Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series (9 page)

What was going on here?

I could feel him shaking as he pulled them
from my body and undid his belt. His eyes were smoldering his lips
were inviting, and he was scared shitless. In all honesty so was I.
This wasn’t something I normally do. I’m not one to just choose
some random guy and invite him into my room. What do I know about
this boy? Other than he is absolutely adorable, and he makes my
heart flutter and my hands all clammy.

Something odd washed over me, a hardening in
my chest that seemed to send triggers to my fingers. I wasn’t even
willing myself to do it I was just doing it. I sat up and pushed
his hands to the side undoing the belt and button of his jeans for
him while his eyes stayed completely focused on mine. I was
becoming a little self-conscious wondering if my eyes had suddenly
changed again. I was already going down a path I was unsure of. Yet
it was too late to go back now. The voice inside my head became
more insistent.

Claim him.

Before I knew what was happening, he was
kissing those soft sweet kisses against my neck again pushing me
back down into the bed. He positioned himself between my legs
softly, and this overwhelming dark need took over.

I pulled his face to mine and pecked at him.
His eyes were so blue. Then I felt it, pain, a sensual pain, and a
groan escaped from his lips. I instantly felt like I was being torn
in half emotionally. The darkness in me squealed with glee while
another part of me felt instant guilt. This had never happened
before, a point where I felt both sides of my bloodline fighting in
my soul. This time I sensed as if the darker side had just bitch
slapped the lighter. It was definitely getting stronger.

It seemed only a moment had passed before I
convulsed. A pressure building up inside of me.

What was
happening
?

My body quivered, and a moan escaped my
lips.

He touched my cheek; his eyes suddenly
confused then turning enlightened as a smile appeared on my lips.
With a sigh of relief he kissed me softly. I did not understand
what had just overcome me but whatever it was I had pushed it back
into the depths it had come from.

“That was amazing.” He said panting placing
his head on my chest.

I smiled and wound my hands into his hair. I
had never done that before, well not like that at least.

“Was it everything you ever dreamed about?”
I teased.

He let out a short laugh and then
sighed.

“I can see why people get addicted to it
that is for sure.”

“Well I honestly cannot believe it just
happened.” I looked at the ceiling the guilt was slowly creeping up
on me as my darker side lay dormant and satisfied in the back of my
mind.

“What do you mean?” He looked at me, his
eyes appeared hurt.

“I don’t want you having the wrong idea
about me.” I started. “I mean, didn’t it seem a little soon to be
doing all of this. Not saying I regret it.” Words were just coming
out now. My filter had been put on mute.

“I told you Dawn, I knew who you were long
before you ever showed up here. This is destiny. This was supposed
to happen exactly as it did. When I saw you I knew this was it. So
what if we did something considered taboo. I didn’t lie to you or
to myself. I said exactly what I was meant to say. You cannot look
me in the eye and tell me you felt nothing when you walked into
that classroom.” He was defensive but what I did I expect.

My mouth was moving before my brain could
compute what was coming out of it. I looked at his face, he had
felt it! That intense pull and magnetic pulse that was somehow
binding us together, it was mutual.

“I felt it. So did you hear the voices too?”
I blurted out and then closed my eyes realizing that was something
I should not have said.

“What voices?” he asked me confused.

“The ones that kept saying ‘claim him’. They
wouldn’t leave me alone.”

Why was my mouth still moving?

“No, I didn’t hear those voices at all.” He
laughed then looked at my face a bit of concern in his eyes.
“However if it makes you feel any better you can claim me anytime
that you wish.” He laughed.

I looked at him and joined him in the
amusement.

“I will remember that, you know what they
say, women are demons, and your soul is mine.” I teased.

Something weird happened. It was as if the
world had just come to a complete stop. Suddenly a blood curdling
scream erupted from the silence and shot painfully through my head.
I close my eyes tightly to push the screaming aside. It kept
pulsing through my lobes, with no warning my heart felt like it was
on fire. Then just like that it was over.

