Feel the Flames Read online

  We stared each other down. I didn’t trust him. But as I watched his expression grow even more amused with my reaction, I felt Dorian’s hand on my shoulder.

  “Let him do it,” he said. “I see him even flinch, I’ll kill him myself.”

  “Someone with some brains up in here!” Gavyn laughed. He lowered his axe and tossed it hard to the ground where it stuck in the dirt.

  The pain was growing as the seconds passed, and I couldn’t imagine it getting much worse. It was one thing to be impaled momentarily, deal with the pain for a short period of time, and heal completely. It was quite another to be in agony for all of eternity.

  I grunted and thrust my arm out in front of me, conceding to Gavyn’s plan. I was shaking from the pain, and the burning sensation seemed to be spreading to my hand, making it difficult to keep my arm still.

  He closed his eyes, rubbed his hands together, and placed them over the burning wound. His touch caused me wince in agony, and I fought to keep my composure. Dorian stood by with the sabre in hand ready to step in, if necessary. The pain was intense. I wondered if what Gavyn was doing was actually helping or not. But just when I thought I couldn’t stand the pain any longer, I noticed his hands glowing with a bright blue light.

  Almost immediately, I felt the injury cooling as if a rush of cold water had been poured over my arm. After a few minutes, he removed his hands. I looked down at my arm. The laceration had been healed, but a permanent-looking scar had taken its place.

  “What are you doing here?” I asked, a bit skeptically, studying the scar.

  “You’re welcome.” Gavyn turned and surveyed his surroundings. “Nice place you have here. Out in the middle of nowhere. You think you’d be safer way out here, not having to worry about enemy Hybrids or uninvited demons showing up at your door. But I guess now that everyone knows who you are, that’s just a false sense of security. Ever think about moving?” He reached down and pulled his axe from the ground and again leaned it back against his shoulder.

  I stared him down, still gripping the hilt of my sword tight at my side. The silence should have been awkward, but Gavyn seemed unaffected by my best bitchy stare. Instead, he merely stood there, battle axe resting on his shoulder, with an insufferable, stupid grin on his face.

  “You didn’t answer my question. What are you doing here?”

  “Stopped by to help. Heard you had unwanted visitors,” he replied.

  I looked him up and down.

  “We still do.” I pursed my lips together and thought. “Who are you?”

  “I already told you. I’m Gavyn.”

  “I don’t give a shit what your name is,” I made my way slowly toward him, sword at the ready if it was needed. I stopped a mere two feet from him and looked him in the eye. “I asked you who you were.”

  “Fine. I’ll get to the point. I’m an ancestor of Shamsiel. A Hybrid. Like you.” He paused and shrugged. “Well, not exactly like you. You guys have wings and can’t die. I myself only have a few of my hundred twenty years left.”

  “You’re a Hybrid?” Dorian asked suspiciously. “I knew most of the Hybrids that existed back in my day. Never ran across you.”

  “And I don’t remember seeing you at the battle in the Badlands,” I said, jumping in.

  “You wouldn’t have. I haven’t exactly been what you would call a model Hybrid. Been in hiding…kind of you like you. When I discovered what…who I was, I decided I wanted no part of it. So, I took off. Never looked back.” Gavyn began playing with his axe, twirling it in front of him.

  “You ran?” Dorian asked.

  “Sprinted, actually. I had no desire to follow any kind of destiny. Humanity is so self-absorbed most of the time that they don’t pay attention to the world around them. They’re all more concerned with the color of people’s skin or someone’s sexuality than the big issues like how they’re slowly destroying their planet or terrorists beheading women and children. Values and morals are skewed and humans think too small. Hell, I’ve walked around the same town for a hundred years now and no one has even noticed. I mean, look at me. You’d think someone would notice me, right?” Gavyn stretched his arms out and winked at me causing Dorian to growl quietly to himself. “Look. There were times I’d hear the call of the Hybrids asking to come and fight, and on a few occasions, I almost listened. The last one in the Badlands was rough. But I told myself it wasn’t my fight. I decided a long time ago to stay neutral. Figured it wasn’t my problem.”

