Flame Caller (6 page)

“
If you’re watching this,
it means I’m already dead.”

“
Lame,” Jessica said from
the doorway to the kitchen.

Sean stopped recording and looked at
her sourly. “Do you mind?”

He hit the record button and began
again.

“
In your life, you’re
obviously the main character to your story,” he said. “But don’t
forget that you’re a supporting character in a lot of other lives,
and sometimes those supporting characters manage to steal the
show.”

He leaned back and ran a hand over his
ample belly. “I’m not the main character here, don’t worry. My
buddy Xander, he’s practically a superhero. I mean, he controls the
wind. I saw him make a freaking tornado in the middle of White
Halls.

“
No, I’m not the hero,
here. I’m the sidekick. I’m the Robin to his Batman. I’m the Kid
Flash to his… well, regular Flash. I’m the Patrick to his
SpongeBob.”

Sean reached nervously over his
shoulder and pulled aside the blinds. The parking lot in front of
his apartment building seemed relatively deserted but he wasn’t
fooled by the quiet appearance.

“
The problem is that
Xander isn’t the only one who can control the elements. There’s a
new group hunting for him who control the flames instead of the
wind. And, sometimes, being a supporting character means that
they’re after you too.

“
If you happen to see
Xander,” he said, leaning forward once again and dropping his voice
into a harsh whisper, “tell him not to come home. Tell him, no
matter what, to stay safe.”

Sean turned off the video camera and
sat quietly, reveling in the silence that stretched after his
heartfelt recording.

“
That was dumb,” Jessica
said, breaking the reverent silence. “What are you even
doing?”

“
I’m narrating our story.
Something crazy is going on in town and people need to know the
truth. And we don’t have a lot of time. Since you were kind enough
to lead the bad guys right to my apartment, we suddenly became
redshirts in this episode.”

Jessica arched a perfectly plucked
eyebrow and took a drink of her bottled water. She gestured over
her shoulder toward the closed bathroom door. “You do remember we
have someone tied up in the bathtub, right? How about you ‘narrate’
your butt back there and check on him?”

“
You’re such a
sorostitute,” he muttered.

“
What was
that?”

“
Sorostitute. Part
sorority girl, part…”

She stomped her foot on the ground. “I
can guess the last part! Now get back there and check on the guy in
the bathtub.”

Sean huffed as he pushed off the
couch. “I really hate you.”

“
You’re an idiot,” Jessica
said. “And I hate you too.”

He stormed past her without looking at
the pretty blonde. He would never admit it to her but he shared her
concerns about the Fire Warrior unconscious in his
bathtub.

Sean cringed as he turned the door
handle to the bathroom. It creaked louder than he would have liked
and he could hear Jessica suck in a breath behind him. Slowly,
gingerly, he opened the door.

The tiled bathroom was dark. The
blackout curtains were pulled closed and the lights were off. The
shower, which they had left running for the first few hours in case
he woke up and started a fire, had been turned off the day before.
Now, the bathroom was as quiet as it was dark.

Sean refused to leave the doorway,
hoping he could see all he needed to from where he
stood.

For a long moment, the Fire Warrior
didn’t move. He couldn’t see the normal rise and fall of his chest
and he feared the worst. Suddenly, the man took in a shallow
breath.

Satisfied, Sean quickly closed the
door and led Jessica back to the living room.

“
So?” she whispered
harshly.

“
He’s alive,” Sean said in
his normal tone.

“
But still out
cold?”

“
Yeah,” he replied,
scratching his chin. “I’ve been meaning to talk to you about that.
Exactly how hard did you hit him? He’s been out for two days
straight.”

“
You didn’t seem too
concerned about that when he was choking you to death.” Her
expression quickly softened.

He walked past her and toward the
couch. Sitting down, he started pulling on his shoes.

“
Where are you going?” she
asked in disbelief.

“
Out.”

“
Out? We have a guy that
tried to kill us tied up in the bathtub. What are we going to
do?”

“
We
aren’t doing
anything.
I
am almost out of groceries, so
I’m
going
to the store.” He stopped and held up his hand to stop her retort.
“And don’t you dare make another fat joke.”

Jessica looked over her shoulder and
down the hall. She shivered at the thought of the unconscious
man.

“
So what am I supposed to
do?”

Sean shrugged as he pulled on the
other shoe. “I didn’t ask you to bring him here. You brought him on
your own, so you can deal with him on your own.”

He stood but Jessica stepped between
him and the door. “And what do I do if he wakes up?”

Sean put his hand on her shoulder and
gently pushed her aside. “I would recommend running. I don’t think
he’s going to wake up in a good mood.”

“
No way. How about you
stay here and I go to the store?”

Sean laughed derisively. “I’m glad to
know you’ve kept your sense of humor through all of this,” he said
sarcastically.

Jessica frowned, unhappy at being on
the receiving end of his jokes. She tossed her hair over her
shoulder and crossed her arms over her chest.

“
Then I’m going with
you.”

“
Not if your life depended
on it, which it very possibly might.”

