The Unforgiven (12 page)

Turn around. Turn around, child.
Finally, the young woman stood up and turned so that Flame got a good look at her daughter.
Phoebe! Phoebe is my daughter!
Tears ran freely down her cheeks now. But as before, she was not able to linger on one thought or vision very long.

What she saw next was a blur of events including her marriage, the abuse, and everything that followed. She struggled against the hate and surmised that she must be drawing close to the other side since she could feel all these emotions. Suddenly, Flame fell from the fiery hold and dropped to the ground. She felt sapped of strength, a feeling not familiar to her. Lying on the grass, she gasped for breath, barely able to move. Her journey through the wall had been the most draining experience of her life.

“Drink this, child,” a gentle voice spoke from the mist. Delicately cupped hands offered her water.

Placing her hands over those that held the water, Flame drank. The water tasted sweet and soothed her irritated throat. The woman dipped her hands into a sparkling pool and fed Flame water until her thirst was quenched. She’d never felt such love and tenderness from a person, not even Von. This individual was pure of heart and possessed an amazing spirit.

“Your strength will return momentarily. Be patient, brave one.”

Flame clung to the woman’s hands and closed her eyes, basking in the most incredible peace. As her vision cleared, her energy returned and her body began to feel normal.

“That was a gutsy move to risk your life and come through the wall on faith. You must love that man with all your heart,” the woman said with a hint of irony in her voice.

Flame finally gained the strength to look up. “Mother?” She gazed into eyes like rain.

“Yes.” She helped Flame to her feet. “You survived the transition, my daughter. I couldn’t be more proud of you.”

Flame fell into her arms and wept tears of joy. “Where am I?”

“We call this place
Ciel
, which in the English language translates to
Heaven
. This is where freed souls come together. And since we are free, we can reach out to any realm or any soul with enough faith to receive us.”

“You are not bound by the Supreme Lioness, here?”

“No, Flame Tahira Rennie, she rules her own realm. Everything in
Ciel
is based on love.” She paused with open adoration shining in her blue eyes. “I have longed for the day to speak your birth name.” She reached out and petted Flame’s hair. “Look how stunning you are. You were the prettiest baby any woman ever birthed.”

Flame smiled. Hearing her birth mother call her by name filled her heart with joy. Yet she sensed this visit would be brief.

“How much time do we have together? How long may I stay?”

“You cannot stay very long. I came to greet you. Now that we have made contact, we will see each other again. You are immortal now, my beautiful and brave daughter. When you reach out to me from the other worlds, we will be able to hear each other.”

“I can’t believe you’re here. You were this big empty space my entire life.”

“I’m so sorry, Flame. I did not expect the Lioness to kill me.”

“What?” Her eyes shot open wide. “I thought Twilight took your life.”

She shook her head slowly. “Twilight rarely kills women. Didn’t Von tell you?”

“A long time ago, I did hear something along those lines. I can’t believe the Lioness would take your life. Why? Why did she do this?”

“Because I fell in love with the Satellite and almost had him swayed to our side. Make no mistake…the Lioness does not want us to fall in love. She deems it a weakness when in fact, it’s our greatest strength.” Tahira gave her a knowing look. “I have a feeling you’ve already developed your own doubts about the sisterhood.” She laid a hand over Flame’s stomach. “You were very wise and strong to hide her from the Lioness.”

She gasped in surprise. “You know?”

“She is my blood, of course I know. I can feel her.”

Flame felt tears trail over her cheeks, overwhelmed by this unexpected reunion. Her mother was everything she’d hoped she’d be. “I’m sorry for killing Cooper. I didn’t know—”

“You did us a favor, darling.” Cooper stepped into the clearing.

Flame staggered backward in shock. He did not remotely resemble the man she’d daggered. This man was actually quite handsome.

“You don’t hate me?” She could barely speak.

