Burning to Ashes (8 page)

The front door of the house swung open wide, and Scarlet found herself shoved down and into the side of the SUV.

Archer stood over her, a nine mil grasped in his hand pointing it at the opened doors.

The others had done the same, and they formed a phalanx around Scarlet.

“Put your weapons away,” a woman’s voice called from the door.

Scarlet rose a little to peek around Archer. He couldn’t protect her from her innate curiosity.

The woman stood in the doorway. She had long blonde hair braided in an intricate pattern around her head. A flowing diaphanous gown in the palest shade of pink clothed her body, but it didn’t leave much hidden. Scarlet found herself fighting the urge to tell Archer to turn around and keep his eyes on her, and not the hussy showing off her assets in the doorway.

“Who are you, and what do you want with us,” Archer called out.

“Me? I’m no one. A servant, and it is not
I
who wants something from you, but
you
who wants something from my mistress.”

The word
mistress
had Scarlet glancing over at Zane. The vampire’s stance had become tense as if he was expecting to fight.

“You talk in riddles,” Erik yelled, “We don’t want anything from you. You made sure we came here.”

“Riddles are our way, but please…” She turned to the side and waved her hand showing them to enter the house. “My mistress is expecting you.”

Scarlet watched Tate ask Archer what to do with a look. Archer’s nod was terse, the whole group still tense.

Tate took the first step, followed by Sophia, then Zane. Erik was next, then Scarlet was pushed forward, Archer close enough behind her to step on her heals. Heath took up the rear.

Scarlet paid close attention as they entered the house. The foyer floor was marble with pink veins. The walls had a shade so pale it was almost white, but Scarlet could still discern a touch of pink.

It seemed that pink was the color of choice for the décor. The servant led them deeper into the house, down a long passageway. They passed doors along the way, all closed and all painted in the pale shade of pink, so the walls and the doors appeared seamless.

There were double doors at the end of the hall, a little less imposing than the front doors. The servant reached them and threw them open.

Scarlet followed the others into the room, then stopped. She found her breath stolen away by what she saw.

Chapter Eight

What the hell are we walking into now?

Archer’s body was in fight mode, loose, and ready to drop and start dealing damage at the hint of trouble.

The group stopped just inside the doorway of a large open plan room. It had Corinthian columns spaced at equal distances along the rectangular length of the space.

Floor to ceiling windows covered the south wall, open and letting in the breeze. Cobweb-thin pink curtains danced in the moving air.

The far end of the room was covered with scattered pillows—not the bean bag variety so prevalent in every male college dorm room, but seriously girly ones that looked more like confectionary than bedding. All in—could have guessed it—shades of pink. Archer would need an insulin injection when they got out of there. The pink deluge was making him feel sugared up.

His examination of the room was done in a nanosecond, then his eyes focused on the occupants. There were seven people in the room. Archer took a deep breath and scented the air.

No, not one of them was human. What they were, exactly, he couldn’t say. Two men and two women draped themselves across the pillows. The women wore the same diaphanous pink gowns as the woman who had led them through the mansion. The men were in nothing but loose flowing pants which, thank the gods, were white, not pink. Their muscular bare chest had Archer growling low in his throat and pushing Scarlet behind him.

She was proving stubborn, though, and simply stepped around him again. Archer clenched his teeth and put his hands on her shoulders.

The last two men stood on either side of a large oval shaped bed. Archer didn’t know how else to describe it.

On the bed was a woman, lying on her stomach, her hands under her chin, an elfin smile on her lips. Bare feet kicked up behind her, and she swung them as a child would.

“Have you all looked your fill now? We really don’t have all day for this, you know. You have places to be.”

She squinted her eyes and frowned, “Yes, a very important appointment by morning for you. You are lucky that I like you. I’ve been watching you.” The smile widened a bit. “So I’m not going to kill you for wanting to see me, Scarlet.”

Scarlet slipped free from Archer’s grip and moved to the front of the group. “How do you know my name?”

