A Night of Flame and Blood

by Elisabeth Huerta

  I closed my eyes, feeling myself fall asleep when I was shaken roughly. “Don’t go to sleep on me Brianna.” His voice sounded so worried. But I was so tired, my eyes kept betraying me. “What did I say Brianna? You stay with me.”

  “I’m trying.” I answered back annoyed. He chuckled which pissed me off more. “Stop laughing, this is serious.”

  My eyes had opened and I was able to see Daston’s lips trying to smother in a laugh. How he could run with me in his arms and yet keep his face neutral as if he wasn’t physically exhorting himself was beyond me.

  “Don’t you think I know this is serious? I’m just relieved you’re able to talk to me like yourself.”

  “So much for being a demon hunter.” I wheezed out, remembering that he had once agreed to being that.

  “I am. That part wasn’t a lie. I just can’t kill my demon.”

  We had entered the parking lot, but he did not take me to his car. Instead, he took me to another car that was parked close to his. It was a Cadillac, glossy blue and looked fresh out of the dealership. I recognized the car. Jackie had only paraded it around school for months while I secretly itched to scratch it with my keys.

  The pretty blond was inside but when she saw us approach, she quickly got out. “What happened to her?”

  There was actual concern in her voice. I could not believe this was the same Jackie who had tormented me these past few years.

  “She’s hurt. She needs to go to the hospital. Can you take her?”

  “Yeah of course. Where’s Robert?” She looked small in that moment. Her eyes were wide pleading with Daston to give her good news. And the way she said Robert’s name. It was as if there was no air left in her lungs. With me she was concerned over my well being, but it did not compare to how she looked when she was asking for Robert.

  “He’s fine.” The deep worry lines smoothed out of Jackie’s face with those two words. “I’m going back to get him and Rebecca, but Brianna needs to go to the hospital now.” His words were kind but there was a harsh edge to them. Jackie did not argue, she let him put me in her backseat. “Don’t let her go to sleep.” I heard him say before the doors were shut and we were driving away.

  Chapter 21

  The drive seemed to consist of Jackie frequently smacking me in the face with her sweater whenever I would close my eyes. I replied back with a few choice words, even though I knew she was doing it for my own good—well mostly.

  She half carried half dragged me out of the car when we got to the hospital. I imagined that nurses and doctors would be running towards us in a panic, helping me on a stretcher. The reality was nothing like that. I waited in the waiting room for about an hour before a doctor saw me. The bleeding on my head had mostly stopped. The seats we were sitting on were not even cushiony, they were hard plastic. The room was full of people looking as uncomfortable as we felt. Jackie had resumed smacking me whenever my eyes would start drooping.

  I ended up getting five stitches on the head, and my cuts and bruises were treated. The doctor was noticeably in a rush because of the many other patients in need. Some were worse off than I so I shooed him away so he could attend them.

  For several hours I was awake, until they deduced that it was ok for me to fall asleep. When I awoke again, I was in a different room. I was lying on one of the hospital beds in the middle of two other beds. There was a person on each of the beds, but both were asleep. One was heavily bandaged and the other appeared to have no problems except for lack of sleep.

  The hospital was alive with noise. I could hear several footsteps passing by the closed door. Wheels were being rolled—probably by a wheelchair or a gurney. The pasty white walls were depressing me, and the smell of rubbing alcohol was strong. I wished there were curtains separating the beds. I did not feel like staring at two sleeping strangers.

  I propped up my head with a pillow and turned on the little television they had inside the room. I didn’t know what time it was, but I knew someone was going to come soon, so might as well entertain myself for a bit while I’m here.

  My parents came in around 10 am. It was Saturday. Relief exploded inside me when I saw Rebecca with my mom and dad. My mom was the first one to get to me. She practically collapsed on me, her blue eyes leaking tears. She gave me a watery smile and hugged me closely. My dad was more reserved, but I could see the relief in his brown eyes.

  “That’s enough; you’re going to choke the poor girl.” My dad joked but his voice was thick full of emotion, he was more worried than he was letting on.

  “Be quiet Jose, you know you were in as much a frenzy as I was last night. You even ran out of the house looking for Brianna in your boxers.”

  “They were briefs, so if anything the neighbors got a good look at what I’m packing.” He winked at my mom and I cringed.

  That horrible image was going to stay with me for a while. I got the satisfaction of seeing Rebecca cringe too. I caught her eye, and we stared at each other for a good second. I could sense her confusion. From the look in her eye, I could tell she was trying to remember something but could not. She shook her head to try to clear it and continued to look at me curiously. I gave her a wide smile, and her gaze automatically turned suspicious. She knew there was something she was missing, but I was not giving up anything. The less she knew the better. She’ll be safer this way.

  Once they saw I was fine my parents bombarded me with questions over how this had happened. I managed to dodge most of them, coming up with the excuse that I was mugged when I came out of the party. I got grounded for a month for sneaking away without their permission, and even Rebecca gave me the stink eye for not taking her.

  “Karma!” My dad shouted then lowered his voice when he realized he had shouted in the hospital, scaring the crap out of the heavily bandaged guy next to me. “Sorry. But like I was saying this is all karma. If you would have just stayed home like Rebecca, none of this would have happened.” He scratched his head pensively. “Honestly, I’m more surprised that it was you who snuck out to the party.”

