He moves behind me to rest his hands on my shoulders, and I flinch.
“Do not flinch away from me, Harleigh Roe. You did nothing wrong, and everything is going to be alright. Right now, you need to focus on bringing my brother back, but hear me. I will not let you blame yourself for any of this, you understand me? You are good. The purest soul I have ever met, and today doesn’t change that.”
I want to believe him, I do. His voice is stern the way it is when he’s ordering me around in bed, dominating me into submission, and the tears fall harder.
He knows I’m falling apart, and I can’t focus for myself. He understands that I cannot do this alone, and I need to be told what to do.
He’s guiding me, caring for me. In his own special, sociopathic heart, he’s doing what he knows he can in order to make me feel better, and it’s everything.
Unlike Dad and Brian, or even Colten, Orion is able to reach a part of my subconscious that I have no control over.
“You hear me, Harleigh?” He squeezes my shoulders, and I sob some more.
“Yeah. Yeah, I hear you, O.”
He nods, and uses his voice to guide me.
“You know how to harness this power, baby. I’ve seen you do it dozens of times, and we’re all right here. Don’t think of anything outside of this right here, right now. Bringing Darren back,” he orders.
I nod again, closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, so I can focus on steadying my mind before leaning back down.
“You’re coming back to us, Darren. You don’t get to die today,” I whisper as I channel all of my power through me, and focus on sharing it with him. As I breathe out, I feel the power leaving my body and seeping into his, but I don’t open my eyes.
I focus on Darren’s life force being non-existent, and feeling his aura start to respond around me. I can feel Orion at my back, encouraging me with his presence, and hearing his words in my mind and soul.
Taking another deep breath, I lean in a bit closer, sharing more of my air with Darren, and willing more of my power into him as everything else around me fades away. All I am aware of is him and I, and making sure he doesn’t die.
Brian
I’ve never seen her like this.
Even when Adeline disappeared and we couldn’t find her. Or when we found out Paul had somehow turned her into a vampire, Harleigh still didn’t lose herself the way she has in this room today.
“I’ve never seen her like this,” I say to Mark and Colten as we stand back, watching Orion comfort and guide her. I knew I could calm her with my abilities, but he didn’t give any of us a chance to figure out who would guide her through this. And thinking about it, I think he was the right choice, anyway.
Out of all of us, he’s the one that doesn’t allow emotion to guide him. Unless someone hurts her, then all bets are off. For a sociopath with no feelings, the guy is overflowing with them for our girl.
“Hell fire is extremely difficult to control,” Mark mutters beside us, and we both turn to him.
“And?” Colten prompts of him.
“And this wasn’t her fault. He taunted her,” he explains, giving us a dark look.
“We aren’t blaming her for this at all,” I assure him.
“We just want to know what we can do to help her through this,” Colten says, and I nod in agreement.
“It’s not simple. As far as her powers go, I may need to take her to Hell. It’s the best place for her to tap into her fullest potential, so she’s able to understand the depth of her powers.” Uh… “You want to take our traumatized girlfriend to Hell?” Colten snaps under his breath.
Mark turns to glare at him, narrowing his eyes in a way that has us both stepping back. The last thing we need is anymore violence right now.
“I want to take my traumatized and upset daughter, who has zero control of her most dangerous abilities, to a place that will help her gain full control. That way, she never has to suffer through this pain again.” He takes a deep breath. “And I don’t need your permission.”
“Then I’m going with her.” Colten doesn’t back down, and I have to agree. If she goes, we all go.
Mark just nods in agreement.
“I figured you’d say that. Which means everyone in this room that is still alive, will be there.”
I swallow, nervous as fuck that I’m apparently about to spend time in Hell.
“How long will we be there?” I ask, my voice hoarse.
He goes to answer, but a ring of fire surrounds the other three, and sends us jumping back.
“What the fuck?!” Colten yells.
O: It’s okay. We’re fine. She’s just in a trance, but she’s safe.
I sigh in relief.
“Orion says she’s fine,” I say out loud, but Mark is staring at the ring of fire with concentration. “What is it?” I ask him, a bit louder, and he shakes his head.
“I’ve never seen this before,” he says simply, and it surprises me.
“Meaning?” I hedge, and he sighs in defeat.
“I don’t know. We need to contact Lucifer.” I nod and reach for my phone, but he stops me. “Harleigh is the only one who can reach him right now. Well, her and my brothers, but they aren’t a part of this.” I lift an eyebrow. “He’s in Heaven about to meet with The Father.”