  “Not your problem?” I snapped. “Do you have any idea how many good people we lost in the Badlands? Do you?”

  “I know you lost your best friend,” Gavyn replied before directing his attention toward Dorian. “And you lost your sister.”

  “Not to mention over half the Hybrids that were left,” said Dorian angrily, pointing the sabre at Gavyn. “You’re a traitor!”

  Gavyn and Dorian stared each other down, each waiting for the other to blink.

  “Those are harsh words, dude. Really harsh.” Gavyn sighed. “But you’re right. I shouldn’t have run from my responsibilities. I should have gone to the Badlands and fought Azazel with you.” He paused, looking me in the eye. “I can’t change the past, but I’m here now, and I want to make amends for what I’ve done…or didn’t do as it were.”

  “How the hell could you possibly make it right after abandoning your brothers and sisters all these years?” Dorian appeared to grow angrier by the second. I needed to step in before another scuffle broke out.

  “What kind of amends are you talking about?” I asked, stepping between them.

  “Look. I know all about Solomon’s seal and what Naberius is asking you to do.”

  “Less asking, more demanding, if you really wanna know,” I mumbled.

  Gavyn turned his head a bit and gave me a side eye before continuing.

  “I’ve been asking around about the seal, and I’ve heard things. I’ve heard rumblings about where it might be…who might have it. And I know that the existence of mankind hangs in the balance if anyone gets their hands on it. And as much as I’ve enjoyed my life of not giving a damn about anyone else, if either side wins and mankind is destroyed, I can pretty much kiss what’s left of my quiet reality goodbye.”

  “Aaaand…there it is,” I replied. “So, not completely selfless, then?”

  “Oh please. Like you’re trying to save the world out of the kindness of your heart?” grunted Gavyn.

  “Excuse me?”

  “The only reason you’re even thinking about finding the ring is so that you can stop an apocalypse from happening…again. So, you can go back to minding your own business…again. And live your quiet, endless life with dull-guy here…again. Face it. Your reasons are no less selfish than my own.”

  The three of us stood there, exchanging awkward glances with one another. On the one hand, he was completely off base. I had grown fond of humans…some humans, anyway, and I didn’t want to see them destroyed simply because supernatural beings couldn’t control their need for power. I knew protecting the people of the world was the right thing to do. It was appalling to think that he’d actually say I had selfish reasons behind any of it.

  On the other hand, he wasn’t completely wrong.

  A part of me wanted all of it to go away so I could go back to living my boring life. No worries. No people. No distractions. But, like Gavyn, if the balance in the world was disrupted and mankind destroyed, my quiet, eternal existence wouldn’t be so quiet. If Hell managed to win, I would never be able to stop fighting.

  I knew it was all bigger than me. I had a moral obligation to do what I thought was right. Gone were the days where I could hide away, living in my solitary world, and hope that I wouldn’t be discovered. My name was out there, and both the angels and the demons were aware of who I was. Even if I wanted things to go back to the way things were before, I knew it wasn’t possible. Not anymore. I had Dorian to think about. And Grace.

  And then, I thought about Sean. I thought about
the painting that had once hung over his bed. His belief in me and what I was capable of. If he was still alive, what would he have wanted me to do?

  He would have wanted me to be a super hero and save the world.

  Chapter 16

  “I don’t like him,” whispered Dorian.

  “Well, I don’t exactly like the guy, either,” I whispered back. “But what choice do we have? If he knows where the seal is, I can get my hands on it and stop it all from going down. And then we can go back to living our dull, boring lives. Just like he said.”

  “Our lives aren’t dull. Or boring.”

  “Really?” I raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

  “Fine. We live dull and boring lives.” Dorian reached out and pulled me toward him, putting his arms tightly around me. “But as long as I get to experience that life with you, I’m okay with it.” His lips kissed the side of my ear and a shiver rushed down my spine. I leaned back from his embrace and looked him in the eye.

