Dread Nemesis of Mine (47 page)

"But if the Conroys are angels, why do they
need Daelissa?" I said. "It doesn't make sense."

Meghan stood, tucking her wand into a pouch.
"There's a lot that still doesn't make sense. But all the evidence
points toward my hypothesis. It's more vital than ever Shelton and
Bella train you. Drawing in that much energy without the training
to properly focus it is dangerous."

"How could it be dangerous?"

"You know the fireball you shot off while
Maximus's prisoner?"

I shrugged. "Yeah."

"Imagine if you'd used enough power to engulf
the place in fire, or detonated it like a bomb. You don't know your
own potential or the danger you pose to yourself and others,
Justin. I suggest you get it under control." She picked up her mug.
Took a sip and grimaced. Took out her wand and stirred the liquid
until steam rose from it. "You know, the spell I just used to heat
up my tea takes a very precise amount of control and power.
Otherwise my tea would evaporate, or the ceramic mug might explode
in my face, cutting it to shreds. Or—"

I held up a hand. "Fine, fine, I get it. I'll
train." I sighed. "Just what I wanted to do with my free time."

She smiled. "I thought you might see it that
way." Her eyes locked onto something behind me, and a genuine smile
of happiness split her lips.

I turned and saw Nightliss and Adam walking
down the stairs. Adam guided a pale and tired looking woman down
the stairs. Felicia. She saw me and smiled, tears sparkling in her
eyes. I met them at the bottom of the stairs, giving Nightliss a
big hug. Felicia sobbed, and wrapped her arms around me.

"Thank you, Justin. Thank you." She let go,
tottering backwards.

I caught her at the same time Adam did.
"Whoa, take it easy."

She let Adam help her to the couch. "I don't
have much of a choice." The blackened veins had left her skin for
the most part, though her pale flesh still looked bruised in
places.

Elyssa stepped into the kitchen and returned
with a couple of blood bags. Handed them to the recovering vampire.
"Drink slowly. I don't want you throwing up blood on the couch."
She smiled. "I've had enough with people throwing up today."

"Maybe I should brush my teeth," I said,
sticking out my tongue at her.

Meghan took Nightliss aside and spoke with
her in quiet tones. The petite angel's eyes went wide and turned to
me. I didn't have to hear the conversation to know what they were
talking about. They approached me.

"I—I cannot believe this," Nightliss said,
touching me as though I might disappear in a cloud of smoke at any
moment. "Your mother is one of my people? And you—you're like us
too?" A smile of pure joy lit her cute face. "I am not alone with
only my crazy sister on this world?"

I cleared my throat. "It doesn't look that
way. Now you have crazy old me and
my
insane sister."

"It makes so much sense now," the angel said,
mouth widening as if a thought had just occurred to her. "The
blonde angel who helped me. Who's been helping others. It must be
your mother. Daelissa would never help anyone unless it was part of
her goals."

My mouth dropped open. "Whoa." After it had
passed, an obvious question hit my brain. "Can you train me,
Nightliss? I mean, if you're one of—I mean if I'm one of you,
wouldn't it make more sense for you to train me than Shelton and
Bella?"

A sad look hijacked her smile. "I cannot be
your teacher, Justin. I still have so much to do, and even though I
am recovering, I still don't understand some of my own abilities.
Understanding comes to me in moments of clarity. Other times, it
feels as though I'm surviving on pure instinct. I do not even know
how to begin to teach you."

I blew out a sigh, thinking how I'd relied on
demon instinct to accomplish things without really knowing how. "I
totally know where you're coming from."

A knock sounded on the door. Stacey came
through a second later followed by Ryland. He held a grocery bag
brimming with food in one arm, and wore a T-shirt with three wolves
howling at the moon.

"Sweet shirt," I said, stifling a laugh at
the ridiculous thing.

Stacey snorted and covered her mouth.

Ryland seemed unfazed. "Ain't it just the
cat's meow?" He traced a wolf with his finger. "Seems my lovely gal
decided I needed a T-shirt to illustrate how much testosterone
flows through this manly body of mine."

Stacey couldn't hold it any longer and howled
with laughter. "I do believe it more than makes up for the leopard
print tights you purchased for me, darling."

