Page 25 of Another Damned Storm (Another Damned #3)

NEVER

I arrived right where I wanted to be, inside Matt and Angie’s little apartment in his compound. The only problem was no one was there.

“ Is that a problem?” I whispered to myself.

It would have been the perfect opportunity to snoop and learn a little more about my middle-aged brother and his daughter, if it weren’t for the rolling thunder that reminded me of precisely why I’d come back when I had.

I ducked out into the hallway, peeking in open doors searching for a familiar face. Not that Matty’s—Matt’s rugged features were all that familiar anymore. Or yet, depending on how I looked at it.

The corridor led to the main gathering area inside. While there were plenty of people talking quietly at tables as they cast worried glances up toward the skylights, I still saw no sign of my brother.

“Aunt Never?” I whirled to find Angie standing with her hands on her hips in a pose I knew all too well. It was a mirror image of the big sister boss pose I’d used on Matt about a million times growing up. “When did you get back? ”

“I’ve been back for a bit. Just took a little break,” I lied. “I’m actually looking for your dad.” Yeah, it was still weird as shit saying that out loud. “Have you seen him?”

Her eyes narrowed. “He’s probably where he always is when there’s a storm.”

I arched a brow. Did she really expect me to know where that was?

“Outside,” she said, with a roll of her eyes. “At the gate. Maybe up on the roof. He goes wherever he’s needed,” she added proudly.

That pride softened some of the attitude pouring off her. “What would be your best guess?” I could flash to any of those spots, but I had a feeling that might not go over so well with the people in this camp.

She pursed her lips. “I would check the gate first.”

“Thanks.” I headed for the double metal doors at the far end of the room only to find her trailing behind me. “Does your dad normally let you go outside during a storm?”

She gave me a nod with the fakest smile I’d seen in a long time. “Of course.”

Wow. Was I that bad of a liar when I was her age?

“I call bullshit.”

She looked startled for a second before she pressed her lips together to stifle a laugh. “Okay, maybe he doesn’t, but I’ll be safe with you.”

No, she wouldn’t. Even before the whole being imbued with the power of a god thing, I was a magnet for all kinds of trouble.

I shook my head. “Not this time.”

“Seriously? I thought you were supposed to be the cool one.”

“She is,” Matt said flatly, coming up to stand beside me. “Much, much cooler than your boring old dad.”

Guilt twisted Angie’s young features. “I didn’t mean it that way. ”

“Oh?” His brow inched up. “How did you mean it?”

She chewed on her bottom lip and shot me a pleading look.

“I think she just meant that she expected me to be more of a rule breaker,” I offered.

A playful smile took years off his face, giving me a glimpse of the teenager I’d known. “The way I remember it?—”

I held up a hand to cut him off. “I only broke rules that needed breaking.”

“Yeah.” He chuckled. “We’ll go with that.”

Sure, we might have hopped the fence at the local pool to go swimming at night since we couldn’t afford to go during the day, but it wasn’t like we were hurting anyone.

Angie looked between us. “She was headed outside to look for you. I just offered to show her the way.”

I reached up and scratched a non-existent itch on my neck. “Yep. She was trying to be helpful,” I lied.

“Uh huh,” Matt muttered.

“I take it everything is okay outside?” I asked.

He shrugged noncommittally. “It’s nothing my crew can’t handle. Plus, I had a feeling I might be needed in here.”

“You mean your spies told you Aunt Never was wandering around unchaperoned,” Angie fired back, crossing her arms over her chest.

I was a little surprised when he didn’t argue with her.

“I am an outsider,” I pointed out. It made sense that he would have people looking out for others who might not belong, but the realization still stung.

“You’re my aunt. That makes you family,” Angie countered.

Family, yes. And still something of an unknown quantity.

Matt looked like he was thinking the same thing by the way he was studying me. “I didn’t see you come through the gate.”

