Burned (Keeper of the Flame)

by Ivy Simone

  Myra coughs. “I’m already hurting,” she says, grip still tight. “Logan said Willow was going to help me.”

  “Help you what?” Cheyenne asks, her eyes locking with mine. A silent acknowledgement that she’s not going to let anything happen.

  “Help me get better. He said if Willow can do the spell, I’ll become a vampire and I won’t have cancer anymore.”

  My breath hisses out. No wonder he wanted this spell to end. No wonder he brought Myra here with him. She probably feels better here since the first stage of reversing the curse is already underway.

  “Now tell me where my brother is,” Myra says.

  Ryan lunges at her as she cuts off the last of my air supply. I hear a scuffle as I fall to the floor, my world going dark.

  ~ ~ ~

  “I told you,” Ryan says as my eyes flutter open. “You’re a magnet for danger.”

  “It’s not my fault,” I say, but my voice is so hoarse I don’t know if he understands it.

  I’m lying at home in my bedroom. Ryan is stretched out next to me, his hand trailing lazily down my cheekbone and lingering on my shoulder.

  “You should probably stay here for a while,” he says. “In this bedroom.” He smiles. “So nothing else can happen to you.”

  At his words, everything that happened earlier rushes back to me. I sit up, my head swirling.

  “Okay,” Ryan says slowly. He puts his hands on my shoulders. “Why don’t you wait until you feel better?”

  I drop my head in my hands as he rubs slow circles on my back. “Did you get my mom out?”

  “Yes. She’s in the other room, feeling much better.”

  I swallow uncertainty. “I don’t know what to say to her.”

  “You don’t have to say anything right now. Relax. Take it easy.”

  His voice is rough and I look over in the dim light. Either it’s later than I thought or the sun hasn’t come out from behind the clouds yet. I touch the slight bruise on his jaw.

  “Are you okay?” I ask.

  He catches my hand, turning his cheek into my palm. His stubble brushes on the soft skin. “You’re fine. Logan’s caught in the cave. Yes, I’m okay.”

  He pushes me gently to the bed and leans over me. His lips descend on mine, soft but firm. He deepens the kiss, pressing some of his weight against me until my arms wrap around his neck to draw him in for more.

  But a low and faint groan of agony echoes in my head. Logan’s voice. Logan’s pain.

  “What?” Ryan whispers, lips brushing my cheek. “Something’s wrong.”

  My stomach churns. I’m torn between forgetting my troubles with Ryan’s company, and doing something about what I’ve already done.

  “He was just trying to help his sister,” I say, voice raw.

  Ryan stops with his hand hovering over my stomach. “I know. I heard.”

  “And now he’s stuck in the cave.” In pain. Enough that I can still feel it reverberating through me.

  Ryan doesn’t say anything, but I can feel the tension in the room.

  “You didn’t hurt her, did you? Myra?”

  He flops back on his pillow with a sigh. “No. She’s sick, like she said. She couldn’t fight us both off. We left her there.”

  Sick. Cancer. I kept wondering why Logan wanted me to end this spell so badly. It had nothing to do with becoming a vampire. He just wanted to help his sister. And if she becomes a vampire, she won’t be sick anymore.

  I sit up again, moving more slowly this time.

  “Ryan, we can’t leave Logan in there.”

  He grips my wrist, eyes glued to mine. “Do you hear what you’re saying? He kidnapped you. He held you captive in his house. He’s not the good guy here, Willow.”

  “I know. Ryan, I know. I just‒I can’t be like him. Leave him there hurting, or let his sister wonder where he is.”

  I pull my wrist free and stand. When the room spins around me, Ryan catches me by the waist. “You’re making this more complicated than it has to be,” he says, breath warm against my ear. “You should be resting. Taking this one day at a time.”

  I lean my forehead against this chest. His hands slide into my hair and I shiver. “I can’t, Ryan.”

  His entire body tenses. “What is it with you and Logan? You don’t care about him, do you?”

  “No.” I shake my head, as much to convince myself as to convince him. “I feel bad. I…”

  He lets me go and props his hands on his hips. “I can’t believe this.”

  “Ryan, don’t be mad. You don’t understand.”

  He gives a humorless laugh. “I don’t understand? So it makes sense that he kidnapped you? That’s the part I should understand? It’s fine that he’s a total lunatic‒”

  “His motives aren’t what we thought they were.”

  “You’re seriously defending him right now?” Ryan shoves hand into his hair. “This is bullshit.”

  “I’m not‒” I take a breath and try to keep my voice down. “I’m not defending him. I’m just saying, he didn’t do what he did for himself or to be selfish.”

  “Yeah, well, I am being selfish. I want you safe. And being around Logan doesn’t accomplish that.”

  I rub my hands over my face. What am I supposed to do? I don’t want to do the spell for Logan, but I don’t want to leave him in there. And I don’t want him to see his sister hurting. But I also want Ryan to understand where I’m coming from.

  “I should go…” I gesture to the door. “Talk to my mom, I guess.”

  Ryan clenches his jaw but nods. I step into the hallway and walk slowly to the living room. I hear voices before I reach the room. Cheyenne and my mother.

  I don’t realize I’ve stopped until I feel a hand on my back. I glance over and give Ryan a small smile for the support.

  When I enter the room, Cheyenne stands. My mother looks up.

  “Willow,” Faye says.

  I press my lips together. I can’t bring myself to call her Mom.

  “Hi.” It’s all I can manage, but her eyes go soft.

  “This is not how I wanted this to go,” she says.

  “This?”

  “Our first meeting.”

  Cheyenne’s looking trapped. She’s making faces at Ryan like he’s supposed to get her out of here.

  I wish she could get me out of here, too.

  My mom stands as well. “Ryan said you could feel some of the pain Logan is going through.”

  I lift my eyebrows. I was expecting a “How are you?” or maybe, “What have you been up to all these years?” Instead, she just gets right to it.

  I give a slight nod.

  She sighs and looks understanding. “You’re connected to him.”

  Ryan clears his throat and glances away.

  “Sorry,” Faye says, looking apologetic. “But you’ve done spells against him, spells in his house. He’s latched onto you for all this. You’re connected.”

  “It’ll go away, right?” Cheyenne asks. “I mean, these things are only temporary.”

  “As long as he’s not around, it’ll go away eventually. Yes.”

  Everyone looks to me because I’m not voicing my relief in all of it. I don’t want to be connected to Logan, but I am. And I think it’s because of more than just the spells. I understand him in a way I didn’t think I ever would. He’s doing what he can to help his family. If I were in his same position, and it were my dad, I’d do a spell or break one in an instant.

  “Willow?” Cheyenne asks.

  I glance at Ryan, but he won’t look at me, so I look back to Cheyenne and my mom.

  “I can’t leave Logan in the cave.”

  “What?” Cheyenne asks.

  I take a slow breath and brace myself for disagreement. “I have to let him out.”

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  Ivy Simone, Burned (Keeper of the Flame)