“Same place as the last time. She likes it here. It’s close enough to people but hidden away for training. You’ve got to get the other two elements. She’s just building this army. Once she feels these newborns are ready, she’s going to be coming back to Midvale. I need you to be ready for whatever she throws at you. Once I’m changed, I don’t know if I will be able to stop the visions. Or even lie my way out of it.” He groaned and then coughed. “John still wants you. I swear if I have to hear one more time how you are going to be his, I’m going to rip his head off and feed it to the newborns.”
“Well, John isn’t going to get me,” I said flatly. “John can go to Hell.”
“Do you love him?” he asked me, suddenly breathless.
“Love who?”
“Aaron.”
“No. He says he loves me, but I have yet to say it back to him. Why?”
“You should love him. He’s a good guy. Not as good as Adam.” He laughed. “You know, when I left, I thought you would wind up with him. It totally blew my mind when it was Aaron that got that pleasure.”
“Adam’s my best friend,” I said softly.
“I think you need to have a talk with Adam.” He smiled. “I have to go. I feel her trying to rouse my body, and I don’t need to be thinking of you when she does.” He leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. “No matter what happens here, remember that I do love you. Every vision I have seen of you is still strong. Nothing has changed.”
He faded away, and I was left lying in the grass alone, looking up at the starless sky.
****
I rolled over, and Aaron was gone. I was alone in bed. I looked up, and daylight was coming through the top of the curtains. There was a note on the nightstand. I grabbed it and opened it slowly, afraid it might explode.
Gone to the store to buy you a dress for today. Sorry, I tore your sleep shirt last night. Just stay in bed till I get back.
I smiled to myself and sprawled out on the bed. I felt rejuvenated. My body was happy with me again. I was still laying there staring at the ceiling when the door opened, and Aaron walked in. It took me a moment to realize that I had kicked the sheets to the bottom of the bed.
I blushed as he flung himself on me and pinned me to the bed. I laughed as he kissed me playfully. His lips were warm and his kisses sweet. For a moment I thought I could get used to this. I could get used to him loving me.
“I could stay here all day with you.” His eyes gleamed with happiness. “However, it’s check-out time, and my dad has already texted me ten times asking where I am.”
“What time is it?” I asked, nipping at his nose.
“It’s ten. Apparently, we were supposed to be up at the crack of dawn according to my dad.” He laughed.
“If your dad thinks that we should have headed home at first light, I can just imagine how my mother is right now.” I rolled my eyes.
“Well, aren’t you just rainbows and butterflies this morning?” he said, laughing again as I wrapped my legs around him and stuck my lip out.
“I don’t mean to be grumpy,” I said, pouting.
“You are so hot,” he groaned.
“So are you,” I said, biting his lip.
“No, you are really hot,” he yelped, jumping back. “Let’s get you in the shower.”
He dragged me off the bed and pushed me into the bathroom, where he turned on the cold water and thrust me under it.
Steam rose from my body as the cool water soothed my skin. I had only seen this once before when Xic had dropped me in the rain outside Adam’s. I had overheated, but I didn’t understand why. How had my temperature risen so much in such a short period?
****
Adam didn’t talk to me on the drive home. He even avoided eye contact with me the few times that I attempted to look at him. I had a feeling I was in big trouble with him. Nadine was nestled against him with a smile on her face, while Kim was leaning on Shawn with her eyes half closed. I had my head against the window, trying to cool my still overheated flesh. Aaron had his hand in mine, and his head was resting on the back of the seat. He was worn out, ready for bed.
“When we get back, I’ll take Aaron home,” Shawn offered, looking at me.
I nodded, without removing my forehead from the cold window. I felt so hot.
When we got back to our house, everyone went inside to see my mother. She was taking a head count as we entered. When I looked at her, I saw she had a disapproving look on her face. I had a feeling we were about to get an earful.
“Alright, so you’re all here.” Her hands moved to her hips in a typical stern mom stance. “Adam, your father, has called me three times, and Nadine, your mother, called once. I told them you guys were still sleeping.” She was more than a little put out. “I don’t mind you all saying that you were staying with Dawn, but I think you should have called your parents and told them where you were last night.”
“Sorry, Mrs. Weathers,” said Adam, giving her a hug. “I guess we need to head out then.” He looked at Nadine, still avoiding me.
“Yeah, I need to get Aaron home too, before he passes out,” said Shawn. “Kim, you ready?”
Aaron kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Bye,” I said breathlessly.
“I’ll call you when I get home,” Nadine stated, wrapping her arms around me in a warm hug.
Adam was the last one to leave. I seized his arm, and he turned and looked at me.
“What’s wrong?” I asked, noticing the hurt in his eyes.
“Nothing. See you tomorrow,” he said, automatically kissing me on the cheek and then walked out the door.
Why did it feel like my heart was about to burst out of my chest? I felt like I was being broken in two. If I had done something to hurt Adam, I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. My mother watched as everyone left the house, then turned to stare at me.
“Young lady,” she said, frowning.
“What?”
