by Susan Illene
“Are we being released?” I asked.
Bartol shot me a sharp look, but he ducked his head back down before the guards noticed. Much like the cowardly lion, he needed to work on getting his courage back. Unfortunately, the poor guy would have to work through a century of suffering first.
“Yes,” Aldous said over his shoulder. He and another guard led the way.
“But it’s a day early.” Not that I really wanted to argue, but Lucas and Emily wouldn’t be expecting us. The Alaska portal moved around frequently and rarely opened close to civilization. Without a way to call anyone, it was going to be a long walk home.
“A forest fire broke out and it is advancing toward your portal. If we wait much longer, you could burn up if you go through it. The archangel sent the command a few hours ago that we let you go now,” he explained.
“Couldn’t we have at least gotten a shower and our clothes back first?” I should have let it go, but a mangy dog would smell better than me. Lucas would probably run for the hills as soon as he got close.
“I wish that had been possible, but by the time word reached me of your imminent departure it was too late,” he replied, frowning. That had to be Dannia’s doing, but Aldous was too noble to blame her. “It is nearly unsafe to let you go now—unless you wish to use a different portal and come out somewhere else in the world.”
Visions of being dropped off next to an active volcano or in the middle of a shark-infested ocean danced through my head. We could end up anywhere. “Uh, no. The Alaska portal will be fine.”
He nodded. “I thought as much.”
I continued shuffling along as Aldous led the way. The armed guards surrounding us seemed a bit much, considering they would be releasing us. “Why the big escort?”
“The guardian Dannia insisted,” he said, keeping his gaze forward. “She worried you might try something on your way out.”
I tripped over a loose rock and barely managed to catch myself. “Yeah, because I really want to extend my stay here.”
Aldous didn’t say anything to that.
It was a long walk through the tunnels up to the surface. The leg shackles hobbled our steps and our bare feet scraped against ice and jagged stone. If I’d known where we were going, I would have asked for my boots back. Now they sat useless wherever the guards stored them between shifts at the mine. Maybe that’s why Dannia wouldn’t tell me anything. She’d wanted our departure from this place to be as uncomfortable as possible.
Finally, we reached the top where shafts of sunlight filtered into the tunnel. The air warmed, helping my body thaw a little. The guards held us in place while Aldous lowered the magical barrier. It was a special ward designed to keep prisoners from escaping—not that it would have stopped me. I was immune to that sort of thing.
We stepped outside and squinted as the light from the blazing hot sun shone down on us. I’d forgotten how bright it could be, but it came back to me now. Purgatory was an odd contradiction. The tunnels underground were freezing, yet the top side of the island could reach temperatures of at least a hundred and thirty degrees. A shiver ran through me as my body tried to figure out whether it was hot or cold.
After giving us a minute to let our eyes adjust, the guards prodded us forward. Sand scorched my feet with every step and sunlight burned my bare arms and face. It was so hot my mouth turned dry in minutes. I struggled to take a deep breath and when I finally did the salty air from the ocean filled my lungs. The pungent scent turned my stomach, making me want to retch. The only thing that kept me going was the thought of home and how soon I’d get there.
They took us straight to the beach, almost to the water’s edge. Then we followed it for a while until we reached the portal location. It wasn’t open yet so I couldn’t see it, but I’d been here enough times to recognize the spot. There was a piece of driftwood nearby that I’d used as a marker before.
Aldous was the only one in our group who could open the portal. From what I’d learned, regular guards didn’t get that power. He reached out a hand, sending a tendril of magic forward. Despite being sore and exhausted, excitement and relief raced through me. Finally, I was going home.
The portal flared to life with fiery sparks shooting from its edges. The opening was only big enough for one person to step inside at a time. The guards removed my shackles first, letting the heavy weight of them drop from my limbs one by one. I rubbed my wrists and stretched my arms, trying to get my circulation back.
They worked to free Bartol next. I sensed nervousness and fear coming from him as he stood there with a stoic expression on his face. Who knew what thoughts ran through his head now that he’d finally be leaving the place where he’d spent a century of his life. When the guards stepped away, he cast an uncertain look at the portal.
“Take care, Melena.” Aldous put a hand on my shoulder. “Please don’t let me see you here again—for any reason.”
I gave him a teasing smile. “Only if you need rescuing from a certain female guardian.”
He shook his head and turned to Bartol. “I wish you well. Take care not to return to us, either.”
The nephilim gave him the slightest nod but said nothing. I was willing to bet Bartol wouldn’t believe he was really free until he planted his feet on Earth. Even then, it might take a while for it to sink in. I’d only been here three months, and I could hardly believe we were leaving.
I stepped into the warm ocean and hissed out a breath. The salty water burned the wounds on my feet. As I continued in deeper, it lapped over the cuts and scrapes on my legs. Why someone had put the portal in this spot, I’d never understand. Bartol followed behind me, muttering his own complaints under his breath.
I gave Aldous one final wave and stepped into the portal. With a roar, it sucked in my body like a vacuum cleaner. Colorful streaks flew past me, moving at the speed of light. I seemed to be gripped by some unseen force and couldn’t begin to draw a breath. The first time I’d used the portal, it terrified me, but now it gave me an adrenaline rush.
