Fire Danger (20 page)

The world went silent as the blocker shut out all mental communication. She could no longer hear any voices, and when she tried to transmit to Phoenix, she was met with a blank slate. A few weeks ago she would have welcomed it, but now it accentuated the plight she was in more effectively than anything that could have been said. Outside, she heard Kamal scuffling with the other man.

“You are coming with me.”

Rachel looked up into the Ifrit’s face. He gripped her with an iron grasp and without hesitation plunged through the shattered window and into the air. He dipped slightly and then turned and banked upward, Rachel in his arms.

Wind caught her as they shot straight up. Helplessness flooded her. He was the person who had killed her parents. He was the person who would have killed her if he’d seen her. Thanks to her grandfather, he hadn’t known of her escape that day. She prayed that her grandfather was following now. She had felt his pain and knew that his wing was damaged. That had to be why he had run up the stairs instead of flying. If he could not fly she was already dead.

“Why?” she asked. “How did you find us?”

His grip tightened. “Your awakening shriek was loud across the mental plane and your mental signature apparent. As for the rest… Haures needed my help. The vampires offered more. They were quite eager to share your location. As for the why… You know why.”

The spire of the Transamerica Pyramid drew closer. The many panes winked and caught the sun, reflecting Farouk and Rachel’s approach. Far below, tourists and businesspeople bustled around. They weren’t aware of anything, and for the first time, Rachel hated the knowledge that humans couldn’t see paranormals. She automatically tried to reach out, only to be presented with the blank slate of the blocker.

Damn it.

The building grew nearer, and Farouk slowed and banked until they were hovering above one of the side areas. The spire was above them and the bulk of the building was below. Up closer, the finely crushed quartz that gave the building its light color winked and gleamed in the broad sunlight.

He dumped his bundle on the sloped concrete. Rachel slid slightly, her arms caught behind her. The ground far below tilted for a moment until she steadied.

The renegade Ifrit contemplated her from his superior height, a mixture of anger and disgust on his face. “You were supposed to be my daughter. You were supposed to be the combination of two powerful Ifrit clans, two bloodlines surging through you. Instead—” he looked at her with disgust, “—you are a weak half-human. You do not deserve to live.”

She didn’t know if anyone could hear Farouk, didn’t know if someone out there felt the blankness where her mind had been. It hadn’t taken her long to rely heavily on the mind talk, and now she didn’t know what to do without it. Where were Phoenix and Kamal? The wolves?

Looking for her, of course. She was important to them. Despite her dire situation, a warmth went through Rachel. She had love. Here, at the end, at least she had that.

She struggled against the bonds. Could any humans see her, now that she wasn’t in Farouk’s grip? Or would her halfling blood shield her from human eyes? She wasn’t sure which would be better. Rachel shot a look at the windows of the spire but could see nothing except the reflection of the city mirrored back to her. “I’m not sorry for what I am. My parents loved me. My grandfather loves me. Phoenix might love me. It’s more than you have.”

Farouk’s face twisted. “She was not free to love someone else. She was always intended for me.”

Rachel shrugged, although with her arms behind her the action had little meaning. “Free will, pal.”

“We don’t hold to such ridiculous notions. Her parents were too easy on her. She was mine.”

Hoping her terror didn’t show, Rachel tried to keep her face calm. She would not give Farouk the satisfaction of seeing how scared she was. Her one regret was that she hadn’t told Phoenix how she felt. She wished she’d said the words. She wished she had heard him say them back, if he did love her. She thought he did. She hoped he did.

“I am going to finish the job I began years ago, and then the clan will see I was right all along.” With the sharp point of one of his wings, Farouk sliced through the rope bond. “You will look like a suicide, although they will speculate about how you got up here. It is fitting you should die from a fall. Your Elemental is too far away to save you. Your grandfather cannot stop it this time. He is too far away. He is hurt. So much the better.” His look at Rachel could only be described as pure hate. “Goodbye, half-breed. You will not pollute our bloodlines.”

Reaching over, he snatched the blocker from around her neck. Immediately, the chatter of minds began. Through them she heard the scream of Phoenix’s call, searching desperately for her. She reached out and touched his thoughts. He was still in the air. He was too distant, and they both knew it.

Her grandfather was closer, but his inability to find them had cost him precious minutes. He was just far enough away to make this a tragedy instead of a last-minute rescue. Kamal had hauled the man to the broken street side window and shoved him out. Then as the man struggled, Kamal slashed at his throat and simply let go. Without watching the man fall, her grandfather took to the air through the window. People began pointing first at the man bleeding out and then up to the shattered window. They did not see the form already desperately flying toward her, favoring one side of his body as he caught the air.

