Immortal Fire - Book One
Chapter 40

“So, how come we can go out now? I thought it wasn’t safe?”

Hayden was driving and there was so much traffic for this time at night. I had never seen anything like it. Hayden had calmed down about ten minutes into our drive and would not tell me where we were going, no matter how much I nagged at him to tell me or give me a clue.

“It’s still not safe but I thought that since things have been quiet for a while and you can control your angel fire now, we could change one night. You deserve to still have a life that isn’t locked away.”

He turned his head slightly and looked at me then back to the road. Little did he know how much that meant to me... I had been so stressed about everything lately, but it did not take away from the fact that I had not felt a total loss for what was once my life; a life where I did not have to hide and run for my survival every second of the day. I had almost given up hope completely.

“Do you think I’ll ever get to stop hiding?” I was nervous about what he might say when he did not answer me right away.

“To be honest, I don’t know. What I do know is that I will try and help you with everything that I can and will be by your side. We all want you to have some form of a normal life, as normal as possible…” He did not say who ‘we’ was, but I knew anyway. He was speaking of himself, Damien, The Hosts, and even Jesse. The fact that I had him and the others on my side made me feel slightly better.

I was pulled from my thoughts as we passed a building at a snail’s pace due to the commotion outside. Photographers and people were getting out of limos right by the front door. Barricades were set up to hold back the crowds from the people arriving. As we passed the front door someone got out and the crowd went mad. I could not see who it was no matter how I squirmed in the car’s seat. Hayden took a left and pulled into underground parking. The roar of the Jaguar’s engine grew loud in the confined space and vibrated in my chest.

Parking the car, Hayden turned to unbuckle his seat belt and was grinning as if he held the world’s biggest secret in his hands.

“What’s going on?” I asked, almost laughing at him.

“You’ll see. Come on.” He beamed at me. I was still apprehensive about what was going on, but I got out of the car.

Hayden came around and took my hand in his as he led us to a stairwell. Climbing the stairs, I wanted to kill myself for wearing such high heels. Why does this man always make me fucking regret not working out harder?! These stairs were killing my feet, as well as my heaving lungs… Very attractive.

My glorious salvation came when Hayden finally pushed open the door in front of us and led us into an empty room. The sound of chatter and soft background music could be heard filtering through from the other side of the door that led out of the room.

“Where are we?” I was whispering between pants of breath. Hayden was peeking through the now slightly open door. Closing it and beaming at me, he answered.

“You know that building with the photographers and barricades we passed?”

“Yeah...?” I asked, still confused.

“Well, we’re there. We’re just coming through the back so that your picture isn’t blasted all over the internet so that no one knows you’re here.” He answered smiling, clearly impressed with himself.

Before I could respond, he grabbed my hand, and we exited the room. Wow. We were in an art gallery, but nothing like I imagined one to be. All the work had an ethereal theme to it, and I was in heaven. Literally. Art exhibits were cast in white glowing light and crystals were hung from the ceiling reflecting their glow. Waiters milled about the crowd with trays of champagne and the guests all looked like celebrities. Hayden was leading us around the gallery and grabbed two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter.

“How did you even know about this?” I was still looking in wonder at all the magnificent art as I spoke.

“I’m friends with the artist and she told me how to get you in. She’s a fairy…” I almost spat all the champagne that I was sipping all over a person who was walking past. I received a glare in response from said person.

“A fairy...? Are you joking?” I asked, wiping at my mouth while Hayden laughed at me.

“No, he’s not…” chimed a sing-song voice from behind me.

“Oh shit, I take it that’s your friend?” I asked embarrassed. Hayden nodded with a humorous glint in his eye. My stomach felt as if it had hit the floor.

Sheepishly, I turned around and faced the woman who was behind me. She looked more like she was twelve with her soft, child-like features. She was short and had an innocent glow about her. Her blonde, almost white hair was cut into a short pixie style – go figure… She was smiling at me, and I could feel myself blush.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean anything…” I started to say.

“Don’t worry about it, I know you are new to our world.” she interrupted, still smiling sweetly.

“Aria, this is Lexis. She is the artist for this exhibit. She is the one who told me how to get you in here without anyone spotting you and she is the one who you were trying to see arrive earlier.” he said.

“It’s nice to meet you, Lexis,” I said smiling and was about to shake her hand but instead, she smiled and embraced me as if we were lifelong friends. I was shocked but after a few seconds, I relaxed into the hug. Stepping away from me, she peered up at Hayden, whom I thought must seem like a giant to her.

“You should check out the exhibit at the back of the room…” she winked at Hayden and smiled at me before turning and walking away.

“What was that about?” I asked Hayden. He chuckled and took my hand again.

I was not getting an answer from him and decided to follow his lead. I couldn’t keep my eyes from the art. Art was my life and this kind of art was so hauntingly beautiful, it was as if it spoke to my soul. We stopped before an exhibit and I was blown away. It was a painting of me. Me! I could not believe it. I was kneeling before a stream, with my blonde hair being blown back from an imaginary breeze.

What was the most astonishing was the fact that I had wings? Large, stunning charcoal-colored, basically black wings furled out from my back and caught the rays of sunshine. I was too astounded to say anything. The shock of it was too much for me to comprehend.

“What? How...?” I stuttered and looked at Hayden. Hayden was standing next to me and was smiling serenely at me.

“Lexis is a sucker for showcasing beautiful, out-of-this-world phenomena. When word reached her about you, she could not resist. I wanted you to see that you are beautiful to more people than you know.” I could feel my eyes start to gather tears, tears of joy.

“Thank you,” I said, pushing back the tears. Hayden was starting to make me realize that my world and life now were not all doom and gloom that I had feared since that night at the school’s bonfire. These people believed in me as I had never believed in myself, and I was starting to understand it and accept it all.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the auction is about to begin. Please could you make your way over to the bidding hall in the room next door? Thank you.” spoke the British man over the speaker system.

Everyone grabbed their drinks and started making their way over to the door that led them to the bidding hall. Hayden and I followed. The hall had chairs set in rows and the whole right side of the room was floor-to-ceiling windows. The city of New York was twinkling with life on the other side of the glass as clouds drifted past the full moon. Hayden and I decided to stand in the back of the hall next to the window as we were not bidding, everyone else took their seats.

The bidding had been going on for about twenty minutes when the power went off. People were shuffling in their seats and complaining. Something twisted in my gut, and I didn’t know why. Something was not right. The emcee raised his voice and told everyone to remain calm and that a breaker had just blown. The power would be on soon. Hayden had gone stiff beside me, and I knew he also had a bad feeling like I did.

Looking out of the window, I could see that everywhere else the power was on. Maybe it was just a breaker, and I was getting worked up for nothing…

“We should get out of here. C’mon…” Hayden whispered and grabbed my hand and started leading me toward the door.

The lights from outside made it easy to see where we were walking and that is when I heard it.

The fierce growling froze me where I stood. Hayden had frozen too and turned his head to where a scream erupted from the crowd of people.