Dread Nemesis of Mine

Page 63

"How could it be dangerous?"
"You know the fireball you shot off while Maximus's prisoner?"
I shrugged. "Yeah."
"Imagine if you'd used enough power to engulf the place in fire, or detonated it like a bomb. You don't know your own potential or the danger you pose to yourself and others, Justin. I suggest you get it under control." She picked up her mug. Took a sip and grimaced. Took out her wand and stirred the liquid until steam rose from it. "You know, the spell I just used to heat up my tea takes a very precise amount of control and power. Otherwise my tea would evaporate, or the ceramic mug might explode in my face, cutting it to shreds. Or—"
I held up a hand. "Fine, fine, I get it. I'll train." I sighed. "Just what I wanted to do with my free time."
She smiled. "I thought you might see it that way." Her eyes locked onto something behind me, and a genuine smile of happiness split her lips.
I turned and saw Nightliss and Adam walking down the stairs. Adam guided a pale and tired looking woman down the stairs. Felicia. She saw me and smiled, tears sparkling in her eyes. I met them at the bottom of the stairs, giving Nightliss a big hug. Felicia sobbed, and wrapped her arms around me.
"Thank you, Justin. Thank you." She let go, tottering backwards.
I caught her at the same time Adam did. "Whoa, take it easy."
She let Adam help her to the couch. "I don't have much of a choice." The blackened veins had left her skin for the most part, though her pale flesh still looked bruised in places.
Elyssa stepped into the kitchen and returned with a couple of blood bags. Handed them to the recovering vampire. "Drink slowly. I don't want you throwing up blood on the couch." She smiled. "I've had enough with people throwing up today."
"Maybe I should brush my teeth," I said, sticking out my tongue at her.
Meghan took Nightliss aside and spoke with her in quiet tones. The petite angel's eyes went wide and turned to me. I didn't have to hear the conversation to know what they were talking about. They approached me.
"I—I cannot believe this," Nightliss said, touching me as though I might disappear in a cloud of smoke at any moment. "Your mother is one of my people? And you—you're like us too?" A smile of pure joy lit her cute face. "I am not alone with only my crazy sister on this world?"
I cleared my throat. "It doesn't look that way. Now you have crazy old me and my insane sister."
"It makes so much sense now," the angel said, mouth widening as if a thought had just occurred to her. "The blonde angel who helped me. Who's been helping others. It must be your mother. Daelissa would never help anyone unless it was part of her goals."
My mouth dropped open. "Whoa." After it had passed, an obvious question hit my brain. "Can you train me, Nightliss? I mean, if you're one of—I mean if I'm one of you, wouldn't it make more sense for you to train me than Shelton and Bella?"
A sad look hijacked her smile. "I cannot be your teacher, Justin. I still have so much to do, and even though I am recovering, I still don't understand some of my own abilities. Understanding comes to me in moments of clarity. Other times, it feels as though I'm surviving on pure instinct. I do not even know how to begin to teach you."
I blew out a sigh, thinking how I'd relied on demon instinct to accomplish things without really knowing how. "I totally know where you're coming from."
A knock sounded on the door. Stacey came through a second later followed by Ryland. He held a grocery bag brimming with food in one arm, and wore a T-shirt with three wolves howling at the moon.
"Sweet shirt," I said, stifling a laugh at the ridiculous thing.
Stacey snorted and covered her mouth.
Ryland seemed unfazed. "Ain't it just the cat's meow?" He traced a wolf with his finger. "Seems my lovely gal decided I needed a T-shirt to illustrate how much testosterone flows through this manly body of mine."
Stacey couldn't hold it any longer and howled with laughter. "I do believe it more than makes up for the leopard print tights you purchased for me, darling."
Ryland's eyes met mine and he winked. "Looks like we all survived again. I'd say this calls for a proper celebration." His gaze moved to Elyssa. "Show me the kitchen?"
Elyssa laughed. "Let me show you the way."
Stacey regarded me a languid smile as her laughter died down. She prowled over to me and kissed me on the cheek. "Hello, handsome."
"Hello yourself, uh, kitten," I said, trying to come up with something witty, and failing.
She looked around the room. "Might I have a moment in private?"
I gulped. "Stacey, I have a girlfriend, and, uh, I mean Ryland—"
"Oh, you are such a dear," she said laughing. "I have no plans to sexually assault you, yummy though you are." She purred. "My wolfykins is more than enough to sate my appetite."
