Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series (23 page)

“I saw what happened, Wesley. I don’t think
there are any conclusions left to jump to. Do not forget I was
standing right there as you pawed her.” I growled I could feel the
flames in my fingertips. All I needed to do was just will it to go.
I felt my heart harden, sending a chill up my spine.

“I don’t know what happened. I left the
school and drove to the city. I was so angry. Do you realize how
hard it is to deal with those ass holes talking about you like
that?” He looked at the floor, anger was in his voice.

“
I ran into Miranda at the
lake and we started talking, seemed innocent enough.” He shrugged.
“I mean first I wind up in the woods all sorts of messed up, then
you get attacked before Christmas.” He sighed, “Next thing I know
we are in her dorm room half way through a twelve pack of Shiner
Bach. I don’t even remember opening the first bottle.” I fidgeted,
so he had been drinking. I hate it when my intuition is
correct.

How was I to tell him that Miranda had been
the reason that he wound up in the woods in the first place? I mean
really he had no clue what the bitch was capable of, then again I
only had partial knowledge of it and only the slightest idea of
what she was.

“Did you sleep with her Wesley?” I asked
cautiously. His answer would be my deciding point of if my
relationship with Wesley would proceed or not.

He wouldn’t stop fidgeting. Then I saw his
face change and suddenly I felt sick to my stomach. This knot
formed making me feel like I was about to vomit, I could actually
feel the bile rising. He had, he had actually slept with that red
headed skank.

“Yes.” He whispered at me. Instantly guilt
was in his eyes.

“Do you love her?” I asked choking, I
squinted my eyes to hold back tears I wasn’t going to show him how
much it hurt.

“No.” He didn’t hesitate. “I love you!”

“Really because from what I gathered after
seeing what I saw this afternoon and what I hear now that your love
for me has been nothing but one big lie. Because if you loved me as
you say you love me you never would have been with her.” I felt
weak, I needed to sit down.

I walked to my desk and sat in my chair
turning it to face him. I wasn’t going to sit somewhere where he
could be near me. I had to keep my distance.

“I had a lot to drink last night.” He
admitted, like that would soften the blow he had just given to my
heart. “I don’t know how it happened. All I know is that it did. I
remember it starting and then I remember waking up this morning
when her phone started to ring.” So it had been him that had
accidently answered the phone when I had called.

“That was you!” I screamed then snapped my
mouth shut, he looked at me confused.

“No wait what?” He said taking a step
towards me.

“I had a text message from that number so I
called it, I heard you two talking. I hung up once I realized it
was you.” I said dryly.

“How did you have a text from Miranda’s
phone?” He questioned me getting down on his knees so he could look
me in the eye.

“Do you really think that you can turn this
around on me? That I’m going to be all sympathetic that you were a
dumb ass last night?” I asked shooting daggers at him from my
eyes.

“I would tell you. She knows it meant
nothing. How could it mean anything? I mean I love you, I’m with
you.” He noticed I wasn’t buying it so he changed the subject. “Is
it true what she said?” He asked sharply. “She said you were just
like her. That you had the same gift.” I let out a short laugh.

“Don’t turn this around on me again!” I saw
my fingers spark and instantly sat on them.

This was proving to be difficult, every part
of me wanted to set him on fire. If not him then something needed
to go up in flames.

“I told you she had issues.”

Was he changing the
subject on me again?
He better not start
trying to pin the whole incident this afternoon on me.

“Yeah, well that succubus bitch just better
not get in my way.” My ass was starting to get hot this meant that
the fire was about to explode.

“Dawn, I came here to ask you to forgive me.
Don’t let my one night of drunken stupidity end what we have.” He
said looking at me curiously.

“Seriously!” I screamed. “Your indiscretion
has torn a huge void in my soul. I gave you my heart with the
understanding that you would not break it. Instead you ripped it
from my body this afternoon and stomped on it. Once you were done
with it you stuffed it back in. Now you just expect me to forgive
you?” I had to get him out of the house, I was about to implode and
I couldn’t do it with him in my room regardless how much my head
told me to.

“I was hoping you could.” He sulked.

I had a distinct feeling
he didn’t think that he actually did anything wrong. He thought he
could use the whole
‘I was drunk and
didn’t know what I was doing’
line on me.
I watched my mother go through that for years, the constant excuses
of why her ass of a husband found it necessary to sleep with other
women while married to her.

“I don’t know Wesley. You really hurt me. In
fact I think you need to leave. I cannot be in the same room with
you right now.” I demanded. The temperature had gone up a bit
more.

“Just tell me if she was right? Is there
something about you that you haven’t told me?” He attempted to ask
one more time.

“LEAVE!” I yelled my eyes felt like they
were on fire.

He nodded at me and got up to leave. I heard
my mother come in the back door and speak briefly to him but I
couldn’t make out the words. As soon as he had walked out my whole
body had burst into flames with scalding hot tears running down my
face. I heard my mother enter the room, but I didn’t look at
her.

“Honey,” she said quietly. I could feel her
beside me. She was concerned. I looked at her as the flames lapped
at my hair I knew I must have been a horrifying reminder to
her.

I was the constant memory of my father,
exploding into flames and all. She just sat here and held my hand
through the fire. She asked no questions said no words just sat
there as I cried. And cry I did until the flames dissipated and the
tears wouldn’t come anymore.

Part Three:

Life after
Wesley

Alone

I spent most of the next few days in a daze.
I went to school, came home, did my homework, ate a silent dinner
with my mother, took a shower and went to bed. I just sort of went
with the motions. Life didn’t seem as exciting when your heart was
solid stone.

