Fire Cursed Trilogy Box Set

by J. E. Taylor

  A storm brewed overhead.

  “You know what you have to do,” Tom said, stepping close to her.

  I wanted to stop the time jump. I didn’t want them to see what I had to do to close the damn breach, but I couldn’t pull this back. I screamed at the same time as my image, and Alex wrapped his arms around me from behind. Even his touch didn’t stop the vision.

  “No!” she screamed.

  “You have to,” Tom whispered. “It’s either him or you, and I’m betting on you.”

  The roar of the wind surged around them.

  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. You should have killed me that first day.”

  His gaze hardened. “Don’t ever think that. Ever. You understand?”

  She nodded, her chin trembling.

  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.

  My image wasn’t the only one who gasped. CJ shared the same horror I had, and his hand covered his mouth.

  Tom’s arms shook as he gripped his shirt. He cried out as bones snapped. His rib cage ripped through his skin, giving her a clear view of his innards.

  “Take the grace,” he said, and his lungs inflated and deflated with his labored breath.

  Fire spit like crackling embers from her ungloved hand. She reached into his chest with her gloved hand and grasped his heart. The beat of the muscle continued, and tears streamed down her cheeks.

  “Do it,” he commanded.

  She screamed as she yanked his heart from his chest, and the fire flared brighter.

  Lucifer was already halfway through the portal.

  Her fire was the only thing keeping him from reaching this world.

  She closed her eyes and shoved the still-beating muscle into her mouth, then bit off half of it. She gagged, but continued to eat through her sobs until the heart was gone.

  My stomach rolled, and I swallowed the bile lining my throat.

  With blood still dripping down her chin, her form went rigid. Wings of fire formed on her back, burning until blackened. The fire flowing from her hand tripled in strength, turning into white-hot angel fire, annihilating the rift between worlds and anything in its path.

  When the fire faded to only sparks, she dropped to her knees and pressed Tom’s hand to her lips.

  The ghostly figure of Tom materialized next to her. “Just remember to keep your promise.” His voice rang in the clearing.

  “I will remember,” she whispered.

  He smiled and faded into the smoky mist.

  She closed her eyes, and a crease of concentration along with a layer of sweat broke out on her forehead. When she opened her eyes, her lips turned down in disappointment.

  “Damn it,” she whispered and let go of his hand.

  She placed her palms on the skin outside of his shattered ribs, and pushed. They collapsed with a sickening crack.

  She sat back on her heels and wiped her face as she stared at his prone form. With effort, she stood and grabbed his ankles, then dragged him to the truck and opened the back door. The awkward battle of getting him over her shoulders and into the back seat commenced.

  If Tom had just been unconscious, the scene would have proven to be comical, but the fact I was struggling to put his dead body in the car created a solemn atmosphere.

  Her sobs echoed off the car, drifting into the woods. When she finally closed the back door, she fell to her knees and buried her face in her hands.

  Tom’s ghost knelt next to her and put his hand on her shoulder. “I knew this was a one-way ticket,” he said. “They knew it, too.” His image faded before she finally uncovered her face.

  Blood streaked her skin. She climbed to her feet, sniffling as she glanced at 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 her, his head turned deliberately, and blue eyes peered from a burned face.

  Lucifer grinned.

  * * * *

  I blinked, and we were all back in CJ’s family room. Alex’s expression hadn’t changed, but CJ’s was tight, like he was trying to hold whatever he had eaten earlier this evening inside. His cheeks bloomed with patches of red over the green hue that had colored the rest of his face. He walked to the bathroom around the corner and the sound of retching reached us.

  I couldn’t say I blamed him. I wished I could vomit, but I kept my stomach in check. I still didn’t know what throwing up Tom’s heart would do. From what I’d gathered from his memories, he’d had the same struggle and the same conclusion that something bad would happen if he didn’t digest the muscle fully.

  “So, you now have Lucifer’s grace,” Alex said, breaking the silence.

