Chapter 10

The room fell into shocked silence. Then Baruch laughed. A rusty bark of surprise. "Beseder," he said using the Hebrew word for okay. He patted my head. "Sleep. Tomorrow you start."

"Uh, no. Tomorrow you figure out how to fix this." I pointed at my brother. "He's the one you want, not me."

"True," Baruch said with a smile Ari's way that made him preen. I gagged. "But you are who we have," Baruch said to me, his smile gone. "So we will keep you alive and you will kill many demons." Before I could present any further arguments, he strode out the back door and into the night without a look back.

Rabbi Abrams gave us a kind of half bow and shuffled after him. "Baruch, wait! You drove."

Dad closed the back door after making sure the rabbi had made it down the stairs unharmed.

"I think that went very well," Mom said, rising. She grabbed a rag from the sink and started vigorously wiping down the counter.

I slumped into a chair. "In what way?" When I'd left the house this afternoon, my parents had not been onboard with this new reality.

"You made a positive impression on Baruch. Today was a bit of a shock. For all of us. But now we'll readjust. This could be the new start you've been looking for." Interesting that she was spouting all this positive affirmation crap yet hadn't once met my eyes.

Plus, I hadn't been looking for a new start. My present stagnation was warm and cozy.

My father gathered up the espresso cups. "Your mother is right."

I side-eyed Ari. He sat at the table, toying with a linen placemat. My rock of a brother looked deflated. Like sorrow was the only thing holding him together. "What about Ari?" I asked. "What's he supposed to do now?"

Mom stopped wiping. Her voice wavered as she said, "Ari will be... The world is still his for the taking."

Ari flinched.

I slid off the stool, and snatched up my aloe, bound for hot water and then bed. "I haven't agreed to this."

"You don't have a choice," Dad said. There it was again. Not, "You'll be great." Not even, "You can do this." Just, "You have no option." Everyone had made it very clear they were stuck with me. Maybe it was time for me to make it clear that I may have been chosen, but I still very much had a choice.

I shrugged. "There's not any way you can force me, is there?"

My parents froze. That fact hadn't occurred to them.

I lay my hand on Ari's shoulder. "Hey, Ace?" I murmured. "Thanks for the rescue. But the next time I run away, ignore my calls, stay out of the Find My iPhone, and let me stay gone."

***

Minutes later, I stood with my head bowed while scalding water pounded down the back of my neck. Hot showers might be evidence of the existence of angels and if they were, then the glowy buggers could show up any time and corral their wayward relations.

The combination of the steam and the sugar scrub smeared all over my body was softening my stiff muscles, washing away fears and tensions. All right, washing away sweat and demon goo but they tamped the fears and tensions down a tad. I washed my death hand about sixty-seven times before I pronounced it free of demon and karma.

Bad things really did come in threes. I'd been lucky tonight. No previous female Rasha meant that Josh had been unaware of the danger he'd been in from me, allowing my first show of magic to dust him. With his sister, Ari had been there. And with that last encounter in my backyard? I didn't know what to make of that whole meeting and that bothered me more than the other two combined. Loath as I was to admit it, tomorrow I was going to march myself over to the Vancouver chapter and let them take me in hand.

I shuddered, remembering Josh. Phrasing.

I dumped some argan oil shampoo in my palm, lathering up. I'd tried running away and that had gotten me nowhere. Since I didn't want to find myself in a repeat of tonight or, you know, actually dead the next time I met a demon, I'd play nice with Demon Club.

More importantly, I had to help Ari. I wasn't going to let my brother wither away. Much as Brotherhood history and tradition were screwing me hard and dry with no money on the bedside table afterwards, they worked in Ari's favor. Whenever the Brotherhood determined Rasha initiate status, they committed to that (male) person without hesitation. Right now, they thought that they'd made a mistake with Ari, so their conviction that Ari was no longer an initiate was the biggest hurdle. Get the proof to correct that and his induction would swiftly follow. He'd be back on his rightful path.

I rinsed out my hair, finger combing conditioner through it.

My plan for tomorrow had two-parts: a) master my power since it appeared demons were actively targeting me now and, b) get the Brotherhood to confirm Ari's initiate status. Me being Rasha was a weird glitch that didn't negate my brother's destiny.

Oh, and try not to be freaked by all this. Okay, three parts. But that's where I capped it.

Clean of body and soul, I shut off the tap, giving myself a small electric shock in the process. Damn faulty piece of shit hand. I stepped out of the shower, wrapping the towel around my head like a giant turban before breaking open the fronds to smear aloe on my tender boobs.

I slathered body lotion on the rest of me, slipping nice and moisturized into my pink baby doll tee reading "I know guacamole is extra" and matching pink pajama shorts with small avocados printed on them. Finally, I brushed my teeth and towel dried my hair. The normalcy of following my nighttime routine was comforting.

Dumping the damp towel on the floor, I picked up the Doritos bag to throw into my bedroom trash, since my bathroom's was full. I opened the door with a cloud of steam, and wandered into my comparatively cooler bedroom.

Where I collided with a hard chest.