Burned (Keeper of the Flame) (2 page)

“Supernatural activity, the occult,
paranormal happenings.” I flash him a smile. “Things that go bump
in the night.”

“Sounds like you’ve come to the right place,
then.”

Intrigued, I swivel to face him again. “Why’s
that?”

“Shadow Hill is full of things that go bump
in the night. Or so I hear.”

“Where did you hear that?”

He leans in, pitching his voice low, and
licks his lips. I try to keep my gaze even with his, but it’s hard
when his mouth is so close. I can feel his breath on my arm when he
whispers, “Everywhere.”

“What?”

“It’s everywhere around here. You can see it,
feel it. There are ghost tours in the gold mines off the highway, a
haunted house over on sixth, animals that only come out when the
moon is full. And my favorite?” He smiles, traces his finger from
my shoulder to my neck, and lingers. “The ones that suck your
blood.”

Fangs. That’s what I’d seen in my vision. My
vision when Logan touched me.

“You’re pretty good at that,” I say.

“At what?”

“Storytelling.” I wiggle my shoulder so his
hand drops. I drink the rest of my beer and stand. “But I haven’t
believed in stories like that since I was a kid.”

Not entirely true, but I rarely believe what
I don’t see in person. And I’ve never seen a werewolf or a vampire
or a ghost‒if you can even see them. The stories of Shadow Hill
could very well be a myth like most other places I visit.

Logan watches as I sling my purse over my
shoulder and slide a tip onto the shiny bar. He stands before I can
take a step and grins down at me.

“You planning on staying for a while?” he
asks. “Prove me wrong about the stories?”

I feel eyes on me from across the room, but I
can’t look away from Logan. His gaze is dangerous and calm at the
same time. Dark and deep, but welcoming.

“I’m planning on staying,” I say. “For a
bit.”

He steps back, releasing me from his stare.
“Good. Maybe I can take you on one of those tours I mentioned.”

I don’t meet his gaze this time, just smile
and slide by so I’m not caught up again. Ryan’s still at his table
in the corner, nursing a beer and looking pissed off. He shakes his
head when I walk by. I ignore him and step outside.

Maybe there’s something here after all. And
if Shadow Hill has any secrets, I’ll find out.

~ ~ ~

It’s six a.m. when I hear the sound of
fluttering. I sit up with a jerk. The sun peeks through the edges
of the curtains, but it’s hard to see anything more than the
outline of the furniture.

I scoot to the edge of the bed, trying to
even my breathing. My bare feet touch the short motel carpeting.
The fluttering sounds once more. I gasp and stand.
What the hell
is that?

The noise comes again from the tiny desk on
the opposite wall of the bed. I yank the curtains open and whip
around just in time to see the pages of my mother’s book shuffling.
They flutter one way and then the other like a deck of cards.

When I step closer, they stop. The top of the
page is labeled
Curses
.

I purse my lips. Most of the witches I’ve
met, the true ones that actually draw their power from the
elements, aren’t into curses. A witch from Georgia let me see her
Book of Shadows once and there wasn’t a lot about curses in there.
Mostly just spells that used herbs and elements, stuff from the
earth.

My mother’s book looks a lot like a Book of
Shadows. But there’s information in here I’ve never seen
before.

I flip a few pages and see a spell for
healing and another for getting a better night of sleep. I mentally
mark that page for the future. Another few pages and my hand
freezes. There’s a crude drawing at the bottom of the page and next
to it, it says,
Creatures of the Night
.

I shove my hair behind my ears. Creatures of
the night. Does that mean vampires?

Who believes in vampires anymore? My mother,
I guess. But in all my research I’ve never come across any
indication that there are real vampires out there. Of course, it
didn’t stop me from packing up a wooden stake when I traveled. Just
in case.

I’m nothing if not prepared.

I want to read the book from front to back,
but I have no idea how long I’m going to be here, so I decide on a
shower and then a trip to downtown Shadow Hill to find answers.

