Out of the Ashes (22 page)

Nick interrupts us and tries to stab Logan.

“Logan!” I cry and Nick drops the knife. I reach for him and pull him into the fire with me until he’s nothing but ashes.

“Cara!” Logan shouts.

“I’m okay. I tried to tell you. I wanted to, but it was too dangerous. I wanted to protect you. I love you, Logan. Remember that. Even though I won’t remember you, remember that I love you
.”

“Cara, don’t leave me. Don’t forget.”

“I love you, Logan.”

The images are coming so fast it’s like my life is flashing before my eyes. My memories of Logan and what he means to me, what he’s meant to me from the very first time I saw him, from when the imprint began to when I lost him during my rebirth.

I remember it all.

Chapter

Thirty-One

Logan

Cara is on the ground unconscious. Kyle steps away from me and moves toward her.

“If this is some kind of trick, it’s a really stupid one,” he says, advancing on her.

“No!” I yell and start bashing my chair against everything in sight. If she’s really unconscious, he’ll kill her. My God, I can’t lose her again.

“I’ll kill you if you touch her!”

Kyle looks back at me. “So I guess all that stuff about you two being enemies now was nothing but bullshit, just like I said.”

Good, advance on me, you prick!

“That’s right. We played you. How does it feel?” I bang the chair against the counter and hear the wood splinter. Kyle hears it too because he rushes at me.

“You’re a dead man, Hunter or not!” He lunges at me with the dagger, but I twist and he gets nothing but the chair. He comes at me again.

If I don’t get free, Cara and I are both as good as dead. “Cara!” I scream. I have no idea what happened to her, why she fainted. It doesn’t make sense. No one touched her.

“All right listen, Kyle.” Will’s voice comes through the front door. Kyle turns toward him, so I bash my chair against the cabinets again, and this time I get free. The ropes loosen as the back of the chair falls apart, and I slip out of them.

Kyle rushes to Cara and holds the dagger above her chest. “Don’t move or I’ll kill her.” He’s breathing heavily and keeping his eyes on me.

“What did I miss?” Will asks.

“Just shut up!” Kyle yells. “Go grab him and hold him for me.”

Will walks toward me. “Sorry, man, but I don’t have anywhere else to go. Kyle may be an idiot, but he looks out for me.”

“You really think you can hold me?” I glare down at him, reminding him of the size difference between us. Now that I’m seeing him up close I realize he can’t be more than fourteen. He’s lanky, and his face is so childlike.

“You’ll stay where you are,” Kyle says, “or your girlfriend is going to become a pile of ashes, and I can guarantee she won’t rise from them.”

My eyes fall on Cara. I can’t do anything that will risk her life. He has the upper hand.

“What are you waiting for?” I ask him.

He smiles. “I’m not a pansy like a certain other Hunter I know. I like to see the look in a Phoenix’s eyes when I drive the dagger through their heart. I want to watch the life drain out of them and then play in their ashes.”

“You sick bastard.” I step toward him, but he lowers the dagger to Cara’s chest.

“Another step and I’ll drive this baby home.”

Will is standing there, as useless as can be. Exactly how I feel.

“What do you plan to do? Wait until she wakes up and then kill her? She could burn you to ashes before you even pull your arm back to attack.”

“I told you I’m not an idiot.” Kyle motions to Will. “Help me get her up. We need to move her someplace else so I can make sure she doesn’t use her firepower when she comes to.”

“Like where?” I ask. Maybe if I can keep him talking, Cara will wake up. And if Kyle is focused on me, she can attack him before he even realizes what’s happening.

Kyle ignores me. “Grab her legs, Will.”

“What about me?” I step toward them, and Kyle presses the dagger against Cara’s chest again.

“Not another step.”

“If you leave me here, you know I’ll get help. I’ll get every Phoenix in this town to hunt you down. How’s that for irony?”

“He’s got a point,” Will says.

Kyle grunts. “Why are you so useless?” He pushes Cara into Will’s arms. “Take her.”

Will staggers under Cara’s weight. “She’s heavy.”

“I’ll carry her,” I volunteer.

Kyle laughs. “Yeah, right. I know how that would go. You carry her and then you try to run off. As much as I’d enjoy stabbing you in the back when I caught you, I think I’ll stick to my plan.”

“Funny, because from where I’m standing it doesn’t look like you have a plan.”

