Renegade (Heven and Hell #4)(52)
Author: Cambria Hebert

The picture on the screen cut to a shot of an ambulance with flashing lights pulling up to the entrance of the hospital, the back doors being opened, and two body bags being wheeled inside.

“The coroner’s office has not yet announced the identity of one of the bodies found, only telling Eyewitness News they would be using dental records to depend on a positive ID, which leads this reporter to believe the condition of one of the bodies was different than the others that have been found throughout the county as of late.”

I stopped at the counter next to Riley, my eyes glued to the TV. He glanced up and pushed the coffee in front of me. I lifted the brew to my lips, waiting for the reporter to continue.

“The identity of the second body found has already been released.” She looked down at a card in her hand and then back at the screen. “John Matthew Reynolds, known simply as Johnny to his friends, seems to have been the latest victim of whoever has been leaving a trail of death over the past few weeks. Marks on the body are consistent with the others found and police are determined now more than ever to put a stop to these horrific murders.”

I looked at Sam to see if he just realized the same thing I did, but he was still watching the report with a grim look on his face.

A picture of the DJ from last night flashed onto the screen. He was grinning in the picture and he was very young. Anger welled up inside me at the senseless loss of yet another life.

The skillet on the stove, where eggs were scrambling, burst into flames and Kimber shouted, setting down her coffee and grabbing up a towel to beat at the flames.

It did nothing but catch the towel in her hand on fire.

“Are you kidding me?” she screeched, looking at the flaming towel, and Riley dropped his spoon, milk splattering everywhere, to go around the counter and grab the towel out of her hands and toss it in the sink. Then he reached over and grabbed the flaming pan to toss it in the sink too. He used the spray feature on the spigot to douse the flames until the only thing left was the very strong scent of burned eggs and metal.

Kimber turned to me with anger in her aura. “Seriously, Heven? I was hungry!”

“Sorry,” I muttered, wondering when I would get the ability to put out the fire once I started it.

Sam shut off the TV and went to get a mug from the counter. “How do you use this thing?” he said, staring at the built-in latte station.

“Don’t touch that,” Kimber cried and went over, flinging herself between him and the machine. “No one messes with my coffee.” Then she hit a few buttons and within minutes, Sam had a cup of coffee in his hands.

“Well, now we know who’s been leaving the bodies all over town,” I said as Riley took back the coffee he gave me and took a sip.

Kimber rolled her eyes and started making another cup.

“Like we didn’t know it wasn’t Beelzebub all along,” Riley said.

Sam and I glanced uneasily at each other and Riley set the coffee down. “You thought it was you?” He snorted. “You think waking up with some blood on you means you’re a murderer?” He shook his head. “You would think that. Pansy.”

I smacked Riley in the head and Kimber handed me a new coffee.

“We still don’t know for sure it was Beelzebub,” Sam said, his voice tight.

“So let me get this straight,” Kimber stated. “You think Beelzebub is body-hopping around town and when he’s done with the body, he just dumps it?”

I shook my head. “Pretty much.”

“That doesn’t explain how the bodies get into such bad shape. Beelzebub is immature and mean, but I can’t see him wasting his time defacing a body he already killed,” Sam said, drinking the coffee Kimber gave him. After he sipped it, he looked down in the cup and back at Kimber. “This is good.”

“Of course it is. I made it,” she said like it was obvious.

“He’s obviously the one that brought the werebats here. We saw what it did to the DJ last night. Who’s to say they haven’t done that to every body he’s dumped?” I pointed out.

“I agree with Heven,” Riley said, slurping the milk out of his bowl. “Besides, golden boy here”—he hitched his chin at Sam—“doesn’t have it in him to go on a murder frenzy.”

Sam didn’t seem completely convinced, but he didn’t argue, and Kimber was busy making herself a bagel.

Riley pushed away from the island. “I got somewhere to be.”

Where could he possibly need to be? “Don’t you think you should stick around?” I asked.

“For what? To help clean up that colossal mess from last night? No, thanks.”

“We need to make plans, Riley. We need to find those souls, set them free, and weaken Beelzebub, now more than ever, especially if he’s the one killing people here.”

Kimber returned to the island with a bagel slathered with cream cheese and Riley snatched half of it off her plate and took a huge bite.

“Hey!” Kimber yelled.

He ignored her and looked at me. “How about this? You meet me in hell when you’re ready to go soul hunting. Okay? Better make it sooner rather than later because he’s just going to keep killing people.” He snatched the remaining bagel half right out of Kimber’s hand and grinned. “Thanks for the food, Red.” He left, the back door shutting firmly behind him.

“He has got to be the most annoying person I’ve ever met!” Kimber wailed.

“I agree. But he’s right,” Sam said, gazing out the door Riley just left through. “We need to quit putting it off and make a trip to hell.”

Cole shuffled into the room, his hair all mussed from sleep. “We’re going to hell?”

Kimber’s aura brightened at the sight of my brother and I suppressed a groan. “Appears so,” I answered.

“Well, not today, we aren’t. Did you see the mess outside? It’s going to take all day to clean up.” Kimber sniffed. Her aura, which moments before was clear and bright, was suddenly cloudy with a burst of mustard color.

Was she nervous about going back to hell? I couldn’t really blame her after she was trapped there for so long. In fact, if I were truly honest, isn’t that the reason I’d been putting it off as well? I wasn’t exactly eager to get back to the place where so many bad things happened.

“We probably should clean all this up,” I agreed. Kimber seemed relieved when I agreed with her. “One more day won’t hurt anything.”