With my mouth covered by my shirt, I began to cough uncontrollably. The fire was getting closer. Spinning around to try to orient myself, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and a milky white filter covered my vision.
I stood in the middle of a ring of fire. With me was a mountain of wood from shelves, but underneath was a desk. The echoes of a distant scream sounded and I scanned the room. It was no longer the infirmary—I was having a vision.
“Help!” I heard her yell again. “Help me!” She screamed as the fire closed in. I could feel the blistering heat on my skin even though I wasn’t there.
The world around me spun again and I was thrown back into the infirmary. Although it was a vision, I could still feel the licks of flames that had covered my flesh, the smell of burnt paper and wood. Lucian’s office. Amy was trapped in Lucian’s office.
There was no way out but through. I went to the closest wall toward the office, felt the warmth and took a step back. I kicked the wall, the wood splintered, and I hit it two more times before it came crumbling down. Making a hole, I rushed into the next room and did that in each room until I made it to Lucian’s office. The fire was worse there than anywhere else: the books. Everything in this room was flammable.
“Help!” I heard a small voice. The ring of fire that encircled his desk was there as I knew it would be, and I knew someone was inside.
“How can I get in there…” I mumbled to myself. If I went through the fire, I might not be able to get us out alive.
I went to the wall I thought went to the outside, but when I kicked, it didn’t budge. I scanned the office and found one of those priceless artifacts Lucian loved to collect.
“He can bill me,” I said to no one in particular. I was just about to smash the wall when…
“Mackenzie?” I heard her call out to me from inside the rubble. I froze. It was Amy. Amy was in the ring of fire. My eyes flashed silver and I half shifted, consuming some of the strength of my wolf, I pulled back and slammed the statue into the wall. I hit it again and again until I was able to make a small exit. I could see the sun from the outside, but it wasn’t big enough for me to go through. Amy yes, she was so damn petite, but me on the other hand, not so much.
“Fuck it,” I growled and began to strip. Shedding my clothes, I rolled my shoulders, preparing myself for the pain that was sure to come. I’d shifted with Cas, but it wasn’t enough to unbind me. This was going to hurt.
I hunched over on all fours and screamed as I forced my wolf to emerge. My spine rippled and my bones snapped, rearranging to form the beast within. A cold sweat began to consume me as I shifted into a full blown wolf.
I bristled as my midnight black fur shook off the dust and soot, my sharp gaze trained in on Amy’s location.
With a head start, I jumped over the ring of fire, my underbelly catching a few licks, but I didn’t let the pain get to me. Like a dog, I dug through the wood that covered the desk Amy was hiding underneath. The flames grew and I could feel the heat closer than it was before. I couldn’t stop. I ignored everything.
My paws dug their way through until I was face to face with a red-headed vampire. I huffed. Sniffing, I muzzled Amy for her to move. Wide green eyes only stared at me as she cradled herself.
She was too scared, she wasn’t moving. My mouth covered her wrist, and I tried to get her out, but she wouldn’t budge. She would have to go through the fire. With her vampire speed, the damage would be minor.
I whined. It must have snapped her out of it because she let me drag her out from underneath. She flinched as we made it out of the rubble and she was met with the wall of fire.
“I can’t, Kenz. I’ll die.”
I shook my head, hoping she’d understand. Yes it would hurt, but she could make it. As long as she made it past the ring, we’d be home free.
I went behind her legs and pushed. She stumbled forward and dug her heels in.
“Kenzie,” she growled.
I howled.
It snapped her out of her daze. If she stalled any further, we’d both die.
“Fine,” she gritted. “You better be right behind me, Mackenzie.”
Her weak limbs went into a crouch, and in less than a second, she was gone. She zoomed out of the fire, and I could hear her screams. I jumped over the flames, this time some of my coat was singed and I rolled around the ground to put it out. Amy was on the ground, her right arm and leg on fire. In my wolf form I couldn’t do much, so I bit her shoulder and dragged her through the small alcove I’d made to the outside.
