Immortal Fire - Book One
Chapter 28

Everything was so dark. I felt cold and I could not feel my limbs.

“Is she going to wake up?” It was Hayden’s panicked voice that caused me to focus.

“I don’t know… babe, I’ve never dealt with this.” Jesse: the sound of her voice angered me, along with her referring to Hayden as ‘babe’.

I remembered what had happened now but somehow could not move or open my eyes; neither could I speak.

“But there was so much blood… wouldn’t you of all people, be able to tell if she was going to be okay...?” he asked, sounding anxious.

“Yes, there was a lot of blood; but she’s fine as far as that is concerned. I don’t know why she isn’t waking up. Maybe she cracked her head too hard?” There was the sound of a chair scraping along the floor.

“What do we do now?” Hayden’s voice was right beside me this time. He must have moved the chair.

“You wait I guess, but I have more important things to do than watch over this one. The coven has called an emergency meeting; seems your little sleeping beauty has caused quite the uproar…”

Caused an uproar...? But I had not done anything to anyone… Heels clicked their way around to the side where Hayden sat and there was silence for a moment too long that it conjured up images in my mind that I hated. After some time, Jesse was headed out of the room, and with the sound of a door closing, Hayden let out a great sigh.

I needed to wake up right now. I tried to force my eyes open, but they would not comply, next I tried to move my limbs and failed yet again. I tear of frustration left me as I started to panic at the fact that I might never be able to wake up. I was a prisoner in my own fucking body.

“Aria…?” It was Hayden’s disbelieving voice. He must have seen the tear that escaped and now pushed the chair away.

“Aria, if you can hear me, I’m so sorry, I never should have gone back inside. I am trying to figure out what to do, but everything has failed. I’m so sorry…” he said. There was so much pain in his voice that more tears escaped from behind my closed lids.

“You can hear me…” It was barely a whisper.

The slight sensation of him brushing away my tears broke through the shell that encased me. It was that familiar feeling of touch after you had stopped the blood flow to a limb that I had experienced multiple times over in my life from sitting too long in one position whilst drawing.

“You can’t help her.” The sound of Hayden spinning fast was obvious. I already knew who was there; it was Hunter.

“What the fuck are you doing in here?” Hayden sounded furious; I could imagine him about to fight Hunter.

“I can help her wake up, you can’t… quite the predicament you have here brother,” Hunter said, sounding half bored.

“You will not have anything to do with her. I should kill you myself right here, right now.” Hayden sneered.

“Oh bravo, but then, who will save Aria? If not me, then no one and we both know that is the truth. You have tried everything already and failed.”

“Exactly, I have tried, but everything has failed, what could you possibly do to help her that I haven’t done already?” The venom in Hayden’s voice was clear. He wanted to rip into Hunter with such hunger that it was unbelievable that they were still speaking. I wanted Hunter to try and help me if he could. Death would be better than staying like this. If only Hayden would just listen. There was nothing to lose; besides my life, but I would give that just to have them try. Tears started again.

“Aria…” Hayden whispered. Hayden was beside me once more and I could hear in his voice that he was torn on what to do.

“Fine, let her stay like that… but at least she will know that it was you that forced her to remain in a prison within herself…” Hunter said. The sounds of heavy footsteps filled the room as Hunter headed towards the door that Jesse had left through.

“Hunter, wait.” The footsteps stopped. “Why do you even want to help her? You wanted to kill her… has that changed?” Hayden asked, sounding very skeptical.

“No,” Hunter replied numbly.

“Then why help her?” The venom in Hayden’s voice would have caused me to cringe if I could. It made no sense to me either why Hunter wanted to help.

“I have my reasons, does it matter?” Hunter was full of assuredness as he spoke as if Hayden did not bother him in the least with his hostility. There was a brief silence between the two of them before Hayden spoke.

“This will change nothing between us,” Hayden growled at Hunter.

“Oh, I hope not…” Hunter said. Hunter approached me and I heard Hayden suck in a breath as he passed him. This must have been killing him to have Hunter so close.

“You need to leave,” Hunter said.

“Like fuck I am, I am staying right here. I won’t leave you alone with her.” Hayden exclaimed.

“For fuck sake, I’m sure she appreciates your bravado, but if you stay, this won’t work.” There was a moment of strained silence.

“I will kill you if you do anything harmful to her, do you understand me?” Hunter let out a slight laugh.

“And that’s different from any other time, how?” Hayden was silent. I could imagine him glaring at Hunter. Eventually, he left the room, and I heard the door slam shut behind him with enough force that it should have broken off the hinges that held it.

Hunter let out a heavy sigh which I found strange.

“Aria, this might hurt, so prepare yourself for the pain... Your different Elf genes are trying to destroy each other for control of the power you hold. This happened because you awakened your element of water earlier…” he said.

It did nothing to calm my nerves. I was starting to wonder if I even wanted Hunter to do whatever it was that he was about to do.

He was silent then and a strange feeling started in my stomach; it was as if it was twisting. The twisting grew worse and if I could have screamed, I would have. My bones started to feel like they were snapping, and silent tears streamed down my face as my body was being broken and twisted. I could barely breathe and thought Hunter was killing me instead of helping. Hayden should have just killed him on the spot. I was about to send a silent prayer when the pain vanished, and my eyes flew open. Hunter was bending over me watching intently.

My face was still wet with tears. He pulled his hand away from my stomach and stood up, gazes still locked. I just lay there; a strange sensation fell over me and I knew that it was affecting Hunter too. What was happening? Wanting to replace out, I started to sit up, but he disappeared.

Confusion was all that surrounded me. Feeling my stomach that Hunter had been holding only a few seconds ago, there was a heat radiating from it.

“Hayden?” My voice croaked as I called out to him. I had not been speaking for quite some time and my mouth felt like a desert. Hayden entered the room at a speed and rushed towards me. He captured my face in his hands and gave me a desperate kiss.

“I was so worried about you…” he said, sounding breathless. Memories of Hunter, Hayden, and Jesse flooded my mind. I pulled back slightly and looked away.

“What’s wrong?” Hayden asked confused.

“I don’t want to talk about it right now. Can you help me off the bed?” Nodding, Hayden pulled back the blankets to help me but froze. Looking to see what had stopped him, a gasp escaped me.