WARNING: NEXT PARAGRAPH HOLDS A SPOILER ON THE END OF BOOK FOUR, AS DOES THE VERY END OF THE READING SEGMENT, SO FYI...YOUR CHOICE. :)
I love this scene because it not only has most of our main characters, but it shows exactly how messed up Atlanta (aka Windfire) is after losing her soul at the end of book four (Cydonia). As you may remember, Vampire Sickness causes the individual to really focus on the idea of survival. Shelter, food, water, clothes, companionship, and the ability to fend for yourself be it fighting or any of the previously mentioned items. So to her, it's kill or be killed...black or white...there is no gray...
That said, let me set up this scene.
Roman surprises Gray by taking him to the club to see Jensine and Windfire. However, near the end of the night, Windfire eliminates the competition in a way that does not settle well with everyone, and could possibly put other lives in jeopardy.
SELECTION FROM CHAPTER 11; IDENTITY
“I don’t understand what the big deal is,” Windfire
muttered.
Rachel got into her face, pointing, “No, you wouldn’t,
you broken piece of―”
“Rachel!” Jensine cut her off.
“Fine…fine…I’ll get us all some coffee…” Rachel said,
stepping back.
“Thank you,” Jensine responded.
Rachel’s hands went up in defeat before she headed into
the kitchen, leaving everyone except Hunter, who’d taken the kids to their
dorms, to deal with the situation.
Windfire personally didn’t understand why everyone was so
upset. Roman wouldn’t even look at her for more than a few seconds before anger
got the better of him. He would begin to turn red, pace about the room, and
mutter to himself.
Raising his voice this time, Roman said, “If Javin dies
because of you…because we weren’t able to question what’s-her-name…”
“Candi,” Jensine said. “Her name was, Candi-with-an-‘I’.
Of all people, I can’t believe you don’t remember her…she spent half the night
up your―”
The phone rang. Roman ran into the kitchen and snatched
up the receiver. Rachel was heard making a comment about how she could’ve
gotten it, stating that Roman was being an uptight, controlling tosser. Hearing
this, Jensine stood to head into the kitchen to diffuse the tension, when Roman
stepped into the archway between the kitchen and living room, still on the
phone, the long cord stretching out behind him.
“Is it Javin?” Jensine whispered to him.
He nodded and everyone in the room seemed to exhale at
once.
“Did he get Gabriel?” Jensine whispered, again.
This time Roman held up a finger to ask her to hold on.
Jensine grumbled something under her breath about giving him a finger, and plopped
onto the couch. Josh sat and put his arm around her, urging her head onto his
shoulder. She let it drop there and he ruffled her hair as Hunter came into the
room.
“Kids are all in bed. What’d I miss?”
“A lot of yelling,” Josh said.
“Damn…ya know how I love a lot of yellin’!” he said with
a twinkle in his eye and a wink at Jensine who couldn’t help but smile at him.
“Roman’s on the phone with Javin getting the update now,”
Gray told Hunter, from his curled up, fetal position on the end of the L-shaped
sofa. It was the first words he’d spoken since they left the club.
Windfire’s eyes rested on Gray for a moment, his body
language telling her everything. He was freaked out over what she’d done, but
there was more to it. What had Jensine whispered to Rachel as they arrived? His
heart was broken? But why? Frustrated at what she didn’t understand, Windfire
turned her attention back to the room.
Hunter plopped down on the sofa between Jensine and Gray,
“It’s going to be fine, y’all. Gray, you saved the day by hearing that
conversation. If you hadn’t, Phoenix wouldn’t know there are more people in
Boston out to kidnap Gabe. That was a smart move, following the blonde chick—”
“Her name was Candi and she was a person and she’s dead
now—” Gray started to say.
“She was going to kill you!” Windfire blurted out before
she could stop herself.
Sitting up, Gray yelled back, “You could’ve thrown her,
shoved her, anything…but no, you break her neck and set her on fire! Who does
that?”
Windfire walked over to him, “It’s all that came to mind.
She was going to kill you…” she reached to put a hand on his arm.
“Don’t you touch me!” Gray screamed out, pulling away
from her.
“I’m not going to hurt you!” she yelled back.
“Can we all please be quiet so I can talk on the phone?”
Roman pleaded, his frustrated voice carrying over the group.
Everyone muttered a ‘sorry’ of some kind and Windfire
walked back over to the big chair and sat down. They all stayed silent until
Roman finished his conversation and returned to the living room.
He sat on the arm of the sofa, next to Josh. “Our call to
Phoenix before we left the club paid off. They were able to take extra safety
measures and get Gabriel to the mansion before daylight without being followed.
Plus, Sean was able to alert them to a tracking device in the luggage. They
removed Gabe’s and slipped it into another person’s bag.
