Lucifer (Brimstone Heat Book 1) (13 page)

“Well, it’s official. You’re family.” Phoenix had a goofy smile on his face. “I think it’s time for a celebration. BBQ and beers are back at the house.”

“You already had that stuff waiting for us at the house,” said Onyx.

“Well now, we have an even better reason to celebrate.” Phoenix punched his brother’s shoulder. “Getting kind of weak, aren’t you?” He laughed at the face Onyx made at him.

The good natured bickering continued between the brothers as they walked back toward the house, leaving Angie and Lucifer in the clearing. Lucifer let go of Angie’s hand. “You have some reading to do.”

“You think?”

Lucifer laughed as he picked her up and cradled her against his chest. He started walking toward his house.

“Put me down. I can walk, you know. Besides, I’m not exactly that light. I don’t want you to get hurt because you carried me.”

Lucifer kissed her cheek. “Maybe I like carrying you, have you thought of that? And as for the comment about you being too heavy for me to pick up, I think I may just spank you. There is nothing wrong with your weight. You are perfect for me. So, no more putting yourself down.”

Angie blushed. “Have I told you lately that I love you?” she asked.

“You have, but I like hearing it,” said Lucifer. “And I want to hear it for many, many years to come.”

“And you will, but you are still in trouble for your lack of communication skills.” Angie grinned.

“Damn,” muttered Lucifer as he rolled over and grabbed his cell phone off the nightstand. He glanced at the caller id and groaned. Tapping the screen, he put the cell phone up to his ear. “It’s three a.m. This had better be good.”

“I’m sorry to wake you, but you’re needed at the library. It’s on fire. The fire department has already been dispatched, and I’ve got two of the night deputies on site,” said Kevin Tumlinson, the overnight dispatcher at the police department.

Lucifer rubbed his face. “Tell me this is a really bad joke.”

“No joke, sir.”

“I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes.” Lucifer sighed as he ended the call.

“What’s wrong?” asked a very sleepy Angie.

“I have to go to a call. Go back to sleep.” He turned. Leaning down he kissed her cheek. “I’ll be back as quick as I can.”

Angie rolled over and captured his face with her hands. “Please be careful, and come home to me. I will be very upset with you if you don’t come home.” She pulled him down toward her and kissed his lips.

Desire streaked through Lucifer’s body. He deepened the kiss, causing Angie to moan with pleasure. Temptation was too great. He broke the kiss, knowing if he didn’t, he would never make it to the fire. Lucifer leaned his forehead against hers as he caressed her jaw and neck. “I have to go.”

“I know. I’m being selfish. I want to keep you here, all to myself,” she whispered.

“I promise I will be back. If you need me, just open your mental walls and I will hear you.” Lucifer tapped her head. “Get some rest.”

Angie nodded. With a sigh, she rolled onto her side and tucked her hands under her chin. “Be careful,” she whispered. “I love you.”

“And I you, my beautiful lifemate.” Lucifer pulled the cover up over Angie’s body. Reluctantly, he got out of bed, walked to the closet, and grabbed one of the uniforms hanging just inside the door. He dressed and quietly gathered his stuff. With a longing look at Angie, he sighed and left the house. For the first time in years, he regretted being sheriff because it was taking him away from the most important thing in his life.

Pulling out of the driveway, Lucifer wondered if he should go back inside and have Angie go with him. He had the feeling she was going to be furious with him and devastated about the destruction of the library. He hoped it wasn’t the entire building, but if they wanted him on scene then he doubted it was a small fire.

As he drove through town, the streets were quiet. Lucifer was about three blocks away from the library when he saw the night sky glowing with yellow and orange streaks. “So much for just a small fire,” he said as he waited for one of his officers to move the yellow and orange barricade at the end of the block.

Lucifer waved at the officer as he drove past the man. Glancing in his rearview mirror, Lucifer watched the officer put the barricade back in place. Even at this hour, the barricade was a standard procedure designed to keep the curious onlookers from getting to close and possibly getting hurt. Lucifer scanned the sides of the streets. A few people had come out of the surrounding buildings, but they were staying behind the yellow tape his officers had put up.

Lucifer parked about a block from the library, making sure the SUV was out of the way just in case another firetruck had to be called in to help with the fire. From the amount of flames shooting out of the roof, he was surprised a third firetruck wasn’t already there.

