Darkness Falls (Darkness Series Book 3) (28 page)

“It’s not enough. You must die to cleanse your souls.” He sounded like a madman.

I heard her before she burst through the door. I should have known better then to leave her with the text I did—I should’ve known better. When she ran into the living room, out of breath and in a panic, she had no time to process what was happening. Her eyes widened in horror and she came to a sudden stop, breathing hard.

Avery raised his gun and pointed it at her with a laugh. “Oh, sweet Lucifer, this day just keeps getting better.”

One moment she was standing a few yards from me, the next she was wrapped in Avery’s arms with a gun to her head.

“Seth,” she whispered as her terrified expression locked onto mine.

I held up my hands. Panic coursed through my veins, but I knew I had to keep my cool.

“Mmm, McPhee.” Avery buried his nose into her hair. “I’ve watched you for a year, watched your most intimate moments. Saw you strip naked, watched you fuck Connors like the dirty girl you are, and all the while I never laid a hand on you. Because you were my brother’s.” He laughed as his hand cupped her breast. I knew I needed to stay in control. “Did you know I plotted your death more times than I could count? Did you know that it was Adler, Jims’s dog, barking outside those glass doors when you were at my house?” Emily wiggled in his hold, but Avery had a good grip. “I used to lie down next to you in bed, when Connors worked the night shift. My fingers would creep down your bare thigh, and you’d let out a soft moan—”

“Stop!” she screamed and tried to elbow him in the stomach, but he turned her around and backhanded her.

“Enough!” I barked, sending the room into silence, “Christ, Avery, it’s fucking enough. The place is surrounded, and there’s nowhere left for you to go. Enough already!”

Avery’s face froze. He was not used to someone speaking to him like that.

“Alyssa,” he hissed, “pour the gasoline over Emily.”

The girl was frozen in place. “No.”

Avery cracked his neck and pushed Emily to the floor. He reached for the gas can and looked at me. “All he had to do was take us away from there. An eye for an eye, Connors.”

The entire place erupted in fear, and my head swam as Avery tipped the gasoline over Emily, but only a little came out as he had already emptied it. He cursed and tossed it off to the side.

“What about yours?” I suddenly spat out and hoped that if I could keep him talking, he wouldn’t light the match. “What about your soul?”

Avery smirked, and he looked like my friend again. “You wanna know my demons?” He tossed the gas can and went for the third. Fuck, this place would be lit up like a Christmas tree soon. The smell of gasoline was so strong we were all beginning to cough and gag. Emily was frozen in place. Avery raised his arms like he welcomed the Lord. “Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned. It’s been two months since my last confession.” He suddenly poured the flammable liquid over our family pictures as I took a step toward Emily.

Maddy kicked when he came near her, but he just laughed and turned to look at me. My mother went to get up, but I immediately told to her to be still. Avery was unstable, and I needed to keep him calm.

“I killed Matthews, you know,” he laughed, “with sleeping pills. I rather liked him, really, but he chose the wrong team, so he had to go. I planted the camera so Jims could watch you all dance while he made Emily his.” I moved two more feet. Alyssa watched me but didn’t say a word. “Let’s see, I used Ronnie and Travis as pawns to tear you two apart. They were both weak, and easy to use.” He went back to soaking our memories. “After Emily gave me a black eye at the Halloween party, Davis came over unannounced and found himself,” he held up the gas, “well, just like this, actually.” I allowed this information to be stored within me. I knew I would need to retain it without letting my emotion get the best of me. One more step toward Emily, then Avery swung around to face me head on. “You know what, Connors?” He dug in his pocket. “I think I’m ready to be free now.”

“Avery, no!” the girl called out in a panic. “You promised me you wouldn’t hurt anyone. You promised me you weren’t like him.”

“You promised me you were on my side, but you’re not, are you?” Avery challenged, then pointed to my wrists. “You lied; now we must all pay for our sins.” He lunged at Emily and grabbed her by the hair. She cried out in a sob as he took a few steps back from me.

