107. Ryan Fairview
Y ou would think killing a man would bother me.
It didn’t.
All I felt was fucking relief.
If I didn’t see Damian die with my own two eyes, I think I would have lived the rest of my life looking over my shoulder. For me to have fully believed with my whole soul that the man was dead, just for him to kidnap and hurt two people that now meant so much to me…
It was disgustingly easy for me to pull that trigger. Maybe I would feel differently later after some time had passed and I had time to process everything that happened, but I would cross the bridge when I got to it.
Theo was not in good shape by the time Logan, Ronan, and Dakota found us. She was conscious, but whatever Damian had injected her with had taken away all mobility. She was basically a rag doll.
The stab wound in her side, though deep, was already clotting. I was texting her condition to Dr. Callahan as Logan and Ronan helped Theo up while Dakota got to work dealing with Damian’s body.
Tom Callahan:
Try not to move her more than necessary. If there’s minimal bruising, we might be in luck. Take her to this address instead of Fairview if you can. I’ll be better equipped to check for any organ damage.
Ryan:
Done. Again, I can’t thank you enough. I owe you one.
Tom Callahan:
Haha. Well, if I ever need someone to take care of a body, I know who to call. *winking emoji*
I passed the address on to Ronan, and they offered to take Theo in their car, as there wouldn’t be room for all of us in Vox’s Aston Martin.
“Theo, I’ll grab the hearse and swing by after we take Naomi home,” I assured my sister. Her head was lolling on her shoulders, but her dark eyes were full of fire.
“I’mmmm finneeee.”
“You don’t look fine, muscles,” Cal said, giving her an uncharacteristically stern look. I could see how worried he was. He affectionately tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear and gave her a little smirk.
“You’re a fucking badass, you know that?” he asked softly, and her lips quivered as she tried to return the smirk.
“Makkkee surre, yeww….Tellll…urrr…sissstteerrrrr.”
He barked out a laugh as the boys carted her away, Dakota tailing them with Damian’s corpse slung over his shoulder.
Cal turned to face me with a big smile on his face.
“So, you wanna get out of this shit hole?” he asked, and I smirked at him.
“In a minute, angel. First, I want to see if Gavin can help us out with your little… problem.”
Cal made a face. “Don’t say it like that. People are going to think I can’t get it up.”
I burst out laughing just as Gavin’s spirit materialized next to me.
“Trust me, angel. No one would ever accuse you of that.” I chuckled. Gavin glanced back and forth between us, grinning.
‘What I miss?’ he asked, and I shrugged.
“Just Cal being Cal.”
Gavin gave me a sad smile and nodded. ‘Can you tell him that I miss him?’
I nodded and relayed the message. Cal looked like he might actually start crying.
“Thank you for helping Ryan and Vox get to us, Gav. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to protect you from Damian.” He was looking in Gavin’s general direction, though you could tell he couldn’t see him at all.
‘It’s not your fault, Cal. There was nothing you could have done. I’m just so glad you and Vox are free now.’
Cal glanced around the concrete room, frowning.
“Is my mother here?”
I nodded.
During the tussle with Damian, she had been relentless. She passed through me twice. Once, when I’d been trying to shoot Damian, and a second time, when I’d been trying to untie Cal. However, the woman that Damian had shot in the face when Cal was a child had come to help.
She was able to convince the other ghouls that if they let go of their anger at Cal, they would all have a chance to move on.
The only spirit that hadn’t listened was his mother. She was currently being restrained by two ghosts who seemed desperate to finally be freed from haunting Cal. They’d also made quick work of Damian, though he wasn’t much of a problem.
Because I’d literally blown his face off, his spirit couldn’t see or talk. All it could do was make nasty gurgling noises, which gave me a sick sense of satisfaction.
Gavin had disappeared for a while, informing me he was going to see if he could figure out how to summon the chaos demon he’d told me about earlier.
