Embers

by Karen Ann Hopkins

The sun was high in the sky and the air had turned unseasonably warm. Removing the water bottle from the pack I took several swigs and then emptied the remainder onto my face. The water turned to steam when it touched my skin.

  All morning the heat coming from within me had intensified. I was beginning to feel the prickling sense of worry that I wouldn’t be able to control it properly. Now, instead of intense pain and sorrow when I thought of Hannah, the anger would fan the flames to the point of almost spilling over. I embraced the anger, knowing that it was the only thing that would keep me alive, but doubt still lingered. I was intimidated by the fire.

  It was as if it had its own agenda.

  I shook away the thought, and peered through the shiny leaves, checking out the battlefield one last time. The air was heavy and silent. The forest seemed sinister, but I reminded myself that the trees were my friends, as were the occasional animals that ventured too close to the wall, only to pause, their hearts jumping before they hurried off. I felt their presence and took some comfort knowing that there was a land of normalcy within reach.

  I’d planned everything as best I could. My scent was everywhere. The Demons wouldn’t be able to track me easily, especially when I left the area by the creek. They wouldn’t expect that. They felt superior to humans. And that would be their downfall.

  I closed my eyes and felt the forest around me. Insects fluttered between the ferns. A doe nibbled on freshly fallen leaves several yards past the invisible barrier that seemed to separate the Demon territory from the humans’. There was even a brave raccoon sleeping inside the hollowed oak tree not too far away. When I reached my senses further, I found a great bear ambling through the forest.

  Even though evil was draped over this area, the forest was still alive and wholesome beneath it. That gave me hope that I was doing the right thing, and that I could succeed.

  Feeling as ready as I was ever going to be, and just wanting to be done with it, I crawled out from under the branches until the sun shined on my face once again. Carefully, I crouched, making my way closer to the wooden boards. I began to feel the warning signs hit my body; first a tightening in my belly, then my heart racing, followed by the inability to breathe deeply.

  I ignored the sensations, holding onto the fury that had gotten me this far. I continued on, moving as quietly as a ghost. Taking up a position in the shade of a cluster of boulders, I called out to the crow. It startled me when it immediately landed on my shoulder. Its sharp claws bit into my skin and I flinched, but didn’t dislodge it until my mind entered its body. We flew upwards together into the swifter currents above the trees. We circled the compound several times until I saw what I was looking for.

  There, coming out of a small building with unusually high windows, was my prey.

  They walked close together on a stone pathway. Now is my chance. I left the Crow’s body and slipped back into mine. I called to the golden haired Demon with my mind, enticing her to come out of the compound.

  It was a subtle hint playing within her; that there was something interesting to look at in the woods—beyond the compound—she should take her giant with her and go quickly—no time to waste—don’t tell any of the others—you don’t want to share what you find—something very nice.

  I stared at the knots in the wooden boards until they seemed to swirl and change sizes before me. Breathing softly, afraid to make any noise at all, I waited. Time stood still and I grasped a picture of Hannah, in pain, writhing on the ground with the monsters bent over her. The fire snapped alive. I held it at bay, softly stroking it with my consciousness.

  Waiting…waiting…waiting.

  As the sun disappeared behind a cloud, shade sprayed over the forest.

  They’re coming.

  The Demons slipped through a door I hadn’t noticed. When the opening closed behind them, it assumed the look of a solid wall again. I had no time to dwell on the secret entrance. They were moving faster than I’d anticipated. Their feet didn’t seem to touch the ground as their bodies came towards me in quick smoothness, wraithlike. The air was carrying them, and something about the unnatural movements began to brew a slow terror inside of me.

  Closing my eyes for a second, I broke the evil connection. I can’t allow fear to control me. Summoning the vision of the blonde crouched over my friend and sucking the life out of her, I took hold of the flames once again.

  They were almost upon me when I stepped out from behind the rocks. Surprise and recognition manifested on the blonde’s face. She snarled at me, her lips curled up showing her teeth. The longer than normal canines were pointed and moisture dripped from them as her mouth opened wider.

  She gathered her muscles, about to leap. I gasped and pointed my hands at her, releasing the fire without clear thought. The force of the blast knocked both Demons to the ground. I channeled more of the fire, concentrating it into two streams, one aimed at each Demon. Working on pure instinct, I hardly could recall asking the fire to pass from my body.

  It happened so quickly, so easily.

  The more I realized that the creatures had no power over me, the stronger the flames shot from my hands. The Demons howled and whimpered and cursed, but they could do nothing to save themselves. The fire was pummeling them into the ground, holding them there, and burning to ashes every last vestige of their existence.

  I tingled with energy, the power of the flow swiftly surging through currents in every part of my body, from my toes to my fingers. But the elation of success lasted only a few seconds. The flames grew too much for me to handle. They began shooting out from my legs, causing chunks of my jeans to disappear.

  Where an instant before was confidence, now I knew dread.

  The fire was getting away from me, expanding wildly out of control into the hot summer breeze. The fire wanted to be more, to be greater. It was reaching out, searching for fuel, wanting to be entirely free.

