Phoenix Under Fire (Afterlife Book 5) Read online

  Afterlife had changed her. Harper had commented on it a few times, and Brittney had noticed it herself. When she was with the crew, she didn't feel the need to be prim and proper, nor deviant and wild. She could simply be herself and enjoy the company of those who loved her. For the first time, she felt like she truly belonged.

  So when she was set up in a room by herself, without the others, she had time to dwell on the fact that she hadn't always been the person the Afterlife crew had gotten to know. She hadn't always been the person that Chloe had fallen in love with. She'd been selfish, spoiled, and neurotic. She'd used her parents' influence because she could, she'd never worked because she didn't have to, and she'd partied long and hard because nobody had ever told her to stop.

  Brittney rolled over. It did little good to think of the person she'd been because she wasn't that person anymore. Yet, she couldn't help it sometimes. She was often dragged into memories where she'd been a terrible friend, where she'd placed herself above others who needed her, and where she'd abandoned people for no reason other than the fact that they had nothing to offer her.

  She was quickly becoming depressed. She had good friends now, a beautiful and funny girlfriend, and a job that gave her more meaning than the last twenty years of her life combined.

  With this in mind, she pulled out her phone. She stared at the contacts in it, and began deleting them. More than half of them were the names of men she'd hooked up with over the last few years. She felt no remorse in letting go of them. In fact, a sense of peace seemed to fill her as she erased the last of them from her phone.

  When she was done with the purge, Brittney stared at the names left on the list. She took a deep breath, and hit the button to call her mother.

  The phone rang for a moment and then her mother's voice, sounding slightly groggy. She glanced at the clock. It was only half past ten, but her mother often went to sleep early. She was involved in a lot of community functions that started first thing in the morning.

  "Hello?" her mother answered.

  "Hi, Mom."

  "Brittney?"

  "Do you have another daughter?" Brittney asked.

  Her mother's tired sounding laughed filled the phone, and Brittney couldn't help but to smile.

  "No, I don't," she said. "I'm just surprised to hear from you. After you left so abruptly on your birthday, I thought perhaps we'd offended you when we spoke of your career choice."

  "You didn't," Brittney said. "Though I'd really like it if you could come to accept it. I really enjoy myself at Afterlife, Mom. It's good for me."

  "Your brother said the same thing to me not long ago. He told me that if I didn't want to lose you, then I had to accept you. He also said that your career is far more fulfilling than you let on. Is there something I should know about this bartending gig?"

  Brittney thought of Peter. He believed her to be an FBI agent and knew she also fought supernatural creatures. She'd gotten him out of a tight spot with both human and non-human loan sharks. So it went without saying that she appreciated his efforts to make her mother understand, even if she didn't accept Brittney's job.

  "No," Brittney said. "Other than the fact that I enjoy it. But I didn't call to talk about my job."

  "Of course not," her mother said. "You called to talk to your mother. I can always tell when you need me, you know. In fact, right before you called, I was having a dream about when you were a little girl. You'd fallen off the bicycle your father had bought you, and you'd scraped up your knees. You were crying and bleeding, and you thought I'd be angry at you. Do you remember that?"

  "No," Brittney said.

  "Well, you were worried," her mother said. "I was in our parlor, reading a book, and you came bursting in. Then you saw your knees start dripping blood on the white carpet, and you just started sobbing. I think you were crying more from fear than anger. I wasn't angry, though, Brittney. You've made interesting choices in your life, but I've never been angry with you."

  "You might be when you hear what I have to tell you," Brittney said.

  "And what is that?"

  "I'm dating someone," Brittney said.

  Her mother laughed. "Well, of course you are. You're twenty-five years old. If you weren't dating, I'd be worried. Is it someone from Afterlife? Is that why you're afraid to tell me? You think I won't approve? Brittney, it doesn't matter to me, honey. It doesn't matter if he's a bartender or a janitor, or whatever. If he makes you happy, then that's all that matters."

  "He's not a bartender or janitor," Brittney said. "The person I'm dating actually owns a piece of the club."

