Touching Fire (Touch Saga)

by Airicka Phoenix

  My smile quivered. “Yeah.”

  He gave my shoulders another squeeze. “Let me take you home. You must be starving.”

  Home … I’d never had one of those before. I grew up in motel rooms on greasy, cardboard food and plastic cups. I lived out of a single duffle bag, out of the back of my mom’s Impala. The closest thing I’d ever come to healthy living was the tomatoes and lettuce on my burger and remembering not to fall asleep against the car window while the sun was highest in the sky. But I didn’t eat food anymore. At least, I hadn’t in almost a month.

  “Actually, there are a few things we need to tell you first.” Isaiah took a step forward.

  Ashton glanced from me to Isaiah, curiosity bright in his eyes. He straightened and removed his hands from my shoulders, leaving a cold sensation behind. “Is here all right?”

  Isaiah glanced around at the people rushing around us. “Perhaps somewhere else?”

  Ashton nodded, all business now. He surveyed the park, the movement quick, but I knew it was thorough. He didn’t seem like the sort to leave anything half-assed. “There is a café down the block. It’s usually very quiet around this time and the staff doesn’t meddle.”

  I learned quickly what that meant. As soon as we walked into the tiny corner café, the staff vanished. Not into thin air, but they got one head nod from Ashton and walked a straight line into the back room, closing the door behind them.

  “I own the building,” Ashton said when he caught me staring in awe.

  “I guess being a doctor pays really well, huh?” I mused.

  “Doctor?” Ashton peered over his shoulder at me, his features perplexed.

  I looked towards Isaiah, waiting for him to explain, because he’d been the one to tell me my father was a doctor. But he was equally puzzled by Ashton’s confusion.

  “Oh!” Ashton seemed to realize something. He nodded. “Yes. Doctor.” He closed and locked the glass door behind us. He turned and motioned towards the fifteen or so empty tables around the place. “Why don’t we talk?”

  After a curious glance between me and Isaiah, we took the seat furthest from the wall of windows, right in the corner so we had a clear view of the whole café, including the front door.

  “You are a doctor, right?” I pressed. “I mean, that’s how you met Garrison, isn’t it?”

  He cleared his throat and I could tell right away I wasn’t going to like what he was about to tell me.

  “I’m not a doctor,” he said slowly, looking from me to Isaiah. “That was what I’d told your mother I was when we first met.”

  “So what are you then?” This was from Isaiah, who looked even more betrayed by the confession than I felt.

  Ashton lowered his gaze to the tabletop. “I’m many things,” he began slowly.

  “But all these years…” Isaiah shook his head. “You told me—”

  “I know.” Ashton looked him square in the face. “I will explain everything in due time, Isaiah. For now, I think we have more important things to discuss.” He cast me a pointed glance.

  The muscles in Isaiah’s jaw flexed, but he reined in the frustration I could feel pouring off him into me. I had to restrain the urge to reach for his hand.

  “Garrison has become more persistent in his hunt for Fallon,” Isaiah mumbled, unable to conceal the grudge in his tone. “We can hardly go a day without an attack. Whoever his tracker is, they’re very powerful. I haven’t been able to sense them anywhere near us, yet they always seem to know where we are.”

  Ashton nodded as though this made sense. “My sources have informed me of a great surge in numbers this last few weeks. Terrell has found a new source of power from somewhere and he’s not wasting any time using it. I think it’s only a matter of time before his forces close in on you.”

  “Are you a spy?” I blurted.

  Ashton blinked. Then he broke into a deep rumbling laugh. “No, but I make it my business to keep feelers in all things noteworthy, and Terrell has a particular place in my interests.”

  “Isaiah tells me you’ve been rescuing the children Garrison—”

  “He’d be both wrong and right,” Ashton interrupted. “I do my best to rescue those I can, but they aren’t as many children as there once had been. There are a few, but those remaining, Terrell guards very closely. I haven’t rescued anyone in nearly a year.”