Ryland's eyes met mine and he winked. "Looks
like we all survived again. I'd say this calls for a proper
celebration." His gaze moved to Elyssa. "Show me the kitchen?"

Elyssa laughed. "Let me show you the
way."

Stacey regarded me a languid smile as her
laughter died down. She prowled over to me and kissed me on the
cheek. "Hello, handsome."

"Hello yourself, uh, kitten," I said, trying
to come up with something witty, and failing.

She looked around the room. "Might I have a
moment in private?"

I gulped. "Stacey, I have a girlfriend, and,
uh, I mean Ryland—"

"Oh, you are such a dear," she said laughing.
"I have no plans to sexually assault you, yummy though you are."
She purred. "My wolfykins is more than enough to sate my
appetite."

My face burned. "Uh, okay."

She led me further back into the house to a
large dining room. Closed the door. Her usual confident sultry
smile faltered. "Justin, I—this is not easy for me to say."

My heart locked up with apprehension. "What
is it? What's wrong?"

She shook her head, eyes downcast. When she
looked up, tears rolled down her cheeks. She took my hand and
smiled. "Absolutely nothing, darling. I just wanted to say thank
you."

"For what?"

A laugh broke through her tears. "You are so
lacking in clues at times, you dear, sweet boy." She took a tissue
from a pouch at her side and wiped her face. "Before I met you, I
was alone. I have wandered this Earth for so long, always so lonely
except for my feline companions. I have made friends along the way,
true. Bella, as you know, is quite an old friend. But after I met
you, things, well, they changed."

"Yeah, if you count me dragging you off into
dangerous encounters with people who want to destroy the
world."

"Oh, it is quite exciting," she said,
nodding. "And I enjoy fighting for a cause. But what I mean by
change is so much deeper, love. You brought me in, a lonely stray
whose only thought was of living day-to-day. You accepted me. You
made me a part of your—dare I say it?—family. I had forgotten what
it was like to be loved and cared for. You risked your own life to
save me. And without you, I might never have met my love, Ryland."
Her face lit up at his name. "Oh, he is a scoundrel, and our
relationship is by no means perfect." She purred. "He is a wolf,
after all. A very naughty—"

"Uh, I don't think you need to get any deeper
into the naughty bits," I said, smiling while my heart swelled to
bursting with affection for this crazy woman. "Maybe it's a good
thing you assaulted me at the gym."

"Oh, the things I planned to do with you,"
she said, sniffling into a tissue. "But I'm rather glad things
turned out this way. It seems every time I've built up the courage
to tell you this, Justin, something comes up, or I falter. I'm not
very good at trusting people with my heart." She touched my chest.
"But you have a good one, and I trust you. Know that you have my
love as much as any brother of mine would have had. If you ever
need me or Ryland, we will always be there for you."

I tried to speak, but my throat was suddenly
choked up. The sting of tears in my eyes left me wiping furiously
at them.

Stacey offered me a tissue.

I took it, sucking in a deep breath to keep
the tears at bay.

"Just because you are a super hero doesn't
mean you dare not cry," Stacey said, her usual mischievous grin
returning. "I promise not to tell anyone."

A laugh broke through the blockade in my
throat and a couple of tears pulled a jailbreak, rolling down my
cheeks. I pulled her in for a hug. Kissed her on the top of her
blonde head. "I love you too, sis. If you weren't older than me,
I'd adopt you as my little sister."

"I believe you already have a little sister,"
she said, her grin fading. "I hope we can help you with that
someday,
brother
."

We rejoined the others in the den. The crowd
had swelled to include Shelton and Bella, both of whom were
apparently trading the day's adventures with Elyssa's mother, Leia.
Cinder stood in a corner, hands straight by his sides as he watched
the festivities.

"Are you okay?" I asked the golem. "I didn't
mean to abandon you at Maximus's place, but Elyssa and I had to get
back here."

"I understand, Justin." He attempted a smile,
but the result only startled me. His lips snapped back to
neutral.

"This guy was a whirlwind," Shelton said,
appearing to my side, and clapping a hand on the golem's shoulder.
"He disarmed about ten guys before I even cast my first spell."

