The Brightest Embers

CHAPTER SEVEN

ADRIAN KISSED ME AGAIN. I could’ve stayed that way for the rest of the night, but Costa cleared his throat in a manner meant to get our attention. When Adrian and I both ignored him, he tapped us on the arms. Hard.

“Guys,” Costa said through gritted teeth. “Security’s here, and they look pissed.”

I looked up to see three uniformed men glaring down at us. Then they looked around in a disbelieving way at the holes in the wall, the dark stains on the sodden carpet, the broken mirror farther down the hallway and, finally, the blood still staining Adrian’s clothes.

“What in hell happened here?” one of the guards asked in heavily accented English.

From the other people peeking out of their hotel rooms, they weren’t the only ones who wanted to know that. Adrian got up, bloody droplets accompanying his every move, and reached into his pants pocket.

“Don’t worry—I’ll pay for all of it,” he said, pulling out a credit card with a ridiculously high charging limit.

That was one way out of this situation. The security staff no longer looked as if they were about to tackle us, but they were still clearly pissed.

“You’ll pay on your way out,” one of them growled before giving another disgusted look around. “This flooding will take days to clean up!”

“Hey, that’s from your sprinklers,” I corrected him.

“What sprinklers?” the guard snapped.

I pointed at the ceiling, but the word “Those!” died on my lips. The hallway had several smoke alarms, but unbelievably, I didn’t see any sprinkler heads. Now that I was thinking about it, the water had seemed to come from the sides, not just from the ceiling, and I still had no explanation as to where the strange, strong wind had come from.

“Don’t say anything else,” Adrian murmured, taking my hand.

I looked down at our clasped hands. I hadn’t noticed the slingshot melding back into my flesh, but it now once again resembled a tattoo instead of the ancient supernatural weapon that it was. That awful burn running along the right half of my body had stopped, too, so the staff was no longer reacting to the presence of a demon.

Wait a minute. The staff... “Oh, shit,” I whispered.

My sister, Jasmine, slicked her wet blond hair back before giving me a supportive, if somewhat pitying, smile. “Guess we now know what your other tattoo can do.”

Guess we did. Then again, Moses’s staff was famous for supernatural weather events, hence all those plagues against the Egyptians that resulted in the Israelites’ exodus several thousand years ago. Next to that, a little indoor rain and wind was pretty ho-hum.

“Get the rest of our stuff,” Adrian said to Costa and Jasmine. “We’ll meet you downstairs.” To the guards, he said, “Feel free to escort us to the front desk, if you’re worried about our skipping out on the bill.”

He received a barrage of Armenian for his reply. I was glad I didn’t know the language, because I was sure I wouldn’t have liked what was said. One of the guards stayed with Costa and Jasmine while the other two took Adrian up on his challenge and escorted us all the way to the front desk.

Once there, we waited while the manager checked out the fifth floor and returned to chew us out in very good English. When it was all said and done, Adrian paid the hotel an amount that could have also purchased a great used car.

“Once again, sorry for the mess,” he told the manager. “The wife and I just love to play with Super Soakers.”

“And paintball guns,” I added, since Adrian’s shirt was still stained with red.

“You forgot smashing mirrors and putting holes in the walls,” the manager said sourly.

Adrian flashed a grin at him. For someone who had been inches away from death less than an hour ago, he looked like his usual cocky self now. “What can I say? It’s our honeymoon.”

The manager gave him an extremely unamused look. “Congratulations. Now, get out.”

We met Costa and Jasmine at the front of the hotel. They’d brought our bags and were in the process of trying to hail a taxi, but the sight of those smaller sedans made me remember that not all of us were here.

“Brutus,” I said with a gasp. “I left him on the roof!”

“I figured as much, so I went up there when I was getting the bags and told him to stand by,” Costa said.

“But you’re afraid of him,” I blurted, then could’ve kicked myself. No guy liked being called out on his fears, especially in front of his not-so-secret girlfriend.

A hard smile ghosted across Costa’s lips. “If you’d been trapped in a demon realm with Brutus as its flying guard, you would be, too. But these past few months have shown me that Brutus isn’t evil. He was just being directed by evil people.”

Adrian looked away, and now Costa was the one who looked like he was mentally kicking himself. He might not have meant to bring up the fact that Adrian had been ruling the realm Costa had been trapped in, but now it hung in the air like a cloud of sulfur. Costa continued to shift uncomfortably, while Jasmine cleared her throat and found something fascinating to stare at.

