Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series (33 page)

I looked at him horrified. Why hadn't I been
told all of this before? If I had known half of the things that he
just told me I would have joined the convent to not have to deal
with that excruciating pain.

"So now what do I do?" I asked twiddling my
thumbs.

"Well honey, the only thing that you can do
in a situation like this." He looked down at the floor. "You are
just going to have to wait out the contract. Sooner or later the
boy will break it. I wouldn't suggest rushing into a third one
though after this one dissolves." He touched my knee. "Besides we
have more to do now then we have ever had to do. Just because the
contract is broken between you and Wesley doesn't mean that we
still can't save him."

"You think we can save him?" I asked eagerly
looking at my father.

"I think we have a good chance of it yeah."
He smirked. "Lilliana may be one of the all-powerful on Earth but
she is one of the weaker beings in Hell. I knew this one demon that
turned a whole city to ash because someone stepped on his toe! The
whole city, and all its people just POOF." He laughed. "Oh I could
tell you stories about my side of the family but I prefer not to be
more damned than I already am so they will have to wait till
later."

"Dad?" I asked standing up. "If I claimed
Wesley and Aaron, what happened with John?"

He looked at me spooked for a second.

"John was human once, but he isn't anymore,
his heart does not beat like it should. Whatever made him the way
he is, and I'm assuming that it's Lilliana that did it, broke his
human nature in two. What he did to you was in no way a contract.
He claimed you yes, but it isn't binding in any way. You are safe
on that one honey." He gave me a reassuring smile as he followed me
into the kitchen where I gave Melissa a big hug and Greg a pat on
the shoulder.

****

Melissa and Greg spent several hours with us
that night discussing what took place with Wesley. There had been a
fight the week before that had caused Wesley to storm from the
house threatening to leave and never come back. Greg had enough of
Wesley never being home. He had told his son that he was not a
boarding house for his stuff. That if he planned on leaving he
needed to leave. His father being as stubborn as he is didn’t
believe the boy when he said he would. When he came home from work
early that day to spend some time with his son and discuss some
concerns with him, Wesley was nowhere to be seen.

He had packed up everything that had been
his, including taking several pictures off the wall that had been
of him and Melissa. The only item that Greg had found after his son
was gone was a pile of photos on the mattress in Wesley’s room.
They were of me and him, the photos we had taken of our time
together. Those silly cell phone snap shots that we had playfully
printed and tacked to his wall, that way we could always remember
that we belonged together.

“I am so sorry Dawn.” He said to me.

“It’s ok sir, I shouldn’t expect him to take
them with him.” It hurt to say it but it was true.

My mother and I followed them home that
night, to make sure they were ok. We were going to stay with them
to protect them if something, or someone, was to come snooping
around.

When we got there the first place I went was
Wesley’s room. Opening the door I nearly fell to my knees again, it
was bare. Every last poster had been taken from the walls all that
was left was a stripped bed, two nightstands, and the couch that
used to sit facing the now missing TV. It was almost too much to
bear the feeling of being somewhere that held so many memories but
missing the one key ingredient to making it more than just a
memory.

The day he gave me the promise ring, or the
day he told me that he loved me, the day we discussed children and
our future. All of that was in this room and now with it being so
empty it almost left me wondering if he ever existed.

Could it be possible that he was just a
figment of my imagination? Am I somewhere back in Texas dreaming
this elaborate dream?

The heartbreaking feeling that I had
experienced that day didn’t seem to fade. Even though the pain was
gone the memory was always constant. He had let me go. Had he done
it because he wanted to or had he done it because he had to?

Either way it was done, the contract my
father so nervously told me about had been broken this meant he no
longer had a claim on me.

Why did it still hurt though?

I felt a pair of soft arms circle my
shoulders and my mother’s chin rested comfortably on my
shoulder.

“What are you thinking about?” She asked me
as I wrapped my hands around her wrist and gave her a squeeze.

“Everything.” I said letting a tear escape
my eyes. “Why does it still hurt?”

She sighed and turned me to face her. I
could see sadness in her eyes a pain that nobody but my father
would ever understand.

“Your father and I were madly in love for
centuries. I don’t know if it was the fact that we were not
supposed to be together that made it so exciting or if it was
really love.” She wiped the tear from my cheek.

“Centuries huh?” I breathed.

“I assume your father told you about the
bond that you shared with Wesley.” I was instantly struck with
horror, it was hard enough having this talk with my father but not
my mother too and not in the same day. So I nodded and crossed my
fingers that this would be a different discussion.

“Your father couldn’t stop being a menace
just as much as I couldn’t stop being a goody goody. He had his
mistresses, these pretty girls that would do his bidding. I
couldn’t understand that it was his nature. He had to have the
attention in the beginning to be the one in the spotlight. So after
two years of seeing how he really was the love was gone. But it
still hurts, I look at him and I see the man I fell in love with.
That dangerous demon that I would sneak off to be with.” She looked
sad now.

“How long did you hurt?” I asked.

“It’s going to hurt you for a long time. Ten
years from now you will look back at Wesley and all these emotions
will seem new again. The guilt never leaves, neither does the
connection. Your bond may be broken but you two are as much a part
of each other’s future as your father is to mine. You move on yes,
but you never forget.” She gave me a weak smile and hugged me to
her chest running her fingers through my hair.

“I love you mom.” I said weaving my arms
around her waist.

****

We slept in the living room on a lumpy
futon. My mother’s hand kept slapping me in the face and I was
unable to really fall asleep so I got up and decided to take a walk
outside just to get some air. I had just stepped outside the door
when I felt a familiar hand grab mine. My eyes shot to my left only
to be met with the sad sick eyes of Wesley.

