Chapter 3
The First Attack
I tore through the front door, tossing my keys on the counter, and shoving my phone in my back pocket. Tears had streaked my eyeliner down my cheeks, and my eyes were red and puffy.
“Mom!” I called, my voice still trembling.
My mother came running from the living room and threw her arms around me, pulling me close. I just stood there and cried onto my mom’s white shirt, leaving streaks of black on the fabric.
“What is it, honey?” she asked, running her hand down my back.
“He called me, Mom,” I sobbed. “He said she’s going to kill all those like me.”
“Who called you?”
I couldn’t understand why she had to ask; all she had to do was probe my mind for answers.
“Wesley!” A loud sob erupted from my throat.
“Seriously?” She pushed me back to look at my face, all blotchy as it was. I nodded at her, trying to ignore the tears pouring down my cheeks. “What did he say?”
“She is going to burn Heaven and Hell. How do you burn Heaven and Hell?”
My mother frowned but said nothing. It seemed to me she thought I was babbling.
“He said that she knows what I am, and she’s hunting down the others to kill them! I didn’t even know there were any others, Mom!” I rubbed at my eyes frantically, streaking the black even more.
She sighed. “That’s not good. Honey, there are a lot of things that I need to tell you, but right now isn’t the time.” She pinched her nose. “Dawn, go and sit in the living room while I make a phone call.”
She pushed me toward the living room, pulled her phone from her pocket, and walked to her bedroom; closing the door behind her.
I could have been sneaky and pressed my ear to the door, which is probably what I should have done. Except my mother is not the most normal of parents. If I misbehaved, there was no telling what she could do to me. So, I did as my mother suggested. I went into the living room, and I sat down.
While I waited, I opened my call log to make sure that I hadn’t imagined the whole thing, and there it was: the sweetest vision I had seen in months. I hugged the phone to my chest, but then it vibrated, causing me to drop it on the floor. I reached down and picked it up quickly to read the message that was on my screen.
Unknown: RUN!
The message didn’t have a return number, and the messenger was unknown. Normally I would have paid no attention to it. However, with the way things had been going recently, I immediately jumped from my seat.
At that very moment, the room seemed to explode around me. Fragments of wood and furniture stuffing flew through the air. I felt something grab me and throw me to one side. When my eyes focused, I found myself staring into the jet-black eyes of a horrifying creature the likes of which I had never seen before. Huge tusks protruded from its bottom jaw. Aside from this one affliction the create appeared more or less human.
The beast grabbed me by the sleeves of my sweater and hauled me to my feet. Then threw me clean through the dining room wall and into my bedroom. Pain shot through me, but the injuries I sustained immediately began to heal. One thing I had always known was that I was resilient. I could fall from the top of a skyscraper and land unscathed on the ground below, not that I’d ever tried it. There had been a time when I had thought of myself as merely human, but gradually I had realized that I was wrong. I was glad of it now.
“What do you want?” I screamed, locking eyes with the mysterious creature as it came after me.
“Your blood!”
I felt the fire erupt around me as anger seared through my body. I shot like a bullet from my room at my rival, moving faster than I had ever done in my life. Flames burst from my fingers. He was a hard target to hit, as he was dodging each bolt of fire with precision and speed. Thankfully, it took only one lucky shot with a white fireball to bring him down like a ton of bricks.
“Who sent you?” I demanded as I bore down on the creature and held him in place as I had seen my mother do before.
“The Queen,” he growled.
“What Queen?” I felt the fire growing cold in my fingertips.
“The Hybrid Queen!” His body twisted as he tried to break through my barrier of fire.
I could see I would get nothing more out of him, so I threw my head back and willed death on the creature. I felt my feet slowly lift from the ground, the air welcoming me like an old friend. I sensed the heat of the fire as it lapped at my skin and the icy prickle of the flame at my fingertips.
I wanted him to burn for attacking me. I wanted his soul to be mine to dispose of. I needed his essence; I thirsted for it. Something dark in me erupted, and I felt my eyes change. It burned for a second then fizzled out to a numbing throb. The look on the creature’s face was one of terror as I glared down at it. I heard it screaming profanities and pleas, one second wishing for me to spare its life and the next begging me to make its death quick. After a few moments of him calling me names in ten different languages, there was a loud snap, and everything went quiet.
I surveyed the living room area, or what remained of it. Oh, brilliant. Everyone was going to be asking why the wall had a huge hole in it.
My mother’s door opened, and she came out, seemingly unperturbed by the devastation on all sides. I could still
