by J. E. Taylor
“You look fantastic,” she said.
Tom stood and handed me the gloves I had left on the table. “Just in case you go all fangirl and set CJ’s house on fire,” he said and cracked a smile.
A blush heated my cheeks as I put them on.
Bridget rolled her eyes at Tom. “I’ll see you in a few hours,” she said to me. “Be nice,” she said to her husband.
“I’m always nice,” he muttered under his breath and held the door open for me.
“Before we go, can I give the funeral home this address?”
“We already took care of that for you,” Tom said. “They said your mother’s ashes would arrive tomorrow.”
My mouth popped open.
“Mind reader, remember?” Tom tapped his temple.
I blinked and looked at Bridget.
“It is annoying,” she whispered as if Tom wasn’t within hearing distance.
I was ambiguous about Tom, but I definitely liked Bridget.
He huffed and stepped out the door.
“Thank you for the clothes,” I said and followed Tom out. He was waiting in the truck, and I took the passenger seat. “Are you always this moody?”
“I’m not moody,” he said and started the car.
I snorted a laugh. He was as moody as I had been when I first got my period. That had been harrowing. I spent more time doused in cold water than all the prior years I had graced this earth, and it was all because of puberty.
He glared at me, and his jaw tightened.
I guessed he didn’t like being compared to a hormonal teenager. I smirked and glanced out the window at the rolling Atlantic.
He pulled down a hill and parked in a spot overlooking a sandy beach and the ocean. “Okay. I am moody. And I’m just as ambiguous about you as you are about me. I can’t help but think this is a disaster in the making, but that could just be my slant on life these days.”
His fingers drummed the steering wheel. He exhaled loud enough to make me shift in the seat, and he wouldn’t look at me. The air thickened in the car as he glanced out at the water beyond me. When his gazed moved to mine, it was conflicted.
“I’m not sure how to get past this.” He dropped his gaze.
A lump formed in my throat. I had no idea what he was fighting to get past, but then one name flared in my head. Lucifer. I was Lucifer’s daughter.
“What did he do to you?” My voice was barely a whisper, but even though I’d asked, I really didn’t want to know. Not when his eyes held such pain.
Without words, he reached out and pressed his fingertips to my forehead.
The car disappeared, and a slide show of horrific images flashed before me. But it wasn’t just images—it was the depth of emotion accompanying each one. Fear, heartbreak, despair. They pummeled my insides as much as the visions. And every last one of them had my father’s touch.
Tom Ryan had lost his wife, his child, his best friend, his adopted parents, and his dog to the wrath of Lucifer.
The images would haunt me for the rest of my days. What that bastard did to the man sitting next to me would have driven me mad.
When Tom pulled his hand away, I gasped air and threw the car door open, then fell to my knees on the asphalt. The most horrific thing about the mini-mind movie that Tom had subjected me to was the fact that I recognized some of the expressions my father wore. I recognized them because I had seen those same expressions in my own mirror.
Heat encompassed me, and I counted my breaths, getting a hold of the wild beast in the center of my being. Perhaps Tom had gone mad. After all, he collected the daughter of his greatest nemesis when asked to do so.
Who does that?
Could I have done that given the same set of circumstances?
I knew with a cold certainty that I would have wanted retribution for all the ills that had been rained on me.
Tom sat in the car and stared out at the water, waiting for me to get myself together. His face was stoic, but I could feel the boiling conflict beneath.
I finally got control over my emotions as well as my stomach and climbed back in the car. “And you still came to get me after all that?” I asked with a voice I barely recognized.
“I went to kill you,” he said softly, unable to meet my gaze. His cheeks flared red, and I couldn’t tell if it was from anger or embarrassment.
I shivered, studying his profile. A new thought rose from the ashes in my mind. “Was that what Fate told you to do?”
He shook his head. “No. Fate did not order your death. If she had, we wouldn’t be sitting here right now.” He shifted the car back into drive and glanced over at me. “Your instincts were right to be on edge, but as I said last night, it only took me one glance at your aura to realize you were just another piece of his collateral damage. An innocent. But that still doesn’t…” He pressed his lips together.