“You have to be more careful,” she said, reaching out and feeling my forehead. “You’re burning up.” She felt my arms and then my neck. “I want you to get in bed right now. I’m going to get you something cool to drink. If that doesn’t work, I’m going to have to dunk you in an ice bath. You overheated.”
“How did I overheat?” I asked, reaching out to soothe my hands on the glass doors.
“You got far too worked up. What happened last night?” she inquired, steering me from the kitchen to my room.
“Aside from dealing with one of the possessed watching me at the dance?” I asked, closing my eyes.
“You didn’t call and tell me? Dawn, that was reckless!”
“I had no reason to. It was gone almost as quickly as it showed.” I groaned. My head felt like it was on fire.
“That doesn’t matter. You were being watched,” my mother said, stripping my dress off and throwing a short-sleeved bathrobe around me.
“Where are Helen, Nick, and Minerva?” I asked, realizing I hadn’t seen them since I came in.
“They went up Friday night to get set for this next weekend. I told them you would be up after school this Friday. Minerva followed yesterday. She’s getting the house ready. Shawn is going to show you how to do the protection flame.” She laid me down in my bed and turned on my fan. “I’m going to get the fan out of my room,” she said, walking out.
I lay there, staring at the ceiling and thinking of Wesley. Why had he said that I should love Aaron? Why did he think that I would wind up with Adam? I loved Adam, but not in the same way that I loved Wesley. I couldn’t make sense of his summons. What was the purpose of calling me to the astral plane for something as simple as a question of loyalty?
“He summoned you again?” my mother asked, taking her hand off my head.
How long had she been standing there? I hadn’t even felt her fingers in my hair.
“Last night,” I told her as she put a cold cloth on my head.
“Where are they?” she ask
ed, sitting down next to me.
“They haven’t moved. Adam was right. It’s a prime location for recruiting and training.” I started to shiver. I was so hot but yet felt so cold.
“How did he summon you?” she asked, taking my hand in hers.
“He said she had drained him to the point of death and then just sort of left him. He had to leave me when he felt her trying to wake him,” I said, my teeth knocking together.
“Dawn, this is going to sound odd, but I need you to trust me.”
I nodded and wondered what she was talking about.
“I need you to burst into flames,” she said. “It will get the heat out of your body. I’m surprised you haven’t combusted yet as it is.”
“You think it will work?” I asked, feeling my muscles contract from the coldness.
“It’s worth a shot,” she replied, dabbing at my forehead.
I leaned my head back and willed the fire. My body convulsed and lifted from the bed. My eyes burned in the way that told me they were changing. My head flew further back, and suddenly I was aflame.
“It burns, mother!” I screamed. “It burns!” Tears started to flow down my cheeks but evaporated before they could hit the bed below me.
“It’s okay, Dawn, just let it burn out,” my mother requested, holding my hand through the fire.
“We are not alone,” I said in a deep voice, my eyes shooting toward the window.
My mother jumped and put her hand to her mouth. When she saw what was outside my window, she threw herself back against my bed. The being out there was certainly not human. Its mouth was open, and it had two fangs protruding from the top jaw as well as a sinister smile on its face. My mother’s defenses kicked in, and she burst into flames herself, her eyes turning white and her mouth moving. Though I couldn’t hear the words she was saying, I knew she was praying. I managed to lower myself to the floor, still burning, and adopt a standing posture. Then I smiled cruelly at the beast and its own smile faltered. I knew I was looking at the were-vamp that Xic had talked about. So, they were real after all.
“Why are you here?” I yelled at my window as it shattered.
I grumbled to myself. I had prided myself on making my room impenetrable, but I’d completely forgotten how easily glass shattered.
“I was merely sent to observe,” the beast stammered as my mother’s flame flashed forward and grabbed it by the face, forcing it to look at her.
“Who are you?” my mother demanded.
“I am Matthew, the progeny of Gregory and Penelope.” It knew what she was doing, yet it didn’t seem to care.
“What are you?”
“I am… what do you call it?” It stumbled with its words.
“A were-vamp,” I said, letting the fire fade. I felt so much better. Next time I overheated I was just going to have to find a private place and let off some steam.
“That sounds like something Xic would say,” my mother muttered, looking at me. She turned back to the creature in her fiery grasp. “It’s too bad that you won’t be making it back to your master.”
“The master is already here,” the beast retorted, looking at me.
I frowned. The killings in Midvale had been the work of three different beings. If we killed one, there would still be two more out there. It was not an ideal situation. We were torn between what was right and what was logical.
“Then I shall send you with a message for your masters,” my mother said, clearly thinking along the same lines as me and relenting. She looked at me.
“We are your death. We are your salvation. I will have your soul.” The words flowed like lava from my lips without thought. I had no idea why I had said them, but it seemed to be a phrase that I enjoyed saying.
My mother nodded. “Begone, beast. Return to your masters and tell them this.”
The creature bowed and stepped away from my window. I couldn’t believe we were letting it go, but I knew my mother had a reason for everything.
