Page 5 of In the Line of Fire

3

Soleil

Iregained consciousness about six hours after I’d died from the knife wound in my side, judging by the moon’s position in the night sky. How the whole rebirth thing worked was a mystery—even to my dad and me—but my phoenix somehow managed to get me to a safe place while I was knocked out during the process. I always woke up in a pile of ashes, but my clothes and anything else on my body made it mostly unscathed through the flames. This time, I found myself deeper in the woods bordering the motel where I’d been staying.

Sitting up, I scanned the trees for signs that anybody was nearby. I didn’t see, hear, or smell anything other than animals who belonged in the forest. I slowly got to my feet, feeling a little wobbly after dying and coming back to life again. Stumbling over to lean against a tree, I took a deep breath to drag fresh air into my lungs. After a couple of minutes, the fogginess lifted from my brain. I was able to think more clearly, and I was steady enough on my feet to make my way out of the woods.

The flames usually drained the battery on my cell phone for some reason. So I wasn’t surprised when I pulled the device out of my pocket to try powering it on and nothing happened. I needed to find somewhere to charge it as soon as possible since my dad would be waiting on a call from me, but I had no idea how far from civilization I’d ended up. My night vision was excellent, but there wasn’t a hint of light from a road or building in any direction.

I didn’t know how long the dark practitioners hung around each time I’d died after a confrontation with them, and I definitely did not want to run into them again anytime soon. The woods had been to the east of the motel, so I continued to head in that direction since that would take me farther away from where I’d last seen them.

By the time I could hear traffic on a road, I’d been walking for several hours. I had watched the transition from night to day as the morning twilight began to lighten the sky. The sun had just begun to appear on the horizon when I neared the road. Slowing my pace, I stayed behind the tree line while I examined the area ahead of me. There was a gas station to the left and a row of buildings to the right that looked familiar. It was early, so there weren’t a lot of people around. Just two cars were parked in front of the pumps at the gas station, and the lights were only on in one of the other buildings.

I remained in the same position for thirty minutes, watching the diner’s lights turn on and three more customers come and go from the gas station. When someone flipped the sign in the diner’s window from closed to open, I finally left the shelter provided by the trees to cross the street. I headed straight for the diner, glancing over my shoulder to scan the area one last time before I opened the door.

A waitress stood behind the counter, fiddling with a coffee machine. Glancing at the pass-through window to the kitchen, I saw a guy working back there. The bell over the door chimed and alerted the waitress to my presence. She looked up and smiled in greeting. “Sit wherever you’d like.”

“Thanks.” I walked toward the back of the seating area and looked to my left to confirm that the hallway leading to the bathrooms went all the way to the back of the building. When I spotted the door that led outside, I relaxed a little. It usually took the coven at least a few months to track me down after I died during a confrontation with them, but if they managed to find me sooner this time around, I had another way to get out of the diner.

Moving over to the booth closest to the rear exit, I slid my backpack off my shoulders and dropped it onto the bench. I scooted in next to it, with the wall at my back. Peering out the big windows lining the front of the diner, I did another quick scan of the street and didn’t see anything suspicious. Then I ducked my head under the table to see if there was an outlet I could reach.

“You okay, sweetie?”

If my hearing wasn’t so good, I probably would have bumped my head on the bottom of the table at the waitress’s question. But I’d clocked the squeaking of her shoes as she’d approached, so I wasn’t surprised. Carefully sitting up, I flashed her a brief smile. “Yeah, just hoping I could charge my phone since it’s dead.”

She pointed the pencil she was holding over her shoulder. “There are outlets behind the counter. I can plug it in for you over there.”

I hated giving my phone to anyone, but I didn’t have a better option. “That would be great, thanks.”

She dropped a menu in front of me while I grabbed the charging cord from my backpack. As I handed it and my phone over to her, she asked, “Can I bring you some coffee?”

“Yes, please.” If she had offered me an intravenous drip of caffeine, I would’ve taken her up on it. After the events of the past eleven or twelve hours, I was in desperate need of the jolt to my system that caffeine would provide.

“Be right back,” she promised before turning on her heel to head behind the counter again.

She was only gone a couple of minutes, but it was enough time for me to read through the menu and decide what I wanted to eat. Dying and being reborn always left me with a healthy appetite. When she slid a mug in front of me and poured some coffee into it, I placed my order. “I’d like the Patchwork Quilt. Eggs scrambled with American cheese, hash browns, and rye toast.”

She jotted down how I wanted everything on her notepad. “What kind of juice?”

“Orange.” My stomach growled as I tapped my finger against the menu. “And can I also get a short stack and a side of sausage links?”

Her head jerked up, eyes going wide. “I’ll ask Hal to get the pancakes out right away. We can’t have you starve to death while you’re waiting.”

“Thanks, I’d appreciate it.” I tapped the rim of my mug. “And you can plan on me needing a refill when you bring that out.”

“Will do, hon.”

While she hurried away to get my order started, I dumped a couple of packets of sugar into my coffee and used my spoon to stir the dark liquid. Then I lifted the mug to my lips and blew over the top a few times to cool the drink so I could gulp it down. When she returned with a plate of pancakes about five minutes later, she filled it back up. Twenty minutes after that—when four empty plates sat in front of me—she came over with the coffee pot in hand to give me my fifth refill.

I placed my palm over the top of the mug. “I think I’m good.”

Her gaze dropped to the table, and she let out a low whistle. “I don’t know where a little thing like you could’ve put all that. I thought for sure I’d need a couple of boxes for your leftovers.”

“My mom always said I eat like I have a hollow leg.” I patted my thigh as I gave her an offhand excuse. It wasn’t as though I could share the real explanation—that I was an avian shifter. When taking body size into account, birds ate about six to seven times more than humans. Up to half their body weight every day in some cases. “And I missed dinner last night, so I was extra hungry.”

“If you still have room, I have a few pies in the back that I haven’t brought out yet. The bakery we order from has the best crust I’ve ever tasted.”

I hadn’t planned on eating anything else, but I couldn’t pass up a good pie. “Do you have cherry?”

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