The Allies of Old; Book Two Renewal: Chapter Thirteen "Flashing hot, Flashing Eyes"

Book Cover created in acrylic by the extremely talented @therealpaul

If you have not read the first book of the series, "Reborn", it is advisable you do so before reading "Renewal" or you will be lost. This link will provide you with a series summary as well as all sixty-eight chapters of Reborn

Chapter Thirteen

A long while later they were awakened by the sound of Anna’s cell phone. It was Josh.

“We are touching down in Phoenix Arizona in about ten minutes. Sorry we didn’t call sooner but the weather's been messing with our phones.”

“Whoa, wait, Phoenix?” Anna shook her head in bewilderment and shrugged at Jenna’s identical look.

“Y…..sh….aid…..”

“You’re breaking up.”

“So…y. Be…er?”

“Um, not really.”

“Ho……n”

There was a series of clicks and then, “Can you hear me now?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay, the demon dad’s been keeping tabs on, Senator Blake, well he’s been chumming around with a group of four men who went from being dogged to being in shroud in record time. You remember what that means right, being on the brink of possession? Well two of these four went demonic in the last couple of days and the other two aren’t far behind, on top of which it seems they’ve recruited four more who are currently being piggy-backed, and sometime in the next couple of days they’re going to meet up somewhere—dad’s still working on the location-- and if we find it…you know the rest.”

“So…why couldn’t we come?”

“I don’t know, I think Will was figuring dad would get pissy about Jenna’s presence, and decided you might as well stay with her.”

“I thought that was probably it.”

“One of us will keep you informed, but for now you might as well just relax and do some sightseeing.”

“Right. Be safe.”

“No doubt.”

She filled Jenna in and they decided to go check out an Italian restaurant in town that was supposed to be excellent.

When they were settled at the table Jenna kept looking at her like she had something to say.

“Okay, out with it,” Anna raised an eyebrow.

“The reason they left us out is because of me, right?”

Anna sighed and laughed a little. “Jack McClaron is an old-fashioned defender of women and Will figured he would have a problem with your participation.”

“Then I think I’ll go back to Jersey for a while.”

Anna shook her head immediately. “No, don’t be silly, they’ll be back soon, or Jack will go his own way and we’ll catch up with them, it’s no biggie.”

“Anna, you have gifts they could use and I’m holding you back. Besides…I have this feeling I need to go, and you know my feelings, I have to trust them.” Jenna gave her a look that said she’d made up her mind.

Anna bit her lip. “But then it will be just me and the guys again.”

“Oh come on, like that bothers you! And besides I’m not saying I’ll stay away forever.”

“Well, if you have to.” Anna gave her a puppy dog look. “So when will you go?”

“I’ll make arrangements for the morning.” Jenna pulled out her phone and Anna thought she should probably make her own arrangements to head to Phoenix. Then she pictured spending time in the company of both Jack and Austin and shuddered. She decided she could wait a day or two.

The next morning Anna rode in the cab to the airport with Jenna and they discussed what the country would be like with demons running the government. Anna made a joke about it not being much different than it was now and Jenna rolled her eyes, nodding her agreement.

Anna walked with her to the departure terminal and they continued talking about similar topics until it was time for her to go. They hugged briefly and Jenna waved as she went through security. “I’ll call you!”

She swung her dark hair over her shoulder and disappeared through the doors.

Anna headed back outside and dialed Josh only to get his voicemail, again. All morning she’d been trying to get a hold of them but they weren’t answering and it was starting to make her nervous.

She hailed a cab and directed the driver, an attractive black man with a great smile, to take her to the nearest diner. He pulled to the curb and she paid him then nearly fell on her face as she stepped out. She managed to keep her legs under her, but stumbled forward with the force of the hot flash. Oh No, Not Now! she thought frantically, and sank onto the sidewalk.

“Miss, you okay?” The cabbie got out and hurried over.

“Um, yeah, I’m fine, I just got a little dizzy. Don’t worry, it’ll pass.”

“You sure?” he looked at her doubtfully.

“Actually, I think I’ll get back in and you can take me to my hotel instead if that’s okay.”

“’Of course, come on,” he held out his hand and she let him help her up. She met his warm brown eyes and was touched by his obvious concern.

She climbed back into the seat and brought her knees up to her chest as a fresh wave of heat snaked up her legs and traveled her spine.

The cabbie was looking at her in the rearview. “Maybe I should take you to the hospital.”