Lucifer stepped out of his vehicle and started walking toward the library. He shook his head. Even from this distance, the heat was intense. There was no way the building could be anything but a complete loss. Angie was going to be devastated.

“Sheriff, I wasn’t expecting you,” said Sheriff’s Deputy Wade Martinez as he walked over to Lucifer.

“Tumlinson called me a few minutes ago. How bad is it?”

“The entire building is engulfed. As far as we know, it was empty. Unfortunately, we won’t know until we can sift through the debris,” said the deputy.

“Is my brother here?” Lucifer glanced at the deputy before turning his attention back to the fire.

“He’s over there between the two fire engines.” Martinez gestured with his hand.

“I see him.” Lucifer nodded at the deputy. He briskly walked toward Phoenix, who just happened to be his brother and the fire chief. Before he was even halfway there, he heard his brother’s booming voice.

“Just do what you can to contain it. I don’t want any of the other buildings catching on fire. Do you understand? Not even one scorch mark.” Phoenix’s words were extremely clear over the roar of the fire and all the other sounds going on around him.

“The building can’t be saved?” Lucifer asked as he walked up to his brother.

Phoenix looked at him. “It’s a total loss. I’ve already put in a call to the arson investigators.”

Lucifer stared at his brother. “Someone set the fire?”

“The building is old, but it went up too quick, and the fire is burning too hot.” Phoenix shook his head. “Is Angie here?”

Lucifer shook his head. “I left her home, sleeping. She’s more tired from the claiming than she will admit. She didn’t need to see this. It’s going to be bad enough when she does find out.”

“I don’t envy you,” said Phoenix. “She is going to be extremely angry.”

“Sheriff Fitch.” The radio on Lucifer’s shoulder crackled.

“Fitch here,” he said into the mike.

“Sheriff, we need you at the Sheriff’s Department immediately.”

Lucifer frowned. “Trent, where is Tumlinson.”

There was a pause and then Deputy Trent Larkson came back on the radio. “That’s why we need you at headquarters.”

“I’m on my way.” Lucifer looked at his brother. “If you find out anything, let me know.”

“Will do,” said Phoenix.

Lucifer nodded and left the fire.

*****

The thick smell of blood hit Lucifer as soon as he opened the door to the sheriff’s department. He followed the scent to the back of the building. “What’s going on?” he asked the men standing in the hallway outside the dispatch room.

Trent Larkson stepped forward. “When I came on duty, I made a fresh pot of coffee, and like I always do, I went to ask Kevin if he wanted a fresh cup.”

Lucifer noticed the deputy was pale and shaking. “And?” he asked, even though from the smell of blood, he had a good idea what Trent Larkson had found.

The man swallowed. “I just went in and…and…” He took a deep breath and let it out. “I found Kevin. He was dead.”

Another officer stepped forward. “It’s bad. I’ve never seen anything like this. Blood and body parts are everywhere. It’s almost as if an animal ripped him apart, but there are no scents other than Kevin’s.”

Lucifer walked to the dispatch door and opened it. The stench of blood rushed at him. The smell was nauseating. He looked around the room. The deputy’s description didn’t adequately describe the scene. Lucifer frowned. “This isn’t fresh.” He closed the door and looked at the deputies in the hallway.

“Who could have done that to Kevin?” asked Trent. “What kind of human does that to another human?”

“Damn!” Lucifer ran his hand through his hair. Not even thirty minutes ago, Kevin Tumlinson called him, but there was no way it could have been Kevin. He was already dead.

Lucifer’s cell phone rang. He pulled it out of his pocket, and glanced at the caller id as he answered it. “What is it Phoenix?”

“A call just came in about another fire. It’s your house.”

“Angie!” roared Lucifer.

Lucifer!

Angie, what’s wrong?
Lucifer felt her fear. He saw image of the smoke and flames surrounding her. And then it was all gone. Their connection was broken.

Lucifer’s eyes turned black. He didn’t care who was standing around him. His only thoughts were that he had to get to Angie. He took several steps down the hallway. By the fourth step he disappeared.

The deputies stared at the empty space. Some looked nervously at each other. They all realized what they had seen wasn’t humanly possible. Not even a shifter could do what the sheriff had done.

