Winds of Fire (The Arcadia Falls Chronicles #5)

by Malone Wright, Jennifer

  “But that’s not what we think, is it?”

  “Hell no, there is something freaky going on here. I just want to go home and get away from here, but now that we know Sarah’s men are in here somewhere …”

  Oh crap, I closed my eyes and shook my head. “She can’t leave here … well, I mean, she won’t leave without them.”

  Gavin moved in a little closer to our quiet conversation. “I wouldn’t leave anyone of our people behind either.”

  “She knows that this is a strange place,” Chloe lowered her voice a more. “I told her how we feel about it but she doesn’t seem to share those same feelings.”

  “Dammit!” I felt like hitting a wall. “I just want to get out of here. I don’t feel safe.”

  Both Gavin and Chloe agreed. “We have to figure out a way to stay here now so that we can find out where John and Spike are. I think if we can find them, then we can probably convince Sarah to leave.” Chloe had that stubborn look in her eye and I knew that we would be staying.

  “Fine. Let’s go talk with Zander and Christina.” I strode ahead of them. A big part of me wanted to be selfish and go home on our scheduled flight, but the other part of me knew that I had to do the right thing.

  Nothing bad had happened here except that the place gave us a bad feeling. So, I guess I could understand why Sarah wouldn’t feel that something was wrong. She had lived in one of the most haunted homes in all of New Orleans, for crying out loud. Of course she was immune to the creep factor.

  When I swung open the door to our room. Christina was sitting on the edge of the bed with Zander, who looked like someone had just kicked him in the stomach. His face had turned a pasty white and a few droplets of sweat had formed at his brow.

  “Are you all right?” Chloe hurried over to him and sat down on the other side of him. “Did you get sick?”

  Christina shook her head, indicating that wasn’t it, but stayed silent. Zander closed his eyes for a moment and then opened them again. “I’m not sick, but something is wrong with me.”

  Chloe rubbed his back, “What do you mean?”

  He looked over at her and then flicked his eyes toward me and Gavin. “I don’t know how to explain it.”

  “Try.” I told him. We didn’t have time for messing around.

  Christina rubbed his shoulder, “Just tell them.”

  Zander wiggled out from in between the girls and began to pace the room. His hand went to his dark hair and pushed it back away from his eyes. “All right. So, after New Orleans, we went home and I felt fine. Nothing weird was going on or anything. I didn’t know what to expect because of what the Warrior Angel had done to me.” He paused his pacing and caught Chloe’s eye. “You told me that he said I was to be a Warrior Angel as well, that I would eradicate evil that dwells upon the earth.”

  She nodded.

  “I was fine for a while … but, I never left the house or anything. Now, we come here and I want to massacre some of these people.”

  I blinked, not sure I heard him right. “What?”

  Chloe and Gavin also stared at him, obviously shocked by what he had said. Christina apparently already knew, because she didn’t appear surprised.

  He nodded. “I know, right! I had the same thoughts.”

  “Do you think there are vampires in the building?”

  He looked at me with a seriousness that I rarely saw with him, “I am not talking about vampires, I’m talking about people. People like General Ahlman and those two idiots with Sarah.” He clenched his fists and began his pacing again. “While we were in the meeting, all I could think about was putting a bullet between Ahlman’s eyes.”

  Gavin sat down in one of the chairs at the table. “Holy crap.”

  Zander nodded emphatically as he paced. “I know! The worst part is, I feel like if I don’t get away from the people causing this, that I may actually do it. Like … like my body has a mind of its own. I have to mentally fight the urge and get away as fast as I can.”

  We should not have brought him here. Normally, I would have been pissed about this, but considering the circumstances, I decided to play nice. “We will figure this out, I promise, but for now it’s probably best you just hole up in here until we go home.”

  He glared at me and sneered, “You think?”

  Gavin sat at the table, lifting water up and down from a water glass. “These men are evil.” He murmured the statement without looking away from the liquid he had rising and falling into the glass.

