Stolen Fire

by S. Dalambakis

  “I’m sorry. I lost sight of where everyone was around me,” I say sheepishly.

  “I would rather you be safe than sorry. What you did is a normal reaction to this level. Though, I assume it would be a normal reaction for you anyway considering your job.” I nod at Verkor’s words, because he’s not wrong. Then, out of nowhere, it hits me.

  All the anger I kept at bay because I have a job where I steal, and I hate doing it. All the rage I’ve felt at my birth parents because they didn’t want me. They couldn’t love me. All the horrible things that have happened in my life, and all the things that I saw and still see. All of it bubbles up inside of me. I feel a rumble in my chest and realize that I’m growling. There are plumes of smoke escaping my nose. The thought of being inside of those rings, beating the shit out of someone, suddenly seems like a good idea.

  “We have a situation,” Verkor states. “Finley,” he says my name calmly, but I don’t want calm. I want anger.

  “Finley, love.” My gaze moves to Stolas. “We need to get out of here. You’re pregnant. Think of our baby, our pup.” He puts his hands up, palms out, as I take a menacing step toward him. “Obsidian, a little help,” he tries to whisper, but I still hear him. I hear shuffling behind me, so I adjust my stance to keep Obsidian in my peripheral vision. Doing so, I lost sight of Stolas because Verkor has moved into his spot. Arms wrap around my chest from behind, and I’m being lifted off of my feet. I struggle against the person holding me, lashing out by kicking, but nothing fazes my kidnapper. A loud growl escapes my lips.

  “Holy hell, I didn’t think this level would affect her like it is,” a voice I know rumbles behind me.

  “Just move. I’ll clear a path as best as I can.” I know that voice too. I can’t think straight with all this rage inside of me.

  I want to lash out and destroy...everything, but there’s something bumping against the corners of my mind. Something is telling me not to harm the ones close to me, but I don't know what to do with all this anger. A growl rips from my throat and smoke plumes from my nose with every exhale.

  “Just hang on, Finley,” the voice behind me states. “We need to move faster,” the voice growls. We pick up speed. Everything is hazy. I can’t get a clear thought. It’s all just rage. “Just a little bit further, love. I swear you’ll start to feel more like yourself here shortly.”

  Feel more like myself? What if this is exactly how I feel? What if this is exactly how I’m supposed to feel? There’s a growl from somewhere behind me. The arms around me pull me a little tighter to his body as I struggle to break free. Twisting and turning my body to no avail. I lose track of time and I start to grow tired from all the fighting. The arms around me never waver. Then, out of nowhere, the fog starts to lift.

  “I don’t know how long it’s going to take for her to come out it. You know these levels affect everyone differently,” the voice growls behind me. Stolas. That’s the voice. He’s who is holding me, but why?

  “Stolas?” I ask.

  “It’s me, love. I’ve got you.”

  “I know, which is fine, but why?” I question.

  “I’m going to put you down.”

  He does, waiting for me to be steady on my feet before completely letting go. I turn to see Obsidian standing with his arms crossed over his chest and his ever-present scowl on his face. Verkor has a stoic expression on his face. Stolas just looks worried. He runs his fingers through his hair a few times.

  “Do you remember anything that happened?” Verkor asks.

  I frown. What does he mean? I take a look around me and notice that we are no longer in the same area we entered. There are no rings, no fighting. This area is calm. There are people milling about, but they are not in any hurry. I say people because this area is filled with humans. As I look closer, I realize the humans are more like zombies aimlessly walking around. Now, I’m more confused.

  “Where are we?” I ask, turning my attention to Stolas.

  “Level six of hell,” he replies. “Welcome to heresy.” Wait a minute.

  “How the hell did we get to level six? We just entered level five.” I frown harder. What the hell am I missing? I start to pace, trying to figure out what I missed.

