No one had any better suggestions so Cole called and ordered the pizza.
“I’ll go get it because no one else here is old enough to get beer,” Riley said, standing.
“Are you old enough?” I asked dubiously. He grinned a very wide, toothy grin. I took that as a no.
Sam pulled out his truck keys and tossed them at Riley, who caught them and threw them back. “I have a ride.”
“You have a car?” I asked.
“Yep.”
“Where’d you get a car?” Gemma asked suspiciously.
“Where else? I stole it.” With that, he walked out the door.
*
I couldn’t eat. It was all I could do to sit there and smell the food, watching everyone else eat. I didn’t so much feel sick anymore, but I had a feeling it was because my body was so exhausted. And maybe it was, because the beast was calmed down after seeing its family.
Please eat something, Sam said.
Maybe later.
You’ve lost weight.
How come you didn’t lose any? You’re actually bigger.
I’m worried about you.
“Gemma?” I said. “We kind of got off track before, when we were talking about the souls.”
Gemma sat down her slice of pizza and looked up. “All seven princes of hell steal souls and take them to hell. It’s how they get their power.”
“What do you mean?”
“The seven princes of hell all originally fell from heaven. They were very powerful angels until they turned against God. When they fell, they took some of their powers with them, but not many and they were weak. They are power hungry, greedy and want to rule hell without anyone being a match for them. So they began stealing souls and dragging them to hell. The souls are somehow trapped in hell and that’s where their power comes from—where hell’s power comes from. They feed off the souls.”
I got a very sick feeling in my stomach.
“Chained to the floor of hell and fed off for all eternity,” Sam said softly… realization in his voice.
“What did you say?” Riley said, narrowing his eyes on Sam.
“Sam?” I asked, reaching out and resting my hand on his arm.
“When I was trapped down there, I heard Beelzebub. He was talking to someone… He threatened them. He told them he would chain them to the floor of hell and feed off them for all eternity.”
“Who was he talking to?” Cole asked. Out of the corner of my eye, Riley shifted, and I could sense how closely he was listening to Sam.
“I don’t know. I couldn’t hear anything they were saying.”
“It’s okay,” I told Sam.
“I always wondered where and how they kept the souls. They must chain them to the floor of hell. It makes sense because then hell could feed off the soul’s energy and the prince’s could draw it from the ground when they needed.”
“If they draw it from the ground, wouldn’t all the demons do that too?” Logan asked, no doubt remembering the demon inside him.
“Not if they don’t know they can,” Gemma said. “The princes probably haven’t told anyone where they keep the souls. They probably haven’t told anyone what they’re doing.”
“But wouldn’t the soul die?” Cole asked. “Wouldn’t they be drained of whatever the prince’s take?”
“Possibly.” Gemma allowed. “I don’t know how it works. My guess is the better the soul, the longer it will live. Hope takes a long time to die, and if a soul is hopeful it will be set free, it might hang on. I would think once a soul is drained the princes just release it and it twists into a demon and joins their army.”
“What about a soul from a very powerful person?” I asked, noting the tension from across the room. I didn’t acknowledge that I felt it, though.
“I would think that soul would be very valuable and be a great source of long-lasting power.”
“But what about the really powerful demons? How do they get so powerful?” Logan asked.
I glanced at him and smiled. He turned away, almost like he was guilty of something.
“I would think the demon was given powers from one of the princes to make him stronger so he could do whatever bidding they required. In your case, I would think Beelzebub gave the demon inside you powers so he could control you.”
Logan got up and ran from the room, up the stairs, and then I heard the slam of his bedroom door. Sam stood up, a bleak look on his face. He didn’t look at anyone when he said, “He’s never going to get any better, is he?”
I turned toward Gemma and we shared a look. It was what we both had been thinking, but never really voiced out loud.
I stood up and wrapped an arm around Sam. “I certainly hope so.”
He kissed my forehead. “I’ll be back.”
I nodded and watched him go up the stairs after his brother.
“I wish I could do more for him,” Gemma whispered. “That demon destroyed Logan’s body and it’s like it took away all the strength Logan had to repair himself.”
“You’ve done everything you could,” Cole told her, reaching out and taking her hand. “We’re all grateful you’ve been here to help.”
I nodded.
Riley sat forward in his chair. “You’ve spent over a decade roaming around alone, refusing to care about anything, and then I find you here with another hellhound of all people and you’re helping them.”
“You’re helping us too,” I pointed out.
