A Night of Flame and Blood Read online

  “And what was it?” The curiosity was evident in his tone.

  “So, you’re allowed to ask me about my dreams, but I can’t ask you anything. Is this how it’s going to work?”

  “You couldn’t ask me yesterday.” He whispered more quietly than before, “but today I can answer a few things; just not here.” He looked around. “And maybe you should save the dream for later, too. I don’t even know why I was asking you. I guess I was just curious.”

  “So later?” I asked. I was dying to learn more.

  He thought about it. “Sure, later.”

  “Mr. Hanna.” Rebecca’s voice called from the back. “I don’t get these problems you assigned.” She currently had two partners because she was sitting alone—probably still hoping Daston would sit next to her. Her partners were her two cheerleader best friends. They sometimes came over to our house and had sleepovers with Rebecca.

  “Well, Miss Guerra, you have to resolve them with your partners.” Mr. Hanna perched his glasses on the tip of his nose.

  “Can I switch partners? I think I need someone else to help me.” She pouted her full pink lips. Oh no. I could see where this was going.

  “I don’t see any problem with that.” Mr. Hanna answered in a bored tone.

  “Thank you.” She squeaked innocently. Only I could see the horns popping out. She gathered her papers and came straight toward Daston and I. Without giving it another thought she pulled up and empty chair and sat it next to Daston; a little too close to him.

  “So, Daston, I hear you’re good with math.” She said smiling prettily at him, her dimple in full view. Her shiny brown hair shimmered down her shoulders and her eyes appeared larger with the dose of mascara she dabbed on.

  “Really, from whom might I ask?”

  “Well, because you and Brianna worked on homework together yesterday.” Crap.

  “Did we?” He turned his head towards me. I gave him a pleading look with my eyes. “Oh yes, we did.”

  I exhaled, relieved that he had backed me up.

  “Right after I had my way with her on the restaurant table.” He said nonchalantly.

  My jaw nearly dropped. Shit, I spoke to soon.

  “You what? With my sister, what?” Rebecca was speechless.

  “Oh gosh, he’s joking Rebecca.” I said quickly. “Seriously, how could you believe that? And you,” I pointed at Daston, “Have got to stop making all these sexual comments.”

  “Sexual comments,” He smirked. “And here I thought we were talking about the lovely dinner we had.”

  I snorted. “Oh, I’m sure that’s what you were talking about.”

  “Why are you trying to dirty my gentleman manners with your sick mind?” He held a hand to his chest in mock horror.

  “Ha, gentleman manner. You wouldn’t know a gentleman if he poked you in the eye with his pinky finger.”

  “Yes, my dear, but then he wouldn’t be a gentleman.” A throat clearing forced us to straighten. We had been unconsciously leaning towards each other; our arms were brushing, our chest nearly meeting.

  “Well, going back to the class work.” Rebecca began; it had been her throat that had cleared.

  “Yes, Rebecca, back to the work.” Daston stared at her straight in the eyes clearly flustering her. “You can copy my work, I finished it minutes ago, and then when you’re done you can time a certain experiment I thought of. It’s about human pheromones; I want to see how long Brianna could resist mine before we have at it. You could time that too if you want.”

  I elbowed him, hard, in the ribs, but it just ended up hurting my elbow. He was more muscular than I expected. Not to the extreme where it looked creepy; he had long lean muscles which looked wonderful.

  I shot him a glare. He was doing this on purpose. “Fine, I guess I might lose against Brianna’s pheromones too. They do smell quite intoxicating; mouthwatering.” His eyes glinted dangerously.

  Rebecca kept looking back and forth between us. “Well, Rebecca, you wanted to know how Daston is, and now you have unleashed the asshole.” I told her.

  She was speechless; she sat there staring straight at the white board. She had previously witnessed Daston’s charms, but they were not as straightforward as this. I could see she was processing the fact on whether Daston was worth it. Rebecca liked her men to tell her how pretty she was, and to always admire her. She did not want a smart mouth, who said what he wanted, and was a major tease.

  “I think you pushed her to the edge.” I whispered to Daston. Rebecca’s eyes looked empty.

  “She’ll get over it.” He shrugged. “You still want to do the experiment?” He grinned.

  “Shut up.” I laughed.

  “Is that a yes?” His eyes were smoldering. I did not answer.

  When the bell rang I fully expected Daston to rush out of the room. He surprised me when he stayed in his seat. I put all my things back into my backpack, watching as Rebecca slowly got out of her seat and left. I stood up to leave when I felt a tug on the back of my shirt.

  “You don’t have anything important to do right now, do you?” He asked.

  “Aside from going to class, no I don’t.”

  “Good, let’s go.” He jumped out of his seat and pulled me out of the classroom, leading me into the hallway. He pushed his way through the horde of people who were in our way.

  “Where are we going?”

  He turned his head towards me, “somewhere we could be alone.”

  We waited till the hallway cleared before I let him take me out of school. It was easier than I expected, we simply walked out the front double door and were met by no opposition. Why hadn’t I done this before?

