by Jane Hinchey
“Yes, I’ve heard of it. I just didn’t realize…”
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing.” Dacian shook his head. “So, you marked him. And he…changed?”
“So now they’re compatible,” Ashliel said. “More compatible, I should say. Since he was human, he wouldn’t have been able to stay in this dimension indefinitely. Now he can.”
“And who decided he’d be a fire demon?”
“Fate or Destiny,” Ashliel supplied. “Either one of the sisters. Man, they are amazing! I so want to meet them someday.”
Shaking his head, Dacian looked at me intently. “She’s right, though. Your energy is all…different.”
I shrugged. “Probably because of Levi’s magic, like he said. I’m not sure how it works. Maybe his magic will stay combined with mine and I’ll have a different energy signature forever, or maybe once my magic has fully returned, I’ll be back to my old self.”
“Speaking of, let’s go.” Levi gave me a squeeze, reminding me we had some R&R to catch up on.
“Call me if anything changes. Anything at all,” I told them, before taking Levi’s hand and transporting us back to Earth.
15
We had three blissful, uninterrupted days on Earth—nights full of love and days spent hanging out in Levi’s apartment, watching daytime TV and snuggling with Mr. Meow. He was fine, and Ashliel had been right. To him, our absence had been momentary. It was our fourth evening on Earth, and we were in the diner enjoying a late lunch when the storm started to roll in.
“Check out those clouds!” Levi pressed his face against the window and looked first one way, then the other. Dark, heavy clouds laden with rain were rolling in from every direction.
“It’s been a long time since I’ve enjoyed a storm.” The atmosphere in Hell was consistent. We didn’t have weather, just purple skies that never changed.
The bell above the door jangled as a man rushed in, bringing a gust of wind with him. Turning, he pushed with both hands to get the door closed again.
“Man, this one is going to be a doozy!” he exclaimed, running his hands over his hair to smooth down the strands. “Sophie, turn the radio on, would you, love? This came out of nowhere. I want to check the forecast.”
Sophie, our ever so friendly waitress, picked up a remote and turned off the jukebox, then flipped on the small radio behind the counter. She slid it toward the man who’d just come in and said, “Tune it to what you want, Carl.” Seemingly disinterested, she returned to fussing behind the counter.
Carl played with the radio, and I returned my attention to Levi just as a loud rumble of thunder shook the café.
“Wow.” Levi’s eyes grew huge. “That was kinda loud, huh?”
“Yeah.” I agreed, but didn’t have a lot to go on, since I hadn’t experienced storms before. Whenever I was on Earth and the weather turned bad, I’d just return to Hell. But now I had Levi and his cat to consider.
“Levi,” I began, but was interrupted by a loud clap of thunder and a fork of lightning that pierced the sky.
“Did you see that?” Levi jumped to his feet and cupped his hands around his eyes as he pressed his face against the window to get a better look at the darkness that had crept over Shadow Falls. “I’ve never seen anything like it before.”
“What? A storm?” I was surprised. He’d been born on Earth, so surely he’d experienced weather variations before.
“No. The thunder clapped before the lightning strike. Thunder is the sound lightning makes, so how could the thunder come before the lightning?”
I shrugged, watching as fat raindrops began to fall from the sky, just a few at first before it became a heavy deluge. Lightning continued to light up the sky, and the roll and rumble of thunder was never-ending.
“Think this will last long?” I yelled over the noise.
“It rolled in so quickly, I’d expect it to leave quickly, too. Must be some fast-moving weather front. Hey, Carl, any news on this storm?” Levi raised his voice to call out to the man at the counter, who had his ear pressed to the radio.
Carl lifted his head and looked at us. “Nah, it’s the weirdest thing. Not a single weather report is saying we’re having a storm.”
“What? That can’t be right.”
