Fallen Fire: The Complete Series, page 12
“Impossible to touch me,” he said, clearly amused. “For now.” He flickered. “I may let you have the chance later.”
More flickers and he began to fade.
“Whoever you are, I’ll hunt you down. Ghost or not. No one comes into my home and behaves this way, throws out vague statements without a follow-up.”
He moved closer, our faces dangerously close. “What would you do to me? Punch out my heart? Burn me alive with the fire you harbor? Bludgeon me to death with that brilliant strength?” He backed off. “I will give you something in my parting for you to ponder. You will have the answers you seek in good time, for I am coming soon.”
The man faded to the point where only his face remained, floating in the air. “I am Lucifer.”
15
My knees gave out as the face vanished. I stumbled and collapsed onto the table, mugs and biscuit barrel tumbling and clattering on the cream linoleum floor.
“Zayn!”
The table tipped, and I slid, crashing to the floor with it, the edge crushing my arm beneath it.
I roared and hefted it off me with the one arm, sending it hurtling over Charlie’s head. He ducked, it struck the wall behind him, taking a chunk out of the brick, booming as it hit the ground.
“Whoa!” Charlie cried and fell beside me as I lay on my back, shards of mug digging into my back. “You alright?”
Panting, staring up the white ceiling, the cracks, the globs of paint from the textured paintwork, I didn’t understand the sudden burst of rage. Yes, the shock of that thing calling himself Lucifer was enough to make anyone’s knees buckle. But then the anger had burst forth even before the table had crushed my arm, a version of fury new to me.
My arm was still throbbing but nowhere near as painful as it should be. No broken bones, only an angry red mark where the table had struck.
It was shock that made me act that way. Had to be. At least, that was what I told myself, not believing it fully. That anger had come from somewhere deeper than I understood, in darker depths.
“Zayn?”
How was I supposed to process this? What was I? Why me? Lucifer knew me. If that man wasn’t the dark lord, then who was he?
A crushing weight bore down on me, gluing me to the floor. Not anything physical, but a metaphysical load. I was still hoping to wake up in my bed covered in sweat, maybe even sick with a fever of some kind, so I could explain everything away with nightmares and a virus.
It would be so much easier.
“Zayn?”
The Felineblood was still by my side, gazing down at me.
“Zayn?” he repeated when I didn’t answer.
My eyes flicked to the right, meeting his twin sapphires. “Are you hurt?”
“Me? No. Are you? That looked ultra-painful.” He glanced behind him. “Table survived.”
I sat up, sagging forward. My headache had just started to fade. Now it was back to remind me it hadn’t quite vacated the premises yet.
I reached behind me, brushing away the pieces of mug. Didn’t feel like I’d been pierced back there.
“Lucifer,” I said.
“I know.” He slumped his shoulders. “And all that stuff he said about him knowing you, and you being a new you. Fudge. What the flip is that?”
If he was Lucifer, what did he have to do with me?
“Do you think that was him? Really?” Charlie added.
“I don’t know, but it’s now clear someone has an issue with me. If it wasn’t before, now it’s dancing under my nose.”
“We’ll figure it out. We will.” He puffed out a breath. “He was super creepy.”
“He was.”
“Now, to put it all together.”
I got to my feet. “We need to get into that lab as soon as possible.”
16
CHARLIE
I’d rode with Zayn in his car to the bank to draw out the cash. Martha wouldn’t take anything but cash. No card payments or cheques for her.
We didn’t talk much, the whole potential ghost of Lucifer in his kitchen thing really settling in. As if I didn’t have enough to mess with my head after…
The gunshot echoed in my memory, the man in black going down…
Another layer of crap to keep me up at night.
I’d had about an hour’s sleep after the events in that house with Zayn, going over the details, trying to come up with something to make sense of the crazy.
Now, this.
Was he really Lucifer? If so, what was his connection to Zayn? Running a background check on the dude wouldn’t do anything. Like there would be records of the dark lord on file. Ha! Even if there were, they’d be buried deep.
Still, maybe I could make a call to Benji and ask him for another favor.
Ugh. I so needed my own premises, my own things in place to run my own checks and process cases. Not my dodgy setup. I sucked. Actually sucked. No wonder I couldn’t pay the rent.
Now wasn’t the time to get down on myself. This case could break me out of my funk, be the real step up I’d missed out on. Real glory this time, as long as the cops didn’t suddenly spoil everything. Lack of payment didn’t compare to the chance at grabbing a decent reputation. Watch me become in demand, work flowing in along with the cash.
This could change my life.
Or get me killed.
Or mess with my head even more.
Gunshot memories again, finger throbbing from the remembrance of pulling the trigger. All the time, never fudging letting up.
I’d killed a guy.
I closed my eyes, ignoring myself, letting the sun hit my face as I sat in the park. Sunshine was good therapy, as was taking a moment on a park bench. Combining the two was even better.
It’d just gone three. Zayn had dropped me home, but I couldn’t stand being indoors. I’d dumped the cash in there, managing to avoid my landlord, and slipped back out again.
