Let it All Burn: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (From the Ashes Book 1)

by Denise Grover Swank

  I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck, needing him closer.

  A vibrating sound filled the small hall and he stilled, then pulled back slightly, cursing under his breath.

  “Darcie…I’m sorry.”

  “For kissing me?” I asked. “I sure hope not.” I realized I’d missed a lot of passion and fire over the years.

  Fire.

  The thought doused the embers of my desire. I had a purpose for being here, and it wasn’t kissing Heath Stone…although it was a very nice side benefit.

  He reached into his jacket pocket and slid out his phone, frowning when he read the text preview on the screen.

  “Bad news?” I asked.

  “We need to get back out there.” He started to make a move for the door to the foyer, then turned back to me and kissed me again, making my toes curl. “Wasn’t sure when I’d be able to do that again,” he said with a mischievous grin. “And I definitely plan on doing it plenty.”

  I chuckled. “You sound pretty sure of yourself.”

  He lifted his hand to adjust my mask, then wrapped an arm around my back and ushered me toward the door. “When I know what I want, I go for it, Darcie.”

  I nearly asked him to confirm that it was, in fact, me he was talking about, because the speed with which he was maneuvering me out the door made it clear he was in a hurry to get somewhere else.

  “I’m gonna need to call in my favor before yours,” he said, with his arm still wrapped around my lower back. He sounded reluctant instead of cocky.

  But I couldn’t give any of that too much thought. In the back of my mind, I felt that same strange pulsing from somewhere above us. From whatever part of this exhibit was related to my family curse.

  Destiny was reeling me in.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  “What do you need me to do?” I asked as he hurried through the foyer.

  “I need you to stick with Parker and eavesdrop on his conversations. I just got word that he’s talking to someone important, so you’ll need to slide in and not look conspicuous, which normally that wouldn’t be too hard for you, but tonight…”

  I narrowed my eyes. “What does that mean?”

  “The key to good surveillance is to not stand out.”

  I stopped in my tracks, and once he realized I wasn’t keeping up, he stopped and turned back to me in annoyance. “What?”

  When he saw my expression, hesitation filled his eyes. He looked like someone who’d been told to take a stroll across a minefield.

  “You just kissed me like…” I struggled to find an appropriate adjective and came up short. “Like that,” I finally said, “then say I’m not usually noticeable? Are you suggesting that you only kissed me because I look like this tonight?” I waved my hand up and down the front of my chest.

  “Yes.” He shook his head. “I mean no.” Cursing, he glanced away and then turned back, determination in his eyes. “Darcie, middle-aged women don’t typically stand out.”

  “They’re invisible,” I said. “Unless they’re a MILF, which is how you think I look tonight.” I gave a sharp nod. “Got it.”

  “Darcie, that’s not it at all.”

  What was I thinking? Heath had told me Parker had been using me, but he was clearly no better. But then I’d already suspected, so shame on me. “You know what, Heath? Screw you. Screw you and every man who thinks women hit forty and lose their usefulness.” I jabbed my finger hard into his chest. “Screw. You.”

  I stomped off, entering the open atrium before he could respond. Plastering a smile on my face, I rejoined Cyn, her date, and Parker, who was now talking to an older couple I didn’t recognize.

  “Oh, my word,” Cyn gasped. “Are you okay? You look like you’re about to murder someone.”

  “Oh,” I said, trying to wave it off. I couldn’t tell her about Heath. Not yet. Certainly not in front of Parker. “I was just irritated with Ella.”

  “You’re pissed because she had an allergic reaction and is doped up on Benadryl?” she asked in a surprised yet somewhat judgy tone.

  Well, that did sound bad. “No. I had trouble figuring out what to do with her. You would think it would be easier to deal with an antihistamine emergency. In any case, she’s in the first aid office lying down on a cot, but I have to find a way to get her purse out of the coat check before she leaves. If it’s actually there.” Maybe my mother could help me with that. “Also, when Mayor Harless starts speaking, we need to check on Ella to see if she’s perked up enough to do the interview.”

