Awakening - Book of Fire (Blood Heritage #1)

by Gray-Fee, Krista

  A Very Close Call

  When James arrives to pick Amber up, she informs him Rissa will be coming over this evening when she closes up the store. She excitedly talks him into making a run to the grocery store so she can make a nice dinner for them. James agrees and they wander anxiously picking up the whole week's worth of groceries because she can't decide what she wants to make. Amber has completely forgotten what Rissa said about not eating. James is happy for the diversion, he hopes it will make it easier to keep his secret from her. Amber is really excited to have her friend coming over, even if it is under some strange and awkward circumstances.

  As they walk up the drive with their arms full of groceries, Amber drops a bomb on James: "If it gets too late before we are done going through the book she can just stay in the guest room"!

  He nearly drops the bags as his mind scrambles to come up with something he can say to dissuade her going in there. Setting the groceries on the counter they begin putting things away.

  "I have an even better idea," he says. "I’ll give you girls the bedroom so you can have a slumber party and stay up all night talking and I can sleep in the guest room! It even already has sheets on the bed because I set it up the first night I was here just in case you weren't ready to share your space completely."

  "Oh," she says excitedly, "Would you mind? I've never really had a girlfriend like her before." That might just be the understatement of the year.

  "As long as there’s no funny business without me getting to watch." he says giving her a huge smile and a wink to ensure she knows he is kidding. Amber slaps him on the arm anyway sending him into helpless laughter. One catastrophe diverted, that was a little too close for comfort. He wonders if he might have made a mistake taking out the bedroom, so much has changed since she expressed her desire to change up that room.

  The arrangement gives him an excuse to check out the progress of his master plan without having to sneak around. His friends have certainly come through for him. There is no sign they were even in Amber's home, and the room is coming along amazingly. He can see her in there swirling across the floor, sweat breaking out all over her body, the sheen of it making her glow with sensuality. James has to bring his mind back to the present and push his arousal back into check. He can't wait to see her in action. Only one more day and then he can stop hiding it from her, he feels a tiny sting of guilt for keeping secrets, even good ones.

  He is all too familiar with how people who have been robbed can't wrap their minds around the thought of strangers touching their things, and he knows Amber has similar trust issues. She doesn't seem that worried about things in general but he doesn't want to ever be the cause of her feeling hurt or invaded. He is only a guest in her home and he has to remind himself of that occasionally. It has become too natural, too comfortable to wake up next to her. He feels like this is home, like there is no other place he could possibly be.

  Invite Me In?

  When Rissa arrives, Amber is in such a state of excitement she gives Rissa a crooked smile saying, "Come in, come in! You do have to invite a vampire into your home, don't you?"

  Rissa laughs and then stops, "Actually, I'm not sure about that one. I guess it's too late to experiment with it." The girls behave as if their conversations are about boys and shoes and not the balance of good and evil within humanity. When Amber brings out the book, dinner is forgotten completely. James listens to their conversation from a safe distance, he doesn't want to seem obtrusive.

  Rissa reads a few passages as Amber explains other details they know are connected with it. As she digs deeper into the text, Rissa's mood begins to darken. She closes the book about halfway through looking intensely at Amber. "I was thinking about those girls, you say they are all late teens?"

  "Yup, that seems to be his pattern and if the book is correct it has been going on for quite some time." Amber responds.

  Rissa is dwelling on an experience that she and Dawn shared a couple weeks ago.

  "This may sound crazy to you," she says, "but I believe in some way it might be connected. We went to see a movie, Dawn and I. She loves the thrillers and this one was about werewolves and vampires, she thought it was the perfect combination. The movie was a teenage romance novel set to a backdrop of Native American beliefs and vampire lore." There was a particular scene that strikes her now as important. One of the lead characters was proving to another that all of the lore about his kind was wrong. He ripped open his shirt to reveal how instead of killing him sunlight caused him to sparkle like diamonds. Now as ridiculous as this seemed at the time, it now feels to Rissa in her current state of understanding a bit more truth than she is comfortable with. The movie and countless others like it are designed to make young girls swoon over the idea that a vampire might be willing to fall in love with them. That he might take her as his own and give her the gift of the change. These young people are being prepared for the time when he will come for them, this figure who takes them away from their mundane lives and chooses them to become something more. The modern media has branded the vampire a hero of sorts, made him a romantic and sensual creature that can take away all the pain of living and replace it with immortality. The children of our culture are being desensitized to the idea that creatures like this exist, that they have the power and desire to kill, but that if you are special enough, you will be spared. Even if they choose to kill you, the experience will be pleasant and you will die with a smile on your face. Within all these fantasies are grains of truth. Truths that make these vulnerable young girls unafraid to face the darkness when it comes for them.

  There has been a major shift in the storytelling of cultures since the invention of television and radio. The traditional folktales meant to warn children of the dangers of the world and to pass down important information on how to defeat such danger have been replaced with fantasy stories where the division between good and evil has been erased. The murderer can become your lover and provide you with the most desirable life possible, full of riches, fast cars, beautiful people and pleasures without measure. Young girls are crying in their beds, begging to become what he can make them. They beg for release from their damned human existence and willingly offer themselves to him.

