Wreathed in Flame (Faith of the Fallen Book 3)

by Cassandra Sky West

  “Your associate—?” Alexi didn’t finish. The shadows stirred, and something she assumed had been a large rock stepped forward. He was nearly six feet tall with broad shoulders like no man could be.

  No man but a werewolf.

  “Ringo?” Alexi asked. The last she’d seen the wolf, he was running away with Illyana hanging on to his fur.

  He grunted in recognition.

  “Why are you helping them kidnap a little girl?” Savanna cried out. They stood side-by-side at the edge of the circle and if Shaughn thought it odd, he made no move.

  “He promised me revenge, little witch. On your mother and every witch alive,” he snarled. Next to him stood a human Alexi didn’t recognize. He had a parka and thick gloves on. He also wielded a large barreled shotgun. It looked too big to shoot bullets. Bean bags, maybe?

  She cursed herself for not thinking another werewolf might be involved. It was too late, now. They would just have to improvise.

  Alexi glanced at Savanna. There was nothing they could do, now. They had to stick with the plan. They turned from each other to skirt the outside of the circle. Each crunch of her foot in snow brought her closer to her daughter. She only needed fifteen more feet…

  Sydney danced with Illyana in wide circles, hopping, and twirling. The strain of the physical activity was evident in the sweat on her face, and the smile that didn’t touch her eyes.

  “She’s only four, for pity sake. Let her go!” Alexi wanted to leap forward with her speed and slap the faerie in the face.

  “Oh, we will,” Thaughn said, pausing in the middle of his song.

  The little girl’s blonde hair was caught up in a ponytail. She could see the resemblance. Fragments of memories flashed through her mind. The hospital. Pain. Tired. So tired. The baby crying. Soft, soft skin. Tiny fingers.

  Alexi let out a gasp as the memories vanished as fast as they appeared. They left behind the emotions, but nothing else. She grasped for the sound of Sydney crying, for anything. Nothing came.

  How much closer do you need to be? Savanna’s voice interrupted he thoughts.

  Alexi glanced down, tentatively taking another step. The snow was easily three inches thick. Between that and the wind and ice, she couldn’t run at full speed. She needed ten more feet.

  Savanna! Illyana’s scream tore through her mind. It’s a trap!

  Alexi shot forward. Shaughn dodged her easily, but he wasn’t her target. She charged past him in a blur of speed. Thaughn’s face turned to surprise as her fist collided with his jaw.

  Her mother’s warning echoed in Savanna’s mind. Savanna had prepared a number of spells for the occasion, and she reached for the first one. She grunted as the bean bag slammed against her hastily erected shield. She heard the dull thunk as the unknown man chambered another round.

  “You think your witch blood can protect you from the power of the fae?” Shaughn laughed as he spoke. “I am older than the mountain you stand on. Our power reaches back through time itself. I will destroy you!”

  Savanna set her shoulder and held her left hand up in front of her. The blue light of her power swirled around her fingers, lighting up the snow around her.

  “No, you won’t.” Savanna jutted her fingers forward. Bolts of arcane energy burned through the air. They landed with an audible snap. The first two hit Shaughn’s bow harp, knocking it from his hands. The other three slammed the fae in the chest forcing him to take a step back, leaving large burn marks on his chest.

  The look of utter disbelief on his face made it all worthwhile.

  Shock and rage clouded Shaughn’s features. “How?”

  “It chose me,” she said.

  Shaughn screamed. His hands went high into the air as blue energy arced around him. The snow at his feet melted and waves of heat rolled off him.

  “It is ours,” he cried over the howling wind. “You can’t taint it with your… your demon blood!”

  “It chose me, Shaughn. The Well of Eternity powers my magic. Do you really believe it will let me lose to you?”

  Fur, teeth, and claws crashed against her, tearing her away from Thaughn. Pain blossomed in her leg as Ringo’s rear claws tore through her flesh. She struck out frantically, slapping his massive maw aside—narrowly avoiding his snapping jaws. She scrabbled beneath his jaw until she found something to hold onto… and then pushed. His head snapped up. His left paw came down onto her shoulder with incredible force.

