Submerging Inferno

by Brandon Witt

  With full intentions of letting my eyes pass over the spot, I found his location and stared at him, my eyes narrowing in confusion. At first I wasn’t sure what I was seeing. There weren’t any colors, but right at the base of the table, behind the legs of one of the chairs, it looked like the air was trembling. It reminded me of looking through the heat vapors rising off blacktop. I realized the shimmering air was outlining Peter’s tiny form.

  “Hey! No fair!” Peter gave me an angry face as he suddenly became visible again. “You could hear me!”

  Sure enough, Peter was situated in the exact same spot where the air had been displaced. He crawled out from under the table and held out his hand to me. “Tag me! I have to be it now.” I held out my hand distractedly, and he jumped up and slapped it. He raised his voice to a shrill yell. “Come on back. Brett found me. He cheated!”

  Within seconds everyone had vacated their hiding places and had returned to the living room.

  Peter looked up at his mom, his lips in a small, thin line. “He cheated, Mom.”

  Ricky spoke up before Christina could respond. “Peter, none of that. We don’t accuse people of cheating. If you are going to play the game, you know that sometimes people are going to hear you casting. You have to learn how to do it quieter.”

  “I didn’t hear him,” I murmured, more to myself than anyone else. I looked up at Finn, my voice returning to normal volume. “Well, actually, I did hear him, but that’s not how I found him. I saw him.”

  “You saw him?” Finn gave me a confused look. “You mean you could see through his invisibility charm?”

  “Sorta. I couldn’t really see him, just the air around him. It was wavy or fuzzy or something.” I looked from him to other members of the family. “Is that normal?”

  I saw Caitlin shake her head emphatically out of the corner of my eye. Wendell spoke up. “You could tell he was there without actually seeing him?”

  I nodded.

  “Really?” Finn took a step back and disappeared. “Can you see me now?” It was a little disturbing to hear Finn’s voice so close and not be able to see him.

  At first I didn’t see him, but as I narrowed my eyes, the same sensation happened yet again. The air around his body seemed to steam and quiver, showing his form. “Yeah. I still can’t see you, but I can see where you are.”

  Finn materialized once again. “Wow, that’s awesome. I didn’t know that could even happen.”

  “Must be from the demon blood, huh?” Christina grinned at me cautiously. “I wonder what other little surprises you’re going to discover.”

  Caitlin turned around and left the room.

  Chapter 26

  SUNDAY dawned with the familiar sense of relief that we had all survived another night without incident. However, the family’s mood was heavy and sad. Rodrigo’s service was scheduled for noon. Just as they said they would, the de Moriscos had handled all the arrangements over the past two days. Through their planning, I learned there were several businesses that catered to the witch community. Witches and warlocks couldn’t go to a human doctor. Not that they got sick or hurt in such a way they couldn’t heal themselves with the elements very often, but I guess it did happen on occasion. Likewise, their bodies could not be handled by a human-operated morgue, as they could, if inspected for some reason, give away their true nature.

  As they shuffled out of the house dressed in their best clothes, I was struck again by how beautiful the entire family was.

  “Are you sure you don’t wanna go to church with us, babe?” Finn came over and sat down on the couch beside me as the rest of his family left the house.

  I shook my head. “Sorry, Finn. I’m not ready to darken the door of a church just yet, even one that is okay with witches and warlocks.” I saw a hint of disappointment that he tried to hide. “I’ll go one of these days, soon. Promise. Besides, like I told you, I have to get in the ocean. It’s been a week! I’ve never gone so long before, not even close. I feel like I’m about to crack into pieces.”

  He gave me an endearing smile. “I could skip church, go with you. We could swim for a while, and then I’m sure we could find something else to occupy our time.” His hand slowly crept up the length of my thigh.

  The thought made me start to harden. I was dying to be alone with Finn, really alone with him, but I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Finn. I would love that, I can’t tell you how much I would love that, but I really need some time to myself in the water.” I wanted to swim out much farther and dive deeper than Finn would be able to go—I needed to. “Is that okay?”

