Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series

by Heather Glidewell

  "And your sister?" I figured if I was asking about the family might as well ask about all of them, they were so dear to me.

  "She won't talk to me. Tells me she hates me because of what I did to you." The smile faded from his face and the sad look of a boy in pain replaced it. "I am so sorry for everything that I did to you."

  I looked at him coldly for a second and then realized that right now was probably not the best time to start yelling at him. He didn't look well.

  "Can I make you some breakfast? It looks like you haven't eaten in days."

  "Sure, I have some time. I have to meet Miranda in a few hours." He turned and walked towards the kitchen with me on his heels.

  "I have to ask you this." I was in the doorway looking at him. "Why are you with her?"

  "She knows me. She's always in my head. I told you that my ex-girlfriend was special." I watched as a tear streamed down his face. "You know what, Dawn. I think I'm just going to leave. She's not going to like it that I was here." He turned to walk out the back door to the driveway.

  "She doesn't have to know you were." I tried to be convincing, but I already knew the answer.

  "She knows where I am every hour of every day. She can tell me each person I've talked to. The foods I have eaten and every thought that I've had of you." He took a step towards me. "You can question every act that you have seen. You can look at her and threaten to hurt her all you want because in the long run it will be you that gets hurt. I don’t want to see that. I love you Dawn. If you just forget her I promise to leave you alone." With that he turned and left my house.

  My emotions were erratic. I wanted to cry, and I wanted to throw things even though I was angry with him and I wanted to make him pay for the pain he caused me. However, just looking at him, speaking to him, feeling him near had put my emotions into shock. I may not want to be with him. I may want to make him feel like he never mattered but what she was doing to him was far worse than what I ever could have done. I dropped to my knees, and I prayed.

  Since we had become intertwined with the Jensen household my mother was happy when so often she had been sad. It gave her purpose, and it gave her strength and now I prayed that she could find the answers on how to cut the cord between Miranda and Wesley. Not because I loved him even though I knew that I did no matter how hard I tried to tell myself I didn't. It was because he didn't deserve to die.

  I had seen a dead man walking in my house that morning. Not much time was left before she would put him to the same fate as his mother. So here I was on my knees in the kitchen, tears streaming down my face praying to the one man I felt hated me. He never answered me, my mom said he never would, but once I stood and walked back to my room I felt like I had done what I could for Wesley.

  Miranda, on the other hand, I would crush her. If it meant her finding out what I was so be it. I would make her pay for all the wrong that she had done on this earth for lord knows how many years. I was the daughter of an Angel and a Demon. I had powers she couldn't fathom. She messed with the wrong girl.

  I crawled into bed and grabbed my phone. I contemplated calling Adam but figured it best to let him relax. He had dealt with the whole Wesley ordeal since it started and all I really wanted was someone I could curl up with and they would just hold me and tell me that it would be ok. So I opened my messages and texted Aaron. The boy was nothing to me for the most part, but the person that I would have wanted to curl up with was driving down a highway to a girl that was eating him alive.

  Me: You busy?

  I texted then rolled to my side to stare at the wall.

  Aaron: No, you ok?

  Me: Not really, can you come over?

  I felt a tear roll down my face. It felt wrong to ask this of him. However, I was still cold inside just not a complete ice queen yet. My heart was stone. It felt like the broken pieces had mended together in the wrong order.

  Aaron: Be there in ten minutes.

  ****

  When Aaron showed up I felt better. He had come through the door took off his jacket and instantly put his arms around me the way that I wanted. He was warm, and he smelled like soap. He kissed me briefly and put his hands on my face so he could look into my eyes. I didn't say anything just reached up and took his hand. I led him to my room, and he looked at me confused.

  "Will you just hold me?" I said softly.

  He nodded and crawled under the covers with me wrapping his right arm over my waist and looking at me his blue eyes questioning as they searched my face.

  "He hurt you bad." He whispered kissing my forehead. I said nothing just looked up at him. "Don't worry I will put you back together." It was a sweet gesture but there was nothing this boy could do that would put me back to the way I was before I met Wesley.

  I wanted to go about in this world unfeeling. As complicated as that was becoming at this moment. I wanted to forget what it was like to love someone with every inch of your being. He kissed my forehead again. I curled into him and let his warmth run over me.

  I'm sorry Aaron for all the things that I have done and all the things I will do.

  We both fell asleep rather quickly and didn't wake up till I heard an annoying tap on my bedroom wall. I opened my eyes to my father glaring down at me.

  Fantastic!

  "I feel I should be asking you what the Hell is going on here." My father's eyes were darkening. I felt Aaron jump and suddenly he was on his feet rubbing his eyes. He was noticeably not awake, but he looked at my dad like he was about to be shot.

  "Dad!" I screeched. "Nothing is going on." I sat up and put my feet on the carpeting.

  My dad looked at Aaron and grumbled.

  "Lay down son, get some sleep." He waved his hand and Aaron collapsed on the bed and was back asleep.

  "You are going to have to teach me that one." I said amazed.

  "Living room now." He demanded walking out of the room.

