Fire and Ash (Rise of the Dragons Trilogy Book 1)

by N. R. Hairston

  It wasn’t something I did often, but it was something to help take my mind off everything that had happened, so I’d scrubbed every inch of this place.

  I picked up my remote, aiming to click the TV on, then set it back down. I hadn’t been able to watch any of my normal shows since that night. My stomach growled again, and I realized that what I really wanted was food, but even the thought of ordering pizza scared the crap out of me.

  A large bang sounded at my front door, and I jumped, my heart pounding. What if Kyla or one of the others had found me? I swallowed hard, then remembered what Brad had said, they weren’t allowed to hurt the people of my world. To do so would be punishable by death.

  The pounding started again, and this time, I heard my father’s stern voice. “Open the door, Alisa. We know you’re in there.”

  My shoulders slumped, and I let out a sigh of relief, fraught with frustration. Why were my parents here? What did they want?

  Knowing that my father would just keep knocking until I answered, I unlocked the door and opened it.

  He and my mother stood on the front porch side by side. My father was a medium-height, medium-weight man. He was bald on top but had salt-and-pepper hair on the sides. Today he stood in a gray chocolate suit, with a black overcoat on, looking every bit the businessman he was.

  I looked like a mix between the two. I stood around five feet six, had thick black hair, brown eyes, and was slim like my mother.

  Today her hair held a mountain of curls that hung loosely around her shoulders. She wore a long cotton blue skirt, with a gray sweater, and a white coat which made her look like the soccer mom she’d once been.

  Just the sight of them sent my stomach into turmoil as nothing good usually followed their rare and spontaneous visits.

  I stepped back and allowed them inside. They were still my parents, so no matter how I felt personally, I’d still treat them with the respect they deserved.

  I could almost see their noses turning up as they took in my modest surroundings. “Well, at least it’s clean today,” my mom said, sniffing the air, checking for what, I didn’t know.

  My father’s voice was loud by nature, which made it all the worse when he stood right in front of you. “I’ve contracted a moving company. You don’t have to do anything. They’ll pack all of your stuff, and unpack it once you get to our house.”

  I blinked, not sure I’d heard right. “What?”

  He straightened his coat, while my mother wandered toward the kitchen. I tried to keep track of her out of the corner of my eye, while my father commanded my attention. “It’s come to our notice that your business has failed. You have no clients, something I told you long ago would happen. Had you listened to me—”

  Inside I felt a small rage building. I didn’t need this, not today, not the way I was feeling. My mind went blank as he ticked off all the reasons why he’d been right, and I’d been wrong.

  The only thing that brought me around was my mother’s gasp as she opened my refrigerator door. “Honey, look at this, she has no food. Not even a pack of cheese or jar of mayonnaise.”

  My father’s brows furrowed as he walked to where my mother stood holding the door open, looking horrified.

  I clasped my hands together, putting as much pressure on them as I could, anything to keep from lashing out. They always made me feel so inadequate, the both of them. I just wanted them gone.

  My father’s voice was thick when he spoke, and my mother had tears in her eyes. “When’s the last time you ate?” he asked. The expression on his face was a mixture of hurt and anger.

  Now the tears did come. All I’d ever wanted was to prove to them that I could make it on my own, that I didn’t need their help. Now here I stood, an utter failure proving every word they’d ever said about me true. “It’s been awhile,” I said quietly, knowing they wouldn’t leave me alone until I answered.

  My mom put a hand over her mouth and turned away, her shoulders shaking. My father gave me a look that said, ‘look what you’ve done’ and shook his head. “You’re coming home today. Now I won’t hear any argument about it. Your sister already told me that if your rent isn’t paid today, your landlord will start court proceedings.”

  My sister’s face flashed before my mind, and I narrowed my eyes. What did she get out of ratting me out to our parents? She’d say it was for my own good, but I would have never done that to her, at least I didn’t think I would have anyway.

  My father’s loud voice boomed through the kitchen, making me jump. He pointed a finger at me. “You are too proud for your own good, Alisa. Stubborn. Your sister said she’s been calling you for days with no answer, and your brother has been by your office three times.”

  My mother turned back around, her eyes red and swollen. She looked from my father to me. “Why not at least tell me?” She said it like I could have come to her with a problem and she would have helped me, all the while keeping it secret from my father. That wasn’t the case and never had been.

  “Because I couldn’t,” I bit out.

  She looked... hurt, and I quickly adjusted my tone, feeling like a heel for making my mom worry. “I’m sorry,” I said, a little softer this time. “I have some money from my last case.” I’d kept the five thousand, as I’d earned that in the course of doing my job. The rest of the money, the cars, and the house, well, I wasn’t touching any of that. Just thinking about it made me want to gag and brought everything about that night back to the forefront of my mind.

  As if to show whose side it was really on, my stomach took that moment to growl again. Both my parents looked down, and I pretended not to notice. “I’ll pay my rent today and go out and get some groceries,” I promised.

  My father shook his head. “And what about the next time, and the time after that? No.” He said it like it was final and my mind drifted back to my childhood when his word really had been law. I’d opposed him a lot since then, so I wasn’t ready to give in to him now.

