If this kept up, the people of Dove Creek would near extinction soon.
“I think we’ll find all the new ones that way,” I said.
“We will,” Creed said from behind us.
His expression was tight as he handed me the arrow he had plucked from the other vampire’s skull.
Dylan lit the big male body and uprighted himself.
“Don’t sweat it,” he told Creed, clapping him on the shoulder. “We’ll figure this out just like we do everything else.”
I wished I was as sure of that as my brother and I wasn’t the only one. Creed clearly had his doubts.
Short of finding and sealing the breech in the Planes, I wasn’t sure what else we could do to prevent the demons from making more hosts.
Unless they didn’t need more hosts…
Chapter 2
“You okay, sugar?” Creed interrupted my train of thought.
“Huh? Oh, yeah. Fine. What was it you said?”
“You’re about to brew a pot of nothing but hot water,” he pointed out.
I looked down at the coffeemaker and slid out the basket. Empty filter.
“Dammit,” I muttered.
“Got something on your mind? You’ve been quiet since the bonfire.”
Scooping coffee grounds into the filter, I started the maker and propped my hip against the kitchen counter.
“Yeah, I have an idea, or at least part of an idea. I’m not sure it’s a good one, that’s what I’m hung up on.”
“Does it have anything to do with all the new hosts the vampires are taking?”
“It has everything to do with that.”
Before I could elaborate, Dylan poked his head into the kitchen.
“Thought I smelled coffee,” he grinned and walked all the way into the room. “Just came in from the armory. That vamp I axed left some bits of himself behind.”
How my brother could be so buoyant after a night in the field and scrubbing vampire guts off his axe blade, I didn’t know. I both loved him and envied him for it.
“Gabe’s right behind me,” he added as he took four mugs out of the cabinet. “He got pretty banged up.”
“It’s not that bad,” Gabriel piped up when he appeared from around the corner.
I knew he’d gotten a busted lip, but in the light it was easy to see a blackening eye and a bruised cheek besides.
“I’ll get you an ice pack,” I said.
He made to wave me off, but I gave him a look that conveyed my lack of tolerance for an argument.
“You okay, Rem?” he asked as I rummaged in the freezer.
With Meredith’s ability to heal injuries, we had little use for first aid. The ice packs had migrated to the back of the freezer behind tubs of Blue Bell and the frozen pizzas Aric likes.
“I’m fine,” I said after fishing out Blue Ice from under Moo-llenium Crunch. “A few bruised ribs, that’s all.”
“You wanna call Meredith?” Creed asked.
“Nah, I wouldn’t want her to waste the energy,” I said.
“Same here,” Gabe added. “Looks worse than it feels.”
“That’s good, ‘cause it looks terrible,” I told him, handing over the ice pack.
Creed handed me a cup of coffee and I sniffed it with an appreciation that never waned, no matter how many cups I sipped standing right there in that kitchen.
“Thank you,” I smiled up at him.
He winked at me, and my insides went warm and fuzzy.
“Want to finish telling me your idea or wait til later?”
I heard the implied ‘until we’re alone’ in his question, but considering my budding theory would affect how all the Amasai would operate, sharing was in the cards. Besides, my partner and my brother were the next ones I would’ve gone to.
I took a sip of the coffee he had made for me, paused, and stirred in some more creamer.
“Now’s good,” I said.
Dylan’s ears pricked up like a hound on the trail, so I held up a hand to calm his enthusiasm.
“It’s only an idea,” I prefaced. “But with all the new victims from the demons taking new hosts—” Creed’s face fell, and I reached out to touch his arm. “It’s not a guilt-trip, it’s just our reality now,” I told him. “But every time we kill one, we’re only sending them back to Hell on a temporary trip. When they were taking the dead from the cemetery, that at least kept them from feeding for a while, but now…”
“I think I know where you’re going with this,” Gabe said when I trailed off. “You might be on to something.”
I nodded. “For every demon we send back, that’s one more dead body when they’re summoned again. So maybe we shouldn’t send them back.”
“And what? They just run free?” Dylan asked.
“No, we still fight them, keep them from feeding. Keep them contained. We injure them, but don’t deal the death blow,” I explained.
“It’s a good idea,” Gabriel said. “It’ll work, at least for now. We’ll need a more permanent solution.”
“We find the breech and close it,” I said.
“It can’t be that simple. Haven’t the Amasai been looking for it since your dad’s day?” Creed pointed out.
“Not continuously,” Gabe said, almost to himself. He was looking into the distance, not focused on any one thing. “They tried searching in the beginning, but decided their efforts were better spent expelling the demons. As Remi said, though, times have changed. We need to return to the Founders’ original intent.”
“And how do we do that?” Dylan asked. “Must be like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“It is. We’ll have to be strategic. Even with our current numbers and extra help from Matt and Ty, we can’t be everywhere at once. Let’s think about it more and come up with a plan,” I said.
Gabriel chuckled. “Never thought I’d hear you say those words.”
Creed looked confused, and Dylan let him in on the joke. “In case you haven’t noticed, ‘think about it’ and ‘plan’ aren’t in my sister’s vocabulary.”
