by J. E. Taylor
He grinned and nodded. “Yes, she is,” he said, oozing with pride.
Laughter filled the car and in the midst of it, Steve’s phone buzzed again. This time, he didn’t ignore the call. He answered and a panicked voice filled the car.
“Steve?”
“Hi, Sarah,” he said and glanced at his wife.
“What the hell?” the woman said and I smiled, picking up the distinct New York City accent.
“Where are you?” he asked, his laughter now fizzling out, replaced by worry lines.
“I’m on my way to your place. The police said it was a mess.”
“Steer clear of there until I call you. It’s not safe for anyone we give a damn about.”
Silence came over the line and the sound of a car slowing to a stop replaced the hum in the background.
“Did you just admit to giving a shit about me?”
I watched the exchange between Jennifer and Steve before he sighed. There was a history there that piqued my curiosity.
“Yeah. I give a shit,” he grumbled.
“Jen?”
“Hi, Sarah,” Jennifer said.
“It’s that fucking bad?”
Another exchange and then Jennifer glanced back at me as she answered. “Worse than you can possibly imagine, but we’re all alive and breathing, so...”
“You know I can’t just make excuses and not show up.”
“If she has to go, tell her to steer clear of anyone she doesn’t know. And don’t say anything about talking to us,” I said, staring at Jennifer. “Otherwise, you’ll never see her again.”
“Who the hell is that?” Sarah barked and after that, she said, “Is that the girl from the hospital? Did you find those two psychos?”
“I found them,” Steve said, giving me the keep-your-mouth-shut glare. “You have to trust me on this one,” he added.
“And who the hell did they kill? There’s blood all over your family room and on the lawn in the back yard, according to the call we got.”
“They didn’t kill anyone.”
I met his gaze in the mirror. He lied better than I expected from a federal agent.
Damian leaned close. “He worked undercover for years,” he whispered, his voice tickling my ear. I glanced at him and then my gaze drifted beyond.
Headlights were too close.
“Watch out!” I screamed just as the Ford truck slammed into the side of the Tahoe and we swerved. The back wheel caught dirt and slid, swinging around and then nothing. No sound at all as the vehicle started the beginning of a death roll.
Chapter Seventeen – Naomi
Images registered between blinks and my entire body tensed, waiting for impact.
The crazed smile of the demon driver who ran us off the road.
The Ford flashing over in a ball of flame and then turning to dust.
Cars swerving to avoid hitting us.
We spun in the air and I could no longer see the traffic behind us. I expected shattered glass and crumpling metal. I expected the jar of the seatbelt and the following whiplash. I didn’t expect what happened.
The vehicle completed the revolution and the tires bounced on the asphalt finding purchase and propelling us forward.
Cars braking around us were louder than our impact. The only sound was our collective breathing, hard and laborious, like we all had just run the hundred-yard dash.
“What the hell was that?” Sarah roared on the speakerphone.
“I hit a guardrail,” Steve answered. “I’m going to have to call you back,” he added and disconnected the call. “How the hell are they finding us?” he demanded, glaring in the rearview mirror.
“Damian was bitten by a hellhound earlier today,” I said and dropped my gaze to his leg. “I think that’s what the demon was referring to when he said you were marked.” I met his stark stare and then his gaze dropped to his leg as well. His expression altered and he closed his eyes.
“Did anyone think to grab the salt?” he asked and silence met his question.
“What were you going to do, pour salt in your cut?”
“Yes. I figure if salt keeps demons out, it might mask my whereabouts.”
“Do we need to stop?” Steve asked.
“There isn’t time,” Jennifer said.
The bouncing conversation along with the erratic lane changes were beginning to make me sick and I swallowed the acidic taste in my mouth.
“We might need to stop anyway,” Damian said and brushed a stray hair behind my ear. “Naomi needs to eat.”
“I’ll be fine,” I muttered, but the truth was, if I didn’t eat soon, I was going to pass out or vomit. The pizza I had before the demons attacked had long been digested and absorbed and the babies were starting to kick.
“You need food,” Damian said and his gaze fell on my stomach. “The dinner you ate wasn’t enough to fuel your transformation, never mind the accelerated growth of the babies.”
Jennifer glanced over her shoulder. “How far along are you, anyway?”
I laughed and met her gaze. “I’m supposed to be due in October.”
Her eyebrows arched and she dropped her gaze to my stomach. Her lips moving silently forming partial words before she looked back at me. “That means you’re a little less than two months?”
I nodded. “I was less than two months before I transformed, but I have no clue how far along I am now. And Damian thinks we’re having twins.”
“Triplets,” CJ and Jennifer said at the same time and I met her gaze, while Damian looked back at CJ.
“How do you know?” I asked Jennifer.
She offered me a strained smile and traded a glance with Steve. “I had a vision.”
Even Damian looked surprised with the answer, but he quickly recovered and his hand found my belly. He caressed my abdomen and smiled. “You need to eat, because they are still hungry.”
“I need to get gas anyway,” Steve mumbled and veered off the next exit. When we stopped, Damian helped me out of the car and I wobbled into the convenience store, heading directly into the bathroom.