The room was crowded with ghosts, waiting to see if this demon Gavin had a connection with would be able to tell them how to escape this plane and move onto the next stage of death. I was hoping like crazy this would work. I didn’t need this many spirits pissed off with us without a talisman in sight.
Suddenly, the air around us dropped in temperature, and I instinctively moved closer to Cal as the shadows in the room seemed to come to life.
“What the fuck!” Cal exclaimed, grabbing me by the wrist and jerking me into him. We both stared in a cross between horror and fascination as the shadows shifted into the shape of smokey cats. Their eyes glowed red, and they yowled and hissed as they corralled the spirits into a corner.
In the middle of the room, what appeared to be an attractive man with dark hair and tawny skin manifested. He was wearing black pants and a crisp black button-up shirt rolled to his elbows.
He ran a hand through his mop of ebony hair, flashing a block of script tattooed on the inside of his forearm.
“Ugh. Where are we..? Ohio? You failed to mention you would be summoning me to the literal armpit of the United States,” the demon grumbled, his green eyes flashing with annoyance in the dim light.
How did I know it was a demon, you ask? Outside of the fact that he literally melted into existence out of the ground, I could just tell. This being was ancient and immortal as fuck. He was not something I wanted to piss off or fuck around with.
Gavin just chuckled and shrugged. ‘Come on, everyone knows that the real armpit of the US is Florida.’
Just then, another demon manifested. This one was equally striking, though he had auburn hair and ivory skin.
“I don’t know; have either of you been to Louisiana? I feel like I’m torturing a new soul from Monroe at least once a week.” This new demon mused, and his dark-haired counterpart smirked.
“Come now, little bird. You’re going to miss all the torture once we get to Salem.”
The demon with the rust-colored hair sighed wistfully, giving his companion a suggestive look.
“I’m sure we’ll find things to keep us busy.”
Cal’s hand was gripping my wrist so hard it hurt.
“You’re seeing this too, right? These two dudes just… appeared!” He was speaking out of the corner of his mouth, clearly trying to go unnoticed by the two demonic entities.
I nodded. “Yeah, Gavin called them. I think he said they could take away the spirits that are haunting you,” I whispered back.
The dark-haired demon’s eyes snapped to mine, and his grin widened.
“No need to whisper, Ryan Fairview. We can hear you just fine,” he purred. “Your boyfriend here has a dirty mind. You should see the things he wants to do to you. It’s making me hard just thinking about it.”
Cal snarled and stepped in front of me. “Watch it,” he rumbled, but the demon just chuckled and rolled his eyes.
“Relax. I don’t fuck humans…often. I have my hands full with my little bird at the moment, so your ginger snap is safe.”
‘Not to interrupt this cute little moment,’ Gavin interrupted, clearly trying to keep Cal from getting himself dragged to hell. ‘But are you really able to help these souls move on?’ He asked.
The chaos demon nodded, that evil smirk still playing on his lips.
“Oh yes. Some of you will be reincarnated,” he said, turning to face the crowd of spirits that were now cowering before his colony of shadowy hellcats.
The demon’s green eyes landed on Cal’s mother, and his grin widened.
“And some of you… will not.”
Cal’s mother screamed and ripped away from the two spirits holding her back, the massive gash in her neck gushing phantom blood. My eyes widened, but the hellcats descended on her, pinning her to the ground.
“You’re a demon, Callum! You’re a cursed, filthy evil thing!”
Rage flared through me at her words, and I was very glad Cal couldn’t hear her. I knew how much being called those things triggered him. I wanted to hurt this evil woman. How could she say those things to her own son?
How had she said them to a little boy?
Happily, I didn’t need to worry as the dark-haired demon stepped forward, glaring down at Cal’s mom with a very scary look on his face.
“You think he’s a demon?” the creature purred, bending at the waist to get on the spirit’s level. “You poor, wretched thing. You’re about to learn what a real demon is, and you’re not going to like it.”
