by J. E. Taylor
I screamed, pushing more power into my fire. The gap widened, and bodies started pushing through. Panic bloomed as the first charred figure fell through the breach. Its red eyes turned towards us and it smiled.
“God damn demons,” Tom muttered.
I aimed my palm at the thing. Once they were on this side, they had no defense against the force of a human blowtorch, but that didn’t help us. The minute I torched him, two more tumbled out.
“I’m coming for you,” a voice carried through the breach. A voice I recognized but my singular focus wouldn’t allow me to draw a name.
Tom’s face went deathly pale. “Give it everything you have.”
I concentrated, grinding my teeth as more demons fell onto this side of the breach. When blue eyes peered out through my wall of fire, I gasped and renewed my effort, letting the overwhelming panic fuel the fire.
Lucifer was coming.
I threw not only flame, but force behind it. Force strong enough to rival category five hurricane gales, so those that broke through had to be strong.
A storm brewed overhead.
“You know what you have to do,” Tom said, stepping close.
“No!” I screamed, using the grief that had snuck up on me as more fuel.
“You have to,” Tom whispered. “It’s either him or you, and I’m betting on you.”
The roar of the wind surged around us and I stared into Tom’s eyes.
He tore his shirt open, revealing Raphael’s sigil on his chest, and pointed at the breach. “If Lucifer gets through, I’m dead anyway.”
“I can’t.” My throat tightened at the thought of eating a human heart. “You should have killed me that first day.”
His gaze hardened. “Don’t ever think that. Ever. You understand?”
I nodded, feeling the full force of Tom’s impending death even more than the loss of my mother. This was my fault.
His gaze flicked to the disturbance between worlds, and then he closed his eyes. Clenching his jaw, his skin broke open like a scalpel running down the length of his chest.
I gasped in horror. I couldn’t imagine the pain, but the shake in his tight fists gripping his shirt conveyed it anyway.
He cried out as bones snapped, and his rib cage ripped through his skin, giving me a clear view of his innards.
“Take the grace,” he said, and his lungs inflated and deflated with his labored breath.
The fact he’d cracked open his own sternum terrified me, and the hold I had on the portal waned. Fire spit like crackling embers from my ungloved hand.
If I failed, Lucifer along with the entirety of hell would be let loose on earth. The chaos and destruction would be unimaginable. Tom knew what kind of massacre would happen if my father got loose. He was willing to sacrifice his life to give me the only source of power that could stop it.
I reached into his chest with my gloved hand and grasped his heart. The beat of the muscle continued, and tears clouded my vision.
He met my gaze. “Do it,” he commanded.
I screamed as I yanked his heart from his chest, and the fire flared brighter. I had no choice. If I didn’t ingest his heart and absorb Lucifer’s grace, my power wouldn’t be strong enough to repair the rift. My father was already halfway through. If he made it to this side, mankind would perish.
My fire was the only thing keeping him from reaching this world.
I closed my eyes and shoved the still beating muscle into my mouth, then bit off half of it. The chewy consistency and warm blood made me gag, but I forced the bite down, and kept eating until it was gone. I wouldn’t let Tom die in vain.
He had once described what it was like to absorb grace, and he was right. With blood still dripping down my chin, my entire form went rigid as the grace of two angels and every last ounce of Tom’s gifts fused in my cells.
Memory upon memory clenched my muscles. Pain radiated outward, causing a chain reaction. I screamed but still held fast, blasting the portal with all I had.
I had no idea if Tom lived long enough to see my transformation. But I got a good view of it in the reflection of the cottage windows. Wings of fire formed on my back, burning into my skin before they turned as black as the void. The fire flowing from my hand tripled in strength, turning into white-hot angel fire, annihilating the rift between worlds and anything in its path.
When the searing agony abated, I was left with only sparks in the air, the closed portal, and Tom’s dead body at my feet. My chest constricted, and I dropped to my knees. I pressed his hand to my lips as my tears drenched his cold fingers.