  It was nice to know that he was still in Dad mode even after his four year vacation. I rolled my eyes at the thought. I mumbled to myself and then got up, took one last look at Aaron and shook my head. The boy had no idea what he was getting into.

  I wasn't expecting an ambush when I walked into the living room but my father was standing in the middle of the room with his arms crossed across his chest tapping his foot impatiently. My mother was on the couch sitting comfortably rolling her eyes at him. I flashed him a fake smile and took a seat in the recliner.

  "Is this the norm for her Puriel? I mean for her to have strange boys in her bed." Why did he call my mother Puriel? My mother looked at him and rubbed her temples.

  "I have had to deal with Wesley every night since October. So no it is not normal for her to have strange boys in her bed Vetis." She was trying to be nice but I could tell she was doing her best not the throw something at him.

  Vetis?

  What? This was all getting confusing.

  "Why are you calling her Puriel?" I looked at dad. "Why are you calling him Vetis?" I looked at mom.

  My father let out a small laugh. "I forget she doesn’t know."

  My mother glared at him and then looked at me.

  "Honey, Puriel is my holy name while Vetis is your father’s, not so holy, name." My father glared at her. "Did you really think that there was an angel named Angelina, and a demon named Damien?" I looked at her puzzled.

  This was the first time either of them had told me about their past lives. Even though the revelation was a small one I understood the reason for their human names. No matter how cheesy and unimaginative they were.

  "I very rarely called your father Damien. I only did it in public to keep things quiet." She smiled softly.

  "I'm not going to get used to this, please just call each other by the names that I know you by." I grimaced. "What am I called? I mean it might be nice to know just in case of emergency."

  "You have no special name. You are just Dawn." My mother put her hands in her lap and looked back up at my father. "Oh, Damien please sit down y
ou are making me nervous." She demanded.

  He glared at her and then took a seat as far away as he could from her.

  "Just Dawn, you promise?" I asked. I just wanted to make sure. I mean I didn't want to find out my real name was Donatella or something else equally weird.

  "You are named for the moment when the night meets the day." My father said proudly. "Since you are a mixture of both bloodlines we thought a symbolic name would work."

  "Ew. That is way too emotional for me." I felt a moment of nausea. "So in the last five minutes I have learned more than in the last eighteen years. Why all of a sudden the need to let me know the family history? Is my Uncle Lucifer coming for dinner tonight or something?"

  My dad broke out into laughter.

  "He's not your Uncle. If he shows up here I suggest running." My father was wiping tears from his eyes. "She's got my humor, that's great." I just stared at him.

  My mother had been in love with this?

  My mother huffed and looked at me again.

  "I need to charge you with a quest." My dad roared with laughter again, she shot him a deadly glare. "The first place we lived is where we met Greta and Greg. As you can guess we cannot go back there. I told you that is where your father set John on fire." I cut her off.

  “Ok, let me get this straight. The demon that attacked me is named John? I know you were saying it a lot last night, but I wasn’t really grasping that.” I bat my eyes trying to take it in.

  "Yes, that demon that... that..." She was stammering over the words.

  "Violated me, just say it mom." My throat tightened my eyes stung. The smile that had been on my father's face faded.

  "Yes that." She still wouldn't say it. "Well there is a little more to that story than what I told you."

  “Of course there is.” I groaned. There always seemed more to the story than what I was ever told.

  "He wasn't dead when the paramedics showed, but he died shortly after telling them that I was Lucifer incarnate. It sort of started a mini battle with the underworld. When people came to question your mother found it best to leave, so we did. The town is so small that we cannot go back, the man that was Sheriff eighteen years ago is Sheriff to this day." My father said. He was no longer amused.

  "Ok so you need me to go to this town and do what?" I asked.

  "We need you to go to the house, it's still there, and we still own it. Inside you will find several items that we need. There is an old sketch book of Greta's and there is my sword." my mother breathed and then cracked a smile.

  "I'm being put on a quest for a sketchbook and a sword?" I raised my eyebrows at them. "You know normal families send their children on quests to the grocery store for a gallon of milk." I stood up. "I am going to go back and check on Aaron, make sure that he is still breathing. Then I'm going to take a shower and change clothes, from there Aaron and I are going to lunch in town. I have to process all of this." My parents nodded at me as I turned to leave the room.

  Why couldn't I just have a normal family?

  "I am going to call my wife and tell her that I will be a few more days." He looked at my mother. "I promise I didn't lie to her completely. I just said that I would reconnect with my daughter and left out the fact my ex-wife would be here." He smiled and pushed past me.

  “Really Mom, you were in love with him?” I pointed after my father.

  “He was very convincing.” She stuttered.

  “Yeah, I’m sure that is what it was.” I put my hands over my ears and proceeded to walk back to my room.

  Aaron was sitting on my bed playing with his phone when I came in. I looked at him then over my shoulder. How long had he been awake? The conversation in the living room wasn’t exactly quiet.

  “How much of that did you hear?” I asked cautiously.

  “Hear what? Oh all I heard was you getting in trouble for having a weird boy in your bed.” He smiled. “I’m willing to tell them that nothing happened.” I rolled my eyes as my father walked by my door laughing.

