by Kate Kelley
I wasn’t done, though. Not by far. I stepped toward him, my shoulders straight, my fists curled at my sides. The dragon spoke for me.
“You can’t speak to me like that. Like I’m some throw away. I’m a fucking person. What got you so messed up, so bitter and full of hate, that you treat people like they don’t matter? No one likes you here, did you know that? And it has nothing to do with the fact that you’re bisexual. It’s because you’re probably one of the biggest assholes I’ve ever met, and that’s saying something. So cut the shit and treat me like a human being. The way you want to be treated.”
I was shaking, voice and body, when I’d finished. Row sucked in his red cheeks, looking like he just sucked on a lemon. He turned on his heel and left without another word, the doorbell jangling on his way out.
I stood there, heaving, until the shaking and the anger subsided, and felt someone’s hand on my shoulder. I turned and looked into Rosa’s warm, brown eyes. She nodded. “You stood up for yourself. You’re going to be just fine, man or no man.” Then she patted my cheek and went to clock out.
◆◆◆
Three couples had checked in already, and it was only nine o’clock. One of the couples asked for room thirteen, and were disappointed when I told them it was occupied. Maybe I should have gone with a different one. I hadn’t accounted for the thrill seekers.
I browsed the internet, searching for affordable apartments in the area, something like a studio. I made sure to check the owners of each one to make sure it wasn’t Wolfram. One of them was under Wolfram’s name, and I sighed. How many buildings did he own here? I saved the tabs and emailed the links to myself to check out later. I figured just a few months here, I could save up enough money to use a cushion when I went off on my own again. And then I could apply for the news station. I needed to distance myself from Wolfram. Having him a part of every single facet of my life wasn’t healthy. I needed independence. I would get it, soon enough. For now, I was grateful. Mostly. I thought about the book. And the phone, and growled.
When one a.m. rolled around, I locked the front door and listened to the silence. The guests were likely asleep. We’d all eaten around seven, and Cook had served us all a wonderful, hearty meal before she left, complete with a red wine that tasted very similar to the kind Wolfram had served me just the night before.
I thought again about the book Wolfram had gotten for me, and finally relented. I really wanted to read the next book. And it wasn’t as if he’d bought it for me. He’d lent it from the library. I stood up to fetch it from my room. I’d left it and the phone. The phone I wouldn’t be using. It was too expensive.
I unlocked my bedroom door and slipped in, leaving the door open to use the light from the hallway candelabras. I spotted the book on the desk in the dim firelight, and picked it up. My eyes snagged on the phone and I hesitantly picked it up, pressing the bottom button to turn it on. I swiped up and pressed the phone icon, looking at the contacts. There was only one--Wolfram. I turned it off and set it back on the desk. Then turned to leave.
The door slammed shut, dousing me in darkness. I froze, dropped the book, then sprinted to the door and turned the knob. It didn’t budge. I’d been locked in.
Chapter Sixteen
I spun around and felt my way to the gas lamp on the desk, knocking it over in the process. Shattered glass and lamp oil splattered over my hands. The metallic scent of my own blood tainted the air.
Okay. Alright. Stay calm.
Fuck, what do I do?
I suddenly remembered that I had a phone, and scrambled forward to grab it off of the desk. My hands swiped the desk until I clutched it. Yes! I stuffed it into my bra.
The roar of fire was suddenly before me, bright and all-consuming. I felt the heat touch my skin, but instead of burning me, it passed through me, as if I were a ghost. I shielded my eyes against the brilliance, but then remembered I had powers. I focused on the air around me, sucking it into my fingertips, and swiped my hands at the flames that roared in front of me. The flames went out like a light.
I was again drenched in darkness. A low chuckle sounded from nowhere and everywhere in the room, chilling me to my core.
“Who’s there? Wolfram is here,” I lied.
I vaguely thought about the fire I’d just put out. I didn’t smell smoke. It had been isolated fire. Just to scare me. But I’d wiped it out.
