Ch. 115: Fire Calls to Fire

CHAPTER 115

Rachel~

I should have been more afraid when we leapt over rocks and scaled a cliff. But I was so confident in my mate’s abilities, it didn’t even occur to me. His fire cradled me and supported my torso when the movements went wild. We continued to run through forest after forest, and something in me could tell we were getting close. I didn’t have time to question it. His flames cradled my back as we jumped around. 

I saw the smoke and smelled it soon after, a small gasp escaping my throat as I thought about all those in danger at this moment. 

We sailed past a wolf. Large, but about half the size of mine, and soon we changed direction slightly. The area here was wooded but much clearer in certain areas, and without having to weave around obstacles, we gained momentum quickly. I could see a huge house, nearly a mansion, up ahead, and it seemed that we were going that way. 

To my right I could see booms of fire and lightning, hooded figures, and wolves. Dust and smoke and so much carnage. Bodies lying on the field, not moving. The movement of Jake’s continued run gave me something else to concentrate on, and I looked forward again. We pass the building and are nearing a battlefield. Something straight out of the final few Harry Potter films. Scorched earth. Blood. Weapons. Fur. A limb.

He skids to a full stop and turns his head to the left. We surge forward and his flames rise higher and higher, until I can no longer see anything but fire. It burns so bright in some places it turns white. His head bends down and then there’s some woman screaming for her life. He shakes us left and right, and I just know he’s got someone in his maw. He shakes her again and I think I make out this horrible crack. I stiffen. Something thumps heavily to the ground.

Thoughts surge. Can I really do this? Face this? Can I fight someone like this until I kill them? The most I did with Vance was bat him back. And with Sean I drained him of all power, but I didn’t - I mean I couldn’t…

I can make out figures between the flames but it’s hard to tell one thing from another. I do see the fire growing. Not on us, but outward. His flames hold me and I rest in them as they comfort me. To me, the fire doesn’t burn. It feels warm and - cozy - even. It comforts me and cradles me. A total juxtaposition to the scorched trees and grass I see must be startling to others.

We’re on the move again and Jake lets off a howl that shakes the earth. Trees rock back and forth. Several other wolves howl in the distance and we move forward again.




Jake~

I let Aamon take control. Somehow we both knew how to do this, and when Rachel climbed over our back, our flames adjusted to her perfectly.

‘Wow, we really are made for eachother,’ I link Aamon.

He just grunts like he knew all along that this was exactly what would happen. I doubt that is true, but he definitely is more dedicated to the Goddess than I have been. This all might just change that.

We bound across beaches and along the coastline. When it comes time to hit the forest I’m glad Rachel is so secured because some of the leaping we’re doing would’ve thrown off even the most experienced mechanical bull rider. Coming up over the rocks, we continue hitting the earth. We weave through trees and stones. Our body recognizes more and more, until we smell the smoke.

It hits me before I hear Rachel’s gasp, and when we hit the territory border I’m relieved to see a border wolf, Randall, still down here keeping an eye on the rest of our territory. I send him a quick message urging him to keep his stance there firm, and then send another message to my pack.

‘We’re here," I send. 

For anyone with questions, they’ll see soon enough.

‘Report! Where is the strongest attack?’ I ask my Beta.

I don’t hear anything for a moment before I get my response.

‘Just north of the packhouse, Alpha. They’re trying to destroy the packhouse,’ he sends back.

Our bunker for the kids and elderly is near there. Are they trying to get to them? Or to the building itself?

No matter what the reason, we head over in that direction.

I’m now on my third kill. This one I burn alive. The history geek in me wants to point out something, connect it with the famous Salem witch trials but there’s no time. I should feel some remorse. Somewhere in my mind I’m aware of that. But all I can feel is a deep need to eliminate the threat. And so I do.

‘Alpha, we are moving closer to your location,’ my furthest team leader updates me.

‘Good. Keep pushing,’ I send back.

We are slowly moving the threats together. Ally and Nick on one end, me and Rachel on the other. Something about having her with me has me supercharged in some way. Maybe it's the confidence I have that I can protect her. I know exactly where she is, I’m not preoccupied with her safety. She’s with me. Held by my flames. Which have oddly become like an extension of me. 

Rachel has been going through small cycles of fear and calm. It’s incredible how heightened her feelings are now that we’re together, making contact like this, it shouldn’t be this strong without completing the bond, but for some reason it is. I guess I should stop being surprised by how unique our situation is.

I am starting to make out what I think is Ally. There’s lights of all colors hitting walls of fire and it all flies in both directions. Our strategy is working. I checked in with my border team next, and while there was a stray witch who had tried attacking from another direction, my patrol wolves had already taken her down. She was likely a scout and not very powerful. 

Rachel readjusts and sits up, she waves back and forth. Like she’s trying to see something. I’m rushing forward to my next target when I feel something I can’t identify coming from her. I send a wall of flames towards this witch. She reacts quickly and tries to block me. Her nearest partner tries to throw a fireball at me and I laugh internally. Throwing fire at a giant wolf made of fire?

When it hits, I nearly come to a complete stop. I felt it coming at me. I knew the second it was going to hit. Something’s changed. I follow the feeling, realizing it’s what’s been coming from Rachel, some feeling about connections... I follow the same inkling far off by Ally and can feel the fire there too. I can sense everyone’s fire. I can point out exactly where it is and feel it being created in that moment.

So I pull. I pull on all of it like I’m reeling in a hundred fish on a hundred fishing poles. Up ahead I’m vaguely aware of the sky darkening, but I don’t change my focus. I keep pulling, until one by one, I’m hit by flames from far off places across the territory. Witches cry out. My wolves make advances.

Before I know it, we’ve cornered the enemy. They start disappearing into somewhere unseen. Into thin air. Some sort of portal? They rush to one area in particular.

I charge at a new target and send a blast of fire at her. She makes it through the portal, but I’m sure I’ve burned her badly. 

Reports come from all over. The Collective has retreated.