Infernal

Cam's POV

I wanted to throw Nina inside the car. Why did girls take so long to do anything? I kept a curse in, thinking how this was our first stop in four hours. There was a good chance that she'd knee me if I hurried her outside the gas station.

"You just spent ten minutes in the bathroom, are you sure you want to drink that?" I glared at the energy drink in her hand.

"What are you implying?" her golden eyes glared before twinkling—she snatched a bag of classic Lay's.

I cocked my head, "I'm not going to make more stops until we reach Danvers."

Nina ignored the warning going for the register with multiple snacks. When I pulled out my wallet she frowned.

"I don't need you to pay for me. I have money."

"I have more," I pushed forty dollars to the guy behind the counter. "Nina—" I hissed as she slapped my arm, handing out her own bills.

"Well, I don't want your money—" she stamped both twenties in front of the grimacing clerk. Nice, another scene was underway. "Actually, I don't want anything from you."

Groaning, I pinched my nose. What was her problem? She'd been pissy ever since we left Haven Hills—make that since she woke up.

Nina's wavy hair whipped as she strolled to the door, leaving me planted like an idiot. Looking to the side, I spotted the guy's eyes on her swaying hips.

It was like someone lit a match in my chest.

"If you want to keep your eyes you better look somewhere else." I gritted dangerously. The guy probably worked part-time, he was too young—fourteen-young. His body jerked back a step and the pressure inside me let up.

Why was I threatening a random kid? Shaking it off, I left before Miss Attitude stormed the castle. We were in a small town called Bel Air somewhere in Maryland. We had more four or five hours to go. I'd downed two more coffees. There wasn't a chance in hell I was stopping until we reached our destination.

Nina kept her mouth shut as I pulled away and drove for the I-95. She was tucked into her seat, staring outside.

My left hand flexed. It felt wrong wearing my father's ring. I had to fight not to toss it. Fingers curling on the wheel, I pushed thoughts of my father—of my family—away. There was a jump beside me. I barely contained a smirk hearing the radio blare.

Nina faced me with wide eyes.

"Did you do that?"

"If by 'that' you mean turn on the radio without touching buttons, then yes, I did that." Her hands dropped from her ears as the volume decreased. Still no touching. My lips couldn't hold off the smugness. "I can create and manipulate electricity. Electronics run on it, so, I can control their functions." I kept my eyes on the road as the stations skipped. "I don't do it a lot, it makes me feel lazy." And I shouldn't tap into my ability unless I really needed it—I hated relying on it. "Sometimes its instinct," I looked over. "I didn't do it to scare you."

Nina crossed her arms looking at me with those judgy eyes. I tilted my head, giving her the same studying glare and my lips tipped. I was really looking to get punched.

"Are you going to tell me why Danvers?"

My eyes rolled, "Can't you just trust me?"

"I trust you—" I swallowed—she said it so fast, no hesitation. It made my skin chill. "Trust that you're driving us to Hell. The least you can do is tell me, why Danvers?"

She had a point. I was taking us straight to Hell. Nina had an ability to see into the past and future, it wouldn't keep her safe like my abilities did.

"The only Hell Gate I know of is there." Don't ask how I know, don't ask how I know, don't—

"How come you only know about that one? Does that one let you travel in first class or something?" her joke slipped past me. How did she always ask what I didn't want to answer?

The radio stopped; Keane played in the background as I struggled to detour our talk.

"Why didn't you let me pay?" I blurted.

Nina's posture shifted. Her mood had loosened, now, it was coiled like a snake. No doubt I was in for a piece of her mind—

She crossed a leg, glaring dead-ahead. Or I was in for silence.

With Nina I had no idea which one was worst. I was always dancing with her, trying not to set off her self-destructive mouth since she generally targeted me with it—other times, I pushed her buttons just for fun. I liked seeing Nina all out of composer. Under all that shyness was a dangerous set of claws. Like a lioness.

"Letting you pay for my stuff felt weird... it made me feel cheap."

"Cheap? I was trying to be nice." Talk about epic-fail. "Bet you'd let Phillip pay for you..." I murmured looking out the window.

"I heard that," she held a slim finger to my face. "Phillip used to be my boyfriend, and before that he was my friend, plus I normally don't want to hurt him with a power tool."