“My existence haunts you,” I said with a heavy sigh.
He nodded. “Whether I want it to or not.”
“So, you’re still ambivalent about killing me?”
He shook his head. “No. I’m not on the fence about that. I can’t kill an innocent. It’s just the way I’m made.”
I blinked and narrowed my gaze at him as the litany of visions played back in my mind. “Yet you killed your best friend.”
“I did.” He nodded, not trying to sugar coat his actions. “But Damian was far from innocent. He was the one who originally stole your father’s grace. He was a former vampire who had been born centuries before Christ.”
Wait. Vampires exist?
Tom continued as if he hadn’t heard my thought. “Damian was my bargaining chip to get my daughter back.”
A chill skittered down my spine. He had been so ready to trade his friend’s life for his daughter, but something deep inside him couldn’t go through with it. He had killed his friend, but instead of giving Damian’s heart to Lucifer, he had eaten it himself, absorbing Lucifer’s grace.
My brain turned that scene over in my head. Disgust clenched my stomach, creating a dark spot in my soul. I shook the cold out of my head, focusing on the heat tingling my fingertips. Danger pulsed in every nerve, and I shifted in the car seat.
“Does Bridget know?”
“Know what?” he asked as if he wasn’t privy to my thoughts.
“That your intent was to kill me?”
“She would have never let me,” he said and took a right turn.
It wasn’t a real answer, and from the set of his jaw, I guessed pushing him for more information would just aggravate him further. When we pulled up to a gate, the house beyond captured all my attention. I thought Tom’s house was big, but CJ Ryan’s home was stately. It was what I would imagine lined the Hollywood hills.
Tom snorted as he punched the code into the gate. “This isn’t a mansion. There are far bigger, more elaborate houses over on the lighthouse bluff.”
Before we were parked, the front door opened. CJ’s glare landed squarely on his brother.
Tom got out and crossed his arms, staring his brother down.
“You haven’t done it yet?” CJ said as I climbed out of the car.
Fear ballooned in my throat as I went back to the conversation a few minutes ago. My gaze darted to the gate, for an escape, but the gate had already closed. My backpack dropped to the ground, and I struggled with my gloves, hell-bent on protecting myself.
Tom turned towards me. “Calm your ass down. This isn’t about me killing you,” he snapped.
I paused and glanced at him over the roof of the car. My gaze moved to CJ’s, and his brow creased. When he glanced at me, his eyes widened and then went back to his brother. CJ stomped down the steps.
“Fate told you to give her his grace,” CJ said, approaching his brother.
My stomach clenched, and I backed away from the car, putting my hands out in front of me. There was no way I was going to eat a human heart.
CJ’s gaze jumped to mine. “That’s not the only way to transfer grace.�
�� He turned hard eyes at Tom. “I can’t believe you shared all that with her. Way to make her feel a part of the family, bro.”
The contempt in his voice almost made me smile. But my mind was too preoccupied with the ability to transfer grace. My head spun, and the scene before me altered.
* * * *
CJ and Tom stood on the front lawn. Tom had his hand clamped on the back of CJ’s neck, and his other hand was centered over his own heart. Light ballooned around and through his fingers, coming from his chest in pulses that matched a heartbeat. When the last of the light exited his chest, Tom turned his hand and slammed the glowing ball into CJ’s chest.
The result was epic.
It was as if heaven’s gates had opened and shined their light on the man. Golden wings fluttered inside the majestic radiance.
* * * *
I gasped, blinked, and the scene disappeared. CJ and Tom just stared at me with their jaws hanging open.
I shouldered my backpack, unnerved by the weird vision and more so by the open-mouthed stares. I just wanted my diploma and to get on with my life. I rounded the front of the car and headed towards the open door.