  I remember walking through the gate and entering the anger level of hell. I remember looking around, noticing all the different fighting cages and rings. The fact that demons and humans were fighting each other. That’s when things start to get a little hazy. I remember feeling so much rage and hatred for the way my life was growing up. The anger I felt for not being wanted and left like a piece of trash. I stop, whipping my gaze in my guys’ direction. I remember wanting to release all of the anger inside me. I turned on the guys. I was going to hurt them. Why would I do that? My heart rate starts to increase. I feel it pounding in my chest. My breath starts to come in slow sharp inhales. My vision blurs as my eyes fill with tears. I start shaking my head.

  “No, no, no,” I whisper. “I’m so sorry. I would never...I would never,” I can’t seem to finish my sentence.

  I hang my head as more of the thoughts, feelings, and desires I had filter in. I’m ashamed of the way I thought. I pride myself on being better than that. I bury my face in my hands and let the tears flow. I’m better than that...than this. I’m stronger than this. Arms wrap around, pulling me closer to a warm body. The scent of ice and snow surround me. Verkor. The smell of sulfur quickly follows. The scent of my hellhound, Stolas. The subtle smell of woods encompasses me, Obsidian. I don’t deserve their strength, not right now. How can they still look at me after what I was going to do?

  “It’s alright, Finley,” Verkor says as he rubs his hand up and down my back. I shove him away from me.

  “How can you say that?” I yell. “I was going to attack you. I was going to hurt you. And don’t even get me started on the fact that I forgot I’m pregnant. I could have seriously hurt myself and this baby.” I point a finger in their direction. My chest is heaving, and there are tears streaming down my face. I narrow my eyes at them. “Don’t you dare tell me that everything is going to be fine.” All of them stare at me wide-eyed with their hands up, palms out.

  “This is one of those moments where we do not tell her to calm down. It won’t end well for us,” Stolas tries to whisper, but I hear him anyways. I want to yell in frustration, but even I know that won’t help right now. I want to be alone to wallow in my thoughts and feel bad. I need to be able to process everything that I could have done.

  “No, you don’t,” Obsidian says in a no-nonsense tone. I look at him confused. Did he just hear my thoughts? “You said everything you were thinking out loud. Now, I need you to listen to me.” He takes a step closer. “You did nothing wrong. You wouldn’t have hurt any of us because we wouldn’t have let you. Do you honestly believe we would have stood back and let that happen?” He shakes his head at me. I can see the disappointment in his eyes. “Do you still not trust us, even after everything we’ve been through? Have we not shown you how much we love you?” His voice rises with each question. I look away, staring at the rocky ground. I wrap my arms around myself.

  “I know,” I say softly. I close my eyes because I can’t see their expressions. I feel fingers under my chin, and the smell of woods.

  “Open your eyes, doll.” I squeeze them shut tighter. I can’t...no, I don’t want to. “Please, Finley.” This time I do because of the soft pleading in his voice. Obsidian is not soft, and the rare instances he is are for a good reason. So, I open my eyes to meet his. “As much as I hate to say this your eyes look beautiful, like a stormy rainy day.”

  “He’s not wrong, love,” Stolas says. I see him and Verkor walk closer from the corner of my eye.

  “Now, I want you to understand. We don’t think any less of you. These levels, like Stolas said, affect everyone different. No one knew the anger level would affect you like this. You have every right to be angry about the way you were treated. No one is saying that you shouldn’t. Even if by some chance you did attac
k us, we would know that’s not how you really feel.”

  “How do you know that? How do you know that I don’t really feel that way? That the level didn’t just bring to the surface everything I was already feeling?” I lift one hand, fisting Obsidian’s shirt, and the other hand goes to the wrist of the hand where his fingers still rest under my chin.

  “Because of the guilt you feel over it right now. If you didn’t care and if you truly felt that way, you wouldn’t feel how you do in this moment. What were your thoughts?” I try to look away, but he pinches my chin forcing me to keep eye contact. “What were your thoughts, Finley?” he asks more forcefully.

  “I was mad about the life I had growing up. I was mad that I was unwanted by my birth parents. I was mad that I was left like a piece of trash,” I grit out, feeling angry all over again.

  “What else?”

