Chapter 14 - Blaze
CHAPTER 14 - BLAZE
O ne problem down, on to the next. The dark symbol Venellan gave me to show Gable burned a hole in my back pocket, the darkness inside me reacting to it. I was ready to purge this filth from me and uncover the mystery of Luna’s mind map.
Luna rapped her knuckles on Gable’s shop door.
He answered moments later, gesturing for us to get inside quickly. “Come in.” Once we piled inside, he poked his head out of the door, glancing left, right, then straight ahead.
I wasn’t the only one with hang-ups.
“Have you been having trouble with snakes?” Talon asked, the soldier in him always near.
Gable shut the door, and my heart thudded at the sound, my anxiety subsiding, but ever present. “They’re watching me, but they left yesterday when your scouts cleared them out.”
Darkness ricocheted through my body, and I shuddered. They waited outside for me. For all of us. We couldn’t leave. We had to stay here where it was safe.
No. Tonight, we figured out how to end this.
“I’ve got someone I want you to meet.” Gable strode out back, and I hung back, checking that the locks were engaged.
“It’s safe here.” Talon wrapped an arm over me, having to drag me out back, because my legs refused to move.
We emerged into his open-plan loft, lit by swing lights and lamps, and I squinted at the sudden brightness scalding my eyes. When my eyes adjusted, I narrowed them, bearing the light, spotting a man in designer clothes seated on the sofa with Mary.
“Hi, Mary.” Luna made a dash for Gable’s sister, running a palm over her shoulder in greeting.
Talon, Cole, and I stood in a huddle by the edge of the sofa.
I felt bare without my powers and ability to read sacred flames. Stuffing my hands in my pocket, I took the moment to study the inside of the loft, unable to scan for dark magick sigils that might be invisibly marked on the walls. There was no way in hell that I’d call back the darkness to sniff it out.
Motion in the corner of my eye brought my attention back to the sofa. A man rubbed underneath his generous mouth with a tattooed and ringed finger. The darkness inside me howled at the man, responding to his shadows, indicating he meddled in the dark arts.
Luna cast an appreciative gaze over his body, and Cole’s grip on her shoulders tightened possessively.
Gable rested on the arm of the chair next to the man, throwing a casual arm over his shoulder. “Guys, this is Castor, an associate of mine, versed in dark magick.”
Talon made the first move, closing the distance and throwing out a palm. “Good to see you again, Jackal.”
Jackal .
The name sounded familiar, and I scanned the memory banks. Everything was a little fuzzy lately. The Jackals Wrath MC. Ancient Egyptian demigods. Rough and ruthless. The wailing in my head deafened me, and I knew this guy did bad things for a living. Murder. Revenge. Bribery. Unspeakable things with dark powers.
“Is this the curse you mentioned?” He whistled, approaching Talon with a confident swagger, studying his stone composition, muscles, horns, and wings like a scientist.
“It’s me, Talon. We met the other day,” my brother replied. “Every sunset I turn into this.”
“You’re one heck of a warrior, Darnax.” The biker reached up to test the sharpness of my friend’s horn, and Talon shoved him away, refusing to be assessed like a science experiment. “Nice underwear, Superman. Tell me more about your curse, maybe I can help.”
“Wrong guy.” Gable got up to go to his kitchen. “You want the hotshot in the cashmere coat.” He poured a pot of tea, stacked mugs on a tray, and carried it over to us, distributing it.
The biker turned his amber gaze on me. “You don’t look so good, hotshot.”
That damn name.
“Been a while.” I didn’t bother to shake his hand. My heart pounded so hard, my chest ached, and gray patches took shape in my vision.
My brothers and bonded sipped at their drinks and gave the floor to me.
Mary’s wary gaze stuttered about the group as she clutched her mug to her stomach as if protecting her middle.
“Why don’t you tell me your story?” Castor motioned to me, and I blinked at the symbols on his fingers.
“What does that mean?” I rubbed my thumb to hint what I meant.
Castor smiled, a cunning expression that said this wasn’t the kind of man to cross without consequences. “These are the symbols for Maat, the cosmic law of balance and order.” He stroked the ink reverently. “I’m the Earth’s enforcer, so to speak, the same role I play with the Jackals. And I punish those who break the law.”
