Flame and Fury

by Lisa Gail Green

  Maya had just pushed the start button on the coffee maker when Edy’s appeared, breathless in the kitchen doorway. She knew right away something was wrong.

  “What is it?” she asked, panic rising in her chest. “He’s there, isn’t he?” he had to be.

  Edy just shook her head like a lost child.

  “Maybe he went with Sam. To the gift store,” Maya said. But she didn’t think it was likely.

  “Maybe,” Edy agreed. “I’ll give him a call.” And she scurried over to the phone.

  Maya climbed onto one of the barstools at the island and tried to focus. What kind of dark magic could tear the door from its hinges and leave everything ripped to shreds in a cylindrical pattern along the floor? That was strong magic. And there weren’t all that many Wizards in existence. Even fewer who would ally themselves with the Scimitar.

  So that left Aedan. But it didn’t fit. Not unless…

  “Edy?” she placed a hand on the woman’s wrist just as she was hanging up the phone.

  “I can’t get an answer,” she said, eyes filled with unexpressed worry.

  “Has Aedan been hanging out with someone named Kari?” Maya tried to sound innocent. At best like a jealous girlfriend.

  “Well no, dear. You’re the only girl he’s been hanging around with. I’d know it if there were someone else.” Edy was genuinely puzzled and patted Maya’s hand.

  So his family didn’t know about the girl in the graveyard. At least the live one.

  “I’m sure everything’s fine,” Maya lied. Good thing she was so practiced at deceit. “I’m just going to go home and study for a bit. If Aedan does come home, will you do me a favor and make sure he calls me? Right away?”

  “Of course. But don’t you want a cup of coffee? I can make us some omelets…” Edy was already hunting through the cabinets. Maya knew her well enough to understand that cooking was her way of dealing.

  “No thank you, Edy. I really should be going. Sorry to wake you.” And she slipped out the front before Edy had time to turn around.

  She stood on the front porch, barely taking in the clacking sound of the beetles in the yard or the gecko that raced by her feet. She stared out toward Aedan’s truck thinking about the things she should have seen right away. The broken air conditioning. The long dark hair that probably didn’t belong to his ex. The heat of his skin against hers.

  Without even registering it, she wiped the moisture away from her face hard. How could she have been taken in so easily? What if she was still not seeing the truth? Damn him! He ought to have been there. Where was he?

  She jogged over to her jeep. She’d wasted enough time already coming here. Toby could be dead. She couldn’t let that happen. Not after Corey… She’d sworn it. No matter what she had to fix it. But where would he be? She pulled out her cell and stared at the screen. Could it be that easy?

  Aedan’s number rang in her ear. Please answer. Another call clicked in. She didn’t have time for this – wait. Who else ever called her? She quickly switched over, and said, “Hello?”

  “Maya? Oh, thank God!” It was Aedan’s voice, and he sounded winded, shaken. She nearly choked on the tears that immediately threatened to break through.

  “Aedan. Where the hell are you? You’re in dan-”

  “Maya you have to listen to me!”

  They’d both spoken at the same time. Maya forced herself to take a deep cleansing breath.

  “Listen,” he said. “I’m with your brother but now you’re in danger.”

  Her vision nearly blacked out when he said it.

  “Aedan if you touch-” but the phone crackled and went dead. She launched it out the window hard, with a shout. She had to battle her hair out of her face. She hadn’t noticed the way the wind picked up. Something else too. The beetles were silent now.

  Maya had about five seconds to register the truth before the car was thrown end over end into the street.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Maya

  The second the car tipped, Maya’s training kicked into high gear, the adrenaline she thrived on so much coursed through her veins, and she dove headfirst through the open side of the jeep. She somersaulted and leaped up to a standing position. The fierce wind had done it, and she was about 99 percent certain what she was dealing with. Damn it! She wasn’t equipped for this one. Almost everything she had was specific to fighting fire.

  But she’d trained well. So she sunk her weight, cementing her small frame as best as possible in the middle of the hurricane. Well, hurricane sans water.

