The Wardens Boxed Set

by Heather D Glidewell

  I lay blinking at the ceiling. The alarm on my phone was going off and my mother was blindly reaching for it to turn it off. I sat up and wandered into the bathroom that had once been Wesley’s. It still smelled of him, and my eyes brimmed with tears. I used his soap, which had been left in the tub, and washed my hair with the shampoo that his father had put in there the night before. When I got out I felt clean but still pained inside, like my heart was being broken all over again.

  The ache in my heart throbbed every time I thought of Wesley. If I didn’t distract myself it got steadily worse until it was too much to bear. I tried to empty my mind of any thought as I got dressed and drew my hair up in a ponytail. I didn’t bother with makeup. I knew I would have to face Aaron, and I wasn’t looking forward to it. I had to ignore all the crap circling in my mind about Wesley and face the music. I had claimed Aaron and he had reciprocated, making him my human. I had to accept it. Until he betrayed me in some way I was bound to him as if I really was his girlfriend.

  I had this insistent feeling of dread in my stomach, like something bad was about to happen. I woke my mother up with a smile, telling her that she needed to go home. Then I left the house and got in my car to drive the five minutes to school. I just couldn’t shake the feeling of dread. When I saw Aaron waiting for me in the parking lot the feeling just got stronger. He opened my car door for me and took my bag from my hand, slinging it over his shoulder and then twining his fingers with mine. He was beaming, like this was the proudest day of his life. It felt like one of the worst of mine when I considered what I had done.

  “You ready for this?” he asked me as we got to the front of the building.

  I gave him a reassuring smile and nodded. He opened the doors and in we walked, hand in hand. Heads turned and I saw expressions of shock, though there were also several smiles and nods in our direction. Those who preferred to ignore my existence reacted in their usual way by avoiding even looking in our direction. I wondered if Aaron knew that as far as they were concerned he would be invisible as long as he was with me.

  He walked me to my first period English class and gave me a kiss at the door. I walked in and automatically looked for Wesley. My heart missed a beat or two when I registered the empty desk at the back. He was really gone.

  I sat down and pulled out my notebook. Absentmindedly I had doodled Wesley’s name all over it, like a love-struck teenager. I flipped it open to an empty page and waited for class to begin. The dread didn’t leave me at any point during that first period, nor did it leave me in the second period. I continued to have this feeling that something awful was about to happen, something that would bring yet another twist in my sorry life saga or maybe even end my whole miserable existence.

  Wesley had told me that Miranda was coming for me next. Maybe my mood was prompted by the idea that she was already on her way. I didn’t know what to expect, but what played out next tore my secret world to shreds.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight: Demon Invasion And Fire Power

  It was in the third period that all Hell broke loose.

  First, we heard the windows shattering in the computer lab down the hall. That was followed by the terrified screams of students as men shrieked for them to get down on the ground and cover their faces. A cold fear washed through my body.

  You hear about these things on the news, but you don’t think that you will ever live through them yourself. You don’t believe when you wake up in the morning that you are going to go to school and never come home. The blood drained out of my teacher’s face and she instantly looked panicked. She froze, staring at all of us like she didn’t know what to do. A sort of determination passed over her face and she finally reacted. She ran to the door and locked it, then pulled the blinds down over the window so nobody could see in.

  “Everyone get in the back corner. Sit close together!” she ordered, pointing to the corner of the room.

  Thankfully we were only a class of ten and fit into the corner rather easily as she made a barricade of desks around us. She was doing her best to keep us safe. I felt such fear surging through my body that I didn’t even notice the familiar warm prickle at my wrists meaning I was charged with fire. The boys held onto the girls, shielding them, soothing them, telling them to be quiet so that we would not be heard.

  I could stop this whole thing. I could be the hero.

  But at what cost?

  We heard several rounds of gunfire outside our window and the angry screams of the gunmen.

  “Where is she?” one of them demanded, anger in his voice.