  "Dating your boss?" Her mother's voice was full of amusement. "Oh, Brittney. You wouldn't believe it, but I used to be a lot like you when I was younger. I thought the world was mine for the taking. Look, I'm not going to say that I condone you dating your boss, but it isn't the worst thing in the world. Sometimes people fall in love. It happens."

  Brittney clutched her phone in her hand tightly. "Mom. I'm not dating a man. I'm dating a woman."

  There was nothing but silence on the other end of the phone. Brittney rushed to fill it. "Her name is Chloe. She's twenty-nine, she's beautiful, she's funny, and she's smart. You'd love her, Mom. She's a lot like me. She enjoys shopping, and going for long walks, and running. She's very... special."

  When her mother still didn't say anything, Brittney frowned. "Mom? Are you still there?"

  "I'm here," her mother said.

  "Say something," Brittney demanded.

  "I don't know what you want me to say," her mother said. "Are you telling me you're a lesbian now, Brittney? Are you sure it's not just a phase? A lot of girls these days get caught up in the fads going around, and a popular one is thinking they're gay. You're not gay, honey. You've had more boyfriends than anyone I know."

  Brittney sighed into the phone. She'd been dreading telling her mother for exactly this reason.

  "I don't know if I'm a lesbian, Mom," she finally said. "I don't. I don't think I am. But I know that I love Chloe. I really do. And you just said that sometimes people fall in love. It happens, remember?"

  "I didn't realize you were speaking about another woman," her mother said. "Brittney, darling, don't think I disapprove, but how will you have a family? How will you fit into the community? What am I supposed to tell your father?"

  "Tell him the truth," Brittney said. "Tell him I'm happy and healthy, and that I have someone in my life who appreciates and loves me. Tell him that if I want to start a family someday, that there are plenty of options. As for the community, Mom, it's the twenty-first century. Nobody cares anymore if someone's gay or bisexual or anything."

  "I just don't think that's true."

  "What happened to supporting me?" Brittney asked.

  There was silence again before her mother replied. "Of course I support you, Brittney. I don't think your thing will last, but I support you. Why don't you bring her home for dinner? I'm sure your father and I would love to meet her. We'll invite Peter too, of course. Bring Harper as well."

  "Thank you, Mom," Brittney said, truly touched by the gesture.

  "How does Friday sound?"

  "Oh, I can't this week," Brittney said. "I'm... out of town."

  "Oh?"

  "You know me and Harper," Brittney said. "Fall hits, and it's time for our annual vacation."

  "Right," her mother said. "You two and your traveling. Well, tell her hello for me, and make sure she knows I love her. Just as I love you, Brittney. Where did you go this year?"

  "Phoenix," Brittney said.

  "Oh, it's hot there."

  "Yeah," Brittney said. "I'm going to go now, Mom. But thank you. You have no idea what this means to me. I'll call you when I'm back in town and we'll set something up. I love you, and Dad too, of course."

  "We love you too," her mother said, and then hung up the phone. Brittney stared at her phone for a moment before turning it off and putting it on her nightstand. The call had gone better than she'd hoped. She knew he
r mother would be a bit to handle at first, but she hadn't expected her to so quickly invite Chloe over to meet the family.

  She wondered how Chloe would feel about it. She knew the other woman had lost her family when she was young. Would she be reminded of that when she went home and saw Brittney's picturesque family life? Would she resent her for being close to her parents whereas Chloe had none?

  Brittney thought about this, and about more, as she closed her eyes and tried to sleep. Briefly, she wondered if her mother was right. What if it was just a phase? What if she outgrew Chloe? Or... even worse, what if Chloe outgrew her? At that moment, Brittney realized it wasn't a phase. She still didn't know if she'd consider herself a lesbian, but the idea of Chloe outgrowing her made her realize that she truly did love the other woman.

  She just hoped that Chloe loved her back.

