Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series

by Heather Glidewell

  Suddenly I felt woozy, the room spun. I put my hands to my temples, and that’s when I crumpled and the world went dark. All I could hear was a female laughing in the distance.

  ****

  When I came to I was lying in his bed but he wasn’t in it with me. He was sitting in a chair on the other side of the room watching me his eyes puzzled and he was chewing on his bottom lip. I hadn’t been out long, but it was enough probably to give him a scare. I crawled out of the bed when he stood and walked towards me. As I bent over to fix the cuffs of my jeans he came up behind me and pushed me face first into the mattress. Fear and anger surged through me as my fingers caught fire for a moment before I could force them to fizzle out.

  “What are you?” He demanded a heat in his voice I had never heard before. I was suddenly afraid.

  What had I done?

  “I’m nothing.” This was all I could think of saying as his face came down close to mine. Suddenly a smile spread across my lips, “Ich bin der Engel des Alpträume.” The voice was mine but yet it wasn’t, it was sultry and foreign.

  I was scared. I could feel the fire throbbing at my fingertips still willing me to let it go. My mind was racing a thousand thoughts per second, yet I could still convince myself not to hurt him.

  “Der Engel meine Alpträume nicht Ihr Gesicht!” He threw himself away from me and I clamored to my back. In an instant I was on my feet and looking at him. There was terror in his eyes and I could hear his heartbeat.

  “The Angel in my nightmares does not have your face!" He exclaimed his breathing accelerated. His hands grabbed my face and he was searching my eyes. I think in a way he was looking to see who had control. When he seemed satisfied that I was in fact me he spoke again.

  “You were standing there with that look in your eyes when you grabbed your temples and screamed. Suddenly you were smiling at me.” He paused running his fingers through his hair. “When you spoke again it wasn’t you speaking it was something else in you only it had your voice, and your face, but it wasn't you the tone was malicious and cruel. You looked into my eyes and said meine Liebe, wie du mich betrügen.” He looked at me and noticed that I had no recollection of what was being said. “You asked me why I betrayed you. Why would I betray you? I have no reason to betray anyone.”

  “How do you know what I was saying?” I was becoming petrified.

  I had never spoken another language in my life. My mother said that it was possible for me to pick up on something just by impulse thought. Apparently my father was a linguist of some sort. I had prayed for that gift but had never had the ability use it.

  “My father made me learn German as a child. I speak it rather well.” He ran his fingers through his hair again and groaned. “But how did you sound like someone else, and your voice it was so... so.... creepy.” He put his head in his hands.

  I was exasperated; I turned to leave the room thinking this was it. Wesley would never speak to me again.

  “Dawn, don’t leave.” He protested suddenly standing between me and the only exit out of the room. The look on his face was sad. He was obviously shaken up over what had just transpired. “I have seen a lot of weird things in my life, the last girlfriend I had was special, to say the least. This though, I have never experienced this type of situation before.”

  “I don’t know what I said or why I said it!” I screamed at him I was holding back tears.

  The whole thing didn’t feel right. I had heard the voice with my own ears. I had felt like I was being forced against my will to speak. I was afraid what I might say next. I had to get out of there before I said something worse, something that could tell him I was far more than just a normal girl.

  “I believe you.” He sighed sounding overwhelmed. “So that brings us back to the first question I had. What are you?” His hands were on my shoulders holding me up straight so I had no choice but to look him in the eyes.

  “I don’t know what you are talking about.” I said breathing softly trying to keep the fire at bay.

  I stared at him intensely thoughts flashing through my mind, images, and memories. All I wanted was to forget this conversation. I was forbidden to tell anyone what I was. It would put me and my family in danger. If anyone knew it would paint a huge red and white target on my back and most likely theirs as well.

  “I had fun but I need to get home. I told my mother I would be home for dinner and it’s near that time.” I wasn’t sure what else to say, escape seemed my only option to get passed this oddity.

  “Dawn, this isn’t a game.” He was seriously not letting it go.

  I looked at him doing my best to keep a straight face and keep my eyes blank.

  “I am nothing Wesley. Maybe it is best you figure that out now.” I said turning towards the stairs. He had his arms around me and pulling me backwards to flip me around to face him.

  “We need to find out what is wrong with you. Someone just doesn’t revert to German in the middle of an intimate moment or half way through a conversation.” He looked at me his face concerned and serious. “I love you Dawn. I don’t know why and I don’t know how. I just feel it.” He grabbed my cheeks and looked me in the eyes. “Those around me tend to leave. I will not be the one to push you away because one of my demons uses your body as a vessel to speak.” I looked at him bewildered. He thought that it was him that caused this.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked quickly.

  “Some people can communicate with the dead. I seem to have a lot of those around me, you wouldn’t be the first.” He said like this would scare me somehow.

  So he thought I was a medium that could channel outside forces, never suspecting me of being anything evil he was saying the evil was using me.

  “So I guess the question isn’t what am I. It’s who are you?” I sighed trying not to sound like I was relieved.

  He looked like he had been sucker punched when he stepped back and away from me. I had to get away before something else happened, like fire erupting from my fingertips. If I had to hurt him just a little to make this whole situation go away then so be it.

