Submerging Inferno

by Brandon Witt

  She paused as if expecting some response, but once again, I had no clue what to say. What would I do if I left? Go back to Sonia and tell her to watch out for vampires, demons, and witches?

  “Wendell and I talked it over, and you are welcome to stay here for tonight, if you would like. You’ve had a rough evening and received a lot of new information.”

  Wendell broke in, his voice deep and nearly as soft as his youngest daughter’s. “Paulette said that you don’t know what you are. We thought you might have some questions that we can help with.”

  Questions? Hell, yeah, I had questions! What do I do now? What if the vampire comes back? How did all this happen? How did I almost drown a boy by kissing him? How do I wake up and get back to reality? “What am I?”

  “Well, you’re obviously not a warlock,” Paulette said matter-of-factly, like I should already know. “As we’ve already said, the fire Finn described was much too strong to be from a warlock, plus it came out of your hands.”

  “So warlocks don’t control fire?”

  “Hell yes, we control fire.” Somehow, I had already forgotten about Caitlin. A small ball of flame appeared in front of my face, bobbing up and down as if it were suspended on a string. I flinched back, trying to avoid it, nearly tipping over the chair.

  “Cut it out, Caitlin!” Finn growled. With a wave of his hand, the fire evaporated into a puff of smoke. He turned to me. “What Mom means is that the fire came out of you. Out of your body. You didn’t just call it to you. It was part of you. Witches can’t do that.”

  I narrowed my eyes, trying to understand. All the while, I still felt none of it could be real. Although that was impossible, considering I’d just seen a woman pull fire out of the air and her brother extinguish it with a flick of his wrist. “So, you’re saying I have fire in me, and you guys, witches and stuff, have to do magic to make it appear.”

  “Sort of, dear.” Paulette smiled encouragingly. “However, there is no such thing as magic, at least not in the truest sense. Magic is making something from nothing. We can’t do that. Everything we do revolves around the elements, around what is already here in nature. We call it to us, or have it do what we request. Nothing more. And only some of us can use fire. It depends on the individual witch or warlock. We are blessed, however.” She reached over and patted her husband’s knee affectionately. “Our bloodline is strong. There are only a few areas we cannot take advantage of, although each of us is stronger in certain areas than others.”

  “Paulette, I don’t think the boy needs a lesson on warlocks and witches.” He returned his gaze to me. “I have a theory, and there really isn’t an appropriate way to test it, but I think Paulette wasn’t too far off in her initial assumption.”

  I felt my throat constrict. “You mean, you think I am a demon after all?”

  He ignored my question. “Were you raised by your parents, my boy?”

  “Yeah, always. My…. Oh. Actually, I guess I wasn’t. I was raised by my grandparents, my mom’s folks. I just always thought of them as my parents.”

  Wendell nodded slowly. “Are you similar to them, physically?”

  I laughed unintentionally. “No, not at all. In fact, it was always a sore spot with my grandfather. He was so tiny. The more I grew, the more jealous he became.” I stopped, suddenly realizing where he was going. “Do you think they weren’t my real family?”

  He put his hand out as if to stop me from going too far. “Now, slow down. I don’t know about that. But they weren’t your parents, so it doesn’t really change anything.”

  “Dad, there’s no way that could be.” Finn’s eyes were wide. “If that were true, he’d be only once removed. He would have killed us instantly.”

  “Not necessarily, Finn. If these people weren’t his real grandparents, say they adopted him from somewhere, he could be further removed.”

  I glanced back and forth between Finn and his father. Once removed from what? “Wait. What are you saying? Why would I have already killed you? You don’t think my grandparents are my real family? They have pictures of my mom and everything, pictures of me as a newborn. They have to be my family.”

  “Slow down, Brett. This is just a theory. I can’t explain it all, but it does make sense. The way you look, your size, your affinity with fire. You’re most likely part demon. The question is, how much?”

