The Beloved Fire

  The black room lit up to a huge room separated down the middle. One side had black tile, a black ceiling, black wall, and in the middle of all the black was a white, petrified olive tree with black dying leaves. A pop of color caught her eye against the stark black and white. Red snakes. They slithered up and around the branches, there must have been a dozen of them. Although the side looked like everything death would represent, a familiar feeling of longing, the same weird feelings she got from James almost seemed to float from the white tree. She shivered and shifted her attention to the other side of the room.

  The other side was decorated with all white. White floor tiles, a white ceiling and walls, it was the complete opposite of the other side. The middle of the white side held another massive olive tree except this one had a brown trunk with green leaves and was full of life, and no snakes. Well, she knew which she was choosing.

  The man that was once in the last room with no eyes stood at the opposite wall from where she stood, with his hands folded out in front of him as he straddled the line between the white and black sides. “The tree of death has to be brought back to life and the tree of life has to meet its death to reveal the doorway to the next level.” He said.

  His request was not only stupid, but impossible. If Anock and James were on their way she didn’t have time to play games, and that was exactly what Ander told her, these were tricks.

  “No!” Mikayla said walking towards the man, he couldn’t see her threatening posture or advance although he probably could tell she was heading his way. “I’m done with these games, tricks or whatever else you want to call them. This place is ridiculous! This is purgatory? This is the most stupid, non-threatening place I’ve had the non-pleasure to be stuck in! You are going to show me this damn door and you’re going to show me now.” She felt the rage flow through her veins like lava and she relished the feeling watching the red glow radiate from her arms. “If not, or I won’t have a choice…but to kill you.” By the time she finished talking, her voice demonic and deep, she was an arms-length away from the man and felt the shaking of her power hit her hard.

  “Here” The man said holding out a sharp dagger that he pulled from behind his back.

  Mikayla stepped back feeling temporarily put off, did this guy really just want her to kill him? That would be too easy. “What’s this?”

  The man tossed the dark green handled dagger at her feet. “You cannot escape this realm alive; you must kill yourself to escape.”

  She knew this was a trick, Ander had already told her she could escape, and she remembered hearing about mortal prisoners. Well, not that they probably got out, but still. A red snake about the length of a normal garter snake slithered over heading for the knife, breaking her out of her inner ramblings. Mikayla bent down quickly and picked it up stepping out of the snake’s path.

  “No, I already know that I can escape here alive. Move out of my way so I can look for this door.” The heat was coming, and the shaking was getting worse. Before long she would steal this guy’s power whether she meant to or not. It was like once her raging anger started, she couldn’t stop it until the worst happened.

  A thud sound came from behind her and she turned with her heart dropping in her chest. She’d been caught. Her powers died in an instant. Seeing the door and looking around no one was at the door or in the room. She rotated around seeing it was only the sound of a snake dropping from the tree onto the black tiled floor. A sigh escaped her lips before a deep growl pulled her attention back to the man who was now replaced by a dark grey wolf twice the size of a normal wolf, its teeth bared as black slime dripped from its jaws.

  Mikayla backed up quickly and even though her powers had deflated from fear it was easy to call them up and rage explode around her as fire shot from her hands. Shocked that something so foreign and powerful was in her control, she didn’t have time to anticipate the power flowing through her and her arms pointed out before she could stop them, right at the trees. Her fire singed both the dead and alive tree branches in its path.

  “Shit!” She gasped, and the fire evaporated in an instant, making her almost stumble forward from the loss.

  The wolf wasting no time, jumped fast, opening its jaw right for Mikayla’s left side. Mikayla looked deep into the wolf’s eyes, as time seemed to slow to a hilt. It was almost like slow motion or the ability to slow things down with her mind and she concentrated hard. All she had to do was take his powers to transform him back into his harmless self. Right before his wolf teeth were about to sink into her skin, the man transformed and fell on the floor naked in front of her. Mikayla wasted no time as she brought the dagger up in the air and brought it down right through the man’s temple and deep into his skull as he let out an ear-piercing scream.