*****

Angie wasn’t sure what woke her. Maybe it was the fact the room was extremely hot, or maybe it was because smoke filled the room and she couldn’t breathe.

She kicked off the covers but the room only seemed hotter, and it felt as if a weight was on her chest. Angie rolled onto her side. She tried taking a deep breath. Instead of getting air into her lungs, she started coughing which made it even more difficult to breathe.

Angie crawled off the bed and dropped to the floor. The air was clearer, and as soon as the coughing spell subsided, she took a deep breath. She winced in pain. Her throat was raw and hurt. She wasn’t able to fill her lungs, but she was able to get some air into her oxygen starved lungs.

A strange orange glow filled the room. Glancing up at the nearest window, she saw flames dancing on the other side of the glass. It took a few seconds longer than normal for her brain to register exactly what was happening. Angie blinked and rubbed her eyes, but it only made them burn worse than they were before she rubbed them.

The sound of her pounding heart roared in her ears.

The house was on fire.

She had to get out.

Panic crept around the edges of her brain.

Angie shoved it aside. She crawled out of the bedroom and into the living room. Flames pushed their way under the front door, and the smoke grew thicker by the second. The heat licked at her skin.

Slowly, she crawled toward the kitchen. The backdoor just off the laundry room was her only chance. The smoke burned her lungs. She started coughing. The only thing she could do was drop her head completely to the floor, hoping for enough oxygen to make it out of the house.

The thought of dying in a fire terrified her.

She wanted to live. She had to live.

Lucifer!
She screamed in her head as all her mental walls came crashing down. All her love for him and her fear of dying in the fire went out to him. Angie forced her body to move.

Angie was halfway across the kitchen when something or someone grabbed her arm and lifted her off the floor. Through the thick smoke she could only see a dark outline. She struggled to free her arm. The lack of oxygen caused a coughing spell to overtake her. She felt a sharp sting not far from where the person or thing was holding her in a death grip.

Angie twisted and tried kicking the dark shadow. Her legs refused to cooperate. She tried moving her free arm, but hung at her side. Stars danced at the edges of her vision. She tried to scream but nothing came out of her mouth. Her vision grew smaller as the black filled the edges until her mind and body completely shut down.

*****

Lucifer appeared in front of the house he shared with Angie and stared at it in disbelief. It was totally engulfed in flames. “Angie!” He ran up the steps and into the burning building without a thought about his own safety.

The flames caressed and licked his uniform, taking bites out of it in some places and leaving black scorch marks in others. He ignored the heat and the pain. It was nothing compared to the holes in his heart caused by the loss of his connection with Angie. The mere thought of her lying somewhere hurt ate away at his sanity.

Finding Angie was the only thing that mattered to him.

Lucifer searched every room in the house, but he didn’t find Angie or her body anywhere. He retreated from the house seconds before the roof collapsed, and stared into the darkness. Throwing his head back, his angry roar rippled through the night.

His brothers suddenly appeared beside him.

“Angie’s not in there, is she?” asked Phoenix. He ran his hand through his red hair as he looked from Lucifer to the fire and then back at his brother.

Lucifer shook his head. “No,” he said. “I don’t know where she is, but she wasn’t in the house. Our connection is missing.”

Diablo put his hand on Lucifer’s shoulder. “It doesn’t mean she is dead. She is probably just unconscious.”

“That’s what I keep telling myself.” Lucifer looked at his brother. “But it also means she is vulnerable. She can’t defend herself is she is unconscious.” He stared at his burning house, as his hands curled into fists. The urge to destroy something coursed through his body. “Angie wasn’t in the house and there was no trace of who took her.” Lucifer looked at his brothers. “The fire at the library was a setup to keep everyone busy. Kevin Tumlinson, the night dispatcher was murdered at the sheriff’s office. He has been dead for hours. The call I received from him wasn’t actually from him.”

“It was Ted Whitley and Calista. We both know it.” Phoenix looked at his brothers. “We just have to figure out where they took Angie.”

“Maybe Angie’s demon can help.” Onyx pointed to the demon standing a few feet away from the brothers.

Lucifer’s eyes narrowed. He walked over to the demon. “Do you know where Angie is?”