“Just remember to keep your promise,” Tom’s voice rang in the clearing.
I looked up and blinked at Tom’s ghostly figure. I nodded, trying to get a hold of the power snaking through my form. Lucifer’s grace was darkness personified, and it wanted to rule in my blood. Tom had carried this massive responsibility around for the last fifteen years, and I felt the weight of it smothering me. I had promised Tom that I would always reject the darkness, no matter how seductive it seemed.
“I will remember,” I whispered.
Tom smiled and faded into the smoky mist surrounding me.
I didn’t know how long I knelt next to Tom and cried. But when my mind finally kick-started back into order, I glanced at what he had done to his chest. I couldn’t bring him home looking like this, so I closed my eyes and tapped into what he had given me. Tom’s repairing of the living room window came to mind, and I wished his chest closed.
Sweat broke out on my forehead as I envisioned his ribs back in place, and his skin fused together, unbroken. When I opened my eyes, his chest still lay open.
“Damn it,” I whispered. I let go of his hand, placed my palms on the skin on the outside of the shattered ribs, and pushed. They collapsed in with a sickening crack. At least his chest was no longer open, but I had no clue how I was going to get him into the truck.
I climbed to my feet and took hold of his ankles. Dragging him to the truck took more energy than I thought I had, but somehow, I found enough reserves to get him to the side of the truck.
I struggled to get him over my shoulder to get him in the back. Tears heated my face with frustration and grief. I didn’t realize I was sobbing until I got him into the truck and closed the back door.
I buried my face in my hands and fell to my knees. What the hell was I going to tell them? That my bright idea nearly cost us the world? That it did cost Bridget and April their world?
“I knew this was a one-way ticket,” Tom’s voice echoed in my brain. “They knew it, too.”
His words didn’t help the devastation riding hot waves through my veins, but it gave me the strength to get to my feet. I wiped my face, and my gaze landed on the smoldering pile of bodies under where the rift had been.
Nothing moved at first, and then the pile fell away. One charred body rolled towards me. Blue eyes peered from a blackened face.
I gasped.
I knew those eyes.
Those were the eyes of my father.
The End
HOMECOMING – BOOK TWO
Being supercharged doesn’t mean you can stop the inevitable.
Faith Kennedy has no control over her own powers, never mind what Tom Ryan bequeathed to her. She must learn to control her natural fire abilities while harnessing all her new supernatural gifts without harming those she cares about most.
When Faith partners with Kylee Paradox, an ancient bounty hunter, to close rifts she created across the globe, her worst fear comes to fruition. Half a world away, Alex Ryan goes missing.
Faith must hunt down the devil before he can claim Alex as his own. If she fails, she may have to kill her one true soulmate.
Chapter 1
Driving without a license with a dead body in the back seat probably wasn’t my brightest idea. I didn’t give too much thought to my current predicament until the flashing lights and siren filled my rear window.
I swallowed the last bit of spit, and it
felt like I was trying to ingest a handful of spikes. I caught a glimpse of my face in the rearview mirror. There was no wiping the amount of blood smeared on me away. If the officer pulled me over, I would land in jail, and I was still way too close to where Lucifer was to take that chance.
“You aren’t chasing me,” I whispered, wishing it to be so.
The police car changed lanes and flew by me.
I uttered a high-pitched laugh. I wasn’t sure if that had been a result of my words or just dumb luck, but either way, I would take it. I wasn’t going insanely fast, like Tom had driving up to the cabin. But I wasn’t going the speed limit either.
I wanted home.
I wanted Alex’s arms.
I wanted someone to tell me what I did was okay.
I didn’t know if I would get any of those things.
My vision blurred.
I wiped away my tears and focused on the road. Pushing the pedal to the floor was tempting, but that was a surefire way to land in a world of trouble.
I glanced at the body lying prone on the back seat. Tom Ryan had died to save the world, but it had been all for nothing. Lucifer still got out before I was able to shut down the breach between our world and hell.
