Death, Doom and Detention

I leaned in and whispered into his ear. “I really like you, Azrael.”

“You realize he kissed Tabitha Sind,” Brooke said.

With a satisfied smirk, I said, “But he was under a spell of darkness. Why else would anyone kiss her?” I gave her my best look of bravado even though I couldn’t help the niggling in the back of my mind, the one that said she was better for Jared than I was.

Brooklyn, who was sitting on the arm of the chair Cameron was reclining in, holding an ice pack to the back of his head, asked him, “Would you kiss Tabitha Sind if you were under a dark spell?”

I looked back at him, my brows raised in interest.

He cleared his throat. “No. No way. Tabitha who?”

We chuckled and Brooke socked him on the arm. He feigned injury, rubbing it.

Glitch rose to his feet, averting his gaze. “I’m going to check on the pizza.”

As Glitch left, Brooke leaned over and kissed Cameron on the cheek. “That’s for saving all our lives.”

When she went to pull away, he wrapped a hand around her neck and placed his mouth on hers. I was a little shocked, but she let him.

And let him.

And let him.

It was getting embarrassing. And rather tongue-y.

“Brooke, have a little self-respect,” I said, trying really hard not to giggle.

She pulled back, her breaths a little fast.

With a grin, he said, “I figured I deserved more than just a peck on the cheek for saving your life.”

“You figured that, huh?”

“Pretty much.”

“So, I’m all paid up.” She scooted out of the seat and went to the attached bathroom to put away the ice pack, humor playing about her mouth.

He threw a towel at her as she walked away. “Actually, you still owe me for saving everyone else’s lives. I’ll put it on your tab.”

She stuck out her tongue.

“You guys make such a disturbing couple,” I said.

“This coming from the girl dating the Angel of Death.”

I glanced down, remembering the kiss he gave Tabitha again. “We’re not dating, in case you forgot.” Seeing Jared kiss her had been painful, no matter how I played it in front of the others. I’d never felt pain like that. Now I knew what all those country songs were talking about.

Of course, he did try to kill me. That was pretty painful, too.

SHADOWS IN THE BASEMENT

“So, what do you think is really going on?” Brooke asked me as she took her turn to wash her face and get ready for bed. We’d left the boys downstairs on guard duty.

“I think there’s a stupid war coming and everybody thinks I am somehow going to stop it. How can we do anything without Jared?”

“That was amazingly brave what you did in the vault. Which, by the way—” She stepped out of the bathroom, her face white with soap. “—did you know that was an actual vault?”

“I had no idea.”

“And they made it for you.” Brooke shivered. “That’s just eerie.”

“We have to figure out what’s going on and we have to do it fast. And I think I might know who can help.”

Intrigued, she rinsed her face, then came back while drying it with a towel. “Who?”

“My grandpa Mac.”

“Grandpa Mac?” she asked.

I shrugged. “I had to call him something besides ‘paternal grandfather.’ But he grew up with this stuff. He might know something we don’t.”

“If he is actually alive, he probably knows a lot of somethings we don’t.”

“Agreed.”

After I took my turn at guard duty while Cameron took a shower in my bathroom, Glitch, Brooklyn, and I went back upstairs to review Plan A. Then we waited for everyone to go to bed.

“Okay, you ready?” I whispered to Brooke, cracking open my bedroom door.

“Yes, but I’m still not sure how we are going to get down to the basement without alarming Cameron or waking your grandfather. He is the lightest sleeper on planet Earth, as evidenced by the night we tried to sneak out your window to go to a frat party in Albuquerque.”

I cringed at the memory. “That was awful.”

“I was surprised at how red his face could get.”

“I know, right? But I sneaked out the other night and he didn’t know a thing about it. I think on that particular night, he knew we were up to something.”

Glitch snorted. “You guys are always up to something.”

With a chuckle, I led the way downstairs. Each step creaked. Each door squeaked. It was like we were living in a haunted house, it was so loud. I had never noticed before. But we managed to make it to the basement without anyone the wiser, including Cameron.

When we got to the basement steps that, I didn’t mind admitting, creeped me out, Glitch closed the door and turned on the single lightbulb overhead. The one that created more shadows than light.

“Okay, this is creepy,” Brooke said.

“Right? And my grandparents wonder what’s wrong with me. Why I don’t like going into the basement. Have they even looked in their basement?”

“I don’t think it’s that bad.”

Like when the victim in a horror movie stalks slowly forward and opens a cabinet only to have a cat jump out at her, the three of us jumped about ten feet in the air. Brooklyn squealed and Glitch let loose a string of curses any tattoo artist would be proud of. And I knew enough to slap my hands over my mouth to suffocate a scream before it left my throat.