“Since two members of the Clandestine Protection Agency were
busy escorting Gabriel to the mansion, Javin sent the other three to follow the
person who has the tracking device, to see if we can find this Talan guy Candi
was talking to. Last he heard from Joe, they had two men in their sights and
were tailing them pretty close. We hope to have them in custody soon.”
“Well, good riddance to them! They threatened my mother
and Jensine!”
“What, you rather we burn them alive, too?” Gray offered
up, venomously.
“Gray,” Jensine said, pinching the bridge of her nose,
“You need to calm down. We won’t get anywhere if―”
“No, we need to talk about the fact that little Miss
Lost-my-brain over there killed a woman and seems to not care one way or the
other about it.”
“Why should I care? She was going to hurt people, Gray!
It’s either kill or be killed.”
“There are other options,” he said through his teeth.
“What? Capture? Torture? Cause that’s more humane,”
Windfire said, aiming for heavy sarcasm.
“Who are you?” Gray said. “Cause I sure as hell don’t
know you.”
Something inside her abruptly hurt and she didn’t
understand why. Shoving the feeling down into her gut, she stood. “I saved your
putrid life, you dog…maybe I should’ve let her eat you…would you have preferred
that?”
Standing, Gray said, “I can handle myself just fine!”
“Oh, sure you can. Totally looked like it as you stood
there, motionless, mesmerized by her vampire stare…” Windfire stole a glance at
Roman and continued with, “like some others in the room.” Pausing, she added,
“She was part witch and she was working some sort of spell on you both. She
spoke about hurting my mother and she was about to kill you…so I’m sorry if I
saved your life. I promise, I won’t do that again!”
Windfire turned and ran out of the front door and into
the mesa. With no idea where she was going, she ran away from the people who
didn’t understand the rules. You either kill or you die, there is nothing else.
How could they not see that?
She ran until she reached the front door. Opening it, she
ran out into the morning air, the rising sun lighting the sky. She looked
around and decided to head into the woods. She’d go find her mother and tell
her what was going on…she’d understand.
* * * *
Hunter stood up and took two steps toward the front door.
“Let her go,” Roman said.
“She could go tell Mommy Dearest everything and then its
wire hangers for us all,” Hunter pointed out.
“She won’t. She just needs time to organize her thoughts.
Remember, Vampire Sickness makes it hard to think clearly on almost anything,”
Roman explained.
“Then what’s your excuse?” Jensine asked.
Roman stood. “I think she did a spell on me.”
“Who? Candi?” Josh asked.
“No, Windfire. I’m not even sure she knows she did…but I
honestly couldn’t tell you what Candi looked like, let alone what she said to
me. All I know is what you all told me.”
“If she’s doing magic without knowing it, I really should
go after her,” Hunter said, taking another few steps toward the door.
“No,” Jensine said. “Give her half an hour.”
“Fine. But if she’s not back by then I’ll go find her.”
Roman disagreed. “Actually, it should be Jensine that
goes…or me. But yes, if she’s not back soon, we’ll go get her. Our bigger issue
right now is that there’s a third player in town. Someone who is on our side
but who thinks we support Valencia. With good reason, but still.”
“Agreed,” Gray commented.
Hunter sat next to Jensine, again. “What do we do about
it?”
“Well, we got a small break. It seems that one of the two
who were sent to the Boston airport for Gabe, is a cat lover. Lance could smell
the hairs on the guy when the wind blew.”
“And that helps us how?” Josh asked.
“Well, if you’re a cat lover and you find a lost cat in
your car that looks like a baby tiger…” Roman began to explain.
Gray was the first one to get it. “No way! Lance, in
kitty cat form, is in their car…are you serious?”
“As serious as napalm,” Roman said. “Each member of the
CPA has a chip embedded in their body as a tracking device. So, Joe and Jay can
follow the car yet be far enough back that the two guys have no idea, plus,
Lance is in the front seat of the car on the lap of the passenger and listening
to every word.”
“So do we consider them allies or enemies?” Jensine
asked.
“A little of both. They obviously are against Valencia,
like we all are—but they don’t know we exist. Hell, if they’re based in Canada
they may not even be part of The Great Order…they could just be a group of Hybrids
who also know what Valencia is up to and want to stop her.”
“But by trying to kill Gabe and Thea? That doesn’t make
any sense,” Josh stated.
“Question is,” Hunter said, “what will they do when they
find out they failed?”
----- ----- ----- ----- ----- ----- -----
Anyway...hope you enjoyed that! If you are interested in buying Identity, you can get it in paperback by going HERE or in E-reader copy by going HERE.
Thanks for stopping by the blog...and stay tuned for more fun stuff now that it's easy for me to post things again!
Have a great hump-day, folks!
xoxo
Tamsin :)
