Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series (25 page)

He looked the same as he had at school,
apparently he was one of those take me as I am kind of guys. I
suppose I could go with that. I invited him inside and led him to
the living room where my mother was sitting, the sketch book still
open in her lap.

“Mom, this is Aaron.” I said as sweetly as I
could.

She looked up and gave him an award winning
smile.

“Nice to meet you Aaron, what do you have
planned for this evening?” She looked at me and winked.

“We are just going up to the pool hall to
shoot a few rounds. I promise to have her home at a reasonable
hour.” He was very polite, and it seemed to appease my mother.

“What do you believe to be a reasonable
hour?” She asked.

“I promise to have her home by eleven.” He
smiled at her.

“Eleven works.” She answered. “You kids have
fun.” She was taunting me now.

She knew that I wasn’t going to be having
any fun. I looked over at Aaron I knew I would be sorry for
everything that I would wind up doing to this boy, but at the same
time I really didn’t care. When we got out to my driveway I nearly
fell over at the sight of his car. He drove a 1969 Dodge Charger,
yellow with black racing stripes.

“This yours?” I asked.

“Yeah, my father and I put her together. I
don’t drive her to school, but I figured that it was ok to bring
out for tonight.” He flashed me a smile as he opened the passenger
door for me. I got in the car, black leather interior and it
smelled like vanilla.

“This is beautiful, I am impressed Aaron.” I
wanted to touch everything in the car.

“That was kind of the point.” He
laughed.

“Oh.” I blushed momentarily.

We wound up at a local pool hall on probably
the busiest night of the year, not a single table was open. The
place smelled so strongly of cigarette smoke and alcohol both of us
were gagging in the few minutes we were in the bar.

“Let’s get out of here, want to go to the
park and just hang out?” He asked once we got outside and sucked in
the beauty of fresh air.

“Yeah, that sounds like fun.” I lied, but it
couldn’t be that bad I mean he was being a complete gentleman.

I was shocked when he reached over and took
my hand. It felt foreign and wrong but I was all about things that
were wrong it seemed so I laced my fingers through his.

The drive was short. The next thing I knew
we were perched on the top of a picnic table looking face to face.
He was picking at the wood taking glances here and there at me.

“I’m sorry it took so long for me to ask you
out.” He said quietly.

I laughed. “What do you mean took so long?
You just started talking to me today.”

“I wanted to talk to you when you first got
here, I mean.” He sighed. “As you can tell Midvale is not the most
socially acceptable town. I’ve been here my whole life which is
probably the only reason anyone still talks to me.” He looked
towards the trees and squinted.

I turned around and saw two shadows in the
tree line hanging all over one another. I saw a flash of red hair
and heard two people laughing.

Are you kidding me!

“Looks like we are not the only ones that
found the park a good place to chill.” He let out a nervous
giggle.

I looked back at him and reacted. I really
had no clue what the Hell I was doing, but I pressed my lips to
Aaron’s as I heard the two people getting closer. He was hesitant
at first but gave into my kiss as he pulled me closer. I wound my
arms around his neck. Again it felt foreign and wrong, but yet oh
so sweet.

He deepened the kiss which made it even more
immoral but I was bound and determined to make Wesley feel like he
was two inches tall. That’s when I felt a pair of hands pull us
apart. When I opened my eyes I was staring at a set of very pissed
of blue orbs glaring at me and ready to swing at Aaron.

“Dawn, what the Hell do you think you are
doing?” He asked me his voice shaking.

“I’m on a date Wesley.” I glanced at
Miranda. “Which is what I assume you are doing.”

Aaron was noticeably confused. He pulled
himself off the table and held his hand out for me.

“You want to leave Dawn?” He asked as I
accepted his hand and let him help me to the ground.

Wesley glanced at Aaron briefly. “Can you
give us a second blondie?” I heard Aaron groan, and I looked at him
and nodded.

“I will meet you at the car in like five
minutes.” I gave him a wink and a squeeze on the hand.

