Immortal Fire - Book One

The wind was knocked out of me and when I finally found my breath, I pushed myself up onto my elbows. The door was gone and only smoldering splinters of metal that were melting hung from its frame. It was dark beyond the door.

Getting up, I did not bother to wait for the others. Dirty, blood-covered hair clung to my face as I entered the room.

“Hayden!” I shouted, looking around.

A light in the far back corner of the room caught my attention and I ran to it. I could hear the others running after me as I charged towards the light source. Sitting on the cold, hard floor was Hayden. At the sight of him, my heart felt like it would burst from my chest. He was covered in cuts and bruises. Lifting his head, his eyes widened.

“Aria?” he said, his voice croaking from dehydration. I immediately dropped to the floor and wrapped my arms around him. He did not seem to know what to do at first, but then, slowly he placed his arms around me in return.

“You’re here?” he asked disbelievingly.

“Yes,” I said, almost not believing he was really before me either.

Tears started flowing from my eyes and Hayden squeezed me tight. He finally realized that I was real and that I had come to get him. Pushing me back suddenly, he looked me over, holding my shoulders.

“What about Hades and Hunter? They will kill you! What the fuck happened to you Aria?” he shouted starting to get angry at the sights of my injuries. His eyes never stopped raking across my bloodied features.

“Well, about Hunter…” I started nervously but realized I was too late to explain when Hayden got up and ran past me.

Before I could even do anything, he grabbed Hunter’s shirt and hit him in the face before pushing his brother away violently.

“Hayden, stop!” I shouted running over to him.

Hunter sat up and was holding his nose moaning and cursing.

“What the fuck is with the two of you trying to break my nose over and over in one fucking day?!” he shouted while wiping the blood that poured from it with his shirt sleeve.

Seemed like he was back to being himself then… Hayden turned on me then. “Why is he here?” he asked aggravated.

I looked back at Hunter who was getting up from the floor and still wiping at his bloody nose. He already had bruises beneath his eyes from his nose being broken earlier by me and I suspected they would just get even worse now. Poor guy…

“He is helping us. Hades had him under his control… look I can’t explain everything right now but if you don’t trust him then at least trust me when I say that he is helping…” I said in a rush and spared a glare towards Hunter to emphasize my point.

I had to catch my breath after forcing that out so quickly as if to relay the sentence before Hayden could get a hit in on Hunter again. Hayden looked at me for a while, seemingly in disbelief, and then back to his brother.

“I do not trust you, but I do trust Aria, so don’t fuck up ‘brother’,” Hayden said scowling at Hunter.

Damien stepped forward then and Hayden realized he was there for the first time since we arrived.

“I hate to cut the reunion short, but we need to get the hell out of here. I’m sure Hades and his demons know where we are by now,” he said.

“Oh, that’s nice to know. Thanks for telling us that Captain Obvious.” Hunter said to Damien.

Damien’s jaw clenched as he looked at Hunter.

“You know, maybe I should break your nose for a third time today. I think you were much better off as a drooling comatose ass.” he snapped.

I could feel a headache coming on with all the testosterone bullshit that was going on. It was as if the three men were having a pissing contest. The three of them were busy shouting at each other and were getting louder by the second. Someone would surely know where we were now.

“Guy’s, stop it!” I shouted, but none of them even heard me.

How the fuck did I become the sane one here? After trying to get their attention and stop fighting for the hundredth time, I lost my temper.

“That’s it!” I shouted, infuriated.

Calling on the angel fire, I shot a flame at the center of where they stood. The azure flame shot up in a column of the angelic blaze before it extinguished itself. The three of them fell back and looked up at me wide-eyed.

“You three need to shut the fuck up and pull your shit together! Since when did I become your babysitter? If I hear one more chirp from any of you…” I stared each of them down for emphasis, “I will fry your childish asses on the spot! Now get up and let’s go! Do you three understand me?” I shouted. My chest heaved heavily from my rant.

Each of them just sat there and stared at me. I was fuming and I just wanted to go home. When none of them moved, I shouted again.

“Now!”

The three of them were on their feet in a second and had the looks of guilt that a scolded child had after their parent disciplined them. It was quite humorous, but I was not about to let them know that I wanted to laugh.

“Where is Cassie?” I asked Damien.

“She’s over there drinking some water,” Damien said and pointed to the spot where Cassie sat on the ground with one of the bottles of water we had packed in our backpacks before coming here.

“Cass, are you okay?” I asked her softly.

I was still so worried about her. She nodded and I got a half-smile in return. I felt much better at the sight of her smiling.

“I like her…” I heard Hunter say to Hayden, nudging him with his shoulder as they stood watching me.

Hayden did not respond but he smiled at me lovingly and admiringly. I could not help but smile back. I motioned for everyone to come together so that we could figure out how to get out of here alive. Standing in a circle, I could not help but notice how Damien and Hayden stood apart from Hunter. They had not argued since I had my moment of fury earlier, but it was clear that they still did not trust him.

“Hunter, how do we get out of here?” I asked him.

The others turned and waited for him to answer.

“We need to go further down the hall, through the prison cells, and then down another few corridors until we get to the gateway. The gateway will take us to central park.”

“Go through the prison cells? Won’t guards be stationed there?” asked Hayden.

I was proud that he was able to contain his hatred for his brother so that we could get out of here.

“Yeah, but, if we cause a distraction, with say, for instance, a large fireball down the opposite direction, they will have to leave to go see what is going on,” he said proudly, smiling at me.

“I take it, I’m the one responsible for the fireball?” I asked. He nodded.

“Okay, sounds like a plan… I can do that. We just follow you?” I asked, not for a real answer but so that Damien and Hayden could be clear on the fact that we were going to trust Hunter to lead us to safety.

“Yes,” Hunter said, touching his nose absentmindedly.

“I don’t like this plan,” said Damien, standing with his arms crossed over his chest.

“I agree with the angel…,” said Hayden.

Sighing, I glared at the two of them.

“Well, it is the plan, and you don’t have to like it. It’s the only plan we have, and we are sticking to it.” I said icily.

Honestly, could they not just grow up? Hayden looked at Damien and shrugged his shoulders to which Damien sighed and did the same.

“Fine... We will stick to the plan but that doesn’t mean that I trust him,” said Damien, nodding his chin in the direction of Hunter.

Hunter rolled his eyes in return.

“Lord, give me strength…” I said between clenched teeth.