  “Let’s just forget this happened.” He said putting his hands in his pockets, “You know it just strikes me as odd, I just told you I loved you after a week and you have nothing to say to that?”

  I looked at him in terror, he had said that and I had dismissed it. Nobody had ever said it to me so it wasn’t something that would pop out of a conversation especially not one where weird things are happening.

  I beheld him with hard eyes, sighed and spoke. The words that came out of my mouth were harsh but I couldn’t love him. If I loved him it would kill him if I had to leave again.

  “I do believe in love at first site. So I think it’s possible. I just don’t know. I don’t know if love is possible for me. I need to get home Wesley.” I left him standing staring after me as I ran down the stairs.

  I didn’t stop till I got to my car. Once I got behind the wheel I pounded it screaming, tears were streaming down my face. My heart felt like it was breaking, deep down inside I felt joy but it was only for a second. I put my keys in the ignition and stared out the front window willing myself not to go back into the house.

  I watched Wesley leave out the back door, walk into the field, and disappear into the trees behind it. He was hanging his head and in no hurry it appeared. I’m sure he just wanted to get away as quickly as me. I threw the car in reverse and took off like a bat out of Hell splaying gravel as I sped out of his driveway and onto the highway.

  Chapter Ten

  Deaths Salvation & Heartburn

  I was sitting in a bar, one I had never been to before. Two shots sat untouched in front of me, and the room smelled of sweat and stale perfume. People were pressed together in rhythmic masses, bodies smashed as the music pumped loudly. I downed both drinks and motioned for the bartender to get me two more.

  Four more shots later I looked at the guy sitting next to me, he was around twenty two, moderate frame with light
hair and dark green eyes. He was obviously oblivious to the world, he’d met me shot for shot and he had been here longer. I glanced his direction and he looked back at me and smiled this drunken twisted grin. He thought he could take me back to his place and do sinful acts and I wouldn’t object.

  I could see the thoughts in his head as they came at me in waves. Each of the images he shared were becoming more and more disturbing as he made eye contact with me, the thoughts darkly grotesque made my stomach crawl. I suppose it’s a good thing that not all men think like this pervert.

  He didn’t see nor sense the dark shadow coming up behind him, with a snap of the neck he planted face first onto the bar, and his eyes were still open staring back at me. The shadowed figure sat down on the other side of me sending prickles down my spine. My fingers were eager; I looked over and into the green eyes of Wesley.

  “Did you not hear me, I said I love you,” he muttered not looking at me, “You belong to me!”

  “I belong to no-one!” I seethed fire erupting around me.

  "You should have thought about that before you claimed me!" he screamed back as he shielded his eyes and hissed before disappearing in a cloud of black fog.

  Wait my Wesley doesn’t have green eyes!

  ****

  I woke with a shutter and looked around my dark room. It had been three days since my last encounter with Wesley. I had been working hard to avoid him. When I couldn’t I opted for the less enjoyable approach of ignoring him. I didn’t answer a single one of his fifty calls nor did I answer any of his hundreds of texts.

  Everything was happening so fast, there was no slow road with him. All this talk about love, and this claiming word that kept coming up. It was all just too quick.

  What is love?

  I mean really. Other than some emotion where your heart pounds, and every moment you are apart you feel like you are being ripped into two million pieces. I blamed my erratic emotions for my dreams becoming more intense. It was happening again. Several times I awoke to the smell of burning fabric to find I had singed my bed sheets in my sleep. This was happening far more than it did when I was a tween.

  I wanted him more than anything and being without his touch had sent me reeling into an alternate reality. One that made him a key character in my dreams so it seemed. I questioned the subtle changes though. The green eyes that made little sense. I was always enamored with his blue eyes why would I subconsciously change them to green?

  How does someone fall in love in a matter of days?

  I had never felt love before, never knew how it encased the entire body in warmth. How you would long for your other half when they were only a door away. The feeling was nice, but it was not one I truly enjoyed having, at least not right this second.

  He deserved better, he deserved a mortal girl that could give him everything he wanted and desired. He deserved to have someone capable of love to love him in return. I had already taken so much from him, and I couldn’t bring myself to take more. Even the thought of letting him go for his own good was tearing at me. I just couldn’t fathom doing it, he was mine.

  I picked up my phone and looked at the time, two a. m. I sighed and tossed it back on the nightstand. Running my fingers through my hair I got up, a little shaky at first but I gained my balance. I was feeling light headed and a little groggy as I made my way out of my room and into the kitchen. Holding myself up on the counter I looked out the window and into the night.

  I was watching the wind blow the leaves of the trees when I saw something run across the yard. It appeared to be traveling extremely fast. Before I could control my feet I tore out of the kitchen and into the night. A hundred yards ahead of me I saw a shape stop and turn to look at me. It appeared human with glowing red eyes, and it was looking at me very curiously.

  I willed whatever power I could into my hands and stepped closer to the figure. My fingers sparked noticeably, and a wicked smile spread across the creatures face.

  “Wer bist du?” The words flowed from me like they were my own, however they were not. I had simply asked who are you and instead said it in German.

