Inside the Flame (Elemental Mages Book 2)

by Rose O'Brien

  This was incredible. Had she always had this ability? And why had she never realized it before?

  Thinking back over all the encounters she’d had with spirits over the years, she realized it was possible she’d just never known about this.

  As a child, she hid in fear from the spirits, never interacting with them. As she grew older, she worked so hard to ignore them. She’d done such a good job that for a few years in her late teens and early twenties, she’d stopped seeing them all together.

  She thought back to that victim from the bomb blast in Baghdad. She’d told the woman to let go, to go with god. And she had, dissolving, going off to some other plane of existence. Hopefully not this one, Jen thought bitterly.

  So, she could command shades and even more lucid spirits, like Jeremiah. Had the demons known about this ability? Could other seers do this?

  Lilith had said that on Earth, demons had no form and couldn’t see spirits. Something about being on the wrong frequency. That’s what they’d needed her for, to spot the spirits, to lure them to Hell where the demons could feed on their emotions, draining them until they were mindless shades.

  Hours later, Jen found herself exhausted and sitting on the wicker sofa in her living room. Fifteen shades wandered about the house, completing tasks she had set out for them: stand here, walk there, put this object over there, bring this object here.

  She could plant the command by thought and like little computer programs they would complete their tasks and stand silently waiting for the next instruction.

  Her shades could work independently or as a unit, and so far, the only limit she had found on her powers was the number of shades in her vicinity. It was easier to command them if she could see them, but she found that if she let her mind get quiet, she could feel others around her that weren’t in her line of sight. If they wandered close enough, she could pull them to her. That was how she’d ended up with the fifteen now moving around her house.

  This could change everything, Jen decided. And as far as she knew, the demons didn’t know she could do this.

  As if she had summoned her, Jen felt a tightness in her chest that she had come to associate with Lilith. The demon was close.

  Jen silently ordered the shades to disperse and as the last one melted through the wall of her house, she heard Lilith’s voice.

  “I came to check on you, sweetie,” the demon said, breezing in through the open front door of Jen’s home. Hair that looked like it had been styled by Hollywood’s finest was piled on Lilith’s head. Sky high white heels clicked on the raw pine floor boards. A white peplum top and tulip skirt hugged her supermodel body.

  “I know you’re still mad at me about my little snafu earlier,” the demon said, a little pout on her lower lip as she sat down on the loveseat opposite Jen.

  Jen stayed silent, watching.

  “I realize, now, that his death is too fresh for you. I get that.”

  Jen closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. Let Lilith think she was still broken up about it and unable to speak.

  “I just want us to be friends. And I want us to defeat Falak together. Don’t you want that, Jen?”

  Jen nodded again. As soon as they opened a portal back to Earth so that she could start the work of luring spirits to Hell, Jen was going to play her ghost whisperer trump card. Demons couldn’t take physical form on Earth. She could break free.

  After that, who knew? Maybe she could hook up with the mages, find this Council that Theron had worked for. He’d mentioned siblings, two sisters and a brother. Maybe they could help her.

  Jen kept these thoughts hidden under layers of beach scenes. The demons, she had discovered, could pluck memories out of her head easily, but deeper thoughts, particularly of the future didn’t seem to register. Not that they’d let on, anyway.

  “I want that, too,” Jen said quietly, trying to convey the picture of passivity.

  Let the demon think she’d been bought off by the illusion of this beach house. As soon as her boots hit the Earth, she was gone. The demon had failed to do enough to tether her here.

  “I was hoping you would say that,” Lilith said, a dazzling smile spreading over her perfect red lips. “Because I have something that I know you’re going to love.”

  Lilith turned to the door and waved a hand in a beckoning gesture. Jen’s stomach fell through the floor.

  A little girl of about five stepped through the door. Long, jet black hair fell to her waist. She wore a white dress with a blue sash and a matching blue bow in her hair. And her eyes. Jen knew those eyes. They were the same eyes she saw in the mirror every morning.

  The child spoke, her voice as clear as ringing bells.

  “Mommy?”

  ***

  “This is it,” Xander said, indicating the huge set of ornately carved black doors.

  “You sure?” Theron said, his eyes on the stairs behind them, watching for threats.

  He and Sparky had followed Xander through the demon city to this, the spire that towered over everything. They’d wound through a maze of stairs and ramps, climbing ever higher. Theron wasn’t sure how his brother knew where they were going, and it was kind of freaking him out.

  “You keep asking me that,” Xander said, exasperation coloring his words. “And I keep telling you that I’m sure.”

  He met Xander’s eyes, then flicked his gaze at the stairs behind them. Xander got the message and took up a guard position. Sparky kept his glowing eyes on the stairs above them.

  Theron put his hand tentatively to the black glass of the doors. They were cool to the touch. No wards or traps that he could feel. He gave one of the doors an experimental push and was surprised when it swung open easily.

  Stepping through the door was like stepping into another realm. He stood on a stone path that led to a little white cottage surrounded by a white fence. Stepping through the gate, he was greeted with a riotous English garden, lavender and roses and sunflowers competing for space. Beyond the cottage, a white sand beach and rolling waves stretched to the horizon. The sky was a perfect blue dotted with little white clouds. Though no sun was visible, the air was warm.