  “That’s exactly what I was thinking.” My mom said curiously. She was confused and I knew it. They would never have believed it if there hadn’t been witnesses that I was actually at the party. “And if Daston went with you why wasn’t he there when they mugged you outside?”

  I had to tell them that I went with Daston because the people at the party described that I was with a tall attractive guy. Luckily I had already thought of the perfect excuse. Something we teenagers were so prone to with our hormones.

  “He was too busy flirting with a blond girl named Jackie to make me jealous because he got mad that I was spending so much time with Robert. So, I ditched that place.”

  This they did not expect. It was so normal; they all give me the same disbelieving look.

  “What?” I shrugged. “Boys try to make me jealous sometimes, it’s not completely impossible.”

  “No of course not.” My dad shook his head slightly. “Well, wow, I don’t even know if I should tell her to stay away from Daston.” He said directing the question to mom.

  She gave him a stern look before turning to me. “We’ll just talk about him later, when we have the boy talk.”

  Damn. I had always been able to avoid the boy talk, never having a special someone on my own. Now I was going to have to endure hours of safe sex conversations and abstinence.

  “Oh, little sister.” Rebecca grinned at me. “We are going to have so much fun during these talks.” I stuck my tongue out making her grin wider.

  “Can we not talk about my little girls having the boy talk?” My dad pleaded, visibly shaken by the turn the conversation had headed.

  Two police men interrupted the family reunion, wanting to get my report. One looked about forty, he had graying hair and was tall, towering over the other much younger police man who was clearly a rookie.

  My description over the supposed assailant was sketchy, and I could see the two men were not satisfied by the end of my r
eport.

  “Sorry, that’s all I remember. It was a very traumatic experience.” I said overplaying the helpless victim.

  The older one looked at me suspiciously, not quite buying my story, but the rookie just nodded along understandingly.

  “Of course. Sorry for the bother.” The rookie smiled showing off the dimples in his cheeks brightening his very handsome face. His black curly hair made a nice contrast to his creamy skin and he shockingly dark black eyes. I felt a pang when I realized his eyes reminded me of Robert’s.

  “Do you happen to know if anyone else with a possible concussion was checked into the hospital?” I asked the rookie because the older one was still glowering at me.

  He looked confused. “No, why? Is there someone else we should take into account?”

  “No, thank you, I was just wondering.” So, Robert was not at the hospital. Maybe the damage caused to him was not as bad as I thought.

  The older one looked suspiciously at me but thankfully didn’t push any more questions.

  “Well nice meeting you. My name is Jerrard by the way.” The rookie said giving me another wide smile. The older one bumped him in the shoulder as a warning and I caught the slight shake in his head. Was the older cop warning Jerrard? But to what, to not flirt with me? Was that what that was, flirting. I think it was. I had seen it countless times when the boys at school had flirted with girls, but this was the first time it was directed at me. Except for Daston, but he was a weird exception.

  They made me stay a full 24 hours in the hospital and I was not released until Sunday with a clean bill that I could be back in school by Monday. Lame I did not even get a day of excused relaxation at home. And because my parents were still technically mad at me for sneaking out, no amount of begging got me to stay home.

  I stayed in my room most of Sunday plopped down on my bed. After all the weirdness it felt good to relax and do something normal. My cell phone rang interrupting the peace, Robert’s number flashed on the screen, I nearly dropped it in my anxiety to pick up.

  “Robert! Are you ok?”

  “Shouldn’t I be asking you that question?” I could hear the smile in his voice, but I was so relieved to be hearing him I decided to ignore it.

  “I was so worried, when I saw you crash against the wall I—” My voice choked up remembering the image of Robert’s limp form on the floor. It had always been Robert and I against the world. But that night I stood alone against Derik. I did not like it.

  “Its fine, I just acted stupid and irrational, letting my emotions get in the way. I should have never charged towards Derik like that. You know we should probably stop calling him Derik, because the real Derik is going to be coming back to school and that’s just going to be confusing.”

  “You’re telling me. I have a class with him. How am I supposed to see him as something other than the evil demon mastermind who tried to kill me?”

  “Just remember that the real Derik is a vegan who would never hurt a fly. While the demon wanted to bath in your blood?” The disgust oozed off of his voice. “Which reminds me, you kissed him didn’t you?” If I could see Robert face, I’m pretty sure the horror I felt would show be painted on his as well. He had always wondered which one of us would get our first kiss. I assumed it would be him because he could actually be normal if he wanted to be. Guess I beat him to it.

  “Don’t even talk about that. That doesn’t count as a real kiss.” I shivered. I wondered what the look on the real Derik’s face would be if he knew I had kissed him. “Besides, that secret is best kept between us, promise.”

  “Promise, my little demon kisser.”

  “Robert!”

  I went to sleep early that night, in part to make my parents happy, but also because I was not able to get a good night sleep on the hard hospital mattresses.

  My dream was normal, peaceful, it did not have demons and death. It felt good until I realized who was staring in it.

