Burn (Drift Book 3) (16 page)

“Will you two knock it off and get on with this? I’m ready to show my beauty who the man is arou
nd here.” He pushed his luck further in teasing Sandra.

“Oh, you are
soooo
dead, Mark,” Sandra warned him.

I sat down next to a still giggling Shade and prepared to watch the comedy unfold. Scruffy and Sandra stood just a couple feet apart and Scruff continued to taunt his girlfriend. She remained still and told him to come for her.

Unlike the way he came at me, he confidently strolled up to her and gave her a gentle slug on her shoulder, then stood there and grinned.

“Was that too hard for ya?” He snickered.

“Do it again,” she dared.

H
e lackadaisically took another shot at her shoulder and when he did, she grabbed him by the wrist and twisted it, which immediately brought him to his knees. Shade and I laughed out of control as Sandra held him in an arm lock.

“You like that? Need me to stop
, little boy? Who’s the
wo
-man now?” She humiliated her pleading boyfriend.

We couldn’t stop laughing as Scruffy begged her to release the hold on his arm. After a few more seconds of whining she gave in and let him go.

‘That’s it, now you’re gonna get it, girl.” He got to his feet and pointed at her. “Get ready for the Scruffinator this time.”

Sandra chuckled
at his threatening new nickname. “Bring it on…Scruffinator.”

We c
ouldn’t contain ourselves as he charged her with a little more force this go around. As he tossed his fist out to hit her on the shoulder again, still being sure not to swing hard at her, Sandra actually blocked it with one hand and then smacked him on the face.

Shade and I fell on the ground
laughing.

“Damn it! I’m done, no more of this crap, you guys stacked the deck on me.” Scruffy
complained while holding his cheek, which only made us all laugh even harder.

“The underworld is trembling in fear, I’m sure of it. Better get those mixed martial arts lessons soon. Until then, we’ll make sure Sandra is around to protect you.” I couldn’t resist taking some potshots at my bewildered friend.

“Go ahead, laugh it up, everybody. We’ll see who’s laughing in a few months when I’ve started training.” He kicked out a half smile as he tried to recoup some of his pride.

“Awww
, baby, I still love you.” Sandra grabbed him and kissed him on the cheek where she smacked him. “I’ll protect you.” She stuck it to him once more.

“Al
l right, enough.” He started to laugh along with us.

For the remainder of the day we chatted and horse played together.
It was nice just spending the time being friends, something we hadn’t been able to do much of lately. When sunset arrived, we were about to leave to go hang out together at Scruffy’s house when all of a sudden the wildlife noise around us came to a screeching halt. Instantly my demon senses were heightened. I could feel something very dark approaching.

“Everyone be quiet, something is go
ing on.” I quieted my chatty, laughing friend’s right before we piled in the cars to leave.

“What’s going on?” Scruffy asked.

“What is it?” Shade added.

I didn’t answer right away, but instead turned my gaze to the sky.

“Look.” I pointed to a location above the darkening mountain range.

All of my friends
’ heads tilted up to the horizon. We remained silent as we stared at what looked like some kind of a dark fog, or fast moving black clouds coming over the mountain peak directly in front of the setting sun. It looked like it was coming right at us.

“Leo, what the hell is that?”
asked Scruffy.

“I’m not sure.” I looked over at my open mouthed friends
, who continued to stare hard at this strange mass.

When the black fog
got a little closer, I could see what it was more clearly as shapes began to come into focus.

“Get in your cars, lock the doors. Stay with me for now…if something happens, drive away as fast as you can, but only if something happens to me. I don’t want you guys out of my sight until that point.”

They quickly did as I asked and got in their automobiles. Shade opened a window and asked me, “Leo, what are those things?”

I glared up to the sky
, which was now completely covered in black winged creatures. “Can’t you tell? They’re Demons…mostly Drift Demons…hundreds of them.”

“Why do you think they
’re here? Christian is coming?”

“I’m not sure
, just roll up your window, hun.”

Shade did as I asked. I stood outside and watched as hundreds of demons flew around the sky above me, just feet above some of the tallest trees around my spot. There were so many of them that they blotted out the last few rays of sunlight
remaining from the setting sun. I couldn’t even see a sliver of the sky above us.

Quite concerned
that this wasn’t a cordial visit, I whipped out my wings and stood on guard. After they circled and zigzagged around my spot a few times, they began landing on the trees like crows everywhere around us. I took a quick peek at my friends, who were looking out of their windows in awe at all of these “creatures” landing on almost every branch on nearly every tree around my spot, all except for one tree, mine. Not a single one of them landed on my deteriorating tree.

