Forever Burning

by Evi Asher

  “Oh, it isn’t?” She put her hand on her hip. “I disagree, because I’m going to enjoy the hell out of you kicking yourself in the ass when you realize what an idiot you are being.”

  Archer leapt off the chair as if it had burned him, and started pacing. “It doesn’t matter. I will get Scarlet back even if she doesn’t want to be with me.”

  “You have a plan?” Tate asked in his usual taciturn way.

  “We go back to Outsiders Inc. We go through the archives, then we pool every contact, tug every string and yank every favor we are owed. There has to be someone who knows more about the phoenix, and how to get over to their plane of existence.”

  He stopped and looked at them all. “Are you with me?”

  “Sure, whatever you need, but we have one small problem.”

  “Two,” Heath corrected Tate.

  Tate glared at the Precog, then nodded.

  Archer let out a frustrated breath, then hissed. “Well?”

  “You know our team of Outsiders is on Jasmine’s hit list, right? Well, going back to your headquarters means we are in Jasmine-ville, so to speak.”

  “So? We kick her ass if she tries anything.” Archer held his hands palm up and shrugged as if Tate’s worry about Jasmine was beyond stupid.

  “Yes, okay, but then there is the problem of Dimitri. He doesn’t know we managed to get our headquarters destroyed.”

  “I was wondering why you were staying at that old diner.”

  Tate had the grace to look sheepish. “Yeah.”

  “Don’t worry. After you explain that it was Jasmine, Dimitri should back off.” Archer turned his head to stare out the window as if he was looking for something.

  “Sorry—have you met Dimitri? If there is one word guaranteed to make him nuke the place, it’s that bitch’s name.”

  “Don’t worry about Dimi,” Zane cut. “Poe is there, and between Poe, Archer and me, we should be able to tame the chaos demon.” The he shrugged his broad shoulders. “That, or we chuck him in the panic room.”

  “Pack your things. We are leaving now.” Archer turned to face the room, and the glowing amber of his eyes left little room for argument.

  Zane tried anyway. “It’s only three hours to sunrise. I bet you are glad I made those modifications to the SUV now.”

  “I kinda, well, I broke the back window of the SUV. It’s not vampire friendly any more, so you are going to have to ride in the Impala’s trunk.” Archer stepped past Zane to climb the stairs.

  “Come on!” Zane yelled after the disappearing werewolf.

  “I owe you one,” Archer yelled back down.

  “You owe me way more than one,” Zane muttered. “Thanks for the backup, everyone.” He glared at the Eternals.

  “Hey, if you want to argue with a Lycan who has misplaced his She, you go right ahead. I like all my bits and pieces where they are now.”

  “Shut up, Erik.”

  Archer grabbed his clothes, stuffing them into his duffle without caring that he was creasing them so badly that only a washing machine and iron could fix the damage. He grabbed his weapons, and with more care, packed those, too, but when he reached for the sweater that Scarlet had left lying on the bed when she was supposed to have gone for her nap, he paused.

  Bringing the soft wool to his face, he inhaled deeply, taking in her sweet honeysuckle scent. His reaction was so visceral, Archer felt a pull down to his toes. Scarlet might be his fate-chosen She, but somehow, she’d become more than just the woman fate had chosen. Somewhere, she’d become important, and the thought of being without her caused him so much pain that he knew it wasn’t just an instinctual Lycan response. He’d gone and fallen in love with the pyro.

  A small smile curled his lips at the thought. That tough, mule-headed, determined, beautiful female was just what he needed, and that the phoenix could go toast marshmallows. He was going to get her back, and he was going to do it soon. Because living without his dark-haired fire was unacceptable.

  Archer packed Scarlet’s bag with care and slung it over his shoulder with his duffle and weapon.

  He took the stairs four at a timeand landed on the bottom with innate grace.

  “Get moving, Eternals, the night is fading and Zane isn’t going to like you very much if he has to spend hours longer in the trunk than necessary.”

