Earth Angel (The Kamlyn Paige Novels) (18 page)

“The fire smells great,” I commented so she
wouldn’t think anything of my frustrating huffing.

“Mhm,” she responded with little interest before
turning her focus back to Sari. “So tell me, how did someone as handsome as you
become a reporter in this town?”

“Well,” I jumped in. “I started at the paper first
and when Sari and I started dating a while back, I brought him in to work
alongside me.”

To make sure she understood what I was clarifying,
I put my hand on Sari’s thigh and rubbed affectionately as I smiled back at
Adena. Her face fell with obvious disappointment and boredom, returning to its
previously irritated form.

“Let’s get this interview over with then,” she
said, standing up with less flair than she had before. “I’ll get my sisters.”

Sari looked over at me and chuckled.

“Shut up,” I demanded as I removed my hand from his
leg.

The other two sisters we hadn’t met were a
combination of their younger innocent sister and their aggressive older sister.
They walked over to us with smiles on their faces while Adena scowled in the
corner next to a cowering Demi.

“I’m Aura and I’m so freakin’ excited to do this
interview with you,” exclaimed the dark haired one as she shook my hand with
force. “No one in town ever wants anything to do with us.”

The girl’s face was parted into a ridiculously wide
smile. Her bright blue eyes shone as she moved down the line to shake hands with
Sari as well. With the perfection of a ballerina, she twirled around, sending
her long, black hair and flowing nightgown around as she made her way to the
chair across from us.

“Hi, I’m Brook,” the last sister said while
shooting us a winning smile fit for a spokeswoman.

Her face was beautifully tanned, as if she spent
the majority of her time lounging on the beach despite the freezing weather
outside. Her sun-bleached blonde hair fell to her waist in meticulously
spiraled mermaid curls. Her pale blue eyes were complimented exactly by the
almost sheer nightie she was wearing.

Seeing all four of these women in one room was
enough to make any girl feel insecure. Each one had their own special type of
beauty that surpassed anything I’d ever seen. I tried my best to concentrate on
questions I could ask them to back my reporter story while learning a little
about them, but it was hard to focus while all four of the witches stared at
me; Adena’s eyes burning a hole through me, Demi’s shyness consuming me, Aura’s
extremeness overpowering me, and Brook’s bubbly personality filling me. It was
a lot to take in at once.

“Alright, first question,” Sari jumped in. “How old
are each of you?”

The women seemed surprised with the simplicity of
this question and they took turns exchanging glances with each other.

“Adena’s the oldest,” Aura couldn’t help containing
herself.

I could tell she was going to be doing most of the
talking. Adena shot her a malicious glance, but it didn’t deter Aura from
continuing.

“She’s twenty-eight. Brook’s next in line,
twenty-six. I’m twenty-three and Demi is the baby. She’s only nineteen.”

“Shouldn’t one of you be writing this down,” Adena
questioned, clearly implying she had no confidence in our ability to remember
such simple information.

“Oh, right…” I muttered as I felt through all of my
coat pockets.

Saving me from embarrassment and possibly being
figured out, Sari handed me a pen and a notepad he seemed to have retrieved
from thin air.

“Thanks,” I smiled as I took the items from his
hand. “Now, where are you from? And where have you lived besides here?”

The four sisters looked at each other as if communicating
through eye site how to answer the question.

“All of us were born in England actually, except
for Demi,” Brook said in her perfect, lucid voice. “Our mother moved us here
when our father died.”

Sari and I looked at each other in confusion.

“If your father died, who is Demi’s father then?” I
asked the obvious question.

The sisters looked at each other and sighed, as if
they had not thought us to be clever enough to piece that part together.

“Our mother had a passionate love affair after we
moved here, but the man died as well,” Aura blurted out before the sisters had
a chance to discuss their response with their secret glances.

Adena reached over to her overly excited sister and
pinched her on the back of the arm. Aura whimpered for a moment before hardening
her face and staring straight ahead.