“It really doesn’t,” Will says.

By this point, Cara’s feet are back on the ground and Will is basically holding her up instead of carrying her.

“I’ll get the girl and you stay on him,” Kyle tells Will. “Use your knife.”

Will nods. “Right. My knife.” He passes Cara to Kyle and takes a big butcher’s knife from a holder he’s wearing under his t-shirt. Even though he’s young and not a Hunter, holding that thing makes him intimidating. He walks over to me. “Don’t make me have to use this, okay?”

Kyle drapes Cara over his shoulder and heads to the back door. “Let’s go.” He motions for Will and me to go first. Obviously he knows I’ll attack him if I get the chance and he’s not willing to turn his back on me.

I keep glancing back, making sure Cara’s okay. Why won’t she wake up? Will leads us to a beat-up brown Civic parked in the cornfield behind Nick’s house.

“You two in the front. I’ll stay in the back with the bird-girl,” Kyle says.

Will gets in the driver’s seat, and he looks giddy.

“Do you even know how to drive?” I ask him.

“No, but how hard can it be? I’ve been begging Kyle to let me have the keys.” He starts the engine and jerks the car backward. “Oops. Wrong way. I’ve got it now.” He pulls onto the road and laughs. “I’m doing it!” He’s steering with one hand since he still has the knife pointed at me in the passenger seat.

“Turn left up here,” Kyle says.

I glance back at Cara, who has her head in Kyle’s lap. My stomach churns seeing her like this, but since Kyle’s a sadistic prick who wants her to be awake when he kills her we at least have a fighting chance.

“Right there,” Kyle says, pointing to the sign for the falls up ahead.

The sun is down now so the falls are empty.

Will pulls into a parking spot and turns the car off. “That was awesome.” He smiles at me as if I’m going to congratulate him. I’d like to drive my fist into his eye socket and rip that knife out of his hands so I can fight Kyle.

“Stay there until Will comes around to get you,” Kyle tells me.

“This would be so much easier if Deacon was here,” Will says, getting out of the car.

“No way am I letting Deacon get his hands on this one,” Kyle says, getting out with Cara.

Will opens my door. “You know he’s going to be pissed you got the girl. He’s wanted her for over a month now.”

“That’s
his
problem,” Kyle says.

“Until he finds you,” Will says. Kyle glares at him, and Will shrugs. “Just saying.”

“Move.” Kyle pushes me. “I want the girl in the water.”

“Why?” I ask.

“Because water limits a Phoenix’s abilities. It cools them off too much for their powers to be full force.”

I’ve seen Cara boil the water. Kyle wouldn’t be alive if he didn’t somehow escape that day before Cara got in the water. He must know she can still use her powers. Unless he thinks that he’ll be able to kill her before she gets to.

Kyle motions to the stairs. “Up there. I want to make sure we’re hidden behind the falls on that ledge.”

Will takes me up there and shoves me across the ledge. Water is spraying all over, soaking me. This is supposed to be Cara’s and my spot. We met here. We had sex here. Now these two are ruining those memories.

Kyle tries to position Cara against the rocks behind us, but it’s slippery and she keeps sliding. Will tries to help him, and I realize no one is watching me. I grab Will and toss him through the falls and over the ledge. Kyle whips his head toward me and slashes at me with the dagger. Cara’s body slumps forward. I duck Kyle’s jabs and grab Cara’s arm. Then I send us both over the ledge and into the water below.

As we’re hurtling through the air, I tighten my grip on Cara’s arm. I’m not going to lose her when we hit the water. I just hope neither of us collides with the underwater ledge. We splash into the water below, and I kick my legs, trying to swim Cara away from the falls and over to the lagoon. I have no idea if Kyle jumped in after us or if he ran down the stairs to wait for us to surface, but getting to the lagoon seems like the best option for putting distance between us.

I’m afraid to keep Cara under the water too long since she’s unconscious, so I push her to the surface. Once I’m above the water I look around and see Will floating face down. It’s hard to see in the increasing darkness, but I’m willing to bet his head found the underwater ledge.

I can’t find Kyle, so I pull Cara toward the edge of the lagoon. I prop her up on top of it and then pull myself up and over. The koi are swimming around my legs, bumping into me playfully. I focus on getting Cara back into the water with me. I pull her into my arms and brush the wet strands of hair from her face.

