Burning (29 page)

His body erupted with flames.  He flailed around, moving closer to the tear between the worlds of
Earth and Hell.  Anita moved in a blur and delivered a kick square to his chest.  The momentum sent him tumbling through the gateway.  I called on all of my magic and slammed the gateway closed.

Anita and I ran back to the circle and found the demon thrashing around.  Cynthia's body bowed upward
as she grunted random sounds.  My parents continued to chant while the guys held defensive positions around Cynthia's thrashing body.

Anita and I took our places on either side of my parents, and we joined hands
, closing the inner circle.  We joined the chant, and her thrashing became more violent.  She opened her mouth to scream, but instead of making a sound, a black cloud rushed out of her mouth. 

The
black haze swarmed and buzzed like bees.  The four of us let go at the same time and pointed our wands at the disembodied demon.  Beams of light erupted from our wands.  The light forced the demon haze into a tight ball, which we directed into one of my father's ancient clay jars.  Once the demon was in the jar, Eli cast a magical seal on the container.

"What are you going to do with it now?" I asked, watching the jar like it was going to bite me.
 

"Unfortunately
, demons are eternal.  They can be contained, but not destroyed.  There is a spot on the other side that is nothing but light.  No living being, besides myself, can access that location.  Astaroth won't escape this time," my father promised.

We watched my father phase out and breathed a collective sigh of relief. 

"What now?" Anita asked. 

I looked to my mother for answers, but before she could answer
, the sound of sirens in the distance broke the silence. 

"We
need to leave," Dean ordered. 

Leah and Dean transformed and disappeared into the woods.  Grey and Anita ran off at vampiric speed.  I grabbed
ahold of Finn and teleported away right after my mother.  Within a couple of minutes, we were all back together at Grey's house. 

"I'm going to check on my sister," Leah said.

"Do you want me to go with you?" Grey asked her. 

She smiled at him appreciatively.  "No, you're needed here.  I won't be any good while I'm worried about my sister," she answered him.
 

He kisse
d her on the side of the head, and she ran off to the room where Jo was recovering.

"The police involvement is going to be a big problem. 
They aren't going to stop investigating attempted murder.  Especially not when the method matches unsolved ritualistic murders being investigated by the FBI and Interpol.  We can't wipe their memories.  There are too many people involved, and we don't know who all of them are.  It didn't really work last time anyway," Dean thought aloud.

"What do you think we should do then?" I asked him. 

"I think we need to help them solve their case," he said. 

"We can't get involved with the police.  How do we convince them to believe our story without exposing ourselves?" Grey asked. 

"Grey's right.  We can't talk to the police, but we can still give them the answers they need to close their investigation," I replied. 

"How do you suggest we do that?" Grey pressed. 

"We give them a suspect," Dean said with a smirk.

"Sure
. We just give them a suspect," Grey said sarcastically.  He looked between Dean and me and sighed.  "You already have someone in mind, don't you?"

I looked at Dean.  "Did Carlos and Nik destroy everything from Dr. Tuttle's lab?" 

"Only the stuff that had to do with supernaturals," Dean answered. 

"Do you think there was anything there that could tie him to the burnings?" I asked.

"Only one way to find out," Dean said, and he pulled out his phone. 

Chapter Sixteen

Seeing is Believing

Anita

"Tell me again why we are lurking around campus today," I said to Chloë. 

"There is evidence connecting Dr. Tuttle to the murders in his office, but the police don't know to look there," she answered. 

"That isn't vague.  How exactly are we going to point the police in the right direction without making them suspicious of us?" I pressed. 

Chloë shrugged.  "Uhm...I was thinking of going with the innocent-college-girl act."

Fantastic.  Chloë could
make people believe almost anything, but the aura of power she carried around her made "naïve college girl" a hard sell. 

Near the science building
, I noticed a couple of detectives talking to students.  One was young enough that he could have been a student, but the cheap department-store suit he wore set him apart from the students he was speaking to.

"That one," I said, gesturing to him with my chin. 

"Good choice.  He's kinda hot, huh?" Chloë added. 

"If I didn't have Dean....mmm...
His eyes are almost as green as yours get.  But that isn't why I picked him," I quickly added. 

"The
re is something about him.  He has an innate goodness and drive to protect.  We have to pick someone, and he seems like the best choice," Chloë said. 

We
casually walked past him. 

"Ladies, can I speak to you a moment?" he asked. 

Chloë fought to hide her smirk.  "Sure detective.  How can we help?" she said and smiled innocently. 

He blinked a few times.  It was a common reaction when men turned their full attention to Chloë.  "I'm Detective Martin
, and this is my partner Detective Daniels.  Do you know this girl?" he asked and held up a picture of Cynthia.  The picture had obviously been taken last night at the hospital because she was still bruised and bloody from her time with the
auto-da-fé
. 

