Death Wish (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #5)(36)

It was too easy to get sucked into this world. I couldn’t say I would have chosen it for myself. Then again, it had always been meant for me. I didn’t know what to think anymore.

I’d half expected to find Kale’s car outside. There was no sign he had been here.

The house was dark. That was the first thing I noticed. The light from the TV was absent, giving the place a vacant touch. The air was rife with negative energy. It hummed, thick and menacing. I had to go in. Something had gone on here.

Arys didn’t protest when I told him to wait in the car. It allowed him to watch the house while I went inside.

Slowly, I swung the car door open. It was late. Lights were off in most of the neighboring houses yet none of them felt tainted by the inky swell of residual energy the way the dreamwalker’s house did.

I reached out metaphysically, feeling out my surroundings. By doing so, something else could easily be feeling me as well. I couldn’t both reach out and shield myself. It was a chance I had to take.

The lingering energy burned when I openly let it in. It was a blazing hot sensation that scorched. Shya. Faded and slowly dissipating, his energy was still strong enough to hurt. Goosebumps rose up all over my body and pressure began to build in my head. I couldn’t let his power flow freely through me. I just couldn’t take it. I had to block it out. I shielded hard, unable to shake the not so subtle reminder of just how powerful the demon was.

The house itself appeared normal, except for the side door, which stood slightly ajar. My wolf was leery. I drew closer, and the scent of blood reached me. I was both horrified and intrigued.

I sensed nobody inside. Nobody living anyway. I was envisioning the absolute worst when I carefully pushed through the open doorway. My keen eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness.

There was blood everywhere. I choked on the scent, struggling not to breathe more than absolutely necessary. It was fresh and tantalizing, taunting my bloodlust. It was only apprehension that kept the hunger at bay.

I stood frozen near the doorway. I could feel the echo of death all around me. The last thing I wanted to do was touch or upset anything, but I wanted to take a quick look around. Shya had done this. Why kill the kid’s entire family? And, where were the bodies?

I crossed through the kitchen to the back hall where I could go either upstairs or into the living room at the front of the house. I did neither, pausing instead to study the framed photographs hanging in the hall.

The dreamwalker was an only child from what I could tell. With a shy smile and short, trendy, dirty blonde hair, he looked like any other teenage boy. Normal. Nobody was normal though. Not really. He should have been focused on girls, school and the future. Instead, he was plagued by a gift that doubled as a curse. It had stolen everything from him. Would he trade it all if he could? Would I?

I had never laid eyes on this kid. I didn’t even know his name. Still, I felt we were kindred. Born human but never really meant to stay that way. Nobody had tried to save me. I didn’t think I could save this kid, but I felt obligated to try.

“I knew you were stupid, but you are reaching a whole new level of idiocy.” Falon’s voice rang out, shattering the dead silence. A moment later, he materialized on the staircase.

A little shriek escaped me, and I muffled it with a hand. “You ass**le! You do that again, and you’re going to get a face full of claws.”

Falon’s face was a mask of judgment. Though he glared at me with haughty self-righteousness, satisfaction glimmered in his pale eyes. “You’re not supposed to be here.”

“What happened?” I returned Falon’s glare tenfold. The angel was unpredictable and creepy, but he didn’t scare me the way Shya did. The way I saw it, Falon was the last person capable of judgment. He was the ultimate fence rider, and his opinion meant nothing.

“You need to leave, Alexa. I have things to do here. Try not to drop any tainted DNA on your way out.” He waved his hands at me as if shooing a bug.

I stood my ground, scowling back at him with all the venom I could muster. “I want to know what happened to the dreamwalker. And, where is Kale?” I was adamant, refusing to be intimidated when Falon’s massive wings flared out as wide as the staircase would allow.

“You’ll have to ask Shya. I’m sure he’ll have questions for you as well. For instance, why you’re here sticking your nose in business that is none of yours.”

With my hands on my hips, I scowled at Falon as if he were something I’d found stuck to the bottom of my shoe. “What do you do exactly, Falon? From where I’m standing it looks like you’re the help.”

Fury flashed through his eyes, and I smiled. He descended the rest of the steps in near silence. The grace of his gait gave the illusion that his feet never touched the floor. He stepped close, in my personal space without touching me, and towered over my small frame, forcing me to look up at him.

“Better watch your mouth, wolf. Don’t assume to know a damn thing about me.” Falon spoke low and soft. The underlying menace in his tone was vague, but it was there. “Did you think these situations just disappeared on their own? I’m capable of things you can’t even begin to dream of. You’d be wise to remember that.”

“You may have never been human, but you’re not better than me.” I shot back, uneasy by his close proximity but unwilling to show it. “The fact that you’re here right now proves that. You’re fallen. I think that makes you just as tainted as the rest of us.”