I tilted away rubbing a palm over my heart.

"Ouch, my heart's crushed." My fake pout dropped. "Although, I get it," I nodded. "Half the time you drive me crazy." Her eyes bulged.

"I drive you—?" Nina shut up—eyes closing—calming down. Was she counting to ten? Geez, she was. "What did I ever do to you? You were the one who assaulted me on my first day, the one who made it his life's mission to make me miserable for weeks! Then you get all sorts of mood-swings and I have to keep up or be trampled by them—you play guitar for me, you push me away, you save me from a Vampire, you flirt with me, you push me away again—!" she exhaled running both hands through her hair making it wild-looking. Sexy—I shook my head. "And you kissed me... and..."

So it was about the kiss. Knew it, I grinned to myself. I knew it meant something to her—which was bad, I forced into my skull, because I didn't want her to have feelings for me.

At all.

But I did—ah, shit.

"You make me lose my head." Nina slumped against the backrest, looking at me. "You're the one messing with my mind like a freaking puppeteer and I make you crazy?"

I snorted, "Do you even know what the word puppeteer means? I sure don't control you, Rapunzel. You run wild on your own."

Nina made me insane. More than she knew.

There were only a handful of times when I really wanted to hurt my brother. As in beating-the-loving-crap-out-of-him moments. When I'd seen them kissing on the bleachers? A dam had broken inside me. All the accumulated anger had escaped my hold and my Power had slipped—a lot. That storm had lasted for a week. It could've killed people.

That time the freshman had called her a 'cock sucker slut' Nina had been the only thing holding me back—I would've broken his neck. I'd never lost self-control like that, not over a few words.

Nina yelped when I stirred suddenly, making her bash into the door—I went a little overboard myself. There were tire squeaks on asphalt.

We'd barely missed a Ford.

Thank you, all-mighty-Nephilim-reflexes.

"I should keep my eyes on the road." Only one of us could walk away from a bad car crash.

"Ditto," she breathed harshly, back gluing into the seat. "No more arguing while driving." Something we agreed on.

We fell in silence and it allowed me to think about my brother. I knew he was alive. I could feel him—a tiny sensation in the back of my mind; like we were connected by an invisible thread that stretched on between dimensions. We normally just called it the twin-thing.

We'd always known what it meant, it had always been there since we could recall—and we remembered way back. So, while that thread existed, I knew he was breathing.

Didn't mean he was unharmed.

The sight of Phillip's blood had knocked me into a brief catatonic state—and the smell… I felt like tearing the forest apart. But she was there.

I chanced a side-glance catching her starry eyes on me. They looked anxious.

"Your squirming makes the leather squeak. It's annoying." I watched her mouth open—then close. Something was bugging her. "What's rattling your dirty little mind, hmm?"

Her face reddened like Rudolph's nose. Teasing her was easy.

Smiling a sugary smile, she said, "In my dirty little mind," she mocked the words by imitating my voice. "I'm calling you every bad name in the book. Both in English and Spanish," I cocked an eyebrow. "I was thinking," Nina began in her shier tone—I hadn't heard it in a while. "You're not going to stop until we arrive at Danvers, and there's still a long way to go…" I had to keep my gaze off her, especially when she bit her lip. Oh those lips… "You should take a break—we won't stop, I'll drive." Worry washed off Nina like peace and love washed off Hippies.

I pushed back the tingly feeling in my chest.

"Worried about me?"

Tucking a strand, she muttered, "I'm not sure how safe I am with a guy who's had three large cups of coffee and, of course, there are the dark circles under your eyes." No surprise there— "They don't suit you." She chided absently.

We both eyed each other for a drum beat. I ended up smirking laughingly.

"You want to drive the rest of the way?" she nodded promptly, embarrassed. "Its four hours, lovebird, you can't slow down, you can't get distracted watching me—" her small fist met my shoulder, I chuckled. "Okay,"

I inclined my body to the side—reaching an arm around Nina's waist. She was yelling at me as I pulled her over the console, not stopping as I nested her in my lap.

"Cameron—" I parted my legs so she'd fall in their middle. "Eyes on the road, eyes on the road—" she pressed into me scared.