He gave me a forced smile and walked towards
his car. I looked at Miranda who was watching him walk away like he
was a tasty morsel.

“Keep your fangs holstered super bitch.” I
bit at her. She snapped her head towards me and I could hear a
rumble run through her chest.

“Miranda.” Wesley looked at the red head.
“Can you give us five minutes?” She whispered some profanity’s and
glared at me before turning to walk in the opposite direction.

“What do you want now?” I demanded crossing
my arms over my chest.

“I want to know why you are out with Aaron
Matthews. This isn’t like you Dawn. You aren’t reckless. How do you
know he isn’t going to try anything?” He was irritated I could
sense that, and I felt elated.

“What does it matter to you? Look at you out
here with Miranda. If you can go out and have fun with your new
squeeze then I can do the same. Now if it’s all the same Wesley I
would like to get back to my date.” I was irritated myself.

“Fine, just don’t expect me to save you if
he tries anything.”

Was he threatening me?

“You didn’t save me when someone did do
something to me. NO that was Adam.” I turned on my heel and left
him standing there fuming.

What was that ass thinking trying to tell me
who I could and could not date?

When I got to the car, Aaron was standing in
front of the vehicle. I knew he had been watching the whole ordeal
ready to be my knight in shining armor if I needed him to be.

When I got close enough to him he wrapped
his arms around my waist and pulled me in for a hug. I just let him
put his arms around me where I knew Wesley could see. No matter how
wrong it felt my body didn’t protest.

“You ok?” Aaron whispered in my ear.

“Yeah, I’m sorry I wasn’t expecting him to
be out here.” I pulled back and looked into Aaron’s blue eyes. They
weren’t captivating, but they were very pretty.

“Neither was I.” He leaned in and kissed me
briefly on the lips.

He had me home ten minutes to eleven and
even walked me to the door. I didn’t sense my mother anywhere in
the living area as I dug in my pocket for my house key. Once I had
it in my hand I turned to face Aaron again. He reached down and
grabbed my other hand placing his free one on my waist.

“I had fun.” He said biting his lip.

“Yeah all things considered I did too.” I
let out a soft laugh and looked towards the darkness.

“Can I take you out again sometime?” He
asked

“Yeah, I think you can.” I gave him a
smile.

Why did I have the feeling that this wasn’t
in my best interest?

“Call you tomorrow?” He said.

“Yeah, that would be nice.” He gave me a
quick kiss and turned to walk away.

I unlocked the door and entered the living
room, that’s when I heard the click of a light bulb and I knew my
intuition had been incorrect she had been in the living room the
whole time.

“Hi mom.” I turned to hang my key up on a
hook.

When she didn’t answer I turned around
quickly. It wasn’t my mother at all. In fact, sitting in the
recliner facing me was the black eyes of my father.

"You don't look so happy to see me Dawn." He
said standing up.

I had forgotten how tall he was, he was
towering over me by a good foot at least. I swallowed hard and just
stared at him.

“Just surprised.” I muttered looking at him
with wide eyes.

"I was in town and I thought I would stop by
and have a little check in with your mother." He grinned. "I had
forgotten how beautiful she was. Also how annoyingly goody goody."
Still I said nothing just stared at him.

I wanted to pinch him, or pinch myself. I
wanted to know if this was some form of dream of if my dad was
really standing right here.

"No Dawn, I am real." He winked at me and
pointed at my head. "I can read your mind." He grinned again. He
was walking circles around me just looking me up and down. "You've
changed a lot. I thought you would be more like your mother. All
Heaven fire and punishment. Shocked to see that you have a bit more
of me in you than I thought." He laughed.

"Why are you here dad?" I asked flatly
regaining my train of thought.

"I told you. I was in town." He stopped and
grabbed my shoulders spinning me to face him. "That and I got a
very disturbing call from your mother awhile back and I figured it
was time that I came to see you since you made no attempt to reach
me with the message from our little friend." He was bitter all of a
sudden.

I could feel his power radiating through my
body.

Was he doing what mom did? Getting the truth
by touch?