“You guys have to calm down, I’m going to get something to eat just as soon as I can,” I said, rubbing the swollen skin. Once I had relieved the pressure on my bladder, the babies calmed, almost as if they shared in my relief. I shimmied the sweats back up and stepped to the sink.
My reflection took me by surprise and I stared at my gaunt face and ringed eyes. I hadn’t had the time to inspect what I looked like at the house, but I never imagined I looked this bad. No wonder I felt like death.
“Damian?” I said and the door opened.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
“Look at me.” I pointed to the mirror. “I look like a walking skeleton.”
He sighed and nodded. “I know. You need to eat.”
“No shit,” I responded and grabbed a paper towel, wiping my hands before tossing the crumpled paper into the garbage. “No wonder the guy at the counter looked at me like I was a fucking ghost,” I muttered and stepped out into the heart of the store.
As I walked by the candy shelf, a hunger pain hit and I doubled over, holding my stomach. My insides felt like a hand was squeezing, trying to make my stomach pop like a balloon and my knees gave out, hitting the hard floor. I couldn’t draw a breath.
I didn’t understand what was happening and I couldn’t call out.
“Is she okay?” the kid at the counter called.
“She will be,” Damian said and swept me up into his arms, carrying me toward the door while I forced small breaths. His gaze bounced, like he was looking for the cause and then he stopped, pulling me closer. The car wasn’t at the pump and the man standing in the darkness beyond the station lights made my stomach clutch tighter.
Lucifer.
Pain seared through me and I screamed, fighting the darkness threatening to pull me into oblivion.
Chapter Eighteen – Naomi
Tires squealed and the Tahoe slammed to a stop in front of u
s, blocking my view of the bastard pulverizing my insides. The back door swung open and Damian climbed in with me in his arms, before we even settled in the seat, the door closed, pulled by whatever psychic magic the men in the car possessed. Steve gunned the engine and I had a moment to capture Lucifer’s angry glare as we sped off. The farther away we got, the looser the tightness in my abdomen became.
I hyperventilated, leaning over as far as my oversized stomach would allow and slowly, my seized lungs released, allowing oxygen to flow until the pain finally abated.
“Why isn’t he following?” I asked when I had my voice back.
“I painted the symbols on the ceiling.” Steve pointed to the roof of the car and I looked up.
The deep red etched in the grey fabric pulled a gasp from my throat. “Is that blood?”
“Yes,” he answered and raised his left hand. I caught the make-shift bandage wrapped around his palm. “It’s all we had.” He glanced in the mirror, meeting my gaze for a moment. “I’ll swing into the drive through somewhere in Brooksfield for you. It won’t be much longer. Okay?”
I nodded, despite the incessant rumbling in my stomach.
“Maybe you should drop me off on the side of the highway and take her somewhere safe,” Damian said.
I shot an open-mouthed gape in his direction and shook my head. “No! You’re not going to be a martyr this time. You’ve done that too many times before and every time you decide to make the sacrifice, you come within a hair’s breadth of death. It’s not happening again.”
“But...” he started.
“No,” I growled through clenched teeth. The prickling of the transition started and I pushed it back. I didn’t have room to transition in the car and I certainly didn’t want to find out how far along I’d be when I snapped back to human form.
“Naomi, it’s dangerous for me to be here. I’m the damned magnet that leads them right to us every time.”
“You need to be with us, Damian,” Steve said. “You’re the only one who can stop that maniac.”
“CJ could stop him,” Damian argued and I gave him a sideways glance, trying to understand what made CJ Ryan so special, beyond his uncanny similarity to my husband.
“He can’t,” Ty’s detached voice said. “Even on hallowed ground, he’s still doesn’t have the power to kill the devil.”
Fear flashed over Damian’s features and he swallowed, dropping his gaze. I didn’t have to be a mind reader to know he was replaying every brutal encounter with Lucifer. When he looked out the window, his jaw tightened, followed by his grip on my hand.
The minute his gaze came back to mine, I shivered at the raw fury filling his bright-blue eyes.
Damian’s anger filled the car and instead of hitting it head on like I normally would, I curled up on the seat, putting my head in his lap. My stomach had turned to a roiling mess and I was in need of a little tender loving care.
He sighed and started slowly hand combing my hair. The triplets had started doing acrobatics in the small space and my back ached from the strain. I just wanted a normal pregnancy and a quiet life raising my children with Damian.
I wanted peace.
My eyelids closed under his continued pampering and he started singing for my benefit. Soft and sweet, pulling me under the blanket of sleep.
Chapter Nineteen – Naomi
French fries.
The identification of the scent immediately popped me into a sitting position. I have no idea how long I was out, but now I was fully awake and ravenous. A quick glance at my surroundings told me we were in the drive through line of a Wendy’s and my mouth salivated.
“What would you like?” Steve asked, meeting my gaze.
“Everything,” I said in all seriousness and he arched a brow. “Fine,” I sighed and looked at the approaching board. “Two double bacon cheeseburgers, no, make that three, two large fries, a large chocolate frosty.” I scanned the menu. “And maybe spicy chicken sandwich,” I added. “Wait, make that three portabella bacon cheeseburgers instead of the double cheeseburgers,” I said and smiled. “And a large frosty shake along with the chocolate frosty.”
