Immortal Fire - Book One

For the next few days’ Damien avoided me except for training. I had got complete control of water now too as well as some ability for air. Cassie thought it was due to my soul being reborn again the other night in the Hudson. I had tried to speak to him, but he would not give me a chance. When he was not with me in training, he would be planning our trip to Devil’s Lake. He seemed always be busy with something.

“What’s up with the brooding angel downstairs?” Cassie asked while she was looking up spells on my bed.

Damien and she had decided that she would need to be prepared for anything when we left tomorrow for our trip. I was currently packing my bag and stopped with a sigh. Placing my folded top in the bag, I turned to her.

“That’s my fault. I hurt him. Bad…” Cassie set her velvet-covered book down and adjusted her reading glasses as she looked up to me with intrigue.

“What happened?” Fidgeting with my hands, I sat down by the dresser and took a deep breath.

“We kissed and almost did a lot more the other night…” I said ashamed.

“Oh my God! Tell me everything!” Cassie almost squealed. I wanted to crawl into a hole…

“Well, we kissed, and it felt so good, and we got carried away and when it got heated up, I stopped him. I told him I couldn’t do it because of Hayden…”

Cassie sat cross-legged with her mouth hanging open. I was starting to feel uncomfortable when she let out a whistle. I could not believe it and looked at her incredulously.

“What?” I asked nervously.

“You have feelings for him, don’t you?” There was no way I could deny it, so I thought I might as well be honest with Cassie.

“Yeah, I do, I suppose... I don’t know. I care about him, I really do but I’m not sure of anything. My life is pretty much a total shit show lately.”

“So, what are you going to do?” she asked still watching me wide-eyed.

“Nothing, he hates me now and I couldn’t hurt Hayden like that. We are soul mates Cassie. I think that kind of trumps any feelings that I have for Damien…”

“Okay, I guess that you’re right… but do you love Hayden?” I do not know why, but the question caught me off guard and I did not have an answer.

“Well, when you know if you love him or not, then you will know what to do. Sometimes, fate and destiny are completely different things, and I can tell you now that Damien is fated to be with you; in which way, well, that’s a mystery…”

Was she right? I hoped so. It gave me hope…

“When did you become so wise?” I asked her, smiling.

“Always have been, I just decide to make the rest of you mortals think that I’m not so that you don’t feel so bad about yourselves and not be intimidated…” I laughed and stood to close my bag.

“We aren’t mortals… well technically not if you consider all this soul mate and destiny stuff,” I said, still smiling.

“Even more reason to save your pride!” she exclaimed. We both burst out laughing and I immediately felt a huge weight lifted from my shoulders. Cassie was such a great friend and I appreciated her more every day.

“I’m so glad that you’re here Cassie.” I smiled at her.

“Me too…” she replied.

After some more giggles and messing around, we decided to go downstairs to grab something to eat. We were busy discussing what we could eat when we both froze at the bottom of the stairs. Jesse was back.

“Hello Aria,” she said smiling at me. I faked a smile of my own and nodded as I passed her and went to open the fridge.

“I hear that you guys have a tag-along ‘witch’ now.” she scoffed in the direction of Cassie who was still frozen at the foot of the stairs.

“She has a name, and she isn’t ‘tag along’ as you so stupidly assumed…” I said then took the peanut butter and placed it on the counter.

“I would suggest that you watch your tongue before it gets ripped out of that pretty mouth of yours.” Jesse threatened me.

I raised my eyebrow at her. Was she seriously going to carry on with this stupid intimidation game? Looked like it… oh well.

“I’d suggest the same to you, Jesse, I hear flames and vampires don’t go together well,” I stated and stared her down. I could take her any day; especially since I had more power than ever.

Just then Damien entered the kitchen, and I now noticed the ‘brooding’ that Cassie had referred to in my room.

“Aria, could I speak to you outside please?” he asked and exited the kitchen. The sound of the metal door to the outside opening and closing filled the kitchen. Great – always in trouble… I might as well have my parents here.

