“CJ,” Jennifer started and I glanced over my shoulder.
“I walked in on her fucking another guy.”
Jennifer took a step back, her jaw dropped open before she recovered and stepped closer.
“Yeah, that’s the same look I think I wore when I first saw them,” I said and turned back to the ocean. “It felt good to let the power rip. I’m sure some of the cars are probably still burning.”
“Did you...”
“No, I didn’t hurt anyone,” I cut her off. “I wanted to, but I didn’t.”
Her hand squeezed my shoulder and I detested the fact that her show of compassion brought forth more tears. I squeezed my injured hand, welcoming the sharp pain instead of the ballooning agony in the center of my soul.
“Come on, let’s have Steve take a look at that,” she said and I let her lead me back into the house.
Steve’s gaze dropped to my hand. “Looks like the slate won,” he said.
His response surprised me and I snorted. “Better my hand than the entire East Coast.”
“True.” Steve approached me.
I wasn’t sure I wanted Steve to fix the broken bones with his miracle healing power. “Maybe I should just go to the hospital.” I flexed my hand again, wincing. The pain dulled everything and I rather liked the diversion.
“Excuse me?” Steve said, stopping short.
I met his gaze but didn’t say a word. Instead, I just curled my fist and clamped my jaw tight, sending a smile in Steve’s direction.
The silent showdown was broken by the ring of the doorbell. Jennifer traded a glance with Steve before she headed out of the room to answer the door.
Steve reached for my hand and I stepped back, knocking his hand out of range. Footfalls echoed through the house pulling our attention to the doorway and Damian Andreas stepped into view.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I need to grab our stuff from upstairs.” Damian hesitated, trading a glance with me. His gaze dropped to my hand and his eyebrows shot up in an amusing arch. “Assuming it’s still here,” he added snapping his gaze to Steve.
“The feds left your stuff alone. It’s still in the bedroom.”
Damian started across the room and slowed to a stop before he got to the stairs. “I’m sorry about your father,” he said with his gaze still locked on the floor.
Damian’s remorse drifted over me, his sense of loss for not only his relatives but for mine as well, made my voice stick in my throat. Instead of responding, I squeezed my fist tighter, sucking air through my teeth.
Damian’s gaze shot from the floor to me. “What the fuck are you doing?” he asked, echoing Steve’s exact thoughts.
“My girlfriend broke up with me today.”
“So, you thought smashing the bones in your hand would somehow make the heartache go away?” Damian asked, filling in the blanks accurately, like he had a special line directly into my mind.
“Get out of my head,” I muttered, glaring at Damian.
"I'm not in your head." Damian said. "Besides, it doesn't work for long," he added pointing his chin toward my hand before disappearing up the stairs.
“What do you know,” I whispered under my breath.
“A lot more than you.” The answer drifted down to me from upstairs.
Steve crossed to the window, pulling the curtain back. When he turned, irritation was written in the lines on his face and he pressed his lips together, waiting for Damian to return.
“You stole a car?” he snapped when Damian stepped into the family room.
Damian shrugged as if it’s no big deal. “I couldn’t exactly rent or buy without ID.” He held up his wallet before tucking it into his pocket. “I’m going to return it,” he mumbled and shifted, dropping his gaze.
“There was a car in the garage at the cottage.”
“I know. The battery was dead and it’s too small for three car seats. Before Naomi and the kids can leave the hospital, I need a vehicle that will be big enough. I already found what I want, but I didn’t have my ID or bank cards on me, so I was shit out of luck.”
I couldn’t help but smile. Damian’s justifications seemed valid, but that little tick over Steve’s left eye engaged, and I knew he was pissed.
“You ever hear of a phone?”
Damian glanced at me for help, and I raised my hands, giving him the ‘you made this bed yourself’ look and he pressed his lips in a thin line, focusing back at Steve.
“I didn’t want to inconvenience you anymore than I already had,” he finally said and started for the door.