Farouk shoved her, and Rachel’s newly freed arms tingled. She flailed as she tried to catch a grip. She slipped and then slid over the edge. The building receded away from her. Farouk stood there for a moment then, with a powerful beat of his wings, took to the air.

“It is done,” she heard.

The street rushed toward her, so fast, too fast. She threw her hands up, arcing fire along and through her body, but the wind kept snuffing it out. The stories of the Transamerica Pyramid soared past her as the ground got closer.

Impact. She landed, and her bones snapped. Phoenix was with her mentally, his mind howling, but still trying to soothe her. She knew her body was crushed. She couldn’t raise her head. It was strange, this absolute lack of pain. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so bad to die.

Blood seeped out from multiple breaks. The lacerations of her internal organs would have killed anyone, but she’d also broken her spine and crushed her lungs. Then the pain seared through her, even as her lifeblood poured out.

“Habibti!”

It was an anguished cry. Rachel saw her grandfather through dimming eyes as he landed awkwardly, staggering before regaining his feet and rushing toward her. At least she wouldn’t be alone at the end.

“Tell Aleric I love him,” she said, her voice growing weaker.

Kamal made a small sound, tears shining in his eyes. “Hang on, habibti. Phoenix is coming.”

“He won’t be in time.” Her voice was resigned. She was aware that her life was ebbing out.

“I know.”

“Rachel, please. I love you. Don’t leave me.”
The anguished plea was far away as Phoenix’s mind receded with the rest of the world. Rachel made one final effort to respond.

“I love you too, Aleric. I wish…for so much…”

Film covering her eyes, consciousness leaching from her, Rachel died.

Chapter Fourteen

Phoenix had miscalculated his enemies. The Challenge might have been about the Chicago mayor, but in the end it was really about Rachel.

“You were so easily fooled,” Haures said from behind him. “Your Challenge cluttered your mind, and you didn’t see the truth. You won your Challenge, but you lost everything. If we had succeeded, the assassination of the mayor might have triggered World War III, or it might not have. It’s hard to know. Rachel is still dead. You failed. Fire will not call to fire.”

It was all visible through Kamal’s eyes. It was evident her life was fading. Massive wounds, too huge to survive, bloomed on her body, and far too much blood pooled under her.

“It’s too late, Phoenix,” Haures said with a gloat. “It’s over.”

“I love you,”
he called to her again but this time heard no echoing reply.

Kamal picked up her broken, battered body and rocked her. Then she was gone, the mind link snapped. Her arms going limp, Rachel stopped breathing.

Phoenix turned to his nemesis and hurled himself at her, cold fury surging through his veins. Haures flew a short distance away, out of his reach, gave him a mocking smile and vanished.

Phoenix’s shout echoed through the clouds, washing through the minds of the other Elementals. The others, especially Griff, touched his mind with concern and alarm. Strangely, there was nothing from Sphynx. He flicked Griff and Ondine away, casting them out of his mind and slamming his shields down.

Gone. She was gone. Their time had been much too brief, and now she was lost to him forever. He had just met the woman he could build a life with, his fire half.

Phoenix turned and plunged toward the ground, his wings flat behind him as he plummeted. He relied on his automatic senses to get him there, as his mind was completely occupied with the pain of losing Rachel.

She was gone.

The next time he was called to the pyre, he would not rise. He would will it to be his last time. To hell with being an Elemental if he couldn’t have her. He should have told her how he felt sooner. Now it was too late. It would forever be too late.

The tang of the city pervaded his nostrils as he got closer to the Transamerica Pyramid. Dimly he saw that the mayor’s car was parked at the hotel, its flags flapping in the wind, surrounded by security. The heads of the cities must already be inside, attending their lunch. He had won his Challenge. In the past he would have been relieved and gratified that he had done his part to help humanity. Now, it didn’t matter.

He landed by the tower, ignoring the tourists and businesspeople who gathered around the tableau. With a quick flick of his mind, Phoenix clouded all of them. As if in a walking dream, the people shuffled away.

Farouk’s wings were bearing him out of the city even now. Through the minds of the wolves, he saw they were lurking around the body of the assassin. Police had been summoned, judging from the armed cops converging on the apartment building and the still body nearby. One assassin had paid, but the other had not. He would change that, with Kamal’s help.

Kamal was there, holding Rachel’s body, but he yielded to Phoenix as soon as the Elemental arrived. “I’m sorry, Phoenix.”