I swatted him. “Except they are. I just said them.”
My brother made a face back at me, which drew a laugh from Creed. “If they’re like this now, how bad were they as kids?”
“Have you met their mother? The woman should be nominated for sainthood when the time comes,” Gabe said.
Creed gave me a pointed look. “I haven’t had that pleasure yet.”
Nor had I met his. With all of our respective parents living in Westview, we had no excuse apart from not making the time.
“I’ll put in a good word,” Dylan offered.
“Good man.”
I rolled my eyes. “Now that’s sorted out, I’m gonna go get some rest.”
I drained my coffee mug and stuck it in the dishwasher. The others followed suit since the morning was getting away from us.
“Hugo is in the rotation tonight,” Gabe said. “Let’s come in a little early and discuss your idea.”
“Okay, yeah. Let’s do that,” I agreed.
The four of us filtered out of the kitchen and toward the front door. Garret was nowhere to be found, likely already gone to bed. I didn’t blame him—I was ready to do the same.
I slid into the passenger seat of Creed’s Escalade and buckled up. As soon as he shut his door and we were alone, I turned toward him.
“You have to stop blaming yourself for what the demons are doing. They’re the ones killing people, not you,” I told him as we left the driveway.
“They wouldn’t be killing so many if I hadn’t taken their hosts,” he argued.
“And you wouldn’t have taken them if Eden hadn’t threatened to kill me. Look, we can talk this in circles all day, or we can try a new way of doing things and deal with what’s in front of us instead of wishing it didn’t happen.”
Creed winced like I had slapped him. “Little harsh, don’t you think?”
My rigid posture softened, and I changed my tone. “I spen
t a lot of time longing for different circumstances when Dominic was killed. It didn’t change anything, only made me more miserable. Accept that a terrible thing has happened, then figure out what you can do to make it better.”
Creed reached over and stroked my cheek. “Sometimes I forget how much you’ve been through.”
“This isn’t about me.”
Creed swung his SUV into the spot next to my jeep and put it in park. The lot outside my apartment building was all but empty, everyone gone to work for the day.
I undid my seatbelt and shifted to look at him.
“What can I do to help you?” I asked. “Living in guilt is no way to live.”
Creed shook his head. “I don’t know. I keep thinking if only I can save enough lives, evict enough demons, I’ll make up for my mistake. And now we know we’ve only been making it worse.”
“We’ve all made mistakes along the way—”
“Any as spectacular as bringing down a zombie apocalypse on an entire town?”
“Well, no…”
“And there it is. I’m a freak, Remi. I tried to do something good, and it backfired.”
“You are not a freak. You have a powerful gift—one you were given for a reason. We just have to learn what that reason is.”
“You keep saying ‘we,’” he pointed out.
“I’m here to help,” I told him. “But if you’d rather I butt out…”
“No. No, it’s not that. I’m just still amazed you want to do this with me. It’s not like I deserve it.”
I reached out and smoothed his frown lines with my thumb. Taking his face in my hands, I kissed him.
“You’re wrong.”
“How do you know?” he asked.
I put the palm of my hand over his heart. “This, right here. It’s full of good.” I paused and gave his temple a gentle tap with my finger. “So stop overthinking with this.”
Creed smiled and nodded.
The confident swagger, the infectious grin, the untouchable calm… All had disappeared with the zombie attack. I convinced myself all he needed was some time, but weeks had passed with little change. He was too in his head all the time, certain some horrible punishment was due him.
It was the old Creed I had fallen for, but I wasn’t about to turn tail because he was changed by guilt he didn’t need to shoulder.
What I had told Gabriel earlier in the night was true—Creed didn’t know himself. It was at the root of his self-doubt and crushing guilt.
I couldn’t steer him toward who he was, but I could help with what he was, and that was as good a place as any to start. It was time to go to Yescha. If anyone would be able to help us find the truth of Creed’s origins, it was her.
“C’mon, let’s go in,” I told him. “I’ll make us breakfast, then we can get some sleep.”
Chapter 3
Not for the first time, I wished my dad was still around to ask him questions. From the time I had joined the Amasai, I had winnowed a few pointers out of him during our sporadic contact. He had mostly told me to learn from Hugo and trust him.
What I needed to know was how to get in touch with Yescha. How does one summon a guardian angel? Besides being in mortal danger or needing a divine power-up. The first, I couldn’t trust. What if I took a swan dive off the nearest cliff, only to find it didn’t merit divine intervention? And the second, I had already gotten—twice.
I rolled onto my back and stared at the ceiling. Next to me, Creed lifted his head and peered at me.
“Hey, sugar,” he murmured.
“Hey. Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“You didn’t. Watchya thinking about?”
“You,” I confessed. “I think Yescha could tell us about where your ability originates. She gave all of us Amasai our abilities. It stands to reason she might know about yours, or point us in the right direction, at least.”
“It makes sense, but how do we communicate with her? And if we’re able to, why would a guardian angel want to bother helping me?”
“She will. You’re Amasai now and she told us it’s her duty to help us when she can. But I don’t know the answer to your first question, so that’s the problem.”