“You ok?” He asked me. I could feel his
hands on my face. I looked at him blankly. “You totally stopped
talking mid-sentence, I’ve been trying to get your attention for
about five minutes now. You sorta zoned out.” There was concern in
his voice.

I pulled his face to mine and kissed him on
the lips a sweet kiss meant to reassure him I was ok.

We laid there in each other’s arms for hours
just talking. This connection had somehow deepened between us. It
was almost as if we were the same, our brains molding together our
souls meant to never part. It was super late, that was for sure,
when we heard my mother’s car coming up the driveway.

“Oh shit!” I jumped out of bed throwing on
my clothes as fast as I could.

Wesley was stuck trying to get his belt to
buckle before my mother appeared in my room, he was antsy. His
hands were shaking his fingers not cooperating I could see
perspiration appearing on his forehead. I grabbed my books, threw
them on the floor, and motioned for him to sit just as my mother’s
keys jingled in the lock.

We were sitting on the floor with my books
open. Wesley was explaining the math homework due on Friday when my
bedroom door opened.

My mother smiled and looked at the messy
sheets before looking back at me and giving me a blank stare. She
knew. I could see it on her face she knew. This would be like last
year again, that very embarrassing conversation.

Like the time she found me and my then
boyfriend, Jeremy, sitting on my bed with me refastening my bra.
You know most kids don’t get caught by their parents, or at least
not the first time. Me, on the other hand it’s like she knows!

“It’s getting late Dawn, you need your
rest.” Her face lightened a little there was an amused smirk on her
lips. “Thank you for staying with her Wesley while I made my
errands this afternoon.” She gave me that mom-knows-all look. Could
she read my mind? You know it wouldn’t surprise me if she did
honestly. I think it would make more sense if she could.

"It was no problem Ms. Weathers the pleasure
was all mine." He said glancing at me for a moment.

His cheeks were still pink and his lips
swollen, he was a walking advertisement of a boy that just lost the
big V. If it wasn’t obvious before it was obvious now.

“Yeah, I am pretty beat.” I stretched. I
looked at Wesley and winked. “I will walk you out. I’m sure I will
be at school tomorrow.”

I looked at him his blue eyes looked darker.
He gave me a smile and nodded. Standing up he took my hand, and I
led him back into the kitchen and out the back door.

“I had fun.” He said when we got to his car.
He had the driver’s door open and was looking at me. “Dawn I just
want you to know I didn’t plan this. I wasn’t planning on coming
here and...” He stiffened. “Doing that.” He smiled at me a tired
smile. “I meant it though, what I said. I’ve been dreaming about
you for years.”

There it was again, was I hearing
things?

He hesitated a moment before planting
another kiss on my lips.

“Ask your mom if you can come over to my
place tomorrow to hang out.” I nodded as he got behind the wheel.
He pulled out of my driveway and I returned to the house to the
look on my mother’s face.

“What were you thinking Dawn?” She yelled as
the door shut behind me.

Here it was the
‘
you don’t know what you are
doing
’ and the ‘
I
can’t believe you would be so stupid you could have hurt
someone
’. For the last two years it seemed
this was mostly what I heard.

“What are you talking about mother?” I
questioned. I don’t know why I even tried she could smell a lie
from a mile away.

“That boy! He was an innocent!” She sighed.
After a moment’s hesitation she looked at me and frowned. “I blame
your father for this.”

“Blame him for what mom?” I was getting
upset. I could feel the fire rolling through my arms waiting at my
wrists

“Nothing darling, you just get some rest.”
She could never tell me what she blamed him for. Lord knows that
might give me some insight on what I was facing here.

“Night mom.” I started towards my room, then
turned around and looked back at her. “I’m going to Wesley’s after
school tomorrow, he wants to hang out.”

“Ok honey.” This was all she said sounding
strained. I looked back at her as she sat down at the table and put
her head in her hands.