Riley pretended I wasn’t even there and kept his midnight eyes intent on Gemma. There was a mean streak in them and I began to worry. He pursed his lips momentarily, making his already chiseled cheekbones stand out even more. “Were you looking for someone to replace my grandfather? When you figured out Sam”—he tossed his head in my direction—“was in too deep with someone else, you decided to take up with a human. Tell me Gem’s.” Riley’s voice dropped low. “Does he remind you of Callum?”
Cole leaped out of his chair and threw himself at Riley. Both of them fell back, tipping the chair over. Riley was faster and stronger than Cole so he tossed him up into the air and against the wall with ease.
“Stop it!” I cried.
Gemma was already across the room, pulling them apart, when Cole lunged at him again.
Riley smiled, but it looked like a snarl. “Do you have any pride left at all, man? Your girlfriend could kick your ass in her sleep.”
Cole lunged anew and Riley decked him, snapping his head back. I ran forward at Riley, shoving against his chest. “Stop it! Stop it right now!”
Riley grabbed my arm and yanked me closer. His eyes looked like silver fire and his chest was heaving.
“Don’t you dare touch him again.” I warned.
Riley’s eyes narrowed. “Or what?”
His fingers dug into my arm, but I didn’t say a word. Sam appeared at my side and pinned him with a glare. “Let go.” He looked at my arm.
Riley gave me a little jerk. Sam grabbed my free arm and kicked out with his leg, catching Riley in the gut. Riley flew backward, hitting the coatrack and scattering jackets everywhere. Sam thrust me behind him as Riley came flying back across the room. The two went at it, fists flying and legs kicking.
Sam sent Riley across the room again and before getting up, he picked up a piece of wood from the coatrack and held it like a club. He stepped forward, menacing and wild.
“Riley, don’t you dare,” I said.
He didn’t even look at me. His focus was all on Sam, on hurting him. I closed my eyes. Anger was sweeping over me. He attacked Gemma, then my brother, and now he was threatening Sam with a broken piece of wood. I wished I were strong enough to stop him… I wished…
A scream snapped my eyes open. The wood had burst into flames and was burning toward Riley’s hands.
“Throw it in the fireplace!” I yelled. Riley whipped the burning wood into the fireplace and the whole stack of timber inside went up in flames. It cracked and hissed with intensity.
“What the hel
l was that?” Riley asked.
“What is your problem?” I yelled, trying to race at him, but Sam intercepted me, placing his body in the way. “You just attacked everyone in this room.”
“I was bored,” he said mildly.
“You’re a drunk idiot,” I snapped. “If you wanna know why Gemma walked away from you, that’s why.”
Riley’s eyes narrowed.
“Go upstairs and sleep it off.” I ordered.
He smirked. “I don’t take orders from you.”
“Fine! Drive off and kill yourself. That’ll make things better.”
“Whatever,” he muttered and stomped up the stairs.
The room fell quiet. “Look at this mess,” I said and went over to pick up the broken coatrack and coats.
When no one else moved, I straightened and looked up. “What?”
“Did you set that on fire?” Cole whispered.
“What? No.” Was he crazy?
They all looked at the fire, then back at me. I focused on Sam. He would know that I couldn’t do that. But he didn’t seem as sure as I would have thought.
“I didn’t do that,” I said, my voice a little too unsure for my liking.
Sam glanced at the fire. It was dying down. I shrugged. “I’m going to go talk to Logan. I tried earlier, but Riley decided to be an ass.”
I nodded.
“I’m going to go,” Cole said, drawing my attention. “Today has been… yeah. I’ll just see you later.”
He went into the kitchen before anyone could say anything. I glanced at Gemma. “Aren’t you going to follow him?”
She shook her head.
“Then you’re a fool.” I spat and ran after my brother.
He was on the porch when I caught up with him. “Cole, wait.”
“I can’t stay right now, Hev.”
“Yeah, I get it. I just…” I wasn’t sure what to say. “Riley is an ass.”
“Yeah, but what he said probably wasn’t a lie.”
“I still think she loves you,” I said, coming to his side.
“I’m not so sure.”
“Want me to talk to her?” I offered.
He swiveled around to look at me. “I want you to touch her.”
“You what?” I said, confused, but it didn’t take long to know what he meant. “You want me to mind rob her?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t seem proud to ask, but he wasn’t unsure.
“But why?”
“I can’t do this anymore,” he said tiredly. “Do you have any idea what it’s like to love something so much it hurts?”