  Finn’s face fell once more in disappointment, but he didn’t try to guilt me into letting him come. “Of course that’s okay. You need to get out there. It will help you feel better, work through some things.” I knew by “things” he meant Sonia. “Just don’t boil anyone, okay?”

  “Shut up, ass!” I leaned forward, took his jaw in my hands, and kissed him with as much passion as I could muster. Now that I knew I was minutes from the ocean, my skin was crawling.

  His warm chocolate eyes glowed as he pulled away. Not for the first time, I was taken aback by how lucky I felt to have found Finn and how fast things seemed to have fallen into place.

  “Is it still okay for me to borrow your truck?”

  “Of course. Feel free to melt the steering wheel if you need to.”

  I grabbed his sides as he let out a laugh. “Oh, you think you’re so funny, don’t ya?”

  At that moment, the loud blast from the van’s horn outside broke the mood. In my mind, I could see Caitlin reaching over Ricky to blare the horn. Finn rolled his eyes. “I guess I should probably go, huh?”

  “Yeah, sorry.” I gave him another peck on the lips. “I’ll be ready when you all get back, and we’ll go to Rodrigo’s service together. That work?”

  “Sure.” He stood up and headed to the door. “I love you, Brett.”

  “I love you too, Finn.”

  HAVING not been in the ocean for longer than ever before, I wasn’t prepared for the sensations that swept through me as my toes touched the water. The relief had never been like this. I took two large strides and dove into the surf, my stomach scratching against the sand in the shallows. Within a few quick strokes I was several yards out into the water, deep enough that I could no longer touch the bottom.

  My skin felt alive, like it truly had been slowly dying and now was given healing nectar. The tingling that coursed through me felt nearly orgasmic. Each stroke took me farther out into the deep, farther away from everything behind me, the good and the bad, taking me away from myself.

  Before I had gone out more than a hundred yards, I found myself surrounded by twenty or thirty jellyfish, their translucent flesh shimmering and undulating in the morning sunlight. I ran my hands through their spiral tentacles as they surrounded me, relishing the pleasurable tingle of them against my skin.

  I rose to the surface, took one final look at the jellyfish from an overhead view, inhaled one more deep breath, and dove. I went out farther and deeper, where the shore was no longer visible, where the bottom of the ocean couldn’t be seen.

  There was rarely much ocean life when I swam out so far. There was a large school of krill, and in the distance I could see a lone shark swimming away from me. It was too far away to see what kind it was, and I wished it would turn and swim with me for a while.

  I dove deeper, the water getting cooler and darker. When I looked up, I could see a faint blue light far above me, but it seemed a different world, one that was too distant for me to return. After several more feet, I stopped swimming, letting my body float lazily in the currentless deep, the water cradling me. Wrapped in the protective pressure of the ocean, my mind traveled to Sonia, the loss of her coming to me again. Thinking of her here seemed easier. Somehow it all seemed to make more sense. Not in a way that provided a reason that would suffice for her death, but it felt natural. At least as natural as a vampire slaying could feel. The vampire was the shark, a
hunting, emotionless killer. Sonia, a beautiful, exotic fish, unaware the life in which it flourished was about to be invaded and destroyed. It didn’t make it right or easy, but it was life. I wasn’t able to bring myself to say good-bye, and I doubted I would ever be able to, but I thought I could let go of some of the angst, of the senselessness of it all. Life and love didn’t always make sense. Not in the ocean, not on the land.

  I hung suspended for what felt like hours, letting my grief flow from me and into the wild water, letting the life so abundant in the sea seep in, reclaiming me as its own.

  I’d always been able to stay underwater for extended periods of time. In fact, I usually came up for air because I knew I was supposed to, not because I felt a bodily urge. Like many things, I hadn’t allowed myself to dwell on it much. I’d never stayed under for this period of time before. One more demon side effect, apparently. Why couldn’t life just go back to normal? Erase everything over the past few days. Erase all that had happened to Sonia and her family. Erase my fucking demon blood, while we’re at it.

