Immortal Fire - Book One
Chapter 59

Stepping through the flames that soared toward the heavens and surrounded my friends, I was unharmed.

Hades was standing where he was before and stopped pacing at the sight of me. The demons just beyond the gate could not leave and were screeching out, trying to attack me. It was a futile attempt.

“You will return with me.” Hades sneered, stepping forward as if to grab a hold of me.

Flames stopped his path. A scream escaped Hades and I extinguished the flames that held him at bay.

“I will not go with you, and this ends now. You will leave me and everyone I care about alone!” I stated with an eery calm.

My voice surprised me. It echoed with the voices and whispers of every past Angelis Mortis. I felt far away yet in control of my every action.

“You think I will stop?” he laughed. “I will not rest until I have you and have wiped out everyone and everything that your disgusting heart beats for!”

Taking a step forward I raised my arms above my head, angel fire grew with anticipation of what was to come.

“Then I will stop you,” I said glaring at him.

Hades ordered his demons to fire at me again with their barbed arrows. Throwing my arms in the direction of the gate, I fired the flames and they set the demons alight. They might not have been able to exit the gate, but the angel fire could enter.

Screams and roars could be heard as the demons burned. As each demon was destroyed the blue flames were replaced with bright red. Ashes were all that remained within the gate as well as eerie silence.

Hades charged toward me in a flash and caught at my throat. I could barely feel him crushing my windpipe. Whispers of past Angelis Mortis’ filled my head in an array of ancient languages, and I was numb to my actions.

My will was no longer my own as theirs took over. I was watching from a faraway distance. My body started to glow with a blinding light and Hades held a black orb in his hand above my chest. I knew somehow that it was how he placed his mark. If he were successful, I would be a pawn of his like Hunter was.

“No!” I screamed from far away, but no one could hear me…

Looking back towards where Hayden and the others were, I could hear them screaming and trying to break free of the flames holding them back. As Hades was about to place his mark, a bright white light exploded, and I was blinded. Opening my eyes again, I was back in my body and Hades was gone.

Destroy the gate before he returns. Voices whispered around me.

I did as they said and watched as the underside of the gothic bridge cracked from the impact of the gate being destroyed. All energy left me as I collapsed onto the rough road.

The flames protecting the others died and they came running to me. Cassie limped her way over and lowered herself to my left. Hayden was already on my right, lifting my head into his lap and pushing my gritty hair out of my face. Damien and Hunter were standing by my feet and watched me with concern-filled eyes.

“Aria…” Hayden said, his eyes searching mine. I smiled weakly at him and looked at the others.

“I’m fine… just… tired…” I forced out. I could hear a ringing in my ears as the whispers of the past faded away.

It was true. I was fine but using so much of the angel fire had weakened me and I still had no idea what had exactly happened. Hayden helped me sit up and I wiped my hand across my face. Dirt and dried-up blood showed up on my hand and I stared at it in disgust. I needed a shower after all of this…

“Where is Hades?” asked Damien.

“He’s gone,” I said with a bit more strength to my voice.

“What happened? We couldn’t see anything besides shadows and then a bright light,” asked Hunter from beside Damien. He stood with his arms crossed and the bruises on his face were turning black as the night.

“I’m not too sure…” I answered after a few seconds of thinking it over. It was true. I wasn’t sure what had happened and somehow, I had been taken over by the past Angelis Mortis’.

“What do you mean?” asked Hayden who still had his arm around me.

I explained what had happened to all of them and when I had finished, they all just looked at me. I was starting to feel like I was being judged as a fucking mental case when Cassie broke the silence.

“I’ve heard of that happening, it’s in one of my books at home. My family must learn about this kind of stuff so that we can help as much as possible; although I wasn’t much help… sorry.” She said softly, sounding defeated.

“You did help Cassie and besides, what Hades did to you couldn’t have been helped. I’m simply happy that you’re okay now.” I smiled at her. She smiled back and pushed her bent glasses back up her nose.

“Right, well I don’t know about you guys, but I would like to get out of here,” Hunter said looking around.

“Yeah, me too,” I said and had Hayden help me to my feet. We started walking through the park when a sudden realization hit me.