  His black Mercedes was parked in the back of the parking lot. I was worried that a school official would spot us, but again, no one was out there. It was too easy, getting out of school.

  When we reached his car, he went ahead of me and opened the passenger door. I slid in without any comment, use to his antics now.

  “Why didn’t you bring your car to school yesterday?” I asked when he came inside the car.

  “I only bring it when I am expecting to drive beautiful women around.” He winked at me. I scoffed, pretending to be unaffected that he called me beautiful.

  “So, you brought your car only because you were planning on ditching with me. What else can I make you do?” I said jokingly.

  “Anything you want, darling.”

  I chose to ignore the sexual innuendo. Daston sped away, leaving the school behind.

  “So, are we going to any place in particular?” I asked once we were settled in.

  “Nope, we are staying in the car.” I looked at him weirdly. “What, there’s no place safer than in this baby.” He patted the steering wheel lovingly.

  “So, what, your car has armor that protects against demons.” I clasped my hand over my mouth hard enough to make a smacking sound. I could not believe I’d said that out loud.

  Daston did not say anything, but he gripped the wheel tighter. I could see the blue veins bulging out of the back of his hands; they looked like they were going to explode from the force.

  “Not armor.” He finally answered. “I just know for sure that no one is in here hearing us.” Like a demon? Was I actually believing this now? I think I was. I spent all those years helping Robert out convincing myself that all these things were crap, but maybe deep down I believed it as much as Robert did. Why else would I have helped him out for so long?

  “Let me get this straight. I needed to read the book that say’s nothing about this crap because—“

  “Well, I would prefer you had the other book, but you don’t.”

  “What other book?”

  “The one you were supposed to get.” He said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. I’m sure my faced conveyed how lost I felt. “Hell, that’s right, you don’t know anything about this.” He looked like he was struggling to find the right words. “You see, you were supposed to be given a book when you
became of age.”

  “But I’m still not of age, I’m only sixteen…”

  “Not that age, its different, it’s more like when you hit puberty. You were chosen at a young age, and the one who chose you was supposed to give you a book when you became of age. That way you wouldn’t be heading into this blindly.” He rushed out.

  Puberty. I hit it when I was around eleven. In my sixth grade year.

  “What happened to me when I became of age?”

  He looked at me with those deep green eyes before he answered. “You became a seer. Well technically you already were, it just laid dormant within you until you matured.”

  A seer, why did that name sound so familiar to me? Where had I heard it before?

  “Why didn’t I get the book?”

  He looked at me sincerely, “I don’t know. A seer is never left blind, it’s unheard of.” Worried lines appeared on his face. “We can’t let anyone find out about you. If they know that there is an untrained seer, well.” He shot a nervous glance at me. “Let’s just say you don’t want to find out.”

  I knew it; all along I knew I was different. It just felt weird to have my suspicions confirmed. I felt like a huge weight lifted off me. I finally knew what was wrong with me, but what the hell is a seer?

  “So, I’m a seer.” He nodded. “And what is that, exactly?”

  He exhaled, frustrated. “I really should not be the one telling you this.” His face looked defeated. “I’ll try though.”

  “Yes.” I encouraged.

  “You see a seer, see’s things.” He said, stating the obvious. “Things that haven’t happened and things that have. They look between the past and the future so they could act on the present.” We were traveling away from the town. I could see the houses begin to fade from the window, merging into trees. Orange and green trees began to blend together; the interstate became longer, curving downward in the end where it disappeared.

  “So, I could see things, like the past, and also the future?”

  “Yes.” He said it like if he was in pain.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” He shook his head. “I’m not supposed to tell you this.”

  “And why not. Who has forbidden you?” I argued. Daston was always doing things his way, who could have this much influence over him?

  He smiled at me. “It does not matter.” I tried to argue that it did matter, but he shook his head at me, ending any further inquiries. I frowned at him. He smiled at my anger. “It’s complicated, maybe I’ll tell you one day, but today’s not about me. Since no one showed you the ropes, I guess I have to do it. If you want?” He was giving me a choice. I already knew the answer.

  “Yes, I do want you to.” I wanted nothing more than to know who I was.

  “Good, but I’ll warn you, I might not a very good teacher.”

  “I don’t care. I have to take what I can get, right.” I joked. It worked he laughed. His eyes crinkled up in the sides, and I saw light dimples appear on his cheeks.

  I went back to business before I got too caught up on his dimpling cheeks. “So, does it only come in my dreams, these visions.”

  The car jerked sideways, scaring me before Daston righted it. “What?” He asked. “Oh man we got our work cut out for us.” His eyes became stressed. “You mean you’re still not able to get your visions at will?”

  “At will? I can do that?”

  “Yes, you can.” He looked frustrated again. “When you are sleeping, you’re more in tune with the natural order of your body, but you’ve got to learn how to harness that while you are awake. That way you’re open to your visions. You don’t know how much you need this.”

  “No, I don’t know, why don’t you tell me, everything.”

  He looked desperate before a determination overtook his features. “Ok, I’ll try, but I don’t know everything. I could only tell you the parts I know. What you really need is your book. We’ve got to find it, it could be anywhere.”

