Chapter 10
CHAPTER 10
R oan had third-degree burns on his neck and wrist and he still refused to see a doctor and get treated. Haven could let that go. He did, after all, have a demon’s enhanced healing ability.
But the way he disappeared—literally…that whole teleportation thing was wicked inconvenient—without saying a word to her the second she pulled her car back onto Section 8 grounds? That made him an idiot.
When he said he’d leave her alone once and for all when the case was solved, he really must’ve meant it, because he apparently didn’t give a flaming fuck why or how she got a crazy new power, or what happened to the flesh-melting demon she’d somehow managed to toss down the mineshaft.
Which was why Haven didn’t bother going back to her house. There was no way she was going to sit at home and stew in all these annoying feelings and questions alone. Lane was still honeymooning. She couldn’t talk to either of her parents about any of this. Same for her aunt and uncle. Which meant…
Haven pounded on the door until her brother-in-law opened it, dark hair sticking up in every direction, eyes barely open, wearing only a pair of black boxer briefs. Given the hour, she supposed she should feel lucky he wasn’t bare assed.
Gabriel gave her a palms-up, what-the-hell gesture. “What the fuck, Haven? It’s the middle of the night.”
“Very early morning, actually,” she said, shoving past him into the living room. “I’m sorry about that. But I need to talk to Addy.”
Other than her dad, her sister was one of the only calming influences in Haven’s life. Addy was cool in a crisis, level-headed, and most importantly, had wrangled her annoying demon into marriage, so she knew things—things about men with the last name Malek. Addy would be able to help her sort all this out.
Fluffy, the hellhound her sister picked up in Gabriel and Roan’s home dimension, lifted her giant head off the arm of the couch she was occupying, and gave Haven a sleepy, doggy smile along with a lazy tail wag.
She sat down next to the giant love bug and gave her the requisite ear scratches that were her due.
For a hellhound, Fluffy was shockingly adorable. Part of that was probably because of her outfits. Fluffy refused to start her day without being dressed, like a queen, in one of her outfits. Currently, she was wearing a little fleece onesie with rubber duckies on it. Frankly, it was one of Haven’s favorites, second only to her bumblebee costume. But even without the fancy wardrobe, Fluffy’s little potbelly, big black eyes, under bite, and thick, wiry fur labeled her objectively adorable. Not even the fact that she was the size of a Shetland pony with paws the size of dinner plates detracted from that. Especially when she was demanding belly rubs like she was now.
Addy came down the steps, looking fairly well rested given the time, in an adorable flannel robe and a messy bun. She paused to give her grumpy husband a kiss on the cheek before taking a seat in the recliner across from Haven.
“I’ll make coffee,” Gabriel muttered.
“Thanks, bro,” Haven said with a grin.
“I’ve asked you repeatedly not to call me that.”
Duh. That’s why she did it. “You prefer Gabby?”
He gave her the finger before disappearing into the kitchen.
Addy gave her a pointed stare. That was it. Just a stare. It was enough to trigger Haven’s verbal diarrhea. “Mom and dad won’t let me do any real work since I died that one time. Dad suggested I do triage, and I got a call from an old lady who had weirdly mutilated cattle on her property. Convinced Carl to make me impervious to Roan’s teleportation, got Roan to investigate with me, questioned some werewolves, fought for dominance, won, got a date, found the demon in an old mine—there were bats and bugs—,ended up using some new superpower to shove the demon down the mineshaft, then Roan disappeared. Without another word. Like, what the fuck?”
Fluffy licked her face in response. The show of unconditional support touched Haven’s heart. Addy, meanwhile, frowned at her. “You went against Harper’s orders?”
Haven’s jaw dropped. “ That’s what you take from everything I just said?”
Addy rubbed her furrowed brow. “I mean, I don’t think anyone has ever done that before. I guess I didn’t realize it was an option.”
“Well, it is. But I don’t think that’s how I ended up with the ability to shoot energy from my chest and kick demons down mineshafts. I was like, I dunno, Solider Boy on The Boys for a minute there, and then it was gone.”
Her sister blew out a deep breath. “Well, Dad said there’s a middle-aged dhampyre in Dallas that just recently developed some telepathy. So, developing new powers later in life isn’t unheard of. Especially for a misfit of magic.”
Haven chewed on her thumbnail. “True, I guess. After all, you developed new powers, too.”
“Yeah, but that was only because of Gabriel.”
Right. Gabriel had shared his powers with her in order to save her life while they were in the hell dimension. It had occurred to her that maybe Roan had shared his powers with her. But as it had been explained to her, the sharing of powers was a mutually agreed upon thing, and she definitely would’ve remembered such a conversation. “I kind of doubt either of the Malek’s Secret Santa’d me any of their powers when I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Probably not.” Addy tilted her head to one side. “Could it have been…something you brought back with you after you died? You know, like, something from the other side?”
The idea would’ve freaked Haven out…except that it occurred to her nearly two years ago. “I wondered about that myself. I was a little worried about having come back messed up, you know, like Pet Cemetery or some shit, so I talked to Hunter and a few other vampires right after the accident. I figured they’d know since they all had to die as humans before being reborn as vampires. None of them came back weird. And grandma said I seemed the same as always. If I was really fucked up, I figured she’d know.”
“How did the new power make you feel? Do you feel OK now?”
She felt…great. Strong. Capable. Healthy. “I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with me.”
Addy nodded, looking relieved. “That’s good. Still, I say go to the infirmary tomorrow. Get a physical. And if everything looks normal, it’s probably just a naturally occurring new power. Or a fluke that’ll never be repeated again. And if it does come back, Hunter can probably help you learn to control it if necessary. But that doesn’t solve your other issues.”