The auburn-haired demon smirked, glancing at the other spirits. “The king of Hell is not happy with you,” he mused, speaking to Cal’s manic mother. “He doesn’t take kindly to souls that convince others to stay behind when summoned. All these souls are late for judgment. If they begin to fester, our Queen will be upset… and trust me. No one wants that.”
Cal’s mom began babbling. What sounded like a manic version of the ‘Our Father’ spilled out of her lips, and both the demons laughed.
“Your god won’t save you.” The rust-haired creature chuckled.
“He’s a little… tied up.” The chaos demon snapped his fingers, and the hellcats sprang forward, clawing and biting at the spirits, before dragging them screaming into the underworld.
Cal and I were staring with our mouths hanging open. I wanted so badly to ask if he could see the hellcats too, but now didn’t seem like a good time.
Gavin was frowning.
‘You’re taking all of us to Hell? Some of those spirits were good people.’
The chaos demon gave him a bored look and shrugged.
“For now. Like I said. Some of you will be reincarnated. The ones that our Queen decides are too rotten to be remade will be tormented.”
Cal’s hand shot into the air like he was a middle schooler with a question.
The demon quirked an amused brow.
“Yes, Callum?”
“Can you torment my mom? Puh-lease!? ”
I elbowed him in the ribs.
“Don’t ask a favor from a demonic entity, Callum! What the fuck!”
Cal glanced at me, his face going white, but the demon chuckled.
“Relax. I planned on tormenting her anyway… and neither of you have anything I particularly want or need. You’re safe from accidental deals with the devil… This time .” The malevolent being’s green eyes flashed, and his tone darkened. “But your boyfriend is right, Callum Walker. It’s not typically a good idea to make deals with demons.”
“I can confirm,” the auburn-haired creature said, shooting an amused look at his partner. “I made that mistake, and now I’m bound to serve this asshole for eternity.”
The chaos demon snatched up his chin, and a terrifying growl rumbled through the room. Tension crackled between them as we watched them stare at each other from inches away.
“Don’t act like you don’t like it, little bird. You love it when I put you on your knees.”
Cal leaned in close to me again and whispered into my ear.
“This is super hot,” he muttered, and his words seemed to break the spell between the two demons.
The being with the green eyes sighed and released his partner’s face before turning back to face us.
“Come on, Gavin. Let’s get you reassigned. Say goodbye to your friends,” he said, and Gavin nodded.
He reached out and brushed his fingers against Cal’s cheek. Cal jumped, and his eyes widened.
“Was that Gavin!? I think I felt something!”
I nodded. “Yeah, it’s him. He wants to say goodbye.”
Cal reached his hand out, and I watched their fingers brush against each other. My throat tightened at the look of longing on both of their faces.
“Bye, Gav,” Cal whispered, his voice cracking.
‘Bye, Cal,’ his friend replied, his voice equally strained. The spirit glanced at me, his eyes glistening with tears. ‘Can you tell him I love him? And what happened to me isn’t his fault. And can you tell Vox I miss him every day, but he needs to move on and let himself be happy now?”
I relayed his message and nodded, starting to feel a little choked up myself.
Gavin gave me a sad smile and a cold, ghostly hug before stepping back to join the two demons waiting for him.
‘Take care of him, ginger man. He’s special,’ Gavin said, nodding his head toward Cal.
“I will,” I croaked, taking Cal’s hand in mine as I watched the shadows twist around Gavin’s spirit.
I blinked, and suddenly, all three of them were gone.
Cal squeezed my hand as I shuddered, feeling both somehow sad but also relieved.
“It’s done,” I said, glancing up at the man I loved more than life itself. “You’re officially a free man. The demons from your past can’t hurt you anymore, angel.”
Cal smiled down at me and brushed a kiss across my lips.
“You saved me, baby. In every possible sense, you saved me.”
I choked on a sob and wrapped my arms around him, holding him close to me and just appreciating the fact that we were both together, and we were both alive.