Immortal Fire - Book One

“Aria! Oh shit! Cassie, help me! Aria!”

Struggling to open my eyes, I saw Damien straddling me on the couch, pressing down with both hands on my shoulder. Blood poured through his fingers and ran down the sides of us… Something in the back of my mind told me that it was my blood, but I could not think of why it would be a problem.

The panic on his face was amusing. It did not suit him at all. Damien was meant to be a congenital badass. Lowering my eyelids, he screamed at me to open them. What was wrong with him? I just wanted to sleep. Couldn’t anyone ever just let me sleep around here?

“Damien, are you making a move on me?” I giggled softly.

“What?” he exclaimed, confused.

“You are straddling me… not that I’m complaining…” I giggled again.

Damien’s pale face blushed as he looked at my body lying beneath him. Something in the back of my mind was telling me to get it together and that I should not be flirting with Damien right now. Not ever.

Cassie came into view and looked like death. She was pale and had a cold sweat. Her lips were blue and her eyes red-rimmed. Those made some parts of my mind realize that something was wrong.

“Cassie, what’s wrong?” I muttered. Trying to focus was becoming difficult now.

A raucous scream escaped me as the pain in my shoulder came crashing through me in a tidal wave. Damien had to struggle to keep me from throwing him off as I thrashed around on the couch. When Damien’s hands slipped, blood poured from me, and I felt myself slip into the darkness just a little more as it did.

“Cassie, help her!” Damien shouted.

“I need you to get her outside to the water. I do not know how you are going to do that without her bleeding to death. Also, her clothes need to be off…” she finished in rush.

“What?” Damien and I asked incredulously together.

I had just enough strength to pick up that, for some reason, I would have to be naked against my will and wanted to object to it. I could not keep my eyes open any longer but felt a breeze around me and then the distinct cool New York air filled my lungs. I forced my eyes open just a crack and saw Cassie running toward us. Damien had flashed us to the railing next to the Hudson River outside of the warehouse., This situation was dire if he took the chance to flash us through the void…

“You need to help me get her clothes off…” she panted as she reached our side and started cutting up the middle of my silver dress with a pair of scissors she must have grabbed from the kitchen before coming outside.

“Why do her clothes have to come off?” Damien all but snapped at Cassie, who was just finishing cutting the dress down the middle of my front.

“She is halfway dead Damien! She’s barely here anymore and her wounds are so severe and all over her that she needs to be healed with nothing in the way and her complete soul brought back without any worldly items on her; otherwise, it will block her soul’s path back. Why do you think we are all born naked? Now help me!” Cassie shouted at Damien.

They sounded so far away… like at the end of a dark tunnel. I was dead? Panic turned its ugly head on me, and I began to shake violently. I was starting to taste the distinct taste of blood in the back of my throat. Damien helped Cassie maneuver the dress from me without taking too much pressure off my shoulder.

I was vaguely aware that I was lying before Damien in my underwear, and I wanted to die of embarrassment. Ironic.

“You need to take me out on a date before you get this far buddy…” I mumbled with my eyes rolling uncontrollably to stay awake.

My head was getting fuzzy again and this was all very funny for me once again. Damien said nothing but kissed my forehead as Cassie cut the underwear off. She stood, took off her clothes so that she was in her underwear, and climbed over the railing to the dark water. With a splash, she was in and called for Damien to pass me to her.

“Hayden is going kick your ass…” I giggled as Damien lifted my naked form and started to pass me over the railing slowly.

“Don’t leave me Aria.” was all that he said as the cold Hudson water covered my naked flesh.

Cassie held my head above the water and started talking in a language that I did not understand. The water around us heated up and started to steam. She never stopped speaking in that hauntingly beautiful language as I felt the darkness call to me. I could not stand it anymore, and just as I was about to give in, the water raised circling us, and crashed. Cassie and I went under, but she never let go of me. The water stifled my screams as pain crashed through me and I struggled against the ancient magic.

After what felt like forever and feeling as if I was drowning, we broke through the surface and gasped for air. My body no longer hurt, and I started crying. I had almost died. I cried for everything. I was overwhelmed with emotions; every emotion that I had ever felt, all at once.

Treading the water, I saw Cassie holding on to the railing, breathing heavily as water lapped around her neck. Damien dived into the water and swam to me. Grabbing him close, I did not want to let go. I could not. I was still crying, and he held me tightly back. The cold water started to make me shiver and he got us back to the railing. Cassie was already out and waiting to help us out of the water. I didn’t want to let go of Damien, but he peeled me from himself and smiled sweetly at me as he helped me up to the railing, where Cassie waited with a towel that she had run inside to get.

Grabbing it and hugging it tightly, I could not help but hug her tightly too. If it were not for her, I would be dead.

“Thank you,” I whispered through tears. She nodded and then headed inside. She looked exhausted and pale. Damien was there, dripping wet from the river. His black hair hung on his face and water dripped from his dark lashes. He did not say anything and neither did I; something was happening between us, and I didn’t know what to think about it.

Walking towards him, I saw him breathing hard. I placed my arms around him and just hugged him. I would worry about what was happening later. Right now, I needed him. Damien hugged me tightly back and kissed the top of my head before leading me inside. I was shivering and heard the downstairs shower going. Cassie must have had the same idea that I did. I was still worried about her. She looked so worn out.

“Is she okay?” I asked Damien. He still had his arm protectively around me as he led us up the stairs.

“She used a lot of power. She’ll be fine… she just needs to rest now.” Reaching the bathroom, Damien stepped inside and turned the faucets so that the warm water filled the room with steam so thick I could barely see.

“Get in, or you’ll get hypothermia. I’ll wait outside.” Damien left the bathroom, and I did not hesitate to get into the warm water. At first, my flesh stung at the temperature difference, but after a while it was bliss.

After a few moments, I could not stop myself from crying again. I had never cried so hard in my life and was grateful that no one was here to see it. I felt so weak, and I hated it. I wanted to be what I was destined for, but the way I was now, that was not going to happen.

Wiping tears away, I vowed that I would not be weak ever again; I would do what was right. I would rescue Hayden and stop Hades, and God helps anyone who tried to stop me. The weak Aria was gone. I was done feeling like this. No one can change their destiny, but they can change the way they handle it.

Do not get me wrong, I wasn’t arrogant enough to think I didn’t need anyone; I was just done being a victim…