“Just let her go.” I heard the defeat in my voice. I was so incredibly tired of this game. It needed to end, just not like—

He held up a Zippo and brushed his thumb over the wheel, sending a flame into the air. I looked around the room. Everything seemed quiet, then erupted in motion as my family jumped to their feet in a mad panic, and the smell of fear was laced with the gasoline. “Say goodbye to your perfect lif—”

Pop! Pop!
Avery’s face froze and his eyes locked with the girl, who had her gun raised. Blood poured from his stomach, like a hole in a hose. Terror for Emily burned through me as her screams registered in my brain.

“You once told me Jimmy was the monster. Now I see it’s you.” Tears fell from the girl’s cheeks as she watched him fall to the ground, and he took Emily down with him. I dove for the Zippo, but it bounced from his fingertips and landed in a puddle. I hooked my arm around Emily’s waist and pulled her off Avery as flames raced up her sweater. She screamed and bucked as I dove on top of her, smothering the fire between us as we fell to the floor, just missing a puddle of fuel.

“Run!” Nicholas yelled and bolted for Maddy. Mom and Gretchen helped my father out of the chair and raced to the front door.

In a matter of seconds, the living room was engulfed with an orange blaze, the heat becoming intense. Nicholas freed Maddy as the girl grabbed my sister and rushed her outside. Nicholas turned around to see if we were following. I held Emily in my arms and ran for the door, and we reached it just as things started to explode around us.

“Stop!” Emily screamed and jumped from my arms, running toward the living room.

“Emily, come back! What the hell are you doing?” I screamed, catching Nicholas’s attention. “Go! Make sure everyone is okay,” I yelled at him as I dove for the door where Emily had gone.

She was standing there, crying. I yanked her arm and pulled her backward.

“Are you crazy?”

“No!” she sobbed, her face full of fear and…determination, “I have to know this is over! I need to know he’s gone…must be sure!” The roar of the fire was deafening. All our memories were burning, but none of that mattered. I felt her desperation, the need to know that this was finally the end.

“Look,” I shouted desperately at her and pointed to Avery’s body covered in flames. I was sure I could smell his burning flesh. “He’s gone!” The urgency to get out of there made my voice crack. We had very little time left. “He’s dead, Emily, it’s over!”

Firemen burst through the front door just as the flames engulfed the stairs. Emily yelped as she was suddenly grabbed around the waist by a fireman and rushed outside. I followed, helped by another.

Clean air never felt so good as I sucked it in over my raw windpipe. My eyes felt as though I’d rubbed them with sandpaper, and my skin was covered in soot.

“Where is she?” I barked at the fireman who looked oddly familiar. His jacket read Firehouse 59.

“She’s fine, Seth, they’re just checking her lungs.”

“I know you,” I coughed.

He gave me a little nod. “I took her to the gala. Ethan, remember?”

“Oh, right,” I felt the burn shoot up from the bottom of my lungs.

“Here.” He handed me an oxygen mask, but I pushed it aside. Ethan shrugged and pointed to an EMC truck about fifteen feet away.

“Thanks.” I patted his shoulder as I hurried over to find Emily fighting with a paramedic. I rushed to her side and dropped to my knees.

“Jesus, Emily.” I pushed back the blanket and checked her over. “Are you okay?”

She didn’t answer, she just buried her head in my neck and sobbed and coughed. The medic who had been attempting to give her more oxygen tried once again, but stopped when I shook my head and held up a finger. We needed a minute.

“I know, baby, I know.” I stroked her back to soothe her. “Just get some more oxygen into you, okay? You need it. I’ll be right here.” She nodded as the guy put the mask over her dirty face. I stood; I didn’t want to be here anymore either.

“Seth!” Nicholas appeared at my side and wrapped his arms around me. He bent down and rested a hand on Emily’s shoulder and gave it a pat. That was the most affection I’d ever witnessed from him. I grabbed his shoulder and held on while he filled me in. “Mom is with Maddy. They’re taking her to the hospital, but she’ll be fine. Gretchen is with Dad.” He gave a little chuckle in his hyped up state. “I want to kill him.”

