Shadows & Secrets (Lick of Fire Book 4)

by Jane Hinchey

  Her eyes welled and I felt like I’d kicked a puppy. “You don’t see it, do you?” she muttered, voice tight, “how much they damaged you. Grandma was right, you should never have been locked away. They tried to fix something that wasn’t broken and in the end, they broke you.”

  I was shaking my head, “Paige honey, I was a psycho. I still am.”

  “No. You’re not. Honest to God you’re not. They made you this way. The institute. They drilled it into you that you’re damaged, broken, that everything that happened was your fault.”

  “It was.”

  “I can prove it.” She said smugly, folding her arms across her chest.

  “How?”

  “Grandma found Grandpa’s book of demons.”

  “Book of what now?”

  “It’s like…a book of instructions for being a fire demon. A bible almost, but not for scripture. It has our history. Our story. But also, our biology, and what happens if our demon activates early.”

  “What are you even talking about?” Maybe Paige was the crazy one?

  “Grandma hinted at it in her letter to you. When a fire demon reaches eighteen years of age they come into their powers – a child cannot control them, so it’s genetically wired to kick in at eighteen. But…your powers came in when you were five. You experienced a traumatic event; your life was in danger and your demon stepped in to save you. A basic response. Only no-one knew, Grandpa would have known straight away, but he was dead. Your dad and Uncles, they didn’t know better, they were eighteen when their powers materialized. It had been easy for them. And so here you were, a little girl with powers she couldn’t possibly control, with no-one to help her, who was constantly punished.”

  I contemplated what Paige had said. It sounded plausible but I needed to see it for myself.

  “Where is this book?”

  “In Grandma’s room.”

  Damn. My mom and aunties had already cleared out her room. Now they must have it, but Paige was already grinning and shaking her head.

  “She hid it. She didn’t want any of the olds to have it. She was angry at them for what happened to you and she’d argued with them dozens of times over it but our fathers shot her down each and every time because she’s a human and what would she know?”

  Holy. Fucking. Shit.

  “Shall we go look?” She asked. I was out the door before she’d finished talking. With Paige hot on my heels we scrambled up the stairs, stopping in front of Grandma’s bedroom door. I still couldn’t bring myself to open it. Paige had no qualms though, pushing me aside she thrust the door open and strode inside.

  “They really did clear everything out didn’t they?” She shook her head, hands on hips as she surveyed the room. Grandma’s scent was gone and I was kinda sad. Wardrobe doors stood open, dresser drawers too. Everything was gone bar the furniture and mattress – they’d even taken the bedding.

  “So where did she hide it?” I asked.

  “Here.” Crossing to the big heavy tallboy she pulled the bottom drawer all the way out, placing it on the floor, then reached her hand in. I heard a click, then a section of the side of the tallboy popped out. A secret compartment! Paige pulled out a worn leather-bound book and grinned at me triumphantly.

  “See? I knew they wouldn’t find it. And Grandma specifically said in her will that they couldn’t take the furniture, only the contents. She wanted us to find it. She wanted you to have it.”

  “Why not just give it to that lawyer, the executor, and have him give it to me?”

  “Why indeed? Maybe she didn’t trust him? Maybe it was too risky? I don’t know, but I do know we have it. Here.” She held it out to me and I took it from her.

  “How do you know about it?”

  “Grandma told me. When she got sick. She said her time was up and us kids needed to know our true history, our heritage and that she was worried our parents were more interested in suppressing our fire demon side rather than embracing it. She swore me to secrecy.”

  “No-one else knows?”

  “No-one.”

  “Grandma you were the original renegade.” I smiled, hugging the book to my chest. She’d taken a chance, all those years ago, a human girl loving a fire demon, starting a life with him, shunned by family and friends. My mind boggled at what a strong person she’d been, how difficult life must have been for them, moving to a town where everyone was a stranger and Grandpa having to hide what he really was. I wondered if it had been difficult for him, or if it was easier back then, before cell phones and cameras and social media.