  The Wind Elemental appeared before her, stepping out of the swirling debris that whipped around between them. Behind her, she heard the creak of the mailbox as it bent and snapped off. But she kept her eyes trained on the girl from the graveyard.

  “Still here?” Kari called above the howl. “Having tea with Mama Bear?”

  Maya said nothing. Just flexed her hands in preparation. All her senses stood at high alert. Priority number one? Get this Kari chick away from Edy’s house. Priority number two? Kill the bitch.

  “You know, the only reason I haven’t torn you to shreds yet?” Kari asked, stepping forward like she was on a runway. “Because I have to know if my hunch is correct. See, I think you have a thing for Aedan. I think you were so soft, in fact, that you actually spared his life. Am I getting close?”

  Actually, she was, both physically and emotionally. But Maya pushed away the emotional side for the moment. It was imperative to her survival. If she could keep the bitch talking, keep her moving forward, she actually stood a chance.

  “You know, I think Aedan was at least attracted to you,” Kari said. “I mean he did call out your name once while we were… well, you know.”

  The dagger flew from Maya’s hand scraping across the side of her cheek. Then the wind began to grow. But Maya was already darting away, though it went against every fiber of her being to run from a fight. She had to pull the Elemental away from the innocent.

  Though apparently, Aedan was not among them.

  Maya reached the wash at the end of Aedan’s street and chanced a look behind her to be sure Kari was following. But there was no sign of her. Maya waited, listening hard. The wind still pressed down from above, so she knew she had to be close.

  “Looking for me, Red?” Kari’s voice whispered in her ear.

  Maya dropped to the ground, and swept her leg out behind her, catching Kari in the ankles, and toppling her to the ground. Then she was on top of her, squeezing her throat.

  The wind roared around them, and Maya kept her head low behind her shoulder trying to avoid the objects that pelted her from the street. She remained determined to keep firm pressure on the slut’s windpipe no matter what. If she let go now, she was probably toast.

  But the current was strong. Strong enough to send her jeep rolling like a tumbleweed toward them. Strong enough to send both of them spiraling down into the wash. Still, she kept hold of Kari’s throat. But as they toppled body over body into the dirt and brush, she couldn’t get the leverage she needed.

  Red and brown hair tangled together in a bizarre dance. Rocks and cactus stabbed at her skin. Still, she hung on. “I’m not letting go!” she screamed, even as she finally found them still, herself pressed below Kari’s body. And then Kari’s hands were around her own throat.

  An eerie calm settled over Maya right in the middle of chaos. She never thought as clearly as she did right in the middle of a fight. She was going to have to release her choke-hold to get out of it.

  Bitch took it as a sign of weakness when she let go. She just kept on yapping away. “I already killed two of you pathetic Circle Operatives you know. And fire boy’s taking care of your boyfriend.”

  Maya froze, even as Kari’s fingers cut off her oxygen. No. He wouldn’t. She was lying. Everything was a lie!

  Kari’s mistake was assuming she had gained control. But all she’d really done was make Maya furious. She wriggled a hand in her pocket, pressed down firmly, and
threw the contents in Kari’s face.

  The thick white fire retardant exploded, covering her entire torso, and Kari was blown backward into a group of Joshua trees. Maya leaped to her feet, pulling out her next weapon. But the wind roared in her ears, nearly lifting her off the ground. She planted her weight as Kari struggled, writhing on the ground, tearing at her face with what looked like white gloved hands. Kind of hard to breathe with thick glop in your nose and mouth. That stuff was doing its job, smothering the fire.

  The car crashing down into the wash drew Maya’s attention. And when she looked up, she also saw the thick black smoke hovering like a demon in the distance. So much that the helicopters circling it looked like no more than gnats. Big enough that the billowing clouds blocked out part of the sky. Her heart caught in her throat as she realized what it was. Fire.

