The Fire Inside

by Skye Ryan

  There was no way Jessica could abstain from looking at his naked body in its splendor. She had this feeling inside which she couldn’t shake. The sheets were tangled and there was no doubt of their delight.

  “My head is spinning non-stop. Isn’t there any way that you can make it stop? Give me your hand and let me take strength from you. The worst thing I can do is panic. It’s a good thing you were able to pull me back from the abyss before it was too late. I felt trapped by the images I saw.” Jessica felt better, but her nerves were still frayed at the edges.

  “You have taken it a lot better than some. I should’ve known by the way your brother handled it. You are from the same genes. He had this quirky way of looking at things. I asked him several times not to send me those links of pets playing instruments. I didn’t want to tell him, but I secretly found them to be the highlight of my day.”

  Jessica laughed in response to his confession. “Getting his stupid messages was the highlight of mine too.”

  “You must hate me for letting your brother get involved in all of this.” Jack looked deeply into Jessica’s eyes.

  “I don’t hate you, but my blood lust for vengeance has grown stronger. We either work together to find Rufus and make him pay, or I do this alone without you. I would rather we stand together than apart.” Jessica didn’t need permission and fighting her was going to be an uphill battle. Making her part of the solution was what she was looking for. Her parents deserved to know the man responsible was dealt with. It was the only thing she could think of to give them peace.

  It wouldn’t bring him back, but maybe it would give her a sense of satisfaction. She suspected it would be short lived and the tears she had already shed weren’t going to be near enough. She had noticed the scar on his shoulder. The way he rubbed it every time they talked about Rufus was telling; Rufus was the one who gave him the scar.

  CHAPTER TEN

  T hey woke up in the morning feeling refreshed, but there was an awkward silence in the air. They took turns freshening up, running the water over their skin and remembering how they had touched each other the night before.

  “You don’t want to hear this, but Rufus is a fierce warrior. He will see you as nothing more than an insect on the bottom of his shoe. I implore you to reconsider your decision about going after him.” Jack could see the way her back went straight and knew he was barking up the wrong tree.

  “I don’t want to hear any more of this nonsense. We are going to do this together for my brother. In his name, we will smite down what most would consider a god amongst men. Humans have this way of surviving like cockroaches during the apocalypse. I won’t let anybody do something I can’t.” She briskly walked towards the door and felt him following obediently. It wasn’t like she was going to back down.

  “This isn’t going to be easy without the rest of the club. I would gladly call for reinforcements, but this is something I must do alone. You share the sentiment which is the only reason why I’m allowing you to tag along. I admire your tenacity and I understand you need to avenge her brother. I just don’t think you’re going about it the right way. You need to take a step back and look at things with an unbiased eye.” Jack could sense what he was saying was falling on deaf ears. She wasn’t listening and showed it by throwing her hands in the air with frustration.

  Jack did the same thing, pretending to give up the fight to convince her otherwise, but he was only waiting for the right time to return to this conversation. He could only hope they wouldn’t find him until he was able to get through to her thick skull.

  Jessica slung her body over the motorcycle and grabbed onto the throttle to hear the engine come to life underneath her. Putting the helmet on, she looked at Jack with a determination in her eyes. It told the tale of someone ready to fight for what she believed in.

  “I don’t know why you’re even considering doing this alone. I would think having somebody there to have your back would be a good thing.” Jessica had felt the heat between them in bed and it took all her willpower not to attack him in the morning hours. They had gone out later that evening for something to eat. It hadn’t surprised her to watch him devour a blue-rare piece of steak still dripping in blood.

  “You can’t possibly believe killing Rufus is going to give you any sense of closure. It doesn’t work that way. Killing someone will leave an empty hole in your heart. It will change you, and not for the better. Go back and be with your family when they need you the most. They don’t understand why you’re not with them. Grieve for your brother knowing that I’m taking care of things.” He tried one last shot at convincing her, but it was like talking to a brick wall.

  “I’m going to ask you nicely to stop bringing my family into this. It’s not fair and you’re playing dirty. Hitting below the belt talking about my family is not going to endear me to you. Do yourself a favor and keep them out of this, you don’t know what you’re messing with. The one thing I can’t condone and will fight tooth and nail to protect is my family.” Her conviction was strong, but she was blinded by the rage in her veins.

  “Don’t come crying to me when you find out what I said to you is true. I don’t want that for you. It will hurt me immensely to see you change into somebody bitter.” Jack climbed on his hog. He looked at Jessica one more time while shaking his head. He was stubborn to a fault, but he had met his match with Jessica. The motorcycles sped off down the highway with bits of gravel flying behind them.

  Jack was quite enamored by the way she handled the machine like it was an extension of her body. They were alike in so many ways and yet so different at the same time.