I turned my gaze from the two men by the car to the front door, and my feet faltered. At the front door, a younger, more handsome version of CJ Ryan stood with the same open-mouthed awe. When his gaze moved from the yard to me, my heart clanged in my chest, and the rest of the world disappeared.
Heat filled me, and it wasn’t the same as my scorching fire. This was at the cellular level, drawing me closer, yet I remained in place, afraid to move. Afraid this wasn’t real.
He took a tentative step toward me, his gaze locked with mine.
The world around us darkened until we both stood a few feet apart, just staring at one another while surrounded by a black void.
I peeled my glove off and stepped closer. He raised his hand. I mirrored his move, pressing my palm to his. Wind whipped my damp hair around. It was as if the two of us stood in the center of a tornado.
His gaze widened. His fingers curled around my hand, clutching it tight. I mimicked him.
Everything about the moment felt right. It felt like I had found the piece of my soul that had been missing since the day I was born.
My body jerked away from him. I blinked and then stared up at an angry tiger. My brain couldn’t reconcile the peaceful feeling that had overtaken me and this sudden rush of fear. My skin prickled, and I went to raise my hand with the intent to burn the snarling animal.
An invisible force held my hand on the ground at the same moment as someone body slammed the tiger and rolled away with the cat in his clutches. I had a second where our eyes met, and it wasn’t the boy that spoke to my soul. This one was different. Older. More rugged. Still handsome, but not in the captivating way that CJ’s spitting image was.
“Cut the shit, Grace,” the man snarled in the tiger’s ear while he stared at me.
CJ dropped the enchanted glove onto my stomach, and the hold on my hand released. He ran his hand through his hair and surveyed the pandemonium. Even he looked perplexed as to what had just happened.
“Alex, go inside,” CJ said to his look-a-like.
Alex met my gaze for a second before he glanced at the hissing tiger and then turned and retreated into the house.
My hand still tingled where Alex had touched it. I slid the glove on and climbed to my feet slowly, still trying to make heads or tails of what was happening.
“That… that thing shouldn’t be here,” a female voice spat.
I turned toward the voice, and the handsome man who had hurled himself at the tiger stood next to a dark-haired woman who pointed at me with an equal amount of venom as the tiger had tackled me with.
Tom stepped in front of me, blocking my view. “She isn’t what you think.”
The girl huffed and glared at him. “You are defending her? You?”
Tom’s hands went to his sides, and he glanced at the ground. After a few beats of my heart, he nodded. “Yes. I’m defending her.”
She launched at him. Mid-air, she transformed into the beast that had attacked me.
My heart lurched in my chest. I blinked incessantly, but each pass of my lashes confirmed what I was seeing.
The tiger crashed into an invisible barrier separating her from Tom. It slid down almost like the coyote in those cartoons my mother let me watch.
“Please go home.” CJ’s command broke the tension.
The tiger transformed back to the wildly angry woman. She let out a scream of frustration and marched away, leaving me with Tom, CJ, and the one who had tackled her.
“Thanks, Gabe,” Tom said.
Gabe nodded, and his gaze met mine. There was no trace of warmth in his piercing stare, but there also wasn’t the malice present in the woman’s. “Grace just went ballistic.” He wiped his face and then crossed to where I stood. His sharp glare landed on me. “The second you stepped out of the car, she went crazy.” His voice carried accusation as if I had any control over how that woman acted. “My sister can be… volatile, but it is usually with good reason.” He glanced at Tom and CJ. “And Lucifer’s daughter is enough of a reason for us all to be a little on edge.”
I blinked and crossed my arms. Anger burned below the surface. When his gaze came back to me, I did my best not to fidget. As much as being Lucifer’s daughter unnerved me, this stranger had no right to throw accusations. He didn’t know me. He didn’t know how I was raised, and he certainly didn’t have the right to sneer at me the way he was.
The more his judgmental stare lingered, the more my skin burned. I kept eye contact and my mouth closed. I inhaled, quenching the beast roaring inside me.
“Nice to meet you, too,” I finally said when I was sure my voice would be steady.
