The Tempting Touch Of Fire (Elemental Awakening, Book 1)

by Claire, Nicola

  Then it hit the floor.

  Nico must have done more damage than just to the ceiling and that beam, because somehow the drop of my blood seeped through a widened crack and found the soil beneath the floorboards. Earth washed through me and welcomed its daughter home.

  Where have you been? it asked. We have been waiting, it said. They are here.

  No kidding. Now what?

  Do they know where I am? I asked and received a tremor in response to the Earth hearing my voice at last.

  No, but they search for you. They mean you harm.

  How many times did the Earth have to say that? And still it wouldn't elaborate further.

  It was no use, the only answer it would give was that it just knew that they were looking for me and would do anything to get their hands on me in the end.

  Let us help you, the Earth said, whispering words of making the house collapse from the tremors it could create. The description was stark. The house would collapse around me so I'd be free, but there would be collateral damage. Nico I wasn't so worried about anymore, but Aktor may still have a head attached, so any further harm to him was unacceptable.

  No! I commanded, before the Earth could act to free me. There had to be another way.

  I struggled for several pain-filled moments and managed to shift a millimetre in the process. Even if the Earth were to rattle the foundations of the building, I'd suffer through the entire ordeal, before being let free. I decided to conserve energy. When Nico - I was assuming it would be Nico - found me, I'd attack once we got away from the house and therefore avoid the chance of hurting Aktor more.

  It surprisingly didn't take much longer. I heard a grunt and then the weight was lifted off me, bursting into flames and turning into ash above my head. I closed my eyes and held my breath, not wanting to inhale any of it. A hand brushed the still slightly hot embers from my face, the touch was careful, not harsh.

  I flicked my eyes open expecting to see Aktor, what with that gentle brush of fingertips across my eyelids, but Nico stared back. Looking distraught and dishevelled.

  "I'm sorry," he muttered, working to free more debris from my stomach and across my legs. "I had to do it. There was no other choice."

  "Theo's going to kill you," I pointed out, finally able to get the arm from under my side up to check on my shoulder. The piece of sharpened wood had fallen out and already my body was trying to mend itself. I was certain, to manage the task completely, I'd need to have my hands or feet in the soil of the Earth.

  "Yes," Nico replied evenly, "he's going to try. I know. But think how many lives I save by doing this. He won't be able to deny that in the end."

  "He'll still kill you," I snapped, as the last bit of rubble was lifted from my frame. I sat up gingerly and stared at Nico, waiting for him to strike. My ears were straining for any signs that Aktor lived. I was desperate to go to him and check, but turning my back on Nico seemed wrong.

  "Theodoros Petropoulos has lived a long time, Casey. He knows what is required to keep our kind safe and protected. He will understand in the end."

  I didn't particularly want to argue with Nico, but a part of me was despairing that he was right.

  "He'll still kill you," I repeated, because despite any arguments forming in my head, those seemed to be the only words I could utter.

  Nico looked at me with pity in his eyes. If I could have scratched them out of his face before he could retaliate, I would have. In the end I settled for a glare and climbed to my feet.

  "Theo has lost those he treasures in the past," Nico said steadily. "He knows how to survive and move on. He will also understand that this was the only way to defend our people from destruction. Ultimately, he will see the sacrifice of losing you to the Gi as a justifiable loss."

  I had no words to counteract his. There was a truth in the depth of them that shattered my courage and heart. Theo was millennia old. Of course he would have lost people precious to him in the past. To forsake me for Pyrkagia was not a hard conclusion to make.

  "There has to be another way," I said, almost to myself.

  "Casey," Nico said softly. So softly that I knew what he was about to add would ruin it all. The hopes, the dreams, the futile desire to keep Theo as mine. "You are Gi. You don't belong here and Theo does not belong with you."

  "I thought you supported us," I said, knowing I was sounding more and more desperate with every word.

  "I will always back my cousin, but only if Pyrkagia does not suffer for it. We are what we are, Casey. And to survive that we have had to become hard."

  "But I don't know them," I almost wailed, like a child who wasn't getting their own way. "This is my home."

