Burning Alive

“There is no door number three,” said Drake, his expression hard, unyielding.



“Sure there is. It’s the one where you take me and Miss Mabel back to Olathe and we live happily ever after.”



“Miss Mabel can go back as soon as we’ve ensured her safety. You, on the other hand, can’t.”



“Yeah, see, here’s the thing. I’m what they call a grown-up.” She made air quotes with her fingers just to piss him off. “Which means I get to make my own decisions. If you’re not willing to drive me back into town, then I’ll happily call a cab.”



Drake took a step forward, then stopped, curling his hands into fists at his sides. “I would have thought you’d seen enough tonight to drive all the stupid right out of you, but apparently, I was wrong.”



“It’s not stupid for me to want to go home.”



“You have no home. All you have is a pile of ash and blackened rubble.”



Helen flinched at the words, feeling a sick twisting in the pit of her stomach. He was right, and she knew it, but that didn’t make dealing with it any easier. She’d come to love her new home and now it was gone.



“Don’t be such an insensitive ass, Drake,” scolded Thomas. “I realize what you’ve got at stake here, but this is not the way to go about getting Helen’s agreement.”



“What agreement?” she asked. “I don’t know anything about any agreement.”



The microwave pinged and Slade set a bowl of steaming ravioli in front of her. Helen ate some because she needed the food more than she wanted it.



Drake shoved a wide hand through his hair in frustration. He’d found dry jeans and a clean shirt somewhere, which Helen had to admit was a damn shame. He looked good shirtless, even when she was mad at him. “You’re going to need some help putting your life back together,” he said as if it was the beginning of a speech he’d practiced in front of the mirror. “And I want to help you do that.”



“I appreciate the offer, but I’ll be fine. I have obligations. I need to get back to town so I can make arrangements for tomorrow’s meals and visits.”



“You can’t go back to town,” said Slade from behind her. “You’re wanted as a ‘person of interest’ in connection to the fires tonight.”



“I’m what?” She hadn’t meant to bellow it, but that was just too damn bad.



Slade’s friendly smile fell off his face, leaving a blunt cliff of flat features. “I heard it on the news. They found your car at the diner. Then when your house burned down ... I guess the police thought they should find you. The reporter said that it wasn’t the first fire connected with your name. I mean, they didn’t say it or anything, but they made it sound like you’re wanted for arson.”



Well, wasn’t that just the whipped cream on the pile of shit her day had been. There was no way she’d be able to explain to the police what had happened without getting charged with arson or thrown in a loony bin. Or both. Definitely both if the way her life was going was any indication.



Helen suddenly felt too tired to move. She slumped over and propped her head on her palms, staring into the steaming bowl of kid food. A warm, strong hand settled on her back and she knew instantly it wasn’t Drake’s.



“Get your hands off her, Thomas,” growled Drake. She could almost hear the sound of grating teeth in his words.



“Screw you. The woman needs comfort.”



Helen needed a lot more than that, but she kept her mouth shut. She didn’t have enough energy to gripe at them. She barely had enough energy to care that her whole world had been turned upside down. If it weren’t for all those people counting on her, she might have just found a nice, comfy spot on the floor and escaped her problems in the oblivion of sleep.



But she did have those people counting on her, so she forced herself to think. To care. To pull herself back together so that she could fulfill her responsibilities. “Will one of you loan me a car or not?”



“Not,” said Drake. “But I will make sure that the people you take care of are safe.”



Helen looked up. “How? I thought you had some sword to go after or something. Do you really think you’ll have a few hours to spend preparing and delivering meals to elderly shut-ins?”



“Slade and Vance can do that tomorrow, right?” He looked pointedly at the two young men, who were both nodding and grinning, eager to help.



“Me, too,” said Carmen.



“Are you even old enough to drive?” asked Thomas, slanting her a skeptical look.



Carmen shot him a hormone-filled, lust-glazed look. “I’m eighteen, old enough for whatever service you might need me to provide, Theronai.”



Oh yeah. Carmen was way into Thomas, but none of the men seemed to notice it.



“Good,” said Drake. “You can help, too, then.”



Carmen smiled a slow, sexy smile and Thomas’s eyes narrowed in confusion as he looked at her. He tilted his head from one side to the other like a dog trying to understand a new word. A split second later, Thomas’s eyes widened in shock and a blush crept up his thick neck.



Thomas had figured it out. Finally. At least he’d figured out that Carmen had a crush on him. Whether or not he’d figured out what to do about it was another story entirely.



Thomas turned back to his map slowly and stared at it as if it held the meaning of life.



“What about Miss Mabel?” asked Helen. “She needs a new walker and to go home.”