  I tighten the grip I have on his wrist. “All this rage built up inside me and I needed to release it. I didn’t know how else to do it. I was just lashing out at the nearest beings around me. I couldn’t think past all the rage. I couldn’t remember who you were.” Tears fill my eyes and run down my cheeks. Obsidian moves his hands, cupping my face. He uses his thumbs to wipe my tears away. Both of my hands fist his shirt. “I knew in the back of my mind the sound of your voices, but I couldn't place your names. I recognized your scents, but it wasn’t registering who you were to me. Imagine how much worse I would be if I did something to hurt you. I would never forgive myself.” Obsidian doesn’t say anything, he leans down, giving me the sweetest, gentlest kiss. He pulls back, looking me in the eyes.

  “You’ll kill yourself worrying about the what ifs. If you need to vent or talk about your past, I’m here for you. If you want to look into your past and find out where you come from, I’ll help you do that. All you need to do is ask.” I lose it all over again.

  Obsidian

  It kills me seeing Finley this way. I wish I could convince her that she’s worthy and so much more than what her past was. She’s done everything she could with what life has thrown at her. One day, she’ll see that her past doesn’t have to dictate her future. That it doesn’t matter who your family is, your life is what you make it.

  “Stolas has a place in this level, let’s go there and take a breather. We’ll stop for the night. Since we are getting closer to the pits of hell, we need to start formulating a plan.”

  I rub my thumbs across her cheeks. This will give her the distraction she needs. She’s too caught up in her own head and thoughts. If she doesn’t get out of that, then any plan we come up with will be doomed to fail. I know the only thing she wants more than love and acceptance, even if she wouldn’t admit it to herself, is the treasure map. She’s already come this far; I won’t let her fail now. She’ll never forgive herself.

  “You have to remember why you are here. Everything else can come later. Or do you want to let your past control you?” She shakes her head.

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Do you want to find that piece of the treasure map or keep wallowing in guilt over something that never happened? I thought you were stronger than that.” I see her stiffen from my words, but they are what she’s going to need to snap out of this.

  “I want that treasure map.” Her voice doesn’t hold much conviction, but it's a start.

  “Well, then what do you say, doll? You ready to check out Stolas’ place and make a plan to get the third piece of the map?” My eyes bounce back and forth between hers. I’m waiting to see the moment where she gets her head back in the game. And there is it. It’s a subtle shift in her eyes. They clear, becoming more focused. They fill with determination.

  “That’s my girl,” I whisper. That’s what I wanted to see from her. That backbone I know she has. The fierceness of not backing down until she gets what she wants.

  A small smile crosses her lips. I lean down, pressing my lips to hers. Her hands lose the grip they have on my shirt. She moves them up my chest and around my neck. Without any prompting, she opens her mouth and I take advantage. Our tongues dance together. I move my hands from her face to her hips, pulling her body closer to mine. Not an inch of space separates us. Her hand goes to my hair, tugging it. I growl against her lips. I shift my hands from her hips to her ass, squeezing the round globes. She growls, and it spurs me on. I rub my hard cock against the softness of her belly. I want nothing more than to have her naked, screaming my name in pleasure.

  Finley nips at my bottom lip, tugging it slightly. I smile. Is that how she wants to try to play this? Keeping one hand on her glorious ass, I move the other to her hair, fisting it. I give it a sharp tug. The sound of her gasp is like music to my ears. I love all the little sounds she makes while my hands play her body like the perfect instrument it is. I kiss a path down her neck, stopping at the junction of her neck and shoulder, biting just hard enough to give her a little pain. Finley groans, shifting her hips.

  “Do you think we should stop them or try to join?”

  I pull back from Finley, turning my gaze to Stolas, narrowing my eyes at him. I’ll rip him apart if he thinks he can join in. He smirks while shrugging his shoulders. “It was the only way I knew for sure I would get your attention. As hot as it is seeing my mate get aroused, we do need to get going. My house is still a few miles from here.” I hate when the hellhound is right. My gaze settles back on Finley’s flushed face.

  “To be continued, doll,” I say, placing a quick kiss to her lips.

