‘Alright, mate.’ Leo greeted me as I came into the room.
He was lying on his bed, scribbling in a notebook. His guitar was lying next to him. I had to bite my tongue before I said something I shouldn’t. He was working on his bands’ album and was always writing lyrics, or humming to himself. Scorpio was snoring on his own bed, his bare arse poking out from under the cover.
‘You’re up early,’ I muttered, lying down and yawning.
‘Did you get any sleep, or have you been up all night?’
I grinned and looked over at him.
‘Who was it this time? Someone we know, or a stranger?’
He chewed the end of his pen as he watched me stretch out. He was the most sensible of the fire signs.
The apartment we lived in had four bedrooms, which meant everyone had to share. Pisces and Antony were the first united couple so they got their own room. I didn’t care about sharing with my brothers but there were times when we needed our own space. It hadn’t always been that way, especially when we had still lived with our mother and father. We had moved a few months ago, when we decided that we needed to live by ourselves.
‘It was Natalie.’ As soon as the words left my lips, I wished I could take them back.
‘You son of a—’
‘Don’t!’ I interrupted.
Leo had seen how heartbroken Natalie was when I’d split up with her. He always had a go at me when I went back to sleep with her.
He sat up and leant against the wall. I glanced over at him. He wore boxers but that was all. His torso and arms were covered in tattoos. I looked away when he scowled at me.
‘Come on, mate, you would do the same if—’
‘No, I wouldn’t. You need to stop messing with her head.’
Leo wrote love songs, even though he didn’t come across as very romantic himself. I hadn’t bothered to go to any of his gigs so I didn’t know the lyrics of his songs. Rock was my favourite music. I preferred the heavy tunes, as opposed to the meaningful words.
‘I know. I will,’ I said.
‘No, you won’t.’
I growled and turned on my side, facing away from him. How dare he judge me? I could do what I liked, when I liked and with whoever I wanted.
‘Taurus and Gemini told us that you saw a couple in that house last night. When are we going back to get them?’
I turned towards him again. The subject was much more favourable. I wanted to plan the next step as quickly as possible.
‘I’m on call with work tonight so it will have to be tomorrow night.’
Leo nodded and went back to his scribbling.
‘What are you writing?’ I wasn’t quite ready to go to sleep.
‘Why do you want to know?’
I frowned. Leo had an attitude with me. What was wrong with him? Maybe he liked Natalie or something.
‘I just do…’
My phone buzzed with a text. Pulling it out of my pocket, I groaned when Natalie’s name showed on the screen.
‘Is she pissed off?’
I nodded as I glanced at him. I thought I would have a couple more hours before my actions bit me in the arse but it hadn’t worked out that way.
‘What did she say?’
‘That if I ever dare to go near her again, she’ll kill me.’
Leo shook his head at me. His serious expression made me turn on the bed to face the wall again.
‘Come on, give me a break.’
He didn’t reply. I texted Natalie back to say that I was sorry and promised it would never happen again. She came back instantly, telling me that it wasn’t a big deal, and that I needed to grow up. I rolled my eyes and tucked my phone away.
We had done this text dance for years now. She was blunt and to the point. Whereas, I always tried to make a joke of it. I told her that I wanted some fun and we were good together that way. She told me that she wasn’t interested in just sleeping together so we agreed to stay friends.
The problem was, every time I saw her, I wanted to be with her physically. If I saw her with anyone else, I hated it. I couldn’t handle that either. It was easier to stay away.
‘Love cuts the soul into a million pieces, of shattered glass, and a load of faeces.’
I choked at Leo’s lyrics. I spun on my bed. Leo had a big grin on his face.
‘Faeces…?’
‘I can’t think of anything to rhyme with pieces.’
I didn’t know if he was being serious but my laughter choked me.
‘Will you two shut up?’ Scorpio’s muffled voice filtered out from the corner of the room.
‘Will you cover your arse?’ Leo replied.
Scorpio stuck his arse out further. I closed my eyes to spare myself the sight.
‘Hasn’t anyone got work today?’ I asked.
‘Oh crap,’ Scorpio mumbled, before launching from the bed.
I was glad my eyes were closed. Scorpio always walked around butt naked.
‘Are you driving today?’
He was a delivery driver. He loved cars and had considered doing motor racing at one point. Mother and Father hadn’t allowed him to do it so he had settled for a job driving around London all day.
‘I’m going for a run,’ I announced, jumping up.
There was no way I could sleep, I had too much energy running through me. I functioned well on no sleep and needed to keep fit for my job. Changing into my jogging clothes, I left the boys arguing.
‘Can I come?’ Antony asked when I was about to leave. He was already in his gear so I agreed.
At the bottom of the steps, I did my stretches. The road had started to fill up with cars. People were on their way into the city to spend the day rushing around. It wasn’t much of a life but it could be exciting in London town.
My phone rang. I pulled it out of my pocket. It was the fire station.
‘We’ve got a big fire at an industrial estate just outside Heathrow. We need as many of you in as possible.’ My boss barked down the phone.
‘I’m there.’ I spun back to the house and went inside.
When I came back out again, Antony was standing at the bottom of the steps.