  One after another, the Outsiders appeared—his crew, his back up. With creatures like this on his side, no force in the universe would keep him from his She.

  Chapter Four

  Landing with a roll that would have made a movie stunt man proud, Scarlet spun to look behind her. She could still see Ena and Archer through the fissure that connected Earth and this strange new place she was in now.

  She gave her surroundings no more than a cursory glance. Scarlet was not going to miss out on her last look at Archer. She drank him in, her arm hugging her stomach, where it felt like her intestines had garnered a life of their own and were taking up salsa dancing.

  Scarlet was terrified that Ena would hurt Archer.

  She sucked in a breath and screamed, No when Ena laid Archer flat with a wall of flame.

  Ena turned and casually stepped through the fissure, closing it behind her with a dismissive wave of her hand.

  Scarlet clenched her teeth, fighting the urge to attack the other woman. “How could you do that?”

  “I did not hurt him. He will have a few burns, but they will heal. I could have killed him, Scarlet. Be grateful that I chose not to.”

  “I’m not! You hurt him, and you didn’t have to at all.”

  Ena let out a bark of humorless laughter. “Think he would have let his mate go?”

  Mate? What?

  Scarlet frowned, confused by the way Ena had phrased that.

  Then, Ena’s speech had escalated in formality—if that was even possible.

  “Come, we have no time for causeless tears. We must be gone.”

  Scarlet reached up to her face, and felt the telltale track of wet on her cheek. It surprised her, because she’d had no idea that she’d been crying. When had she become such a whiner? She was tough, and she had bigger balls than most men. Why was she heartbroken at the thought of never seeing Archer again?

  Scarlet trailed after Ena, who was marching along a broken stone path, the rocks pushed up in places by grasses and weeds. Whatever this had once been, nature was reclaiming it. “When do I go back?”

  The pillars that Scarlet had seen through the hazy mist of the fissure were nothing more than broken down remnants of their previous glory. The whole place had an air of neglect.

  “You do not,” Ena answered.

  Scarlet stopped walking, and Ena took a few steps before realizing that no one was following her. She stopped and turned to glare at Scarlet. “Did I not tell you we needed to move with haste?”

  “You didn’t tell me that you were going to keep me prisoner here.”

  Ena rolled her eyes. “You are not a prisoner. You are a phoenix, and as such, you have a duty to your race.”

  “What duty is that?”

  “Keep moving. All will be explained in time.”

  Scarlet decided to follow Ena and keep her questions to herself for the moment, but she was not staying here, and it didn’t matter who said what about duty. She had learned a long time ago that duty was something people copped out on every day, and that if you wanted to survive, the only duty you had was to yourself.

  They walked for twenty minutes. Scarlet wasn’t sure about the time because she wasn’t wearing a watch and she didn’t know if time worked differently in the plane they were in.

  They crested the top of the hill, and Scarlet looked down on a sprawling set of stone buildings, nestled in the surrounding greenery. If she didn’t know she’d stepped through some kind of inter-dimensional portal, she would have thought it was a valley on Earth.

  Ena marched down the hill, and Scarlet had no option but to follow her.

  Time to meet the phoenix. Scarlet swall
owed back her anxiety as they reached the front entrance of the first building.

  A woman dressed in a flowing robe opened the door.

  She smiled, but the warmth didn’t reach her eyes.

  “I see that you have succeeded, Ena.”

  “Indeed I have, Tasha, indeed I have.” She turned to Scarlet. “This is Scarlet, our newest phoenix.”

  Scarlet found herself scrutinized by piercing green eyes.

  “Welcome to your new home, Scarlet.”

  Again the smile without warmth.

  Scarlet cleared her throat. “I kinda don’t need a new home. I had one.”

  Tasha’s smile became indulgent. “Child, you have much to learn about the way of the phoenix.” Her gaze turned to Ena.

  “You may retire to your rooms for contemplation, now, Ena.”

  Ena bowed her head and moved past Tasha.

  “Come with me, child. I will take you to meet the women you will be sharing a room with.”

  “Sharing?” Scarlet felt a tingle of alarm.

