I heard a blip from a police car, and the vision dissolved. Falling on my knees in front of the couch, I held my throat. I sucked in large lungsful of air. Slowly, the room came back into focus. The stars in front of my eyes disappeared and were replaced by the rolling red and blue lights coloring the living room walls.
I looked up and saw Lily and Jake standing in the spotlight of the police cruiser. The bright white light washed out their faces and made them look like the gray demons they worked for. The red and blue lights mixed with the white spotlight gave them a sinister look. As if they sensed I was thinking about them, they turned and stared at the house one last time before the officer ushered them into the back of the police car.
“Milayna! Are you okay?” My dad’s worried voice broke through my thoughts.
“Can someone die from a vision? I felt like I was dying. The person was strangling me, and I couldn’t breathe, Dad.” I rubbed my neck again.
“No, I don’t think so. I’ve never heard of anyone dying from a vision, but I’ve also never seen someone have such strong visions as you.”
“Great.”
“What’d you see? Anything new?” Chay asked.
I shook my head. “Just the same arms, hands reaching for my throat. And then the person was strangling me. I kind of lost track of the vision then. I physically felt the sensation of being strangled. It was hard to concentrate.”
Chay pulled me against him, hugging me tight. He stroked his hand down my hair, smoothing it against my back. “I’m so sorry.”
“For what? You aren’t doing this. Azazel has found a new way to hurt me. This person the hobgoblins have been warning me about. He’s behind this somehow. Are they still back there?”
“They were when I came inside.”
“Good. Let’s go see them.”
Chay walked into the yard before me. Scarface and Friendly ran over to him.
“Is Milayna okay?” Scarface asked.
“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because he was here. You should be…”
“What? Dead?”
The goblin tilted its head to the side. “Well, not alive.”
I rolled my eyes. In my world, ‘not alive’ means dead. I’m not sure what it means in the underworld.
“I’m alive, guys. And it’s time for you to go.”
I picked them up by the scruff of their necks and threw them in the air. Just before they popped out of sight, I heard Scarface say, “Azazel’s not going be happy.”
“I don’t give a rat’s ass if Azazel’s happy,” I muttered.
“Come here.” Chay pulled me into his arms. His lips found mine, and my body warmed and melted into him. I sighed. He lifted his head and looked at me, pursing his lips to hide a self-satisfied grin. “I guess I should go.”
“Probably.”
“Then I’ll just…” He gestured to the fence.
I fisted my hand in the front of his shirt and pulled him to me for another toe-curling kiss. He traced the outline of my lips with his tongue before dipping it between them. I moaned and pulled him closer, until I didn’t know where one started and the other of us began.
“Milayna! Come in the house,” my mom called.
“Busted,” Chay murmured against my lips.
“Foiled again, Batman,” I said with a laugh.
“I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“It is tomorrow.”
“You’re frustrating this early in the morning,” he grumbled and tried to glare at me. I laughed. “I’ll see you later. A movie?”
“Yeah, that’d be good.” I waved at him before he jumped the fence and walked toward his house.
Damn my mother. Couldn’t she see how great that kiss was—she had to interrupt it? Then again, she probably could see how great it was and that’s why she interrupted it.
I smiled. Chay was amazing. He made me feel safe and loved, and I couldn’t get enough of him.
I’m a Chay junkie.
6
The Fight
My cell phone rang at nine o’clock Saturday morning. “Have I failed to mention I’m not a morning person?” I said into the receiver.
“Nope. You’ve told me a few times, but I just woke up and I like hearing your voice before anything else,” Chay answered.
Ugh, how can I be irritated at him when he says things like that?
“You wanna come over for breakfast?” I wiped the sleep drool off my cheek.
“Shouldn’t you ask your parents first?”
“Nah, they think you’re the next best thing since the invention of the wheel. I think they love you more than me. They’ll be fine with it.”
“‘Kay, be right there.”
He hung up, and I dropped my head back on my pillow.
So. Very. Tired.
I drifted off to sleep until I heard the doorbell ring. Jumping out of bed, I pulled off my sleep shirt and put on sweatpants and a T-shirt before running into my bathroom to brush my teeth and run a comb through my hair.
Bed head. Ugh.
The floorboards creaked outside my door followed by a quiet knock.
I used a little water to smooth out my frizzy curls. “Just a sec!”