Death and the Girl Next Door

After placing a hand on his forearm, I asked, “Will you help me find them?”

He lowered his head. “I will do everything I can, everything in my power, but I can’t make any promises.”

“No, that’s okay. I understand.” I couldn’t help the zing of excitement that rushed down my spine. We had a chance, and it was more than we had yesterday.

But Jared’s expression turned grave. “Now that you know what I’ve done, perhaps my aid will allow you a small amount of generosity. It’s still early, but someday I will ask if you can forgive me my trespasses.”

I rolled onto my side, astonished that he would even say such a thing. “How can I forgive you when you haven’t done anything wrong?”

“Lorelei,” he said, releasing a slow, controlled breath, “I have kept you a prisoner on this plane. When you realize that, when that time comes, I will ask again.”

“I’m pretty grateful for that part as well,” Grandpa said, relaxing his guard just a little. He took Grandma’s hand into his own. “Maybe where you come from what you did was wrong, but around these parts, we call that a miracle.”

I couldn’t have agreed more.

“So what now?” Brooklyn asked.

What now, indeed. I knew one thing for certain: I would never give up on my parents. They had risked everything trying to protect me, to protect the world. I would find them, no matter what it took.

“That woman in our dreams,” Glitch said, “she said you now had a mission. Is it to find the dark spirits? Is that what this is about?”

“That is a good place to start,” Jared said.

Cameron nodded in agreement. “And we need to find the man who opened the gates in the first place. If he has the power to summon demons, there’s no telling what else he’s capable of. Or what he’s done in the last ten years.”

“Do you think that’s who’s after Lorelei?” Grandma asked. “The man that reporter referred to as his boss?”

“It’s possible,” Jared said.

“Well, that’s disturbing on a thousand different levels,” Brooke said.

Once again, I couldn’t have agreed more, only I’d lost myself in the dark depths of Jared’s eyes. I tended to do that when he looked at me. Or when he looked at anything near me. Or pretty much whenever his eyes were open. He’d shaved, but a shadow darkened his jaw nonetheless. His mussed hair fell over his brow, the tips getting caught in his ridiculously long lashes when he blinked. His sculpted mouth was the most delicious thing I’d ever seen, and I wanted so very much to kiss it. But that would’ve been a tad rude with Grandma and Grandpa right there. Especially considering their distrust of him.

“I’ve been thinking,” Brooklyn said as I gawked at the god sitting next to me, “if you two get all lovey-dovey and decide to elope to Las Vegas where Jared uses his powers to clean up at the poker tables and you guys buy a mansion in the Manzano Mountains with twenty-seven rooms and decide—because you’re rich and all—to buy a new computer, can I have your iMac then?”

“Brooke,” I said, cringing as Grandpa cleared his throat and suddenly had a window to inspect. Not Grandma, though. She didn’t budge an inch, her gaze unblinking as she waited for my answer. “Um, no, you’re not getting my iMac.”

“Dang.”

“iPrecious stays with me. I have to write all this stuff down. I am a prophet, after all. I think that’s what prophets do.”

Jared grinned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

I let my eyes drift shut and stilled the thoughts swirling in my head. The truck hitting me. Jared saving me. The fights, the ancient society, the visions. I pushed it all away and focused on the warmth of Jared as he sat beside me. With one final thought trying to surface—the demon inside—I forced it down with a hard swallow and whispered, “We’re fine.”