The Wardens Boxed Set

by Heather D Glidewell

  Wesley didn’t fare so well. He wound up in the principal’s office after an altercation with another student in his physics class. Apparently the boy had, basically, alleged that my assault had been consensual and called me a whore. There were other vulgarities said that nobody wanted to repeat in front of me. In response to the boy’s filthy words Wesley had thrown a punch and gone on to beat the Hell out of him. I was called to the office during break to give a statement about what had actually happened that night. I supposed it was so that they could make up their minds about what punishment they were going to give Wesley.

  “What did they say?” I asked, hurrying after Wesley when he emerged from the office.

  “They’re just sending me home for the day to cool off.” He fumbled with his keys.

  “Do you want me to go with you?” I asked.

  “No, I need to be alone,” he snapped.

  I stopped trying to follow him and just stared at his retreating back.

  Was he blaming me?

  ***

  I didn’t see Wesley that night, though I stayed up as long as I could, gripping my phone in my hand and willing it to ring or buzz.

  Something, for Pete’s sake!

  I wound up falling asleep at midnight and was plagued once more by horrible nightmares. My mother woke me up only a few hours later to tell me that she had spoken to Wesley’s father and that he hadn’t made it home. She tried to track him the best she could using her powers, but she got nothing, not even the slightest glimmer on where he could have gone. It was like there was a big black hole out there and it was blocking her from viewing where he went.

  At 5 a.m. I received an odd text from a number I didn’t know. The only word in the message that I could make out was “Mine.” The rest was code or gibberish that I could not make head nor tail of. My mother, being the woman that she is, told me not to worry about it, that it was probably just someone texting the wrong number. I, being an eighteen-year-old female, decided that needed to find out who it was and dialed the number.

  The phone picked up on the second ring but nobody spoke. Instead I heard two people having a muffled conversation.

  “Oh God, turn that shit off.”

  I recognized the voice. It was Wesley.

  “Relax. It’s early. Lie down. I say you blow off class and just spend the day in bed with me.”

  The second voice I did not know at first, until I recognized it from the accented English.

  “As much as I would love to, I do have to get to school today. But I will be back tonight.”

  I dropped the phone on my bed and stared at it in horror. My Wesley had been with that redheaded bitch all night! I felt my heart breaking as I reached out and pressed the button to end the call. Then the anger hit me hard, and I threw the phone across the room.

  How could he betray me this way? After everything I had done for him!

  I felt a prickle in my heart and I reached up to touch my chest. I reminded myself furiously that I don’t always think logically. In the past I had often jumped to completely the wrong conclusion. I could be doing that now. For all I knew, she was a friend that he went to for comfort.

  Yeah, a friend that he was sleeping with!

  The voice I had heard was not one that I would ever mistake. I knew it too well, whether it was speaking in English or German, and I knew she was Hell-bent on taking Wesley from me. And it seemed she had succeeded. He was there with her when he should have been here with me all along.

  ***

  I sat in the parking lot at school long after the first period bell rang, waiting for Wesley to show. I had the speech all laid out in my head. I knew exactly what I would say. I would give him a chance to come clean. If he didn’t I would know he was lying because, like my mother, I could sense a lie a mile away. Of course, I wasn’t sure what I would do if he did come clean. Would I be able to stay with him, or was I going to have to break my own heart more than he already had?

  He never showed. I sat in that damned car half the day and didn’t get a glimpse of him. Finally I gave up and drove away. It was too late to go in, anyway; I would already have been considered absent.

  I pulled out onto the road and decided it best to stop by his place on my way home, just to see if his car was parked in the driveway. To my surprise there it sat. I pulled in behind it and cut the engine. Walking around the corner of the house I was not prepared for what I came face to face with.

  The two of them were standing on the back porch, their arms wrapped around each other. His lips were pressed to hers as he kissed her feverishly. I stopped dead in my tracks as he pulled away and saw me, an expression of shock on his face. The girl turned around and I saw it was the redheaded bitch, for once not surrounded by flame or smoke or some other magical protection. We stood there as mortal women. The only difference was that I had a scowl of hate, while all she did was smile this triumphant smile.

  Wesley stood there dumbfounded, staring at the two of us. I could see his pulse throbbing in his neck and could smell the fear that was radiating off him.

  “Dawn, I presume,” the redhead said in her stupid broken English.

  “Miranda?” I questioned, gazing at Wesley.

  He nodded. This whole time I had been fighting with his ex. I turned back to her and bowed my head in recognition of who and what she was. And he had promised he would never leave me. How dumb I had been to believe that he was telling me the truth.

  “Es scheint, dass Sie gewonnen haben. Allerdings werden Sie den Krieg nicht gewinnen!”

  Miranda’s mouth dropped open and she stared at me. Perhaps the bitch had been expecting me to bow out gracefully. One thing she would need to learn was that I never back down from a fight.

  “Does he know what you are?” she asked me softly.

  I could see flames dancing in her green eyes. She was evil, she was twisted, and she would stop at nothing until he was hers.

  “I should be asking you the same question.”

  I glanced at Wesley as he watched us. He had no clue as to what he was supposed to be doing. I looked back at her and frowned.

