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ASHER
Quinn was the most relaxed that I’d ever seen her.
I managed to snag a blanket from the living room before it went up in flames with everything else. With my slumbering pet bundled up, I carried her out of the house just as the wood groaned and finally caved in. Hot air rushed past me, carrying charred pieces and smoke with it. The intense smell was enough to solidify my own peace.
The driver remained motionless beside the SUV, the engine already hot and ready to go. As soon as our gazes locked, he immediately reached over to pull the back door open.
It didn’t take long to register all the panicked shouting around me. While my desire to stop entirely flooded my veins, I managed to settle for only slowing down my pace to allow my gaze to stray.
The neighbors had emerged from their homes as soon as the flames started reaching toward the sky with most of them armed with hoses to spray it down. They’d barely taken an offense against the fire before they noticed me emerging from within it. The water flow ceased immediately, as did their frantic cries. Every single pair of eyes fell upon me.
The edges of my lips twitched as waves of shock and horror pulsed against me. The humans were terrified that the cause of this house fire had been demonic royalty. I couldn’t blame them for wanting to take arms in order to protect their homes — especially when the angels hadn’t exactly invested in a critical resource for this kind of destruction. Considering that I didn’t give a damn what happened to them, they were on their own.
The driver threw an annoyed glance at the crowd as I approached. “Should I radio the nearby patrol?”
Quiet whispers sprang up behind me as I eased Quinn into the backseat.
“Is that Aspen Gallo?” a woman murmured, her hazel eyes locked on the vehicle.
The brunette bundled up beside her shook her head frantically. “No. That looked more like Quinn Rossi, Jamie.”
They saw what was happening to me…and they chose to do nothing. Quinn’s voice echoed in my mind as the mortals continued their hushed murmuring. The beast within me started to stir with soft snarls of rage. It was one thing to hear my pet voice her theory, yet it was another thing altogether to hear it from their own lips.
Nothing happened without their prying eyes bearing witness.
Jamie responded with a scoff. “Quinn died in a car accident twenty years ago. You’re seeing shit, Bri.”
I tucked the blanket under Quinn, although a part of me already knew the cold wasn’t going to bother her like it used to. Already, the human blood within her had grown so faint that no one would be able to detect it without looking for it. Which meant I would only have to take her one more time before her humanity faded completely. Pressing my lips together, I nudged the door until it concealed my pet. “Seems like a law has been broken, hasn’t it?” I inquired.
A pleased grin crossed the driver’s face. “Yes, sir.” He pulled away from me, reaching into his front pocket for his cell phone. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that he had the main facility overseeing the patrols on speed dial since he was soon murmuring in Italian.
A man emerged from within the crowd, purposely taking his path between the two women so that their conversation ceased into a sudden silence. His brown eyes fell upon me, a familiar rage leaking out across his filthy face. He reached back to rest a hand upon Jamie’s shoulder. “Go inside, the both of you. Now.”
Jamie straightened her back with a huff. “Do you not see that fire he caused? Our home will go up in flames if we don’t get it under control, Timothy.”
I promise I won’t steal from Timothy again! Quinn’s panicked words circled in my head. My upper lip curled immediately. So this was the neighbor whose garden she’d been caught stealing from. All it took was one quick peek at his house for me to confirm that Anita’s was the only one armed with outside cameras. The only way Quinn would have been caught that fateful night was if someone happened to look out the window at the right time.
And chose to turn her in.
The driver returned, casting a weary gaze at the crowd while he tucked away his phone. “They’ll be here in five minutes. There were three patrolling the neighborhood. One of the squads was about to come our way anyway.” He gestured at the SUV. “Should we leave, sire?”
The strategic part within me knew it was probably a wise move to leave this place behind before the patrols got here. Their arrival was going to drive this tension down into pure chaos, especially once the demons started taking them into custody. Yet I couldn’t seem to bring myself to get into the car. These were the people who had watched my pet endure hell her entire childhood. Hell, well into her adulthood…and not a single one of them had stood up for her.
They never attempted to protect her.
“Sire?” The driver prompted me to get in.
I simply nudged the car door shut with a hand before leaning against it, offering up a silent statement of what my intentions were. Timothy had honed on me as soon as he’d gotten outside and I had no problem with resuming the intense staredown we had going. The rage swirling within my soul simply grew as we maintained eye contact.
I didn’t anticipate snapping, nor did I expect to simply black out. All it took was a slight scowl on Timothy’s part and a blink on mine for me to find my surroundings completely changed. The entire crowd had scattered like ants, every single human making the feeble attempt to escape. A flick of my hand was all I needed to coral them in with fresh flames.
Most of the houses nearby had already been emptied due to the Rossi family home consumed by flames, leaving them trapped by my rising rage. Lights coming on from the next block over hinted that the rest of the neighborhood had heard the frantic screams with some of the residents already at their windows. That didn’t mean any of them were willing to break the curfew by coming to their rescue.
They were going to quietly witness my rage — just like these bastards had done with the abuse inflicted on my pet.
I curled my fingers with a soft snarl, willing the flames to flick off in pieces. It didn’t choose specific victims. Instead, it was completely content to choose them at random — or rather, those that happened to be a little too close to the fiery barrier. Only a small part of me was pleased as the aroma of burning flesh started leaking into the air as my victims started dropping to the ground like flies. A chorus of shrieks brushed against me in a chaotic song.
It was still not enough to appease the enraged beast within me.
