Igniting the Flame (The Ignited Girl Series Book 2)

by EJ Everette

  Gray

  Thankfully it takes me next to no time, and no further encounters with demons, to get to Chance’s cell. When I approach the door, I can see it looks similar to mine, though the barred space that spanned a mere square foot or so on my door is more like five times the size on Chance’s. Bars, about three feet in length, rise from the stone door about a foot off the ground before disappearing back into stone adobe. Even though he is waiting for me, he looks surprised when I pop up into view. His eyes take me in, tracing every inch of me. The act isn’t even remotely sexual, nothing but concern in his analytical scan, but I still shiver under his gaze. This fool has the weirdest effect on me.

  “As much as I appreciate the body scan, Dr. Crusher, we have very little time to get you out of there.” At my words, his eyes snap back to my face. My sarcastic remark disappears in the wind, well it would if there was any sort of breeze down here, as his eyes turn from worry to regard. Suddenly, I feel extremely uncomfortable as Chance stares at me like I am the last drop of water left on earth. Like I hold all the answers to life and survival. What the hell happened to this guy? No scowl? Okay so I get we’ve been trapped for a lifetime and honestly I feel pretty darn thrilled to see him, too, but what’s with the awestruck gaze? Am I glowing or something? Shit, am I naked? Did the fire burn my clothes when I wasn’t looking? I glance down to see that I am, in fact, still clothed in my sports bra and running shorts. And a holy hot mess. Yeah, homeboy isn’t staring at me because I look scrumptious.

  “Chance! Earth to Chance! Hello! You in there?” I wave my hands around, whisper-yelling as loud as I dare to get his attention. It only takes a second, but he seems to shake himself out of wherever his mind had taken him and his scowl reappears, though less harsh than I remember. He nods once, like that is the only response I need, before gathering the chains that are piled next to him into his large hands.

  “Umm, okay? Do you have a plan? Because I hate to break it to you, but I sort of, maybe, kind of pissed off a few demon creatures back there and I can guarantee they all know I am out of my cell now and coming for you. So, yeah, any big ideas?” I feel like a total idiot just standing against the bars staring at him, waiting for an answer, but what else can I do?

  “Stand back. I am going to break the bars.” He says this as if he knows for a fact he can break them.

  “I mean, that’s awesome and all, but if you could break them this whole time, why didn’t you escape sooner?” And come rescue my ass so we could have both avoided copious amounts of torture, I add in my head.

  “I did not have the strength to do it before. Now, I do. Stand back.” At his comment, I see him swirling the chains around like a cowboy showing off before he lassos a steer. The heavy metal must weigh a ton, but he just moves his wrist in a circular motion at his side and the chain spins around, front to back, at his movement. The moment I see him release the chains in my direction, I shuffle back away from the bars to keep from getting hit.

  The sound is deafening. Metal chains hit metal bars, the impact booming through the tunnel around me. I bring my hands up to cover my ears as Chance swings the chains, repeating the process. After the third hit, he drops the chains, approaching the bars with a slight limp in his step, favoring his left leg. He wraps his hands around the thick bars where the chain had slammed into them. I watch in awe as he closes his eyes, his breathing evens out, and then with a mighty roar he pulls at the bars. Every muscle in his arms contract, some I didn’t even know existed, ripple underneath his skin. His deep guttural groan thunders around us and I watch in complete rapture as Chance pulls the solid metal bars until they bend, snapping them from the stone above and below them.

  Ho-ly shit.

  Like, I know we are still stuck in a hellhole and we have both been tortured profusely. I know we have a shit ton of stuff to get through to make it out still, and I have a boyfriend. Not a single damn piece of any of that seems to matter in the slightest to my panties as they suddenly become uncomfortably damp. My jaw is totally unhinged, hanging open in shock at what I just witnessed. When did Chance get so fucking strong? And why did it make me feel things to see him like that?

  “Gray. Earth to Gray. You in there?” Chance throws my words back at me, bringing me out of my stupor to notice his attempt to fit his 6ft plus frame into the space he created by going full-on-hulk on the bars. Seeing me come back to reality, he looks away from me for a moment before softly whispering, “I might be a little stuck. Think you could help?”