Instead of wallowing in growing despair, I focused on what had happened the moment I ate the last of Tom’s heart. My stomach lurched, and I swallowed back the bile. I had no idea what would happen if I vomited now. I certainly couldn’t do it at eighty miles per hour.
Tom’s memories swarmed in my head. But it wasn’t just his memories. It was so many others going back thousands of years to a time when archangels walked among us. My hands trembled with the sheer volume in my head. It rivaled the aching power pulsing just underneath my skin.
I didn’t have the first clue of how to use the arsenal I now had. That was quickly realized when I tried to close Tom’s chest, and nothing happened. But I sure felt every ounce of the power inside me. I thought my fire power was strong. This little infusion of angel magic made all my cells hum.
I reached the town of York at a little after midnight. My muscles ached with the tension tightening my body. I drove past Tom and Bridget’s house. I couldn’t face either Bridget or his Tom’s daughter, April, right now.
A lump formed in my throat, and I couldn’t swallow it. By the time I rolled up to the keypad at CJ’s gate, my entire form shook, and tears blurred my vision. I didn’t even have to roll my window down. The gate opened at the same time as the front door, and the blindingly pure light of CJ’s aura shined on the front walkway, making me squint.
I pulled into the driveway, put the truck in park, and engaged the parking break like Tom had taught me. That small activity brought the sobs back while I climbed out of the car. I made it two steps before I dropped to my knees on the walkway and buried my face in my hands.
“Where’s Tom?” CJ asked, and his voice carried worry that I couldn’t deal with.
I pointed at the truck. All I could do was shake my head.
CJ stumbled to his knees next to me. “He’s dead?”
His words pierced my heart along with his raw emotions. I felt the loss as if I were CJ, and it was crushing. I glanced up to see a stream of tears rolling down his face as he stared at the truck.
“We failed,” I squeaked out between sobs. “It was all for nothing.”
His gaze jumped to mine and widened.
A blur of motion came towards me, and then arms wrapped around me. It took a second to realize Alex had been the one to hug me, not CJ, but his presence didn’t stop the tears. It didn’t stop the churn of my stomach or the heat building inside me at my failure.
Alex helped me to my feet and led me towards the front door, leaving his father kneeling on the brick pavers.
There was no consoling CJ. His emotions flowed over me like a suffocating wave of fire. Even as Alex sat me on the couch and brought a wet towel to wipe my face, I couldn’t climb out from under the weight of CJ’s despair.
Alex cupped my chin and lifted it so I would meet his gaze. “Are you hurt?” he asked and then glanced down at the soiled cloth in his hand. His worried blue-eyes waited for an answer.
I shook my head, unable to articulate while I studied Alex’s aura. Light still shined, but it was much duller than CJ’s. My heart constricted in my chest, and the horror of what I’d unleashed prickled my skin.
His brow creased as he lowered in front of me. “Uncle Tom?”
“He…” My throat tightened, and I couldn’t say the words. How could I tell Alex that I’d ingested his uncle’s heart? That he was dead, and even with Lucifer’s grace riding my blood, we hadn’t won? How could I tell him he was now in real danger of becoming the devil’s vessel?
He glanced outside. “Where is Uncle Tom?”
“In the backseat.”
He stood but I grabbed his hand, shaking my head.
“Don’t,” I said.
“I’m okay. And if you are okay, I think I need to help my father.” He gave me a soft smile. “I guess there are some benefits to being nearly soulless.”
I nodded. His father’s emotions were still pounding into me like the waves on the rocks outside. But there was very little emanating from Alex. He left me. A few minutes later, he brought his father inside and sat him on the couch.
“Should I call Aunt Bridget?” Alex asked.
CJ looked up at his son and then over at me, his face scrunching as a new set of tears tracked down his cheeks. He wiped them away and took a shaky breath. “I’ll call her.” He stood and headed upstairs.