Was that a sun I passed? In the blink of an eye it was gone, replaced by some sort of nebula, but I zoomed past that a moment later as well. I was a tiny being dashing across the universe in my race to Alaska. How far did I have to go? It could have been millions of miles for all I knew.
A dark spot appeared up ahead, and I hurtled toward it. The next thing I knew my body flung out of the portal. Swinging my arms for balance, I stumbled forward a few steps. My feet pressed down on twigs and pine needles. For a moment, I stood there staring at them stupidly as if they were foreign objects. Such things didn’t exist in Purgatory. Neither did the towering trees surrounding me or the cloying smoke in the air.
Without thinking, I drew in a deep breath and went into a coughing fit as my lungs and eyes began to burn. Aldous hadn’t been exaggerating when he said there was a forest fire nearby. I just couldn’t pinpoint its location through the thick haze covering the landscape. My luck never seemed to end—of course the first breath I drew on Earth would be full of smoke.
Bartol came stumbling out of the portal. He made the same mistake I did and drew in a deep breath. It took him a full minute to recover from his coughing. Once he did, he moved away from the portal. It closed with a whoosh and a snap. Only the smoky woods remained in its place, with no residual signs a portal to another dimension had ever been there. Not even my senses could pick it up anymore.
He ran his gaze around us. “This is not good.”
“No, it isn’t,” I replied. “And I have no idea where we are other than Alaska.” There were no identifiable landmarks, but the towering spruce trees were definitely ones I recognized.
“The fire is that way,” he said, pointing to our right.
“How do you know?”
He gave me a fathomless look. “I can feel it.”
Every nephilim had their individual strengths when it came to magic. If Bartol could feel the fire, he must have had an affinity for it. Maybe that was why Kerbasi chose t
o burn his face. The guardian had wanted to use Bartol’s special talent against him in the most sadistic way possible. I made a mental note to punch Kerbasi in the nose the next time I saw him.
“Can you put out the flames?” I asked.
“If I had my full strength, I could stop a small forest fire. But right now?” Bartol shook his head, feelings of regret flowing out of him. “I’d be fortunate if I could douse a campfire.”
He needed time to recuperate and gain his strength. We both did. “Okay, so which way should we go?”
“There.” He pointed toward a small trail I’d missed. “It’s the safest way out.”
I patted the back of my head to make certain the braid was still tight. If we were going to walk through a burning forest, I didn’t want my hair getting loose. “You take the lead.”
“Stay close,” he said.
Bartol took off down the trail, moving at a quick pace. The smoky air made it difficult to see anything, but his vision must have been much stronger than mine after living for eighteen hundred years. His bare feet didn’t even seem to bother him. While I stumbled over rocks and fallen limbs, he moved past them easily. I struggled to keep him in my line of sight but didn’t dare ask him to slow down. There was no telling how fast the forest fire might spread or in which direction.
We walked for at least twenty minutes before Bartol came to a standstill. “There’s a cabin up ahead.”
I limped my way up to him, hating myself for being so weak. Even my senses had dulled. Only now did I notice the smoke had thinned to just a slight haze. I peered in the direction he faced, catching sight of a log cabin through a break in the trees. My internal radar told me who was inside. Under normal circumstances, I would have noticed the vampires there long before getting this close.
“I know that place. It’s Nik’s.” When Bartol lifted his brows, I explained. “He’s a master vampire—a friend of mine.”
“Would he welcome us?”
“Most likely,” I said, taking a few steps closer.
The cabin wasn’t very big. Having been inside before, I remembered it being about four hundred square feet at most. The master vampire and his lover had been living there for almost a year—since he lost control of Fairbanks to Derrick. Nik chose to leave the comfort and luxury he once enjoyed behind. All he’d wanted was a secluded place where people would leave him alone. Not that anyone could blame him after what happened.
I gestured at Bartol. “Let’s go. He usually doesn’t bite.”
“If you say so.”
The nephilim hesitated for a moment before following me.
Chapter Eleven
Melena
We walked through a small clearing and up to the front door where I banged on the heavy wood. My senses told me both vampires were inside, but neither of them answered. It occurred to me it was still daylight outside, if a little smoky. I tried the doorknob and turned it easily.
“Wait, should we…?” Bartol began.
“He’s a vampire,” I reminded him. “He can’t answer right now.”
We stepped into the dim interior of the cabin. It was one long room with couches and a fireplace to the left, a kitchen/dining area in the middle and a sleeping area to the right. A door leading to the bathroom was a few feet away from the bed. It smelled like freshly cut wood inside with only a hint of the smoke spreading through the forest.
Nik and Josslyn were nowhere to be seen, but my senses told me we’d find them somewhere underneath us. I’d only been here once and hadn’t realized there was a basement. I searched for an entrance to it, homing in on a rug covering up the middle section of the cabin. A table sat on top of most of it, but the carpet extended from the legs another four feet. I peeked underneath and found a handle on the floor. The rug wouldn’t budge any farther than that without possibly damaging it.
“Nik?” I called.