“You were supposed to protect her,” he said, his hands balling into fists. He wanted to strike something, but Kamal was the wrong target. It didn’t matter. Nothing did.

“I was,” Kamal agreed. “I failed. I underestimated Farouk. I will regret this for the rest of my life.”

Part of him wanted to scorch Kamal to ash, but the man would not burn.

“You will make him pay?” Phoenix asked and Kamal nodded.

“If it is the last thing I do.”

Phoenix pressed his forehead to her lifeless one. She was still warm, and it seemed as if all he would have to do was shake her and she would wake up. He even did that, shook her gently, and felt no response. There was nothing in his mind, no familiar echo of her mental signature.

Silvery tears ran down his face, catching at his nose before dropping off onto her clammy face. She’d never had a chance, not with the assassin and his weapons. Not with Haures targeting her. Not with Farouk gunning for her. The tears came faster and he began keening, moaning out a timeless cry of suffering and loss that echoed off the tall buildings around them.

He held her for what seemed an eternity, his tears falling until there were no tears left in him. Even then he held her, knowing once he let her go, he would be saying goodbye to her forever.

Finally, however, there was nothing to do. Gently he placed her on the ground and rose. He gestured to Rachel. “What is the Ifrit tradition?”

Kamal’s eyes were moist, and when he spoke, his voice was rough. “We burn our dead.” He paused. “But Phoenix…”

Phoenix waved a hand, stopping his words. “Will you…take care of her?” Grief flowed through him.

He wished she’d had time to use her Ifrit powers to their fullest. He wished she had lived to see another sunrise. Another sunset. He wished she could have lived to see the birth of their child, or maybe children, boys and girls, strong and wise like their mother. He wished for so many things, and none of them would come true.

Phoenix turned his head to the sky. Shaking his fists, he shouted his rage. “It’s not fair! It’s
not
right! This cannot end this way. You, whoever you are, make this right!”

Kamal remained motionless. “Phoenix, listen to me. The wolves, they have said, there is a possibility—”

“Damn you! Damn all of you! This should not be. Take me instead.” Sobs caught his voice and he fell to the ground again. Picking up Rachel, he embraced her, uncaring of the blood on his shirt. The shirt was tattered and stained from his hasty flight with the bombs. It didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. His tears fell on her still face. He’d rarely seen her face at rest, except when she was sleeping. It was always in movement, always alive and sunny, like her.

Phoenix wiped the remaining tears off his face and, with a still-wet hand, gently caressed her cheek.

She was dead. He had failed.

* * * * *

She was somewhere, nothing around her in any direction, in a kind of gray that seemed to stretch on forever. Rachel tried to reach out, first with her arms and then with her mind, but there was no response.

The events that she guessed had led her to this place surfaced slowly, like honey sluggishly rolling from a jar.

Was she dead? She was dead. She had to be dead. She remembered her life draining out of her, but it was dim and distant. She recollected fear, and then the emotion leaving her. She recalled her grandfather holding her hand, and nothing more.

She examined her body but there was no sign of wounds. Without emotion she saw she was naked. It didn’t matter, here in this netherworld. In the distance there was a flicker of red and orange that could have been fire. Idly, Rachel tried to summon it but was unsurprised when her fingers failed to light.

She should have been upset, but there was no emotion inside her. If this was death, she was okay with it. Even that was abstract, like something she should be concerned about but wasn’t.

There was a noise pinging against her consciousness, but she ignored it. Perhaps this nothing world would be where she simply drifted, not existing but existing. Perhaps she was just held here by a residue, and she would fade away in time.

The noise grew louder and her body twitched, reacting involuntarily to the persistent sound. There was a brief flash of color, a bright yellow, before the world faded to gray again.

She liked the gray. She would stay there.

* * * * *

As if to punctuate the futility of any hopes he had regarding Rachel, his wings vanished. He staggered, tumbling over her, the awkward position he’d been in throwing him off-balance.

Gently he laid her back down on the ground and rose. The tears were still wet on his cheeks. They had dripped down onto her face and body, dampening her skin.

Mentally he reviewed the active volcanoes in North America. Hawaii had the closest one, but that volcano had too many tourists to be a safe place to end his days. Alaska would take longer, but it would be easier. Whatever happened with the other Elementals and their Challenges, they would have to face the next one with a new Phoenix. It was time for his part in this battle to be over.

“Don’t do this, Aleric.”
It was Griff’s voice, and it had an air of desperation but also of acceptance, as if he knew Phoenix’s mind was made up.

“Sorry, friend. May your new Phoenix be powerful.”