  A true Circle Operative wouldn’t hesitate. She would dispatch the Elemental. Secure peace for the next two centuries. But Maya had already scrambled up the slope toward the street. She had to get to him before it was too late. She had to save Toby.

  She wouldn’t even acknowledge that the smoke meant it was already too late.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Aedan

  Aedan thought he’d probably overdone it. But he’d kept it close to the edge of the stream and the waterfall where the ground was damp and not quite so dry. Then he added a few backfires in strategic locations so that they would meet in the middle, hopefully running out of fuel because of each other. Of course, he was no expert, and fire was unpredictable, but he had to save Maya’s brother.

  Maya. What had he done? Was she okay? Would Kari bring her back to him to kill like she’d done with Toby? He felt ill when he realized her best chance was probably just that. And even then, would he be able to take care of Kari? And what about Sam? If he was forced to reveal his true intentions to Kari, was the only father he’d ever known lost forever?

  The emergency copter landed in a clearing he’d made by incinerating a group of plants to blowing ash. He’d hauled Toby over to the center, and laid him down. He was conscious, but he still looked pale and soaked with blood. And it felt like forever before the helicopter finally lowered itself to the ground, blowing dirt out in a circle like one of Kari’s winds.

  Aedan flinched from his hiding spot behind a spruce. And it wasn’t until they’d rushed out with a stretcher and face masks that he realized the air quality was probably pretty bad up there. He threw his forehead against the rough bark of the tree and moaned. What if he’d done Toby more damage? Killed him off through smoke inhalation? No time for worry now. He had to get back to the meeting place.

  How long had it been already? Surely more than the hour Kari had allotted. What if she’d come and gone again already while he was off with Toby? The thought sent his mind reeling. Sam.

  Aedan settled down in the clearing where he was supposed to meet Kari. It was much smaller than the one he’d made for Toby. He only incinerated about five trees and everything in between. Not only did this leave the place untouched by the fire so that Kari could get back, it made it look like he’d turned Toby and everything in a fifty-foot radius into ash.

  The air really was thick with smoke. It sent a satisfying burn down his throat and into his lungs as he inhaled deeply from behind the shelter of his palms. His stomach twisted. His eyes stung, but not in the good way from the fire. He really was evil. How could he avoid the only conclusion possible? What other type of person could destroy everything including the lives of those he loved.

  But he wasn’t ready to give up yet. He had to see this through for Sam. He had to make sure Sam was okay. And if he wasn’t… Aedan really didn’t want to face that possibility, but whenever the thought flittered into his head, flames of fury nearly exploded from his chest.

  Either way, he would make sure Kari never hurt another innocent soul. Assuming he hadn’t already missed her…

  Slowly, he raised his head and put down his hands. “Kari!” he called, standing. “Kari! Where are you? It’s done! He’s dead.”

  And then her figure materialized, walking out of the smoke before him like a ghost. Aedan squinted. Something felt wrong. And the moment she stepped into the clearing, he knew why.

  “You killed him.” Maya’s face was harder than he’d ever seen it, but beneath the mask, he saw the hurt in her bright green eyes.

  She looked pretty beat up, her hair almost as crazy as Kari’s. Scrapes and cuts layered over her body. Clothes torn in places. In one hand she held clutched a broadsword, much like something Arthur himself might have used when he killed the first Fire Elemental.

  Aedan shook his head a little. As usual, his thoughts were too jumbled to get out what he wanted to, assaulted by a barrage of feeling ranging from relief at seeing her alive, to incredulity that she could have taken out Kari.

  “What? You thought your girlfriend could actually take me?” she asked with what he thought was a hint of jealousy. Or maybe the smoke affected even his brain.

  “She’s not my girlfriend,” was what he managed to actually get out.

  Maya’s eyes widened for half a second, then she raised her sword, and stepped forward. Aedan automatically met each step with his own, backward. He wanted to run to her and fold her into his arms in joy. But there was no mistaking that look in her eye. Or that weapon in her hand.