  Jessica kept pace, feeling the need to overcompensate for being a woman in a male-dominated arena. Jack had gotten underneath her skin, but she knew she was doing the right thing for her and her family. She had translated her grief over her brother’s loss into something in the pit of her stomach. It was growing with the bile rising in her throat. She would not be satisfied until the man who killed her brother was lying lifeless at her feet.

  There was a semi-truck blowing its horn from behind. They both glanced back to see that something was underneath the hood giving it more power than it should have had. The horn continued to blow which signaled two black painted trucks to come screaming out of two roads. They converged onto the highway.

  Jessica felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end. She had learned to accept her flaws, but also understood when she was in danger. It didn’t happen often, but these were not ordinary times.

  They pushed the motorcycles hard and tried to prevent themselves ending up in a fiery crash. The two trucks in front and the semi were closing in. They suddenly came to a complete stop with the tires squealing and the black rubber streaking across the pavement.

  Jessica and Jack both performed the same maneuver at the same time. They veered to the side, looking with horror at the guardrail in front of them. Their momentum was too fast and they collided with metal on metal.

  Jessica went over the handlebars. She could see that beyond the guardrail was a plummet of a few hundred feet to the rocky expanse below. Her heart literally leaped into her throat, choking off her air supply and making her whole body tremble with the fear of dying.

  Her body was free falling and she could see her brother’s face motioning for her to come closer. Her terror subsided and there was a sense of calm from knowing she was going to be reunited with her brother.

  Jack’s wings expanded, ripping through his clothing and transforming him into the fierce warrior of the dragon. He saw her falling and was quite taken back by how she wasn’t flailing her arms. He made a dive bomb toward her, reaching out with his sharp talons to grab her before the landing took her life. He had never felt afraid of losing anyone before, but the thought of losing her was too much to bear.

  Reaching down deep, he forced himself to pull back his wings so his speed would increase exponentially. He scratched at her jacket, tearing at the fabric and destroying a thousand-dollar piec
e of leather.

  Jessica wasn’t even aware of the rescue attempt. It didn’t even occur to her to pay attention to the sound behind her. She was falling to her death and then it seemed like she was flying on a wing and a prayer.

  Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Jack in the completed form of the dragon. It should have made her cringe, but her curiosity won out in the end. She did not struggle as she realized the best thing for her to do was to let Jack take the reins. She always thought of herself as being a progressive woman, but having a personal savior was making her heart grow two sizes too big in her chest.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  J essica felt the wind carry them across the trees and the lake shimmering from the morning sun. This was a view that couldn’t be had any other way. She was not accustomed to seeing the world from this vantage point and it gave her a sense of hope for the future.

  Jack held strong to the woman not realizing the toll it was going to have on him. He didn’t care and the only thing that mattered was her safety. Getting away and finding higher ground was the only thing going through his mind. The adrenaline was pumping through his veins and his instinctual need to fight was not what he was expecting. He pulled back to protect her.

  Jessica saw something, but she had to squint her eyes to prevent unnecessary blindness from the sun. There was a structure coming up fast but it didn’t look like Jack was slowing down. She closed her eyes not wanting to see what was going to happen next.

  Jack was looking for holy ground, but there was none in sight. There was no way for him to go on any further. He was losing consciousness and his vision was blurred. He was using whatever strength he had left to reach out to the one building in the distance.

  The glass shattered on the upper floor with Jack curling his wings around Jessica. His scaly hide was hard enough to prevent the puncture of the glass from reaching her. He rolled around on the floor, finally letting her go and spilling the contents of his rescue. Jessica wore an expression of stunned disbelief.

  Finally, she came to rest near the back wall. She lay there for a moment trying to get her bearings and making sure there were no injuries. She finally opened her eyes to see Jack standing in human form with his hands on his knees. He was out of breath.

  Jack took a couple of steps forward and felt his body give out on him. He landed on one knee with Jessica coming over to show some compassion.

  “I don’t know much about dragon physiology, but you don’t look good.” It was human nature for her to come to him on bended knee. Her instinct to mother was ingrained into her at birth.

  “It’s nothing more than a scratch. You don’t have to worry about it. Give me some time and I’ll be ready to give them the fight of their lives.” He felt his chest constricting and his breathing was not right. He was holding his side and this gave her the basic understanding of his condition.

  “I think you might be protesting not enough. You don’t have to be strong all the time, let me take a look. There’s no reason to be stubborn. You may not be a true human, but you still act like any other man.” She managed to pull his hands away to see the arrow protruding from his chest cavity. The blood was dark and dripped down the shaft of the arrow.

  “What did I tell you…just a scratch?” He tried to lift his head with a meek smile, but the effort was too hard for him. “We can’t stay here. They’ll smell blood and they will come running to finish me off. It would be best for you to leave. They don’t care about you and their main concern is making sure I’m not a threat.” He was down on both knees with his hands outstretched in front of him with blood dripping from his mouth.

