Supernova (17 page)

“Yeah, that’s all cool guys, but, um, we don’t have much time before I need to be back home, so we should probably get over to the lighthouse,” Dominic said, dismissing the conversation.

And just like that, the topic was dropped.

Tyson threw Olivia over his shoulder, causing her to squeak in surprise. “Last one there’s a rotten egg!” He shouted and then took off running toward the parking lot.

“He’s such a big kid,” Talon said with a shake of his head. Despite his mock disapproval of Tyson’s antics, he snatched Sydney up and took off after him.

“Ya’ll are so stupid!” Gabe called after them. “But there ain’t nothing rotten about me. Here, hold my murse.” He thrust a small shoulder bag into Kerrigan’s chest and took off after the others with his arms and legs flailing in the air.

“Murse?” Dominic asked with his eyebrows raised in question.

Kerrigan sighed. “It’s a man purse.”

“Why am I not surprised?” he murmured and then yelled after Gabe, “You run like a girl!”

“Bite me!” Gabe yelled back.

“So, you have plans tonight?” Kerrigan asked.

“Yeah.” It was too hard to look her in the eye and lie, so he ducked his head and watched his feet instead.

“Like a hot date?” she pressed, needing to know the answer.

Dominic had hoped she wouldn’t ask him, but he knew that she would probably just keep pushing him if he didn’t give her some sort of answer. It seemed a distraction was in order.

Rounding the corner into the alley, he saw that the others were already in their vehicles and pulling out. Dominic grabbed Kerrigan, and, before she knew it, her back was pressed against the brick wall of a building with his hands planted on either side of her shoulders, caging her in.

“What are you doing?” Kerrigan asked, taken off guard by his abruptness. His nearness as his body came into contact with hers wasn’t exactly helping either.

“I think you mentioned something about rewarding me with a kiss if I came out tonight?” he asked. His husky voice unraveled her from the inside out.

He dipped his head and pressed his parted lips to the crook of her neck, his light beard caressing the underside of her jaw line and enticing her more. Kerrigan’s hands found his thick mane and brought him closer to her sensitive skin. He forged a wet trail of open-mouthed kisses along the length of her neck, his cold breath blowing over the warmth of his kiss and creating a mind-blowing sensation. Eventually, he made it to her lips and hesitated with his forehead pressed to hers.

The hesitation wasn’t because he had changed his mind. He just wanted to make sure she hadn’t.

Kerrigan answered his unspoken question, squelching any doubts he may have had. She arched her neck and sucked his bottom lip between hers chastely once, and then a second time. She let her teeth graze against the sensitive skin. Dominic hummed in appreciation as he rolled his hips against hers. He ravaged her mouth, his tongue sweeping over her bottom lip, asking for entrance. When she granted it, his hands flew to her hips to hold her closer, his thumb pressing that spot on her right hip.

Kerrigan’s back arched as that feeling took over her body again. It was like a magic button that only Dominic knew how to work. She moaned into his mouth and slid her arms under his to wrap around his back and hook her hands over his shoulders. Her full breasts pressed against his chest, and she began to move her hips in time with his, seeking friction.

“You’re driving me loco, Querida. We have to stop.” Dominic broke the kiss and took a step back to try to bring his pulse back down to an acceptable level.

“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Kerrigan said between breaths. Her eyes swept over his heaving body and came to rest on the bulge in his jeans. “Looks like you’re getting a bit too worked up there,” she smirked with a lift of one eyebrow.

“Well if you hadn’t been grinding all up on my junk, I wouldn’t be having this problem right now,” Dominic defended himself, hoping to piss her off enough that she wouldn’t question him any further. “Christ, I
am
a man, you know…with a very healthy sexual appetite, I might add. So stop being such a cock tease.”

“Cock tease!?” she squealed with a hand on her hip. “You’re the one who said we had to stop.”

“Yes, I did. That doesn’t make me a tease. That just means I’m at least semi-conscious of the time. We need to catch up to the others,” Dominic said, dropping the subject. “Come on.”

“Ugh! You’re an infuriating man, Dominic Grayson!” She pushed off the wall and stomped toward his car, leaving Dominic to trail behind. Not that he wasn’t enjoying the view.