  “You always know what to say, don’t you?”

  “What can I say?” he shrugged. “I’m a romantic.”

  Gavyn had remained outside to keep watch for more of our demon friends…at least that’s what we told him. In reality, we just wanted some time to collect our thoughts and come up with a plan of action. As we stood there inside my studio, the graveness of the situation almost didn’t seem so scary. I knew that together, we could accomplish anything. Even though I’d lived most of my life in solitude, I didn’t think I’d ever be able to live up to my destiny without him.

  “So, you met him at Sean’s comic book store, and he hit on you,” Dorian suddenly stated matter-of-factly.

  “I wouldn’t say he hit on me, exactly,” I replied.

  “Then what was it?”

  “He was…overly friendly.”

  A slight grunt came from the back of Dorian’s throat. “Same thing,” he uttered, his face contorted with jealousy.

  “Stop worrying,” I said, winking before backing away. “He’s harmless. At least in that department. I only have eyes for you.”

  “Mm-hmm. You better. Otherwise, as soon as we save the world again, I’m gonna kick his ass.”

  “You have my permission. Now, can we get back to why we came in here? Do we trust him? I mean, we barely know anything about him.”

  “He might just be trying to gain our trust in order to betray us later. I mean, he just happens to show up during a fight where we just happen to be outnumbered and saves the day?”

  I chuckled. “Sounds like the same thing you and Lillith did when you first met me.”

  “Yeah, well. I had a vision about that fight, so we came to the rescue. Totally different.”

  “How is it different?” I asked.

  “I saw the future. In a vision. How do we know he didn’t send those thugs here just now to take us down?”

  “Don’t be stupid. If he sent them, then why would he have fought and killed one of them?”

  “And this is where I circle back to my original theory where he’s just trying to gain our trust so he can kill us later.”

  I sighed heavily and turned away. As much as I wanted to argue with his logic, it made sense. But though I didn’t completely trust Gavyn and found him crude, something inside me told me there was more to his story.

  “Let’s just wait it out. Keep an eye on him and react if necessary,” I said, turning back around to face Dorian.

  “As far as I’m concerned, we should just run him through and figure all this out on our own.”

  His words weren’t typical of him. Dorian wasn’t a cold-blooded killer. Killing the enemy was one thing, but verbalizing his desire to kill someone we knew nothing about was quite another.

  “If he knows where the seal is, we can use him. I mean, I don’t think we can trust him, either. And if it turns out he’s just playing us for fools, then we can cross that bridge later. But for now…I don’t think we have a choice.” I headed for the door.

  “Wait. That’s it? End of discussion? I thought we were a team?” Dorian rushed to beat me to the door, blocking my exit. I stared him down and there seemed to be rage behind his eyes I’d never seen before. A shadow of someone I didn’t know stared back, and for a moment…he frightened me. His face grew bright red, his brow lowering, and his lips contorted into a snarl.

  He grabbed my arms and held them tightly in his grasp. His grip on me was so tight that it took a few seconds to break free. I flung my arms out and took a step back, completely mortified at what I’d just experienced.

  I stared him down and watched his face change. His flushed, angry cheeks regained their normal color, and his eyes were again gentle and clear. But it was too late.

  He’d pissed me off.

  “What the hell do you think you’re doing?” I barked. “Grab me again like that, and I’ll make sure you’re never able to use those hands again.”

  Dorian appeared baffled at my reaction.

  “I thought we were partners,” I continued. “And I’ve let a lot of things go over the past few weeks. But there’s something wrong with you. I don’t know if you’re angry for getting stuck with me for all of eternity, or if you’ve just decided that you’re sick of me. But if you think for one second that I’m going to let what happened just now slide, you’ve got another think coming.”

  I rushed past him, stormed outside and approached Gavyn.

  “I’m willing to listen,” I said. “So, talk. What do you know?”

