Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series

by Heather Glidewell

  “What are you thinking about?” She asked me as I wrapped my hands around her wrist and gave her a squeeze.

  “Everything.” I said letting a tear escape my eyes. “Why does it still hurt?”

  She sighed and turned me to face her. I could see sadness in her eyes a pain that nobody but my father would ever understand.

  “Your father and I were madly in love for centuries. I don’t know if it was the fact that we were not supposed to be together that made it so exciting or if it was really love.” She wiped the tear from my cheek.

  “Centuries huh?” I breathed.

  “I assume your father told you about the bond that you shared with Wesley.” I was instantly struck with horror, it was hard enough having this talk with my father but not my mother too and not in the same day. So I nodded and crossed my fingers that this would be a different discussion.

  “Your father couldn’t stop being a menace just as much as I couldn’t stop being a goody goody. He had his mistresses, these pretty girls that would do his bidding. I couldn’t understand that it was his nature. He had to have the attention in the beginning to be the one in the spotlight. So after two years of seeing how he really was the love was gone. But it still hurts, I look at him and I see the man I fell in love with. That dangerous demon that I would sneak off to be with.” She looked sad now.

  “How long did you hurt?” I asked.

  “It’s going to hurt you for a long time. Ten years from now you will look back at Wesley and all these emotions will seem new again. The guilt never leaves, neither does the connection. Your bond may be broken but you two are as much a part of each other’s future as your father is to mine. You move on yes, but you never forget.” She gave me a weak smile and hugged me to her chest running her fingers through my hair.

  “I love you mom.” I said weaving my arms around her waist.

  ****

  We slept in the living room on a lumpy futon. My mother’s hand kept slapping me in the face and I was unable to really fall asleep so I got up and decided to take a walk outside just to get some air. I had just stepped outside the door when I felt a familiar hand grab mine. My eyes shot to my left only to be met with the sad sick eyes of Wesley.

  “Why are you here?” He demanded pulling me around the side of the house. His hands were freezing and his eyes were darker.

  “I have my reasons.” I began, but he put his finger up telling me to be quiet.

  “You cannot be around my family. I know about you and your parents. I know what you are. So does Miranda.” I fidgeted for a second as he cleared his throat.

  I crossed my arms in front of my chest and grunted at him.

  "Do you know what she is?" He looked at me and then quickly away his eyes scanning the background.

  “You put them in danger just by being here. You and your mother, the saint of the Pearly Gates, need to leave. If you don’t she’s going to kill them. Is that what you want?" He demanded.

  "No, never!" I exclaimed, and he put his hand over my mouth shushing me.

  “Why the Hell do you think I’m not here anymore?” He was getting angry I could sense it.

  “You disappeared again Wesley only this time you took all your stuff.” I started to shake it was getting colder the longer he touched me.

  “Yeah and I managed to get away from her long enough to run by tonight to tell them goodbye. Only instead I find my ex-girlfriend crashed out in the living room.” He said, there was sadness in his eyes. He looked lost. “You know you could have told me what you were.” He frowned at me.

  “And what exactly am I Wesley?” I demanded.

  “You are just like her.” He snarled at me.

  “I am nothing like her!” I yelled at him.

  “She said you would tell me that.” He looked around again. “She’s after you next.”

  "Well let her come after me next then. I’m not afraid of her." I scoffed.

  “You should be." He began. “Listen, I couldn’t save my mother, it was already too late for her. I can save them though, and I can save you.” He let my arm go and looked around before grabbing me by the back of my neck and pushing his lips to mine.

  The kiss was intense and felt like all the other kisses that we had shared, no love was missing it was all still right there. When he pulled away from me he smiled for only a second before turning and walking away. I stood there shaking just watching him walk away not sure what exactly had just happened.

  I returned inside and woke my mother telling her everything that had just occurred. She seemed concerned and a bit alarmed but insisted that we would leave in the morning when I went to school. I lay back down and wrapped myself under the warm blanket that his father had given us to sleep under and drifted off to a very confused sleep.

  ****

  I was sitting in the bar again sipping a drink that smelled fruity when she walked in. Her red hair was pulled back, and she was dressed in jeans and a gray fitted t-shirt. She took a seat at the table across from me and smiled her signature grin. I tried to pay no attention to her, but she was being persistent.

  “You don’t know when to leave things alone do you?” She said crossing her legs and glaring at me.

  I put my drink down and looked at her.

  “Everything was fine until you came along.” I cocked my head to the right and gave her a fake smile.

  “How did you like it?” She asked not even phased by my sarcasm.

  “Like what?” I demanded, I was confused usually she jumped at the chance to pounce.

  “The pain.” She said simply looking at her nails and smiling. “That heartbreaking pain where you know that you have lost the one that thing was keeping you going.” She growled at me.

  I looked at her in disbelief. “You invaded my dream to ask me that?”

  “Yeah why wouldn’t I? I mean you won’t let him go. He’s not yours anymore, he never will be. His soul belongs to me.” Her broken English was really starting to irritate me because it was taking me too long to decipher what she said.