“By the way, I really like the way the word cock sounds coming out of your mouth,” Dominic called after her, to which Kerrigan only huffed and shot him a dirty look.

She didn’t offer to speak to him on the drive to the lighthouse, and he didn’t try to get her to talk either. As long as she wasn’t talking, she wouldn’t ask him about his plans for the rest of the evening.

The gang was waiting for them when they pulled into the parking space at the lighthouse. Gabe had his shirt pulled up while Sydney blew raspberries on his stomach, and he giggled like the Pillsbury Doughboy. Kerrigan didn’t wait for Dominic to open her door before she jumped out and slammed it behind her.

“It’s about time,” Tyson huffed. “Did you all stop off for a quickie or something?”

“Yes, Ty. That’s exactly what we were doing.” Kerrigan answered sarcastically as she walked past them to go inside. She stopped just outside the door and turned back to them. “The sign says they closed at six o’clock, guys.”

“It’s cool,” Talon said, stepping up beside her and knocking on the door. “The light keeper is our uncle.”

A big burly man cracked the door open to peer out. His face lit up with a big smile once he saw Talon standing there. “Talon, my boy!” he greeted him and then gave him a big bear hug. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey, Uncle Raymond!” Tyson stepped in front of Kerrigan to greet his uncle as well. “We just wanted to take our friends on a tour if that’s okay.”

“Sure, sure! Come on in,” he said, stepping aside to grant them passage. He was a jovial man, that much was clear. He hadn’t stopped smiling since he opened the door. He kind of reminded Kerrigan of her grandfather. “Take your time, but don’t break anything.”

Kerrigan locked arms with Gabe and they followed the others inside with Dominic close behind. While the rest of them dispersed throughout the rooms to look at different things, Kerrigan stopped to look at the exhibit of toys left behind by the children of the former keepers. There was a little baby doll with long, curly brown hair in a delicate light blue dress and a little china tea set. The wooden box curios where they were displayed were antiques in and of themselves. Kerrigan wondered if they belonged to the three little girls that she had always heard fell from the handcart and drowned in the ocean during the 1800s.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Dominic’s finger appeared in her peripheral vision with a penny on the tip.

Kerrigan rolled her eyes at his corniness. “Where do you go every night?” It wasn’t what she had been thinking about at that moment, but it was still a pressing question in her mind.

Dominic sighed and shoved the penny back into his pocket. He should’ve known she wouldn’t let it go. His ego was severely bruised that his kiss hadn’t been enough to make her forget.

“That’s my business,” he huffed, trying to make his voice sound stern because it was probably the only way to get her to back off. “I don’t believe I’m required to check in with you whenever I decide to leave the house,
Kerrigan
.”

The tone he had taken with her was not only uncalled for, but it hurt her feelings. So, to mask the hurt, she lashed back. “You don’t,
Dominic
,” her voice was laced with sarcasm. “But you wanted to know what I was thinking about, and that was it.”

“Why do you care?”

“I don’t know why I care, I just do. Grammy said I need to protect you, and I can’t do that if you’re out gallivanting around all over town with some whore, now can I?” Clearly she had contracted a serious case of diarrhea of the mouth.

“I know what she told you, Kerrigan. I was there. But I don’t need you to take care of me. I can take care of my damn self.” Apparently the disease was contagious.

“What do you mean you were there?”

“Um, yeah. What I meant is that she told me the same thing…before she passed,” he clarified, covering his mistake.

A frigid blast of air engulfed the room and distracted Kerrigan just as she was about to rip him a new one.

“Does it feel like it’s getting cold in here to you?” She folded her arms over her chest and rubbed her upper arms to generate warmth. Her teeth started chattering, and a shiver ran through her body as her breath came out in white puffs. It was eighty degrees outside, so it just didn’t make any sense for it to suddenly be that cold. But she had felt something like it before. In her room, the night Grammy visited her.

“Someone’s here,” Kerrigan whispered, looking around the room, but not seeing anyone. “Grammy?”