  I nodded. “And I can see auras, and I saw his ghost, so I guess I did get some of Tom’s gifts. I don’t know what is what, but my skin feels like it is going to fly off in a million directions at any moment.”

  The toilet flushed, and CJ came out just as car lights pulled into the driveway. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, wiping his face.

  He glanced at Alex. “I need wood in the back yard.”

  “Why?”

  CJ sighed and tilted his head. His mind broadcast two words and I shivered.

  Funeral pyre.

  Chapter 2

  I went with Alex into the backyard lit by the floodlights on the house, unable to face Tom’s family. Unfortunately, I was no longer buffered from their emotions. I had a hard time standing on my feet, but focusing on building what was asked helped.

  Alex must have known I wasn’t coping well, because he didn’t say a word. When he handed me wood, he made sure to touch my hands and meet my gaze. When we had a pile of wood that was four feet high and at least six feet long, I stepped back and stared at what looked like a cord of wood. The top was indented for the length of the pile.

  “I think it will be a while before he comes for us,” I said, thinking of Lucifer’s charred form.

  Alex nodded. “Did you want to clean up?”

  “Not yet.” I didn’t want to traipse through the house at the moment. Besides, I had no clothing here, and from the inappropriate thoughts swarming Alex’s head, it would open up a situation I wasn’t ready to be in.

  “Should we try to bring Tom back here?” Alex asked.

  I didn’t know if we could manage Tom’s six-foot, two-hundred-pound dead weight on our own, but it would certainly mean CJ wouldn’t have to try to get him back on the pyre. Of course, CJ probably could just move him with his mind, but he was still battling the crushing loss.

  Alex raised an eyebrow, waiting for my answer.

  “He’s really heavy.” I shifted my weight and bit my lip.

  “You got him in the truck on your own,” he said, hooking his thumb over his shoulder.

  Heat filled my cheeks, and I shrugged. I was hopped up on adrenaline at the time. My muscles were just starting to ache from the exertion of moving Tom and then moving close to a cord of wood. I wasn’t sure I had it in me to move him to the backyard. But if it meant CJ and Bridget wouldn’t have to, I could suck it up and help.

  I nodded.

  He took my hand in his and led me around the house. The truck still sat shrouded in darkness. I shivered at the thought of touching Tom’s lifeless form, but Alex didn’t seem fazed by it at all.

  We opened the back door of the truck and stared at the empty blood-smeared seat. My eyes widened, and I glanced toward the front door. I couldn’t imagine them bringing his bloody body into the house, but perhaps they did.

  We closed the door and headed inside.

  “Dad?” Alex called as we stepped into the foyer.

  CJ came around the corner, the crease between his eyes broadcasting his concern just as much as his mind. “To
m’s not in the truck?”

  We shook our heads. My heart thundered. If CJ didn’t bring his body inside…

  My breath wheezed in my chest as I spun on my heels racing outside and around to the passenger side of the truck. Lights over the garage blinked on, bathing the area with brightness. CJ and Alex skidded to a stop behind me. A trail of blood and matted grass led toward the burnt-out Andreas lot.

  Both CJ and Alex muttered, “Grace.”

  “What the hell would she want with Tom’s body?” I said before the truth hit.

  And it hit hard. Lucifer. If he had a body to inhabit, even one with his chest cut open, he would heal much faster than the burnt husk I’d left at the cabin in Northern, Maine.

  “Bridget and April are here, right?” Alex asked.

  “Yes.” He took a deep breath. “The last time he was injured, he powered up on angel blood.”

  I gasped. “Do you think Grace would sacrifice her family?” They were the only angel descendants not at CJ’s house.

  “I don’t know.” CJ shook his head and glanced at Alex. “I didn’t think she would turn on us the way she did, either. So, I just don’t know.”

  “What about Austin?” Alex asked.

  CJ huffed, turned, and jogged toward the house. His mind was unreadable, but the fluttering of colors through his aura told me enough. I didn’t need to hear his thoughts.

  Paige and Austin trusted Tom. If Grace had stolen Tom’s body for Lucifer, and Tom’s likeness showed up at their door, they would let him in.

