The Beloved Fire Read online

  Waking up she was asked a million and one questions from her mom. “How did it go?”; “Why did you drink so much for a work thing?”; “Did the director see you drink!?. The last one was more of a half cry than a question, and from there it just went down-hill. Dad had decided to join in on the tirade of her mistakes; how she’d ruin her life if it wasn’t for them and Ander, and how she dropped out of college and blah, blah, blah.

  She ditched her attempt at coffee from home and took off to the nearest Starbucks, draining even more of the disappearing bank account she had, then heading to the last place they would think to find her. Although this was the college she used to attend, she had never actually set foot inside the library. She was surprised her old student ID had gotten her in, after all it was over a year old.

  She hadn’t even finished the first page of her book when she heard someone clear their throat. Already frustrated and not wanting to be bothered, she suppressed a grunt as she looked up from her book. Her mouth dropped as her breath stalled. Standing in front of her, across the round table, was the very definition of sex. His jet-black hair caught her attention first, short on the sides and longer on top slicked back and stupidly perfect. He was taller than most guys and had a muscular build that stretched his gray cotton shirt across his chest with sun kissed skin she would have given her left nipple to lick.

  Her eyes only hesitated for a second at his sharp looking lips and then, at last landing on his blue startling eyes. It was the irritation in his sea colored eyes that made her realize she was staring. She hadn’t even realized she’d dropped her book until she went to shut it but instead gripped air. She quickly looked down at the fallen book and snatched it back up. Her cheeks were no doubt fire engine red from the heat plastered on them.

  Holy hell.

  “So? Are you going to move?” Shit he’d been talking. Her stomach tightened at the sound of his deep sultry voice and she held back a groan. If she had to bet money, she bet he drove a motorcycle. He was definitely the bad boy type.

  She reached up trying to smooth down her horribly un-brushed hair before answering. “Umm, I’m sorry I didn’t catch what you were saying.” And apparently drooling over hot guys was her new thing. She shook her head and cleared her throat. “What…were you saying?” Did he just ask her to move?

  “Yes.” Irritation was now in his voice, and even that didn’t help shake her out of stupor. “Like I’d just explained, my friends and me, this is our table. We’re here every day at the same time. So like I just said, I need you to move.” He spoke slowly at the end like he was talking to a child, his hand squeezing tighter on the book he held at his side.

  Fuck. Not only was he drop dead gorgeous, but also spoke fluent prick. Just her type. She was so screwed but knew when she wasn’t wanted. Oh the life of a virgin. He probably saw her as some dorky teen with no life, no friends, and by the half-dressed male on the cover of her book she’d dropped, no love life. Sigh.

  “Okay,” was all she could manage. She really didn’t have many items to shove into her bag, so in the two seconds it took for her to do that and stand up, he was gone. Wow. No, “Thanks.” Or “Sorry about the inconvenience.” Typical hot guy douche bag. If it was so important, she needed to move than where the hell did he go? Where were all his “friends”? Whatever.

  With her head down and her bag slung over her shoulder, she quickly weaved around tables of studying students and stacks of books towards the exit. Taking one last gulp of liquid goodness, she tossed her caramel macchiato in the trash hating it had gone cold. Maybe going home and locking herself in her room just to be potentially hounded by her parents was unavoidable.

  As she neared the exit to pass by the front desk, a short, silver-haired women in a navy-blue pant suit, and reading glasses dangling around her neck stepped out in front of her. She was glad she’d looked up at the last second and didn’t crash right into her.

  “Student ID.” The women held up her hand, expecting Mikayla to whip it out. Her voice sounded of someone who regularly smoked at least a couple packs of cigarettes a day. Groggy and Phlegmy…yuck.

  As she reached into her pocket to retrieve it, she realized the moment her hand broke into her pocket that it wasn’t there. Oh hell. “I think I must have left it at my table, I’ll be back.” Just as she turned to go retrieve it, the silver-haired women, lunged out and grabbed her arm turning her around.