“CJ, why don’t you go with him and make sure he gets that car back to where it belongs,” Steve said and turned towards me. He used my shock as his opening and closed the distance before my brain restarted, but it was too late, he planted a quick kiss on my temple and the healing vibe slid from the point of impact, down my arm and into my hand in a progression of pins and needles I was helpless to stop.
“Damn it,” I muttered and sent a glare his way as a crushing pain surrounded my hand. That’s the thing about his healing power, it always hurts like a motherfucker.
He grinned and shrugged, waving me toward the door. Sometimes I hated the man.
“I wasn’t put here to make your life easy,” he said to my internal commentary.
I bit down on the automatic ‘Fuck you’ his comment elicited, but his smirk told me he heard it anyway.
“Go keep Damian from getting into any more trouble, will you?” He pointed to the door.
“I don’t...” Damian started and Steve sent a glare in his direction, silencing him, but I heard the unspoken ‘need a babysitter’ in his mind.
A layer of irritation surfaced and I knew exactly what Steve was doing. It wasn’t Damian that needed babysitting. It was me.
“Damned straight,” Steve said. “You need a diversion,” he added, his gaze dropping to my hand and back to my eyes, using my own thoughts against me. “I figure helping our new friend find a car and a place to live might occupy your mind for a little while.”
From the look on Damian’s face, he was about as happy as I was about this, but to his credit, he kept his mouth shut.
Chapter 4
Route 4 was quiet at this time of the night and I stared at the houses as we passed by. Damian was trying to figure out how the hell he and Naomi were going to deal with triplets. Just the ordeal at the hospital was harrowing for him, but the thought of succumbing to a family car brought forth a “humph.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. An ancient vampire reduced to a mini-van. It was laughable, and he sent a glare in my direction.
“What happened,” Damian asked, turning the tables on me.
“I walked in on her fucking someone else.”
Damian had the decency to sigh. “That’s rough.”
“Yeah, fifteen years out the window like that.” I snapped my fingers.
“First love,” he whispered and nodded. “That’s always the one that kicks your ass.” He sent a smile at me. “Be thankful she wasn’t your cousin.”
I burst out laughing and Damian, met my gaze before I realized he was serious. I choked off my laughter and raise an eyebrow. “Your cousin?”
“You’ve got the memories, take a look.”
Yeah, I had his memories; twenty-five hundred-years’ worth of memories. It wasn’t as easy as sifting through one lifetime, but I found the references, and got another viewing of her death at the hands of Lucifer. A shudder ran through me. At least I didn’t have to witness Sandy’s death. I’m not sure I could have handled that on the heels of my father.
Perhaps Steve was right; hanging with Damian may just be the thing to put my life in perspective.
It was Damian’s turn to laugh. “My life won’t give you perspective. Nightmares, maybe, but not perspective.” He glanced in my direction before taking the exit for Brooksfield. After a few more turns, he pulled into the mall parking lot and came to a stop in one of the farthest parking spots.
&nbs
p; “Time to start walking,” he said and tucked the keys under the corner of the carpeting on the driver’s side floor before opening his door. The wind whipped through the car and I stepped out into the brutal New Hampshire chill. It was colder than it had been the other night. Either that or my adrenaline had kept me warm during the run from the devil.
“The hospital is this way,” Damian said, nodding toward the road we just drove in on.
I followed him with my hands stuffed in my pockets and my chin tucked into my coat. I wished I’d had the forethought of grabbing a hat, and by the time we got a football length away from the car I thought my ears were going to fall off from the frigid bite.
Damian sent a sideways glare in my direction.
“It’s fucking cold,” I said, my voice rising with defensiveness.
“You live in Northern New England, what the hell do you expect this time of year?”
“York is not this cold,” I muttered and scrunched my shoulders in an attempt to cover whatever exposed skin I could.
“The Rockies in the dead of winter is cold. This is balmy in comparison.” He continued walking, ignoring my grumbling.