  If the Creator and his Son are the original characters of these stories, then they must be truly powerful. Perhaps each comes to these girls as the image of their hopes. Perhaps he plays the role of the charming and sexy high school boy, the misunderstood werewolf or the brooding and sensitive vampire. The women of the world will throw themselves at his feet and offer up their souls for one night with him. This truly is a terrifying idea to Rissa.

  There is no fear anymore. How powerful are these players? Rissa ponders. Are they truly engineering it all carefully placing their slaves in all the right places? Have the award-winning writers of these books, the creators of these movies, or the apathetic press been influenced or even planted? Are they willing and cooperative slaves to the will and desire of their dark masters. It seems there are many well laid plans playing out that must be defeated if there is any hope of restoring the world to it's natural order. Humans shouldn't be sheep waiting to offer themselves up for the slaughter, blind cows walking willingly into the kill room hoping to be given a treat for their good behavior.

  "Perhaps many of us have come to that," Amber says. "Perhaps we have been told for so long that our souls belong to God that we are forgetting what it's like to choose our own destiny. Perhaps the promise of eternity is so much more enticing than the hard work it takes to live each day here and now. The idea that something better is out there and all we have to do is lay down and worship a power greater than ourselves to receive it is an excellent way to bring the focus of existence off the reality of living and into some world where we wait for salvation to come at the blade of a sword or the barrel of a gun." It sounds truly pathetic when it is spoken out loud." This idea is really scaring me." Amber fights off a chill that runs up her spine as she begins to grasp the potential scope of the
ir problems.

  Have we truly been raised to follow, and not to lead? We have given up what we might have become to settle for what they allow us to be. The human mind is obviously capable of so much more"! Anger begins welling up inside Amber as she thinks of how ugly the heart of man can be, and now for her to accept that there is something out there far more cruel and cold takes her breath away.

  The entire train of thought has the girls in a state of disbelief. They can think of hundreds of examples where the truth is right there in front of them. There is no way to pretend they have not hit on a major part of the plan. James stares at them in wonder. He has not even begun to theorize that the girls might have gone with him willingly. The possibility they wanted to be taken makes his stomach turn. They could not have known what was waiting for them, surely could not understand what it was they were asking for.

  Is it possible they all died with stars in their eyes, overjoyed to be chosen by what they perceived to be a beautiful soul trapped in dark circumstances. Were they in love with him, giving him their bodies and blood willingly hoping that he would turn them into what he is? Though the idea is ugly, it fits the details of the case so perfectly. Even as they died these women were in ecstasy. He knows there is truth in what they are talking about, he doesn't want to admit it to himself. What hope is there in stopping someone who has that kind of hold over his victims? Were they even victims at all at that point? Consenting adults and not the kidnapped little girls as he has been seeing them. James pushes the thoughts out of his head, either way they are murder victims and his dedication to them must remain the same.

  Yes, he decides, they are definitely victims, only they have become victims of their own beliefs, their own desperation as well as of their self-proclaimed God. Humanity has become just as much to blame for this tragedy as those who hold the blades. They will have to wake if there is going to be any chance of escaping the inevitable. The end is near, all the books say so. The Father God is planning on coming to take his people home leaving the unworthy to suffer in the mess he leaves behind. James struggles with his background, his fading religious education and what little remains of his beliefs. He fears the terrifying predictions that gave him nightmares as a child might actually come to pass. The book of Revelation's somehow warped into some kind of futuristic space age reality.

  The war is coming and they will need to have soldiers on their side. James has been focused internally, missing much as they continue talking, he focuses back to reality sitting down in the chair across from the women. They both look at him with a bit of uneasiness. It seems they have forgotten about him. Rissa asks how much he knows and Amber admits he is right up there with them so its ok to tell him anything.

  "Oh, hi sweetie, did you hear all that?" Amber asks him sweetly, as she tunes back into their shared burden. Everything seems so much less daunting with James by her side.

  "Kind of," he says, "and now I want some details."

  "Rissa has come in to her full powers," Amber explains, showing him the family tree page and explaining the way things appear for her now. The women describe what she is, and what she isn't, as James stares at them open-mouthed. This is all a bit too much for his mind to wrap around. The entire situation full of powers, magic, stories, and aliens is just a bit more than his skepticism will allow. Not that he has the luxury of disbelief, he is not ready to accept what he doesn't want to be true yet. He wants a few moments to sit in silence, to absorb all that has happened. Amber gets up and pours him a shot of Southern Comfort keeping her hand on his shoulder as he drinks down the warm liquor. The exquisite burn coursing through his body, a welcome feeling, something he knows is real. She pours him another and he begins to settle into his head for some serious thinking.

  Rissa Feeds

  "I have to go, Amber," Rissa says with a smile. "I have to feed, or I won't be at work tomorrow. Don't worry I won't hurt anyone," she winks and smiles at James. He barely registers the exchange just nodding his ok as she walks out the door.