  SEVEN

  The next morning, everyone gathered together in Alec's room once more. He was still tired. He hadn't gotten much sleep the night before; unlike the others, he couldn't easily go out in the sun, and he usually slept during the day. He'd laid awake all through the night, considering everything Chloe had relayed, and tried to figure out some kind of plan.

  "Where do we start?" Conner asked.

  "Research," Alec said. "If someone is building a vampire army here, we need to find out who it is, and why. I think I'm the best for that. I can go out tonight, say I got turned a few days ago, and that nobody bothered to tell me what was going on. I can try to find others and infiltrate the organization."

  Conner nodded. "Be careful, though. If they figure out you're lying, it could be trouble. I know you're strong, but even you can't take out an entire army."

  "What about the rest of us?" Harper asked.

  "Well..." Alec began. "Conner doesn't have any contacts here, so we can't send him underground. We also don't have the gym here, so it's not as though you and Sarah can go for information. For now, I think we need to focus on finding out what we can about the other group that's here."

  "And how are we going to do that?"

  Alec shook his head. "I don't know just yet," he admitted. "The best thing to do would be to find other supernatural creatures and question them. I don't know where to find them, though. We're fishing in the dark here."

  Chloe sat up. "I have an idea," she said. Everyone looked over at her. She flicked her long hair over a shoulder and smoothed down the skirt she was wearing. "Call your contact. Find out where their headquarters are. We'll go there."

  "You want to march up to their headquarters?" Brittney asked.

  "Why not?"

  "Oh, I don't know," Harper said. "Maybe because they'll try and kill us?"

  Chloe shook her head. "I don't think we should walk up, tell them who we are and that we're here to stop them," she said. "I think we should offer our help."

  "Help them?" Conner said.

  Chloe gave him a withering look that Alec very much felt that he deserved. "Of course not," Alec said. "Don't be an idiot, Conner. It's obvious what she wants to do. She wants to offer them help so we can figure out what they're up to. Don't you think they'll see through that, though, Chloe?"

  Chloe shrugged. "Maybe," she said. "I don't know. If they know as much as we do about other teams, they might realize that we were sent to stop them. But there's a chance they won't know. Either way, confronting them will at least give us an idea of who we're up against."

  Harper and Brittney exchanged glances. Alec could almost see the two of them communicating silently.

  "I suppose it's not a bad idea," Brittney said. "We need to go heavily armed, though, and I'm not just talking about guns. If there's a vampire army, and they're related to this group, we're going to be able to make a quick get away. That means--"

  "Smoke bombs," Harper said. "Pepper spray, stakes, holy water, everything. We're going to need to go shopping." She turned towards Chloe.

  Alec smirked at the look of resignation on Chloe's face. "Alright," she said. "But I'm not going alone. Brittney, want to come with me? I thought maybe we could go to lunch while we're out. Just the two of us."

  "Sure," Brittney said.

  "You're going to go out for lunch while we have a mission?" Alec said.

  "Yes," Chloe said. "Of course we are. We hardly get any time alone. Besides, we can't go walking up in the broad daylight. We're going to have to wait till tonight. Tonight you should go out and hunt down other vampires, find out what you can, and the rest of us will go to wherever they're headquarters are. But you need to find that out for us first. You can do that while we're off getting supplies."

  "Fine," Alec said.

  Sarah had been quiet up until now. "And what if they're stronger than us? What if they're better than us? I still can't even transform into a fox without losing my clothing. I get that we'll have supplies, and we know who we are, which gives us the upper hand. But still... we're taking a huge risk, especially not having Alec there for support."

  "We don't always need Alec," Conner said. "Between you and me, we're stronger than him."

  Alec didn't argue this point; it was true that the two of them were very strong, especially when Sarah was in her wolf or panther form.

  "Come on," Chloe said. "Let's go, Brittney."

  The two of them headed out.

  "So what are we going to do all day?" Harper asked. "Brittney and Chloe are doing the shopping, and we're not going after them until tonight."

  Conner shrugged. "I don't know," he said. "I guess we could go to that movie we talked about. If you still want to."

