Smolder by Abigail Livinghouse (best young adult book series TXT) 📕

I withdrew my hand, feeling the aftermath of the touch still warming my hand. That's when I knew, that Dimitri was here and now. He was immediate and right in front of me. Trenton was the past. Anything that had something to do with him was over now. Gone. And there was no sense in revisiting the past if it had nothing good to provide you with.

I got out of the car and ignoring the shouts of Trenton behind me, the calm words of objection from Felix, I got into the back seat and sat down next to Dimitri. Gently, I picked up his head and laid him down in my lap. I smoothed his black hair away from his face, gently stroking his cheek.

I didn't look up to see through the windshield. I didn't listen to what the two men outside were arguing about. I just rested my head, and closed my eyes. 

"I demand to see her!"

 I woke up with a start, hearing a booming voice just outside the car door. I reached over to lock it, and my fingertips brushed against Dimitri's chest. I gasped, looking down at him. He was wide awake now, staring up at me with curious green eyes. Green? I thought they were brown. I frowned while watching him, and a smile pulled up one corner of his mouth.

"Odd, I don't remember you being in the back seat." He said jokingly.

I smiled, feeling my face flush. "Yeah well, I got tired."

Dimitri nodded, turning his head so that he was now facing the front of the car. "So it would seem."

He was quiet for a minute, and I wondered if maybe he had fallen back to sleep. But then he spoke again, making me jump a little.

"It would appear that your little friend has been tracking us." Dimitri observed, regarding Trenton who was still outside arguing with Felix.

I swallowed. "I don't know."

I hadn't analyzed how Trenton got here or why, but now that Dimitri mentioned tracking, I realized that he might not be wrong. Trenton was a nomad in a sense. He could move wherever he needed to without a second thought. There was no reason why he couldn’t follow someone if he really had the motive to. The only question remaining: what could that motive be?

"They're dead you know." Dimitri's sharp tone brought me back to attention, and I scowled.

"Who?"

"Isabella Martis's group. They're dead, Sirenia."

My chest tightened, and I held my breath for a few seconds to keep from gasping. All of them. Dead. How could that be? It was impossible. Isabella knew what she was doing, so did Billy and Trenton even. They knew how to survive, they had done it before. What would've made another time different?

"'Sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.'" Dimitri said a quote I did not recognize.

Without another word I pushed him aside and got out of the car, ignoring Dimitri calling my name. I walked around to the front and stood next to Felix, who didn't look very surprised to see me out. Trenton on the other hand, stared open mouthed at me, like he had never seen me before in his life.

"Siren." He murmured, his arms outstretched as he started forward.

I didn't think, I just acted. I held a ball of fire in my right hand, and tossed it without feeling at Trenton's feet. He shouted as it hit the ground, sending sparks up and singing his jeans. Felix chuckled beside me, and I even smiled a bit. Trenton's expression quickly shifted to one of pure terror. I had forgotten he'd never seen me use my ability before, not like this anyway.

"Wh-what the fuck was that?!" He shouted furiously.

I shrugged. "Does it matter?"

Before he answered, I leapt forward and held my knife against his throat, the tip of the blade puncturing just below his Adam's apple. Trenton sucked in a sharp breath, still gripping his knife. I reached for his wrist but before I could even touch his skin, he dropped his weapon on the ground in front of me. I nodded to Felix, who to my surprise obediently picked it up for me and stepped back.

"What did you do to them?" I asked Trenton, who was staring at me with his blue eyes filled with fear. Fear for his own life. Coward.

"What did you do to them?!" I screamed, my breath hot against his face as I pressed the blade further. Blood trickled down his neck. He swallowed, his throat moving against my knife, but said nothing. I clenched my jaw, feeling my shoulders tighten.

"Trenton", I said through my teeth, "I will give you two seconds to answer me before I-"

"Before you what, Siren?" He cut me off. "Burn me? Like you did before? Go ahead. I should be used to it by now, shouldn't I?"

His comment cooled me down a little, in the worst way possible. I paused, looking into his eyes. The fear had been replaced with resignation. Was he that quick to just give up? How did he ever survive out in the world? How did he ever keep the group alive.

Well, he didn't.

The reminder of the group's fate was enough to bring back all of my fury and then some. I sneered at him, letting my arm that held the knife fall to my side.

