Immortal Fire - Book One
Chapter 43

The drive back to the warehouse was a blur. We had passed a bunch of cops and firefighters on the way, and I could not help but sink lower in my seat, even when Damien had told me to relax. We were almost to the warehouse when I finally asked what was on my mind.

“Why are you not dead? I saw you die right before my eyes Damien.”

He sighed and signaled to turn left into the warehouse district. I knew we were close because I could smell the dank water of the Hudson in the air.

“I did die, well at least my body did. Angel’s bodies become like Humans in a way when we descend from Heaven. I still look how I would in Heaven, but my genetic makeup and tissue are different; it is human but stronger, but that also means it is not invincible. The hound’s demonic DNA in their saliva is like poison to me. That is why my body died, besides from the wound itself. A normal Human body might have probably survived that bite, even if it meant months of rehabilitation and hospital care…” Damien explained.

“So, your body died, but your soul didn’t and now you’re back and good as new?” He nodded.

“Yeah; you can say that. A trip back home and now I’m back…”

It all sounded a tad bit Sci-Fi to me, but it did make sense. It also made it understandable why his veins had turned black; it was the poison spreading throughout his body.

“I was so scared…” I whispered to myself as I looked down at my lap with tears welling in my eyes.

“Aria…” Damien said.

I looked up and he shook his head as if clearing his mind and then pulled to a stop in front of the warehouse. Jesse was home because her bike was parked next to the wall under a light post.

“Come on, we have a lot to discuss and strategize.” He hopped out of the car in one fluid movement and had come to my door to open it for me.

He helped me out and had to help me work my way to the door of the warehouse. I could barely stand on my feet and felt incredibly faint. Noticing my discomfort, Damien lifted me and carried me as he did before. Entering the warehouse, it looked like a bomb had gone off. Jesse came toward us and bared her fangs.

“Where is Hayden?” she snarled at me.

News traveled fast here in New York… Damien ignored her and put me down on the couch. Jesse was still hovering around us and screaming insults at me. I did not know what to say to her. She was scaring the shit out of me!

“Back off Jesse...” Damien said in a stern voice.

This only made her even more aggressive. She was screaming at me and telling me this was entirely my fault. The way I felt, I agreed with her but that did not mean that what she accused me of made it any easier to accept or handle. After more insults and then threatening to rip my throat out and bleed me dry, Damien spun around on her.

“Jesse, I’m telling you to back the fuck off! This is not Aria’s fault! Now sit down and shut the fuck up, or God almighty help me…” He spoke with such authority that the air crackled with tension around them.

After much ’battle of the egos, Jesse threw herself down on the couch opposite me and glowered in my direction, mumbling under her breath.

“Aria, do you want me to get you anything?” Damien asked in his natural, soothing voice.

“No thanks,” I mumbled. Jesse staring at me as if she were imagining my slow death was giving me the creeps and I did not want to be left alone with the bitch...

“I found out a lot about Hunter this evening and what’s going on.” That caught both mine and Jesse’s attention and we both turned to look at him.

“What did you replace out?” I asked earnestly. I also noticed the intense way Jesse was paying attention… Unnervingly so…

I slightly recalled Damien trying to tell me something about Hunter before Hayden and I left, and I felt sick to my stomach. If I had just stopped and listened, maybe this all would have been avoided and Hayden would be sitting here beside me…

“Well, we know now who Hunter is working for,” he said.

He had taken up pacing the living room with his arm muscles being pulled taut across his chest.

“Who?” Jesse and I exclaimed at the same time.

She snapped her head toward me and scowled. I rolled my eyes at her and turned back towards Damien who was watching us closely; probably assessing if he would have to jump in soon to break up a fight…

“Who is Hunter working for?” I asked again.

“Hades...” Damien replied.

“The Greek God, Hades?” I scrunched up my face in confusion. Damien nodded.

“But…”

“All pantheons of Gods exist, you idiot!” Jesse interrupted me, basically shouting again. My temper snapped.

“That is, it! Jesse, I have had enough of your shit! You are not helping anything with all your insults! No wonder Hayden left you! You are a horrible person, and I cannot wait until all of this is over so that we can leave! So shut the fuck up and try to help us get Hayden back or get the fuck out!”

I was breathing heavily and had stood up in a rush as I told Jesse off. She had jumped to her feet and was about to come at me when Damien was in the middle of us.

“Stop.” He all but growled at her.

“Get out of my way Damien.” Jesse sneered.

“No, Aria has a point. Now, stop.” She laughed bitterly and tilted her chin towards me…

“What are you going to do if I get my hands on her scrawny little neck, kill me?”

Damien lowered his voice so that he sounded menacing. I had never seen this side of him before.

“If I have to, then yes I will without hesitation.” Damien sneered back at her, still blocking her path to me.

If vampires could become pale from terror, then that is exactly what happened to Jesse. She let her eyes dart to me and then to Damien. This was a fight she would not win. Grabbing her keys on the coffee table, she stormed to the door and left, banging it closed.

I fell back into the couch as my adrenaline left me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

“Don’t apologize, she deserved a lot worse than that,” Damien said, taking my defense.

He was now leaning against the wall on the opposite side of the room. Forgetting about Jesse, I wanted to know everything that Damien knew about Hunter and his plans. I needed to get Hayden back soon.

“So, what do you know?” I asked.

“Do you remember that mark on Hunter’s chest? The tattoo...?”

“Yeah, I remember,” I said, remembering the three times I had seen it.

“Well, it turns out that it’s the mark of Hades and if it is placed over someone’s heart, it works as a form of control; almost like a possession.”

“Hunter is possessed?” I asked in utter shock. It was the last thing I would have suspected.

“Yeah, it would seem like it…” I could not believe it.

If Hunter was possessed, then it would explain so much about how he could do what he did to his parents and what he was doing now to his twin and me. I could never understand it before, even if there was sibling rivalry between him and Hayden, it never made sense; until now.

“How did he end up being possessed?” I asked.

“That’s where the details get a bit blurry, but from what I could replace out; Hades can only place his mark once the person is considered an adult in their culture.”

“So that would be when he turned seventeen…” I vaguely remembered Hayden telling me that they were training for the games to become guards at seventeen when all the men would compete.

Male Elves were considered adults at seventeen… and then he had killed their parents shortly after. It matched up with what Damien was saying completely. I pulled my legs up onto the couch, forgetting about my bloody feet, and tucked them under me. Damien came and sat down on the couch across from me while the revelation swarmed in my head.

“That’s not all, Aria…”

I looked up at him, and he looked apprehensive... Why would he seem nervous? I had never seen that look on him before and it bothered me.

“What?” I asked, bewildered.

He took a deep breath and leaned forward. “Hunter and Hayden are twins. I didn’t know that until tonight…” Damien said nervously.

“Yeah, I know, so what’s that got to do with anything?”

He was starting to worry me. He looked at me as if he were in pain as if he were going to land a terrible blow…

“Elf twins share a soul Aria…” I did not get what he was trying to say, and he noticed.

“Aria, Hayden, and Hunter are both your soul mates.”