Fire and Fantasy: A Limited Edition Collection of Urban and Epic Fantasy

by CK Dawn

  “Give me your hand.” She stretched out an upward palm. When he made no motion to take a hold of it, she sighed. “Sure. Let’s make it more difficult.” She raised her eyes skyward for an instant, bent down again, and dragged his arm across her shoulders.

  Gabe peered at her with passing suspicion, but allowed himself the support. “On three?” He laughed.

  “Just try to stand up.” Cassie’s spine stiffened, not in a joking mood. With a little effort, and a little luck, she managed to walk down the alleyway to the street supporting at least half of Gabe’s weight. He leaned against the side of a building as she hailed a cab.

  A yellow-checkered taxi pulled up within minutes. The driver, an Indian man wearing a clean white turban, gave them a funny look as Gabe struggled into the narrow backseat. With bravery she didn’t feel, Cassie said, “Eyes forward. The stop is on Washington Street by the West Side Highway, and here’s a tip.” She handed the driver a folded fifty-dollar bill from her purse. It was all the money she had on her. “Get us there fast.”

  “Youse got it,” said the driver with a heavy New York accent. It didn’t match his appearance, but it made Cassie smile. Appearances are deceiving. The irony struck her and she chuckled lightly. Don’t I know it all too well. She looked at Gabe’s sprawled form. She tried not to go over the night’s events in her head but it was a struggle. There would be time enough for that later. Right now, she needed to concentrate on getting the man at her side taken care of.

  Within mere minutes, her apartment building came into view. Cassie nodded her thanks at the driver, then took Gabe by the arm and half dragged, half forced him out of the cab toward her building. Gabe’s strength was waning fast. The ample stairs made the task even more difficult.

  “Just a few more steps,” she cried, tugging at his waist. “We’re almost there.”

  The space between the cab and her front door seemed insurmountable, but she managed to get him inside without falling over. At her apartment, the key clicked and the door opened. Maia came to greet her master and meowed her surprise at seeing someone else. Cassie maneuvered Gabe through the door, around her curious cat, and to the couch. He sunk down with a thud.

  At once, he tried to lie back, but Cassie knelt next to him and held him by the shoulders. “Not yet. I have to check this first,” she said, pointing to his injury. “So, we need to get your shirt off.” Any other time Cassie might have enjoyed the prospect, but in the moment, all she could think about was treating his wound. Not a nurse, in any sense of the word, she tried to keep her nerves under control.

  Gabe didn’t reply. His head swayed in a semi nodding motion. Slowly, he raised his arms upward. Cassie yanked off his shirt, then guided him to lie on his uninjured side. He followed her lead as he slipped into unconsciousness. The sight of his torso covered in blood almost made Cassie shake him awake. She restrained herself and ran to the kitchen to grab a dishtowel. Soaking it in warm water, she returned to Gabe’s side and dabbed the blood away. It doesn’t look so bad. She shook out the towel. Just need to put some pressure on it. She ran to the bathroom and located thick athletic tape, gauze and cotton. With her limited first aid knowledge, she managed to cover his wound and bind it.

  “What a night.” Cassie said, inspecting her work. Maia strolled up and rubbed against Cassie’s leg. “Come on. We’ll let him rest.” She picked up the cat and returned to the kitchen. Setting Maia down on the counter, she tapped her fingers in an offbeat rhythm. “Better give Zoey a call too.”

  Her mind flitted from one mundane chore to the other as she fumbled around the kitchen. She had to concentrate hard to keep to her task of calling Zoey. It took twice as long as normal to locate her discarded purse, spill the contents of it on the counter, and extract her phone from the mess. Her fingers trembled as she tried to steady them on the keys. With a clearing of her throat, she placed the call. Zoey answered on the fourth ring and Cassie could hear the noise of the club in the background.

  “Hey Zoey,” Cassie said, her pitch a bit higher than usual. “I, um, wanted to let you know I got home okay.”

  Without a word of greeting, Zoey began babbling. “What’s wrong? What happened? Did he hurt you? I can’t believe it. The first guy you take home.”

  “Zo. Zoey,” muttered Cassie trying to get a word in between her friend’s ranting. “I’m fine. Gabe didn’t do anything wrong.” With a pause, she thought, Well, not to me anyway. She shook her head. “I just wanted to call and let you know I was okay. I didn’t want you to worry.”

