Reignite (Extinguish #2) by J. M. Darhower Read Free Book Online Page B

swung in his direction. Her gaze
flickered up toward the door as she abruptly stopped dancing, eyes going wide.
Her heart stalled, the brief moment of silence screaming loudly to Lucifer,
ripping him to shreds from the inside out. His worst fear was coming to life,
even for a second: Serah's heart wasn't beating.
    He felt the pain
gripping his own chest.
    But then her heart
kicked into overdrive, pounding violently as she startled, yanking the music
from her ears. A gasp resounded through the room when her lips parted. She
stared through him, around him, at something near him, but there was no way she
stared at him.
    No way .
    It just wasn't possible.
They may have stood in the same room, but they were on entirely different
planes. A human couldn't see an angel unless they purposely showed themselves,
and he'd never shown himself to a human. Never .
    "It's you,"
she whispered.
    Lucifer stared at her
with disbelief. Me ?
    "I, uh... I'm
sorry," she said quickly. "I didn't know anyone was in here... I didn't
think... I mean, I thought... well, check out was an hour ago, and all your
things were gone, and I didn't realize..."
    She stammered on and on.
Lucifer was dumbfounded, remaining quiet and gaping at her like he was the one
seeing a ghost.
    "I can go, and come
back," she continued. "I mean, if you still need the room, that is. I
don't want to be in the way."
    She started for the
door, trying to go around him. On a whim, Lucifer stepped in her path, still
expecting her to go right through him, like humans always did, but her
footsteps stalled. Her heart skipped another beat as she swallowed thickly. He
could sense it then, something angels were trained to detect, the one thing
that surrounded him day in and day out down in the pit. Fear .
    "Can you see
me?" he asked, arching an eyebrow in question.
    She stared at him
blankly for a moment, and he still thought maybe she stared through him, until
she slowly nodded her head. "Of course."
    "You see me,"
he said again. "You know me?"
    "Yes," she
said tentatively, her heartbeat so frantic it was like a bass drum. Hope
swelled through Luce. She really remembered him. "Well, no… I don't know
you. I've seen you, but I don't know who you are."
    His stomach dropped.
"You don't?"
    "Uh, no… should
I?"
    "But you can see
me," he said for the third time, raising his voice. He ignored her
question, the voice deep inside of him screaming 'how the fuck could you ever
forget?' "You've seen me before."
    "Yes, of
course," she said, her voice quaking as she took a step back, wrapping her
arms around her chest. "What's wrong with you?"
    He was scaring her.
Closing his eyes, he tried to calm himself down, but it was senseless. There
was no way this was happening. It was a dream, or a fucking nightmare,
punishment from his Father. He hadn't escaped the pit at all… maybe this was
his new Hell, forever to be teased and taunted by her existence, close but
still so far away.
    Turning around, he
stepped out of the open doorway and glanced around, freezing when he saw
someone walking down the tier toward him. He stepped toward them as they
approached the room next door to unlock it. Lucifer waved his hand in the
woman's face, but she didn't react, brushing against him without noticing him
there.
    Once she was gone, he
looked around again, seeing Serah watching him incredulously from the other
room. He stood on the tier, looking around the neighborhood, seeing people
walking by on the street below, others lingering in the parking lot.
    He shouted, trying to
get their attention, but his voice was lost to them, the wrong frequency for
mortal ears.
    Serah flinched, though,
covering her ears and cringing when he turned in her direction. He stalked
toward her, pointing at her, as she retreated back into the room.
    "What's wrong with
you?" he growled, echoing her question. It clearly wasn't him that was
fucked up—it was her . Mortals couldn't see him,
couldn't hear him, couldn't sense him, but she was