  “Why does it matter Miranda?” I said letting the fire raging through my blood dissipate.

  “Because you will not stop! He is mine! He has always been mine and I will turn him, then he will forget you ever existed. You can find another human to claim Princess. However, you are tangled with his family. You are tangled with his past. I cannot have one measly meal without looking at your stupid face!” Here was the anger I had been hoping for.

  “He forgets I can see in his head. It took me months to get his mind to cooperate in the first place. When he dreams, he dreams of you. I am so tired of seeing you!” She was seething now her green eyes had turned red from the anger.

  I could feel my dark side giggling, I was ready.

  “Then let him go. If you cannot stand to see me then how did you do it? How did you get him to let me go?” I demanded a nervous smirk on my face.

  “I threatened to kill his family.” She smiled. “That one always seems to work. I threatened that if he did not switch his claim to me I would kill you, your parents, and his whole family. It wasn’t till after the claim was made that I told him you were just like me. He already knew it though, from that day at his house.”

  “I’m nothing like you!” I yelled at her, fingers burning, flames ready.

  “You are everything like me! The only difference is instead of Angel blood in my veins I have Vampire. We both know what it is like to grow up not knowing which side is more dominant, or who we are going to be that day. We both know what it is like to be betrayed by our own blood. We are both Halflings, only difference is…” She paused. “I will live longer than you.” She let a smile play on her lips again as she stood the orbs forming at her palms.

  This would happen, this was really about to occur. I felt excited, elated then it dawned on me. No matter how many times we struck the other on this astral plane there was no way either one of us would be able to throw the final blow.

  “I will find you Miranda
, and when I do I will turn you to ash.” I declared letting the fire fizzle back into my wrists. She looked at me and her smile faded the orbs at her palms going out. “There is nothing either of us can do on this field. Either way it goes we will both open our eyes and nothing will be different.”

  “As you wish Raven Princess, however, you have to find me first.” She let out an evil laugh and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. I coughed and sat down in the chair taking two more shots and pulling myself awake.

  I laid there blinking at the ceiling. The alarm on my phone was going off and my mother was blindly reaching for it to turn it off. I sat up and wandered into the bathroom that had once been Wesley’s. It still smelled like him, and it brought tears to my eyes, the memory. I used his soap that had been left in the tub and washed my hair with the shampoo that his father had put in there the night before. When I got out I felt both clean and pained. Like my heart was being broken all over again.

  The pain was still there, each time I thought of him the ache would get worse until the pain of my stone heart being ground into pebbles was too much for me to bear. I got dressed, threw my hair up in a ponytail opting for the no makeup look for the day. I would have to face Aaron. I was not anticipating this in any way.

  With all the crap still circling my mind about Wesley, I would have to face the music. I had claimed Aaron, and he had reciprocated making him my human. I had to accept it. Until he betrayed me in some way I was bound to him as if I really was his girlfriend.

  I had this instant feeling of dread in my stomach like something would happen today. I woke my mom up with a smile telling her that she needed to get home. I left the house one last time and got in my car driving the whole five minutes to school. I couldn’t shake the dreaded feeling and when I saw Aaron waiting for me in the parking lot the feeling just got stronger. He opened my car door for me and took my bag from my hand throwing it over his shoulder twining his fingers with mine. He was beaming, like this was the proudest day of his life. It was one of the worst of mine after finding out what I had done.

  “You ready for this?” He asked me as we got to the front of the building. I gave him a reassuring smile and nodded.

  He opened the doors and in we walked hand in hand. Yeah some of the heads turned, people looked at us shocked, and there were even quite a few smiles and nods in our direction. Those that chose to ignore my existence were continuing their game by not even looking in our direction. I wonder if Aaron knows he will become invisible too as long as he is with me.

  He walked me to my first period English class and gave me a kiss at the door. It wasn’t the same as Wesley’s, it didn’t leave me with the same longing and when I walked in and noticed that back desk empty my heart stopped beating. He was really gone.

  I sat down at my desk and pulled out my notebook, absentmindedly I had doodled Wesley’s name all over it like a love struck teenager. I flipped to an open page and waited for class to begin. The dread didn’t leave me first period nor did it leave me second period. I had this feeling that something was about to happen. Something that would cause a twist or finally end my miserable existence.

  He had told me that she was coming for me next. Maybe my mood was playing on the idea that she was indeed doing just that. I didn’t know what to expect and what played out next tore my invisible world to shreds.

  Chapter Twenty–Eight

  Demon Invasion & Fire Power

  It was third period when all Hell broke loose.

  First, you could hear the windows shattering in the computer lab down the hall, followed by the terrified screams of students as men screamed for them to get down on the ground and cover their faces. A cold fear washed through my body.

  You hear about these things on the News you don’t think that you will ever live them yourself. You don’t think when you wake up in the morning that you are going to go to school and get shot. The blood drained out of my teachers face and she instantly looked panicked. She froze staring at all of us like she didn't know what to do. A sort of determination passed over her face and she finally reacted. Running to the door and locking it while pulling the blinds down over the window so nobody could see in.

