Page 19 of Semi-Reckless

Addy came down the steps, looking fairly well rested given the time, in an adorable flannel robe and a messy bun. She paused to give her grumpy husband a kiss on the cheek before taking a seat in the recliner across from Haven.

“I’ll make coffee,” Gabriel muttered.

“Thanks, bro,” Haven said with a grin.

“I’ve asked you repeatedly not to call me that.”

Duh. That’s why she did it. “You prefer Gabby?”

He gave her the finger before disappearing into the kitchen.

Addy gave her a pointed stare. That was it. Just a stare. It was enough to trigger Haven’s verbal diarrhea. “Mom and dad won’t let me do any real work since I died that one time. Dad suggested I do triage, and I got a call from an old lady who had weirdly mutilated cattle on her property. Convinced Carl to make me impervious to Roan’s teleportation, got Roan to investigate with me, questioned some werewolves, fought for dominance, won, got a date, found the demon in an old mine—there were bats and bugs—,ended up using some new superpower to shove the demon down the mineshaft, then Roan disappeared. Without another word. Like, what the fuck?”

Fluffy licked her face in response. The show of unconditional support touched Haven’s heart. Addy, meanwhile, frowned at her. “You went against Harper’s orders?”

Haven’s jaw dropped. “That’s what you take from everything I just said?”

Addy rubbed her furrowed brow. “I mean, I don’t think anyone has ever done that before. I guess I didn’t realize it was an option.”

“Well, it is. But I don’t think that’s how I ended up with the ability to shoot energy from my chest and kick demons down mineshafts. I was like, I dunno, Solider Boy on The Boys for a minute there, and then it was gone.”

Her sister blew out a deep breath. “Well, Dad said there’s a middle-aged dhampyre in Dallas that just recently developed some telepathy. So, developing new powers later in life isn’t unheard of. Especially for a misfit of magic.”

Haven chewed on her thumbnail. “True, I guess. After all, you developed new powers, too.”

“Yeah, but that was only because of Gabriel.”

Right. Gabriel had shared his powers with her in order to save her life while they were in the hell dimension. It had occurred to her that maybe Roan had shared his powers with her. But as it had been explained to her, the sharing of powers was a mutually agreed upon thing, and she definitely would’ve remembered such a conversation. “I kind of doubt either of the Malek’s Secret Santa’d me any of their powers when I wasn’t paying attention.”

“Probably not.” Addy tilted her head to one side. “Could it have been…something you brought back with you after you died? You know, like, something from the other side?”

The idea would’ve freaked Haven out…except that it occurred to her nearly two years ago. “I wondered about that myself. I was a little worried about having come back messed up, you know, like Pet Cemetery or some shit, so I talked to Hunter and a few other vampires right after the accident. I figured they’d know since they all had to die as humans before being reborn as vampires. None of them came back weird. And grandma said I seemed the same as always. If I was really fucked up, I figured she’d know.”

“How did the new power make you feel? Do you feel OK now?”

She felt…great. Strong. Capable. Healthy. “I don’t feel like there’s anything wrong with me.”

Addy nodded, looking relieved. “That’s good. Still, I say go to the infirmary tomorrow. Get a physical. And if everything looks normal, it’s probably just a naturally occurring new power. Or a fluke that’ll never be repeated again. And if it does come back, Hunter can probably help you learn to control it if necessary. But that doesn’t solve your other issues.”

Haven waved a hand dismissively. “I’ll tell Mom and Dad what’s going on once I know more.”

“Sooner rather than later would be good,” she said sternly. “And what are you going to do about Roan?”

“What can I do? He wants to leave, so I’ll let him leave. And in the meantime, I guess I’ll go on a date with a werewolf.”

Addy looked like she wanted to argue, but swallowed whatever objections she was going to raise. “You know Roan only wants to leave because he feels guilty for what happened to you, right?”

She snorted. “Oh, believe me, he’s made that perfectly clear. But running away and punishing himself until the end of time isn’t going to help anyone. And no one else blames him. So, I don’t know what to do with all that.”

Gabriel cleared his throat and Haven jumped. She hadn’t even noticed him leaning in the doorway, arms crossed over his chest. “You don’t have to do anything with all that,” he said quietly. “He’ll either learn to forgive himself or not, but it’s not your problem. It’s his.”

Addy frowned at him, but Haven nodded. “See? This is what I’m saying.”

“Don’t get me wrong,” he quickly qualified, seeing his wife’s displeasure. “I want him to figure this all out and come back to work. But it’s not up to Haven to change his mind.”

“Yeah, I know,” Addy grumbled. “I just hate that he’s so stubborn.”

“Anyway,” Gabriel said, clearly attempting a big subject change. “What about the demon you found? What’s next? Will you assign a team to hunt it down?”

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