  “There’s your sacrifice!” Mikayla quipped at the eyeless man as black blood leaked out from around the blade. With the man now clearly dead she decided she would need the knife and put her bare foot on the side of the man’s neck ignoring her squeamish tendencies as she held down his head and pulled out the knife that made a slimy, gurgling noise as it pulled loose from his temple.

  Mikayla stepped back in disgust, putting her head in her free arm to cover the horrid stench coming from the fallen demon, it was all she could do not to throw up. Tears formed in her eyes as she looked around at her situation, there wasn’t a door in sight. What the hell was she supposed to do? Her rage for some reason hadn’t left and she decided to take it out on the trees, she would kill them both for trapping her. It was a stupid and immature thing to want to stab a tree because she was mad, but it would make her feel better. She walked over to the tree of death feeling more justified to stab this one than the tree of life and brought back the blade before driving it hard deep into the tree, feeling slightly better.

  Almost as if the tree really felt the stab, a sharp shriek filled the room making her bring back out the knife and drop it so she could cover her ears. Almost like nails on a chalk board, the sound sent chills like lightning down her spine, and she had to fight the urge not to cringe as she stepped back. A black oil like fluid started flowing out from the dead tree in a continuous flow splashing out onto the hard-tiled ground. This was definitely not what she was trying to do, she would give anything for Blake an Ander to come to her rescue.

  A whispered voice broke through the shrieking tree and Mikayla’s covered ears. “Stab the tree of life.” It was Anders voice, and although she turned in a circle he was no-where to be seen. After walking back to the spot she dropped the knife, feeling around in the oily slime she found it after a few minutes, all the while dodging the snakes that had slithered down, mad and on a mission to avenge their tree. At least three snakes were over by the dead eyeless demon striking him repeatedly for what reason Mikayla wasn’t sure, but she was no fan of snakes and needed to get out of there before they turned to her. Not a second after she thought that and rolled back on her feet to stand, a sharp stab went through the bottom and top half of her right foot. She screamed out in pain, shaking her foot from the viper and shuffling through the liquid to get away as other snakes slithered around her ankles, it seemed like they were multiplying since she stabbed the tree.

  She stabbed the tree of life after limping quickly to the other side of the room through the now ankle-deep black liquid. The second tree poured out liquid just like the first, except it was clear liquid, and it wasn’t long until the room was filled up with a cloudy liquid and she was treading water, while scaling the walls trying to get air. After countless attempts to call for help to Ander and Blake or anyone, after a while, she gave up with just a few inches of air left. This had to be a trick, how could she die now when she was so close, snakes skimmed the last little bit of water heading straight for her making her take her last breath and escape beneath the water.

  She opened her eyes in the murky water and strained to see and she saw that the snakes were still in pursuit. The dead eyeless man floated hauntingly in the water as snakes wrapped themselves ar
ound his body, she decided her best bet was to swim down; although it didn’t really matter, how could she escape a water filled room with snakes swimming after her? Like a red silk ribbon, blood drifted out of her wound on her foot leaving a trail of blood wherever she went, reminding her of the throbbing in her foot and the feverish heat that coursed through her body. Her lungs felt like they were about to explode, and she hated the fact that she sucked at holding her breathe. In the past it would take less than a minute before she had to give up timing her breath and swim to the surface. She didn’t stand a chance.

  Just as she was about to give up a white color drifted through the water, she followed it to notice it was coming off the wall behind the tree of life. She frantically swam over to the wall accidentally smacking her hand into a snake as it flitted through the water, she didn’t have time to pay attention to the snake though. Light-headedness was creeping over her, and she was seconds from passing out. A sharp pain in her upper left arm sent a soundless scream of pain bubbling out of her and through the water just as she hit the wall to feel a creamy substance coming from it. She rubbed it away frantically to see it was a door. She felt around for a handle but couldn’t feel or see one. She wasn’t sure if it was from the lack of oxygen playing tricks on her eyes, or if there really wasn’t a handle.