Levi went to listen to the radio reports himself while I stayed near the window, watching. The sunny afternoon of moments ago had turned into early nightfall with the arrival of the storm clouds, and now, with the rain hammering down, visibility was near zero. From what I could see, the drains could no longer cope with the torrential downpour, and water was filling the street. Before my eyes, it rose to curb level, then began lapping onto the sidewalk.
“Sophie?” I called, keeping my eye on the rising water outside. “Do you have anything to block the door?”
“Block the door?” she repeated. Quickly casting a glance her way, I could see the confusion on her face, and sighed. So not helpful, Sophie.
“What’s up?” Carl asked.
“I think we might flood.” I nodded outside, indicating the water creeping across the sidewalk toward the café doors.
“What? Oh my God! This can’t be happening!” Sophie screeched, hysterical, rushing from one end of the counter to the other.
Ignoring the hysterical waitress, Carl and Levi hurried to the doors to look outside. What once was the street was now a lake.
“It’s rising fast,” Carl muttered.
“Too damn fast. A few tea towels shoved under the door aren’t going to stop it. If we’re going to get out of here, we need to go now.” Levi was as calm as ever, and I loved him for it.
“Where do we go? The roads are impassable.” Carl tried to match Levi’s level of calm and almost convinced me he wasn’t shit scared.
“We’ll go to my place. It’s around the corner, walking distance. My apartment is on the first floor. We’ll be safe there.”
“Right. Good. Yes.” Carl stood, nodding, and I bit back a grin.
“Sophie, turn everything off and come with us.”
She looked at him, wild-eyed, but obeyed, flicking off switches, snatching up her bag, and flinging it over her shoulder before joining us by the front door. With the lights out, it was dark, and I briefly considered lighting the way. But I figured I’d hold off on exposing the humans to my magic until I absolutely had to.
“Ready?” Levi asked. We all nodded. Stepping forward, he pulled open the door, and the water lapped at the toe of his boot. “Looks like we’re in luck. The water isn’t that high yet. Got your keys, Sophie? We can lock up behind us.”
By the time we’d exited the café and locked the doors, the water was around our ankles.
“Does it always rise this fast?” I asked, curious.
“It’s never done this. Never rained this hard and never flooded,” Levi told me over the roar of the falling rain. We were soaked to the bone, and our usual stroll to Levi’s apartment took twice as long as we battled the wind that seemed intent on blowing us backward.
The water was up to our knees by the time we reached the fire escape at the rear of Levi’s building. Pulling down the ladder, he helped everyone up, shouting encouragement as cold fingers slipped on the wet rungs. As we burst into Levi’s apartment, leaving wet trails on the carpet, the lights began to flicker.
“Power’s about to go out,” Carl observed.
“Guys, bathroom is in here,” Levi said, pushing open the door and flicking the light switch. “Grab some towels, dry off. Put the coffee pot on now if you want to try and beat the power outage. Lucy, can you come help me in the store? We’ll grab some candles and see if we can’t sandbag the front door with something.”
“Sure.”
Leaving Sophie and Carl in the apartment, I followed Levi downstairs to his shop. The water had seeped beneath the door and was continuing to trickle in. I could see it lapping about a foot high on the glass. With a quick burst of magic, I sealed the door, preventing any further water from entering.
>
“Want me to fix this?” I asked, indicating the ankle-deep water inside.
“Nah. It would look strange if my place was the only one that stayed dry. But I see you fixed the door?” He nodded his head at the water-tight seal I’d placed over the front of his shop.
“Yeah, I did.”
“Let’s put some stuff against the doors to make it look like we actually put an effort into stopping the water and magic wasn’t involved.”
I blew out a sigh. “If you insist.” Following Levi’s lead, I grabbed a roll of tape and began covering up the gaps while he piled up tapestries he’d pulled down from the walls.
“Does it really matter?” I asked, tearing the tape with my teeth.
“Does what matter?”
“This place. Hiding our magic. I mean, I get that this is your store, but are you going to return here…to this life?” It was a subject I’d been reluctant to broach, but since we’d bound ourselves to each other, we needed to act like semi-responsible adults and sort out our living arrangements.
