Smolder Chapter 27

"Benjamin!" She said while struggling to break free of his hold. "I'm not leaving without answers."

"But," he started, and she cut him off.

"No!" She shouted, tired of all of this. They might have been doing this mortal enemy thing longer than her, but they weren't the only ones who could make plans. They weren't the only ones who had a say in what happened. She forced herself out of his hold and stepped closer to Skye. "Tell me who is here and what you know about who has my mother."

"Or what?" she challenged back while looking down her nose at Jade with a superior expression.

And with that, Jade broke. All of the stress she had been carrying for the past few weeks released like a floodgate: Aiden for trying to kiss her and awakening those feelings inside of her, her grandfather for not welcoming her with open arms, Benjamin for picking the wrong time to be a hero, Skye for being herself, and the historians for writing down truths about herself she didn't want to hear.

Her rage flew out in the form of flames, blasting Skye's skin. She laughed at the slight pain.

"I told you before, I'm immune," she smiled, but she couldn't move from the corner Jade's Hierophant powers had pressed her into.

And Jade? She ignored Skye. Her powers pushed her beyond words. But, she sensed a difference this time. She was focused and controlled; she wasn't mad. She knew exactly what she was doing and for the first time, she was perfectly content with her desire to kill. Skye had to die and if it took all of her strength, she would find a way to make it happen.

She pushed out her Vindicator fire, feeling for the walls around Skye that kept her protected. Every vein in her body was covered in an invisible shell, some magic Jade couldn't break through. She felt Skye's body with her powers, searching for a weakness, but there wasn't one. She encased her heart in flames, trying to dry it out, but nothing would stick. The fire rolled around her. It slipped past her, unable to find anything to hold on to.

Skye still sat crumbled in the corner grinning at Jade's failed attempts. But she didn't realize that Jade was reaching that point where she started to shut her powers off out of fear that she would never return to herself. Jade wasn't afraid this time.

Two images flashed through her mind, one of Benjamin bloodied and broken being forced to swallow her blood, and a second of Aiden ashen and lying immobile on the ground. Like a broken film reel, the two images flashed in her mind, one to the other back and forth until she couldn't tell what she was seeing. She could only remember the excruciating pain of her heart ripping from her chest at each moment.

She funneled the pain into her flames and rode on her emotions, no longer searching for weakness and instead throwing everything she had into her power. She was too focused on killing Skye to feel the walls around her powers come down. All she felt was the extra burst of energy, the new scars burning into her palms as power forced its way out.

Distantly in her mind, she heard Aiden call her name, but she shut him out. He wasn't going to stop her this time. She didn't need saving. She wasn't falling into madness she was walking there willingly.

And that's when Skye stopped laughing.

They both felt it: the immunity waned. The invisible wall wobbled against Jade's flames. The heat warped whatever magic was there and melted it away. And then, a crack formed in the shell encasing Skye's heart.

"Stop! I'll tell you everything," she cried, trying to stand, but unable to move even a muscle. "Jade! It's Myron. He has your mother. He's here. You can go find him." She screamed with tears forming in her eyes. "He's had her for years. I saw her with him nine years ago. She's alive!"

But it was too late. Jade was beyond stopping and her flames unrelentingly continued.

"She's with Myron!" she yelled and those were her last words because the wall shattered like glass, and Jade's fire greedily swallowed her.

When it was done, Jade's mind snapped back into focus. She had accomplished her goal, and it was time to stop. Forcefully, she shut her powers off and pulled all the flames back into her body. When the black spots receded and she regained her vision, she noticed scorch marks traveled up the walls and across the ceiling. The curtains were torn apart. Giant holes, black around the edges, spotted the fabric. A pile of dust sat in the corner, a mix of Skye's ashes and burnt paper.

She swallowed. She had done it. She had broken through. She had killed Skye, but at what price? Her fire had touched more than the demon, it had burned more than her skin. Jade had willingly stepped right into the destiny she never wanted.

She stumbled back, off balance, that the ancient Seraphina had been right. She was dangerous. The thought pierced her like an arrow sinking deep into her chest and she spun around, needing Benjamin or Aiden to say something to make her feel like this darkness suddenly sprouting inside her, wrapping around her like a vine and suffocating her, would go away.

