Immortal Fire - Book One

I thought I might be sick. It could not be true; yet somewhere deep inside me; I knew that Damien was being truthful. I did not want it to be true. Damien had come and sat down beside me on the couch and was watching me intently. I did not know what to say or do. How could I have two soul mates? I only had strong feelings for Hayden.

Hunter had tried to capture me and kill me on numerous occasions. Damien was sitting quietly beside me, and I had the feeling that he was waiting for me to break down any second as emotions flitted across my face, as my internal strife played itself out. Gathering my thoughts and pushing aside my feelings of disgust, I became eerily calm.

“It doesn’t matter. It makes no difference about how I feel.” I spoke coolly. The look on Damien’s face now was one of shock and admiration.

“You are the strongest person I know…” he said quietly. His golden amber eyes bore into mine and I had to shuffle uncomfortably by their curious intensity.

“So how do we get Hayden back?” I asked, forcing myself to sit a bit straighter.

The black suede couch squeaked as I moved. I felt like jelly inside, but I had to be strong now. Be strong for Hayden; as well as preserve what was left of my sanity.

“Well, I guess that Hunter has taken him to Tartarus…” Damien said sounding more like himself again.

“Then we go to Tartarus!” I exclaimed and started getting up from the couch, only stopping when Damien placed his strong hand on my shoulder and gently lowered me back onto the couch.

“It’s not that easy Aria. We can’t just go there,” he said.

“Why the fuck not?” I asked, now becoming annoyed.

“Well for starters, it’s not that simple. We do not know where to go to get there. Tartarus’ gate moves all the time. So, it could be anywhere; the crossroads in Central Park only works if you are exiting from a dark realm, not entering. Secondly, you are not trained enough to get past Cerberus, never mind all the other hell hounds and Hades’ demons.”

Damien was counting down the reasons using his fingers as if to make the point clearer.

“Thirdly, Tartarus is vast beyond your comprehension; we don’t know which part of it Hayden is being held captive in. Fourthly,”

Damien was interrupted by a knock on the metal fire door of the warehouse. We both glanced at the door in confusion.

“Jesse?” I asked skeptically with a brow raised.

“She wouldn’t knock.” Damien stood up slowly and moved toward the door like a predator.

Slowly he reached for his sword and finally stood before the door. There was a knock again and Damien swung it open, swiftly placing his gleaming gold blade against the throat of the person who stood there. Eyes going wide in disbelief, I jumped from the couch and hurried to the door, ignoring the burning pain that covered my cut feet. Peering over Damien’s muscled forearm, I could not believe what I was seeing.

“Cassie!” Cassie’s eyes were huge behind her black-rimmed glasses as she spared me a glance.

“Uh, hi Aria…” she forced out between gulps. Her eyes were back on the blade that was being pressed to her throat. Realizing that Damien did not know who she was, I placed my hand on his arm.

“Damien it’s fine; I know her.” Damien lowered his blade and placed it back into its sheath on his back. Cassie was rearranging her glasses so that they were not skewed.

“What on earth are you doing here?” I asked incredulously.

“Can we talk inside?” Cassie was peering over her shoulder into the shadows of the night. She seemed jumpy. I tried to see what she was looking at and could not see anything.

“Yeah, we can. C’mon in…” I said at last.

Cassie stepped passed Damien and me and entered the warehouse foyer a rather bit hastily. Damien, however, did not stop peering into the shadows as he started to shut the door, blocking out the cool New York night along with what was probably lurking in the darkness. Cassie had sat herself down on the edge of the couch and was fidgeting with her glasses. Brown hair fell around her unusually pale face. Damien had taken up his position by the wall in the corner of the room to get a better vantage point of all the entrances and exits.

“Cassie, what the hell are you doing here?” I asked, finally in a slightly better mood as I stood before her. When she did not answer me straight away, I continued with a different question.

“How did you find me?” I was bending down before her now, trying to get her to look at me, but instead, she kept glancing around the room and continuously back at Damien.

“She’s a witch,” stated Damien with his arms crossed and nodding in Cassie’s direction.

“What!” I stood up abruptly and stared down at Cassie in disbelief.

“It’s true, but I am here to help you…” she finally said and looked up at me.

“You’re a witch?” I asked.