I squeezed Adrian’s hand. He rarely talked about the guilt he felt for all he’d done when he’d been brainwashed by demons into believing they were good and people were monsters, but I knew it still cut deeply.

“Brutus wasn’t the only one being directed by evil people,” I said, addressing the unspoken tension. “All of us have our reasons for being in this fight.”

“Damn straight,” Costa said quickly.

A humorless smile played on Adrian’s lips. “Don’t ever feel bad for bringing up the past, Costa. You’re not the only one who isn’t able to forget it.”

“Yes, but none of us are going to let it define us anymore,” I said, then tried to change the subject. “I didn’t get a chance to say this before, but I’m so glad you and Jasmine are okay. I freaked when I heard those screams.”

“Oh, that was me,” Jasmine said, shooting a quick glance at Adrian. “I don’t know how that demon found us, but she burst into my hotel room and went right at me. She must’ve thought I was you, because she kept calling me Ivy. If Adrian hadn’t plowed into her before she could reach me, I might not be here.”

I gave Adrian a grateful glance as I remembered Obsidiana asking, Is this the real you? “I’d been disguised by glamour the other times she saw me. That’s why she thought you might be me.”

“Yeah, well, I’m glad the bitch is dead,” Jasmine said shortly. “Scared me shitless to see a demon again. I thought they couldn’t get to our world anymore.”

I’d thought that, too, and I intended to find out more about the ramifications of cursed earth allowing some to stay behind in our world as soon as I had Adrian alone.

“Apparently, there’s a loophole,” I said. “Either way, it’s not safe for us here anymore. We weren’t just attacked at the hotel. Minions tried to take us out at the museum, too.”

“Oh no!” Jasmine said, running her hands over my shoulders as if belatedly checking me for injuries. “That’s—”

“Why we have to leave now,” Adrian interrupted, stepping out into the middle of the road. The taxi that had been about to sail by us was forced to slam on its brakes or hit him. The driver chose slamming on his brakes.

“Thanks,” Adrian told him, ignoring the driver’s angry sputters as he opened the passenger door. Costa flashed a wry smile at Adrian and grabbed our luggage.

“You should call Brutus down so you can tell him to follow us by air. Otherwise, he might get restless and eat a hole through the roof looking for you.”

Adrian snorted. “He only eats meat.”

“That reminds me!” I said, smacking my head. “Wherever we’re going, we have to stop at a grocery store first.”

Adrian arched a brow. “What for?”

“Pot roasts,” I said succinctly. “I owe Brutus seven of them.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

WE ENDED UP taking a train from Yerevan back toward Europe. Flying would have been faster, but that was impossible to do with Brutus, and our former tour bus was back in the United States. It would take days, with lots of stops along the way, but I intended to enjoy the long trip through countries I’d never seen before. Most important, since the train was in near-continuous motion, we didn’t have to worry about demons popping up. We would be much harder to track when we were never in the same place.

Brutus was in one of the luggage cars, since he was far too bulky to fit in one of the small first-class passenger cabins. Costa and Jasmine were a few doors down in their own cabins, so after the attendants checked our tickets, Adrian and I finally had some privacy. Ever since the hotel attack, we’d been careful to go from plot of hallowed ground to plot of hallowed ground while waiting for the train that would take us out of here. Now that we were all finally safe, I intended to find out why Adrian hadn’t warned me that demons were still in our world.

Adrian, however, had other intentions.

He pulled me to him before I could speak, his mouth slanting across mine while his hands ran over me as if this was the last chance he’d ever get to touch me. My urge to talk died away and another urge rose, fueled by the knowledge that a short time ago, I thought I’d lost him. I hadn’t, and the taste of him, the feel of him, was a larger-than-life reminder.

He kissed me, hot and desperate. I kissed him back with the same feverish desperation, tugging at his bloodstained shirt and pants in wordless demand for him to take them off.

He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it aside. My ruined blouse and bra followed suit, as did our pants and underwear. When he laid me against one of the cabins two narrow bunks, I let out a sound of unabashed need at the feel of his hard, naked body on top of mine.

He kissed me while his large, skillful hands teased my nipples until they were tingling. Then his hot, seeking mouth replaced his hands and turned those tingles into throbs. I was already breathing in gasps by the time he left my breasts to slide lower down my body. When his mouth found my center, I gave up all attempts to keep my voice down despite the cabin’s thin walls.

After several mind-blowing minutes, I was gripping his head as tightly as he held my hips. He didn’t stop until I was panting from a rapidly approaching climax, then he abruptly pulled me up and lifted me until I was straddling him. I gasped at the suddenness of his movements, then that small sound turned into a shout as he thrust deeply inside me.

