Immortal Fire - Book One
Chapter 11

“Aria, I can explain, but right now we need to leave. Hunter will replace us.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you! You conveniently forgot to tell me that the guy that is trying to kill me is your brother? How am I supposed to trust you now?” I was still backing away, and Hayden was following.

He had a pained look on his face and had his hand outstretched in a placating manner.

“You can trust me. Right now, I need you to trust me when I say that Hunter will kill us both on this spot if we do not leave right now.”

The sound of someone whistling a lullaby was becoming louder. Right now, I did not have a choice but to trust Hayden. That did not mean that he was getting off the hook that easily.

“If you do anything I don’t like, I will fry your ass on the spot; got it?” I was faking bravado, but he didn’t need to know that

“I do not doubt in my mind that you will. Now can we go, please?” A nod was all that he got out of me.

We ran through the woods towards the road that Hayden said was up ahead. He explained to me that his car was parked there.

“Why is your car parked in the middle of nowhere?” The more that I thought about it, the more suspicious this situation was sounding. Clearing the trees at a dead run, we came to a stop next to the road with the woods behind us and the only light was that of the full moon. It was so dark and quiet that all we could see was the moonlight reflecting off the glass of the windows and hear crickets. I wanted some answers before I went any further with him. I had seen too many horror films to know where this could end up and it was not pretty for me in the end.

“Hayden, wait.” He was already crossing the road but stopped and turned at the sound of my voice.

“What’s wrong?” He was now standing in front of me and searching the area behind us for any unseen threats.

“I want answers; that’s what is wrong. I am not going any further until you tell me why the hell your brother is trying to kill me and why you lied to me.” I forced out.

With an aggravated sound escaping him he started towards the car that hid in the shadows.

“I don’t even know where to start. Can we please talk about this in the car? We don’t have time to do this right fucking now!” He snapped the last part agitated.

Ignoring his question, I stood my ground and replied with one of my own.

“How about you start by telling me why your car is parked in the middle of nowhere?” He was walking at a brisk pace back toward me now.

I could see the predator in him, as his agitation was increasing. Feeling my confidence disappear, I decided that I would act the part. Standing tall, with my arms crossed over my chest and my hip cocked, I waited for an answer from him.

He was just watching me with that strange look on his face as if he were deep in thought. I was about to say something, but he cut me off.

“My car is not parked in the middle of nowhere. If you would look behind the car, you would see there is a sign with my name on it. It’s my off-campus dorm parking spot. And if you looked, you would see that there are signs with every guy’s name on it by their parking spot that goes to Parma and stays in the dorms. Happy?” He said in a rush, his jaw clenching. I felt my face start to flush.

Looking around, I could see that he was telling the truth. I am such an idiot. Dropping my arms in defeat I apologized.

“Can we go now? I don’t know about you, but I don’t feel like fucking dying tonight.” He was heading towards the car again, but I pulled him to a stop.

That strange electric current went between us just as it did before. Our eyes locked and my heart skipped a beat. The intensity of Hayden’s stare was making my breath catch. I was the first to look away and step back. Just as I let go, the electric current and burning stopped. Clearing my throat, I looked at him once again. He was still staring at me like that. Lord, help me; those eyes would be my undoing.

“How did you know I needed help earlier and how did you replace me? Please, I need to know.” I asked, barely audible. At the sound of my words, he looked away and was staring down the abandoned road.

“I don’t know. I was walking in the woods to get a breather from the party and the next thing I knew, my body heat raised, and I felt like there was somewhere I needed to be. I just followed my feet and that is when I found you. It was weird. I just knew where to be and when.”

Looking at him closely, I could see that he was in the dark just as much as I was as to how he came to replace me. He seemed sincere. Taking a deep breath, I started toward the car on my own accord. Hayden turned and followed behind. That’s when I saw it properly for the first time since exiting the woods.

“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” The car in front of me, now that I could see it properly, was the matt red Jaguar F-type that I had seen in the parking lot this morning. Hayden went around to the driver’s side unlocked the beast of a car and peered over the roof at me.

“What?”

“This is your car?” I asked, pointing at it with both my arms outstretched.

“Yeah, what’s the problem?” he asked confused by my reaction.

I could not help but stand and just admire the car. I was in shock. How the hell did this car belong to someone so young and so nice? I would have thought the car would have belonged to someone that was a total prick.

“Nothing; never mind,” I said, my disbelief clear in the tone of my voice.

Getting into the passenger seat, I was too afraid to touch anything. This car was worth more than anything I would probably accumulate over my entire life. Hayden got in and started the car. As he switched on the headlights, I could not hold back my scream. Standing just in front of the car, was Hunter. He had an evil smirk plastered on his face and had his bow and arrow aimed at our heads.

“Get down!” Hayden shoved me down in the seat as he put the car in reverse and hit the gas.

Swinging the wheel and pulling up the handbrake, all I could smell was burnt rubber. I was sure that we were surrounded by a cloud of white billowing smoke. Hayden then shoved the car in first gear, and we were speeding down the road at a terrifying speed. He was no longer holding me down as he drove away from Hunter.

Sitting up straight, I turned in my seat and saw that Hunter was running after us with two of the ugliest dogs I had ever seen. They were the size of horses. Their skin was covered in boils, patches of grass-like hair grew over their hides and pure black eyes were staring at the car. The drool that was coming out of their mouths was burning and melting the road as if it was acid.

“What the fuck are those things?” I screeched. Never taking my eyes off the dogs, I held on for dear life as Hayden drifted through a corner like a pro.

“Hell hounds.” He replied, quickly glancing in the rear-view mirror

“They exist?” I could not believe it. I had read about them in fictional books and seen renderings in movies, but never once thought it was something that could exist.

“Apparently; I have never seen one until just now. I’ve only seen drawings and heard stories.” Hayden then looked in the rear-view mirrors to get a better look. Looking back towards the road behind us, Hunter stopped and so did the dogs. Looking at me, he saluted and then vanished, along with the two beasts. Hayden must have seen him do the disappearing act because the next words that came out of his mouth made me blush from the profanity of it all.

“I take it that is not a good thing or even normal?”

“No, he should not have been able to do that at all. Fuck, we are in deep shit.” It was strange to hear Hayden using an astounding amount of profanity in such a small amount of time. I, on the other hand, knew I could put a trooper to shame.

I was a work in progress…

“So then how can he do that if he is not supposed to be able to?”

“I don’t fucking know Aria!” He was shouting at me now.

Feeling as if I had just been slapped, I turned in my seat to face the front of the car and buckled up. I did not say a word to Hayden or even look in his direction. I could feel his eyes on me as I faced away from him as much as I could and leaned my head against the cool glass of the window.

The world was racing past us at an incredible speed outside. How could Hayden have shouted at me like that? I did not ask for all of this and it sure as hell was not my brother trying to kill us and running amok with Hell Hounds.

I did not know anything anymore and I did not even know who or what I was. Hayden was at least used to knowing about all this supernatural shit. He was not utterly alone… Please let this all be a fucked up dream I pleaded in my head.

We were now headed out of town and the passing lights of houses and shops in the distance were a distraction from the fact that I was stuck in this car and going somewhere that I did not even know, with a guy that was hot one second and cold the next. He was the only person who could help me now.