  “I don’t believe you’re a student here, so if I were you, I would head for that exit before I call campus security!” Wow, for such a nice-looking cat lady, she really proved to be a mean pain in the ass.

  “I really did have it though! That’s how I got in! I must have left it at the table in the back. If you just-” When she realized the librarian wasn’t going to listen, Mikayla gave up her explanation. She tried to speak again but it was no use. The old bag wasn’t having it anyways and was actually pulling Mikayla towards the exit like she was some criminal. What the fuck? Were they even allowed to do that?

  She tried to snatch her arm back, but the old lady was a lot stronger than she looked. She heard a growl come from her and Mikayla dug in her heels, student spectators or not this lady could fuck off before she thought she could treat her like that.

  “LET GO YOU STUPID HAG!” The growl got louder, followed by the lights flickering before suddenly dimming down to a soft yellow glow, making it hard to see. Looking to the ceiling as the lights continued to dim putting out a flicker every once in a while, she managed to twist her arm free right as she looked up to see the librarians hair had turned from a silver to a dark green. Mikayla backed up, disgust and fear shivering up her spine.

  Evil cat lady’s growls were now making sense as she fully turned letting Mikayla view the hag’s skin bubble, hiss, and smoke off her as it melted, starting from the hair line revealing green puss filled skin beneath. Her transformed green hair melted off her head and flowed down her face along with her human skin and a black sludge looking liquid. Mikayla started backing up at a rapid pace while glancing around. Was no one else really seeing this?

  She wasn’t a screamer, she wasn’t sure why, just never was when she got scared but realized it would be a good time to develop that skill because the people in the library just disappeared, all the students were gone and it was just her and well, what-ever the fuck this thing was. She was too afraid to turn her back on it. All the mind-numbing hours her dad made her watch The Animal Planet now paid off. You never turn your back on a predator and this thing was defiantly something that could eat her.

  Long red fangs that protruded down past its chin and curled almost touching the green puss filled neck, grew slowly from the creatures’ mouth. Mikayla gagged openly at the sight and smell. Now that all the skin had melted, there was nothing but a putrid smell of Sulphur in the air. All the hair was also gone, but this thing was no longer in human form anyways. This thing reminded her of a classic fairy tale monster. Green skin that leaked puss and boiled. Gross! A huge head and a crooked posture that made Scoliosis look like a holiday. Not to mention “the librarian” grew to about 9ft tall. Forget the fact that none of this could be real. Like what the fuck? First off, there was no such thing as monsters, and also where the hell did all those students go?

  A roar broke her out of her thoughts as she slowly inched around a table keeping up with her slow retreat. Never mind the throbbing heartbeat James gave her, she was surprised she hadn’t stroked out from the throbbing heartbeat demon lady gave her. Her chest ached from the pounding and she shook uncontrollably. It was almost hysterical, all the books she’d read, especially fantasy where the heroine faces some horrid beast and becomes some super-hero that fights and wins. She was not that, and this thing, it was going to eat her. So much for her books.

  Her heel bumped against something and she slightly turned noticing she’d backed up against the end of one of the bookshelves. Shit. Officially done with the weird animalistic jerking head movements with weird clicking noises the monster had been making
, it stopped realizing she had hit a wall as well. Before she could even move, with claws extended and an alien jump…the monster lunged.

  Somehow, she was now a full-on screamer.

  Blake

  The dream started off simple enough. She always had a library dream. One where all she did was read. He always wondered why she had the same dream night after night. Most people dreamed of weird stuff, alligators attacking a birthday party and then drinking margaritas, but not Mikayla. Maybe her dreams were so controlled because of the supernatural in her? They knew what her father’s blood line was, but her mother was a mystery.

  He’d entered her dreams a million and one times, and now finally having the chance to reintroduce himself he acts like an asshole? Seeing a range of emotions flash in her eyes, included lust, set him off and he left the dream to regather his thoughts before he screwed it up a second time.

