Page 17 of Before We Burn

It’s important my students write about how they’re feeling, because abilities are usually connected to emotions you feel on a daily basis. For me, the one emotion that truly impacts my control is anger. Any time I found myself upset to the point where I was angry, I would lapse. I would go too far into someone's mind, straining not only myself but the other person, and it only got worse once I tasted the power I had.

Power is such an awful thing. Too much of it and you become a monster, too little and you become a desperate monster. There will never be enough of it. Everyone wants a piece of the pie, but no one understands the pie didn’t want to be cut. It was meant to rest, to cool.

I throw my purse over my shoulder and begin my trek back to my car. Walking through the school feels menacing today, the students moping about like pissed off teenagers while the teachers are overwhelmed and doing their best. It isn’t until I get to the library that I stop for a moment and look around.

Something is off. The mood—the ambiance—it’s all…wrong. I’m about to turn around and run, but I catch a glimpse of Bunny sitting at the window, her eyes fixated on a spot between two small hills. The same spot I saw in her vision.

My feet move without much thought until I’m standing next to her. My eyes move from her to that particular spot, and Bunny turns to me, her face vacant of emotion.

“You’re not supposed to be here. Did he argue with you longer?” She leans her head to the side as a smile grows on her face. “Oh, he did! That means you’ll sit with me.” She taps the seat next to her.

I watch her carefully and sit down slowly. She turns her attention to the spot I remember seeing, and my heart races. This is so surreal. “How long, Bunny?” I ask, my mouth feeling dry as my head splits and begins to pound. The pain is sudden and strong, so it doesn’t take me long to realize that Bunny doesn’t want me in her head.

“Twenty minutes, but you know that Professor Marzana. You know what happens next.” She turns her eyes on me, and my stomach clenches.

“Are we going to warn them? Evacuate the school?” I speak in a hushed whisper, as there are other students around the library. I can’t risk any of them hearing me and going back to Alexander, especially because I’m supposed to be gone.

“We can’t,” Bunny says plainly, her tone flat and body free from tension. “If we evacuate, we would have to tell them about me.” She’s right. We can’t do anything except wait.

Constantine said seers are unpredictable. That not everything they see is a guarantee. The future is fickle, and one change of heart—one hesitation—can change the entire outcome. I hold onto that hope, because the other option isn’t good either.

We sit there for twenty minutes, and once they’ve passed without incident, I sigh in relief. But Bunny doesn’t move or celebrate, just sits silently. I look outside at the dark sky, a completely different setting from the vision before.

“I think fate had different plans, Bunny. Why don’t you go get some rest?”

She doesn’t respond. Instead, she casually stands and goes to a corner while covering her ears and face. I furrow my brows, ready to coax her out of her small shelter when, from the corner of my eye, I see movement. It’s quick and brief—nothing like I remembered from the vision. I look harder, as if I can make myself see farther.

That’s when I see them.

There are twenty—maybe thirty—of them. All their faces are covered with black fabric masks, leaving only their eyes visible. I see the faint blue glow of the UV bullets they have loaded in their guns, and my eyes widen. They know we’re here.

I stand frantically, my panic forcing words out of my mouth before I process them. “The humans are here! Run!” I start screaming as loud as I can down the hall, coaxing students and teachers out of their classrooms.

“Run!” I scream again.

I run down the hall as fast as I can, trying to warn everyone. No one takes my warning seriously until the student Sahara had talked to me about earlier begins to shift, his calm demeanor traded for an out-of-control vampire on the hunt. He can smell them.

There’s a brief moment when I feel like everything begins to move slowly. That moment when you know the people around you could die. I can't explain what that feels like. Maybe I’ve become numb to it, or maybe death doesn’t bother me anymore, because I feel like it’s almost a gentle relief.

Eternal life sounds great on paper, but living through decades of suffering, of war…it’s not much of a life.

A loud explosion sounds, shards of wood and cement flying in different directions, landing on random students. I stand there frozen, knowing what comes next.

The sound of metal clanking onto the floor catches my attention, and my eyes widen when I notice the flash grenade. Why would they send a flash grenade instead of a regular one? Why not try to kill us?

The bang comes next, bright light filling the room, my flesh burning with it. I jump on top of whoever is around me, trying to redeem myself one last time.

8

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL

EVERETT

Idon’t usually get a bad feeling before a vampire raid. Typically I’m ready for it, excited even. Going after the beasts that have ripped families apart, turned friends into enemies, and destroyed the once-prosperous world is the least I can do. But after Benny and I caught that vampire in the gas station, things started to feel wrong.

Vampires usually aren’t that frantic. They should’ve smelled us as soon as we got within a three-mile radius of the gas station—especially because they were already feeding. Benny told me not to worry about it, that I was thinking about everything a little too much and I needed to let go. But I had a feeling we were sitting on the edge of an unstable cliff.

There was also the fact that Johnny sent us on a call he lied about. He said it was a witch sighting—no more than three. There were three vampires, and that couldn’t be a coincidence.