“Come on, Cara. Wake up. Please.” I press my lips to hers, which are cold. Not a good sign for a Phoenix who is usually way above the normal body temperature for a human. “Please. I love you, Cara. Come back to me. I love you.” I press my lips to hers again. This time they feel warmer. I pull back and look at her face.

Her eyelids flutter open. “I love you too.”

“What?” I’m in shock and completely elated at the same time. “You’re okay.” I cup her cheek in my hand. “Oh thank God!”

“Logan…”

“We have to get out of here. I think Will is dead, and I don’t know where Kyle is. He brought you here to keep your powers suppressed so he could kill you, and—”

She presses her finger to my lips, and her warmth rushes through me. She feels like herself again. “I remember.”

“Right, so you know we need to get out of here.”

The koi are swarming around us now.

“No, I mean I remember you. Us. Everything. It all came back.” She smiles at me. “I love you, Logan.”

My heart feels like it stopped beating. Cara’s memories have returned. “How?”

“I think when Kyle tried to slit your throat the imprint just kicked in. The memories came rushing back, and it was so much at once that I passed out.”

Oh my God, she’s really back. My Cara is back. I pull her toward me, squeezing her tight. “I love you so much.” Before I can kiss her and show her how much I love her, something rams into me from behind. Something way too big to be a koi fish. I pull away from Cara and search the water.

“What’s wrong?” she asks, and then she’s pulled under the surface.

“Cara!” I scream. I dive down after her, but the koi are filling the water, making it impossible to see. I swat them aside, and then I see her. Kyle has his arm wrapped around her waist. She’s fighting him, and he can’t get a clear shot at her chest with the dagger. He swats at a few koi and then kicks for the surface, bringing Cara with him.

I grab his arm and try to pry the dagger from his fingers, but he shakes me off and lands a punch to the side of my head as I surface. I’m seeing stars.

“It’s over,” Kyle says. “You lose.”

Chapter

Thirty-Two

Cara

I pull away from Kyle and raise my hand, but I’m too wet to create a fireball. And since Logan’s in the water, I can’t boil the lagoon either. Unless I can get Logan out of here, we’re completely screwed. Kyle smiles at me, knowing he’s won. He’s armed and thanks to the water, I’m not.

“How did you get in here?” Logan asks. “I would’ve seen you climb over the edge of the lagoon.”

It’s a good question. Hunters are humans. They don’t have powers, so how did he pull it off?

“Actually, I owe
her
for that.” Kyle looks at me.

“What are you talking about?” I ask.

“Last time we were all here together I discovered something about the edge of the lagoon.” He pats it and smiles. “Apparently these koi like to play, and they wanted a bigger pool.”

“What are you babbling about?” Logan asks. “Get on with it.”

“So impatient.” Kyle laughs. “There’s a hole in this wall. One just big enough for a person, or a school of koi, to slip through.”

That’s how he got out that day before I boiled the water. He swam under the edge of the lagoon. My powers didn’t reach this far or else Kyle and all the koi would’ve been killed. I have to get Logan out of here and finish what I started that day. I meet Logan’s gaze.

Please let this imprint be strong enough to allow him to read my thoughts.

I nod slightly toward the ledge. If he swims through it, I can boil Kyle in this lagoon, and hopefully I won’t be able to heat up the rest of the falls before Logan gets to shore. It’s risky, but it’s the only plan I have.

Logan cocks his head at me, not understanding.

Damn it!

“Time to end this, Phoenix.” Kyle moves toward me, but Logan reaches for me at the same time, blocking me. He and Kyle wrestle for the dagger.

I grab Kyle and let my hands heat up. I can’t create fire, but I can still burn him with my touch. Kyle cries out and backs off.

“Go, Logan!” I motion toward the ledge again. “Play with the koi!” It’s the only way I can think of to hint at my plan without coming out and saying it.

Logan’s eyes widen, and then he shakes his head.

“Go!” I insist, and I hold my hands out in the water so he can see what I’m about to do.

I can tell he doesn’t want to leave me, but he ducks under the water and then he’s gone. I slowly raise my body temperature and the water around me ripples.

Kyle laughs. “You can’t create fire underwater, Cara. Didn’t your mother teach you anything?” He moves closer to me, and I pray that Logan is far enough away as I start to make the water simmer. I’m so close to a boil, but I hear splashing. Logan’s not out.