“Alright, that’s really all we can tell you
tonight. It’s getting late.” Adena said coolly, already showing us to the door
before we could protest.

“Is there a time we can reschedule?” I started to
say, but the door was slammed in my face before I could finish the thought.

The wind was blowing fiercely, freezing me to the
bone as we stood on the front porch in the dark. Sari put his arm around my
shoulder to keep me warm as we walked back to the truck. All that was left to
figure out was what to do about the sisters. There was no doubt in my mind what
these women were and that they needed to be stopped.

“I think I’m drowning,
asphyxiated. I wanna break this spell that you’ve created…You’ll be the death
of me.”

 – Muse

“Told you we’d be back,” Sari smiled.

Adena stared at us as though she had just been
cleverly outwitted by a toddler. She didn’t say a word. She just stepped aside,
letting me and Sari into her home once more for questioning. During our long
conversation last night after returning to the truck, Sari and I decided we
couldn’t really do anything about these witches without seeing proof of them
doing something wrong. It was the right thing to do.

“Let me take your coats for you,” Adena said in an
oddly pleasant voice and held out her hands.

Not wanting to rock the boat before getting a
chance to speak with the family again, we handed over our jackets to her.

“You know where the living room is. Help yourselves
to some tea there on the table and I’ll get my sisters.”

Adena’s voice was almost unnatural. It was calm and
collected, which seemed uncharacteristic of her from what we saw the night
before. I thought she was going to be angry with us for returning so soon and
especially together. I knew there was nothing more she’d like than to get Sari
alone. As long as I was around, there was no way in hell that was going to
happen, though, and she knew that. Sari and I sat down on the loveseat again
and waited for the sisters to grace us with their presence. We sipped on the
hot tea left out on the coffee table to pass the time. I stole a glance at
Sari, getting lost in the curves of his plump lips as he closed his eyes. I let
mine close as well.

*

“Mommy?”

“Yes, sweetheart,” I spoke in a whisper as I lay in
bed and held Danny in my arms.

It used to be a bedtime tradition of ours. I would
tell him fairytales until he fell asleep, sometimes bringing me with him into
slumberland.

“When is she going to leave me alone?” His voice
was tired and full of sadness.

“Who, honey?”

“The lady…she’s always calling my name…it makes me
so sleepy,” Danny heaved a huge yawn as he wrapped his arms around me tightly.

I knew who he was talking about and it sent fiery
rage through my entire body. Lamia was still using his soul to reverse her
aging and it wasn’t going to stop until I put an end to her.

“Don’t worry. Mommy’s going to find her and end
it,” my voice waivered as I thought about my son being held back from his rest;
his soul slowly being sucked dry until there was nothing left. There was no way
I was going let that happen. I was furious with myself for letting it go on as
long as it had.

“Promise?” he asked as he drifted to sleep.

Maybe if I stayed with him a little while longer,
he could have a few moments of peace. Maybe if I stayed with him forever we
could be at peace together and no one would ever harm him again.

“I promise, baby.”

Off in the distance I heard a high pitched shriek,
unable to make out what it was saying. The sound was too far away to pierce my
ears, but still made me shudder, as if nails were being drug across a
chalkboard. I felt Danny’s grip loosen on my arm until I couldn’t feel him at
all. When I opened my eyes he was gone, called back to Lamia to give another
piece of himself to her for her youthful benefit. I let out a wild cry filled
with anger and grief. It slowly brought me back to reality, where my cry could
still be heard.

*

“Well, looks like little miss reporter is up now,”
Adena said.

I struggled to move my arms and legs, but they
wouldn’t budge. My hands were tied together behind my back, where there was a
large wooden beam. Where was Sari? How could this have happened with him by my
side? Why wasn’t he getting us out of this somehow? We shouldn’t have drank
their damn tea. As if reading my mind, Adena snapped her fingers, producing a
small flame to flicker from her fingertip.

“Looking for this?” she asked as she pointed into
the darkness.