Levi stopped and looked at me. “You’re right.” He laughed, the sound harsh, making me frown. “Why am I bothering? Remove your magic. Let the water in.” He dropped the tapestry he was holding, and it splashed on the floor.
“Levi,” I began, seeing he was upset.
He cut me off. “No, you’re right. Why am I holding on to this life? This is the old me, the human me. This is what I built up with my grandmother. It has no standing now.”
“Stop!” Rushing to him, I grabbed his wrists to prevent him from sweeping the contents of the counter onto the floor. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything. My timing is lousy and I was wrong! This place is important. You built it with your grandmother. With love. Of course that matters. I’m sorry.”
Dripping wet and standing in ankle-deep water in his shop, we looked at each other. The storm continued to rage outside, wild and unabated, and I was pretty sure Levi’s emotions were in similar turmoil.
“We’ll work it out,” I whispered, cupping his face in my hands and standing on tip-toes to kiss him. “For now, let’s keep this place as safe as we can.”
“Okay.” Pressing a kiss to my forehead, he turned back to the counter, righting the items he’d knocked over, while I went back to kicking myself for being so insensitive. I’d gotten carried away and hadn’t stopped to think that maybe Levi would miss his human life. Hell, I’d marked him, turned him into a fire demon without any consideration for what he wanted or how he’d feel about it. It had all been about me. A wave of shame swept over me, followed by self-doubt. What sort of person was I to do this to the man I loved?
“Whatever you’re thinking, knock it off,” Levi growled. He was now pulling items from the lower shelves and stacking them higher.
“What?”
“I can feel it. Your distress. It makes me itch. Can you stop beating yourself up about whatever it is you’re beating yourself up over and just help me with the shop? Can you do that?”
“I can do that,” I whispered, trying to stem the sting of hurt his cold words delivered. He was hurt and angry, and I was full of doubt and shame. What a pair.
“Lucy!” he snapped, and I immediately cast a magic bubble around myself, stopping any and all emotion from reaching him. The truth was, I couldn’t turn it off. The way I felt, my emotions, weren’t a tap. But I could stop them from affecting him, at least for a little while.
I thought I heard him whisper, “Thank fuck,” but I couldn’t be certain, so I let it go, instead concentrating on helping him get his shop ready for the flood.
When we were finished, he said, without looking at me, “Remove the magic keeping the water out.”
“What? Why?”
“Because my shop flooding will make a plausible excuse as to why it’s not open anymore. Why I decide to close up…for good.”
“Are you sure?” I whispered, too scared to touch him for fear he’d lash out at me again.
“You were right. This life is over. I don’t know what’s going to happen in the future, but I do know I’m not going back to reading tarot cards for a living.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Will you stop saying you’re sorry and just do it? I’m pissed off and angry right now, but it’s not with you, okay? So stop saying sorry. Every time you look at me with those sad eyes, you make me feel like I’ve kicked a puppy, and it hurts me that I’m hurting you. The two of us are just going around and around in a stupid loop hurting each other.”
He took a deep breath. “The last three days here have been perfect. But we both know they were just a break from reality—our new reality—and this?” He waved his arm to indicate the shop. “This isn’t part of it. There’s only one thing I’m not negotiating on, and that’s you. You complete me. Without you, I’m nothing, and I will not be apart from you. Ever.”
I threw myself into his arms, tucking my face into his neck and squeezing. He returned my embrace, then pulled back a little. “Actually, there’s two things.”
“Oh?”
“Mr. Meow. He’s family. We have to find a way to make this work for him, too. It may be selfish of me, but I don’t want to give him up.”
“Agreed.” My heart practically exploded with affection for this man who would not abandon his cat, even for love.
