A snort escapes me, but I still wrap my arms around him clinging to him tight. "Yes, it's me."
"Oh, thank god." He runs his fingers through my hair and breathes me in. "I've been worried sick about you."
"I'm sorry. I had to get away." I let out a sigh. "It was just too much."
He pulls back and drops his arms. "Come on in here. We need to talk."
Oh shit. This isn't going to be fun. I should have just gone home. "Maybe I should come back in the morning." I take in his rumpled hair and wrinkled clothes. "It looks like I woke you up."
"It is midnight, but you aren't getting out of it that easy." He motions for me to come in and shuts the door behind me.
Well, I guess I'm staying for a little while. I walk into his living room and sit down on his couch. I'm not sure what to expect. It's been over two weeks since I've seen him.
He walks over to me and stands rubbings his fingers together. "I can't believe you're here. Where the hell have you been?"
Now that's a fair question. "Well, I left here and started driving west. About six hours away, in Missouri, my car broke down and I got stranded for a while."
"You got stranded?" His tone gets a little rough and his hands ball into fists. "Why didn't you call me?"
"Because I needed time to think and I was trying to protect you." Doesn't he understand that? Granted, it didn't wind up working. Hell, Damien found me, but I tried.
His jaw ticks and his hazel eyes flash with anger. "Do you know what it was like for me? You left here when two artifacts absorbed into you. Then you call me and hang up when I answer. I've been worried sick thinking something happened to you and I had no way of finding you."
Shit, I haven't thought of it like that. I did leave him when something huge went down and then didn't talk to him. I've been a complete selfish ass even though I was trying to be the exact opposite. How would I feel if I were in his shoes? "I'm so sorry. I didn't think of it like that. I thought I was protecting you and leaving you out of harm's way."
"Dammit, Chris." He runs a hand through his hair, making it messier and sighs. "I can't stay mad at you. I'm glad to have you back. You can't leave me like that again. Do you understand?"
My heart speeds up at the intensity I find on his face. "I won't. I didn't mean to hurt you this time."
His shoulders relax and he comes over and sits next to me. "What was wrong with the car?"
Now this is what I came back for. Someone on my side who can help me come up with a plan. "My transmission blew, and it had to be rebuilt."
"Holy crap. That had to be expensive." His eyes widen and his head tilts in my direction. "How did you pay for that?"
"That's the thing." I turn my body toward him and shake my head. "Damien showed up earlier today at the cafe I was working in to get the money to pay for it."
"Of course, he did." His nose crinkles and he leans back in the seat. "What did he want?"
"What do you think?" I bark out a hard laugh. "The third artifact. He said he can repair Becca's soul if I retrieve it. Then he left me a large enough tip it covered the cost of my repair. That's how I got back here tonight."
"The council was about to come get you, too." Charlie rubs his eyes and bites his lip.
"It's time that we come up with a plan." I'm tired of them always having the upper hand. For once, let's try to at least have a few of our own pieces in play.
4
Just being back here these past thirty minutes has reinforced I made the right decision. I can't believe I thought leaving was the right choice, even if I had good intentions.
"So... that just means we need to find a way into Hell. If that's where the flame is." Charlie stares off at the blank tv, laying his head back on the couch.
Yeah, he makes it sound so simple. "Well, we know Becca can't help us and this is Hell. Will a realm jumper even work?"
"Becca got you into the Angel realm. I don't see why she couldn't get you into the Hell realm." He scratches the back of his neck and breathes out.
"Isn't it supposed to be heavily guarded? The three headed dog and stuff like that?" This is going to be more difficult than the other realms.
"It would be nice if we could find a way to talk to a demon." He shakes his head and drops his hands into his lap.
Shit, that's a perfect idea. "That's what we need to do. We need to summon a demon and talk to them."
His head jerks in my direction and his mouth drops open. "You're not kidding, are you?"
"We're running out of options and what better way than to find out about where we want to go?" They live there after all.
"And you just happen to know how to summon a demon?" He raises both hands in the air and his forehead wrinkles.
"Actually, I do." Okay, I might be stretching the truth a tad, but I have the basis down pat. Beth and I snuck out one night and met up with Brad. He had dared us to summon a demon claiming we were too scared to. We had begun the process when a cold chill surrounded us, and we freaked out and ran home. Brad made fun of us for the next few weeks.
"Oh, really now." He raises an eyebrow. "You know what? I don't even
