Burning Alive Read online

Page 7

 

  “You won’t let go of me. We almost burned up in a fire. Lexi is out there alone and now Zach is, too. Something is coming this way, but apparently it’s too horrible to even speak of. Please tell me you did not just tell me not to worry. ”

  He was in trouble. He could hear it in her tone—the anger, the fear. What bothered him wasn’t that she was afraid so much as the fact that he really didn’t want her to be afraid. He should have been able to distance himself from her enough to keep her safe without all this emotional involvement. If he couldn’t keep a clear head, she’d be a lot more than afraid; she’d be dead. Zach might have lured the majority of the demons away, but he wouldn’t have gotten them all. They were like cockroaches. There were always more lurking in the dark.

  “Okay,” he said, taking a deep breath, “I know all of this is bizarre to you, but I need you to trust me. ”

  Helen looked at him as if he’d just told her she was his long-lost half uncle. “Trust you? You’ve got to be kidding. ”

  “No. I’m not. You have no idea what’s going on here and there’s no time to explain it. Ergo, trust me. ”

  “That’s it,” she said, throwing up her free hand. “We’re done here. I’m calling the police. ”

  Helen headed toward the kitchen and he trailed behind, keeping his grip solid. She could call the National Guard for all he cared. It wasn’t going to change anything. He wasn’t letting her go. “It would be better if you didn’t try to get them involved,” he told her.

  “Better for you, maybe. ” She turned on the kitchen lights and took a step toward the phone, but Drake just stood his ground. She got to the end of the tether he’d made of his arm, and that was as far as she could go. She stumbled, having expected him to continue to follow her.

  “Ouch!” She rubbed her shoulder.

  Her pain was the last straw. He wasn’t going to let it happen again. Drake collected her body and pressed it up against the kitchen wall so she had no choice but to pay attention. They had some things to straighten out, and now was as good a time as any.

  Chapter 3

  Helen couldn’t breathe. Not because Drake’s body was so tight against hers that she couldn’t pull in a breath, but because he was so tight against hers she could feel his heat sinking into her through their clothing, along with something else. Something delicious and powerful. Those strange wriggling streamers of energy flooded her, making her head spin and her eyes drift shut.

  It felt good and that scared the hell out of her.

  Trust me.

  Yeah, right. She wasn’t a genius, but she knew better than to fall for that one. The only problem was that even though her mind was on board with the not-trusting-him thing, her body wasn’t. Whatever it was he was doing to her was shorting out her system, making her feel all syrupy inside. Being this close to him felt like sliding into a hot bath on a cold night. It gave her shivers and she just wanted to sink into him until she was in over her head. Way over.

  This couldn’t be good for her. Whoever he was, he wasn’t normal. He was going to watch her die, for heaven’s sake. How could she be falling for this kind of seduction?

  Helen forced her eyes open and instantly wished she hadn’t. He was staring down at her mouth, licking his lips like he was thinking about kissing her. As soon as she saw the thought cross his face, she was doing a little thinking in that direction as well. Okay, maybe more than a little.

  Kissing him sounded lovely.

  Above them, a clock ticked off the seconds and he didn’t move. Didn’t so much as flinch. He just stared at her mouth.

  She had a point to make—something she was going to say or do—but for the life of her, she couldn’t remember what it was. It didn’t seem relevant any longer. The only thing that seemed to hold any importance at all was whether or not she could get him to come just a little closer. Whether or not he’d give her enough space to go up on her tiptoes and reach his mouth because he wasn’t making the first move nearly fast enough to suit her.

  His eye twitched; then his jaw tightened and his warm gaze went from her eyes to her mouth and back again. “We are not going to do this,” he said, though he sounded like he was trying to convince himself.

  “We’re not?” she asked him, sounding disappointed and out of breath.

  “No, you’re not,” said a low, cultured voice. Someone new. “At least not until we know more about your . . . situation. ”

  “Your timing sucks, Logan,” said Drake. His body shifted away from her a scant inch, allowing Helen space to draw in a deep breath. It didn’t help. Her head was still spinning and she was still thinking about how Drake’s mouth would have felt against hers. She hadn’t been kissed in a long time. Way too long for her tastes, and he had a nice mouth. Firm and wide with just the tiniest hint of softness.

  “Drake, would you care to introduce me to your friend?” asked the new man.

  “Not really,” said Drake, still not taking his eyes off her, “but I guess I don’t have much of a choice, do I?”

  “From what I’m told, no. You don’t. ”

  Drake backed up a half step, but didn’t go any farther. His thumb slid over her bare shoulder, stroking her as if he had the right to do so. And she didn’t want him to stop. She didn’t even care that they had an audience, which should have been its own giant warning bell.

