After the initial sounds of disappointment, cheers went up in the crowd as the flames intensified. Sporting bunch.
He kept his head down, looking from under his brows at the storm as he walked towards it.
The distraction worked. All eyes were on the burning statue and not on the dust storm. And not on him, the lone man striding out into the empty desert towards it.
At least one thing was going according to plan.
The really shitty part? That was the end of it. The plan. They hadn't discussed what to do if things went wrong. And the giant, rotating wall of dark sand said something definitely had.
What the hell was he supposed to do? If Ajax had lost control for some reason, the chances were even greater that he would. Did he take that chance?
He thought of Brooke, of the danger she might be in. The fear she was probably feeling.
Hell yes, he was taking that chance. He'd die for her if he had to. He just prayed he didn't take her with him.
Levi struggled through the turbulent sandstorm, head down and arm protecting his eyes.
He staggered out on the other side, the difference between the sideways wind of Ajax's storm and the calm of the center enough to make him almost tip over.
He shook his head. The howling wind was gone but he still couldn't hear. And then he saw why. Chaolt, like beetles, swarming against the soldiers. And Brooke.
So many that the buzzing in his head deafened him to anything else.
Charging toward her, he picked the closest target and put his knives to work. It fell with a bubbling neck wound. The next fell from a cut hamstring, before he plunged the knife right in between his shoulder blades.
He hacked his way through a handful more before they realized he was on the scene, but he was still too far from her.
Each of the soldiers was paired off with one or more of the enemy. More were probably on the way.
If he could take out ten, fifteen more, if all four of them could… Only then might the odds be even.
He was already running on fumes physically after so many minutes of hand-to-hand. And if he was, the other soldiers had to be feeling it worse.
His muscles ached with exhaustion as he countered blow after blow, his counterattacks becoming fewer and farther between.
It was never a good sign when every move became defensive.
And as his physical power waned, the more his fire powers burned under the surface. His blood was practically boiling, and the conscious effort to keep it there made him sweat, made him slow against the enemy. The worst part was that he wanted to let it out.
As he took another blow to the jaw that cut the inside of his mouth on his teeth, all he could think of was responding with a fucking fireball to the Chaolt’s face. All their faces.
It was so hard to resist. But with this many Chaolt around, even the tiniest use of his powers could result in a bad accident.
A kick to his knee put him on the ground. As the white-hot pain traveled up and down his entire leg, his attacker took a moment to breathe himself, blood dripping from his nose and eyebrow.
Levi took that second to search out Brooke in the melee. She was struggling to get away from a Chaolt who had her in a tight grip, while Walker fought him and another at the same time.
In the space of two heavy breaths, he realized several things at once.
One, they were losing, all of them. Any moment now, one of them would be the first to die. Would it be Micah, whose weight and bulk made him a hair slower? Or would it be Ajax, who had the most deadly elemental powers, but had the least physical strength? Maybe it would be their leader who was trying to protect her while being attacked from both sides.
The blood dripped from his mouth to land with shocking contrast on the white dirt. Hell, maybe it would be him. His damn leg muscles were twitchy, weak, and he couldn’t seem to get that leg back under him to support his weight. The second the Chaolt beside him caught his breath, he would take his opening and Levi would be defending himself from the ground with one hand, the other pressed against a wound on his side. It would only be a matter of time from there.
The second realization was that Brooke, his beautiful Brooke, would watch them all die one by one, and then be killed herself. Walker could only hold them off so long, and though Levi knew he would defend her with his last breath, it would come. And then she too would die.
He couldn’t save her. Not like this, pounded into the floury sand until his blood mixed with it into a grisly sort of dough.
His one chance to save her, save anyone, was literally the only thing that could make his blood run cold—
Letting go of control.
His third and final realization was that, kneeling here in the sand watching Walker yank a Chaolt off of her, his decision had already been made before he’d come to the first. A sphere of fire continually rushed away from his body in quick pulses, accelerating and growing as his heart filled with emotion and his blood filled with welcome heat.
The Chaolt jumped back, eyes wild, obviously surprised that he wasn't experiencing the same drain as the other soldiers. It stumbled backwards, flinching away from the heat of his advancing bubbles of fire.
Levi focused on Brooke, calming his heart-rate and letting himself fill with the calm and peace she inspired in him when she was around. She was the only thing in this world that could make him burn hotter inside than his own power, and yet somehow calm the constant inferno inside him at the same time. With a final breath, he let go of the last barrier of control.
With renewed vigor born of fire, he stood quickly and faced his opponent— eyes, glyphs, and skin blazing. How ironic that his lack of control, the little bit of Chaos in his own blood, would be the thing to save them all here at the end.
Levi couldn’t help a laugh at the whole goddamn situation. As he did, little licks of flame escaped his mouth demonically, and wasn’t that just perfect?
Because he was about to make this motherfucking hell on earth.
The Chaolt’s eyes widened and he paled, but before he could turn and run, Levi attacked.