My confidence came back a little. I pulled all the air I could into my fingertips and let my anger spur me. “Show yourself, coward,” I said as I turned in circles, swiping the air in front of me.
“Show me the fire, little one. I want to see it.” The voice rang familiar.
“Cole?” I asked, hoping I was right. A pause.
Suddenly hands were on me, shoving me against the wall, a tense body pressing into me. Panic stole my breath, but I lashed out wildly, elbowing until I hit something, then swiping my hands out with my magic, blowing the assailant away. I heard him crash against the opposite wall. I smiled.
Suddenly a hand was at my throat, cutting off my air. Shit. What was the point of having magical powers if I couldn’t hurt this person?
I frantically signed in the air, trying to mimic the sign I saw Zephyrine make when she made the tornado. I raised my hands in the air and swirled my arm, feeling quite foolish. A little breeze shushed through, but that was all.
I couldn’t fucking breathe. I kneed him in the groin, which, surprisingly, worked.
Apparently, Elemental or not, the balls were sensitive.
I dropped to the ground and crawled to the sliver of horizontal light where I knew the door was. I thrust my arms toward it and busted a three foot hole in the door, splinters flying like shrapnel.
That would do. I lunged for the hole, grabbing the rough edge of the wood. Hands were on me again, this time from behind. He gripped my hips and pulled. The fucker had super strength. I was yanked back, my chin hitting the floor. I knew it was split the instant it smacked the hard ground.
I swiveled onto my back and kicked him in the balls again. He grunted and his grasp was gone. I stood and rushed him with my magic again, and this time I could see him as the light from the hallway illuminated the room. He hit the high part of the wall like a marionette and dropped, the back of his head hitting the edge of the desk. He crumpled to the ground. I immediately jumped through the hole, my leggings ripping on the sharp edges. I stood and yanked the phone out of my bra as I stood guard in front of the hole. I clicked Wolfram’s name and waited for the rings.
It was two in the morning, so there was a decent chance he wouldn’t answer.
And he didn’t.
I redialed instantly and peeked into the room. Cole was in the same position.
Come on, Wolfram.
My stomach flipped when an older lady slipped out of her room at the far end of the hall, she was wearing a white nightgown with lace at the hem, her hair was in pink curlers, and her face twisted in alarm. She spotted me and I turned so that my back was to her. I covered the hole with my body.
“Excuse me, miss? You work here, don’t you?”
I died a little inside as I attempted to wipe the blood from my chin and neck with my shirt.
“Miss? I just heard some disturbing sounds, and I was wondering if you knew anything about it...” The old lady continued to call out as if she couldn’t take a damn hint.
I redialed Wolfram’s number and ignored her.
“Hello?” A woman’s voice picked up on the other line.
I hesitated, my mind confused for a moment. “Hi,” I finally said. “Is Wolfram there? Or is this a wrong-”
“August? He is, but it’s two in the morning. He’s asleep.”
She sounded bored, as if she hadn’t been sleeping at all. A rumbled voice sounded through the phone. Wolfram’s voice.
Annoyance flared inside of me. He should have told me he had a girlfriend--or a wife?
Ugh.
“I can hear him in the background and this is an emer
gency. I am his employee and there is a problem at the inn.”
“Miss, I just--oh my! Are you alright?” The old woman finally caught up to me and was clutching her throat in alarm as she stared at me. She glanced at the hole in the door and jumped back. I hoped she wouldn’t have a heart attack. That would just be too much in one night.
“I have it all under control,” I told her with a wink as I smeared blood across my decolletage. She backed up slowly and then sprinted--as much as an old lady could--back down the hallway to her room.
“Miss Peterson, what’s the issue? I didn’t buy the phone for it to be used on silly calls during the night.” Wolfram’s voice was cool. He didn’t sound a tiny bit sleepy. A giggle from the background sounded and I bit back a growl. I bet they shared the bed I slept in just the night before. Why did I care if Wolfram had a woman? It didn’t matter.
“Listen, you need to get here immediately. Cole showed up, roughed me up a bit. I put a hole in the--”
“I’ll be there in five.”