Wesley hadn’t spoken to me since I told him
to leave my room, not that I expected him to in the first place. I
would see him in class but in my robotic state it was like he
wasn’t there at all. I didn’t make eye contact, didn’t allow a
single smile to appear. I just sat there took my notes and left
before he could say anything, that is if he would say anything at
all.

I know my mother was concerned. I was acting
weird even for me, but something within me was gone. Where my heart
was once was this black hole filled with a heart shaped stone. I
had never been in love before, and the one time that I let my heart
go he slaughtered it. I vowed right then that I would never do it
again.

Every night before bed I would lay there
staring at the ceiling telling myself that love isn’t worth it. All
it does in the end is hurt you. All it does is leave you hollow and
alone, I will never love again. Life is easier to lead when you can
walk through it without caring. Only God knows how long I’m going
to be on this earth, so might as well put up the wall and throw
everyone else out. My eyes had darkened again, this time instead of
a deep brown they were almost black, the ice never tingled my
fingers anymore it seemed. I was finding myself drawn to the fire,
the tantalizing darkness of it.

****

About a week after Wesley cheated my mother
sat me down at the table to go through his mother’s old sketch
book. My issue was with Wesley and not with his family. I still had
a soft spot or two for Greg and Melissa, probably always would.
Wesley, on the other hand, could just take a long walk off a short
pier.

My mother had been pining over this sketch
book since before the attack but this was the first time that she
was allowing me to see the pages. Apparently Mrs. Jensen was one
Hell of an artist, her drawings were amazingly detailed and looked
almost life like. I was amazed at the first image my mother showed
me.

My mother said nothing as I thumbed through
the pages. Drawings of Melissa and Wesley, even a few of Miranda
were in the starting pages. Then things started getting dark,
Miranda with a knife posed over Wesley’s bed.

Wait,
were
those fangs
?

It was almost like she was caught in mid
movement as if she was about to hurt him.

There were several disturbing pictures of
Miranda with a sinister smile on her face perched over Wesley, then
Melissa, and finally Greg. In each image it looked like she was
taking something from them, it appeared like smoke in the drawings
but I had a feeling it was bits and pieces of their souls.

What had Greta seen in
their old home
?

It was almost as if she drew exactly what
she had walked in on as if the image had been ingrained in her
memory.

Suddenly the pictures went wild. There are
images of my mother and father holding hands. Several drawings of
my mother holding a newborn. Finally a sketched image of me, my
eyes were blacked out and my hair hung in waves around my face.

How could this woman know what I was, how
could she even know what I looked like?

I mean there was no way for her to know my
face at all she had never seen me. I flipped to the back of the
book and instantly threw it to the ground like it was on fire.

“What is this mom?” I asked my voice
trembling. I felt like I had just seen my future.

“She saw something. I’m assuming it has to
do with this girl.” She had picked up the book and turned it to the
first page that had a picture of Miranda drawn on it. “This being
must have been feeding on her family. She witnessed it on several
different occasions. This is the girl we saw in the woods. The girl
that was after Wesley.” She flipped to multiple pages pointing to
each instance. “Greta was always special, she could see things. I
thought it was human superstition but the fact that she has you
drawn throughout the end of the book tells me that she was far more
than just a human. I think she was a Harbinger.” My mother looked
at me.

“You mean like a psychic?” I asked raising
an eyebrow.

“Something like that.” She sighed. “Remember
when I told you that she told me that our children were destined to
be together but there would be a force stronger than their love
that would keep them apart?” She opened it to an older image of a
girl with no face. Her hair was white, and she was dressed in
elegant clothing. “I don’t know if this is you or someone else Dawn
all I know is she saw you and she saw me. She knew we would find
her family again. However this girl, is she the one that you saw
him with?”

I nodded my head. “Yeah that’s her.” My
throat felt dry.

“Well it looks like we have a vampire on our
hands.” My mother frowned. “I hate dealing with vampires, they are
cruel unfeeling creatures.”

“If she is a vampire then how is she able to
walk in the day?” I asked thinking of all the stories I had read
about how they could only come out at night.

“Oh she is not just any ordinary vampire I’m
sure.” My mother smirked. “I have a feeling there is some demon
blood in her veins, ancient blood I’m sure. She has latched herself
on to Wesley, there must be some tasty emotions running through his
body if she isn’t willing to let him go.”

She sighed again. “Usually once their
subject starts to wander away from them they will let go and seduce
another victim. This one though she’s persistent. She may actually
feel that she loves him, that she needs him.”

She looked at me, “Remember that vampire you
killed several months back?” she asked. I nodded yes, “That was
your run of the mill normal vampire, nothing special to her. She
could feed on anything that has blood, but she was not strong
enough for much else then just walking the earth. This one,” she
pointed again, “this one is special. She has age and presence;
otherwise she wouldn’t be able to get in your head, hence why I
think she has demon blood in her veins. She knows your plans and
plays you like a pawn, each time she appears she is studying you.
That is why the next time it is harder to beat her and you have to
use your wits.” She looked sadly at the drawings.

“What are you saying Mom?” I asked glancing
at her face.

“She’s feeding on him again while also using
him as bait so she can study you.” She put her head in her hands
and started rubbing her temples. “You are not ready for this battle
Dawn. You need your dad for this one.”

“Why do I need him?” I asked glancing up at
her from the picture.

“Your father deals with this kind of thing.
He would be the most knowledgeable in this area.” She stated. “I
could try to tell you how a demon strikes down another demon but I
do not know.”

I made a face at her.

“Dawn, you have my blood in your veins too
but right now you are more your father than you are me. That
softness that you used to have is gone. Right now you are just a
shell of what you once were. I blame Wesley and this girl for that.
If you face off with this damned being now she could kill you. She
makes your attacker seem like a kitty cat compared to what she can
do to you. Do not engage her now because she does not know what you
are yet, she is still testing.” I nodded at her.