  “Please,” he said. “Just before you do it, please. Is Sam all right? Did you find him in time?” The pain inside threatened to consume him for a minute, but he forced it down as best he could.

  Maya hesitated. “What do you mean?” she asked. “You can’t trick me that easily,” she added. Aedan thought it sounded like she felt she’d already been duped by him, and he cringed further.

  “Kari, she said Sam had until sundown to live unless I did what she wanted.” His own voice sounded thick, but he knew it wasn’t the fire. “She said if she didn’t stop it he’d be… he’d die.”

  Something in the way he said it must have registered because Maya lowered the sword a little. “How long ago?” she asked.

  Aedan squinted toward the sky, as though he could read the time in the smoke. “I don’t know,” he said. “Like an hour at least. Maybe two. It was… it was around six this morning when we got here.”

  “That doesn’t give us a lot of time to work with,” Maya said, tapping her lip with the tip of the sword. “It’ll take at least half an hour to get back down, and that’s at a good pace.”

  “Maya, I-” Her glare cut him off, and he dropped the hand he’d had outstretched toward her. He swallowed and tried again. “I’m really glad you’re all right. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. Any of it. I never meant to hurt anyone.”

  “But you killed Toby as soon as Kari asked you to.”

  Aedan’s mouth snapped shut.

  “I get that she threatened Sam, but you killed him, Sparks.” Maya’s voice broke with emotion, tears leaked unnoticed from her eyes, cutting uneven lines through the layers of grime on her cheeks.

  “No,” Aedan stretched out his hand again, unable to stop himself. “No, I didn’t, Maya. I didn’t kill him. I saved him. Toby’s alive.”

  He didn’t even know what hit him. One moment he was reaching for Maya, the next he was on the ground, all the air knocked from his lungs. He wheezed, trying to re-inflate them, but it seemed impossible. And as small as she was, Maya sitting on his chest didn’t help.

  Neither did the heavy iron sword pricking the flesh on his neck.

  “You’re lying, Elemental. You just don’t want me to kill you.” It registered that her whole body was shaking above him. Was she crying?

  “Not lying,” he choked. She pulled the sword back a bit but kept it aimed at him. “He’s on his way down to University Medical Center in a rescue copter. That’s why I did this,” he said, jerking his head toward the blaze all around.

  “You said-”

  “I had to make it look like I did it or she would have killed Sam.”

  May
a narrowed her vivid eyes, and he blew out a long breath.

  “Call them. Call the hospital,” Aedan said.

  “I can’t,” she said, letting the sword drop to her side. “I threw my phone out of the car when you called me. Not that I could have held onto anything in Tempest Kari.” She released some of the pressure on his chest and dropped her head into her hand. “I don’t know what to do.”

  Aedan couldn’t stand it. She’d lied to him. But he’d done plenty of lying too. And she was still Maya. Still, the girl he cared about more than anything. The girl he’d cared about enough to contemplate fighting Kari and losing Sam.

  “It’s okay,” he said, sitting and pulling her into his arms. She didn’t put up any resistance, just leaned her face in his neck, letting her warm breath send shivers down his body. In moments she was shaking so hard, he didn’t know what to do. Hot tears snaked down his skin, evaporating almost instantly. Then she started coughing and her body was wracked with more than just sobs.

  “I have to get you out of here,” he said, panic setting in.

  “Sam-” she said, then erupted into another coughing fit.

  Aedan pulled her off of his lap, stood, and gathered her into his arms. But no matter which way he looked, he saw flame and smoke. The whole inferno was closing in, and she may not ignite like Megan. But she could die like Carrie, of smoke inhalation. And he couldn’t let that happen. He wouldn’t.

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Aedan

  “Just a sec,” he said, putting her carefully on the ground where she pulled what was left of her tank up over her mouth, and continued to cough.

  He had to put out the fire.

  Right. He’d done it inside. He’d even controlled short bursts like the one he used to incinerate Toby’s bonds. And wouldn’t it feel good to stop the destruction for once?