  “You’re coming home,” he went on. “Your mother and I will take care of you. Take some time to rest. Once you’re ready, I’ll pay for you to go to nursing school.”

  The porter was in my pocket, and I ran my hand over the outline, wanting nothing more than to click it and get away from them and their never-ending judgment and looks of disapproval. “I’m fine where I’m at.” I hoped they would take the hint and leave, but knowing them, probably not.

  My father folded his arms in front of him. “It is not up for discussion. You’re coming home. The earliest date the moving company has is next Thursday, but that doesn’t mean you have to stay here until then.”

  My mom looked down the hall toward my bedroom. “Just pack a small bag, and you can get the rest later.”

  I looked from one to the other, a little slack-jawed. I wasn’t going anywhere with them. I’d tear my insides out before I went to live in that house again. “Let me think about it,” I said, hoping that would placate them enough so they’d leave.

  “What’s there to think about?” my mother asked, incredulously. She looked at my father as if expecting him to have the answer where she did not.

  “Nothing,” he said, speaking solely to her. “There is nothing to think about. She’s coming home, now.”

  These were my parents. I loved them, and I always showed them the utmost respect, but this was insane. “I have friends coming over tonight. We can talk more about this tomorrow.”

  My mother looked at me in a way that said she knew I was lying. “You don’t have any friends, dear. Stop being pigheaded and see that we’re trying to help you.”

  By putting me in a cage? “I do have friends, and they’re coming here tonight. Why do you think I cleaned up?”

  I had her there. Usually, my kitchen had dishes from the table to the sink.

  She let out a slow breath, and I could tell she didn’t like it. “Very well. It’s rude to invite someone over then cancel. You’ll be with your friends tonight, and tomorrow we’ll come to col
lect you.”

  Collect me? That’s the same as one did with garbage, but okay. “Sure thing,” I said, glad to have more time to come up with a way out of this. Just telling them no, didn’t seem to be doing the trick.

  My father nodded, a self-satisfied expression on his face. “Be ready at noon.”

  Chapter 6

  Every time I put a hand on my front door to leave, I broke out into a cold sweat. I couldn’t go out there, not yet. My parents had been gone about two hours, and in that time, I’d taken a bath and done my hair up into a twist.

  I needed to get my rent paid before five, and it was three now. I walked toward the door, swallowing hard, then said forget it and pulled out my phone.

  It only rung once before a husky voice said, “Hello.”

  “Reid,” I said, thankful he’d picked up. “I need you to come over here.”

  He was silent for the first couple of seconds, and I feared he’d hung up. “What happened to you?” he finally asked, getting straight to the point as usual.

  I didn’t want to explain on the phone. I didn’t want to explain at all if I was honest. “I’m fine. Nothing’s happened to me. Just got a lot going on.”

  “Been calling you for days. Been by your house and your office. I was ready to fill out a missing person’s report. What gives?” He sounded worried.

  Reid was my friend, my best friend, and sometimes he was even more than that. Still, this right here, this was something I couldn’t tell anybody. “Could you just come over here?” I asked, the phone gripped tightly in my hand.

  “Give me ten,” he said before the line went dead.

  He was there in seven. I opened the door, never so glad to see someone in my life. Reid was three years older than my twenty-seven. He was tall, six feet two. His black hair was cut close to his head, and his features were tough in a way that made him look every bit the detective he was. Yet he was also yielding, and understanding, and that part made it easy to drop my defenses around him. Not a good thing at the moment.

  His eyes were a chocolate brown, and his shoulders were broad and thick from where he hit the gym every morning before work.

  Seeing him standing outside my door looking so concerned weakened me to the point that I wanted to throw myself into his arms and tell him everything.

  I couldn’t do that though. The less people who knew about this, the better.

  He walked inside, and I closed the door behind him. His eyes took in my spotless kitchen and living room. “You hired a maid?” he asked, sounding as if he was only partly kidding.

  “You’re not funny.” I went to the couch and pulled out the list I’d made for him.

  “Neither are you and what’s that?” He pointed to the paper in my hand.

  I handed it over along with a wad of money.

  He gave me a suspicious look before taking it and reading it over. “Get your groceries and pay your rent?” He let the arm holding the paper fall by his side. “What the hell is this?”

  I picked at the fabric on my couch, not sure I’d be able to keep it together if I looked at him. “My rent’s due today or it’s eviction, and I have no food, not even a pack of baloney.” I closed my eyes, hating to admit this last part. “I haven’t eaten in days.”

  “Shit.” I looked up to see him wipe a thumb across his lower lip. “What happened?” he asked, his voice deadly low now.

  I turned away. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

  “You know damn well what I mean. Why are you afraid to leave the house?”

  “Because I am!” I shouted, not able to take any more. Between his questions and my parents, I was just done. I ran a hand over my face and tried to catch my breath. “Would you just do this for me, please? Must we fight about this?”

  He watched me through hooded eyes. “Okay,” he finally said, voice low. “Okay. You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to, but if you want to go to the doctor or the police, I’ll take you there. You don’t have to drive, and you don’t have to do this alone.”

