Annoyed, I yelled over my shoulder at Maverick. “You know you’re only proving my point about you being an idiot.” I glanced back to see my brother, Lennox, lazily staring after me, a smirk on his face. A deep rumbling sounded from Maverick. He was actually laughing as he watched me grab at Tuddle. “You guys could help out, you know!”
The jerks.
Tuddle hissed as I finally scooped him up, my finger sliding into his mouth to make him drop it. “Bad kitty. You know you can’t eat chocolate.”
He bit me and pain shot up my arm to my elbow. I yelped, yanking my hand out of his mouth, but still making sure to hook my finger around the chocolate as it came out. He meowed a great sound, as if calling out in angst to his ancestors in protest. Then he jumped to the ground, his tail flicking upwards as he ran off.
Gross, my fingers had slobber and crushed chocolate all over it. Scowling, I turned to my brother. “Thanks for your help, asshole.”
“You’re welcome.” He just grinned, crossing his hands over his chest, then his eyes moved towards the demon. I followed his gaze, then yelped out again as I saw a flash of his hair flying in the air as he jumped over the fence, trying to escape. I scowled at my brother, pointing to him. “This is all your fault.”
His smirk only grew bigger and he leaned against his door frame, watching me as I raced across his lawn.
“Maverick, you’d better get the hell back here or I’m going to pummel your ass!” It was a ridiculous statement. My five foot five inches was nothing on his six foot seven.
He didn’t even look back and, stomping through dandelions and ankle-high grass, I ran after him. I vaulted over the fence, landing in the bushes on the other side. Magic sparked all around me, cleansing my aura and I immediately felt calmer. Ugh, stupid firethorns. Those were supposed to be for Lennox, not for when I was chasing a nosy demon.
I scrambled out of the bushes and a ripping sound alerted me to the tearing of my skirt. Ugh, this one was my favorite!
Growling, I climbed to my feet and looked around the darkness, ready to pounce on his ass just for existing. My heart dropped as I realized he was gone. The smell of sulfur hit my nose and I knew that he’d smoked out of here.
Demons could teleport away in a puff of smoke, and he’d taken advantage of the bushes distracting me to get away.
I sighed, running my hands through my hair, pulling out a leaf. If I’d been able to use my wings, I would’ve caught him before he had the chance to smoke, but staying as human-like as possible was more important than capturing him.
He’d be back, I knew it, if the state of Lennox’s current mood was any indication. The darker Lennox’s thoughts, the more he seemed to attract the supernaturals into our town.
I also remembered the loving look on Nix’s face when he talked about his car. Yeah, he’d be back.
I took the long way around the fence to give me a moment to calm down as I walked back to Lennox’s trailer.
My twin was half fae, half demon, just like me, obviously. And while I was more like my mom, a light fae, my brother was gifted with a large portion of demon genes from dad. Lennox’s powers were wild and uncontrollable, and attracted all things demon like a huge magnet scraping across the Torch.
When we’d moved here as babies, our town was small enough and a good distance from any large leylines - spots under the earth that drew in power - to keep supernatural interest far away. It was the reason my parents had chosen this place to settle.
But when our powers manifested, all of a sudden large groups of demons and dark fae began to visit the small town. It was a time of chaos for my family, with both of us trying to learn how to control our powers, and my parents trying to keep our existence under wraps. It took my parents long enough to realize that Lennox’s uncontrolled powers were drawing the supernaturals here, but by then it was too late.
Within weeks, my parents were dead and we were orphans. We were too old to be in the foster care system and I’d been taking care of Lennox ever since we were seventeen.
He did not react well to my parents death.
Although I didn’t blame him, he’d been the cause of it.
I wasn’t there but I came home to the house on fire, a very bloody room, and my parent’s dead bodies at Lennox’s feet. He never explained what had happened but his haunted eyes told me everything.
Passing through the firethorn gate calmed me again and I was able to push away the memory of the worst day of my life as I made my way towards Lennox.
He was still leaning against the door, but now, a sober look crossed his face. Orange flame licked his skin and his blue-silver hair waved about his face as if he was in the middle of a storm. His eyes were a dark black and I knew that he’d already forgotten about the chocolate incident. A chill ran through my body as the dark orbs landed on me. I came to a stop, not wanting to go any further. I knew not to go near him when he looked like this. Something had set him off.
“Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.” Tuddle leaned into my leg, his soft fur a comfort even though I knew he was leaning on me for support. Big eyes looked up at me. “E.T. go home?”
“Yes, Tuddle. It’s time to go home.” I reached down and scooped him up, holding him to my chest.
Lennox didn’t speak or even move, except to give me a nod.
We’d come to an understanding earlier. He would stay home for a couple of weeks while I fixed the demon’s car and sent them on their way. While he was home, he would try and cleanse his energy, which mostly meant he would smoke a bunch of pot to help him calm his raging powers. My dad had died before he could teach Lennox how to use his powers, and so his control over them was still sketchy. My brother had a good heart though, buried under all his anguish and demon powers. He lived in the middle of nowhere so that he wouldn’t hurt anyone.
For now, staying home and cleansing his energy would hopefully stop his powers from attracting even more demons into our lives.
It had to, to keep us safe.
I nodded back to him, then slowly backed out of the gate, not willing to turn my back on him until I saw his door close.
6
Blayde
“Hooman, we have a problem.” A soft head rubbed across my nose.
I groaned, pushing Tuddle off me. “Go away. I’m still sleeping.”
A few seconds later, a rough tongue scraped across my forehead and I shot upwards, rubbing my palm across it. Gross as all get out.
“Tuddle, you know I don’t like it when you lick my face.” Frowning, I opened my eyes into slits, just enough to search for the cat, who was blinking up at me innocently. There was a banging noise at my door but I ignored it, instead, flipping onto my side and yanking the covers up to my face. “It’s too early to get up.”
The banging sound grew louder and I groaned, grabbing my clock and blinking at it. Four in the morning.
What the fock? I’d gotten exactly one hour of sleep. Who the hell was at my door so early?
I had a feeling I knew the answer to that question but I tried to ignore it, squeezing my fingers into my ears and closing my eyes. After five minutes of trying to go back to sleep, I opened my eyes to see Tuddle’s face in mine. His large green eyes blinked at me. “The devil is at the door.”
“I know.” I sighed, grabbing him to pull him into my chest. He purred as I stroked his fluffy fur, and I tried to decide what to do.