by N M Thorn
“More than two thousand years old,” whispered Tessa sitting down. “The God? Like Jesus?”
“I’m not Jesus,” said Aidan with a smirk. “And I’m not the God. I’m one of the old ones. Before Christianity.”
“Oh, that really helped,” muttered Tessa. “You’re an ancient god. And what the heck is the Otherworld? Are you like… Hades?”
“Did I say I was a Greek God? I’m not Hades, but Otherworld is the world of spirits, kind of like the Greek Underworld, but not quite the same.”
Tessa shook her head stubbornly, her eyebrows gathering above her eyes. “You know, Aidan, it doesn’t really matter what kind of god you are. How could you do it to Zane? Why do you hate him so much?”
“I don’t hate him. I never did—”
But Tessa didn’t listen to him. Her eyes swam with tears and she slammed her hands on the desk. “You are a god, for Christ’s sake! Why didn’t you smite this ugly bitch? You’re a traitorous coward, that’s what you are!”
“I couldn’t smite her! She’s an immortal air demon, Tessa. I don’t have the power to kill her. No one does!” He covered his face with his hands, throwing his head back. “Please, please… ahh… give me the benefit of the doubt—”
“Hell no! I can never forgive you for what you did!”
“It was either you or him!” yelled Aidan, exploding out of his chair. “And for me, it wasn’t a choice. I will always choose to protect you!”
“Why?” Tessa yelled back, rising. “Zane was a fighter! He could help you beat this woman… demon… whatever she is! I’m useless when it comes to magic. All I can do is talk to the spirits of the dead! Totally useless! What makes me so special? Why, Aidan?”
“Because I love you!” shouted Aidan and fell silent, stunned by the realization of what he just said. He rubbed his forehead tiredly and fell back in the chair. The words slipped out and there was no way of taking them back. All he could do was stand by what he said.
“Wow,” she said. Her temper slowly cooled down, but unfortunately for him, sarcasm took the place of anger. “A two-thousand-year-old grandpa is in love with me. I’m thrilled! I had to be born under some crazy friggin’ star.”
“Tessa, before you annihilate me with your undying sarcasm, let me tell you something you must know,” said Aidan, swallowing the bitter disappointment. He didn’t expect that she would return his feelings, but he was hoping that she would be at least be kind about it. “It’s important—”
“Something that is more important than your everlasting love?” she asked, a crooked smirk on her lips.
“Tessa, please, let me finish,” said Aidan. More than anything he wanted to leave and be as far away from her as he could. He wanted to find a quiet place where he could think in peace. “It’s not easy for me either—”
“And do you think it’s easier for Zane right now? Being imprisoned by that evil creepy bitch?”
“Tessa, what I need to tell you has nothing to do with me or Zane. It’s about you and the magic you have,” said Aidan. Tessa fell silent, her mouth opened, and he used this opportunity to keep talking. “If you remember, Eve was holding eight more people in her basement.”
“Yes, I remember,” said Tessa quietly. “They were unconscious or dead, I think. Who were these people? Do you know why Eve was holding them?”
“All of them were Reapers. They weren’t dead, but Eve was keeping them under her control.”
“Reapers?” parroted Tessa. “Grim Reapers? The Death? How is it possible? I always thought that the Death was a singular entity. There were eight of them.”
“There is such a thing as Death and he is a singular entity, the way you put it,” explained Aidan patiently. “But there are also many Reapers. When people die, Reapers help them cross behind the veil.”
“Oh, no…”
The blood drained off Tessa’s face and she stretched her hand back, blindly searching for the chair behind her. She looked disoriented and confused. Aidan walked around the desk and helped her to sit down. She pushed his hands away, refusing his help, expression of disgust on her face. Her icy gaze raked him across his face and it was more painful than when she slapped him with her hand. He shrank back, away from her and halted by the wall.
“Are you saying, I am a Reaper?” she asked, almost whispering.
“Only a part of you,” said Aidan. “One of your parents was a Reaper. But I don’t know what your other parent was. From what I understand, both of your parents weren’t human.”