I followed in silence, wondering what the hell was wrong with me. I normally didn’t mind the cold. I normally didn’t whine. Hell, I normally didn’t have the emotional spectrum of a teenage girl.
Damian snorted laughter and looked over his shoulder.
“Fuck you,” I muttered under my breath, but he had every cause to laugh. I was a fucking mess. Aggravation snuck in like a cat burglar, at first undetected but then the silent stalk got sloppy, jumbling my nerves. My eyes stung from more than just the wind and finally Damian stopped and faced me.
“Think of it this way. There’s gotta be something better out there for you.”
I stopped and stared at him. “Did you ever have anyone you loved walk away from you?” I asked, trying to decipher his memories. I didn’t think that was the case and from the slow shake of his head, he confirmed it.
“It’s a little different when they decide you aren’t what they want.” Bitterness snaked in alongside the aggravation and I clenched my jaw, blinking away the remnants of mist from my eyes.
“Loss is loss. Mine was just a little more... permanent,” he said, and I glared at him even though his tone wasn’t snarky or sarcastic. “Look, everything happens for a reason.” He turned and started walking again. “It took me a long time to accept that,” he added when I caught up.
We walked in silence and while I agreed that everything happens for a reason, losing Sandy wasn’t something I had been prepared for. In some ways, death would have been easier to accept. At least that didn’t bruise the ego.
I glanced at Damian and realized I couldn’t hear his thoughts.
He smiled at my revelation. “Frustrating, isn’t it?” he said and focused on the building rising from just beyond the trees. “I can’t always hear you, either,” he added and his brow creased.
The silence hung between us but it was now layered with thought-creep of the hospital inhabitants. “We’re almost there,” he said and resumed a faster pace.
A sudden urgency gripped me and I caught up with him, my feet matching his near sprinting pace. I glanced in his direction and he had the same trepidation carved into his features as I had in the pit of my stomach. I focused on the thoughts and the word tiger surfaced.
I didn’t wait for Damian. I turned my sprint into a full-fledged speed contest. The limited experience I had with Naomi and her stellar ability to change into a ferocious tiger had a direct correlation to demons. And if there were demons in the hospital, it meant Grace was in danger.
The air shifted and a shadow blocked the bright moon overhead. I dodged around an oak trunk and broke out of the tree line before a talon wrapped around my waist. Air sucked out of my lungs as I was lifted off the ground by a giant hawk. We soared above the parking lot, landing on the roof of the hospital. The talon released and before I had a moment to process what just happened, Damian stood beside me, scanning the rooftop for an access door.
“Dude,” I said and he turned toward me.
His gaze traveled beyond me. “Door,” he said pointing and then heading in the same direction he pointed. I followed, still unsteady from the experience. I’m not sure Damian knew he transitioned either, until he pulled the door open and sent a glare at me.
“We can discuss my ability after we get rid of the demons. Talking our way in would have only wasted time and they’re beyond trying tranquilizers. Now, they’re talking about killing the tiger.”
“Shit,” I said and we took the stairs as fast as possible. Halfway down, Damian reached for the door, bursting into the maternity ward where a collection of officers were plotting how to take down the rabid tiger in the nursery.
Damian scanned the area, his gaze landing on the glass separating the nursery from the rest of the maternity ward. A nurse had her back pressed to the glass and a tiger stalked back and forth, between the nurse and the bassinets. If anyone had been paying attention, they would have understood the tiger was in protection mode, not attack mode.
The nurse took a step forward and the giant cat snarled, swiping a clawed paw in her direction, sending the nurse back into the glass. I exchanged a glance with Damian.
Distaste colored his features and my nose itched with the stench of sulfur filling the ward. The nurse wasn’t the only demon on site and I turned, facing the crowd behind us. At least a half a dozen police officer’s stared back and their eyes glimmered, revealing the red eyes of demon possession. The other’s still focused on the hospital schema laid out on the table and beyond the cops were frightened parents and hospital staff.
I glanced over my shoulder, giving Damian a nod. I got this, you go take care of that bitch.