  Sitting on the mattress together we thumbed through the pages. The handwriting changed several times and I realized this had been put together by Grandpa’s family – it really was the story of our heritage, our powers. I stopped on a page that had a sketch of a young man with fire in his hands that stretched out several meters in front of him. Around the fire were arrows, indicating the fire was travelling back toward the man.

  “What’s this?” I whispered, running my finger along the lines of text.

  “We can control our fire?” Paige whispered in response.

  “It looks that way, look, he’s using it like a whip!” Mind blown. I’d only just learned to summon and suppress my fire, I could command it to a certain extent, push it away and call it back, but the image on the page showed a man wielding it like a lasso. Turning the page, I frowned – more surprises.

  “Blue fire?” Paige questioned. I was as puzzled as she, but there it was, all laid out before us. Turns out we could turn our fire cold…icy in fact. So rather than burn, we could freeze. On and on the surprises went about what was truly possible as a fire demon. We could command our fire not to burn, not to harm. We could consume ourselves in flame and heal – I’d already discovered that one by accident.

  “We have to tell the others.” Paige flopped back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. I joined her.

  “Do you think we can do all those things?” I patted the book, “We’re not full fire demons, maybe our powers are diluted.”

  “Only one way to find out.” Her grin was cheeky and her eyes twinkled.

  “No. Not today. Let’s get the others and we can practice and learn together.”

  “Jordan can help.” She was nodding.

  “You call him Jordan?” I sat up, clutching the book to my chest. On the front were the words Fire Slinger.

  “Well yeah, it’s his name. Why, what do you call him?” She asked, then grabbed my arm, “no wait, don’t tell me. You call him asshole? Or douchebag?”

  I cringed. Those were some of my more popular names for people.

  “Not to his face.” Handing the book to Paige I told her to wait then retrieved the file from downstairs.

  “What’s this?” She asked, looking from the file to me and back again.

  “Something I found of Grandpas. He went to a lot of trouble to keep it hidden, so I think we should do the same. Put it with the book.” I handed it to her and watched as she slid them both back into the secret compartment, closed it, and slid the drawer back in.

  “There’s something going on in Maxxan.” I said, not sure how much Paige knew, “and…I’m not sure who we can trust.”

  “You trust me though, right?”

  “Of course I do silly.” I gave her a squeeze, “but, I’m not sure how much our parents know.” I didn’t want to tell her about my dad. Not until I knew for sure. Maybe it was all nothing, what ever Grandpa had though he was involved in could have all blown over by now.

  “I agree. Grandma never told them about this book – clearly she didn’t want them to know, otherwise she would have given it to them years ago.”

  “Right. So we tell Cam and Tyler. What about Cody?” Cody was Paige’s brother and the only other Shelton currently residing in Maxxan. Her sister Katie and our cousins Vanessa and Travis all lived in Redmeadows – they’d returned briefly for Grandma’s funeral and had promptly left again.

  “Yes, Cody needs to know. Just the
five of us then. And Jordan. That makes six.”

  “Let’s invite them for dinner under the ruse of helping with the reno’s you’re doing. We can say you need some help moving furniture around.” Paige suggested.

  “Actually, that’s true, I do need some help moving furniture around. I’m going to give some of it away – I guess you guys get first dibs.”

  “Make sure you search everything for secret compartments,” Paige warned, “I have a feeling this house has a few more secrets concealed within its walls.”

  “Who knew eh?” I stretched, then groaned, “man, I’ve got to take a shower.”

  “You do that then we’ll head to town to get supplies for tonight.”

  “Deal. Will you text the boys?”

  “Already done.” Her fingers were flying across the screen of her phone as she spoke.

  “I won’t be long, if you want something to do while you’re waiting I was searching the books in the den.” I briefly filled her in on finding Grandpas hiding spot without divulging that I thought there was a high possibility my dad was a bad guy – just that I wanted to check the books before packing them up. She bought it, thankfully.