We made our way back upstairs to find Sophie and Carl asleep. Sophie had passed out curled up in an armchair. Levi carefully draped a blanket over her. Carl was spread-eagled on the couch, snoring. Mr. Meow sat on the back of the sofa, watching him, apparently confused by the noise he was making.
“Dacian!” I said in a hushed voice when he appeared in the living room. “What are you doing here?” I beckoned him to follow me into the kitchen.
“It’s about the storm,” he replied, nodding a hello to Levi, who was pouring us both a coffee.
The power had held out, but we were prepared with dozens of candles from the shop. I’d done as Levi had requested and removed the magic seal. We’d stood on the staircase at the back of the store and watched as the water squeezed through the gaps, trickling into the shop.
“It’s bad,” Levi said, handing me a coffee. I wrapped my fingers around it, enjoying the warmth. I’d decided I didn’t like being on Earth during storms. It was too cold and wet.
“Yeah, well, it’s going to get worse,” Dacian said.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s no ordinary storm. Well, we don’t think it is.”
“Explain!” I demanded.
“Ashliel has been keeping an eye on things, you know, since y’all were worried about unleashing the white horseman.”
“This is the horseman?”
“Not unless it’s a seahorse!” Dacian shook his head, chuckling. “But no, this is something else. And it’s not Mother Nature, either, before you ask.”
“If it’s not the horseman or Mother Nature, what the hell is it?” Levi was back to growling.
“We think it might be…a dragon.”
16
“Dragons are real?” Levi’s voice rose so high I could have sworn someone had kicked him in the nuts.
“Most things are real.” I shrugged, turning my attention back to Dacian. “A dragon. You’re sure?”
“About eighty percent.”
“What makes Ash think it’s a dragon?”
“For starters, this storm?” Dacian pointed at the window. “It’s not showing as a storm. It’s not happening.”
“I beg to differ,” I snorted.
“Exactly,” Dacian nodded.
“What?” Levi shook his head in confusion.
“The storm is a disruption in the atmosphere that occurs when a sleeping dragon wakes,” Dacian told us. “At first, we weren’t entirely sure, but just before I left, Ash noticed something else.”
“What?”
“Movement. Just a twitch, but beneath the earth—way, way, way, beneath the earth—there was a slight movement.”
“
Fuck!”
If what Dacian had said was true, we were in serious trouble. The dragons had been sleeping for hundreds of years, and as they awoke, Earth would experience earthquakes. Big, bad, devastating earthquakes. Because the truth was, earthquakes were not the tectonic plates moving, as scientists believed. They were dragons moving—rolling over, maybe yawning—before going back to sleep. But if they were to truly wake up? They’d find their way to the surface, and in the process, destroy whatever was above them.
“Do we know how many dragons?”
“Ashliel is trying to find out. She’s also trying to figure out where they are and where they’re likely to break through.”
“Stop! Just fucking stop for one second!” Levi’s voice was no longer high. Now it was low, dangerously low. “Someone explain to me what the fuck is going on! Dragons? We’re talking about fire-breathing motherfucking dragons now?”
“It’s okay.” I tried to soothe him, but he jerked away from me.
“Are you fucking serious? It’s not okay! Dragons!” He shook his head. “Un-fucking-believable.” Judging by all the cursing, I figured Levi was reaching his limit, and I couldn’t blame him. It had been one thing after another since we first met.
“Dragons are real,” I told him. “And they were here, along with the dinosaurs, when this dimension was created. The dragons are different from any other creature in that they stay awake for hundreds of years, and then they sleep for hundreds of years, in caves deep beneath the surface, where they won’t be discovered or disturbed.”
“And now they’re waking up?”
“It seems so.”
“And you don’t see the coincidence in this?”
“What do you mean, coincidence?” Dacian interrupted.
“The seal on the hidden door to the chamber where her father was trapped? That seal was the shape of a dragon.”
He was right. It had been a dragon within a circle. Did we do this? By breaking the seal, we hadn’t released the white horseman. We’d woken the dragons.