But there was no solace in the scene behind her. When she looked up for comfort, both jumped away in fear.

Fear of me? She thought, confused. She looked down at her hands, expecting to see starbursts on her palms, but instead, there were burns up to her wrists. And not just redness but raised boils on her hand. Strange that it didn't hurt, she thought. Still, she lightly touched her healing powers and watched as the burns faded to a dull pink and disappeared altogether. She twisted her hands, stretching sore muscles.

Again, she looked up at them. They cringed with wide eyes. "What?" she tried to say. It came out as less than a whisper. Her throat ached from the effort. "What?" She said more forcefully, slowly pulling her body back together. She used her strength to force the black doubts clouding her mind away.

"Your eyes, Jade," Aiden said, walking towards her.

"They're red," Benjamin finished the thought.

"What?" She asked, still groggy and confused, not yet fully recovered from using her powers. Had she heard them wrong?

Benjamin reached her first and put his hands on her cheeks.

"Your eyes are red," he said while staring into them, searching for something. Searching for me, she realized. But he recovered from the shock and still gazed at her with love sparkling in his eyes. It helped ground her, helped pull her mind back to reality.

"How is that possible?" she said, feeling more like herself with each passing second.

"I don't know." he dropped her face, letting her look behind him at her best friend.

But Aiden wouldn't come any closer. Tears welled in her eyes, and she reached her hand out to him. She couldn't stand the look on his face; it regarded her as a stranger.

"Aiden?" she asked, her voice cracking. They looked at one another in a standoff: He finally realized she was sometimes beyond his saving, and she finally realized what it felt like to lose his love, even if only for an instant.

Like they always do, the moment passed. He stepped over, offering her a hug, stiff but still a hug. She returned it, holding him tight against her body.

"Just don't turn into a dragon on me, okay?" He whispered into her hair. She laughed into his shoulder. Everything was going to be fine.

And then the door behind them burst open.

They turned around instantly.

Two demons stood in the massive wooden doorway. Jade recognized Theron from the other day in the park. His crooked nose gave him away, but the other was a mystery. His dark red hair was slicked back. His eyes were such a dark grey that they seemed like a thunderstorm. He was tall and thin, making the shorter Theron look stocky, and each man wore elegant tuxedos. But while Theron searched the room, his eyes darting in circles, the other man looked only at Jade.

Benjamin jumped in front of her, blocking her view of everything but the curve of his back, and he held her there with his arm.

"Myron," he sneered.

"My dear Benjamin," he said warmly, "it's been far too long."

"Where's Skye?" Theron interrupted in a deep voice.

"If you mean the pile of ash formerly known as Skye, she's in the corner," Aiden said, moving to stand next to Benjamin, blocking Jade completely.

"Pity," Myron said, but Jade heard no remorse in the words.

"How is that possible?" Theron asked with a quiver in his voice, "I gave her the blood myself."

Jade put a hand on either boy. She pushed them to the side as if they were curtains. Feeding off the dramatic effect, she said, "I killed her, and I will kill you both if you don't tell me where my mother is."

Myron stepped forward and walked up to her, who held Benjamin and Aiden at bay. He cupped her chin, tilting her head back so he could look at her eyes.

"Marvelous," he said with a grin as if he had been expecting them to be red.

"My mother?" she asked.

"Safe and sound," he said.

"I seriously doubt that," she slapped his hand from her chin.

"I'm not keeping her prisoner, Jade."

"You're lying," she said. She couldn't help it, the obstinate words popped out unwittingly. She wouldn't believe his lies, even if something in his voice sounded strangely sincere.

"Spoken like the child you aren't," he chided her.

Before Jade could think of a snappy retort, another demon suddenly appeared next to Myron, jerking him away from Jade. She recognized the blonde in the red high heels, the first demon she saw enter the party.

"We have to leave," the woman said urgently while yanking him away. Myron pushed her aside, throwing her against the books on the wall. Theron just watched it happen, uncaring.

"You step above yourself, Alyssa. You may have finally landed an invitation to the red rose ball, but you do not order me around."

"I'm sorry," she said, bowing her head. "It's just that—"

And then the windows shattered, throwing glass everywhere. Flames rolled past Jade and Aiden, smacking into all four demons and sending them flying.