Phoenix Fire

by S. D. Grimm

  “I do.”

  His eyes squinted and the claws digging into my arms seemed to release the smallest amount of pressure. “You sent me away. You don’t trust. And you’re right not to.”

  “But I do!” I pleaded with him to hear me. “You’re stronger than she is. The love inside of you makes you stronger, remember?”

  “This time that well is dry.” He opened his jaws and snapped. Razor fangs bit into my neck. Saliva stung my skin. Burning, it dripped into me. I felt it pump through my veins like fire, and I screamed. Tears slid freely down my cheeks. My chest tightened. He’d broken his promise. He’d hurt me. I tried to hold on to sanity. I held to something else, Nick’s words: I need you. Cade needs you. And Wyatt would be lost without you.

  The air left my lungs in a rush. I’d pushed him away—right into darkness. He needed to see a light if he was going to have a chance to find his way back to me.

  His snarling face stood inches from mine. “Could you love me now?”

  “Yes,” I whispered. “Yes. I can. I do. I always will. I love you. This monster isn’t you.”

  He pulled back, his muzzle dripping with blood. My blood. His eyes flashed. Blue. Gold. Blue. Gold. Blue, gold, blue, gold. Then they shone bright. Gold. Yellow. Fire yellow.

  I looked into those eyes and tried to find whatever it was that connected to the real Wyatt. His heart. “You promised to protect me.”

  “And I did.”

  “I gave everything for you. Against what my brothers ordered. Against everything. Because love is stronger. Love is stronger than her darkness. Than your darkness.”

  “I tried, Ava, and I failed.”

  Because I’d done that to him. “No. I failed you. Because I made you believe I thought the worst of you, but I didn’t. I was only trying to protect myself. I didn’t want the heartbreak if you didn’t feel the same way. But it doesn’t matter. Because I love you, Wyatt. Every lifetime. I remember it all. I love you. And you’ve always been there for me. You don’t have to trust yourself. I trust you.”

  His eyes flashed blue. He shook his head, starting to change back. His eyes crushed closed. He whimpered. He rubbed his hand against his face and looked down at my blood in his palm. Hope dared to rise within me.

  Gwen snapped her fingers.

  The sound echoed in the space between us.

  Wyatt’s pupils grew tiny, surrounded by rings of gold. And he snarled. “And now I bring you to her.” He ripped the dagger from my hand and scooped me up.

  Blood poured from my neck. I felt so incredibly weak. Why wasn’t I healing? Werewolf saliva. I needed an antidote. I— Black spots surrounded my vision.

  I slammed my fists into his back, but it wouldn’t break is hold. Blood dripped out of my neck. Onto his fur.

  “No! Ava!” Nick’s scream brought us to the present, and I shifted enough to see him dangling in a monster’s grip, clawing at its arms. He stabbed it and it turned to dust. He landed on the ground and stood, facing Gwen.

  “Brother dearest,” Gwen said. “We can end this now.”

  Brother? The word hit me. She didn’t mean that truly, did she? Was she…my sister? No. She was a liar. None of that made sense. Why couldn’t I breathe?

  Three more monsters crawled into the cellar and pummeled Nick.

  Wyatt tossed me in front of Gwen.

  Every bone in my body shook as I slammed against the floor. Why was it so hard to move? To stay awake? Everything seemed to seep out of me.

  “Ava, no!” The devastation in Nick’s scream tore at my heart.

  “Don’t kill him yet. I want him to see this.” Gwen’s voice was above me now. I lay there, weaponless, helpless. And I blacked out.

  Someone slapped my face and my cheek stung. I woke with Gwen above me, a strange feather in her hands.

  “Don’t let her touch you with that! She’ll take your powers. Ava!” Nick yelled and I craned my neck to see the monsters holding him down. I looked up at Wyatt and his cold eyes.

  Gwen bent over me. “Now you will give me your powers.”

  I felt something digging into my back. Another dagger. I had another one. I slipped my hand behind me. “You don’t know me very well.” I glared.

  Her sick smile reminded me a bit of my own defiance. Her eyes, grayish-green, like mine, narrowed slightly. “Why were you the favored one? The last hope of Phoenixes everywhere? They never should have put faith in someone as weak as you.”