Dominic turned to look around the room as well. That’s when he saw him. “It’s not Availia,” Dominic said and then shoved Kerrigan behind him in a protective stance.

There was an apparition of a man facing off with Dominic. Although his transparent form was flickering in and out like old film being projected onto a white screen, Dominic could see him.

The man was dressed in a pair of tattered bellbottomed pants and a dark navy blue shirt that was ripped to shreds. He reminded Dominic of one of those old sailors from the various pictures on the walls. He had a dark bruise that wrapped around his neck, and his head was a little cocked to the side. He had obviously been hung, or had committed suicide.

“You can see me?” the ghostly figure asked in a gruff voice.

Dominic nodded. “Who are you and what do you want?”

“My name is William, and you don’t want to mess with me, boy. That little girly there’s just singing with energy. And I want it now. So step aside before you get hurt.”

“That’s not gonna’ happen,” Dominic muttered through clenched teeth.

“What’s not going to happen?” Kerrigan asked, confused. He was talking to thin air like a crazy person, and it scared her. Before he could stop her, she shoved past him to get away.

“Kerrigan, stop!” Dominic reached out to stop her, but he was too late.

William’s ghostly figure lunged and grabbed Kerrigan’s face. She let out a shriek of surprise before her head was tilted back by a force unseen by her. His mouth hovered over hers as he sucked in a deep breath. White light rose out of Kerrigan like smoke rising off the end of a lit cigarette until it danced into William’s opened mouth. Her body convulsed, and she gasped for air until she began to go limp in his now solidifying arms. William laid her on the ground and knelt, hovering above her menacingly as he continued to rape her of all the energy she had to give. Apparently, he had no intention of leaving any for her to survive on. It was like watching a glutton shovel food in their face just for the sake of greed.

Dominic could see the whites of Kerrigan’s eyes as they rolled to the back of her head. Her life force was being drained, but he didn’t know what to do to stop it from happening. He felt like he was back in Availia’s room watching her Light being extinguished all over again.

Not this time. And definitely not Kerrigan
, he thought with anger and desperation surging through his veins.

William was so focused on the life essence that he was greedily inhaling to pay any attention to Dominic. So, he seized the opportunity and charged at the apparition, grabbing him by his shoulders. William’s form was more human than Dominic had expected. He wasn’t sure what a ghost was supposed to feel like, but he hadn’t imagined that was it. He sure as hell never looked that solid when he was in his transformed state.

Dominic yanked William from Kerrigan and threw him against the wall. The photos behind him were knocked to the floor with a loud crash, and he fell with a thud.

“What’s going on in there?” the twins’ uncle called, his heavy footsteps signaling that he was coming into the room.

The ghost sailor sneered at Dominic, but disappeared through the wall, not wanting to be seen by the old man.

“Dude,” was all Talon could say as he entered the room and took in the scene.

“Kerr Bear!” Gabe squeaked and ran to Kerrigan’s side. “What did you do to her?”

“I didn’t do anything to her, Gabe. We don’t have time for this. We have to get her back to the house.” He gathered Kerrigan into his arms and carried her through the museum. Her arms and legs were dangling limply, and her head rolled on his shoulder. “Get the door!” he barked at Gabe who was sobbing behind him.

The other girls and the twins were in a flustered rush behind them, but all he was concerned about was getting Kerrigan home.

“Shouldn’t we take her to the hospital?” Olivia asked.

“No. I have to get her home. Just trust me,” he answered. Gabe fished Dominic’s keys out of his pocket and unlocked the driver’s side door. “Get in on the other side, Gabe.”

Gabe went around to the passenger side and bent the seat forward so that he could climb in. Once inside, he helped Dominic lay Kerrigan down with her head in his lap, and he cradled her to him, running his hands through her hair and assuring her she would be okay. He wasn’t convinced that what he was saying was true, but he had to believe that Dominic knew what he was doing.

Dominic sped through the streets of St. Augustine with no caution to the speed limit or traffic lights. Luck was on their side as they didn’t draw the attention of any police officers. Not that it would have mattered. Dominic would have just kept going and dealt with them later.

