The Fire Salamander Chronicles Series: Books 1 - 3: The Fire Salamander Chronicles Series Boxset Book 1

by N M Thorn

  A black Nissan Pathfinder pulled over, shredding the darkness with bright headlights. A tall man walked out of the car, leaving the driver’s door opened, and threw the car key into Sasha’s hands. Aidan watched Sasha getting into the driver’s seat and Sergei and Lena climbing in the back. The SUV slowly took off and disappeared from the camera view.

  “Aidan, I think it’s finally over,” said Sasha. “I’m driving fast, and it doesn’t look like anyone is following us.”

  “I don’t think they will, but stay vigilant,” said Aidan with a sigh of relief. “It was nice talking to you, Sasha. Take care of yourself and your friends.”

  “Hold on, Aidan,” Sasha said quickly before Aidan could hang up. “I know that something is wrong. I’m sorry, but Gunz would never trust anyone with our lives. If you can’t tell me what’s going on, I understand. But tell me if there is anything we can do to help you.”

  Aidan thought for a moment. He didn’t think that Zane’s friend could help, but he appreciated the ties of friendship these men had.

  “Sasha, do you have magic?” he asked finally.

  “No,” replied Sasha. “Unlike Gunz, Sergei and I are not magic freaks.” He chuckled softly. “No offense to present company. But it doesn’t matter. Magic or not, we stand by his side if he needs us.”

  “The best thing you can do for now is disappear,” said Aidan. “When it’s all over, Gunz will find you. He’ll find a way to get in touch.”

  “Understood,” said Sasha, his voice deep with worry. “Thank you again. And tell Gunz that we’re always just a phone call away if he needs us.”

  Sasha hung up and Aidan gave the phone receiver back to Anatoly. He got up slowly, towering over the mobster, anger percolating inside him, and his eyes lit up with a bright white light. His heavy gaze captured Anatoly’s eyes. The mobster gasped and clasped his chest with his hands like he was having shortness of breath.

  “Mr. Karpenko, you would do well to stay away from me and my friends, Zane Burns included,” said Aidan quietly. “Next time you do something unseemly, I may not be as nice and polite as I was today.”

  Aidan scanned Anatoly with his magic, and his skin crawled with disgust. He registered the swirling muddy darkness inside this man and suppressed the desire to recoil from him. After a moment, he released him. Anatoly sagged in his chair, his face glistening with perspiration.

  Aidan smirked and snapped his fingers, vanishing from the room.

  Chapter 36

  ~ Aidan ~

  When Aidan finally made it back to his office, he found everything more or less back to normal. The desk was placed upright, and the computer monitor was sitting on top of it, amazingly still in working condition. All documents were neatly stacked in one pile. Tessa was enthroned in his chair, her feet crossed on top of the desk.

  He met her eyes and his hope for a peaceful conversation disintegrated. He felt tired and dejected, but mostly he was still angry with himself. He sighed and sat down in a chair across from her.

  “Start talking,” ordered Tessa. She took her feet off the table and folded her arms on top of the desk, slightly leaning forward. Despite the fact that she was a full foot shorter than Aidan, somehow she managed to stare down at him.

  “What do you want me to tell you?” asked Aidan, getting ready for a long and painful conversation.

  “Let’s start with a simple question. What are you?” asked Tessa. “And please, Aidan, for once in the last six years, tell me the truth.”

  “I never lied to you, Tessa,” he objected quietly, feeling hollow inside. “I just didn’t think that it was important for you to know that I had magic and what kind of—”

  “What are you?” Tessa repeated the question louder, interrupting him.

  “I’m a god,” said Aidan, bracing himself for her reaction. And the reaction followed like a category five hurricane.

  “What the hell, Aidan!” she yelled. “I’m done with your lies, you asshole. And I’m done with you!”

  Rising, she grabbed the computer mouse from the table and threw it forcefully at his head. Aidan didn’t flinch. He raised his hand up, freezing the mouse in midair, a few inches away from his face. Carefully, he grabbed the mouse and put it back on the desk. Tessa stilled, staring at him flabbergasted.