  I contemplated that for a moment and then it clicked. “Yes, that’s what the Warrior Angel said. That you will eradicate evil from this earth. He didn’t just mean vampires … he meant all evil.”

  Zander rolled his eyes. “I think I came to that conclusion all on my own, buddy.”

  Okay, this had just become a whole new ball game. “I wonder who qualifies as evil. Like, does the guy who stole a candy bar rank on the same level as the guy who murdered someone?”

  Gavin let the water fall into the glass and stay there, “It’s in the soul. Evil can’t be gauged by sins you have committed. Most vampires are inherently evil, it is the demon inside them. With humans, most have good souls, even if they have committed crimes. It is what’s inside … I believe Zander can feel what is inside of a person.”

  I switched my gaze back and forth between Zander and Gavin. “Zander, how did you feel when we were at the meeting with General Ahlman?”

  “As soon as we entered that room, I felt the presence of something horrible. Like a darkness creeping in, getting closer and closer, closing in on me. The longer we sat there with him, the more severe the feeling became. All I could think about was shooting him … or slicing his throat.”

  “So there were no specific thoughts?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “No, it was just an overwhelming urge, but it was most definitely directed at him.”

  This was a problem that we really, really didn’t need right now.

  Chloe tapped her foot anxiously on the floor. “You know, this may work in our favor.”

  Zander frowned. “How in the hell does my wanting to assassinate the highest ranking General in the United States Army qualify as working in our favor?”

  “You know who the bad guys are, Zander. Like in the cafeteria,” She explained, “it was the two soldiers with Sarah who bothered you, but not the ones sitting in the room when we got there. You just knew, right?”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it was the same as with Ahlman.”

  “Well,” she spread her hands wide, “You can sense who is good and who is evil. Which helps us out. Spike and John came here with Sarah and we need to find them, with your help, we will know who we can trust and who we can’t.”

  “Chloe,” I rested a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t think it’s a good idea for Zander to be out there, what if he loses control and actually hurts or kills someone?”

  She shrugged. “We have to take the chance.”

  “I’m right here, you guys. Don’t talk about me like I’m not standing right in front of you. Ultimately, it’s up to me what I do and don’t do.”

  He was right, but, as conceited as it may sound, when we went on mission as Hunters, I was in charge. In the end, I only nodded, since arguing with Chloe never resulted in me getting my way. Add Zander, who shared her stubborn gene, into the mix, and that gets me a whole lotta nowhere.

  “All right.” Chloe rubbed her hands together. “We already have Ahlman and the two soldiers who were with Sarah on our do not trust list. Now, we need to come up with a plan to find Spike and John.” Her eyes flitted around the room as if the answer was tucked into a corner somewhere. “I’m going to go back out there and ask Sarah what else she knows. Maybe she can narrow it down to a floor of the building, or something.”

  I stepped forward, cutting off her exit. “Uh, you’re not going anywhere without me.”

  She rolled her eyes and pushed both her hands against my chest. “Sheesh, protective much.”

 
; “Yes. Yes, I am.” And who could blame me.

  “Well, come on then.” She grabbed my wrist and pulled me toward the door.

  “Bring me back one of those doughnuts I saw with the desserts,” Christina called out as Chloe and I spilled into the hallway.

  “Get your own,” I told her, jokingly.

  Her answer was just as sarcastic, “make sure it’s a chocolate glazed.”

  I smiled and shut the door behind me. Christina may have once been my girlfriend, but before that we were friends. I’ve known her my entire life, and honestly, I can’t imagine life without her in it.

  Since Chloe came into my life, any romantic notion concerning Christina fell away, replaced by my fiery dhampir. Thank God the two of them were finally getting along, for a while they were at each other’s throats all the time.

  Like me and Gavin.

  Dammit, I thought as I realized that we were acting like chicks. I couldn’t help it though, I absolutely hated it that Gavin wanted Chloe. He got everything else in life that I should have had, there was no way I was letting him have her too.