Possession

My second week of school at Midvale was just
as interesting as the first. The other students were still avoiding
me, many of them clearing the halls as I made my way to my first
period class. This is something I was used to that was for sure. I
just figured that it would take longer than one week to get to this
point.

For some reason rumors had spread I had
“turned to ash” upon exiting the building on Friday, of course
adding to the horrific idea I was indeed a vampire. So imagine
their surprise when my happy ass trotted into first period English
and took my seat in front of Wesley.

“Hey there beautiful.” Wesley whispered
behind me as our teacher took to the front of the class.

I hid a smile and turned to get a glance at
him. He was amazing, those blue eyes dazzling me, his face and that
stupid innocent smile.

“Hey there yourself.” I whispered back. He
looked like he had more color today, more vivid and alive. He gave
me a wink, and I turned to face the front of the class.

What have I done to get so lucky?

I felt that everything was falling into
place with this new beginning. Yeah, I still have my internal
battles I needed to hash out, but for the most part moving to
Missouri had gone better than I had expected.

Wait a minute! What was I thinking? I had
known the boy for a week. He had invaded my dreams, given me hope,
and instilled a bit of wonder in me. Still though in a weeks’ time
he was already mine.

Guilt encased me, the boy had been a virgin
yesterday and today he wasn’t because of me. I had taken what shred
of innocence he had in a moment of passion with little thought as
to the repercussions. I gave him a weak smile and his eyes turned
puzzled as I turned to look back towards the front of the
class.

What had I done?

I don’t think it was so much regret for what
happened that filled me. It was more regret for being the first
girl he was with.

We have this vision in our heads at what
that first time will be like. Little do we know that instead of the
Ritz Carlton hotel we get the backseat of a Chevy Malibu, or caught
in the aftermath by your mother, as was in my case.

We always think that it will be something
magical, that there is some secret to it that nobody has ever told
us. We don’t realize that it’s clumsy and unprepared, or we have no
idea what the Hell we are doing so there is a lot of twisting and
contorting just to figure it out.

My first wasn’t like what was in my head, I
just wanted to be rid of the purity, and something in me forced me
to act on it. My consequence occurred about a week after. When
Jeremy dumped me for another girl that went to his school leaving
me feeling pretty vulnerable and very pissed off.

So what was I going to do now? There is no
way that what happened last night was how Wesley dreamed it would
be. Instead of instilling the morals my mother had tried so hard to
get me to believe I went with the dark force and I took something
beautiful from him.

After what seemed like an eternity the bell
rang. I went to gather my things when I felt a hand on the small of
my back. The touch sent chills through my body and my fingers
itched and grew cold. I clutched my fists together, I would have to
get used to my fingers turning icy.

“I regret nothing.” He said in my ear. I
turned to look at him and his arms encircled me in a hug. “I do not
regret being with you.” He repeated.

I said nothing just let him hold me, comfort
and ease ran through my body and the ice subsided. There was no way
he could have read how I felt. Then again maybe the way I was
acting caused him to think that it was the reason for my sudden
silence.

“Are you sure?” I asked him quietly my
nerves about to explode.

“I am certain.” He said smiling and kissed
me on the nose. “You’re my girl, why would I regret being with the
most beautiful girl I have ever laid eyes on.”

Flattery could very well get this boy very
far.

I was far from the most beautiful girl
anyone had ever laid eyes on. It made me feel good though that
someone felt that way about me. I had never heard those words said
to me before. They were so simple but held so much emotion.

When he pulled away I threw my bag over my
shoulder and took his hand, the warmth radiated through me. How
come he had been so cold the first days I met him but so hot now?
Did he have some horrible disease I needed to know about?

He walked me to my next class and kissed me
softly before letting my hand go. He watched me enter and take my
seat, his eyes never leaving mine. The kiss I had received had not
gone un-noticed as several of the girls were glaring at me as I
walked by. If only their looks could kill. I gave him a weak wave
when I took my seat and he walked away from the door to his class
across the hall.