  “Like I said,” he noted with a sigh, “I am a god, Tessa. I didn’t lie to you. I’m more than two thousand years old and I’m a god of the Otherworld.” He channeled his power and his body lit up with the bright white light. “Look at me, Tessa, do I look like I’m lying to you now? I swear on my power that every word I’m saying to you right now is the truth. Sit down, let’s talk.”

  “More than two thousand years old,” whispered Tessa sitting down. “The God? Like Jesus?”

  “I’m not Jesus,” said Aidan with a smirk. “And I’m not the God. I’m one of the old ones. Before Christianity.”

  “Oh, that really helped,” muttered Tessa. “You’re an ancient god. And what the heck is the Otherworld? Are you like… Hades?”

  “Did I say I was a Greek God? I’m not Hades, but Otherworld is the world of spirits, kind of like the Greek Underworld, but not quite the same.”

  Tessa shook her head stubbornly, her eyebrows gathering above her eyes. “You know, Aidan, it doesn’t really matter what kind of a god you are. How could you do it to Zane? Why do you hate him so much?”

  “I don’t hate him. I never did—”

  But Tessa didn’t listen to him. Her eyes swam with tears and she slammed her hands on the desk. “You are a god, for Christ’s sake! Why didn’t you smite this ugly bitch? You’re a traitorous coward, that’s what you are!”

  “I couldn’t smite her! She’s an immortal air demon, Tessa. I don’t have the power to kill her. No one does!” He covered his face with his hands, throwing his head back. “Please, please… ahh… give me the benefit of the doubt—”

  “Hell no! I can never forgive you for what you did!”

  “It was either you or him!” yelled Aidan, exploding out of his chair. “And for me, it wasn’t a choice. I will always choose to protect you!”

  “Why?” Tessa yelled back, rising. “Zane was a fighter! He could help you beat this woman… demon… whatever she is! I’m useless when it comes to magic. All I can do is talk to the spirits of the dead! Totally useless! What makes me so special? Why, Aidan?”

  “Because I love you!” shouted Aidan and fell silent, stunned by the realization of what he just said. He rubbed his forehead tiredly and fell back in the chair. The words slipped out and there was no way of taking them back. All he could do was stand by what he said.

  “Wow,” she said. Her temper slowly cooled down, but unfortunately for him, sarcasm took the place of anger. “A two-thousand-year-old grandpa is in love with me. I’m thrilled! I had to be born under some crazy friggin’ star.”

  “Tessa, before you annihilate me with your undying sarcasm, let me tell you something you must know,” said Aidan, swallowing the bitter disappointment. He didn’t expect that she would return his feelings, but he hoped that she would be at least kind about it. “It’s important—”

  “Something that is more important than your everlasting love?” she asked, a crooked smirk on her lips.

  “Tessa, please, let me finish,” said Aidan. More than anything he wanted to leave and be as far away from her as he could. He wanted to find a quiet place where he could think in peace. “It’s not easy for me either—”

  “And do you think it’s easier for Zane right now? Being imprisoned by that evil creepy bitch?”

  “Tessa, what I need to tell you, has nothing to do with me or Zane. It’s about you and the magic you have,” said Aidan. Tessa fell silent, her mouth opened, and he used this opportunity to keep talking. “If you remember, Eve was holding eight more people in her basement.”

  “Yes, I remember,” said Tessa quietly. “They were unconscious or dead, I think. Who were these people? Do you know why Eve was holding them?”


  “All of them were Reapers. They weren’t dead, but Eve was keeping them under her control.”

  “Reapers?” parroted Tessa. “Grim Reapers? Death? How is it possible? I always thought Death was a singular entity. There were eight of them.”

  “There is such a thing as Death and he is a singular entity, the way you put it,” explained Aidan patiently. “But there are also many Reapers. When people die, Reapers help them cross behind the veil.”

  “Oh, no…”

  The blood drained off Tessa’s face, and she stretched her hand back, blindly searching for the chair behind her. She looked disoriented and confused. Aidan walked around the desk and helped her to sit down. She pushed his hands away, refusing his help, expression of disgust on her face. Her icy gaze raked him across his face and it was more painful than when she slapped him with her hand. He shrank back, away from her and halted by the wall.