I was still gripping the wheel, steering perfectly. My mouth brushed her ear and Nina rewarded me with a shiver. I loved how she reacted to me.

"I said no stops, I meant it." Not even to trade spots. "Stop shaking, I thought you trusted me?"

"I do," she didn't dare look up. "It's the other drivers I don't trust."

Good answer. I brushed my nose along the outline of her lobe. My body roared at the small sound Nina made. Softly, I took her left hand, lowering it on the wheel, then the right one. My hands covered hers perfectly.

"I'm going to lift my foot off the accelerator, have yours ready to fill in." She nodded.

My foot moved and hers didn't miss a second. Smiling at the back of her head, I lifted myself ready to change seats. Nina looked over as I settled myself.

"A warning would've been nice."

"It was fun—admit it." I caught a fleeting smile.

Nina lowered the radio's volume, "You should sleep." I should, but couldn't. My head was clattered with thoughts, nightmares— "With your phone's GPS I won't get lost, I'll get us there." Emotions were scattering on her eyes—there was that hint of adoration. "Rest your eyes, at least."

Hard to believe five minutes ago, she wanted to sock me. What was stranger was that I found her behavior comforting, familiar and welcome.

Succumbing to a need of pleasing her, my eyes closed. I drifted into a limbo-state, some words I'd said to her haunted me:

You wait for... for something... all your life...you find it...

My soul stirred longingly at the words, going into an erratic frenzy. Damn, it was like it knew something I didn't.

***

"…yeah, I'll tell him…" my head shifted, ears sharpening. "He's busy catching up to some-well-deserved-sleep—we will, bye, V."

My muddy brain knew that voice. It was as beautiful as a harp's music. I turned again finding my space to be small, the surface rubbery—my Camaro. That's where we were.

Eyelids slitting, I saw her in the low light. Wavy hair down her back, attentive eyes on the highway—my hearing picked up a back-and-forth sound. The wiper blades were working.

Rain pounded the cars and pavement announcing winter.

There was a pop when I straightened out—hmm, nice. My legs felt stiff from being cooped so long. Bet Nina didn't have my problem, her legs were short—but curvy and full in all the right places.

"Hey," my head whipped towards her. "Did Vanessa's call wake you up?"

I shook my head and hair out.

"Why did she call?" I stifled a lazy yawn.

Nina still wouldn't look at me.

"Checking in," she paused. "And delivering our cover story."

"Really?"

"Apparently, we're heading for San Diego so I can cope." I saw her lips twitching, not in a good way. I'd seen this in the last few days. That meant tears were on the way. Oh no. "The three of us. Since apparently I'm too shaken to be going anywhere solo." She whispered gulping.

I waited five seconds. No crying. Her fingers were turning white, though, from the grip she had on the wheel.

"Do you want me to drive?" she shook her head. My lips pursed. I hated seeing her cry—but I couldn't just hold her and kiss her, right? That would ruin everything I'd worked for. Nina shouldn't get close to me. No one should. "It's raining." Bravo, Cameron, you're a whiz at stating facts. "A storm's not very far…" I mumbled rubbing a hand across my face.

That got her attention. "How can you tell?" the real question was: are you causing it? After what she'd seen yesterday I didn't blame her. Actually, I had to throw my hands down; anyone else would've stayed inside.

"You could say electricity calls out to me." I shrugged. "Where are we?"

"About half an hour from Danvers," Nina turned. "V wanted to talk to you, she sounded very worried." Somehow she made it sound like a bad thing. "Maybe you should call her and wish goodnight, you know, so she'll sleep well."

My head tilted as hostility bombed away. "Am I detecting a bitter edge?" Nina's eyes rolled excessively. "You're jealous." I stated smiling tauntingly. No answer. "Oh, my—that's it, isn't it? That's…"

"That's what?" she snapped. I took that as an admission.

I shook my grin off.

"Kinda adorable," I leaned back. "Especially since there's nothing going on between V and me. We're not even on a regular-talking-basis." I couldn't understand. She liked Vanessa as far as I could tell—they got along like salt and pepper.

I tried to decipher Nina's emotions while she drove us, it was like figuring out the Fibonacci sequence—pretty impossible, 'cause I sucked at math. Phillip was the brainiac when it came to numbers and equations.