  She heard the man clear his throat and finally managed to pull herself away from Drake enough to look at the newcomer.

  He was gorgeous. Drop-dead, perfume-model gorgeous. He was taller than Drake by a couple of inches, only thinner, almost gaunt, but he made gaunt look good. His facial features were so perfect, so symmetrical and balanced that they had to be surgically altered. No one was that pretty without a lot of help. He had thick black hair that fell just over the open collar of his shirt. A silky wave draped artfully across his forehead, barely shielding one silvery blue eye. His skin was pale and flawless, making him look inhuman in his perfection.

  Helen wished she was half that pretty.

  “Well, hell,” muttered Drake. “Do you do that to all the human women?”

  “No. Usually they’ve already started taking off their clothes by now. She’s beginning to hurt my feelings. ”

  “We need to get you a paper bag or a giant scar or something. ”

  “Yeah,” said the man, his tone dry. “I’ll get right to work on that. ”

  Helen had to blink a couple of times before she could stop staring and felt her face warm with embarrassment. There was nowhere to look that wasn’t filled with either man pretty or man manly, so she decided she was better off looking at the kitchen floor.

  “Helen, this is Logan,” said Drake. “He’s here to help. ”

  Well, she definitely needed help. That was for sure. “I’d say, ‘Nice to meet you,’ but I’d be lying. ”

  “I get that a lot,” said Logan.

  “Can we hurry things along here?” asked Drake. “We may be having visitors any time now and I’d like to be able to deal with them when they get here. ”

  “Visitors?” asked Helen.

  “Have you told her?” Logan asked Drake.

  “Told me what?”

  Drake ignored her question, addressing Logan. “The less she knows, the better. ”

  “Excuse me?” said Helen. “I really wish you wouldn’t talk about me like I wasn’t standing right here. ”

  Drake clenched his jaw in frustration and she felt his fingers tighten around her arms. He leaned forward until she had to tilt her head back to look him in the eye. There was something truly frightening lurking there—some dark knowledge or power she couldn’t even begin to understand. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to.

  His voice was a low rumble that wouldn’t carry into the next room where Miss Mabel was. “I get that this whole situation is confusing to you, but I really am trying to do what’s best for both of you. We’re up against some serious time constraints, not to mentio
n the bad things that may be coming to your door at any minute, and if you prefer to live the rest of your life without me as a permanent attachment, then you’ll cooperate and let Logan do his job. ”

  A lot of weird stuff had happened tonight, but she was beginning to think that it was just the tip of the iceberg.

  All she really wanted was for him to leave her in peace so she could go back to her normal life and try to pretend none of this had ever happened. If that meant cooperating with pretty-boy, then she really didn’t see any other option. “Okay. I’ll be good. ”

  “Excellent,” said Logan. He rolled his shoulders, making the leather of his long coat creak.

  A coat? In this heat? Something was wrong with that picture, but she figured it was the least of her concerns.

  “Did Thomas tell you what happened?” asked Drake.

  “Only vaguely. I’d rather see for myself, if you don’t mind. ”

  Helen didn’t know what Logan meant,but Drake definitely looked like he minded. “Can’t I just tell you?”

  “You could. You could also skew the facts or leave something out that you didn’t think was important. And there is that whole time issue we have right now. My way is faster. ”

  Drake sighed. “Fine. We’ll do it your way. ”

  “Is that okay with you?” Logan asked her.

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about. ”

  Drake’s thumb slid over her arm in a soothing arc. “He wants to see your memories of tonight so he can figure out what’s happening to us. ”

  See her memories? “How is that even possible?”

  “It just is,” said Drake. “Tick-tock. ”

  “I promise it won’t hurt,” said Logan. “And it will just take a moment. ”

  Having someone poke around inside her head was near the top of her list of things she did not want to happen. Right below being permanently attached to Drake, which was right below being burned alive. “Whatever. Let’s just get this over with. ”

  “We’re going to need a quiet room,” said Logan.

  “My bedroom is at the end of the hall. Will that work?”

  Logan nodded.

  Helen led both men down the hall into her room. She could feel the weight of Drake’s presence at her back, the strong shackle of his fingers about her wrist. She’d spent plenty of time thinking about what it would be like to lead some handsome man to her bed, but she’d never imagined anything like this. Even if she had time for dating right now, which she didn’t, she never would have brought a man like Drake home. He was far too . . . predatory for her tastes. She needed a nice, sedate man. An accountant, maybe.

  Helen turned every light in the bedroom on. She was not going to sit in the dark with these two strangers, no matter how attractive they were. With any luck at all, Logan would fix whatever was wrong and they’d all go away. At least for a while. She needed more time before Drake came back into her life to watch her die. Just a few days. She didn’t think it was too much to ask.