“No!” she said too forcefully. She bit down on her tongue. “No hospital, I just need to lie down.”

Her hands were trembling as she dialed Josh’s number again. On her second time through he answered and she almost sobbed in relief.

“Hey, sorry I didn’t answer earlier but we were doing some reconnaissance…”

“I’m in trouble,” she broke in, “I think I’m going into…” she glanced at the driver who was listening intently and lowered her voice. “Um, I’m in a cab right now, I just dropped Jenna off at the airport, she’s going back to Harriet’s and I, uh, got a hot flash.”

“Oh shit Anna, you’re going into heat?”

“I think so,” her voice wavered.

“Okay, uh, shit, let me think. I’ll call you right back.”

She looked out the window nervously. Thank God it was still early, she wasn’t sure if Cincinnati was a city vamps would hang out in, but it was a definite possibility.

“Come on Josh,” she whispered, “get me out of here.”

Her phone rang and she answered it hastily.

“Okay listen, dad is on the phone securing you airfare to Montana as we speak. Get back to the airport, the ticket will be waiting for you at the desk. Will and I are grabbing a flight out to meet you when you land, okay?”

“Okay.” She bit her lip and spoke to the driver. “I’m sorry about this, but I guess I’m going back to the airport, don’t worry I’ll tip you well.”

“Not a problem.” He moved into the exit lane and glanced in the rearview just as another lick of heat hit her hard.

“Holy shit!” he exclaimed swerving a little.

Oh God, stupid, stupid, she thought as she ducked her head behind her arm.

“Your eyes,” he said in a strangled voice, “what the hell was that?”

She looked up at him. “It’s nothing you have to worry about,” she told him quietly.

He didn’t reply, just kept glancing back at her nervously. After a few minutes he seemed to pull it together.

“What are you?” He asked. His voice sounded more curious than fearful.

She met his eyes in the mirror. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

She smiled a little. “I’m a….demon hunter.”

“Demon? As in malevolent spirits that work for Satan?”

“Not sure about the Satan part, but otherwise yeah.”

“Are you pulling my leg?”

“Told you you wouldn’t believe me.”

“I didn’t say that. I mean shit, your eyes were shooting off sparks and just fucked up looking, so yeah I mean….shit.” He shook his head. “Are you human?”

“Not exactly.”

“Man. My Nanna, she always believed in shit like this, used to tell me about bad spirits and all kinds of spooky shit. So how do you fight them?”

“I…look...

“Robert.”

“Robert…I can’t talk about that. And right now…” she wrapped her arms around herself tightly.

He stared at her. “No wonder you freaked when I mentioned hospital, not being human and all.”

He turned into the departures lane at the airport. “You need me to wait out here, in case something changes again?”

She was surprised by the offer, she’d have thought he’d want her out of his car as fast as possible. “That’s really kind, but no thank you I’m definitely heading out of town.”

He looked reluctant to let her leave, questions were written all over his face. She started to open the door and he stopped her. “Wait. I’ve seen something like you once before. A long time ago, in fact it was around the time my Nanna used to tell me her stories. I was walking past a dark alley in a bad part of the city and I heard some noises. There was what looked like a man holding onto a woman, her feet dangling off the ground and he was kissing her neck. He looked at me and his eyes flashed just like yours did, then he moved his head and I swear I saw…anyway I ran like hell and convinced myself it was my imagination.”

Anna held her breath waiting for him to say more.

“You’re not gonna ask what I saw?”

She shook her head slowly.

“I’ll tell you anyway. Fangs. Dripping with blood.” He stared hard at her and she forced her expression to stay neutral.

“There are a lot of things in the world that don’t only exist in stories. So maybe you did see that,” she said carefully.

“But that’s not you? You don’t have them?”

She made herself laugh. “If I was a vampire shouldn’t I be burning up in the sun?”

“Yeah well, they don’t always get it right, Hollywood I mean.”

“I told you I’m a demon hunter. And I really have to go now.”

“Alright. Well, I hope you feel better whatever you are.”

She handed him his fare with a big tip as promised and walked towards the entrance. She looked back over her shoulder just before she opened the glass door and saw he was still watching her. She did a quick surveillance of the area which was mostly deserted and thought, Why not?

She grinned and flashed her fangs. As his eyes widened she gave him an exaggerated wink before slipping through the doors.

Generously created for me by @son-of-satire