Everlasting Flame

by Katelyn Anderson

  Chapter Fourteen

  I never wanted to be in this position. I knew what was going to happen. Everyone here was on Death’s clock, time of living drawing to an end with each strike of the hand. They were ignorant, sculling back vodka, glass after glass, playing strip poker since they ran out of money after betting on the wrong person and losing to Viktor. I stayed well out of that game. I was the only female present. They didn’t push the matter when I refused to play, probably because I stabbed someone in the unmentionables. They knew not to mess with me. Little did they know, each and every single one of them had been nicked by my poisoned blade. They were too drunk to notice when I shook their hands. The alcohol had numbed them. I slipped the ring into my jacket pocket when it had finished doing its job. It was my attempt of hiding the evidence.

  Kristof healed in a matter of seconds after his painful ordeal and was stationed outside, avoiding the drunks and the embarrassment of being beaten by a girl. He couldn’t even look at me when he left. I couldn’t either. I wasn’t proud of what I did but it was the only way I could win against him. I had to fight dirty. There hadn’t been any other option. It was all about my survival. Nobody else mattered.

  Kristof would be the first to go up in flames. Everyone else would follow suit, one by one. The last person would be Viktor. Once he died, I was getting the hell out of there. I had nothing to check the time. I didn’t know how long I had been in there, getting drunk off the vodka fumes. It was only a matter of time. The match had been lit a long time ago. I wasn’t ready to watch people burn. I didn’t want to be put in this position. I was hoping Cyrus got here before the reckoning. I wasn’t holding my breath. I’d close my eyes and count the screams. Only when there was silence would I open my eyes.

  Viktor had dragged me to the other side of the warehouse, away from the loud drunks, in a separate room. I made his men uneasy, especially when Viktor handed my jacket back to me. He didn’t want a repeat of what I did to Kristof so he kept me away from his men. He said they were afraid enough as it was with what was going on outside. If only he knew I was the one responsible for making everyone burn. I knew I wouldn’t be breathing if he did. I hope he didn’t make the connection when his men went up in smoke. I didn’t want to be anywhere near him when flames engulfed him.

  “Those things will kill you,” I said when Viktor lit another cigarette. I was still speaking in Russian.

  Viktor was sitting across from me, setting up a chessboard he laid out on the table. He laughed, almost choking on the smoke. “Cigarettes only kill humans,” he said, taking another puff and blowing it away from me. “Not that it makes a difference. We are all living on borrowed time.”

  “Immortality isn’t much of a luxury with targets on our backs,” I agreed, watching him set up my side of the chessboard. “I’m on my own so I appreciate that you gave me sanctuary.”

  “You didn’t need it with the training you have. I’m still wondering why Nikolai sent you here.”

  “You were the closest to keep me safe from what’s going on outside. He knew you were equipped to handle the chaos,” I replied, taking a sip of water. I still had my bottle and I wasn’t going to start drinking vodka. I was too young to drink and I needed to stay sharp.

  Cyrus was awfully quiet. I was hoping he was still there and wasn’t too far away. He said he’d only intervene if I needed help. His silence meant that I was doing fine. Either that or I had lost communication with him. I tried not to think the worst. This would all be over soon. The clock was ticking.

  “Equipped, eh? That’s one way of putting it,” Viktor said, scratching the underside of his chin. He moved a white pawn two squares and took another puff of his smoke. “We went on lockdown straight away but lost men who were in other territories. They didn’t get here in time.”

  “It’s awful. Do you have any idea what’s happening out there?” I asked, moving a chess piece across the board. Damian had taught me how to play. It had been awhile so I was rusty. I was using this game as a distraction. It made it easier to pretend I was ignorant.

  “The agency have obviously found a new strategy to target us and kill us,” Viktor said, taking out my pawn. “Immortals going up in flames are more probable than humans.”

  “Then it’s over for us,” I murmured, moving another chess piece. “The agency acts like a god. There’s no rising up against a god.”

  “If we all come together, we could overthrow them. They are a corrupt government. It’s time their reign came to an end.”

  “We did come together. The resistance fought them and failed. There’s more of them than there is of us.”

  “Numbers don’t matter. Magic gives us an advantage but most don’t know how to use it properly.”

  “It would make a difference, that’s for sure. I doubt the agency will give us the opportunity to come together, learn how to use magic, and overthrow them. There are eyes everywhere.”

