Love Beyond Flames

  He'd succeeded. Leonardo had not come looking for her, to save her or at least give her a good argument why she should be with him. He'd left her to the demon.

  She closed her eyes and just listened to the sounds around her. The need for blood rode her hard. She wouldn't give in to it. Alexa had always been strong, even if she'd temporarily forgotten that. How many others could survive what she did and not dissolve into a puddle of mush?

  By the gods, she hated Leonardo. She hated him like she didn't know she could hate. Alexa hadn't known it was possible to feel this level of disdain for another creature. She hated Leonardo more than she did Sebastian.

  And that was saying a lot.

  She rubbed at her eyes. What was scary was that she could still feel them, the other Outsiders. They were stressed, scared, worried—they needed her. The years— lifetimes she'd spent leading them or helping Leonardo to do so—still weighed on her. Those people had been her family.

  Well, they were going to have to win or lose without her this time around. They'd all turned their back on her. Left her in a room to rot. The healers had been clueless.

  She wasn't going to come running just because they needed her.

  Not ever again.

  *****

  Leonardo stared up at the night sky. This had always been Alexa's favorite time of day; the very dead of night. They'd looked at countless universes together from wherever they landed for their next battle.

  He missed her.

  Why had he screwed this up so badly in this lifetime? He'd never have left her behind the way he did in any lifetime before. He'd have fought Sebastian over and over until he secured her. Instead, he'd…what? Given up?

  Or was he really so small a man that he had let the fact that she was sleeping with someone else—a demon— make him turn his back on her? This was the modern age. Women could enjoy sex whenever and with whomever they chose. She'd made no commitment to him in this life, she could do as she liked and he had no right to judge her, period.

  Leonardo had always thought he felt that way. That was how he saw things. Except, apparently, when it came down to Alexa.

  She wasn't to sleep with anyone but him. That was how it worked. She. Was. His.

  He rubbed at his face. By the gods, he was so fucked up. How and when had he become this person?

  Leonardo punched the side of the motel and it made his hand burn. She needed to stay away from him until he could get his head back on straight, until he could be the kind of man who even deserved to be with her.

  "I love you, Alexa." He knew she couldn't hear him.

  He was only speaking to the universe. But it needed to be said because he hadn't spoken those words in this lifetime and that was too long a stretch. Maybe if the universe heard it enough, the powers that be would help him. As it was, Leonardo wasn't at all sure what to do.

  He'd never done anything to risk her love before. How was it possible to be forgiven for what was unforgivable?

  If there was a way to figure that out he would. But first he'd start by making himself worthy of being with her. He'd be the man he used to be—when she'd fallen in love with him, when she'd thought he was worth risking everything to join him on this crazy battle.

  Maybe…just maybe…if he could find that person again, wherever he had vanished to deep inside of him, than all hope wouldn't be last.

  He could be redeemed in Alexa's eyes.

  *****

  Zane knew how to open safes. He could hear how they gave way for him. They practically sang to him. But, he'd never expected to be on the opposite end of a safe and that was probably why the Father did this to him.

  He was stuck inside of a safe. Zane stroked his chin. He was smart and capable. Surely, he must be able to figure out how to get out of this thing. He touched what looked like a doorway to feel it with his fingertips.

  This whole thing could be a game. He didn't even really know where he was. But it looked like he touched a locked door. And the damned thing wouldn't speak to him. Not a word.

  "Hello," he called out realizing it seemed pretty insane to be speaking to an inanimate object. Or it would be if one of his powers didn't happen to be getting things to open. He felt so inept…so ordinary…so human.

  Even when he hadn't known the word Outsider in this life, he'd always had abilities others didn't. Now he was just stuck in the middle of wherever this demon had put him and he was as useless as a newborn baby.

  Hell, he'd probably not been this useless as a baby. He was probably already somewhat powerful.

  He pounded his fist on the door and jolted backwards.

  His mind filled with memories but it wasn't like he was remembering things, but living them again.

  Zane was back in his twelve-year-old body, which royally sucked. That had been a terrible year. His foster father used to beat the shit out of him all the time. If he sneezed and it woke the man from his snoring in front of the television, he'd take a whip and show Zane how he felt about being disturbed.

  Yep, this had to be year twelve. It had been the year he'd spent with the Riss family. Pretty soon, the social workers would give up on the idea of placing him anywhere. Group homes would be the thing. He recognized his sneakers. The Risses were assholes but they'd given him actual brand name sneakers.

  The one year he'd ever had Adidas shoes. He'd been so proud to walk around in them. It had almost been worth the beatings to have them. He'd actually asked the social workers not to take him away when they'd come for him.

  He had enough to eat here.

  Why was he back here?

  "Come here, boy." Frank, the foster father, called out to him. "Get down here right now."

  He turned. Zane didn't actually decide to move. It seemed the memory was going to go the way it went regardless of Zane's feelings on the subject. If he had it to do over, he'd go out the window instead of downstairs.

  Zane caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror hanging in the hallway. These days, he was rough looking. It was amazing that Raquel could stand to look at him. He would always look like a man who was beat up a lot.

