Furious Flames (Elemental Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

right . The man never left his “studio.”
The kitchen was open to the living room, the bedroom door had a doorknob, and
the front door had another keypad. The doorknob to the front door, however, was
booby-trapped. The last door had no knob. I reached behind a few videogames on
entertainment shelf to find the hidden keypad. Once I entered the code, the
fire-proof, Feds-proof, and damn-near-atomic-bomb-proof door opened.
    The entire “studio” was wall-to-wall electronics; an
eight-by-eight room filled with beeping, buzzing, and blinking. This wasn’t the
only room in the house with his gear, but this was the only one I needed. The
main computer in front of me was about the most complex thing I had ever seen,
yet Marcus often tried to teach me how it worked. All I needed was to flip a
few switches, hit a command button, type in a few codes, and click yes ,
when it asked if I wanted it to self-destruct. The ominous ticking was meant to
sound like a bomb, and it achieved its purpose of giving me the chills. Only…
that isn’t right.
    I felt like something went very wrong. All the
blinks, beeps and buzzes were right, the lights were the correct colors, and
the process wasn’t rocket science, but I felt like I needed to get out right
that second.
    My phone rang.
    I exited the room, not bothering to close the door,
and went to the back window as I answered the phone.
    “You were followed.”
    “Not a chance.” The rhythm of buzzing from the
control room suddenly changed and my heart dropped into my stomach. Explosions
in the forest around the house shook trees.
    “She tripped the outer security! Run!”
    The door to the control room slammed shut and the
living room started filling with gas. I wadded part of my shirt up to cover my
face and went to the kitchen, where I pushed the fridge out of the way. By
then, I could barely see, so I kicked blindly until the wall panel snapped and
I was able to slide down the escape shoot. I landed in the pitch black
basement.
    Cautious of any more traps, I pulled out my penlight
and made my way past boxes and power tools until I got to the second escape
tunnel. By the time I made it out into the forest, the explosions had stopped.
Fire was going to be an issue, but Marcus had someone else to deal with that.
    My phone rang, startling me. I had no idea how I
managed to hold onto the damn thing. “You’re getting too old this job,
brother,” Marcus said when I answered it.
    “I hate you.”
    “I bet you say that to all the guys who nearly get
you killed on a weekly basis.”
    “Nobody goes out of their way to get my face blown
off like you.”
    I wanted to go back to school where I could rest.
There I only had to deal with vampires, shifters, fae, wizards, dragons,
betrayal, magical weapons of mass destruction, and shadows that kill people. Yeah,
my life is a fucking cakewalk.
     
    *          *          *
     
    I woke to a familiar pounding on the door. Familiar
and dreadful. One might ask how a knock could sound dreadful. A dreadful knock
could be impatient, too hard, seeping with desperation, or, for an intuitive
person, feel ominous. This was a case of all of the aforementioned. Thus, I
knew it could only mean one person.
    If it weren’t for my mother sleeping in my room, I
would have ignored it, but she was a light sleeper and needed her rest. I got
up from the couch and went to the door. Darwin sat up beside the coffee table,
awoken by the knocking as well.
    Regina was soaking wet and crying when I opened the
door, which made me forget what I was going to say. “What happened?”
    “The cops took me to a cabin in the woods, but a huge
creature broke in and attacked them. I escaped. I think it killed them.”
    “What kind of creature?”
    “I didn’t see it well.” When she took a step forward,
I held up my hand to ward her off.
    Part of me was worried about her head hurting from my
magic and part of me just didn’t want to let her in the house.