The Beloved Fire

  She cleared her throat wrapping the blanket tighter around her. Was he trying to say, the vision she saw of her bleeding, was his fault? “If you meant what you said then why am I here? Why kidnap and hand me off to another man if you love me? And how could you love me? You don’t even know me.”

  She watched as his jaw ticked and it looked like he wanted to say something, but before he could Cain’s voice broke through, making her twirl immediately like they’d been caught doing something they weren’t supposed to.

  “COME ON!” Cain whined throwing his arm out in a hurry up motion. Turning from Blake she took off towards Cain.

  Blake’s voice and hot breath on the back of her ear would have startled her enough to jump if she hadn’t been so tired. “We’ll talk later.” She turned her head, but he was gone. She stopped walking turning fully around. Where did he go?

  Cain now fully annoyed walked up to her when she finished her circle looking for Blake who apparently had Anock’s puff of smoke trick, because how else would he have been able to disappear so fast. He grabbed her arm pulling her along, making her stumble when the blanket caught under her feet. Cain just gripped harder. “Let’s go Mikayla!”

  “Anock can eat a dick.” Her temper at being pushed and shoved reaching high again. She was in no hurry to rush going to dinner with someone who obviously didn’t give a shit about her wellbeing, or she’d be going to rest, not eat.

  “Where’d Blake go? How did he disappear so fast?” Cain just looked over rolling his eyes before answering.

  “You don’t worry about what Blake is doing. Worry about yourself.” He stated as they reached her bedroom door and he pulled her inside. Elijah already had the little black stool set up in front of the mirror and ready to go.

  She sighed.

  “Anock isn’t so bad once you get to know him.” Cain said handing her a new dress to put on, but she didn’t take it right away.

  “I’m not sighing because of him, well, yeah I guess so.” She mumbled finally taking the dress when he shoved it into her chest. “More like I’m sighing because I can’t remember the last time I had a decent night of sleep or something to eat.”

  “HA!” Elijah shouted pausing in prepping for her hair and makeup. “You just think you need those things. You really don’t. I mean right now you might, you drained a lot of power. Usually that’s about the only time you need to recharge.”

  Seeing her confused expression he continued as she played with the sheer fabric in her hands feeling the silk underlay beneath. “You’re immortal now. You don’t need sleep or mortal food.”

  The laugh burst out of her before she could stop it, fine she was immortal now, because why not? She hadn’t just taken out a whole bunch of demons and then tried to turn into a giant snake. It was officially time to consider she was really just locked in a mental institution and her messed up mind was coming up with this shit, because seriously.

  “Why does my time here feel so weird and messed up? It feels like I haven’t slept in days.”

  “Time passes differently here. You’ve only been here a couple of days.”

  She got that but she still felt off. “How is that different from Earth?”

  “For everyone day here, a week passes on Earth.”

  Her mouth dropped as she tried to contemplate what that meant. She’d been gone for two weeks. Two weeks! Everyone would be frantic searching for her, and funny enough this is where she belonged all along. She laughed again unable to stop it. She’d cracked.

  Elijah put his hands on his hips, rolling his eyes before looking at Cain who also looked annoyed. “Honestly child. Just go get dressed.” He tapped his foot.

  She wiped at the tears that had formed from her crazed laugh. “A day ago, I watched you snap your fingers and you both were in tuxes. Why can’t you do that for me?”

  She held the dress out in front of her, admiring it. The dress was a white Grecian styled dress that was long and flowy, with cap sleeves that hung off the shoulder. It was a much different style dress then the short black party dress the twins put her in before.

  She continued when they didn’t answer. “And how can you do that? You know, just snap your fingers and change? Can I do that?” She mused, looking up into the mirror and noting the now annoyed expressions had turned stern. Geez, the twins were in a bad mood.

  Hearing a tap of a foot she turned towards the bathroom to get ready. “Okay. Okay.” She said with a yawn. Immortals didn’t need sleep her ass. Her muscles ached, and her mind was spent. On top of all her other needs, she’d kill for a steak dinner.