“I could never hate the one tough enough to free me from the evil realm. I did things that should’ve landed me in hell. I am the one who should be apologizing to you for making you suffer. I had no control over my actions. When your mother died, I was consumed with grief, then rage, then hatred. Twilight feeds on such emotions to seize a tight hold and compel souls. The more powerful the hate, the more control Twilight has over their tool.”

“You killed Von
and
Raef—how did you end up here?”

“Love is stronger than all other emotions. Your mother’s love saved me. I wanted out, and your fiery daggers led the way. Don’t give up on love, Flame.”

“Why did you lie and tell me that Twilight killed her?”

“My mind was not my own. Everything I ever told you is what Twilight wanted you to hear. Von, on the other hand, chose to feel love and let go of the hate. You pulled him over in time to save him.”

“But if you hadn’t killed Raef, I’d be with him instead of Von.” She looked to her mother. “Which one am I meant to be with? I can’t see Von. Is he really dead?”

Tahira didn’t answer but a smile touched her lips. “You must return to the other side, now, my child,” she said with open arms. “The wall will soon close forever, as the prodigy has fulfilled her destiny.”

Flame went to her again, taking comfort in the loving arms that welcomed her. She didn’t want to leave this place, but knew that this did not complete her. If Von was not here, then she had to keep searching for him.

“You are born of both worlds and carry the power of both worlds.” Tahira took both of Flame’s hands in hers, staring with wonderfully expressive eyes. “Use that power to take back your freedom and free your loved ones. Your second daughter will also be born with rare gifts.”

“You know of Phoebe?”

“Yes. The Lioness and Naami do not want her to know of her true heritage. They don’t want Phoebe to discover the gifts she has inherited from you, just as they don’t want you to understand how much power flows in your soul. You and Von have channeled each other’s gifts. This was most unexpected. Those two women will want to take you down.”

“Another tool to control…they will use my daughter against me if I rebel.”

“You have already found your wisdom. Guard your thoughts, your heart and don’t let hate or bitterness take root in your soul.”

“What about anger? I have a feeling rage is coming my way.”

“Channel it wisely. Remember, you are more powerful than both realms as long as you don’t become bitter.”

“Thank you, Mother.” She paused thoughtfully. “It feels so good to say
mother
. You have no idea.”

“Oh, I think I do.” Tahira gave her a warm smile. “You’re immortal now, my precious child. I am thrilled that we met and that you used your faith to prevail. Now hurry, before the fire becomes too weak to pull you through.”

“I love you.” Flame hugged her again, holding her tightly.

“Ah, Flame, I love you so much. We will meet again.” She kissed her cheek.

They eased apart, gazing at one another. Flame backed toward the wall of fire as her mother began to fade into the shimmering mist of
Ciel
.

“Farewell, Mother, until we meet again.” Flame raised her left hand and waved gently.

Tahira waved in return. “Carry on, my child, carry on.”

Flame merged back through the wall much quicker and easier than her first trip. Her boots splashed in the water before she tumbled into the pool. The cool water felt wonderful on her heated body. She rolled onto her back and floated while catching her breath, gazing up in wonder at a golden moon.

“Flame, are you okay?” Raef ran into the water. “You had me out of my mind with worry, girl. You were gone a long time.”

She looked up at him and smiled. “I’m fine. I met my mother. She said I survived the transition. I did it, Raef. I’m immortal!”

“Thank God.” He plopped down with a sigh of relief. “There must have been enough of Von’s blood left in your system to save you.”

“Or,” she said with a slight grin. “Maybe our blood-bond is still intact.”

Raef furrowed one brow. “That would mean—”

“Von is alive.” She finished his sentence.

“Did you see him?”

“No.” She sighed with a frown.

“Don’t you think you’d have seen him since you are immortal now, too?”

“Stop!” She dragged her soggy body from the pool. “I haven’t given up. We need to get off this island.” Placing two fingers to her mouth, she let out a whistle. Paloma galloped toward her from seemingly out of nowhere. Flame swung herself astride with an easy hop. “There’s only one way out of here, you coming?”