  Claws tore through the flesh of her arm. Alexi screamed.

  “Hold her,” Thaughn shouted at the wolf, pulling himself off the ground. Alexi couldn’t see his face, but she knew what he was about to do.

  “Tink!” she screamed. “Tink!”

  She slammed her knee into his abdomen, the giant wolf grunted but didn’t move.

  “Off the cliff,” Thaughn sang. Alexi struggled beneath Ringo, helpless.

  Suddenly, a blue foot appeared atop Ringo’s head. Tink flashed by, as though she weighed no more than a feather.

  The compulsion of Thaughn’s voice washed over Illyana and she had no choice but to obey. For the last several hours she had danced a circle with the little girl she only now came to realize was Alexi’s daughter. Though the girl looked nothing like Savanna, it reminded her of the time she spent with her daughter. Those memories unraveled her self-control.

  Bitter regret welled up inside her as they ran, hand-in-hand, to the edge of the peak. The valley below swam into view and Illyana couldn’t even see the bottom. Fear engulfed her. Fear of what lay beyond death. Fear that she had not yet won Savanna’s forgiveness. Fear that she would die without ever having told her daughter the three most important words.

  She closed her eyes as they danced right off the edge.

  Illyana gasped and lunged with her right hand for the ledge as she fell. The moment her feet left the ground the compulsion ended. Fingers grasped the thinnest of outcroppings. One hundred and fifty pounds of woman and child snapped to a halt. She grunted from the strain, she didn’t know how long she could hold.

  Savanna, hear me, please.

  Hang on mother, help is coming.

  A smiling blue face with bright golden eyes peered over the edge. “Hello Illyana Grace, and Sydney Creed, I’m here to help you.” Tink reached down to take hold of Illyana’s wrist.

  The outcropping gave way. Tink held on but the weight slammed her to the ground and now she was the only thing holding her and the little girl.

  Illyana looked down at the child she held. It would be so easy to drop her to save herself. The little one clung to her arm, tears long held back by magic streamed down her dirty face.

  It would be easy.

  Savanna…

  Mother, hang on!

  Listen, child. Your father loved you. I love you, too. I do. I do, and I’m so, so sorry. I know I have done unspeakable things. Please undo one of them. Save your father.

  Save him? He’s… dead.

  Illyana grunted with the effort as she hauled Sydney up. Tink squeaked as Illyana’s wrist slipped through her grasp.

  “Warren,” Tink shouted over her shoulder. “Help!”

  Illyana struggled to lift the child, her unused muscles weren’t up for the strain. She clenched her teeth, braced her feet against the ledge and used Tink as a counter weight.

  “Don’t let her fall,” the witch grunted. With one last massive effort, she wrenched her arm up and tossed the girl to Tink.

  The pull was too much for the little blue faerie. She couldn’t hold them both—she couldn’t catch the girl, and hold Illyana.

  Catch the girl, she willed Tink.

  Illyana’s wrist slipped free, and then she was falling.

  Falling.

  The last thing she saw was the blue faerie’s arms closing around the little blonde girl.

  Illyana closed her eyes and tried to make peace with the air rushing past her. Of all the times she thought she was near the end…

  This was it. She knew it, this time. She was about to die
. Fear overwhelmed her, and she did something she hadn’t done in a long, long time.

  She prayed.

  Savanna heard her mother’s last words. She heard the sharp scream from her as she fell. And when Tink hauled Sydney up over the ledge the reality hit her.

  I love you, too… I’m so, so sorry … echoed in her mind.

  Mother!

  There was no response. Anger built up in her. Anger at losing what could have been. Savanna howled with rage. Arcane energy built around her in a storm of lightning. The air shimmered from the heat as little lightning bolts sparked off her to explode against the ground around her. She pulled in the energy from the Well until she felt it would overwhelm her. Then she pulled a little more.

  Shaughn and Thaughn’s words were lost to her in the maelstrom swirled around her. She had eyes only for Thaughn, the faerie who took her mother from her.