Sunwood Park was the nicest spot in East Ward. Open green space with a pond, trees, and a really pretty flower garden that always brought tourists to admire the roses. Best roses in the city, in my opinion. Well, from what I’d seen anyway.
I loved flowers and greenery and all that stuff. Having a garden would be amazing. I could grow some roses of my own, have my own little chill-out spot. I’d tangled with getting myself an allotment, grow some veggies as well as work on some show-stopping pretties. Get a bench in there too. A greenhouse.
A man could dream.
I was so, so hungry. Even eyed up the park bins, contemplating hunting for scraps. The custard creams had so not filled the hunger void.
Zayn hadn’t been in a good mood when we’d parted. Looked worse for wear, like he’d been on an all-night bar crawl. Really, really rough. Not like last night, his skin radiant, a proper glisten to it. Healthy, strong, otherworldly. He was still the same dude I’d wound up on Scarlet Street, but white-blonde and hotter, a little scarier even. And those eyes. Fudge! If they’d been pretty the first time I’d seen them, they were even more vibrant now. More royal purple than violet. Kind of. It depended on the light, I guess, but they were definitely a richer color.
Zayn. What a miserable git. The way he’d come for me after dropping the grand thing on him. Fine. I got that. I should’ve been more tactful. But did he have to be so mean about it? He’d really freaked me out, really made me think he was gonna smash the back of my head against the wall until he cracked me like an egg. He actually had the strength to do that in one smash. After all, he was… I didn’t know what he was.
Everything kept pointing to dragons. His wings were leathery, not feathery like an angel’s. Had to be dragon-related. Dragons were myths, but myths had to come from somewhere.
Dragons. Kind of exciting.
It was a possible he’d been cursed. Jilted ex he wasn’t telling me about? General enemy? There was so much to put together, but right now, I just wanted this bench.
Yep, Zayn was mean. Had a rod up his backside in the unfun way, and I knew he wanted me to get lost. Tough. I was already in too deep and was seeing this through to the end. He knew he needed me, and I think that didn’t help my popularity levels with him. But after that visitor he’d had in his kitchen, I wasn’t walking away, wasn’t letting him push me out.
Like I said, this could send me through the stratosphere.
First, I had to get myself together. It was way too much to take in, to untangle. To do a good job, a clear mind was needed. Impossible, maybe, but I had to aim for it.
Be strong.
But the echoing gunshots wouldn’t leave me alone, the way the man in black’s head had snapped back. The blood, the exploded face of the lab man—
“Shit…” I wheezed.
Sweat was beading on my brow again, across my shoulders. It wasn’t even that hot.
I had to get through this and quick.
A spell? Could I get a temporary fix put on me to sort me out? There were people who’d do it, some of them working down on Zayn’s street.
Did I want to go down that mind-altering road? It opened up other doorways, some of them leading to addiction, to a complete mental breakdown. Magic wasn’t something to be taken lightly, especially willingly.
No. Not down that road.
Then how to stop the gunshot memories?
My phone rang in my pocket.
Benji.
“Hey,” I said. “How you doing?”
“Have you seen the news?” He sounded harassed.
“No, why? What’s wrong?”
“Where are you?”
“Sunwood Park. Benji? What’s wrong?”
He was outside, loads of traffic in the background. “It’s supposed to be my day off.”
“You need to start talking, mate.”
“Something’s going down in Central Ward. Something big. I’m heading down there now.”
“Why’re you telling me this, Benji? You’re freaking me out.”
A pause. “This is just… Big. I think you should see it. I’ll pick you up. You’ll want to drop your plans. Shit. I can’t believe this.” He was all over the place, sounded tired and terrified at the same time.
“Benji?”
I heard an engine start. His engine. “Yeah?”
“Please tell me what’s going on.”
“There’s a dragon.”
17
Countless pull-ups, two burgers, and an averted incident of breaking plates in frustration against the kitchen wall later, I was ready for the next stage.
I’d tidied up too, getting rid of the fallen mirrors, putting my table back into position. It was as if Lucifer and my family had never been here.
If that was Lucifer.
Keeping busy for the remainder of the day, after I’d returned from the bank in an even fouler mood, had been extremely helpful for my sanity as I’d dialed down the extreme pondering of my situation. Stewing didn’t get me anywhere. It was counterproductive and weak. I wasn’t about to let anything make me crumble under the pressure of too much thought.
That’s what I kept telling myself.
I didn’t know Charlie, but I trusted he would use that money to pay Martha. He knew I’d hunt him down otherwise and practice my new fire-breathing skills on him and his home if he double-crossed me.
For his sake, he’d better understand that.
Him pressed against the wall, me inside him…
My landline phone rang as I stepped out of the shower. I dashed into my bedroom and grabbed it. Naked. My bedroom window was directly opposite the bedroom windows of my neighbors on the other side of the street. I reached for the open curtains and yanked them across to shield myself.
Too hard.
The curtain rail snapped, the whole thing crashing down.
“Fuck!” I barked.
This damn strength!
“I would ask you not to use such terrible language!” A shrill cry came from the telephone.
I put the handset to my ear. “Sorry?”
“Mr. Valentine! I do not appreciate your language!”