  Do not laugh. Don’t do it. Don’t you dare laugh at this giant of a man trying to squeeze through this little space after showing off his epic strength and now needing your help to get free. Stop it. Don’t. Laugh.

  I giggle, just a little.

  “Sure thing there, Superman.” I try out the nickname, liking the way it encompasses the stubborn man before me. “Hold still, let me see what I can do.” I approach him to assess the situation, but my eyes meet his for a moment too long. While I am busy having some epic Jon Snow moment, lost in Chance’s deep blue eyes and the overwhelming need to kiss him, completely forgetting we are in the middle of trying to escape from a demon horde, the sound of my approaching fan club can be heard from behind me. Shiitake mushrooms.

  No longer free to ogle the man before me or search my feelings to figure out what the hell is happening between us right now, I get to work on helping Chance squeeze out of the bars. What is left of his shirt snags on one of the jagged edges of the stone surrounding the bars so he reaches back to tear it loose, resulting in the entire shirt splitting in half, falling from his body completely. Oh great, now the gorgeous infuriating trapped man is also half naked, showing off his Adonis look-alike body. Why does the universe hate me so damn much?!

  Shirtless man aside, we need to move before the oncoming attack reaches us. I feel a pull at my energy as it works its way down my arms, reaching my hands that are trying to move the bars just a smidge to get Chance loose. Empowering strength moves across my fingertips which somehow dig into the metal bars to grip them before I pull them away from Chance’s body. He stares at me with wonder, a look I no doubtedly have across my very own face, before his face goes blank again. He wiggles the rest of the way out of the bars, finally freed from his prison. Well, the cell anyway. We still have to find our way out of this dungeon.

  Chance wraps his massive hand around my tiny ones, the flow of power I just used thankfully fading away, preventing me from accidently crushing his fingers. Of course, after his show of force a second ago, I doubt I would do much damage. Hmm, I wonder which of us would win in an arm wrestling match. Gah, here I am detouring again. Chance is pulling me quickly through the tunnels, almost like he knows exactly where we are going, and curiosity gets the best of me.

  “Umm, where are you taking us? Have you been here before?” My question goes unanswered for a few moments as he navigates the corridors until he finds a small alcove-like area and pulls us into it.

  “I have never been to this part of the realm, no,” he whispers. In this space, we are crammed in tight to avoid being seen. My front is pressed up against his bare chest, quite a bit of bare skin going on between the two of us, actually. He is still way taller than me, but our faces are only a few inches away as he talks.

  “I have been within the realm many times on various missions,” his deep voice is so low I can barely register what he is saying, even this close. “The guys and I have visited all of the realms in our many years. We must get to them in order to escape this place. I am following their pull. Do you feel the connection? I mean, I knew you could feel me after…” he trails off but I know exactly what he is talking about so there is no need for him to finish.

  “I forgot for a moment,” I duck my head as I respond. “Of course I can feel them. I can feel all of you. I just forgot to reach out. It’s all really new and I get so confused sometimes and honestly so much has happened just in the last few days I think I might actually be losing my mind a little bit but then again I
wasn’t altogether sane to start with so there’s that and I’m just completely on my own here trying to figure all of this out what with…” My rambling is cut short when Chance moves his left hand, the one not trapped between his body and the wall, up to my face. His fingers, strong yet somehow incredibly gentle, push strands of loose hair away from my face. He doesn’t say anything, just continues to move my hair around as he watches his fingers caress my skin. There is something there, something in those eyes of his, but I can’t quite figure it out. When he is seemingly satisfied that enough of my face is clear of undoubtedly insane looking hair, he moves his hand to my chin, raising it to ensure I look directly at him as he speaks.

  “You, my beauty, are not alone. You will never be alone again. Take all the time you need to process all of the changes. We understand. We are your guardians, and we will be with you every step of the way. I may have failed you this time. I let them take you, almost lost you completely, even thought I did for a moment, but I swear to you on my life and oath, never again, princess. We belong to you, and I will follow you to the ends of the earth to protect you.”