  I just sat there, glancing at the other nine behind me. Nobody made any attempt to comfort me, I noticed. The boys concentrated instead upon the other girls, the other girls who were not me.

  Who are they looking for?

  Suddenly the window slit in our classroom door burst. Bits of glass sprayed over our teacher who was sitting against the door. I don’t know what she thought she was doing. I think she believed her tiny little frame could save us. The door flew open in response to supernatural force. A human could never have kicked open a heavy door that easily and sent it flying across the room. The teacher was folded in half by the impact. Half a scream escaped her lips before she was silenced. Her lifeless eyes looked back at us.

  The other students started screaming. Our teacher had sacrificed herself to preserve our lives, to give us a future, but what other adults were there nearby who might now protect us? The answer was that there was nobody else left to put themselves between us ten kids and our attackers. I started praying for the strength to stand up.

  When I managed to get to my feet everything seemed to move in slow motion. The way the men looked at me, with evil smirks, the way they snarled when they realized that it was me, confirmed that it was me they were looking for. And they weren’t humans, either. They were demons. I could smell the sulfur that permeated the air around us. There was no question that if necessary they were prepared to kill every last teacher and student in the school until they found me.

  My senses were so heightened by now I could almost taste their evil. As I lifted my hands before me and aimed at the two figures standing closest to us, the only thing that I could think of was protecting the nine innocents behind me. Those nine were going to grow to be adults, have families, and die in their own beds at a ripe old age. I would give them their future. I would protect them while knowing full well that if the situation were reversed they would never have stepped up to protect me.

  Flames erupted from my fingertips and hurtled toward the demons before me. The light that shot from me was a bright white. I smiled to myself. I had summoned the power of my mother. Instead of the wrath of a demon, our attackers were receiving the wrath of an angel, and they were going to burn. The demons crumpled to the ground, screaming, their evil essence expelled. I turned to address the nine behind me. They were rigid with shock and awe, staring at me as if I was someone else.

  “Try to get in the closet and shut the door,” I ordered, pointing toward the tiny door at the back of the classroom. There was no way it would fit all ten of us, but nine might just squeeze in, if they didn’t mind being scrunched up together. I heard more gunfire and screams from outside in the halls and hurried out of the classroom, leaving my nine classmates to hide themselves away.

  I walked into battle with confidence. I walked with a strength that I had never felt before. As each assailant lunged for me I stopped him with a blaze of white flame. I did not worry about what would happen to me. Right now I felt I could walk through fire unscathed, which was pretty much what I was doing. The white fire flared all around me, my hair floating behind my head in black waves.

  These demons were not going to take any more away from me or the people of this town. These students were innocents. They were in no way connected to the tiny secret that I had to protect. However, I knew a line had been crossed. Those nine back in the closet would have a tale to tell, and it would soon get round the school, and
beyond. I didn’t care. I had a feeling that once the rumors started I would get my wish to complete my education online.

  I heard a scream from the gym and a piercing pain shot through my temple. Someone had Aaron. I took off into a run, thrusting the doors to the gym open and stepping confidently inside. I was not prepared for what I saw. Standing in the center of the open space was the man of my nightmares. His hair looked freshly gelled and he seemed less pale than before, but his eyes were as evil as ever. Aaron lay on the ground at his feet, he wasn’t moving. John warned me to stay back and not to come any closer. His black eyes penetrated my soul and I felt terror rising in me. My blood was freezing and my heart was pounding, but my powers immediately started to fail under his malign influence. The flames around me began to lose their intensity.

  “Learning some of Mommy’s tricks, are we?” he asked, his words dripping with hate.

  “What did you do to him?” I demanded. The fire was pulsating at my wrist but refused to go into my fingers.

  “Oh, nothing. He’s fine, just a little bump on the head. But he’ll wake from this with no memory of any of it, as long as you do as I say.”