Haven waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll tell Mom and Dad what’s going on once I know more.”
“Sooner rather than later would be good,” she said sternly. “And what are you going to do about Roan?”
“What can I do? He wants to leave, so I’ll let him leave. And in the meantime, I guess I’ll go on a date with a werewolf.”
Addy looked like she wanted to argue, but swallowed whatever objections she was going to raise. “You know Roan only wants to leave because he feels guilty for what happened to you, right?”
She snorted. “Oh, believe me, he’s made that perfectly clear. But running away and punishing himself until the end of time isn’t going to help anyone. And no one else blames him. So, I don’t know what to do with all that .”
Gabriel cleared his throat and Haven jumped. She hadn’t even noticed him leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. “You don’t have to do anything with all that,” he said quietly. “He’ll either learn to forgive himself or not, but it’s not your problem. It’s his.”
Addy frowned at him, but Haven nodded. “See? This is what I’m saying.”
“Don’t get me wrong,” he quickly qualified, seeing his wife’s displeasure. “I want him to figure this all out and come back to work. But it’s not up to Haven to change his mind.”
“Yeah, I know,” Addy grumbled. “I just hate that he’s so stubborn.”
“Anyway,” Gabriel said, clearly attempting a big subject change. “What about the demon you found? What’s next? Will you assign a team to hunt it down?”
Haven wished she had another option, but this was clearly above her paygrade. The demon wasn’t the kind she could easily apprehend and return to Section 8 with a magical leash around its neck. She needed more firepower to bring him down. She sighed. “I’ll schedule a meeting as soon as I can with Seven and her team. Maybe she’ll take pity on me and at least let me show them where I found the thing.”
Addy looked relieved as she said, “That’s a great idea.”
Yeah. Great. So why did she feel like she was about to get sidelined yet again?
“You’re being a fucking idiot.”
Roan raised a brow at his brother. “Hello, brother,” he said pointedly, barely managing to step aside as Gabriel barged into his home. “It’s good to see you, too.”
Gabriel frowned at him as he took a seat—completely uninvited—on the one and only chair Roan had in the living room.
He’d purchased the house two years ago, sight unseen. He’d needed a place that was close to Haven but not too close, and this split-level, 1980s custom-built home fit the bill. It was on a corner lot with very little yard space to maintain, and had been recently renovated with neutral paint colors and nice-but-nothing-flashy fixtures. Furnishing the place had not been on his to-do list. Which was why he owned nothing beyond the one chair (purchased at a garage sale), a wall-mounted TV of moderate size, and a mattress.
Which meant that while Gabriel occupied the chair, Roan was left to lean against the living room wall.
“Want to tell me why Haven was at my house at the ass-crack of dawn, freaked out by some new power she doesn’t understand?”
Roan winced. “I told her to go to the infirmary and make sure everything was OK. I didn’t tell her to come talk to you and her sister.”
The look Gabriel pinned him with labeled Roan the dumbest motherfucker on the planet. “Sure. Because Haven Hall always does what she’s told.”
Fair point. “She didn’t seem too upset about it last night.”
“Maybe because she was too busy being upset about you telling her you’d never see her again after she found this demon.”
Roan felt his back teeth grind together involuntarily. “You know I don’t want to hurt her, but this is the only way. You know why.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes heavenward, almost like he was praying for divine intervention, which was super ironic considering he was a demon. “And that’s why you’re being an idiot. Welcome to the conversation. Leaving her, never telling her what happened that night, is not the only way. My wife and I are proof of that.”
“It’s different for me and Haven.”
“It’s not that different. Addy and I love each other. You and Haven love each other.” He shrugged. “A couple of good conversations would straighten everything out.”
“You think talking about what happened—what I did—would help?” he asked, incredulous. “You’re crazy.”
“No. Not trying is crazy. Going your separate ways, letting her find someone else, marry someone else, start a family with someone else, all because you were too much of a coward to tell her how you feel is what’s crazy. And that’s best-case scenario.”
Roan rubbed his chest absently. The thought of Haven with anyone else felt like a fucking dagger to the heart. “What’s worst-case scenario?”
Gabriel pinned him with a look pointed enough to skin him alive. “Haven never finding someone else, never marrying, and never having kids of her own because she never got over you would be much, much worse.”
Fuuuuccckkk. He was right. That would be worse. The idea of Haven being alone, having no one to share her smiles and laughs and joy with was…wrong. No one deserved love more than Haven.
Trouble was, not many deserved it less than Roan.
“She deserves the truth,” Gabriel said quietly. “Let her make the decision from there.”
Roan nodded. “I’ll think about it.”
Again with the eye roll. “You’ve been thinking for two years. Time to actually do something. Unless you want Haven to go out with a werewolf tomorrow night.”
He couldn’t hold back an involuntary growl. Gabriel laughed. “Good,” he said. “Keep that feeling in mind while you’re thinking about telling Haven the truth.”
“You’re a real dick, you know that?” Roan asked without any heat.
Gabriel shrugged. “Being nice takes too long. Saves a lot of time if you just get right to the point and be a dick about it.”
“I think maybe you’ve spent too much time around your in-laws. You sound more like Harper every day.”
Roan had the pleasure of seeing some of the color drain from Gabriel’s face. “That’s not fucking funny, man,” he said, clearly aghast.
This time it was Roan who shrugged. “Agree to disagree, brother. Agree to disagree.”