  "See you tomorrow"! Amber calls after her friend.

  "Well that was kind of awkward," James says. "Now not only do I have to deal with ghosts and visions and Gods...now my fiancé is a witch and her best friend is a vampire...wait where's the werewolf in the mix?

  Amber smiles clearing her throat.

  He realizes what he’s said only when he catches the strange way she's looking at him.

  "Fiancé?" she asks, "Is there something I should know about?" She always finds a way to make him laugh no matter how tense the situation.

  "Really, after all that, what you hear is fiancé? nothing else in what I said throws you, just the thought of being my wife, Well, we might just have to see about that," he says scooping her up into his arms. Another night without dinner, he throws her on the bed squealing she scoots across the bed to freedom running from the room, he chases her, laughing and giggling each time he comes close to catching her. He tries to reach for her and she tickles him. He catches her, wrestles her to the floor and she wriggles free. The game lasts for a few minutes and ends in her grabbing a pillow off the bed to defend herself and him tossing her not so gently back onto the bed, straddling her, her wrists in his hands, his weight holding her down at the waist. The sexual tension is thick in the air as he kisses her heavily. Then, keeping her wrists tight in his hands, he holds them on the bed over her head. She squirms under his weight but resists little. He kisses her neck and returns to her lips. She arches hard against him, whether an effort to throw him off of her or to get closer to him, he is not sure.

  He releases her hands and she squirms out from under him and runs for the kitchen. "Not going to bed without dinner, and the food has to be put away, love"!

  He follows her and has to agree he is hungry for more than her love. The rumble in his gut confirms his need. She chops up some vegetables and cheese and gets out the crackers. The light meal satiates their hunger and the finger foods help keep them in the mood to feed their other cravings.

  She doesn't even get everything put away before he lifts her up onto the counter satisfying himself fully. There is something about sex in the kitchen that is irresistible. Now he is truly ready to get some sleep. When they return to the bedroom, Allie opens one eye pretending she is asleep on her bed. She gives them a "really?" kind of look returning to sleep. She is a smart dog. He helps Amber to undress hanging up her clothes carefully, and then drops his own beside the bed in a rumpled up pile.

  The day has left them both in a strangely happy mood, though life has taken many turns and they don't like much of what they are learning, there is a certain kind of freedom in knowing what you're dealing with. The answers begin clarifying for them and they are no longer completely in the dark, neither are they fighting this battle alone. Amber wants him to ask about the body recovered from the fire scene to see if he can determine if there is irrefutable evidence that it is in fact Dawn. She feels in the pit of her stomach something is amiss and can't help but hope Dawn is still alive.

  Rissa walks from Amber's house. It's not too far back to her apartment over the shop. She intends to head past home and spend some time at the club dancing and getting her fill of excess energy. Rissa is a very fast learner and her instincts are sharp. She knows the sexual tension will make it easy for her to take what they are offering. She can simply dance with them and they won't know what hit them. They will simply wake in the morning with what seems like an intense hangover. She has no need to kill anyone, unless they ask for it. She prides herself in the knowledge that she is capable of that much control. There is no need to bring unwanted attention to herself, and there has been enough death in the area in recent weeks.

  She walks into the club and all eyes turn toward her, she has that special something that no one can describe, but everyone wants to be near. She is strikingly beautiful, but it is something more than that. A dark-haired man with beautiful brown eyes walks up to her taking her by the hand. Not a word is spoken as they dance close together, th
eir bodies moving in perfect rhythm with the beat of the drums. He is beautiful, but he has little control of himself.

  She feels his breath quicken and his heartbeat racing. He wants her. She can feel his arousal as she stares into his eyes, it only takes the lightest touch when they are this open, this available, so she kisses him and his eyes close in pleasure. He washes over her and through her, and the sensation is exquisite. Her body is alive with electrical energy, spiraling tendrils of sensual pleasure within her sending wave after wave of intense and luscious warmth. She has to stop this before he is too weak to stand. She pushes him away sending him wandering aimlessly back toward the bar. He appears to be really drunk. The bartender gives Rissa a strange look, knowing something is up, since he has only served the guy a couple drinks. She gives him a million dollar smile as she exits the building.

  She figures she’d better get out of there before she causes more trouble. She has taken him too far, she will have to learn to control how much she takes much better. He is unfortunately such an easy target, and she is very hungry. She has every intention of simply going for a walk to spend some time alone when another young man follows her out of the bar asking if she needs a lift somewhere. She agrees and he drives her the four blocks back to her place. She invites him up and in the privacy of her home allows him to give her a nice big drink. She toys with him, she is no longer so hungry but the pleasure of what he gives her is too much to resist. Slowly and gently she coaxes him into her, he willingly succumbs, wrapping golden threads of his life around her little finger she licks and lingers, she touches him and teases him; though he never even gets his clothes off, he will think it the most phenomenal sexual experience of his life. She plays it off as if he has been an excellent lover as he swoons at her feet.