by Dia Cole
One…two…now!
I threw the bundle as hard as I could in the direction of the workbench.
Metal crashed to the ground.
Boots thumped against cement in the direction I’d thrown the shirt.
It’d taken the bait.
No time to waste.
I dove into the front seat and pressed the red button labeled engine start.
The four-inch screen over the center console clicked on. But the engine didn’t turn over.
Shit. Why isn’t it turning on?
I pushed the red button again.
Nothing.
There was a howl from the corner of the garage.
Panic turned my fingers into mush. I started hitting buttons and switches.
A jerk of one of the steering column switches triggered the windshield wipers.
“Start, damn you.”
Pounding buttons on the steering wheel only turned on the car stereo. A bubbly voice sung, “The wheels on the bus go round and round, round and round, round and round.”
Goddamn it.
Tears of frustration welled at my eyes. Another steering column switch turned on the car lights.
The high beams spotlighted the snarling face of the Howler. It stood inches from the fender.
My heart seized in my chest.
There was a scream of metal as the creature scrambled up the hood. The minivan rocked violently.
My teeth clamped together so tightly that my mouth filled with blood.
Its fist shot through the windshield.
I scrambled back to the second row of seats and whipped out my gun.
Bang. Bang.
The thunder of gunfire drowned out the kiddie songs on the stereo.
The creature’s head flew back as each shot struck its skull. Seconds later, it straightened and flashed me a predatory grin that froze the blood in my veins.
A high-pitched whine rang in my ears as my fingers pumped the trigger. Nothing happened.
Damn it. I’m out.
I tossed the gun and pulled out my knife. My chances of survival were in the single digits now. But I wasn’t going down without a fight.
Giving a shriek, the creature climbed through the windshield.
Time seemed to slow. My father had worn the same kind fatigues that horrific night. They too had been covered with the blood of his wife and children. All of a sudden, I was a little girl again, and the creature was my father. I knew I wouldn’t survive his attack.
Not this time.
8
Caught in the nightmare of my past, I was dimly aware of the Howler screeching as it became trapped by the front seats and center console. It was as large as Dominic and the inside of the van was a tight fit for a giant. It hunched its shoulders trying to move forward. The long rope, still tethered to his neck, slithered behind it like a serpent.
Through the smashed windshield, I watched the door to the house fly open.
Dominic stood in the doorway. “Lee.”
He was alive. The sight of him wrenched me into the present. The gaping hole in my heart sealed shut. If not for the creature bearing down on me, I would’ve cried in relief.
Dominic ran two of his blades together. “Hey, ugly, pick on someone your own size.”
The creature didn’t so much as blink in Dominic’s direction. Its opaque gaze stayed fixed on me.
It was only a few feet away now.
My breath stalled.
“Eat dirt,” Dominic shouted in warning.
Knowing what was coming, I ducked down into the aisle between the car seats.
One of Dominic’s knives whistled through the air and slammed into the Howler’s back.
The creature twisted around and growled at Dominic.
“Lee, fall back.”
Dominic didn’t need to tell me twice. I backed up into the third row, falling into the bench seat.
The Howler spun around to face me.
“Come after me, you bastard,” Dominic shouted.
The Howler ignored him and clambered over the center console.
I could see my death in its unholy eyes.
It’s done playing.
The Howler lunged at me, but it couldn’t fit between the second row car seats. Instead, it reached over them, its teeth snapping like a wild animal’s.
I plastered myself against the far back window, barely avoiding its black-tipped fingernails. I stabbed at its hands. Each slash healed instantly.
Terror seized my heart in an icy fist. “Dominic!”
He better think of something quick.
Suddenly, the creature flew backward. Its hands clawed at the noose around its neck.
The rope that trailed behind the Howler stretched taut.
Dominic reeled the creature away from me.
It thrashed against the rope, like a shark on a fishing line.
“Finish it.”
Before I could second-guess Dominic’s command, I jumped to my feet and struck out with my knife. The blade found a home in the pearlescent orb of its eye.
It screeched and then slumped to the floorboard. Black blood oozed from the knife wound in its head.
My father’s knife.
“Are you okay?”
Not remotely.
“Yeah.” The surge of adrenaline ebbed, leaving me weak and trembling.
A sharp tug on the rope sent the lifeless creature hurling backward. It landed faceup with half its body lying over the front center console.
Dominic yanked again on the rope, but the creature’s long legs were caught behind the front seats.
My gaze slid back to the knife sticking out of the creature’s face. The knife. The bloody army fatigues. The dead family. A feeling of déjà vu swept over me. I collapsed back into the seat. Unwanted memories clawed at my mind, dragging me to a dark place.
“Snap out of it.”
I blinked several times. Somehow I was now sitting on a beat-up couch near the overturned tool chest staring at the van. A battery-powered lantern sat on the cluttered shelf near my head. The dim light illuminated the concerned expression on Dominic’s face.
I glanced around, frantically looking for the Howler. “Where is it?”
Dominic crouched down and put his arms around my shoulders. “Calm down. It’s not a threat anymore.”