The line went dead.
He was there in three, actually. I heard him bust through the door like an angel of death and saw him stride purposefully down the hallway toward me. His eyes flew to me, then to the blood coagulating on my chin, neck, and chest. His jaw hardened and he didn’t say a word as he yanked the door open, busting the door frame in the process. He hoisted Cole by his neck and suddenly the man was alive, spouting nonsense.
Wolfram punched him in the jaw, knocking his head back, then righting it again. He squeezed his cheeks, forcing him to look him in the eye. “Why are you here?” Wolfram asked, his voice like gravel.
Cole cracked a smile, straight white teeth on display. “Paying my respects. This is the room you lost them in, isn’t it?”
Wolfram growled and shook Cole, his fist suddenly engulfed in red flame. “I’ll ask again, once more. Why were you here.”
Cole stared at Wolfram for a while, his eyes blazing copper, same as Wolfram’s. For a moment, I could see a strange resemblance between them, both with dark hair, both eyes blazing copper. Except that one was good, and one was evil.
Cole glanced at me and studied my body, making me feel like someone had rubbed slime on my bare skin. I bit back a shudder.
“She’s a minx, isn’t she? Tainted though. Your family won’t accept her. The Air Kingdom is all but after her. They want her head on a pike. What are you going to do with her? She’ll cause you trouble for the rest of your life if you stay shackled to her. No one will leave you in peace, the peace you so desperately desire.”
Wolfram frowned down at Cole, as if seeing him for the first time. I had the feeling Cole hadn’t ever said more than a few sentences to him at a time now, and nothing that dipped past the surface. “Why do you care?”
Cole licked his lips and shrugged. “I can take her off your hands. She can serve a purpose, have a role in society.”
“Wildfire is not a part of society. It’s a trash hole filled with miscreants and washed-up villains and outcasts.”
Cole raised his pointer finger in the air. “But she’d belong. We wouldn’t harm her. In fact, we’d be the only ones who could properly protect her. What do you think? Her safety and belonging for your peace.”
For a second I almost thought Wolfram would let him take me. But when he hoisted him higher and growled in his face, I let the breath I was holding go. “Leave. Or I will finish what I started last time.”
I strode up to Cole, my face inches from his. “How’s the chest wound. buddy? Is it healing alright? What about your head?”
Cole narrowed his eyes at me and then suddenly, he was gone in a puff of smoke.
I dropped to my knees. Wolfram paced the floor, then crossed to the fireplace and lit it. He then grabbed the dresser by the closet and picked it up as if it were a small box, and placed it in front of the door, covering the hole.
He whirled on me pulling me up from my knees. “What did you tell him?”
I snatched my hand from his. “What?”
He rifled his hand through his hair, leaving a dark, messy halo around his head and shoulders. “He knows about you. Your mixed powers.”
“So? He probably heard it from the Air Kingdom.”
Wolfram stilled. “The fires, before. One was in the apartment next to yours, one was here while you were working.”
“Yeah? They’re your buildings though.”
“And tonight, Cole came while you were here. Not while I was here. Each time, he’s comes when I’m gone, and when you’re here. Fuck.” He turned, wiping his hand over his mouth.
“It was never about taunting you, was it?” I asked slowly.
Wolfram’s grim eyes met mine. “They don’t want me. They want you.”
Chapter Seventeen
I opened the new door to room thirteen and closed it again. “It works,” I said.
Wolfram frowned at the door. “I should have had it made in Tungsten.”
“Why would that matter? You weirdos can evaporate out of thin air. He can get in if he wants to get in.”
“We can only do that once before getting winded, and we can only get about a mile away at most. It’s an energy transfer. Since Fire Elementals deal with energy, we can manipulate our own energy, if we get the right training.”
I sighed. “It would be cool to learn to fly. But the Air Kingdom hates me and I’ll never learn. At least I can learn some fire tricks though, right?”
Wolfram’s eyebrows clashed together. “Stop talking about that. We aren’t going to the Elemental world, ever. Unless you have a death wish. In fact, it’s best if you refrain from using your powers altogether.”
