Awakening - Book of Fire (Blood Heritage #1)

by Gray-Fee, Krista

  Amber immediately calls James letting him in on the news of the fire. She asks if he has heard anything and is actually surprised when he replies that he hasn't.

  "Sweetie, there was no crime, it was a house fire, they don't bring us in on everything that happens. Joanna might have received the body, or it is possible that it went to Tanner's precinct; they are closer to her home. I believe she might have been across the city lines officially. So are you feeling like Rissa is just off dealing with her loss, or are you feeling something more?" he asks her.

  "Unfortunately I can't feeling anything." She says. She thinks she understands what causes her gift and if she is right then she should have been aware of both Rissa and Dawn's suffering. Perhaps she still has it all wrong.

  Amber feels on edge, like there is something she should know but doesn't. She is worried something bad has happened to Rissa and she feels the loss of what could have been a really good friend in Dawn. That girl was full of spirit, life and energy the last time Amber saw her, it seems so impossible all that vibrancy could simply disappear into flames.

  Something is very, very wrong. Amber decides deep down all she knows is that something is off about this whole situation. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems in her world and this will be no exception. Amber works through until closing trying to show a happy face to everyone who comes in. She explains over and over Rissa is taking some time to herself and she should be back soon; she only wishes she believed what she is saying. Even Allie feels the strangeness of Rissa not being there settling into restlessly sleeping on the floor by her kennel for most of the day, not her usual happy and playful self.

  When Amber calls, James is in the middle of an argument with the chief, he understands protocol and knows the case is only theirs on borrowed time. James doesn't want to release his evidence over to the FBI. He knows he will have to give them the case, but he wants some time to review the files one more time. He has much of it memorized and even without the photos can easily bring up the photos of the girls in his mind. He knows every detail, it is sometimes just hard to let go of all the hard work when the big boys decide they might want to play. He knows they have little time to focus on each case, and that many that are pulled from city status sit on the shelf for years without as much as a cursory glance. He also realizes that if they are pulling the case, then it has much more history or reach than he fully knows. They have found something in another state, or there had been others before his girls. He is frustrated and angry feeling like his hands are tied and he keeps running into brick walls at every turn.

  The books tell him there are many others, he just hasn't found the evidence of it yet, which is not surprising at all when you look at this thing on a global scale, it could be worse than looking for a needle in a haystack. He takes the case snatching as a confirmation that there is a pattern to be found, and he gives in with frustration and anticipation in equal parts. The boxes and envelopes are whisked off his desk and he takes the opportunity to ask for the rest of the day off. His boss is only too happy to oblige. No one wants to be around him when he is upset or feels he has been wronged. If he wasn't let off to cool down, he would be walking around the office ranting and raving about the damn FBI sticking their noses in where they don't belong.

  James is anxious to get to the shop so he can help Amber, and he is getting worried about the mysterious whereabouts of Rissa. The disappearing act just doesn't seem like something she would do. No one is even considering the possibility she is asleep in her bed, completely unaware of the activities of the world outside.

  Together, James and Amber close up the store, manage all the cleaning and stocking and head home around seven. Amber is extremely grateful for the extra set of hands and the company these last few hours of the day. James is grumbling about the case, but it doesn't bother Amber. She would much rather have him around grumping than be spending this time alone. Even in his complaining and life is not fair whiny mode, he is still charming and funny. She can't stop laughing when he actually says "life is not fair" like a five year old who hasn't quite learned the ugly lesson yet.

  On the way home they pick up a pizza, this is not the kind of night to be eating healthy anyway. They plan to drown their sorrows in carbohydrates. Homemade chocolate chip cookies, pizza and soda are on the agenda to make them feel fat and happy even if only for a little while. Renting a movie, they intend the night to be well worth the stomach aches that inevitably will follow. When they pull into the driveway, there is a small box waiting for them on the front porch. An eerie silence takes over as they look at each other with trepidation.

  "Are you expecting anything?" he asks her, and she shakes her head no. He opens the car door telling her to stay and wait. Allie rushes out and charges for the door, sniffs the box and begins barking and growling. She knocks the box off the doorstep and begins tossing it about as she does with her chew toys. By the time James gets to her, the box is partially open. A small dark snake slides out the bottom, and Allie quickly snatches it up between her teeth. She shakes it violently from side to side. The fangs of the snake dig into her chest and she lets out a little yip dropping it on the ground. The snake is dead. Allie licks at the wound and James stands there for a moment unsure of what to do next.

  Amber rushes over to them crying as she scoops up the pup. Holding her tightly against her chest, panic flooding through her. The tiny pup just whimpering as Amber's tears cloud her vision. She feels nauseous and dizzy as she makes her way back to the car carrying her baby.

  "She's hurt, we have to get her to the doctor! Is it poisonous?" Amber asks, completely succumbing to her fear and anxiety. She finds it difficult to breathe, and her palms are soaking with sweat. She keeps stroking Allie's bloody fur. She whispers to her baby, "don't you worry, they will make sure you are ok." Amber rolls down the window retching before they even make it to the clinic, her body rejecting the adrenaline coursing through her. She will not be able to handle the loss of her girl. She is completely terrified.

