Tortured: Book Three of the Jason and Azazel Trilogy

by V. J. Chambers

  "Oh," he said, reaching for it. "Right."

  I grinned at him, tousling his hair. He brushed me off.

  The threat was really all gone. The Sons were all dead. The Satanists were all dead. There was no one left chasing Jason and me. Sometimes he still woke up in the middle of the night and sat straight up, searching the room for danger. Sometimes, I still had awful dreams. The one I hated the worst was the one where Jason didn't ever recognize me in that hallway in the castle and shot me anyway.

  But Jason and I were talking. And Jason was talking to a therapist. He wasn't ever going to be normal. Neither was I. We both knew that. But we were doing the best we could. We'd enrolled in classes at the local community college. I was still undecided as to what I wanted to major in. I remembered that, sometime back in Bramford, I'd wanted to be a fashion designer. I didn't know why. I'd never sewed anything in my life. I was taking time to try to get to know who I was.

  And I wasn't drinking anymore.

  I didn't want to say anything as drastic as I was an alcoholic. Someday, I might be able to have a few drinks with dinner or something. But I wasn't even going to try that until I was legally of age.

  I heard the screams of my niece Jenna before I actually saw either Palomino or the baby. I turned to the door, waiting for them to walk in.

  Palomino blew wisps of her hair out of her face. "God," she said. "Can you take her, Azazel? You're the only one she'll get quiet for."

  I held out my arms and Palomino placed baby Jenna in them. I smiled down at her, and she quieted immediately. Chance handed me the bottle, which I popped into Jenna's open mouth. I watched her suck contentedly. Maybe I was biased, but she was the most beautiful baby I'd ever seen.

  I took Jenna back to the living room and sat on the couch next to Jason. He leaned over me to tickle her tummy, then smiled at me. "She sure does like you," he said, kissing me.

  I smiled. "Yep. I'm good with babies, Jason." I winked at him.

  He laughed. "Don't go getting any ideas," he teased. "We're barely eighteen."

  I looked back down at little Jenna, so snug in my arms. Impressionable minds, indeed. It wasn't too hard to convince her to be quiet. And I didn’t think of it as hypnotism at all.

  Finis

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