  “Cassie. If you were okay, then you wouldn’t be calling me, would you? I can hear your voice shaking.”

  “Of course, I would! I also want to see how you are.” Her stance shifted to defense mode. “It’s not every day I leave my friend in a club alone to go home with a relative stranger.”

  “So, then you did go home with him? Now, we’re getting somewhere.” Zoey’s tone changed from worried to suggestive in a snap.

  “Maybe...No...Yes... But, it’s not what you think. He’s asleep on the couch.”

  “You tired him out that quickly? Jeez, Cas.”

  “Okay. I did what I was supposed to. I called you. You now have ten seconds before I hang up this phone.” Cassie’s patience had reached the end of its rope.

  “Wait. I want details. Oh come on, you have to tell me now.” Zoey begged to no avail.

  “7...6...5...” She emphasized each number with a bizarre delight.

  “Don’t you dare! Cassie!”

  “2...1...Time’s up. Goodnight Zoey.” Not waiting for a response, she clicked the phone shut. Maia meowed her approval and stretched on the counter. “Serves her right.” She nodded at her cat.

  Cassie’s eyes surveyed the room. Her heart began to pound harder and faster as she glanced at the sleeping form on the couch. I won’t think. Not about anything. Not now. Not yet. She turned away and opened a cabinet door instead. Extracting a glass and turning on the faucet, she filled up her cup with water and chugged it down. The cool liquid eased her parched throat.

  After an awkward pause and with a false sense of urgency, she started cleaning the kitchen. She wiped down all the cabinets and appliances, scrubbed the sink, cleaned Maia’s food and water bowls, and swept the tiled floor. Spotting her mess of a purse and the lack of money in her wallet, she pulled out her meager rainy day fund from her ceramic cookie jar. Two hundred dollars. It wouldn’t go far in this city, but she’d been able to save a little out of each paycheck. Not thinking about it, she stuffed it all in her wallet. Some small internal voice told her she’d need it.

  Afterward, with nothing left to do but think, she tried again to block out all thoughts from her mind. But the image of the dead body in the alley kept flashing in front of her eyes and the crunch of breaking bones still filled her ears.

  “Maybe we should check on him,” she said to Maia and lifted the sleepy cat in her arms. “Make sure we did it all right.”

  Cassie lowered Maia to the floor by the couch, then knelt beside Gabe. Working with care so she would not wake him, she undid the wrappings around his wound. She stared at his injured side trying to figure out the problem. Her breath caught when she realized the issue--he was already healing. The cut was not as large or deep as when it first happened no more than an hour ago. “How? Should’ve needed days. Maybe stitches even.” Her fingers grazed the delicate skin over the cut with feather light strokes. Without thought, she let them wander up his back. Two long burn marks caught her eye. They ran parallel from the tops of his shoulder blades down to the hem of his pants. “Wonder how he got those.” A blush crept up her cheeks making her face hot. And how low they go.

  Gabe spun around. Awake. She jerked her hand away.

  He grumbled at the pain caused by his sharp movement, then looked Cassie dead in the eye. “Go away, woman,” he said with a dismissive gesture.

  “Excuse me,” Cassie spat as the shock wore off. “I am trying to make sure you’re all right. And I get this?” She copied
his hand motion.

  Gabe grinned. “You were doing far more than seeing if I was all right, weren’t you? Tell me about your other intentions, Cassie.” Stunned silence from her, then he laughed.

  Cassie knew her face flushed beat red. To save her pride, she shrieked, “You’ve got to be kidding. You are so dirty and smell so rotten even if I wanted to, I wouldn’t bother.” She crossed her arms over her chest.

  “Hmm...” Gabe seemed to ponder it as he looked himself over. “You’re right.”

  As if in perfect health, he sprang to his feet and strode toward her bathroom, his step firm. There was no sign of his earlier weakness from the injury. On the way, he shook off his boots and socks, then began to unbutton his pants. Cassie had a delayed reaction watching his movements, before she followed behind him. With an exasperation she couldn’t hide, she slapped him on the back and shouted, “What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

  He looked over his shoulder at her with an amused gleam in his eyes. “What does it look like? I’m taking your advice. You said I was unappealing. So, I’m fixing that with a bath.”

