12. Daniel
Daniel
A shrill scream filled the air, like a railroad spike to Daniel’s newly enhanced hearing. He ripped his hands away from Draego and Chaol’s and clamped them over his ears, turning instinctively toward Chaol, whose arms enveloped him at once.
“Shut the fuck up!” Chaol shouted. “We mean no harm! Shut her the fuck up right now!”
“Who the hell are you?” a new voice added as the screaming tapered off. “How’d you get in here? We have this place warded to prevent uninvited people from entering, human or demon.”
“Holy shit, that’s the harbinger,” someone else said, and a hush fell over the room.
Daniel raised his head and lowered his hands.
Names came to him unbidden as he looked around the room.
Talon and Shadrach were side by side, shoulders squared like they were expecting a fight.
The others were in the meeting area behind them.
The Rink was different than he remembered it.
The training area was now covered with cots and sleeping bags, some spread out and others rolled up.
And there were people. Far more people than he ever remembered there being here.
People sat on the cots and sleeping bags, people stood around the snack bar, people crowded the meeting area.
And all of them, all around the room and peering in through the doorways of the other rooms, were staring at them.
“I said who the hell are you?” Talon repeated. His dark eyes were wild with barely contained fury.
“Oh my God, wait.” Ira lunged toward them, grabbing Talon’s arm. His brown eyes were wide with shock, and he tucked a stray lock of curly hair behind his ear. He pointed one finger at Daniel. “It can’t be. Nic! Nic, get over here! It’s Danny!”
Exclamations rippled around the room, and the beginnings of wary adrenaline flooded Daniel’s body.
Everyone was talking at once, crowding closer and moving around him to get a better look at his face.
He didn’t like being under so much scrutiny.
He inched closer to Chaol, whose long fingers curled around his hips and drew Daniel flush against his chest.
Nicolas pushed past Talon and Shadrach, and the word reverberated through Daniel again.
Brother.
Messy brown curls, warm, hazel-brown eyes.
Daniel remembered the little mole just under his right eye and the scar on the curve of his jaw.
The way he’d lift the blankets of his bed and let Daniel climb in when their parents’ shouting voices got too loud for him to sleep.
This was his brother, this was Nicolas, and the hole he hadn’t realized he was carrying around finally mended.
“Danny?” Nicolas croaked, drinking him in with increasing horror, and Daniel looked down at himself for the first time, trying to see what Nicolas saw. He was covered in black blood and graveyard dirt. “Is that really you? How are you here? What happened to you?”
The room around them was silent as… well, the grave. Daniel suppressed a hysterical giggle. Chaol, who was watching him closely, settled a hand on his shoulder. The touch was grounding, and he swallowed back the inappropriate laughter.
“I went to Hell.”
Nicolas sucked down a sharp breath. “What?” It was barely a whimper. “Why? How? They told me that wasn’t where you would go.”
Daniel realized his error and quickly shook his head. “No, no. I wasn’t sent there. I went there willingly, so I could become a demon and return to Earth.”
That didn’t seem to make anything better, because Nicolas choked on a sob.
“What? You what? Why would you do that?” He moved toward them, dashing the tears away as they fell.
“Are you okay? What happened? Oh my God, we buried you. You’re wearing the suit that we—” He was close enough to touch now, and he brushed his fingers down Daniel’s crooked tie.
“Shut up and come here,” Daniel said, hauling him in for a hug.
The hot ember in his chest flickered to life as his brother sobbed into his neck, like he could fight off whatever was making him cry.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to come back.
I couldn’t leave you alone. We weren’t done yet.
I’ll never leave without you again, I swear. ”
“No, Danny, no. I’m sorry I let you die. I should’ve been better. I should’ve been faster. It’s all my fault. I’m so sorry.”
Daniel huffed, fighting the rage that smoldered through him.
He wanted to rend the angel limb from limb for making it harder for them to get through Hell, wanted to go back and hunt down every demon that tormented him and made it impossible to travel at night.
While they toyed with him, Nicolas had been up here wallowing in guilt for something that couldn’t possibly be his fault.
Daniel didn’t remember how he died, but he didn’t have to. Nicolas could never be responsible.
Nicolas hissed, jerking back just as Ashmedai appeared beside them, ripping Nicolas out of his arms and shoving Daniel away.
It was a good thing, too. Hellfire engulfed him, that kernel of heat exploding inside him as it took over.
Power rushed through him, and the training mats melted under his feet.
“He’s gonna burn the building down!” someone shouted.
“Danny!” Nicolas shouted, held back by Ashmedai.
Draego stepped in his line of sight, unconcerned by the flames. “Daniel, take a breath,” he said calmly. “Douse the fire.”
That wasn’t helpful at all. He didn’t know how. He squeezed his eyes shut, clenching his fists hard. The flames climbed higher as his frustration mounted. He didn’t know what to do. His breaths heaved in and out of him as panic clawed up his throat.
Maybe he’d made a mistake. Maybe he couldn’t do this after all.
It was one thing to become a halfling, but this?
How could he control this? What if he let Lucifer turn him into a monster?
Rage encroached on the panic choking him.
If Lucifer did this to torture him, he would go back down there and hunt him down. He would burn him to ash. He would—
Hands cradled his face, and his eyes popped open.
Chaol smiled at him like they weren’t surrounded by fire.
He didn’t flinch away, like the heat didn’t bother him at all.
It danced in the darkness of his eyes, reflecting like pools of ink, and Daniel reached for him, wrapping his arms around Chaol’s slender waist and sealing their mouths together.
His eyes slipped shut again as Chaol’s tongue pressed past his lips, kissing him until the world beyond his eyelids went dark.
“There,” Chaol said when they parted. “No more fire.”
Daniel opened his eyes and sighed in relief. “Thank you.” He tugged Chaol’s hands away from his face, needing to make sure he hadn’t burned him. “I didn’t hurt you?”
Chaol shook his head, letting Daniel turn his hands this way and that.
“Hellfire is a tricky thing,” Draego said. “It didn’t burn your clothing off, either, and yet it’s the hottest flame in the natural or supernatural world.”
“How is that possible?” Daniel asked.
Draego shrugged. “It obeys us. It doesn’t obey the laws of physics. You didn’t want it to hurt him, so it didn’t.”
Daniel scowled. “I didn’t want it to hurt my brother, either.” He looked over at Nicolas, still cradled in Ashmedai’s arms. His eyes were wide, and his brows furrowed when their eyes met. “Are you okay? Did I hurt you?”
“Just a quick singe,” Nicolas said, rubbing his fingers together. “You got really hot to the touch right before it all exploded. No harm done. I was already moving away when Ashmedai grabbed me.”
Daniel sagged. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I don’t know how to control it.” He’d walked through Hell to get back here, and now he was the one putting people in danger.
Draego said, “Like I said, it’s tricky. You let your emotions get the better of you, and it reacted. That’s why I said to take a breath. Calming yourself calms the fire.”
Nicolas asked, “I thought human souls turned into halflings. How can he control hellfire?”
Daniel blew out a breath. “That’s a long story.”
“Come and sit, then,” Talon said, gesturing to the sofa. “We’ll grab you a drink. I think this is something we’ll all want to hear.”
Chaol’s hand smoothed down his back. “You up for it?”
Daniel nodded. He was tired, but they needed to know what was coming.