Heat . Amy Blankenship

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      *****

      Zachary breathed a sigh of relief when the last of the news reporters finally got bored and left his quote-unquote crime scene. He turned his attention back to the soot-covered firemen and winced apathetically. Poor guys, they hadn’t stood a chance in getting that fire under control, although they seemed thankful it had not spread beyond the boundaries of Anthony Valachi’s land. Zachary smiled when he saw what he’d been waiting on.

      He’d made the fire so hot that he knew it wouldn’t be long before it ran out of stuff to burn. He’d done it for two reasons. One was to give pity to the humans who were sacrificing their lives on a daily basis playing with fire, and the other was to destroy any evidence the humans didn’t need to see… including bodies to autopsy or bones to study.

      “Looks like its dying down,” Chad said as he approached Zachary. “I’m surprised Trevor isn’t here.”

      “Oh he was,” Zachary smirked. “Last time I saw him, he was dragging your sister out of here so I could blow the place up.”

      “What!” Chad yelled then stepped closer so no one could hear him. “I’ve been here for a fucking hour and you’re just now getting around to telling me that my sister was almost killed tonight?”

      “The bullet only grazed her,” Zachary just loved hazing the new guy. He felt a little guilty when all the color drained from Chad’s face. “Relax, she’s fine.”

      “You’re an asshole,” Chad informed him without remorse.

      “I’ve been called worse,” Zachary shrugged. “But for now, you can call me boss. I fast tracked your paperwork so it’s already a done deal. You no longer work for the police department. They work for you and you work for the CIA as far as they are concerned. And this falls under the CIA’s jurisdiction since it was a mob hit.”

      “So what am I supposed to do now?” Chad asked feeling a little lost and secretly wondering how he could beat up a jaguar for putting his sister in danger yet again.

      “Enjoy the promotion because I’m leaving you to handle this for the night.” Zachary patted him on the shoulder before opening the car door and sliding inside. He counted to three before Chad rapped on his window. Rolling it down, he arched an eyebrow.

      “What do I tell them?” Chad asked.

      “That’s the brilliance of it all. You’re not at liberty to give out any information at this time.” Zachary laughed and rolled the window back up then laughed again when Chad kicked his tire as he pulled past him.

      His humor faded once he was alone with his own thoughts. He knew most of the wolf pack was harmless and had only been under the influence of their alpha’s orders, but the rest of them would want revenge for the death of Anthony Valachi. Some would be pointing at Micah’s rescuers, but some would point the finger at Steven and the cheating fiancé. Either way, that would put Night Light on what’s left of the city’s mob hit list.

      Pulling out his cell phone, Zachary put a call in to the member of PIT he had deep undercover within the most dangerous part of the wolf pack. If what he thought was brewing then it might be wise to go ahead and send a couple death threats to Night Light just to keep the cougars on high alert, or better yet… get them to shut the club down for a while.

      *****

      Angelica gazed out the window at the city below thinking about the nightmare that had awoken her. Seeing all the lights and life within the city even in the middle of the night gave her comfort and it was hard to look away.

      She’d never had a nightmare before… she’d never had a single dream and that was what disturbed her the most. She rubbed her fingers across the mark on her palm blaming it for the nightmare. She’d been so lost in morbid thoughts that when the door behind her slammed, she almost jumped out of her skin.

      Zachary had opened the door quietly just in case Angelica was still asleep. When he saw her standing there in a daze, he couldn’t resist the temptation and slammed the door. Her reaction was even better then he’d hoped.

      “Had I been a demon, you’d been bitten,” he smirked then lowered his gaze to the dagger clenched in her fist so tight that her knuckles were white. “Maybe not,” he corrected with a frown. “What’s rattled your cage?”

      “Nightmares,” Angelica said truthfully as she relaxed her grip. No use lying about it… not to him anyway. She inhaled deeply trying to release the tension in her shoulders then wrinkled her nose, “you smell like burnt toast.”

      “Wanna scrub my back?” Zachary wiggled his eyebrows as he headed toward the bathroom.

      Angelica spared one more glance out the window before moving away from it. Hearing the shower turn on, she sat down on the loveseat and grabbed her notebook from beside the laptop and started to draw the man she’d seen in the cave. Since he was the one that had marked her, then the nightmare had to be his doing. She started with his eyes and softened the strokes of the pencil as the face came to life on paper.

      Zachary came out of the steaming bathroom still towel drying his hair. Walking up behind Angelica, he looked down at the portrait of the man he’d seen her in the cave with. He watched the delicate way she arranged the man’s long dark hair… as if the wind was still blowing around it. For a demon, he sure was a hansom devil in her eyes.

      “You smell better,” Angelica commented as she looked up at him. Tapping the drawing, she asked, “Can we get in touch with Dean so I can show him this picture?”

      “I caught a glimpse of him tonight at the alpha werewolf’s mansion. But he seems to come and go so quickly around here that it would be easier to just show it to Kane.” Zachary suggested as he vaulted over the back of the love seat and sat down beside her taking the picture in his hand and studying it. “Kane said Misery is female.”

      “That’s what I was afraid of,” Angelica sighed. “If that’s not the same demon that they released from the cave… then I’m afraid Misery isn’t the only demon in the city.”

      “What makes you say that?” Zachary asked.

      Instead of answering him, Angelica did the one thing she had thought she’d never do. Turning sideways on the cushion, she reached for Zachary and leaned toward him. When Zachary instantly tried to kiss her, she tilted her head so he wound up kissing her forehead instead. Then she let the dream play through her memories.

      Zachary flinched as the scenery changed and he was surrounded by her nightmare. When the flickering images finally faded and Angelica slowly leaned away from him, Zachary opened his eyes and whispered, “Wow… that was a wiggly-boo dream.”

      Angelica nodded, “Yeah, especially for someone who has never had a dream, not even once in their entire life.”

      *****

      Kriss had searched the places he thought a frightened fallen that had been imprisoned for longer than he cared to think about would hide. It wasn’t really the fallen he was searching for… it was Dean. After exhausting himself with all the churches and small areas of the city that evil avoided, it dawned on him that he might be searching the wrong type of places. It wasn’t as if he knew his prey intimately.

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