  Slamming the bathroom door shut, she turned as she dropped the blanket, meeting two bright purple eyes inches away from her face. A scream flew out of her mouth before a warm hand covered her mouth. When he had quieted her scream, he dropped his hand from her mouth stepping closer to her naked body with hooded eyes.

  “Blake what are yo-“

  His hands shot out working up her arms, making her pulse skyrocket and body shiver, before cupping her face.

  “This.”

  His lips slammed it to hers, his tongue pushing through her open lips, causing her to gasp out in pleasure. The shock only lasted a second before she breathed deep while wrapping her arms around the back of his neck. She pulled herself closer as she kissed him back admiring the way his mouth tasted like liquor. He kissed her like he was starved for air and she was his only oxygen, his lips soft and delicious. When his tongue delved further into her mouth she moaned as he walked her back until she was pushed up against the bathroom counter.

  The marble countertop cold on her bare ass, but only for a second as he moved his hands down squeezing her cheeks, before lifting her up to sit on the counter. She arched into him as he pulled her flush, her naked virgin skin rubbing against his rough uniform. She couldn’t stop the moans he was pulling from her, as his hands roughly grabbed at her sensitive body.

  Right when she went to tear off his black uniform top, three loud knocks slammed into the door to their left making her jump and pull her lips from his. He growled softly, his eyes flashing red, before grabbing her hair forcefully. Her scalp tingled with pleasure as he pulled her head back and brought his lips down onto her neck, kissing and biting her skin. She sucked in a pleasurable breath. Her eyes rolling back in her head, as more pounding sounded from the door but was ignored due to Blake’s amazing assault on her body.

  “Blake.” She tried getting his attention, but it came out a moan that only had him grabbing at her breasts. His hands gave just the right amount of pressure that had her flooding the counter with her wetness and need.

  “Blake.” She said clearing her throat trying to be stern as he moved his lips down her body. Shaking off some of her stupor, she sat up from her reclined position, grabbing his face to tilt it upwards until their eyes locked.

  Three more powerful knocks. Still holding Blake’s face, she glanced at the door noticing a black powder all over the floor.

  “MIKAYLA GET YOUR ASS OUT HERE AND STOP FANTASIZING ABOUT BLAKE!” Yelled one of the twins.

  She looked back to Blake, who held a devilish smile on his face. He grabbed her hand kissing the inside of her palm while standing fully from his previous crouched position. He grabbed her hips, pressing his erection into her that had her gripping hard at the countertop with shaky hands trying to keep from grabbing his face and going back at it again. He nuzzled his nose under her earlobe lightly kissing her neck.

  “What…” She couldn’t think what she was trying to say. What was he doing? Why was he doing it? What brought this on?

  He chuckled bringing his lips up to hers once more giving her a kiss that could end all kisses. She wiggled in her own throbbing mess.

  Helping her off the counter he gave her one last kiss before stepping back, running the back of his fingers down the middle of her chest, down her stomach, and right above where she needed them. She bit her lip watching as he slowly teased her, clenching her thighs tighter together while tryin
g to hold in a whine.

  “I’m giving you something to think about for later.” He finally said, his voice thick with lust.

  She cleared her throat, feeling a blush roll over her skin. “What’s later?”

  Blake stepped back once more putting a painful distance between them and she fought the temptation to follow him.

  “You are losing that delicious smelling virginity, and we are stopping the Breaking Ritual.” He paused his eyes turning black before throwing down the metal cube he had on the beach. “And I’m getting us out of here.”

  Right as the bathroom door flew open slamming into the wall with the twins rushing through, Blake stepped backwards into the light from the cube. He never took his eyes from her as it swallowed him whole.

  “What the hell were you thinking?” Elijah said walking over to her before shoving the dress in her hands. She was speechless at everything that just took place. She quickly turned putting her undergarments on with shaky hands. They were right, what had she been thinking.