I still did not get it. She nodded to confirm my question. I decided to sit down on the couch opposite her and could not help but stare at her. I had thought that we were becoming friends back at school. It all seemed like it was a lifetime ago, but it did not lessen the hurt I felt. I felt betrayed. Why didn’t she tell me back at school? Had she known what was going to happen to me and kept it all a secret too?

A thousand questions fogged my mind but the most dominant one was why did she keep a secret like this from me? I know we had only really been friends for a short while, but I did not think that she had to keep her being a witch a secret. Maybe I was just overreacting… Secrets seemed to have become a very great part of my life. I fucking loathed it.

But she did not know me that well either… my rational thoughts finally came through.

Looking toward Damien I saw that he was watching the two of us intently. I did not know what to say, which he seemed to pick up on, and stepped forward.

“Why are you here and how did you find Aria?” he asked sternly.

I was extremely grateful to him for asking while I pulled myself together. Cassie looked around the room and then back to her hands. She appeared to be scared.

“I used a tracking spell… I am here to help Aria,” she said so softly that I had to strain my ears to hear her.

“How did you do the tracking spell?” Damien asked, sounding agitated now. This I was interested in. If Cassie could track me, that meant anyone could. So not good! “You wouldn’t believe me…” Cassie said.

Damien moved his balance on his feet, and I could see he was getting annoyed that this conversation was going nowhere fast with the answers that Cassie was dealing with.

“Cassie please, just answer the question,” I said with a sigh as I slumped back into the couch, closing my eyes. I felt a migraine coming on. Yeah, this just kept getting better and better.

“My family has been assigned to help the Angelis Mortis for millennia. It just so happens that I am assigned to you. I could track you because we are linked by the magic that you yield.” Cassie explained breathlessly. That forced my eyes open.

“Excuse me?” Damien and I exclaimed together. We looked at each other awkwardly and back to Cassie who was looking more like a frightened child than a witch.

“Did you just say that we are linked?” I was sitting forward now, looking her dead in the eyes.

“Yes…” Cassie began to say, but I quickly interrupted her. “Just fucking great! Another person that is somehow linked to me!” I stood up and started pacing the room. My migraine was pounding in my head, and I could not believe it. Any of it!

“Is there anything else that you would like to throw at me? Huh? Maybe a fucking tail sprouting out of my backside?” I shouted to the heavens to whoever was listening, throwing my arms out for more emphasis. Hearing smothered laughter, I caught Damien smirking, trying hard not to laugh and Cassie sitting wide and teary-eyed on the couch.

“Damien, shut up before I fry your ass.” I shot him my most dangerous look, but it did nothing to stop him from finding humor in my current situation and outburst. He laughed out loud.

“Ah c’mon Aria…” he did not get the chance to finish what he was saying. I shot a tiny burst of angel fire in his direction, and he easily dodged it. He was used to me teasing him with the fire of the angels. The sound of a sniffle brought my attention back to Cassie who was crying.

“Cassie?” I looked back to Damien who shrugged. “Cassie, what’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m sorry I’m linked to you… I can’t help it.” She got out between sobs. My face paled. Cassie thought that I was mad at her.

“Cassie I’m not mad at you. It has just been a tough night and I found out that Hunter is my soul mate too and he kidnapped Hayden… so I guess I’m just upset and wound up tonight in general, but I’m not mad at you at all. I’m glad that you are here.”

Rubbing her puffy, wet eyes, she looked up at me and smiled. “I know what you mean. I am also just emotional because of everything. Sorry…” I smiled back at her and then sat down on the couch again.

Damien came and sat down beside me. The seductive smell of him hung in the air surrounding me and my head swam. What? This is Damien Aria! Get a grip. You know what Damien is like, even the scent of him, but it is not seductive. Focus! Clearing my throat to quieten the argument in my head, I inconspicuously shifted slightly away from Damien on the couch and focused on what was going on.

Damien was explaining everything to Cassie in detail, so I just sat back and listened, giving my occasional nod etcetera to add to the conversation as little as possible. Living through it once was enough. My head was pounding, and I was struggling to keep my eyes open. It was as if sleep were calling to me in haste and no matter what I did, I could not resist. The more I struggled to stay awake, the more my head pounded, and my vision blurred. A tugging in my head and chest finally was too much and I felt myself drift off.