Alex resumed cleaning the blood off of me. His gentle touch kept drawing new tears.
Overwhelmed. That was the only thought that surfaced. I was not handling this very well considering I had watched cancer kill my mother.
But I was not the cause of my mother’s cancer. I was the cause of Tom’s death and probably of all those who surrounded me here. All that I loved would be destroyed because I wasn’t strong enough to keep Lucifer in his rightful cage.
“Show me,” Alex said softly.
I shook my head. The time jump was what had caused the breach before. I couldn’t guarantee another one would break open if I did it again, and I did not want to be responsible for hell’s army being released. It was bad enough Lucifer had survived.
“Were you able to close the breach?” he asked.
“Yes.” My voice shook as if I had a teeth-clacking shiver. “But he still got loose.”
Alex searched my gaze and then slowly sat down on the coffee table in front of me. He closed his eyes, and his thoughts swarmed my head.
I didn’t need to tell him the horrifying truth. He already knew.
“Well, then,” he said and opened his eyes. “I will need to be extra vigilant.”
I nodded and a new wave of tears heated my face. “I can’t even protect you,” I whispered.
“Don’t you have Uncle Tom’s gifts now?”
“I have no idea,” I said. “I tried to close his chest with whatever this is turning my bones to jelly inside me, but I failed at that, too.” I hung my head.
“What exactly happened?” CJ asked from the stairwell.
The room twisted out of focus and I tried to stop the time jump from happening by clamping my eyes shut, but it was out of my control. When I opened my eyes, we were all outside the little cottage.
I glanced up at Alex as hot panic welled up in my blood. I did not want them to actually see Tom’s death. It had been so brutal, so awful. My stomach did a slow roll, and I swallowed the sour bile that crawled up my throat.
* * * *
“What’s the plan?” Tom asked, looking at the ground.
“I figured if we both blast it, our combined power will close it,” she said.
I stared at my likeness and shivered. It was strange seeing myself, and now I understood the unease of both Tom and CJ when they’d witnessed my time jumps.
“I’ve never been able to control my angel fire.” Tom said, and t
hey stepped into the middle of the clearing twenty yards from the breach.
Her nervous laughter filled the tense air. “I’ve only suppressed mine, so I’m not very versed in control either.”
“Aren’t we a pair,” he said with a smile. “Here goes nothing.”
They aimed their palms toward the crackling light. Flames licked her hand, but that was it. A small ray of white light sputtered from his. They both stared at their hands with open mouths and creased brows.
She pulled her hand out of his grip and nearly torched her face before her fist closed. He closed his hand before the angel fire shot into the stratosphere.
Their eyes looked like wide anime eyes, and they both turned toward the breach in unison.
“Let’s try that again,” he said, and the moment their hands opened, white and blue flame shot from their palms.
Seeing us in action was spectacular and humbling. My chest squeezed because we should have been able to close the breach with our separate powers, but the opposite happened. The hole stretched, and screams of joy filled the air from the other side of the breach. That same sick feeling that had blanketed me at my cabin gripped me again.
“Jesus Christ!” Tom closed his palm and took a shaky step back. “We weakened it! Fuck!”
She screamed, and the flare from her palm brightened and only served to increase the gap. Bodies started pushing through the portal. Her face turned red with the effort, and tears tracked down her cheeks.
The first red-eyed demon smiled as it fell onto the earth, despite the shower of fire Faith aimed at it, but it finally charred under the blast.
“God damn demons,” Tom muttered.
The more demons she torched on this side of the portal, the more broke through.
A voice carried through the breach. “I’m coming for you.”
Tom’s face went deathly pale. “Give it everything you have.”
Her lips pressed together, and her eyes narrowed. The fire coming from her palm turned blue with white flares. The hottest color of fire, but blue eyes still peered out through her wall of fire. She screamed, and wind accompanied the fire rippling the demon’s clothing before fire charred it.