  “I’m going to take a shower.” His eyes brightened. “After that you want to grab something to eat?” I asked opening my closet and pulling out a black long sleeve shirt and blue jeans.

  “Yeah.” He stood up and crossed the room and put his arms around me.

  I appreciated the effort, and it felt nice, but it was selfish of me to even keep him around. I would be dragging him through an emotional Hell. I turned to face him and kissed him very briefly before pulling free and heading to the bathroom.

  I seriously have no idea what I’m doing. Some would think that rushing into a relationship like this is too quick. That it questions how I really felt about Wesley. The thing is I’m not looking for a relationship, well not exactly. I’m looking for something that can fill that void that Wesley left behind. Besides I had always moved on quickly in the past. What made this time any different than any of the others?

  Whatever I had planned for Aaron I wasn’t sure of it at that point. I never knew how important he would become to me in the short period that I knew him. For now though he was only meant as a filling nothing more than that and nothing less. It did not mean that I loved Wesley any less it just meant that I was trying to move on. Let’s not forget he had already done that himself.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Windows

  I had showered quickly and dressed as fast as I could trying not to leave Aaron to the creatures called my parents. I didn’t know what my father would do, probably make him pass out again just for fun. He seemed sadistic in that way. Not that I think my father would intentionally hurt anyone, he’s just odd. I think he has actually become crazier over the last few years.

  I wrapped my towel around my head to attempt to remove some of the excess water and walked back into my room. Aaron was still sitting on my bed messing with his phone. He let out a whistle and I couldn’t help but to laugh.

  “I think you should leave the towel on, it just brings out your inner sexiness.” He teased me as I grabbed a brush off my dresser and plopped down on the bed.

  He put his phone down and scooted behind me putting me between his legs. He was an affectionate boy that was for sure. I wasn’t quite sure how I felt about that. I pulled the towel from my head and proceeded to brush my hair.

  “Leave it down today.” Aaron said softly. “You always look so beautiful with it down.”

  I had to give him props he was working overtime with the making me feel better shit.

  Ten minutes later we were good to go. I grabbed my car keys told my parents I would see them after a while and then we were off to town in Aaron’s black Dodge truck. We had a nice lunch at Adam’s dad’s diner and hung out for a few hours at his place before I asked if he would take me home. It was getting late and with my father’s new found faith in parenthood I wanted to make sure I was home at a reasonable hour. He pulled over to the side of the road about a mile from the house and looked at me with serious blue eyes.

  “We have had a good two days, right?” He asked me.

  “Yeah, I think it’s been pretty good all things considered.” I forced a smile.

  “Good, I know it’s too early to ask you to be my girlfriend, but things are going relatively fast.” He ran his fingers through his blonde hair. “I like you. I like you a lot.” He shifted.

  Where was he going with this?

  “I would just like to be able to step foot inside school on Monday and be able to tell my friends that we are dating.” It was my turn to fidget.

  “I can go with dating.” I felt something harden in my chest.

  Why it is when I should be silent my lips kept moving?

  He gave me a warm smile.

  “Good.” He pulled the car back on the road and drove me the rest of the way home.

  He walked me to my door as he had the night before and was leaning in to kiss me when the door flew open and standing there was my father. I was really getting annoyed with this want to be so active in my life.

  “Go
od night Aaron.” He said pulling me inside.

  I gave a little wave and a smile before my father shut the door. I turned and glared at him.

  “What the Hell was that all about?” I demanded.

  “I know what you are doing Dawn.” He said matter of fact.

  “And what is that?” I boomed at him.

  “You are trying to fill a void. You want this Wesley boy to disappear; you don’t want to remember what it’s like to love.”

  How did he know all of this?

  Suddenly I remembered he could read my mind, this was an unfair advantage on his part.

  “How do you know all this?” I was expecting a smart ass answer, but he looked me square in the face and without even blinking spoke.

  “I'm not reading your mind on this one honey. I did it once. I still haven’t recovered completely from it.” He had to mean my mom.

  I had noticed that even though they could barely stand to be in the same room they couldn’t stop taking glances at one another. There was still something there, some hidden chemistry that they were hiding from one another. I didn’t say anything else. My father understood, for some odd reason that man knew what was going on with me. It put me at ease for a moment, feeling that little connection with Daddy. I had always had problems connecting with him, he was just too crazy, and serious, and a pain in my ass.

  “I would suggest you get it out of your system now before that boy falls head over heels for you and you are stuck in a situation that you cannot get out of.” He fumbled for a second and then grabbed my arms. “Don’t make the same mistakes that I have made.”

  My phone started to buzz from my back pocket so I gave my father a weak smile and pulled it out to answer.

  It was Adam.

  I’m sure the news had spread by now. Gothic Vampire Queen Dating Lonely Skater Boy, I had a feeling there would be something in the school newspaper documenting this rare occasion. I looked at my father and lightly touched his face before answering my phone and leaving the room.

  “So Aaron Matthews is the rebound boy huh.” He didn’t even wait for me to say Hello before he jumped in.