Revival (The Variant Series, #1)

  * * *

  Vitamin D did the trick.

  Alex spent the next three-and-a-half hours on a deserted strip of beach, listening to the sound of waves crashing against the shore and working on her tan lines.

  No weird guys who were there one second and gone the next, no fried electronics, just a few hours by the shore with her best friend.

  This was what she’d been hoping for when she agreed to a day at the boardwalk with Cassie.

  She brushed a few errant grains of sand from her feet and slipped them back into her socks.

  “You’ve got to be the only person on the planet who wears jeans and Chuck Taylor’s for a day at the beach,” said Cassie.

  The soft rumble of thunder echoed through the air around them. In the distance, storm clouds were moving in as flashes of lightning lit the darkened sky a little farther off shore. Beautiful, but it meant an end to their sunbathing.

  “I happen to love my Chucks, thank-you-very-much,” said Alex as she tied the laces. “Besides, the sun will set in an hour or two. The temperature’s already dropping. You can’t tell me you’re not cold in those shorts.”

  “Freezing,” she admitted, handing Alex her messenger bag as she got to her feet. “But dammit, I look cute and we both know that’s what counts.”

  “Naturally.”

  Cassie led the way back to the boardwalk. “Okay, so I’ll meet you at your house just as soon as I run by the Red Box for movies and pick up the pizza. Should I order a small veggie for your aunt?”

  “Better make it a medium,” said Alex. “She was going to spend the day throwing pottery. You know how she gets when she’s working. I doubt she stopped for lunch.”

  “One large pepperoni and mushroom, a medium veggie and whatever chick-flick I can find. I’ve got this!” Cassie started off in the direction of the parking lot and then turned to walk backwards. “You sure this errand for your aunt won’t take long?”

  “Just need to pick up a special order for her from Ballard’s,” Alex called across the promenade to Cassie’s retreating form. “It’s only a few blocks and then I’ll walk home.”

  “Okay! See you in a bit!”

  Alex left the boardwalk and turned down a little-used side street. It was only a short ways to Ballard’s store from here and she knew the shortcuts well.

  As she made her way down the empty street a gentle rain began to fall. She tugged a lightweight hoodie out of her messenger bag and slipped it on, flipping up the hood as she quickened her pace.

  Rejoining the flow of traffic on one of the main roads, she had the uncanny sensation that someone was watching her. Casting a quick glance over her shoulder, she caught sight of Mr. Military Jacket, trailing her from a few yards back.

  Unnerved by his sudden reappearance, Alex turned down a random side street.

  After walking for another minute, she paused to look around. Her pursuer, if that’s what he was, was nowhere to be seen.

  Relief washed over her as she turned back onto the main road and approached her destination. The words Ballard’s Rare Books were etched in faded gold paint on a green sign hanging above the door.

  She walked inside.

  Ballard’s store wasn’t all that wide, but it made up for that in its length, with five towering rows of bookshelves stretching endlessly to the back of the shop. Books lined every wall and every shelf. High above, a balcony ran the circumference of the large room, allowing access to an even higher set of shelves that reached toward the lofty ceiling.

  Alex couldn’t help but smile. She’d always loved this place.

  As she stepped further into the store, she immediately noticed that something was different. The wonderful, musty aroma that seemed to be reserved solely for the yellowing pages of old books was missing.

  Instead she’d been greeted by another scent entirely: the smell of something burning—of meat cooking.

  She would have chalked it up to the smell of Mr. Ballard’s dinner, except that the aroma was nearly overpowering.

  “Mr. Ballard?” she called out.

  “Hello, again.”

  Alex whipped around. The Scotsman from the coffee shop now stood behind the register. He leaned against the countertop with an air of nonchalance and smiled wide.

  “Hope I didn’t startle you,” he said. Despite his smile, there was a baleful look in his coffee-colored eyes.

  Alex glanced toward the door.

  “And I really hope you’re not thinking about leaving.” He walked out from behind the counter, pushing open a waist-high swinging door.

  Alex inhaled sharply and took a step backwards.

  As the door swung open she had caught sight of a charred and blackened mass at the Scotsman’s feet. After looking at it more closely, Alex nearly cried out upon recognizing the distinct features of a skull.

  The dark shape was what remained of a human body.

  “Oh, my god.” Her stomach lurched. “Is that… Did you…?”

  The man had come to a halt halfway between Alex and the store’s entrance.

  “It is,” he said. “And I did.”

  Alex stood frozen in place despite every instinct she possessed commanding her to run. Run where? The man was blocking her only exit.

  He pulled a lighter from his vest pocket. Alex took another step back, closer to the shop’s wall.

  “You know the wonderful thing about fire, Alexandra?” He flicked the lid open.