  “Burn,” she roared as she released it all. Energy flashed through the air. Shaughn leaped to intercept the hail of lightning bolts. They arced around him to strike true. Thaughn’s back was to her as he tried to kick Tink off the ledge.

  The bolts of pure energy slammed against his back, flattening him to the ground. He seized and screamed as lightning rippled through him.

  “Shaughn!” he cried. The lightning engulfed him in a burning light. When it faded all that remained was melted snow and black rock.

  He was gone.

  “Thaughn,” his brother whispered, “Thaughn!”

  There was no one left to answer.

  He turned black eyes on Savanna, she raised her hand to try and defend herself, but the power she unleashed left her weak and unable to stand. She fell to her knees at the center of a crater of blackened rock. Shaughn picked her up with his power and flung her into the circle. She slammed against the rock and snow. Too exhausted to move, she tried to cry out, but the pain from her impact left her unable to draw a breath.

  Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ringo lift Alexi up with his claws embedded in her chest. He slammed her down next to the witch. She managed to roll over and look her friend in the eyes.

  “How we doing?” Alexi asked between blood filled coughs.

  “Sydney’s safe. I saw Warren and Tink vanish a moment ago,” Savanna said.

  Ringo slammed his foot down on Alexi’s chest and pinned her. His body swirled in magic and flowed to reform as a human. Him, along with his unnamed friend, guarded the two while Shaughn stormed over to them.

  “You’ve ruined everything!” he screamed as he started kicking Savanna in the back. She whimpered as his foot bruised her. The pain of his beating added to the throbbing ache she already felt from hitting the rock.

  “Leave her alone you bastard,” Alexi spit at him.

  “Ringo,” Shaughn said with an evil grin.

  The werewolf lifted his foot up to stomp on her. Either Alexi wasn’t as hurt as she seemed, or she had had more strength in her than even Savanna realized.

  Alexi slammed her knee into the werewolf’s leg, breaking through the joint, and bending his leg in a direction it was never meant to go. She caught him as he fell, using his momentum to pull herself up, and hurled him—screaming the whole way—into his shotgun-toting friend. The weight of the wolf and Alexi’s own strength were more than enough to knock them both out of the circle.

  Savanna reached for her friend…

  The world rippled and a wave of nausea rolled through her at the same time. The sky blackened and the ground rushed up to slam her in the face. Her chest heaved and her stomach churned up vomit. She railed against the blackness that creeped into her vision, but she couldn’t fight it.

  Alexi dropped to her knees as the translation took hold of her. Everything in the circle, Savanna, Alexi, and Shaughn fell through a dimension Alexi’s mind couldn’t comprehend. She heaved as the world crashed down again and she was back on the mountain. She had nothing in her stomach to vomit, but she gave it her best shot anyway.

  She spent a moment breathing heavy before she tried to stand. Flesh, bone, and tissue regenerated in her leg, letting her place weight on it. The wounds in her chest closed as did the one in her shoulder. She was whole again.

  Savanna!

  She turned to see Shaughn cradling Savanna’s body, a long blue steel sword pushed against her throat.

  There was blood on the blade.

  No.

  It wasn’t Savanna’s blood. It didn’t smell right. It had to be Tink’s.

  He looked up to her, grief and rage fresh on his face. “Twitch, and I will spray you with her blood.”

  Alexi held her hands up. “Shaughn, I’m not going to help you. What good would it do to save Savanna if I let you destroy the rest of the world?”

  He snarled again, pressing the blade hard against her throat. A trickle of blood seeped onto the blade.

  “I know what you are, Alexi. I felt it when you came into the Fae. You’re the only one who can restore the world to the way it was. The Olympians are all gone, and only one of angel blood can call the Titans.”

  Alexi’s heart pounded in her chest. No matter what she said to Thaughn… she couldn’t see Savanna die. She couldn’t. There had to be a way.

  “If you kill her, you have nothing left to bargain with,” she said quietly. To her ears her voice sounded high and unsure.

  “That is where you are wrong,” he said. His free hand came out of his pocket with a lock of dirty blond hair.

  Alexi’s eyes widened.

  Sydney’s hair.

