Of Flame and Promise

by Cecy Robson

  I gathered my power, keeping it within my core as I stumbled forward. “Go,” I told him. He didn’t move right away. “Go, fast,” I warned, my body shaking from the strength it took to maintain the growing inferno.

  He nodded and ran out the door. I ran after him, unleashing a stream of blue and white right at the open oven door—

  Oh, fuuuck.

  The force of the blast launched me away from the house like a torpedo. Celia would have leapt out majestically, landing in a graceful crouch, and hit the ground in a mad dash.

  Yeah. I so wasn’t Celia.

  My limbs flailed wildly as the earth sped past beneath me. It wasn’t a conscious thought to gather my flame around me; it was more like pure instinct and the crazy desire to live. Blue and white cocooned me, shielding me from the explosion and the blazes shooting out in all directions.

  To anyone passing, the scene probably looked badass, but there was nothing badass about my landing. Like a meteor striking the earth, I plowed across the lot, melting the snow and charring the earth beneath me.

  I pushed up on my elbow, spitting out dirt and dumbstruck that I was still alive. I poked my head out of the large crater my crash had created and swore yet again.

  In blurs of white and black, Gemini’s wolves, and that of his mother, ripped into the vampires, blood streaming from jowls and soaking their furs. The house burned and smoked as blue and white flames ate through the walls and frame. The intense heat warmed my face from where I crouched, and I was a long ways back!

  At first, I thought it was a good thing—to destroy a place where so many had suffered. Except neither Pop nor I had counted on the effects it would have on the demon children.

  They lost their damn minds, rocking the freight truck with enough force to bounce the wheels. One flew out, flapping, desperate to escape, only to explode to bits of quivering maggots when Pop aimed and fired. Another followed, and another. Pop killed the second, but only clipped the wing of the third.

  They were breaking out. We were out of time.

  I crawled out of the hole and ran to where Pop used the butt of his remaining rifle to crush the demon’s skull.

  My arms electrified with energy as I flung mini-bolts from my hands, singeing anyone in my path. I needed to get to Pop. He was human, alone, and quickly running out of protection.

  My hands scissored out as two weres charged me from both sides. The force of my lightning rammed their massive chests hard, flinging them backward to jerk and twitch along the ground. They weren’t dead, but they were hurt. Yet I didn’t have time to make the kill. Not if I wanted to save Pop.

  With screams and swears, I released more lightning. The air crackled and charged as a darkening blue ray cut through the chest of a werebear and into the vamp aiming for Pop’s head. Pop tossed his rifle and ran for the one the vamp discarded upon his re-death. But Pop wasn’t the only one in trouble. I sent an extra-large bolt into the vamp who had taken Momma to the ground. That one I killed, seconds before he would have snapped her neck, sending him airborne and into the burning house.

  More Tribesmen bounded for me before I was halfway across the lot. Gem’s twin took on three. I took on the rest. My fire detonated skulls and seared through bellies, mostly by luck. I didn’t aim; there was no time really. I was just trying to keep from being eaten and ripped apart.

  As I ran, I watched Pop fire at more fleeing demon children. He managed to hit each one, but even from a distance, I could sense his exhaustion, just as I could see the demon children were moments from tipping the entire truck on its side.

  Tears streamed down my face as my bare feet met the bitter sting of the frigid snow and sharp gravel. I didn’t have the tough hide of Celia, or the ability to heal myself like Emme, nor did I posses Shayna’s fighting skills. I was just me.

  But maybe I was just what we needed.

  The fury of war surrounded me as Tribesmen cocked their weapons and fired. I couldn’t spare the magic I needed, but I also couldn’t die. I dove to the ground and curled inward, using my fire as a shield. Bullets sprayed against my body, bursting into small poofs of ash as my flame ignited them.

  I couldn’t see anything. But when I heard Gem’s howl, and Pop urging me forward, I leapt up in a burst of speed and light. I tore through the last remaining feet separating me from the truck. My gasping was visible in the frigid air, and my thighs burned. I was already worn out. But Momma’s pained yelp forced me to act.