  “I will watch you burn. I am your salvation, I am your death.”

  I turned to leave.

  “I do not fear you, princess,” she spat at me.

  “You should.” I smiled wickedly at her.

  “What are you going to do?” she demanded, hands on hips.

  “You have no idea what I’m capable of.”

  Wesley just stood there doing nothing, his hands jammed in his pockets. His eyes looked bloodshot. I wasn’t even sure I was looking at the boy whom I had once loved.

  Miranda’s eyes narrowed. “You have no idea about me either. He is mine. I was merely lending him to you.”

  “Lending, my ass.” I laughed. “He loves me, and you know it.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” she yelled. “I claimed his soul for my own. You just happened to take temporary control.”

  “What?” Wesley found his voice at last. He looked at Miranda. “What are you talking about?”

  “Sie ist nicht anders als mich,” she said loudly, pointing at me.

  “Was redest du?” he replied in German.

  “Sie ist wie ich begabt.”

  I could feel the fire tingling in my wrists and my heart suddenly darkened. The urge to attack her was strong. However, the time was not right. I did not shed any tears as I felt the ice melt from my body. A battle had been lost, but the war had yet to begin.

  “Dawn?” Wesley looked at me. “Is what she says true?”

  “How the Hell do I know what gifts she has? All she ever does is try to push me away from you in my sleep,” I growled.

  “Shit.” Wesley’s eyes shot between the two of us. “Dawn, I think you need to go,” he murmured.

  “Yeah, I think that I should. You two looked so nice and cozy together.”

  I turned on my heel and left them behind me.

  I
no longer cared what happened. Wesley had lied to me. He had hurt me. The only reason I had fallen in love in the first place was to avoid having to deal with a broken heart. Speaking of hearts, mine felt like it was split down the middle. The pain was excruciating.

  However, it just made me realize that I was indeed alive.

  ***

  “Darling?” My mother was on me the instant I hit the door.

  I looked at her and I crumbled. The pain was too much. I had convinced myself not to cry in the car. Once through the door, on the other hand, all bets were off.

  “He’s with her,” I breathed as the sobs escaped.

  “With who? Who’s with who?” she demanded.

  She hadn’t touched me yet, so presumably she couldn’t read what was in my head.

  “Wesley. He’s with Miranda,” I sobbed.

  My mother’s arms went round me and rocked me back and forth as my tears poured out. She played with my hair and rubbed my back.

  “It’s okay, honey,” she whispered, trying to soothe me.

  “She told him I was like her,” I stammered. “That I had gifts. Then he told me to leave. Me! After everything that I have done for him, everything I gave up!” I felt as if the world itself was collapsing. “He told me that he wouldn’t leave me, that nothing would come between us.”

  “He meant it. I’m sure he still does. There has to be more to this than what you think is going on.” My mother held tighter onto me.

  “Like Hell he did! He has been seeing her for some time. At least since I got home from the hospital.” I was shaking and the pain was unbearable.

  “Why do you say that?”

  “I just know, Mom, I just know.” I stopped and looked at her. “Did it hurt this bad when Dad left?”

  “Oh, honey.” She sighed. “It was a different pain altogether.”

  “Tell me,” I demanded as the sobs began to subside a little.

  “My heart felt like it was on fire, but I knew it was for the best.” She stopped rocking me and looked me in the eyes. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

  “What are you sorry about?” I whimpered. “It’s not like you made him sleep with his ex.”

  “The last time Wesley was here there were images. I didn’t think much of them.” She pushed my hair from my eyes. “Come on. Go and clean yourself up. I need to make a phone call.”

  “Who is this person you keep calling?” I asked as she helped me to my feet. I was still crying, but at least the wracking sobs had come to an end.

  “An old friend, honey.” She kissed my forehead. “I love you, darling.”

  I sniffed loudly. “I love you, too, Mom.”

  ***

  I had been home for a few hours when Wesley arrived. My mother let him in and he appeared at my door with his hands in his pockets. His brown hair was tousled, his shirt was all mussed up, and his jeans had tears in the knees where there hadn’t been any when I left him earlier in the afternoon. I looked up and down and glared. I wanted with all my soul to set him on fire there and then. I had to control the urge quickly before it took me over. He refused to make eye contact with me.

  “Why are you here?” I seethed. My voice sounded bitter.

  “I figured you needed to hear what happened, before you jumped to conclusions,” he answered, finally lifting his face to look at me. I saw he had been crying. His blue eyes, those eyes that had once made me melt, looked red-rimmed and moist. Right then I could have plucked them out with a spork.

  “I saw all I needed to, Wesley. I don’t think there are any conclusions left to jump to. Don’t forget I was standing right there as you pawed her.” I could feel the flames in my fingertips and a hardness in my heart. All that was required was the will to let the fire out.

  “I don’t know what happened,” he continued, ignoring me. “After I left the school yesterday I drove to the city. I was so angry. Do you realize how hard it was for me to deal with those assholes talking about you like that?” He didn’t wait for an answer before going on. “I ran into Miranda at the lake and we started talking about what happened to me in the woods, about your assault, everything. It seemed innocent enough.” He shrugged. “Next thing I know we are in her dorm room and halfway through a twelve-pack of Shiner Bach. I don’t even remember opening the first bottle.”