He blinked, nodded, and turned on his heel, marching across the lawn in the same direction the woman had gone.
Relief made my muscles rubbery. I turned to Tom. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For standing up for me. I know how hard that must have been.”
His cheeks turned pink, and he traded a glance with CJ. “CJ, meet Faith Kennedy. Faith, my brother CJ.” He waved his hand between us.
His formal introduction was as awkward as everything else that had happened this morning, and I couldn’t help but wonder what else lay in wait to pounce on me today.
Chapter 4
CJ led me in through the kitchen to the family room. “Have a seat. I need to have a word with my brother before he leaves,” he said and waved towards the soft couches.
I could hear their harsh whispers from the other room, and I wished that Alex was with me to calm the brewing storm building inside. He seemed to make me forget about all my ailments. When we’d gripped hands, it was as if everything that had come before didn’t matter. Only the connection between us mattered.
I glanced out the back door and jumped to my feet. The glass I had been holding fell and shattered on the table. The scene outside rattled me more than anything that had happened recently.
I bolted to the slider and laid my splayed hands on the glass. Darkness painted the landscape, which was a far cry from the bright sunny morning out front moments before.
Each pant of my breath fogged the glass, but it didn’t mar my view of the apocalyptic scene.
* * * *
Tom and his dog stood at the far end of the backyard. Tom’s eyes were wide, and his hands slowly curled into tight fists. Fear and anger radiated from him. His entire form shook, even from this distance, and I had a pretty accurate guess at what could make Tom react that way.
What waltzed into view stalled my mind. A mirror image of Tom, but something was off with his gait. The man’s stride was predatory, and his mannerisms sent a tingle of recognition through me. This was my father playing some sick game.
A wave of creatures followed, flowing into the backyard from both directions. Hulking red-eyed men with dagger-like nails poured in, along with sleek hou
nds the size of Great Danes. Their eyes were as red as the demons’, and their teeth reminded me of razors. Long, canine razors.
CJ and another man stepped onto the battlegrounds. Their gazes jumped from Tom at the back of the yard to his doppelganger on the left.
“Tom is back there!” I cried and pointed to his image at the far side of the yard, but no one heard me.
My heart leapt into my throat as the demons attacked. They didn’t flow towards Tom’s doppelganger. Instead, they separated and attacked CJ and Tom. The man next to CJ went after Tom’s mirror image.
Blood splattered against the glass separating me from the battle. Arrows and gunshots pierced the air. One knocked CJ off the bluff, leaving Tom to fend for himself against the band of demons.
Each punch pulled a flinch from me, and I could almost feel the pain where the demons’ fists hit Tom’s flesh. My breathing came in fast pants as I watched the massacre.
I turned away because I couldn’t watch Tom get pummeled.
My gaze landed on his doppelganger, and for a moment I glimpsed underneath the façade he wore. I saw Lucifer in all his beautiful glory. My heart stopped in my chest and I gasped. Understanding of why my mother could ever entertain having a relationship with the devil wove into my psyche. He was too breathtaking to look away from, never mind deny. She couldn’t have said no to his shining angelic beauty.
The moment passed when he ripped the man’s head off and tossed it toward Tom.
Despair wrenched my gut, and I nearly doubled over from it. How could a mere mortal stand up to that sort of power?
“Your turn,” Lucifer growled, and he pointed at Tom.
Two demons grabbed Tom’s arms. Tom spun, wrenching his wrist away from one demon, and landed a throat punch to the other. He snapped the demon’s neck and dropped the limp body before two others stepped in. He parried and twirled out of the way of many of their attacks, but his luck ran out when he backed right into Lucifer’s reach.
My father punched Tom, lifting him right off the ground. Tom collapsed on his knees but rolled away before Lucifer could do the same thing he had done to the other man.
The two remaining demons circled him. Tom executed the type of spin kick I once saw in an old kung fu movie I had found on my computer. The demon’s head snapped with the force, but when Tom landed, he stumbled. The grimace on his face broadcasted pain.