by J. J. Dean
Where the hell am I, and how did I get here?
She should be waking up already. Why isn't she waking up?
I know that voice, though it's accompanied by a twang of pain. The question rises, why am I hearing Devon in my head and not my ears? I don't know what's going on, but I know that isn't normal.
I'm going to kill him if she doesn't wake up.
There's Asher's deep, rumbling voice, sounding ready to tear someone's head off as is the norm. But whose head? Who is he going to kill? And why the fuck am I hearing it in my head?
Just as I have the thought, more voices begin to bombard my brain. Noah's concern is so loud I wince while Eli keeps muttering that I better wake up or he's going to smack my ass. Sounds like him. Or, at least it would, if I could actually hear his voice tickling my eardrums.
On a whisper, Devon says, "She's waking up."
Slowly, but with the force of a tidal wave crashing into my brain, their voices all begin to bombard my mind. They all talk over each other, growing louder until it becomes so overwhelming that I can't help but wince again.
Like an elastic band, all movement comes back to me. My hands immediately dart up to grip my pained head, internally begging for them all to shut up for just a moment. To give me a minute to think.
"Shut up," I croak so quietly that they don't hear me. Louder, I whine, "Shut up!"
They keep going, their voices melding into one another. They're all talking over each other so fast I can't keep up with what any one of them is saying. I can't pick out any words or a voice from the meld of all of them blaring in my damn mind.
"Shut up!" I yell, the rasp in my voice more prominent. I must have been out of it for a while.
"No one is talking, Flower," Eli tells me quietly. My hands press against my ears, the pain in my head growing the more their voices knock about in there. Tears prick my eyes, and a whimper slips through my gritted teeth.
"Babe? What's going on?" Asher asks, keeping his voice low. I can only just make out his voice in my left ear, but it's quickly overtaken by the symphony of male voices rearing towards a crescendo in my brain.
A cry breaks out of me, the pain growing to piercing levels. "Make it stop. Please, make it stop."
I feel a set of hands brace themselves over mine, another pair holding my shoulder and arm. There's a hand on my leg and another on my stomach, but I can't focus on any of it. I can't work out whose hand is whose, can't appreciate the feel of their hands.
Just when I think I can't handle the pain anymore, the buzz-like chattering causing my ears to ring, my eyes dart open, and all I see is white. There's nothing but bright light filling my vision, blocking out everything and anyone.
With painstaking slowness, the bright light begins to fade. Color comes into view, fading in like an effect on a video. The pain completely vanishes along with the guys’ voices, leaving peaceful silence in its wake.
The first thing I see as soon as the lingering brightness fades is a high ceiling with pretty little accents and patterns in it. The next thing I see is Eli's face popping up over mine. I flinch backward, my head sinking further into the softest pillow I've probably ever slept on. "Uh, hi."
He sighs the deepest sigh I've heard before shoving his face into my breasts. The rest of him follows, the pressure of his body resting on mine easy to distinguish as Eli now that I'm not in agony.
"Luna, are you okay?" Noah asks from my left, his hand rubbing up and down my arm with a soft touch.
Eli's arms wrap around my waist, and he nuzzles his face into the valley of my breasts. His hold is tighter than it is usually, but I don't complain. Nodding, my hand goes to Eli's hair, and I tell them, "Yeah. I think so."
"What just happened?" Devon asks, worried eyes meeting mine.
Shrugging, I tell them honestly, "I have no idea. You were all being too loud for me to focus on anything else."
"Peaches, no one was talking. We didn't say a word," Asher tells me, sitting to my right and squeezing my thigh in assurance. I think he needs it more than I do, but I appreciate the effort.
Clearing my throat, I mutter, "I know. That's not what I meant."
"Luna, you're going to have to explain what in the fuck happened because you've been unconscious for the last two days with your eyes glowing like neon lights and your body completely comatose. Not to mention, you just dropped when we were at the airport. I don't even know what happened to you. One minute you were standing and muttering to yourself, then the next you were falling to the floor. Explain. For the love of all that is good, explain." Devon ends his little tirade with a deep sigh, dropping against his chair and rubbing his hands over his face. Now that I'm paying attention to him, he looks utterly exhausted. Like he's been awake for too long, worry creating dark circles under his eyes.