  Daston. I had not heard from him, but in my dream we were next to a river lying under the shade of a tree. The tree was filled with leaves, it was completely brimming over and the ground was littered with countless leaves. The moon was out, it’s light was strong and if you did not see it you would think it was day time. Daston’s arms were wrapped around me as if trying to keep the night chill away, I could only feel his warmth. He whispered my name in my ear over and over and I kept calling his name back. His voice was getting farther away from me even though he was next to me. I did not understand it, for some reason I started to panic. Suddenly he was gone, and I screamed for him louder than ever until I awoke.

  My room was dark and the clock on my mantel said it was 4:00 am. I wiped the hair and sweat off of my face staring off into the ceiling. There had been no contact from Daston these past two days. And Robert recalled to me during our little chat that he had awoken in his bedroom. There had been no sign that Daston had ever been in his room. He was even in his pajamas. An image of Daston dressing Robert flashed through my mind. It was hard to imagine, but Robert’s voice convinced me. He sounded like he had been violated when he recounted it.

  Daston had his freedom back that was all that mattered. If he chose to spend it away from this town then who was to blame him. I should not be angry that he did not say goodbye. I hardly knew the guy and besides, he saved my life; that was payment enough. But irrationally I was upset. This boy had made such a big impact in my life in such short a time, it felt awful that the effect I made in his life wasn’t even worth a goodbye.

  I pushed back angry tears and went back to sleep.

  ∆∆∆

  It was dark and my eyes were closed. The wood floor was freshly waxed and would squeak whenever I scooted. A lighted cinnamon scented candle was in the middle of the room. I did not have to open my eyes to know it was there. The room was big, the ceiling stretched up two stories high. The room was painted a mahogany brown and according to Jackie was never used.

  And yes, I said Jackie. It had been two weeks since the Derik incident and when the real Derik came back to school it was obvious he was back to being the same shy geeky boy from before; the one who was embarrassed to talk to girls much less try to kill them.

  Getting used to Derik was not as hard as I thought. Getting used to Jackie was. Robert and I were in for a shock when she started sitting at our table during lunch, even going as far as sitting next to me in the classes we shared. If we weren’t shocked enough, she started proposing we hang out after school at her place. Beauty queen Jackie was asking the freaks of the school to go to her place. She did not seem to care when she started getting shunned by our classmates. She seemed content to join the freaks. And as suspicious as I was of her, I could not deny that I was getting better at my seer’s power. Jackie was turning out to be a great teacher.

  Of course, the Seer’s Handbook was also helpful. Once Robert allowed the book to show itself the pages became filled with words. There were directions, pictures, incantations, and everything I could possibly need. But we were going by the book one page at a time which meant we had a long way ahead of ourselves since the book was about a thousand pages long, maybe more.

  Currently Jackie was teaching me to feel the presence of demons. The process would come naturally but when you are first learning its best to be in a calm environment. Demons surround our everyday lives, but some demon are less of a threat than others. Being able to feel demons will make me able to know what level of threat they are. Some are not even worth a fight.

  Every seer has power bestowed upon them. But they can’t tap into that power unless they know they have it. That’s where guides come in, and of course The Seer’s Handbook. It teaches you each power you have and how to use it. Jackie says it’s hard in the beginning to use the power, but with practice I’ll be able to master it.

  I breathed in deeply and was able to feel the energy Robert and Jackie emitted. Both human, the feel I got from them was warm like a summer day on the beach bottled up within them. I could feel Jackie�
�s dad upstairs in his room, probably working like always. The feel of the humans spread until I was able to feel the whole neighborhood. All were warm—some more than others. I tried expanding my feel further, but it was hard, like trying to stretch out the pair of jeans that fit you too tight. My forehead started sprinkling sweat from the effort. I could hear Jackie’s voice guiding me.

  “Easy now, don’t exhort yourself. We’ll do this a little at a time.”

  “It’s ok. I think I could push it further.”

  My feel was stretching further, reaching the second block. Hands were placed on my shoulders to hold me still. I did not realize I was shaking.

  “Easy Brianna. Don’t do too much.”

  I shook my head and continued, pushing my power to the limit. I closed my eyes tight and felt the sweat drip off the edge of my nose. Suddenly my feel snapped back, recoiling back inside of me. I opened my eyes suddenly with a gasp.

  “What happened?” It was Robert, as concerned as always about me. I did not know what to say, I could not even believe it myself. I was struggling for breath.

  “I went almost two blocks.” I said breathlessly.

  “Wow. That’s very good for your first time.” Jackie said impressed. Her eyes glanced between Robert and I briefly.

  “Yeah, thanks.” I said without much emotion. Both Robert and Jackie noticed. I’m usually the one who brags about my awesome skills; taking any chance to stroke my ego playfully. I brushed off their questioning glances and excused myself. I needed to go home.

  “Are you sure you’re ok.” Robert asked.

  “Yes, I’m fine.” I told them both. “I just have to get home. I forgot my mom wanted me home early today.”

  Jackie nodded accepting my excuse. Robert was not buying it. He gave me the look that meant we’d talk about it later. Sometimes it sucked having a friend who knew you so well.