INTO THE FIRE (Forbidden Love)

by James, Danielle

  She watched when Merrick strolled out the door of his home with a sarcastic smirk on his damned face. The vampires were doomed, as was the female dragon. Serena knew that Merrick would play with the vampires before killing them. He would make sure they watched as the child was cut from the female’s belly and killed. She knew that it would kill her mate to watch it. She knew it would kill the one named Gage as well. Leigh was paralyzed by a spell, and no matter how hard Serena tried, she couldn’t break it. But maybe there was something she could do.

  “Two hearts that beat as one, let what’s hers become his own. A gift to share, if only for a time, let him be strong, let good prevail, let her mate send this evil to a fiery hell.” She repeated the chant over and over and over, hoping it would work, praying it would hold.

  “Well, look what we have here,” Merrick sneered as he sauntered down the steps. “It seems we have a couple of visitors. Good, you’re just in time for the show.” He walked directly in front of Rebel. “You filthy parasite. How dare you soil my mate?” He got right up in Rebel’s grill and continued, “She is mine. Always has been. And tonight, it will be official. Right after I remove your demon spawn from her.”

  Rebel growled deep in his chest. “You aren’t gonna do shit you bottom feeding sack of worthless camel shit. You harm one hair on her head and I swear I will rip your eyes out and skull fuck you while I laugh.”

  “Ha, you have such a vivid sense of humor, but I have no intentions of harming her lovely hair.”

  “I will kill you before this is over,” Rebel growled.

  “I think not,” Merrick said nonchalant. He then turned to one of his men. “Well? Get on with it. The full moon isn’t going last forever.”

  The fae turned his blade toward Leigh. Something inside Rebel snapped. He felt his fury boil over inside him and he shook from head to toe. “NO!” he shouted as he lunged forward. The hold the men had on him was short lived as Rebel did something unprecedented in history. He erupted in scales.

  Rebel had no idea how or why but it seemed Leigh’s magic had taken up a home inside of him, a shitload more than he thought. He felt his bones crack and grow so quickly that it wasn’t more than a blink of an eye. But it was enough to get him free. He stretched his neck to see that he had a whole new outlook on things. Literally. He stood way above everyone else. He looked at his body and saw scales. And claws. And shit was that a mouth full of razors he felt? Hell. Yes.

  He snarled at the men holding his mate and his brother. Fire was rolling out of his mouth and smoke was rising into the sky. Rebel lunged forward with his neck and dropped his head down, snapping his teeth shut on the faery closest to him. His legs remained in the spot he had stood, but the rest of the fae was tossed aside from the dragon’s mouth. It didn’t take a second warning before they decided it wasn’t worth the fight. The faeries tucked tail and ran for their pitiful lives. It was then that Rebel turned his attention to Merrick.

  Leigh watched helplessly as her mate and his brother fought for her. She watched as Merrick taunted Rebel. Her heart nearly pounded out of her chest in fear when he gave the command to kill her child. She had been through so much in her life that nothing was really new to her. That is, until she watched Rebel shift.

  One second he was her man; the vampire that she had fallen, albeit reluctantly, in love with. The next second, he was a majestic beast, tall as the trees and covered in glossy gold scales. He was beautiful and for just a second Leigh forgot that they were all in grave danger.

  Then she heard Merrick saying, “Are you fucking serious.”

  She turned her eyes just in time to see Merrick shift into his dragon form. He lunged for Rebel, but her Cowboy was a fast learner. He spread his wings and shot for the sky. Merrick followed. Shrieking for the whole world to hear, Rebel shot fire at Merrick’s head. Of course, Merrick turned and the flames missed, setting a nearby tree ablaze.

  Merrick countered with a quick, fierce strike with his tail. It landed hard on Rebel’s massive head and he spun around with the momentum. But he wasn’t done yet. Merrick continued with a solid kick right in the center of Rebel’s back.

  Leigh watched helplessly as Rebel lost several feet in altitude. He recovered quickly though and shot back up. He feinted left and then when Merrick would have struck again with his tail Rebel moved right so that the only thing Merrick hit was air. In fact, the force of his strike spun him around and Rebel took advantage of the opening.