  “Nikolai has taught you well. Why did you become his disciple? You seem like a sweet girl. I see his spirit inside you. Your fighting style is the mirror image of his.”

  “Circumstances. The agency murdered my whole family. Being sweet doesn’t get you very far in this world. I needed to become who I am now to survive. I have no regrets.”

  Viktor exhaled his smoke away from me again, twisting the bud in the ashtray. He moved the ashtray off the table. He must have noticed I was scrunching up my nose. I despised smokers.

  “You’re welcome to stay for as long as you want. A friend of Nikolai’s is a friend of mine. Did he tell you he used to run this gang?”

  My mouth almost hit the table. “No,” my voice came out in a squeak.

  Viktor laughed at the expression on my face and moved a chess piece across the board. “He left me in charge when he went on his crusade. Never came back. Not that I’m complaining. He was a ruthless psychopath.”

  “Still is,” I said, laughing.

  “Watch your tongue, Joan,” Cyrus warned curtly. Oh, so he was still present.

  “I can tell. You’ve inherited his ruthlessness. I’ve never seen someone plunge a knife where you did. I’m surprised none of my men passed out,” Viktor said, taking a swig of his drink.

  “You set me up to fail. I wasn’t given much of a choice.”

  “I’ll be more mindful next time.”

  I almost said there wouldn’t be a next time but I stopped myself before I did. “Good plan,” I agreed.

  “Would you like something a bit stronger than water?”

  “No thank you, I don’t drink.”

  “Russian and don’t drink. That’s a good one. Unless you aren’t Russian.”

  “I’m multilingual. I never said I was from Russia.”

  “Always know how to lie through your teeth on the spot. I always did like that about you,” Cyrus complimented me.

  “Then where are you from?” Viktor asked, switching to English. His words were still heavily accented. He took out my knight with his bishop.

  “I’m a local. Chicago is my home,” I said, dropping the language and accent.

  “It’s not much of a home when Death’s office is just down the street.”

  The agency’s main base was located in town, the home of Dane Stevens, the CEO.

  “I’m hoping that will change one day.”

  “That’s what we all hope for, Joan. Until then we do what we can to survive. I’m not proud of the things I’ve done to keep my men alive but we do what we have to. It’s not worth living if you have nothing to protect or fight for.”

  “You and I share the same values. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t fighting for someone.”

  “Fighting for yourself is not the same as protecting your friends or family.”

  “My family isn’t around to protect and my friends can look out for themselves. I’m not protecting myself, Viktor. I want to protect everyone.”

  “You can’t save everyone, Joan. It’s an impossible task. You will learn that one day if you haven’
t already.”

  “Viktor!” one of the men shouted as he burst through the door. He knocked over several things in the process, due to his franticness and being drunk. “I went to go relieve Kristof from his post but he’s gone. All that was left of him was a glowing marking on the door. He’s dead. Oh god, he’s dead. We’re next.”

  Viktor rose up from the table. “We do not fear death. We are immortals. Calm down and do your job. Nobody is to enter this building. Get out. Get out right now and if you spread panic to the others, I will cut you down right where you stand.”

  “Y-yes sir,” the man spluttered, leaving the room as quickly as he came.

  “Joan, come with me. I don’t want you out of my sight.” Viktor’s sentence wasn’t a request; it was an order. If I refused, it would look suspicious.

  I needed to go with him but I didn’t want to leave the comfort of the secluded room. I couldn’t see the others. The walls protected me from the inevitable horror I didn’t want to witness. I had done so well to come this far. I couldn’t screw it up, not now.

  I followed Viktor. I regretted it instantly. The warehouse was set ablaze by people on fire, screaming in anguish, running around flailing wildly. Even their drinks on the table were burning like candles. The men fell to the floor yelling before exploding, leaving behind no bones, only ash. The smell was awful. The last thing I saw was Viktor running for a fire extinguisher and trying to douse the flames as his people burned one after the other.

  I slipped back into the room I came from and curled up into a ball, covering my ears, keeping my eyes tightly shut.

  “It will be over soon. It will be over soon,” I kept repeating to myself in a soft whisper as I rocked backwards and forwards.