"You're not worth my time." I said, and sheathed my weapon.

"Give me that." I gestured to Felix who had Trenton's knife. He handed it to me without question.

I held it out for Trenton, but he didn't move to get it back. "Here", I said, getting a bit closer and holding the knife hilt up.  "It's yours."

He shook his head. "Keep it."

I scowled. "That's foolish. It's your goddamn weapon. Now take it before I plunge it into your stomach." 

Trenton hesitated for a second after my threat, but stood his ground. I rose my eyebrows.

"No. You need it more than I do." He said.

I nearly laughed. "Trust me", I said, getting even closer so that we were only a few inches away from each other. I could even smell his breath, which impossibly smelled like mint. "You need it way more than we do."

Trenton's eyes hardened. He took the knife and sheathed it, shaking his head. "You're just as stubborn as you were last month."

"A lot can change in a month." I countered.

He nodded. "Point taken."

Trenton's gaze wandered to Felix standing calmly behind me, his hands clasped behind his back. "That's the bastard you were running from. Why are you with him now?"

Trenton wasn't entitled to questions and he didn't deserve answers. But for some reason, maybe because I felt I owed him after he let me stay with his group for no good reason, I couldn't help but feel obligated to answer.

"He's a friend. Like I said, a lot can change in a month."

"That's the understatement of the apocalypse." Trenton muttered. I knew that it was meant to be a joke. Except no one laughed. Not even me.

Things were tense as it was, and just to add fuel to the fire (no pun intended) Dimitri clambered out of the car, using the hood as support as he made his way over to stand next to me. Trenton's eyes blazed with anger as soon as he saw Dimitri, and I noticed his hand go instinctively towards his knife. My lip curled, but I knew that we had the upper hand. I would need to keep a level head in order for everything to not get out of hand.

"What the fuck is this?" Trenton yelled.

I fought off a wince at his tone, and threw my arm over Dimitri's shoulders. He immediately curled his arm around my waist, letting me support the majority of his weight so that he could let go of the car. He wasn't very heavy at all, and the severity of his condition must have been too much for him to bear right now, or else he wouldn't have let me touch him. Come to think of it, he let me hold him in the car. My chest sank a little, knowing that he must be giving up if he wasn't sticking to the rules he had set for himself when he found out he was infected.

Trenton's gaze turned somber when he saw Dimitri's bad leg, held up and not touching the ground.

"He's infected." Trenton spit the words out like they were filth that he would never associate himself with.

My eyes narrowed. "And it matters to you in what way?"

Trenton paused, and shook his head. His hand was still inching towards his knife, and my palms began to ache. I wanted to release my fire, but I knew I couldn't. Now wasn't the time. Not yet.

"You might want to rethink that." Felix said in his deep voice, and I shivered, forgetting he was there for a little.

Trenton's hand had closed on the hilt of his knife and he stiffened. "What?"

"Attacking one of us. Do you really think you'll stand a chance up against three Prophets?" Felix challenged and I held my breath. I hoped Trenton wouldn't take the bait, but a small part of me knew better. Of course he would. He was a fighter and even the simplest of things could set him off. Of course he would take the bait.

Trenton laughed. An ugly, suspended laugh of anger and despair. My skin prickled at the sound of it, and I held Dimitri closer to my side. He rubbed my waist with his thumb, a gesture meant to calm my nerves. Oh how the tables have turned once again.

"All I see is a bunch of insane freaks! Not Prophets." Trenton snickered, and a spark flew from one of my fingertips.

I worked to get my breathing under control, knowing it was only a matter of time before I would lose it. Just quit while you're ahead. I willed him to stop, knowing that he wouldn't. Just quit while you're ahead, Trenton.

He laughed again, pulling his knife free from its sheath and holding the blade up to the light. It winked, dried blood crusting the sharpened metal.

"If the world was back to normal right now, you would all be locked up." Trenton babbled, his hand holding the knife shaking, making the blade vibrate.

"You would be locked up in an institution, and no one would have to deal with your insanity." He cackled. I tensed, wishing he would stop doing that. It was demented, like a wounded wild animal. 

"Sirenia." Felix nudged my arm, and placed a gun in my hand. I wrapped my fingers around it, feeling the weight of unused bullets inside.

I looked at Trenton, and held the gun ready.