Which meant he’d been waiting for me to come back. “There’s some things we need to discuss, if you have time. ”

A few minutes later, we were back up in his apartment, just the two of us. He’d given Angie free run to do whatever she wanted, within reason, as long as she stayed in the building and out of the apartment.

“You want something to drink?” He opened the ancient refrigerator in the kitchenette. I was pretty sure the thing was older than the two of us combined.

“I’m good with water. Unless you’ve got a cold beer in there,” I added, mostly as a joke. With the state of the city, I definitely wasn’t expecting him to pull out two glass bottles and set them on the counter.

“It’s cold and it’s beer, but I can’t promise it’s any good.” He grabbed a bottle opener out of a drawer and popped the top on one before handing it to me.

I sniffed it first, then took a hesitant sip. It was hoppy as shit, with a sharp aftertaste, but I wasn’t about to complain. “Tastes fine.”

He laughed as he popped the cap off his. “No, it doesn’t, but it does take the edge off after a tough day.”

“Where do you get it?” It had a printed label, so it wasn’t homemade, but I didn’t recognize the brand or logo.

He took a swig before leaning back against the counter. “Myrtle Beach. We make a supply run up the coast twice a week.”

I nodded. “They’re not seeing much of this demon storm action, are they?” From what Emerson had said, the attacks were still local, but Myrtle Beach was only a two-hour drive.

“Not as far as I know.”

“And no one has sent in the cavalry yet? I mean, for as long as this has been going on, how is it the state or federal government hasn’t stepped in?”

“I’m pretty sure the universe is working against us on that one. We’ve made hundreds of calls, sent countless letters and emails.” He shook his head. “Nada. We even sent out a couple of teams to try to get some help and we never heard from them again.”

That didn’t sound like the universe to me. It sounded like the fates were playing games.

A spike of admiration bled through my link with Hook, followed by a flurry of other emotions I couldn’t quite pin down. I didn’t get the sense that he was in trouble, but I doubted he was chilling on Lily’s couch having a beer.

“You okay?” Matt asked.

I blinked back at him. “Yeah. Why, what’s up?”

“You got a strange look on your face.”

I definitely needed to work on that. Schooling my expression when I was trying to sort through Hook’s emotions in my head wasn’t exactly the easiest thing in the world.

“Just working through some news,” I lied, but it made for a decent enough segue.

“That’s actually part of what I wanted to talk to you about.

Hook and I met up with Lily, which I’m assuming you already know.

” He nodded and took another long pull of his beer.

“Well, we also talked to Emerson. He is?—”

“One of the Brethren. I know who he is.”

“Yeah, well, it turns out he and his demon brothers have been sitting on some juicy information. You know about our demon blood, but I just found out the demon who helped Wendy way back in the day was one of them. A guy named Lapalme.”

He was quiet for a long moment. “That’s… interesting, I guess. But I don’t see how it changes anything.”

In a way, it didn’t. Demon blood was demon blood, damning us all to the Alius when the time came. Unless I could convince him to leave. “Lapalme is a primordial demon. Old. Powerful.”

He shrugged. “I get it. How does that help us?”

“We believe he’s working with a god to create these storms and summon the demons. We don’t know why, yet. Other than the god he might be working with is trying to find a foothold in this world again. Apparently, he was a big deal about a million years ago, but we’ve all forgotten about him since.”

His upper lip lifted in a sneer. “Thrain.”

“You’ve heard of him?” That wasn’t good.

He brought the bottle up but lowered it again without drinking. “Most of the churches in the area were gutted or burned to the ground a few years ago, either by storms or looters. But there are two that I know of that haven’t been touched. Any guesses which god they worship?”

Thrain. It made sense when I thought about it. What better way to build a following than to terrorize everyone, while making your own houses of worship the only safe havens in the city.

“Any idea how big his congregations are?”

“Not a fucking clue.”

“Language,” I said automatically.

He barked out a laugh. “You do realize that’s my line these days?”

The nostalgia lasted only until the hurt set back in. “How could I have missed so much? It was literally a matter of months for me.”