  Alec and Sarah both looked over at Harper.

  "You know," Sarah said. "I actually think I might go downstairs to the gym and work out. If we're going to be here for a while, I don't want to get out of shape."

  "And I'm taking a nap to prepare for tonight," Alec said.

  Conner slung an arm around Harper's shoulders. "It's just you and me, kiddo. What do you say? Go catch a spaghetti western and stuff ourselves full of buttery popcorn?"

  Harper shook her head. "I don't really want to go out," she said.

  Alec studied her, trying to decide what she was thinking. He gave it up as a lost cause and turned his attention to Conner. He watched him shrewdly.

  "That's fine," Conner said. He sounded perfectly natural with the response, but Alec could tell by the slight slump in his shoulders he was disappointed.

  "You know, it might be good for you guys to get out of here," Alec said. "You don't want to spend your whole vacation in a hotel room, right?"

  Harper glanced at him briefly, and shrugged a shoulder. "We won't be. I just don't feel like going out today. Why don't we go back to my room -- or yours -- and watch something on the television there, Conner? We don't have popcorn but we can order room service and a bottle of wine."

  "Now you're talking," Conner said.

  "Don't get drunk," Alec said sharply. "We have work to do tonight."

  "I know," Harper said with a roll of her eyes. "But a glass in the middle of the day isn't going to hurt anything."

  "No, it's not," Conner agreed. He pulled Harper in closer and lowered his voice to a slow, southern drawl. "You and me, baby. We're gonna get out of this world."

  Harper rolled her eyes again. "Come on," she said. Together, the two of them left the room, heading for one of their own.

  Sarah turned towards him and spoke slowly. "You know, if you push them together like that, it's going to end badly for you."

  "It doesn't matter," Alec said. "I'm not looking out for me."

  "How do you know Harper even likes him?" Sarah asked.

  Alec shrugged. "I don't. Not for sure. But like you said, if they keep getting pushed together... well, things will happen. They're both human. It's to be expected."

  "Conner isn't human," Sarah said. "He's a demon."

  "He's a demon that ages," Alec said. "And a demon that can have a family. And a demon that can go outside during the day to movies and--"

  "--You're really hung up
on that, aren't you?" Sarah asked. "That you can't be out in the daylight? How do you know that everyone in the world needs the sun or children? Maybe somewhere out there, there's someone who just wants someone to be with, that's all."

  Alec shrugged. He didn't want to discuss it, no more than he had on the plane. It only made him feel bad and a little sick to his stomach. Luckily for him, Sarah wasn't the kind of person to push an issue, and she could tell by the expression on his face that he didn't want to talk about it anymore.

  "Are you really going to the gym?" He asked.

  "Yeah," Sarah said. "Of course. If it's dark enough you could probably come with me."

  "No," Alec said. "That's alright. I don't need a gym to stay strong. It's part of this curse. I can't get weak. My demonic side won't allow it."

  Sarah smiled. "Lucky."

  Alec laughed. "As if you mind," he said. "You're always talking about how much you love working out. If you couldn't go to the gym, or didn't need to, you'd make yourself crazy."

  "Fair enough," Sarah said.

  "How are the people you work with?" Alec asked.

  "They'll be fine," she said.

  "But don't they need you at home?" he asked.

  "No, I made sure they were all set up with someone who could help them in an emergency," she said. "Most of them aren't like Monica, though. They're not going to run back to their abusive husbands the moment my back is turned. Thank God for small favors."

  "You know, I think it's really great what you do," Alec said. "I don't think I've ever said that before, but I do. Most of those women would never have the guts to leave on their own. You're saving lives even when you're not working with us. That must be a good feeling for you."

  Sarah looked surprised. He didn't understand why at first, and then realized that he rarely commented on one of team members' personal lives before. He swallowed. She was right. He was changing. Not all change was bad, though. Of course, getting attached to them would only hurt in the long run. They would age and someday they would die.

  "Thanks," she finally said.

  Alec gave a short, clipped nod. "You should get going," he told her.