  She had given hair to the coven to keep her and Savanna from being mind-controlled. Alexi was no mage but she knew what a physical link to a person could do. Fear washed over her. She was in as much danger as she was before, despite everything they had done to keep her safe.

  She didn’t even know where she was. This peak lay flat against the mountain, with other peaks spread out in a line in front of her. There was no snow, here, and hardly a gust of wind.

  “Where are we?” Her stomach sank as she asked.

  “Olympus, home of the gods.”

  Alexi fought to keep her emotions in check. She couldn’t let her anger get the best of her now, not when she needed a clear head most. When her nerves calmed, she opened her bright blue eyes to stare down Shaughn.

  “Don’t hurt her, Shaughn. This isn’t you. The fae I’ve met can be cruel, but not evil. You wouldn’t murder an innocent child for this, it isn’t worth it.”

  His eyes softened just a bit. He pulled the barely conscious Savanna to her feet, blade still pressed to her throat. Savanna’s eyes shot open, widening as she felt the steel against her skin.

  “Alexi,” she whispered.

  “It will be okay.” Alexi took a tentative step closer. “I’m sorry about your brother. I am so sorry. And I’m sorry you can’t live here anymore, but this isn’t your world. It hasn’t been in a long time.”

  Mentioning his brother was a mistake. Shaughn’s eyes narrowed, and he let out a growl. “Draw your sword, angel, plunge it into the stone.” He pointed at a large rock jutting several feet out from the ground in the center of the clearing they were in. The rock looked like any other, except for one flat, angled surface that shone in the light.

  “Then what?” She took another step, trying to keep him talking. To keep him focused on her. He moved sideways, away from the stone and closer to the cliff’s edge.

  “Then every volcano on Earth will erupt at once. It’ll be cold, and dark. You’ll all die, eventually. Then we can come home.” His voice broke, and the pain she heard there made her heart ache. “I want to come home, Alexi.”

  “And what about me?” Alexi said. “If I killed seven billion people to save two… could I ever go home again? Ever?”

  As they spoke the sky slowly went from black to grey as the sun approached. Whatever she was going to do, she needed to do it fast.

  Shaughn edged closer to the ledge. “Do it,” he snapped. “Do it now or she dies. I can always hold the child over you.”


  Alexi wavered. She looked deep in herself. The sword and armor hadn’t come earlier when she needed it. It came for the troll, but not the werewolves. It would come for a demon, but she had no idea how to summon it.

  “Shaughn, I can’t. I don’t know how.”

  “Why not? We watched your battle with the demon you called upon the heavenly host.” His voice was still angry, but there was an undertone to it—pleading. “When you visited us, I knew what you might be. I said nothing, except to Thaughn. Then, we watched you slay the demon. I knew what we had to do.” He took a breath. “Draw your sword, or by all the power I command, I will curse your daughter for an eternity. She will wish for the sweet release of death. And when I finally grant it, I will cast her soul down into Hades for another eternity of torment.”

  As Shaughn screamed at her, something shifted in him. Something fundamental. The fae’s features darkened, his voice took on a baritone as the evil in him manifested outwardly. Gone were the last vestiges of the elf, only evil remained.

  Alexi inhaled sharply at the change. She felt her connection to Heaven and her sword and armor. She thought she understood now. Evil from another plane of existence was threatening the earth. This was the very thing the Accord was put in place to protect the earth from.

  Verum called to her. She could use it to strike him down, but she had to save Savanna.

  He would kill her anyway. She could see it in his eyes. Her connection to Heaven filled her with serenity bigger than herself. A true calm spread over her. Her heart longed for her wings, armor and sword. A flicker of doubt crossed her mind. How could she still be worthy of such things? Her doubt was quickly washed away in a sea of peace.

  “Let Savanna go, and I will try to do as you ask,” she bluffed. She managed to move a few feet closer.

  “I don’t need her. I’ll still kill your little girl,” he shouted as he shifted his weight. Shaughn heaved Savanna over the ledge. Time froze for Alexi as she made eye contact with her friend. Then she was gone. Alexi charged forward, brushing past Shaughn she leaped off the ledge.