“Cassie, I’ll meet you upstairs,” I told her. She did not hesitate and leaped up the stairs two at a time. I think she knew that I did not trust the bitch vampire in the kitchen to not drink her dry… Putting the peanut butter back in the fridge after first scraping a bunch out with my finger, I went outside to speak to Damien. What could he want? He has not spoken to me in five days since that night…

Turning the corner to the training area behind the warehouse, I found Damien standing with his arms folded across his taut chest. Swallowing hard, I stepped forward. “You wanted to speak to me?” I asked, my voice betraying how I felt being this close to him now.

“We need to leave now. The Hosts have had information given to them that says Jesse has made a deal with Hades to give you up to him…” My face paled.

“So that’s where she has been?” I all but squeaked the words out.

“Yes. It also turns out that Hades’ demons are the ones who have been killing the vampires in Central Park and part of the deal was that the vampires will be spared when Hades’ plan is put into action. We still don’t know what the plan is exactly…” he said stiffly.

I started pacing back and forth. How could she do that? I know we kind of hated each other but I did not think that she would stoop this low.

“What do we do now?” I asked looking up at Damien, with his golden eyes watching me.

“We act as if we know nothing. Say that you are going to the store to get something and will be back in about thirty minutes. You and Cassie leave your bags in your room under the bed; I’ll take care of them and meet you outside the Empire State building. Do not talk to anyone and stay low. I’ll meet you there as soon as possible.”

I nodded, saying nothing as I ran my hands through my hair nervously. “I’ll leave cash in Hayden’s car for a cab. You can’t use it because it’s too noticeable,” he said.

“Yeah, especially with broken windows…” I replied absentmindedly. The windows were still broken from the night Hayden went missing and we did not have the keys to get away.

“Okay. I’ll get Cassie.” I spoke. Damien nodded and started back to the front of the warehouse.

“Damien,” I called out. Stopping, he peered back at me.

“Thank you,” I said softly.

He didn’t say anything and continued his way. Shit, I would need to find some way to make it right between us again. Gathering my resolve, I headed back and entered the warehouse as casually as I could. Jesse was in the kitchen and watching my every move.

“So, what did the angel want?” she asked, acting casual. I guessed we were both acting right now.

“He wanted me to tidy up the training area… he is worse than my mother sometimes.” God, I hoped she bought my answer.

Nodding at me, it seemed like she believed me. Heading upstairs, I wanted to run but had to force myself to go painfully slow so as not to raise suspicion. I could feel Jesse’s eyes on my back as I disappeared out of view. Remembering her good hearing, I slipped into Cassie’s room, got her bag, and brought it to my room.

Cassie was sitting on the bed and raised an eyebrow at me carrying her bag. Placing a finger on my lips to convey my message of us having to be quiet, she stopped her question in mid-air. I grabbed my bag and placed both bags under the bed and threw in Cassie’s spellbook.

“Oh shit,” I spoke to complete our escape plan.

“What?” Cassie asked incredulously.

“I forgot to get tampons when we were at the grocery store. C’mon, we need to go get some before it’s a disaster zone…” Okay, I’ll admit, it wasn’t exactly the best excuse, but I didn’t know what else to say.

“Okay…” Cassie said still looking at me like I had lost it.

I did not blame her. Grabbing my handbag, we left the room and went downstairs. Sure enough, Jesse sat on the couch and was watching us as we headed for the door.

“Going to the grocery store, do you need anything?” I asked as casually as I could muster. “Already know… No, I am good thanks. When will you be back?”

This cow was good at acting. Anyone who did not know any better about the reason behind her asking would have suspected nothing.

“About thirty minutes,” I replied.

She nodded and I took that as my cue to get the hell out of there. Cassie followed behind me as I went to the Jag and took the cash that Damien had left there. We walked to the street in silence and hailed a cab. Once we were safely on our way to the Empire State building, I turned to Cassie.

“We aren’t going back,” I said to her.

“What? Why?” She was turned completely in her seat, facing me now.

Worry was evident on her face. I wanted to explain more but I could not with the cab driver listening in on everything we were saying. I had caught him looking back at us in the rear-view mirror quite a few times now and it made me uneasy.

My worries were justified when he took a detour and went in the opposite direction of the state-building. I could see it getting smaller in the distance. Faking that I had dropped my bag and needed Cassie to help me pick up the contents, I whispered to her that we needed to get out of this cab now. She did not hesitate. She looked at me determinedly and sat up.

