The Sweetest Burn (Broken Destiny #2)

“You gave it your best shot, but they’re not listening, and we have to go,” Adrian muttered, tugging my arm.

I planted my feet, going for one last argument. “I wish I could prove the existence of demons and other realms to you, but I don’t have time. You don’t trust me? Fine, trust your own eyes. Eclipses last minutes, not hours. They don’t shut off everything that isn’t battery-operated, knock out cell signals and freeze deserts. You know this, so if it’s not an eclipse, then it’s something that shouldn’t be possible, and yet it is. So please, come upstairs with us, and we’ll take you through the gateway and prove that we can get you home.”

I put all of my desperation into those last few words, trying also to say with my eyes what I couldn’t seem to convey vocally. Glasses Guy turned away. So did the costumed ranger, the white-haired lady and most of the rest of them. But, with several hesitant glances, a family of four stepped forward.

“We’ll come,” the father said, picking up his little girl.

“Take them upstairs,” I told Adrian, fighting back a surge of tears. “Please, the rest of you, come with us. Like I said, we’ll prove to you that we can get you out of here.”

They began to back away instead, egged on by the white-haired lady’s continual, muttered accusations and their own disbelief. Adrian led the family to the staircase and, after a few, long moments where I futilely hoped that at least one other person would change their mind, I followed them upstairs. I was almost at the top when a scream made me run the last few steps. I tripped, but made it into the trashed music room in time to see the two parents beating at the stone around the fireplace.

“Wait!” the mother was crying, while the father stuck his hands in the flames as if trying to snatch something back.

“It’s okay,” I reassured them, doing an odd hop-run into the room. “He’ll be right back, I promise!”

No sooner did I say that than Adrian appeared, almost knocking the parents over with his sudden entry. He didn’t pause to explain, as I continued to do, but grabbed both of them in a bear hug and then lunged at the fireplace. They disappeared as if the flames had somehow swallowed them. I knew what was going on, but to be honest, it was still a little freaky looking.

The costumed ranger picked that moment to run into the room. He had a candlestick in his hands, of all things, and he brandished it at me. “Where are they? What did you do to them?”

“Nothing,” I began, but Adrian’s reappearance cut me off. He grasped me around the shoulders, and I noticed that he was breathing heavy and his color didn’t look good.

“Are you all right?” I asked, worried enough to ignore the ranger’s sudden yell of “What the hell?”

“Oblivion did a number on me, and crossing the realms is making it worse.” Adrian’s words were choppy between his labored breaths. “I’ve only got one more trip left in me, Ivy.”

I turned at once to the ranger. “Please,” I started to say, but then Adrian went immobile so abruptly, I looked back at him in concern. He was staring over my shoulder, and when I glanced that way, the ranger was no longer alone in the doorway.

Demetrius stood behind him.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MY TATTOO ROARED to agonizing, glowing life, but with a surge of panic, I realized that I didn’t have anything to put into the sling. I should’ve stuffed my pockets with projectiles as soon as I realized that the weapon could manifest itself, but I’d been focused on trying to save Adrian. Then I’d turned my attention to saving the rest of the people, thinking with my heart, not my survival instinct.

Adrian drew me tighter against him, and I expected him to launch us through the gateway even though Demetrius was sure to follow. Could I pull the sling out of my arm and find something to hurl at Demetrius before the demon caught us on the other side? From how fast Adrian had traversed between the realms, I doubted it. Fear caused my heartbeat to slam against my ribs, but Adrian didn’t pull us through the gateway. Instead, he let out a low, almost satisfied-sounding laugh as he stared at his demonic foster father.

“Demetrius, I hoped you’d come back before we left. Zach’s on the other side of this gateway.” Adrian gave weight to the lie by flicking a taunting glance between the fireplace and the demon. “Come with us. I’d love to see him kick your ass again.”

Instead of responding, Demetrius looked my way, and those coal black eyes seemed to burn into mine. Whatever disguise Zach had glamoured me with didn’t matter; he knew it was me, and the virulent hatred in his gaze raised gooseflesh over me despite my close proximity to the fire. Then he turned his attention back to Adrian, and that hatred melted away. In fact, something like exasperated affection crossed his features.

“My son, haven’t you had enough of your rebellion yet?”

“I’m just getting started,” Adrian replied, his tone luxuriant with hatred.

The ranger laid a heavy hand on Demetrius’s shoulder, unable to see the ominous shadows that came from the demon. “This boy here is your son? He—”

One of those shadows sliced across the ranger’s throat, turning his words into horrible choking sounds. He fell to his knees, blood spurting out from his neck. Then that lethal shadow rejoined the rest of the swirls behind Demetrius after bending toward me in what could only be called a wave.

“How did you make it out of my old realm, anyway?” Adrian asked, with none of the shock I felt over what had just happened. “Ivy decimated it. You should be ash right now.”

“There are two kinds of demons,” Demetrius said, his tone light. Almost bantering. “The kind that stand around to discover what the Davidian can do with a hallowed weapon, and the kind that hasten to the nearest exit to avoid finding out.”

Adrian snorted. “So, you ran for your life like the coward that you are.”

“Name-calling?” Demetrius scoffed with mild reproof. “Such a human trait. Didn’t I teach you better?”

Adrian’s laugh was low and ugly. “Oh, you taught me many things that I will spend the rest of my life unlearning. Love to stay and chat, but Zach’s waiting.”

Then he flung us backward, and the gut-churning, free-falling sensations of crossing from one realm into another began. They culminated with me landing face first in a room that looked identical to the one we’d left, except that none of the furniture was broken and it was far warmer in here.

Adrian hauled me up before I could even say ow at my face-plant. “He’ll be right behind us,” he muttered, half carrying, half propelling me out of the room at a run.

I tried to keep up, cursing my wobbly, still-icy-feeling legs. “But you told him that Zach was here.”

He grunted. “That might buy us a few minutes, but he’ll call my bluff, guaranteed.”

“Then let me get something for the sling!” I protested.