If I hadn’t been so wet, taking all of his long, thick length at once might have hurt. Instead, my overstimulated nerves clenched with such rapture that I came. I clutched him as those inner tremors shook me, lasting longer from how he hit all the right spots as he moved against me.

“I love feeling you come,” he growled against my neck, moving his arms under my hips until he was supporting me. Good thing, too, because my body felt like it was turning into warm caramel.

“That makes two of us,” I said, the words breathless, since I was still panting.

His low laugh teased my neck, then he tightened his grip and began to move with toe-curling intensity. The pleasant lethargy that had followed my orgasm began to change, turning back to desire with each deep thrust. I was still on top, but he was the one in control, using everything from the angle of our bodies to the rocking of the train to maximize each sensation.

Soon, I was back in a state of mindless, passionate need, crying out against his mouth when he kissed me, or his neck when I pulled away to breathe. I don’t know when he switched position and got on top, but when I came the second time, I raked my nails down his back from his shoulders to his ass. When Adrian finally came, he gripped me to him so hard that I felt every spasm as it shook him. Even when his grip eventually loosened, he didn’t let me go.

* * *

A THUNDEROUS BOOM woke the woman and her baby. They’d both been sleeping in the backseat, but at that sudden noise, her baby began to wail. The crashing sounds that followed only made it worse. She tucked the blanket around her baby, gently shushing her before leaving her in the backseat to investigate. Something awful had to have happened, and though it was daylight, she had to make sure it was a natural awful and not something else.

The brush she walked through was tall and thick, which was why she’d chosen this spot when she’d stopped late last night. Not only did it hide her car from prying eyes, at some point, it had also been a cemetery, though the headstones were long gone.

As soon as she glimpsed the highway, the source of the loud commotion was obvious. A tractor-trailer was turned over on its side in the middle of the road, with multiple cars piled up behind it and around it. Each passing second brought a new screech of tires and screams. She winced as she watched more cars slide helplessly into the wreck. The suddenness of the accident combined with rush hour traffic resulted in a horrible domino effect as people were unable to stop in time.

Then the back of the trailer burst open, and people scrambled out. Some disappeared into the tall grass that lined the road, while others limped a few feet before collapsing, clearly too injured to run like their companions had.

The tractor-trailer must have been smuggling undocumented immigrants over the border. She started forward to help the ones who were hurt, then forced herself to stop. The police would be here soon, and she couldn’t afford to be questioned. No one could know where she was. The creatures who hunted her were relentless, and if they found out about her baby...

She hurried back to her car, not caring that the tall, prickly brush tore into her from how fast she ran through it. She needed to get out of here before the police showed up. Quickly, she opened the backseat door and began to strap her baby into the car seat. She was halfway finished when a familiar voice seemed to whisper across her mind.

You cannot take the child with you.

She stopped and spun around. The entire sky was thick with clouds that looked ready to burst from rain, but in the middle, a brilliant ray of sunshine broke through. It streamed down to touch the side of the road where she’d been standing before, and though the implication was clear, she shook her head.

“No. No, I can’t leave her.”

If you want her to live, you must, that voice whispered while the light grew brighter. Then another sunbeam appeared, and another, all illuminating the same spot, until the brightness was so intense, she could barely stand to look at it.

No! she screamed in her mind. Tears began to stream down her face. She couldn’t leave her baby alone here! She was too young, too small, too fragile, too helpless, too...too hers!

I’ve done everything else you asked, but I won’t leave my little girl. I can’t!

You must, that whisper repeated. No sunbeams touched her, but she suddenly felt enveloped in soothing warmth that spread from the top of her hair all the way down to her feet.

She stood there, every maternal instinct fighting against that voice. How could abandoning her daughter be the right thing to do? How could she bear it if she never saw her again? How could she live with herself if she walked away without even knowing if her child was safe?

Trust me, that voice whispered insistently.

Heaving back a sob, she took her baby out of the car seat and began walking toward that stream of light.

“Promise me she’ll be safe,” she choked out when she laid down the child in the illuminated section of grass alongside the road.

I promise, whispered across her mind.

She kissed her baby on her soft, velvety cheek, saying, “Te quiero, hija mia,” before grief made it impossible for her to speak. As if she knew she was being abandoned, her baby started to wail again. The sound made that burning in her chest worse, and she turned and ran back toward her car. If she didn’t leave now, this second, she wouldn’t be able to at all.