Before I knew it, they all
took position. Row after row, tree after tree, was filled with angry demons who glared down at me with malcontent. It was deathly silent. I spun around and surveyed the mass of demons. They were everywhere.

“What are you doing here? My fight is with our overlord Christian, not you.”

Not a reply was given, only stares rained down upon me, nothing more.

“If you’ve come here to fight, I’m willing, but let it be known, I possess the dagger, and you will die
,” I threatened.

What sucked about that statement is that although I did have ownership of the Demon Dagger, it was quite a bit out of my reach at the present moment. If they all attacked me, I’d have only seconds to retrieve it from my hiding spot within my tree; if I was lucky
enough to reach it.

Again, my warnings were met with silence. All they did was glare. I figured it was best to inch myself towards my tree to get the dagger while they were still calm. I took short, slow steps to the tree
. They never took their eyes off me. I reached the stash spot and pulled it out, then held it up for them to see.

“I’m ready to die…if you are.”

Much like before, not a word. I had no idea what was going on but I was getting the impression that maybe they weren’t here to fight. I decided to get in the car with Mark and attempt to get my friends out of here. With the Demon Dagger in hand, I kept a very watchful eye on my visitors, as they did me, watching me creep over to Mark’s truck.

I
got in and told Mark to roll down his driver’s side window before instructing Shade to do the same with hers.

“Let’s go. You
two go first, slowly, and we’ll follow you out. If anything should happen, get on your phones, call your parents, or Sheriff Taylor and gun it as fast as you can. Cool?”

Shade nodded and the two rolled down the hill and we followed suit. The demons never made an attempt to leave, barely even flapping a wing
. It wasn’t until we reached the very bottom of my driveway that they all took off in unison, blanketing the sky again in a dark haze.

“Dude, that was freaky. What was that all about, Leo?” Scruffy exhaled like he’d been holding his breath for awhile.

“I haven’t the slightest idea. I’m not sure if that was a warning, an obvious spy session, or what.”

“What do you
personally
think that meant?”

“Honestly?” I glanced over at him.

“Yeah…honestly…of course.”

“Hell has been unleashed.
Christian has cracked open some doors…for me.”

“Are you saying Hell is on the loose?” He looked concerned.

“In more ways than one…War is about to be released.”

“So the w
ar with Christian has begun, huh?”

“Literally and figuratively…and War
, in this sense, is singular, but yet plural as well.”

Scruffy just seemed lost in what
I was trying to say, and rightfully so. I didn’t care to elaborate.

I think the visit from the demons was most certainly orchestrated by Christian, but it wasn’t intended to be a threat, it was more like a sign; a sign that the gates of Hell
are about to be swung wide open, just for me. Somewhere on Earth, War will be freed, but Christian would be a different encounter all together. I was starting to figure things out more. There was no direct path to Christian.

W
hen the time came to deal with War, I’d have to seek him out. When the moment arrives for Christian, I may have to go directly to Hell.

Chapter 16

PARENTS

When we got back to Scruffy’s house, we planned to just go inside his room and hang out for the rest of the night before everyone had to go home, but when we pulled into the driveway, Sheriff Taylor’s SUV was in Scruff’s driveway.

“W
hat do you think he’s doing at my house?” Scruffy asked me when he parked.

“I haven’t the slightest clue.”

Once outside of the vehicles, the girls wasted no time in asking the same question Scruffy did.

“I don’t know
, guys, how about we go in and find out?” I answered, a little annoyed.

We trekked inside the house and saw Sc
ruffy and Shade’s parents sitting around their dining room table with Sheriff Taylor at the head. All the lights in the room were on and you could tell they were having a very serious conversation.

“What is this…an intervention?” Scruffy joked.

“Ahh, come on in, kids, gather around the table. We have some things we want to discuss with you.” Benjamin smiled and signaled for us to gather around the table. Sheriff Taylor stood up.

“Leo, have a seat
,” Sheriff Taylor gestured for me to sit in his seat.

With a great deal of hesitance I did as he asked and sat down at the head of the table and stared at the parental figures around it.
I thought they may have known about the demons that visited us just a little while ago, but when I noticed they were all smiling, especially Anne, I was getting the impression that maybe this wasn’t going to be a negative discussion. I was still a little leery, nonetheless.

“I bet you
’re wondering why Sam is here, and what this is all about,” Benjamin continued.

“Yeah, we
are
a little curious,” Shade answered, a little perturbed as she surveyed her parents.