“She needs more than that,” said Thomas, clutching on to the topic like a lifeline. “She’s going to need the memories of tonight wiped from her mind.”



“You’re going to what?” demanded Helen. She shot to her feet.



“Uh, sorry,” said Thomas, looking between her and Drake and back again. “I thought you knew.”



“That you were going to screw with my friend’s mind? I think I would have remembered that one. Unless you’ve done something to my memories, too.” Just the thought of it made her sick. It was such an intimate violation, and nothing in her experience gave her any way to justify such a horrible thing.



“No one’s altered your memories,” assured Drake.



“Yeah, like I can trust you to tell the truth. How can anyone trust a group of people who can erase memories ? That’s like trusting a bunch of pedophiles to run a day care.”



Drake circled the table, his mouth flat with anger, but before he could reach her, Thomas shoved Helen behind his big body. “You told me not to let you touch her again. Remember the pain?”



Drake spat out a hissing curse, backed up a step and shoved his hands into his pockets. When he spoke, his words were clipped and precise with rage. “Do not compare what we do to deviants like that. You have no idea of the sacrifices we’ve made to keep people like Miss Mabel safe. I’ve watched hundreds of people I love die in order to protect humans. Hundreds.”



Helen had nothing to say to that. She’d spoken in anger, but maybe she’d judged too quickly. He was right that she had no idea about what his life was like. How could she? Everything she’d seen tonight was completely out of the realm of reality for her.



This was all getting out of hand and if she wanted to take care of Miss Mabel, she was going to have to swallow her pride, accept her ignorance, and face the truth: She needed Drake’s cooperation. “I’m sorry that I compared you to a pervert, but I can’t let you hurt Miss Mabel. I can’t let you mess with her mind.”



He pulled in a deep breath and let it out slowly as if expelling his frustration. “It’s important, Helen. We have to take away her memories of the Synestryn and ourselves. She can’t know about any of us. It wouldn’t be safe for her.”



“Why? Because she’s too old to deal with it?”



“No, because the memory of those demons leaves behind a psychic imprint—a sort of beacon that has the potential to draw more Synestryn to her. They don’t want humans to know they exist. It’s easier to move around and feed from humans if they aren’t being hunted by them. Once a human knows about the Synestryn, they sense it and try to kill that human before they can spread the word that monsters are real. Even one little memory can act as a lure, and if one of the Synestryn found Miss Mabel, she’d never survive.”



Fear slid through Helen and she felt her legs start to give out on her. She reached for the table to steady herself, and Thomas—gallant man that he was—grabbed her arm and helped lower her to the seat. “You’re saying that just knowing that those monsters exist can make them come after you?”



“Exactly.”



“How fucked up is that?”



Behind her, one of the guys snickered.



“This isn’t a joke,” warned Drake with a stern reprimand. “The longer we wait to remove her memories, the deeper we’ll have to dig and the harder it will be on her. And even though she would hit me again if she heard me say it, she is frail. She’s going to need someone to watch out for her for a few days. She’ll be disoriented, dizzy.”



Poor Miss Mabel. “Are you sure this is necessary?”



“I’m sorry,” said Drake, sounding sincere.



Helen wished he wouldn’t be compassionate like that. At least if he was an asshole she would understand why he’d stand by and watch her die while he did nothing. All this kindness confused her to the point that she wanted him to take her in his arms and tell her it was all some sick joke. They’d planted this vision in her head. It wasn’t real.



Wishful thinking wasn’t going to get her anywhere, so she pushed it aside and focused on what she needed to do. “I’ll stay with Miss Mabel until she’s better. Not having a house will give me a good excuse to stay at her place for a while so I won’t hurt her pride.”



“You can’t stay with her. You have to come with us.”



“This is the part where you don’t get to pick,” she told Drake. “Take my memories, too, if you must, but there’s no way I’m going anywhere with you.”



“Please don’t make me force you, Helen.”



“So you’re admitting you will force me? In front of all these witnesses?” She pointed to where the young people stood behind her.



“They’re not witnesses, they’re Gerai. They’re loyal to us.”



Helen turned to look at them, convinced she’d see a look of horror on their faces at what Drake was suggesting. Stealing memories, abduction. Instead, they each stood still, watching Drake as if waiting for instructions. “Is this true?” she asked them. “Would you really let him kidnap me?”



The oldest one crossed his arms over his chest. Without the smile warming his features, he looked cold, almost sinister. “We do what the Theronai say. That’s our job.”



He wasn’t lying. They would. Including Drake and Thomas, there were five of them and only one of her and she had Miss Mabel to protect as well. There was no way she could beat those kinds of odds.