  "We have to save her"! Amber cries, trembling as the little one cries in her arms. James is not sure what kind of snake it is so he doesn't know how likely it is that the situation is truly that precarious, but he can imagine no other reason for someone to put a snake inside a box other than to hurt the recipient. The snake is about twelve inches long, nothing too threatening, it is a bland almost brown with darker markings on its body.

  James is smart enough to pick up the dead snake and bring it with them. It’s better to be safe than sorry, he says, as they rush to the veterinarian's clinic. Luckily the vet has his home there as well because when they get there, the closed sign is on. Amber practically falls out of the car as James half pulls her up to the door. They knock and he answers almost immediately. He knows what it means to have visitors after hours. Amber nearly passes out as the doctor takes the trembling puppy from her arms.

  The doctor takes one look at the snake and is extremely stressed.

  "This is a Jararaca. It is highly poisonous, she should not be alive right now! This species is not from around here, but is sometimes found in private collections. The wound is not swelling, and the bleeding is normal. The venom of this snake causes problems with blood coagulation and with such a small victim, the bite should have caused her great distress, pain and a pretty quick death. This snake must have been de-venomed," he says, watching the perky girl trying to play on his table. She has gotten her energy back and is licking and sniffing about.

  "I would like to keep her here for a while just to make sure, but by the time we get her cleaned up and stitched we should have a pretty good idea if there is any venom at all. Don't worry too much It looks like she got lucky. The snake is very young, and that can be a bad thing with venomous creatures, if it had been able, it would surely have given a full dosage with a bite like this." The vet seems intrigued with the mysteriously appearing snake as well as the pups seemingly miraculous luck. He requests the snake be left there so he can run some tests, perhaps
find out where it came from.

  Allie is a champ through the process and wears her tiny bandage with pride. She knows she had done something good. James and Amber are left with another mystery. Someone is trying to tell her something, but she is not sure exactly what. What she does know is that someone she doesn't want to know has access to where she lives. That is not a pleasant thought. She thinks of the strange blonde woman, her knowing smile, and the message on the window. She wonders who is watching her so closely and for what purpose. There are protections here that are supposed to keep her from being visible to those that would harm her. Maybe this time it is not her they are after?

  Her logic tells her that the snake was meant to be a warning. She didn't think anyone is trying to outright kill her, she is supposed to be important to them. It is possible that her dog or her boyfriend are not an expected or desirable part of the scenario. The snake does seem like their style, a bit creepy and mysterious with heavy roots in mysticism. Maybe they were going after the dog to give Amber a real scare by attacking her at her weakest points. She becomes very aware that she now has a few weaknesses and the idea of losing either of them terrifies her. The box was clean with no markings, and there is no note inside. She is at a complete loss. James is just downright angry. He is tense and quiet the whole drive home from the vet’s office and is in no mood for speaking. Allie and Amber both sleep the whole way back home.

  Amber is not in the mood to let the incident ruin her night completely. There is so much sadness and disappointment around them already that she feels she has to keep some semblance or normalcy. and it is important to her they try to enjoy as much of what they can as possible. One never knows when it will all be taken away. "I for one am not interested in letting the threats and intimidations of some freaky bad guy destroy a perfectly good pizza, cookie and movie night, besides I need the distraction and I am famished." She is physically exhausted but mentally wired and has no intention of closing her eyes until she settles down. This is the kind of energy that visions and nightmares are made of.

  James has to smile and give in to her persuasions, he senses she needs to feel safe for a while. The night is not going to be exactly normal, but they can at least retain some of their sanity. There is something about fear and suffering that makes food taste especially good and they eat far more than they should. When they finally call it a night, they are stuffed, and exhausted. The mind can only take so much stimulation and the emotional roller coaster of the past few weeks is enough to throw anyone for a loop. Allie nuzzles up in Amber's arms and no one argues with her that she deserves a place on the bed tonight.

  Amber's dreams are full of rain forests, blood rituals, missing and murdered women and children and a man with creepy white eyes that makes her blood run cold. He stares at her from behind a veil of rain. She has never seen him before, she is sure of it. He doesn't say anything at all just stares right through her. Just before he turns to disappear back into the green around him he smiles a terrifying half smile. He knows she is there, she is sure that he can see her. He is daring her to come, challenging her to find him. He is waiting for her, somewhere in the jungle. Somewhere dark and mysterious; somewhere terrifyingly familiar. When she wakes she remembers only the restlessness and those eyes, the rest of the details are gone. She chocks the dreaming up to too much sugar and caffeine before bed, it doesn't feel like a vision since she doesn't have a clear and detailed memory.