  I stepped into the kitchen with Alex and CJ. Bridget and April sat on the couch. April’s aura shined like the rest of the angel descendants, but Bridget’s aura was so muted that it surprised me. Then again, all I had seen since I came back with Tom’s gifts were angel offspring, so seeing a normal human aura was jarring and welcoming at the same time.

  Bridget looked up, and a lump formed in my throat. Her pain was as acute as CJ’s, bringing fresh tears to my eyes. At least Alex had cleaned off my face, so I wasn’t covered in her husband’s blood like I had been when I arrived.

  She stood and crossed, then wrapped me in her arms. “Thank you for bringing him home,” she whispered in my ear.

  I closed my eyes, and tears burned my throat. “You might not want to thank me yet,” I squeezed out. “I didn’t lock the truck when I came inside.”

  Bridget pulled away and studied my face. Then she turned as CJ walked into the room with his cell phone to his ear.

  “Tom is dead.” CJ’s gaze snapped to mine. “Get Austin away from him, now. Use magic. Use whatever the hell you need to. That is not Tom. It’s Lucifer.”

  Bridget gasped and looked at me.

  “Grace,” Alex interjected.

  Bridget closed her eyes and brought me into a hug. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that, sweetheart.”

  The screams on the other side of the phone line echoed in my head, and I held CJ’s gaze. Fury filled his eyes, and he squeezed the phone enough to crack the screen. The laugh that followed chilled me to the core.

  I broke free of Bridget and crossed, putting my hand out. He blinked at me, like he didn’t understand, so I snagged the phone from him.

  “Next time, you won’t be so lucky,” I said into the phone.

  A chuckle filled the line. “Are you sure about that, little girl?”

  I met CJ’s gaze. “Yes. Because of you, I lost the closest thing I had to a father. I will end you.”

  Silence filled the line. “You don’t want to reunite with your dear old dad?”

  “Why? So, you can rip my heart out?”

  “From what I understand, it seems Grace may have already done that.”

  “You have been poorly misinformed.”

  “I have made a deal with that wild tiger. She can either deliver your heart to me, or your boy to me. Either way, I will deliver his soul to her.” He paused. “Unless, of course, you would like to bring me the boy yourself.”

  “I will see you in hell before I do that.”

  “So be it.”

  The line went dead.

  I handed CJ his phone and turned, heading into the living room where no one was gathered. Three people had died today because of me. Guilt bit at my skin, creating an uncomfortable tightness in my chest. I sat on the stairs and covered my face.

  Warmth radiated near me, and then a hand landed on my back as a body settled on the stair next to me. Silence prevailed. No thoughts came through, and I finally glanced over.

  April sat next to me, her eyes red and puffy.

  “I am so sorry about your father,” I said with an unsteady voice.

  She wrapped her arms around me in a tight hug. “You need to find that knife. It’s the only way. Otherwise, the world will burn.”

  “Why me?” I whispered in her ear.

  “You are the only one, now. My uncle won’t be able to. Not when Lucifer is wearing family.” She pulled away and stared at me.

  Her words chilled me more than seeing the empty truck seat. I shivered. I wasn’t sure I would be able to do what she was asking, no matter how sure I’d sounded on the phone.

  “I failed once already,” I said. “And now people are dead.”

  “I know. But I’ve seen the alternative…” She shook her head slowly.

  I caught a glimpse of whatever vision April had seen.

  Walls painted with blood. Bodies torn to bits. Smoke-filled air. Fanned red hair draped over a chair.

  It took me a moment to realize it was my hair. In April’s vision, I was laid out like a sacrificial lamb, with a hole in my chest the size of a man’s fist.

  Chapter 3

  “I don’t know,” Bridget said.

  “You should stay here,” CJ said.

  Valerie nodded with eyes as haunted as CJ’s. “He’s already killed Austin and Paige.”

  “I know.” Bridget glanced at April and me sitting on the couch. “It’s just that…” She closed her eyes and took a breath. “I need to get our things,” she said after a moment.