  I closed my eyes, ignoring the chaos around me, focusing on my inner light, the one that triggered my power, and the only thing pure about me. As I concentrated, it flickered to life and expanded, my breaths became more controlled, and my head lolled forward. That’s it. Give me more, baby.

  I was sure it would keep going. But unlike the times before, when I wasn’t so beaten and raw, this time my power resisted, ignoring my pleas to surge forth.

  My light dwindled and flared, sputtering close to either swelling or extinguishing the piddly amount I managed to stir, until my anger and frustration took over and riled it awake.

  The light sparked, sizzled, and burned, stalling briefly over the distant whines of hurting beasts, and a yelp from a wolf I knew too well. I forced away all thoughts of pain, filling myself with the peace I’d sought for so long.

  Slowly, my feet levitated from the ground. A small, wicked smile inched across my face. I had the light, to clutch, to harness, to kindle, allowing it to grow into a roaring beast of its own.

  There was no stopping me now. I was one with my light, a dangerous inferno begging to be released. My body spun and my power raged in tune with the terrified shrieking of the demon children. I opened my eyes in time to see a swarm of flapping bodies wiggle free of their cages, their beady red eyes trained on me.

  Okay, boys, time to burn.

  Light as pure as heaven erupted from my core in a sudden, mighty burst as an army of winged leathery bodies soared toward me with their fangs and claws exposed. The light, so beautiful and fierce, blinded me. I couldn’t see, but I heard a shotgun blast exploding in front of me.

  For all I worked for it, and for all I owned it then, the glorious brilliance abruptly faded, leaving me at once and dropping me against the hard ground.

  The jolt from the impact should have been enough to force me to my feet, but it wasn’t. My head weighed more than it should and my muscles were nothing more than useless groupings of gelatin.

  I was vaguely aware of Pop rushing to my side, but it was his heartbroken voice that latched to my brain and whispered a warning. “My son,” he said.

  My eyes whipped open, and I forced myself up on my arms only to scream. I didn’t care about the mountains of ash that had been vampires moments before, or about the empty cages and demon remains littering the truck floor and the ground around me.

  I didn’t care that my magic had spared us. All I cared about was the naked body lying motionless before me.

  “No!”

  I crawled forward, pushing past the weakness and chills racking my body to roll Gem over and onto his back. A pained sob ripped through my throat. All I could do was scream. There, in the center of his chest, a gaping hole exposed where his heart had once beat and given him life.

  He’d taken a bullet meant for me, sacrificing himself so I could live. He shouldn’t have done that. He shouldn’t have left me. Jesus Christ, why did he leave me?

  I flung my arms around his neck and pulled him against my trembling form, my heaving breaths burning their way through my lungs.

  He was dead, and despite all of my power, despite all my supposed gifts, there was nothing I could do. Instead of life, I begged for death then. For one vamp to have escaped my light, so I wouldn’t know another moment without him.

  “Taran,” Momma whispered gently.

  I ignored her, crying uncontrollably as Gemini’s spilling blood grew cold against my skin. Pop hooked his arms under mine. “Come, Taran,” he urged.

  He tried to pull me away, but I wrenched fre
e, drawing Gemini closer, refusing to let go. “Get off me!” I shrieked. “I won’t leave him!”

  My sobs morphed into hysteria, and my grip around Gem tightened. Gem’s parents tried to speak to me, but I barely heard them over my cries and didn’t care enough to listen.

  It took a small and poignant whine to snag my attention and pull me toward its source.

  Before me stood Gem’s other wolf half. Although I froze, I couldn’t control the whimpering that ensued.

  “Taran,” Momma said softly. “You must release Tomo so his other wolf can return to his body and heal him.”

  “He didn’t die, too?” I stammered. It was a stupid question, seeing as he stood in front of me. I just thought…I thought…

  When I remained unmoving, Pop reached for me again. This time, I allowed him to ease me away. My hands released Gemini carefully, despite the numbness dulling my heartbeat to painful thuds.