  The calm in his voice allowed me to breathe a little easier. “Nothing like that happened. I just...” Then the tears started, and I turned away, not wanting him to see.

  He eased down on the couch beside me and put a soft hand under my chin, turning my face back around until we were eye to eye. “Who hurt you?”

  I collapsed into his arms, as the last three days came crashing down around me. “I... I can’t tell you. They might kill me, kill you.”

  He cradled my face in his hands, searching my eyes, for what I didn’t know. Then he kissed my forehead. “I’m going to go pay your rent and get you some food. Keep the doors locked, and when I come back we’ll talk some more, okay?”

  “Okay.” I nodded, though I already knew I wouldn’t tell him anything.

  HE WAS BACK TWO HOURS later, arms loaded down. I opened the back door for him and took the first few bags while he went back to the car to get more. I put the bread up as he came back, arms full again. “Is that everything?” I asked.

  He nodded and set the last two bags on the table. The smell of grilled chicken floated to my nostrils, and I looked to see he had takeout from my favorite restaurant down the street. Thank you, because the last thing I wanted was to be in this kitchen cooking.

  Once we’d put everything away, we grabbed our food and went to sit on the floor in the living room. On my plate, I had grilled chicken tips with green peppers and onions, cabbage, and candy yams. I licked my lips as I looked at it, it all looked so delicious. “Did you—”

  “In the bag, he said before I could finish the sentence. I rumbled around a bit until I found the small packet of vinegar and poured it over my cabbage.

  “Oh,” Reid reached into his pocket and pulled out a scrap of paper. “Your receipt. Your landlord says you’re paid up for the next three months.”

  “Thanks,” I said after I’d swallowed some of the chicken. Reid had gotten steak tips, and his fork hovered over his food as he looked at me. “Want to talk?”

  Food now in my belly, I did feel a little better. “No,” I said, getting up and making my way into the kitchen. “I was just having one of my spells. I want to get drunk now.”

  “That’s not a good idea.” I heard him say from the living room as I rummaged through the cabinet for my vodka.

  “Good idea or not, it’s happening.” I found the bottle and snatched up two glasses.

  I walked back into the living room and took a seat in front of him handing over an empty glass. “So, nothing’s wrong?” he sounded skeptical.

  “My parents have hired a moving company and insist that I move back in with them. They’re not taking no for an answer.”

  “Ah,” he said as if it all made sense now. “What are you going to do?”

  “I just paid my rent up for three months, what do you think I’m going to do?” I held my glass up for a toast. Let him think that’s what had been bothering me, it was safer for him if he didn’t know. The last thing I wanted was him coming on the radar of Kyla and her people, or Brad and Melinda for that matter.

  “AND THEN, THEY GAVE me this and disappeared.” I pointed the porter at him, laughing as I did so.

  He laughed too and took it from my hand, flipping it over and looking at it, before handing it back. “And this will take us to another world?” He downed another shot of vodka, and I noticed the bottle was almost empty. We were officially off our faces now.

  “Don’t you ever just want to get away from it all?” I came to my feet and fell back against the wall. “Away from nagging parents and snitching sisters?”

  He stood as well, his steps only a little better than my own. “I don’t have snitching sisters and nagging parents.”

  “Of course you don’t.” I snatched my glass from the floor and downed some more. “Your life is perfect.”

  “You’re perfect,” he said, staring hard at me.

  I ignored that. “Come on, let’s go outside and set off some fireworks.”

>   He looked toward the door. “I don’t have any fireworks.”

  “I don’t either.” I frowned, and we both laughed. “Oh, maybe we can make our own fireworks.”

  He stepped toward the kitchen an amused look on his face. “Now that, I’d like to see.”

  “Hey, don’t laugh at me.” I walked, balancing on the side of the wall until I was beside him. I held up the porter. “This thing has swirling blue lights. That’s our firework right there.”

  He shrugged. “If you say so.”

  “You don’t believe me.” I looked at him, vodka glass still in my hand. He thought I’d been drunk-rambling. “I’ll show you,” I said, pointing the porter, trying to figure out how it worked. Brad had pushed a button on the top of his, but there didn’t seem to be one on mine. Strange.

  Reid laughed. “Let’s not forget about the missing limbs and misplaced heart and lungs.”

  I laughed too, my hand bringing it back down because even in my inebriated state I knew that wasn’t a good idea. Only, when I went to bring my hand down, it slipped onto the side and pushed a button that caused the whole of the kitchen to turn into swirling blue light.

  Reid ran back to where I was, eyes wide. “What the—” That’s all he had a chance to say before we were lifted off the ground and sucked inside.

  Chapter 7

  I felt as if I was being electrocuted as bits of light nipped at my skin. I was tumbling, head over feet, and I had no clue where Reid was. The feel of the alcohol vanished from my system and once clear-headed, the only thing I felt was fear. What had I done? This could kill us, both of us, and who knew what kind of world we’d end up in.

  After a couple of seconds, I stopped twisting and hit the ground hard, landing on cold ice and snow. Beside me, I saw when Reid came to his feet. He held out his hand, and I took it, allowing him to help me up.