  John stepped over Aaron’s prone body and walked right up to me. He towered over me and my fear threatened to overwhelm me completely.

  “What do you want?” I asked desperately, closing my eyes so I could not see him.

  I felt his hands in my hair, on my face, round my neck. I resolved not to let him see how afraid I was. He took a whiff of me and groaned.

  “Have I not made myself obvious enough?” He gave me a shake, forcing me to open my eyes. “Your eyes are so beautiful… why ruin it with all that white?” he hissed.

  “What do you want?” I repeated, my voice shrill and panicky.

  “You. I want you.” He laughed. “Oh, wait. I already had you!” He paused and put his hands together like he was praying. “Let me put it to you this way. I want to own you, to rule you. I want to lie down with you at dawn and wake up to you at night.”

  I didn’t dare say a thing in response with him so close to me. A shiver of revulsion crawled up my spine.

  “Do you ever find it odd how your powers fail you when you are near me?” he asked, running a strand of my hair through his fingers.

  I flinched.

  “I thought so,” he continued. “You see, I make you neutral. The powers are still there, but you just won’t be able to summon up the charge.” He smiled nastily. “How disappointing for you to be so helpless when I’m around. Like that night with the vampire, or when Daddy had to give you a power boost to give you the protection of the flames at your house.”

  He leaned in and put his lips to mine. I instantly pushed him away in disgust.

  “How is it that you can affect me but not my father?” I demanded as I tried to wipe the memory of that kiss permanently from my mind.

  “Your daddy isn’t a half-breed. You are far easier to manipulate than him.”

  “So you’re saying that because I am weaker than my father you cancel me out?”

  “Something like that. When Lilly made me, she didn’t know what she would get. For some reason, during the creation process, her DNA gets all muddy. While a majority of her progeny were vampire, a handful of them still maintained a human appearance while possessing demon-like attributes. When I died and fell to Hell she saved me.” He smiled coldly. “And when I came back to Earth I found I had greater powers than I could ever imagine. I don’t need blood to sustain myself. I need souls.”

  “She should have let you fall,” I snapped at him.

  “Maybe, maybe… but then I wouldn’t be here with you today.” Another smile. “She never loved me, of course. I was only meant to be a companion until she found the one. She found him alright, and who would have thought one ordinary mortal boy would land two demon half-bloods!” He applauded. “I mean, most men are lucky if they even catch a glimpse of one, yet he’s slept with two.”

  I knew he meant it to sting and, boy, did it.

  “Why are you telling me this?” I demanded.

  “Well, Lilly got Wesley in the long run, and such a pathetic couple they will make. Since I’m consequently being set free, replaced by that winey prick, my consolation prize is you.” He laughed. “You see, Lilly can’t have you coming round trying to make a mess of all her hard work. It was really a bargain, you see. She gets him and I get you, and then we part ways. So, if you want your boyfriend here to live, I suggest you come willingly.” He stood menacingly over Aaron. “Time is ticking, Dawn. Give your soul to me.”

  Epilogue

  How did I get into this mess?

  I was standing in front of a horrifying monster who had taken every shred of innocence that I had left and had exploited it for his own worthless reasons. I was terrified of him; he haunted my dreams. There was not a single moment when he was not lurking in the crevices of my mind, stalking me. The boy I loved was with a demon-vampire hybrid, doing Lord knows what. The human I had accidentally claimed in a moment of weakness lay crumpled at the feet of my nightmare pursuer. As if that wasn’t enough, a pack of murderous demons was now running amuck in my high school, shooting my innocent fellow students.

  And it was all happening because the monster before me thought that by threatening to kill every last person I had emotional ties to he could persuade me to hand my soul over to him. How incredibly arrogant he was! He wasn’t going to like my answer. He seriously thought I would give in to his dumb threats. Well, we’d just have to see about that. I closed my eyes and I prayed.

  Lord, give me the strength to push aside this asshole.