  Weak? Who the heck what this woman? She pushed her hand against my throat and leaned closer. “They should have loved me.”

  They? Is that what this was about? She never felt loved? I knew that feeling. That loneliness. I knew how to give her the tearing comment that would rip her apart at the seams. “Aww. Poor baby.” I added venom. “No one ever loved you.”

  “That’s where you’re wrong.” She pressed against my neck, and I knew I’d hit a sore spot. “Cade loved me.” Gwen practically hissed. “Wyatt loves me.”

  I made sure she could see my glare. “Cade? He loved who you pretended to be. You’re nothing but a pretender. Wyatt doesn’t love you, either.”

  “His darkness adores me. That’s what scares you, Ava. You will never love that side of him. Me? I love him for what he’s become. You fear him. He can smell your fear every time you’re there while he changes.”

  “Shut up!” I glanced at Wyatt and his cold eyes. “Maybe Wyatt’s darkness loves you! But I love all of him!” I pulled my dagger from behind me.

  I stabbed, but she was faster. Her grip around my wrist pushed my hand to the ground and she poised the quill above me. “Clever. That’s all you’ve ever had. You’re the weakest Taker in history.”

  “No!” Nick’s scream registered in my ear. “Don’t listen, Ava. Show her your fire.”

  My fire. Hadn’t I already tried that?

  “You have more to give, Ava! Unlock your true potential.”

  My true…? A memory clawed at me, but I couldn’t see it. It was like a dark spot in my brain. A memory that refused to open.

  I shook it away and focused on what Nick had said to me earlier: For some reason, you always push me away at first. Like you’re afraid to feel loved. I don’t know what it is, but you’ve embraced the love this time, haven’t you? Hold on to that.

  Everything inside of me warmed. He loved me. Wyatt. Cade. Yuki. All of them loved me. But I loved them back. I wanted to protect them.

  This wasn’t about vengeance. This was about saving those I loved.

  My hands started to burn.

  Glow.

  Ignite.

  The flame danced over my palms, encompassing but not burning. And the flame wasn’t orange or red or any color of a normal fire. It was white and purple. Dark violet, light lavender, and every shade in between, with a blinding, white glow emanating in the center.

  “Yes!” Nick’s voice registered and then his pained cry brought me back to sharp focus.

  The pain in my body started to recede. I wasn’t giving in anymore, and healing started to wash over me, and I looked at the fire. My fire.

  And an echo of a strange voice I barely remembered whispered in my being: Such a beautiful flame, Ava.

  My mother’s face flashed in my memory, and a pang shot through my soul. She looked like me. Her eyes showed so much love. Why hadn’t I remembered her before? Her smile warmed my soul. Filled my heart. Use your fire to protect. That’s what a Taker does.

  I shook. I wanted to sob. I wanted to laugh. My own mother. She loved me. I stared into Gwen’s face as the light from my fire pushed all the darkness away. I slammed my palm against Gwen’s chest and pushed with all my might.

  White-hot fire shot out of my hands and sent her flying backward. She slammed into the wall and I held her there, like she’d done to me. Then I stood and turned, seeing the monsters look back at me with fear in their hollow eyes. I dug deep and sent a flash of flame with my other hand, through the room toward them. Toward the ones holding Nick down. Fire consumed them
. And they screamed as they turned to ash and dust. Then I faced Gwen.

  I let go of the steady stream of fire for a moment and started at her. She slumped to the ground, but stood up. Pulsed her own black flame in her hands.

  Hands on fire. I pulled a blast of flame to the surface. It crackled in my palms and I aimed it at her.

  She smirked. “I can’t believe you’re so eager to kill your own sister. Your own brother.”

  “No, Ava!” Yuki’s tight scream registered. “Don’t do it. She’s Nick’s twin.”

  My heart seemed to stall and I flinched. “What?”

  “If you kill Gwen, you kill Nick,” Yuki’s voice strained.

  I stepped back. A tingle shot through me, clouding my vision, making me see black spots. I would kill Nick? The flames in my hands dimmed.

  “Ava, don’t hesitate. Just kill her!” Nick yelled, but his cry fell on numb ears. How could I kill him? My own brother?

  I sucked in a shuddering breath and glanced behind me at Nick. Tears blurred my vision.

