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“Home,” Cruise said and smiled. “I’ve got some things that might help.”
“Help with what?” They needed to start making sense before my demon woke up and exploded their car. “I’m so tired.”
Ryker took off his seatbelt and leaned forward to stroke my hair. “I know you are. We all know you’re tired, Addalee. I think these guys know what they’re doing. They have a lot of experience, and I’m catching up. We’re going to get you better. You’ve always been very important to me. It seems you’re possibly important to a lot more people than we realized.”
I closed my eyes. “People keep saying that, even dream people.”
“Maybe you should listen?” Cruise pulled the car up his driveway. “And let us take care of you.”
“Why would you want to take care of me? And don’t say it’s because I’m important, because that doesn’t make any sense. Why would I suddenly be important today after not being worth a shit yesterday?”
Cruise’s lips curled in a slow smile. “Okay, maybe he’s right. Maybe it has to do with you being a cute blonde.” He winked and my cheeks heated up. “When this is over, I would like to take you on a date. How about that? Does that work for you?”
“I think you’ll have to fight us for that privilege, too.” Nathan laughed. “So…yeah. Maybe we all have an Addalee agenda. That being said, you’re very important.”
I groaned, which made Ryker laugh. Another flush of pleasure heated my cheeks—it wasn’t typical, making it feel like something special to be able to amuse him at all. “Most of the time I’m so cold,” I confessed.
“We’ll see if we can get you warmed up for a little while.”
I closed my eyes, wondering if it could even still be possible for me to experience warmth.
“If you’ve beenin her life forever, why am I just now meeting you?” Nathan leaned against a window frame, his steady gaze focused out the window. I blinked, his figure snapping into clearer focus as I stared. He spoke to Ryker, who I noticed sat snuggled up on a couch under a soft looking blanket.Where am I?It wasn’t Cruise’s house or anywhere I recognized immediately.
Ryker shook his head. “I’m just meeting you, too. She kept me in the dark about most of this. She might have been trying to protect me, but I don’t know. Addalee always kept secrets, and she never was the type to tell people when she needed help. Instead, she took care of everyone, and she started with her mom.”
I jolted upward, panic making the blood in my veins seem to turn to ice. “My mom? I never saw her after the snow. She usually goes to a shelter when it snows, but I didn’t check to make sure she made it to one. What kind of daughter am I? I mean,shit.”
Nathan whirled around, catching my elbows in his hands. “I saw her today. She’s fine. I check on her for you, and you know that. This is okay. You are in Cruise’s basement.”
My heart rate slowed a bit, and my breath trembled out of me. I put my head in my hands, and I noticed my fingers shook. “What is going on?”
Nathan knelt in front of me. “Addalee, your name meanssecond chance. Did you know that?”
I lifted my head. “No. What does it matter?”
He smiled slightly. “In your case, it’s just a lucky coincidence. Some people are born with the ability to get the demons outof themselves. They’re also people who can conduct successful exorcisms. There aren’t many, which was why your demon took you when she did. She intentionally possessed you before you could learn how to do what needs done, but we’re going to fix that. We hoped you would just figure it out on your own one day, but time is going by way too fast, and you need a lesson.”
I scowled at him. It all sounded like the biggest load of crap I had ever heard.
Chapter
Seven
“If people could get demons out of themselves, it would’ve been all over the news. It would be the biggest story of the year. Ofanyyear.”
Nathan sighed. “No, actually, because the only ones who can do it are like me. Meaning anyone with these abilities inherited them from some kind of relationship to angels. There are different degrees, of course. For example, I have a lot of angel DNA, so they can’t possess me at all. You? They could still get you, but they can’t keep you if you decide to end it.”
I could stop it? I jerked to my feet. “Why wouldn’t you have told me that first? And…angel DNA? I mean,fuck. Sorry. Why wouldn’t you have told me before?”
Cruise leaned against the door, his gaze steady. “Listen, you’re supposed to figure things out for yourself and just do it. Historically, even in all the literature, that’s how it plays out. So Nathan watched you, and we waited for you to do the thing—to figure it out and just do it. But instead, it was getting worse. At this point, we’d rather tell you and help you than lose you. There aren’t that many of you left, and you can help a lot of people, once you’ve gotten rid of your demon.” He frowned. “I’m tryingto learn how to do it, but I don’t have a great track record. No one has died on me yet, but I can’t handle the whole thing by myself. If I could do it, I’d do it for you. Gladly. I like you. Ryker obviously likes you. Nathan does, too. We’d all help you, if we could.”
My mind whirled. “I don’t have angel DNA, Cruise. Look at me. I’m…nothing.” I whirled around. “I’ve always been nothing. Now I’m just a possessed nothing.”
Ryker jumped to his feet. “You have never been nothing. Don’t talk about yourself that way. The demon has been lying to you. That’s not you. You’re everything to a bunch of people. I’ve known you nearly my whole life. These two have only met you recently and even they can see it. I get that it’s hard for you to believe, but that’s okay. You don’t have to believe it right now, love. Let us know itforyou.”
Tears flooded my eyes, so I blinked them away furiously.This is insanity.“How do you know I have this…angel DNA?” I gestured with my hand as I said it, as if flapping my fingers somehow would make it sound less ridiculous. It didn’t, but no one laughed.
Nathan took my hand, stilling my restless fingers. “We can always recognize our own. It’s why you liked me right away. I knew what you were, too. You’re like me, Addalee. Your demon—the nasty bitch—she knows what you are. She’s very high level, which is why she did this to you. She knew she would get clout for killing you. Slowly. For torturing you. And I can’t allow her to get away with it anymore.”
