What my mother had told me nagged at me for days, especially the plot holes in her story. Something awful must have happened to Mrs. Jensen, something so horrible that the family never spoke of it or of her. It would take every ounce of courage for me to be able to ask Wesley how his mother had died. I figured she had died in her sleep as Wesley’s father described, but what had killed her? I could only hope that my mother came to her conclusion soon.
***
I was sitting in the living room watching TV when my phone rang. I hit the green button without even looking at the screen.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dawn.”
It wasn’t Wesley. I pulled my phone away from my ear and saw Adam’s name across the screen.
“Hey, Adam,” I said, thankful that I hadn’t gone right in and called him Wesley.
“What are you doing right now?” he asked. It sounded like he was in his car.
“Watching TV.”
“Okay. Hey, listen, I’m going to be in your area in a few minutes’ time. I have to drop something off for my father. Want to hang out for a bit?” He sounded in an extremely good mood.
“Yeah, okay. I live off the main drag. The white house with the pink mailbox.”
I groaned. The pink mailbox had been my mother’s idea. She had always wanted a pink mailbox for some reason and when we moved I had made sure to give it to her. I don’t think I had ever seen her so thrilled in her life.
Adam laughed. “Pink mailbox, huh?”
“My mom.”
“Enough said.”
“How long did you say?” I looked down at my ratty sweatpants and tank top. I had changed clothes already.
“Give me about twenty minutes.”
I put my hand over the receiver and turned to yell to my mother in the kitchen. “Mom, a friend is going to come over. Is that okay with you?”
“Yeah, honey. Does your friend want to stay for dinner?” she yelled back.
I took my hand off the receiver. “My mom wants to know if you’d like to stay for dinner?”
“Sure. My dad is going to be at the diner all night for some reason. I could use a home-cooked meal.”
“Alright, I’ll tell her. I guess I’ll see you in twenty minutes, then.”
“See ya soon.” He hung up.
“I didn’t know you’d made another friend,” my mother remarked as she walked into the living room, wiping her wet hands on a towel.
“It was a surprise to me, too,” I said, standing up. If Adam was coming to the house I wasn’t going to be greeting him dressed like a slob.
“Well, that’s great. What’s her name?”
“Adam.”
“Oh, another boy?” She raised her eyebrow at me.
“Wesley doesn’t mind. He says that he trusts Adam.”
I rounded the corner and headed for my bedroom where I changed clothes quickly before walking across to the kitchen while putting my hair up in a sloppy ponytail.
“So what’s this boy’s last name?” my mother asked.
“Snyder, I think. Why do you ask?”
“Just wondering. He must be Henry’s son. Sweet boy. Always full of compliments.” She smiled. “His list of sins is quite low. If he keeps it up he will be welcomed to Heaven by a band of trumpeters.”
I grumbled as I retreated to the couch in the living room.
“I hope he likes pork chops and mashed potatoes,” my mother called. “I was feeling a little culinary tonight.” She laughed and got back to her cooking.
I sat on the couch for a few more minutes till I heard Adam’s car in the drive. It was more like ten minutes than twenty. I had a feeling that this was the norm for Adam—being extremely punctual.
“I think your friend is here,” my mom announced from the kitchen.
I got up and went to the front door.
“What’s up, Weathers?” Adam called as he got out of his car.
I raised an eyebrow. Nobody ever called me by my last name. At least, not in the way that he just did. I mean, it was normal for my PE coaches to call me by that, but hearing it from someone like Adam felt kind of felt nice. I mean, different but nice.
“Not much,” I replied, crossing my arms. “You got here fast.”
“Yeah, my dad sends out meals for the elderly. I was just dropping some off for him. Nice old lady but she isn’t one for much conversation.” He laughed as he walked up to me.
“Your dad owns the diner?”
“That he does. He has a big heart, too.”
I led him inside the house. My mother was standing by the door with a huge smile on her face. I should have known she would be ecstatic that I had another new friend.
“Mom, this is Adam. Adam, this is my mother.”
They looked at each other and then both of them laughed.
“Honey, I know who Adam is. Welcome to our home,” my mother said.
“Good evening, Mrs. Peterson.”
“Good evening, Adam. I hope you like pork and potatoes.”
“Oh, yes, ma’am. I love them.”
“Please do come in, then. I have some cheese and crackers I’ve been dying to try.”
My mother skipped off to the kitchen and I motioned for Adam to take a seat.
“She always so welcoming?” he asked after a second of silence.
I shrugged. “Yeah. She has this thing about meeting my friends.”
“Why’s that?”
“Probably because I don’t bring many home,” I said, not looking at him.
“Well, then, I’m honored.”
Dinner went well. My mother and Adam had quite a bit to talk about concerning religion and politics. I was actually quite amused by how much knowledge Adam had about things in general. He was able to keep my mother talking through most of dinner, and for the most part she seemed to enjoy it. I said a few things here and there, just enough to keep myself in the conversation. Adam left at nine telling us he needed to get home to his father.
“We still on for Saturday?” he asked as he was getting into his car.