My face burned. "Uh, okay."
She led me further back into the house to a large dining room. Closed the door. Her usual confident sultry smile faltered. "Justin, I—this is not easy for me to say."
My heart locked up with apprehension. "What is it? What's wrong?"
She shook her head, eyes downcast. When she looked up, tears rolled down her cheeks. She took my hand and smiled. "Absolutely nothing, darling. I just wanted to say thank you."
"For what?"
A laugh broke through her tears. "You are so lacking in clues at times, you dear, sweet boy." She took a tissue from a pouch at her side and wiped her face. "Before I met you, I was alone. I have wandered this Earth for so long, always so lonely except for my feline companions. I have made friends along the way, true. Bella, as you know, is quite an old friend. But after I met you, things, well, they changed."
"Yeah, if you count me dragging you off into dangerous encounters with people who want to destroy the world."
"Oh, it is quite exciting," she said, nodding. "And I enjoy fighting for a cause. But what I mean by change is so much deeper, love. You brought me in, a lonely stray whose only thought was of living day-to-day. You accepted me. You made me a part of your—dare I say it?—family. I had forgotten what it was like to be loved and cared for. You risked your own life to save me. And without you, I might never have met my love, Ryland." Her face lit up at his name. "Oh, he is a scoundrel, and our relationship is by no means perfect." She purred. "He is a wolf, after all. A very naughty—"
"Uh, I don't think you need to get any deeper into the naughty bits," I said, smiling while my heart swelled to bursting with affection for this crazy woman. "Maybe it's a good thing you assaulted me at the gym."
"Oh, the things I planned to do with you," she said, sniffling into a tissue. "But I'm rather glad things turned out this way. It seems every time I've built up the courage to tell you this, Justin, something comes up, or I falter. I'm not very good at trusting people with my heart." She touched my chest. "But you have a good one, and I trust you. Know that you have my love as much as any brother of mine would have had. If you ever need me or Ryland, we will always be there for you."
I tried to speak, but my throat was suddenly choked up. The sting of tears in my eyes left me wiping furiously at them.
Stacey offered me a tissue.
I took it, sucking in a deep breath to keep the tears at bay.
"Just because you are a super hero doesn't mean you dare not cry," Stacey said, her usual mischievous grin returning. "I promise not to tell anyone."
A laugh broke through the blockade in my throat and a couple of tears pulled a jailbreak, rolling down my cheeks. I pulled her in for a hug. Kissed her on the top of her blonde head. "I love you too, sis. If you weren't older than me, I'd adopt you as my little sister."
"I believe you already have a little sister," she said, her grin fading. "I hope we can help you with that someday, brother."
We rejoined the others in the den. The crowd had swelled to include Shelton and Bella, both of whom were apparently trading the day's adventures with Elyssa's mother, Leia. Cinder stood in a corner, hands straight by his sides as he watched the festivities.
"Are you okay?" I asked the golem. "I didn't mean to abandon you at Maximus's place, but Elyssa and I had to get back here."
"I understand, Justin." He attempted a smile, but the result only startled me. His lips snapped back to neutral.
"This guy was a whirlwind," Shelton said, appearing to my side, and clapping a hand on the golem's shoulder. "He disarmed about ten guys before I even cast my first spell."
"I was glad to be of service," Cinder said. "Do you happen to know of any magic spells that could make me real?"
Shelton seemed at a loss for words, glancing back and forth between us.
"I'm sorry," Cinder said after an uneasy moment of silence. "That was meant to be a jest, but the attempt obviously failed."
Shelton and I burst into laughter.
"Or perhaps my attempt succeeded after all," the golem said, tilting his head like a curious puppy. "I must be, as you say, 'getting a handle' on humor."
I turned away from the two, and the laughter faded from my lips. Thomas stood in the kitchen doorway, beer in hand, looking on as Ryland worked his cooking skills. It reminded me a little of the last time I'd had Ryland's cooking. We'd been cooped up in one of Shelton's hideouts, on the run from hellhounds and one of my dad's sisters. Underborn had put a death mark on my dad, and Elyssa and I had gone through hell trying to get him to remove it.
Ah, the good old days.
I looked at today's date on my phone. The good old days had only been a few weeks ago. I really needed a vacation. It also reminded me of a promise I'd made to a certain young lady. A promise I had yet to keep.