Up In Flames (Netherworld Series Book 2)

by Olivia Hutchinson

  Up in Flames

  Netherworld Book 2

  Olivia Hutchinson

  Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  About the Author

  When Sparks Fly

  Up in Flames

  Copyright © 2018 Olivia Hutchinson

  Cover design by Sweet ‘N Spicy Designs

  This book is a re-release of a previously published work.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  For Mom, Dad, and Lucas.

  Thank you for your unwavering love and support through both the good times and the bad.

  Prologue

  “You want to talk sexy? Two words – Gerard Butler,” Lila said, lounging back in the chair at her kitchen table.

  The girl’s night was long overdue. Heidi hadn’t even had the chance to go anywhere recently apart from carting her grandfather to his medical appointments. When Lila had invited her, as well as five of their other friends, to her house for a night of boozing and hijinks, Heidi accepted with barely a second thought.

  Her grandfather was safe at home under the caring eye of her mother. Even though he was primarily Heidi’s responsibility – one she took on with little to no complaint – it was still nice to have an evening away. A few shots of Jack Daniels and Heidi was feeling good, sitting on top of an oversized pillow on Lila’s hardwood floor, painting her toenails.

  “Oh my God!” she exclaimed at the thought of the actor, “That accent turns me into melted butter every time he speaks.” There was nothing sexier than a man with an accent, in her opinion. She rolled her eyes back in her head at the thought and fell back onto the floor in an overdramatic show of her adoration.

  Laughter erupted around her. Her friend Beth looked down at her from where she sat next to Lila at the table. “An accent? Is that all it takes to get into your pants?”

  If she wanted to be honest, no man had gotten into her pants in a very long time, but she played along. “Absolutely. A sexy accent is the only excuse I need to lose my panties and pop my legs open.”

  Giggling, she climbed to her feet and took a few steps over to the kitchen counter where there were a few different bags of chips laying. Grabbing the salt and vinegar, she went back to her cushion and attempted to open the bag.

  The stupid thing wasn’t cooperating. Why was it that since she couldn’t open the bag she all of a sudden wanted a chip that much more? Figured.

  Andrea plucked the bag from her struggling hands and opened it with ease and thrust it back to her but not before grabbing a chip out of the bag and flicking it at Heidi’s head. “Skank,” she said with a laugh.

  “Oh, come on,” Heidi said with an eye roll. “Just because you’re Saint Andrea the virgin doesn’t mean everyone else is.”

  Andrea frowned at her. “I’m not a virgin.”

  “Yeah, okay.” It was easy to give Andrea a hard time, but she wouldn’t do it if she thought for one second that Andrea was offended.

  “Jeez,” Natalie barked from across the table as she reached for the bottle of wine sitting in the center. “Leave the girl alone.” There was only an inch left at the bottom of the bottle and Natalie drained it straight from the source. If the Southerner was drinking straight from the bottle, she’d had quite a bit, Heidi thought with half a smile.

  It felt good to be surrounded by the women most important in her life. They always brought a smile to her face and Heidi thanked her lucky stars that she had them in her life. She couldn’t imagine where she’d be without their unconditional love and support. The twenty-four/seven responsibility of taking care of her beloved grandfather who’d been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s a few years before probably would’ve worn her completely out by now if it hadn’t been for them.

  “She knows I’m only messing with her,” Heidi said after swallowing a chip.

  “You better hope she knows that, or you’ll wake up in the morning with a frozen bra and a Sharpie mustache,” Natalie said as she stood. She padded over to the kitchen sink and rinsed out the empty wine bottle before retrieving an unopened one from the fridge.

  Andrea was laughing when Carey held out her empty glass for Natalie to fill. “I’m so happy I’m more mature than the lot of you,” she said.

  Beth snorted. “Mature? You? Are you not the same woman who told the entire nursing staff that Doctor Sallis enjoyed getting enemas as part of his sexual play?”

  Carey didn’t bat an eyelash. “He stole my pen.”

  Beth shook her head, a look of disbelief on her pretty face. “Wait a minute. You never even slept with him?”

  “He stole my pen.”

  Heidi blinked. This was the first time she’d heard this story. Out of the seven of them, four worked at the local hospital. Both Carey and Lila were nurses in the emergency room. Beth worked in the lab as a phlebotomist and Natalie worked as physical therapy assistant.

  “You embarrassed that man because he stole a pen?” Lila asked incredulously. “Was it made of solid gold?”

  “No, it was the one I borrowed from the bank.”

  “It was a pen you had stolen yourself?”

  “I didn’t steal it, I borrowed it,” Carey insisted.

  Heidi suppressed a snort. Laughing, Lila yelled, “You had no intention of giving it back!”

  “I was going to give it back when it ran out of ink. Besides, that wasn’t the only pen he ever stole from me. Every single day he steals my pen. He had it coming.”

  Beth leaned across the table and grabbed the liquor bottle. “I work in the lab and I heard that rumor. You don’t think that was just a bit—oh, I don’t know—uncalled for?”