Miss. Smythe.
Damn. I’d forgotten all about the repair work I was supposed to do on her white agate mechanism.
I was supposed to have been there by nine o’clock this morning with the package.
“Hello. Sorry about that, Miss. Smythe. I had an—”
“I’m not interested in your personal issues, Mr. Valentine. Why did you not deliver my item at the time agreed? It is now past three o’clock in the afternoon—well beyond the time you promised. This is pathetic service. I am so disappointed after you came so highly recommend.” She started to sob. “I need my white agate. I am so tired. I need peace, Mr. Valentine. It has been six days already. You have no idea how much I suffer, how much is on my mind. I need it to help me sleep.”
She had a lot on her mind? I bet I could beat that.
Miss. Smythe continued. “I was looking forward to sleeping away this day, finally having my mind soothed once again. You promised me. I put my faith in you, and you betrayed me.”
Betrayed?
“Do you have a manager, Mr. Valentine? If you do, I would really like to speak to him.”
“Him?” I blurted out.
“Yes. I want to speak to him.”
“What about her?” I had no idea why I said that. Miss. Smythe was extremely sensitive to bad customer service. She’d made that clear on her booking. I’d reassured her she wouldn’t experience bad service with me, that I lived up to the recommendation made to her.
Now I’d messed things up. I’d fully intended to blow her mind, now she was blowing her top. This was bad for me and bad for business. Negative word of mouth was the worst kind of destruction to a reputation.
She huffed down the line.
Time for damage control. “All I can do is apologize profusely, Miss. Smythe. I am deeply sorry for my unprofessionalism.”
“Not even a phone call.”
“I know. I am very sorry. Also, no, I do not have a manager. I work for myself.” She knew that. I guess she was being reactionary.
“Appalling.” She sniffed. “Utterly dreadful.”
It would take me three hours to complete the repairs on her device. “I can have it to you by nine o’clock tonight. Free of charge.”
“Fine.”
That was it? “I promise you this will never happen again.”
“I know it won’t. I will not use your services again. Be sure to arrive promptly.”
She hung up before I could sweeten the deal. I’d have to come up with something to fix the damage, bring her back to me. After all, fixing was my trade.
Losing my reputation had to be avoided at all costs if I wanted to keep burgers in my belly and a roof over my head.
Damn. I didn’t need this right now. But there was no point whining about it. There was always a way to make things better.
Miss. Smythe was another prime example of not favoring the company of people.
I’d broken my curtain rail for nothing. The entire phone call, I’d stood there naked. Did the neighbors really care, though? Were there many peeping Tom’s over the road?
I got dressed and headed down to my workshop. My temper hadn’t been prodded like this in a long time.
Five minutes at the worktable and my mobile phone buzzed.
What now?
Charlie’s name was on the screen.
Again, what now?
“Charlie?”
“Hey, Zayn. Erm, I don’t know how to tell you this, but there’s, erm… You watching the news?”
“No.”
“Right. Well, you need get down to Central Ward because there’s… Fudge. There’s a dragon here.”
18
I pushed my car to the edge of its limits as I tore through the city streets, crossing the Orbit River, pulling up straight into Square of the Righteous (also known as Holy Square).
Amazing I didn’t get stopped for speeding.
Holy Square was at the heart of Angelica City, a stunning amphitheater of white marble, tall pillars, statues of angels placed around a crystal Seraph Star resting on a podium. The sunlight made it sparkle as it were snow, a complete blanket of sprinkled diamonds. A pathway of the same marble then broke away from the square, snaking up Sacred Hill to the dome-roofed citadel.
It was a huge tourist magnet.
Today, things were different. The square still glittered, but the star was gone, broken next to a cone of ice, the statues toppled, the ground cracked open.
At first, I thought my eyes and mind were lying to me when I approached the police barrier at the edge of the square, joining a group of silent tourists staring upward. A cone of ice about two-hundred feet tall, towering above me? Never. For a black lizard to be curled up inside it? Impossible. For that black lizard to be a sleeping dragon, as large and menacing as anyone would imagine one being? Move along, you’re talking rubbish.
Yet there it was, a solid beast of black scales, curled up into itself, tail a coil under a deadly snout. Its eyes were closed, and it was breathing. Yes, sleeping, locked inside the ice. Its folded wings resembled the ones I now had—leathery, with jagged tips.
A dragon. There was no other description for it.
“Zayn!”
The sun bounced off the top of the ice, casting a rainbow down to the ground.
The dragon’s wings were similar to mine. Bigger, yet basically the same. I couldn’t take my eyes off them, off it. Somehow, someway, I was connected to that deadly beauty locked in ice.
How? What did I, Lucifer, and a dragon have to do with one another? Charlie, too, seeing as he was summoned to that house.
“Zayn.”
Charlie appeared to my left. I didn’t look at him, not wanting to look.
“Hey. Earth to Zayn.” A hand passed before my eyes. “I was just calling you.”
I blinked, leaning on the barrier, wanting a closer look. This creature had me enraptured. It was beautiful as much as it was terrifying.
“What’s wrong with him?” Another male voice broke me out of my trance.