  His expression remains soft but hesitant, waiting for some reply from me, but I have nothing. He thinks this is his fault? That he is the reason I was taken? I was the one who pushed them away, not the other way around. Sure, Chance wasn’t the sweetest in the bunch, but I never really doubted he would step in if I needed him. I never truly doubted any of them. I just needed to get past my own fucking issues. This, this was my fault. And these punk ass demons who seem to want me because of some prophecy I can’t really remember. I need to tell him I don’t blame him. I don’t blame any of them. Not one bit. In fact, they should all be mad at me for being so stubborn and a grade A bitch.

  I open my mouth to say just that when the tugging sensation hits me hard, nearly causing me to double over from the shock. Unfortunately, there is no room to double over in this cramped space so instead I just end up pushing my face into Chance’s bare chest, a slight groan releasing from my mouth before I can stop it.

  “Umm, Gray…”

  Never mind. Forget the rescue, just leave me here in my total and complete embarrassment to be dealt with as the demons see fit. There is no way I can face this awkward moment. I am so done with believing in luck of any kind. I don’t even think catching a leprechaun and conning him into granting me some epic wishes for good fortune will work at this point.

  “S-Sorry,” I mumble. “The guys. It just surprised me. They just..” Chance immediately stiffens in front of me, breathing heavily for a moment.

  “You can feel them now? Where are they? I’m trying to lock on to them, but I think your connection may be even stronger than mine.” I pull back as much as I can in our little crammed corner before glancing up at him. All evidence that maybe he thought I was caressing his chest with my face on purpose is gone, possibly never having existed in the first place. Whew. His eyes pan back and forth, sounds of demons searching for us reach our ears within seconds. If we are going to move, I think it's time we do so now.

  I close my eyes to visualize the guys, their ropes, and hopefully their location. Going to my middle ground, my happy spot, it takes me only a few seconds to lock onto them. Mitch’s rope is pulling at me the hardest so I reciprocate to let him know we are on our way. I think. Then I focus on him like I did the time I saw Chance. Holding on to Mitch as we rode on his bike, wind whipping around us, freeing me in a way I will never forget. Mitch’s deep laugh and the way he is always getting onto Reid for goofing around but I can see how much he loves him. The big scruffy bear of a guy who woke up early to bring me coffee and give me rides to school every day while he tried to fix Grams’ car. My Mitch. His dark black hair comes into focus then, the rest of the guys around him in what looks like a cave entrance. Behind them are what appear to be trees, though they are shaped weird, almost appearing to be growing upside down, narrow at the bottom and widening as you get closer to the top. Dark blue and brown leaf-like things hang from twisted branches. There is no grass, but it appears to be daylight wherever they are. Mitch turns, as if he senses me near him somehow, and I see him take in a deep breath before turning back around to say something to the guys. Before I can make out anything, I am pulled back to myself.

  I tell Chance what I saw just as another creature comes out of the shadows to my right. This one is much smaller in size than the linebacker ones, but nowhere near as small as the minion puggers. It’s lean body makes it look more like an emaciated child than anything, but it has the most wicked gleam in its eyes. Probably the most startling part of it is it’s nose. The sniffer is almost three times the size of a regular nose, too big even for its own face, with large nostrils that have what appear to be thick threads hanging from them by the dozens. Fucking eww.

  “Forge,” Chance whispers beside me before shifting to push me behind him, his body now in the opening of the corner, blocking my visual of the demon. “Stay here, Gray.” He goes to take a step but I grasp at his wrist.

  “I am not helpless, Chance. You don’t have to protect me.”

  The blue of his eyes darkens to nearly black, no they definitely go all black, before me as he looks at me hard, his fists clenching at his side. I can feel his forearm muscles as they contract beneath my hand still holding onto him. It is almost as if something is deep inside of him trying to get out.

  “Yes, I do. It is my right as your guardian to do so. More than that, I owe you this. I told you, Gray. Never again. Now, stay here and let me save you.”

  With that he pulls away from my hold, moving to face the demon who has heard our chatter, spotting us with ease. Malice coats every inch of the disgusting creature giving me shivers just looking at him. Please be careful, Chance. Please.

