Page 4 of Property of Fire

“I don’t get it,”my best friend of all time, Kinley, mutters through the phone. “Why is it you don’t want to tell Heat about what happened?”

“You know why,” I tell her with an exasperated sigh.

“I know what happened, and I get I’m sworn to secrecy. You know I won’t tell your secrets to anyone, but come on, babe, we both know this isn’t something you can keep from anyone. Most definitely not if what you think is true and your trouble is catching up with you. I think you should tell Heat. Or at least Fire or Brimstone. You know they’ll listen to you.”

“Yeah, they’ll listen and then take me right to my brother, who will then hide me away from the world until I’m old and gray. I do that, you might as well put me in a convent and declare me a nun. I’ll never lose my virginity at that point.”

“Eve, I think that’s a bit dramatic, don’t you?” Kinley laughs. What she finds funny I don’t know, but I’m dead serious about this. Heat will never leave me alone if he knows. I’ve kept it to myself this long. I’ll keep doing so. He doesn’t need to know what caused me to leave school when I did. Nor does he need to know why I dropped out and won’t go back. Kinley knows only because she’s my bestest of best friends and has always kept my secrets.

“I don’t think I’m being dramatic at all. It’s the truth, and we both know it. I mean, think about all the times in high school when he or one of the other members of his club would scare off the boys I tried to date. I didn’t even have a date to the prom because he threatened to rip Eric Marker’s dick off if he so much as hugged me.”

Kinley bursts into a fit of giggles that I find highly annoying. If I didn’t know her as I do, I’d hang up on her and not speak to her again for weeks . . . no . . . months . . . maybe a full entire year, but alas, I do know her, and she’s my Kinley which means she laughs at the world. Nothing phases her as it does me.

Where my best friend is strong, I’m totally not. I might be able to throw attitude toward my brother and those at the club, but around others . . . nope, I find I struggle to open up and allow myself to do such a thing. Kinley’s told me more than once to screw the world and be who I am. But it’s hard when I don’t even know the answer to that.

What everyone sees is that I’m Heat’s little sister. Untouchable. At least around here. At school, I was the girl who had her nose stuck in the books. I didn’t party. At least not often. I made a couple friends at school and was known to be their friend. The one time someone took the time to get to know me, it was the biggest mistake of my life. I had gotten noticed by some seriously bad dudes, and because of this, I ran home without looking back. That wasn’t enough, though. A part of me knows that they’re not done with me. They just haven’t found me yet.

“So, what are you going to do now?” Kinley asks, drawing me out of my head after she finishes giggling her head off.

“I don’t know. For now, though, I’m going to finish work and get ready to head home. Once I get there, I’ll probably fall into bed and repeat the day all over again. Including the argument with my brother,” I tell her, sighing. My eyes go to the computer to see it is well after one in the morning, nearly two. I need to get out of here, but I wanted to talk to Kinley before heading out. Mostly because she was a night person, and that’s when she was out and about.

“I think you need to talk to him. Tell him what’s going on. Or at least talk to Fire,” she urges. “Maybe even Brimstone.”

Groaning, I close my eyes and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I tell them, they’ll go straight to my brother and tell on me.”

“You never know.”

Oh, I know. I don’t have to tell her that, though. She’s just doing her duty as my best friend.

“How about your next day off, we’ll come up with a game plan for you telling him?” she suggests.

“Ugh, fine.” I give in, but that doesn’t mean I’m actually going to tell my brother anything. Straightening in my chair, I let out a heavy breath. “Call me later, and we’ll make plans. I need to get off here, finish this paperwork, and head home.”

“Okay, I’ll call you tomorrow,” Kinley remarks, and we hang up.

Tossing my phone on the top of the desk, I ignore the clatter of it and get back to finishing up the nightly work. You’d think my job was easy, but it never is. Once I finish, I gather my things together and get to my feet. I know I’m supposed to text Flash or Inferno before leaving so they could escort me to my car, but I don’t. I haven’t in months. They know this, and typically, I see one or the other outside in the back, watching from the doors when they’re on. When they’re not, one of the bouncers who rotates between the two sections can be seen watching.

I take the time to shut everything down and head for the doors. Being that it was Sunday, we closed earlier than we do other nights. It’s the only day we close at one rather than three. We’re not your average bar that closes down every night at one. Mainly because of the fact we have supernatural patrons that come in here. This gives a little more time to hang around, drink, and do what they please to have some fun. However, we do have rules that all patrons, no matter whether they are supernatural or not, all have to abide by.

Making my way out to my car, I keep my keys tight in my hands and watch my surroundings. Not seeing anything wrong, I unlock my car and get in. Still not seeing anything out of the ordinary, including Flash standing in the shadows of the doors. I decide I’m getting myself worked up for nothing. Mainly because of the earlier argument with Heat. He has a way of getting under my skin, and it’s bugging me.

Finally, I start my car, put it in gear, and make my way out of the parking lot onto the road. The feeling that something’s up doesn’t go away. I turn off the main road onto the one that leads home. A house that I rent from a local farmer. It’s cute. It’s homie. It’s also just down the road from Fire’s house, which he’s been remodeling, which is also down the road a ways from the clubhouse.

It’s probably the only reason Heat didn’t flip his shit as much as he did when I told him about moving out and finding my own place. He knew the farmer, if he’d wanted, he could have made it harder for me. But he left it alone, thankfully.

I make it home and instantly know that feeling that I felt, meant whatever was going on, it was going on in my house. I start to put my car in reverse and pull out when I see them.

“Don’t even think about it,” Holstein, the ringleader smirks. “Get out of the car, Evelin.” His thick accent sends shivers down my spine.

Slowly, I reach into the door of my car and grab the bottles I need. I don’t know if they’ll actually work, but I paid a mint to have them on hand. Several vials filled with an elixir filled with the essence of juniper, ash, roses, and weirdly enough, wolfbane. I didn’t ask questions about the mixture and what it’s supposed to do. I just knew that I was to toss it at them if they came at me.

I keep the vials tight in my hand while opening the door and get out slowly, not taking my eyes off Holstein. I saw his friends, Zaff and Gale, shifting from around my car to stand at Holstein’s back.

“What are you doing here, Holstein?” I manage to ask without so much as a hint of fear in my voice. I just hoped he couldn’t sense the fear rushing through my veins while my heart felt like it might just come out of my chest.

“I’ve come for you, baby. Why else would I be here?” he answers, smirking that sadistic grin of his.

At school, when I first met Holstein, I didn’t know who or what he was. He didn’t tell me. We hadn’t known much about each other, but we were getting to know one another. Or that’s what I thought. One night, though, I saw him for who he really is. A monster. I saw him rip apart a woman while shoving himself inside her. I could still hear her screams. They haunt me.

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