  “It’s amazing to me that you can be this way. The arrow has to come out or you’re going to find yourself with an infection. This isn’t a hospital, but maybe they have a first aid kit around here. Stay put. Try not to move.” She had read enough in medical journals to know how to deal with this. Pulling out the arrow would do more harm than good unless she found a way to sterilize the wound.

  “Don’t bother. We don’t have the time to waste on a scavenger hunt. Just rip off a piece of my shirt and use it as a makeshift bandage.” He was trying to be the voice of reason. Jessica wasn’t having any of it.

  She went into a break room for the workers in the factory. There were discarded paper plates and coffee cups. She picked up the coffee pot and turned it to see the black sludge at the bottom. She rummaged through the cupboards finding nothing of use. There were provisions, but it wasn’t like they were going to stay here for any length of time.

  She finally found a first aid kit, but there was very little to work with. It was the bottle of vodka which gave her hope. She grabbed it and took a slug to give her the liquid courage to help him. She rushed back to her patient, shoving the neck of the bottle up to his mouth and tipping it back. Jessica didn’t want to look at the festering wound.

  Jack didn’t even hesitate, swallowing mouth full after mouthful until he was practically numb from the inside out and Jessica took it away from his mouth. He certainly wasn’t prepared for the mind-numbing pain of the liquor being poured where the arrow was currently sticking out of his chest.

  He screamed with his eyes wide open. Jessica felt pity for him but knew there was no other way. Grabbing it with both hands, she wrenched back with all her might in one smooth motion. Once it came out, he fell back shivering from the shock and was soon screaming again from the liquor being poured into the wound. It was a good way to ward off infection.

  They could both hear the wind outside and they crawled to the window to see their pursuers had come in force. Several different colored dragons were circling incessantly like vultures, ready to pick at the bones.

  “Your assessment of the situation is pretty much dead on. It’s not like we can leave without them detecting our movements. I’m hoping you have a plan which doesn’t involve the both of us joining my brother.” Jessica was scared, but was also a fascinated that these magnificent beasts existed.

  These were mythical creatures in books read to children when they believed in fairy tales. She was guilty of enjoying tales of Harry Potter in the books and the movies. She was also quite into Games of Thrones and Lord of the Rings. She was living her childhood dreams.

  “We have a bit of time, they won’t attack until their leader arrives. Rufus will come here and he won’t let anybody take my life, that’s something he will want to do himself. I was wondering how they found us, but I’m not anymore. I think you recognize the one on the right.” He looked at Stella mocking him from the air. Letting her go was a big mistake. He should have killed her when he had the chance but he had allowed sentiment to stand in the way.

  “I hope that you don’t blame me for this. I was only trying to stop you from having demons haunting you. You have too much blood on your hands as it is. I could tell killing her would have done the same thing to you, you obviously had something together.” Jessica tried to read his facial expression, but it wasn’t easy with the pain running through his limbs.

  The bandage over Jack’s wound had already soaked through and Jessica felt her stomach twisting and turning. She put her hand up to her mouth, feeling like she was going to be sick, but stemmed the need to let go of her breakfast.

  “Don’t take this the wrong way, but you don’t look very good. This business can be distasteful to most.” He wanted to be her protector, but his condition was keeping him from fighting with fierce determination. He wouldn’t show it in battle and he would die first before letting them know of his weakness.

  “I will be fine. This is the main reason why I was against going to medical school. It just wasn’t for me, I get squeamish when I see blood on television. It’s a whole lot worse when it’s in person. You’re lucky I had a clear and level head when I was working on you. I can only assume the strength came from you and the vodka.” She took another bandage and wrapped it in place, while he was surveying the scene with a careful military eye for detail.

  “I don’t blame you for any
thing. You did what you thought was right and I can’t fault you for something beyond your understanding. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from Kenneth’s sister. The both of you have made my life a combination of heaven and hell. Do you know how desperate I was to have you? I wasn’t going to do anything to ruin my friendship with Kenneth.” He felt Kenneth’s eyes from above and wondered if he approved of him taking an active role in his sister’s life.

  “I hate to say this, but my brother would have gotten over it in time. We didn’t have to live thinking that we were going to disappoint him. That’s not who he was on the inside.”

  Jack couldn’t get over the way Stella had betrayed him. He should have known better than to trust her. Keeping her mouth shut was not her strong suit.

  “We made the mistake of thinking Stella was going to keep the secret of where we were staying. Her main concern was the perception of how Rufus was going to look at her. She wasn’t about to take a chance on deceiving him.” Jack felt more than enough blame to go around.

  Jessica looked towards the horizon and the looming shadow of a red dragon was approaching.

  The mouth breathers had their leader back in the thick of things. They were waiting for his word to take the appropriate action.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  T wenty minutes had gone by and it was a stalemate waiting for one side or the other to make the next move. Rufus was a daunting image of intimidation with his wings spanning the sky and blocking out the sun. The shadow that loomed from his presence was awe-inspiring to most. He was perfectly content in waiting out an obviously injured adversary.