Love Beyond Flames

Christophe's French accent sounded thicker than normal. He was less controlled than Zane had ever heard him. His hands shook a little bit.

  "How are you here?" Finally, Samuel spoke. "Is this some kind of demonic trick? Using them to tear us to shreds?" He shouted at the sky and Isabelle placed her hand on his arm.

  Dead. Wow. Okay. Zane couldn't process that

  information, not at all. "How did I die?"

  "How are you here?" Isabelle widened her stance. If he didn't know she was mostly gentle and calm, he'd think she was about to hit him.

  Zane nodded toward the door behind him. "Ghosts."

  Isabelle looked at Christophe whose eyebrows shot upwards. "Well, this is unexpected. The ghosts took you time travelling and brought the two of you here."

  "Which ghosts?" Isabelle again, this time her voice less hostile.

  "Look. I'm happy to talk about this somewhere else." Raquel was out cold, they were in the middle of a field somewhere, he'd apparently been dead for ten years, and there were more zombies running around not too far away. "Is that reasonable? Take me somewhere else. Then we can work out all this crap."

  Samuel nodded once and Isabelle must have agreed. "Come with me."

  They walked forward and he followed close behind them. "Since when are the three of you making decisions?

  Where is Leonardo? Doesn't he rule us all?"

  "He's dead longer than you."

  Isabelle's voice was flat, lifeless. The prophecy said they all had to be together to win. Hadn't that happened? He needed some answers because fuck if he was dying and he damned well knew for sure Raquel wasn't. Not if he had anything to say about it.

  *****

  Raquel came back to wakefulness slowly. She was still cradled in Zane's arms and happy to stay that way. Having never believed she'd actually be with him, in any capacity, being held in his strong embrace constituted the best moment of her life.

  She was always so careful, so sure she wasn't going to kill anyone in the flames. Killing her foster family had almost ended her life and it had been accidental. Apparently the same toll happened when she killed even things like zombies.

  "So this is it? This is all that's left of us? The three of you and Eden shaking in the corner? Shit." Zane's body vibrated and she made herself sit up.

  If he was in pain, the last thing he needed was to have to care for her.

  He stroked her hair. "Easy. Don't sit up too fast.

  You went down hard."

  "Raquel." The woman—dark haired, dark eyed— spoke. She must be Isabelle. She looked exactly like the voices had told Raquel she would. "I can't believe I'm seeing you again."

  They hadn't met yet, not officially, and yet Isabelle was looking at her like they were old friends. "Um…"

  "We've landed in the future." Zane filled in the gaps as though he could anticipate her question. "The last time I travelled like this it wasn't so dramatic. We're all dead, except the four of them."

  No wonder his body vibrated. His words made every muscle in her body jolt. The possibility of her death was always looming, like an uncomfortable dream she couldn't quite rid herself of, but to hear it actually happened made her go cold.

  "How?"

  Two men stared at her and in the corner a woman rocked back and forth muttering things Raquel couldn't understand. The man in the middle, the smaller of the two, turned to look at the shaking woman before he got up and crossed to her. "Eden? Can I get you anything?"

  If she was Eden, then the man helping her had to be Samuel.

  "Bam." The man who answered spoke with an accent, which told her it was Christophe. "You both went bam. Along with almost everyone else. After that, we were picked off one-by-one and as you see we are all that is left."

  "What does bam mean?" Even as she asked she didn't think she wanted to know.

  Zane spoke over her. "What happened to the moon?"

  That was his question. Out of everything her soul mate could have asked he wanted to know about the moon? Wasn't he at all concerned with their upcoming deaths?

  "The moon. Sebastian moved it as soon as it was clear he had won. Changed the gravitational pull of things. The oceans flooded. It was bad." Isabelle looked away.

  "You don't know me, do you, Raquel?"

  "No." She got off Zane's lap wanting to feel more in control and less like she needed to be taken care of even though she kind of loved it. "I'm sorry."

  "How early are you two in your relationship?" Christophe asked. "You knew Isabelle pretty quickly. All of you bonded, the women I mean: you, Isabelle, Marina, Charma, Loraine, Gia, Eden." He paused. "Ruby."