  At once I felt someone else near to me. I don’t know how she heard me. I suppose after looking through her eyes we had some mystic connection.

  “Krista!” I only whispered her name, but John heard it right enough. His eyes widened.

  I felt relief wash over me as she walked through the door. I mean, she literally walked through the door. John spun to face her, his face distorted. She was his kryptonite, the only love he had ever had.

  “How is this possible?” he stammered.

  He dropped to his knees in front of the glowing apparition. I took the opportunity to go to Aaron, lifting his head from the floor and checking for a pulse. He was alive!

  Krista reached down and touched John’s face. Even after everything he had done to her she still held tenderness in her heart for him. I remembered how she had felt the world move when he was around; the way she could only breathe if he was next to her.

  She glanced at me and a smile played on her lips. Then she bent down and whispered in John’s ear. His face twisted in pain as he turned back to me. I heard Krista’s voice in my head.

  I cannot restrain him for long. I will do what I can but I cannot promise I will be able to hold him. The police are outside. Remember that you know nothing!

  “You wicked bitch!” John screamed at me as Krista wrapped her arms around him. She closed her eyes, and the two of them disappeared into white oblivion.

  I felt Aaron moving in my arms and his eyes flickered open. I felt a wash of relief as I let a tear fall. He realized it was me who was holding him and he gripped my hand without saying anything.

  Several police officers entered the gym soon after. Ten students were dead, along with five teachers and the office administrator. There had been seven shooters. Four were found dead; another three were arrested. As for the nine students in my third period class, they all lived.

  ***

  I was right about a line being crossed. Those nine didn’t hold back on what they had seen and before I knew it the whole school had heard the story. I was no longer invisible. Suddenly everyone wanted to be my friend. I couldn’t help reflecting that if I had used my father’s flames to destroy the demons that day they might not have been so quick to accept me. Before I had been seen as a dark witch, a mistress of the arcane. Now, however, I was an angel sent to Earth.

  The stor
y would wear out soon enough. They would forget with the passage of time, as is the human custom. If they didn’t, well, there were ways to make them forget what they saw. The whole thing made me laugh. If they knew how wrong they were about me I was sure they would feel very differently.

  I grew fond of Aaron. He had a way of making me feel good when I felt down. I still didn’t love him, but we had this contract binding us together so I made do with what I had. I didn’t see or hear anything more from Wesley after the night at his house. There was no telling where he and Miranda had disappeared to. I looked for them, of course, searching every astral plane I could think of, but came up empty-handed. I had time on my side. My goal was to save Wesley, and I would, but it was the thought of ripping out Miranda’s throat that made my world go round.

  She was safe for now. It would be different when I found her. After that I would make sure she pleaded for her life before I sent her to Hell, where she belonged.

  I am Dawn Weathers, the daughter of Puriel and Vetis. I have more power in my pinky than she has in her whole body.

  I will crush her!

  BOOK 2

  SMOKE AND ASH

  Prologue

  “Dawn, look at me,” a voice whispered. “Please open your eyes.”

  “Who are you?” I asked, blinking in the darkness.

  I could sense cool ground beneath my bare feet and chilly air on my flesh. I had no idea where I was, only that I had never been here before. It was so dark and unfamiliar; it was frightening. I could feel cold sweat beginning to bead on my flesh. My eyes darted in all directions, searching for the source of the voice.

  “It’s me,” the voice said softly.

  I saw a glimmer of white light, and a girl appeared.

  “Krista!” I exclaimed, stepping towards her as she took on solid form.

  She was exquisite in appearance, far more beautiful than I had imagined from her apparition. Her hair was blonde and fell in soft waves to her shoulder blades. Her eyes were as blue as the sky, and they sparkled brightly. When she smiled at me, it was so brilliant my heart skipped a beat. I was mesmerized, lost in her beauty. I could finally see why John was so enamored with her. Even years after he had ended her life, he was still left breathless in her presence.