  “Are you saying, I am a Reaper?” she asked, almost whispering.

  “Only a part of you,” said Aidan. “One of your parents was a Reaper. But I don’t know what your other parent was. From what I understand, both of your parents weren’t human.”

  She nodded, but he could see that her mind was elsewhere. “So, why did that demon want Reapers and a Fire Salamander?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Another good move, Aidan,” said Tessa, pursing her lips. “You delivered her what she needed and took back a half-Reaper and a little human girl. Great job, Ancient One. Now she has the Fire Salamander and eight real Reapers. Anything else you can assist her with?”

  Aidan didn’t answer, too exhausted to continue this conversation. “Tessa, it’s very late,” he managed to say, hardly moving his lips. “May I drive you home?”

  “No, you may not,” she said, rising. “I don’t think I can stand your presence long enough to make it all the way home.”

  She walked out of the office, pushing him with her shoulder on the way out. Without paying any attention to him, she headed toward the exit and a moment later he heard the door closing behind her.

  “Tessa, wait,” he called and rushed toward the door.

  By the time Aidan ran out of the school, he saw Tessa getting into a yellow Volkswagen Beatle which he had never seen before. The car took off, quickly picking up speed.

  Chapter 37

  ~ Zane Burns, a.k.a. Gunz ~

  Gunz wasn’t in pain. The pain had become him. It surrounded him, caressed and embraced him like a tender lover; it turned him inside out, took him apart cell by cell and put him back together like a bunch of Legos, recreating him in its own image. He didn’t know if he was screaming. He couldn’t hear anything and the pain in his tormented vocal cords was melting into the misery of the rest of his body, or whatever was left of it.

  He didn’t know how long he was like this. Time lost its meaning. It could have been a minute or a year—to him it made no difference. The only thing he knew was the pain. The only thing he saw was the darkness. And the only thing he could hear was the shouting of nothingness.

  When the pain finally released him, pulling its hideous claws out of his shredded body, he didn’t realize what happened. He felt someone touching him but was afraid to open his eyes or make a move. The fear coiled in him filling the empty space that was left by pain, and he remained motionless and unresponsive.

  “Child of Fire.”

  He heard a pleasant female voice calling him but didn’t react. His ability to think slowly returned to him, obediently supplying the information to his awakened brain. Child of Fire. That’s right. He was the Child of Fire. He was the immortal Fire Salamander. He just needed to revert into his natural state and he would be whole again. He reached for his power and found none. His fire, his magic, everything that was making him what he used to be was gone. A silvery laughter responded to his hectic attempts. Gunz felt someone touching him again, gently wiping his face, drenched in sweat.

  “Open your eyes, Child of Fire,” the woman said. “Try to remember.”

  Terrified of what he would find, Gunz cracked his eyelids half-open and looked at the world around him through his eyelashes. He was sitting on the floor inside a glass box, his body stretched up by his chained wrists. A woman was squatting in front of the box, observing him with carnivorous curiosity.

  Eve.

  His memories came back, restoring his sense of reality and bringing back something new, something he didn’t experience since he had become the Fire Salamander—the cold. He shivered violently, clenching his chattering teeth.

  “Aw, baby,” said the woman. Her voice sounded almost kind, but Gunz knew better than believing her. “I think I got carried away yesterday. You lost too much of your fire. That’s okay, sweetie, I can fix it. I can make it all better.” She was talking to him like he was a sick toddler, caressing his face with her fingers and he had no strength left in him to recoil from her touch. “Now, don’t be afraid, my child. After all, tonight is a glorious night, and I’m going to need you performing at your full strength.

  “Tonight, I will rip the veil and I will have my revenge on this world and the Otherworld. They all will pay for everything they put me through over the centuries. I will see the fear in the Hunter’s eyes and I’ll rejoice, basking in his screams.”

  Gunz stared at her with his half-closed eyes, just now noticing that the oxygen mask was gone, and he was breathing normal air. The tank with Halon was also gone. But he couldn’t understand why he was so cold. While Eve looked comfortable, dressed in a sleeveless shirt and tight pants, he felt like he was thrown in the middle of the Siberian tundra, clothed in nothing but speedos. He couldn’t stop shivering and all his body felt numb, frozen, bordering with hypothermia.