Inhaling his masculine scent steadied the frantic pace of my heart. “When you didn’t come at first, I thought you were dead.” My voice came out accusatory.
“I was upstairs at the other end of the house. As soon as I heard the car horn, I ran as fast as I could. Christ, you could’ve been killed.” He inhaled sharply. “Why the hell can’t you follow any goddamn orders?”
When I didn’t say anything, his shoulders tensed. “At the very least, you should’ve peeled out of the garage the minute you saw the Howler.”
I really don’t need a lecture right now.
“I pushed the ignition button. The car didn’t start.”
“You have to put your foot on the brake pedal when you push the button. Did you do that?”
“No,” I said in a small voice.
That would’ve been good info to have earlier.
“I haven’t driven a car made in the last two decades.” Poverty and new technology never went hand in hand.
The tension in his shoulders relaxed a bit. “I’m glad you’re okay.”
“Okay? I’m not fucking okay.” I’d been destroyed when I thought he’d died. I rubbed a hand over my heart. That was unacceptable.
His penetrating gaze scanned me from head to toe. “Did the Howler bite or scratch you?”
“No.” My voice wavered.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.” It wouldn’t have mattered though. Guilt had me glancing down at my injured leg. Even now the infection was spreading.
Dominic let out a deep breath. “Good. If I’d known Daniels had turned, I’d never have brought us here.”
Dominic’s words sliced through my
dazed mind like a razor. Dark suspicion grew. “You’ve been here before?”
“No. I sent two soldiers here the second day of the mission to extract Sergeant Daniels and his family. They reported back that he’d killed himself and his family. The soldiers didn’t stay long. That’s probably why he and the baby didn’t rouse from stasis then.”
My stomach flipped at the reminder of the thing still crawling around inside the house.
“Earlier today, I remembered this place had been on the list and we’d probably find a vehicle and some weapons here.”
At the mention of weapons, I touched my empty thigh sheath. “Where’s my knife? I need my knife.”
“It’s still in Sergeant Daniels. I’ll get it for you. Don’t panic. Why are you so attached to that knife anyway?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Tell me,” he said, stroking one hand down my arm. “You can talk to me.”
I shut my eyes. I’d never spoken about that night. Not to Gran or the countless shrinks she’d brought me to over the years.
“Please, Lee.”
The memories I’d fought so hard to lock away rushed in. “My dad was in the army, special forces like you. He met my mom at some party and they got married like the next weekend. Gran liked to say it was love at first sight.” I laughed bitterly.
“They managed to have me and my two sisters between his deployments. Although he was gone a lot, he’d make up for it when he came back.” My lips curved up as I remembered the gifts he’d brought my sisters and me from exotic places. Come here, rug rats, he’d yell before tackling us to the ground and tickling us to tears.
“Go on.” Dominic’s voice was gentle.
“Things were different when he came back from his last mission. We were excited to have him home for the holidays, but he acted strange. He’d stare at the wall for hours with a gun in his lap. My mom was scared. We all were.” My breathing grew choppy as I remembered the frightened look on her face when she told my sisters and me to pack an overnight bag. She’d been heavily pregnant and barely able to walk.
“Mom planned on taking us to Gran’s house, but he caught us sneaking out.” I stopped talking as the sound of the Christmas tree falling over and my mother’s screams reverberated in my head.
“He shot her.” My voice broke as I remembered her body falling to the ground.
Mama.
I have to help her, Angel had cried.
“Angel, my older sister, pushed me into the back bedroom and told me to take Eden with me.”
It’s your job to protect her.
“Eden was just a baby back then, barely four.”
“You were a baby too.”
“I should’ve helped Angel. Then maybe…” My head bowed. “That was the last time I saw my mother or Angel alive.” My throat started to close up. My older sister had always been so brave. So fearless.
“Eden and I hid under my parents’ bed. As soon as we heard Angel scream, Eden started sobbing. She wouldn’t stop.” The sound of her wails still echoed in my darkest nightmares.
The door to the bedroom had creaked open.
In my mind’s eye, I could see the bloodstained combat boots stomp closer and closer. They stopped at the foot of the bed. “He found us and dragged me out.” I clenched my eyes tighter. “He had a knife in his hands.”
“What happened next?”
My mouth opened, but the words wouldn’t come. I closed my eyes and relived the horror.
My father picks me up by my throat.
“Daddy,” I manage to choke though his clenched fingers. I hang there like a kitten caught by the scruff.
Daddy’s a hero. He’s supposed to protect us.
The blank look in his eyes terrifies me.
I struggle to breathe. “Daddy, please.”
Without saying a word he rears back and thrusts his knife into my belly.
Agony steals my breath. I’d never felt so much pain in my life. Blood bubbles out of my mouth.
He drops me like a stone and steps over my body.
Too paralyzed by pain to even cry out, I curl into a ball. My pink nightgown is drenched. There’s blood. So much blood. My vision goes hazy.
The thunk of Daddy’s boots on the wood floor makes me lift my head.