“Why are you here?” He demanded pulling me
around the side of the house. His hands were freezing and his eyes
were darker.

“I have my reasons.” I began, but he put his
finger up telling me to be quiet.

“You cannot be around my family. I know
about you and your parents. I know what you are. So does Miranda.”
I fidgeted for a second as he cleared his throat.

I crossed my arms in front of my chest and
grunted at him.

"Do you know what she is?" He looked at me
and then quickly away his eyes scanning the background.

“
You put them in danger
just by being here. You and your mother, the saint of the Pearly
Gates, need to leave. If you don’t she’s going to kill them. Is
that what you want?" He demanded.

"No, never!" I exclaimed, and he put his
hand over my mouth shushing me.

“Why the Hell do you think I’m not here
anymore?” He was getting angry I could sense it.

“You disappeared again Wesley only this time
you took all your stuff.” I started to shake it was getting colder
the longer he touched me.

“Yeah and I managed to get away from her
long enough to run by tonight to tell them goodbye. Only instead I
find my ex-girlfriend crashed out in the living room.” He said,
there was sadness in his eyes. He looked lost. “You know you could
have told me what you were.” He frowned at me.

“And what exactly am I Wesley?” I
demanded.

“You are just like her.” He snarled at
me.

“I am nothing like her!” I yelled at
him.

“She said you would tell me that.” He looked
around again. “She’s after you next.”

"Well let her come after me next then. I’m
not afraid of her." I scoffed.

“You should be." He began. “Listen, I
couldn’t save my mother, it was already too late for her. I can
save them though, and I can save you.” He let my arm go and looked
around before grabbing me by the back of my neck and pushing his
lips to mine.

The kiss was intense and felt like all the
other kisses that we had shared, no love was missing it was all
still right there. When he pulled away from me he smiled for only a
second before turning and walking away. I stood there shaking just
watching him walk away not sure what exactly had just happened.

I returned inside and woke my mother telling
her everything that had just occurred. She seemed concerned and a
bit alarmed but insisted that we would leave in the morning when I
went to school. I lay back down and wrapped myself under the warm
blanket that his father had given us to sleep under and drifted off
to a very confused sleep.

****

I was sitting in the bar again sipping a
drink that smelled fruity when she walked in. Her red hair was
pulled back, and she was dressed in jeans and a gray fitted
t-shirt. She took a seat at the table across from me and smiled her
signature grin. I tried to pay no attention to her, but she was
being persistent.

“You don’t know when to leave things alone
do you?” She said crossing her legs and glaring at me.

I put my drink down and looked at her.

“Everything was fine until you came along.”
I cocked my head to the right and gave her a fake smile.

“How did you like it?” She asked not even
phased by my sarcasm.

“Like what?” I demanded, I was confused
usually she jumped at the chance to pounce.

“The pain.” She said simply looking at her
nails and smiling. “That heartbreaking pain where you know that you
have lost the one that thing was keeping you going.” She growled at
me.

I looked at her in disbelief. “You invaded
my dream to ask me that?”

“Yeah why wouldn’t I? I mean you won’t let
him go. He’s not yours anymore, he never will be. His soul belongs
to me.” Her broken English was really starting to irritate me
because it was taking me too long to decipher what she said.

“Why does it matter Miranda?” I said letting
the fire raging through my blood dissipate.

“Because you will not stop! He is mine! He
has always been mine and I will turn him, then he will forget you
ever existed. You can find another human to claim Princess.
However, you are tangled with his family. You are tangled with his
past. I cannot have one measly meal without looking at your stupid
face!” Here was the anger I had been hoping for.

“He forgets I can see in his head. It took
me months to get his mind to cooperate in the first place. When he
dreams, he dreams of you. I am so tired of seeing you!” She was
seething now her green eyes had turned red from the anger.

I could feel my dark side giggling, I was
ready.

“Then let him go. If you cannot stand to see
me then how did you do it? How did you get him to let me go?” I
demanded a nervous smirk on my face.

“I threatened to kill his family.” She
smiled. “That one always seems to work. I threatened that if he did
not switch his claim to me I would kill you, your parents, and his
whole family. It wasn’t till after the claim was made that I told
him you were just like me. He already knew it though, from that day
at his house.”

“I’m nothing like you!” I yelled at her,
fingers burning, flames ready.

“You are everything like me! The only
difference is instead of Angel blood in my veins I have Vampire. We
both know what it is like to grow up not knowing which side is more
dominant, or who we are going to be that day. We both know what it
is like to be betrayed by our own blood. We are both Halflings,
only difference is…” She paused. “I will live longer than you.” She
let a smile play on her lips again as she stood the orbs forming at
her palms.

This would happen, this was really about to
occur. I felt excited, elated then it dawned on me. No matter how
many times we struck the other on this astral plane there was no
way either one of us would be able to throw the final blow.

“I will find you Miranda, and when I do I
will turn you to ash.” I declared letting the fire fizzle back into
my wrists. She looked at me and her smile faded the orbs at her
palms going out. “There is nothing either of us can do on this
field. Either way it goes we will both open our eyes and nothing
will be different.”

“As you wish Raven Princess, however, you
have to find me first.” She let out an evil laugh and disappeared
in a cloud of smoke. I coughed and sat down in the chair taking two
more shots and pulling myself awake.

I laid there 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 like him, and it brought
tears to my eyes, the memory. I used his soap that 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 both clean and
pained. Like my heart was being broken all over again.

The pain was still there, each time I
thought of him the ache would get worse until the pain of my stone
heart being ground into pebbles was too much for me to bear. I got
dressed, threw my hair up in a ponytail opting for the no makeup
look for the day. I would have to face Aaron. I was not
anticipating this in any way.