Page 4 of Sweet Inferno

“You taking Gade?”

Naturally, the first choice was my brother. I did another quick scan to locate him. I was the oldest of the three of us, but we typically only worked two per shift. Me or our middle brother Hale worked with our baby brother Gade.

He was hotheaded and reckless, which meant one of us always had to be around to make sure he didn’t do anything crazy. For the most part, while on shift, he followed the rules. But the reckless streak in him pushed Gade to overdo it, absorbing too much fire at times. It was like a challenge to see how far he could push it and that was dangerous for any of us.

“Yeah.”

Two missing. We’re going in to get them. I communicated with my brother through our blood link.

“The building’s burned to shit. Fire’s out though.” I tossed my chin and pulled my mask down. The self contained breathing apparatus and our turnouts were more for show than anything. Wearing them eased the minds of those we rescued. There was no mystery about our existence anymore, since we commingled with the humans, but for some it was still unsettling to know they were being saved by a force they’d deemed predators and deadly blood suckers. Shit was wild considering working at Station 112 meant we saved lives.

Didn’t matter. Humans had their ideas of what we were and I didn’t care enough to argue and change them. The fear meant they left us the hell alone for the most part.

My brother communicated with me. Do we know where they’re at?

No. Let’s make this quick so we can get out of here.

I pulled my mask down and headed to the building. Gade fell in step with me, and as soon as we reached what used to be the bottom level of the garage, he and I both paused and let everything around us settle.

I focused on the stillness around me and tried to pick up on anything that would give us direction. There was a lot going on with the fire and our guys, which messed with my senses. Finding the missing two would take some effort. Gade and I tapped it at the same time, anxiety and labored breathing.

You get that?

Yeah, let’s go.

He and I both moved with lightning speed toward the stairwell that led to the upper level of the building. The fire blazed from below, burning through the ceiling, which made the floor on the second level unsteady. We moved along the perimeter to get to the storage closet at the back of the building. The doors were closed, shutting it off from the rest of the space. I kicked through the first one, noticing the fire barely reached back here.

The issue was there was only one way in and out, so the two trapped could have only escaped by jumping from a second story window or risking a trek through the fire. They did the smartest thing they could and barricaded themselves from the flames, tucked away in a storage closet.

Gade moved ahead of me, reaching the door. “Fire department, call out.”

“We’re in here.”

He stopped in front of the door and tossed his chin to me before I spoke up. “Fire’s out. Open the door and we’ll get you down.”

“It won’t open. It locks as soon as the door closes.”

Good thing, otherwise their stupid asses would have probably tried to film their exit walking through the fire.

My brother laughed then swung his head in my direction.

Is that why they’re up here?

Cap said the owner told him the last two were MIA because they were filming something for social media.

Must have gotten up here and were trapped in the process when the fire started.

You doing the honors or you want me to?

I got it.

“Move away from the door. We’ll knock it down. When you’re clear, call out,” I yelled.

A few minutes later their voices sounded from behind the door.

“We’re ready.”

Gade moved forward and bumped his shoulder into it, knocking the damn thing clean off the hinges and he barely touched it.