  I tried to drown out the yelling by humming with my ears still covered. It helped a little but nothing could block out their screams as they burned alive. I didn’t want to be here. I should have found an excuse to leave when I had the chance but it was too late for that. I just had to wait for the screaming to stop and the room to be silent before I slipped out into the night. It would take a long time for me to recover from this. I was trying my damn best not to pass out.

  It went quiet out there. The screams stopped.

  I waited a few more minutes until I curled out of my ball. I was trembling and could hardly breathe, let alone move. It took several attempts to get off the floor. I fell more than once. I had to pull myself together if I wanted to get out without being noticed.

  Come on. You can do this. I need to get to safety and far away from here as possible.

  I went for the door. I jumped with fright when a table collided into the wall as Viktor wordlessly yelled. Glass shattered and cards fell onto the floor like burning snowflakes. He was still alive. Everyone else was dead. The ground, shipping containers, and walls were covered with ash; the symbol of angel wings with a scythe glowed all around us.

  I didn’t know what to do. I was frozen in the doorway, still numbed by shock. Viktor shouldn’t have been alive. There was no way. But there he was, standing there, shoulders rising and falling rapidly as anger consumed him. He had run out of things to throw across the room. The chairs had melted into puddles, as well as the guns the men had close by before they died. There was nothing left.

  “You know, it’s funny. They all went up in smoke in the same order that they shook your hand. I wonder why that is,” Viktor said, voice trembling with rage.

  Viktor began to make his way towards me. Ash flew up in a cloud with each heavy step he took. I couldn’t move. I was rooted to the spot. He wrapped his hand around my throat and slid me up the wall. I dangled in the air, trying to rip his hand off mine, kicking. He was too infuriated to notice I was hurting him; either that or he didn’t care.

  I gasped for air, trying to breathe. The room started to spin.

  “There’s something I’ve never told anyone. But since you’re not going to be around for much longer, I’m going to let you in on my secret to why I’m still here, breathing,” he said, loosening his grasp just a little so I could breathe and not pass out before he finished speaking. “I can siphon magic, replicating its properties on my own. It seems I unknowingly siphoned the antidote that protects you from meeting the same fate as my men. What a pity for you. I’m going to give you a slow and painful death, Joan. I’m going to take my time. I will siphon your immortality and make you human so you won’t heal. I know what bones I can break that won’t kill you but it will make you wish you were dead. I will teach you what true pain is.”

  Viktor’s hand suddenly went slack. I fell to the ground the same time he did. I cried out. My shoulder burned with smothering pain like I had been hit by a sledgehammer.

  Blood pooled around Viktor in a slow dribble; he wasn’t moving. There was a hole in his head. His mouth hung open with shock and his cold eyes were cracked like frozen puddles.

  I glanced up to see Cyrus holding a gun attached with a silencer. It was only then that I realised the bullet had lodged itself in my shoulder, going straight through Viktor’s skull into me.

  I shrugged off my jacket slowly and that was a struggle. I couldn’t see exactly where the bullet was. There was too much blood and it hurt all over. My shoulder had been replaced by a meaty chunk. I looked away immediately.

  “Don’t say thank you or anything,” Cyrus said, lowering the gun. His hair was soaking wet, as were the rest of his clothes. “I ran all the way here in the pouring rain to cover your ass. You can at least pretend to be grateful.”

  “Shut up. Just shut up!” I screamed; I somehow managed to stand up. “I just went through something traumatic and you’re standing there cracking jokes! If you haven’t noticed, that bullet isn’t lodged in Viktor’s head. It popped out the other side into my shoulder. It hurts like hell and you’re complaining that you got soaked in the rain. Boohoo! I just witnessed people burning like human candles and combusting into infinite pieces. I can’t even begin to express how angry I am. I could have been killed! I can barely stand on my own two feet after everything I’ve just been through. Pretend to be grateful, you say? Yeah, sure, thanks for saving me, but it was you that got me into this mess in the first place! Do you know how long it’s gonna take to actually sleep soundly at night after witnessing that horrible turn of events? You never gave me an out. You just let me stay here to watch them burn. To prove what? To test me? To see if I’d do it and not choke? God, you are such a jerk!”

  Cyrus was standing inches away from me. I hadn’t even noticed how close he got to me. I had been too busy screaming at him to realise he had approached me during my rant. My eyes were too blurred due to the tears streaming down my face and the black splotches invading my vision. I couldn’t see his expression, only the coldness of those blue eyes gazing back at me.

