Red Fire Day

To all those who believed in me.

Thank you.

Prologue

"Inside each of us, there is the seed of both good and evil.

It’s a constant struggle as to which one will win.

And one cannot exist without the other."

– Eric Burdon, singer/songwriter

Part I

The End

My eyelids opened slightly, adjusting to the morning sun shining in my bedroom window. The Black Angus cows from the neighbor’s ranch next door mooed as they grazed, calling to their young to follow. I could hear Cobalt with Rocky and Bullwinkle gnawing on the grass in their pasture. It was feeding time already. I must have slept in, I thought to myself. I didn’t want it to be morning.

Just a few more hours, I begged the sun.

I wanted so badly to close my eyes again and go back to sleep, let the world end without me even knowing it. I’d wake up, again, and be among the ones I had lost.

My Sunshine ambled over to the bed, his hazel eyes narrowing down onto mine. He hadn’t dressed yet; he was possibly also dreading what he knew was coming. He had been sitting at my window watching the cows, just as I had done on hot summer days such as this not too long ago, before my world became complicated.

He slipped under the sheets next to me, his warm body comforting my fears. I was only his for such a short time that I thought it unfair.

I rubbed my fingers through his soft blondish hair, savoring the feeling on my skin. This was the last time I’d wake up to his eyes staring back into mine. Soon we’d be somewhere else. I hoped Heaven was everything I imagined it to be.

Ben and Tanya were downstairs, preparing the twins’ birthday breakfast. Pancakes and extra syrup was their wish. Each would have their own candle to blow out and presents to open.

They were no longer babies, like other children on their first birthday—they weren’t normal, despite Ben and Tanya trying their hardest to make them feel that way. They grew fast, developing at a rapid speed. Now their bones and faces were of a five-year-old’s. Science would never be able to explain it. These two were born from Satan’s hands and were hours away from bringing a plague to the world.

We ate our breakfast in silence, the twins wiggling in their seats, devouring the pancakes, begging Tanya to let them go outside to play by the river after their meal and presents.

The snake would be waiting in the grass for them, just as we had been warned, to whisper evil things, to tell them it was time to bring death to the innocent.

Fires were ablaze behind my Montana mountain range. As I dressed for the last day of my life, I watched the fire carefully growing closer, burning differently during the day than it did at night. The sun hid behind the smoke, creating a shimmering effect to the hayfields below.

I brushed Cobalt’s coarse mane and set down the brush, watching as the fire crested the top of the range. The snake was successful—the twins were now his toys. Soon all those that remained on Earth would be destroyed with disease and famine.

I looked beyond my adopted parents’ property, out to the open range that was once so beautiful, now covered in ash.

Rough skin brushed against my left hand. Sunshine grabbed hold of me, forcing me to tighten my grasp on his hand as well. Both of us, ready to embrace the heat that was fast approaching.

This is the end, he whispered to me, but I will be with you through eternity. Our spirits, forever intertwined, through space, through the fire, through time. We will be together once more, just as we have done since the beginning.

My journey would continue, but through someone else’s eyes. Another time. Another dimension. Another world. My story was just the beginning, meant for another to finish.

Aftermath

The river of blood flowed through the Honesta headquarters as I tripped and stumbled over dead bodies. All forty-five of them lay motionless in the auditorium. Some had made it out of the room, but most perished here. They ran, desperately trying to hide, some of them fighting for their lives as Nadine unleashed her wrath upon the acquitted.

My knees bent as I looked upon one girl, my age, her eyes wide open in terror. Her neck had been sliced open. Lizzy had clawed her to death, like she did the men at the abandoned building. The animal in her attacked until the poor girl no longer moved. I didn’t know her name, who she was, what she liked to do in her spare time. Did she listen to the same music I did? Did she long to be normal, like I did? What of the rest of them? I barely just met these brave people, and here they were—all dead.

The big screen, which just hours before displayed Jorge’s picture, flickered from being smashed. Nadine had whisked the members of the Honesta’s bodies into it like a dog playing with a rag doll. There would be no more commands coming from this room, or missions. The halls of this place would be silent…comatose, like our hearts.

There were no souls at unrest here. I didn’t need to help any of their spirits cross over. They had all found their peace and moved on from this world, to the next.

My blood still ran hot, my back pulsating. I’d need to hurry and retrieve any clues before I went after my sister and the other Daemons. I was going to kill them all, with or without anyone’s help. Now that I had the powers within me, I was invincible. I was the killer I was born to be, but a warrior for the good side…the right side.

The Night Riders gathered in a circle, Hayden the front man. They were silent, except for the sniffling as their tears rolled down their faces over their loss. They had found Elijah hanging from the high ceiling roof, a chain noose around his neck, arms, and legs…he was tied up like I had been my whole life. He was tortured for information Nadine knew he wasn’t going to give. What was it she wanted from him?

Hayden released him from the chains and laid his body next to the rest of the dead. Hayden did not cry—like the others, he was emotionless—but I could feel his pain inside me, our spirits connected as he said they were. Now that I had unlocked another key, I felt closer to his spirit.

