The Lost Soul Trilogy (Primani Book 5) (41 page)

“Mica, wait!” Sean looked like he wanted to stop me.

“Get out of my way!”

Stepping aside, he waved me forward, and I stalked out of the room. I was hunting now. Someone was going to pay. Flipping on the lights room by room, I was only vaguely aware of the destruction around me. Bodies were everywhere. I counted three before I got back to the living room. A soft groan caught my attention and I searched for the source. There, near the kitchen, was a familiar face. What the hell? He was on his feet, but hunched over a chair. He was having trouble standing.

“Balin?” I said. Surprise stopped me from shooting him in the head on sight.

He turned my direction and I gagged. His arm, shoulder, and half of his chest had been blown away and black fluid ran freely from the gaping wound. Before I could say anything, Sean stopped beside me. He took one look at Balin and raised the silver knife. What had once been Balin disappeared as the knife struck true. As the body vanished, the knife clattered on the tile.

“Nice throw,” I complimented.

There were two more dead guys near the front of the house, but the rest of the place was clear. That was unfortunate. I was still boiling mad and really wanted to blow up another demon or two. Practically howling with frustration, I caught my breath and rubbed my stinging eyes.

There was no one left to blow up. Damn it.

I settled for kicking a dead guy in the head before sprinting down the hallway to check on Dani. Dec glanced up when I walked in.

“She’ll be okay. I’ve healed the cuts and put her into a deep sleep.” He looked miserable. “I’m going to erase her memories.”

I looked down at her pretty face and the bloody sheets. “I think that’s best.”

Supernatural energy is useful not only for killing demons, but also for housework. I was on my hands and knees drowning blood splatters with a bottle of bleach. This house was one massive crime scene. Cleaning was going to take weeks. Maybe we should just burn it down and move? It was nearly dawn when the guys came looking for me. I had no idea what they were up to. I’d assumed they were getting rid of the bodies.

Something in the hesitation of their footsteps made me look up. Killian had a peculiar expression on his face. It was a cross between respect, confusion, and fear. A sense of dread tightened my stomach, and I steeled myself for more pain. What else could go wrong today?

“What is it?” I reached out to Sean, and he wrapped his arm over my shoulders. He touched me like I might explode. His face was white but he didn’t say anything.

Killian said, “Come outside. There’s something you need to see.” His mouth twitched in the tiniest imitation of a smile.

“Okaaaay…” My stomach clenched again and I swallowed the sudden rush of saliva that signaled imminent puking. Cold sweat broke out on my forehead and the light got very dim.

“Hey, hey!” Sean shook me gently. “No puking or passing out right now. This is important.” He lifted me up and carried me out to the yard.

Dec was already there. He was kneeling over something that held his undivided attention. He didn’t even turn when we approached. We stopped behind him and he jumped as if surprised to see us there. I got the feeling he was blocking my view of something. He stood directly in front of me with his arms spread out. The light behind him cast his face in shadows. I couldn’t read his mood.

“What’s going on? You guys are freaking me out.”

“You and me both,” Dec said as he stepped to the side.

I stared. I turned my head to the side to see it from a different angle. I stared some more. My brain couldn’t comprehend the message my eyes were sending it. I shut my eyes and opened them.

It was still there.

How was this possible?

Behind me, Sean’s chest vibrated with silent laughter. Unable to hold it in, he finally burst out laughing.

“Well, that’s one mystery solved,” he wheezed.

“What mystery?”

“Who vaporized me.”

I stared at the body in front of me. He was bent backwards and sprawled like a rag doll. He’d been thrown on top of the fountain he lay on. The whites of his eyes gleamed dully in the misty early light. Something glinted on the grass and I reached for it. It was his knife. I dropped it like it burned me.