  My mind panicked as I tried to cool the heat, calm the flames. But I was losing. It was consuming me from the inside out. What had once been a friend, was now the enemy, fighting against me with a will all of its own.

  I saw only piles of ashes where the Demons had once stood. I’d won, but there was no rejoicing. It wasn’t over. The fear that I would put the entire mountain to flame, killing everything, the noble animals, the lovely trees, strangled the breath from me.

  My thoughts cried out for help. Please, please, help me stop the flames.

  I don’t know what it was that answered, or maybe I was arrogant and it had nothing to do with my call at all. Perhaps it was just nature saving itself.

  The wind suddenly picked up, cool and moisture-filled, and a strange electric current touched me. Instead of fanning the flames, a damp fog rolled in through the trees smothering the pockets of fire that had already spread.

  A spirit rose that had kinship with the trees, and in a different way, it was as strong as the fire. It tangled with the flames, pushing and pulling at them. I could feel the two powers struggling for dominance. At the point that I was sure that the fire was about to win by melting the invisible intruder that fought it, another entity joined the flame’s attacker.

  The sky opened up from a black cloud that a moment before had been nowhere to be seen. The cold rain hit my face with a pelting force that stung my skin. The fire couldn’t survive the double assault. It began to recede back into me, slowly at first, then with a deliberate surge that flowed to my inner core. The last of the flames hit me in the chest like a punch.

  Just as my lungs gave out and a sprinkle of black dots blurred my vision, I thought about the forces that had fought against the flames and won. Did they come from within me or were they something else entirely?

  Danger!

  A rush of fear flooded me, bringing me back from the edge of blackness for a second.

  I reached out with my mind and found them on the ridge watching me.

  Then the ground rose up and the world spun out of control.

  1 Kings 19:5


  And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, suddenly an angel touched him, and said to him, “Arise and eat.”

  Sawyer ~ Thirty-Seven

  I felt it when I turned the page of the book in my hands, an uneasy tension rippling along my skin. Scanning the room, I saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  But I wasn’t deceived. I’d learned long ago to trust my instincts, and I headed for the door.

  I hadn’t seen anyone that day. The Demons were keeping to their houses, either sated from the night’s activities, or disgusted that members of our community had actually killed and fed off the children from the town.

  Were Ember’s friends among the dead? More than likely, yes, and that train of thought stirred an even greater sense of guilt than I normally would have experienced. I was pretty certain that the fair-haired male that I’d put into a trace was not one of the victims. He would have stayed within the dark safety of his truck until the commotion began.

  But the same question kept replaying in my mind, could I have done anything for the others?

  Probably not, it would’ve been one against seven. I wasn’t that good.

  Maybe my current unease had something to do with Kimberly. I knew her well enough to be certain that she’d follow through on her promise of the previous night. I could deflect any accusations she threw my way. It wouldn’t be a problem with the others if I had played with my prey before I’d killed her, as long as I could convince them that I did kill her. Hell, Garrett would probably be ecstatic at the news.

  While I leaned on the railing of the lodge’s front porch, I couldn’t help but remember back to my interlude with Ember in the woods. I was aroused just thinking about it. It was uncomfortable for sure, but I had to smile at how willing she’d been once she’d finally let herself go. It might take some time to completely convince her of it, but she wanted me.

  I’d have to be patient. And I’d definitely keep a better eye on that dog of hers. The last thing I wanted to do was to hurt the animal, even if it was in self-defense. Ember would never get over that.

  The feeling hit me hard again, this time similar to the tapping of hundreds of fingers along my arms and chest. It was the touch of imminent danger, but what could it be? The sun shinned brightly, the air was quiet and still. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

  Then I saw it, the lone Crow perched on the gnarled remains of an old elm tree, long dead from some past blight. The bird stared at me and the word Watcher popped into my mind. I’d read that Watcher’s often used black birds to see with.

  I ran to the fence, jumping it easily. Once I was over the structure, I breathed deeply and the scent came to me—her scent.

  Ember was here.

  The rustle in the leaves made me whirl around. Ivan loped up in wolf form. A second later there was an explosion of color.

  He said in an alarmed voice, “Ember is out here somewhere, her scent is everywhere. I came out for my rounds a minute ago and her smell overwhelmed me, but when I tried to follow it, I was led in circles.” He looked at me with the same shock I was feeling. “Why would she be here?”

  “I don’t know, but turn back into a wolf. We’ve got to find her before anyone else does, especially the cat.”

  We ran up the ridge together. Ivan was right, Ember’s scent was all over and it was fresh. Just as I reached the crest, I slowed when I entered a pocket of hot air. The smell of fire and burning flesh reached my nostrils a second later.

  I ran faster, pulling well ahead of the wolf.

  What I saw stopped me dead in my tracks. I’d seen just about everything, but the sight below struck horror into every fiber of my being.

  Fire erupted from Ember as if she was a volcano, shooting out of her fingers and a few places on her arms and lower legs. The flames were directed at Kimberly and Donnelly, what was left of them anyway. With each breath I took, they became less recognizable, until all that remained was ashes.