“I haven’t given up either.” He settled in behind her.

She couldn’t withhold a smirk and allowed him to slide those long arms around her waist. “Let’s go, Paloma, back to your home.”

Flame guided Paloma to the wall of trees that led to Celestial Village. Odyssey pranced up to them, snorting and tossing his head.

“Hiya, boy.” She stroked his long white mane and placed a quick kiss on his soft muzzle. “Here’s your mama, back home safe and sound. Take her back to the herd for me.” After feeding him sugar cubes, she ran a hand down his back and gave him a pat. “Go on, now.”

He nuzzled Paloma’s neck. They nickered at each other, then vanished within the thick trees that had grown together and formed a tight seal. Flame let out a deep breath, relieved that her horses were safely home.

“Aren’t you going in to meet with the council? They will want to know about your journey.” Raef stared at her curiously.

Flame whipped her daggers from their sheaths at lightning speed. Pressing the tip of one to Raef’s throat, she scowled. “They will know nothing until I’m ready to tell them. Someone showed you the way to Nekkar and I have a pretty good idea of who it was. You will take me there…now.”

His eyes widened in open trepidation yet he didn’t flinch. “And if I refuse?”

“Then we will find out right here which of us has more power.” Her voice left no room for compromise. She had one mission on her mind and only one, finding Von and raining hell on Nekkar. Energy in her body raced like fire in her veins. “Are you in the mood to challenge me?”

“No, I’m not a fool.” His gaze held hers. “I’ll take you back on one condition…if you don’t find Von, then you give
us
a second chance.”

She lowered the blade. “We have a deal.”

A slight grin touched his face. “You know how it works. Better secure those daggers and hold on tight, angel.”

His edgier demeanor definitely enhanced his appeal. He no longer seemed like the spoiled rock star living in luxury. He was harder, sexier, and more alluring as the immortal Raef. She didn’t mind snuggling up to him for their wicked trip through darkness. He stared down at her once she’d curled her arms around his neck. His musky scent wafted over her. Taking her face between both hands, he stunned her with a sizzling kiss. When he eased back, she gasped for breath.

“Was that necessary?”

“No,” he said with a mischievous grin. “But it was fun.”

He wrapped her in a strong embrace. She laid her head against his bare chest where the denim vest lay open, then closed her eyes. In the next moment, they were soaring through the mystical void between worlds. The peculiar sensation never ceased to amaze her. That they could travel from realm to realm, using the power of their minds, simply blew her away.

Raef had surely changed, but her heart cried out to Von. Nobody seemed to know of his whereabouts. Even her mother dodged the question. She hoped with all her heart that her mother’s evasive response didn’t mean the worst. Flame wanted her unborn child to know its real father, to grow up loving him and feeling his love in return—something she’d never had.

The stench of burning sulfur indicated that Nekkar was nearby. Raef set her down in a swampy area crammed with tall weeds. She peered through the murky darkness, trying to get a handle on their location. Looking up, she saw the volcanic mound looming over them.

“Did you have to land us right here?” she asked in a whisper.

“Sorry. I’ve only been here once.” He glanced around. “Now what?”

“I’m going hunting.” She sniffed the air until catching a whiff of salt water. “This way.” She stalked off toward what she hoped would be the ocean and the living quarters of Twilight’s evil leader. “Hatch is going down.”

They waded through muck and tall reeds until finally gaining footing on solid ground. Flame kept the lead, following her instincts as they quickly moved along. About a half-hour later, they came to a small row of coastal homes built on stilts. She wondered which abode belonged to Hatch, if any.
Maybe he lives in a more private dwelling.
She didn’t have to speculate very long.

“You’re getting easier to predict,” Hatch said from behind.

Flame swung around. “You weren’t so hard to find. I just followed the stench.”