“We’re gathered here
, my dear, to discuss the well-being of our special friend…Leo,” Sheriff Taylor added.

Kind of offended by his statement, I retaliated, “I wouldn’t worry about my
well-being as much as you should be worrying about your own.”

“I don’t think you understand, Leo.” Anne grinned even wider.

“Well then…why doesn’t someone inform me?” I grew a little impatient.

“Leo, Amanda and I have been talking further about your situation. We’ve really enjoyed having you around here late
ly and are happy seeing you and our son having such a good time together.” Scruffy’s mother stood from her seat and walked over to her husband and grabbed his hand. “We’ve spoken with Sam and have been consulting with Richard and Anne about this, along with the Tipton household as well…”

“What in the wor
ld are you guys talking about?” Scruffy impatiently intervened.

“What your father is trying to say
, son, is that they want to make Leo your official brother…they want to adopt you, young man...demon,” Sam kidded.

I was taken back. I was in utter disbelief, but yet, completely honored. Despite the dangers of being so closely involved with me, especially since I might be dead soon and would never wish to inflict a l
oss of that magnitude on them, I wanted nothing more than to finally have a family all to my own.

Before I could respond, Shade spoke up
. “That’s really awesome, but why are you here, Mom and Dad?”

“
Being that the people in this room, plus the Tiptons, are the only ones in this town who know as much as we do about Leo, we wanted to get their pros and cons about what they thought about us doing this,” Amanda answered.

“Since Sam has been a family friend to us for a long
time, we thought it best to get his impression on this, too,” Benjamin added.

“And?” I turned in my chair to look at him.

“We have some legal stuff we’re going to have to do, like finding out how we can pull an eighteen-year-old out of thin air, given that there’s no history on Leo, and make him come to life on paper with some kind of a past. But, overall, if we can pull that off, grab an attorney after we get those details taken care of, I think it’s a fantastic idea. But it doesn’t matter what I, or anyone else thinks.” He looked back down at me.

“Richard…Anne, what do you think?” I looked to Shade’s parents.

“It would be nice knowing that Shade is going to someplace safe when she’s with you instead of just out in the woods somewhere,” Richard chimed up.

“We’d love for you to consider this, Leo
,” Anne included.

“The Tiptons?”

“They’re fine with it, too,” Sheriff Taylor responded.

“…and you two would like me to be a part of your life…forever? Even if that forever could mean a few days, a few months, a few years
…or if I’m lucky,
your
lifetime?” I shrugged.

Scruffy’s parents nodded in agreement and smiled again.

“We may not know the full extent of what surrounds you, Leo, but we know that we care about you,” Amanda added.

“Wow
,” I muttered and looked up at my smiling friends. Sandra and Shade both had tears welling up in their eyes. Scruffy just stood there and grinned.

“So c’mon
, man, what’cha think? You wanna be my bro…my
real
bro, or what?” Scruffy spoke excitedly, which caused some mild laughter to break out across the room.

Pausing only for a moment, I answered him, “I’d love to be your bro…bro. Let’s do it.”

Everyone around the room exhaled. Sheriff Taylor clapped his hands together one time in approval as Scruffy’s parents hugged each other. Shade and Sandra rushed over to me and hugged me as well before Scruff came over and shook my hand then gave me a bro-hug of his own.

“Honored to have you as my brother, Leo
,” he said as we hugged.

“Same here
, man. Thanks to you and your parents. I’m so honored by this,” I responded as we broke our hug.

Shade’s father came over and shook my hand and congratulated me. Anne gave me a warm hug and expressed how thrilled she was for me.

“Okay, everyone, I’m glad that Leo has accepted this situation, but we have one small problem.” Sheriff Taylor broke up the mild celebration.

“What’s the problem?” Scruffy asked.

“Like I said, there’s no paper trail on Leo…anywhere. Of course, for good reason, but as we know, those explanations can’t be used to explain where Leo has been over the past eighteen years. So, as it pertains to the legalities of the old U S of A, we need to invent some sort of history…human history for Mr. Cutler. Now that can be done in some ways that I can handle, but things like a birth certificate, or having a social security number, or identification is a whole other matter. We’re going to need some of that stuff just to get through the adoption process, legally at least, anyway. We can’t really prove that you exist,” Sheriff Taylor pointed out.

“So you’re saying that when it comes to adopting Leo, it will just have to a verbal understanding between us, not a legal one?” Scruffy questioned.

“I’m afraid so, son…unless you know someone that can breach some very highly secured computers within our government.” Sheriff Taylor huffed.

