CHAPTER SIX #2
Normally it was Emma who brought us all together, but to everyone’s surprise, Danny was the one who suggested it.
The low sound of “Moon River” filled the corners of the loft.
The lyrics floated through all the light and the warmth, heading for an open window at the end of the hall, where evening smells and breezes came through.
Fresh-cut grass. Rain. Cold. I felt my nostrils flare as I inhaled, enjoying the contrasts between those scents and the food being made behind me.
Tonight I stood at the counter, slicing a loaf of bread while I watched my family.
Hello twined between my ankles and demanded attention in her high, nasal voice.
A pan of red sauce bubbled on the stovetop, and Emma had taken out all the soup pots we owned to boil the noodles, since we were cooking for ten.
But she’d abandoned her post the second Collith had held out his hand and asked her to dance.
Ariel had followed Collith’s lead and led Cyrus onto the impromptu dance floor, and now the four of them were swaying to Andy Williams, light from the fire casting their shadows across the rug.
Collith laughed at something Emma said, his white teeth flashing, and Cyrus looked down at Ariel with a soft light in his eyes that I’d never seen before.
Danny and Damon sat on the floor nearby with Matthew tucked between them.
My nephew held building blocks in his small hands, and he grinned when Collith bent Emma into a gallant dip, then pretended to almost drop her.
Emma shrieked and snatched at his shoulders, swatting Collith the second he pulled her upright.
Stanley barked and ran up to them with obvious concern, his tail thwacking Collith’s leg.
Adding to the chaos, Seth and Gil sat on the barstools across from me, having a spirited debate about the British Parliament, strangely enough.
Their voices rose and fell, but their stances were relaxed.
Easy. The two of them had grown close these past few weeks, especially since Seth’s lease had ended and he’d moved in with Adam and Gil.
Vampires didn’t seem to have the instinctive dislike for goblins that they had toward werewolves—far the only issue they’d had was whether or not to hire a housekeeper, since Gil was a slob, no surprise there.
The second I had the thought, a face filled my mind.
And despite the low heat of happiness within me, I couldn’t help but think about the people missing at this family dinner.
Finn. I pictured his golden eyes and remembered how his fur had felt between my fingers.
If he’d been here, my werewolf would’ve been in front of the fire, no doubt.
Lyari was absent, too, and she hadn’t responded to my invitation or the update I’d sent about Oliver.
Oliver. Another reaction sliced through me, this one harder. Sharper.
It had been three days since I’d seen him. Three days since Collith had come to the loft with a duffel bag and had started sleeping on the couch just a few feet away from my bedroom door. Three days since I’d found out Lucifer was controlling the creature I had created.
For the millionth time since that night, I wondered how the two of them were connected.
Was it simply because Oliver had come from a dream, and dreams were Lucifer’s element?
But didn’t that mean I should’ve had equal power over Oliver?
When I’d reached into his mind, all I saw was darkness. Lucifer’s darkness.
“Pasta is ready,” Emma declared, startling me. “Everyone get your wine glasses and sit down.”
We all moved to comply. Damon and Cyrus helped Emma drain the pots, and I carried an enormous bowl of garlic bread to the table.
Wood creaked as my family settled in their chairs.
Collith slid into the spot beside me, and I glanced sidelong at him as I offered one of the wine bottles.
He accepted it, his fingers brushing mine.
Slowly, Collith reached over and filled my glass before he poured the wine into his, every movement deft and graceful.
I followed the length of his long arm, all the way to his beautiful face, and found Collith’s hazel eyes already staring back at me.
Another startled jolt went through my frame.
For a moment, we just looked at each other.
“… stretched pretty thin. The sheriff has increased our patrol numbers, since we can barely keep up with the calls.”
With effort, I refocused on what Danny was saying. Seth must’ve asked a question, because Danny was looking at him while he talked about increasing crime in Granby. His fork glinted as he twisted it mindlessly in the spaghetti, a frown hovering at the corners of his mouth.
When I glanced around the table and saw my family’s sober expressions, I knew they were all thinking the same thing.
Lucifer. Was his presence here influencing the humans?
Or was something even worse going on? I thought of the demon I’d almost hit on the road, and how there were probably more like it out there.
Danny eventually fell silent, and for a few seconds, no one else spoke.
Music still played from the speaker on the counter—the bluesy tones felt at odds with the fear I sensed in the air now.
But I didn’t reach for it, or allow myself to touch any of the bonds that would reveal what, exactly, the people I loved were afraid of.
I kept my hands in my lap, tightly clenched.
I stared at one of the pots on the table, the one directly in front of me, and fought back the memories that always returned whenever I was tempted to use my power.
A bloody corpse mounted on an earthen wall.
A bright doorway. Finn’s body on the floor.
Then Gil made a joke, and everyone laughed.
The tension dissipated. The bread bowl went round again, followed by a newly opened bottle of wine, and the conversation drifted to easier topics.
The rigidness left my shoulders, little by little, until I was laughing, too, absorbed in a story Seth told us about a hacking job he’d done for a gang of goblins in New York, but instead of changing police records, he’d taken the gang’s money and created a digital trail for the police to follow right back to them.