  "The Alchemists were aware of you. They know things about the other branches that we do not. Our spies can only infiltrate so far, but the Alchemists, they have ways. Means we don't even understand. We are the Athanatos, but they are not without skills themselves."

  "What are you getting at?" I said, taking a furtive step towards where I thought Aktor lay.

  "They asked the Rigas outright if he was harbouring the lost Gi princess. Casey," he said at the look of disbelief on my face, "can you honestly say you aren't her?"

  "I have parents. Human parents. And friends I've known for years."

  "They said you'd been missing for over twenty years. Stolen from your crib in Gi."

  The world spun around me. The stars shone in the night sky overhead. But all I could see were my parents' loving faces, so proud when I opened my store. My big brother as he went off to Australia to make a name for himself. Sonya when I met her in our year nine science class. Auckland as it grew and grew. Parnell as the seasons changed. This was the world I knew.

  But what if he was right? What if my life was the lie and this was the truth?

  Holy freaking hell. I couldn't deal with this. I couldn't work it out in my head. Nico watched on with a look of pain on his face, as though he shared some connection with me he had no right to. I hated him. For doing this. Harming Aktor, possibly killing him. Hurting Theo, because this would hurt him, I knew it. I just knew it. And ruining me.

  This ruined me. It utterly, completely ruined me.

  I stumbled, but righted myself with an outstretched hand on a pile of rubble. Then promptly collapsed to the ground on my butt. I took a shuddering breath in and when that didn't help, took another and another. Until I was stifling sobs and shaking from head to toe.

  "I don't remember any of this," I insisted, as Nico crouched down at my side. He didn't touch me, I was relieved for that. But heat rolled off him in an obvious attempt to calm me down with his Stoicheio. "Damn you, Nico," I whispered. "I became what I am three days ago, after spending two nights in a pit full of dirt."

  Nico sighed. "Whoever took you, could have bound your Stoicheio somehow."

  I arched an eyebrow at him. Really?

  "It's possible," he defended. "I have no idea how, but if the Alchemists can steal our elements, they can sure as hell find a way to lock them up." I closed my eyes. "You know what I think?" I really didn't want to hear it, but my throat had closed completely and I couldn't make a sound. "I think the Earth found you and did what it had to do to make your Stoicheio return."

  "Why now?" I managed to say on a whisper. He heard me though.

  "Because the Alchemists want you for something. Why they've waited, I have no idea. But I'm telling you, Casey. They are serious. They are sacrificing their numbers to get you to come out. And in doing so, they are killing my people." He took a deep breath in. "I have no right to ask this of you, but I'd rather we did this amicably than... well, you can guess what the other way would entail."

  His eyes flicked over to where Aktor lay beneath the debris. A look of remorse and agony crossing his face.

  "You don't belong here. He doesn't belong with you," he repeated. "Please, do the right thing. I can hand you over to the Alchemists, but that would be a fate worse than death. The Gi are undoubtedly on their way. News of what's happening he
re is on the international channels. When they arrive, please, please, just go home with them."

  I sat numbed to the bone and stared bleakly across the rubble strewn floor towards the sea. I could hear it, but not really see it. I just knew it was there, through the sounds of the waves washing up on the shore and the scent of salty brine on the air.

  Dear God I didn't want this. Here was where I knew and loved. Brazil? The Amazon? A bunch of Ekmetalleftis I didn't even know - or had memories of? A single sob escaped my lips.

  What if this was the lie?

  And Theo. Could I leave Theo? Could I stay and watch the Alchemists and Gi unite to get me... and then kill him?

  It should have been an easy decision, but when your heart's involved, there's absolutely nothing easy about it at all.

  "I want to see Theo one last time," I said feeling utterly spent.

  "No. Not a good idea," Nico shot back.

  "Because he'd talk me out of it?" I asked. "Or because he'd kill you before you could hand me over?"

  "Take your pick, either works. But the only correct solution to this disaster is you leaving Pyrkagia. Don't tell me you don't see it. Because even though I've only known you a couple of days, you're a good person, Casey Eden. You care. You love. You wouldn't seek a selfish result at the cost of so many lives. And they are dying, Casey. My people are dying because of you."