The rest of the group seemed to be in some kind of trance. None of them moved. Archer would have had to check to see if they were even breathing. Great, just when he might need some back up, they’d all gone to lala land.

He gritted his teeth harder, and pushed past the others to snag Scarlet’s arm, and try to force her behind him. They had no idea what they were dealing with. She couldn’t put herself out in front, in harm’s way.

He’d have to sit her down and explain the concept of
bodyguard
until she got it through her stubborn skull.

The woman on the bed sat up and stood in a motion that was otherworldly with grace. She started walking towards Scarlet, her bodyguards flanking her.
Another woman who didn’t know the meaning of the word
bodyguard
.

Archer stepped in front of Scarlet again.

“I know who all of you are.” Her beauty was mesmerizing. Ignoring her, Archer focused on trying to get Scarlet to step behind him.

“The question I pose to you, Scarlet, is who am I? If you can answer me this, I will give you leave to pose a question. If you get it wrong, you will all die.” The woman said it as if she was discussing a trip to the movies.

Scarlet’s brow furrowed as she stepped around Archer one last time. She turned to him and he almost choked when she said, “Stay.”

* * * *

Scarlet was beyond irritated that Archer kept insisting that he shield her. She was in no danger here…well, not if she got the woman’s name right. Her wolf had better learn to listen to his gut.

What, wait? My wolf?

Scarlet shook it off. Right now, she had more important things to sort out.

“I’ve never seen you before, so how could I possibly know who you are?”

“Tut tut, Scarlet. I know you aren’t this lacking in intelligence. You were given a hint. Sadly, I can’t help you until you answer the riddle that was posed.”

Sofia seemed to shake of her trance. “You are the Unnamed Oracle.” Her voice was a breathless whisper, but in the quiet of the room, it rang clear.

The woman clapped her hands in delight. “Oh, very good, but it’s not enough.” She turned her smile on Scarlet.

“You have to tell me what my name is. Only then can I help you.”

“Your name?” Scarlet felt as if she’d been dropped into the middle of the world’s highest paying game show, and she couldn’t call a friend.

All she got from the oracle was a serene smile.

Scarlet felt a hand on her shoulder and looked around right into Heath’s eyes. He was fighting his trance to tell her something.

Yes of course!

He’d said that when he spaced out, that what he had said was important, was something she needed to memories. Scarlet pulled the words from her memory.

I see pink, the darkest shade of pink is a name, the lightest is a color. Without pink, you will find no answers and answers will provide more questions, questions will give no answers. I see turbulence, I see fire, lots of fire, I see ash.

Scarlet took a breath, trying to focus on the riddle, and not the woman standing in front of her waiting for her answer.

She was sure that the fire and ash wasn’t what she needed right then. For some reason, the first part of what Heath had said was resonating with her.

Her eyes roamed the room and it hit her—everything was in pale shades of pink.
The lightest is a color the darkest is a name.

What was the darkest shade of pink called?

Scarlet felt like she was on the edge of panic. She needed to think, and she was struggling to focus. He mind searched with a frantic intensity for the word.

For God sake! Suck it up. Breath, you can do this.

“Cerise!” Scarlet shouted the word as it popped into her mind.

The smile on the oracle’s face widened. “Well done, Scarlet. I would have been disappointed if you’d gotten it wrong, since we are both named for a color.”

“You mean I’m right, that your name is Cerise?”

“Yes.” Cerise held out her hands, and Scarlet reached out and took them.

Scarlet turned her head to beam at the others, happy that she’d gotten the answer, but she saw that only Archer was grinning back at her while the rest had fallen into their strange waking sleep again.

Cerise let go of Scarlet’s hands and prompted, “You came to ask me a question, Scarlet, but be careful. I will only answer one question, so chose your question carefully.”

A million questions raced through Scarlet’s mind, but she didn’t know which to ask. How could she gain control of her powers? How could she stop from burning in her own flame. How could she have the
Kalick
removed from her?

Archer spoke before Scarlet could formulate a question.

“How do we get the
Kalick
removed from Scarlet?”