“Yeah, I think it should be okay.”
I was actually looking forward to doing something with him. Wesley didn’t seem too bugged about it when I had talked to him earlier.
“Great.” He grinned. “I’ll pick you up at six. We have to drive into the city to see the races.”
“Sounds like fun.”
He gave me a wave and backed out of the driveway.
“Such a nice boy,” my mother crooned when I entered the house again.
“Yeah, he’s pretty cool,” I agreed as I helped her finish loading the dishwasher.
“It’s a good thing that Wesley doesn’t find him a threat,” my mother pointed out.
“Yeah,” I murmured. “Mom?”
“What, honey?”
“Do you think he is just saying that it doesn’t bug him? I mean, it really could, right?”
My mother shook her head. “No, I think Wesley is pretty straightforward with his feelings.”
I stretched as my mother switched the machine on. “Well I think I’m going to head to bed.”
“Tell Wesley good night for me,” she teased as I walked off to my room.
I pulled out my phone and sent my boyfriend a good night text.
Me: I’m heading to bed. Love you.
I fell asleep quickly. I usually received a response before I passed out, but not this time. Oh well, I told myself, maybe he was just busy.
Chapter Thirteen: Carnivorous Redheads
I was sitting in a bar facing a red-headed woman with the most patronizing green eyes. She was glaring at me, her stare attempting to burn me to cinders. There was so much hate and disgust in her that it made my skin crawl. A chilling smile spread across her face. I could see her fangs extending as she glared at me.
“Such a pretty princess. You with your black hair and red lips. A beautiful reminder of all things pu
re. I must admit even I would be tempted if it was allowed. I just have one simple thing to say. The thing is: you cannot have him.” She spoke slowly and with a thick German accent. Then she stopped smiling and stood up.
“I don’t exactly see your point here,” I said coldly. She was talking about Wesley. I knew that much.
“Er gehört mir!” Her eyes turned black, her fangs lengthened, and her hands spark. Two black orbs formed above each palm.
I shot to my feet, willing the fire to ignite, and my hands burst into flames.
“He will never be yours!” I screamed, determined that this was one battle I was not going to lose.
“He was mine before he was ever yours. I will not let you take him from me.” Her German accent was harsh but her eyes were harsher still.
“The fact remains,” I retorted, “that if he was yours he would still be with you, wouldn’t he?”
“He still would be if it wasn’t for you and his stupid dreams,” she seethed.
“What the Hell do I have to do with anything?” I demanded.
I pushed at the power in my hands, willing the flames to shoot higher until suddenly I was standing inside the fire itself. The flames lapped at my skin. Amazingly, there was no pain, and for a moment I was mesmerized at this new development. My hair was waving in black ringlets around my face, similarly untouched.
“Welche Kreatur sind Sie?” my adversary screeched.
“I am the creature that you should fear. I am your death. I am your salvation.” The words flew out of me before I could think of anything better to say.
“I fear nobody, Raven Princess!” she screamed.
I saw the orbs flying towards me. I felt confident in what was happening. Those orbs were not going to harm me in the least. Fire shot from my body, causing my back to arch and my head to fly back. I heard her screaming but I was blind to what was happening. A maniacal laugh escaped my lips.
I shot up and out of bed, bathed in sweat, and saw my mother standing over me with a fire extinguisher. She was obviously upset. I stared at her in confusion then finally understood as my gaze went around us.
First, I had apparently woken my mother up from her beauty sleep. Second, I saw from the state of the walls that I had somehow set the house on fire. My mother waved her free hand and the damage disappeared. In an instant the walls appeared as if they had never been touched by flames. I gazed at her in awe. I had never seen her do anything like that before. It made me question how many times she’d had to do things like that for me in the past.
“How long have you been able to do that?” she asked me, looking troubled.
“Do what?” I wasn’t playing dumb; I was actually being truthful on this one. I had no clue what she was talking about.
She put the extinguisher down. “How long have you been able to stand inside the fire?”
“I can’t,” I muttered. “I mean, I’m able to control the flames for the most part. As for standing inside of them, the only time that happens is in my dreams.”
My mother took a seat at the end of my bed and sighed.
“Honey, I just saw it happen. What I need to know is how long it’s been happening. If you say it’s only in your dreams then I must ask you one simple question: what do you dream about?” The concern had washed from her face now and she was at her most attentive.
So I told her every second of the dream, everything about the woman with the green eyes. About how I had stood and the fire had consumed me. Finally, I told her about the blindness and the screaming. My mother listened intently and when I finished my story put her hands on my face.
“Pray with me.”
I looked at her, puzzled, but put my hands in hers.
I’m not a religious person, as I said before. I know that God and Lucifer exist, but I don’t understand why there is so much more to religion then just believing. When you think about it, all religious beliefs lead to the same place, no matter whom you call God, or even the Devil. The stories are much the same and share the same morals.
So I prayed with my mother. I prayed for the souls of those who were in our lives. I prayed for the souls of those who were not. I prayed that I would soon understand why I was as I was. I prayed for my mother, who had made a mistake and had paid for it over and over again. When I opened my eyes my mother was looking at me.