  Was this some kind of demonic holodeck?

  The doors and windows of the cottage were open, white sheer curtains dancing in the breeze. A figure moved inside.

  Cautiously climbing the three steps to the door, Theron realized he had never felt this nervous. He had no idea what he was going to find here.

  Whatever he had been expecting, it wasn’t this.

  Stepping through the door, he found himself in a beach house right out of Martha Stewart’s wet dream. Raw pine floors, white wicker furniture with navy blue cushions and flowers from the garden in crystal vases.

  Jen was in the kitchen chopping vegetables, occasionally throwing handfuls of celery and carrots into a pot on the stove. Her long hair was loose around her shoulders, not pulled back in the braid she usually wore. She still wore the same t-shirt and khakis he’d last seen her in. She looked whole and healthy.

  At the sound of his footsteps she looked up. And froze, wide eyed. Anger flashed over her face and she gripped the knife in her hand. Her eyes were hard as she looked at him.

  Not exactly the welcome he’d been expecting.

  “Get out!” she screamed.

  “Wha—” Theron started, but before he could so much as get a word out, Jen started in again.

  “Tell Lilith that her sick little games are getting old. I’m tired of her sending these copies. You’re nowhere close to the real thing.”

  Her eyes glinted like black steel as she stared at him, concentration creasing her brow.

  “Why aren’t you moving?” she asked in confusion.

  “Because I love you and I’m not leaving here without you,” he said, taking a step toward her.

  The knife in her hand rose between them, a threat and a promise.

  “Oh, that’s rich, throwing out the L-word. Nice try.”

  He searched her fa
ce, hoping to find some clue to what she was talking about.

  “What did they do to you, Jen?”

  Her eyes scanned him carefully, no doubt taking in his stained and dusty clothes.

  “This new tactic is clever, making it seem like you’re mounting a rescue mission, but you’re just another copy.”

  Keeping his eyes on the knife, he reached out and put his hand on her arm, “I’m real, Jen.”

  “Stop it!” she shouted, shrugging his hand off. “You’re dead!”

  “The bullets didn’t kill me, Jen. I got help. A friend healed me. My brother’s here with me. We came to rescue you. You have to believe me. And we need to get out of this place before the demons know we’re here.”

  Her dark eyes were wide, shining with unshed tears, and her lips were a thin, angry line.

  Reaching out slowly, he took the knife from her hand, setting it out of her reach on the granite counter. He pulled her stiff, shaking body into his arms.

  It was her. He knew it on some fundamental, atomic level. This was his Jen. Ever the fighter.

  His body reacted to her, despite the pain and fatigue, coming to life at the feel of her pressed against him.

  “How do I know it’s you?” she asked softly.

  He wracked his brain.

  “You told me what happened in LA. Your mother’s death, Trevor splitting on you like a coward, Madison’s stillbirth. You said you’d never told anyone else about that.”

  “Nice try,” Jen said sadly, stepping away and taking up the knife again. “I know Lilith can see my memories. That’s how she knew what my dream house looked like.”

  She gestured at the cottage around them.

  Shit. Could he cut himself to show her that he could bleed? No, the copy of Jen that Agramon had shown him could bleed.

  Wait. His brain flashed on a memory. The phoenix necklace.

  If she hadn’t found it yet, that was something she didn’t even know about. And something only the real Theron would know.

  “Back in the hotel in Damascus, you lost your phoenix necklace in the sheets. Right before we left, I slipped it in your pocket. Your left pocket. Check it.”

  Surprise and confusion crossed her face. Slowly, her hand went to her left pocket. He knew the moment when her fingers found the little gold necklace. Her eyes closed, her features crumpled, and the knife clattered to the floor.

  He wasn’t sure which of them moved, but she was in his arms in an instant, his mouth on hers. Her hands speared up through his hair and he groaned. Without breaking their kiss, he lifted her hips until she sat on the counter, her legs wrapped around him.

  Her tongue was in his mouth, and he reveled in the feel of her against him. He’d found her. Against all the odds, she was alive and they were together. And he was never letting her go again.

  She pulled back, her hands on either side of his face, her eyes moving over him.

  “You’re here. You’re real,” she said, incredulous. “How are you not dead? I saw Bridget shoot you.”

  He pressed his forehead to her hers and squeezed his eyes shut for a moment.

  “The bullets hit me. I was pretty sure I was going to bleed out chained to that wall.”

  He told her how he’d called the fire, cauterized his wounds enough to slow the bleeding. He told her about Dumeril and how he was waiting to open the portal for them back in Damascus, if they could just get back to where they’d come in.

  Left out was the part about how a fear demon had flayed his mind and almost talked him into blowing his brains out.

  “Xander’s waiting outside. What do you say we get out of here?”

  He’d just taken Jen’s hand when he heard a child’s voice behind him say, “Mommy, who’s that man?”

  ***

  Jen watched as Theron turned slowly. His gaze remained locked on Madison as he leaned over and whispered to her, “Jen, who is that?”

  How was she going to explain this one?