  Cain kicked around at the dust on the floor turning to Elijah. “He used dust.”

  Elijah scoffed. “Figures.”

  “What dust?” She asked pulling the dress over her head.

  Cain and Elijah looked at her with narrow eyes before turning back into their conversation ignoring her. “Clear it now.”

  Elijah waved his hand over the mess on the floor, and it disappeared like it was never there.

  “You.” Cain pointed to Mikayla. “Get on that stool. Not only do we need to get you ready now, we have to clear the smell from your skin.” He said with a scrunched-up nose, like she stunk.

  Mikayla headed for the black little stool, smelling down at herself to see if she stunk, but could only smell her lavender lotion she’d put on when she first woke up that day, well, and maybe Blake, and maybe the smell of his liquor tasting mouth. She shivered, clenching tight at her core thinking about what had just happened. It was like they were both in a trance. An amazing trance.

  “What you did with Blake is incredibly stupid! What if Anock had come in? Or god forbid entered your mind and saw you messing around?” Elijah came over chastising her.

  The twins continued to bitch and moan while getting her ready, and when she looked in the mirror, it looked like she belonged in a gladiator movie. She sighed hating all of this.

  “Now let’s get you to Anock.”

  12

  Numb

  It was breathtaking. The sun had just gone down, and fireflies flew all around. It made perfect since as to why she was dressed like this. She had completely forgotten about a dream she had the night she turned eighteen, it was of a garden she had walked through with the moon shining down on her. In the dream, though it was dark, the flowers and green of the garden shined brightly among the fireflies. She had walked through the garden until she found the man of her dreams. She always called the dream her midnight garden romance, it was something she figured only happened to people in the movies until she was staring at the real-life version in front of her. Being a demon of minds apparently had some perks, he’d obviously dug through her mind to create this.

  Snapping back to reality she turned to ask the twins where to go, but they’d already vanished, and at seeing them gone her nerves picked up. She slowly made her way off the stone patio stepping out onto the spongy moss-covered path leading off to the right. She was glad she was in flats or she wouldn’t have been able to walk on this stuff. The garden was gorgeous, white roses hung above her leading her down a path with different colored flowers at her sides. She had to lift her dress to walk and she was just thinking about sitting down on a nearby bench, when Anock appeared in front of her almost like magic making her drop her dress and bring her hand over her chest as she let out a surprised gasp.

  His hair was pulled back and he had on a white loose fitted, buttoned down shirt, loose khaki colored pants, and his jet-black wings had a shine to them. “I didn’t mean to scare you.” Anock said walking towards her until they were inches apart. She almost wanted to close her eyes at the trance like feeling surrounding him. He was in full out angel mode, fallen or not, it was hard to not to be drawn in by his charm. Gone was his frantic, angry like behavior in the hall. Instead she faced someone out of a romance novel.

  “I hope everything is to your liking.” Anock whispered as he pushed her back against a wall of flowers. With just having her interaction with Blake she felt unsettled with Anock’s hands on her.

  She swallowed hard, not sure if her voice would be steady, but spoke anyways. “It’s perfect.” She wanted to ask how he knew about her dream but figured it would be a no duh sort of question, so threw it out of her mind.

  He stepped forward an inch more until they were flush against each other and gently kissed her forehead as he lightly held her hands.

  “Good.” He murmured into her hair.

  It was agonizing having him this close. Guilt ran through her. Even though she didn’t want him, she was still his fiancé. What would happen if he found out about her and Blake? Was there a she and Blake? Unfortunately, the thought of Anock potentially killing them if he found out, continued to hold her attraction at bay as he ran his soft, warm hands up her arms. She closed her eyes and tried to breathe normally but couldn’t. Fear, attraction, and guilt melted together. His touch was too much to take. His lips slowly moved towards hers and she let her head fall back as the sensation of his soft lips brushed over hers.