  I remove my grip from her and turn to walk back to where I dropped our bags. I knew when she started to panic that it was me that she needed. Verkor would have been too soft with her, causing her thoughts to spiral more. Stolas would have tried to make her laugh, and that may have worked but only for a short time. Once the laughter passed, she would have ended up lost in her thoughts again. It had to be me. I’m the firmest out of all of us. Yes, I can be soft when needed, but she needed a reminder of why we are here. I grab our bags, slinging them over my shoulder. I turn back to the others, Stolas has Finley’s hand, and Verkor is watching her, with his head tilted to the side. Finley laughs at whatever Stolas says and nods. He looks over his shoulder at me.

  “Ready?” I nod, letting him take the lead. Verkor hangs back a few steps, waiting for me.

  “She’s going to need to talk about how she truly feels about her past. She’s not going to be able to move past it until she does.” I understand him, because I still haven’t moved on from things in my past. He recently had to confront his, so I know he’s speaking from experience. We start to follow behind Finley and Stolas, keeping enough distance that she can’t hear us. I’m sure Stolas can.

  “You’ll be the best one to help her. Stolas’ past is the best out of all of ours. I don’t think he’ll be able to connect with her on that level. I still haven’t dealt with all of my shit and can’t offer any good advice.” I pride myself on being self-aware, because if you know your flaws and shortcomings, others can’t use them against you. “I think she’ll have an easier time opening up to you.” Verkor nods.

  “I agree. I’ll have to figure out a way to bring it up and not push too much, because she’ll close herself off. I don’t think she’ll have any type of closure until she finds out who she is and where she comes from.”

  “I agree, but if she is some descendant from the Supreme Ruler like we suspect, then she’ll find out more about herself during this journey.” I just hope she’s ready for whatever that may be.

  Stolas

  I try to keep Finley distracted for the rest of the trek to my house. I heard every word Obsidian and Verkor said. My hellhound hearing is amazing. I don’t disagree with anything they said. My life has been better than theirs. I have loving, caring parents who support me. I have siblings that would help me out if needed. There was no one hunting me because of the type of shifter I am. I didn’t have to deal with the loss of both of my parents at a young age. I wasn’t left abandoned and forgotten. A little part of me hurts because I can�
��t connect with Finley on those deep levels like Obsidian and Verkor can. But I can show her what it’s like to be a part of a loving, happy, supportive family. My sister already loves her, and I know my parents and brother will as well. I’ll show her what it’s like to have someone always in your corner.

  “Oh. My. God.” Finley reaches over gripping my arm.

  “What? What is it?” I frantically search the surrounding area for any immediate danger.

  “Look at…those baby demons.” There is a group of demon children, being led by an adult demon, across the dirt road in front of us. “They’re so freaking adorable.” Her voice takes on a cutesy tone by the time she’s done.

  One of the kids hears Finley and he turns, baring razor sharp, yellow teeth. He makes a chomping motion with said teeth, then licks his lips. I try not to laugh at the kid, but Finley takes it another way.

  “Is he saying he wants to eat me? What the hell?” She whips her gaze to me. “You know what, I take back what I said. I don’t find them so adorable anymore.” I lose it and burst out laughing.

  “You’ll be fine, love. I’ll protect you. They’re on their way home from school.” Her eyes widen at my statement.

  “You have schooling down here.” I tilt my head to the side.

  “Of course, we do. They teach them about this realm and how it came to be, plus they learn about the Earth Realm because of how closely the hell and human relationship is. They teach the minimum about the Heaven Realm. Just enough to be able to protect themselves against angels.” Finley opens and closes her mouth a few times.

  “Wow. Okay. I wasn’t expecting that.” I shrug my shoulders. I doubt anyone would be.

  “Not many people are.” I throw my arm over Finley’s shoulders. I lean down and whisper in her ear, “Though, that kid was right. Eating you does sound good.” I lick and nip her earlobe. I feel the shiver course through her body. I love the effect that I have on her. I smile and continue to head down the road that leads to my house.