The Oracle looked at Archer with a small indulgent smile. “Naughty, naughty, Archer. It wasn’t your question to ask. But since you’ve asked, I have to answer.”

She paused as if making them wait in suspense was fun for her. “The only way for Scarlet to remove the
Kalick
hanging over her head is for her to suffer death.”

The words fell like broken glass, shattering all of Scarlet’s hopes. She was going to die, whether in her own flames, or by the hand of Geo and his terrifying sidekick.

Scarlet’s stomach clenched in a knot.

“I will grant you a boon, a question you have not asked, Archer. I will say this…the creature that lives inside you is in the right, and you are correct not to fight him on this. What he says is true.”

Scarlet watched Archer frown for a moment, then pale, his whole body tense, his jaw muscles bulging as if he were fighting himself. “Forgive me,” he started, and Scarlet knew he was pushing it with the Oracle. “I must know if there is any way…” He looked over at Scarlet, then back to the Oracle. “To keep what fate has given me to treasure?”

The laughter that came from Cerise’s lips was like the tinkle of wind chimes. “I will not, no, I can
not
answer that question, and you know it. I have found you, even though you were looking for me. I have answered, and given a boon of more than one answer, so to give you more would be against my rules.” She took Scarlet’s hands into her own for a moment and dropped her formal tone. “I’m rooting for you, kiddo.”

With those cryptic words, Ceries’s image wavered, and vanished.

A knot formed in Scarlet’s stomach, and it felt like the world was falling away under her feet. She sensed Archer’s hand on her arm, steadying her.

The world became a maelstrom blur and vanished. When Scarlet could see again, the group was standing in a patch of knee high wild grass, the cars a little distance off on the battered dirt road.

Tate shook it off first. “What the hell? That was like drug trip.”

Erik moved past Tate looking around in the dark. “Hard drugs don’t work on us, moron, so how would you know?”

“Freaky.” Heath shook his head. “I could see and hear everything, but I had to fight to move in a little.”

Scarlet turned to Heath. “How did you know your zoning out was connected?”

He shrugged his broad shoulders. “Took a guess. Archer said I’d rambled on about pink.”

“Dude, that was a
lot
of pink.” Erik shook his head and put his hand to his stomach.

Sophia spoke, then bent down to check the buckle on her boot. “I had a feeling she would find us. Creatures like the oracle don’t like to wait. She had some yummy guards, though, wouldn’t have minded staying a little bit.”

She winked up at Zane, who wasted blood by blushing.

“I need to hunt. Can you all wait here for me for about an hour?” He looked away from Sophia.

“Sure, tell the bunny I said hello before you have dinner,” Erik quipped.

Zane shook his head, not commenting as he loped off into the night.

“Where to now?” Tate walked up to Archer who was standing at the edge of the grass patch staring into the distance. He got no answer.

Scarlet wondered what the oracle had been talking about when she answered the question Archer hadn’t asked. She was going to ask him. With that, she moved over to Tate and Archer.

“Dude, I’m talking to you.”

“What!” Archer turned toward Tate with a feral snarl, causing the other Eternal to step back and raise his hands.

“Whoa, I just asked a question. What’s up with you?”

Archer hissed out a breath and ran his hands through his hair. “Just shut up, I need to think a bit.”

Scarlet carefully stepped away, and went to stand next to Sophia. “You’d think I’d be the one in a violent mood, considering I’m the one who got the death sentence,” Scarlet muttered, but, Sophia heard her.

“If my suspicions are right, Archer got a death sentence in a way, too. So, give him a little space right now, okay?”

“What suspicions?”

“Not something I’m willing to share.” Sophia’s tone became distant and cold as she stepped away from Scarlet.

Scarlet wasn’t going to take this. She was going to call Sophia on this shit.

Archer was in a mood, Sophia was being pissy with her, and Scarlet had had enough. She was sick of being the newbie, the one everyone felt the need to keep on a need to know basis, and their idea of need to know was—she needs to know jack-shit.