  He jumped on Merrick’s back and sank his teeth into his neck. Don’t let go, Leigh projected. The only way to kill a dragon is to take his head. Rebel heard her and man was it good to hear her thoughts. And he listened. Merrick tried to spin to make Rebel turn him loose, but it wasn’t happening. Rebel bit down harder and then ripped his head back. A massive chunk of dragon neck came with him.

  Merrick screeched out in pain and spun around to face Rebel. Fire rolled over his teeth and out the hole in the back of his neck. Rebel knew he only had seconds to act before Merrick Transported to somewhere to heal.

  Not today mother fucker, Rebel thought. But what a good idea transporting was. He didn’t know if it would work, but he thought it, and it happened. He disappeared from in front of Merrick and reappeared behind him.

  Rebel shot forward and took another bite. The blood raced from Merrick’s neck and into Rebel’s mouth. He made sure not to swallow while shaking his head back and forth. He heard a loud pop and knew that he had broken the dragon’s neck. He unhinged his jaw and snapped down again. More blood, but no more screaming from Merrick. His vocal cords were no longer in intact.

  The pair were now falling fast back to the earth. Rebel had to finish this once and for all. He climbed up the back of the red dragon and opened his mighty jaws. He turned his head so that Merrick’s entire head fit between his teeth and bit down. Then he used his powerful hind legs to push. Rebel stretched his massive body out as straight as he could go. The ripping and tearing was so loud and so fast.

  Rebel almost lost his balance as Merrick’s head separated from his body. The lifeless body fell quickly back to the ground as Rebel flapped his wings to steady himself. The head was still in his teeth when he landed gently.

  Rebel turned his head and spit out the skull, spitting again to remove bits of rancid flesh from his teeth. I suppose that army that’s coming tomorrow is unnecessary now, he thought to himself. Won’t fuck with my mate again. Then he turned to his mate. She was half lying on the ground with her body propped up on Gage’s chest. Serena had joined them at some point and was checking over Leigh’s body.

  Rebel felt a pull from inside him and within seconds he was back to his normal vampire form. Well, at least as normal as usual since he mated with Leigh. “Are you okay?” he asked. Leigh didn’t answer and she didn’t move.

  Well, she didn’t answer with her voice. I can’t move, she thought at him. The fae put a paralyzer spell on me.

  Well that didn’t sit well with Rebel. “Fix her,” he demanded at Serena. “Fix her now.”

  “I don’t know if I can,” Serena answered.

  “By God you can and you will. My wife will be ok and you’re gonna make fucking sure of it. Now get your ass in gear and chant some damn spell to fix her.”

  “It doesn’t work like that, I’m afraid,” Serena whispered.

  “Could you please try?” Gage asked softly. “We need her.”

  Serena sighed. It was unlikely to work but she had to try. The way Gage looked at her when he pleaded for his family was her undoing. “No promises,” she said, and then she squared herself in front of Leigh.

  “Somebody wanna tell me just what the fuck just happened here? And why the hell were we not invited to the party?” Sebastian’s voice came from the trees. Rebel looked up and saw his brother, along with a few others, walking out of the tree line.

  “Yes, please explain to me why you two took off on your own?” Angel asked with an arched brow.

  “We came to watch, to do some recon,” Gage start
ed.

  “We had to come,” Rebel interrupted, “I could wait no longer.” He noticed that the fae who had run earlier were now in the custody of Serena’s family. No doubt they would have some answering to do when they got back in front of her mother.

  “I should punish you both for disregarding orders,” Angel shoot his head, Merde, I wish I could.”

  “Yeah looks like we weren’t needed after all,” Jacque mocked them while dragging a wounded fae behind him. “That’s ok, we took care of your leftovers.” He dropped the fae man at Rebel’s feet.

  “How did you know where to find us?” Rebel asked his leader.

  “I can still sense your mind, mon ami,” Angel answered. “And we are not the only ones who are here.” He nodded in the direction of the tree line where several faeries and Elizabeth were coming from. And she wasn’t alone. From the looks of it, she brought the whole news station. What was it they say about a woman scorned? From the look on her lovely little face, Merrick had pissed her off good.