  “Ava! It’s okay.” His voice shook.

  No. It wasn’t okay.

  I would not lose him, too. Hot, searing pain shot into me, and I slammed into the wall, Gwen’s fire pushing me there. I lifted my hands and held back her fire. Then I shot my own. The explosion knocked her back.

  She stood, dusting herself off. “You might be stronger this time. But I am not afraid to kill you.” She lifted her hands and pointed them at me.

  Nick pulled me out of the way. “Now, Ava.”

  I looked into his eyes. I’d just gotten him back. I’d just learned to trust him, all of them. And now I had to say goodbye.

  “There has to be another way,” I said.

  Nick pushed me and a stream of black fire shot where I had been standing. It scorched the wall. Gwen turned to strike me again, but Wyatt flung himself into her. Sent her sprawling to the ground.

  All the air left my lungs as Gwen grabbed him by the throat and pierced him, deep with the quill.

  I screamed and raised my hands to shoot fire at her, but Wyatt stabbed Gwen in the chest with my dagger.

  She gasped and fell backward.

  Wyatt knelt over her, the quill protruding out of his middle, hand still gripping the dagger’s hilt. “Don’t you dare,” he said quietly.

  Then he fell. A thunder of pain started in my soul and resounded through my whole being. Not Wyatt.

  Gwen’s scream was silenced as her body disintegrated into a black flame of light that fell to the earth. I knelt over Wyatt, and black spots encroached on my vision as blood gushed out of my neck.

  I hadn’t killed her. That meant she wasn’t dead for good. She’d come back. And Cade? Was this Cade’s last cycle? I couldn’t even form a coherent thought anymore. I knelt beside Wyatt.

  He was still breathing. I pressed my hands up to him, and my hands lit with white light. Pulsed healing into him.

  Then I closed my eyes and fell limp.

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Ava

  I sucked in a breath and opened my eyes to see Nick towering over me. My neck throbbed.

  “Hang on.” Nick opened a bottle from his vest and poured the clear liquid into the bite on my neck. It stung. I gasped. He pressed his hands against me and healed the rest of the wound.

  He looked into my eyes. “Are you okay?”

  Far from it. I shook. I hadn’t killed Gwen. That meant she would still come back. But it also meant, I’d saved Nick. “Does this mean we failed?”

  “Hey.” He hugged me tight. “You did not fail, Ava. You used your fire.” He was shaking as much as I was.

  “I don’t want you to die.” Tears gushed out of my eyes. How was I going to fix this?

  He froze and I pushed against his chest to see what he was looking at.

  Wyatt, still a werewolf, huddled in the corner. I tugged on Nick’s arm. “It was my fault,” I whispered. “Don’t hurt him.”

  I stepped closer to Wyatt.

  His eyes flashed blue. He seemed smaller. “Ava?”

  I crouched near him. “Wyatt, did you…this time, did you betray me? I mean before I sent you to her?”

  “No.” He whined as if something inside was ripping him apart. He shook his head and a growl rumbled in his throat. He was fighting it. “And I didn’t kill those people. The only blood on my hands from last night is from Gwen’s monsters.”

  My chest cracked. I’d hurt him. I touched his face as more tears coursed down my cheeks. “I believe you. I’m so sorry. I should have believed you earlier. I should have trusted all of you.” My throat was so thick. “You make me stronger. I thought I could do this alone, but I couldn’t. You—you saved me.”

  “I didn’t mean to kill her!” He arched his back and screamed. And his body morphed back into a man. A bloody, shivering man in nothing but torn pants. And he looked so small and hopeless. I leaned in and wrapped my arms around him. Pulled him close to me. “I know. And I’m so sorry I didn’t trust you before. I want you to know that I do now.”

  He shook in my arms.

  “Ava?” Nick’s voice trembled.

  I let go of Wyatt and whirled around to see Nick kneeling beside Cade. I ran to him, every part of me shaking.

  Nick had untied everyone and they all clustered around Cade.

  Cade, who wasn’t moving. My heart squeezed. Was he breathing?

  Tears dripped out of Nick’s eyes as he shook Cade’s arm. “Cade!”

  “Let me.” Yuki moved closer. She gently pushed Nick away and touched Cade’s head. “Cade?” Her voice was so soft and quiet.

