Awaken (Divine Hunter Series) (7 page)

“Are you ok
ay?” He couldn’t help laughing.

“
Whoa! I may need coffee.” She held her hand to her head as if that would stop it spinning. “I’m okay, really. So, what do you say? It’s the least I can do after leaving you stranded.”

It
would
be much easier
. And they could both travel to work together in the morning. But he really shouldn’t, not after the way his mind had been working back at Carlito’s. He should be spending less time around her now not spending the night. “I, ah. . . I really should go.”

Lacy tilted her head to the side and smiled. “It’s just a sofa.”

He exhaled sharply. Yes. She was right. It
was
just a sofa. What was he thinking? “Okay. But only if you’re sure.”

Lacy linked her arm through his and pulled him back towards the house. “Of course I am.”

* * *

“M
ichael.”

A soft voice pulled him out of his slumber and caused him to bolt upright. He rubbed at his eyes and as he
did, he heard a sudden gasp.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to startle you.” That same voice said. He looked up to see Lacy with a plate in one hand and the other covering her eyes.

“What..?” He looked down. “Oh.
Shit!
Sorry.” He cursed again as he realized his boxers weren’t quite doing their job properly. He quickly pulled the comforter over his lap. He must have kicked it off in his confusion. “Panic over,” he assured Lacy, who looked through a little gap in her fingers before removing her hand. Michael smiled coyly. “Sorry about that.”

She shook her head quickly; cheeks lightly flushed and, thankfully, carried on as though nothing had happened. “I made breakfast; my lame attempt at an apology for last night.”

She handed him the plate of freshly cooked pancakes smothered with syrup. Her cheeks were still a little pink and she looked fresh like she’d been awake for hours. Her hair was tied back from her face and she was wearing gray colored trousers and a slim purple turtleneck top. She always presented herself well.

“Thanks. But you don’t have to
apologize.” He tucked into his pancakes. Man, they tasted good. He noticed her eyes flick down to his naked chest and she quickly blinked and turned away. He smiled.

“Yes. I really do. I have no idea what came over me.” She walked over to the ornately carved wooden fireplace and le
ant her arm on the top. “I hardly ever drink, but I think I drank more last night than I have in a whole year. I don’t do that. It was rude, and I’m sorry.” She paced across the room, towards the window this time, squeezing her fingers together. “I can’t begin to tell you how embarr −”

“Lacy,” he interrupted. She turned and looked at him. “Quit
apologizing. And would you keep still?” It was more an order than a request but she was about to wear a path in the carpet.

She plunked herself in the chair opposite him and sat quietly.

“I actually really enjoyed myself last night,” he told her and he meant it too. He was so used to being on his own−and if he wasn’t, he was hanging with mostly dead people−that he hadn’t realized he could still be sociable. Last night, for those few hours with Lacy, he hadn’t thought about what he was or what he was really doing here in Oakland. It was a welcome relief.

She raised an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Are you kidding me? Great food, great company. . . Why wouldn’t I?” He stuffed the last fork full of pancakes into his mouth after making sure he used it to scoop all the rest of the syrup off the plate first.

Lacy laughed a little. “Yeah. I enjoyed it too.” She smiled at him then, “Oh no,” she groaned, her face disappearing behind her hands. Michael looked down at himself again just to be sure. Yes, comforter still in place. “I told you about Simon, didn’t I?” She looked over at him, her face full of apology.

He couldn’t hold back his laugh. “Yeah, you did. And for the record. . . He’s a complete jerk!”

“O
kay, don’t forget your assignments need to be in by the end of this week.”

Lacy raised her voice to her hurried students as they left the class. She packed up her files from her
desk, relieved that she had a couple of hours before the next lecture. It was a little after one in the afternoon and her stomach grumbled loudly, reminding her that she’d hardly eaten a thing since leaving the house with Michael that morning. A piece of fruit wasn’t sufficient enough for a day’s work, especially with the day she’d had so far. But truthfully, she hadn’t even been able to think of food let alone eat any. Her stomach was just too sensitive today. Add to that the shame of her near emotional breakdown in front of a work colleague, she barely knew and her day could only get better.
Right?

She grabbed her purse and threw it over her shoulder, picked up a large stack of files and made her way to her car. As she walked through the double doors to the outside, she winced at the bright sunshine, squinting as a blast of pain shot through her temple; the effects of last night’s highly embarrassing, drunken stupor refusing to wane.
Why did I allow myself to drink that much?
She huffed. She’d actually enjoyed herself up until that point. Michael had turned out to be good company which was a pleasant surprise. She’d always thought he seemed a little serious, but she’d seen another side trying to creep through last night, even if she had sensed him holding it back.