  “That sounds… a bit dark,” he managed to say through his chattering teeth.

  “Dark? Are you kidding me?” She laughed, sitting down in front of his glass prison. “No, Child of Fire, it’s not dark. The mere thought of this moment makes me feel elated, jubilant, ecstatic. There are no words to describe how it makes me feel. But you are way too young to understand it.

  “For centuries I sought revenge. I was craving it with every fiber of my being. My whole existence was driven by the thought of seeing the Hunter pay for everything he did to me, for destroying my life, and for aiding my useless stepson. But to get my retribution, I had to find a way to break through the veil. After centuries of endless search, the solution finally is in my grasp. I can do it. I know how. And it’s so much easier than I thought.”

  “What… do you mean… easier?” asked Gunz. Her bloodcurdling excitement and eerie happiness were making him colder than he already was.

  Eve gaped at him voraciously, a slow sneering smile stretching her lips. She patted his cheek and he took in a sharp breath through his teeth.

  “The process of breaking the veil is fraught with danger. It’s a tricky business, you know,” she began her explanation. “When I was turned into a demon, I swore that I would do anything it takes to get my revenge. Even the mighty Bodb Derg, the King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, didn’t realize that by turning me into an air demon, he provided me with the powers, some of which were scarier and mightier than his own.”

  Eve cackled, rubbing her hands together, obviously pleased with herself. Gunz swallowed with an effort and closed his eyes, lowering his head to his chest. Either the effects of the hypothermia or his general disgust with everything Eve was saying and the way she looked while saying all these obscenities was making his stomach churn.

  “No, Child of Fire, open your beautiful gray eyes,” said Eve. She seized his chin, lifting his face up. “I need to know that you are listening. I know, you’re freezing, and I promise to help you with that, as soon as I explain everything to you. I need you to know how you fit into my ingenious plan. After all, without you, my revenge will be impossible.”

  “Why?” muttered Gunz hardly moving his frozen lips, his body quivering. He cracked his eyelids open just a little, but he had a hard time keeping t
hem open. “Why is it… so important to you… that I know your plan…”

  “Why?”

  She cackled and ran her sharp fingernail over his nose and down to his chin, cutting his lips. He felt the metallic taste of his own blood on his lips and jerked weakly in her hands. She stared down at him, enjoying his reaction and then brought her finger up to her slightly open lips, wiping a drop of blood off her nail with a quick touch of her tongue.

  “I want to see your eyes when you realize that it’s you who are going to rip the veil for me, making my revenge possible. I want to see your despair and helplessness. Open. Your. Eyes…” The last three words she said quietly, pronouncing them one at a time, but he had no doubt that it was an order.

  Gunz fully opened his eyes and looked at her. “Fine… I don’t have a choice but listen to your revolting stories, Eve. Although I think I would rather die than to hear another word coming out of your venomous mouth.”

  “Oh, you may just have your wish granted, boy,” seethed Eve and continued, “Nevertheless, let’s move on. Besides all the magic and power that I had as an air demon, I was also immortal, indestructible, and invisible. I was incorporeal and had nothing but time on my hands. Through the centuries, I learned a few things, and I acquired some new powers. I also learned how to restore my physical body.”

  She got up and twirled around in front of him. As she was twirling, her pants and shirt got replaced by a long red dress, that looked like something one would wear for a Renaissance Fair.

  “Am I not beautiful, Child of Fire?” she asked smirking at him.

  “Yeah,” he muttered, “you’re irresistible. A Miss Universe. Please give me your photo, so I can look at it if I ever need to vomit.”

  “Aw, sweet little Salamander, don’t tempt your fate.” She laughed sitting back down on the floor. “When I was finally able to walk this world, I started searching for my good-for-nothing stepson. I heard some whispers that Lord Hunter restored him in this world. And I thought that if I find Aodh—you know him as Aidan—the Hunter would be somewhere nearby. It took me a while, but I found him.