"He's right, Flower. You've been out for the count for two days. We've swapped hotels once already. Can you tell us what happened?" Eli asks, his voice a little muffled since he hasn't moved away from his position.
I try to form an answer for them, but Eli's words tickle my mind. I've been out of it for two days, and we've had to change hotels? What? Why? "We've swapped hotels? Was the one I booked crap or something?"
Elijah snorts. Asher rolls his eyes, but there's a deep worry in those ocean blues that I don't much care to be seeing. "Babe. We've been through an entire shit storm while you were spaced out."
I look the guys over, Devon sitting forward with his elbows braced on his knees and his hands pressed against his mouth. Noah appears beyond worried, appearing the most stressed out I've ever seen him. Eli tenses on top of me before relaxing quickly, but I felt it. Why are they so concerned? What the hell happened while I was unconscious for that long?
All three guys turn their heads and stare at Noah, waiting for him to pick up from where Asher left off and explain to me what I've missed in the last forty-two hours.
He coughs and turns his head to face me. I give him an expectant look, and he clears his throat once more before diving in. "We were attacked at the airport. After we all split up, things went awry, and half an hour later, we were ambushed by Hellspawn. You'd fallen unconscious just before the attack. Devon had to carry you to safety. You, Devon, and Eli found yourselves stuck on the roof of the airport, and we had to fly you down."
Noah finishes his explanation with a tired smile, but I'm staring at him with my mouth agape. I'm almost positive I look like a damned fish. I blink repeatedly, shaking my head and ask with no short amount of awe, "You flew us down?"
He nods, and Eli mutters, "I don't want to talk about that. I think I lost a big chunk of dignity with that shit."
As if I couldn't be any more confused, my copper-headed angel just blew my mind to smithereens. Like someone took a baseball bat to my head, the realization hits me. If I hadn't been lying down already, I'm sure it would have knocked me to my ass. "You flew? You flew!"
Noah's cheeks grow pink, but his grin grows wider. Devon doesn't take his eyes off me, the intensity so strong I feel it all the way down to my bones.
Grumbling, I say, "You both flew, and I missed the whole thing. Why am I always sabotaged like that? That's an injustice if anything is."
The intensity in Dev's eyes dims a little, and the others laugh, though it sounds worn out and thin. They all look spent, and the room grows quiet. Quiet enough that I can hear the steady breaths leaving Eli, the telltale sign of him drifting to sleep. "Have you all stayed awake this entire time?"
Ash nods. "Yeah. We've had to switch hotels because we don't trust that Lucifer isn't watching our every move and won't send more Hellspawn after us. Neither of us wanted to sleep until you were awake and could defend yourself again, Peaches. You worried us."
A pang of guilt clenches my stomach, and I look away.
I feel Asher move close to the bed, and his large hand comes to cup my chin and draw my face back to his. "It's not your fault, babe. We were just scared for you. Do you know what happened before you fell unconscious?"
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Focusing on his stormy eyes, I think about the events that led to me waking up on a cloud of softness with a harem of sexy guys surrounding my bed. "I remember walking into the airport, finding the security room with Devon, and looking around. Things get a little blurry after that."
"Try to relax and it might come to you. Don't stress yourself over it," Noah offers, squeezing my shoulder with support.
The room grows quiet once more, Eli's soft snores echoing in the room. I think about everything that happened in the security office, from checking the monitors, to the smell of stale coffee and seeing the old coffee cups that littered the desk. Then a hazy memory caresses the depths of my memory. It takes a lot to concentrate on the memory, the images unfocused and blurry, but I do my best to retrace everything.
Chasing the memory, I tell them, "I was looking around while Devon checked the monitors. There was a board. A whiteboard. I could see something on it from the corner of my eye, but when I looked, there was nothing there. I walked closer to the board, and I could have sworn I saw a see-through shimmer on the corner..."