And then there was this morning. She flushed as she recalled seeing him almost naked on her sofa. His body was
pale, but surprisingly well defined with tight muscle in all the right places. He clearly looked after himself, and she’d found it hard to look away from him as he fumbled for the blanket to cover himself.
Oh, God! I hope he hadn’t noticed me gawking at him.
She berated herself. She couldn’t have embarrassed herself any more than what she had last night. Thankfully, he’d been very polite and a lot more relaxed as they’d spoken about nothing but work in the car on the way to campus.

Out in the parking lot she reached her silver Ford Focus, clicked the lock to open the trunk, and placed the files inside finally freeing her arms from the week’s heavy work load. It was going to take her all night to get through that much work and she wasn’t feeling in the best of moods.

Just as she reached up to close the trunk she paused at the sound of a distressed female voice. Slowly peering around her car she saw Nina, the dark-haired girl who Michael had been concerned about, with the same young man whom she’d been with yesterday morning in the canteen. They were arguing about something.

“Just stay away from me!” Nina demanded as she began to walk ahead of the man.

Lacy watched discreetly, staying behind her car and hoping they wouldn’t notice her.

He caught up with Nina, grabbed her arm and swung her around so she was facing him. Lacy didn’t like how rough he was being.

“Let go of me!” Nina cried.

The young man’s expression changed to something Lacy couldn’t decipher: a look of anger? No. . . Hate. Lacy gasped and quickly put her hand to her mouth. She continued to watch as he bent down towards Nina so his face was inches away from hers and appeared to growl something at her through clenched teeth, his eyes were fierce but he spoke too quietly for Lacy to hear. She watched as Nina’s expression changed in an instant. Strangely, she seemed to relax and nodded at him without saying a word. He turned her around and began to walk with her; his hand gripped tightly around her arm. Her face was
blank, almost trance-like as they disappeared around the corner out of view.

What the hell. . . ?
She remembered what Michael had said to her yesterday. He’d been worried about the young woman’s change in personality and the fact that she was hanging around with that young man. She’d told him not to worry, that it was probably nothing. But after witnessing what she just had, she knew Michael was right to be worried. Okay. It’s not like she’d never seen young couples argue and fight before, but this was something more than that. That look in his eyes was frightening−so full of anger like nothing she’d ever seen before. For a moment she thought about following them, but stopped herself. She had to tell Michael straight away.

She reached Michael’s classroom moments later. The door was open. She was just about to knock when she saw him leaning on his desk, his fingers pinching the skin between his brows similar to how he’d been yesterday. “Oh, sorry. I don’t mean to disturb you,” she said, unsure if she should trouble him right now as he already looked strung out.

Michael looked up at her. “Hey. No. It’s fine. Come in. Just feeling a little tired I guess.” He smiled at her from his seat and she felt a little guilty for persuading him to sleep on her sofa last night.

She closed the door behind her and walked over to him knowing that his day was maybe just about to get a little worse. “There’s something I need to tell you.”

He looked at her, brows drawn tight, and she could tell he’d sensed that something was wrong. “What is it? You look a little pale.”

“I’ve just seen Nina, out by the parking lot. She seemed to be in some kind of altercation with that guy she was with yesterday, the one you were concerned about.” She explained how the boy was acting towards Nina and how he’d practically dragged her with him. “Michael. There was something wrong with his eyes. I know it’s probably nothing but. . . I’m really worried for her.”

Michael shot to his feet and began clearing his desk, shoving everything inside the top drawer and locking it. “Where was this? How long ago?”

“Five minutes at the most, over by the admin building. I came straight here.”

He threw his jacket on and shoved his keys into his pocket. “I need to find them. Where were they headed?”

“Towards the quad. I’ll go with you.”

They reached the quad and both stopped to scan through the busy lunchtime crowds. Even though there was a biting chill in the air, the sun was shining which meant half the campus was outside enjoying the sunshine while they grabbed some down time between classes. The quad and the green were both busy, making it harder to spot them.

There was no sign of either of them as Michael and Lacy rushed towards the student accommodation buildings. They’d rounded the corner, passed the admin building when they heard a loud scream up ahead. Lacy began to run towards John Blake House, the last building on the edge of the parking lot. “I think it came from over here,” she shouted back to Michael as she sprinted towards the main entrance, following the many other people that were now running over to see what had happened. Lacy became more anxious as she approached the crowd that had gathered in front of the building, preparing herself for what she feared she was going to see. She pushed through the crowd, Michael right behind her, and choked back a sob, bringing both her hands to her mouth.

* * *

M
ichael pushed passed Lacy only to have his suspicions confirmed as things came into view. He immediately pulled Lacy into his arms, holding her head against his chest as she sobbed. Mr Grace from the football coaching staff was attending to a body lying on the ground.

Nina.

She was lying on her stomach, her body splayed out and her eyes closed.