  He pulled back slowly from their gentle kiss, still holding her hands, and it felt like her eyes were glued shut. She forced them open, blinking up into his gaze.

  “As much as I’d like to stay here and get lost in this fantasy, we better not. I’m not sure I can behave much longer.” Her heart thundered in her chest as she stepped away from the wall letting him lead her down the flower covered path. It was clear he put a lot of thought into this “date” and it confused her. Why put effort into dating her, when she was being forced to marry him anyways. This date was forced, so why even care if she liked it?

  When Anock opened a door leading out of the garden Mikayla felt a little disappointed at leaving the one ounce of normalcy she’d found since in this realm. Her disappointment was short lived when the smell of paper assaulted her senses, it was a smell she knew well. The most beautiful library she’d ever seen surrounded her, and she held back tears. It was huge, almost the size of the ballroom they ate dinner in, except this wasn’t the shape of a dome, but was more like a castle.

  Well every room so far had reminded her of a castle.

  There was a huge fireplace in the center of the room with white lounge couches in front of it for reading and every wall was covered with books from the floor to the ceiling. Her fingers itched to run her hands along the spines, and she got lost in the thoughts of all the ancient unread stories this library held.

  Anock seeing her expression finally spoke for the first time in what seemed like an hour. “You like it?”

  Getting lost in the moment, she blurted out, “Like it? I love it! This is the most incredible thing other than the garden I’ve ever seen. This whole place is breathtaking.” She turned giving him a genuine smile. She loved to read. It was one of her favorite things to do, and as great as the library was it was also bittersweet. At least if she wasn’t saved before the ceremony, it wouldn’t be all bad. A dull white light shined from below and she looked down to see her arms glowing slightly.

  Shocked she stepped back from Anock trying to shake the glow from her arms as she started to hyperventilate. Not again. Anock’s chuckle broke her from her panic and she looked up as the glow started to fade.

  “That my dear would be your angel side responding to your emotions. Now that your powers are unlocked, you will see both sides of your heritage more and more. That glow will radiate from you when you are truly happy.”

  She sighed. “I really don’t want to glow. That was embarrassing.”

  Anock laughed fully now throwing back his head, and sh
e couldn’t help the small smile that sprung up. “You should see your father’s glow.”

  His statement was like ice in her veins. She crossed her arms, slightly turning away from him. “My father’s is Ben and his doesn’t glow.” Anock was talking about her angel father but seeing how he abandoned her to the mortal realm, he was no father of hers.

  Ignoring her sudden soberness of the moment, Anock cleared his throat. “Okay, well we have lots more to see. Don’t worry you’ll have eternity to spend time in here.” At that the cold reality swept over her like a blanket of ice.

  She turned to face him expecting him to lead her on, but he just stared at her instead. It was a deep stare, and when she noticed the intensity on his face she blushed. He was looking at her scar on her upper left cheek. She’d got it when she was little from running into a barbed wire fence when she and Ander tried to catch goats at his uncles’ farm.

  He leaned forward, running his finger gently over it; she hated her scar, and thought it made her look ugly. “You don’t ever have to feel embarrassed around me. You’re beautiful with or without this little scar. I don’t think anyone else can even see it. I just see it because I want to take in every inch of you.” All she could manage was a small smile, unsure of how to respond to his words, as he started walking again.

  He pointed out different areas, or rooms that might interest her as they walked, and although she was surprised by his efforts to make her feel at home, she was super overwhelmed. When they got back to the garden, she saw their dinner date set up. A wooden black polished table decorated by candlelight, roses and wine were laid out for them and after they got settled, Anock poured their wine and an awkward silence fell over them. Where did she even begin with the questions flooding her mind?

  “Did you like the mansion? You seem quiet.” Anock said playing with the end of a rose petal. She nodded taking a sip of the red wine.

  Anock frowned and sat back in his chair as he studied her. His honey colored eyes glowed in the candlelight. How could she put into words that she liked it, but it was still a prison?