  In the bathroom I eyed myself critically in the mirror. The sleep deprivation was showing in the purple shadows under my eyes. I still hadn’t gotten used to my scars being gone, I ran my fingers over the smooth expanse of my shoulder where a jagged scar had been before – the result of a stabbing at the institute by another inmate. It never had healed properly I’d had constant pain in that shoulder, but now? All healed, no pain, it was as if it had never happened.

  Stepping beneath the spray I quickly washed, noticing how my skin was no longer lily white but back to my semi tanned self. All over. Apparently, this was my natural skin tone now that I’d bathed in my own flames. And the heat of Maxxan no longer bothered me – I hadn’t really noticed until now, but I’d stopped sweating profusely and flushing in the heat. I’d adjusted and I was actually okay with it. Before returning I’d been terrified of what would happen being back home but now? Now that we had Grandpa’s fire slinger book with everything we could ever need to know about fire demons, I actually felt excited.

  “All set?” I asked, watching Paige from the doorway of the den. She sat where I’d sat the night before, cross legged on the floor. Glancing up she smiled at me and jumped to her feet.

  “Sure. The boys are in by the way.” She wriggled her phone at me.

  “Great.” Leading the way outside I stopped in my tracks when I spotted a neatly folded pile of clothes with a pair of boots on top.

  “Are they…?” Paige looked from the pile of clothes to me, “Jordan’s?” She asked.

  “They must be.” I admitted. “He gave me a lift home last night. He must have shifted to get home himself.” I was sorry I’d missed it.

  “He didn’t stay over then?”

  “I thought he called you?”

  “He did. Told me you could probably use some TLC today and that it would be better received coming from me than him. Come on, spit it out, what happened?”

  I debated whether to tell her or not – I wasn’t usually one to discuss my private life, but Paige was family and I’d missed having someone I could confide in. “Things were getting hot and heavy and then he stopped, apparently he didn’t want to take advantage of me.”

  “Because you were drunk?”

  “That and the fact that I’m a hit it and quit it type of gal – his words – and that didn’t suit him.”

  “Well…that’s good, isn’t it? He wants something more…permanent?”

  “He says we’re fated mates.” I blurted.

  “Oh my God!” Paige squealed, making me jump, “Rae that is wonderful! Congratulations!”

  “No!” I shouted and she looked at me in shock, “no way. This isn’t happening Paige. Not with him. Not with anyone. I’m a disaster. I’ll ruin it. No. It’s better to walk away now, rather than later when I’m so invested it’ll kill me to lose him.”

  “Oh Rae.” Paige wrapped her arms around me and squeezed and I had to swallow back the lump of emotion stuck in my throat. “You can’t run from fated mates.” Her voice was soft, her hand soothing as it rubbed up and down my spine, “you’ll be fine. If the fates have chosen him for you, then it’s a good match. Trust in that.”

  I opened my mouth to argue when I spotted it, just outside the front gate. The hellhound. It saw me and sat, mouth open, tongue lolling out.

  “Um, Paige?” I breathed the words in her ear, grabbing hold and squeezing tight when she would have pulled back to look at me, “don’t make any sudden moves and for the love of God, just do as I say and don’t argue.”

  “What’s happening?” She whispered, my tone telling her I wasn’t messing around.

  “Hell Hound.”

  “Where?” She turned her head to look.

  “You can’t see it?”

  “No.”

  Strange. But I didn’t have time to dwell on it. I had to get Paige out of here. We could go back inside but I had no idea if Hell Hounds could bust open doors. Too risky. If it was here, it was after me. Paige would be collateral damage.

  “What’s the plan?” She whispered, voice calm.

  “Get you safely in your car and out of here.”

  “What about you?”

  “It’s me it wants. If I go with you it’ll only follow. Call Jordan once you’re out of sight.”

  “Okay.”

  I cupped her chin and eyeballed her. “I mean it Paige. No messing around. Get in your car, get out of here. Then call for help. Understood?”

  She nodded and I had to believe she’d do the right thing. I was worried if she sat in her car for one second too long the hell hound would be upon her.