Hatch rolled his eyes. “I was going to set out looking for you. I thought to myself,
where would she go?
Where would a warrior on a rare horse take off to?” He let out an evil laugh. “Then I realized, you aren’t just a warrior now, you’re a woman in love. And that makes it a hell of lot easier to predict your next move. Love, Flame? From you?” He shook his head, making a
tsk
tsk
sound. “What would your high ruler say if she knew that her most esteemed…
fool
…has fallen in love? And with my Satellite, of all people. You really know how to scrape the bottom of the barrel.”

“You should know. I picked you once, remember?”

His eyes narrowed and glimmered with angst. “What about pretty boy, here? Has he sunken to a new low, that he’d beg for my Satellite’s leftovers?”

Flame ignored his taunt and drew her daggers. “I’m sick of you.”

“You can’t kill me.” He laughed in her face. “I’m immortal.”

“And so am I.” She raised the blades overhead, crossing the shafts. “I carry the power of both worlds. Prepare to die.”

A mix of fear and arrogance filled his eyes. He tilted his head in open fascination. “It’s not that easy, babe.” In a blink, he was gone.

“Damn that cocky son-of-a-bitch,” she muttered. “Fine…have it your way,” she called out into the thickening blackness. “I will force you out of your hole.”

She thought about how Von had absorbed the power of fire from the flaming daggers driven into his chest, and about the Lioness’s words.
You are water and he is pure fire. The two can never be.
“Oh, but they can,” she told herself. “Fire and water can create one hell of a storm.”

With closed eyes, she bowed her head and kept the daggers pointed upward. Drawing from deep inside, she focused on the elements around her. Water from the ocean, fire from the burning pit and the raging energy in her soul, everything she needed to bring this hellish prison to its knees. Seconds later, lightning streaked across the sky, then veined its fiery fingers downward, incinerating everything in its path. Rain turned to hail, pelting the ground as balls of fire.

“Holy shit, angel,” Raef’s voice filtered into the roar of the storm. “This is what’s in your soul?”

She shot him a blazing look. “You might want to get out of this place.”

He backed away, clearly mesmerized, before heading for the sea. He zigzagged his way to the water, dodging the trails of fire snaking on ground. With Raef safely out of the way, she unleashed the full torrent of her wrath. A bolt of light shot down from the sky and straight into her dagger. She embraced it.

Pointing her blade at each intended target, she used her mind to channel nature’s energy. Wooden houses splintered into shreds, brick homes blew apart as she directed each strike. Creepers scurried from their hiding places in search of cover. With the sheer power of thought, she tracked them down with trails of fire. As if her flaming daggers had become an extension of her surroundings, she utilized them to rain hell on Twilight’s realm. Utter chaos ensued as her fury mounted. Everything around her was on fire.

Sudden movement caught her side vision. She turned her head sharply to see Hatch running full speed toward the volcanic hill. Taking a quick glance around, she realized that this area had been annihilated. It was time to move on. She raced after Hatch. This was one bastard that would not get away again. The ground turned to mush as she neared the ashen mound. She trudged through the creepy terrain in hot pursuit.

Hatch crested the peak with surprising ease and stood at the top, waiting. Flame didn’t slow down. She wanted this fight, burned inside to kill the man who supposedly had killed Von.

“I have to admit, babe, you’re one hell of a gutsy woman coming up here to tangle with me. This is my domain!” Hatch bellowed from the other side.

Upon reaching the top, Flame teetered on the edge but caught herself. Her focus was drawn down into the pit. A pungent vaporous cloud enveloped her, constricting her airways. The ominous black eyes she’d seen before—the eyes of Twilight—swallowed the distance between her and Hatch. Below, molten rock bubbled, emitting an eerie red glow from within the pit. Scorching heat and the smell of sulfur stung her nose and eyes. She forced herself to look away from the scariest sight she’d ever seen.

This place is surely hell.

Shadowy hands grabbed at her. The powerful mist closed in, tormenting her with the same agonizing lust she’d experienced during the war. She tried to avoid their grasp, to stop them from touching her, caressing her, and stroking her. The fingers of Twilight found their way under her clothes, making her crazy inside. The ache for penetration became unbearable.