The symbols prompted a sharp ache in my temples and a searing light in my skull, and I rubbed my forehead.
Castor’s eyes narrowed. “These bother you?” He stuffed his hands in his coat pockets, and the pain subsided.
“Thanks.” I had to sit down before my trembling legs gave out and I fell back into the recliner seat on a forty-five-degree angle to him.
“Tell me how this started.” Castor scrubbed his chin as I recalled my story and showed him the remaining stain of the serpents on my forearm.
The enforcer set aside his mug and climbed from his seat.
The darkness crawled under my skin as he approached, and I sank into my seat, wanting to keep my distance. Not because I was frightened of him. The darkness feared his examination and touch.
“Give me a look at your arm.” He flicked his fingers at me, and I gave him what he wanted.
Gable leaned forward in his chair with avid interest, and I got the strong impression of kindred souls at work.
Castor recited a few words and ran his palm over the top of my forearm. Light flashed in my skull, scorching my eyes, and I blinked. Fire etched marks into my skin, and I jerked my arm to my chest.
The Jackal snatched my wrist and jerked it back. “There are letters here.”
I blinked to clear my vision, catching hints of pink, scarred flesh, bubbled up like worms on my skin, shaping the dark language of the serpents.
Castor traced one with his thumb, the motion agonizing, like he branded me with a red-hot poker. “We have to get this off you.” His alarmed voice sounded like he called to me from the end of a tunnel.
“Why? What’s wrong with him?” Talon, also far away.
Luna whimpered, and I heard Cole whisper to her.
Another swipe of Castor’s finger burned holes in my skin. “It says he belongs to the Dark Lord.”
Snakes hissed in my ear, and I felt them coil over my shoulders, a solid weight, constricting my movement and air intake. I scratched at them to get them off, but there was nothing there.
“Fuck. Get the writing off him!” Thudding footsteps suggested Talon paced the length of the sofa. “We can’t take him back to the Academy like this!”
“Stop!” I croaked, unable to bear the pain or the rising wailing in my head, thousands of dead souls begging for freedom.
Castor set a palm on my shoulder. “It’ll only hurt for a moment.”
“Get it off!” My throat hurt to raise my voice.
“I’m not letting go until this thing is cleared from your skin.” Castor recited the language of the angels first, intensifying the fire in my arm, spreading it throughout my body, torching my heart, turning it to ash. Over this, he laid a matrix of white magick I wasn’t familiar with, the lines flooding the darkness embedded in me.
It hurt to breathe, to swallow, to remain alive, and all I wanted to do was escape. I scrambled backward, the recliner toppling backward, hitting the wood floor with a jarring thud that knocked the wind out of me.
Someone else screamed, dropping a mug, and stumbling away.
“Shit. Mary!” Gable went after her.
“Fuck!” Talon again, stomping over to me, crunching on broken shards.
“Let me finish!” Castor argued with him.
“Blaze?” I felt Luna’s soft, warm, calming palm on my other wrist, injecting calm into my frenzy. “Let me try something.”
“Anything,” I moaned, rocking my head side to side, desperate to get a molecule inside my lungs. “Just make it stop hurting.”
“What are you doing?” Castor demanded.
“Helping.” Luna stood her ground with him, and the teacher part of me, buried deep but ever present, smiled with pride.
Elemental magick flowed from her into me coursing through my skin, blood, and muscle to my core. Soothing water cooled the heat of the burn. Fire raged through my veins, decimating the darkness hijacking my system. Air carried away the ash and heat. Earth covered the wounds, encouraging new skin and cells to grow where the rot spoiled everything. Death permeated the heart of darkness and killed it.
I gasped, sucking in air, my throat free of the blockage. A calmness I hadn’t felt in almost two weeks permeated my soul. The spike in my heart rate took a deep dive. Anxiety released its grasp on me. Glimmers of light torched the dark spots in my vision.
“Try it now,” Luna said to Castor, stroking my forehead.
He recited the words again, the pain fading, the darkness wailing as the light reached every black corner, banishing it. It oozed from my pores in a shadowy mist. I felt a semblance of normality again, free of the confinement, emptiness, and the stranglehold of malevolence.