  Cyn’s face twisted into an expression that suggested she doubted that was possible. I suspected she was right.

  I caught a glimpse of Heath in the shadows, and he was jerking his head to the side, likely trying to tell me to pay attention to Parker’s conversation.

  I shot him a scowl and mouthed, Screw you.

  He rolled his eyes, and I turned away. Thankfully, Cyn was too busy drooling over Philip to notice.

  “Cyn,” Philip said. “Let’s dance.”

  He led her out onto the dance floor, and I moved closer to Parker. When he slipped his arm around my back, it took everything in me not to cringe.

  “Got your friend all taken care of?” he asked as he glanced down at me.

  “My cousin,” I said, irritated that he obviously hadn’t paid attention to my explanation.

  Heath was back to his hiding place in the shadows, watching me with a dark look. I wasn’t sure if it was because I was cozying up to Parker—like he’d asked me to do—or if he was pissed because I’d told him off.

  Either way, I had bigger issues to deal with.

  The older gentleman in front of Parker turned his attention to me. “Who is your lovely date, Parker?” he asked in a smooth British accent.

  I offered my hand and introduced myself before Parker could. “Darcie Weatherby. Nice to meet you.”

  The gentleman took my hand and shook it. “Pete Murin, and this is my wife, Tammy.”

  His wife looked to be in her early sixties, and she was everything I hoped to be when I was her age—gorgeous, dark skin and hair, and an inner light that shone through her clear brown eyes. She was stunning, eye-catching, only she looked incredibly sad. “Hello.”

  “What do you do, Darcie?” Pete asked enthusiastically.

  For years I answered that question by saying that I stayed home with my kids, and Richard would always make a snide comment about wishing we could all be so lucky, even though he lost his mind if he ever had a snow day. But I was more than that now—I was an executive assistant at Lisman and Freud, which sounded rather impressive, though the job made me feel used and unappreciated most days. Even more so than being a mom to my kids. Nevertheless, when I opened my mouth to tell him my profession, I wasn’t prepared for my answer.

  “Guardian,” I said, the response automatic.

  The man’s eyes flew wide and Parker glanced down at me in shock, then released a nervous chuckle. “I think he’s talking about your job, Darcie, not your costume.” Then he turned back to Pete and answered for me. “She’s an executive assistant at Lisman and Freud.”

  Heath’s scowl deepened.

  The man’s eyes glazed over, and he immediately lost interest in me, changing the subject to the job forecast for Perry’s Fall. He was looking to internationally expand his electronics company, apparently, and he’d decided to scope out Perry’s Fall as a possible location. The mayor’s office was helping him determine if our town had the skilled labor force he needed. Pete and Parker carried on their conversation without so much as looking at Tammy or me, and no one had even bothered to ask Tammy what she did. The resigned look on her face told me she was used to it.

  Something in me seethed.

  Richard had always been embarrassed to tell people that I stayed home with our kids, and he’d completely ignored my work at Cyn’s coffee shop. No more. I refused to let a man I barely knew treat me so dismissively, and I damn well wasn’t having it for Tammy either. Something a
bout her made me want to protect her from her husband.

  “Excuse me,” I said brashly, purposely interrupting Parker mid-sentence, and focused my attention on Tammy. “I didn’t catch what you do, Tammy.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise.

  “I was talking, Darcie,” Parker said.

  “Really?” I said in mock surprise, giving him the look Richard used to give me whenever I dared to speak up during one of his endless teaching tales. “Huh.” I turned my attention back to Tammy. “What is it that you do, Tammy?”

  Heath was inching out of the shadows to get closer.

  Tammy shot a nervous glance up at her husband, then seemed to grow bolder as she lifted her chin. Her eyes shone with pride. “I’m a nurse.”

  Her accent suggested she was British too.

  “That’s awesome,” I said, leaning closer. “What kind of nursing do you do?”