  But then we had our truce, the end to this war between us. I had to be all right with Gavin and everything about him. He was a good guy, too good, freaking perfect actually, which was why I think it was so hard for me to forgive him … because he never actually did anything wrong. All he ever did was live and that wasn’t a crime.

  Jealousy could turn the best people into monsters, believe me, I would know.

  “Hey,” Chloe whispered, slipping her hand into mine as we strode leisurely down the empty hallway. “What do you think about Zander?”

  I glanced at her from the corner of my eyes and shrugged. “I think this is the beginning of whatever the Warrior Angel did to him. It sounds like it may just be developing, like how your gifts took a little time to expand, you know.”

  She nodded. “I think so too. I’m worried about him, but I think that isolating him will make it worse. You know that Zander likes to fight and he likes to be involved. Keeping him locked up while we do the work will just piss him off.”

  “Yeah, you’re right about that. But what happens to us if he does something terrible, like shoot General Ahlman?”

  “We won’t let that happen,” she whispered as we crossed over the opening into the cafeteria. Then, she gave my hand a squeeze before letting it go and swept her gaze across the room. “Sarah isn’t here anymore.”

  “Crap.” The room was completely empty. Earlier, I figured that those soldiers sitting in silence had been on duty guards, but now there was no one here. It didn’t make any sense. “Well, I guess I should get Christina her doughnut.”

  “I want one too.”

  How she could consume so much sugar was beyond me. I have always eaten healthy and on the occasions that I did have much sugar it practically made me sick. Christina normally didn’t eat junk, but she had her moments. Chloe, on the other hand could put down a dozen doughnuts no problem.

  We headed over to the deserts where we found a large selection pastries to choose from. I picked up a chocolate glazed with filling for Christina, while Chloe grabbed a napkin and loaded three different ones onto it.

  “I don’t think finding Sarah’s men is going to be as easy as we think it is. They are going to make us leave in the morning.” I detoured over to the fruit and plucked a banana from the basket. “We aren’t going to be able to stay just because we want to.”

  She nodded and took a big bite of what appeared to be a cherry filled doughnut. “Yeah,” she swallowed and then continued, “I was thinking that too. I just want to make sure they are safe. But, the way this place is run, I agree they aren’t going to let us stay.”

  “We’ll figure something out, we don’t have much time though.”

  Chloe took another bite and chewed thoughtfully. “This sucks,” was all she managed to get out though.

  We crossed the cafeteria, headed for our hallway and four soldiers entered the room. I eyeballed them, but figured they were like the rest, just silent drones here for something to eat. They made eye contact with us as they approached and I realized that they were going to cross our path and practically run us over.

  Chloe came to the same conclusion, so we stepped aside and stopped to let them pass. The soles of their tan combat boots echoed off of the tile floor, pounding out each step as they drew nearer.

  Suddenly, the sound of their footsteps began to echo in my ears.

  Boom. Boom. Boom. Each step was the beat of a bass drum pounding within me. The feeling that something was off struck me just as they were passing and my hand went to my holster … but, I was too late.

  All of it happened in a flash. The two soldiers closest to us halted and as their arms lifted, my fingertips had just wrapped around the grip of my gun. But, before I could pull, pain exploded throughout my entire body.

  Distantly, I heard Chloe call out and then scream. I wanted to call her name but my mouth wouldn’t work. Every muscle in my body had seized up. I couldn’t move a muscle, including the ones in my lips.

  My leg muscles failed me and my knees bent. As I toppled to the floor, fear swept through my body. I couldn’t move, no matter how much I wanted to, my muscles would not respond. As soon as I hit the ground, I was aware of being handcuffed and foreign hands all over my body, searching for and removing my weapons.

  It was only a matter of seconds before I began to regain use of my muscles. The first thing I did was check to see if Chloe was alright. They had hit her with the Taser too. Her head lolled to the side and then turned toward me as the use of her muscles also returned.