  “If not children, then what—”

  Ashton put his hand up, stopping my tumble of questions. “Let’s talk about all that later. Right now, I want to hear your news.”

  I wanted to press. I still had so many questions. But he was right. We could talk about those things later. We had, after all, all the time in the world.

  “I told you about our run in with Maia and Yuri,” Isaiah began.

  Ashton nodded. “Yes, how they found Fallon. Terrell no doubt sent them out of desperation. Maia is not someone Terrell would send if the situation hadn’t gotten out of hand. She’s the most evil creature I have ever encountered and that is saying quite a bit.”

  Isaiah nodded. “We managed to evade him for a while, before we were captured. We were taken to Garrison’s home just north of Whistler. I don’t know the exact location, but I can find it if I tried.”

  Ashton shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. I’ve known for a while where he calls home. However, had I known you were there, I would have come to get you myself.”

  “Contact was impossible,” Isaiah replied. “We were heavily guarded, right until the end when we managed to escape.”

  “And did he ever tell you what his plans were?” Ashton wondered.

  I shook my head before Isaiah could tell him otherwise. Ashton may have been my father, the man whose blood ran through my veins, but he’d also been partners with Garrison once upon a time and I was too paranoid to trust anyone. I trusted people who lied even less. Whether or not he’d ever been a doctor was a moot point. It was him lying about it that only increased my distrust. Plus I hadn’t forgotten Mom’s last warnings to me not to trust Ashton.

  Isaiah must have sensed my need not to share the fact that we were potential weapons of mass destruction, because he didn’t bring it up. Instead, he veered the topic back to our escape.

  “Fallon saved my life.” Isaiah cast me a level glance as though daring me to contradict his claim.

  He was wrong. I hadn’t saved his life. He may have gotten shot, but with his accelerated healing, he hadn’t been in any real danger.

  “Well, you did what you had to,” Ashton said at once, voice unwavering. “Had it not been them, it would have been you.”

  Was that how murderers looked themselves in the mirror? Justification? How did one justify taking a life?

  “After we escaped, we laid low for a couple of weeks and tried to regroup before we contacted you,” Isaiah finished at last.

  By laid low, he meant me vehemently dragging my feet on the whole situation and him needing a month to convince me that it was time I met my father.

  Despite my need for answer and safety, I could never shake the uncertainty the idea of meeting Ashton always provoked. But I was really tired of running. I was tired of not having options. I was tired of being tired. Plus, Isaiah was so adamant that Ashton was the good guy. Maybe he was right.

  Ashton, who had been listening attentively to Isaiah, beamed. “Remarkable!” he said, shaking his head. “Absolutely remarkable. I always knew Terrell was unstable, but this proves that his lunacy goes much deeper than face value.”

  You think? I wanted to say. His brilliant observation was, oh, seventeen years too late.

  “There’s more,” Isaiah murmured, hesitant. “Garrison’s still alive and out for blood.”

  Ashton nodded. “You’ll be safe at Luxuria. I made the mistake of letting you fend for yourself once. I won’t—”

  “I didn’t fend for myself!” My tone came out sharper than I’d intended. “I had Mom and we were doing fine until this crap happened.”

  Ashton visibly
winced. “Yes, of course. I apologize.” He lowered his head. “I should have done more to protect you both and for that, I am eternally guilt ridden. I failed you.”

  “You couldn’t have known,” I murmured.

  He wouldn’t meet my eye. “Perhaps.” He placed a gentle hand on mine. “I can’t replace what you had with your mother, Fallon, but I promise that I will protect you in every way that I can. You’re safe now.”

  It was daunting to accept. It seemed too easy, and even as a part of me salivated at the possibility of being wholly and truly in the clear. Yet the part of me that had seen and done too much, refused to believe it. Also, I knew firsthand what Garrison was capable of. I knew that he would never give up looking for me. I was too valuable. But my options were slim. My life was in danger and because of me, Isaiah was in danger. In order to keep him safe, I had to trust Ashton. I had to believe that he meant what he said about keeping us away from Garrison.

