Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series (16 page)

Together we moved forward hand in hand
walking slowly looking both directions searching for the one thing
that my heart desired more than anything. I could hardly breathe.
The fact that I was holding myself together even now amazed me. The
pain kept pulsating in my heart. It was as if I knew something was
happening to him. Something unnatural, someone was hurting him.

That’s when we saw them. There were five,
two females and three males bent over an unmoving body. I screeched
and my mother broke contact. The faces looked up at us with those
deep red eyes their mouths and chins covered in blood.

I freaked, the burning sensation in my
fingers turned from ice to fire in a second. My mother touched me
and the fire subsided but the rage was still present. She threw her
head back, her eyes turned white and a white flame shot from her
body incinerating four of the creatures with one burst. The fifth
scared to death, stood in horror.

My mother’s voice was hollow when she spoke.
Her white eyes penetrating the evil in front of her. I was in awe,
shocked, amazed, and oddly proud of her.

“What do you want with the boy?” She
demanded of the scared creature.

It tried to turn but was held fast, nothing
it did would allow it to move from its spot.

“We are only doing as told.” The creature
spoke unwillingly choking.

“And what is it that you were told?” She
demanded. I had never seen her use her power before. Seeing her use
it like this well I admit it was horrifying.

“To drain him to the point of death, so that
he could be changed.” The creature gagged. Its eyes were shooting
in all directions. It was confused as to why it was still
speaking.

That’s when I saw her, the girl with the red
hair stepped out and in front of the creature my mother was
addressing.

“I am getting more curious about you Raven
Princess.” She said in broken English. “First you shoot fire of
Hell now you shoot the flame of Heaven. I demand to know what you
are.”

My mother’s gaze shot from one to the other
than turned to me.

“I told you already. I am your death. I am
your salvation.” The words were not forced. I was simply repeating
a line that had once been said to me.

“Oh sweet princess, how misguided you are.”
The red head smiled.

“How do you know her?” My mother asked
snapping the other creature like a twig in two pieces. The head
went one way, and the body went another.

“She is the woman from my dream.” I said as
anger filled me. “She is the one that is after my boyfriend!”

My mother huffed at me and turned her focus
on the girl.

I could see anger and concern on my mom’s
face as she grabbed my hand again.

“We need to hurry Wesley
is fading
.” She said this without moving
her mouth. It took me a moment to realize that she was in my head.
I let the anger fly.

My mother grabbed my hand as the fires of
Hell burst from my fingertips and the flames of Heaven from hers.
When the smoke cleared the red head was gone. All that was left was
my Wesley lying covered in blood on the forest floor.

I pulled from my mother and raced to his
side laying my hands on his face, his shoulders, and his chest.
Feeling for anything that would tell me he’s ok. He was so cold,
and he wasn’t moving.

My mother had pulled her phone from her
pocket and was dialing frantically for emergency help. She
collapsed at my side gently pushing me back as she touched his neck
in search of a pulse.

“He’s alive but barely. Give me your hands,"
she demanded.

I felt energy burst from her and it somehow
enlighten me, Wesley’s face lit up brightly like a star. My mother
stopped out of breath, tired. His eyes cracked open, and I was
right there, the first thing he saw.

“I knew you were an angel.” Was all he said
as he touched my face, and then he was out cold again.

My mother had been able to close most of the
wounds on his body to hide that he had been fed on. He decided on
leaving only one deep gash open on his leg. This was meant to
mislead the emergency crew into thinking this was where the blood
had come from.

“Is this him?” I heard a woman’s voice above
me and looked up into her violet eyes. My mother’s expression
turned from fear too pleased.

“Yes, he’s lost a lot of blood.” My mother
grabbed me and moved me out of the way so that they crew could get
to him.

It didn’t take long for them to have him on
the board and pulling him from the woods themselves.

“He’s in good hands.” My mother said
gripping onto my arm.

“How do you know?” I asked as we followed
the paramedics through the forest.