  “Book, Seer, Book.” I mumbled. “Do you know the name of the book?”

  “Well, every seer has a unique book; it comes to them in a form that is best for the seer. The name could be anything; it’s made for the seer to recognize it.” He looked pensive.

  “But I don’t know anything about this book. If it comes in a form I would recognize, then wouldn’t the name have to be something obvious? Otherwise, how would I know what it is?”

  His eyes brightened, for the first time he looked hopeful. “You’re right, it would have to be something obvious.”

  A very clear image of a large old fashioned book on top of a dresser came to mind. “I need The Seer’s Handbook.” I said suddenly.

  Chapter 11

  Daston looked at me in shock. I would too if someone who was supposed to know nothing knew the most important thing.

  “You’ve seen the book. No wait, scratch that, you had the book with you, and you didn’t think to grab it.”

  “It’s not my book, it’s Roberts. He has it. I saw it in on his dresser.” Well, I only took a very brief glance at the book.

  “So, you’ve read it.” He asked hopefully. My face fell, “You haven’t read it have you?”

  “No. I only saw it briefly. I think Robert’s keeping it from me. I only saw it by chance.” I confessed.

  “Wow, great friend you have there.” He bit out. I glared at him. I didn’t like the back handed comment he threw towards Robert.

  “He’s the best actually. And he has his reasons.” I defended. Robert was acting secretive and mysterious, but he was still my best friend. I was not going to let anyone insult him.

  “Really and what would that reason be?”

  “I.., he...”

  Daston had a victorious look in his eyes. I felt my ears burn hot. “He didn’t tell you did he.” He smirked.

  “Well, no.” I sagged. I hated how Daston looked so self-assured. I wanted to club him over the head with my backpack. “Fine, I’ll get the book.” I spat.

  “How?”

  I was actually planning on sneaking in through Robert’s window in the middle of the night but admitting that to Daston did not seem like a good idea.

  “I’m going to ask him for it.” I lied.

  “You’re lying.”

  “What?”

  “You’re lying.” He repeated. “An innocent girl like you can’t lie properly; you always get this guilty look in your eyes when you do it.”

  “I’ve been told I’m a good liar. I can fool almost anyone.”

  “Almost being the optimal word. Anyways, how are you really going to get the book?”

  “I was going to sneak into his room.” I mumbled.

  “Sneak into his room?” He asked surprised. “Have you no respect? No decency what so over…. I like it. I think I’ll join you.”

  “Excuse me, I don’t need you to come with me, I could do it myself.” I huffed. Who did he think he was, my bodyguard?

  “I wasn’t asking. I was telling you that I am coming.” His eyes were hard; his grip around the wheel tightened then relaxed. He was not going to let me say no. I looked out the window hoping to defuse my anger with some nature.

  “Why do you even want to come?” He pulled the car off of the interstate and into the gravel path beside it. He turned off the engine and twisted in his seat to face me directly. There were trees all around the interstate, all gold leaves and browning. The forest was thick on both sides. It looked like we were in the middle of a forest wonderland. I would not be surprised if Bambi showed up.

  “Why? Do you really have to ask me that?”

  I looked at him, I was sure my expression said yeah you do.

  “Fine, I’m going because I am not about to let you go out, alone, especially at night.” He looked angry. His nostrils were flared, and his handsome face looked a little scary.

  “How do you know I’m going at night?”

  “What time does anyone go when they’re sneaking into someone’s house? At
night of course, no one sneaks in broad daylight. That would be stupid.”

  “It still doesn’t mean that you have to come. The neighborhood I live in is calm. Nothing’s going to happen to me if I simply walk a couple of blocks, in the dark.”

  “Walk? Now I’m really going.” He reached up and tangled his fingers through his thick hair, tugging at it in frustration. “How could you even think about going alone, at night, and to make everything worse, walking. Didn’t I just tell you the danger you are in. You think I am going to let you out of my sight.”

  “I don’t need your protection. Plus, you haven’t even told me anything about this. You just warn me, but what is it that is apparently trying to get me?” I asked between clenched teeth.

  “Do you really want me to say it?” His voice had gotten scary low. His eyes challenging.

  “Yes?” I said it like a question, suddenly unsure.

  “Demon.” The simple word held so much meaning to me. I had studied demons the past five years of my life; though mostly I looked through the information as a disbeliever. Now suddenly the word demon was something to be taken seriously. It was no longer a word in a book. It was a word chosen to describe where my life was heading, into the grasps of a demon.

  “Demon. You mean like actual horns popping out, straight out of hell demon.”

  His face cracked a smile, finding my comment amusing. “Well not exactly a horn and tail. There not that obvious; they’ll just be covered in flames from head to toe.” My eyes popped out in shock. “Or maybe they’ll just look like average normal people, blending into our society.” He finished.

  “Average normal people?” I asked.

  He nodded.

  “You are telling me a demon—and I really can’t believe I’m using this word in a serious context—can sneak up on me at any time without me knowing.”

  “Exactly.” He replied, his voice sounded bored. “Still want to take that walk at night.” He teased.