My hair is still wet and curled to the middle
of my back when I discover downtown is only a block over. I walk
instead of driving, taking in the sunshine and thinking it would be
really handy right now to have my own Book of Shadows.

Or a mother who could talk to me about hers.
If she would ever stick around long enough to talk to me.

After getting over my frustration with Ryan,
I figured he was probably right. My mother didn’t send the note.
I’d known it back in the corner of my mind all along. It was too
cryptic and it made no sense for her to lure me here when she could
flat out ask me.

So if someone else sent the note, why? Why do
they want me here?

I’m charmed by the stone entryway to a small
building with stained glass windows. It’s like it’s from a
different era. I don’t see a sign right away until I step closer to
the door, which is propped open with a wagon full of
paperbacks.

It’s a library. Exactly where I want to
be.

Inside, books line shelves all the way to the
ceiling. They stretch across counters and lay on round tables by
chairs. I fall in love a little before I notice the librarian
watching me.

“Morning,” she says, drawing her glasses off
her nose. Her long blonde hair waves away from her face,
highlighted like she’s spent a lot of time in the sun. “Something I
can help you with?”

I trace a finger along a shelf, thinking.
“Local folklore. Legends, myths, anything supernatural.”

She lifts her eyebrows.

“I’m researching,” I tell her. “I freelance
for a magazine‒anything paranormal, out of the ordinary. I hear
there’s a lot of unusual history in Shadow Hill.”

She smiles and waves her hand vaguely. “Like
most towns.”

I feel like she’s trying to blow me off. She
looks at her cell phone like I interrupted something.

“Can you point me in the right direction?” I
ask. Or do I need to find it myself?

She smiles again, warmer this time, and
points. “Local history is around the corner in the back room.”

I barely take the time to thank her. She’s
probably already on her phone again, texting some local about how
the out-of-towner thinks there’s real supernatural history
here.

I know there is. At least where my mom is
concerned. But I have no idea what the rest of the town knows about
her.

The room is filled to the brim with books
just like the rest of the library. I glance to my right and see
stairs. There’s a sign that says Children and Young Adult
Downstairs.

Not bad for a small town library.

The first shelf gets me nowhere. But I find
some legend on the local mines and remember Logan telling me about
the ghost tours. Could be something. I move on, roll my eyes when I
see something about a Loch Ness monster, and pause when I find a
book on the Shadow Hill Hotel. The back cover tells the history,
when it was founded, and the tragic death of two of the owners.

It also says it’s haunted.

Looks like the motel I picked was the wrong
place to stay the night.

I tuck the book under my arm, but freeze when
I hear voices in the front of the library. One is the librarian and
the other is low and male.

I’m about to sneak closer to eavesdrop when
Ryan appears in the doorway. He props his shoulder on the jamb.
“Still here, huh?”

“Still a dick, huh?”

He smiles. The stubble is thicker today,
tracing his jaw and his upper lip. In the light, I can see his eyes
are gray like the sky before a storm and his hair isn’t nearly as
dark as I thought.

He walks closer to me. When I hold my ground,
he props his hand on the shelf next to my head and looks at the
books in my arms.

“
The Shadow Hill Hotel
,” he reads,
voice so deep it vibrates in my chest. “
Ghosts of the Shadow
Hill Mines.
” He lifts his head, gaze connecting with mine.
“Going gold mining?”

I point my finger at his chest. “You know
what I’m doing here.”

He captures my hand in his. “Sure. Mother
hunting, passing out in the bar and taking in the local
history.”

I try to wiggle my hand from his grasp, but
he tightens his grip. “Let go.”

“I told you to go home.”

“Last time I checked, this was a free
country.”

A flicker of anger lights his eyes. “You have
no idea what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Looks like a threat to me,” I say, keeping
my voice even.

His gaze drops to my lips and lingers before
he leans in close. So close his breath tickles my ear. “Shadow Hill
doesn’t have the answers you’re looking for. If you say you’ll
leave, I won’t bother you anymore.”

“And if I don’t?”

“Life is going to start getting very
difficult.”

I grit my teeth. “Let go of me.”