Right at the moment
, Shade and I made eye contact and smiled.

“What are you two grinning about?” Sandra
asked.

“If that
’s all the worries you have, Sheriff Taylor, then they aren’t concerns at all.” Shade kept smiling.

Sheriff Taylor tilted his head with a half-smirk
. “What are you talking about?”

“My boyfriend has the uncanny ability to hack computers rather easily. How do you think he missed s
o much school, doing what he has to do as a demon, but yet no one in the office ever batted an eye?”

“I don’t think I need to hear too much about that…I
’m still a police officer, guys.” Sam raised his hands up.

“Sweetheart, there
’s a difference between a school computer and a government computer,” Anne added.

“True…but I’m a demon…I do what I want, when I want, in the human world. A government computer is no problem for me.” I grinned sadistically, but in a playful way.

“Okay, do what you have to do, Leo, but I don’t want to know how you did it. I’ll take care of the rest,
within the law
, after that and we’ll get an attorney and get the adoption process started for you.”

“Consider it done.”

Everyone started to chat excitedly among themselves for a second when Sheriff Taylor quieted us once more.

“I would like to also add
, Leo, that to live on earth, among us humans, to fit in at least, it would be wise to learn a trade. Although I was being insincere at the time, I’m willing to keep my word to you about you helping me around the police station doing odd jobs. Would even be willing to help you pursue a career in police work, if you so choose. Someone with your talents would be of enormous help. I also might mention that Richard said you could also help him do a few things with his carpentry work if you like.”

I looked
at Shade’s father. “Always glad to have an extra helper around.”

“Sound good
, son?” Sheriff Taylor grinned.

“Sure…sounds just fine. If I’m going to live around humans, I’d better start blending in with them
, too.”

I didn’t feel the need to explain to Sheriff Taylor that anytime I needed money I just took it from places like bank vaults. Being that he was an officer of the law, I thought it best to leave that bit of information out.

“Anne, you said you had something
else you felt you needed to address?” Sheriff Taylor pointed to Shade’s mom.

“Yes. More
of a message for Leo. Maybe you could decipher what it means?” She glanced at me.

“What is it?”

“I’ve been having strange dreams lately, hun. Normally when that happens, I see images that are actually occurring, or hidden messages that need to be pieced together like a puzzle.”

“Tell me about it
,” I whispered under my breath. On the surface, it sounded like she was getting visions like I had been.

“What’s that?” Anne must have heard me whisper.

“Tell me about what you’re seeing?” I reworded.

“Well, in my dreams, I
’m standing on a mountain top somewhere on a planet I’ve never been to, looking down at the ground below. All of a sudden I feel an earthquake. I look down to see the ground begin to split and crack. Coming from within the crack I can see a pulsating red light streaming from inside the split, it looks like lava. I can smell sulphur and see dark smoke rising. The entire sky turns pitch black and I watch these foul beasts, like none I’ve ever seen before, fly and crawl out of the crack and scatter in every direction. Afterwards, I see a vision of your face and those eyes of yours, but they reflect back the image of fire. Then I wake up. This dream keeps coming to me. On the night of the strange earthquake, I woke up from that very dream right in the middle of that quake.”

I paused in silence briefly before asking her, “What do you think those dreams mean?”

“I was hoping you could clarify, Leo, but if you’re asking what I think, I believe the dreams are an omen. I think evil on a greater scale than ever before will be unleashed in our world, set free by the actions you’ve taken.” Anne looked more concerned.

“I don’t think that’s a mystery anymore, I take full responsibility for what has, and what may happen from here
on out. Christian is the last in line in my quest for Diccittidel, so in a sense, you could say that Hell
is
loose on earth. So there is validity in your dream,” I answered.

“Although I don’t disagree with that, and I feel that you
’re probably spot on with that assessment…” She turned her head in worry.

“What is it
, dear?” Richard reached over and caressed her shoulder with his hand.

“I th
ink it’s more than that. I believe Hell will open for something more than just dealing with Leo. I think there has been a series of events set into motion that have made this possible. Not only that, I have a bad feeling that you’re going to lose, Leo. I realize that no one in this room wants to hear this, but I feel that you’re going to die. That’s what I think the fire in your eyes in that dream means…the fires that burn in Hell will eventually consume you. This quest for Diccittidel…will be your end.” She bowed her head, looking ashamed.

I stared at her with
appreciation. Sheriff Taylor grimaced and folded his arms while my friends rallied behind me.

“Mom, you’ve always had these strange, psychic dreams. Pretty much all of them
do not come to fruition—”