I jerked forward when the car halted. Tearing my gaze away from my brooding partner, I saw a long line of cars. The highway was all piled up. Shit.

I frowned in concentration spreading my hearing range, catching several bits of conversations, car songs, the rain—stopping when I heard some guys arguing about who'd hit who.

I groaned, "Car accident, perfect." Nina blinked. "I can hear anything within a mile radius."

"Spooky," I smiled dryly. "We're stuck?" I nodded. "That sucks… I've been driving this fast for nothing." Her back hit the leather with a soft thud.

I snatched my phone but knew there were no exits. This highway was one-way-straight.

"So," I mumbled watching her grab the bag of Lay's. "You're jealous." It tore open so fast I thought chips were going to fly everywhere. "Guess that kiss wasn't nothing?"

Nina chewed loudly tuning me out. She could be so frustrating.

"Suit yourself." I unbuckled the belt. We were going to be stuck awhile.

She tossed the Lay's to the backseat. I glared at some rogue potato chips. She'd be cleaning them up.

"Seriously?" my head whirled. Her golden eyes were filled to the brim with disbelief and outrage. "You have a PHD in douchery, you know that?"

I wanted to hang my head. What now?

"What are you talking about?"

She scoffed, "God, you are a dick." And her favorite pastime was insulting me. Still didn't get it. "Yesterday night you were dying and asked me not to leave you. Remember that? Because I do—and I stayed, no matter how much I wanted not to—I stayed. And I would've stayed until it was over…" Nina's voice grew in pitch. I found my face softening. "Do you think I like seeing people die, Cameron? I don't. Watching that… watching you fade away on that bed wasn't something I wanted to see—ever—but I stayed… because you asked me, and you looked so scared… and…" she pushed her back into the seat, breathing out. "You told me things…" Because dying apparently triggered stupidity and made my walls drop.

"I was poisoned. I didn't know what I was saying."

Her soft jaw hardened. "That's bull," she called my bluff. I feared my cool would slip. "I don't believe someone would spend their last moments fabricating lies, in fact, I don't remember you ever being that honest with me." Once, in Haven Park. I hadn't been able to hold it together, Nina undid my soul.

I faced forward seeing the rows of cars, sizzling lights and rain running down the windshield. Why was there a freaking accident? This Q&A wouldn't be going on if it wasn't for two saps that didn't deserve driver's licenses.

"You don't have anything to say?" I could feel her eyes regarding me, tempting me to look at them. "You're just a…" she sighed.

Static roamed my skin, teasing my temper as my brain recalled the last time Nina said words like those.

"I'm just a what? A waste?" she gaped at me. "Go ahead. You've said it before." I hissed, shoulders tensing.

Nina looked baffled. "What…? No, I wasn't going to say that—I apologized for it."

"People say honest things when they're arguing, too." I heard myself whispering.

Soon, I found my face clasped in her hands. They were so soft.

"Hey, that wasn't true. I wasn't being honest, okay? Please—please tell me you don't think that?" Nina begged with heavy emotion. "You are not a waste, Cameron." Her delicate fingers stopped stroking the planes of my face. Her eyes flamed. "What you are is a jerk."

And I was the one with mood swings. It was like watching a pro tennis match, I couldn't catch my breath.

"You're being a little redundant—" she placed a finger over my lips. She wasn't finished.

"You put up this enigmatic front—this mask—to keep everything concealed. But I can see through it." Nina looked a little too proud of herself. It might've been because my face paled. "Sometimes, anyway," she whispered edging closer—off the driver's seat and onto mine. "And when I see you, I understand you. I know who you are. I…" Nina's voice faded out as her eyes dove inside mine, alluring her to me. "That's why it's impossible not to like you."

Her whisper was like gasoline being sprayed all over my heart. My hands were paralyzed; I didn't know what to do. What to say.

"After we kissed…" her thumb moved over my cheek bone. "I wished you had stayed with me, just like I stayed with you." Her tender smile caused tremors all over. As Nina slid away, making herself comfortable, I stared. "You just had to say the word and I wouldn't have asked about what I saw."

I avoided her saddened face, feeling shameful.

I was such a dickhead. I didn't deserve anyone—least of all, her.