  “Yes, they are your classmates, for lack of a better way of saying it. You will be with them at all times, learning your duties as a phoenix.”

  “What duties are those?” Scarlet asked.

  Tasha ignored her, and turned and started down a corridor where Scarlet had to jog to keep up.

  “Your duties to your race, of course, and the things you need to learn to become a function member of our society.”

  “Look, I didn’t sign up for this. I didn’t ask for any of it. All I want is to go back to where I came from.”

  Tasha laughed, and like Ena’s, it was humorless.

  “That, dear child is not possible. Your home is here now, and the sooner you learn and accept your place, the better you will fair amongst us.”

  She came to a large wooden door and pushed it open.

  Scarlet heard giggling before it was stifled.

  The giggling had come from four young women, each of them sitting on a bed. There were two spare beds, so there were six beds in the room. The women had books open on their laps as if they had been studying, but it was obvious they’d dived for their beds, because one seemed to be reading hers upside-down.

  “Phoenix, this is your new class mate, Scarlet. Please show her how we do things here, and make her feel at home.”

  Tasha didn’t wait for a response from them. Instead, she pushed Scarlet into the room and shut the door behind her.

  Scarlet did a mental eye roll. Great. She was now stuck in a room full of young women. A total newbie.

  Yeah what’s new there?

  “Hey, I’m Scarlet, and your names are...”

  “I’m Kell,” the blonde said. She then pointed at the doe-eyed brunette. “This is Ath. The red head is Dani, and the quiet one with the dark hair is Angelica.

  “You are not from here.” It was a statement. Kell stood up from her bed and stepped closer to Scarlet, examining the red dress Scarlet still wore.

  It was wrinkled and dirty, but it was clothes, so Scarlet lifted her chin and admitted. “No, I was forced to come here.”

  “You are a new phoenix?” Dani gushed and dashed toward Scarlet. “Tell me, are you from the Earth plane?”

  “I am from the Earth plane,” Scarlet said with raised eyebrows, waiting for whatever reaction the woman was going to display.

  Squeals of delight from around the room, and a chorus of, you must tell us everything greeted her words. “That place is soooo cool.”

  “I wanna go there.”

  Scarlet took a step back.

  Ever since she’d done her tumble through the fissure, she’d been expecting thee’s and thou’s to pop out of mouths. That’s how formal the tone was, and here were these women sprouting colloquialisms.

  “Hold up.” Scarlet lifted her hands to get some silence, but her words caused more pleasure squeals.

  “Are there really men there?”

  Ath rolled her eyes at Dani. “Don’t be a dumbass. You know there are. You’ve seen them.”

  “Okay, you all need to be quiet for a second, ‘cause I can’t think straight here,” Scarlet said.

  Silence ensued.

  “How about I ask a question, then you can ask a question?”

  “That works.” Ath, smiled. “But first, let me show you your bed, this open one, next to mine. I know we are going to be good friends.”

  “Maybe, if we can cut down on the ditz?” Scarlet asked waiting to see if they’d take offense.

  “Sorry, we are just really excited. We knew you couldn’t have been born here, and we almost never see a phoenix that wasn’t born on this plane.”

  Scarlet frowned, remembering what Ena had said at the fissure when Scarlet had asked her if Archer could come with her. “I thought there were no men allowed.”

  The young women looked everywhere but at Scarlet, and no one commented on her statement.

  “Okay, we can leave that one for later then.” Scarlet walked past them to look out the large picture windows at the end of the room. “How is it you all speak the way you do?”

  “Oh, that’s an easy one,” Ath spoke up. “We watch your world all the time.”

  Scarlet felt her body still. “You can watch my world?”

  “Yes, easy-peasy.”

  “Can you watch someone in particular?”

  “Let me explain this one, Ath,” Kell said. “You can, if you know who you are looking for, but since we don’t know anyone in your world, we watch bits and pieces all over the place, and we spend a whole lot of time watching TV when we find them on.”

  “Wish we could change the channel at times, though,” Dani said with a sigh.

