by L.H. Cosway
He had his hand half-covering his eyes, like he didn’t want to look, but was morbidly intrigued all the same.
Edwards stepped forward with a smile, entirely unashamed of his naked form. “E.J. Edwards, at your service. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Finn stared at him, bug-eyed. “Uh, the pleasure’s all mine?” It came out sounding like a question. Ira and Delilah grinned at Finn’s startled expression. Unlike Finn, they’d clearly encountered their share of demons in the past.
Delilah left to retrieve Edwards’s suitcase from Ethan’s car, and I escorted the little demon up to my room, while Finn and Ira carried my dad to the bed as carefully as they could manage. We didn’t bother putting any clothes on him because it would only irritate the blisters. Instead, I found a soft cotton sheet and laid it over him.
Emotion caught in my throat again as I studied how badly he was burned.
Delilah walked into the room then, carrying Edwards’s suitcase. Miraculously, he still had his leather satchel intact. Remembering how he said sugars aided him in his change from human to demon and vice versa, I ran downstairs and grabbed him a Coke from the fridge. He smiled at me gratefully as I handed it to him, then he swallowed it down in a few quick gulps. He gathered some clothes as his body changed, his blue skin turning back to its human shade and his tuft of grey hair returning.
He dressed quickly and efficiently, and I was surprised at how able-bodied he was, given his age and the fact that he’d just spent the equivalent of months in a hell dimension.
Next, he pulled several corked glass bottles from his suitcase, all containing blue and green coloured mystery concoctions.
He glanced at me. “Before I begin, could you please return my token?”
“Oh, yes, of course,” I replied, pulling out the small coin and placing it in his outstretched hand.
He squeezed his eyes shut and beamed in delight as he clutched the coin, doing a little sway of happiness. I had to admit, it was extremely cute.
“It’s so good to have my token back,” he sighed and slipped it inside his pocket for safekeeping.
He pulled the sheet from my dad’s body and popped open one of the bottles before pouring what looked like green paint over his skin. He rolled up his sleeves and began rubbing it in.
You know your life has taken a turn for the surreal when you find yourself standing in a room while a half-demon massages your father with green paint. However, there was no doubt this wasn’t paint. It solidified into a skin-like substance, sort of like a face mask.
“What is that stuff?” I asked.
“A demonic healing lotion. It will extract all of the evil from your father’s pores. I know it simply looks like he’s been burned, and he has been, but that’s not the whole story. The blisters are a symptom of the infestation.”
“Infestation?” I squeaked.
“That’s right. Any human who spends time in hell becomes infected by its atmosphere. As I mentioned before, human constitutions are not made to survive there, or in any alternate dimension, in fact.” Edwards turned to Finn and Ira. “Boys, you wouldn’t mind turning him over for me, would you?”
They both did as he asked, rolling my dad over onto his front. I choked down a horrified gasp when I saw his back because branded into his skin were the numbers 666.
“Jesus H. Christ,” Finn swore, blessing himself as he took in the sight before him.
Edwards picked up another bottle, this one with blue liquid, and poured it directly onto the numbers. “Those appear more sinister than they are,” he explained. “When the dimension cottoned on to the fact that I was trying to take your father home, it marked him to make things harder for me.”
“How would that make things harder?” Finn asked.
“Imagine it like an infernal tracking device. With the mark on him, Martin couldn’t be moved without the dimension knowing about it.”
“So, how did you manage to move him then?” I questioned.
“Ah, now that would be telling. All of us demons have our tricks.” He tapped the side of his nose.
The blue liquid sizzled into the numbers, and they disappeared. “See? Easily reversed.” He paused and frowned. “It’s saving his mind that’s going to be the hard part. Tegan, this might be difficult for you to hear, seeing as you’ve only just had him returned to you, but I may need to bring Martin home with me for a time. If I can’t heal his mind here, then I’ll need better resources, and I only have those kinds of things back home.”
I absorbed this information and steeled myself. I didn’t want Edwards taking my dad away, not when I’d only gotten him back. But if it meant he could heal him, return him to the man he was before, then I’d let him do it. “Whatever it takes,” I said, nodding.
“Very good. Could you have his passport ready for me, just in case?”
I shook my head. “I don’t know where any of his things are. He sold our house before all this happened, and I have no clue where he was living before he was taken for the ritual.”
“I can help you out with that,” Finn piped in. “I know a fella who knows a fella. I’ll get a new passport sorted for you.”
I smiled at him in thanks, and we all watched in silence as Edwards finished smearing various kinds of healing salves and creams over my dad. I brought him a towel to wipe his hands off on once he was done, then covered my dad’s body again with the thin sheet. He was breathing deeply now, as the healing lotions worked their way through his system.
“Tegan, would it be too much trouble for you to arrange a place for me to stay tonight? If there’s no room, I can find a hotel, but I am very tired.”
“Are you serious? It’s no trouble at all. After everything you’ve done for me, I should be putting you up in a golden palace. Do you remember my vampire friend, Ethan?”
“Cristescu, I do indeed,” Edwards replied with a nod.