  “I told you we should call the Vampire Cathedral!” Caitlin had taken a seat on the couch after her sister had left, but now got back up and took a step closer to me. “He’s dangerous and shouldn’t be here.” The hate in her eyes was shocking. It was almost a physical force. I looked closely at her for the first time. Her pacing and spiky hair had been distracting. Seeing her now, full in the face, she radiated a fierce beauty, her caramel-brown skin, pouty lips, straight, brilliantly white teeth, huge wide-set eyes. Eyes that were nearly as unusual as Finn’s. Eyes ready to tear me apart.

  My gaze was locked with hers so intently that at first I didn’t realize Finn and Paulette were both screaming at Caitlin. I blinked, and Finn had thrown himself out of his chair at his sister and knocked her to the couch. Paulette rushed to me and hit my arms again and again with a pillow.

  I glanced down to see the pillow extinguish the last bit of flame from my skin.

  “Oh, Brett, are you okay? We’ll call an ambulance. Let me just—”

  “Paulette!” For the first time, Wendell raised his voice. “Look at him. Look at his arms.”

  She glanced down and then gasped, covering her mouth. She then stared at the charred pillow in her hands, as if to make sure. Her eyes rose to mine. This time, some of the fear that was there in the beginning was back. “You’re fine. Not even a hair singed.”

  “I told you! I told you!” Caitlin yelled from underneath her brother.

  Even Finn’s eyes widened, the warm brown darkening in apprehension.

  I held up my arm and twisted it in front of my face. There was some residue from the fire on my skin, but no damage. Nothing. If anything, that area of skin appeared fresher and more rejuvenated than it had before. Had I always been fireproof?

  “Calm down, calm down. That doesn’t change anything.” Wendell turned his attention to Caitlin before looking back at me. “And you’re very lucky this was the outcome, Caitlin. What if you had been wrong and burned him for real?”

  I returned Wendell’s gaze. “What? What does this mean?”

  “Only a demon can’t be hurt by fire. Even vampires and witches and warlocks can burn.” He looked back to his family. “It doesn’t change anything. Like Finn said, if he were a full demon, he wouldn’t be confused about it, and we would be dead already.”

  Chapter 8

  IT HAD been a rough night, and I was exhausted. Even after Caitlin had stormed out of the house shouting about how her family had signed their own death warrant, everyone else was tense. It seemed that Paulette had been fine with the idea of having a partial demon in her house—in theory. Once confirmed, however, it appeared to be more of a concern for her. She hadn’t resorted to incapacitating me on the bed again, but she seemed ready to fly into action at the slightest scent of danger.

  Cynthia didn’t come out of her room the rest of the evening.

  Even Finn looked on edge. One moment I would catch him staring at me with a sort of dazed expression when he thought I wasn’t watching, and the next he was finding excuses to leave the room and be away from me.

  Only Wendell seemed at ease. In fact, he seemed rather excited at the thought of having a demon in the house. He kept asking me to show him how I call my fire. I don’t think he really believed me when I told him that I had no idea how to “call my fire,” and that the whole thing was new to me as well.

  I’m not completely sure why I stayed. I guess the thought of going home knowing Sonia was staying over at Derek’s didn’t sound all that appealing. Not that I was sure I wanted to see her anyway. How do you tell your best friend you’re a demon? Knowing there was a pissed-off vampire out th
ere, possibly looking for me, didn’t exactly make me want to be by myself either. How do you face your best friend and tell her you’ve been raped, that you’ve nearly been killed? How do you not? She was the person I wanted to talk to the most, but the thought of actually doing it made me want to curl up in a fetal position in the corner.

  I went up to bed before Finn and his parents. They had me sleep in Caitlin’s room. I wasn’t sure that was such a great plan, given her reaction to me, not that I was sure I even wanted to sleep in the same bed I had been confined to earlier.

  As soon as I closed the bedroom door, I went over to the gruesome action figures, intending to cover them up with my shirt. Once there, however, a morbid sense of curiosity came over me. They were worse than I had been able to see. Nearly every one was covered in blood. Most had arms and legs missing. It appeared that most of this mutilation had been done after they were made. I could see knife marks where their limbs had been removed. The blood looked like red paint, or possibly nail polish. The thought of Caitlin’s enjoyment of torturing her little monsters was more disturbing than the actual toy abominations themselves.