“Trust me. I just do.” She smiled at me and
let me go.

****

When he re-emerged from the woods his father
gripped my mother tightly thanking her. Though his son was not
conscious he could see that he was alive. They wouldn’t allow me to
ride with him since I was not his spouse or a family member. They
still would not allow it even when his father pleaded with them to
take me. He instead opted to stay behind and drive in with us to
make sure we knew where we were going.

“Thank you Angie, thank you for finding my
boy.” He cried on her shoulder for a moment before getting into the
car.

My mother found it in our best interest to
drive us since he was obviously incapable of doing so.

“Dawn go inside and get Melissa up. We
cannot leave her here alone.” My mother instructed.

I did as I was told and walked in the back
door of the Jensen house. I walked up the steps to the second floor
and opened the door. Melissa was already awake her face pale.

“Melissa?” I asked as I entered her room.
Her face shot towards me and huffed a sigh of relief.

“Dawn, thank goodness it’s only you.” She
pushed the blankets off of her body and stood up, she was
shaking.

“I need you to get dressed, we need to get
going.” I said softly reaching up and touching her shoulders.

“You found him then.” She breathed heavily.
“Is he ok?”

“Yeah, we just have to go to the hospital
for a bit tonight.” I felt her arms wrap around my waist and I felt
my heart flutter. I loved this little girl.

“Ok let me get some clothes on.” She grabbed
a pair of jeans and a shirt and changed quickly. Once she was done
she grabbed my hand. “Did you see anything out there?”

“What do you mean?” I asked as we walked
down the stairs.

“Nothing.” She said looking away from
me.

This led me to believe
that something was up.
What did she
know?

We drove to the hospital in silence my
mother holding Mr. Jensen’s hand tightly as the man looked out the
window his breathing increased. I sat in the backseat with Melissa
my arms around the girls shoulder running my fingers through her
hair. She looked lost and terrified at the same time.

“It’s going to be alright.” I whispered in
her ear and she nodded.

“I know.” She looked up at me and smiled.
“As long as you are around everything will be alright.”

We raced inside the Emergency Room entrance.
Mr. Jensen made his way to receptionist and looked at her with
blood shot eyes.

“My son was brought in by ambulance.” He
said to her.

“Name?” She asked flatly.

“Wesley Jensen.” He said twisting his hands
together.

“He arrived a few moments ago. Doctors are
with him now. Please have a seat and someone will come out and
speak with you soon.” She motioned towards the waiting room.

“Dawn?” My mother was behind me.

“Yeah?” I said turning around to face
her.

“Who was that girl?” She asked me in a
hushed voice.

“I already said she is the one from my
dreams.” I said.

“How long have you dreamed about her?” She
questioned. There was something she was thinking.

“It’s been a few weeks. She started out as
nothing more than a victim in a dream and then turned into a face
to face verbal fight.” I answered her and he just stared at me.

“Honey these aren’t dreams.” She crossed her
arms and sat down in one of the plastic chairs.

“Then what are they?” I asked.

“Summons. She’s summoning you to an astral
plain. Probably doesn’t have the strength to summon you all the way
to her so she’s making due with what she can get.” My mother put
her head in her hands.

“What are you talking about Mom?” I asked
her as my throat became dry.

“She doesn’t know what you are, per-say.
However she knows that you have demon blood hence why she is able
to summon you.” My mother was making sure that her voice was
low.

“That’s something new.” I groaned glancing
at Greg and Melissa. “Does he know?”

“He knows enough.” She said looking away for
a second. “Be careful with this woman Dawn. She will do what she
can to eat you alive. If she finds out the other half of your
bloodline I don’t know what will happen.”

“I’m pretty sure she has an idea now. You
know the two of us being together and all in the woods.” I rolled
my eyes.

“Maybe.” My mother sighed.

“For now Mom, let’s worry about them.” I
smiled at her and she nodded.

Enigma

Sitting in the waiting room of the Midvale
ER was the most nerve wracking experience of my life. People came
in and people left. The place got crowded and then it was dead.