  “She’s a school nurse,” Pete said with a smirk. “She wipes noses and slaps on Band-Aids all day.” Giving me a look of irritation, Pete turned back to my date. “The economic forecast—”

  The anger in my chest simmered.

  “Did you really just speak of her so dismissively?” I asked in a cold, even tone.

  Parker’s jaw twitched. “What has gotten into you, Darcie?”

  “What has gotten into me?” I parroted, my fury rising, yet my voice remained perfectly calm. “Do you even know me well enough to know when something has gotten into me?”

  Parker’s face flushed, and his voice shook when he said, “Darcie, maybe you should just calm down.”

  Boy howdy. That was not the thing to say to me at the moment. “Calm down? You’re the one who is losing control, Parker,” I said as though trying to reason with a small child throwing a tantrum. “I’m simply trying to have a conversation with Tammy.”

  Pete snorted, his eyes full of obvious contempt.

  I ignored them both. “So Tammy,” I said, giving her my full attention. “With the rise in peanut allergies and the severity of kids’ reactions, I suspect you’re the first line of defense when a child has anaphylactic shock. You’re literally the person keeping the child alive until the ambulance shows up.”

  She stared at me in disbelief, and it took her a second to gather her senses. “Yes,” she said, her face beaming with pride. “There’s much less of that in England, but it’s hard to keep schools peanut-free here. There’s always that one parent who feels like their child’s freedom to bring whatever they like is more important than the children with severe allergies. Last week, a year two student had a reaction from drinking out of the water fountain after another child who had eaten peanut butter in a snack. The girl collapsed onto the floor, her airway constricting so that she could barely breathe. The teacher called an ambulance, but I knew her airway would be completely closed before they ever got there. I gave her a shot from her EpiPen and several doses of Benadryl, then kept her calm until the ambulance arrived.”

  I stared at her in fascination. “You saved her life.”

  “Anyone could have administered that shot,” Pete said with a scowl.

  “I’m sorry,” I said in an ice-cold voice. “Did you just downplay what she did?”

  “No, but—”

  I held up my hand and pinched my fingers and thumb together as though I were shutting a sock puppet’s mouth. “That’s enough. Zip it. Your wife saved a child’s life last week, Pete. Did you do something that was more important than that?”

  His mouth opened and then closed, like a guppy out of its fish tank. Heath was looking down, his shoulders shaking. Was he that furious with me? Then he looked up, and I realized he’d been holding back laughter. His eyes were bright with amusement.

  Heat bloomed in my chest. Richard would have been horrified by my “outburst.” I was so shocked by Heath’s response it took me a second to return to Pete with my own.

  “Exactly,” I said with a note of satisfaction. “Nothing can compare to that.” I held out my hand to Tammy, and she shook it, her eyes beaming. “Tammy, thank you for everything that you do for the youth of Perry’s Fall. You are safeguarding our highest commodity. The future.”

  Out of the corner of my eye, I caught a glimpse of someone staring at me from the floor above us. It was Vee, and her eyes were dancing with delight.

  I turned to the men, giving them a dismissive glance. “If you’ll excuse me, gentlemen, I just saw someone I need to speak to.”

  Parker was sputtering as I walked away, and Pete was still speechless, but I heard Tammy say in disgust to her husband, “I’m getting myself another drink.”

  I had no intention of drawing the room’s attention by climbing the massive marble staircase at the end of the room, so I made a beeline for the entrance and found a stairwell I’d noticed earlier. I gathered the fabric of my dress by the slit and held on tight with one hand as I sprinted to the second floor, my heels clattering on the concrete steps.

  The staircase opened at the beginning of a French impressionist display, and I slowed my pace as I called out softly, “Vee?”

  I wasn’t surprised when she didn’t respond. I’d seen her toward the other end of the floor, but I didn’t race toward her. Somehow I knew she wasn’t going anywhere. I’d only seen her because she’d wanted me to, and now she was waiting for me to join her.

  I found her in front of a painting in the section of artwork dedicated to Perry’s Fall. A pastoral scene of the town from two hundred years ago held her attention.