  The morning brings many surprises. Amber wakes early eager to get the store ready for it's normal opening. She wants to make things as easy as possible for Rissa when she returns. Amber is surprised to find Rissa already there, and she is absolutely glowing. She smiles and greets Amber with enthusiasm; there is something different about her. She doesn't seem upset about Dawn, in fact she brushes over the subject as if it is nothing. Amber decides she must be in some kind of denial or shock and doesn't push it further. She is grateful nothing bad happened to her.

  No one else seems to see anything strange going on, so as the day progresses Amber begins to relax. Rissa is talkative and cheery and the warmth of her smile lights up the room. She does not explain where she has been, only that she needed some time to herself. Amber notices the only sign of her unhappiness seems to be her refusal to eat anything. Though this is a normal response, it is a sign of deep distress and Amber worries Rissa might break down at some point. Allie stays far away from Rissa, she doesn't want any attention, but neither does she bark or growl at her. To Amber it looks as if the usually cheerful puppy can sense Rissa's unhappiness and wants to give her the space she needs. It doesn't make sense that Allie would be afraid of Rissa, and that is her only other idea as to the dog's strange behavior.

  No one else could know what Allie knows, that Rissa has become invisible to her. She has no life, what remains is merely a shadow of her. Allie has no interest in her because she simply is not there. Amber feels it too, but doesn't understand it, the loss, the emptiness, she misses her friend even as she appears to be there. Something within her is broken and Amber fears she will never get it back. She does not mention Dawn again and goes through the motions pretending it is a normal day, the shadowy sadness in the back of her mind a constant reminder that it is not.

  With a heavy heart Amber gives Rissa a hug goodbye at the end of the day; she is ready to get home and see how things have gone for James. Somehow they seem to find trouble together and she anticipates that today has not been one of his best. She is kind of wrong. James is enjoying a wonderful day. He just found out that Tanner requested a transfer back to his old station and it has been granted. He will be getting his old partner back in the building. He will be working with him again. Though Tanner is being placed with a new partner, the men feel life is finding it's way back to where it should be. They will never let anything come between them again.

  The office has been slow all day with nothing dangerous or particularly interesting happening, and the most exciting problem to walk through the door is a woman who comes in complaining of her husband beating her. Though this is not usually a funny situation, she is nearly six feet tall and bad to the bone, the only mark on her is the bruises on her fists. When they ask where her husband, the abuser, is, she proceeds to explain how she laid him out and he is not likely to wake up any time soon.

  "He slapped me so I knocked the shit out of him. I just wanted to report the incident to you so you would know that I was afraid for my life. I had to show him that I would not take that kind of behavior. A man should never hit a lady." She explains in a perfectly lady like southern drawl. The idea of calling this hulk of a woman lady strikes James as particularly funny and he finds it difficult to stifle his laughter. He has to excuse himself to the hall to regain control.

  James goes out to the home to check on the husband finding a tiny man with a tremendous black eye. "This is your husband?" he asks, trying not to laugh. "Sir, your wife reported to us that you assaulted her, she then responded by punching you out, is this what happened?" James queries applying his best effort at a professional tone.

  "Yup, I got what I had coming to me, sir, I lost my temper and it won't happen again. He looks at his wife and reaches for her hand, I love you can you please forgive me?"

  She breaks into tears hugging him. The couple is so off kilter, and the circumstances so utterly ridiculous, James has to stifle his immediate reaction to break into hysterical laughter. Explaining to the couple that legally one of them should be spending the night in jail, he decides to let them off the hook. She has dished out sufficient punishment for his actions and if they agreed he will let the whole thing drop and leave them to their own devices. They agree gratefully and thank him, promising it will never happen again.

  As soon as he gets into the car, he completely loses control busting out in hysterical laughter. Jackson giggles, he saw enough of the interaction to completely understand the hysterics. To James the overwhelming comedy is the most welcome feeling in the world and he lets out his stress in wave after
overwhelming wave of therapeutic laughter.

  This couple reminds him of how trivial the problems of daily life can be, how simple it is to over-complicate things and how love often finds a way to soothe even the deepest wounds. Despite their differences and temperaments, these two love each other and find some kind of happiness together. Life is not perfect every day, but when it is they take full advantage of it. There is a lot going on for James and Amber, but that doesn't mean they are falling in love any less or they cannot find happiness between the chaotic events that seem to plague them. The oddness of this couple gives him hope that he and Amber can find their happily ever after, despite the strangeness and ugliness around them.

  James shares the incident with Tanner when he gets back to the office and they break into another uncontrollable bout of laughter. The station has become lighter again, the darkness of the case nearly forgotten. When the FBI takes over there is nothing left for them to contribute, so they tend to push it out of their minds and hope for the best. Often they are never even told whether a case has been solved or not and it simply vanishes off the radar screen. The sister's case is a thing of their past. James is not done with it yet, but the others have no reason to know. Their small town is back to being a safe place for kids to roam the streets and women to walk alone at night. It is always surprising to him how short-term people's memories are when it comes to things they would rather not think about. Out of sight, out of mind is not joke when it comes to getting on with life.