Once we were out and far from the burning building, I howled even louder. I hovered over her body to shield her from the sun, no matter how much the fire burned me. Firefighters ran toward us with Cassidy and Michaels chasing behind them. On the way, Michaels snatched a wool blanket and covered Amy in it, putting out the fire on her body. Cassidy dropped to his knees before me, cradling me in his arms as I collapsed.
25
The smell of coffee made me stir. The strong aroma filtered into my system and my body hummed with the need of consumption. I was cocooned in blankets that smelled of smoke, but the java overpowered it.
I stuck my arm out of the blankets and tapped my veins. “Someone better put that coffee in my IV, stat,” I muttered as I opened my eyes.
There were familiar faces all around me. In the hospital bed to my right was Jonah, Sebastian in between us and Jackson on his other side, and in the bed to my left was Amy, with Lucian between us. Amy was asleep, her whole right side heavily bandaged, and the tips of her bright red hair had been singed off.
“How are you feeling?” Bash asked, leaning closer to me.
“Like I could run a marathon,” I groaned. I tried to sit up, but my body felt bruised like a month-old banana. “Now, about that coffee IV…”
Bash snorted. “Here.” He handed me a steaming mug that made my mouth salivate as if I’d been in the desert for years.
“Oh, come to mama,” I whimpered as I reached for the mug.
“Do you want something to eat?” He asked.
I shook my head. “Just keep the crack coming.” I slurped about a third of my coffee in one shot and somewhere inbetween I moaned. Not my finest moment.
“What were you thinking, Mackenzie?” Bash asked as his eyes peered over to the vampires on my left. The look he gave them was the kind your mom makes as you pass a homeless man on the street and she tucks you closer to her. It was funny.
“I was thinking about saving Amy and Lucian’s life.”
“He wasn’t even in the church!”
“How convenient,” Jonah murmured.
“I wasn’t going to take a chance on what-if’s. It’s Amy.” Jackson stayed exceptionally quiet as he peered over at Amy and then looked away.
There was a silent exchange between Sebastian and Jonah that made me feel uneasy. For a pair of guys who haven’t spoken in over a year, they sure were on the same page.
“How are you feeling?” I turned to Amy who was stirring awake.
“I’m fine,” she said as she stared up at the ceiling, without blinking…or breathing. I shivered. It’s so damn weird seeing her like this…so pale and dead. Roman would at least pretend to be human around me.
“Amy,” I whispered, but she didn’t acknowledge me.
Lucian shook his head. “She needs to rest.”
“Of course,” I muttered, but kept watch. She couldn’t be that shaken up. Could she? This wouldn’t be the first time we’d faced danger, but—she was close to dying—again. “With the church burnt to a crisp, where will you guys be staying?”
Lucian shrugged. “Your father offered up his suite, but I don’t think all the vampires of New York City will fit.”
I chuckled. “I think he offered it up to you. He misses you.”
The vampire gave me a sad smile. “I could never leave my people.”
“Most of them will have to stay here anyway. We also have a bunker in the basement where they can stay in during the
daytime. I’m sure Briggs won’t mind accommodating everyone.”
“You’re making a lot of promises on his behalf, Mackenzie,” Lucian commented.
I rolled my eyes. “Just accept my offer.”
He only nodded.
“Amy, you can stay with me,” I said, a little too cheery. “I mean, only if you want to. It’s cool.” I wanted to slap myself. I sounded like a loser.
“Sure,” she mumbled and I had to do a double take.
“I’m sorry,” I stuck a finger in my left ear and wiggled it. “I didn’t catch that. What did you say?”
“I said sure,” she turned her head and looked me straight in the eyes.
Great. Okay, Kenz, play it cool. We were going to have a sleepover. An adult sleepover, wait no, that sounds weird. Whatever. The point was she agreed to stay with me.
I exploded with excitement.
Once I was debriefed and I had updated everyone on my encounter with Andrew, I was able to go home with Amy. We were lying low, especially with the full moon coming up next weekend. Amy’s injuries were healing fast and she was up and about—except she wouldn’t talk to me. The last two days were like living with a mute.