“Excuse me,” she said to the cab driver sweetly.

“Yeah?” he said in an accent that informed me he was from Jersey. He looked in the mirror at her and then his round face went slack. Cassie had put a control spell over him in less than a second.

“How the hell did you do that?” I asked, waiting for us to crash into something. We never did.

“Trade secrets.” She smiled at me.

“Can you get him to get us to Empire State building? Damien is meeting us there and we are already running out of time.”

“No Problem…” Cassie told the driver where to take us and that he needed to hurry. I was impressed and terrified at the same time. Some Angel of Death I would be if I crashed and died in a cab that smelled like moldy cheese. What a way to go. The legend of my death would bring awe to all who heard of it… yeah right.

Thank God, we made it to the Empire State Building alive and the cab driver went on his mindless way. The street was busy. Cabs honked their horns at each other, and people rushed about each other on their way to wherever it was that they were going.

The sun reflected from the building’s windows like mirrors. Flowerpots lined the street and on either side of the street were a Heartland Brewery and a Walgreens.

“Wow,” Cassie said looking up at the building in awe.

“Yeah…” I said in reply. The smell of Mcdonald’s caught my attention and my stomach growled. Spinning around, I wanted to do a happy dance right there in the street. Digging in my bag, I saw that I had enough cash left for food.

“What took you so long?” said Damien’s husky voice from behind me.

“Oh, Thank God!” I said and threw my arms around him. I did it before I could think. Damien froze and just stood there doing nothing.

Stepping away embarrassed, I decided to answer him and take the attention away from the very awkward moment that had just taken place.

“Um, the cab driver took us in a different direction; Cassie took care of him though. I think he worked for Jesse or Hades.” I said looking everywhere but at him. I could feel my face burning up from the humiliation.

“Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?” Cassie exclaimed with her hands now on her hips.

“Jesse was going to hand Aria over to Hades,” Damien said taking a few steps away from me.

“Oh. Okay, so why meet here?” she asked, not wasting time on asking why Jesse would do such a thing.

“We needed to get away because our ride is here.”

“Where is the car?” I asked Damien, now interested. Looking where Damien was pointing across the street, I saw what I could only describe as a mommy van.

“You have got to be shitting me…” I said mortified. Cassie nudged me forward as Damien walked over to the car and it beeped very pathetically as he unlocked it.

“It’s not that bad…” Cassie said, still steering me towards the thing.

“It looks like a PTA owned it and puppies were born on the back seat…” I mumbled.

Cassie laughed at that and got into the back as I got into the front beside Damien.

“Hey Aria, there’s no puppy stains on the seat so you can chill.” she laughed.

“I cleaned that up already…” Damien piped in smiling slightly. My mouth fell open as he pulled away into traffic. Fuck no. Nope! Uh-huh

I did not know what shocked me more; the fact that puppies were probably born in the back seat or that Damien had just made a joke. I had not seen him make a joke or act like himself for almost a week. If the car could bring him back, then I could maybe tolerate the nanny-mobile… maybe.

“How long is this trip?” I asked him.

“Fifteen hours.” He said blandly.

So, you are back to hating me? Fine, I thought. Fifteen hours is a long time to be stuck in a car. Especially with my annoying ass… I made a silent promise that I would work things out by the time we made it to Devil’s Lake. It was a promise that I intended to keep. We drove in silence for a while until we took the Lincoln Tunnel ramp to New Jersey. My stomach betrayed me, and everyone knew that I was starving. Both Damien and Cassie laughed at me, and I sunk into my seat.

“There’s food in the red cooler at the back by Cassie,” Damien said.

“Thanks,” I said relieved, mourning my missed chance of having a Big Mac. Cassie opened the cooler and dug out the pizza. I had never been as happy as when she handed me the pizza. It did not take me long to finish it.

“Wow,” Cassie said, looking at me like I had just consumed an entire Buffalo. Smiling at her, I turned to Damien who was staring at the road ahead.

“What happens when we get to Devil’s Lake?” I asked.

“We find a way through the gate. I have no idea how, but the gate is there…” he said.

“And hopefully not that creature...” I piped in. The thought of that face and its haunting voice made me shiver. Looking at Cassie and Damien in our nanny van, I knew that we could find a way.

If anyone could do it, we could.