  “That’s Madison,” Jen said softly. “Madison, this is Theron.”

  Theron turned slowly and looked at her, eyes wide and nervous.

  “Madison?” he said carefully, swallowing hard before he continued. “As in, the daughter you lost?”

  “She’d be about this age,” Jen said, a note of sadness in her voice. “Lilith brought her to me.”

  Theron turned to face her where she sat on the counter. His hands rested on her shoulders and he brought his face into her line of vision.

  “Jen, look at me. That is not your daughter.”

  Jen squeezed her eyes shut against his words.

  “I know,” she said softly. “But she could be.”

  He didn’t understand. When Lilith had brought Madison to her, Jen had been horrified at first. But the child had run to her, leaping into her arms. Her little body had been solid and warm. Her hair smelled like Johnson’s baby shampoo. And she’d softly whispered, “Mommy, I missed you.”

  On an intellectual level, Jen knew the creature was not her daughter. But her heart said different.

  She knew this was a temptation that Lilith offered in order to keep her in line and feeding the demons. It was effective.

  On an emotional level, she wondered if she’d been given a second chance to be Madison’s mother.

  Theron stepped in close, his hands cradling her face. His indigo eyes were bright as he asked softly, “Is this what you want? This house? Children?”

  She hadn’t thought of it that way, but Lilith had tapped into desires she had never really acknowledged. After her world fell apart, she’d never let herself think of what she actually wanted. She could only see what was right in front of her, the next story, the next conflict, the next war-torn city. Because wanting something meant it could be taken away—or never happen at all, despite all her efforts and struggles.

  But there was a part of her that did want the perfect little beach house. And it wanted children. Preferably ones with Theron’s indigo eyes.

  That part of her had always been there, but it had been buried so far down she’d forgotten it or thought it was dead. Until this man had shown up and made her want him. And now, she wanted a lot of things.

  Looking into his eyes, she nodded.

  He swallowed hard and pulled her into his arms, burying his face in the hair that tumbled around her shoulders.

  “I’m sorry, Jen. I’ve made such a mess of things. From the very beginning, I should have asked you what you wanted. I should have worked with you to find a safe place for you instead of dragging you in the direction of what I thought was safety. I was so wrong and I hope you can forgive me someday.”

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

  “If this is what you want,” he said, his voice rough, “I want to make this happen together.”

  Her heart hammering, she pulled back and looked at him. Everything was on display in those gorgeous eyes and he let her see it, didn’t try to hide it. He loved her. He’d even said it. When he’d first come in, he’d said that he loved her and wasn’t leaving without her, and she’d missed it in her shock. He’d tried to say it, just before Bridget had pushed her through that damn portal. He’d walked across Hell to find her, and didn’t that say louder than anything else how he really felt?

  Was she ready to accept that kind of love? A terrified part of her asked, would she ever be able to return that kind of love?

  She thought about the devastation she’d felt when she thought Theron was dead. She’d been ready to join up with demons, go full dark side. Because he was gone, and what was the point anymore? She had been ready to watch the world burn without him.

  “I love you,” she said, the words coming faster than she’d meant them to. She’d almost spit them out in surprise at her own feelings.

  Theron’s eyes went wide for moment before a huge smile spread across his face. Even in the worst situations, even in the middle of Hell, surrounded by demons, with only a narrow chance of survival, Theron could pull out the most daz
zling smiles.

  Jen frowned as she remembered something he’d said.

  “I thought you said you couldn’t have children,” she said. “Not with me, at least.”

  He looked almost sheepish as he said, “About that…It seems I may have been misled about my fertility with sapiens.”

  At her questioning look, he continued, “Dumeril, my friend that showed up to heal me and open the portal here, he delivered some news: my sister is pregnant. Her lover is a sapien.”

  “Oh.”

  “Exactly. And after our unprotected escapades over the past few days, I was terrified I might have, well, I might have knocked you up.”

  Laughter exploded from her lips and she quickly stifled it with a hand over her mouth. At his concerned look, she said, “That’s sweet, in a way. But Theron, I lived in a warzone for five years. You think I didn’t take precautions? I have a ten-year IUD.”

  Theron blew out a relieved breath.

  “Okay. Decision time. We need to get out of here fast if we want any hope of getting back to the portal. Xander and I got a little taste of what the demons can do, and I don’t want to tangle with them again if we can avoid it,” Theron said, sounding like he was planning battle strategy.

  His voice got softer, dropping nearly to a whisper as he pulled her into his arms, his forehead resting against hers. “You can stay here with the thing that looks like Madison in the illusion that looks like your dream house and enslave yourself to demons that want to destroy our world. I won’t stop you and I won’t take choices away from you again. I’m not sure what I would do if I was offered everything that had been taken from me.

  “Or you can come with me. We’re staring down the barrel of an interdimensional war in which you’ll be a prime target, so safety is far from a guarantee. I can’t give you this house quite yet, but I have a little ranch outside San Antonio that is one of the prettiest places on Earth. I can’t give you Madison back, but if you want children, I will make sure you have them, one way or another. The one thing I can give you is my heart, but you’ve had that on lock since you reset my shoulder in Ramadi.”