  Oh, and wasn't that enough to make me hiccup and sniff like a pathetic wimp. This was all my fault. This had started with me and it would end with me.

  But to never see Theo again? Ever?

  The ache was too much, too deep. It was a part of me that would never get eased. It didn't matter that he wasn't mine to keep. My heart didn't care about little trivial details such as that. I was a woman and he was a man, to hell with what branch we belonged to. In my heart we belonged to each other and no one else.

  But, did he feel the same way? Truly love me as deeply as I love him. He'd never said the words. But then, neither had I. However, I couldn't even console myself with his actions, because Theo Peters was the most confounding, confusing man I had ever met. One minute so very tender and loving, the next a blank mask and hard stare.

  "OK," I said, seeing the relief settle on Nico's face. "But, we have to avoid the Alchemists. Because, Nico, he will kill you if I end up with them."

  Nico swallowed thickly and nodded.

  Then out of nowhere a voice said, "Not before I do."

  Aktor's bolt of fire was precise and beautiful in its terrifyingly accurate strike. He was aiming for the neck, whilst making sure I didn't get caught in the crossfire. The skill required to execute such a manoeuvre was astounding. If I'd had longer to appreciate it, I would have. True talent, exceptional ability, no doubt because of his vast age.

  But all I could think, whilst somehow managing to be impressed at the same time, was that Nico - even though he was betraying me and hurting Theo in the process - did not deserve to die. He wanted to save Pyrkagia lives and his argument had been sound, even if my heart wept at the notion I was Gi royalty and could never be Theo's or he be mine.

  My bare feet found the soil through the rubble and my blood dripped off my fingertips, where it had made its way down from my shoulder wound, into the Earth.

  Take him deep. Keep him safe. Protect him for me.

  Before Aktor's strike could connect with Nico's skin the ground opened up and swallowed him whole. It was fast. So fast, I hadn't thought it through completely. Everything I did was a gut reaction; an action coming from deep inside, apart from my mind and the comprehension of what I was seeing...

  Aktor launching the bolt of Fire, the Earth swallowing Nico up at my command.

  When the tremors settled, I stood staring into the stunned eyes of the old butler. Neither of us said a word for several seconds. Then he smiled, let out a little huff of a laugh, and bent over at the waist, bowing low with respect.

  "Please," I said, unable to face him acting differently around me. "Please don't."

  He stood upright again and tilted his head, surveying me carefully.

  "You are more than just a Gi, Miss Eden." I shook my head to deny it. "I don't know what you are," he continued, ignoring my defiance. "But you are something more."

  "I don't want to be," I whispered.

  "My dear," he said softly, gently. "When is life ever what we want it to be?"

  I started crying, I couldn't help it. Even Aktor knew I didn't belong here. Oh, my heavy heart. How did I survive this? How did I go on knowing Theo lived in this world and couldn't be mine?

  Aktor wrapped his arm around my shoulder and helped me across the last of the rubble to the driveway where Nico's car sat. He opened the door and gently, but purposely placed me inside. I wished for his soft touch, but I needed his direct approach. I didn't want to do this. A part of my very core, what makes me me, was crying out in desperate agony for me to stay where I was, to not get in the car and face my destiny.

  But it was a destiny, in a way. It was something I couldn’t avoid now. Even if lives weren't at stake, Theo was. And if I stayed, his father would punish him. And if I stayed, the Pyrkagia would shun him. And if I stayed, the Gi or the Alchemists would attack, and Theo would surely be killed in the fall-out.

  How bad could it be? Living in a forest. I'd grown attached to the Earth in such a short amount of time. I could find solitude there, I was sure. A vast forest, a dense parcel of land which rivalled no other in nature. Even if the Gi didn't feel like home, part of me knew the Amazon would.