She nodded, but he could see that her mind was elsewhere. “So, why did that demon want Reapers and a Fire Salamander?”
“I don’t know.”
“Another good move, Aidan,” said Tessa, pursing her lips. “You delivered her what she needed and took back a half-Reaper and a little human girl. Great job, Ancient One. Now she has the Fire Salamander and eight real Reapers. Anything else you can assist her with?”
Aidan didn’t answer, too exhausted to continue this conversation. “Tessa, it’s very late,” he managed to say, hardly moving his lips. “May I drive you home?”
“No, you may not,” she said, rising. “I don’t think I can stand your presence long enough to make it all the way home.”
She walked out of the office, pushing him with her shoulder on the way out. Without paying any attention to him, she headed toward the exit and a moment later he heard the door closing behind her.
“Tessa, wait,” he called and rushed toward the door.
By the time Aidan ran out of the school, he saw Tessa getting into a yellow Volkswagen Beatle which he had never seen before. The car took off, quickly picking up speed.
~ Zane Burns, a.k.a. Gunz ~
Gunz wasn’t in pain. The pain had become him. It surrounded him, caressed and embraced him like a tender lover; it turned him inside out, took him apart cell by cell and put him back together like a bunch of Legos, recreating him in its own image. He didn’t know if he was screaming. He couldn’t hear anything and the pain in his tormented voice cords was melting into the misery of the rest of his body, or whatever was left of it.
He didn’t know how long he was like this. Time lost its meaning. It could have been a minute or a year – to him it made no difference. The only thing he knew was the pain. The only thing he saw was the darkness. And the only thing he could hear was the shouting of nothingness.
When the pain finally released him, pulling its hideous claws out of his shredded body, he didn’t realize what happened. He felt someone touching him but was afraid to open his eyes or make a move. The fear coiled in him filling the empty space that was left by pain, and he remained motionless and unresponsive.
“Child of Fire.”
He heard a pleasant female voice calling him but didn’t react. His ability to think slowly returned to him, obediently supplying the information to his awakened brain. Child of Fire. That’s right. He was the Child of Fire. He was the immortal Fire Salamander. He just needed to revert into his natural state and he would be whole again. He reached for his power and found none. His fire, his magic, everything that was making him what he used to be was gone. A silvery laughter responded to his hectic attempts. Gunz felt someone touching him again, gently wiping his face, drenched in sweat.
“Open your eyes, Child of Fire,” the woman said. “Try to remember.”
Terrified of what he may find, Gunz cracked his eyelids half-open and looked at the world around him through his eyelashes. He was sitting on the floor inside a glass box, his body stretched up by his chained wrists. A woman was squatting in front of the box, observing him with carnivorous curiosity.
Eve.
His memories came back, restoring his sense of reality and bringing back something new, something he didn’t experience since he had become the Fire Salamander – the cold. He shivered violently, clenching his chattering teeth.
“Aw, baby,” said the woman. Her voice sounded almost kind, but Gunz knew better than believing her. “I think I got carried
away yesterday. You lost too much of your fire. That’s okay, sweetie, I can fix it. I can make it all better.” She was talking to him like he was a sick toddler, caressing his face with her fingers and he had no strength left in him to recoil from her touch. “Now, don’t be afraid, my child. After all, tonight is a glorious night, and I’m going to need you performing at your full strength.
“Tonight, I will rip the veil and I will have my revenge on this world and the Otherworld. They all will pay for everything they put me through over the centuries. I will see the fear in the Hunter’s eyes and I’ll rejoice, basking in his screams.”
Gunz stared at her with his half-closed eyes, just now noticing that the oxygen mask was gone, and he was breathing normal air. The tank with Halon was also gone. But he couldn’t understand why he was so cold. While Eve looked comfortable, dressed in a sleeveless shirt and tight pants, he felt like he was thrown in the middle of the Siberian tundra, clothed in nothing but speedos. He couldn’t stop shivering and all his body felt numb, frozen, bordering with hypothermia.