I pause while flashes flicker through my head, my eyes seeing what I can barely remember. I can feel my eyes grow silver, brightening until it takes over my vision. With my eyes lit up like the freshly-lit firework, patterns begin to form behind my eyes. A shimmery substance glides around until it forms a symbol. The symbol I saw on the board.
"Paper. I need paper. And a pen," I mumble, seeing nothing but the symbol floating in my vision. A pen is quickly pushed into my hand and a notepad in the other. One of the guys leads my hand to the paper, and I begin to draw immediately, tracing the shape of the symbol onto the paper. The moment I have it down, the symbol evaporates and my vision fades back to normal, the bright glow dimming until my eyes return back to their normal silver-gray hue.
As soon as I can see everything around me again, the pen falls from my hand, and my eyes drop to the piece of paper that now holds an unusual sign that I don't remember ever seeing until I saw on the whiteboard. What is it?
I hold the notepad up, showing them all the drawing, and ask, "Anyone know what that is, what it means, and what it possibly did to me?"
Asher shakes his head, brow furrowed and confused. Noah pauses, looking over the paper before his eyes widen, and his head sharply turns towards Devon. Devon is scrutinizing the paper, looking both angry and baffled. It's not a good combination if past experiences are anything to go by.
"Can I take a closer look at that?" he asks, holding his hand out for me to hand over the drawing. I do so quickly, sliding it into his open palm and watching him like a hawk. I don't miss the frown, the shock, or the brief but obvious flicker of panic that passes through his eyes in quick succession, nor do I miss the way he looks away from the paper and shakes his head. He knows what it is, and so does Noah.
"What is it?" I quietly ask, looking directly at Devon. He drops the paper and looks over to Noah.
"It can't be, right? He wouldn't..." Noah ponders out loud, looking more baffled than the rest of us. I mean, I'm sure I'd look more baffled if I know what the hell was going on.
"It would appear that he has," Devon answers, giving the notebook to Noah and turning his head to look me in the eye. "When you woke up, you told us we were all too loud. No one was talking, so what did you mean?"
Suddenly feeling like I've been put under a spotlight, I fidget awkwardly before sinking my hands into Eli's hair, the soft strands filtering through my fingers. Without looking up, I tell them, "I could hear you all talking. Only... it was in my head."
"Shit," Devon blurts, bolting out of his chair and running his hands through his tangled blond locks, brushing the shoulder-length waves out of his face and twisting them up into a loose bun at the crown of his head. I wish I could say it didn't look good on him, but that would be a blatant lie. It draws out all the sharp angles of his face, the high cheekbones and hard jaw.
"What does this mean?" Asher questions, drawing my attention away from Devon's good looks.
"Fuck!" Devon bursts, before turning around and leaving the room, slamming the door after himself. What the hell is his problem?
My eyes go to Noah, and I raise my hand to rest over his that's still on my shoulder. "Noah, tell me straight. What the hell happened to me and how?"
Noah's golden eyes come to rest on me, and with a heavy sigh, he explains, "I'm almost positive He's gifted you with one more power. I'm not sure why, but I've seen this symbol while I was researching you before being sent to Earth. That sounds creepier than it is. It was strictly power-related and finding where you were. It's not like I was-"
"Noah, it's fine," I tell him, cutting him off quickly as his cheeks grow redder with his stuttering efforts to try and save himself. "What has He gifted me with?"
Clearing his throat, he tells me, "He's gifted you with the ability to read minds."
My entire brain stumbles over itself and goes totally blank. He's gifted me the power to... what the fuck? Anger quickly builds within me, the same anger I felt when we found out I was given all of my abilities back. That made me a big enough target for Lucifer. And now the dipshit has only gone and fucked me further, giving me the ability to read minds. "Why?! Why on this goddamned planet would he give me something like that? Better yet, why is He interfering? I don't understand what's going on right now, but you can bet your asses I am not happy about it!"