He shut Griff out and focused on his plans. By his estimation it would take a day of solid flight to get to Alaska. Once there, he would immediately plunge into Mount Cleveland, seeking out the fiery heart of the volcano. He didn’t know if he could will himself not to rise, but he thought the power or powers behind this endless battle would heed his cry.

If not, he would find another way to die.

He shifted his gaze back to Kamal. “Take care of her. Perhaps we shall meet again in whatever afterlife there is.”

It would be sooner rather than later.

Kamal put a hand on Phoenix’s arm, but Phoenix jerked away. “Phoenix, you need to know something,” he began, but Phoenix turned away.

“Phoenix, stop.”
Sphynx’s mental voice, the masculine voice of Masud only, boomed into his consciousness.

“I have no choice. I cannot go on.”

“You must go with Kamal and Rachel immediately.”

“There is nothing to ‘go’ to.”

Then he had no choice but to accept an image Sphynx forced into his mind. It had to be of the future, because she was still lying in front of him. It showed Rachel, her broken body bundled in a blanket, being borne to the wolf park.

Betrayal soared through him at the image. He had thought they would burn her. If there was an afterlife, he hoped he would meet Rachel in it.

“You must go with Kamal. Now. Rachel needs you. This is what must happen. You will understand shortly. Now.”

“Rachel is dead.”

“Go.”

Phoenix was confused, irritated and angry, but a thousand years of obeying Sphynx as their leader made him obey. He turned to Kamal. “Apparently we have to go to the wolf park.”

As if summoned, there was a burst through the tourists, and Fenley and his son Artur were there, yipping and growling although they were in human form. They motioned to Rachel.

“We have to take her. Now,” Fenley said, his tone urgent.

He didn’t know why Sphynx was so adamant, but the oldest Elemental did not do things without a reason. He didn’t know why the wolves were there, or why they had to go to the park, but it didn’t matter. He would resume his quest to die after he found out why Sphynx was insistent—and why Kamal and the wolves were taking Rachel to the ground instead of the pyre, where she belonged.

He would do this one last task the elder Elemental demanded, and then go to his death.

* * * * *

The gray was flashing with yellow and green, like lightning streaking across the nonexistent horizon. Rachel should have been curious, but she didn’t have any desire to go and find out why the gray was broken. It didn’t matter. Nothing did.

Would she be allowed to rest? She was tired. She had never been part of anything until the last few weeks, but she could be part of the death that eventually overcame everyone.

Something tugged at her, as if a far-off thread were pulling her to the distance. She ignored it, willing it to go away. Annoyance flooded her, the first emotion she had felt since she found herself in the gray.

Then she focused. Red eyes danced in front of her. Those she knew. Rachel saw the insubstantial people Phoenix had called shadow people, wavering on the edge of her vision.

“Come. Join us.”

Unlike the first time she had seen them, there was nothing between her and the wavering figures. Rachel took a step toward them. It would be easy. She could go with them now and walk into something else. All her troubles would be over. All her fears at an end.

Or maybe they weren’t. Rachel stopped moving her feet, realizing she was beginning to follow them.

“No,”
she cried mentally and the figures took a step back. Her entire body shook, and the air waved as bright fire burst from her, aiming toward the shadow people. It seemed to arc from her in a way it never had before, and it struck in the flickering crowd. She heard a shriek and they vanished.

If she had said yes, she would have been lost to the world forever, doomed to become something else. Perhaps she would have become a shadow person, or perhaps she would have simply been lost forever. She would not, could not join the shadow people. But what now? She heard a short pop. Then there was a streak of yellow like she had seen before the appearance of the shadow people. She waited for several beats, but they did not reappear.

There was another noise. A staccato beating with a certain rhythm to it, like a drumbeat.

After a minute, she realized it was her heartbeat.

Her
heartbeat? She shouldn’t have one. Not in the dark, not in the gray. Not in this limbo, this potential afterlife. Whether she was with the shadow people or not, she was still caught in this other place. She shouldn’t have been able to use her fire, but she had.

There was a path in the gray, like emergency lights on a plane aisle, leading into the distance. She couldn’t see anything else.

Rachel didn’t want to go. She wanted to stay right there. She could not have survived the fall. She did not want to be a ghost or some sort of shade haunting the world, and worse, haunting Phoenix. That was less of a life than the gray.

“Come, Rachel. Before it is too late.”

Fear flooded her, nearly paralyzing her. Still, she stepped forward, first one step, and then another, until she was moving through the gray at a fast pace, the path acting as a guide.

“Come.” The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. She didn’t know the voice, but it was also familiar.