After four hours of waiting and praying,
pacing the linoleum floor over and over again, and constantly
checking the time. The doctor came out and pulled his father to the
side. There was a lot of nodding. When the doctor had finished
speaking Mr. Jensen gave him a tired smile and came back over to
us.

“They are going to admit him so that they
can observe him over the next few days. The doctor said that they
stitched up his wound. He didn’t know how Wes had lost so much
blood from that one gash. So they want to make sure that it’s not a
blood condition. He had lost so much they had to perform a
transfusion in hopes of building up his blood count again.” He
looked at me with those sad blue eyes. “Dawn, without you and your
mother my boy would have died. I am forever in your debt for this.”
With that he hugged me. “They are moving him to the third floor
room 302. Let’s head up there so we can meet him.”

We took the elevator up the two floors.
Melissa’s hand was entwined with mine. She was still crying from
time to time but would never say what was going on in her head. In
fact she would just wrap her arms around me and sob into my
shoulder. When we finally reached the floor she pulled me out of
the elevator and drug me down the hallway to the room, pushing me
inside.

“What’s going on here Melissa?” I asked as
she sat down on the visitors couch in the room.

“I saw her.” She looked at me with those
innocent eyes.

“Saw who?” I asked sitting down next to
her.

“Miranda, Wesley’s ex.” She looked worried.
“She told me that she would get Wesley back from you. She said that
you couldn’t protect him forever.”

“Really?” That was interesting.

Who the Hell was Miranda?

Before she could say anything else both our
parents walked in. My mother glanced at us and I shook my head. I
would have to tell her later.

Wesley was awake, but by no means alert,
when they brought him into the room. He looked at me and smiled as
I came to the side of the bed. He was groggy, but he gazed at me
like he couldn’t believe I was there.

“I love you.” He said softly touching my
face. He turned his head and looked at my mother giving her a weak
smile. “Thank you.” He said to her, and she nodded at him smiling
back.

“I’m just glad you are ok.” She said
softly.

“Dad.” He said wincing.

Mr. Jensen stepped forward and ran his hand
over his son’s hair.

“I’m right here son.” He said looking down
at Wesley.

“I’m so sorry, Dad. I am so so sorry.” He
looked at his father. There was pain in his eyes.

“It’s ok Wesley, you are fine now. You are
safe.” Wesley nodded slowly at his father then looked back at
me.

“I always knew you were my guardian angel.”
He closed his eyes and in seconds he was out.

“Though he lost a large amount of blood we
found damage throughout his muscular system that looked as if
tearing had occurred. We assume that while he was wondering through
the woods the muscles were torn due to the amount of force that was
put on his appendages. He will be quite sore for a few days.” The
doctor said looking at all of us. “This is a curious case. I would
be happy that he even made it out alive.”

“Thank you.” Greg said nodding at the
doctor.

****

I was asleep on the couch in Wesley’s room
when my phone buzzed in my back pocket. I opened my eyes, rubbed
the sleep out of them, and checked my messages.

Goodness was the time right?

I had been asleep most of the day, it was
already past three.

Adam: Everything ok? You weren’t in class
today.

I smiled at the message and glanced towards
the hospital bed, Wesley was sleeping soundly his chest rising and
falling, all the monitors beeping as they should be. Nothing out of
the ordinary. The only thing that I could gather was that the blood
loss sure took a toll on him.

Me: Yeah, Wesley had an accident I’m at the
hospital.

Adam: Oh shit! Is he ok? Are you ok?

Me: Yes Adam, we are fine they are just
keeping him for a few days.

Adam: You ate anything?

Me: No, been too busy to eat.

Adam: Is he resting?

Me: Yeah.

Adam: Meet me in the cafeteria in ten
minutes.

I hesitated a moment not sure if I wanted to
leave Wesley. Then my stomach made an impatient grumble, and I knew
that I needed to eat something. It would be fine I could leave him
with my mother for an hour.