  But right then, at twelve, he'd still seemed so young. His eyes were bright, his nose hadn't been broken so many times that it would never heal again, and he was actually skinny. His clothes hung on him a little bit. The Riss family spent on shoes but not clothes. These had belonged to some other kid who lived there some other time.

  He took the stairs two at a time. "Yes, sir?"

  The sir burned his grown-up tongue. He didn't use that word anymore. No one had earned it from him. Back then, he'd hated saying it but Frank Riss wanted to hear it and he'd wanted some semblance of peace in his life. Zane had been twelve. He couldn't fight endless battles. Not all the time.

  Sometimes he felt grown-up, sometimes he didn't.

  None of it would prove to matter very much. Not from an adult perspective. He hadn't known that then. He hadn't realized how things that were vital to him would fade away to nothing, to where he could hardly remember them.

  "Boy, what is this I am hearing from your school that you are failing two classes?"

  Ah, yes, that had been the case. He'd forgotten. The trick of memory. Some things got lost in the shuffle. "Well, sir, it would appear I'm a goddamned idiot."

  So maybe he hadn't been as respectful as he remembered being. School sucked. He'd known the things they were teaching him were just downright wrong. Science was not what they said it was—he hadn't known why he knew it but he had. History was flawed, political, the winners writing the book. Math was so much more complex than they taught it.

  It all made his head hurt.

  Frank stood. "Damn well know you're a fucking idiot. A weird one, too. You're not…right."

  Shame filled his twelve-year-old mind. Frank was right. He was wrong and he couldn't seem to stop being that way. Everything hurt. All of the time.

  He was bone tired. Zane blinked. That was still true. He'd been exhausted since he was twelve years old. When
would it stop?

  "If you fail school, they are going to come and ask questions."

  And therein was the problem. Frank liked his checks from the government but not their oversight. If Zane failed, there would be someone who wanted to get involved. Zane had to do better, if he wanted to stay where he was.

  Of course, since there was the past, Zane knew better. He wouldn't stay with the Riss family. He wouldn't get to remain where he was. Zane would fail school and the social worker would come for him. But not before…

  The swift swing of Frank's fist shocked him as he hit the floor. He cried out. Zane shuddered inside. He'd forgotten what it felt like to be under someone else's control. He'd forgotten how it felt to be dependent on an adult and have that person fail him. The pain came again and again. Frank knew how to use his fists and, at that moment, Zane still didn't.

  He was thrown backwards into his body. Adult Zane sat on the floor of his prison. Why had that happened? He'd been touching the door. It was the only way to get out, only way to get back to Raquel. Was he going to have to live through every bad moment before that door would open? Or would it be endless?

  Chapter Twelve

  With the zombies moving around all around them, Raquel couldn't take a deep breath until Marina found the trail of Alexa's magic. Her friend shut her eyes. "She's not anywhere close by, that's for sure."

  "How far, my love?" Drew asked in a low voice.

  They were all whispering. When Marina answered, it was barely audible. "Far away. Where I was with her…in the Caribbean."

  He nodded. "When you didn't know who you were, thought we were all evildoers, and then you went off with Alexa."

  Wow. They had all had such interesting, upsetting lives. Raquel had never heard that particular part of Marina's story. Sometime, when they weren't running for the lives—if such a time came—she'd love to hear about it.

  "Can we go there?"

  Marina and Drew shared a look. "We can. It's not someplace I ever wanted to return to but, yes." Marina nodded. "Let's get this over with. If we need her to get Zane then we need her. End of story."

  Raquel admired Marina's bravery. It had to be very distressing memories for Marina not to want to go back there. "What happened there?"

  "Alexa scared the hell out of me. But then Drew came and all was well. That's what we do for one another. We always come."

  Drew put his hand out and Raquel took it. Marina held onto him by his arm. One second they were with the zombies and the next they were in a living room in the Caribbean. Marina blinked rapidly and covered her eyes. Raquel didn't know what the other woman saw. Magic moved differently with Marina.

  As for Raquel, she saw a scarcely decorated apartment donned out in bright yellows, blues, and oranges. Alexa sat on the couch, her feet up on the glass table in front of it. Her hair was down, around her back and the breeze from the open veranda door made it blow slightly.

  She wore a white dress that flowed from its thick straps on her shoulders all the way until where it touched her toe nails.

  Alexa was beautiful.

  Raquel smiled as she stared at her for a second. This was what Alexa was supposed to look like. Still, she hadn't looked around to acknowledge them at all. Raquel made eye contact with Marina. What was going on with Alexa?

  Drew must not have been so patient. He stepped forward and plopped down on the couch next to her. "Hi."

  Alexa turned her head slightly to look at him.

  "Hello, Drew."

  "What are you doing?" He looked all around. "What am I missing here?"

  Alexa laughed, a low sound. "What are you missing? I have no idea. None. I'm sitting here. Enjoying the breeze. Not thinking about anything in particular. So, you tell me, what are you missing?"

  "Sarcasm has always become you." Drew rolled his eyes. "We need your help."

  She stretched her arms over her head. "Of course you do."

  This wasn't going to be easy.