The door lifted a moment later, pushing the carpet up as well. He must have glued it on there. Nik popped his head out and squinted at me. “Melena?”
The twelve-hundred-year-old vampire didn’t look much better than Bartol and me. Where was the sexy and suave man I once knew? His black hair was mussed and falling over his dark eyes. There wasn’t a hint of color in his skin—a sure sign he hadn’t fed for days. Had things gotten worse since I last visited?
“Hey.” I gave him a weak smile.
Josslyn popped up behind him, peering up at us. “Melena, how good to see…what on Earth happened to you?”
“It’s a long story.” My buckskin pants and top had definitely taken a beating in the woods with all the tripping and falling I’d done. The fabric was barely recognizable, though it didn’t help that I had cuts and scrapes all over me as well. God only knew what I looked like.
“I imagine so,” she replied, forehead creasing in concern.
Her chestnut hair was pulled back in a bun. Normally, she wore it down to show off her thick and luscious mane. Without it, her cheekbones stood out, pushing against her waxen skin. Her dark eyes were still pretty, but there was evidence of a lot of pain in their depths.
“What are you doing here?” Nik asked.
“The portal from Purgatory dumped us near here,” I said.
“Purgatory?” He took a step up the ladder and gave me a reproachful look. “You went back there again?”
I made room for him to come out. “Not by choice.”
“I warned you they wouldn’t keep tolerating your behavior,” he said, tone censorious. Then he turned his attention to the nephilim next to me. “Who is this?”
“Oh, that’s Bartol.” I gestured toward him. “He’s a friend of Lucas’ who got released the same time I did.”
“Ah, I think I’ve heard of you,” Nik said to the nephilim. He was doing a good job of not staring at the scarred side of Bartol’s face. “Weren’t you the one who seduced…”
“I don’t suppose you have a phone?” I interrupted. “No one knows we’re back yet.”
Nik helped Josslyn through the trap door. “I’m afraid not. We have no need for one.”
More like he didn’t want a phone. He’d cut himself off from the world after Felisha sacrificed her life to save his. If Nik had chosen her over Josslyn, or at least listened to Felisha when she warned him of impending danger, she might still be alive. He’d suffered from guilt ever since. She had been a fairy and one of the kindest women I’d ever met. For a while, a part of me blamed him for her death, but after seeing how torn apart he was by it, I couldn’t stay angry. He was punishing himself enough without my help.
“The forest is burning nearby,” I said, going over to a window and peeking around the curtains. The smoke in the yard appeared thicker than before. “The fire will probably come this way soon.”
“I would estimate that it will reach this place in an hour or so,” Bartol said. “You can’t stay here. You’ll be trapped and likely burned alive even if you hide in the basement.”
It was almost like fate brought us here at the time we were most needed. I didn’t want to think about what might have happened if we’d stayed in Purgatory a few days longer—or a few days less.
Nik frowned. “I hadn’t realized the fire was that close.”
Josslyn rushed over to a chest at the foot of the bed and began pulling out clothes.
“Then why were you down there?” I asked.
“We sleep in the basement now,” Josslyn said over her shoulder.
“I just finished digging it out a few weeks ago,” Nik explained. “We feel safer underground during the day, especially with summer approaching.”
I supposed that made sense. A lot of vampires preferred to sleep below ground. “Well, we have to figure out a way to get you two out of here. It’s too dangerous to stay.”
“The sun won’t set for a few more hours.” Nik took a seat at the dining room table. “We can’t leave before then.”
Josslyn made a soft noise. I didn’t need my senses to tell me she was growing more panicked by th
e second. The last time I’d been here, we’d discovered she was considering ending her life. I had no idea what had happened since—though I doubted anything good by the looks of it. Still, death by fire wasn’t the way anyone would want to go. Maybe this was my chance to finally get them back to civilization and around other people. The couple were never going to find their will to live again if they continued staying in the middle of nowhere.
“Is there any way you could flash them to safety?” I asked Bartol.
He shook his head. “I’d be lucky if I could relocate them a hundred feet.”
Josslyn finished packing the clothes into a duffel bag and headed toward Nik, desperation written all over her face. “We can’t stay here. I don’t want to burn alive!”
He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her. “If I know Melena, she’ll figure out something.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence,” I replied, glad I was already forming a plan in my head. I turned toward Bartol. “Could you watch over them and try keeping the fire at bay if it gets close? There’s a highway near here where I might be able to get help.”
He ground his jaw. I knew I was asking a lot from a deeply traumatized man who’d had no time to adjust to being back on Earth. Neither of us expected to jump from the frying pan into the fire when we left Purgatory. It was just more of our bad luck. For months, I’d dreamed of seeing Lucas and Emily as soon as I came through the portal. That didn’t happen, and now we had to focus on getting everyone to safety. We could deal with our personal traumas later.
“Please, Bartol. I need your help to do this,” I implored.
He released a slow breath. In his eyes, I could see a thousand horrors reflected there from the difficult things he must have faced long before I met him. He was nearly at his wits’ end at this point with the barest hint of willpower left to keep him going. I was surprised when he straightened his back and cleared the painful expression from his face.