Be careful. His thought echoed in my mind and he started toward the nursery. I turned, just as one of the normal officer’s called out to Damian to stop.
“He’ll be okay,” I said and the demons behind the officer grinned.
Demonic voices filled my head.
Lucifer has plans for you.
I stared at them and a chill settled over me. What the fuck does the devil want from me?
A smile was the only response, that and the shift of gazes from me to Damian and the nursery beyond. I’m a smart man and my hands curled into fists. If the devil thought he could use me to get to Naomi and Grace, he had another think coming.
Laughter echoed in my head and I ground my teeth, tempering the need to demolish everything in my path.
“Sir,” another officer called, pulling my attention away from hell’s collection in the hallway and over my shoulder toward Damian. He had already crossed the distance and stood on the hallway side of the glass case, behind the back of the demonic nurse. He didn’t turn, but his reflection in the glass told me enough. He was gearing up and when his gaze met mine, I started counting.
When I hit three, the roll of power expanded from the two of us like a tidal wave, popping overhead lights, and turning demons and their human suits to dust, including the bitch in the nursery. The maternity ward dropped into the black and frightened murmurs echoed on the tile hallway.
It only took a moment before the generator engaged and the red hue of emergency lights bathed the area. I turned toward the nursery. The door next to the window stood open and Damian’s back faced us. Arms wrapped around his waist and the stunned quiet broke with the wail of infants. Other than the two of them and a room full of crying babies, nothing else stirred.
The police converged on the open door.
“Where’s the tiger,” someone asked and Damian glanced toward the voice behind him.
“I don’t know,” he said and pulled the sleeve of his jacket up, showing the hospital bracelet that gave him access to his children. “My wife’s been in here the whole time. She texted me while you guys did shit,” he added, turning so they could see Naomi.
The glare he sent at the trooper was enough to pull a
smile to my lips, but I pressed them together, staunching the grin. Radios squawked and they began the search for the missing terror.
“You let that beast out of the room?” the sergeant approached the nursery door, his aggravation making his lips non-existent. “Do you know how much damage a tiger can cause?”
Damian planted a kiss on Naomi’s forehead and released his hold on her, turning on the cop. “Would you have preferred letting it snack on the infants?” he asked and waved his hand towards the collection of cribs. This time a high-pitched laugh escaped from my lips.
Frantic parents filtered into the room and Damian lifted two fingers, beckoning me into the room.
“I’m taking my wife and children out of here, right now,” he said, showing the matching hospital bracelets that allowed he and Naomi access to their kids, and without further conversation, he grabbed Grace and handed her to me. Michael went into Naomi’s arms and he gathered up Gabriel last. He stepped toward the door and rethought his plan, turning and grabbing the three diaper bags sitting under each bassinet.
I followed the two of them with the baby snug in my arms. “Guys, we can’t take the babies outside in the cold,” I said and Damian slowed to a stop before we got to the elevator.
“Fuck,” he whispered.
I guess I had been designated the voice of reason because the two of them turned to me like I could magically conjure up a car and three infant seats at this time of night. The head nurse intervened, blocking the path out and tried to herd us back into Naomi’s maternity room.
“Can you go get us wheels?” Damian asked in exasperation.
I laughed. I didn’t mean to, but I couldn’t help it. His request was ludicrous.
“Do I look like Harry fucking Potter?” I asked and for the first time since we stepped onto this ward, his lips twitched into what I assumed was a smirk.
“Fine,” Damian muttered and allowed the nurse to escort us to the room. As soon as the three of us were alone and the bassinets were lined along the wall with the triplets inside, I turned to leave.
“Where are you going?” Damian asked.
“I’m going to the lake. Why?” I said, pausing at the door. Damian’s doubt and unease stretched across the room and I crossed my arms. “Dude, I’m not staying here,” I said. I had no interest in babysitting all night.
Paranormal Magic (Shades of Prey Book 1) Page 208