I’d been crashing on the sofa—so I had access to Netflix—when she came out of my makeshift bedroom and went to the kitchen. We’d been storing some O negative in the refrigerator and she was heating up a blood bag.
“Do you plan on speaking?”
“About?” She said as she pressed forty five seconds on the microwave.
“Well…us.”
Amy snorted. “You’re such a chick. There’s nothing to talk about.”
I rested my chin on the back of the sofa to look over at her. “I beg to differ.”
“Why? Because things aren’t how you want them to be? Get over yourself. It’s not always about you.”
“That’s not what I mean, Amy. I’m just trying to repair what we can.”
Her back was to me as she faced the microwave that was beeping, notifying her that her O neg was ready. “You want to repair things? Fine. Let’s see if we can.”
I grinned. “Perfect!” I jumped off the sofa and went to the mail bin at the entrance of my apartment. Except my mail bin didn’t contain any mail—only take-out menus. Judge me all you want, but they had to be stored somewhere. “So we got pizza, Chinese, Thai, Indian, Colombian, good ol’ American, Greek, and this new Italian place I haven’t tried yet,” I rambled as I shuffled through the menus. My cell phone rang, but I ignored it. “I also haven’t watched House of Cards since the last time we did so we can binge watch. Oh! There’s also a new season of Sherlock and—”
“Mackenzie,” Amy shut me up. Damn that verbal diarrhea.
“Yeah?” I gasped.
“Let’s go to a party,” she smirked as she held up my cell phone.
“A what?” I grimaced and got closer. Sure enough, it was a text message from James inviting me to another “small get-together” at his place. I’d missed the last one.
Small party my ass.
“If I had a dollar for every Barbie at this party, I think I'd be set for life,” Amy said as we crossed the threshold for James apartment. The music boomed from a block away. The strobe lights flickered in and out of the windows and when we went up to his floor, the party filtered into the hallway.
“His landlord doesn’t have an issue with this?” I asked to no one in particular. A bunch of frat brother types ran out of the apartment in togas, spraying beer at everyone as they passed. “Fuckin’ idiots,” I growled as I shook off the droplets of alcohol.
“Hopefully you don’t have to go to work after this,” Amy grinned.
The music vibrated around the room, even my body trembled from the bass. I hadn’t been to a party like this since sophomore year of college. It was then when I realized it was practically hunting grounds for an out-of-control wolf. Luckily for them, I now had restraint. Amy on the other hand…I had to keep an eye on. She never mentioned how her transition from human to vampire went.
“Look,” Amy pointed. “There’s our favorite bimbo.” My gaze followed her direction and sure enough, perched on the windowsill was Diana Stone and her gaggle of followers.
I blew out a breath. We were trying to patch up our friendship and partying was Amy’s master plan, but to go to one of James’ parties? I didn’t know what she thought this would accomplish.
“Is she wearing hair extensions?” I gawked at Diana’s unkempt hair.
Amy shook her head. “She makes it all too easy.”
I gripped her tattooed arm before she could go anywhere. “She hasn’t said anything to us…yet. Let’s not turn into the mean girls.”
Her face dropped. “You’re such a party pooper, Kenz.”
Kenz.
She hadn’t spoken to me with such familiarity in a while. I missed it.
We stood awkwardly as people maneuvered around us. I peered over at Amy who was licking her fangs and I had to nudge her. She’d just downed a blood bag before we got here.
“Control yourself.”
She smirked.
“I think this is enough partying for us. Let’s head out.”
Before we could go anywhere, James called out my name from across the room; throwing his hands in the air, and swerving through the crowd toward us. He pulled me into an unexpected hug, and I gave him the church-pat on his back.
Amy mouthed “What the fuck?”
I shrugged.
“I’m glad you could finally make it. It’s been too long,” he said and his eyes twinkled with mischief, his cheeks rosy from too much alcohol. I saw the group of guys over his shoulder staring at us with baited breaths. We saw each other a couple weeks ago. Idiot.