“Has she only come to you the times before?” he asked.
“Yes, she came the first time when she gave us our powers and helped defeat Apollyon. The second time, she summoned me to the Astral Plane. I would’ve expected her to show up for the zombies, but she had been distracted by something—”
“Did you say Astral Plane?”
“Yeah, it was weird. Like a dream, only not…” I trailed off when I realized what Creed was putting together. “Wait. That’s where you go when you reanimate the dead.”
“My consciousness. Which is probably what Yescha did when she summoned you there.”
“Take us,” I said. “You can take us to that Plane and we’ll be able to find Yescha there.”
“What? No, it’s too dangerous. I won’t risk your safety.”
“I’ll decide what risks I’m willing to take, thank you.”
“Then you need to understand fully. Your spirit will be separated from your physical being. If something goes wrong, that separation could be permanent. Your body would die and your soul would be ripped apart, leaving you to wander as a ghost.”
I propped my head up on my arm, undeterred. “Yeah, great. Thanks for that cheerful outlook.”
“It’s not that I’m undermining you deciding for yourself. If something happened to you while we’re trying to uncover my origins, I’d never be able to live with myself.”
“I get that and I understand the risk. But I’ve been to the Astral Plane once before and came back fine. Finding Yescha may be our only shot at getting some actual answers.”
Creed closed his eyes, rubbed his face with his hand. “I’ll think about it. I’ve never taken anyone with me before, so I need to consider how.”
“Good,” I smiled. “I’m sure you’ll come up with something.”
“Anybody ever tell you you’re like a bloodhound on the scent when you’ve made up your mind about something?” Creed grinned at me.
I gave him a peck on the lips. “Not in so many words, but the word stubborn seems to get thrown around a lot. What are you up to tonight?”
“I’m on the graveyard shift at the downtown shop.”
After the dust settled from the zombie attack, Creed had started working with the rest of us at the pawnshops. Since there hadn’t been an opening for a steady spot in any one of them, he filled in wherever anybody needed some help in the schedule.
It was good for him. He was well liked by the others, and it kept him busy when he wasn’t on Amasai duty.
“Well, that oughta give you plenty of time to come up with a plan,” I told him. “I’m gonna go get ready since I need to get to HQ. Wanna grab an early dinner before I go?”
“Yeah, Sugar. That sounds good.”
I got out of bed and headed for the bathroom, but peeked back at him as I got to the doorway.
He had put a smile on his face when we were talking, but that had faded. Then, when he thought I wasn’t looking, he stared at the ceiling like it had all the answers. He looked for all the world like a man in misery.
* * *
“So what you’re saying is, we continue to defend people, but don’t actually kill the vampires?” Hugo asked.
He, Aric, Gabriel, and I were in the armory getting ready for our shift on watch. I pulled on my jacket and made sure my throwing knives were in place.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” I confirmed. “If we injure them enough that they’re incapacitated but the demon soul isn’t released back to Hell, that’s fewer people who get killed.”
“I agree with your logic, mija,” Hugo said as he sheathed his sword. “We’ll need to keep a close eye on their numbers to make sure we’re not giving them an opportunity to grow their ranks.”
“And keep them on the defensive,” Gabe added. “If th
ey’re constantly in recovery mode, there’s not much they can do to increase.”
“And we should look for the crossroads in the meantime,” I added.
“As long as our efforts to do so don’t interfere with protecting people, I’m all for it. I’ve been wanting to slam the door in the demons’ faces for years,” Hugo said.
“We have technology on our side now,” Aric added. “It might be possible for Garret to set something up where we monitor activity, look for patterns.”
“That’s a great idea,” Gabe said.
Not surprising in the least that my partner would cabbage onto that way of searching since it would be based on hard data. I smiled as I slid an arrow into the last gap in my quiver.
“Let’s begin the strategy tonight, assuming we get the opportunity,” Hugo said. “And we should be going.”
He and Aric went back to the house so he could tell Meredith goodbye. Instead of going back inside, Gabe and I went straight around to the driveway.
“I’ll drive tonight, if you want,” I said.
“Be my guest.”
We loaded into my truck and I fired up the engine. My jeep had gotten out of the shop a couple weeks before, and I thought about it sitting neglected in an extra spot at my apartment building. It and the big, green Ford had swapped places, and it was now my back-up.
I didn’t need two vehicles, but the truck was paid off. God forbid I get into any more high-speed chases that end in shooting and flames.
When my partner settled himself into the passenger seat, it put the injured side of his face toward me. The swelling wasn’t too noticeable, but the bruising had darkened more since that morning.
“How’s your eye?” I asked as I put the truck in gear and pulled out of the driveway.
“Not too bad. Meredith offered to fix it earlier, but sometimes it’s good to remember I’m just a normal human being. Not invincible.”
“A normal human being who moves things with his mind,” I smirked.
Gabe chuckled. “There’s that.”
I took the two-lane highway that went the short couple miles to Whitewing Lake. Our route would take us through the community on that side of the water and off to the southeast.
Three Times Burned: A Paranormal Fantasy (Remington Hart Book 3) Page 2