  His eyelids fluttered and he opened them, breathing in deep. He glanced around. “Whoa, why is everyone staring at me?”

  Nick leaned closer, eyebrows pulled together. “How do you feel?”

  He sat up and looked at Yuki. “I thought it was a fluke.” He glanced back at Nick. “When she touches me, the headaches go away. I-I can have a memory without puking.”

  Nick turned his inquisitive gaze to Yuki.

  She sort of shrugged.

  “Yuki is tied to Cade?” I asked.

  She nodded. “I remember him healing me.”

  “But you died anyway?” Nick rubbed his face in his hands. “We can figure that out later.” He turned to Cade. “How do you feel?”

  He moved his hand, Phoenix fast, but slow for Cade. He swallowed. “I think I’m weaker.”

  “But you still have powers? Gwen didn’t take them all?”

  He shook his head.

  Nick breathed a shaky breath. “Then we have time.” He looked at Yuki. “Something about her makes you whole?” He crouched in front of Cade. “I think her being here has bought you some time.”

  “How?” Yuki asked. “Is it enough time to find the blade?”

  My heart stuttered. “What blade?” I looked at Nick.

  “It’s a mythical weapon that’s said to be able to break a connection between twins.” Nick shook his head as if it were a long shot.

  I touched his arm. “So I could kill her for good, and not lose you?” My throat closed up and I swallowed. I would have to give him a piece of my mind, but not right now. Not while everyone was just happy to be alive.

  “In theory.”

  “What he means to say is yes.” Cade stared at him the way I felt. The innocent, little-boy look in his eyes. He wanted to know why his brother would leave him. Then he felt amazed that his older brother would die for him. He turned to Yuki. “Can you find it?”

  “I’ll do whatever it takes.”

  “Good enough for me.” Cade looked at Nick. “Well?”

  He nodded. “We find the blade. Next time we meet Gwen, we kill her for good.”

  “When will that be?”

  Nick sighed. “I don’t know. But I do know that she unlocked Phoenix-like powers she shouldn’t have, such as sending a projection into a fire to talk to someone.” He glanced at me. “If she has unlocked others, she might show up in this lifetime again.”


  I grabbed his hand. “We’ll be ready. I will be ready.” I opened my other palm and showed him the flame. The white-and-purple fire.

  He smiled at me and he looked so proud. “You did it.”

  “I couldn’t have done it without you.” But something in my heart tugged sadly. I looked at my hands. “You didn’t tell me that my killing Gwen would kill you.”

  “You wouldn’t have done it, Ava.”

  I grabbed my brother’s arms and looked into his eyes. Mine started burning. “You’re right.”

  “Ava.” He let out a very small laugh, the kind that said he was overwhelmed with relief and very serious about what he was about to say. “I wanted you and Cade to be safe. I will always protect you. I never meant to turn you into a monster. Takers are always so sweet and kind. You wouldn’t think they’d be Phoenix killers. That’s what I love so much about you. You’re always willing to see the good in others.”

  I pulled him close and buried my face in his leather jacket, not caring about the drying blood or anything. “You’re my brother, Nick. Don’t you understand? I’ve wanted family my whole life. But you wanted that, too, didn’t you? You wanted to have a family. To feel loved?”

  He breathed in a shuddering breath. “Ava, someone has to love first.”

  I hugged him so tightly. “Yes. But both have to be willing to accept love. And I love you back. That’s why we’re going to find this blade.”

  “Thank you.”

  After he let me go, I couldn’t help it. I launched forward and wrapped Cade in a hug, too. “I’m just glad you’re okay.” More tears wanted to come. I wiped them away.

  “Whoa, Ava. What’s gotten into you?” He chuckled.

  “Shut up and hug me, you idiot.”

  He did. “Thank you.” He paused and hugged me tighter. “For wanting to save me.”

  I looked up at him. “You’re my brother.”

  “I’ve always wanted a sister.”

  “You have not.” I playfully punched him.

  “You’re right. But I should have always wanted a sister.”

  Nick motioned to the cellar door. “Shall we?”

  “Yes.” I turned to find Wyatt. He’d gravitated to the center of the room—making no move to leave with us. I walked toward him. “You coming?”