He eases back, but his gaze stays locked with
mine. “Say you’ll leave.”

“Go to hell.”

“I’m not going to ask again,” Ryan says.

The fire builds inside of me, shooting
straight to my fingertips. In an instant, the books wedged between
us go up in flames. I gasp and drop them on the ground. The fire
grows and Ryan stamps on the books with his boots.

I shove around him and run for the door.

“Hey!” the librarian shouts after me.

I don’t stop, don’t slow down. I race through
the open door and glance back as I hit the last stair.

Two more steps and I slam into someone’s
chest.

The momentum is enough to make me stumble and
I hit the cement hard with my palms, scraping them against the
rough surface.

“Willow?”

A hand closes around my elbow, pulling me up.
I swivel and look straight into midnight blue eyes.

“Logan,” I murmur.

“Where’s the fire?” he asks, amusement in his
voice.

I point to the library entrance. “In there. I
should really go.”

He looks torn between stopping me from making
an escape since I just admitted to a fire, and coming with me.

“Wait.” He follows me around the corner
before he catches my arm again. “Are you running away?”

“Not from you,” I say, peering around the
corner. I wince when I place my hand on the brick wall of the
building.

“You hurt yourself.” Logan grabs my hands.
His eyes are glued to the palms, where small beads of blood stain
the surface. I see him swallow. “It’s bleeding.”

His pulse throbs at his neck, and he squeezes
my hands and then yanks his eyes away. “We should get this taken
care of.”

“It’s a scratch.”

He grins. “I’ll help you escape.”

I hear voices around the corner and escape
sounds like a great idea. “Okay.”

Logan curls his arm around my shoulder, and I
can feel the strength in his muscles. He guides me across the
alleyway and two doors down to an independent building. There’s a
medical cross on the front above the door.

He ushers me inside and nods at a man at a
desk. “Hey, James.”

James nods back. “What have we got here?”

Logan’s eyes flicker to mine with amusement.
“A felon.”

I glare at him although technically it’s
true. I did just run away from the scene of a crime. But then, no
one can prove I caused the fire. And it was just a few flames. I
imagine Ryan and the rude librarian have it under control by
now.

My only regret is that I didn’t get to check
out my books.

“Can we use your first aid kit?” Logan
asks.

“Sure. In the back,” James says.

I follow Logan to the back of the large room,
where there’s a cot next to a few chairs. “Where are we?” I
ask.

“Search and rescue coordination station.”

“That’s a mouthful.”

“Sit,” he says. When I go for one of the
chairs, he snags my arm and swings me to the cot. “Here.”

“Really? I just need a sink to wash my
hands.”

He nudges me onto the cot. “It could get
infected.”

“That’s reaching a little, don’t you
think?”

His smile is dangerous. “You never know.”

I set my hands in my lap and watch the way
the muscles on his back move through his black Henley when he
reaches for a first aid kit. I could handle getting rescued like
this more often.

He sits in a chair and scoots it close enough
our knees are touching. He places his hand on my knee as he adjusts
in his seat, and the warmth sends tingles all the way up my
leg.

“Do you work here?” I ask, distracting myself
from his touch.

“No. I’m actually thinking of opening a
business. During the summers, I give tours and hikes and any kind
of recreational thing you can think of. For the tourists,
basically.” He smiles. “They like to climb those big mountains back
there to say they hiked up to fourteen thousand feet, and I take
them on the interesting trails. Anyway, if hikers go missing or
skiers get buried in an avalanche or something else, they send out
rescue missions from here and sometimes I help.”

“Seems like you’re a good guy to have in an
emergency.”

He holds up antiseptic. “This is going to
sting.”

He sprays it on both palms and I grit my
teeth. Then I catch my breath when he leans in, sliding his hand
against my cheek and into my hair. “Just give it a minute and the
pain will go away.”

With his gaze so strong and even on mine, I
can hardly feel anything. Except for calm.

His hand tightens on my hair, sending a shock
of desire straight to my stomach. “I’m having a hard time not
kissing you right now,” he says, breath warm against my lips.