Page 14 of Demon's Desire

“I’m honestly not sure about that.” She sighed and took my hand, squeezing it.

“How are Torie and Mica?” I asked, looking around to see if I could find them.

“Mica’s freaking the fuck out,” Kelly muttered. “He was high as hell. Being high and having your house catch on fire is not ideal.”

“Oh, shit!” I gasped. “Are they gonna get in trouble? I mean, if the firefighters or the police find weed or something after the fire–”

“It’s legal here.” She shook her head. “They’re okay. He’s just freaked out. I don’t think Torie’s doing great either.”

“They’re safe.” I nodded. “That’s what matters.”

“Excuse me,” I heard someone say as a hand touched my back.

I turned around and saw an older man walking past me. He looked like he was in his late thirties. For a second, I thought he was one of the emergency responders, but then I realized that he didn’t have a firefighter’s jacket or a police uniform on. He just looked like he’d been going for a walk. The strange thing was that instead of walking around the massive crowd on the sidewalk, he walked through them, nudging people out of his way as he did.

“Weird,” I muttered to myself.

“Do you have my phone?” Kelly asked.

I turned back to her and nodded, opening my purse. I put my phone back in and handed hers to her. “I’m glad everyone’s okay.”

“Me too.” Kelly shook her head as she checked her phone.

It was just past midnight. Smoke was finally starting to come out of the doors and windows. Everyone moved back a bit, but we all stayed close. A few people went home, but it seemed like almost everyone wanted to stay just to see what happened. I could hear the flames inside the house, and I had to keep reminding myself that everyone was safe.

After a few more minutes, we finally heard sirens, and the firetrucks showed up. I relaxed a bit and squeezed Kelly’s hand before pulling her along with me to find Torie and Mica.

They were standing in front of the crowd. The firefighters had started to plug the big hose into the nearest fire hydrant, and they were approaching the house. Mica looked like he was seeing a ghost, and Torie was just crying.

“Hey,” I said softly, touching her arm as we approached. “It’s gonna be all right. Everyone’s safe, that’s the most important thing.”

“Thanks to you,” Torie said through tears, wrapping her arms around me. “I completely froze. I didn’t know what to do. Thank you.”

“Don’t even think about it,” I said, rubbing her back. “Everything’s gonna be fine. I promise.”

“What are we going to do?” Mica muttered. “We can’t stay here.”

I looked over at Kelly. She nodded at me quickly, and I did the same.

“You guys are gonna come stay with us,” Kelly said. “We’re going to wait to hear from the firefighters, and then we’re all going back to our place.”

“Yeah!” I squeezed Torie’s shoulders. “You guys can sleep in my bed. I’ll be in the living room.”

“We’re not taking your bed.” Torie managed to crack a smile. “You guys really don’t mind? We don't know how long it’ll be.”

“We aren’t going to take no for an answer,” I promised.

They both nodded, and Torie hugged me again, then Kelly. After that, we all turned to watch the firefighters putting out the house.

It took about fifteen minutes before everything was over. By that point, pretty much everyone had left. Every once in a while, I’d turn around and see if I could catch Elias among the crowd, but I never did. I guessed he left a while ago.

“Who are the residents here?” one of the firefighters asked as he approached the sidewalk.

“U-us.” Torie nodded, taking a step forward.

“We live here too,” the woman from upstairs said, coming forward.

“They’re upstairs,” Torie explained. “But the fire started downstairs.”