She tore up the brush from how fast she spun the tires when she peeled out of her former hiding spot. When she made it onto the highway, she cut across all the lanes in a dangerously reckless move that nevertheless put her ahead of the jackknifed tractor-trailer and the cars piled up behind it. Once she was clear of the accident, she looked back, craning her neck to see, since her rearview mirror was gone.

A blond-haired woman rushed out of her car, heading toward the small, precious bundle she’d left alongside the road. The last thing she saw was the fair-haired stranger bending down to pick up her daughter, then tears stole her vision away...

I woke up with my heart pounding. I’d had this dream before, too many times to count, yet never so vividly. The other times, I could only see what the pretty Latina woman had been doing. I hadn’t known what she’d been thinking, let alone feeling, and the intensity of her emotions had me fighting back tears.

It would be silly to be so affected, except I had it on good authority that this was no ordinary dream. Zach, the Archon who at turns both helped us and hindered us, had told me my recurring dream was an actual account of what happened when my birth mother abandoned me. I’d always thought she’d done so because she’d been one of the undocumented immigrants who’d fled the scene after the accident, and I’d understood that making a run for it with a baby would have been impossible.

Yet the day I’d met him, Zach had said I was wrong and my birth mother hadn’t wanted to leave me. If this far-more-detailed dream was true, he was right. I fought another shiver as I remembered the strange voice telling the woman—my mother?—that she had to do it or I wouldn’t survive. Was that true?

I only knew one thing about my birth mother: that she was dead. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be the last Davidian. Yet this new, possible insight left me with a thousand questions I hadn’t allowed myself to wonder before. Had she been hunted by demons, too? If the dream was real, the lack of a rearview mirror would indicate that, as would her choice to stay on hallowed ground. And who—or what—was the voice in her head? Delusion? Angelic interference? Something else?

“Hey, sleepyhead,” Adrian murmured.

“Hey,” I said almost distractedly. He was sitting on the small berth across from mine, and I blinked at the curtains behind him. They looked much darker than when I’d seen them before, and it took me a second to realize why. The sun was no longer shining through them. I must have slept the day away.

“Why didn’t you wake me?” I asked in surprise.

He smiled. “Why? You’re so beautiful when you sleep.”

Liar, I thought, but smiled back. Then my smile faded as I glanced again at the darkened windows. Somewhere out there, demons were still prowling around. We were safe now, but eventually, we’d get off, and we couldn’t just park ourselves on hallowed ground forever.

Thoughts of hallowed ground brought me back to the dream, which wasn’t hard. I still ached inside due to the loss she’d felt. For years, I’d tried never to think about my biological mother because it hurt me too much. Now I was feeling all of her pain, and it left mine in the dust.

But I couldn’t focus on that right now. There were other, more important things than the past to dwell on.

“Adrian, why didn’t you tell me some demons could’ve stayed behind in our world after the realm gateways were sealed off?”

CHAPTER NINE

HE STARED AT ME, and I realized the emotions the dream had brought up had sharpened my tone, until my question was more accusation than query. I faked a cough to lessen the tension.

“Granted, that should have occurred to me because I met the demon you held captive on cursed earth beneath the church, but for some reason, it didn’t. You had to have noticed that, yet you never corrected me about it. Why?”

He sighed, getting up and pulling down one of our suitcases from a small, overhead bin. I hadn’t seen him put them up there, but from his change of clothes and freshly showered, damp hair, he’d been awake and getting stuff done while I slumbered.

“I didn’t think it would be a problem,” he said, setting the suitcase on the end of the futon. It was mine, and yes, I would need it soon so I could change, but I wasn’t putting off this conversation any longer. Adrian had a very disturbing tendency not to tell me important things if he thought I couldn’t handle them, and that had to stop. Now.

“How could you not think that?” Demons being loose in our world was always a problem, and I had the entirety of human history as my Exhibit A on that point.

He sighed again. “Only very powerful demons would have access to relics strong enough to curse large patches of earth, and what were the chances of lots of them being on this side of the realms when the gateways closed? Yeah, I knew a few might, but I thought they’d be stuck in a small spot, unable to move or be a threat, like Blinky when I had him trapped. I certainly didn’t expect Obsidiana to rally minions to attack you, or to use mirrors to come after you herself.”

Mirrors might not be the same as the now-closed demon realm gateways, since they didn’t act as a bridge from one realm to another, but with demons still in our world, they were dangerous. No wonder Adrian still smashed the mirrors in our hotel rooms. I’d thought he’d done it solely out of habit.

“I hadn’t expected that, either,” I said. “And you should have told me it was possible.”

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, closing the distance between us. “If I’d thought for a second that you would get hurt—”