Kyle finally figures out what I’m doing, and he comes at me with the dagger.

“Cara!” Logan’s splashing so frantically and it sounds like he’s getting closer instead of going toward the shore.

I back off the heat and block Kyle’s attack. He’s strong, and even with both of my hands on his arms, he still manages to bring the dagger closer to my chest. I try to burn him again, and while I can see that I’m hurting him, he doesn’t pull away. He yells and pushes the dagger down harder. The tip pierces my skin, and I cry out.

Then Kyle’s head snaps to the side as Logan’s foot connects with it. Logan is standing on the edge of the lagoon, out of the water.

“Don’t move,” I tell Logan, and I immediately start to boil the water.

Kyle makes one last staggering attempt to stab me. I grab his wrist with one hand and burn it while boiling the water with my other. So much steam rises up out of the lagoon it’s hard to see. Even though Kyle’s screams are agonizing, I don’t stop. And then his hand goes limp and the dagger falls into the water.

I let go of Kyle and snatch up the dagger before it can sink. Kyle’s body is floating on top of the water. I’m sure he’s dead.

Logan starts to step into the water, but I hold my hand up. “Don’t! It’s still boiling.”

He looks around at the water. It’s not bubbling like crazy anymore, but all the koi are belly up. I killed every single one of them. “Take my hand,” Logan says. “Let’s get you out of there.”

I reach for the cut on my chest and heal it, feeling dizzy from the effects of the dagger.

“Are you okay?” Logan asks.

I nod. I’ll be fine. “We have to burn the bodies or Garret will have a hell of a time covering this up.” Two dead bodies and a lagoon full of fried koi will be too hard to explain.

“You can’t create fire in the water.”

“We’ll have to bring the bodies to shore. I’ll destroy them there.”

I push Kyle’s limp form to the edge of the lagoon. Logan pulls him up and over into the water on the other side.

“I think you can come in now, Logan. It’s hot, but it won’t burn you.” It takes a lot of constant heat to keep this amount of water at a boil. It cools quickly, especially with the cool breeze in the air tonight.

Logan lowers himself into the water and pulls Kyle to shore. I grab Will and drag his body to shore as well. Before I can dry off or set either on fire, Logan wraps his arms around me. I let myself cry into his chest. All those days of not remembering him or what we have are gone. The imprint gave it all back to me. He pulls back just far enough to look into my eyes. “Remember when I told you the happiest moment of my life was when you rose from your ashes in the chem lab after your rebirth?”

I nod and tears spill down my cheeks.

“Well this is a close second.” He presses his lips to mine. His kiss is like air, and I drink it into my starved lungs. Part of me was missing when I came out of the ashes that day, and now I have it back. I have Logan.

We have to dispose of the bodies before morning, so I let go of Logan and dry my hands on the grass. I create two fireballs and kneel next to Kyle and Will. Up close, I can see both bodies are severely burned. Kyle is missing chunks of skin, and Will’s skin is red and blistered. It’s awful to think I did that.

I start with Kyle’s body, igniting it. I want him gone, forgotten. But Will…he wasn’t even a Hunter. He was a lost kid who didn’t have anyone left in the world but the Hunter who killed his brother. I wish he didn’t have to die. I wish he could’ve changed and forgotten about Hunters and Phoenixes and grown up to be something one day.

“I’m sorry things had to end this way for you,” I say before letting the fire consume Will’s body.

Logan gently pulls me away. “He had a part in this, Cara. He helped Kyle hurt you. He helped that guy Deacon kill that girl at the police station. I know he was a kid, but he wasn’t innocent.”

“I know, but his death is on my head.”

Logan takes me by my shoulders. “No. He chose to follow Kyle, and
I’m
the one who pushed him off that ledge. He was dead long before you boiled the water.”

I shake my head because I don’t want to think about Logan and me both becoming killers. That’s exactly what this war has done to us.

“I hate this,” I say.

Logan pulls me back on the grass and we sit side by side, watching the fire consume the bodies.

“Remember the bonfire at Nick’s?” I ask him.

He smiles at me. “You have no idea how happy it makes me that
you
remember it.”

I know what he means. Having my memories back makes all of this worth it. “I caused the fire to explode and then I tried to stop it by putting my hands in the flames.”