  Her body went rigid before she could process any other actions and her eyes started to roll back in her head without her consent, she wasn’t trying to give up. Her brain was screaming to keep going but it was like her body had other plans, and just as she started to let the weightless of the water take over, her hand fell upon something hard and cold. In her last attempt to save her life she twisted the handle, letting the door fly open sucking her into the next room as she rode the water, shutting her eyes to give into the blackness.

  21

  Sacrifice

  Ander could tell Blake was trying to hold in the pain. Blake had suddenly screamed looking down at his right foot, his eyes turning a shiny silver. There must have been something else that happened shortly after that, because Blake’s eyes turned yellow and he started gasping for air before screaming out again. It wasn’t until Blake was still and looking like he was comatose that Ander knew something serious must have happened. Happened to Mikayla. Upon seeing him and Mikayla for the first time in Anock’s chambers, Ander knew Blake and Mikayla’s souls were mingled. They’d obviously had sex.

  When it came to angels, they could have sex. Contrary to human beliefs, and when two angels mated, or had sex, their souls mingled. For the first thirty days, the male would feel the female’s emotions and the female would be drawn to the male. Ander was shocked to see Mikayla had mingled with Blake, but it was better than James. So he figured he would sense her emotions, but he didn’t expect emotions from a mingled soul to feel so strong.

  “Blake?”

  He needed Blake to say something, anything. Ander had gotten through to her once but was shut out of her mind almost immediately due to her concentration. He didn’t know what was happening to her, but she was obviously in trouble. Now Blake didn’t even look Anders way, wouldn’t talk or tell him anything and his wings itched in anticipation, he couldn’t stand it. He felt helpless and without air.

  Blake and Ander had always been enemies, it was the way things worked. He’d been trying to enter Mikayla’s dreams, try to bump into her at the mall, or break into her house in the middle of the night since she was little. It had always been a full-time job keeping him away from her, and a lot of the times without James, Blake would have succeeded. Now everything was backwards. James said he was going to get Mikayla out, but he had switched sides. At the same time Blake showed no interest in embracing his angelic side, but his aura now matched Mikayla’s. Mikayla was like a daughter to him; it was hard to believe they mingled. That was always the plan for her and James, not Blake.

  Blake gasped out and tried to reach for his throat but due to his wrist being tied up like Anders, he was stuck. Ander shut his eyes, calming himself and imagined what she could be seeing and just like that he did, he was in, but only in pieces. He could go into her mind to see what she was seeing and speak into her mind but only for a short period of time, and only with a lot of concentration.

  She was in a corridor with stairs, then it went black. He concentrated harder. What had happened to her? It was clear she was lying on the ground, he needed to tell her to get up and keep going.

  “Mikayla?” He tried speaking to her internally, and it made her vision come back. She was looking down at her legs, her black pants were bunched up around her knees showing her tanned calves. Red snakes slithered around her and one was wrapped around her left leg. Ander recognized them immediately, they would kill her if she was bitten and from the cries of pain from Blake and the bite wound on her foot, he could tell she’d already be bitten. She couldn’t give up! He went to try and speak in her head again, but her vision went black again. He couldn’t tell if she had just closed her eyes or passed out.

  Ander screamed out in frustration bringing his mind back to the cell.

  “She’s alive.” Blake said.

  Ander’s tears streamed freely down his face, as his wings trembled from fear. “Not for long.” He said, trying to sound normal, but the hurt was clear in his voice. Blake looked over at him now clearly worried, it only made things worse.

  “What do you mean?” Blake asked with a shaky voice.

  Ander shifted his weight trying to get the tingly sensation out of his left leg, but it didn’t help, shifting his weight only made it worse and he sighed, giving up.