  After a time, I found myself swimming gradually higher, into the warmer water. Three giant rays glided past me on their way back to the shallows, their black skin gleaming like onyx in the shafts of light penetrating the waves.

  Before long, I found what I was seeking. Again I closed my eyes and let the ocean do its work.

  I sank easily into the strong ocean current as it swept me in its southward journey. In the current, my mind couldn’t focus on anything but the ride itself. Nothing could distract from the thrill of the surge. At times I could see things in the distance, formless shapes and blurred colors.

  There was no time. No world. Nothing outside the endless flow.

  Abruptly, I felt a painful jerk on my left arm. I yanked it free and came to a sudden halt in the water. I swirled around, searching everywhere trying to find what had pulled at me. I couldn’t see anything other than a few colorful fish swimming in and out of the kelp forest. However, I could feel it. I could feel its eyes on me, sense it moving too swiftly for me to see. Instantly, I felt stupid. I had been so focused on getting back to the ocean and simply being in the water that I completely forgot about what had been happening every time I’d gone into the ocean alone in the weeks prior to discovering I was a demon.

  Having the peace of my world so abruptly shattered, I felt like I had been thrown out of a warm bed and into a brick wall. My anger began to build, and my body began to warm. I closed my eyes, putting all my effort into bringing down my anger. I knew what I was now. I was a demon. A fire demon who could set things ablaze under water. I could control it if I had to, if I wanted to, and right now, I wanted to. I was tired of this. Whatever was stalking me, it was time for us to come face to face. Whatever it was, I was confident it could burn.

  I swam a little farther toward the kelp forest in front of me. There were hundreds of small colorful fish darting in and out of the tangles of leaves, as if they had been called out to watch the show. A few of the more daring were swimming out farther, coming toward me.

  A light touch ran across the back of my shoulder. I whirled around, my hands grasping for whatever was there. I saw nothing but a flash of gold disappearing into the blue, just like before. I peered into the current, trying to discern any distinguishable shapes. Again I felt something, this time caressing my hair. Without turning, my hand flashed up, grasping, but I got nothing but my own hair. I turned around and swam the short distance to the forest. With my back nearly pressed against the caressing kelp fronds, I looked out at the open water in front of me. The fish began to swim around me, at times darting in to rub their sides against my skin and then dashing away again.

  As I peered out, trying to make out some shape, something recognizable, the flash of gold darted in front of me again. It seemed only a few feet away. After a second, it flashed again over my head. There was something about it that made me think it was some kind of tail, but I couldn’t be sure. I couldn’t make out any shape. It was more just a feeling or a sense that it had to be a tail of some sort.

  Cautiously, I stretched out my hand. Even as I did so, I realized how idiotic the action was. I didn’t know what this thing was. Could it take my hand off with a clean bite? Could it drag me to the deep, to where the pressure was too great? Could it—

  It grabbed my arm and jerked me forward a few feet. Without warning, I burst into flames, a ball of fire that seemed to encircle me several feet on every side. I made the inferno continue as I tried to adjust my eyes to be able to see through the flames and into the blue.

  I thought I saw another flash of gold zip around me, but I couldn’t be sure. It could have just been the flickering of my flames. I turned myself around within the fire, trying to catch it behind me. There was no spark of gold, no flash of fins.

  What I did see cut through me.

  Part of the kelp was inside the fireball with me, quickly being devoured. It took several seconds to realize what I was seeing, but when I did, the flames instantly went out, a sinking feeling overtaking the center of my chest.

  Forgetting the monster of gold, I swam forward, shame washing over me. A huge portion of the forest was destroyed, empty murk where moments before life had flourished. Even where the fire hadn’t touched, everything was scorched, simmering gray vapor wafting up toward the surface. I couldn’t see any fish. I was sure whatever fish had been caught in the fire had been completely consumed, and the rest had hopefully managed to dart away before they were boiled by the heat.

