Into the Flames (Out of the Ashes #2) (23 page)

Her hands are no longer holding me but reaching behind her.  Dean moves to stand next to me seeing that she is no longer holding me and appears to have given up the fight.  When her hands come forward again she is holding a small revolver.

“Rebecca, calm down.  I told you that Lauren was mine to deal with.  Now put the gun down.”  Dean’s authoritative tone does nothing to sway her.  Rebecca’s eyes are clouded with hate and flickers of the insanity that seems to have free reign within her now.  While the two of them are distracted with what my fate will be, I reach into my bag and pull out the 9mm I took from Ian’s nightstand drawer.  I doubt he even knew I knew it was there.  But I knew and now I will take out Dean before I meet my own end.

Tears stream down my face at the life that Ian and I will never share; at the life growing inside me that never really had a chance. 
I take a couple steps back and try to steady the gun in my hand.  I level it at Dean completely ignoring Rebecca.  Dean is still focused in on her and the gun in her hands.  I contemplate dropping my gun and going for the door as he is completely distracted and Rebecca’s view is blocked by Dean’s body.  The next several seconds tick by in what seems like hours.  Seconds that change all our lives forever.

Dean takes a step forward toward Rebecca as I take another step back bringing me into her line of sight.

“Stupid cunt!  What are you going to do shoot us both?”  Her laughter is high pitched and crazy; almost painful to listen to.  There is a loud noise from the hallway and Dean shifts to grab my gun.  A loud crunching sound fills the room and suddenly Ian and Connor come to stand beside me.  Rebecca startled by Dean’s sudden movement fires.  The deafening sound of the gun going off envelops the whole room and time seems to stand still.  At the sound of the gun, Ian jumps in front of me protecting me with his body.  Out of the corner of my eye I see Connor pull his gun from its holster inside his jacket.  Dean lunges forward over Ian knocking my gun from my hand.  I don’t know who has it now but the room becomes a volley of gunfire and screams.  I fall to the floor in a mass of bodies; somewhere in them I know Ian is there.

I’
m conscious of Connor talking on the phone but unable to hear the words.  My gaze is clouded and something sticky is pooling on the floor around me.  I try to move but am pinned by the weight on top of my legs.  The weight is unmoving and immovable.  I can hear Connor telling me to lay still.  I want to find Ian and cry out for him.  Connor’s panicked expression tells me nothing good has happened to the man I love.

As I lay there contemplating
my fate, I realize the pool around me is growing larger and larger.  As it reaches my head, I see that it’s not water at all but blood.  I pick up my head as much as I can.  Pain shoots down through my temples but I have to see what’s going on.  Across the room Rebecca is slumped against the wall; her shirt bloody.  Instantly I know she is dead.  I try to focus and find Ian.  Dean lies over my legs keeping me down.  From underneath him, I can see part of another torso, Ian’s torso.  Dean’s dead weight presses into him but he doesn’t move to free himself.  He’s still as death itself.

Writing this book was much different than writing Out of the
Ashes.  I must admit it was more difficult going through Into the Flames.  Writer’s block plagued me for months in finishing this but now it is done and I’m in love with the final product.

There are so many people to thank in getting to this point. 
First off, I want to thank my family.  The process on this book was a lot more time consuming than the first one and they patiently, sometimes impatiently, waited while I got everything done plus had to listen to me complain through the writer’s block.  I could not do this without them and their support so to my husband and children a huge thank you.

I also want to thank my wonderful beta readers.  They were absolutely instrumental in getting this book finished and polished.  They waited through all the delays and extensions and still got me what I needed in time for editing.  I cannot say enough thank yous to all of them.

A huge thank you to all of you that read Out of the Ashes and fell so in love with Ian and Lauren/Celeste’s story.  This trilogy wouldn’t be possible without all of you.  Yes, I love to write but I love it even more when people read it and bond with the characters and story.  I can’t wait for you to read the conclusion though I will be sad to see their story come to an end.