  “Okay.” Scarlet nodded her head. “That might help me.”

  “Help you with what?” The blonde asked.

  Do you think we would fit in on the Earth plane? You see, we don’t want to be here. We want to go to—”

  “Shut up, Dani,” Kell ordered with steel in her tone.

  “Oops.” Dani’s cheeks turned pink.

  Scarlet decided that Dani was obviously the air-head of the group.

  “Can you tell us about yourself? How did you come to be a phoenix? Were you born on the Earth plane, and how did it all happen?”

  Scarlet weathered the onslaught of questions. It wouldn’t hurt to give these women an abbreviated version of her life. She might just get something in exchange.

  “Before I answer, do you think I’d be able to watch Earth like you do?”

  “Oh, of course.” Kell beamed. “You are a phoenix—we only have to teach you, and you’ll be able to do it anytime.

  Scarlet’s heart beat faster, a sliver of hope starting to spark in her chest. “Do any of you know how to make that portal thing that opens up a door between the worlds?”

  Silence again, before Ath answered. “It is forbidden, so please do not speak of it again.”

  The question had really upset the woman if she was reverting to her normal way of talking.

  “Fair enough.” Scarlet nodded. “Okay, I’ll tell you about my life, and then you teach me how to watch my home.”

  Angelica spoke for the first time. “This is your home now, Scarlet.”

  Scarlet had noticed that the lady was very quiet, and while the others were bubbly and vivacious, Angelica seemed sad and subdued.

  “No, it’s not, Angelica.”Scarlet gave Angelica a hard stare.

  The woman looked away and let it go.

  “We have a deal.” Dani said with a big grin. “Let’s get comfy so you can start telling us all about Earth.”

  “Is there anything I can change into?” Scarlet asked. She was feeling very grimy and she knew this story would take a while.

  “Oh, of course,” Ath said and led Scarlet to another door.

  “Through here is a bathing room—sorry, a bathroom.” She opened the door. “They will supply you with robes, soon, I’m sure, but until then, you can wear a set of mine.”

  Ath led the way thr
ough the door, reached onto a shelf, and passed a set of soft mauve colored robes to Scarlet. “Take your time. We will wait for you to be ready to tell us all. I’m sorry, we are so excitable, but you must understand that to us you are, a…” She thought about it for a second, then grinned. “A rock star.”

  Scarlet couldn’t help but laugh at the comparison.

  “Then, I will do my best to live up to my hype.”

  With an answering grin, Ath left the entry room to the bathroom and closed the door behind her.

  An hour later, Scarlet was back in the dormitory, sitting cross legged on her bed and telling the women all about Earth. Not so much her life, though they wanted details about that, too. Scarlet told them an abbreviated version of that.

  But she spent more time telling them about fast food and fashion—not that she was an expert there at all—and about music and games and all the things Scarlet had enjoyed in her home world.

  They demanded to know about her transformation into a phoenix, and when she told them that she’d been born a pyro, they all stared at her in awe.

  “Pyros are rarer than phoenix,” Kell pointed out with wide eyes. “You do know it makes you more powerful than the average phoenix.”

  Scarlet frowned in confusion.

  “I thought you had been born a phoenix. There have been some that have escaped—”

  “Be quiet, Dani.”

  The women hissed as a group.

  Scarlet filed the start of that sentence away for later. Soon, these phoenixes would learn to trust her, then she would find out everything that they weren’t telling her right now.

  “So, if you were born a pyro, you had to have a shifter catalyst,” Kell said.

  The four women sat forward.

  “What kind was it?” Kell continued.

  Angelica hadn’t joined them on Scarlet’s bed listening to the tales from Earth. She sat at the window, staring out into the distance, a sad look on her face.

  “What’s with her?” Scarlet asked.

  “She’s to breed soon,” Dani said in a stage whisper, which abruptly became a yelp of pain as Kell’s elbow landed in her ribs.

  “I’m going to gag you soon. So keep your lips closed,” Ath hissed at Dani.