  What was happening to me?

  “I am the thing you fear most.” It replied in English. “I am your death. I am your salvation.”

  “I do not fear you.” I said to her as she turned to get a better look at me.

  She put her nose in the air and took in a hefty breathe.

  “You should.” She teased me.

  “And why is that?” She was creeping me out.

  I mean really who runs through someone else’s yard at two in the morning for no obvious reason?

  “Your blood. It smells different,” She smiled at me this devious smirk. “I have not eaten in so long. What is just a little taste?” The creature lunged for me.

  I felt my body shift as instinct took over. She was clawing at me her hands reaching for my neck. There was a prick of teeth on my skin but the pain faded as quickly as it started. By the time I knew of what was happening the creature was dead at my feet. I looked around in a panic and kneeled down on the ground pushing the creature’s hair from her face feeling for a pulse, but there was nothing. Those dead red eyes just peered back at me.

  I didn’t know what I had done to kill her but at least she didn’t get to me. I put my arms out in front of me inspecting. It would appear that she had broken no skin after all. The shock wore off, and it clicked in my head what was going on. I ran off to wake my mother.

  ****

  “Vampire.” My mother said standing up and brushing off her knees. “Judging by the way she is dressed she was rogue.” She looked at me like I had to believe her. I knew better than that, I knew that vampires did not exist.

  “Seriously mom. You expect me to believe that Vampires are real?” She had jumped up running when I went racing into her room screaming about red eyed women in the driveway.

  “Dawn, you have been raised on stories of Heaven and Hell.” She pinched the rim of her nose annoyed. “You know what you are. What makes you think that there cannot be other things similar to you in this world?”

  “Alright I will give you that. How do you know she was a vampire?” I asked impatiently.

  “Well the big pointy fangs were a dead giveaway.” My mother started, her words dripping with sarcasm. She turned and walked towards the house. “Do me a favor and burn the body before you come inside. You kill it, you dispose of it.”

  “How am I supposed to do...?” I cut myself off before I sounded even dumber than I felt.

  I stood there and willed the fire to roll through my veins but I got nothing. Not even a single fizzle. My powers had never failed me before. Maybe I had over used them. I opted for the less dramatic approach and covered the body with gas from the mower and lit a match. The woman went up in flames turning to ashes in seconds. I have to admit that pretty much confirmed it for me. I was stuck in a bad dream.

  When I got inside my mother was making a pot of tea. This had always been her medicinal comfort for stressful situations. I washed my hands in the kitchen sink and took a seat at the table.

  “Explain.” I muttered rubbing my face with my hands.

  I still didn’t believe it. I had pinched myself repeatedly on my way into the house. Sadly I was not dreaming.

  “I could give you a history lesson on vampires but you read enough. I’m sure you will figure out all of that. I can tell you this though; there are different types. Ones that live off of human blood and others that can live, mostly, off of human emotions. When I say mostly let me explain.” She turned to face me, her way of letting me know that it was the truth.

  “They find the human emotions to be quite intoxicating. It’s like a drug to them, makes them feel high. They still need blood to survive but at the same time they only need a trace of it because they are feeding off emotions. They are drawn more to anger and loss though if they can get their hands on love it goes from being a pleasant high to a meth high. The victim usually does not understand that
they are being emotionally drained until one day they don't wake up.” She took a drink.

  “Your blood is your weapon against them. One bite won’t kill them but if they try to drain you your body will retaliate sending the fire into their veins. As you know fire is not exactly a friend of the vampire. This one it would appear was pretty hungry just one drop of your blood killed her, but didn’t turn her to ash.” She raised an eyebrow as if she wasn’t sure she believed it herself

  “Mom, this is all just a bit hard to believe.” I groaned and threw my head back.

  “You will figure it all out.” She said finishing her tea.

  “What else exists that isn’t supposed to exist?” I asked as she looked in the bottom of her cup and glancing at me with a twisted expression.

  “Everything in your imagination can exist, as time goes you will meet these beings and learn their stories, but for now.” She pat my hand. “For now you just get some sleep and we can discuss it at a later time.” She stood up and looked at me warmly before leaving the room.

  I had to think hard on this new plot twist. If vampire really existed I wondered how many of my dreams about them were true. For the first time I found myself wanting a friend. Someone that I could talk to about all these things that just kept happening. Life was simpler in El Paso it seemed. The most I had to worry about was who would get in my way. There were no supernatural creatures or boys with their own cooling systems.

  I went back outside the scene of the attack and looked around. There had to be a reason she was in the yard. I heard a branch break to my right and my head shot around. I could have sworn I saw something moving but when I got to the location there was nothing there. I looked around a moment longer and unsatisfied with finding nothing that gave me insight I went back inside.

  I was unable to go back to sleep after my mother and my little talk. I understood what she meant when she said that I had been raised on stories of Heaven and Hell. I should not be surprised that there were other creatures out there. No matter how vile they may be at least they were there. However, it was a lot to stomach. The thought that vampires really existed. It made the dreams even more surreal with the possibilities I could be harboring some internal vampire radar. Still didn’t explain why my blood was convinced Wesley was one.