“Well, he happens to have a spare bedroom going, and he lives just across the street. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind putting you up.”
Edwards seemed delighted with this, and we packed up his things, before Delilah and I escorted him over to Ethan’s. Lucas answered the door, and Delilah strode past him, showing Edwards to the spare bedroom. I stood in the hallway while Lucas regarded me with a smirk.
“What?” I narrowed my eyes at him.
“Ethan was looking for you.”
“Was he now,” I glanced away, leaning my hand against the staircase.
“Yep. I heard you gave him a, eh, haircut.”
God, did those two tell each other everything? I ignored him and walked into the living area. I hadn’t had the chance to look around the place before. All the furniture was brand spanking new and unused, which made me suspect Ethan was pushed out of his home before he even had the chance to collect his belongings. The thought made my heart hurt. Was his house still sitting there on the other side of the Hawthorn, an empty shell? He said he’d lived there for sixty years. That was a long time. I was certain he missed it greatly, and although this house was far from shabby, it had nothing on the historic, three-storey townhouse Ethan once called home.
Almost like my thoughts summoned him, I turned around, and there he stood in the doorway, watching me. He came at me like a panther, all smooth muscles and potential for danger.
Wrapping his arms around my waist, he kissed me on the neck, right where my pulse was currently pounding. “I hear congratulations are in order. Edwards brought your father home. We should celebrate,” he whispered into my skin.
“You haven’t seen my dad. If you had, you wouldn’t be much in the mood for celebrating.”
“He’ll get better.”
“I hope you’re right.”
He slipped his hand beneath my top to brush against my skin. “I didn’t get quite enough time with you last night,” he said into my ear, all husky.
“Yeah, about that,” I paused, turning in his arms so that I could look him in the eye. “As much as I loved last night, we might need
to take a breather, just for a little while so I can focus on my dad. Not to mention Rita’s acting weird and Emilia’s got Rebecca.”
“Emilia?” Ethan frowned. I’d forgotten I hadn’t told him about my newly discovered grandmother.
“Emilia Petrovsky. Have you heard of her?”
Ethan nodded. “Vaguely. I know that she’s a witch, a powerful one.”
“Well, she’s also the person who cursed Ira. She showed up at the house the other day, looking to apologise to him, which inadvertently led me to discover that she’s my grandmother.”
Ethan’s eyebrows shot up. “How did you discover that?”
“It’s a long story, but the important part is that she offered to help me with a spell for Rebecca, which I was stupid enough to accept. She has some issues because my mother ran away from home when she was a teenager, never to be seen again. I think she imagined Rebecca was her second chance because she reminded Emilia so much of my mum. Once the spell was completed, she took off with her and has now barricaded herself in her house with a spell so that Pamphrock can’t get in and take his daughter back.”
Ethan regarded me seriously. “That is quite the predicament.”
“Tell me about it,” I said, pausing to meet his gaze. “So, do you understand why I can’t focus on us right now? There’s too much going on.”
“Don’t fret. I’m here for whatever you need.”
Hearing those simple words were like a balm to my soul. “Slayers are surrounding Emilia’s house day and night, but I think I might go down there to see if I can talk some sense into her.”
“Grief in mothers who have lost their children can be a very delicate matter. You’ll have to be extremely sensitive when talking to her.”
At this, I remembered what Ethan revealed to me last night about losing four children. He likely had first-hand experience with grieving mothers. It was odd to think that Emilia could still be grieving after all this time, but the lack of resolution in what happened to Darya meant she could never really get closure.
“What do you suggest I do?” I asked, needing his insight.
“If she has spelled herself into her house, then there isn’t much you can do, but since you are her granddaughter maybe you could reason with her. Talk about the relationship you both could have now that you’ve found each other. That way, keeping Rebecca won’t seem so vital any longer.”
I made a noise of disagreement. “I’m not sure that’ll work. She wasn’t very taken with me, to be honest. She was smitten with Rebecca because she was all dainty and innocent. I think I was a little too rough around the edges for her taste.”
Ethan brought his hands up to my neck, rubbing his thumbs affectionately across my sensitive skin. “I happen to like your rough edges,” he said, and I got a little lost in his eyes.
He manoeuvred my body, backing me towards the sofa, but we were interrupted when Lucas sauntered into the room and perched on the arm of said sofa.
“Out,” Ethan ordered, not taking his attention off me.
Lucas grinned and glanced at his fingernails. “You and I are supposed to be going somewhere, remember?”
“We’ll go tomorrow. I said get out.”
“Where were you two gonna go?” I asked.
Lucas flashed his fangs at me. “Just out for some …refreshments. You want to volunteer instead?”
I immediately understood his meaning, drawing away from Ethan. “Oh. You should probably get going then. I’ve never been the volunteering type.”
I held myself together, trying not to let my discomfort show. I never even thought to wonder where Ethan might be getting his blood from these days. He clearly didn’t have access to his usual donors now that he’d been exiled from the south side.
“I can feed tomorrow,” Ethan said, pulling me back to him. “It’s no big deal.” He stopped to look at Lucas. “You can go alone if you’re unable to wait.”