  “She’s been bitten by the red vipers. She’s laying in a stair way corridor. She made it through level one and two, and she only has the last test, but I don’t know how she feels. I don’t know if the fever has started or...” He paused, unable to talk around the lump of emotions in his throat.

  “She’s feverish, she feels alone and without care. It’s clear she’s giving up.” Blake said in a low voice.

  “We could get her out of here, we just have to work together. I know you and I, we don’t have the best history, but if you feel anyth-“Ander said, pleading for him to help.

  “I’ll help. It’s more than just feeling something for her, she’s my soul mate. I would die for her.” Blake said cutting Ander off.

  Ander didn’t want to argue, but he doubted that was true.

  “Okay.” He said, zoning out, he needed to get through to his girl and let her know she still had someone there for her, he was just hoping it wasn’t too late.

  She’d never touched a snake before, or felt snake skins, but it almost felt like hair gliding over her skin. Weightless, silk, but it tickled from the texture. If the snakes were warm or cold, she couldn’t tell, she felt frozen on the outside and burning up on the inside like an intense fire had been set to her veins. So hot, it felt cold. Wavering in and out of consciousness was easy, although she felt queasy and wished it would just stop, she wanted to go to sleep. She wasn’t trying to give up, but the cold hard ground felt so good under her hot head and she didn’t seem to mind the snakes. At least they were there for her, almost like weird death companions that hugged her and wrapped around her legs, they loved her.

  She’d just started breathing, when the decaying body of the naked demon floated in, coming to rest beside her, and even that couldn’t shake her from her conscious coma. Really nothing seemed to bother her at this moment. Closing her eyes felt like the best thing in the world. Was she feeling like this because of the snake bites or because her oxygen had been deprived for close to four minutes? Either way, James or Anock would be coming to get her any minute but she needed to rest now.

  “Mikayla?” Mikayla’s eyes sprang open, now the snakes on her legs were talking. She was losing it. She closed her eyes again, this time she couldn’t tell how long. Maybe Blake would come into her dream and rescue her away from this place. A swirl of colors danced for her, and the feeling of veering gave her the sensation she was flying.


  This place, where was she?

  “Baby girl get up now come on Kayla.”

  Ander?

  Mikayla opened her eyes and tried to sit up, but her head felt tingly, like her legs had fallen asleep.

  “Ander?” She whispered.

  Hearing no response kick started her heart from its lazy beating pattern.

  “Ander where are you? You left me.” She cried out, making the snakes hiss and strike out from being startled.

  “Listen, it’s time to get up. Hurry. Get up right now, ignore the snakes, get up and hurry up the stairs.” Ander said from somewhere up above. Mikayla sniffled, trying to calm her breathing but the ache in her chest made it hard to control, she felt hysterical and lost.

  The world swayed as she got up shaking off the snakes that had curled up her legs. She tried to walk, but instead ended up stumbling dizzily up the stairs which multiplied and moved left and right in her vision. She shut her eyes hard trying to clear the multiple stairs but when she opened them, all the different versions of stairs were still there.

  She had managed to crawl to the middle of the steps when her stomach twisted as she retched up a dark red liquid falling face first in it. She had to get to Ander, Ander would help her. He would make this all go away.

  “Kayla, calm down. Breathe easy, try to control your emotions. I’m right here. Just a little further. Get to the level three door and twist the handle and you’re on your way home baby girl.” Ander said.

  She took deep gasping breathes trying to calm herself, but it only made it worse.

  “Where am I?” She asked him.

  Why was she dizzy, and throwing up red liquid and she was cold, so, so cold?

  “Ander what happened?” She cried out as she reached the top of the stairs, needing him to answer her.

  The level three door was up ahead, a white door, with swaying level three black letters swirling out of order. She tried to stand but her shaking knees gave out, so instead she crawled, the feeling to throw up came again, and she barely had time to move her right hand out of the way before she heaved red again, now clearly blood all over the floor in front of her. More sharp pains filled her stomach that traveled up to her head. It was clear she was dying, from what though, she had no idea.