  “Naberius’s legion has been keeping an eye on you. They’re waiting for you to discover the location of the seal. And once they’re positive that you have it, they’ll attack. Their intention isn’t to lock it away so it can’t be used against them. They want to use it to find a way into Heaven.” Gavyn placed the handle of his battle axe behind his neck and draped his arms over the back. He seemed relaxed…and candid.

  Dorian slowly stepped out of the studio and found his way to my side. His actions earlier left me feeling betrayed and hurt. But I didn’t have time to worry about that at the moment. I’d address his actions when I was done saving the world.

  Again.

  “Into Heaven? Demons can’t enter Heaven.” I glanced over at Dorian, who shrugged. “Can they?”

  “Normally, no,” Gavyn replied. “But the ring changes the game. For both sides. Full-blooded demons can find the entrance to Hell just like full-blooded angels and Watchers can find the entrance to Heaven. But neither side has ever been able to locate the entrance of the other—or mortals for that matter. But with the seal of Solomon, it can take anyone to the entrance of Heaven or Hell. But that’s it. It won’t grant them access. Only a demon can enter Hell and only an angel or Watcher can enter Heaven.”

  “But you just said the demons want it to get into Heaven. What good is it if it only takes them to the entrance but won’t let them in?” I replied.

  “Your guess is as good as mine, but you can bet they’ve thought of that and have a plan.”

  “Mina!” I turned to face Dorian. “She said Michael is guarding the entrance to Hell to keep anyone from opening the doorway. If he’s guarding it, that means he has the ring. Otherwise he couldn’t have located it.”

  “You said you might know where the ring is. Or are you just blowing smoke up our ass so you can screw with us?” asked Dorian. I glanced over, and his sister’s sabre was still being gripped tightly in his grasp.

  Gavyn seemed to enjoy Dorian’s discomfort with his arrival and smirked.

  “As much fun as that sounds,” Gavyn replied, eyeing my boyfriend up and down, “I can assure you that’s not the case. Throughout history, there have been rumors about the gateway to Hell being in various places on Earth. But there are actually three that are the most promising. One is in Turkey in the ancient city of Hierapolis. There’s a cave there that’s believed to have once been known as Pluto’s Gate, the mythological entrance to Hell. Pluto was the Greek god of the underworld, and so for centuries some believed it could be the
true gate. But personally, I think it’s too obvious. A huge cave filled with so-called poisonous carbon dioxide vapors and mist that can kill any living thing that crosses its path? I don’t think so. Another is a place near the Aokigahara Forest in Japan. You may have heard of it.”

  “The suicide forest,” I replied. “I’ve heard of it.”

  “The suicide forest?” questioned Dorian.

  “It sits in the shadow of Mount Fuji. The locals believe it’s cursed and filled with evil. It could have to do with the fact that compasses don’t work properly there or that there doesn’t seem to be any wildlife living in the forest. Or it could be because of its supposed power to draw people there to kill themselves. But some believers that say the real reason for its eerie and dark feel is because it camouflages the entrance to Hell. Again…too obvious.” Gavyn swung his axe from the back of his neck to the ground below, once again allowing it to stick straight out of the dirt. “Which brings me to where I think it really is. Devils Tower. Wyoming.”

  I chuckled and shot him an incredulous look.

  “And you think the other two are too obvious? No way. Gonna call bullshit on that one,” I said. “I’ve lived here a long time and learned a lot about local legends and mythology. Devils Tower was originally called Bear’s Lodge. The Devils Tower name happened when some idiot misinterpreted the Native American name as Bad God’s Tower. I mean, come on.”

  “True. But that doesn’t stop it from being the prime candidate. There’s nothing evil about the place. At all. But that’s why I’m fairly certain it’s the entrance to Hell. Reverse psychology, right? Besides…it wasn’t always known as Devils Tower. You said that yourself. Thousands of years before that, it was just a random tower in a place that would eventually be called Wyoming. I mean, Hell has been around for millennia.”