  “In my house? Are you completely insane?”

  “Don’t you think a bath is something you can offer a person who just saved your life?”

  Cassie stood still, wavering. He did protect me. She rubbed the back of her neck without responding. But I did bring him here, and I took care of him. I did what he asked. What more does he want? She tapped her foot on the carpet. “Take a bath, but don’t expect anything else. I want you gone by morning.”

  He grumbled, but didn’t say anything. Turning back toward the bathroom, he removed the rest of his clothes. Without a word of thanks, he pointed to the dirty pile, and muttered something suspiciously like, “Wash”. The bathroom door shut behind him.

  Cassie stared in a daze at the closed door, before the sound of running water knocked away her astonishment. “Ewwwww,” she said. “Unbelievable! Infuriating...Man!” She sat down cross-legged outside the door. Do not bang on the door and scream at him. Do not bang on the door and scream at him. As she snorted air in and out her nose, her eyes drifted toward the clothing pile. She spotted the bloodstain left on his pants from the injury. As a pang of guilt hit her, her anger subsided.

  With a deep sigh, she went to the kitchen for the third time and got a black trash bag from underneath the sink. She picked up all of his clothes, including his boots, from the floor and stashed them in the bag.

  “Be back in a little while,” she said to Maia. Grabbing her purse from the counter, she headed down to the basement with the trash bag slung over her shoulder. It took her only a handful of minutes to stomp down the stairs. Bathed with white fluorescent lights, the basement’s cement floor and ceiling shone in a ghostly glow. As she looked around, she felt all too grateful no one else had the crazy idea to do laundry at this hour. After removing coins from her purse, she threw all of the clothes into the washing machine, poured in an ample supply of detergent, deposited the coins, and set it for Heavy Wash. The boots she swiped with a rag and set them by the machine. With nothing else to do, she plopped down in a plastic folding chair and finally gave into thinking about the night’s events.

  “Ok, Cassie, let’s recap tonight, shall we?” she said aloud because she needed to chase the unnerving silence away, even if only with her own voice. “So, you went out with Zoey to some club, got hit on by Mr. Sleazy Guy who later was possessed by a...” She didn’t know how to finish that sentence so she skipped it. “By something. Mr. Crazy Man aka Gabe who you kicked out of your apartment a few weeks ago because he said you weren’t human, shows up at the club.” Her hands shot up to rub her temples. “You go outside with Mr. Crazy Man despite your usual good judgment and get attacked by Mr. Sleazy Guy, now possessed by something. And then, you take Mr. Crazy Man back to your apartment after he was knifed in the side by Mr. Sleazy Guy.” She took a deep breath. “And oh yeah, Mr. Sleazy Guy was killed, and Mr. Crazy Man is upstairs in YOUR bathroom. And he’s healing like...” Once again, she had to skip over that one. “What is wrong with this picture?” Hah. Where to start.

  The old washing machine rumbled its agreement. Cassie couldn’t piece together one rational thought or explanation after her recap, so she slunk back in the chair and listened to the mechanic clink-clink. She closed her eyes and prayed for a few minutes of peace. Just as her body was starting to cooperate and relax, a high-pitched DING signaled the clothes reached the end of the cycle. Begrudgingly, she unfolded herself from the chair. Reaching into the machine, she pulled out the wet clothes, flung them in the dryer, slipped more coins into the contraption, and set it for High Heat. With an evil laugh, she said, “And if something should accidentally happen to shrink, so be it.”

  About thirty minutes later, the dryer signaled end of the cycle with another shrill DING. Cassie tucked the clothes under her arm, grabbed the boots by the laces, and headed back upstairs. As she opened the door to her apartment, a funny feeling knotted in the pit of her stomach. She called out. “Gabe?” No response. “Gabe?”

  Dropping his clothes on the kitchen counter, she tiptoed through the apartment. Since her place wasn’t very big, she eliminated all of the obvious spots – kitchen, living room, and bedroom. “He can’t still be in the bathroom, can he?” Maia gave a noncommittal meow, but sauntered over to the closed bathroom door. “Seriously?”