“Why didn’t you tell me that little story when you were selling your usefulness?” I demanded, laughing.
Seth’s forehead wrinkled. “Oh. I didn’t even think of that.”
I started to respond when another hush fell over the table.
This time, it was because Danny had stood up.
Everyone watched as he stepped back from his chair, giving himself enough room to kneel.
Then he gazed up at Damon with so much love in his eyes that it almost felt intrusive to watch them.
There was a small box in his hand that I hadn’t even noticed him take out.
With his other hand, Danny reached out and grasped Damon’s fingers.
My brother held onto him tightly, as if he were proving to himself this wasn’t a dream.
“Damon Sworn,” Danny began shakily, “I asked your family to gather tonight because they’re important to you, and I knew you’d want them to be part of this moment.
You are the love of my life. You and Matthew make me happier than I’ve ever been.
I know the risks of being part of your world, and I don’t care.
A short life with you is better than a long one without you.
For as long as there is breath in my body, I will do my best to protect you, and fight with you, and love you.
Will you do me the greatest honor … will you marry me? ”
We all waited in spellbound silence. For as long as I lived, I would never forget the look on Damon’s face, and in that moment, it was worth it—all the pain, all the fear, every terrible thing we had been through to get us to the here and now.
I would do it again if it meant seeing my brother this happy.
“Yes,” he said.
Sounds of excitement and congratulations filled the room.
Stanley lifted his head in the corner, his dark eyes brightening with curiosity.
Danny rose from the floor, grinning from ear to ear, and he and Damon kissed.
I watched the grooms briefly press their foreheads together before each of them turned away.
Damon’s arms wound around me, and I held him close, my eyes squeezing shut as my chin rested on his shoulder.
“Congratulations, little brother,” I whispered.
Damon kissed my temple and pulled back. He gave me a familiar, crooked smile that instantly made me think of our father. “Thank you, Tuna Fish.”
Something about the way Damon spoke made it clear he was thanking me for more than this. I blinked rapidly and stepped away to let others get their chance to hug him. Once the chaos had died down, I picked up my glass and raised it in the air.
“To Damon and Danny,” I said.
Echoing my words back, everyone around the table smiled and held up their drinks.
I committed every detail to memory, hoping that maybe I’d get a chance to tell Finn about it someday.
I imagined him again, in his wolf form, curled on the rug as he so often had been.
I held onto the image as I tipped my glass back, and the rest of my family followed suit.
Gil clapped Damon on the shoulder and Seth hugged Danny, grinning from ear to ear.
Emma started asking questions about the wedding while the sound of knocking floated through the loft. I left the table at the same moment Gil mentioned bachelor parties. I was still smiling as I opened the door. But when I saw who stood on the other side, my smile faded.
Laurie’s expression was grim. I’d seen it enough times this summer that I instantly knew what it meant, and my grip tightened on the doorknob. If he was coming to tell us in person, it had to be bad. “We should go downstairs,” I said.
Laurie nodded, and I followed him into the stairwell.
He walked through the garage and pulled the door open, stepping out into the night.
I followed, stopping on the driveway, holding my arms tightly against my middle.
Laurie turned to face me. His face was pale and solemn, his lips pressed together into a hard line.
“How many?” was all I said.
As I waited for the answer, tension coiling inside me, a cool presence came up from behind. A moment later, Collith’s scent wafted past. Laurie’s eyes flicked to him, but his expression didn’t change. “My little bird couldn’t give me a number,” he replied. “She said there were too many … pieces.”
My stomach clenched. Images threatened to break through my defenses—I caught a flash of an upturned hand on a blood-stained rug, fingers curled—but I focused so hard on Laurie that he became all I saw.
His defined jaw, the straight slope of his nose, the shadows darkening the perfect planes of his face.
And it occurred to me, just then, at the worst possible moment, how deeply in love with him I was.
“Thank you for telling us,” I said.
Laurie must’ve heard the distance in my voice, because there was a subtle shift in his jaw, as if he’d started to clench it. “Let me know if you find anything,” he replied.
Then I blinked, and he was gone.
“Should we say goodbye to your brother?” Collith asked, keeping his voice low. Even down here, we could be overheard.
I glanced up at the window above us. A smattering of laughter floated through the night, carried on the wind like dandelion seeds. That warm glow of light felt so far away. I clung to the mental snapshot I’d taken earlier, and I realized I couldn’t stand the idea of ruining it.
“No. Let them celebrate,” I said. I knew my family would want to know about the latest crime scene and where I was going. For now, I’d send a vague message to the group text. I wanted to give them tonight. Just one night.
As I turned away, there was an ache in my chest. It felt like something inside me was dying.
Hope, I thought. The hope that I could actually be free again.
That I could have the life I’d always wanted.
We moved toward the woods, and the cold sank into my bones.
I could feel Collith looking at me, but I didn’t meet his gaze.
A few steps later, the trees swallowed us whole.