  As I watched, Gemini’s twin wolf limped forward and merged with his human half. Gem jerked up into a sitting position, coughing and grunting, his large hand pressed tight against his chest. Agony twisted his features and perspiration released in streams down his face. His features relaxed with each breath, until he was finally able to pry his eyes open and latch them on to mine.

  I flung myself on top of him, and showed him love the only way I knew how.

  “Motherfucking, dipshit, fuck-loving whore. Don’t you ever do that to me again!”

  I might have said more. Mostly I just cried.

  Despite Momma’s and Pop’s audible gasps, and our current situation, Gemini pulled me close and chuckled against my ear. “I love you, too,” he murmured.

  Chapter 16

  Gemini held me, until a cougar in beast form stirred in front of us. Pop shot it, the bullet striking its hide, but since he missed its skull and heart by a mile, the were didn’t die. Pop mumbled something in Japanese and tossed his last rifle aside. Momma barreled forward in her wolf form, ripping into the cougar and killing it.

  The moment she dropped the cougar’s limp form, her head whipped in the direction of the road. She growled and yipped. Pop stripped out of his dress shirt and passed it to Gem. Gem quickly tied the shirt his father had given him into a makeshift loincloth. “More are coming,” Gem said. “We have to leave now.”

  A few feet from us, more weres began to stir. I nodded, knowing he was right, but that was all I could do. I slumped to my side and into a pile of leftover demon bits.

  My sunlight born of magic obliterated all the vamps and demon children in the vicinity, but it had no affect on the weres. They were waking, healing, struggling to rise. And although I couldn’t hear any vehicles approaching, Momma’s increasing yips warned something else was closing in.

  She dashed forward, allowing Pop to climb on her furry and blood-smeared back. She waited for Gemini to wrench me into his arms before taking off in a mad sprint and disappearing into the dense forest.

  I couldn’t have ridden him as wolf. The magic I used to produce the sunlight left me debilitated. “Call the pack,” I mumbled. “We need help.”

  “I did, Taran. But that’s not them coming.” The branches slapped against his arms. “We’re too far in enemy territory. Our only choice is to run.”

  “The fire,” I rasped. “They’ll see my fire and know.”

  “Maybe. But we can’t wait for them to arrive.”

  I tried to say more but failed, my body appearing to sink inward. I slumped against Gem’s chest, vaguely aware something was off in the way he ran, before I closed my eyes and surrendered to my exhaustion.

  I don’t remember sleeping. There were moments I’d wake only to be lulled back to sleep by the motion with which Gem carried me. What I remember is the moon. The sun was shining high above us when we made our escape, but now only night reigned. I remember thinking I should eat, or drink, or speak before fatigue gripped me and my eyelids drooped once more.

  The next time I opened my eyes, the dull light of the autumn sun greeted me on the horizon.

  “Gem,” I whispered, rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “Where are we?”

  “Close,” he answered, his voice oddly choked.

  I lifted my chin, my eyes widening. The sunlight beat against his face. But instead of bronzing his olive skin and enveloping it in its welcoming glow, it cast a spotlight on skin as white as bleached wood. I reached and stroked his sweat-soaked cheek, his skin so cold and drained of color I didn’t know how he could stand, much less run.

  “Baby…” I began, but my breath lodged in my throat. Gem was so pale, and the circles ringing his eyes were so dark, he was almost unrecognizable.

  “Baby, stop.”

  Sweat poured down his face. “No,” he panted. “We’re close to Tahoe. I can sense its energy.”

  “Then call to the pack—or put me down. Jesus, you look like death.”

  “Still too far to be heard by our friends, and too close to our enemies,” he bit out. “I need to get us closer to call for help.”

  I craned my neck enough to see his mother racing in her wolf form beside us. Her stare remained focused ahead, but his father managed to toss me a glance. Worry creased his brow. I thought he nodded in agreement with me, or maybe I only imagined it. I muttered about six more swear words, which did nothing of course. Damn. I felt so helpless!