He walked toward the door but paused
when he heard her soft footsteps on the carpet behind him. When he
stopped, she ran into his back gracelessly. Sighing, he turned
toward the sorority girl.

“
What do you think you’re
doing?” he asked flatly.

“
I told you,” she huffed.
“I’m going with you.”

“
And I told you that
wasn’t going to happen.”

“
And you can’t exactly
stop me,” she replied. The confident sorority president reasserted
itself, drowning the scared girl who had been there seconds
before.

Sean frowned but could recognize a
losing battle when he saw one. He threw up his hands exasperatedly
and groaned.

“
Fine. You can come.” He
pointed his finger dangerously at her. “But if we find another one
of those fire users, don’t think for a second I won’t trip you to
get away.”

They saw another Fire Warrior before
they reached the end of his street. The blonde woman leaned against
a building across the street, casually perusing the few pedestrians
that walked past her. Most people gave her a wide berth, switching
to the other side of the street to keep as far away from the
strange woman as possible.

She wore the telltale black leather
outfit. Her stiff collar rose to just below her ears, framing the
sides of her face. Sean wasn’t entirely sure that she could have
turned her head from side to side if she wanted to. Still, the look
did what it was intended—it was incredibly intimidating.

As they watched, the Fire Warrior
looked over at the unusual pair. With a flick of her wrist, a
dancing flame burst to life in the palm of her hand.

Jessica gasped softly and leaned into
Sean. He could feel her racing heartbeat as she pressed against
him. Her hands were sweaty as she dug her nails into his
arm.

Sean pulled his arm free gently and
placed his hand on the small of her back. With soft pressure, he
turned her away from the Fire Warrior and led her down the
street.

When they were far enough away, he
looked into her startled eyes. Her pupils were dilated and he
wasn’t entirely sure if she was seeing the road in front of her or
if she was trapped in a general daze while lost in her own head. He
had seen a similar look after his freshman year of college when he
hit a deer while driving home from school. The deer had the same
look moments before it was run over.

He flashed a broad grin to an elderly
lady that passed the pair on the sidewalk. As soon as they were
past, his grin was replaced by a look of genuine concern for
Jessica’s wellbeing.

“
Jessica?” he
asked.

She shook her head slowly and turned
toward him as though surprised to find Sean walking beside
her.

“
I can’t do this,” she
said. “I need to go back.”

She spun on her heel and started
walking back toward the apartment. Sean had to hurry to catch up to
her. When he did, he placed his hands on her shoulder and turned
her toward him.

“
What’s gotten into
you?”

She wrung her hands together. “They’re
going to know, Sean. They’re going to take one look at us and
they’re going to know that we attacked one of their
kind.”

Sean laughed softly. “They’re not
bloodhounds. They’re not going to somehow smell the scent on our
skin.”

“
This isn’t funny,” she
cried. “They won’t have to smell it. I’ll give it away. I always
give it away. They’ll take one look at me and they’ll just
know.”

Her pitch grew steadily higher and her
words came quicker the more she spoke. “I can’t do this. They’re
going to be able to tell something’s wrong and they’re going to ask
me questions and I’m going to have to lie and I’m a terrible liar.
This is senior skip day all over again. When I was in high school,
we took off for senior skip day and when I got home, my parents
asked me how school was, like they already knew. And I was going to
lie but as soon as I opened my mouth, I completely froze. I
couldn’t think of anything and I got so nervous that my stomach
cramped up and next thing I knew I threw up. And while my mother
was holding my hair back, I told her everything. I told her we
skipped class. I told her who went with us. I told her everything
we did… oh, God, I told her
everything
we did.”

She put her hand to her mouth and her
eyes glistened with a combination of panic, guilt, and sadness.
“Everyone hated me after that. They even stole all my clothes while
I was in the shower after cheerleading practice and made me come
outside in nothing but a towel. And that’s what’s going to happen
if you make me lie.”

“
Holy crap,” Sean blurted.
“Are you seriously having a panic attack right now?”

“
Shut up,
Sean.”

“
Take a breath between
sentences before you pass out there, Princess.”

“
I’m not kidding, Sean.
It’s going to happen all over again.”

“
What’ll happen again?
You’ll walk around outside in a towel?” he teased.

To Sean’s surprise, Jessica sat down
on the curb and dropped her head to her knees. For a moment, he
stood over her haughtily until he saw her shoulders shaking with
sobs. It was a side of Jessica he wasn’t used to seeing. She was
always so proud and arrogant; he had trouble imagining her being a
sensitive woman.

He reached out but his hand froze just
above her shoulder. He had never been very good with crying women,
especially one that he normally disliked. It seemed somehow
disingenuous to comfort her now, after making so much fun of her in
the past.

He didn’t know what to do as she
continued crying. Sean had never been the sensitive type. His only
experience consoling a sad creature was with his dog. Shrugging, he
reached out and patted her on top of her head.

“
There, there.”

His awkward attempt at consoling her
did nothing. She continued to sob into her arms.

After a brief internal conflict, Sean
sat down beside her and put his arm around her shoulder.

“
Come on. It’s not that
bad. Listen, I’m sorry for teasing you earlier.”