  “You finally found me,” she said with a chuckle.

  “You’re a hard woman to locate.”

  Her gaze lifted, her green eyes locking on mine. “You were resourceful. Both your cousin the reporter and your new friend, the FBI agent.”

  The skin on the back of my neck prickled. I wanted to ask her how she knew, but it seemed like an unimportant question.

  “You know what’s happening to me,” I said quietly as I took a step closer, slipping my mask off my face.

  She crooked her finger for me to join her in front of the painting.

  I could turn around and run from this, or I could get answers.

  I wasn’t going anywhere.

  When I closed the distance between us, her mouth crooked up in a satisfied smile. She pointed to the painting six feet in front of us. “Do you recognize this?”

  “Perry had that painting commissioned. He wanted to capture the essence of the town before it was settled.”

  “True,” she said, “but it’s more than that. He wanted to capture what this place was like before a great man left his mark. This town existed for nearly sixty years before Perry got his bloodstained hands on it, and he acted like that history meant nothing. In his mind, he was the founder of this town, which was why he insisted on changing the town’s name.”

  I gave her a side-eye glance. “While this is a history lecture that we didn’t get in school or on Perry’s Fall Day, I have to wonder why you’re telling me now.” I pivoted to face her profile. “Unless this has something to do with the curse on the women in my family.”

  She turned to me and smiled. “I knew you were up to the challenge.”

  Then she headed for the stairs at the back of the room—the less flashy set, on the side opposite from the grand staircase.

  “What challenge, Vee?” I asked, following her.

  “How much do you know of the curse?” she asked.

  “Not much. Only what my nana’s friend knew.”

  “Dorothy,” she said with a nod and affection in her eyes. “People at her age tend to forget details. I paid her a visit a few weeks ago to remind her of what she knew. When I knew we were close to the transition.”

  “The transition?” I said in confusion.

  She nodded. “This will be easier if I show you what you’re guarding.”

  She started to climb the stairs.

  Guarding. I’d told Parker’s acquaintance that I was a guardian. When I’d shot fire from my hands, it had been to protect
Harriet. And earlier, my hair had glowed when I thought about protecting my daughter.

  Yes, I was meant to be a guardian, and the title felt right.

  I hurried after Vee, who was moving up the stairs at a steady pace.

  “How do you know so much about this?” I asked.

  “All in good time,” she said softly. “What do you know about the exhibit?”

  Even as she asked it, I felt the familiar tugging I’d felt off and on all evening. It was still distant, but it was getting stronger.

  “Not much,” I said. “Only that it contains Greek and Egyptian antiquities and is moved back and forth between here and Birdsboro every fifty years. James Randolph Perry made the arrangements.”

  “You’re right, but they’re mostly Greek antiquities,” she said. “Perry found the collection in Europe before his father got fed up with his irresponsible ways, gave him his inheritance, and sent him out to make his way in the world. The collection was the real reason he created the museum. To show off his prize.” She stopped on the top stair and turned to look at me, two steps behind her. “To show off the object you’ll be protecting.”

  A chill shot down my spine.

  I followed her as she walked toward the other end of the hall, past multiple paintings and statues depicting ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt.

  “Perry was obsessed with what he considered the birth of ‘true’ civilization. He was even more obsessed with the gods.”

  My breath caught in my chest, but I forced out, “The gods?”

  Like Persephone?

  She glanced back at me. “The gods. He found an object he found especially significant.” Gesturing ahead of her, she said, “Let me show you.”

  I could feel the pull again, much stronger now. I knew I should be terrified, yet I was excited. It felt as though my true purpose for existence was about to be revealed.

  Vee stopped in front of a display area that contained the statue of a robed woman and multiple glass cases of artifacts. Most of the cases contained ancient pottery, but the center case held the patinaed sculpture I’d seen in the old newspaper article about the exhibit. The entire piece was about two feet tall, much bigger than I’d thought, but the flat circular disc the figure was holding added to its height.