"No, Dawn I am not like your mother. While
she can pull the truth from you in images the only gift I have of
the mind is the ability to read it."

Would he stop doing
that
!

"Now what did that piece of filth have to
say to you?" He growled.

"How much did mom tell you?" I asked dryly
not really sure I wanted to have this talk.

"Not much, I could tell she was hiding
something because she kept skipping over my questions." He stepped
back.

He looked handsome enough, his black hair
slicked back and his pin stripped Armani suit was perfectly
tailored to fit his thin frame.

"If it was important I'm sure she would have
told me. I mean she wouldn't keep secrets from me about our
daughter, right?" He cocked and eyebrow.

"I'm sure she had her reasons." I swallowed
again and looked at the ground.

"Damn straight I had my reasons." my
mother’s voice was tense as she came walking into the living room.
"It wasn't my place to tell him everything. I figured though that
he would get here faster if I told him that John had escaped from
Hell. I suppose I was wrong. I'm sure something else more important
came up." I didn't like the bitterness in my mother’s voice it made
me shiver.

"Ah, Angelina, always such a graceful
entrance. Oh and that mouth." Were these two going to fight all
night or was something going to actually be accomplished.

"Why thank you Damien. Sometimes I feel like
I should have smite you when I had the chance." She said
sarcastically. "Our daughter has been in some trouble lately. I
kept telling her to call you, but well, let's face it she's more
stubborn than you."

“How can that be possible? Nobody is as
stubborn as me.” He joked. “But on a serious note. What kind of
trouble?"

“She met a boy.” My mother started.

“Oh a boy.” He said dryly.

“The boy has a leach attached to him, a
German leach," My father raised an eyebrow and glanced at me, "The
boy was attacked by vampires and our daughter assisted in his
rescue. Not long after that she was attacked by John. Since then
it's been drama, drama, drama. What I wouldn't give for her to have
a normal life." My mother stopped and tucked her hands in her
pockets.

"John attacked her?" The blood had drained
from his face as he hands gripped around my wrists pulling me close
to him.

"If her friend hadn't of come when he did
she would be dead." My head shot towards her. I knew I wasn't
immortal but how could that demon have killed me? He was less than
me.

"Did he?" My father's voice shook and my
mother nodded before my father pulled me in for a hug.

It was awkward being in his arms again after
all these years. Even more awkward still was the fact that I felt
like he actually did love me.

"Oh my sweet princess." He sniffed cradling
my head to his chest.

Why was everyone Hell bent on calling me
‘princess’?

I was pretty much motionless. Two weeks ago
I might have actually cried with him but I only felt hollow.

"Why did you not tell me this on the phone?"
He demanded.

"Damien do you think it would have brought
you here quicker? You have a whole new life now. A wife, your job.
I wasn't going to tell you this and expect you to come running. Not
when Dawn herself wasn't sure she wanted to tell you." My mother
was being softer but I could still sense that she was cross.

"Dawn is my daughter too! I distinctly
remember being tossed from my comfortable home because I knocked
you up." He looked at me. "You would think that centuries of
messing around with an angel would have taught me something.
Instead I wind up with no home and have to deal with your mother's
constant blubbering about how God kicked her form Heaven."

"Yes, and I had to deal with your constant
complaining how you lost your ability to mutate." My mother bit
back. "This isn't about us Damien, this is about Dawn."

He looked at me concerned as I just stood
limp pulled against his chest. I struggled to pull away, but he
held tightly.

"Ok so you need me to deal with John. Fine I
will deal with John." He let me go, and I pushed myself back behind
my mother, I had a feeling that I was at least safe there.

"It's not just John." She motioned for him
to follow her as she led him to the kitchen where the sketchbook
sat on the table. "There is far more going on than just a leach.
Can you put our differences aside for an old friend?" She asked
nicely, my father nodded.

"The boy that Dawn met is Wesley Jensen, the
son of Greta and Greg Jensen." My father’s eyes lit up in
recognition.

Did he know all the things that Wesley's
mother had said?