  I stared blindly out of the side of the car as Aktor navigated the windy road back towards town. I didn't have it in me to ask him where he'd take me. I knew he wouldn't take me anywhere the Alchemists would likely be. He had to have a plan, somewhere we could hide until the Gi showed up and I could be handed over. I trusted Aktor. I trusted him to do what I could not do alone.

  I tried not to think about the specifics. Hell, I was incapable of thinking about much right then. Just breathing. Just holding back the tears and stopping my body from falling apart in the front seat of that car. I hadn't even left the country yet, but I was already pining for him.

  Would he miss me? I think he would. I think he genuinely cared. Theo had grown fond of me, but Nico was right. He was thousands of years old. This would not be new to him. He would survive.

  Me. I wasn't so sure. But perhaps the memories would sustain me. See me through until I developed a thick skin like the rest of the Athanatos. Learned to be a little ruthless too. I wouldn't forget though. Even if he did. I would remember for us both. Because Theo had set my world alight. Had set my heart afire. And there was no way a boring Earth-loving Gi, or any other man for that fact, could compare.

  I would always love a Pyrkagia. Always.

  The buildings were coming closer together and I recognised our surroundings at last. Whitford, just south-east of Howick. We coasted past suburbia, the lights in the windows of houses flashing by. Smoke was evident on the horizon, towards where Howick would be. I craved to visit my trees again. I longed to check up on them, to make sure they could survive whatever the Alchemists had done. But either Howick or Epsom were out now. The Alchemists would be there.

  I sighed, defeat a weary passenger in my heart. I wasn't ready for this, I didn't want it. But Aktor was right. When was life ever what we wanted it to be?

  I sniffed unattractively as Aktor drove through the gates of the Pakuranga Country Club. I glanced around, mildly intrigued. I guessed, if there was a place to wait out the arrival of the Gi, a golf course near Howick, but covered in trees and grass, would make sense. At least for me. Even now, Aktor was trying to soothe me, by giving me a place to rest and wait where I could commune with the Earth for support.

  I wanted to say thank you to him, but my tongue was stuck to the roof of my dry mouth. It meant a lot to me that he cared enough to do this. Despite the gravity of what was about to happen, Theo's butler showed how much I meant to him. Even if I was to be but a fleeting visitor i
n his life.

  The car rolled out onto the course itself, just like a golf cart, but no doubt doing more damage. I smiled at Aktor's lack of consideration for the golfers, who'd go to play a round tomorrow and frown at the tyre treads down the fairway. I shouldn't find it amusing, but really, what were a few tyre tracks when compared to Pyrkagia dying and my heart being broken?

  We came to a stop on the seventeenth hole. I tried to decide where on the course it would be as we stepped out onto the green, surrounded by trees and bush and nature. We were hidden from the road here. We were as safe as we could get for now.

  "The very centre of the course," Aktor announced, coming around the front of the car to where I stood. "Hopefully it won't be too much longer."

  Part of me agreed with him. Get this over with fast, so we can all move on. But part of me broke at those callous-to-my-heart words. Soon I would be a memory. One to add to the multitude that Aktor and Theo have in their minds already. Aktor will seek seclusion and quiet to digest it.

  And Theo will seek a diversion, to distract instead.

  Why do I do it to myself? I shook my head. It's not as though I'm a glutton for punishment, but my mood was not helping out in the keep-positive-thoughts department right now.

  I leaned back against the car and stared up into the night sky. It's hard to see stars in the middle of Auckland normally, but the smoke from the fires made it even worse. I knew they were there, just like I'd known the sea was there when I couldn't see it, but only hear and smell it instead. And it's not as if I could hear and smell the stars, I just knew. Sometimes you just knew; no explanation, no reason why. You just did.

  Just like I knew when Theo had arrived.

  Chapter 25

  No Matter What

  I turned slowly and watched him stride across the grass towards us. His face was set in hard lines, his eyes blazing gold. I shifted uneasily, a frown forming on my brow. Why was he here? Things were obviously pretty bad, if the news reports and smoke in the sky hadn't given it away, his apparent mood did. He was angry and had retreated inside himself, placing that mask of blankness on his face. But it wasn't impassive, although still a mask, this time it was irate.