With a sweep of his hands from behind him, he threw twin arcs of flame into the face of the Chaolt. It screamed, patting and flailing, not understanding that this wasn’t like regular fire. This was Levi’s fire, Elemental Fire. It couldn’t be put out until he wanted it to be.
Levi pushed it to burn hotter, faster. Quicker than he could have imagined, the Chaolt was face down in the dirt smoldering, stinking, and still.
Levi was already turning, looking for his next target. Targets— there were so many of them. Why were there so many of them?
It would take him too long to take them out one by one. Someone could still die before he finished.
Wouldn’t it be easier to take them all out at once?
His fire changed from a pulsing sphere to two large curves of flame from his back like enormous flaming wings.
The wings turned downward, spreading and flowing across the desert like water and kicking up the wind with their heat. The rivers spread out, seeking, hungry, rushing towards the Chaolt. The fire moved so fast that no one had time to avoid it, not even those of his own kind.
Walker shielded her with his own body as the fire approached.
Yet, though Levi had completely loosed the fire inside him, it finally seemed to conform to his every thought.
With his heart full and control so exquisite the Premiers would envy it, Levi wound his flames around and between every single one of the enemy, raising the walls of the blaze so they couldn’t escape. His allies stood in perfect circles of protected calm in the inferno.
As the fire parted around them like a river around boulders, Walker raised his head and met Levi’s gaze across many yards of burning sand. He tipped his head at Levi and pulled Brooke closer.
Levi felt his heart stumble for a few beats. He knew how this was going to go, but at least he could be confident that his fellow soldiers would protect her, keep her safe.
&nbs
p; "Brooke," he called. He stopped when he realized he had no breath and was simply expelling more flames from his lungs.
Time was up.
Though he wished to hold her again, it was better this way. She had enough to cope with without seeing him burn to ashes.
As the screams of the Chaolt mingled with the howl of the fiery wind, Levi closed his eyes.
He pictured Brooke in the circle of his arms, the two of them back in his bed, burning up together. He pictured himself saying the words he should have said while he still had breath.
I love you Brooke.
He smiled, and with a final push of power, threw his arms out wide and became what he really was on the inside— pure fire.
As the firestorm abated, Brooke pried herself from Walker’s protective grasp. She had to get to Levi.
Micah appeared, face soot-streaked.
She was relieved to see his familiar face coming out of the smoke, but he wasn’t Levi.
Unsteady, she crunched across the burned, glassy sand.
Trying not to think about what the ashes were, the ones falling post-apocalyptic style from the blue sky. The black, smoking piles of ash she passed were harder to ignore. The smoke stung her nostrils with a smell like burning metal. It was the smell of sparklers, welding. Death.
Levi had saved them, spectacularly, and despite the charred scene before her, she couldn’t help but feel massive relief. She was no soldier, but she could count. They’d been seriously outnumbered and overpowered. And she, without a weapon and without a clue how to defend herself, had been completely useless.
Up until the one had grabbed her, all she could do was stand there and watch in wide-eyed horror as every soldier squared off against one or more of the enemy. It wasn’t long before it was clear that the enemy wouldn’t relent until every one of them was dead. And they’d almost succeeded, hadn’t they? Up until Levi had summoned his fire to defend them.
It had been dazzling and terrifying at once, surrounded on all sides by his wall of fire. Brooke had stood up right next to it, her hair raised high off her neck with the force of the heated, swirling wind.
It was like being inside a tornado filled with glorious colors of red, orange, and gold. It had been mesmerizing, literally, yet she’d barely felt any heat. It might as well have been behind a thick pane of glass. The precise control of Levi’s fire was awe inspiring.
Now she was walking among the plumes of smoke, calling for him.
She looked back to see all of the soldiers gathering around Walker, but Levi wasn’t among them. When they turned as one to look at her, her heart stuttered at their expressions. Except Walker’s. His face was blank as they walked toward her.
She turned and walked several more steps, ignoring them, picking her way across the battlefield. The smoke was beginning to clear in the stiff playa wind, and she eyed the boundary where the black sand ended, once again a blinding white.
He wasn’t there.
She heard the soldiers walk up behind her.
“Where’s Levi, Walker?” she asked, her voice hoarse, eyes scanning the empty space before her.
When he stayed silent, she turned and looked up at him, squinting into the bright desert sunlight.
His face gave nothing away, but she saw something in his eyes.
“No,” she said, defying him, denying the truth she saw in his gaze. He didn’t reply.
“No,” she repeated, voice breaking. But it was true. Levi was gone. Dead.
Brooke crumbled to her knees, the pain of it stealing her strength and her breath.
Micah knelt down beside her, and she had a moment of blessed numbness before he wrapped her gently in his arms.
That action broke her, broke the numbness, and like a flood the tears came. She heard a noise as brittle as the fused sand crunching under them. It was coming from her, from her own throat. Sobs ripped from her throat, the pain swamping her as she clung to Micah’s t-shirt.
Levi was gone. He’d sacrificed himself for her, for them.
All her petty concerns taunted her, her mental refusal to let her heart feel for someone so different. How foolish she’d been, to think that mattered. Or that she could even prevent it.