“They will be here tonight. Once the message has been received, they will attempt to kill you,” she said. Her brow furrowed and I could almost see the wheels turning in her head.
“Then I suppose it’s a good thing that I am here,” said a voice behind us. We both spun around and there, standing in the doorway with a proud smile on his face, was my father.
“Daddy!” I screamed, rushing to him, and throwing my arms around him. He seemed surprised; I knew I hadn’t done this since I was a child. Even then he would stand like stone as I squeezed him tightly.
“I received your text last night of our kids in their formal dress, and I had to come and see them,” he explained to my mother.
She too had a look of joy on her face. No matter how much she denied it, she still had a thing for my dad.
“So why didn’t that creature come in?” I asked after we had all calmed down.
“You would think you would know this already,” said my father reprovingly. “It’s part vampire, so it has to be invited in.”
I blushed, embarrassed. I knew that, of course, what with all the books that I’d read and all the movies I’d watched.
“Any news about Wesley?” my father asked my mother.
“He summoned Dawn again last night. Same location. Miranda has started the changing process. He fears that when the change is complete, he won’t be able to protect her anymore.”
“You didn’t need me to say anything. You already knew,” I said, pointing an accusing finger at her.
“I was standing there for a while, honey. While you were staring off into space, I got everything I needed from your memory,” she said, shrugging. “Don’t look at me like I was invading your privacy.”
****
“So, what do we do now? Nick and Helen left on Friday and Minerva left yesterday morning. Kim is by no means ready to stand up to something this powerful. Now that we know there are three, I just pray that she is safe,” Shawn said as we sat together in the living room that afternoon.
“They will return,” my father said, looking at his son. “We need as many as we can get.” He shook his head. “How many have you found here?”
“Four, but only one is alive,” said Shawn, slamming his head into his hands. “What if we call them, tell them to come back?”
“They wouldn’t get here in time,” my mother said, frowning. “We need more.”
“What I don’t understand is why we didn’t just end that miserable being’s life right then and there,” I said, crossing my arms. “It couldn’t get in, but we sure could get out. Not to mention that we’ve given it a considerable amount of time to find another element and kill it.”
“It won’t kill anything without it's master’s approval,” said Shawn. “It was probably sent here for that reason, but you foiled its plan. You have to realize that Miranda may know you are a Warden, but the other beings here probably don’t know. These aren’t mortals that she transformed while in New Mexico. These are creatures that she’s allied herself with, in exchange for promises of a new world.”
“Miranda isn’t running the show though,” I countered. “It’s her mother, Sheridan. She’s the one promising them a new world, not Miranda.”
“Sheridan is Miranda’s mother,” Shawn replied. “Miranda is a princess in all terms. She’s the one doing the face-to-face recruiting while her mother sits and ponders what to do next. We need purebloods. We need to rally those that she is trying to destroy. If the purebloods stand with the Wardens, these beasts can be obliterated.”
“I don’t foresee angels and demons coming together to fight these creatures,” I said dryly.
“Who said it had to be the high and mighty, the top of the pureblood chain of command?” Shawn pointed out. “I’m talking about pureblood vampires and were-animals, and maybe pure-witches and warlocks. If we mix them in with the Carriers and Wardens, we have a fighting chance.”
“You aren’t talking about just this tiny little battle then,” my mother suggested.
&
nbsp; “No, I’m talking about the big picture. You said there was a coven here. Are they pure or hybrid?” Shawn asked.
My mother shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. They were destroyed the day they took Wesley.”
“Shit,” Shawn exclaimed, his face paling.
“So, this means it’s just the four of us,” I said softly, my heart pounding.
“No, this just means I need to make some phone calls,” said Shawn, getting up.
“Who are you going to call?” I asked, following him as he left the living room.
“I do have friends, you know. Over the years I have seen cities grow and countries shrink. As population increases amongst mortals, it also increases in purebloods. Then the pure start to mix together. That is how you get the turned vampire, the bitten werewolf, and you.” He paused. “My mother was a powerful witch, as pure as witches could be for the time. She was a white witch though tempted by our father. It just so happens that not all demons are pure evil. That is why I told you that you cannot judge a book by its cover.”
“So, who are you calling?” I asked again.
“I have a friend born to two ancients. He still lives. I wonder if I can persuade him to join the fight...” Shawn’s eyes looked hopeful for just a moment.
“The vampire that tried to kill me… was she a hybrid?” I asked, remembering back all those months ago when the damned creature lay dead at my feet.
“Anything that consists of two blood types is a hybrid,” Shawn said, motioning for me to leave him.
I turned and left so he could have his moment to contact his friends. I found myself hoping that his idea worked. We were going to need as many beings as we could get to win this battle. I had no clue how many they had in their group. The were-vamp had said that there were three. I knew, however, that there could be as many as a hundred or more.
I went to the living room and sat down on the couch. There was nothing that I could do. The only connections that I had in this world were human. Thanks to my parents, I hadn’t even known such beings as the ones we had talked about even existed until we moved to Midvale.
Chapter 22
Smoke & Ash (Wardens Series Book 2) Page 19