  “How are we doing this?” She asked – I was surprised – and proud – of how calm she was.

  “I’m going to lead it away, behind the house. Once I’m out of sight, count to twenty then go – as quietly as you can.”

  “Got it.”

  Leaving Paige on the steps I walked toward the Hell Hound who sat passively watching me. Half way down the path I veered to the right, following the overgrown track that led to the rear of the house. I watched out of the corner of my eye and sure enough the hell hound stood and began to follow, keeping to the perimeter of the fence. Not that the fence was of any use what-so-ever, it held no functional purpose other than to mark the start and end of Grandma’s front garden, for the fence didn’t wrap around the house and once the hell hound reached the end there would be nothing between me and it but a few garden plants and weeds.

  I picked up my pace, turning down the side of the house, hurrying even further to reach the back garden. I could hear the hell hound breathing as it followed, keeping its distance. I took that as a good sign. If it wanted to kill me it would have attacked as soon as I’d left the house. I assumed. I didn’t know much about hell hounds other than they are a really big dog. From hell. And besides me being the only one who could apparently see it, that was the extent of my knowledge. I didn’t know why I was the only one, or what it could possibly mean. Maybe I was about to find out.

  Standing in the back garden in the scorched patch of grass, I waited. I heard Paige’s car start up and then drive away, relieved when the hell hound paid zero attention, instead approaching me and stopping mere feet away. His color was striking, a mottled brown and black, with green eyes. I’d thought they’d be red.

  “So.” I said out loud, not knowing what to do next. Did these things talk? I waited but got no response.

  “What do you want?” I tried again. The hound tilted his head to one side, not taking his eyes off me.

  “You look like a Rottweiler.” I told it, “only like three times bigger.” When it’s tailed thumped the ground I just about peed myself. Then I realized it was wagging its tail!

  “Are you…happy?” I asked. This time the head tilted the other way and I chuckled. He was cute as fuck. If not a shit ton of scar
y.

  “Umm. Nice doggie?” I tried again but was pretty sure the creature couldn’t speak. My theory was confirmed when a deep rumbling woof came my way, making the ground vibrate beneath my feet. A full-blown bark would have probably knocked me over. Sucking in a breath and blowing it out I took a tentative step toward the hound. It passively watched me, it’s tail still thumping on the ground behind it. I got as close as I dared and stretched out my hand, screwing my eyes closed. This was make or break. It was either going to bite my hand off, or not. I wondered if I had the ability as a fire demon to grow renewable limbs? I also didn’t think it was a good idea to find out.

  When a big wet snout nuzzled my hand, my eyes popped open and my mouth dropped open in surprise. The big scary beast was head butting my hand and wanting to be petted.

  “Hey big boy.” I murmured, stroking my hand across the top of his head. His tail thumped even harder and when I scratched behind his ear, he dropped to the ground, rolled over, and presented his belly for belly rubs.

  “That was unexpected.” I laughed then leaned over and obliged. Before long I was on the ground, a massive dog head in my lap as I stroked his fur and told him what a beautiful boy he was.

  “I’m not sure that’s wise.” Jordan said from the back door. I glanced over my shoulder. “You can see him?”

  “I can.”

  “I wonder why that is?” The hound lifted his head and sniffed the air, his eyes zeroing in on Jordan. He growled, a fierce, terrifying sound.

  “Easy boy, easy.” To my surprise, he complied. The growling stopped and he flopped his head back into my lap.

  “I think he’s yours now.” Jordan commented, stepping down from the porch and slowly making his way towards us. The hound paid zero attention to him, nudging my hand again for more pats.

  “I’ve never had a pet before.” I admitted, eyeing the massive creature.

  “Trust you to start with a hell hound.”

  “I don’t know anything about them. Do you?”

  “No, but I’ll find out.” Pulling out his phone he walked away, phone to his ear, voice low.

  “So. We’re going to have to come up with a name for you,” I told the hound, laughing when he softly woofed in apparent agreeance. “What do I feed you? You’re incorporeal, so not real food I’m assuming.”