The Sweetest Burn (Broken Destiny #2)(36)

"Anyone else want to test me?" Adrian all but growled.

The costumed ranger paled, and the people who'd come upstairs with him looked equally intimidated. I didn't want them to be frightened of us, so I tried another way. 

"Sir, something awful has happened to this place. We're going to help get everyone out of here, but we don't have a lot of time to explain, so you'll just need to-"

"What are you?" a white-haired woman hissed, interrupting me. "You killed that man and turned him into, into nothing!"

"He wasn't a man," I answered truthfully.

"Don't listen to her," the ranger whispered to the older woman. "We just have to wait until the other man comes back. He said that he was getting help."

"You mean the man with the long black hair?" Adrian's snort was derisive. "Oh, he's getting help, all right, but not for you. He's a demon, and he's bringing more demons with him."

I sucked in a breath at his bluntness. So much for easing people into the truth about the supernatural!

"I'm not going to listen to this," the white-headed woman said. Then she wagged her cell phone at me. "As soon as I get a signal, I'm calling the police!"

Either my legs had recovered from the demon's freezing touch, or sheer frustration got me back on my feet. "Even if you could, the police can't help you. I know it sounds incredible, but you're not in the same world you were in before. You're in a parallel realm, and yes, demons live on this side. That's why we need to get everyone back to where they came from."

Perhaps not surprisingly, they didn't listen. I'd seen glimpses of the realms all my life, and the first time I heard what they really were, I didn't believe it, either. With several mutters and glances back at the pile of ashes, the people left.

Adrian sighed. "No one believes the truth until it's too late. That's why Demetrius fed them that ‘getting help' crap. He wants them docile until he's done rounding everyone up."

I took a few steps, trying to force the debilitating iciness out of my legs. The warmth from the nearby fireplace beckoned me closer for many reasons. The gateway was right in front of it, and all I needed to do was let Adrian take me through, and we'd be safe. He was right; Demetrius or another demon could show up any minute. But how could I live with myself if I didn't try harder to save the people downstairs, too?

"I'm not giving up," I told Adrian, and began heading for the staircase on my still-wobbly legs.

He came after me and spun me around. "You think they'll listen? You took out a demon in front of them, and they still don't believe what's going on. Speaking of that, you got lucky nailing the demon in the head without really aiming. You might not get that lucky again, which is why we need to go now."

I knew he was right, but Jasmine's face flashed in my mind, as did my parents'. Maybe no one had been able to help them when they'd been in situations just like this, or maybe someone had, yet had chosen not to. How could I look my sister in the eye if I walked away from these people now? How could I stand to remember my parents if I showed the same apathy that minions had when they'd contributed to my parents' deaths?

"I have to try one more time," I insisted, pulling away from Adrian.

His jaw clenched, but he didn't stop me as I hobbled past him. Maybe he couldn't stand the thought of leaving these people behind, either. He might not be up to his full strength, but I was pretty sure he could still throw me over his shoulder and force me through the gateway, if he really wanted to.



       
         
       
        

I made it down the stairs without tripping, which took a lot of effort. Then I carefully made my way into the grand entry room. The people who'd witnessed what had happened upstairs were huddled up with the rest of the group, and from the hostile glances my way, it wasn't hard to guess what they'd been talking about.

"Whatever you heard, all of you need to come with me if you want to get out of here." Then I took a deep breath. There was no way to tell them what had happened without sounding crazy, so I just plowed ahead. "This place has been pulled into another realm and demons are coming to enslave you, but there's a gateway upstairs that will send you back home."

The white-haired woman shook her finger at me. "Don't listen to her! She's crazy and she's evil. I told you, she killed a man and turned him into dirt!"

"He wasn't a man, he was a demon, and there's more where he came from," Adrian retorted, coming up behind me. "If you want to live, you'll let us get you out of here."