  Carey folded her arms across her chest and glared at them. “I’ve worked with that man for over two years and in all that time he’s never once said hello to me. And every single day he’s there, he steals my pen. He doesn’t steal Lila’s pens or anyone else’s. Just mind. Do you know how many pens that is?”

  “Um, no,” Beth said.

  “Three hundred and forty-six!”

  Silence filled the room broken only when Andrea asked the question Heidi had been thinking. “You counted?”

  “What?” Carey asked, looking from face to face. “Is that weird?”

  “Yes. Yes, that’s weird. That’s practically the definition of weird,” Maggie said from where she sat on the floor, her back pressed against the wall.

  “Then I guess I’m weird,” Carey said with a shrug.

  Heidi was still chewing a few chips when she said, “We’re all weird.” She didn’t think any of them would disagree with her.

  “And that is why we’ll forever be single,” whined Natalie, laying her head on the table.

  Lila shrugged. “It is what it is.”

  Like Heidi even had the option of dating right now. Nope, her days belonged to one man. She didn’t have time for anyone else, especially someone who would demand time from her that she didn’t have. Any extra time she did have was spent with her friends or by herself, closed in her room on her computer.r />
  “We don’t have to stay single, you know,” Carey said. “We could meet some men. Some good ones, too.”

  “Right,” Natalie grumbled.

  “I’m being serious.”

  “And how do you suggest we do that?” Maggie asked.

  “We can do a spell.”

  Heidi rolled her eyes. Carey was all about some witchcraft. She often talked about healing herbs and medicinal properties. Most of the time when she’d start yammering about gods and rituals, Heidi tuned her out.

  “Not the witchy stuff again. Please, Carey,” Lila begged. Apparently, Heidi wasn’t the only one did the exaggerated eye-roll when Carey started talking about spells.

  It wasn’t that Heidi didn’t respect Carey’s beliefs, she just didn’t believe the same things. Honestly, she wasn’t sure exactly what she believed in, even though she was raised Catholic. Carey talked about herbs and stones openly with all her friends. It was a part of her they all accepted, even if they sometimes gave her a hard time.

  “Why not?” Carey asked. “It’s not going hurt anything.”

  Beth laughed. “Famous last words.”

  “I’m game,” Andrea said, surprising just about every person in the room, Heidi included. Andrea was quiet and reserved. Out of everyone there it seemed as if she would’ve been the last one to agree.

  “Ha!” Carey said, bouncing in her seat. “Thank you, Andrea. Who else?”

  Lila sighed. “I’m in, I guess.”

  “Fine,” Beth said before taking another gulp of her drink.

  “Yes!” Carey clapped her hands.

  “Yeah, okay,” Maggie said when Carey looked pointedly at her.

  Heidi didn’t really care too much one way or another. It was something else to do. “Me too.”

  Everyone was looked at Natalie, who was the only one left who hadn’t agreed to participate. Natalie sat straight up, looking from person to person before she seemed to realize they were all waiting for her answer. “Oh, I thought that was a given. Of course, I’m in. At least this is easier than speed dating. And it doesn’t require waxing.”

  Dark brown hair was flying around as Carey bounced excitedly in her seat before rattling off a list of supplies she required. When she disappeared to the bathroom to “mentally prepare”, Heidi rose from where she was sitting on her cushion and stretched her legs.

  “What are you doing next weekend?” Natalie asked her as she pulled out a bag of tealights from Lila’s kitchen junk drawer before returning her attention back to the drawer, most likely searching for a lighter.

  Heidi dug into the bag and pulled out a few lights, arranging them on the counter in order to help create the ambiance that Carey required.

  She hadn’t thought about her week’s plans until Natalie brought up the weekend. She’d been trying not to think about what she’d agreed to, but now she was reminded again.

  “I’m going to New Freedom with Maggie.”

  “New Freedom? Isn’t that like in the middle of the woods?” Natalie asked her.

  “Mm hmm. We’re staying at Maggie’s dad’s cabin.”

  Heidi had initially agreed to go on the vacation because well, it was a vacation and she hadn’t had one in…a very, very long time. Her mother had agreed to take a few days off work so she could be with her father—Heidi’s grandfather—while Heidi was gone. It was going to be the first real time away from her grandfather since his Alzheimer’s diagnosis.

  The closer she got to the time when they were supposed to be leaving, the more reservations she had. She should stay home with her grandfather, but at this point she had already agreed to go and she didn’t want to back out, especially at the last minute.

  Natalie looked at Heidi, her face questioning. “I have a hard time picturing you in the woods.”

  “You’re not the only one.”

  A few minutes later, when everything was set up, the six women stood around the table, waiting for the seventh to find her way out of the bathroom.

  The room was dark, only illuminated by the glow of the candles and the blaze in the fireplace. The lights, as well as the music, had been turned off in preparation. Silence radiated through the room as the women stared at each other, trying to figure out what they were supposed to do next and, without their leader, it was impossible.