"I was glad to be of service," Cinder said.
"Do you happen to know of any magic spells that could make me
real?"

Shelton seemed at a loss for words, glancing
back and forth between us.

"I'm sorry," Cinder said after an uneasy
moment of silence. "That was meant to be a jest, but the attempt
obviously failed."

Shelton and I burst into laughter.

"Or perhaps my attempt succeeded after all,"
the golem said, tilting his head like a curious puppy. "I must be,
as you say, 'getting a handle' on humor."

I turned away from the two, and the laughter
faded from my lips. Thomas stood in the kitchen doorway, beer in
hand, looking on as Ryland worked his cooking skills. It reminded
me a little of the last time I'd had Ryland's cooking. We'd been
cooped up in one of Shelton's hideouts, on the run from hellhounds
and one of my dad's sisters. Underborn had put a death mark on my
dad, and Elyssa and I had gone through hell trying to get him to
remove it.

Ah, the good old days.

I looked at today's date on my phone. The
good old days had only been a few weeks ago. I really needed a
vacation. It also reminded me of a promise I'd made to a certain
young lady. A promise I had yet to keep.

Thomas looked over from where he stood. Met
my eye. Nodded.

I nodded back.

'Nuff said
.

The next night, after a full day of rest and
relaxation, I pulled on my best clothes and regarded my short
blonde hair in the mirror. I looked pretty badass, I had to admit,
even if the coloring looked a bit fake. Oh well, it'd grow out. I
stepped into the hallway and walked to the bottom of the stairs. It
felt very strange to be staying in the same house as Elyssa's
parents.

Elyssa stood at the bottom of the stairs
looking stunning in a short, purple dress and high heels
threatening to make her taller than me. When I came closer, I
realized how perfectly the dress complimented her gorgeous eyes.
She even wore makeup that wasn't Goth, enhancing every facet of her
face. I felt my mouth hanging open and clamped it shut before drool
happened.

"You are so beautiful," I said, taking her
hands in mine. I opened my mouth to say more, but couldn't think of
a strong enough word to express how I felt at that moment. I loved
her so much it hurt.

"Have her home at ten," said a stern voice
from behind.

I spun to see Thomas Borathen, cold blue eyes
staring at me, and gulped.

"I'm sure ten-thirty would be fine," Leia
said, coming up behind him and leaning on his shoulder. "After all,
they were out way past midnight last night."

Elyssa rolled her eyes. "Mom, Dad, seriously?
Are you trying to give him a heart attack?"

Thomas let out a booming laugh.

Everyone else went wide-eyed with shock.

Elyssa actually looked like she might run for
the hills. "Mom, someone's kidnapped Commander Borathen and
replaced him with an alien!"

Thomas abruptly stopped laughing. "Eleven
o'clock." He pursed his lips. Narrowed his eyes. "Have fun,
kids."

Elyssa and I left, chuckling as we made for
one of the black Templar SUVs. I drove to the Grotto and led her to
Ancient Chinese Secret, one of the nice restaurants I'd seen the
last time we'd been there. Supposedly, they had fresh ingredients
delivered via the Obsidian Arch every day, and the ratings I'd read
on the
Howl
app on my smartphone indicated it was a cool
joint.

"I
cannot
believe my dad laughed,"
Elyssa said for at least the third time as she used chopsticks to
shovel lo mein into her mouth. "He probably hasn't done it for at
least two centuries." She took a sip of oolong tea and gave me a
look. "You have this very mind-bending effect on people. It's like
you change them just from being in the vicinity."

"Incubus pheromones," I said, winking. "Not
even the men can resist."

She threw a noodle at me. "You'd better not
be using those pheromones on anyone but me, Mister."

I laughed. Bit into an eggroll. "This place
is really good," I said. "I've eaten a lot of Chinese food, but
this place is tops."

Elyssa's eyes turned serious. "My dad said
he's sending all the vampires you turned back into noms to the same
kind of rehab they usually reserve for noms who accidentally find
out about the Overworld. Some of them were suicidal when they found
out they were noms again."

"I feel kind of bad about it," I said.
"Although, the world is probably better off without a bunch of
juvenile vampires gallivanting around without strict guidance. I
wonder how many ended up like Ash and Nyte."