  Like mine, Chloe’s hands were restrained behind her back with a pair of shiny metal hand cuffs. She lay on her side, as the soldiers finished up stripping her of her weapons. Well, little did these guys know, they could remove whatever they wanted, but they couldn’t take away one of those weapons … it was within her.

  Comprehension registered in the depths of her eyes as the effects of the Taser wore off. Our eyes locked and I tilted my head forward in an attempt to nod. We were defenseless, but that didn’t mean we were going down without a fight.

  The voices of the soldiers echoed in my ears like I was listening to them from underwater. It was hard to make out anything they were saying, because my main concern was what I was going to do once I got on my feet.

  One of the soldiers reached for Chloe, rolling her over onto her back. She struggled, bucking her hips as she tried to get away from his grasp.

  “Hold her down!” one of the soldiers ordered. At that, Chloe’s eyes went wide and then narrowed. Boy, were these guys going to be sorry they messed with her.

  Whoosh.

  Almost instantaneously, she unleashed the fire within her. The flames pushed out from every inch of her skin, consuming her entire body.

  “Ahhhh, shit!” The soldier who was holding her screamed, stumbling backward and grabbing at his face.

  “What the hell is that?” Another one cried out.

  I didn’t get a chance to see what the other two were doing because it was time to fight. I summoned every ounce of strength my legs had left in them and kicked out both feet. My boots connected with the knee caps of the soldier closest to me. With a rather girlish cry of pain, he went down.

  I rolled and jumped to my feet. With my hands still cuffed behind my back, it was all about my legs and speed. Trudging toward the fallen soldier, I used all the force I could and kicked him in the face. There was a loud crunching sound beneath my boot, probably his nose.

  Someone grabbed me from behind, hauling me backward by my shirt. Once I knew they were close enough, I slammed my head backward. The back of my head must have made contact with his face because he released me, yelling out a string of creative cuss words. I spun and kicked him in the midsection, trying to get him as far away from me as I could.

  While those two were nursing their wounds, Chloe was still flaming. Through the flicker of fire, I could see the fear clearly written on
her face, she had never stayed on fire this long before, but if she extinguished, it would make her completely defenseless. Right now, we needed that fire, it was our saving grace.

  Annnnd, Murphy’s Law kicked in right then. Just as I was thinking about how grateful I was for her gifts, an ear piercing siren filled the cafeteria and the sprinkler systems kicked in.

  Oh crap.

  The first thing I did was head for Chloe, I stood in front of her, ready to take on anyone who dared touch her again. The sprinklers rained down onto us, soaking me to the skin. Everything around me became wet and slippery.

  Chloe’s fire still burned hot, even with the water beating down onto her. Steam swirled angrily around her body, rising up like mist from the mountains. Her fire did not falter because it came from within, it could not be doused unless she extinguished it.

  I bent, taking my fighting stance even though my arms were restrained. The two soldiers who weren’t hurt, charged forward. When the first guy was close enough, I dropped to the floor and swept one leg out, tripping him and then I used my legs to force my body up again. Before he could recover, I jumped into the air and pulled my arms over just enough to plant an elbow right in his face when I came down onto him.

  Chloe took the other guy. He had originally wanted me as the target, but Chloe had cut him off before he could get to me. I actually almost laughed when she stepped between him and me. He took one look at her and realized she would toast his ass, so he held his hands up and backed off.

  My laughter was cut short though, when he swung his rifle up and aimed it at her head. I stopped fighting with the soldier and scrambled over to do what I could to protect her. Quickly, I glanced at the other two and found that they had recovered, and also had their service weapons trained on us.

  “Okay!” I called out, spitting sprinkler water off of my lips. “Okay, we’re done. Just let her go and I’ll go with you.”

  “Drew!” Chloe cried out.

  I caught her eye and gave her a little nod. “Shut it down, Chloe.”

  I knew she didn’t want to kill the fire, but she had to, it was too much for her body to take. I’d never seen her stay ignited that long and it worried me how that would affect her.