“That sounds… a bit dark,” he managed to say through his chattering teeth.
“Dark? Are you kidding me?” She laughed, sitting down in front of his glass prison. “No, Child of Fire, it’s not dark. The mere thought of this moment makes me feel elated, jubilant, ecstatic. There are no words to describe how it makes me feel. But you are way too young to understand it.
“For centuries I sought revenge. I was craving it with every fiber of my being. My whole existence was driven by the thought of seeing the Hunter pay for everything he did to me, for destroying my life, and for aiding my useless stepson. But to get my retribution, I had to find a way to break through the veil. After centuries of endless search, the solution finally is in my grasp. I can do it. I know how. And it’s so much easier than I thought.”
“What… do you mean… easier?” asked Gunz. Her bloodcurdling excitement and eerie happiness were making him colder than he already was.
Eve gaped at him voraciously, a slow sneering smile stretching her lips. She patted his cheek and he took in a sharp breath through his teeth.
“The process of breaking the veil is fraught with danger. It’s a tricky business, you know,” she began her explanation. “When I was turned into a demon, I swore that I would do anything it takes to get my revenge. Even the mighty Bodb Derg, the King of the Tuatha Dé Danann, didn’t realize that by turning me into an air demon, he provided me with the powers, some of which were scarier and mightier than his own.”
Eve cackled, rubbing her hands together, obviously pleased with herself. Gunz swallowed with an effort and closed his eyes, lowering his head to his chest. Either the effects of the hypothermia or his general disgust with everything Eve was saying and the way she looked while saying all these obscenities, was making his stomach churn.
“No, Child of Fire, open your beautiful grey eyes,” said Eve. She seized his chin, lifting his face up. “I need to know that you are listening. I know, you’re freezing, and I promise to help you with that, as soon as I explain everything to you. I need you to know how you fit into my ingenious plan. After all, without you, my revenge will be impossible.”
“Why?” muttered Gunz hardly moving his frozen lips, his body quivering. He cracked his eyelids open just a little, but he had a hard time keeping them open. “Why is it… so important to you… that I know your plan…”
“Why?”
She cackled and ran her sharp fingernail over his nose and down to his chin, cutting his lips. He felt the metallic taste of his own blood on his lips and jerked weakly in her hands. She stared down at him, enjoying his reaction and then brought her finger up to her slightly open lips, wiping a drop of blood off her nail with a quick touch of her tongue.
“I want to see your eyes when you realize that it’s you who are going to rip the veil for me, making my revenge possible. I want to see your despair and helplessness. Open. Your. Eyes…” The last three words she said quietly, pronouncing them one at the time, but he had no doubt that it was an order.
Gunz fully opened his eyes and looked at her. “Fine… I don’t have a choice but listen to your revolting stories, Eve. Although, I think I would rather die than to hear another word coming out of your venomous mouth.”
“Oh, you may just have your wish granted, boy,” seethed Eve and continued, “Nevertheless, let’s move on. Besides all the magic and power that I had as an air demon, I was also immortal, indestructible, and invisible. I was incorporeal and had nothing but time on my hands. Through the centuries, I learned a few things and I acquired some new powers. I also learned how to restore my physical body.”
She got up and twirled around in front of him. As she was twirling, her pants and shirt got replaced by a long red dress, that looked like something one would wear for a Renaissance Fair.
“Am I not beautiful, Child of Fire?” she asked smirking at him.
“Yeah,” he muttered, “you’re irresistible. A Miss Universe. Please give me your photo, so I can look at it if I ever need to vomit.”
“Aw, sweet little Salamander, don’t tempt your fate.” She laughed sitting back down on the floor. “When I was finally able to walk this world, I started searching for my good-for-nothing stepson. I heard some whispers, that Lord Hunter restored him in this world. And I thought that if I find Aodh – you know him as Aidan, the Hunter would be somewhere nearby. It took me a while, but I found him.