“It has been long,” I murmured. Not long enough, though…
“Are you coming home for the holidays?”
“Depends on work,” I said.
He nodded. “Right, right,” he contemplated and then looked over at Amy. “Oh snap, I didn’t see you there, Red.”
Amy snarled.
James jerked back, rethinking that hug he was attempting. “So…do you want a drink? We’re about to start a game of beer pong—”
“Jameson,” Diana called out. Her screechy voice was grating, but welcomed at the moment. This exchange was awkward, and who still played beer pong? The new lifestyle I had aged me if I thought I was too old for beer pong. Damn supernaturals.
“Yeah?” he responded like she was a nuisance.
“Oh, this is getting good,” Amy whispered beside me. I glared at her as I bit the inside of my cheek to avoid laughing.
“I’ve been waiting for over an hour,” she gritted out. Her eyes trailed to me and she gave me a fake smile as her way of saying hello.
“I’m busy,” he said. Amy and I began to inch away since it was starting to look like a lover’s squabble.
“Busy with your ex-girlfriend?” she yelled as her manicured finger aimed at my face.
The music dimmed and we began to attract unwanted attention. Of course I’d be the center of it. Why must trouble always follow me?
“It’s always Mackenzie, Mackenzie, Mackenzie! I haven’t even met your family because of her!”
Amy snickered beside me and I elbowed her in the ribs. Not like it did much. Vampires are made of stone, if anything my elbow was bruised.
“I think it’s best if we go.” I linked arms with Amy and made moves to leave.
“No!” they both turned to me and said at the same time. I jerked to a halt, caught in headlights.
“You just never go away,” Diana sneered at me. “When you were ‘missing’,” she said in air quotes. “It was the best thing to ever happen. You should have stayed gone.”
There was a weird pause where everyone in the room quieted, and you know someones in the back of the crowd going, “oh no she didn’t,” and someone else is pulling out their phone to record the whole encounter. What a time to be alive.
“Oh hell-to-the no,” Amy growl
ed and started taking off her earrings. “Bitch, you wanna say that one more time?”
I reached for Amy’s tattooed arm and held her back. That fiery spirit plus the strength of a vampire was a recipe for disaster. It was an odd feeling being the responsible one of the two of us.
“Easy there,” I said to Amy and pulled her behind me. As for Diana Stone, I gave her a smirk. “Oh, Barbie,” I sighed. “You really shouldn’t have said that.”
I'm not one to provoke any situations that didn't merit a reaction from me, but there was just something about Diana Stone that set me off. She was that girl all guys love, but all girls despise because while she’s pretty on the outside, she's horrific on the inside. She was our Regina George, but I wasn't going to let her victimize me. Not today, Satan. Not. To. Day.
“Let's get one thing straight,” I started. “I don't want, nor will I ever again, want Jameson Theodore Carson. It has been YEARS, Diana, and if you're still dealing with this sort of insecurity then you need to dig a little deeper within yourself instead of trying to drag me through the mud. I got better things to worry about than the two of you.”
And that my friends, is what I call a verbal smackdown. Who said Kenzie couldn’t take the high road? I was made for these roads! I’d flourished into adulthood where trivial antics such as these didn’t faze me. I was ruler of my domain and—
“You stupid bitch!” Diana screeched.
I’d been so busy stroking my own ego, I didn’t see her reach for my hair. Well fuck. Now I have to take the low road.
“You always thought you were better than me!” She wailed. I ducked her nails as they tried to scratch my face, but I also had to be gentle. If I wolfed out, I could do some serious damage.
“Duh, Diana, because I always have been!” I taunted.
In the far distance I could hear the cliché chants of “fight, fight!” from party goers. James on the other hand, was trying to reign in his girlfriend.
Amy’s cackles at our pathetic fight—Diana trying to gouge my eyes out, and me trying not to hurt her—were so loud I was momentarily distracted. Barbie’s fist was about to connect with my face when my reflexes kicked in and I pushed her away.
OMEGA: A New Adult Urban Fantasy (Mackenzie Grey Book 4) Page 18
