Inside the Fire Book One in the Warden's Series by Heather Glidewell Page A

wore off, and it clicked in my head what was going on. I
ran off to wake my mother.
    ****
    “Vampire.” My mother said standing up and
brushing off her knees. “Judging by the way she is dressed she was
rogue.” She looked at me like I had to believe her. I knew better
than that, I knew that vampires did not exist.
    “Seriously mom. You expect me to believe
that Vampires are real?” She had jumped up running when I went
racing into her room screaming about red eyed women in the
driveway.
    “Dawn, you have been raised on stories of
Heaven and Hell.” She pinched the rim of her nose annoyed. “You
know what you are. What makes you think that there cannot be other
things similar to you in this world?”
    “Alright I will give you that. How do you
know she was a vampire?” I asked impatiently.
    “Well the big pointy fangs were a dead
giveaway.” My mother started, her words dripping with sarcasm. She
turned and walked towards the house. “Do me a favor and burn the
body before you come inside. You kill it, you dispose of it.”
    “How am I supposed to do...?” I cut myself
off before I sounded even dumber than I felt.
    I stood there and willed the fire to roll
through my veins but I got nothing. Not even a single fizzle. My
powers had never failed me before. Maybe I had over used them. I
opted for the less dramatic approach and covered the body with gas
from the mower and lit a match. The woman went up in flames turning
to ashes in seconds. I have to admit that pretty much confirmed it
for me. I was stuck in a bad dream.
    When I got inside my mother was making a pot
of tea. This had always been her medicinal comfort for stressful
situations. I washed my hands in the kitchen sink and took a seat
at the table.
    “Explain.” I muttered rubbing my face with
my hands.
    I still didn’t believe it. I had pinched
myself repeatedly on my way into the house. Sadly I was not
dreaming.
    “I could give you a history lesson on
vampires but you read enough. I’m sure you will figure out all of
that. I can tell you this though; there are different types. Ones
that live off of human blood and others that can live, mostly, off
of human emotions. When I say mostly let me explain.” She turned to
face me, her way of letting me know that it was the truth.
    “They find the human emotions to be quite
intoxicating. It’s like a drug to them, makes them feel high. They
still need blood to survive but at the same time they only need a
trace of it because they are feeding off emotions. They are drawn
more to anger and loss though if they can get their hands on love
it goes from being a pleasant high to a meth high. The victim
usually does not understand that they are being emotionally drained
until one day they don't wake up.” She took a drink.
    “Your blood is your weapon against them. One
bite won’t kill them but if they try to drain you your body will
retaliate sending the fire into their veins. As you know fire is
not exactly a friend of the vampire. This one it would appear was
pretty hungry just one drop of your blood killed her, but didn’t
turn her to ash.” She raised an eyebrow as if she wasn’t sure she
believed it herself
    “Mom, this is all just a bit hard to
believe.” I groaned and threw my head back.
    “You will figure it all out.” She said
finishing her tea.
    “What else exists that isn’t supposed to
exist?” I asked as she looked in the bottom of her cup and glancing
at me with a twisted expression.
    “Everything in your imagination can exist,
as time goes you will meet these beings and learn their stories,
but for now.” She pat my hand. “For now you just get some sleep and
we can discuss it at a later time.” She stood up and looked at me
warmly before leaving the room.
    I had to think hard on this new plot twist.
If vampire really existed I wondered how many of my dreams about
them were true. For the first time I found myself wanting a friend.
Someone that I could talk to about all these