She loved him. She loved Levi. And now he was gone, she couldn’t breathe, and being strong didn’t fucking matter. She gasped around the pain in her chest, feeling like she was going to die. That’s what happened if you didn’t have a heart, right?
Just like the Chaolt, her heart was now a pile of ashes too.
Eventually, she began to calm, her tears slowing. But she didn’t have the energy to stand, so she just sagged against Micah.
When he stood in one fluid movement, he picked her up with him. He held her arm until she was steady on her feet, but she couldn’t meet his eyes. Or the eyes of any of the other soldiers as they joined them.
She could only concentrate on putting one leaden foot in front of the other. Taking a tight breath. Not thinking about—
Don’t think, don’t think!
It was too much. First almost dying in the fire, the stress of the last few weeks. The terror and worry of being kidnapped, and then watching— Brooke choked out a sob, the ground blurring beneath her feet— watching Levi die.
She could feel herself weakening again, and she didn’t care. She leaned on Micah’s strength to keep her upright. She didn’t want to be independent right now, she wanted Levi back. Being self-reliant didn’t seem so great, when all she wanted to do was curl up in Levi’s arms again. Instead she had to hold all her own broken pieces together long enough to get back to the vehicle.
The crowd had grown exponentially, there to watch the effigy finish burning.
She couldn’t look at it. Just hearing the crackle of the wood as they approached made her sick to her stomach.
Walker switched sides, face grim, blocking her view of it. Somehow, he knew.
The crowd was all focused on the central point, making it difficult for them to move through. Ajax and Micah were staring down the nearest festival-goers when the atmosphere changed. Like embers on the wind, gasps of surprise went up from the crowd.
When all the soldiers stopped and Micah’s hand tensed around her arm, she knew something was wrong.
Like a tide ebbing away from shore, the crowd backed up as one, leaving the four of them at the front, closest to the burning statue. She barely noticed, except that she had that feeling she always got when Levi was staring at her…
In slow motion, she turned to look, a painful throb washing through her body because he was gone.
But between the legs of the statue was a being, sucking the flames in from the burn to form his body… Twenty feet tall and made of pure fire.
And it was looking right at her.
Fingertips slid off her sleeve as she started running.
She didn’t even feel the sand under her feet as she ran, the only thing she cared about was getting to him.
His size diminished as she ran, shrinking and condensing, solidifying into the man she knew. But with burning eyes and glyphs.
He crushed his arms around her as they flew into each other.
“Levi!” she cried, her face pressed to the skin of his neck. Pulling back, she ran her hands over his steaming shoulders, down his chest, until he put his hands in her hair and put his forehead against hers. “I thought you were dead!” she sobbed, tears streaming. He put his lips to hers, and she could taste her own tears in his quick, gentle kiss.
Applause and cheers went up around them, and Brooke raised her head.
The crowd thinks it’s part of the show.
The other soldiers arrived then, surrounding them, hiding them from the curious crowd. And because Levi’s eyes were still molten, his skin steaming, and he was… completely naked.
Her eyes flew back up to his, and he chuckled, pulling her close again. But as much as she wanted to melt into him, let him kiss her until the fire and the crowd and the memory of him burning went away…
“How?” she asked, turning her face just enough so that he was kissing the corner of her mouth instead.
Walker cleared his throat, back turned to them. “That’s something I’m curious about as well, but the explanation needs to wait. We need to get moving. There are too many witnesses. Ajax, cover the left side—”
And with that, they were moving, Walker and Micah leading the way and doing their best to block them from the crowd. She tried to hang back, to cover his backside for him, but he pulled her forward and put an arm over her shoulders.
As they walked, Levi whispered into her hair, “I’m not letting you go just yet.”
She sagged against him a little, weak with relief that he was really alive.
Her legs shook as they walked all the way to the SUV, jumping in before anyone could ask questions.
As Ajax drove slowly toward the gates, Levi put on the clothes that Micah threw him from the back.
Walker turned from the front, eying Levi.
Brooke squeezed his hand. He opened his mouth to speak.
“It can wait,” Walker said. His eyes slid to her, and she saw something there in the depths, but whatever it was didn’t show on his face. “You two rest. We’ll be at base by four a.m. We’ll discuss it then.” He held out his hand, and slowly Levi took it. They shook. “Just glad you’re back, brother.” Walker stretched up and turned off the interior light, leaving them in darkness.
Scooting closer to Levi, she laid her head on his shoulder. He pulled her even closer, both arms around her and his chin on her head.
She exhaled deeply, resolved to talk to Levi as soon as there weren’t so many ears around. She needed to tell him…
Tell him he was human enough, in every way that mattered. Human enough to love.
Chapter Seventeen
Brooke raised her head to the spray, hoping the heat from the water would soak in. The water was so hot it almost felt cold, over-stimulating her skin, yet the core of her was frozen. She shampooed and rinsed her hair, and then did it again.
Burn (Elemental Hearts Book 1) Page 17