  He didn’t mess with dreams unless he planned on pulling someone through one. He literally messed with Mikayla’s calm escape; her brains attempt for her to heal. By not knowing what the hell he was doing he fucked up. This could mean a range of things but the two most important being, one the potential for a nightmare, and two how she saw him. She would remember the dream when she woke up, and did he really want her to see him as the idiot he really was? He needed to project as he always did, calm and collected. Even if a storm of emotions raged on the inside.

  He had thrown her away when he made this oath; an oath to forever be tied as a guard to a prince of Hell, and now with that oath he would be forever locked and unable to leave his realm. He gave up that chance in his life because he didn’t think he deserved it after what he did. So why did he want to impress her so bad?

  The twins took her memories of almost dying when she arrived and left her with some B.S. about getting too drunk and going to sleep. His job was to drop all the half-truths in her lap when she woke up. All he really wanted to do when he entered her dream was to push her against the wall, and tease at her until she was dripping wet and begging to be fucked. He’d spent too long dreaming of her touch, missing her, longing for her. Seeing her full lips open as she beautifully stared openly admiring him, had him straining to withhold himself from jumping her right there. The painful reminder that she didn’t remember him was the only thing that stopped him.

  “FUCK!” He threw the tiny metal dish of bloodied medical tools across the room, as he continued to contain his emotions.

  She was out of the question, he had to let her go. He made a deal. An unbreakable deal. He wasn’t deserving of her anyways. If she knew what he’d done or ever found out, she’d hate him. Giving her a quick look to make sure his outburst didn’t wake her, he noticed something felt off. He shifted into his angel state and saw the color red. Fuck. She was having a nightmare. Being so worked up he wasn’t able to enter threw his angelic means and pulled out his black metal cube tossing it to the ground and stepping into the light as soon as it appeared in front of him. The normal tingling he felt when he entered dreams trickled through his legs and arms, but quickly vanished signaling for him to step forward and he was surprised at how different her dream was from the last time he entered.

  Entering her dream this time, he saw a succulent demon. It picked up an entire bookshelf from the floor roaring as it threw it in the direction Mikayla who darted in between tables screaming.

  “Shit.” He muttered.

  Being a guard to the prince of Hell, he could always use his hell fire but being in her mind he wasn’t sure how well that would work or if he even could produce it in someone’s dream. The demon would have to be physically handled. It had been a long time since he had to fight, and he wasn’t sure how prepared he would be. He cracked his neck, shaking out his shoulders before reaching for the combat machete he carried on his back. He would be evenly matched if he released his own demon but doing so would likely put Mikayla into cardiac arrest, and she already looked pale and terrified. So he would fight in his human form.

  These types of demons came from the third realm. They controlled minds and usually were as small as a flea. They attach to a person’s brain and slowly drove them mad or took over the infected person’s actions, murdering and wreaking havoc on Earth. More or less these demons were mind control demons. This guy was not as small as a flea though. He’d come straight from the Queens personal guard, and Blake wondered how he made his way into Mikayla’s dream. He would have to get the twins to cleanse her body before she awoke.

  “HEY!” He yelled, knocking his blade on a table in front of him repeatedly until the demon turned his way. “Come get it you bastard!” He stared it down preparing himself with what was sure to be one nasty fight as the thing lunged in the air heading straight for him, claws extended and mouth agape roaring loudly.

  Stepping up on the table he ran the length before jumping in the air himself meeting the monster head on. His intentions were to severe it’s head but right as he lifted the blade, the demon threw it’s arm out into his stomach throwing him through the air and crashing into a bookshelf. The demon not giving him a second to recover landed beside him attempting to take a bite out of his arm. He quickly rolled out of the way swinging his blade out cutting into the demon’s shoulder, making it roar in pain. He’d been going for the head, but the shoulder worked too. Dislodging the blade with a sickening sound he watched as the green puss filled skin parted away from the cut he made, while sizzling rancid blood poured from the demon. Right as the demon went to swipe at him with its good arm, Blake swung out again this time chopping off the hand of his good side. Black, smelly blood flew out from the wound covering Blake’s face. Blake gasped and spit out the vile fluid.

