finger. Valerie’s voice seemed distant as the constant clicking of the instrument filled my head.

  In my mind’s eye, I saw myself organizing a room full of papers, using a large file cabinet to arrange them in chronological order by person and then dates. Each person had a drawer in the file cabinet, and some drawers held more than one person’s memories.

  When I finished, I wiped my hands on my hips and then glanced at the key between my fingertips. An old skeleton key that looked like it fit in the cabinet lock. Sure enough, it did. I slipped the key on a chain and clasped it around my neck, then tucked it under my shirt before I glanced around the immaculately clean room. Even my memory box was neat and shiny.

  Relief swept through me, and I blinked my eyes open to Alex’s bedroom and the metronome keeping time. I yawned and glanced at Valerie. Dark circles stood out under her eyes. She looked even more tired than I felt.

  “What time is it?”

  “Seven in the morning.” She rubbed her face and then turned off the instrument. “But I think we are all set for a while.”

  My brain was still stuck on the time. Alex had cornered me in the panic room downstairs at some point in the early afternoon. I wasn’t sure how long I had been out before Valerie hypnotized me, but I didn’t think it was that late when we’d started.

  “We’ve been at this for almost twelve hours,” she said. “It took that long to get some organization in your mind.” She covered a yawn. “I need some sleep.” She stood and wandered out of the room.

  I stretched and turned on my side to get some rest, but sleep didn’t come. Instead, a vision of that file cabinet shook under the pressure. It was only a matter of time before the metal holding it all together gave.

  Chapter 8

  Voices pulled me out of the stupor I had fallen into. It sounded like a gathering that had turned into a brawl downstairs. I crawled out of bed and made a beeline to the bathroom before I investigated the noise.

  When I had finished relieving myself and polishing my teeth, I climbed down the stairs. The moment I came into sight, the conversation near the stairs stopped. It looked like the same gathering that had been in Bridget’s living ro
om before Tom and I had ventured out to close the breach.

  My gaze landed on Fate, and her honey golden hair shined in the streaks of morning sunlight piercing the family room. Her aura wasn’t fluid like a normal aura. It seemed to be stuck, as if someone paused had it like a video.

  Movement next to her pulled my attention. A boy who looked like he was our age stood next to Fate. His eyes were as striking as Alex’s, but he had no aura, unlike almost all the people in the room sporting the brightness of angel blood.

  He gave me a nod and put his hand on Fate’s shoulder, calling her attention to me.

  She crossed to the bottom of the stairs and looked up at me. “We need to talk.”

  No one wanted to hear words like that from an entity like Fate. Me least of all, and I turned to go back upstairs. I didn’t want to hear that I needed to confront Lucifer again. I already knew that. I didn’t need to hear how many lives were at stake.

  “Faith.”

  Her sharp tone stopped me in my tracks. I hung my head and took a deep breath. What I really wanted was Alex and his warm arms around me, but I hadn’t seen him in the madness that was CJ’s family room.

  “I’ll talk with her, Julia,” the boy said to Fate and passed her. He climbed the stairs behind me and waved for me to lead the way.

  “Who are you?” I asked.

  He gave me a cockeyed smile. “I’m Nick.” He waved me up the stairs again.

  “You don’t have an aura,” I said, hesitant to move any farther. I couldn’t hear his thoughts, and when I tried to read his intentions like I had with Valerie earlier, I got a blank slate.

  He sighed. “No. I don’t suppose I do anymore. But I’m not here to collect you. I’m here to talk, and having this conversation is going to be difficult enough. We don’t need an audience.”

  “Who are you?” I asked, crossing my arms at the ever-increasing alarm budding inside me. I had to clamp down on the fire because my body was going into protection mode as if I’d walked into a death zone.

  Nick looked down and started to chuckle. “Well, technically I am death, so your sudden nervous energy isn’t unusual.”

  My legs lost the ability to hold me up, and I sat down hard on the step.

  He reached for me but I flinched.

  “Is there somewhere we can talk that is a little more private?” He shoved his hands into his pockets.

  I still couldn’t get my head around the fact that I was having a conversation with the Grim Reaper himself. A big German shepherd came barreling up the stairs and stopped at eye level with me. A low growl in his throat caught me off guard.

  “Levi, go play outside.” Nick pointed down the stairs. “She’s not going to hurt me.”

  The dog glanced at him, and then the growl ceased. He didn’t move from his intimidating spot, though.

  I stared at it, trying to read its chaotic aura. I hadn’t seen a dog since I’d returned from closing the breach, but this was not what I would have guessed one looked like. I envisioned them having the same light as an angel descendant. Before I could stop myself, I reached out and touched its fur.

  Shock filtered through me. It was like touching a giant lizard and not a fur-covered creature. I pulled my hand away and scuttled up the stairs meeting Nick’s bemused stare as he followed me.

  This was not how I envisioned spending my evening. What I really wanted was another spell alone with Alex. Not a conversation with death. I stepped into Alex’s room, and Nick closed the door behind him.

  “We came last night,” he said. “Whatever happened to you fractured the barriers between purgatory and here. We understand there were some bigger cracks created in hell.” He took a seat in the desk chair, and his dog sat beside him.

  I sat down on the bed and just stared at him. “Excuse me?”

