Embers: The Light in Your Shadow

Four

Driving home, I took the backroads. It was dark- a bit too dark for my liking. Flicking on my high beams my face dropped and my heart sank in despair at what I was seeing. Right in front of me was the red Ferrari, and it picked up speed.

Seconds ticked down in a heartbeat before I made a hard turn into the left lane. To my dread, a backup black pickup truck swerved into that lane, causing a head on collision. I didn't see it coming...

My small ford focus flipped repeatedly until it landed into a wheat field. A woman approached my totalled car with me barely hanging on to life. She grabbed my face giving me a good look at her features. "How dare you help the De Luca brothers? Now, you can die in their place."

"Who are you, and how did you know it was me?" I coughed up blood as my car caught on fire.

"Isabella Flores: Cesare's fiancée." She smirked and showed me her phone. She had access to the cameras in the hotel room. "It was a mistake helping them. Now you'll pay the price." I watched as she left me to die by myself.

"HELP ME!" My voice was dry and my cough was persistent, but I refused to die right here. I didn't want to die by myself... "Somebody help me!" The flames were consuming my car making my fears a reality. "Jesus, please help me!"

"Get out of the car..." I heard a voice say.

"I can't! I'm stuck!" I cried to the point it was making me delirious.

A bright light shone right next to me, and I gasped thinking my time had come. "It's okay. Be calm." The light dimmed some, and I could see the Angel before me. He easily broke my seatbelt buckle and pulled me from the car. It shielded me from the blast, and the last thing I saw was the Angel ascending before darkness took over.

Lorenzo's POV:

After we got the hotel issue situated, we had gone to the police station to give our statement. Cesare would've rather dealt with it himself, but this wasn't our jurisdiction. We were far from home so, we had to play by their rules... at least for now... "Tutto quello che sto dicendo è che dovresti scusarti con lei. (All I'm saying is you should apologize to her.)"

"Veramente? Perché sembra più che tu stia cercando di collegarci. (Really? Because it sounds more like you're trying to hook us up.)" My brother countered back.

"Cesare" I rolled my eyes at his foolishness. "Ti ho suggerito di comprare fiori. Non ho detto che dovevi sposare la ragazza... anche se, se lo facessi, sarei favorevole alla tua unione. (I suggested you buy flowers. I didn't say you had to marry the girl... although, I would be in favor of your union if you did.)" His mouth dropped open at my boldness, and I chuckled in victory.

Officer Rogers directed us to his desk, and we proceeded to give our side of the story. He stopped us as soon as we mentioned Savannah's name. "Wait! Did you say Crazy Sadie was at the restaurant to warn you?"

"Her name is Savannah!" I glared at him; Cesare inhaled to keep his cool, but he was slipping.

He ignored us correcting him. "Damn it! This is worse than I thought. I warned people that death and destruction follow that girl." It was as if time stood still once the words left his mouth. Cesare felt the weight of his words come out of the mouth of another, and he definitely regretted saying that to Savannah. She had the entire town against her.

"Should I put an APB out on her, Boss?" Another officer said.

Officer Rogers nodded. "The quicker we find her, the sooner we can close this case." We stared at him in confusion. He caught on and gave us a sad smile. "When Crazy Sadie-"

"HER NAME IS SAVANNAH!" Cesare and I both yelled simultaneously.

"Riiiiight...." He disregarded us again and continued on like we didnt say anything. "Anyway, a couple of months after she moved here, strange things started happening, and she was in the center of it all. At first it was small things... theft, assaults were at an all time high, drug overdoses, fires. But then a couple of college students came to town to refuel before they had went to a club."

"Crazy-" We gave him a warning look, and he changed his words. "Savannah, had warned one of the girls not to go clubbing that night, because she had a dream that someone was going to kill her. Of course, that started a fight, but the girl left anyway. The next morning the girl's body was found buried in the park."

I looked to Cesare, and my heart quickened. "What was the girl's name?"

Officer Rogers searched through his laptop and pulled up a name. "Ah, here it is. Her name was Sofia Vera de Luca." He looked at us, and his eyes widened. "You wouldn't happen to be related to her, would you?"

"She's our youngest sister..." I blurted out. I promise you, the precinct got dead quiet at my confession. "What of the killer?"

"He's serving life in prison." Another Officer said behind us. "But if you ask Crazy Sadie, she'll tell you that we got the wrong guy, and the real killer is still on the loose."

Cesare was just about to give that Officer a piece of his mind when another officer ran into the room. "There was a bad car accident on Walker Road."

"Do they know who it is?" Some other officer asked.

"Crazy Sadie..." The scared officer replied. "She's been flown to Hershey as we speak."

"Damn it! Let's go!" Officer Rogers got up and gathered up his things.

"We're coming with you." Cesare said. He was about to refuse but Cesare made a compelling case. "Whoever tried to kill us probably went after Savannah. It's better if we all stay together."