  The shriek of Isaiah’s chair sliding viciously across the smooth laminate sent my heart scuttling up into my throat even before he shouted, “We need to go!” and grabbed my arm.

  I was hauled to my feet and dragged behind him.

  Ashton was up and out of his seat with much less haste. He twisted his body to the window even as his hand went around behind him. The movement was so quick, so fluid like he’d done it a million times, a frightening thought when, a second later, he was cradling a sleek, black handgun. It was almost reassuring to know my father packed heat like some mafia guy, if not a bit daunting. But even that wasn’t as blood chilling as the three familiar silhouettes making their way with great ease across the street in the direction of the cafe.

  “Take her through the back.” Ashton passed Isaiah the gun, who took it and seamlessly slipped it into the waistband of his jeans. “I’ll deal with them.”

  “Wait!” I lunged after him when he made for the door, ignoring Isaiah’s grip on me when I grabbed Ashton’s arm. “You can’t go out there without your gun! You have no idea—”

  Ashton smiled calmly at me. It was so off-putting considering the situation that I dropped my hand.

  “Don’t worry about me, dearest. I don’t need a weapon.”

  Then, with a wink that only sealed my theory that my dad was suicidal, he strolled out of the café to meet the Shadow Brothers.

  Chapter 2

  The number of lackeys Garrison had at his disposal was incredible. It amazed me even more just how brainlessly loyal they were to him. In the past month, we’d met a good majority of his group; men and women with different abilities, some really cool, if not way cooler than mine.

  We had encountered a woman a while back with the ability to freeze time. She literally froze everything within five feet of her. It had been a task and a half to keep six feet ahead of her at all times. Running I could do. I was getting really good at running. Thanks to Garrison, I was in the best shape of my life. Bring on the zombies!

  The trio Ashton was about to get up close and personal with were named Marcel, Hogan and Noboru, or the Shadow Brothers as I’d nicknamed them. They were a creepy lot with the sinister ability to meld into one another the way I always imagined The Blob would, and become a giant living, breathing and killing shadow. It only seemed to work if they were together.

  I had yet to see them go into shadow mode on their own. But the moment they were together and they touched, their entire matter seemed to dissolve into a shapeless pool of black. The worst part was when you couldn’t tell if the darkness you were about to walk into was an actual shadow or them, until it was too late.

  In shadow form they were toxic and touching them burned away skin like battery acid. I had seen them envelop a man once as he’d staggered out of a bar. His screams had haunted me for days, but that was nothing compared to what happened next.

  Once the shadow had shifted away, gliding off his mutilated remains, the sight of his mangled limbs was far worse. Isaiah had tried to stop them once with a series of floodlights, but not even light stopped them. They didn’t seem to have a weakness and they attacked as a unit, which sucked when the odds were three to one, with Isaiah being the one. I was pretty useless in a fight.

  It was unclear if the three were related like Gaston and Mistral, the fire-throwers that had burned my last school to the ground and killed my mom. The Shadow Brothers were tall, with skin the color of espresso beans and eyes like pools of black tar. They always wore black cargo pants and black sweaters and had a wild passion for trench coats and army boots.

  I took a step towards the window, curious to see what Ashton was going to do. The sun glinted off his wavy locks as he moved with unnatural ease to greet our guests. Pedestrians shifted around them, unaware of the danger walking in their midst.

  He didn’t stop until there was a foot of distance between them. Out of the four, he seemed to be the shortest by a foot, but he had an aura that exuded power and demanded respect. It rippled around him in waves so thick it was palpable. His mouth moved and he made a few random hand gestures. For a moment, it appeared as though he was trying to reason with them, which was crazy.

  “What is he—?”

  The trio shimmered. It was subtle. No one would have noticed if they hadn’t been watching for it. I was. It started where the back of their hands touched. I could see the ripple shimmy up their arms and across their chests as they became translucent.