He shrugged and held up his bottle. “I’m telling you, it’s the universe. We must have done something horrible in a past life to end up like this.”

It probably wasn’t the best thing to toast to, but I raised my bottle to his and clinked anyway. Then I drank down half the bitter brew. That bitterness was fitting considering what I was about to say. “It wasn’t you.”

“What wasn’t?”

All at once, I couldn’t drag my gaze up from the bottle in my hands. “Pissing off the universe. It wasn’t you; it was me. ”

“Alright, you’ve said a few things since you got back that have made me wonder if I’m going crazy, or if you are, but now you’ve got me scratching my head. What are you talking about?”

I pulled in a breath and forced myself to look at him. “I’m the reason this is all happening. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.”

His lips twitched like he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to smile or frown. “Are you conjuring the storms?”

“No.”

“How about summoning the demons?”

I scoffed. “Hell no.”

He ignored my not so clever pun. “So, how does any of this come back on you?”

He made a good point. No, a great fucking point.

“Supposedly, since Hook pulled me back from the Alius the way he did, I now bear some infamous mark. The mark of defiance.” I waggled my fingers like it was some ooky, spooky thing.

It sounded kind of ridiculous, but deep down, I wasn’t feeling quite so cavalier about it.

I was feeling something, though. A familiar whisper along my nerve endings that told me Hook was nearby.

Matt set his empty bottle in the sink and grabbed another beer out of the fridge.

“I get it. He basically brought you back from the dead.” He popped the top.

“But it’s not like you're a zombie, Never. You’re not out there killing people for their brains, and I seriously doubt you’re the first person to be raised from the dead. ”

“I’m not.” Another excellent point. “But there is the whole demon blood issue, and the fact that Hook had to share his power with me to bring me back.” I put my bottle to my lips and tipped it back, giving him time to process what I’d said.

“Hmm.” He watched me thoughtfully until his brow shot up. “That’s why your eyes glowed yesterday? Because you’re rocking some kind of godly powers? ”

“I always knew you were smart.” I tipped my bottle toward him.

The whole situation was weird as shit, but it was also effortless in a way. Twenty-six years later, and we were still just us. Never and Matty.

Matt.

It helped that he was taking the revelation as well as he was. Way better than I would have in his shoes.

“You know what I think?” he asked, pausing long enough for me to raise my eyebrows in question. “You’re dangerous.”

A sliver of alarm wriggled down my spine. That was the last thing I wanted my brother to think. I started to shake my head, but then I remembered how I felt in the Alius, with all that power coursing through me. “Not to you. Or Angie,” I assured him. Nothing in the world would make me hurt them.

“But you must pose a threat to someone. Why else would the universe go to all this trouble?” he asked, making air quotes around the word “universe.”

“I’ve wondered the same thing myself,” Hook said.

My response was to turn and smile at the sound of his voice. Matt’s reaction involved snatching a knife from the block on the counter.

“Easy,” I said, holding my hands up as best I could while clutching what was left of my beer in one.

Matt glared but eventually lowered the blade. “I take it this is part of those powers we were just discussing?”

I nodded. “Pretty cool, right?”

“For you. A little worrisome for me.”

I turned, angling myself between my brother and my pirate. “How’s Lily?”

Hook shrugged, letting more emotion filter through the connection than he showed in his expression. “The storm was pretty powerful on their side. A couple of demons attacked a woman and a child.”

My heart stilled. “Are they okay?”

“The child is traumatized, but I expect he’ll be okay in time.”

“What about the woman?” Matt asked, anger clinging to the edge in his voice.

Hook gave him the smallest shake of his head.

His nostrils flared, but instead of flying off into a rant like the younger version of him would have, he closed his eyes and tipped his head back.

After a couple of deep breaths, he met my gaze.

“This is what I was saying. There’s no way this is your fault.

We both know you wouldn’t let something like this happen if you could help it. ”

But I could help it. If the fates were to be believed, all I had to do was slink back to the Alius and this nightmare would end.