"That's Cynthia.  We lived in the same dorm last year, and we have a class with her this quarter.  Is she okay?" I asked. 

"She went missing for a couple of days and then was dropped off at the ER.  She was too traumatized to speak to us, but whoever did this to her shouldn't get away with this," he said.

"We aren't super close, so I'm not sure how much help we can be," Chloë began, "but I remember
the other day she said she was going to speak to her advisor after class.  Maybe he saw her talking to someone?" 

Detective Martin pulled
a card out of his jacket pocket.  "If you think of anything else, give me a call." 

I took his card and watched as he and his partner stopped other students. 

When he was out of earshot, I turned to Chloë.  "What the hell was that?  You barely said anything.  How is that going to cast the suspicion onto Dr. Tuttle?" 

"Detective Hottie
—" she began. 

"Martin," I interrupted. 

"Right. Anyway, he strikes me as particularly intelligent.  He's going to go and speak to Dr. Tuttle.  He has a natural intuition.  He'll figure it out," she finished.

"And we were just two girls who overheard Cynthia say she was going to talk to her advisor.  That was subtly brilliant," I thought aloud.  I pulled out my phone and sent a quick text.  "Let's ditch class and go shopping.  Leah and Jo are going to meet us at the campus café." 

We arrived first and got a table by the wind
ow.  Jo and Leah walked in a couple of moments later, but Leah turned around and ran back out. 

"That was weird.  I'm going to see if she is okay," I told Chloë and Jo.
I stepped outside and found Leah dry heaving over the bushes out front.  "What's wrong?" I asked, rubbing her back. 

"I don't know.  The smell made me feel sick
," she rasped. 

"She doesn't look so good," Chloë commented after she joined us outside. 

Jo went to her sister's side.  "She's been throwing up a lot since this morning."

"Do we get sick?" I asked.  "I mean
, I've never been sick.  I never thought much about it.  I thought I just had a strong immune system, but now that I think about it...I've never seen any of you guys sick either."

"I've never heard of any supernatural getting anything even as little as a cold.
  She was injured. Maybe she's still healing?" Chloë suggested, equally as confused.

"I'm all healed.  I just feel sick, but it's passing.  I don't want to get coffee though if
that is all right with you guys," she said weakly.

"Do you have any idea what this is?" Jo asked, worry laced through her voice. 

"I have one idea, but no... It isn't possible... Right?" Chloë began. 

"Right now I'm clueless, so if you even have a hunch
, spit it out," Jo demanded.

"Maybe we should make a detour to the pharmacy before we go shopping," Chloë said. 

I felt my eyes pop open.  Surely she wasn't suggesting that Leah was pregnant.  That had to be impossible.  I was pretty certain that my vampire half ruined my chances of being a mother.  I'd gotten on birth control on the off chance I was wrong, but I felt certain that wasn't an option for me.  Maybe I was wrong. 

"There's a Safeway a couple of blocks away," I told Jo, "It looks like Leah could use some fresh air." 

Jo nodded, and we walked away from the café, earning a few odd looks because of our short stay inside.

We walked inside and made a beeline
for the family planning aisle, passing by the row with bandages and painkillers.  Cynthia stood in front of dozens of brands of over-the-counter painkillers, looking disoriented. 

"Hey," I said, trying not to scare her. 

She looked up, and her face was still badly bruised. 

"Sorry we couldn't take away all of the bruises," Chloë apologized. 

Cynthia nodded.  "You all saved me.  I've been such a bitch to you, but you saved me anyway.  I'm sorry for how I've acted."

"How
are your sister and your boyfriend?" I asked. 

"My sister is in shock, but she seems to be recovering.  My boyfriend hasn't spoken a single word.  I'm not sure he's going to recover from everything he went through," she said softly.

"What about you?" Chloë asked her. 

"I...I
...I don't know honestly.  I knew there was something different about you, but I didn't know you were what kept the things that go bump in the night away.  I was just so jealous of you.  I mean, you’re beautiful, rich, and you have Finn.  That was hard for me to swallow.  I've always been the popular one, but I felt like nothing next to you.  Then I met Brad, and I didn't care anymore," she said and shrugged.

"I guess my life doesn't look so great when you know what I'm expected to fight against," Chloë said. 

"I certainly wouldn't trade places with you," Cynthia said with a small smile. 

"Listen.  I'm sure you don't want anything more to do with magic, but we do have special medical facilities that can help your boyfriend recover, both physically and mentally.  All three of you can go there if you'd like," Chloë offered.

"The bitch in me wants to say no, but I know now that you aren't the freak I wanted to make you out to be.  Can our parents visit us there?" she asked. 