“I was afraid,” she told me. “I came into your room after you started screaming. You were levitating about two feet off the bed and your body was covered in flame. Suddenly your eyes shot open. They were black as night and you laughed this evil, evil, laugh.” She looked around the room for a second.
“I am so sorry you had to see that, Mom,” I replied, my heart pounding.
“Your father used to have nights like that. Nights when his dreams would be so intense that I would awake to the warmth of fire in the bedroom and his body engulfed in flames. I would always erase the damages before he woke up. I thought hiding it from him would keep him with me longer. It was a sign that his power and his duty was calling him. Even though we had been banished, the blood in our veins still had its ties to our duties.” A tear rolled down her cheek.
“I’m so sorry, Mom. I didn’t know.” I thought she had finished, but I was wrong.
“Remember when I said he set fire to the police station during an investigation?”
I nodded.
“The crime was a murder. An eighteen-year-old boy had violently accosted and beaten an eighteen-year-old girl. He kept her bound in a closet for a week. She was dead when they found her, and her body was bloody and bruised. The boy felt no remorse for the murder.”
“Oh, goodness, that’s horrible,” I muttered.
“Your father made one simple mistake.” She shook her head.
“What happened?”
“He touched the boy on the shoulder. You have to understand that if we touch a human we get flashes of their lives. Sometimes it’s great memories, and sometimes it’s horrors that you wish you could forget. He saw everything that boy had done to that poor girl, every last dirty detail from the abduction to the horrific violation of the girl’s innocence. The visions ended with the boy nearly beating her to death and then throwing her bleeding body into the closet and locking her up in the darkness.”
Please say my father killed this boy.
“The evil the boy had done ignited something in your father. He is a demon, yes, but there are some levels of evil that infuriate even him. This was one of them. You were in my womb, but your father knew from the beginning that you were a girl. He was so infuriated that someone might do this to you in the future, so his instincts took over.”
Here it comes!
“He burst into flames. Right in front of the boy. That was forbidden on both levels. He told the boy that he would be welcomed in the deepest darkest crevice of Hell and he would suffer the same fate as his victim every day from here to eternity.” She breathed in slowly.
I may not talk to the man but I have a huge amount of respect for him.
“When the fire cleared the boy was dead. They blamed it on faulty wiring. That was not the case. Your father had managed to cast his glamor over the cameras in the room so they couldn’t make out that he had been the cause. We still left. No matter what, it would draw attention.”
“Good for him,” I mumbled, half hoping she didn’t hear me.
“There’s more.”
“What?” I asked, vaguely aware I was about to get sucker punched with a cliffhanger of some kind.
“When they went back to remove the body, it was gone.” She sucked in a deep breath and let it out in a huff.
“Why are you telling me all of this now?” I asked quietly.
“Well, tonight, seeing you engulfed in flames, has brought back so many memories. I am scared for you, Dawn. Something in you is feeding off the evil of others, and so little is feeding on the good. I am safe to assume now that the ascension has begun.” She wrapped her arms a
round me.
“How long does it take?” I whispered in her ear.
“It could be tomorrow. It could be next week. It could be ten years from now. You won’t know until it’s complete. It’s more important now than ever that you keep your blood under control. You could accidentally hurt someone. I will help you, but I am limited in my own powers.” She kissed my cheek. “It might be time to talk to your father. Call him up and tell him what is going on. Maybe then you can get a better understanding of what is happening.”
I shook my head fervently.
“It’s been four years, Mom. He has had the chance to get in touch with me and he hasn’t tried.” I stiffened. “When I left he made no attempt to come after me. He knew where I was going.”
“Yes, he knew,” my mother repeated flatly. “Do you think that he’s going to come traipsing over my doorstep again? Do you think he’s going to stand there and stare at the woman that got him kicked out of Hell? No, your father is too proud to put himself in that situation again. He left me when you were a toddler. I left you with him so he could protect you, and you returned to me as a teenager. He’s letting you do what you need to do. He’s not going to put himself in any situation that could compromise his personal mission. But that doesn’t mean that he will not jump for you. You are just as much a part of him as you are of me.”
“You weren’t there, mother, I was. He called me an abomination.” I pulled away from her. “He called me unwanted.”
“You misunderstand. In the eyes of the Lord, even in the eyes of the Devil, you are something that should simply not be. Imagine my shock when I discovered, after hundreds of years of secret rendezvous, that I had a being growing inside me. It wasn’t supposed to happen, but it did. You are the greatest gift that I have ever received. No matter if you become one or the other, or even if you can manage to control both, you are still my daughter. Just like you are still his.”
She got up. I think she realized that no matter how hard she tried I was not going to budge. I was not going to call my father and ask him to help me control the fire.
“It’s your choice in the end. You will decide what it is good for you and what isn’t.” She kissed me on the top of my head. “I love you, honey. Never question your mother’s love as you do your father’s.”
The Wardens Boxed Set Page 11