  It happened so fast, there was no time to react. The fire around Ember was growing, beginning to spread out on the ground, bursting away from her. The heat was so intense that all of the trees close to her were singed and the air carried the acrid smoke up the ridge, engulfing me.

  The fire continued to expand until the flames began pushing back against her, the invisible casing that had kept her safe seconds before vanishing quickly.

  My heart plummeted. I was helpless to do anything to stop the raging inferno that was Ember.

  Suddenly, as if in answer to my unspoken prayer, a fog came blowing in. On the hot, sunny day it was beyond bizarre, telling me that there was some kind of magic involved.

  I watched the cloud descend into the hollow, entering the flames, moving through them. Whatever was in the mist wasn’t enough to dampen the hot flames that roared back. They shot straight to the sky, their previous orange and yellow tendrils turning a silvery blue. Somehow the fire was getting hotter, fighting the fog with everything it had.

  The fire was stealing all moisture from the air, replacing the mist with smoke. I collapsed to my knees, knowing that Ember would die. There was no way she could survive that kind of heat.

  A gust of wind knocked me onto my back. I found myself staring at a sky that was full of black clouds that had appeared out of nowhere. I smelled the rain before it fell, and my heart leaped with joy as the cold wetness seeped through my clothes, saturating me to the skin.

  Crawling to the edge of the ridge, I looked down. The flames were flowing back into Ember. The fire was actually shooting from everywhere it had spread, back into her body until there was only smoke and charred earth left around her.

  She looked up, straight at me. I almost didn’t recognize her. Her eyes were glowing bright red for an instant before they turned back to the blue I knew so well.

  What I’d just seen made me hesitate to go to her. She’d obviously gotten over her fear and was now a walking bomb, her own weapon of mass destruction.

  I poised on the balls of my feet, apprehension stalling my movement.

  Had Ember gone rogue? Was there anything left of the sweet girl I’d kissed, in a body filled with so much destroying fire?

  Was she any less a monster than the rest of us?

  When she collapsed, all doubt left me. I ran down the hill, no longer concerned about what she was.

  I reached her in an instant, scooping her into my arms. Her body was extremely hot and my skin blistered where it touched her. Ignoring the pain, I carried her away from the burnt ground that was melting the soles of my boots with each step I took. I knelt among some fern leaves that had escaped the blaze, gently laying her onto them.

  Ivan squeezed in beside me and began licking her face. Since we didn’t have any water available, his tongue would have to do.

  After a few seconds, she started to cough. I pushed the wolf away and picked her back up, cradling her in my lap. The heat had diminished and I could hold her now without my skin sloughing off. I hugged her close and smoothed back the sweat-drenched hair from her face. She was as pale and limp as a rag doll.

  “Ember, what can I do to help you? What do you need, my love?” I said wiping the soot from her face with my fingers.

  She tried to speak, but her voice was hardly a whisper. I brought my ear close to her mouth.

  “Please, bring me to Ila,” she murmured before her eyes closed.

  She was lifeless in my arms, and for the first time in my existence, I knew true fear.

  Exodus 23:20

  Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place

  which I have prepared.

  Sawyer ~ Thirty-Eight

  Ember was still limp in my arms, but she was breathing when we reached Ila’s cabin. Ivan, now in his human form, burst through the door and I followed him, but the old Watcher wasn’t there.

  “What’s happened?” Ila’s distressed voice called out from behind us and I turned around. She marched up the porch steps, wearing a straw sunhat and a serious frown. />
  She moved quickly and placed her hands on Ember’s face. “You must tell me exactly what you know,” she ordered.

  As I carefully lowered Ember’s body onto the sofa, I told her what I’d witnessed. The old woman’s eyes went wide with surprise. She obviously wasn’t a part of Ember’s foray into the Demon world.

  “I was hoping you could tell me why Ember came down to the compound today and barbequed two members of my community?” I asked tersely.

  She said nothing at first. Instead she worked her hands on Ember’s body the same way that Ember had healed me. When she’d finished, I could see the old Watcher was exhausted, but Ember was breathing easier and the color was flooding back into her cheeks. She looked all right, except for the soot covering her from head to foot and her clothes being in tatters.

  Ila brought her attention back to me and said plainly, “As far as I can gather, she went there to avenge her friend’s death. It’s quite strange to me that I didn’t foresee what Ember was up to. But then the girl’s powers have baffled me from the beginning.”

  “Which friend?”

  I let the questions about Ember’s powers go, focusing on what she’d said first. An image of the blonde football player sprang to mind.

  “The girl’s name was Hannah. She was only seventeen and your friends murdered her, along with another girl and two boys,” she spoke forcefully, her words carrying invisible solidness that slapped me back a step.

  She didn’t have to accuse me directly. I knew what she was thinking. And I was too ashamed to look at her. Instead, I turned my head and gazed at the fluttering curtain over the kitchen sink.

  I should have tried to save the humans. Even if I’d died in the process, at least I wouldn’t have to live with the guilt of the terrible deaths that they endured before the nightwalkers took their souls. And maybe then, Ember wouldn’t have felt the need to go to the compound and seek vengeance. I’d failed to anticipate how she’d take the news, or what she’d do about it.