  Another roar broke out and he knew all he’d accomplished at this point was only going to irritate it. Backing up as the demon advanced, he wiped at his bloody face temporarily giving the demon the upper hand. It slashed out driving its razor-sharp claws through his upper thighs. Blake screamed out in pain, falling back, getting ready to use his ability and call his fire not having a choice but the sound of books falling to the ground caught the demon’s attention. Blake looked over seeing that Mikayla had accidently bumped into a table. She looked at him and the demon with both hands over her mouth and eyes wide with fear.

  The demon now having its attention back to its original target turned and headed for Mikayla.

  “Fuck!” He shouted, his demonic voice tinging through.

  He didn’t want to risk her life, but he wouldn’t get a better chance at this to cut off its head. Ignoring the pain that shot through his legs he grunted while jumping back up on a long table, ready to try again now that the demon was distracted. Running proved to be difficult but he managed enough to jump high in the air. Swinging his blade out, he made a clean cut across the demon’s neck before landing not so softly on a pile of books. The demons head crashed down with a nasty thud a second later. He wiped the blood from his face, trying again to spit out any acid liquid that remained on his tongue. Looking around he found he wasn’t the only one covered in the black blood.

  “Shit!” Unless you were a demon yourself, you would get burned.

  He rushed over to Mikayla, who oddly enough wasn’t screaming. She just sat in the corner curled into a ball shaking with fear. Did that mean her other side was demon? Not sure what to do or why she wasn’t screaming from being burned alive, he took a moment to reach down and threw the monsters head out of sight, that had inconveniently landed at her feet. He sighed wiping at his face again unsure of how to proceed.

  “Mikayla?”

  She lifted her head from her knees slowly, looking at him with big eyes. Even covered in demon blood she was perfect. It sucked that this was his big first impression. “You’re okay now.” He cleared his throat, stepping back from her so she didn’t smell anymore of the putrid smell than she had to. Luckily this would all clear up when they were back in reality and out of her dream.

  “Who are you?” She asked.

  A rumbling in her dream tha
t she wouldn’t have felt or seen, alerted him someone was near her and their time had run out. He wasn’t sure what he had expected to get out of this private meeting, but this wasn’t it.

  “Blake.”

  He wiped his hand on the back of his pants before holding it out to help her up. “Come on, it’s time to wake up.” He said. He only saw her confused face for half a second before using her hand to pull her back into reality.

  3

  Disoriented

  There was a constant sound coming from somewhere, she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. Maybe water dripping? Opening her eyes all she could see was black. So she definitely wasn’t in her room, even in the dark her curtains let the moonlight shine almost annoyingly bright on her bed. Is this what death looks like? Had she died? She could feel herself laying down in a bed of some sort and could feel a blanket over her, so obviously she wasn’t dead. The bed, or what she assumed was a bed creaked loudly at her movement, making her pause in fear of someone hearing her.

  Then the sound of someone walking, either coming towards her or going away from her she couldn’t tell, sounded heavy and loud. Her heart raced automatically at the unknown.

  “Hello?” She called out as timidly as she could, she was unsure if she needed to be afraid or not. A light came on overhead allowing her to see Blake standing by a door across the room. He cleared his throat as he headed her way, he looked uneasy or frustrated, and she couldn’t tell which.

  “Finally.” He said and it was at his voice, she remembered him saying something about waking up, and the shocking memory of getting sucked into a bright blinding light all came back to her. There was something else though, he sounded familiar in a way that she couldn’t quite put her finger on. The last thing she remembered was him saving her from some monster in the college library. How did she end up here?