“We can’t go to the warehouse; where are we going then?” I said to all of them. Everyone stopped walking and Hayden scrunched his face in confusion.

“Why the hell can’t we go back to the warehouse?” he asked, looking at me and then the others looking for an answer. Hayden still didn’t know about Jesse’s betrayal, and I had a feeling he wasn’t going to take it well.

“Well, um…uh… Damien, help me out here please?” I said stumbling through my words.

Hayden looked at Damien waiting for an answer. A tick worked in his jaw as he got annoyed. Damien finally looked at Hayden and explained.

“Jesse was working for Hades. She was going to hand Aria over to him.” he deadpanned.

“You’re lying!” Hayden shouted pointing his finger at Damien. “Why the fuck would she ever do something like that?” he shouted.

“Hayden,” I said touching his arm gently, “she still loved you and blamed me for you being taken away…” I spoke.

Hayden just looked at me dumbstruck. “She what?” he asked shocked.

“Yeah, she did, now can we move on to something else. I don’t like talking about your crazy ex-girlfriend…” I said feeling rather flushed.

“I’ll be right back,” Damien said before disappearing.

“I hate it when he does that…” Hayden and I mumbled in unison. We laughed and then turned to Hunter who was standing, watching in silence.

“So, what do you have to say? I still don’t know what the fuck happened to you that we can now trust you.” Hayden said all jokingly shoved aside. Hunter looked at his brother for a long time without saying anything.

“Well?” Hayden prompted, barely containing his temper.

Hunter ignored him and started down the street. Hayden cursed and was about to go after him when I grabbed his hand and pulled him back.

“Hayden, don’t,” I said softly.

“Are you fucking kidding me? Look at everything he has done to us, and he murdered our parents in cold blood!” he exclaimed.

“Hayden, it wasn’t him… not really anyway. Can’t you see how radically he has changed?” I said, trying to get him to listen.

Hayden looked back at his twin brother who had now sat on a park bench further down the street and had his head in his hands.

“It’s true…” piped in Cassie, whom we had forgotten was standing there with her arms holding herself.

“Can someone please just explain to me what happened to my brother?” Hayden said looking between Cassie and me.

The way that he said ‘my brother’ made my chest clench. It was obvious that he yearned for the brother that he once had. I did explain. I explained everything that had happened to Hunter and how Hades had this planned long ago. Hunter was not responsible for his actions and now he had to deal with the fact that he had destroyed so many lives at the hand of Hades…

Hayden stood there looking at nothing for quite some time. He ran his hands through his blonde hair and groaned before looking back at Hunter. Without saying a word, he turned and started down the street to the bench where his twin sat.

Cassie and I watched him as he sat down next to Hunter, and they started speaking. I could not hear what they were saying but thought it best I did not. This was now a private matter between the Levi siblings.

“They’ll get through this,” Cassie said to me.

“I hope so…” I replied. We both turned away and sat on the grass embankment under a tree.

“So…” Cassie said.

“So…” I answered.

We both giggled at our highly intelligent conversational skills.

“I’m so glad all of this is over, and we can go home now.” She said cheerfully.

I smiled and nodded in return. It might be over tonight, but my gut instinct told me this whole nightmare might not be over for quite some time. I did not tell Cassie that as I did not want to spoil the mood.

“You love him, don’t you?” she asked after a few moments, as I watched Hayden and Hunter.

“Yeah, I do,” I said, an involuntary smile spread across my face.

Hayden and Hunter were in deep conversation and their body language signaled that it was going well. I was happy for them. Damien appeared then and the lucky bastard was clean and as good as new.

“Do not tell me that you rushed off to go take a shower! That would be cruel towards the rest of us!” I mocked him. He smiled back and looked at Cassie before addressing me.

“I didn’t leave to shower but I managed to get cleaned up. I went to the Hosts. They say that the gate at devil’s lake has been destroyed along with this one. No other gateways are known of so hopefully that’s the end of that…” he spoke. I hoped so too…

“They have arranged transport for you, Hayden, and Hunter to get to Lunzos. The Elders have summoned you all. They heard what happened.” he said, looking as if he didn’t like the idea at all. I did not like it either.