All The Wrong Signs
Tempers Flare

Riley’s POV

Opening my eyes, I found the room pitch black. Darker than I ever remembered it being. Turning my head, I winced from the pain. Two dark red orbs seemed to be trained on me.

Was it Petra? Had I managed to call Blaze back?

I didn’t remember much, only the pain. Sitting up, I had to hold on to the side of the couch as my head swam. The pain was almost blinding.

“Did it work?” I asked, barely above a whisper.

“You tell me,” a deep voice said, as a light flicked on beside him.

I jumped seeing him. He was seated in the chair, a deep scowl etched into his face.

“Blaze, I…” I wanted to explain to him, but Mother Nature wouldn’t wait and I quickly rushed past him. It felt like I had been holding in my pee for weeks and the relief that came was nice. Grabbing some medicine, I stopped in the kitchen to grab a bottle of water before I returned.

I felt extremely light-headed, but I tried to ignore it, telling myself that the headache would soon ease. Blaze was still seated exactly as he was. He had yet to move a muscle. He looked tense. Angry even.

“Blaze, I…”

“I don’t care to hear your pitiful excuses,” Blaze ground out.

My jaw dropped. Petra warned me he would be unforgiving, but surely he would understand. This was not my fault. I didn’t know I needed to protect the mark on my hand from permanent marker. How could I have ever guessed that?

“Blaze, you don’t understand. Lakyn…she thought she was helping.”

“What? You couldn’t do it yourself, so you had her do it for you?”

“Blaze…” I closed my mouth. It didn’t matter what I said, I could tell he was getting angrier just by hearing me talk. “If you would just listen to me.”

“I think you’ve said enough.”

I frowned, “why are you being such a jerk? I brought you back as quick as I could.”

“I’m a demon. It’s what I do.”

He was still mad, well, so was I. I had gone through hell and back to remember his name and he wouldn’t even listen to me. Wouldn’t give me a chance to explain.

“Ok, I’m sorry…” I paused seeing Blaze roll his eyes, and something snapped in me. “I didn’t have to bring you back. I could have left you there to rot.” Crossing my arms defensively, I stared him directly in his eyes, “you can go back if you are going to be so grouchy.”

Blaze was silent, his eyes turned dark. “You want to send me back, little witch?”

I nodded, still angry that he wouldn’t let me talk. “I told you…”

“And I told you. Give me a month to replace out the information that I need, then I will be out of your hair forever. I’ll even make sure you forget I ever existed.”

“Fine,” I said stubbornly.

Blaze disappeared in front of me, and I slumped back down onto the couch. Petra had tried to warn me, but he hadn’t even tried to listen. Now we were fighting. I guess that’s what you called it. I wondered where he had gone, but the pounding in my head seemed to come back ever stronger.

Going to my room, I laid down, trying to block everything from my mind. I didn’t know what to think of Blaze. I didn’t know how to make him understand, and I wanted him to understand.

I wanted Blaze to know that it wasn’t me that had sent him back. I wouldn’t have betrayed him like that. Not after what he had done for me. Not after...

It didn’t matter. Blaze didn’t trust me and if I was smart, I wouldn’t trust him either.

Even though I was exhausted, I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t know if Blaze would come back or not. “Blazenthibou,” I said, afraid I’d forget his name.

“What the fuck do you want?”

I jumped hearing his voice. He appeared out of thin air. “Have…have you been here this whole time.?”

“No,” he said flatly. “You did just call me, did you not?”

“I…” I looked down. “I was afraid I would forget.”

“Then write it the fuck down,” he growled.

“I don’t want to,” I said softly.

“Why the fuck not?”

I looked up at the dark where I knew he stood. “I don’t want to risk someone else trying to use it.”

Blaze inhaled sharply. “Don’t pretend to care now.”

Before I had time to respond, he was gone again. I could feel the change of the air in the room. I laid back down, feeling tears fall from my eyes.

I knew what betrayal felt like and it killed me he thought I had betrayed him. I guess I could understand where he came from. He had plenty of reason to question me and no reasons to believe me.

That night I tossed and turned, unable to sleep for longer than a few minutes at a time. I didn’t like people upset with me. It was always me that tried to fix things, but with Blaze, I didn’t know how.