“Fine,” Lucas answered, rising from the sofa.
“Hang on,” I said. “Where do you go for blood around here anyway?”
Lucas shrugged. “Night clubs and bars. Drunk humans are much easier to compel.”
I felt Ethan’s hold on me tighten. I knew he wasn’t happy about Lucas answering my questions so freely, but I wanted to know. If we were going to be together, then the fact that he fed from humans would be a big part of that. I had to get used to hearing about it, since I obviously couldn’t ever be the one he fed from.
Ethan cut Lucas a dark look. “Go. We’ll talk later.”
With that, Lucas left and Ethan turned his attention back to me.
“Aren’t you hungry?” I asked.
He blew out a breath. “Can we not talk of this? I want you in my bed.”
He pulled me closer. Trying to break from his iron grip was a futile effort, so I squeezed my eyes shut and called a little magic to me. I drew strength from it and managed to shift out of his arms.
Wow, that was impressive, even if I did say so myself.
“You are surprisingly strong for one so small,” Ethan said with a mixture of amusement and suspicion.
“What can I say, I work out,” I quipped.
“Where do you think you’re going?” he questioned as I moved closer and closer to the door.
“I thought we agreed to a cool-off period.”
“We did, and we will have one. Starting tomorrow.”
A bolt of desire shot through me at the predatory gleam in his eyes. My adrenaline spiked, and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t slightly exhilarating to have him look at me that way. Like he wanted to hunt me down and ravish me.
Feeling brave, I bolted from the room.
15.
I knew Ethan was feeling playful when he came at me at human speed. If he’d used vampire speed, he would have caught me before I even made it out of the living room. I squealed as he chased me, but I stopped in my tracks when I reached the front garden.
Delilah was making her way over to Finn’s house, but she didn’t go in the front door. Instead, she snuck quickly around the back. A second later, Ethan scooped me into his arms and tried hauling me back inside his house. I wriggled my way out of his hold.
“Put me down for a second. I want to go see what Delilah is up to.”
Ethan raised an eyebrow. “Delilah?”
“I just spotted her sneaking around the side of Finn’s place. Come on, let’s go do some sleuthing.”
Ethan set me on my feet, and I turned to walk across the road when he grabbed my hand and pulled me back, clucking his tongue at me. I looked up at him questioningly.
“My sister will hear you a mile off if you go on foot. Come here, I’ll show you how it’s done.” He then effortlessly swung me up onto his back, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. “Hold on tight,” he said, just before he sped off, and my head felt like it was inside a psychedelic dream where everything moved too fast and the scenery became a blur of colours. All I saw was a mish-mash of brick walls, glass windows, and the black tarmacadam of the road.
Moments later, Ethan had scaled the roof of Finn’s house and was crouched over the edge, allowing us to peer down into the garden. At the very back of the garden sat Ira, deep in meditation. Delilah stood silently by the house watching him.
“What’s she doing?” I whispered in Ethan’s ear as quietly as I could, noticing him shudder a little when my breath tickled his skin.
“It seems my sister has found herself a new object of fascination,” he whispered back even more quietly.
“Object of fascination?” I probed.
“Delilah finds others appealing very rarely. It takes a particularly special individual to capture her attention.” His eyes smouldered into me. “We are very similar in that way. When somebody turns our heads, we become fixated on them to the point of obsession.”
“Has anybody ever mentioned that you two are a weird family?”
He smiled. “Not in so many words.”
“So,
Delilah has the hots for Ira, is what you’re saying?”
“In sum, yes.”
“Interesting.”
I had to be honest, I wasn’t sure Ira was interested in the opposite sex right now. He was still finding himself and figuring stuff out since his curse was broken. Then again, Delilah was incredibly beautiful. I could think of worse people to break a twenty-five-year dry spell with.
“We should probably get down from here.”
He pressed his palm to my outer thigh. “Hush, I think she’s going to approach him.”
My eyes wandered back down to Delilah. She walked towards Ira, then sat down on the grass a few feet away from him. Ira opened his eyes but didn’t comment on her appearance.
“You knew I was standing there, didn’t you,” Delilah said, her voice carrying up to us.
“I heard you breathing,” Ira answered after a long stretch of silence. I was stunned that he spoke to her. As far as I knew, I was the only one he’d spoken to so far. Well, and Emilia that one time.
“And yet you ignored me until I approached,” Delilah sighed.
“Does that bother you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“You don’t talk to anyone. It’s frustrating.”
“I speak when I have something to say. I don’t see the point in spewing words just to fill a silence. My mother used to say that the loudest mouths are often attached to the emptiest vessels.”
“That might be true, but those who don’t speak make me suspicious. It usually means they have something to hide.”
“I’m an open book,” Ira replied calmly. “Ask me a question, and I’ll answer it for you.”
“I take back what I said about your silence. You’re even more frustrating when you speak.”
Ira’s eyes shot open again. “If I have offended you, it wasn’t my intention.”
“You haven’t. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. I’m very much on edge these days. I’ve had a rough few weeks.”
“You look like a woman who has survived worse,” Ira commented.