  “There are at least a hundred tears in the fabric between this plane and beyond. Some big enough to let things through. Others are just ripples in the air, but with persistence from the other side, they will weaken and tear.” He crossed his arms. “You need to shut them down. This takes precedence over going after Lucifer.”

  Gooseflesh rose across my arms, and I rubbed them. I didn’t think there was anything more imperative than bringing Lucifer down.

  He wiped his face. “Normally, I would agree, but there are now things out there that don’t care about the order of things. And if things go out of wack, like too many people die that aren’t supposed to, then earth becomes a battle ground for the gods. Heaven and hell will flood this land, and if you think Lucifer’s end of times is bad, this is infinitely worse.” He pulled a list out of his pocket and handed it to me.

  I chewed on his words and took a deep breath, unfolding the sheet of paper. Locations were listed, including longitude and latitude coordinates. Dozens of locations worldwide.

  “Does Lucifer know about this?” I waved the list. If he did, then everyone here was in danger.

  Death shrugged. “I don’t know, but if his minions have gotten out of hell, it won’t be long before he does.”

  There was no way I was going to leave Alex in the line of fire, but I didn’t know how safe closing the breaches would be either. I also needed to find that stinking knife.

  I glanced up at Nick. “Do you know where the knife that was built using heaven’s light might be?”

  His jaw tightened as he looked out the window. “I know the area where it was lost but I’m not sure that is the best course of action.”

  “Why?”

  “Because none of us know how that thing works. It was never used. But the lore is that it will wipe someone or something out of existence. No more. No heaven, no hell, no purgatory. As if they never existed. So that begs the question that I know you have already entertained. Is it from point in time forward, or does it wipe the thing out from all existence?”

  I picked at a hangnail and nodded.

  “If you use it on Lucifer, and the worst case happens, hell no longer exists as it does today. Lucifer’s lineage disappears, and that includes you and the Ryans.” He snapped his fingers. “Gone in an instant. The question that comes after that is what is the world like without hell or the devil? Does evil even exist? The world may be better off at first glance, but it also could have been destroyed eons ago. There is no way of knowing what will happen, so I am very hesitant to point you to its location.”

  I ran my hand through my hair. “Fate said...”

  “I don’t care what Julia said. She has no clue of what that knife will do either. Even her book of those fated to die doesn’t give her a clue. Usually she can see the alternatives...” He stood, glancing out the window at the ocean. “There is already an out of balance now that people have died that weren’t supposed to.” He sighed. “More will die due to the breaches, and Lucifer will continue to wreak havoc. So, the prescribed course of action is close the breaches, and then stop Lucifer.”

  “And what if I cannot beat Lucifer with angel fire alone?” I asked.

  He turned back to me. “Then I will bring you the knife myself.”

  Chapter 9

  I sat on the bed, stunned by everything Nick had told me. I had to leave soon, and I was not prepared for a nomad’s existence. Tom’s journey to close hell’s portals had taken him ten years. I stared at the paper in my hands, the map to all the breaches my little time jump seizure had created.

  A throat cleared in the doorway, and I glanced over, right into Alex’s inquisitive gaze. A hollowness spread through my core, and I folded the paper in my hands and stuffed it into my pocket. Nick had said Alex couldn’t come with me, that it would be too dangerous for someone without powers or special skills.

  I didn’t know how to tell Alex I was leaving him again. And leaving for a significant amount of time, not just a handful of hours. He stepped into the room, and my gaze lowered, landing on his bandaged hands.

  I scrambled to my feet. “What happened to your hands?”

  He glanced at the bandages and shrugged. “My touch w
asn’t strong enough to stop the flames when you were freaking out with the time jumps. But at least I stopped you from doing any damage to the house.” His smile seemed strained as he moved closer, kicking the door closed. “I understand we’re going on an adventure?”

  The hopeful lilt of his voice tugged at my heart. It would have been easier if I had just slipped out without seeing his pleading eyes.

  I inhaled deeply and let out a slow stream of air. “I don’t know about we...” I dropped my gaze to the floor.

  “Please,” he whispered, and it filled the room with an uncomfortable silence.

  When I didn’t look up, he crossed and stood close enough for my focus to fall on his chest. He tilted my head up with one of his bandaged hands, and while he tried to hide it, his wince of pain did not go unnoticed.

  “Don’t leave me here.” This time it wasn’t a plea—it was a demand. The anger dancing in his eyes made me take a step back, right into his desk.

  “It’s too dangerous.” I repeated what I had been told, but it just felt empty.

  He laughed. “And staying here isn’t?”

  I couldn’t disagree with him. Being here was just as fraught with danger as being with me, but I doubted either of his parents would let him go galivanting all over the globe with me. Not when I was walking into dangerous situations every time I approached a breach.

  “If anything were to happen to you...”

  He stopped me with his lips. “If I stay, something is sure to happen to me, and you know it.” He pressed his lips harder against mine.

  I opened my mouth to protest, but that just gave his tongue access. Any coherent thought of mine disappeared. When he finally pulled away, I had to shake the fog out of my head.

  “You don’t have any special abilities,” I said.

  “No. But I am a blackbelt, and I can take care of my own unless I’m hit with a tranquilizer.” He lifted his bandaged hands. “And I apparently can stop fire, so don’t give me that shit about not having special abilities. Just because I can’t shoot fire or move things with my mind doesn’t make me helpless.”