"Yes
. We can make it seem like a normal, if not very privileged hospital," Chloë assured her. 

"Thank you," Cynthia said simply. 

Chloë gently patted her on the arm.  "Just get better.  Someone will be around to pick you up this afternoon.  I'll message my mother and make the arrangements." 

"Are you sure Marguerite will allow that?" I whispered. 

Chloë nodded.  "She told me to suggest it.  She feels guilty for the damage Angeline left behind.  If she hadn't helped summon the demon in the first place, Cynthia might never have been tortured.  I just have to tell her the offer was accepted."

We found Leah and Jo staring at rows of pregnancy tests. 

"Which one do I choose?" Leah whispered. 

"Uh...let's grab three.  One is bound to work," I suggested.  We grabbed three boxes that advertized their accuracy and went to pay.

"Where do we go?" Leah asked nervously, eying the bag like it was going to bite her. 

"I'll kick Cooper out and we can have the garage apartment all to ourselves," Jo offered.
 

It turned out
that Cooper was working on his truck and too busy to notice our odd behavior.  Dean and Finn were in the class that Chloë and I had blown off, and I had already received texts asking where we were.  I put down my phone after reading the fifth text from Dean.  I hadn't decided yet what I was going to tell him.  This wasn't my secret to tell. 

Dean

Anita was acting weird.  First, she ditched class this afternoon without saying anything, and now, she wasn't returning any of my texts.  I checked my phone again and still didn't have a message from her. 

I saw Finn
sneaking a peek at his phone.  "Haven't heard from Chloë either?" 

He stuck his phone back in his pocket and shook his head.
  "Not a word.  We shouldn't have let them go by themselves this morning.  Tuttle is still out there, and we let them go alone."

I shoved my books into my bag.  "Yeah, I'm done for the day.  I can't concentrate on class with Anita not answering her messages.  Let's go home and see if they went back there."

Once outside of town, I raced down the county roads.  I peeled into the driveway and saw Chloë's car parked in its usual spot. 

Cooper strolled out of the garage, wiping engine grease off his hands. 
"Aren't college students expected to go to class?" he said.

"Have you seen the girls?" I asked, not wanting to stand around bullshitting. 

"Yeah. They went upstairs about an hour ago.  I think I did something to piss Jo off, because she didn't even say hi to me."

Finn and I barreled up the stairs and threw open the door.  The girls were sitting around in the living room
, staring off into space.  Leah was curled up on the couch with her head on her sister's lap while Jo was absentmindedly stroking her hair. 

"What happened?" I asked
, panicked. 

Anita blinked several times as if she hadn't noticed us
burst in the room.  "Nothing ha—" 

"Don't lie to me
, Anita.  The four of you are sitting here in a daze, so don't tell me nothing happened," I spit out.

Anita shot me a look that showed irritation and exhaustion.  "There's nothing to fight this time
, Dean.  You'll find out soon enough.  For now just let it be."

I took a deep breath.  We didn't fight, and I wasn't going to pick one now no matter how irritated I was.
  "You didn't return any of my texts," I said, trying not to sound angry.

"You're pissed.  Fine.  But we've been dealing with something that I can't talk to you about right now," she shot back, her eyes flashing
with controlled anger.

Finn must have realized
that Anita and I were nearing dangerous territory and shoved me out of the room.  "Come on.  Let's leave the girls to their secrets," he said, shutting the door behind us.

"How are you not pissed too?" I asked. 

"Chloë and I have had our fair share of problems.  We've learned how to fight.  Now is not the time for you to figure that out.  They will tell us when they are ready."

Anita ran down the stairs and walked up to me.  "Can I borrow your truck?" 

I raked my fingers through my hair.  "You don't have to ask.  You're my wife.  If you need the truck, take it." 

"I'm not keeping anything from you," she said softly.  She reached up and
brushed her hand across my jaw.  "It isn't my secret to tell.  And right now, I need to take Leah home.  She isn't feeling well."

I stood there
, confused, watching them drive off. 

"Do we get sick?" Finn asked
, saying aloud what was bothering me. 

"No, we don't."

Grey

I heard tires crunch over the gravel in front of the house.  I had no idea who it could be.  Leah was in class with Chloë and Anita.  I hated being away from her during the day, but I couldn't change it.  I hoped she didn't get tired of what little I had to offer her.  Her life was going to be limited being with me.  I failed to see that I was enough considering what she would have to give up.

The door to the basement opened, and I stepped away to avoid the light. 
Leah walked into the room, and I immediately noticed that something was wrong.  She looked tired and nauseated.

I was at her side in an instant.  "What's wrong?" I asked, trying to hide my rising panic.