  Gemini continued to move fast, but his speed was significantly slower than I remembered it. I’d known him to run all night and into the dawn with only determination fixed in those dark eyes. Now all I saw was excruciating pain twisting his features. Perspiration cut lines down his face and his breath released in quick, labored bursts. His condition wasn’t due to exhaustion. My wolf was sick. Really sick.

  “Is it your heart?” I managed, fearing the worst.

  “No.”

  “Then what’s happening?”

  His skin alternated between shades of white. “I just need to keep going” was all he’d say.

  I wriggled in his arms. “Put me down. I’ll walk. You can’t keep carrying me in your state.”

  “No.”

  “Gem—”

  “You can’t walk with bare feet on this terrain, much less run as fast as me. I don’t know how close the Tribesmen are.” He swallowed, struggling to form his words. “What I do know is we need more miles between us and them.”

  It was hurting him even to speak, so for once in my life I didn’t argue and shut my trap. My hands linked around his neck and I simply held him, trying to give him the strength I’d replenished during sleep, though I knew that wasn’t possible. For all the magic I possessed, I could do nothing to spare him from his pain.

  I closed my eyes, struggling to stay strong. Don’t cry. He needs a fighter, not some whiner, my mind insisted.

  I don’t know how much longer he ran—an hour? Maybe more. I only remember the pine branches slapping and whipping Gem’s arms seconds before we broke through the brush and into a wide clearing.

  Gem stumbled onto his knees, grunting when he landed on a cluster of flat rocks, trying to protect my body from falling forward. I would rather have taken the brunt. If anything, he’d damaged his body worse than it already was. I kissed his cheek. “I’m okay. Let me go.”

  At first he wouldn’t ease his hold. It was almost as if he couldn’t hear or didn’t understand. Slowly he released me, keeping his position as I hurried to stand. Stumbling away as I tried to balance, I lost my footing, my muscles tight and stiff from being carried so long, and landed on my ass. Gem reached to steady me when I tried to stand, despite his slumping form and blatant pain.

  “I’m fine, baby,” I insisted.

  I ignored the fiery sting as my bare feet stomped across the ground and huddled against the blistering wind, drawing enough fire around me to heat my legs and help me stagger to Gem’s side. God, he appeared seconds from keeling over.

  His father left his mother’s back, the poor man crawling to Gem’s side. Unlike me, he hadn’t slept, the night’s ride and hi
s age taking their toll on his battered body. I reached for him, but he shook his head. “My s-son,” he stammered.

  Momma circled in her beast form keeping guard, but she was also racked with fear.

  “We’re not far,” Gem spat. He repeated the words like he hadn’t said them before. I think he meant to reassure us, but his condition was nothing short of unbridled suffering.

  He swiveled his head from side to side, scrunching his face, kneeling with his hands out in front of him. That familiar sound of Velcro tearing filled my ears as his twin wolf’s head punched through his back and broke free of his shelter.

  Gem’s body buckled when his wolf’s hind legs hit the ground. I’d barely managed to put out my fire and curl my body around his in time. I dove to protect his head, its weight crushing my forearms and my motions scraping my arms along the rough terrain.

  He lay there, with wide, unblinking eyes. If it weren’t for the large gulps of air he was taking, I don’t think he would’ve moved at all.

  The separation from his wolf morphed his skin tone from alabaster white to a nausea-inducing gray. That was bad enough, but when his large beast collapsed beside him, I couldn’t help but scream.

  I clutched Gem’s head, bringing it to my lap and reaching out to stroke his wolf. My fingers passed along his dense fur, his skin feeling cold against my touch. The beast panted heavily beside me, his dull eyes lacking the strength that warned those who dared to cross his path.

  “Get up,” Gem grunted through his teeth.

  The wolf whined and twitched his muscles, every torturous movement clenching my lungs and robbing me of air. “Babe, don’t.” I shook my head. “Please. He’s hurting, too.”

  Gem ignored me. “Get up,” he growled. “She needs you.”

  I wiped the tear I allowed to escape as I watched the wolf struggle to rise. He swayed more than once, yet somehow managed to keep his feet. Gem’s brow cooled beneath my touch. “You need him back inside you,” I stammered. “Please don’t make him go.”