  *****

  Sebastian watched his father. He was dressed as a human and, for now, he seemed content to play that role. In and out of stores the man walked. Sometimes he actually bought something. Sebastian couldn't fathom what his father was buying. Suit? Tie? Food? He had no idea what the biggest demon in the universe would want to go shopping for.

  Never once did his father look toward him although there was no way his dad didn't know he was there.

  Sebastian almost called out to him and then stopped. There was something about the look in the man's eyes that stopped him. He was a man on a mission. The shopping couldn't be the real purpose of this visit. It had to be…

  The thought dawned on Sebastian two seconds before the explosion happened. If Sebastian had been corporeal he'd be dead. As the heat, red in its blaze, took over the horizon, his father walked through it like nothing happened. People screamed and then the sheer silence of the blast overwhelmed him. He remembered this—the flames.

  He'd seen his father do this over and over. In the battle against the Outsiders his father never took any prisoners. The collateral damage was always extreme. There would be no Earth left to rule, simply the battered remains of what was.

  Sebastian hated the humans. But he didn't think of them as nothing. They were something—they were to be his subjects. The destruction that just took place here would happen everywhere else too, this was how they destroyed. When his father was done, there would be no one left.

  This was how his dad handled things. When he left, earth would be empty of life, dissolved of hope, and everything that was wonderful about it destroyed.

  These were the end of days.

  And Sebastian couldn't believe it but he was going to have to save the damned place. Otherwise there would be nothing and no one left to worship him as he deserved. He was going to help the Outsiders defeat his father, whether they wanted him to or not. Because this was his planet to conquer, for fuck's sake.

  *****

  Alexa swayed and would have fallen if not for Drew keeping her upright on the couch. The earth—she was calling out, screaming in pain. Her breath caught in her throat. She couldn't make her lungs work. Things were…burning.

  She looked around. At first the others didn't seem to be affected by whatever was happening. But then Marina and Raquel fell to their knees. Drew followed. It had hit her first—why was she not surprised?—but now they were all being brought down.

  With Drew's arm no longer holding her up, she fell forward off the couch. Face-planting hurt but it jarred her out of her pain stupor. She took a deep breath and then whirled around. If pain had worked for her then…

  She slapped Drew hard and he sucked in a loud breath. That was good, at least he was breathing. She turned and hit both the other Outsider women.

  They all started to regain their normal breathing. Drew looked around, his eyes wild before he popped out of the room. She didn't know where he was going but he'd be back. No way would Drew leave Marina, not for very long.

  Marina gripped her chest. "He went to check on the others. What was that? I don't understand."

  "The earth is burning," Alexa got to her feet. "Or at least part of it is. These are the ends of days, ladies. We just felt the turning of the tide. And we lost."

  Raquel shook her head wildly before she dropped down in front of Alexa. "Not if you help us."

  Alexa laughed even though nothing was funny. "What would you like me to do? I'm drenched in demon. I've had sex with him. Consensual. I was misled but I did it of my own free will. And I killed people. Committed murder for him. The scribe? He's dead thanks to me."

  "So that's it? You did some bad things and it's all over for you? Zane has done things. I just got done telling him that what he did to survive wasn't all that he was. I'll tell you the same if you need to hear it."

  Alexa wished she could believe Raquel. "I'll ask again. What do you think I can do here? I'm…weak."

  "Then let's be strong together." Raquel hugged her, which shocked Alexa so much she almos
t couldn't move. "Help me get Zane back. Please."

  Alexa's heart turned over. Raquel had always been kind to her, even when no one else was. She would help her get Zane. With the world ending, she could take two different paths. She could say fuck it, and not help anyone have a happily ever after. Or she could try to do better while she was here.

  She'd never be with Leonardo again. That didn't mean that Raquel couldn't be happy. Even if Alexa would go on to whatever came next after this without ever knowing any on this planet.

  *****

  Once Leonardo could breathe again, he got busy. Enough with waiting around. Zane was out cold but Leonardo had to believe Zane would return to them. They had a destiny and Zane had never let his people down. He wouldn't again. The other man would either find his way back on his own or Raquel would get him back to them.

  In the meantime, the world was burning. If Drew hadn't shown up to shake him back to himself, he wasn't sure what he'd have done. Died? Outsiders had always been ridiculously affected by the dimension they lived on. If it, or she, suffered, they did, too.

  If things were as bad as he thought they were, they had no time to lose. He grabbed Gabe's arm. "We need to start helping people."

  "Right." He whirled around to look at Loraine. "What are you getting from the animals?"

  She wiped at her eyes. "Pain everywhere. It's everywhere."

  Leonardo nodded. "Well, we can do what we can. Come on, let's get to it."

  Drew grabbed Leonardo and they popped into existence in the closest town. Leonardo wasn't exactly sure where that was. It didn't really matter. People were screaming. They were burned, hurting, in terrible pain…

  He turned to Drew. "Go get Jason."

  The healers were going to have to dig deep on this one. Usually, when things were this bad it was a signal that the end was near. But, Leonardo couldn't give up. Failure made his head ache. He wasn't done. Not until he had done what he could—he'd fight until death took him or he had no strength left in his body.