“Me too.” I put my head to his. “Me too.” Emily stood, pulling off the mask. I knew she was done with sitting still and needed to stand, so I helped her up. We stood there, our minds struggling to absorb the last few hours. I put my arms around her to steady her.

Then I saw the girl. She was standing on the sidelines with a paramedic, who was wrapping her arm with some gauze. She caught my eye as he finished. She spoke to the medic, then came over to us. I slid Emily to my side, but wouldn’t let her leave me. Nicholas stayed close as the girl approached us.

“Here.” She handed me a phone. “Umm, it’s Avery’s phone. He gave it to me before we came in. The password is his badge number. Everything you need is in there.” She handed me her keys. “Here are his house keys. He has lots of pictures you might be interested in.” Tears left clean lines down her dirty face. She looked at the ground. “I’m…I’m sorry, I didn’t know he was going to do that, I really didn’t. He said no one was going to be hurt.” She looked up at us. “I don’t hate your father for what he did, I just hate that he didn’t want me.”

I didn’t know what to say, so I went with the truth. “He didn’t want any of us.”

“Alyssa?” Garrett suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He looked incredibly confused.

“Garrett?” The girl’s face dropped, and her eyes shifted from him to me.

My mind raced. “You two know each other?” Could this shit get any stranger?

Garrett stared at the girl as she said, “Umm, we met at the mall a while back.”

Bullshit. I knew she was flat-out lying, but we were all too damn fried to press for information.

“Stand back!” A fireman called out as they turned on two hoses and aimed them at the house.

Riggs came up behind us and showed me the handcuffs.

“Sorry, but…”

“It’s okay,” she whispered and put her hands behind her back. “I’m sorry, Seth, for all of it.” She looked at Garrett, who still studied her silently as though he’d seen a ghost. “I swear, Garrett, I didn’t know you knew him.”

We all watched as she was placed in the back of the squad car.

“What was all that about?” Emily whispered.

“That? That was my sister.”

***

“I need to tell you something.” Garrett pulled the car over and parked in front of an abandoned warehouse. It had been a week and half since we’d spoken about what happened that night at my mother’s house. I had many questions but kept my mouth shut. We shared when we were ready.

“Shoot.” I opened my water and drank the whole thing. My throat hadn’t been right since the fire.

“Do you know what this place is?” He pointed out the windshield.

“Art gallery, though I’ve heard rumors.”

“It’s a gentlemen’s club.” He sighed and closed his eyes. “It’s more aimed at men who like to be in control.” He glanced at me out the corner of his eye. “It’s where Alyssa and I met.”

Wait?

“Why were you—oh.” I shook my head, surprised I hadn’t known this.

“I’ve been a member for seven months. I just wanted to try something that interested me.”

Huh, I wouldn’t lie. This place now piqued my interest.

“I swear, Seth, I had no idea who she was. She was just a friendly face who worked the front desk. ”

“I know,” I reassured him.

“Nothing ever happened, we just went out for dinners and whatnot. We kissed once, but never got far. We both wanted to take things slowly.”

“I get that.” I looked over at the building and wondered if Avery had any idea his sister was dating Garrett. I smirked at the thought. Now, that would have killed him.

“She’s a good person, with a big heart. She was a little rough around the edges for my liking, but given her past, it all kind of makes sense.”

“Yeah,” I sighed, still not able to process that shit. “We’re good, Garrett, seriously.”

“Yeah, all right.” He nodded, started the car and we continued with our shift.

***

Three Weeks Later

Emily

“Step away from the barbecue, MacPhee.” Garrett pointed a water gun at me. “So help me God I have the best shot on the force, so don’t tempt me.”

I laughed and handed the tongs to him. “Believe it or not, I do know how to Q, Garrett.”