  "Everyone get in the back corner, sit close together!" She ordered pointing towards the corner of the room.

  Thankfully we were only a class of ten and fit into the corner rather easily as she made a barricade of desks around us. Last I checked though bullets can shoot straight through open spaces, but she was doing her best to keep us safe. I felt so much fear surging through my body I didn't even notice the familiar warm prickle at my wrists meaning I was charged. The boys held onto the other girl’s shielding them, soothing them, telling them to be quiet so that we would not be heard.

  I could stop this whole thing I could be the hero.

  But at what cost?

  There were several rounds of gunfire shot outside our window and I could hear the angry screams of the gunmen.

  "Where is she?" One demanded anger in his voice.

  I just sat there glancing at the other nine behind me. Nobody even made an attempt to comfort me, to coddle me. Instead they were concerned about all the other girls, the other girls that were not me.

  Who are they looking for?

  Suddenly, the window slit in the classroom door burst, shatters of glass splaying all over our teacher who was sitting against the door. I don't know what she thought she was doing. I think she thought her tiny little frame could save us.

  The door flew open with a supernatural force. A human would not be able to kick a heavy door that easily and send it flying across the room. My teacher was instantaneously folded in half by the collision, half a scream escaped her lips before she was silent, and when her body unfolded her lifeless eyes looked back at me.

  The other students started screaming and the only thing I kept wishing for was the strength to just stand up. What were their parents going to do when they were told their children didn't make it? Even when the teacher tried so hard to preserve our lives to give us a future? She had sacrificed herself for the ten of us, nobody would do that. Nobody would put themselves before ten kids they did not know outside of the classroom.

  When I managed to finally stand up it seemed everything moved in slow motion. The way they looked at me with their evil smirks plastered to their hidden faces, the way they snarled when they realized that it was me, actually me. I had been the one they were looking for all along wasn't I? These beings were not human they were demon. I could smell the sulfur penetrating the air tearing at my lungs. No doubt about it, they were Hell bent on killing every last student in this school until they found me.

  My senses were heightened I could feel their fear I could taste their evil and when I lifted my hands before me aiming for the two men standing in front of us, the only thing that I could think of was protecting the nine behind me. Those nine were going to grow old have families and die in their own beds at a ripe age. I was giving them their future. I was protecting those that in any other situation would never have stepped up to protect me.

  My wrists gave way, and the flames erupted from my fingertips hitting the men in front of me. The light that shot from me was a bright white. I smiled to myself. I had summoned the power of my mother. Instead of the wrath of a demon they were receiving the wrath of an angel and they were going to burn.

  The demons crumpled to the ground screaming, their evil essence expelled from the two bodies that lay before me. I turned to look behind me at the nine. They were shocked in awe and staring at me as if I was someone else.

  "If you can get in the closet and shut the door." I pointed towards the tiny closet in the back of the classroom. There was no way that it would fit all ten of us but it might just fit nine, if they didn't mind being scrunched together. I could hear more gunfire and screams outside in the halls and I rushed out of the classroom as the nine of them stumbled to get into the closet and shut the door.

  I walked with confidence. I walked with a strengt
h that I had never felt before and as each assailant made his attempt to lunge for me I stopped him with my blaze of white. I did not fear what would happen to me. Right now I could walk through fire unscathed, which is pretty much what I was doing. The white flames were all around me my hair floating behind my head in black waves.

  These demons were not going to take anymore away from me or the people of this town. These students were innocents; they were in no way connected to the tiny secret that I had to protect. However, what was I protecting now? Those nine would tell nine more and soon it will get around the school. I didn’t care though, I had a feeling once the rumors started I would get my wish of an online education.

  I heard a scream echo from the gym and a piercing pain shot through my temple, someone had Aaron. I took off into a run thrusting the doors open and stepping confidently inside. I was not prepared for the sight that I saw. Standing in the center was the man of my nightmares. His hair looked freshly gelled and his eyes were as evil as ever. His complexion however, seemed to be clearing, he was looking less pale. On the ground at his feet was Aaron. He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t breathing but John was holding me back, he wouldn’t let me come any closer. John’s black eyes penetrated my soul and made me feel terror. My blood was freezing my heart was pounding but my powers were failing. I could see the white flames depleting as I stood in front of him.

  “Learning a bit of Mommy’s tricks are we?” He asked me his words dripping with hate.

  “What did you do to him?” I demanded. The fire was pulsating at my wrist but refused to go into my fingers.

  “Oh nothing, he’s just fine, a little lump on the head probably but he will wake up from this with no memory if you just do as I say.” John stepped over Aaron’s body and walked right up to me. Towering over me like this alone would terrify me more than I already was.

  “What do you want?” I asked dryly. I could feel his hands in my hair, on my face, and my neck. I stood there frozen my heart pounding, but I refused to show that I was afraid. He took a whiff of me and groaned.