  How had he known…?

  Of course. Her wallet. He must have read the name on her driver’s license before giving it back to her in the coffee shop.

  Alex’s grip tightened around the strap of her satchel. She had to get out of here.

  “It’s the perfect murder weapon, fire.” He pulled the flame from the lighter into his hand, where it hovered, impossibly, an inch above his palm. “Persistent, resilient, ultimately untraceable… and entirely at my command.”

  He flicked the lighter closed with his free hand and slipped it back into his pocket.

  Alex considered making a run for the door, intent on barreling into him and, with any luck, taking him by surprise.

  Before she could put her plan into action, however, he hauled back his right arm and threw the blaze straight for her. Alex staggered aside and the flaming orb landed just to her left. The fire spread quickly, engulfing the bookshelf behind her in a matter of seconds.

  She stepped away from the conflagration.

  “Just a suggestion,” he said, a sneer twisting the lines of his face. “You might want to run.”

  With one last, desperate glance at the exit, Alex turned on her heel and fled deeper into the shop.

  — 4 —

  The fire swept toward her as if it had a mind of its own, a sentient being driven by a single goal: to consume her.

  Alex reached the end of the row of books and turned left, the fire spreading, following, taking the corner and closing fast, licking at her heels as she ran along the bookstore’s inside wall.

  The only exit she knew of was at the front of the building, the area surrounding it now a veritable inferno. In desperation, she fled to the rear of the building, hoping to find another way out.

  A putrid gray smoke had thickened the air inside the shop, stinging her throat as it filled her lungs. The threat of asphyxiation now seemed as imminent as the flames trailing only a few feet away.

  Reaching the back corner, Alex spotted a door leading to the shop’s storeroom. She tried the handle with no luck, finally kicking the base of it in desperation.

  Taking as many steps back toward the flames as she dared, Alex got up a running start and slammed her shoulder into the very center of the wood.

  A blinding pain rocketed through her arm, spreading from the base of her neck to the very tips of her fingers. With a yelp, Alex bounced off the heavy door and fell to her knees before it.

  The door was locked tight. It wasn’t going to budge.

  She looked to her left. Her only other o
ption was a spiral staircase leading to the upper balcony. The second tier of the store offered more walls lined with books, but no visible exit.

  Alex got to her feet. The glass-paneled bookcases set against the nearby walls were already alight. Soon even the staircase wouldn’t be an option.

  Realizing that the approaching flames had effectively made the decision for her, she started up the stairs, the handrails already hot to the touch.

  Alex risked a glance upward and her heart sank at the sight of what awaited her at the top of the stairs.

  Dirty blonde hair. Hazel eyes. Gray military-style jacket.

  She came up short, four steps from the landing.

  The look on his face held just a hint of amusement. “Well?” He offered her his hand. “You coming?”

  She hesitated, weighing her options. Risk running back down the flaming aisles to find another exit? Or trust the guy who’d been stalking her all afternoon?

  The fire had spread to the nearby shelves. The heat was growing unbearable.

  “You cut me deep,” he said. “You’d actually choose a fiery death over the prospect of my company. I have to admit, that stings a bit.”

  She didn’t move.

  His expression grew serious. “Trust me, Alex.”

  Still uncertain, but more fearful of the flames than of the stranger before her, she took his outstretched hand—and very nearly dropped it in surprise. The sensation was… electric.

  Literally. There was an actual, live current passing between their joined hands.

  The flames were closing in.

  Dismissing the odd sensation, she gripped his hand tightly and climbed the remaining steps.

  Once on the landing, Alex looked quickly for the exit through which the stranger must have arrived… and found nothing. How had he gotten there?

  Alex came to a stop before him and tried to pull her hand from his. He wasn’t letting go.

  “Ready?” he asked. The self-assured smile he’d worn earlier was once again firmly in place.

  “For what?” she choked out, the mixture of heavy smoke and utter panic causing her throat to tighten. “There’s no door!”

  “Door?” The smile grew wider. “Who said anything about using a door?”

  Alex opened her mouth to reply—and instantly wished she hadn’t.

  Before she could form a word in protest, the world around them had fallen away. The sound of thunder roared in her ears as a sudden change in pressure knocked the air from her lungs and forced her eyes closed.

  Just when she felt certain that her body would soon do the impossible and turn itself inside out, it was over.

  The pressure was gone… and she was falling.

  Alex’s eyes burst open. She was eye level with the treetops and falling fast, heading straight for a dark body of water that stretched out below her.

  A cry of surprise slipped from her throat.

  The grip on her hand tightened.

  Alex caught one last glimpse of her savior as they broke the surface of the water. He was still smiling.