  Heaviness came over me as I looked at what I had done. How much I had destroyed in a matter of moments.

  For the first time I could remember, I felt like I didn’t belong in the ocean.

  As an afterthought, I remembered the creature that had been toying with me. I looked around. I didn’t see anything, nor did I feel its presence like I did before. Whether I had frightened it away or it had been devoured by the fire as well, I didn’t know. At the moment, I didn’t care. I wished it would come. Come and drag me away to whatever demise it could dream up.

  With a final glance at the forest, I turned my eyes up and began to swim. Up through the inky soot and vapor from the dead and dying kelp. Up to the surface.

  Chapter 27

  BY THE time I returned to the de Morisco’s house, I only had fifteen minutes before they were scheduled to pick me up. I wasn’t sure how I was going to make myself get through a funeral. The only funeral I wanted to go to right now was my own. Bitterly, I thought how excited I had been to be in the ocean again, how it had made everything seem right. I never dreamed there could be an event that would make me wary of returning to the sea.

  I had just gotten out of the shower and was toweling my hair when I felt a hand cup my ass. “If it wouldn’t ruin this suit, I would pick you up and carry you in the bedroom and….” Finn’s voice trailed off as I turned and met his eyes. “What’s wrong? I’m sorry we’re early. Take more time if you need.”

  “No, that’s not it.” I lowered the towel and began to dry my chest and abdomen. “Swimming didn’t go so great.”

  Finn’s face fell even further. “Oh, I’m sorry. I thought that would really help you sort through everything.”

  “Yeah. Me too.”

  “What happened?”

  A picture of the dying kelp flashed through my mind, followed by the thought that I still had to get ready for the funeral. “I’ll tell you later. It’s too much right now.” I finished drying my back and legs, stepped into the bedroom, and started putting on the clothes I had laid out on the bed. I didn’t own a suit, so I resorted to a white button-down shirt with gray cargo pants. “Church go okay?”

  “Yeah. Same old, same old.”

  I looked up at him. “Really, they didn’t say anything about Rodrigo?”

  “Rodrigo didn’t go to church with us. The funeral won’t be in a church. None of ours are.”

  I thought about asking what he meant, but I couldn’t find the strength or the desire to care th
at much at the moment.

  Hurriedly, I stuffed myself into the clothes, ran some product through my hair, joined Finn and the rest of the family in cramming ourselves into the minivan, and headed to the funeral.

  THE drive took about forty minutes, and by the time we arrived, Saul had been crying for over half the way. I was feeling so restless and closed in that I concentrated only on breathing and not bursting into flames and taking the entire family with me. Finn tried to put his hand on my knee, but I swiftly shrugged away from him. It was enough that I felt like we were playing sardines. I couldn’t handle any more contact. For a moment when I saw the hurt in his face, I wondered if he would be able to handle the moodiness that came with being with a fire demon. Of course, I had always been moody, so maybe I was just blaming it on my demon side. Then again, I had always been a demon. I just hadn’t known it. I quickly let the train of thought slide away and returned to focusing on maintaining control.

  When we all managed to extricate ourselves from the prison on wheels, I was taken aback by the beauty surrounding us. I wasn’t sure where we were. I had never been here before, and I prided myself on knowing every inch of the California coast, at least the view from the water.

  We were on a lush cliff. To the rear was a forest of evergreens. We walked about a quarter mile to join a group of others who had already gathered close to the cliff’s edge, under a lone old, twisted willow. Beyond that, the rocky coast and the sea filled the horizon.

  The sublime beauty of the cliff lifted my mood instantly. I looked over at Finn by my side, my eyes wide.

  “I know,” he whispered, smiling at the expression on my face. “Pretty amazing, isn’t it?”

  I let out a stream of breath in response. “Where are we? I’ve never been here before.”