He whipped into the driveway, not bothering to pull his car back into the garage and carried Kerrigan inside. Then he handed her to Tyson and told him to take her to the upstairs bathroom. He kissed the top of her head and told her he would be back, hoping he wasn’t too late and she could actually hear him. Everyone looked at Dominic like he was crazy when he turned and went down the hallway and disappeared out the back door.

Once outside, he went over to Availia’s flower garden and started picking some of the Passion Flower buds off. He raised the hem of his T-shirt to create a makeshift basket and placed them inside so that he could gather more than a handful. When he was convinced he had enough, he made a beeline for the upstairs bathroom, shoving past the others who were just standing in the way wringing their hands in worry.

Dominic turned the faucet on and ran a bathtub full of hot water. He tested it with his wrist, like a mother does for her baby, to make sure it wasn’t too hot. When he was satisfied with the temperature, he started tossing some of the flowers into the water.

“Put her in,” he told Tyson.

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. Put her in. You can leave her clothes on.” He grabbed one of the paper cups from the holder and started to pick the petals off the remaining flowers to drop them inside.

“Dominic, what the hell are you doing?” Sydney asked the same question that was on everyone’s mind.

“Something Availia taught me.” He ran a few drops of water into the cup and then stuck his fingers inside to crush the flowers. “The flowers in the water will hopefully soak through her skin, but this paste will work quicker.”

Tyson shrugged his shoulders and walked Kerrigan over to the bathtub, gently placing her inside. Gabe stayed by her head, holding it at the edge of the tub to make sure she didn’t slide in and drown. When Dominic was satisfied with the consistency of the mixture in the cup, he asked Gabe to move and knelt down beside Kerrigan’s head. He tilted her head back and forced her mouth open. Then he reached a finger inside the cup and got some of the paste out, coating her tongue with it.

Kerrigan moved a little in protest of the distasteful concoction, but Dominic held her mouth shut. “Shh, you need to swallow this, Querida,” he whispered in a soothing voice.

“Is she okay?” Olivia asked.

“She will be,” Dominic answered as he shut off the faucet. “You guys should go downstairs. I’ll stay here with her.”

“I’m not going anywhere, boo,” Gabe said with a shake of his head. He pointed at Kerrigan. “That’s my Kerr Bear lying there, and she’s the only family I have. We need each other, and I’m not about to abandon her now.”

“It’s fine, Gabe. You can stay,” Dominic relented because he knew he wouldn’t be able to leave her either.

The rest of the gang reluctantly left the bathroom, leaving Gabe and Dominic alone with Kerrigan. Dominic opened her mouth and saw that most of the paste was gone from her tongue, so he put a little bit more on it and closed her mouth again. Kerrigan scrunched up her face, which was more of a reaction than she had been giving.

“So, what does this stuff do?” Gabe sniffed at the cup.

“Availia told me that particular flower is special. There was this one time that she was nearly as weak as Kerrigan is now. She told me how to mix it up and what to do with it. She was almost instantly revived, and I’m just hoping it works the same way for Kerrigan. We need to see what the weather’s going to be like tomorrow.”

“Why?”

“Because she’s going to need sun and plenty of it. Modern medicine won’t always work for her. Natural light will be what she needs most, especially when she gets like this. I’m telling you this in case I’m not around when, and if, something like this ever happens again.” Dominic watched Kerrigan’s eyes flutter as if she were in REM sleep. “Gabe, has Kerrigan told you about her dream?”

“Which one?” he asked, uncurling his legs to sit on his butt so that he could lean against the wall.

“The one she had the other night, about Availia.”

Gabe shrugged his shoulders. “She always has dreams about Availia. She just said she had another one, and I told her it’s because she’s missing her. Why?”

“You should ask her to give you the details about it. Kerrigan is special. It’s the reason this happened to her tonight.” Dominic rested his chin on the lip of the bathtub and stroked Kerrigan’s hair, watching her.

“And what exactly did happen, Dominic?”

“You’re going to think I’m crazy, but I’m going to tell you the truth.” Dominic sat up and ran his hands over his face. “Kerrigan’s spirit was attacked by a ghost at the lighthouse that wanted her energy.”