  “Did she fall in?” Andrea asked, looking to Lila who stood at her side.

  Lila shrugged before yelling, “Any time now Carey! Before we fall asleep out here.”

  There was no immediate response from Carey, but after a minute the bathroom door opened, and she stepped out into darkness. The shadows from the candlelight cast eerie shadows on her face. She stood at the head of the table and looked at each of them in turn.

  “Finally,” Beth grumbled, her hands on her hips.

  “Friends, it is time to assemble,” Carey said, ignoring Beth. Her voice was soft and airy as she looked down at the salt and knife ready where she had asked them to be placed.

  Heidi smirked, and Lila sent her a swift elbow in her side, shaking her head. “Don’t piss off the witch.”

  Carey’s black eyes narrowed. “I need everyone’s equal participation and silence for this to work.”

  When no one said anything else, she lifted the container of sea salt from the table and began to walk around them, pouring the salt on the floor. Eek, Heidi thought as the salt hit the floor, Lila’s probably freaking out right about now. She glanced at her friend who was staring at Carey, frowning.

  Stopping at the same place where she began, Carey put the salt back on the table. Lifting her arms into the air, she called forth the elements. At least that part was in English because the next thing she knew, Heidi was repeating a bunch of mumbo jumbo that was just an odd combination of sounds on her lips. Was it Latin?

  Carey’s voice was loud and clear as she spoke when she finally switched back to English. Her voice filled the large room. “We call forth our soul mates. Men of honor and integrity, both loyal and kind—”

  “With cocks of steel,” Heidi interrupted, not able to help herself. It was too easy getting under Carey’s skin. Carey glared at her as Maggie’s elbow whacked her side. Lila and Beth were trying their hardest not to laugh.

  Carey cleared her throat. “Loyal and kind,” she re-emphasized. “We seek to bind with these men and create lasting relationships full of love and compassion.”

  Picking up the sharp paring knife from the table, she held it out and made a small cut in the middle of her right palm and then the left. Blood welled on her skin as she tried to pass the knife to Maggie, who was staring at her as if she had finally gone over the edge.

  “You’re kidding. There’s no way I’m cutting myself with that.”

  “I don’t have any diseases,” Carey said, again thrusting the handle of the knife in her direction.

  “That’s not the point.”

  “Oh, come on and just do it so we can get this over with,” Natalie groaned.

  Sighing, Maggie took the knife from Carey and made the smallest cuts she could before passing it along to Heidi.

  Heidi made the incisions without a second’s hesitation, slicing through the flesh of her palms before slapping the knife handle in Lila’s hand. It was easier to just get this part of the night over with.

  She dragged the small knife across her palm the same way the others had before passing it to Andrea, who took a deep breath and did the same. Around the table the knife went, each woman making the same cuts.

  When the knife finally got back to Carey, she set it on the table in front of her and grasped Maggie’s and Natalie’s hands. The seven women held hands, blood sticky between their palms. Carey raised their clasped hands in the air, looked up at Lila’s ceiling fan and began chanting something no one except Carey could understand.

  The flames from the candles and the fire dimmed as she spoke, making Heidi squint. An icy chill curled up her spine, goose bumps raised on her arms, and the hair on the back of her neck stood on end.
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br />   A shiver went through her body when she felt a light cold breeze float around her. It seemed to have come from nowhere. This was getting freaky and quick. Lila’s hand squeezed hers and she shivered, almost wanting to look away from Carey’s semi-possessed chanting.

  The jokes had stopped and so had the laughter. Chills racked Heidi’s body and for a second, she thought she was going to vomit.

  As Carey’s voice rose in intensity, the candles and the fire suddenly roared to life, fully illuminating the room and making the six women jump. Carey didn’t appear phased in the slightest, her eyes lifted toward the ceiling and her feet planted firmly on the floor. Blood squished between their fingers as Heidi hung onto both Maggie and Lila. They squeezed her hands almost as hard as she did theirs, as if they needed her strength at that moment to keep themselves from bolting from the room just as much as she did.

  Her ears were humming as the energy seemed to build in the room, creating its own pulse in the air surrounding them. Her heart hammered in her chest and the blood pounded in her veins.

  The candles extinguished suddenly, save for the one Carey had left inside their circle on the table. Heidi gasped.

  Carey let go of the hands she had been holding and slowly walked around the table, opening the circle again. Heidi finally began to breathe again as the women released the hands they held.

  When Carey flipped on the light and smiled, Heidi looked from woman to woman, seeing the same shocked faces that were most likely mirroring her own. There was a hush in the room. No one knew what to say. There were no words that came to Heidi’s mind except, what in the…

  Beth broke the silence. “Fuck this. I need another drink.”

  Miles and miles away, a lone figure walked through the darkness shrouded in a black cloak. His body still hummed from the power stolen from the little witch bitch. He could feel her strength pulsing through his veins, still hear the pleading screams she had let loose from her heart shaped lips.