How did he get out here? It made no sense to me…and yet...What about the time the demon tried to kill Trevor? He’d blown up and both Trevor and Domino ended up outside in the snow. That was just a weird fluke, wasn’t it? But there was also the demon in the rest stop…All the people in the rest stop! And most devastating of all…Sean exploding in the basement…I wanted to deny it, but the truth was right in front of me.

“No…I…” My stomach rebelled, and I ran to the bushes.

“Dec, get rid of him.” Killian’s voice barely penetrated the ringing in my ears.

I retched until my stomach was empty and still couldn’t hold down the waves of nausea. It was me? Oh, God. I vaporized my soul mate! Gagging, I retched again and still my stomach roiled. There wasn’t much left to puke but I thought I could do it again. Memories overwhelmed me and I curled into myself. All the hell we went through…all of us, but Sean most of all. We were so lost without him, but he was scattered.

I am the world’s worst girlfriend--ever!

“Mica? Let’s go. I’m not going to stand here and watch you torture yourself over this. It's not your fault.” Dragging me upright, he said, “Get dressed. We’re going for a run.”

“A what? Are you nuts?”

“You heard me. Get your running clothes on. We’re getting out of here.” He nudged me towards the house. To Killian he said, “I hope you don’t need us right now.”

The first mile was the hardest. My breath wouldn’t come through my clogged nose, and I was still struggling not to throw up. Ignoring my distress, he left me behind when I slowed down, so I had to sprint to catch up to him. He kept the same relentless pace we always had and took the familiar route through the trees and down the dirt road. I had to focus on the path to keep from twisting my ankle and soon I had no room for thinking at all. By the end of the third mile, I was breathing normally again and feeling the boost of endorphins kick in. Looking over his shoulder at me, he slowed down a little to let me run beside him on the road.

I tried to gauge his mood but his expression was neutral. If anything, he seemed pretty relaxed. At the end of the fourth mile, he slowed to a walk and stopped near a tree stump to stretch. This was part of our routine too. We always stopped here to stretch. Bending down, he tied my shoe for me and smiled at my surprise.

“You just don’t get it, do you?” he mocked me gently. “This isn’t your fault. You always want to blame yourself, but it’s not your fault.” He gave me a playful kiss on my open mouth and laughed at me.

“You keep forgetting your powers came from me in the first place, and let’s not discount your destiny…You always think you have control, but you don’t. The angels have been generous with your powers.  Whatever this is, it's a new power. You get new powers when you need them and not before. But you
do
have to learn to use them, and that’s where control comes in.” He stressed the last part with a hard look at me.

“But you could’ve died!”

“But I didn’t. Did I? No. Your powers sent me away and brought me back.
You
did that, Mica.” He was sitting on the ground stretching now. He looked up at me and asked, “You didn’t
intend
to kill me, did you?”

“No!”

“Okay then, the fact that you brought me back here tells me that we’re supposed to be together.” He rolled his shoulders. “Otherwise, why bother to give you the strength to bring me back?”

Pulling me to him, he kissed my forehead and said, “I forgive you, but you have to forgive yourself. Okay?”

Curling my fingers in the soft material of his shirt, I thought about that. He had a good point. Maybe my vaporizing him was a mistake and the Power that hands out powers decided to help me fix it.

Watching me carefully, he grinned at my conclusion and said, “That’s my girl. Now, we have to get back. God only knows what’s going on at the house.”

Dani was still sleeping and Dec was cleaning when we got back. All the windows were wide open and candles were burning all over the place. I sniffed and my nose curled in on itself. Yuck! It smelled like cinnamon and a slaughterhouse in here. It was so hard to get the smell of incinerated demons out of the furniture.

We really needed to figure some things out, but no one wanted to risk Dani overhearing anything. So Killian left to report the attack to Alex and the rest of us cleaned the house. It was good to be the boss.  Dani finally woke up and stumbled into the kitchen about 3:00 in the afternoon. Wrinkling her nose, she asked about the horrible smell.

Dec smiled guilelessly and said, “Mica’s cooking. We had to throw out the whole thing, pan and all. It’s amazing what she can do with perfectly good cow.”