An evil laugh echoed in the dark. “Did you actually believe that you could overpower me here? You might be immortal, but your blood-bond has been broken. You just made your biggest mistake.”

Doubled over, clutching her daggers, she struggled to block out the insufferable lust. Yet the black hands only intensified their efforts. Tears blurred her vision. She stepped sideways, then back in an attempt to dodge their touches. Suddenly the ground under her boots gave way. She stumbled and reached out to stop herself from falling, but there was nothing to grab hold of. In her next breath, she felt herself falling—falling.

Heat inside the pit engulfed her body as she plummeted downward. A vision flashed before her eyes—the nightmare she’d suffered before Twilight war had been more than a dream. The night terror had been a premonition. Only this was reality, and unlike her terrifying dream, there was nobody here to save her this time.

“Don’t worry,” Hatch called from above. “I’ll bring you back as my queen. If I can’t have you in life, I will have you in death.”

In that bleakest moment, she finally gave up hope and believed that Von had to be dead. If not, Hatch would not be so confident that their blood-bond had been broken and Von would surely be here. She ceased fighting and she let herself freefall, prepared to meet her doom.

Out of nowhere, strong arms snaked around her waist. “Not on my watch you don’t!” He swept her into a tight embrace and they rose from the depths with ease.

With her feet back on solid ground, she stared up into the most intense blue eyes. “Von! You’re alive!”

“Of course I am.” He laid a kiss on her that stole her breath. Hot, deep and laden with passion.

“Our blood-bond…Naami and Hatch…” she panted out her thoughts.

“Lies. No woman stands a chance with me but you.”

“I thought you were…”

He shook his head. “You’re not the easiest woman to find.”

“They told me you were dead.” She choked back sobs of mixed emotion. Her body felt like it was on fire from the surge of energy coursing through her veins.

“We’ll talk later.” He kissed her again. A deep exchange of longing drenched their kiss. “Right now, let’s kill the motherfucker.”

They turned toward Hatch, who didn’t appear so smug now. Von grabbed her wrist and bit down, puncturing the skin with sharp teeth. A jolt of heat streaked through her like never before. She felt everything in his soul merge with hers. He released his bite. Their eyes met. His blazed with pure desire. She knew what to do.

Using the supernatural speed given her by Von, she landed on the opposite rim of the pit right in front of Hatch, with Von at her side.

“Let’s try the remix.” She smirked, then flashed a dagger before his eyes.

Sheer terror flooded Hatch’s black eyes. He tried to step back, but Flame daggered his heart before he moved. She twisted the handle and gave it an upward tug, glaring at him with narrowed eyes. He gasped and faltered. Flame held the dagger deep in his chest.

“Die, you fucking prick.” Her words came out in a fierce growl. “Take his head, baby.” Using her free hand, she slid Von’s knife from the back of her waist.

“My pleasure. Thanks for keeping it safe.” Without hesitation, Von severed Hatch’s head.

Flame watched it tumble into the burning sulfur. She withdrew her dagger, then kicked his decapitated body into the pit and watched it fall until every bit of Twilight’s master vanished into the fiery lava.

“Damn, woman, I love you.”

She looked up and grinned. “I know.”

His eyes shimmered with intrigue. An easy smile touched his lips. “C’mere, you.”

With a light hop, she leapt into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. Firm hands effortlessly shifted her weight over the bulge in those hot leather pants. Curling herself around him, she clutched her blades with her arms around his neck and sealed her lips to his. A groan rose in his chest when she pushed her tongue into his mouth. They kissed hungrily, urgently, drawing heavily on each other, unable to get close enough.

Tears rolled down her cheeks. She let out a soft whimper when he pulled her into a crushing embrace. He tasted awesome as always. The heady scent of leather, musk, and sandalwood permeated her senses. She breathed it in, erasing the stench of Twilight. Her arms tightened around his neck as they kissed with uncontrollable longing. She felt how much he’d missed her and knew he felt her heart, too.