Page 40 of Hellfire

It hurt to breathe, to swallow, to remain alive, and all I wanted to do was escape. I scrambled backward, the recliner toppling backward, hitting the wood floor with a jarring thud that knocked the wind out of me.

Someone else screamed, dropping a mug, and stumbling away.

“Shit. Mary!” Gable went after her.

“Fuck!” Talon again, stomping over to me, crunching on broken shards.

“Let me finish!” Castor argued with him.

“Blaze?” I felt Luna’s soft, warm, calming palm on my other wrist, injecting calm into my frenzy. “Let me try something.”

“Anything,” I moaned, rocking my head side to side, desperate to get a molecule inside my lungs. “Just make it stop hurting.”

“What are you doing?” Castor demanded.

“Helping.” Luna stood her ground with him, and the teacher part of me, buried deep but ever present, smiled with pride.

Elemental magick flowed from her into me coursing through my skin, blood, and muscle to my core. Soothing water cooled the heat of the burn. Fire raged through my veins, decimating the darkness hijacking my system. Air carried away the ash and heat. Earth covered the wounds, encouraging new skin and cells to grow where the rot spoiled everything. Death permeated the heart of darkness and killed it.

I gasped, sucking in air, my throat free of the blockage. A calmness I hadn’t felt in almost two weeks permeated my soul. The spike in my heart rate took a deep dive. Anxiety released its grasp on me. Glimmers of light torched the dark spots in my vision.

“Try it now,” Luna said to Castor, stroking my forehead.

He recited the words again, the pain fading, the darkness wailing as the light reached every black corner, banishing it. It oozed from my pores in a shadowy mist. I felt a semblance of normality again, free of the confinement, emptiness, and the stranglehold of malevolence.

Castor clapped his palm on my treated forearm and squeezed. “He’s not in the clear just yet.” His finger tapped the snake’s tail. “The good news is that I cleansed most of the darkness. The bad news is that the marking is still ingrained in his forearm. It’s grey, not black, but if anything frightens or angers you, it might darken again.”

I didn’t care about the future when all I could focus on was now. The pain and headache were leaving. I could breathe without a weight on my chest. The worming under my skin had stopped. The force of darkness destroying everything that was good in me had retreated.

“That’s something.” Luna brushed sweaty hair from my forehead.

I rubbed my wrist, my palms brushing over smooth skin, the lumpy scars outlining the dark language that I caught a glimpse of, gone.

“Thank you,” I wheezed.

Castor clapped my shoulder. “The worst is over. I want to investigate those markings and see what I can do to eradicate them entirely.”

I nodded, saving my burning throat and hoarse voice.

Gable came up behind his associate and thumped him on the back. “Thanks. I owe you one.”

Castor scratched his eyebrow with his thumb. “Consider that a freebie. I’ve not seen the Brotherhood’s handiwork before.”

Gable’s cocky grin flashed like spotlights, and I blinked the brightness back. “Let me see you out.”

Castor glanced back at me before climbing to a stand. “Call me if this gets worse.” He removed a card from his breast pocket and held it out for me.

Luna collected it and stuffed it in the back pocket of her jeans. “We can’t thank you enough.”

“Wait.” I lifted my hips and shoved my hand into my back pocket, calling out the paper with the mysterious sixth element. “Do either of you recognize this symbol?” I showed it to both Castor and Gable.

The Jackal’s eyes darkened, and he studied it with the fascination of a scientist. “No. Can I get a picture?” I nodded, and he snapped one with his phone camera. “I’ll look into it.”

“Me, too.” Gable clapped Castor’s palm.

“Thanks.” I scrunched up the symbol and stuffed the paper inside my coat pocket.

Castor nodded a final time and headed for the exit with our host.

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