“Yeah.”
He laughed bitterly. “I think my situation is a little different.”
He was right.
“It physically hurts me, Heven. To be that close, but so far away. It’s the worst kind of lonely. I can’t do it anymore. I’d rather never see her again than see her and know she’s out of reach. I have to know. If she loves me, then I can handle it, the distance. I’ll know she’s going to come around. But if he’s right…” He looked back at the house where Riley was and shook his head.
“I’ll do it.”
“You will?”
I nodded. “I’ll call you after.”
He hugged me swiftly, then got in his truck and drove away. I watched until he was out of sight.
Gemma came out the back door seconds later. “He’s gone?”
I nodded, my gaze sweeping over her. She was dressed, as usual, in dark jeans and brown knee-high leather boots. Her navy blue T-shirt was half tucked in, half out. Her hair was up in a high ponytail and the glossy strands fell down behind her. There was a dagger strapped to her leg and probably a smaller knife in her boot.
As she came down the stairs, Gemma told me, “I’ll see you later.”
“Wait, can we talk?”
“About what?”
I lifted a brow. “Really? You have to ask?”
She sighed and dropped down on the middle step. I took a seat beside her. “I know I haven’t been the best listener lately, but I’m here now.”
“You think I’m going to talk to you about your brother?”
“Why not?”
She didn’t seem to have a comeback for that so we sat quietly for a minute. She surprised me by starting the conversation. “I thought I was ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“For him. I didn’t think he would matter this much.”
“But he does?”
“I don’t want this. I didn’t come here for this.”
“Then why did you?”
“What Riley said isn’t true, you know?”
“No?”
“Well, not all of it. Back then, when I first met Riley… he was so much like Callum. I did try and make him into who I thought Callum was and that was wrong. But, you can’t make someone into something they aren’t. And then there’s the curse. It changed him… made him cold.”
“So you left.”
“I thought it would be easier for everyone.”
Instead, he felt abandoned and unworthy of even her friendship. My heart went out to Riley.
“You should apologize.”
She looked up, surprised.
“Maybe if you explained, he would understand.”
“I don’t think so.”
I wasn’t sure he would either so I let it go. “What about Cole?”
“He’s different than anyone I’ve ever known.”
“You’re hurting him.”
She bowed her head again and I made my move. I reached out and laid a hand on her shoulder, a gesture in comfort and friendship. I guess now it was also a gesture in deceit.
I felt myself slipping into her mind and I wondered what I was going to see.
“Has he told you that he loves you yet?” I asked.
“Once,” Gemma answered. “It didn’t go that well.”
Just like that, I was in. It was time to find out the truth once and for all. Did Gemma really love my brother? If she didn’t, would I have enough guts to actually tell him and break his heart?
Chapter Twenty-One
Sam
I wrapped my knuckles against the door and heard a muffled “Come in,” and I smiled as I let myself into the room my brother had been living in for the past ten days. I glanced around as I entered and was surprised to see the room looked like it belonged to him.
There was a navy blue comforter on the bed with pillows in red and gold. The curtains were striped with the same colors and there were posters on the walls of his favorite comic book heroes. There was a TV on top the dresser across from the bed, a stack of comic books on the nightstand and empty candy wrappers sticking out of the half-closed drawer. He had a plastic clothes hamper in the corner and it was filled with jeans and shirts. If I closed my eyes, I could picture Gran bustling around in here to collect the laundry and looking for loose socks.
Heven and her Grandmother had really taken care of him while I was gone and I actually had to pause to swallow past the lump in my throat that I suddenly felt. Words couldn’t express how grateful I was that he had been taken care of, that these two women had taken him into their home—a boy who was sick and essentially homeless. They cared for him—for everyone around them—in a way that left me awed and breathless.
“Hey, bud.” Logan was sitting in the center of his sloppily made bed, staring at the TV, but I don’t think he would be able to tell me a thing about what he was watching. One of his socks was loose on his foot and he had a hole in the toe of the other. I grinned and sat down on the edge of the bed. “All that talk about demons and stuff brought up some memories, huh?”
He nodded and glanced at me. “I didn’t mean to act like a baby.”
“No one thinks you’re a baby. We all think you’re awesome for everything you went through.”
Logan sat there a minute, then said, “I did some bad things. Things I wish I could make up for.”
“So have I.”
He glanced at me. �
��Like what?”
Tirade Page 27
