Page 80 of Fire Bound

Genevieve remains calm and still, like she’s oblivious to the sky literally cracking above our heads. “Genevieve! What’s happening? We need to leave.”But go where?I have no idea. I grab her hand and tug her. I don’t know where I’m going to go but standing here watching everything fall apart doesn’t seem wise.

Like a piece of stone, she’s unmovable when I pull her. She pulls her hands from me. “No, you need to leave,” she explains before stepping forward and wrapping her arms around me. Despite the chaos and darkness growing around us, her embrace fills me with light and that sense of peace I first felt when I got here. “You’re not finished there, Remington. There are so many things that you need to do before you join us on the other side.”

“I don’t understand.”

A disjointed voice begins to whisper in the wind. I try to find the source, but it’s coming from all over. I can’t understand what it’s saying, but the longer it talks, the more the air around us begins to hum.

“Your time here is done. It’s time for you to go.”

The sky cracks again above us and the trees without their leaves begin to fall to the ground.

“It’s time for you to go back,” Genevieve whispers into my ear. “Let go of the things holding you down and allow yourself to be happy. Love when you can and love hard, because you deserve it, my girl.” Her hand smooths down my back. “He’s a good one, and I’m so happy you found him. You’re going to live such an epic life with him.”

My body begins to shake as foreign energy rushes through my bones. I gasp and my knees tremble. Genevieve’s arms keep me standing. I try to talk but my body refuses to cooperate. My vision becomes hazy and dark and there’s a buzzing in my ears.

Before everything goes dark and I feel like I’m falling again, I hear her whisper in my ear, “Tell my granddaughter I’m watching over her.”

Coming backto life is harder than dying. I didn’t feel anything when I died, but I feel everything as my body fills with life once again. My heart pounds wildly in my chest as my blood starts to circulate once more and my lungs heave painfully when I gasp for my first breath.

It’s a jarring and abrupt experience that leaves you feeling rattled. Then again, it’s something that shouldn’t be done and therefore it shouldn’t be a pleasant event. No one is softly coaxed back from the dead, they’re violently torn away from whatever their afterlife was and thrown back into their body.

My eyes fly open and when I see the black, singed trees without their leaves, I think I’m back with Genevieve, but when Winslow’s face leans over me and her teary eyes meet mine, I know I’m back.

“She’s alive.” Her voice comes out a hoarse cry, her bottom lip wobbling as she calls out to someone standing behind her. Her small, shaking hands grip either side of my face. “Thank God, I was about to be so mad at you.”

Dread fills my chest as I stare at her. “Winnie, youdidn’t.” If she was the one who brought me back, it means she gave up another piece of her soul. She can’t afford to do that. It will destroy her. “Tell me you didn’t bring me back. You know what the cost is.”

Winslow shakes her head. “I didn’t do it. I almost did it, but I didn’t have to. “Her eyes dart somewhere off to the side, looking at something I can’t see.

Groaning, I slowly pull myself into a sitting position. My recently repaired bones feel stiff when I move. All around us are burned trees, glowing embers still flicker in places. The scent of smoke is heavy in the air, making me cough as I choke on it. Off in the distance, I see bright orange flames dancing as they burn everything in their path.

Waving a hand in front of me, I try to disperse some of the smoke, but it’s no use. As I cough again, my eyes finally lock on a familiar face everyone said I’d never see again.

He grins excitedly at me, his hand twisting on the top of his ornate cane. “I told you that you’d see me soon,” Kaius tells me. “Did you not believe me?”

He tries to take a step forward, but the vampire that has apparently been holding him at gunpoint makes a warning noise. “Stay where you are,” Isabeau snarls at him.

Her arctic eyes flick in my direction and I don’t miss the look of relief in them when she looks at me.

“Kaius,” I cough his name. “You did this?”

“Got here just in time.” He nods joyfully. “Watching you fall from up there.” He whistles low. “Was a magnificent sight to behold. I’d ask you to do it again, but I have a feeling it’d be one of those things that’s only exciting the one time. Like when you eat at an amazing restaurant and when you go back, it’s not as good as you remember. Kind of lackluster.” Beau and Winslow stare at the necromancer with appalled looks. They’re not as desensitized to his madness as I am. “Anywho, I came along just as these two did. You should have seen Winslow here try to bring you back.” He clicks his tongue in disapproval. “She was doing it all wrong. That could have been disastrous for you both had I not stepped in. Lucky for you, I was able to snatch your own soul before it permanently flitted away to the far beyond.” He makes a fluttering wing motion with his hands. That explains why I was in the in-between with Gen. Kaius’s magic was keeping my soul tethered. “I wanted to make sure you came back as you and not like one of my other little puppets.”

Uneasily, I frown at him. “Why would you do that? Why would you even go through the trouble of bringing me back?”

When I start to pull myself up from the ground to stand, Winslow wraps her arm around my waist and helps pull me onto my shaky legs. Even when I’m standing on my own, she stays close just in case I need more help.

He cocks his head to the side. “We had a deal, Remington. How am I supposed to get what I want and give you what you need if you’re dead?” His eyes glance at his daughter. “Plus, I figured I owed my daughter a little gift before I went on my merry way. She was crying and just so distraught, snot was running down her face. It was not a pretty sight. I figured the easiest way to make that stop would be to just bring you back. And I didn’t want to share my handkerchief.” Kaius smooths a hand over the intricately folded pocket square in the chest pocket of is metallic sports coat.

The one thing that will remain true about Kaius is his motives will always and forever be selfish. He doesn’t do anything with the greater good in mind. His actions will only ever serve him.

Winslow just stares at her biological father, but she doesn’t say anything. Not that there is really much she could say in response to that.

“I’m flattered,” I tell him dryly.

“That’s an odd way of saying thank you, don’t you think?” Kaius asks with his brows pulled together in confusion.

“You and I both know that you could have just had Jax uphold our end of the deal,” I remind him.

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