Gabe guffawed and then rolled his eyes. “Very funny, Dom. What really happened?”

“That
is
what happened, Gabe. Do I look like I’m kidding right now?”

“He’s telling the truth,” Kerrigan’s hoarse voice whispered back.

Dominic and Gabe’s eyes flew to her face, not expecting that she would be able to talk so soon.

“Hey,” Dominic greeted her with a relieved smile.

“Hey, yourself.” She smiled back, and then smacked her lips, making a face. “Why does my mouth taste like ass?”

Gabe giggled, happy that his bestie was okay. “Because Dominic held your tongue out while Tyson stripped from the waist down, spread his ass cheeks, and then sat on your face.” Gabe shrugged. “Had to be done, sweets. We were out of toilet paper.”

“Whatever,” she laughed weakly and looked back at Dominic. “So, what happened?”

“What do you remember?”

“Well, it got really cold, and I could feel that presence in the room and thought it was Grammy. And then I felt like I couldn’t breathe, and I remember getting weaker and weaker, like the life was being sucked right out of me.”

“That sounds about right.”

“From there, everything’s pretty much a blank, but I distinctly remember hearing your voice.”

Dominic nodded and leaned down to kiss her forehead. “Let’s get you out of this tub and into some dry clothes.”

Gabe put his hand on Dominic’s arm to stop him. “Um, exsqueeze me, but I think I’ll just be doing the undressing and dressing, thank you very much.”

“That’s fine with me, but I want you to come and get me as soon as she’s done so that I can carry her to bed.”

Gabe left to get Kerrigan some clothes, and Dominic looked down at his watch, noting that it was already a little after eleven o’clock.

“Thank you.” Kerrigan sighed, letting her eyes close, her long lashes delicately sweeping across the soft skin under her eye.

Dominic leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “You don’t have to thank me.”

Gabe came back just minutes later, and Dominic made his exit so that Kerrigan could get dressed. He knew their friends would be worried, so he went downstairs and told everyone that she was fine, but would be resting the remainder of the night. Olivia and Sydney expressed their dislike of leaving, but relented only after saying they would be over to check on her first thing the next morning.

Dominic went outside and drove his car back around to the garage, hiding it away. He didn’t need to risk Sinclair or one of her cronies finding out where he was. His car would definitely be a dead giveaway. Once he pulled into the garage, he shut off the engine and let his forehead rest on the top of the steering wheel. The events of the night were quickly catching up with him. All his fears that he wouldn’t be able to fulfill the promise he had made to Availia before she passed away were coming to fruition.

Dominic was sitting at the old table in Availia’s kitchen nursing a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice as she finished cooking his breakfast of bacon and eggs. He hated that she insisted on catering to him because he felt like he owed her so much already. He should be cooking for her instead, but she insisted. She always insisted, and if you knew what was good for you, you accepted what she offered or suffered the consequences of being chastised like a child.

Availia was much too kind to him, and he couldn’t understand why she felt him worthy of her constant attention. He wasn’t exactly contributing monetarily to the household. She had refused to let him keep up his previous lifestyle to bring money into the house. No, she was good to the core and wouldn’t have tainted money in her home, but she did willingly let him do some repairs around the house in an effort to earn his keep. There wasn’t much she wanted changed, but it was enough to keep him busy. For some reason, she was mostly concerned about whether the changes would be something her granddaughter, Kerrigan, would like.

There were two topics of conversation that Availia loved to indulge in: her granddaughter and the Light. She talked about them as if the two went hand in hand, synonymous with each other. Although he had never met Kerrigan, he knew the Light was what enabled Availia to save his God forsaken soul on the darkest night of his existence. Availia was special, magical even. Although magic was a blasé description for the things she could do. She didn’t need to chant colorful words to make things happen. She simply willed something to be, and it was. Well, most of the time anyway. Sometimes she had to actually channel a higher concentration of the Light to help her. There was one time in particular that he actually saw it for himself, and he was still in awe of the power it really had. It was the night she saved him. It was like something out of one of those supernatural sci-fi movies. Not any of that slight-of-hands, hocus-pocus fake parlor tricks stuff either. This was real.