  “We will help,” CJ said.

  “Really?” Annoyance crept through Bridget’s grief, giving her voice a hard edge.

  “No one in this family is going it alone.” CJ crossed his arms.

  Bridget moved the truck over to the side of the garage so CJ could access their cars. I piled into the back seat of Bridget’s car, and Alex chose to ride with me instead of the rest of his family.

  He laced his fingers with mine as we sat in the dark of the back seat. Bridget didn’t speak as she drove to the house. When she pulled into the driveway, she slammed the brakes and gasped.

  A figure sitting on the steps looked up into the bright headlights and smiled in a chillingly familiar manner. His chin was still smeared with blood and his hands were painted crimson.

  “Tom?” Bridget whispered and threw the gear into park.

  I was out of the car before either she or CJ could step foot on the asphalt. I shut the door before Alex could follow. He was in more danger than anyone else here. He banged on the window, but I ignored him.

  My senses were on high alert. I peeled both gloves off and slid them in my back pocket. Rage seeped in, turning my blood into liquid fire, and I balled my hands into fists to control the storm.

  I caught motion out of the corner of my right eye. I raised my hand and opened my palm without looking away from Lucifer. A blast of angel fire streaked across the front lawn.

  A yelp of pain followed, and the stench of burnt fur filled the air. I didn’t take my gaze away from Lucifer in Tom’s form. I had the feeling if I did, someone else would die.

  “Why did you come here?” I asked in a voice I barely recognized. It was raw and shaking with fury.

  “I need more fuel to heal the wounds you inflicted on this body.” Lucifer stood and waved to his bloodied chest.

  I stepped to the front of the car, putting myself between Lucifer and those I cared about, and raised my hand.

  “Tsk, tsk. You
wouldn’t want to annihilate your boyfriend’s soul, would you?” He picked up the silver chain around his neck and swung the glowing orb at the end of it back and forth.

  Damn him.

  “I will kill you,” I said, but I couldn’t bring myself to open my hand to do just that. Not with the promise of Alex’s soul dangling in front of me.

  His smug smile burned.

  I couldn’t harm Alex’s soul, but I could do enough damage to make it difficult for him to get around. Instead of blasting him full-on, I lowered my hand enough for his smile to disappear.

  I splayed my hand and suppressed the angel fire, opting to only shoot my natural fire instead.

  He dove out of the way, but he wasn’t fast enough. The side of his jeans closest to the house caught fire, and I closed my hand. He rolled on the ground trying to douse the flames. When only smoke trailed from him, a blur of fur flew from behind the house, grabbed him by the collar, and carried him into the woods before I could take another shot. The last thing that registered before they disappeared was the blackened streak across the tiger’s side.

  The trees beyond where he had been standing caught fire. I sighed. Creaks of multiple car doors pulled me around to face my family.

  “Why did you lock us in?” CJ said, approaching me. Valerie and the girls were still in his car.

  Alex came to stand by my side as Bridget and April ran for the front door.

  I blinked at him and glanced at the cars before I shrugged. I hadn’t consciously prevented them from leaving the vehicles.

  “I couldn’t even override whatever you did,” he said.

  “I wasn’t aware I was doing anything,” I said and turned towards the building fire. “I need to help get our stuff out before the house catches fire.”

  “It won’t catch fire. I’ll make certain, and I’ll also make sure they don’t come back.” CJ leaned against the car, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes.

  The power rolled through me, and I caught my breath. I could actually see the protective barrier grow to encompass the cars and the house. It sparked with raw energy.

  I didn’t want to know what would happen if someone inadvertently ran into it. I turned with Alex and ran into the house to help Bridget and April pack their things. I wished the skies would open up and drown out the fire and the house wouldn’t be harmed, but I couldn’t focus on that. Instead, I grabbed the shopping bags stowed in my closet and dumped all the clothing we had purchased a few days ago into them. In the bathroom, I did the same thing. The sum of my belongings fit into two large bags and my backpack.