  “Where’s the ring?”

  Is that all he had to say to me after that long speech? What an ass.

  “Here,” I muttered, slipping my hand into my pocket.

  I dropped the ring in his outstretched hand, watching him tuck it away from sight.

  “Don’t touch me!” I snapped, slapping his hand away when he touched my wounded shoulder. The pain was unbearable.

  “Fine. Bleed out. See if I care,” he said, throwing my jacket over my shoulder to cover the wound.

  I fell forward into him. He caught me straight away, despite what he just said. He did care. He wouldn’t be holding me so tightly if he didn’t. I was weak and could barely stand. He was supporting me completely. His clothes were soaking wet and he was freezing. Yet underneath those clothes, I could feel the warmth of his skin and smell the soothing scent of honey.

  “Dead weight, I see.”

  “Shut up,” I breathed exasperatedly.

  “Not gonna get far in that state,” he said, scooping me up off my feet. He wrapped my good arm around his shoulder. He tucked his arm under my knees and held my waist with his other arm.

  “Put me down,” I protested weakly. It was embarrassing.

&nb
sp; “No. You’ll slow me down otherwise,” he said, wandering through the warehouse, carrying me with ease.

  “Then just leave me behind.”

  “Lorenzo lives close by. We’ll stop by there to patch you up.”

  “You’re not gonna get very far down the street carrying a girl covered in blood.”

  “I’m an illusionist. I can make people see what I want them to. They won’t see you. There is more to being a Dream Shuffler than you know but I can’t divulge all my secrets,” he murmured, knocking the door open with a sharp kick. “We won’t be noticed.”

  “Is anything about you real or is your whole life a lie?”

  “I am what you see. I am what you smell and hear. All of that is not an illusion.”

  “So you say,” I muttered, voice barely coming out coherently. I was losing consciousness.

  “No passing out on me, Joan. We’re almost at Lorenzo’s.”

  “But I’m so tired...”

  “Stay awake,” Cyrus said, quickening his pace. He was jogging.

  Water from puddles splashed around him as he ran. The sudden jolts sent the pain in my arm skyrocketing to the thousands. I had to bite my lip to stop myself from crying out. I couldn’t draw attention to us when Cyrus was using his magic to conceal us. The rain poured down like a raging torrent, washing away the blood. It made my wound sting even more as water seeped through the jacket. If this kept up, I would pass out from the pain and not the exhaustion.

  “Are you still with me?” Cyrus asked. Was that concern I heard in his voice? “Joan, say something.”

  “Something,” I mumbled, gripping his shoulder weakly with my good arm.

  Cyrus shook his head. “Good one.”

  Cyrus eventually stopped running. We had reached our destination. He walked up to Lorenzo’s front door and kicked it down. He never did understand the meaning of knocking. It had always been a foreign concept to him. I had never seen him knock, not once.

  “What the hell?” Lorenzo called out from somewhere in the house. “Whoever the hell you are, you picked the wrong house. Get out before I make you wish you left when I gave you the chance.”

  “Joan’s been shot. You were the closest. Clear a space. She needs medical attention and fast. She’s already lost too much blood,” Cyrus called back, making his way down the hallway, still carrying me.

  It got to the point where I couldn’t see a thing. Everything was fuzzy. I closed my eyes and kept them shut.

  “I should have known it was you. Were you behind the massacres today?” Lorenzo asked.

  “Did you not hear the part where I said Joan’s been shot? Less accusation, more helping.”

  “I’m trying to find the first-aid kit. Set her down on the kitchen table. I’ll be there in a minute. Should I call Damian?”

  “No,” Cyrus and I replied in unison. Amazing, something we both agreed on. “She’ll live. She just needs this bullet removed and rest.”

  “He might turn up anyway. He doesn’t miss a thing, especially where Joan is concerned. You might want to make yourself scarce, Cyrus. You can trust me to look after her. You don’t need to stay here.”

  “If she dies on your watch it will be your fault, not mine,” Cyrus stated heatedly, setting me gently down on the kitchen table. “I’m sure you don’t want that on your conscience. Damian can be very unforgiving.”

  “If he turns up and you get your ass kicked, I won’t say I told you so.”