  She noticed he'd left Alexa off the list. What ended up happening to that poor girl?

  "Did Ruby also go bam?" Zane's question was hard but then again they were talking about the very difficult subject of everyone's upcoming death.

  "Okay." Isabelle held up her hands. "Answer me. How early on are we in the timeline?"

  Raquel let out her breath. "Um. We just met in person. I mean, I guess we've had two different encounters but he rescued me from Austin and we're back in the cave with all of you."

  "Huh." Isabelle shook her head. "The day you met. I remember that. We were attacked that afternoon. Leonardo almost died. Big mess. I can assure you, this time travel you've done thanks to the ghosts didn't happen." Isabelle looked down. "I'm sure you would have told me about it since back then I could actually travel through time myself."

  "That's a good thing." She sat up straighter, Isabelle's words making Raquel suddenly feel the strange emotion of hope in her stomach. "If this didn't happen in your version of time then something has changed. No offense, but that thing—the butterfly effect—the one where one thing causes another—if we're into something different maybe we never have to end up here."

  Samuel nodded, stroking Eden's back. "There are many versions of the future. We know this. Eden sees so many. Someone died…Eden would see it and then we would prevent it. Whatever would have happened in the future didn't happen because of our stopping it. But the fact remains, we changed things many times and we still remained in this situation. Our loved ones dead. The fight over. We're still alive for no other reason than the demon gets off on tormenting us."

  "Something brought us here."

  Christophe shook his head. "Something always does. There's always a reason. When I met Ruby, there had to be a reason we met when and how we did. Our ancestors. Fate. The moon. Whatever. Samuel and Eden. Isabelle and Kal. All of it had a reason. And yet…we lost. Because sometimes we do. We don't win in every lifetime. We knew this, understood it. Or did we? Because, personally, I never really held onto the idea that there would be anything other than a happy ending."

  "Drew changed time for us." Isabelle groaned. "I changed time. Marina could remember all our past lives. Everything went okay except for that one key element— Alexa and Leonardo. We could never get them there. And

  Lexa died and that was it. Bam. Bang! Goodbye battle. Goodbye chances to win. Goodbye love."

  Raquel got up and crossed to Isabelle. She didn't know the woman, not yet, but she knew herself, and Isabelle said they'd been close. There was no way she wouldn't hug someone who was in so much pain. If ever there was another soul in need of being embraced, it was Isabelle.

  Without hesitation, she pulled the other Outsider into her arms and held her. Isabelle tightened her arms around her and didn't let go. "I didn't think I'd see you again in this lifetime, my friend."

  Samuel shook his head. "That's sweet."

  She didn't know the man but she knew sarcasm and hostility, she'd been bred on it like mother's milk, and Samuel was not really saying her hug with Isabelle was nice.

  He continued. "But it doesn't stop the problem. You two are here. You have to see something the ghosts want you to and then they'll let you go."

  Isabelle pulled back. "No one answered me. Which ghost brought you here?"

  Zane shook his head."I don't see them that way. They're like burst of e
nergy, of wind. Nothing clear."

  "They're so early in their powers and relationship." Samuel stood. "It'll come like everything else. You'll see them like I can see them, or used to be able to, face-toface."

  Raquel let go of Isabelle and walked back to Zane. "Can I speak with you?"

  "Sure." He stood. "Give us a moment, guys. This is a lot to take. Hell, she hasn't met most you yet."

  "Demon." Eden shouted loudly, the first coherent word she'd said since they entered the room. "Demon."

  Samuel shook his head. "Don't worry. It doesn't necessarily mean that the demon is coming. She sees him all the time. Everywhere she looks, everywhere she goes. Sebastian holds a constant dialogue in her mind. I can't see what she does anymore. She's lost to me."

  Raquel nodded, although half of what was being said around her didn't make much sense. She needed to catch her breath and to figure out what was best. She'd set a bunch of zombies on fire and that was a first for her. At the very least, she needed time to process what was happening.

  Zane took her hand and she let him lead her outside.