He glanced up to me as I approached the circle of the six Night Riders remaining. Although he didn’t show it, I could feel he too was growing even angrier; we both longed for the same thing.

Revenge.

Lucas held Arabella, her sobbing becoming quieter as he rubbed her shoulders for comfort. Rocket and Finn had stopped crying, trying to hold themselves together while they embraced what had happened to the people they called family.

Mae kneeled next to Elijah’s body and reached for his bloody hand, holding on to the memories she had of him. She was here from the time she was little, like Hayden and Arabella. Elijah was like a Grandfather to her, a father to the rest. He was their mentor and loved them as one of his own.

Now all we had were each other, the seven of us.

How long would we last alive? How would I keep them safe, when I was about to do the unthinkable? How would I defeat my sister, and the other millions of Daemons across the world? Now that my aunt and greatest mentor were dead too?

Take the time you need to say goodbye and prepare for shutdown mode. Hayden looked to each of us and turned away. He was the leader now and he’d need to stay strong, not just for himself, but also for the team.

I followed him out of the room toward Elijah’s office; we were both on the same stream of idea: what information did they take?

Arrow! Hayden yelled through the halls. Arrow, come boy, he said over and over.

Through another door I could hear an Oh, no. I quickly came across the horrific scene. Arrow was dead—bullet holes ravished his body. He had blood on his mouth and teeth and lay across one of our own, a young girl I remembered from the first night I was here. He had died protecting the girl from a Daemon, but was no match for their weapons.

Hayden kneeled and cradled his faithful companion in his arms, holding him for a minute. I looked for tears, but nothing dropped from his eyes.

I’m sorry, Hayden, I whispered as I wiped tears from my cheeks.

He was a good dog. Smart. Reliable. But he was a soldier, like the rest of them.

He put his friend down and took off the collar around his neck, placing it in his jacket pocket.

No one here tonight will die in vain. He looked up to me, our minds wandering, contemplating how we were going to kill them all.

Clues

Hello? Is anyone there? Ben’s voice was a light I needed to see in the darkness. I sniffed while I listened to him pleading for someone to answer.

Ben, it’s me, Maya.

Instantly, he started to cry.

Maya, oh, honey, where are you? How are you? he asked into the phone.

Listen to me, I said, I don’t have much time. You can’t trust anyone right now. Those that told you I was safe are dead. You need to be careful; there could be bad people coming for you or Tanya. Remember, the twins need to be kept away from my sister.

He didn’t answer; instead he sobbed even louder. I could hear Tanya in the background asking who it was and why he was crying.

I love you both. I’ll come to you before the twins are born. You must keep Tanya safe until then.

Hayden looked up to me and signaled I had to get off. I was on for too long, even though it didn’t matter if Nadine traced the call or not. She already knew where the headquarters was.

I have to go. I love you.

Click.

I cut him off, but regretted it instantly. I wanted nothing more than to hear them say, I love you back.

Tears continued to flow while I looked around Elijah’s office, trying to hide behind my misery in front of Hayden. I was a soldier, like he said, and needed to be brave.

The office had been completely ransacked, along with the computer and artillery rooms. Nadine was looking for something of value, something Elijah was keeping a secret, even from Hayden, his most trusted warrior. I watched as Hayden began to look through his desk, opening and then re-closing each drawer carefully, straightening up the mess made, as if Elijah was going to return.

She was looking for something, I finally said to him. Something Elijah hadn’t told you yet.

Hayden kept his eyes to the floor. He was pacing. I know. I feel it too. His voice was quiet.

I continued my search of what Nadine was after, but I knew it wasn’t in his office. Was it even here in the hotel? Or was his secret in his head, never written down?

I followed him, as he asked me to, through the library. We both stood back, horrified at what we discovered. Now they know our secrets. We’ve been successful at keeping these hidden from them for centuries. Those books were invaluable, and now, they’re in the hands of our enemies. He pointed to the missing books on the shelves, all of which were the Ambitum books I had yet to read. Now the Abaddon knew how we killed each Daemon and how we fought…making them that much stronger than us.

I should have known this was all a trap, he said, slamming his fists on the study table. Blood from Arrow and Elijah’s bodies covered his hands, but the blackness of his tactical shirt hid the rest. Did he smell the blood, as I had? The smell of what death brought? I was sure they all smelled it too. Death was not a pleasant odor.

If anyone is to blame, it’s me. I must have let her in my mind somehow. Maybe she could see the plan through me—

That’s impossible. It was someone else she was tapping into. Maybe even one of our own gave her the information, but you were fully guarded by Elijah and myself. You can’t blame this on you. Got it?

I nodded, despite how much I wanted to fight him on the issue. I turned my back to him and took off my coat.

Elijah was hiding something from us, information he was afraid to tell you in case…. I trailed off.

In case the Abaddon captured me, he finished, his voice growing closer, until I could feel him right behind me.

His hand made its way to the back of my T-shirt. He lifted my shirt slowly, taking his time to examine my alien glow, then straightened my clothes, his fingertips tickling the surface of my skin me as he did.

At first, he didn’t speak, but he wanted to. This was the first time he had ever seen this, the glow only happening to the sisters who would bring life or death to the world