  “Hey!” I broke free of Isaiah and ran to the window. Both palms slammed into the glass. “Look out!”

  It was an utter waste of time.

  In a motion that was a streak of black, Ashton swung out with his right arm, and for that split second, nothing happened. No one moved. Time itself seemed to pour to a stop. Then, the Shadow Brother in the middle began to cry, slow tears that ran down his face in a thick, red drizzle. But the tears weren’t just coming from his eyes.

  They poured from his brow, his nose, and his mouth where it had been torn open in a ghastly smile. Blood spattered from the long, horizontal gashes and rained down his front. His entire body twitched and his hands flew up to cover his face. The other two moved in as though to protect their friend while simultaneously trying to grab Ashton before he struck again, but it was too late. Ashton had swung again, sinking his bare fingers into the middle guy’s gut and tearing upward in a fluid stroke. Body parts I was not ready to identify splashed to the floor like blood soaked rags, a second before the middle Shadow Brother crumpled, literally falling apart in pieces at my father’s feet. Then the screams started as the crowd realized what was happening.

  “Holy shit!”

  “Come on.” Isaiah grabbed me and dragged me towards the counter and the door behind it before I had the chance to see what happened next.

  I staggered numbly after him. “Did you see that? Did you … what…”

  He shoved me through the door.

  “What the hell was that?”

  I knew I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. I’d seen worse, but there was something uniquely horrifying about witnessing your father disemboweling a man in broad daylight with his bare hands.

  The staff, a boy and two girls, glanced up from their game of cards at a round table in the corner when we stumbled into the room.

  “Can we go back out?” the boy asked.

  “No,” Isaiah said abruptly. “You need to get out.”

  It must have been in their training, somewhere between being taught how to make a mocha latte and pouring coffee, because no one asked why. They dropped their cards, rose out of their chairs and made a single file line out the backdoor into an alley.

  “Wait.” Isaiah stopped me from following with a restraining hand on my elbow. His gaze remained fixated on the door, narrowed with concentration.

  “What are we waiting for?” I asked when seconds passed and nothing happened.

  He listened a moment longer before answering, “There’s something out there.”

  My gaze swung to the open doorway, my heart lodged somewhere in my t
hroat. But I swallowed it down, a whole bigger problem coming to mind. “The staff … they have no idea what’s out there. They’ll walk right into it and get killed.”

  I ran to the door, ignoring Isaiah’s hiss to stop. Words of warning perched on my tongue as I leapt blindly into the alleyway, and staggered to a halt.

  I spotted the boy right away. He stood with his back to me, his head bent as he observed a soccer ball at his feet, a soccer ball with sleek, blonde hair. It took some squinting, some questioning of my sanity, but I realized quickly that it was one of the girls’ heads, just before she vanished from sight into solid concrete. The boy waited until it was completely gone before doing a little hop and sinking in after her feet first and vanishing from sight completely.

  “What the faa—”

  Isaiah grabbed me and yanked me back into the stock room. “They’re gone.”

  My voice rose to an octave short of hysterical. “They freaking melted into the ground!”

  “They work for Ashton. You don’t expect them to be exactly normal, do you?” He was way too calm for my piece of mind.

  “Well what then?” I really needed to stop asking that. After all, wasn’t that the million dollar question at this point? What were they? What was I? Life really was one big box of freaking mystery chocolates and I was quickly becoming diabetic.

  He shrugged, all cool, calm and collected. “I don’t think we should worry about that right now. We have bigger problems.”

  I took a gulping breath and smoothed my anxious nerves. “What’s the plan, Boss?”

  If he picked up on my sarcasm, Isaiah didn’t show it. Instead, he moved to the doorway and poked his head out. He looked left, then right, and then ducked back inside.

  “There’s something out there,” he said again, aggravation tight in his voice. “I can’t get a signal on what though.”

  “Meaning?” I prompted.

  “Meaning I don’t know what we’re up against.” He peeked out into the alleyway again. “Whatever it is, it’s huge and powerful.”