Asher and Noah are quiet, Eli still fast asleep on top of me when I hear the first clear sentence echo in my mind, mirroring my own damn thoughts. Asher's voice is clear as day, the deep timbered baritone of his words dancing in my mind with effortless ease. My eyes, however, are on his lips that don't move.
What the fuck have we got ourselves into now?
"My thoughts exactly," I grumble, watching his eyes widen and reality sink in that I'm now the equivalent of a dartboard and Lucifer is holding the knives.
Chapter 30
Luna
"Whose shirt am I wearing?" I ask, climbing out of bed. Elijah’s woken up and now sits at the end of the bed, his legs tucked in tight while I stomp over the floor. I'm over the brunt of my anger, but it doesn't stop me from pacing, my bare feet damn near wearing a whole in the cream carpet.
"That would be mine again, Peaches. Making that a bit of a habit," Asher points out, lifting his bag and rummaging through its contents. He pulls out a clean shirt, handing it over to Eli then pulling out another and offering it to Noah. Who I have just realized is shirtless. Why is he shirtless?
Why is she staring at me like that? Is there something wrong?
Noah's soft voice filters into my head, and my eyes widen and then fly away from the contours of Noah's chest. I clear my throat and mutter, "Sorry. Why are you shirtless?"
His cheeks grow pink, and he begins to stutter and answer, but Asher takes over, eyeing us both peculiarly. "He couldn't fly without his wings. Ditched his shirt to rescue your ass. We also lost Eli and Noah's bags, so we have to make do with what we have. Yours is in the other room."
I blow a breath of air from between my lips, grateful my bag was rescued, and offer my thanks to Noah and the others, his cheeks growing a little redder with my appreciation. "I still can't believe I missed that! And we've lost two days worth of searching for Francis. Why does this always seem to happen to us?"
My question is rhetorical, but Eli pipes up from the bed, "Because we have shit luck?"
Pausing in my pacing, I lift my leg and nudge his waist with my foot until he sends a smile my way. Shaking my head, I go back to wearing down the carpet with my restless pacing. Until a thought comes to me.
"Where's the dog?" I question, looking around with the realization that I haven't seen the gigantic dog that's incredibly difficult not to notice. It's Noah's turn to widen his eyes. I look over to Eli and Asher, watching them cringe and avoid looking at me. I drop my head back, groaning in frustration. "You've lost him again, haven't you?"
All three of them nod in unison, and I smack my
palm against my forehead with a resounding slap. My pacing quickens, one hand poised against my hip while the other scrubs at my face with a little more force than necessary. Muttering like a crazy person, I begin listing things to do so fast that my words almost blend together. "Alright. I'm going to shower, and then we're going to eat something because my stomach feels like it's trying to eat itself, and then we're going to go out and look for Francis. And the dog. Maybe we should look for Devon too. Why is everyone going missing? Why the hell did that dick storm off like that? Why has no one-"
I'm cut off by large hands, Asher cupping my face with a gentleness you wouldn't expect from him. His thumbs stroke the apples of my cheek, and he calmly tells me, "Get in the shower. Eli and I will search for Devon. We'll even bring back something for you to eat, okay? Just chill out for a minute and breathe. When we get back, we'll look for the dog and Francis. That work?"
With my head still in his hold, I nod and place my hands over his. I take in a deep breath, blowing it out slowly. I repeat the motion, Asher nodding along while I try to calm my tumbling thoughts and racing heart. I have no idea when it started beating so rapidly, but now that I've noticed it, it's hard to calm the thing. No heart should beat that fast, right?
"Okay. Shower. Then Food. I'm fine. I'm calm, relaxed and not at all on the verge of panicking," I tell him, my voice coming out in a pained rasp. Because that's going to make me sound believable.
Just as I begin breathing normally, my back suddenly grows warm from the heat of another body. Eli's arms come to wrap around my waist, his chin resting on my shoulder. "Everything will work out, okay? Go grab yourself a shower because your hair looks like it's about to break free of the braids, and I don't want to be around when that happens. I'm sure you could rock a silver afro, but I can't imagine that's what you want."