  I fidgeted. So he had been drinking. I hated it when my intuition was proven correct. How was I to tell him that Miranda had been the reason that he wound up in the woods in the first place? He really had no clue what the bitch was capable of. Then again, I only had partial knowledge of it myself, and only the slightest idea of what she was.

  “Did you sleep with her, Wesley?” I demanded. His answer would decide if our relationship could proceed or not.

  He wouldn’t stop fidgeting. Then I saw his face change and suddenly I felt sick to my stomach. The knot that had formed there made me feel like I was about to vomit; I could actually feel the bile rising. He had actually slept with that redheaded skank.

  “Yes,” he whispered, hanging his head down.

  “Do you love her?” I asked, blinking back the tears that had gathered under my eyes. I wasn’t going to show him how much it hurt.

  “No.” He didn’t hesitate. “I love you!”

  “Really? Because from what I gathered after this afternoon and from what I hear now, it seems your love for me has been nothing but one big lie. Because if you loved me as you say you love me, you would never have been with her!”

  I felt weak and needed to sit down. I walked to my desk and sat in my chair, turning it to face him. I didn’t want to sit anywhere near him. I had to keep my distance.

  “I had a lot to drink last night,” he admitted. Like that would soften the blow he had just given me! “I don’t know how it happened. All I know is that it did. I remember it starting and then I remember waking up this morning when her phone started to ring.”

  It had been him I had heard, then.

  “So it was you,” I muttered, half to myself.

  He looked at me, confused. “What?”

  “I had a text message from that number so I called it back. I heard you two talking. I hung up once I realized it was you,” I said dryly.

  “How can you have had a text from Miranda’s phone?” he queried, kneeling before me and looking up.

  I pursed my lips. “Don’t try to avoid the issue. And don’t imagine that I’m going to be all sympathetic because you were a dumbass last night.”

  “I would have told you. She knows it meant nothing. How could it mean anything? I mean… I love you. I’m with you.” He seemed to register that I wasn’t buying it so he changed tack. “Is it true what she said? She said you were just like her, that you have the same gift.”

  I let out a short laugh. “Don’t try to turn this around on me again!”

  I saw my fingers spark and instantly sat on them. This was proving to be difficult. Every part of me wanted to set him on fire. If not him, something needed to go up in flames.

  “I told you she had issues.”

  Was he trying to blame me for all this? He’d better not try.

  “Yeah, well, that succubus bitch had better not get in my way.”

  I could feel the heat rising and knew the fire in me was close to exploding.

  “Dawn, I came here to ask you to forgive me. Don’t let my one night of drunken stupidity end what we have,” he pleaded.

  “Seriously?” I screamed. “Your indiscretion has torn a huge void in my soul. I gave you my heart with the understanding that you would not break it. Instead you ripped it from my body this afternoon and stomped on it. Then, once you were done with it, you stuffed it back in and now you just expect me to forgive you?”

  I had to get him out of the house. I was about to ignite and I couldn’t do it with him in my room, regardless of how much I wanted to.

  “I was hoping you could,” he sulked.

  I had the distinct feeling he didn
’t think that he had actually done anything wrong. He thought he could use the whole “I was drunk and didn’t know what I was doing,” line on me and get away with it. But I had watched my mother go through that for years, the lame excuses for why her ass of a husband had found it necessary to sleep with other women while married to her.

  “I don’t know, Wesley,” I told him. “You really hurt me. In fact, I think you need to leave. I cannot be in the same room with you right now.”

  I hoped he’d go quickly. The temperature inside me had gone up even more.

  “Just tell me if she was right?” he demanded. “Is there something about you that you haven’t told me?”

  “Leave!” I yelled. By then my eyes felt like they were on fire.

  He nodded slowly and got up. I heard my mother come in the back door and speak briefly to him as he went out but I couldn’t make out the words. As soon as he had gone my whole body burst into flames. Scalding hot tears ran down my face. I heard my mother hurry into the room, but I didn’t look at her.

  “Honey?”

  I could feel her beside me and knew how concerned she was for me. As she looked at me burning I realized I must be a horrifying reminder to her. I was a constant memory of my father, exploding into flames and all. But she just sat here and held my hand through the fire. She asked no questions and offered no consolation, but just sat there as I cried. And cry I did until the flames died down and the tears wouldn’t come anymore.

  Part Three:

  Life after Wesley

  Chapter Twenty-One: Alone

  I spent most of the next few days in a daze. I went to school, came home, did my homework, ate a silent dinner with my mother, took a shower and went to bed. I just sort of went with the motions. Life didn’t seem as exciting when your heart was solid stone.

  Wesley hadn’t spoken to me since I told him to leave my room. Not that I expected him to. I would see him in class, but in my robotic state it was like he wasn’t there at all. I didn’t make eye contact; didn’t allow a single smile to appear. I just sat there, took notes, and left before he could say anything. That is, if he had anything to say at all.