The Price of Possession by Dakota Brown (universal ebook reader txt) 📗

"What's wrong with your fingers?" I grumbledas hurried over there, head aching from the punch.

"We can't touch him," Sabian replied.

"What?"

The guy looked just as confused.

I pulled out one of my many blades and hacked away atthe thick ropes binding him.

The smoke was starting to get heavy and I coughed. "Whydon't you two see if you can get us out of here," I ordered. "Where'sthe dog?"

They went over to the door, but I didn't see thehellhound anywhere. Hoping the creature could take care of itself, and puttingit out of my mind, I worked to cut the guy free.

"What's your name, mate?" I coughed as thesmoke thickened.

"Aaron Reed," the man answered. And oh boywas his voice rich, deep, and contained just the right amount of gravely notes.I could listen to this man lecture about physics and I'd probably enjoy it. "Whoare you?"

"Chris Price. Friends are Sabian and Mal."

I finished slicing through the rope binding his armsand moved in front of him so I could work on his legs. Dude had some seriousmuscle. It was either focus on that or start to panic about the smoke fillingthe room and the fact that we couldn't get out.

Looking up for a moment, I saw Mal smash a chairagainst the one window despite the flames. The chair shattered against thewardings. He swore in what was probably Arabic and shied away as the flamesreached for him.

I went back to work on the bindings. It was the onlything I could do.

Both Mal and Sabian threw themselves at the door andbounced off it. Damn, those were some serious wards. I bet Mal could get aroundthem if he had time, but there wasn't much left. I was starting to feel woozy,and Aaron was coughing.

My knife slid through the last of the bindings andAaron threw himself out of the chair and to the ground where the air wasmarginally clearer.

Mal and Sabian tried again, and this time they crashedthrough the door, and slammed into the wall on the other side.

I grabbed Aaron's hand and tugged. He perked up enoughto follow me out into the fresher air, though the draft had lent life to theflames inside the office and flames chased us out.

Mal grabbed my arm and pulled on me while Sabian ranahead, probably to check the front door. I kept my grip on Aaron's hand.

Was that a flash of yellow? Had the hellhound escapedahead of us?

Either way, we needed to get out of the house now.Fortunately, Sabian had the front door open and we all burst out into thebright sunlight and clear air just as fire trucks screamed to a halt in frontof the house. How they'd known about the fire already was anyone's guess, but Isuspected they had scared off the bad guys and probably saved at least my life.

The firefighters ran up to us. "Anyone else home?"One shouted.

"No," Aaron gasped out. "I was the onlyone home."

Oh, it was his house. That explained a lot, except whythe bad guys had targeted him. Maybe the strange tattoos had something to dowith it. Now that I wasn't in danger of dying, I studied them more closely. Theylooked like eyes on his pecs and biceps. Something like stylized wings drapeddown his back. The white against his dark skin was pretty awesome, but the eyeswere seriously creepy, and I wondered why he had chosen them.

Mal and Sabian, and yeah, the hellhound, kind of fadedinto the background as the paramedics rushed up to me and Aaron.

The next little bit was a blur as they checked me out,treated me for minor smoke inhalation, and the firefighters tackled the fire. Iwatched as the house burned, resisting all attempts to put it out. That wasclearly a supernatural fire, though I wasn't about to say anything.

The cops questioned Aaron, and finally came over tome.

"What caused you to come here?" the oneofficer asked. "Mr. Reed says he's never seen you before you saved him."

I smiled tiredly at the young man's earnestexpression. Those bright blue eyes, if they'd belonged to someone a bit older,might have grabbed me for a night or two of fun before I moved on.

"I'm working with Deputy McClellan on one of hercases. We got a tip and hurried over. Guess it was a good thing. I'm not surehow much I can say since it's an active investigation." That was trueenough.

The officer questioning me nodded. "I'll get intouch with her. Thank you."

"Sure." I leaned against the side of theambulance and watched the controlled chaos of the scene until Aaron, now with ablanket draped over his broad shoulders, came over to me.

"So, you going to tell me how you knew to show upand save my ass? Not that I'm not grateful, it's just a bit convenient."

I sighed in pleasure as his voice vibrated through me.Maybe I was still suffering from smoke inhalation? Now that he was standing upright,I was struck by how tall he was. Sabian wasn't short, and I felt like Aaron hadseveral inches on the incubus. He was quite a bit taller than Mal, and he wouldtower over me once I was standing.

"It's a long story. I'll tell you once we're alone."

Mal and Sabian joined us, staying clear of Aaron.Their reaction to the man was strange and I really wanted to hear theirexplanation.

Aaron eyed them uneasily.

After the house was mostly destroyed, it startedbehaving like a normal fire probably should, and they started making someheadway on putting it out.

We watched it burn in silence. There wasn't much Icould say to make the situation any better, and I didn't know Aaron at all, soI had no idea what sort of words he might appreciate.

The sun had sunk low in the sky by the time the firewas out and most of the people had cleared the scene. Aaron talked with a fewmore police officers before coming back over to us.

"I get the idea we need to talk."

"Yeah, mate," I agreed.

"Well, my car was in the garage, and I think I'mlucky to have had my wallet in my pocket. Mind