Dani rubbed her eyes and asked, “Since when do you cook?”

“My point exactly!” Dec thought he was very clever.

“Oh, ha ha. Don’t you have something to do…someplace else?” I hinted.

“Not really--” he started to say but then the light bulb went off. “Oh, yeah, you’re right! I have to fix my door.” He leaned over and gave Dani a hug and told her to hang in there.

She seemed better today though. The haunted look in her eyes was gone and she had some color in her cheeks. I searched her face for any signs that she remembered the attack.

“How are you feeling?”

She sighed and said, “I keep forgetting that he’s gone. Is that horrible? It’s so crazy, Mica.” She wrung her hands and looked over at me for reassurance.

“It’s just happened and you haven’t had time to get used to it. Don’t beat yourself up about it. You’ll know he’s gone soon enough.”

Her face fell.

Geez, I’m so insensitive! Quickly, I added, “What I mean is, this is such a shock. You haven’t had time to get used to it. It’s going to suck for a while, but you’ll get through this. We’re here for you, whatever you need.”

She wiped her eyes and glanced at her phone. “I need to get home. My mom is freaking out. She’s called me four times. I’m glad you’re here. I feel better when I’m with you.”

She glanced down the hallway that Dec had disappeared into. “It’s funny, though…”

“What’s funny?”

She smiled crookedly and said, “Every time I’m around Dec, I seem to lose time. It’s odd. I just can’t remember things.” She looked over at me with a question in her eyes. “Have you ever noticed that?”

I nodded seriously. “I blame it on his sparkling personality. It’s easy to get swept away by him. He’s such a sweet guy.” I was sure he was listening. “And you can’t ignore the power of the dimples.”

Her own dimples made a reluctant appearance at that. “He does have amazing dimples, doesn’t he?”

I hoped the smell of fried chicken would replace the disgusting burnt demon smell that still lingered in the air. It was comforting to putter in the kitchen after the drama of last night. After Dec’s funny little comment about my cooking abilities, I felt challenged to prove I could cook something from scratch. Frozen lasagna didn’t count. In the interest of a well-rounded meal, we were having mashed potatoes and biscuits with the chicken. I was flipping chicken and poking at boiling potatoes while Sean and Dec stayed out of ear shot. Apparently there was some concern that they’d be asked to help...

“You okay?” Killian’s question broke through my thoughts.

He must’ve traveled in since I didn’t hear the door. He was dressed in jeans and a Candlelight Red t-shirt. I wondered if he appreciated the irony of their latest video called “Demons.” He took the tongs out of my hand and poked at the chicken. Well, this was new. Killian, cooking?

He looked up at me and winked. “What’s wrong with you? You look surprised. I’ve been alone for a long time, Princess.” He gestured at his well-maintained body. “Do I look like I’m starving? I
can
cook, you know.”

I had nothing to say to that, so I reassured him that I was mostly okay. “I’m not sure, really. I’m just trying to separate all of the crappy things that have happened in the last 24 hours. I don’t know what to deal with first.” I nibbled the crispy coating off a wing and thought about that.

Crossing his feet and leaning back, he considered my answer over his own wing. He blew on the meat before stripping off an entire side in one bite. Licking grease off his fingers, he narrowed his eyes and said, “Hmmm. Aric first, right? Dani’s your first priority.”

At my nod, he continued, “I liked Aric. He was a nice kid. It’s a shame he’s dead, but death happens. His family will have a funeral and Dani will grieve. You’ll help her grieve because that’s what you do. You help people.”

“After a few months, Dani will start to forget the pain of losing Aric and she’ll move on to someone else.” He shrugged at my snort of outrage. “You know she will. Come on, Mica, she’s a pretty girl. Do you think she’ll become a nun and hide from men for the rest of her life?”

Probably he was right. But did he have to be…so, so, right all the time?