When I finally drug myself out of bed to let the dogs out, I was surprised to replace Blaze at my kitchen counter. He had ancient looking scrolls scattered all around him. Luna and Shadow were already outside playing. Turning around, I went to take a quick shower and change.

The hot water felt good on my skin. It took the pain away from my head. My headache was so bad, it was hard for me to keep my eyes open. I stood under the hot water until it cooled down. I was avoiding him.

Dressing casually in a pair of shorts and a long sleeve shirt, I made my way back into the kitchen. Blaze was still at the Bar studying the scrolls. Walking over, I touched one of them, feeling the roughness of the paper underneath my fingernails.

“What language is this in?” I asked.

“One you don’t know.”

I jerked my eyes up at him. “I should have left you in the hole you came crawling out of.”

If I wanted a reaction, I got it. Blaze moved so fast it didn’t register until his hands were around my throat, shoving me back against the counters.

I let out a gasp as my back hit the edge of the countertop. “If you want to send me back so bad then do it. Otherwise, stop threatening me. I promise you, you won’t get what you want.”

My fingernails dug into his hands. The moment his grip relaxed, I took a sharp breath of air. The air burned my throat. “You have no idea what I want,” I breathed out.

Blaze snorted, “nor do I care.”

Just like that, he was gone, and I thought my knees would give out from underneath me. The Blaze that had come back wasn’t the first one I had met. This one was cruel.

It was yet another failure on my part. I felt something break inside of me. I didn’t even know Blaze that well. Could you ever really know a demon? But there had been something about him. Something protective in the way he treated me. Maybe I was just so lonely that the attention he had given me made me feel wanted. Now, he was treating me just like everyone else did.

The scrolls had vanished with Blaze. I wished he would have left them behind. Maybe I could have scanned them and figured something out. I was determined to try to help him.

Going to my computer, I tried to research Kyler Wumbert again. Everything I found was a dead end. Of course, he would be smart enough to cover his tracts. I wasn’t sure how I could help Blaze. The only thing I could really do for him was give him free rein to run around as he pleased.

The house was silent. Blaze had been gone all day, and I realized that unless I summoned him, he wouldn’t come back. Sitting in his favorite chair, I sipped on a glass of wine, staring off into space thinking of anyway that I might could break through to him.

Hearing my phone ring, I looked down seeing my sister Hollie was calling. I really didn’t feel like talking to her. She knew me better than anyone. She would know I was upset.

“Hello,” I said softly.

Hollie didn’t say anything for several seconds and I knew she knew. Call it twin telepathy or just plain intuition, she knew.

“Riley, are you ok?”

Even though my head was nodding yes, my voice broke. “No.” I thought I was all cried out, but heavy fat tears rolled from my eyes.

“What is wrong? Do you need me to fly out? I can get a ticket and…”

“No. You’re not flying down here because I’m having a bad day.”

Hollie sighed, “tell me what happened.”

“Collin showed up. He knows where I live now. He claimed he wanted the dogs but….” I took a deep breath. “He was so hateful.”

“I will fucking gut him if he hurts you. Did he come in? How did you get him to leave?”

I swallowed. “Umm. I had a friend over visiting. He…he made Collin leave.”

“He?!?” Hollie practically screamed at me. “Why haven’t I heard about a he?”

“It’s nothing like that. He…I…I don’t think he likes me very much anymore.”

“Fucking Collin. Always screwing up a good thing.” Hollie took a deep breath. “Just talk to his guy Riley. If you like him, you have to let him know what you’ve been through. He will understand.”

Oh, how wrong she was. Blaze knew some of it. It wasn’t like he would care. He was a demon.

“It’s been a long day. I really didn’t sleep last night. Now my eyes are fighting to stay open.”

Hollie sighed. “I love you Riley.”

“I love you too. Sisters for life, right?”

“Always,” Hollie replied before hanging up.

I had that thought that talking to her would help, but it didn’t. It only made me miss the stupid ass demon even more. I knew I could call him to me. I knew he would come. But I didn’t want the pissed off Blaze. I wanted the one who would hold me and let me cry my tears away.