Castor clapped his palm on my treated forearm and squeezed. “He’s not in the clear just yet.” His finger tapped the snake’s tail. “The good news is that I cleansed most of the darkness. The bad news is that the marking is still ingrained in his forearm. It’s grey, not black, but if anything frightens or angers you, it might darken again.”
I didn’t care about the future when all I could focus on was now. The pain and headache were leaving. I could breathe without a weight on my chest. The worming under my skin had stopped. The force of darkness destroying everything that was good in me had retreated.
“That’s something.” Luna brushed sweaty hair from my forehead.
I rubbed my wrist, my palms brushing over smooth skin, the lumpy scars outlining the dark language that I caught a glimpse of, gone.
“Thank you,” I wheezed.
Castor clapped my shoulder. “The worst is over. I want to investigate those markings and see what I can do to eradicate them entirely.”
I nodded, saving my burning throat and hoarse voice.
Gable came up behind his associate and thumped him on the back. “Thanks. I owe you one.”
Castor scratched his eyebrow with his thumb. “Consider that a freebie. I’ve not seen the Brotherhood’s handiwork before.”
Gable’s cocky grin flashed like spotlights, and I blinked the brightness back. “Let me see you out.”
Castor glanced back at me before climbing to a stand. “Call me if this gets worse.” He removed a card from his breast pocket and held it out for me.
Luna collected it and stuffed it in the back pocket of her jeans. “We can’t thank you enough.”
“Wait.” I lifted my hips and shoved my hand into my back pocket, calling out the paper with the mysterious sixth element. “Do either of you recognize this symbol?” I showed it to both Castor and Gable.
The Jackal’s eyes darkened, and he studied it with the fascination of a scientist. “No. Can I get a picture?” I nodded, and he snapped one with his phone camera. “I’ll look into it.”
“Me, too.” Gable clapped Castor’s palm.
“Thanks.” I scrunched up the symbol and stuffed the paper inside my coat pocket.
Castor nodded a final time and headed for the exit with our host.
Cole was kneeling beside my fallen chair. “How do you feel?”
“Better than I have been.” I couldn’t stop rubbing my forearm.
“Good.” Cole held out a fist for me to bump, and I did, a little weakened from the magical clearing.
Talon swiped a hand across his stoney mouth. “I need a drink after that.”
“Me too.” I needed liquid to ease dehydration.
Gable chose that moment to return, grabbing a bottle of whisky and shot glasses, filling four of them, and handing them out. “Sorry, big guy.”
Talon shrugged.
Gable pinched his drink between two fingers. “Bottoms up.”
I threw the drink back and savored the sweet burn in my throat compared to the unquenchable thirst. The rest of them stared at me for a beat, then followed suit, hissing and cupping or wiping their mouths. I usually abstained from alcohol but tonight called for it.
“What now?” I glanced at each of them.
“We take it one step at a time,” Talon rumbled.
Luna hadn’t let go of my arm, her grip relaxing. “We wait for word from Castor, and we make the next decision.”
I wiped the sweat from my top lip and nodded. I could do that.
Gable twisted his whisky glass. “Another?”
Cole waved him away, Luna shook her head, and I turned him down.
Gable crossed back to his mini bar and deposited the bottle. “Castor’s pretty fast with information. We won’t be waiting long.”
“Is Mary okay?” Luna asked. “Do you have to get back to her?”
“She will be.” Gable gave her a fleeting smile as he collected the shot glasses and took them to the kitchen.
Talon took that as our cue to leave. “We’ll get out of your hair then.” He went up to Gable and shook his shoulder. “Thanks for tonight.”
“Anytime, Stoney.” He flashed a fraction of his standard grin.
Cole and Luna lifted me from the fallen chair and righted it.
I stumbled slightly on my way over to Gable. “I appreciate this.” I threw out my hand, and he stared at it for several beats before accepting it and giving me a solid shake, the snap of it reaching my stiff joints.
“Does this mean we’re a team?” His cocky grin returned with full force.
I croaked out a laugh. “Yeah, I guess we are.”