‘Sorry, that was work,’ I said, going past him and jogging towards the station.
I didn’t bother to drive. It would take too long to get through the rush hour traffic. We lived in Clapham. The station was just around the corner.
Antony followed me, which was unlike him.
‘What’s up?’ I asked as he drew level with me.
‘I just wanted to say good luck,’ he panted.
He wasn’t as fit as me, although he wasn’t doing a bad job. I frowned at him, wondering why he would say that.
‘Thanks. Have a good day,’ I shouted, sprinting towards the station.
‘Aries, get on the truck,’ my boss called.
I changed into my fireman’s outfit and climbed on board. The truck roared out of the station and headed towards the M25. I was briefed as we made our way to the fire. My blood pumped through me. I tried not to get too happy. It wasn’t the situation, it was the rush. We rarely got to see fires. We usually had to attend accidents.
‘You look buzzed, mate, did you get any sleep last night?’ one of my colleagues asked.
‘Nah, up all night with a lady,’ I replied.
He laughed and patted me on the back. I thought of Natalie and quickly pulled out my phone. I typed a message saying that she deserved someone much better than me. I couldn’t give her the security she wanted. I was a flirt. That would never change.
Even my twin flame soulmate would have to accept that about me.
‘Put that away, Aries, time to concentrate,’ my boss yelled.
I did as I was told as the truck screamed down the motorway.
‘We’re almost there, boys,’ the boss called, pointing to the column of smoke rising up in the air. The siren was loud. I loved it. I thought of my brothers and sisters as we came off the motorway. I didn’t think they would love being
a fireman like I did.
‘Let’s go,’ the others called as the truck came to a stop and we jumped out.
The smoke rose high above the burning building. The flames engulfed one end of a factory. I ran to the back of the vehicle and waited for my orders.
‘There are two people inside. We’re waiting for—’
‘I’ll go,’ I offered.
‘It’s too dangerous at the moment,’ the official said.
‘I’ll be fine.’
I was good at what I did. Fire didn’t scare me. I even had my own fire ability but only my siblings knew that. It was a secret that I couldn’t let anyone know. Not even Natalie. My phone buzzed against my thigh. My boss would kill me if he knew I had my phone on me.
‘No, Aries, you’re not—’
We all looked round at the shout of people trapped in the building.
‘We can’t just leave them!’
The others started to talk amongst themselves. I would be fine. I couldn’t see where the fire was in the building. Somehow I knew that the flames weren’t that bad. I had no idea how but my fire instinct took over. Before I thought about what I was doing, I jogged towards the building. There was shouting behind me. I ignored it. A part of me was screaming to stop. What was I doing? I could lose my job for going against orders. Another part of me knew that I could save the two people that were about to die if someone didn’t do something.
‘I’m coming!’ I shouted when I heard the trapped people calling out.
Jogging through the main door, I was instantly engulfed in a cloud of thick smoke. I choked and tried to get my bearings. My heart beat against my ribcage as I tried to navigate the hallway of the building. The heat of the fire coming from the left wall, where the factory was, radiated onto my skin. The right hand wall was lined with doors to the offices in the building. Ahead, the door that separated the hallway to the factory, spat out smoke from under it. I could see a gentle lick of flames trying to grab hold of the wood at the bottom. I paused. I was going against all of my training. My boss would kill me. I didn’t want to lose my job but something against my better judgement caused a need for me to try and save the people trapped inside.
The calls of help came from beyond the dangerous door. I pressed myself against the right wall and slid along it. My breathing became stilted as I tried not to inhale the smoke that swirled around me. The shouting grew louder. People were trapped in the toilets directly opposite the door that was on fire. The metal handle of the toilet door was steaming. My fingers closed around it. It didn’t burn the skin on my palms. I could hold fire so heat didn’t burn my hands.
When the door was open, I stepped through and closed it behind me.
‘Are you in here?’ I shouted.
I heard a reply and got low to the floor. The smoke was thick above my head. I rushed forward and looked into the cubicle. Two older women were trapped, tears running down their faces. One was low to the ground. The other was standing on the toilet, putting her face near the tiny open window.
‘Okay, I’m going to get you out of here. You need to wrap something around your mouth and follow me.’
They looked doubtful but did as I asked. I crouched as I walked and gestured for them to do the same. Visibility was poor but they watched my every move. I opened the door and stepped back when the heat hit me. The flames were starting to take hold of the door opposite.
‘Stay as low as you can and run fast. Try not to inhale too much smoke,’ I called.
The smoke filtered into my throat. I stifled a cough against my hand.
They nodded and covered their mouths. I crept out and got as close to the other door as possible before getting caught by the flame. My skin started to heat as I blocked them from the main source of danger. I gritted my teeth as they crawled out quickly and managed to get past. Their coughs were loud enough for me to follow as we hurried away from the flames.
‘I think there’s someone left in the next office!’ one of them called as we got near the exit.
I told them to go on without me and turned back. The heat started to blister my skin. I had only stood by it for a second but it had been long enough. It was getting dangerous. The flames were almost through the door and I didn’t want to go back past them.