  I lay in bed wide-awake, my mind torn in a million directions. I wanted to fight the idea of being a demon, the idea that there were actual demons at all, not to mention witches and vampires. I couldn’t argue with it, though. In a bizarre way, it made too much sense.

  It was the notion of being adopted that finally made things click into place. It would explain why my grandfather was so distant and why he was so quick to disown me at the end. I was never a part of him. I was sure he resented having to spend money on food and clothing for a child that wasn’t his blood when he could have been putting more into savings. I guess it showed how loving my grandmother truly was. She never treated me as anything other than her own, at least until she was forced to choose, her husband and church or her grandson.

  But if they weren’t my grandparents, then where had I come from? Was the beautiful girl in the picture really my mother? Maybe they had adopted her as well. Maybe she had been made up from some old pictures they had found somewhere to make me feel like I had a mother.

  I dismissed that notion before it was fully formed. She had been real, and she had been their child. The pain my grandmother felt and the anger of my grandfather were genuine. Those hadn’t been for show. Maybe they had adopted me from someone once their daughter ran away—replacing one child with another. If so, where would they have found a demon baby?

  Several times that night, I got out of bed, stood naked in front of the dresser mirror, and inspected every part of me. Nothing looked different than it had the day before. There were a couple of bruises here and there, but those were from the vampire, I was sure. They were already going away. I had always been a quick healer. Even the bite marks on my neck were starting to fade. Quick healing. One more demonic sign? What other things that I’d always taken for granted would be signs of my demon heritage? Other than healing remarkably fast, I found nothing else unusual. Every part of me looked human. Even my size. Sure I was a big guy, tall, tons of muscles, but I had seen plenty of guys just as big dancing at the gay clubs.

  It did seem to explain several things, like why I was never cold, maybe even why I could eat whatever I wanted and never gain weight, why I never had to work out to maintain my muscles.

  The fire had come from me when I was under the water. I felt some semblance of relief that I hadn’t been going crazy. It didn’t explain what was in the water with me, however. Were there water demons? Had the vampire been stalking me? Could they even swim? I told myself to remember to ask Finn when we got up the next day. It even explained how I nearly boiled that boy at the beach, although I didn’t understand what any of this had to do with nearly drowning him.

  I seemed to have more questions than answers when I finally dozed off a little before dawn.

  “GOOD morning!”

  I groaned.

  “Brett! Good morning! You awake? It’s almost ten.”

  Resentfully, I opened my eyes. I blinked several times at the shirtless man standing above me. “Huh?”

  “Time to get up.”

  “Oh, right.” I huffed. “I almost forgot where I was.” I rubbed my eyes roughly and then got a closer view of him. “Wow. You look good.” In my head I could hear Sonia laughing at me—even vampires and demons couldn’t keep me from flirting. Apparently, a few hours of sleep had me feeling back to normal. Relatively.

  Finn took a step back, his face flushing pink. He had on a pair of low-slung yellow sweatpants. His hands came up to cover his hard little belly, causing his chest and shoulder muscles to ripple. “Hard to keep this off when you work at a bakery.”

  “Nah, keep it. It suits you.” I stifled a yawn. “You work at a bakery?” He looked more like a firefighter or construction worker than a baker.

  “Yeah, it’s my mom’s shop. I do most of the baking.” He took a step closer to the door. “I’ve got breakfast going downstairs, if you want some.”

  “Sure, be right there.” I gestured toward the floor. “Would you hand me my jeans?”

  His face managed to turn a darker shade of red as he bent down and picked them up. His gaze stayed on the floor as he handed them to me and quickly left the room.

  I chuckled to myself as I got out of bed and slipped into the jeans. I was feeling surprisingly cheerful this morning, all things considered. Maybe being a demon was going to be a good thing after all.