Steve stared at me in the mirror.
“That should do for me,” I said and glanced at Damian. “Do you want anything?”
Damian snorted laughter and Steve looked down so I wouldn’t see him grin. After the chortle of laughter filled the car, everyone yelled out their orders.
“Just hold on a second,” he said as he rolled up to the drive through kiosk.
“Welcome to Wendy’s, what can I get you today?” the chipper voice asked.
Steve accurately recounted my order, which impressed the hell out of me, and he continued ticking off what everyone had called out down to the last frosty. It was an impressive list for seven people, but no one had near the volume of food I ordered.
“I got this,” Damian said, reaching for his wallet, but his expression fell when his hand came up empty. “Fuck,” he muttered and Steve glanced back at him. “My wallet was in the jeans I had on earlier,” he said. “Which are on the floor in the bathroom upstairs.”
“That means they’re going to assume you had something to do with the disappearance of my family,” Steve mumbled, pulling his wallet out and peeling off enough cash to cover the bill at the window.
We didn’t linger. The minute the food was in the car and accounted for, Steve pulled out of the parking lot, heading down one of the main thoroughfares right through the middle of a college campus. He pushed the redial button on his phone as soon as he was sure no one was following us.
“Steve?”
“You went to the house, didn’t you?” he asked, his voice filled with instant irritation.
“It’s my job. There’s blood everywhere, what the hell happened?” Sarah snapped back.
“We are all okay.”
“You said that earlier. But after seeing this, clearly, someone isn’t.”
“Something. Not someone.”
“What the fuck am I supposed to do with that?”
“Let it go. This is one of those situations where you don’t want to know. Just like you don’t want to know what the hell happened at the hospital in Torrington. It’s way too out there for you to come to terms with.”
Silence cascaded on the line.
“More fucked up than your guardian angel?”
“Far more,” he said, his voice softening. “It’s even more fucked up than what happened at Black Cove.”
Jennifer shivered at the mention of Black Cove, encircling herself with her arms as if that could ward off whatever chill accosted her. I traded a glance with Damian and focused on my food, carefully unwrapping the first burger.
“Fine. Can I at least tell Ron that you’re okay?”
“Go ahead,” Steve answered. “And let him know that video didn’t carry the full story. The man in the video was there, but he isn’t responsible for those deaths. It’s a set up. And I know who is responsible.”
“Fine, I’ll tell him,” Sarah said and the line went dead.
I tore into my second burger and glanced at Damian. I had a few questions, but my mind focused back on the food and I devoured it with zest, like this was my last meal.
Silence blanketed the car and I looked up at Damian. His lips pressed together in derision and his gaze jumped between the food in my hands and my face and then he shook his head, taking a spoonful of my chocolate frosty that he held for me.
I glanced in the back and all three of them were staring at me in the same manner as Damian.
“I’m hungry,” I said around a mouthful of French fries.
That seemed to break their morbid curiosity and they all looked down at their own food. I glanced back at Damian. “What?”
“Wild dogs,” he whispered and grinned, shaking his head like I was a hopeless case. He handed me my frosty and broke into his meal.
I finished mine before he had the chance to drink half his soda.
We pulled off the
main road onto an overgrown dirt path between drifts of snow. I hadn’t noticed the shift in the scenery from the snow dusted seacoast to the mountains of New Hampshire until now.
“Where are you taking us?” I asked and covered a burp. The triplets seemed to be falling into the same food coma I was entering and I yawned.
“Paradise Cove,” Steve said just as the woods opened to a clearing with a charming oversized cottage like the ones you’d see the rich and famous slumming in.
The moonlight reflected on the snow and Steve slowed as the garage opened and he pulled inside, throwing the car into park and cutting the engine. He waited until the door closed behind us before he reached up and scratched a line through the symbol, rendering it useless. Steve stepped out of the car and opened the door for me.
“You’ve got just enough time to hit the bathroom and then we have to move,” he said, unlocking the house and waving me inside. The crew unloaded but no one else came inside with Steve and me.
I did my business and stepped back into the dark room.
“You and Damian will need these,” Steve said, handing me a down coat and once I pulled it on, he handed me the one for Damian and I stepped back into the garage.
Damian stepped close and I offered him the coat. He slipped it on and we waited for Steve. A couple of minutes later, he came out with a metal box along with four coats draped across the top. After handing the coats to Jennifer, Raven, Tom and CJ, Steve set the box down and pulled out his keys.
“Get the ammunition,” he said nodding toward the back of the truck where Damian had stashed the grocery bag of bullets. Damian stepped to the trunk while Steve unlocked the box and handed CJ and Tom two of the revolvers from within the case. When Damian returned, he handed each one of them a box of ammunition.
“Load up, boys,” Steve said and took a box himself, making sure his clip was full.
Damian did the same and I watched each of the platinum bullets fit neatly in the clip and then he pushed it in place, meeting my gaze.
“You ready for this?” he asked me and I nodded, running my hands over my belly.
He offered me a strained smile and leaned down, meeting my lips with his cool ones.