  “Gabe, you still in there?” Cassie called as she rapped on the bathroom door. “It’s been over an hour.” She knocked louder. Not a sound. Turning the knob, she tested the lock. It clicked free. The door creaked in protest. “Gabe?” Still not a peep. With a sigh, she opened the door and examined the bathroom. She let out a small yelp when she spotted Gabe sound asleep in the tub.

  Cassie turned to leave when an errant thought struck her. What if he isn’t sleeping? What if his injury’s gotten worse? What if he is...? She swallowed hard. “Just check that he’s breathing, so you don’t freak out. Then, leave.” Mustering up her courage, she walked toward the tub, trying to avert her gaze from the obvious lack of bubbles in the bath. She bent down and listened for sounds of his breath. Her own breath caught as she struggled to hear. Nothing. Her heart started racing. He can’t be dead. There can’t be a dead person in my tub.

  Without further consideration, she shook him and yelled in alarm, “Gabe! Gabe!”

  Gabe’s eyes snapped open. In a speed faster than a wink, he pulled Cassie into the tub. He held her about the waist with her arms pinned to her sides. She wriggled against him, soaking wet and as mad as a hornet.

  “Let go. What’s your problem? Let go now!”

  “Calm down. Stop flailing. I didn’t know it was you.” He said. “Relax. Relax.”

  The gentleness in his voice brought her temper down a fraction. She stopped moving, deciding instead to squeeze her eyes shut and wait for him to let go. Do not freak out. Do not freak out. She repeated it to herself like a mantra. Ok. So you’re in a bath with a naked man. She clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth. Why’s that bad again? Her body started to betray her as she remembered her many dreams over the past weeks about this very same man in similar circumstances.

  “See, I knew you had bad intentions,” he said, his voice pure masculine teasing. “And now, I’m all clean.” He let go of her waist to run a hand down his clean, and very naked, body.

  The tinge of sarcasm in his tone brought her right back to the present. Angry, embarrassed and wet, she sloshed out of the tub with as much grace as she could muster. She stalked across the bathroom resisting the urge to turn and stick out her tongue. Dripping as she went, she stomped across the apartment and slammed her bedroom door.

  “Women!” muttered Gabe as he watched her go. Yet, something inside him stirred at her exit. He hadn’t wanted her to leave. With a shake of his head, he stood up, dried himself off and wrapped the towel around his waist. He looked over his injured side and nodded at finding it healing well. He followed her trail of wet droplets across the
apartment, but paused at the kitchen when he spotted the pile of his clean clothes on the counter. “Aw, hell.”

  A surge of guilt swept him. Who cares if she’s mad? She’s being irrational. SHE woke ME, he thought, trying to push away the feelings of regret. “I have nothing to be sorry for.” He ran a hand through his wet hair, and then stood a heartbeat with his hands on his hips, undecided.

  “Damn,” he whispered. Resolved, he dressed and walked toward her bedroom. He raised a hand to knock against her door, but paused. At a loss for words, he stared at the door for several minutes. Exhaustion hit him. “It’ll have to wait until morning.” He swayed on his feet. “Besides, what’s there to say?” he asked to the air. “Nothing…and yet…everything.”

  Nine

  The sun blazed down forcing Cassie to shield her eyes. The light had an odd disorientating effect and she struggled to make sense of her surroundings. Squinting against the rays, she caught the glare of light upon the pavement. A flash of recognition seeped into her thoughts. I know this place. She reflected, listening for any sounds, any noise at all. But, how? The rumble of an approaching car shook her to the core.

  “It can’t be,” she gasped, shaking away the mental cobwebs. “No. I can’t be dreaming again. I can’t.”

  Cassie squeezed her eyes shut and begged to wake up. As the noises grew closer, she opened her eyes to stare at the highway in front of her. She stood upon the shoulder of Route 6. The vertical drop of Bear Mountain loomed behind her. The day was February 29th, twenty years in the past. Atypical warm weather encompassed the area despite the early hours of this winter morning.

  The scene before her had played out so many times over the years in her dreams, Cassie fought not to turn her back on it altogether. She knew the results. A family from a small town in upstate New York drove to the big city to see a play on Broadway. The little girl bounced up and down in the back seat, too excited to stay still. She always wanted to see the lights and sounds of the stage. It was supposed to be her birthday present. But, she didn’t get her gift that day. They would never make it past the mountain, past the bend in the road.