  Finn had bacon, scrambled eggs, and a pan of huge cinnamon rolls out on the table when I walked down the stairs.

  “Apple or grapefruit juice?”

  “Apple. Thanks.”

  He set the juice in front of the plate closest to where I was standing. “Well, have a seat. Don’t want the rolls to get cold.” He’d put on a white sleeveless shirt, highlighting the gold of his skin. Maybe I’d teased him too much.

  I sat down in the chair, intending to apologize for being so forward with him in the bedroom, but he spoke up before I could begin.

  “I’m really sorry about last night. All of it, Caitlin, my mom keeping you under a spell, even Cynthia acting so weird. And I’m sorry I got a little freaked out after you didn’t get burned by the fire.”

  I shrugged. “Whatever. You pretty much saved my life last night. I’d say you’re entitled to be freaked out. I sure was.”

  He plopped the center roll onto my plate. “Was?”

  “Yeah. I mean, I still don’t really get it, and I imagine there’s a lot I don’t know, but I think I’m okay. It kinda explains some stuff, ya know?”

  “Sure.” He sounded unconvinced. He changed the subject. “So, what are you wanting to do today? Do you want me to take you back to San Diego, or do you think you need to stay here for a while longer? My folks said to tell you that you are more than welcome.” He blushed again. “You can always stay at my place for a bit too, if you need.”

  “Thanks, I might. I’m not really sure what the smartest thing to do right now would be. I should call Sonia and make sure that…. Wait. Did you say take me back to San Diego? We’re not in San Diego right now?”

  He shook his head, his mouth full of food.

  “Where are we?” I didn’t much care for the panicked sound in my voice. Maybe I wasn’t quite as okay with everything as I thought I was.

  Finn swallowed. “Encinitas, it’s only about half an hour away.”

  I nodded. Encinitas was just a few miles north of San Diego, but I hadn’t spent much time there. “You scared me there for a second. Thought I had been kidnapped.”

  Finn grinned. “I thought about taking you to Kansas, but figured you’d probably rather take your chances with a vampire.”

  My throat constricted at the thought of the vampire, but I forced myself to laugh. “You are correct, sir. Still, I don’t know what the point of me staying up here would be. I should probably get home and get out of your way. I’ve already caused your family enough stress.”

  “It’s not a pro
blem, really. Caitlin’s always like that, and Cynthia has a hard enough time getting her nerve up to take people’s orders at the bakery. You might as well stay.” He added hastily, “In case you have any more questions, or something.”

  I smiled at him. “Cynthia works at the bakery too?”

  “Yeah, we’re all pretty close.” He poured some more juice into my glass. “So, who’s Sonia?”

  I raised an eyebrow at him, tearing my gaze from his flexing triceps as he moved to set the pitcher back on the table. “Hmm?”

  “You mentioned calling someone named Sonia. Is she your girlfriend or something?” His voice went up hopefully. “Your sister?”

  A laugh escaped even as I tried to hold it in. “What! You think your brother-in-law not only set you up with a demon but some straight boy on the down low?”

  He grinned sheepishly. “Well, you never know….”

  “Breathe easy there, Finn. Sonia is my roommate. My best friend.”

  His face continued to redden as he simply nodded. His gaze returned to his plate.

  We fell into silence, simply enjoying the food. It was wonderful. I wasn’t sure if I was that hungry from the night before or if Finn was that good of a cook, but either way, I was beginning to feel downright happy. Which, actually, made me a little nervous, all things considered.

  After several minutes, I caught Finn staring at me, his fork suspended in midair. “What? What is it?” I asked, expecting some type of flirty comment.

  “Oh, sorry. I wasn’t trying to stare. It’s just….” He put his fork down and leaned forward. “It’s just that I can’t get over it. You are so obviously demon that I can’t figure out how I missed it to begin with, or how Ricardo and Christina missed it all those times you were in their restaurant.”

  I wasn’t sure if this was a compliment about my appearance or not. “You mean because of how I look.”