I leaned against the new door and rested the sole of my right boot onto it. “The only reason I didn’t die or get kidnapped last night is because I used my powers. You weren’t here. You were...otherwise occupied--which is fine, obviously. But, I’m just saying. My powers are useful.” I held my hands up, palms out.
Wolfram stared at me, his face expressionless. “Why are you angry?”
I sputtered out a fake laugh. “I’m not! You were in bed, and that’s fine. It was just confusing when a woman picked up. I thought maybe it was the wrong number and then, like, she just wouldn’t listen when I was, you know, needing help...”
STOP TALKING RAI.
I scratched a nonexistent itch on the back of my head, then coughed a nonexistent cough for good measure.
“That was Stefani. A friend. I wasn’t sure who was on the phone.”
I pulled a face. “I thought you had supernatural hearing,” I muttered, looking down the hall.
Wolfram blinked, his face twisting into confusion for a moment before shifting into stonelike once again. “Well, tonight I’m staying here. Possibly for the week. I’ll be in twelve, so you won’t have to call.”
“Oh,” I said, feigning indifference, although utter relief wracked me. I would be safe tonight. “Will your girlfriend be joining you?”
Wolfram stilled, then combed a hand through his hair carefully. “No.”
So was she his girlfriend or not?
“Okay,” I said quickly, “well thanks for the chat. I think I need to clock in now.”
I turned and practically ran down the hallway to escape the awkwardness I had created. What a disaster.
I was so caught up in my embarrassment, that I ran headfirst into a chest. I startled back and looked up into the face of Row.
Oh, great. Just what I need right now.
“Zombie Princess,” Row said as way of greeting. I pushed past him but he grabbed my arm. I wrenched free and took a fighting stance, an instinctual tensing of my muscles and widening of my legs.
Row held up his hands in surrender. “Whoa, there, calm down, little girl. I wasn’t going to jump you.”
I glared at him. “Don’t touch me or I’ll report you for harassment.”
Row nodded, to my surprise. “I wanted to apologize. For my behaviour toward you yesterday...and every day before that
.”
I froze, my gaze flicking between his eyes, trying to catch the sarcasm I was sure he had meant.
He ruffled the back of his cropped hair. “Uhh, I’m not good at saying sorry. I have a fucking mouth on me, it’s true.” He swallowed and eyed a guest that approached Frances on the other side of the foyer.
“It’s okay,” I said tightly. “I won’t report you.”
Row laughed, a short, humorless bark. “No, I--I really am sorry. I...I’m used to putting up a sort of defense wall, you know, because I’m not straight.”
His brown eyes turned weary and his voice came out low. “People in this town are ignorant, you know? I was born here, I grew up here. I guess, you know, if I attack first, I can’t get hit. And it’s sort of muscle memory at this point. I don’t even know what else to be.”
I gaped, shock and guilt encompassing me. Words wouldn’t come out. I touched his arm hesitantly and he looked up at the wry smile on his face.
“You’re a cool person, Rai. I never should have treated you like that.”
The shock continued when he enveloped me in a tight hug. I could do nothing but hug him back. He smelled like designer cologne.
When he pulled back, his face was red and I thought I caught a tear glittering in his eye.
The heavy pool of sympathy settled in my gut. “Hey. I never stopped to think about what you might be going through. I’m sorry.”
Row sniffed loudly and let out another humorless laugh. He wiped awkwardly at his eye. “Uhhh, not your fault. Don’t apologize. I’m an ass.”
I laughed. “Well, I can’t argue with that.”
He pointed to his splotchy face. “Sorry about this. My mom--she’s been getting worse lately. Early Alzheimers. I think it just makes everything worse, you know. Either that, or I need to get laid.” He wiped a hand over his face, smoothing down his clean shaven jaw.
I huddled closer to him, hand on his back. “Hey, if you need to talk, just let me know.” I swallowed, feeling too vulnerable, but forced myself to say the next part, “I know what it feels like to be hurting and alone.”