He’s going to Eden’s hiding spot.
Panic beats its wings inside my chest.
He gets down on the floor and reaches his arm under the bed.
She screams my name.
I can’t let him hurt my baby sister. A wave of resolve gives me strength. My shaking hands find the knife. The hilt is slick. It takes two tries to rip it out. Ignoring the searing pain, I crawl toward him on my hands and knees.
“No. No,” Eden screams, kicking and flailing as he fishes her out by her hair.
He is so focused on Eden he doesn’t see me.
I raise the knife over him and bring it down with all my might.
Dominic shook me so hard my teeth rattled.
I pulled away. “Stop that.”
He took a shaky breath. “It scares the fuck out of me when you zone out like that. If you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine.”
My hands curled into fists. Now that I’d opened the floodgates, I needed to get it all out. “The military police stormed in, the neighbors must’ve called them. We survived. Eden without a scratch. Me after a couple of surgeries and a three-month stay in the hospital. My mother and Angel weren’t so lucky.”
His muscles tensed. “And your father?”
My fingers reflexively sought the knife that was no longer strapped to my thigh. “I killed him,” I said out loud for the first time ever.
My eyes stung. I waited for Dominic’s judgment. When it didn’t come, I said, “I stabbed him to death with that knife.”
“He deserved to die.” He lifted my belly button ring with his finger, revealing the scar beneath. “Did he do that?”
I nodded.
“I wish the bastard was still alive so I could hunt him down and kill him myself.”
I held my hands up to cover my face. My shoulders shook with the effort to keep in my tears. “God, I miss my mom and sisters so much.”
“Come here,” he said pulling me into the shelter of his arms. “I’m so sorry you had to go through that.”
Like a dam breaking, all the shame and horror I’d been carrying poured out. I sobbed into his shoulder hot tears of regret and pain.
Dominic rubbed my back. He said, “It’s okay,” over and over.
After the tears ran dry, I hiccupped and pulled away. “I’m not a crier.”
He wiped away one of my tears with his thumb. “I’d noticed.” His gaze warmed. “There is one thing I don’t get though.”
I stiffened.
“Your sisters had biblical names. Why is your name different?”
“Oh that.” I let out a deep breath. I could already feel the heat moving into my cheeks. “My first name is Heaven.”
“Really?”
“I wouldn’t joke about something like that. You’ve no idea how much it sucked in school.” I shuddered remembering the other kids’ reactions to the teacher reading out my full name during attendance.
“So Lee is…”
“My middle name.” I waited for it.
His normally stoic expression cracked. He made a noise like a barking seal.
I gave him a sideways look. “Was that a laugh?”
His shoulders shook and he doubled over. “Heavenly.”
The smile faded from his lips as he looked in the direction of the minivan. “You’re named Heaven and we’re in hell. Heaven in hell. Damn. That’s ironic. I’m going to call you by your first name.”
“Please don’t.”
The whites of his teeth flashed against his bronze skin reminding me what a gorgeous man he was when he smiled. He enveloped my hand in his and lifted it to his mouth. “I’d love a taste of Heaven right now.”
The feel of his soft lips brushing ag
ainst my fingertips did funny things to my insides. “No heaven jokes, please.” I opened my mouth to tell him about how I’d used Heaven as my stripper name, but decided against ruining the moment.
“I can’t promise that.”
Looking at our entwined hands made something come apart inside me. He knew my darkest secrets and still wanted me. For the past three months, I’d been trying to fight my attraction to him. Yes, he was a soldier like my father. Yes, he could be a dominating pain in the ass. But he’d saved my life countless times and no man had ever made me feel the things he did. A sudden realization blindsided me.
I love him.
9
He leaned in closer.
My heartbeat pulsed in my throat.
This man ties me up in knots so tight, I’ll never get free.
Letting instinct take the driver’s seat, I let my eyes flutter shut and lifted my mouth to his.
With a groan, he kissed me.
The first swipe of his tongue had my body going up in flames. The sweet and spicy taste of him filled my senses.
Molten desire ran through my veins. I licked the seam of his mouth, tasting the cinnamon on his lips.
He hauled me into his lap, as if I weighed nothing.
I opened my eyes to see his wolfish grin.
“It’s only fair that I get to punish you for disobeying another order.”
“You think so?” My thighs were spread over his in as intimate a position as two clothed people could have.
“Yeah.” He thrust against me, making me aware of his growing arousal.
My insides tightened in need. “Do your worst,” I managed to gasp.
Dominic’s grin widened. He slapped my ass.
I jerked in surprised.
He laughed and ran his hands up the sides of my body. His fingers came to rest just below the slash of fabric covering my breasts. “You’re beautiful. You’ve no idea how badly I want you right now.”
I shut my eyes.
I want him too. I’m not going to let what my dad did to me destroy what Dominic and I could have together.
I opened my eyes and dropped my hands to my sides. I licked my lips and arched my eyebrow in challenge. “You military boys are all talk. Why don’t you show me?”