  “How considerate of you,” Cyrus replied, voice oozing with sarcasm. “Hand me the kit, you hold her down.”

  “Ok. You still with us, kiddo?”

  “If you call me that again, I’ll cut you,” I mumbled, finding it difficult to open my eyes. I just left them shut. They were too heavy to lift.

  Lorenzo snickered. “Here’s the kit, Cyrus. Joan, you’ll want to bite down on something.”

  “Use your belt,” Cyrus said, rummaging through the kit. I could hear the crinkling of plastic and metal clanging together.

  “I usually buy a girl dinner first before the pants come off,” Lorenzo replied slyly.

  There was a touch of silence. Cyrus immediately stopped rifling through the kit to undoubtedly give Lorenzo a scowl of disapproval.

  It hurt to laugh but it was totally worth it. My laugh was short lived.

  “Forget I asked. A fabric roll of bandages will do. Here. Make it snappy, we can’t wait much longer,” Cyrus mentioned curtly.

  A soft hand clasped my chin and opened my mouth wide enough to fit the fabric roll in. I clamped down on it on my own. That much I could do. The pain was so unbearable that I was on the cusp of unconsciousness. It was going to get a lot worse when Cyrus dug the bullet out. I was going to do my best and not to pass out. I had gotten this far.

  “Hold her down. She’ll fight,” Cyrus said. I wasn’t sure I had the energy to fight them.

  Lorenzo put one arm across my waist, gripping onto my hip. The other arm went across the top of my shoulders, near the collar bone and just above the wound. I felt his fingers brush by the bullet hole and cringed.

  “Who shot her?” Lorenzo asked.

  “It was an accident,” Cyrus murmured.

  “A miscalculation,” I corrected him but my sentence came out in a garble. I forgot I had fabric in my mouth. There was no point trying to repeat myself.

  “This is going to hurt a lot more than the pain you’re in now. There’s no shame in screaming or passing out,” Lorenzo warned. I’m glad he did because Cyrus proceeded to dig the bullet out straight afterwards.

  I did fight, and boy did I scream. Lorenzo held me down with his full weight, trying to stop my body from jerking. Cyrus held me down with his free hand. The combination of them both pinning me restricted my movements but my feet were still kicking. Hot tears cascaded down my cheeks. The pain went from a sledgehammer to a damn truck.

  I was so close to passing out but then the pain vanished and my body went still. The bullet was gone and the wound closed up. I was so relieved. I was still incredibly weak from blood loss and my eyes refused to open. I was barely hanging onto consciousness. I guess that’s what happens when stubbornness takes over. I should have passed out a long time ago.

  “Lorenzo, can you do me a favour?” Cyrus asked. There was a tone in his voice I hadn’t heard from him before: sincerity.

  “What is it?” Lorenzo questioned, sounding suspicious.

  “Take care of her. After what I made her do today, it’s going to take a long time to heal and I’m not the best person to support her. I know how much you and Damian care for her. That’s what she needs. Not tough love. I can’t be the person she needs.”

  Yup. I was definitely dreaming.

  “Admitting that is a start and shows that you do care. I know you have a jerk persona to maintain and can’t let warm and fuzzy feelings compromise that. Don’t give me that look, I’m being honest. It was the nicest way I could put it, promise. I’ll keep an eye on her overnight. If she wants to spend more time here once she’s recovered, that’s up to her to decide. I’ll look after her, Cyrus. You have my word. But if she wants to come back to you, that’s her choice.”

  “She won’t, not so soon. I need to go before Damian shows up.”

  I heard footsteps as Cyrus walked away. He was usually so quiet on his feet but his wet shoes squelched against the floor. I wanted to tell him to stay. I wanted to tell him that he didn’t need to go. I wanted to tell him that I would be fine even though I knew that was a big fat lie. Maybe that’s why I found it so hard to speak up and stop him from leaving.

  “I hope you’ve destroyed whatever it was you used before the agency finds it. We don’t need that wiping out the race you’re trying to protect from going extinct,” Lorenzo called out.

  “It’s handled,” Cyrus assured him.

  “What about the antidote? It can’t be reversed engineered can it?”

  “No. I’m not an idiot.”

  “That’s debatable,” I mumbled. That’s when
unconsciousness finally took over. I’m pretty sure I heard Lorenzo laugh before I gave into exhaustion.