  They were in some kind of house, a small one. The walls were bare and the furniture ratty although none of that surprised her considering the state of the world.

  They stood outside together and the wind hit her hard. She didn't object to the feeling, it at least reminded her she was actually alive.

  Zane didn't speak and considering she'd brought him out to speak, she supposed she might as well get to it. Raquel cleared her throat. "This is pretty…intense."

  Zane nodded. "That's putting it mildly. What the hell do you think they mean by bam? They keep saying bam. How does someone die by bam?"

  She shivered. "I hate the idea of it. You suppose this is it? The ghosts wanted us to see how bad the future is so we can try harder or something?"

  Zane was beautiful in the moonlight. Funny to think of such a hard guy that way and in such a completely inappropriate time. But he was and her shirt felt too tight on her body, like she'd suddenly gotten warm, despite the cold wind hitting her hard.

  "I don't know what the ghosts wanted." A muscle ticced in his jaw. "Are you okay?"

  "Yes. Why?" She forced herself to swallow. "Kind of hot. And that usually indicates I'm about to start a fire." Her hands tingled and she stepped away from Zane. "Maybe you should stay away from me for a bit. I haven't had an accidental flame out in two decades, at least not while I was awake, but it doesn't mean it can't happen."

  Zane didn't move. "What do you think brought it on the last time?"

  "I don't know." When he still didn't step away from her, she darted backwards. "I think you should move."

  "I'm not concerned." Zane followed after her. "I think you're making a mistake."

  "What?" She wasn't cooling off, if anything it was really only getting worse.

  Zane grabbed her arm and pulled her against him. "I'm compelled to hold you sweetheart. That tells me that's what I'm supposed to do. You aren't going to burn me. I don't die in flames from you. Remember? Bam? You're mistaking one kind of heat for another."

  "I don't understand…"

  "I know and that's so fucking adorable."

  Zane kissed her hard and she forgot to breathe. Heat—molten, scorching, more than she'd ever felt before even during a flame out travelled through her body. She moaned and pressed against him harder. He'd been right. She was hot but it wasn't fire fueling her. It was need…for Zane.

  He pushed her against the outside wall of the house

  and he breathed heavy as he stared down at her. "Do you think they would make you for me if there was any chance I couldn't take your heat? I can practically taste your need for me and damn it if it isn't the sweetest fucking thing ever."

  "Zane…"

  A loud whack sounded in the air and he jumped, putting himself in front of her so she was pressed against his back and the wall, blocking her from whatever sounded in the night.

  "How the hell is this happening?"

  She didn't know the voice but it made her shudder.

  Evil crawled over her skin.

  "I've already killed the two of you."

  Zane snarled. "Sebastian, you son of a bitch."

  Her stomach clenched. The demon. He was there. She pressed her head against Zane's back, hating that cowardice made her want to crawl away and hide. Sebastian destroyed the world she stood in. He was powerful, frightening, and had already killed her once. Or would, in any case.

  "How are you two here?"

  She didn't know. And she'd like to be anywhere else.

  "Just fucking lucky." Zane laughed as he spoke.

  She wished she could share his amusement. How wasn't he afraid?

  And would there ever come a time when she wasn't?

  Chapter Three

  Zane wasn't letting the demon anywhere near Raquel. She trembled behind him and it made him want to thrash and burn even more than usual. His woman was gentle, all fire aside, and she shouldn't have had to be born into this fight. Gentle souls had no place in their war. It was his job to protect her, his job to stop her from going bam and he'd be damned if he let Sebastian anywhere near what belonged to him.

  "I don't like surprises." The demon had shown the corporeal version of himself. He looked like a thirty-yearold man, dressed in a white seersucker suit with his hair slicked down. In actuality, he was a hell-born creature from another dimension Zane, along with his fellow Outsiders, had been fighting for lifetimes. As he'd been reminded inside, they didn't always win.

  Zane couldn't control everything. The actual outcome of the battle seemed to have already been decided, but he could—and would—keep Raquel safe.

  "If you've already killed us then why bother with us. Move on. We're already dead. No issue for you."