  I watch with bated breath as Chance approaches the creature, his profile now all I can see of him, coated in shadows. A sneer appears on his face, his lips twisting up to the corner facing me.

  “I’ve been waiting to see how this new power works. Looks like you just volunteered as my test dummy. Lucky me.”

  Then with another powerful growl, he lunges for the demon, and I hold my breath.

  30

  Gray

  There is nothing I have experienced in my life that is even half as stressful as watching someone you care about fight with a demon. Well, except watching them fight five, which is what is happening right now as more of the creatures flood through the opening to join the battle at hand. I can say this, though. Watching Chance fight is a thing of absolute fucking beauty. His body moves without hesitation, and for someone so fucking huge, there is a grace about him that translates into every dodge, punch, and kick he executes. I might seriously need to get my head checked when we get home because his dance-fighting is making my body flush, warming in all the wrong, or maybe right, places.

  The five to one odds don’t seem to bother him. In fact, there is a spark in him that makes me think he welcomes every addition to the mix. There are at least three of the really big ones, linebacker demons I call them, one of the puggers, and one that looks like the first one he dispatched in a blink of an eye. Anxiety keeps me on my toes, waiting for the moment one of them lands a hit on Chance and he falls, but so far he is slinging the attackers across the room Hercules style, not even breaking a sweat. He hasn’t actually killed anything yet, not from what I can tell, but honestly I don’t know how he would without a weapon. Instead he is clobbering them with lethal fists of destruction, kicking them across the room with so much force they snap into the rock walls, and wrapping his big strong arms around their throats until they fall limp at his feet.

  My spot as spectator quickly shifts as more demons than I can keep track of flood in from the tunnel on our right. Chance may be playing the role of beast, tossing the wolves off his back with ease, but this beauty is going to have to roll up her sleeves and join in. Fear overtakes me at the thought of touching them. Already I can feel a small gap where I have used some of the energy I had gathered from�
�� before. There is this ache within me begging me to seek out new sources, gather more strength, fill the small void. My pause is the advantage the oncoming attackers need, leaving me vulnerable as a demon I haven’t encountered before sweeps in and tackles me from my left. I hear Chance scream my name out in anguish, though it sounds more like fear for my safety than pain so I ignore it, pulling my focus back to the fight at hand.

  I have never in my life been in a legitimate fight. I have fought for my life. I have fought off men of all sizes, shapes, and age who have come to claim my body for themselves for a short while. I have even punched a kid or two in the homes who pissed me off or messed with one of the younger fosters who couldn’t defend themselves. Those instances are nothing like a full blown battle fight and I realize, too late, that my super cool energy doesn’t work like a Matrix upload. There are no immediate kung-fu positions or MMA style moves that suddenly take over my body to turn me into a deathly machine. Nope. I’m just plain ol’ Gray with a few decent punches beneath my belt and those pretty sweet jumping moves I used to avoid the linebackers earlier.

  I push up off of the ground, shoving and kicking the demon who attacked me off of my body as I struggle to get to my feet. Keeping myself upright and out of the arms of these bastards needs to be my top priority. Something catches my eye on the ground just a few feet from where I am furiously kicking at the thin spiky demon who tackled me, reflecting the flames from the nearby torch back into my peripheral. It looks to be a short sword of sorts, though it is a crude rendition of what I have seen in movies and comic books over the years. The blade is jagged instead of smooth, almost too jagged to be much more than a blunt metal stick, though at this point I’ll take it over nothing.

  Shoving myself back a few steps when I get a moment free, I land on my ass next to the object. A high-pitched squeal leaves my mouth as I feel sharp stone cut into my backside, but I bite down on my lower lip to rein it in. Great. I get into my first battle, and I get a big ass cut in my buttcheek. Classy, Gray. My hand reaches around for the short sword before my fingers find their mark, wrapping around one end of the blade. It doesn’t have anything in the way of a handle so I just grip it as tightly as I can without cutting into my own hand, bringing it in front of my body to prepare for the next attack. Sure enough, spiky comes at me again, either oblivious to my new found weapon or cocky in its own ability to handle me regardless of weaponry.