He looked on as Mr Grace placed his fingers to her
neck, feeling for a sign of life. “Someone call for an ambulance! She’s still alive,” he urged.

Lacy turned around, keeping hold of Michael’s
arm, which she squeezed as she looked on with tears rolling down her face. She let go and joined Mr Grace at Nina’s side. She placed her hand on the young woman’s head and began to stroke her hair gently. “Hold on Nina. Help will be here soon honey.” Her voice trembled.

Michael looked up at the dorm building and spotted the wide-open window from where Nina must have jumped. He scanned the crowd of
onlookers to see if he could see Jake, but there was no sign of him. This was too much of a coincidence. Jake was, in some way, connected to this and there was no doubt in Michael’s mind that he would find out how.

He looked back at Nina’s body lying limp on the asphalt and just then saw something unexpected.

What the. . . ?

A mist began to rise up out of her before hovering inches over her body like a cloud of black smoke. Michael’s eyes scanned the crowd and as he suspected, he was the only one who could see it. Being dead had its advantages. The smoke became darker, more visible, and began to transform. The cloud shifted at one end and a face began to emerge right above Nina’s head. Its face was distorted, like
nothing he’d seen before: demonic, with pained, twisted features that grew more solid with each passing second. All Michael could do was watch as the form began to lift higher.

Lacy and Mr Grace were still by Nina’s
side, thankfully unaware of what was in front of them.

Moving slowly, the non-corporeal being gradually pulled itself further away from her. It twisted around
to face Nina’s unconscious body and seemed to glance at her before drifting towards the crowd who were also oblivious to what was happening.

After all of this time trying to find something−anything that would lead to who or what was causing the students to jump to their deaths−there it was right in front of him. Now all he had to do was find out why. One thing was for sure: it hadn’t noticed him, which made things a whole lot easier. There was no way Michael was going to let it out of his sight.

While the creature
passed through the unknowing crowd, Michael approached Lacy and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Stay with her. I’ll be right back.” His voice was almost a whisper.

She nodded to him, tears still falling down her
cheeks, leaving watery streaks in her makeup.

Michael kept his distance as he followed the black form which had now floated around the corner of the dorm building and towards the football field. Before it reached the edge of the building it suddenly changed direction, sweeping down an alleyway and disappearing from sight. Michael rushed over. Keeping his back pressed up against the wall at the side of the alley, he leant his head and peered around an open metal gate which, he assumed, would normally be locked because he noticed a piece of chain which had been cut.

He watched patiently as the haze passed through the wall of a prefabricated utility shed that stood next to a couple of green dumpsters at the other end of the alley. Michael hung back waiting to see what would happen next.

In the year since Michael had returned to this world he had seen many things. Although the memories of what had happened to him were just flashes of jumbled images in his nightmares, he knew he wasn’t the only one to walk the earth in the afterlife (or whatever it was). He’d witnessed many things so was well aware that there were demons and spirits everywhere−hell, he’d encountered enough of them−but this
thing,
however, was new; to his eyes anyway.

He was about to give up the ghost (pun intended) and head down the alley
when the utility shed door began to open. He watched intently, not paying much attention to the sound of sirens that grew louder in the background, as a figure walked out from behind the door.

Son
of a bitch!

It was Jake. At least, it was his
body, but he very much doubted that Jake was aware of much in there. He was in a trancelike state as he paused and stared ahead. Then his whole body began to shake coming to an abrupt stop before his eyes closed and he stood stock-still. Then the young man’s head quickly turned and his eyes opened and fixed on Michael.

“Shit!” he gasped as he pulled back behind the wall.

There was no doubt that Jake was possessed by that thing−a demon of some sort, he guessed−which meant things just got a whole lot more complicated.

Michael quickly headed back towards the scene where Nina was now strapped to a gurney which was being lifted into the ambulance. The medics still worked on her once they were inside, placing needles in her arm, attaching wires to machines, and one placed an oxygen mask over her face. She was still gripping on to her life
, but only just, by the looks of things.

He walked up to
Lacy, who was standing watching in distress. He placed his hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him. “How’s she doing?” he asked.

“She’s holding on.” She sniffed as she wiped her tears away with the back of her hand. “I’m going to go with her to the hospital.”

“Sure. I’ll let the department know.”

Lacy’s lip curled as she attempted a smile. “Thank you,” she said as she climbed inside the ambulance and sat on the bench seat next to Nina. The doors were pushed closed and Michael inhaled deeply as he watched the ambulance pull away, its sirens blaring then fading off into the distance.

He had work to do, and it wasn’t going to be easy.

As the crowd of
onlookers dispersed, he reached into his jacket pocket and grabbed his cell phone while he headed back to his room. He flipped it open and scrolled through his small list of contacts until he reached the name he was looking for: Evo, His one and only friend. He hadn’t spoken to him in a while, but he sure as hell needed to now.