“I know.”

“Why are you so okay with what I am?”

“When I went back to New York, all I could think about was you. You could be a six-foot hairy troll and I’d still think you were the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” He shrugs. “I know you think the imprint is what’s doing all this, but look at what happened to you. After you were reborn, the imprint wasn’t there.”

“I think it was. I think it was just buried in my subconscious.”

“Maybe, but the thing that brought you back to me, that brought your memories back, that was love, Cara.” He brushes the hair out of my face. “That’s what I was missing from my life after my mom died, and you’re the one who gave it back to me.”

“Which is why you never gave up on us, why you came back for me.” My eyes water again at the realization. Logan and I need each other. Not because of the imprint, but because we love each other in a way that can’t be explained. What we have is stronger than the stuff they write about in romance novels. It’s stronger than the dagger that can stop my heart for good.

I’m still holding it in my hand, and I know I have to give it away. I have to give it to Logan.

“Here,” I say, holding it out to him.

“No.” He shakes his head. “I don’t want to ever touch that thing again.”

“You have to.” I turn toward him and study his face in the dying embers of Kyle’s and Will’s cremations. “You accept me for who and what I am. I have to do the same for you.”

“Cara, you’ve seen what that thing does to me. I can’t control myself when I’m holding it.”

“Really? Then why didn’t you kill me at your house or at mine when you had the chance to? The dagger is strong, Logan, but we’re stronger.”

He swallows hard and throws his head back. “If I hurt you…”

“I know we go against everything in nature, but…I’m half bird, Logan. I go against nature all by myself.”

“You’re putting too much faith in me. I trust myself around you when I’m not under the influence of the dagger, and that’s how it has to stay. I won’t risk your life to try to prove I’m worthy of being with you. I can’t.” He stands up and walks away.

I look at what’s left of Kyle and Will. They’re nothing but ashes and a few embers that haven’t burned out yet. I kick some dirt on top of them and follow Logan, who is leaning against a Civic, which I’m guessing Kyle and Will used to drive us here.

I walk up to him and press my body against his. He closes his eyes, and I know being this close is affecting him.

“You once told me that you can’t lose the first person you ever loved,” I say. “Well, I can’t either. If you can’t do this, my mom will never allow us to be together. You know that.”

He sighs and looks me in the eyes. “I’ll promise never to touch the dagger again.”

“That won’t be good enough. You’ll have to prove yourself to her and the others. Words won’t cut it.”

“Then we need a new plan. We’ll find a way to destroy the dagger so it’s not even an issue.” He tries to push me away, but I hold the dagger between us. “What are you doing? Get that thing away from me.”

“No. Look at me, Logan.” I take my hand and bring his face to mine. “How can you have all those memories of us and have any doubt in your mind about this? You’d never hurt me. How many times have you told me that? I believe you, so please believe yourself.” I step back and take his hand in mine.

His eyes widen as I place the dagger in his palm. He stares at it, and his hand shakes. “It wants me to use it.”

“On me?”

His head slowly rises. “No.”

“On my family and friends?”

“No. I know what they mean to you. I couldn’t hurt them.”

“Then who?” Back at his house, Logan had said killing a Phoenix and stealing their essence would let us be together because he could live as long as I will. Does he still want that? “Garret, maybe? Do you want his essence so we can be together until I die?”

He wraps his fingers around the dagger, and for a moment I wonder if I’ve made a mistake bringing that up. He might love me enough to want that. Instead he hands the dagger back to me.

“I know who I’m supposed to use the dagger on.”

“Who?” My voice trembles.

“Other Hunters. I’m supposed to hunt Hunters.” He says it with such conviction.

“How do you know?”

“I think I knew when I sent Will over that ledge, and when I wanted nothing more than to drive the dagger through Kyle’s chest.” He nods. “I’m a Hunter, but I don’t hunt Phoenixes.”

I wrap my arms around him and press my lips to his. He is my protector after all. My fingers weave through his hair, and he grabs my waist, pulling me closer. My heart races because as happy as I am in this moment, I know I’m going to have to convince the others that Logan is something we’ve never come across before and that he’s on our side. It won’t be easy, but I know in my heart that it’s true.

I’m a Phoenix, and Logan is a Hunter—a very different kind of Hunter. And together, we just might be able to end this war for good.