  “I can’t deal with her now,” Rebel said. He turned his attention back to Serena. “Please help her.”

  Serena began to chant, and she silently prayed. “Let the magic that had taken root here leave this woman and leave no fear. Undo what has been done, move again this one.”

  THIRTY SIX

  The night air was unseasonably cool but everyone stayed right where they were. The sounds of the sea slapping against the shore was rhythmic and calming. Leigh could hear the soft sniffling from her family that had nothing to do with the weather and everything to do with the loss of a family member.

  “Antonio was more than a band mate, he was more than a friend,” Angel said as he walked toward the water. “He was our family. Our brother. And on this night, we say goodbye to our brother.”

  One by one, each of the guys walked to the water’s edge and said their heartfelt goodbyes to Antonio. Then, it was the women’s turn.

  When Leigh walked forward, it was all she could do not to go weak in the knees and just sob. “Antonio was good to me. I didn’t know him for long, but for the time I did, I loved him. He treated me like family from day one, just like everyone else here did. He was supportive when Rebel was sick, he let my cry on his shoulder. And he fought for me. He may have died protecting Angel, but the whole reason he fought was because he loved his family fiercely and he considered me family. For that, I am forever grateful.” She turned to the water and continued, “Thank you, Antonio, for being the man that you were. You will forever remain in our hearts.”

  She wiped the tears from her eyes and walked back to her place beside Rebel. She could see the tears shining on the cheeks of everyone in the moonlight, including Serena who felt she owed Antonio the respect of attending his memorial service. The baby squirmed in her belly as if to show its discomfort as well. Leigh wrapped her arms around her swollen stomach to calm the little one.

  Angel walked again to the shore line and continued until he was knee deep in the water. He carried with him a beautiful urn that held the remains of Antonio’s ashes.

  “And so it is with a heavy heart that we set you free on this night,” he said as he opened the urn. “Rest well, our brother.” Angel tipped the urn and the ashes scattered over the water, carried away by the night air.

  Everyone milled back into the house one by one, each saying his or own silent prayer or goodbye as they went. Rebel and Leigh went straight to their room, wanting to just be in each other’s arms.

  “I’m so sorry,” Leigh said as she sat down on the bed. “None of this would’ve happened if not for me.”

  “Don’t even say that,” Rebel said, sitting beside her. “You were meant to be here with me. And Antonio, it was his time. Everyone has a purpose in life and Antonio’s was to protect Angel, to protect us. He fulfilled his purpose and now, he can finally rest.”

  “You are way to kind to me, Cowboy.” And he was. All the trouble everyone had gone to making sure they had enough of an army to get her back, the loss of Antonio, the pain everyone was feeling; it was all her fault. But no one would ever place blame on her, especially not Rebel.

  “No, I just speak the truth. Now, lie down and get some rest. I’m gonna clean up and I’ll be right back.”

  Leigh plopped back onto the pillows as Rebel went to the bathroom. She turned on the TV to watch a bit of the news. Of course, she was the big story. Elizabeth had told the media about Merrick and what he had done. She told them about Leigh and Rebel, and the news cameras had been there for Leigh’s healing after the fight. No one was sorry to see Merrick go. Leigh was especially relieved. She had spent so many years running that now she had to figure out how to be free. She looked at the closed bathroom door. At least, she had Rebel. He was everything and more than she had ever hoped for in a mate.

  Rebel sighed heavily as he shut the bathroom door behind him and turned on the hot water. Steam quickly filled the little bathroom as he splashed water on his face.

  He reached blindly for a towel and mopped the water off his face and hands. He stood there a moment with his hands supporting his weight on the sink, his head hung low. He finally looked up and there, in the foggy mirror was the image of his fallen brother.

  “What the fuck?” he said, spinning around. No one was there. He was alone in the bathroom. He shook his head. “You gotta get a grip man,” he told himself.

  He had just placed his hand on the doorknob when he heard Antonio’s voice.

  “Help me.”

  TO BE CONTINUED…..