“How many do you think?” she asked, even though her mind kept focusing on how I knew.
“Two,” I said, analyzing the nuance of thoughts. “Maybe three,” I added after a minute. I could identify two distinct voices, but there was an echo on one that made me think it might be three.
“Twins?”
I grinned and nodded. The stairs creaked, pulling my gaze for a brief moment. Tom and Raven descended into the room with a duffel bag and Naomi relinquished the gun to Tom when he extended his hand. A few minutes later, Steve and Jennifer came down.
“We need to leave,” Steve said and I raised an eyebrow.
“Yes,” Jennifer said. “As soon as CJ is done, we need to go.”
I nodded. I couldn’t blame her. If I were in her shoes, I’d bail as soon as I could, too.
“We’re not bailing on you. We’re bringing you with us,” Steve said, throwing a separate duffel bag on the floor.
“They can track me,” I said. “At least that’s what the demon said.”
“Not where we’re going.”
The certainty in his voice made me sigh. “You’ve been wrong before,” I pointed out.
“But I’ve never been wrong,” Jennifer said. “Go get your bags. We only have a small window to get out of here.”
“There’s a demon bear outside, how do you suggest we get past it?” I stood my ground, dropping my gaze to Jennifer’s.
She held up a controller. “Bears have sensitive hearing and we have a hell of a house alarm.”
Her answer shocked me and I handed Steve my gun, trotting upstairs and retrieving our bags. CJ met me in the hall with a backpack slung over his shoulder.
“I guess we’re going on a road trip,” he said.
As we filtered out, I glanced over my shoulder at the angel still standing in the house. With a swipe of my arm, I broke the symbol on the garage door and the angel popped out of sight.
A Tahoe occupied the third garage spot and I smiled at the large vehicle. We each threw our bags in the back and then piled in. As soon as we had locked and closed all the doors, Jennifer and Steve exchanged a glance. A moment later, the garage door blew to pieces and the house alarm pierced the air.
I don’t think I fully appreciated the power of a Chevy engine until this beast roared to life and we hit fifty before the gate blew off the hinges. When Steve’s phone rang, he shook his head.
“Don’t answer it. Let them send the cops,” he said and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Too bad you cleaned up the family room,” I said over my shoulder. Meeting CJ’s gaze. He smiled and closed his eyes for a second.
“That should keep the place crawling with people for quite a while.”
I thought about my car and the electronics inside and bit my lip. As much as I loved the car, the cops couldn’t start digging around in there and I added to the melee. With controlled focus, I made my car explode, destroying all the electronics along with my prized car. A pang of sorrow hit and I pressed my lips together, watching the plume of smoke retreat into the distance.
“It’s just a car,” Naomi said and I nodded, but it still felt like I had taken a gut shot.
“The mural …” I started and she shook her head.
“I put it in my duffel bag,” she whispered and squeezed my hand. “Maybe I’ll be able to wear it like a poncho,” she added and ran her hand over her stomach.
Jennifer turned in the front seat. “You look much bigger than you did earlier,” she said.
Naomi just nodded. Neither of us understood the acceleration and as I gazed at her, I wondered what it was doing to her. I took a moment to study her and then I closed my eyes, listening to the hum of discontent coming from her abdomen. Soon their demands would bloom into something Naomi would have to answer.
“I may have something you can wear at the cottage,” Jennifer said, her gaze dropping to Naomi’s belly and a flash of sadness filled the car. She turned toward the front, staring out the windshield as Steve barreled down the road, his focus on getting us all to what he deemed a place of safety instead of his equally harsh pang of sorrow.
“The cottage?” Naomi asked.
“We own a cottage in New Hampshire. On Paradise Cove,” Steve said and glanced in the mirror at me.
The name started a flow of memories. Paradise Cove seemed to be a mystical gateway, one where miracles happened, but I still didn’t get why they were leading the devil to such a place. “Why there?”
“Because, Paradise Cove will provide us with an army of our own,” Jennifer said, turning and meeting my gaze. “An army equipped to bury your nemesis.”
Chapter 16 – Naomi