Touched by Fire (Demons of New Chicago #1) - Kel Carpenter Page 0,80
move it around harmlessly. What I did in the park and at the casino was about the extent of what I can do there.”
I stared at the skyline as she drove. “You bluff an awful lot for that to be the case.”
“I gotta. You know how it is. People will jack you around if they know they can. A little wiggle of my fingers, though, and most of them back off because they think I’m a lot more powerful than I am. It’s when they know I’m not that I land myself in trouble.” Her knuckles tightened on the steering wheel, and I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but I knew her mind had gone somewhere dark. Where they knew what she was, and she couldn’t get out of it.
“You need to learn a more reliable way of keeping yourself alive,” I said eventually.
“What? Like shooting?”
“If you wanted. I could teach you.” I shrugged my left shoulder slightly, matching my poor attempt at offering.
Nathalie chuckled. “No offense, but you don’t seem like the teaching type. I think I’ll stick to bluffing while you blow everyone’s brains out.”
I rested my arm on the side of the door and curled it up to put the back of my hand under my chin. “That’s fair. You’d probably be a shitty shot with your shaky hands.”
Something whacked into my arm. I tilted my head to see Nathalie glaring at me.
“You’re an asshole.”
“If you’re only just now realizing this, I’m going to question how smart you really are. Eidetic memory or not.”
She groaned. “We’re going to have to work on that too.”
“What?”
“You being a dick,” she muttered. I couldn’t help myself as I let out a laugh. She turned off the highway, following the route to the cabin.
“I hate to break it to you, but that’s not likely to change,” I said, feeling more relaxed than I had in a long time.
“We’ll see about that,” she said, like I’d just issued a challenge that she had every intention of winning. The bumps of turning off pavement and onto a dirt road brought our conversation to a halt. I watched as she guided the car through the gap in the trees and all the way up to the edge of the house.
It didn’t look any different than when we’d left it.
“I’m going to go grab Bree and put her in the back,” I said, getting out of the car.
“Yup, you do that. I’ll just sit here in the nice warm car instead of freezing my ass off,” she called, half of it muffled by the sound of the door shutting.
I rolled my eyes as I climbed the steps to the cabin. I was so distracted by Nathalie that I almost didn’t notice the slight crack in the door. It wasn’t completely closed.
And I knew without a shadow of doubt that I had closed it when we left.
My heartbeat pulsed in my head.
My fingers brushed against the rough wood, and I pushed softly. The door swung open because it wasn’t latched.
I stepped inside.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The beat became a roar. It was the only thing that grounded me when I looked at the couch . . . because she was gone.
Bree was gone.
My legs started to work before my brain caught up. I ran at it, shoving the coffee table aside. I threw the cushions and checked the dining room and kitchen.
All the while, the word gone echoed in my mind, replacing the thumping sound.
I bolted down the hall and threw open the door to both the rooms and bathroom. I tore through them. I looked in the closets and under the bed like I was checking for the boogeyman. But they weren’t here, and neither was she.
I went back into the living room and began to pace.
Think, I told myself. Who could have taken her?
Another thought entered my mind. Was it possible that after all these years, she just woke up? Did I dare hope?
“Piper,” the sound of my name jerked me back to reality. I stopped pacing and turned.
The living room was destroyed, though I didn’t remember doing it. I’d flipped the couch and flung the cushions everywhere. The coffee table was knocked onto its side.
Nathalie stood beside it.
In her fingers was a piece of paper.
She extended it to me wordlessly.
I took it. The way she stared at me told me that whatever was written, I wasn’t going to like it.
I lowered my eyes. And then my chest squeezed, and my brands began to burn.