Tied to an old wooden chair was Sari with all but
one hand restrained. The one free hand was holding a gun, pointed at his own
head. My eyes shifted back and forth as I tried to understand what was
happening. I didn’t know what these women wanted, but it was clear they had
figured out who I really was, without figuring Sari out. He was an angel, not a
regular human. There was no killing him in any mortal way. He’d just come back
in the end.

“Alright, not the response we were looking for…”
Adena sighed. “How about this?”

She kicked the chair hard, signaling Sari to do
something. Echoing through the dark, damp holding room that I could only assume
was their basement was a terrifying small click. Sari had cocked the gun and
was ready to shoot. I kept myself calm as I thought about what to say in
response. I knew Sari would be okay. What I didn’t know was how long it would
take for him to get back to me. In the meantime, I would be at the mercy of
these twisted sisters.

“Now here is a bit of knowledge I’m sure you’ll be
tickled to learn,” Adena started with a malicious smile. “If your precious
little angel boyfriend here kills himself, he won’t be coming back. Apparently
suicide is unforgiveable to these not so immortal immortals. He wouldn’t be an
angel anymore…just a regular old dead man.”

My jaw dropped before I could stop it. Could this
be true or just a rouse? I looked at Sari for conformation as he lifted his
defeated gaze to mine. He nodded his head once and looked back down at the
floor.

“How did you know who we were?” I asked, not quite
thinking clearly.

“Let’s see…not many reporters carry guns in their
coat pockets for starters,” she said while running her hands through her hair,
engulfing her curls in bright red flames.

She blew out the small fire attached to her finger
and looked back at me, locking her eyes onto mine. With the light from the
roaring flames atop her head, I spotted the other sisters standing close by.
Aura and Brook stood next to each other facing me with their arms folded, ready
to take any order Adena barked at them. My eyes shifted back and forth, looking
for the youngest sister but I couldn’t find her. Another soft click from behind
my head told me where she was. Now it made sense how they got Sari to hold the
gun to his own head. If he didn’t, they were going to kill me instead.

“Brook…go ahead,” Adena smirked.

As soon as the beautiful blonde closed her baby
blue eyes, water started to drip from the ceiling. Quickly, it turned from a
small drizzle to a rain storm. The licks of fire in Adena’s hair fizzled out,
causing steam to rise from all around her.

“This basement is water-tight. We’re going to let
it fill and then lover-boy here can watch you drown before he has to…well you
know.” Adena gave a little giggle as she walked around to the back of Sari’s
chair and rested her hands on his shoulders. “It’s such a shame you were out to
kill us, Sari. You and I could have
really
gotten along.”

Adena grabbed a handful of Sari’s hair and tugged
his head backwards. With great force, she smashed her lips against his. Sari
struggled under her mouth, trying to break free from her grip with useless
effort. I was hoping Sari had enough sense not to fire the gun, worried he
would miss Adena completely and end up shooting himself. I had so much rage
inside me. I could have killed her with my bare hands if they had not been tied
behind my back.

The water came up to my shins and was quickly
rising. My mind was racing, trying to figure a way out of this situation. I
couldn’t think. My eyes were focused on Adena and Sari. As soon as she pulled
herself away from him, he turned his head to wipe his lips across the shoulder
of his white soaked t-shirt. Red lipstick stained the collar.

“Brook? Aura?” Adena called, turning her glance to
her obedient sisters. “Could you go upstairs and get our bags ready? I have a
feeling we will be leaving quite soon.”

The two women turned on their heels and climbed the
stairs to normalcy. Up there it was just another day to everyone else. The sun
was probably shining, people were walking by unaware of what was going on below
this seemingly quaint house. I looked at Sari, sure that it would be the last
time I would see him. His large brown eyes glanced up at me through his thick
lashes while he mouthed something softly.

“Goodbye.”

A deafening shot rang through the basement and
echoed all around me while I clenched my eyes tightly shut. My heart was
pounding as the panic rose inside me. My chest tightened as if someone were
sitting on it. I barely noticed the ropes holding my hands and feet falling to
the floor as they were loosened. I forced my eyes open to face what had
happened.