  He'd never faced the demon alone before. Touches of his evil surrounded Zane all the time and before Drew shifted time to save all of them, he'd been killed by Sebastian along with the rest of the Outsiders. Only he had no memory of it whatsoever. He was a warrior and he should have the ability to fight him somehow.

  "This feels like some kind of trick. Something the Fates should not be messing with. I won. Fair and square. This is my dimension to destroy as I see fit until I am done with it. You're dead. You need to stay dead."

  From behind him, Raquel pushed forward. What was she doing? He grabbed for her put she shoved his arm away.

  His soul mate shook as she spoke. "You know that's not true. The Fates can allow whatever they see fit as they always have done. The Ancestors dare you to defy what will be."

  Well, Zane wasn't really sure what he should say about that. She said the ancestors spoke to her and apparently in their present circumstances they had a lot to say. He'd rather they not tell her things that made her move out of his protective embrace.

  "Raquel. Behind me. Now."

  She stared up at him for a second before nodding and returning to where she had been. He wasn't misogynistic and he had no intention of locking her in a box—although he would if thought it would keep her safe—but unless she could burn Sebastian, who wasn't actually corporeal, then she had no offensive skills to help them right then.

  "Sebastian." Christophe's voice tore out into the night as he stormed forward from inside the house into the night around them. "You kill me, you son of a bitch. You end my life right now. I'm here." Christophe threw himself toward Sebastian. "End it. You take me, you asshole. You end my life."

  Zane grabbed his arm and yanked him backwards. He never would have imagined in a million years the Frenchman acting that way. He was intellectual and thoughtful, but also courageous and strong. Losing Ruby and so many others…it must have broken him. And, having Raquel for the brief day he had, he couldn't say he didn't understand the sentiment.

  He wouldn't want to go on forever without her. They were meant to go through life together, not alone.

  Sebastian laughed, throwing his head back in a large snicker. "I told you all before, I am going to kee
p you alive, let you live as long as I possibly can. Let you exist in a constant state of torment until your old, withered, pathetic selves finally give out from age. That could take hundreds of years. By the time I let you die, Christophe, you won't even remember what Ruby looks like. Kill yourself and you'll never see her again. You know how it works." "Enough." Zane shouted at the demon, sending his power through his voice. He didn't know if it would work but sometimes he could get people to do what he wanted by shoving some energy though his vocal chords. "Go away."

  Sebastian's eyes widened for a second before he blew out of the vicinity. Next to him, Christophe breathed heavily.

  "You okay?" Zane wasn't even sure what to say. It was an inane question—obviously the other man was anything but. Only it was one of those situations where there was really little to say.

  Christophe closed his eyes. "If I thought I could end up wherever she is, I would walk into the battle without my weapons and let the zombies eat me. I wouldn't even fight. Only she was so brave, I can't risk it. I can't let them send me somewhere else."

  "This is pretty bad, isn't it?" Zane whirled around at the sound of Kal's voice. But…that was impossible. He was dead. The other Outsider, one of the most powerful SOBs Zane could ever imagine, glistened in front of him, looking a phantom rather than the flesh and blood man Zane had seen only that morning.

  "Kal?"

  His friend shimmered forward. "I brought you here. This glimpse of the future is courtesy of me. And Gabriel.

  And Jason helped too. Don't tell Isabelle. Only you can see me and it'll hurt her tremendously to know I can't talk to her. It's the Fates. They have their rules."

  "What can I do to see to it this never happens?" Because if Zane had any say in it, the future he found himself in would never take place.

  "That's the million dollar question." Kal looked away. "There were a million small decisions which led to this. But the biggest was Leonardo and Alexa. Our leader is stubborn and where I was back then, I didn't feel I had the right to challenge him on his love life or lack thereof. Eventually, Alexa gave up. She let go and died. In no world should a power as strong as Alexa Lane give up hope. That's on all of us. But mostly on him. I don't know anyone who challenges Leonardo like you do. Or like you will do. He has to be made to see. This is where we are headed if we don't win the war. And Sebastian wasn't wrong. He can keep this dimension as long as he wants it. If he never gets bored, we don't have another battle. It's all over. We lose."