I thought about the person that could still be trapped and approached the dangerous area. I was probably going to get fired for going against my boss anyway so what was one more rescue? I was about to run through the flames when a shudder thundered under my feet. A huge explosion rocked the building, causing the smoke to billow around me as I was thrown into the air.
Chapter Three
The beeping drilled into my head. I wanted to reach out and punch whatever it was that made the constant noise. I heard murmurs as I came out of the blackness. I dreamt of fire and other lifetimes. I had seen Nick’s face in all of them, even though I didn’t know him that well in this lifetime.
‘Aries…?’
I recognised the voice but I couldn’t quite connect to who it was. I had lost who I was in the dreams. Was that voice talking to me? Was I Aries?
I opened my eyes. The brightness made me squint. I blinked away the discomfort.
‘Aries…how are you feeling?’
It was Pisces. A warm hand gripped mine. It was the first thing I felt.
‘Like crap,’ I managed to croak out.
I focused on the girl next to me. Her long brown hair was tied up in a ponytail. Her big soft brown eyes watered. I wanted to reach out to let her know that it was okay.
‘Here, have some water,’ she said, offering me a straw.
I sipped but couldn’t hold my head up. The beeping was coming from somewhere next to me. I glanced over to see that I was attached to a heart monitor.
‘What happened?’
I closed my eyes, trying to bring back the distant memory. Why was I in hospital?
‘Don’t you remember?’
The sound of other voices coming into the room made me open my eyes again. A doctor and nurse shuffled towards me. I was glad the room was small and private.
The nurse started to check me over. I let her do what she had to do.
‘How long have I been in here?’ I asked.
My head was groggy. I slapped my tongue against the roof of my mouth and stretched my eyelids wide.
‘A few days.’ Pisces grabbed my hand when I went to sit up.
What the hell had happened to me?
I fell back against the pillows as my energy drained away.
‘What happened?’ I whispered, looking into her eyes.
I could tell that she had been there the whole time. My brothers and sisters would have dropped in, all eleven of them, but Pisces would have stayed.
‘Do you remember the fire? In the factory…?’
I closed my eyes and tried to remember but I couldn’t. The last thing I remembered was leaving for a run, the morning after I had seen Natalie. My thoughts rushed to her and my chest pounded.
‘You rescued workers from the toilets of a burning factory.’ Her voice was quiet as she stroked my hand. I squeezed her fingers and tried to picture the memory. It was no good.
‘How are you feeling, Aries?’ the doctor asked me.
I shook my head against the pillow, not opening my eyes. ‘Not so great.’
‘We’ll give you some more painkillers,’ he said.
Pisces went to protest but something he did silenced her. I stayed quiet, not wanting to think too much. I still couldn’t get my mind to come round to what was going on.
‘You’ve had a tough time recently. You could do with a bit more rest.’
I nodded without opening my eyes. I could already feel the darkness trying to grab me back. When I woke up again, I would deal with life.
*
‘How is he going to cope?’
The voice encroached on my sleep and pulled me from the darkness. I allowed myself to come back this time. I needed to get back to work.
‘I don�
��t know,’ Pisces replied.
The first voice had been Taurus. I cringed at the thought of waking up to speak to him. It wasn’t that I didn’t like him but we weren’t best friends. I didn’t really want anyone to see me like this.
‘Are you awake, Aries?’ Pisces whispered, squeezing my hand.
I opened my eyes and smiled up at her. It was nice that they worried about me but what was the big deal? It was a minor setback. I would be fighting fit in no time.
‘I hope you haven’t stayed this whole time,’ I said.
She smiled tightly and glanced down my body. She quickly averted her eyes when she saw that I watched her. The flash of emotion that crossed over her face made me clench my muscles. I was sore from not moving much. The blisters on my back still hurt.
‘Aries, it’s good to see you awake,’ Taurus said.
He ran a hand over his shaved head, back and forth, twice. I watched the nervous twitch. He looked around the room but wouldn’t look at me.
‘I’ll go and tell the nurse he’s awake,’ he said, making a quick exit.
‘What’s the matter?’ I asked as I tried to sit up. Pisces put her hand on my chest to stop me.
‘Aries, there’s something I need to tell you.’ Her voice was quiet. A bolt of panic hit my chest. What was wrong with her? Was it Father?
‘Spit it out,’ I snapped when she didn’t say anymore. She flinched but I didn’t care. She was scaring me. I didn’t like it.
‘The explosion caused so much damage to your legs, they had to remove them.’
My heartbeat grew louder. It drowned out whatever Pisces went on to say. I couldn’t hear anything as a rushing sound echoed in my ears. I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked down. That’s when I started to scream.
The doctor ran in with a nurse. Pisces held my hand. No matter how much I tried to disconnect her from me, she wouldn’t let go.
‘It’s okay, Aries. We need to sedate him!’ the doctor shouted.
Pisces nodded. I shook my head and closed my mouth, slumping back on the bed. ‘No, you don’t! Please, don’t!’
The image was still in my mind. My thighs were intact but the cover fell away to the bed just above the knee on both sides. My throat closed. The urge to cry didn’t last long.
[Zodiac Twin Flames 01.0 - 03.0] Boxed Set Page 17