“As soon as I found him, I knew that the time had come, and I needed to start working on my plan. At that time, I thought that the only way to get through the veil was by forcing the Reapers to open it for me. As you probably know, the Reapers are the only creatures of magic who can walk freely through the veil. So, I killed a few people in different areas, and captured a few Reapers. But by holding the Reapers captive, I soon realized that neither of them would comply with my demands willingly. They would rather die than help me.
“So, I started to experiment. I was killing people and infusing their souls with demonic energy. Every time when an infected spirit was moving through the veil, it was damaging it slightly. But the problem was, the Reapers could cleanse the soul before sending it through the veil.
“This is when I understood, that the only way my plan would work was, if I had hundreds of infected spirits moving through the veil at the same time. There was not enough Reapers left in this whole area to clean so many infected spirits. But I didn’t know how I could kill hundreds of people instantaneously. Using the modern mundane weapons was messy and acquiring them would surely attract unwanted attention. I didn’t have the power I needed.
“Still not sure how I would make my plan work, I kept following Aidan. I knew that the Hunter endowed him with the power of a god and I didn’t want him to stand in my way. Thinking about how to get rid of him, I found out that the boy was in love. So, without further a due, I sent a few demons after his little lover. I didn’t want to kill her, but I wanted to get Aidan’s attention. And this is when I met you – a wonderful Child of Fire. A Fire Salamander. Who knew? I thought your kind was extinct centuries ago. I watched you dealing with those worthless demons and my heart was singing.
“So, the next day, I enchanted an upir and sent him after Tessa, hoping that you’d be there to protect her. Lo and behold, I was lucky again and you were there. Irish luck, wouldn’t you say? As expected, you killed the upir, but you still didn’t use your full power. Instead you used your magic. Don’t get me wrong, your magic is impressive, but it’s not what I needed. I needed to see your full might, the Fire Salamander in action. Not the young and inexperienced wizard.”
“You were the one who sent two packs of volkolaks after me,” whispered Gunz, feeling sicker by the moment.
“Yes, I did,” confirmed Eve, a maniacal gleam in her eyes. “I watched you reverting into your natural state. And you were magnificent, child.” Eve sighed wistfully. “I wish you were on my side.”
“When hell freezes over…” mumbled Gunz,
shuddering.
“Well, I’m watching a Fire Salamander suffering hypothermia. Who knows? One day hell may freeze over too.” She smirked at him and continued, “Anyway, once I saw you for the first time, I knew what I needed to do to make my plan work. I needed to capture you and get Aidan’s attention away from what I was doing. I approached this Russian mobster, ordering him to get rid of Aidan. But this idiot did a better service to me – he hired you to kill me.”
She laughed, throwing her mass of blond hair to her back. By this time Gunz was on the border with unconsciousness. His body was shaking uncontrollably, and his mind was swimming on and off, hardly registering what Eve was saying. The only thing that was clear to him was that Eve wanted to rip the veil and he was the main weapon in her plan for revenge.
As little as he knew about the world of magic and its rules, he knew that the veil was well protected for a reason. Ripping the veil could create a devastating effect, by colliding the world of the living with the world of spirits and demons. If Eve would succeed in her plan, the world as he knew it would cease to exist.
“Eve,” whispered Gunz, stuttering, “you can’t do it… you’ll… destroy this world…”
“That’s the idea,” she replied with a light shrug. “The rest of the story you know. I abducted Tanya Karpenko, hoping that Anatoly would send you after his daughter. And when you didn’t come, I lost my patience and decided to use my dimwitted stepson. I took his lover and demanded your life in exchange for Tessa’s. Anyway, enough talking. Let’s take care of my frozen Fire Salamander here.”
Eve extended her hand and muttered a short spell. A large fireball manifested in the palm of her hand. She leaned forward, draping her free arm around Gunz’s shoulders and forcefully thrusted the fireball through his chest. An overpowering wave of searing fire surged through his body. As his element spread through him, warming him from the inside, he cried out in joy, pulling against the chains that were binding him within his glass prison, slowly rising to his knees. His grey eyes got filled with flames and the wave of the fire energy expanded around him.
