Immortal Fire - Book One
Chapter 38

Damien and I had been practicing for hours. I had eventually been able to hit three targets at will.

“Looks like you’re getting the hang of it,” Damien said.

I smiled and looked off to Damien who had, after a while, gone to go lean against the farthest wall. Sweat had gathered at the small of my back, but I did not care. I was too excited about being able to do this without having to wish it would appear at the right time.

“Thanks,” I smiled

I walked over to him and grabbed a bottle of water that he had conjured up for me. Damien and I had been struggling for about two hours before he noticed that my emotions drastically affected the way my powers worked. After getting my mood and said emotions in check, we had seen a substantial amount of progress. We decided that training should take place every day for at least three hours, so over the next week we did just that.

The week went by in a blur; Hayden barely spoke to me when he did see me; except for his usual snarky comments that still hurt, and the occasional strange longing look in his eyes that contradicted everything that he did, but I tried not to think about it. I trained and went to bed, showered in the mornings and evenings, then started all over again.

Storming into the makeshift training area, I threw my water and sweater on the ground. I was fucking pissed. Damien appeared then and barely got out of the way before I blasted him with angel fire. The blue, luminous fire narrowly missed his face, and I heard several rants coming from his new spot that he had emerged in, on the other side of the training area.

“What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked incredulously.

I ignored him and kept blasting the same concrete target until it was nothing but ash. No one would have been able to discern that a few seconds ago, it was an exceptionally large cinder block.

“Aria…” Damien had come up beside me and I was trying my best to ignore him, but he would not have it. Grabbing my arms, he swung me around.

“What is wrong?” he shouted at me. I knew Damien would not drop it, so I decided to tell him and get it done with.

“I’m mad at Hayden.” I snapped back.

Damien dropped my arms and stepped back, placing his hands in his pockets. I could not see any of his tattoos today, as he was wearing a long-sleeve, black shirt. The look of annoyance on his face was obvious. He didn’t like Hayden at all; mainly since Hayden had been inexcusably rude to everyone for the past week, and I always seemed to be the most affected.

“What did that idiot do now?” he asked.

I did not like him calling Hayden an idiot but said nothing. It was an improvement to some of the other names he had used before. Damien did not believe me, but I had the feeling that something was troubling Hayden and that is why he was behaving like he was of late. It was not who he was.

“Nothing much; I just can’t stand it anymore. He needs to tell me what’s going on with him.” I answered in a huff of annoyance.

“Nothing is going on with him, he just is a rude, very annoying, little…”

“Ok stop,” I interrupted him, putting my hand up.

“There is something wrong. You may not believe it, but I do. I can feel it.” He rolled his eyes at me and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Fine, if you say so… Oh, I got news on that symbol that we saw tattooed onto Hunter.” His face was hard to read. If I knew better, I would say that he seemed nervous to tell me.

“What did you replace?” I eagerly asked. I was all ears now and all previous thoughts were gone.

He opened his mouth to tell me but shut it fast as we both noticed Hayden walk into the training area. Hayden nodded toward Damien as he came to a stop next to us. The electric hum within me started, just as it always did when he was near.

“May I speak to Aria alone for a bit?” he asked Damien. Damien’s eyebrows rose and he turned to look at me. I nodded that it was okay, and he vanished.

I knew Damien would not be far away, especially since Hayden was the reason for my destructive mood not so long ago. I turned toward Hayden and he was looking at me intensely; his sapphire eyes boring into mine.

“You wanted to speak to me?” I said, in a false disinterested voice. Inside my heart was racing.

“I wanted to apologize…” he said. I could not believe my ears.

“For what…?” I asked flatly. Hayden shuffled on his feet and led me to a cinder block target. We sat and he was still watching me intently.

“I wanted to say I’m sorry for being rude lately and pushing you away…” Rude was an understatement, but I was not going to say that now and ruin his apology.

“Why did you do it and what’s changed now,” I asked, this time slightly softer. He looked at his feet, and I could tell that he did not do this very often and that he was nervous.

“Hayden, just fucking tell me.” He looked back up and I finally saw the Hayden that I knew was in there. He was back.

“When I could not help you, and Hunter did, I couldn’t stand it that he was the one to save you and not me. Then, when I found out you were cursed, I could not handle it… I …” his words cut off as he struggled to voice them.

Out of instinct, I placed my hand in his and squeezed. The charge ran through us, and it felt right.

“When you accused me of having feelings for Jesse that was the breaking point for me because it couldn’t be less true. I have never felt like this like I do about you, and it scares the shit out of me Aria. How could I care so much but not even keep you safe? I guess that’s why I have been pushing you away…” he finally finished.

I could not believe my ears. The truth this whole time had been something that could have been sorted out if we both had just spoken about it.

“So, what now...? You aren’t scared anymore?” I asked. He scoffed at that and looked at me.

“I’m fucking terrified, but I don’t want to lose you. Watching you with Damien this whole past week has been torture for me too… Jesse also threatened me that I better patch things up, or else she would break my nose…” he joked with the last part.

He seemed to be blushing slightly, which I had never seen him do. I also could not believe that Jesse wanted us to work things out.

“Damien...?” I asked, confusion clear on my face. I did not get what he was worried about with Damien.

“We’re just friends and he is helping me learn how to control my powers. I’ve learned a lot.” He just smiled, and I got the impression that he didn’t entirely believe the ‘just friends’ part.

“I forgive you…” I spoke softly, still slightly irritated with him.

How could I not? It was Hayden and he had come to me, put aside his pride, and apologized. His face lit up and he smiled. I could not help but smile back. Grabbing both sides of my face, he leaned in and touched his lips to mine. I thought my world would explode. The tenderness of this kiss was enough for me to know that Hayden had told me the truth; that he did care, and I did too.

Hayden pulled away and I groaned. Laughing at me, he squeezed my hand.

“Would you like to go out tonight?” Hayden asked me.

“Are you asking me on a date? The great Hayden Levi, asking little old me to go out on a date...?” I was teasing him, and I loved it. That slight blush returned to his cheeks.

“Yes, I am…” he said awkwardly. “Hmm, I’ll have to check my schedule; but I’m sure I can fit you in.” I laughed at the expression on his face, and he laughed too. This felt so right.

Hayden kissed me one last time and then left, smiling as he went. I was still smiling like a goofball when Damien appeared before me.

“I take it all is sorted and love is found?” he asked. I just smiled at Damien, not answering him. The look on his face was strange. I had never seen it before. I was not going to ruin my great mood by asking him what was wrong…

“So, what’s next boss?” I asked.

We still had training to do but the thought that I was forgetting something important lay in the recesses of my mind.

“Nothing; I have some stuff I need to do, but you can carry on if you want to. We can talk later about Hunter.” It was the news about Hunter that I had already forgotten about. I wanted to know what he had found out, but Damien disappeared then. That was strange… Ignoring Damien’s odd behavior and not bothering about the news of Hunter in case it spoiled my good mood, I continued training.