The First Touch (52 page)

Ivan lay stiff
,
watching the flames flowing in waves from the door to the cellar. The air dried but Ivan’s cheeks remained wet, tears flowed down his face as the rest of his body remained immobile. His frustration and sorrow over the loss of his love sent waves in the air and Henry felt it. Henry turned and said, “Serena said she walked up the stairs in her vision.” Ivan’s eyes did not move, and Henry continued, “She said that she was holding a pile of ash and that she could not bring you back.”

Ivan stopped crying then and Flora appeared smiling and wiped the tears from his cheeks. “Don’t cry
,
it will be over soon.” Then Flora touched his arm and asked Henry, “How long will it last?”

Henry replied solemnly, “I do not know, when
Autumn
returns I am sure
she can revive him.”

Flora nodded, “How long do you think she can flame?”

Henry grunted, “As long as she wants to.”

Flora huffed as well, “I wonder what set her off.”

Grayton appeared next, “When I left her alone with Ivan she was fine, just tired.”

Flora turned and asked, “What did you do to make her angry Ivan?” Ivan continued to sit unblink
ing staring at the flames, she
huffed, “Where is Serena I have questions.”

“Here I am.” Serena called out as she came running thru the flames. “So what set it off this time?” Serena asked wiping the ash from her newly forming curls.

Flora spat out, “Ivan did.”

Henry defended him then, “We do not know for sure.”

Flora huffed, “They were the only two in the room.”

Henry replied, “Perhaps it was just another part of her transformation process.”

Grayton huffed then along with the two females, “I think Ivan did it.” Just then the waves stopped and smoke filled the air as the remaining charred items released their last breaths.
Autumn
walked up the stairs
,
slowly and pushed open the little chunk of charred door that remained.

She saw Ivan propped against the wall and asked concerned, “What’s wrong with him?”

Serena replied, “Galen
bit him.”

Autumn
scowled and replied, “Where is he?”

Serena added defensively, “It was the only w
ay to get Ivan away from you be
for
e
you burned him to nothing but ashes.”

Autumn’s eyes widened with horror as she aimed her question at the other vessel, “Did you see that?”

Serena nodded solemnly, “Yes, what set it off?”

Autumn
looked at Ivan and frowned then back at Serena and shrugged, “Ivan was uncomfortable with my changed appearance. I tried not to get upset but I couldn’t stop after I saw the look on his face.” Serena and Flora both nodded understanding
Autumn
’s
actions
,
the mal
es did not seem as understand
.

Henry spoke first, “You will need to learn to control your emotions
my dear.
”

Autumn
snapped back, “So if Flora looked at you with fear and repulsion in her eyes would you be able to control yourself?”

Henry looked a
t her surprised and then matter-of-
factly
, “
But Flora is my mate it is different she is a part of me now.”

Autumn
snapped back as she touched Ivan’s chest sending a glow into the room, “Well Ivan is my match as well.”

All eyes were on her now, Flora asked smiling “Ivan is your mate?”
Autumn
nodded without looking at Ivan, and Flora asked, “How do you know?”

Autumn
looked at her confused, “Because I chose him.”

Flora asked, “But you did not sleep together?”

Autumn
smiled
, “
I called him to me in a dream before I even changed and then I bonded him to me when we had our first kiss.”

Flora looked astonished, “So you knew all this time?”
Autumn
nodded, and Flora asked, “Why didn’t you tell anyone?”

Autumn
smiled at Helen and Grayton who walked towar
ds them then, “
I made him promise not to tell.”

Grayton smiled
, “
It made sense
,”
then he walked over and patted Ivan, “Sorry, but it was the only way that we could figure out how to prevent male challenges for the position of her mate
, on top of the other tests
.”

Helen replied smugly, “That does not prevent them from coming for him it only postpones it.”

Henry nodded, “Yes but the challenges will only come once she announces that he is her mate.”

Autumn
nodded smiling, “So then no one should know then?”

Ivan finally stood next to her then clearing his throat
,
so everyone would look at him, “I do not want to hide it.”
Autumn
hissed and everyone
bent their
knees reading to run
for a second time
.

W
hen Flanagan appeared next to them all
and said, “Ivan
,
stop pissing the lass
off. I am still growing skin from your last lovers quarrel.”

“Sorry,
I will try to keep calm.” S
he
replied, turning to Ivan
her hands on her hips, “Why do you want to endanger yourself unnecessarily?”

Ivan looked at her, “I am not afraid.”

Autumn
huffed, “So it will hurt your ego not to tell anyone?” Ivan did not answer, so
she
assumed the worse as usual. She snapped sliding her hand up to Ivan, holding him weightlessly in the air without touching him
, “
Fine do what ever you want. I am sorry that I forced you
to
be stuck with me. If I knew how to sever the bond then I would.”

Then she turned and stormed off, when they tried to stop her
she
waved
her han
d sending them all flying,
cursing
all the way out of the building.

S
he headed west
, the building beginning to shake as she walked through it so she leapt from the first open window and took flight. When she spotted
th
e cave from before, she landed, her agitation still bubbling in her chest
. When she reached
it
she released Ivan from her grip and a pain shot through her chest
. She cursed as she plopped
on t
he familiar ledge from before, placing her hands over her face, asking after a few moments
, “Do you have a mirror by any chance?”

Drake
stepped out of the darkness and lit his hand brighter
seeming surprised that she knew that he was there
, “No but I can get one from Helen’s room if you would like.”

“Ye
s I think I would like that.
”
Drake
no
dded, and turned to leave,
then
she
added, “
I just need to be
away for a while
.”
Drake
nodded and left, and mo
ments later he appeared again, t
his time carrying a large full sized mirror as well as some clean clothes.

Autumn
smiled looking relieved, sniffing the air,
“I
s there water in here?
”

Drake
nodded,
“A
waterfall.
”

Then she
reached for the mirror
, “I want to see the damage first
,”
Drake
nodded and set the clothes down on the ledge.
Autumn
propped the mirror up and looked at herself for the first t
ime since the boat’s bathroom, and s
he jumped back hissing
. He did not even flinch, as she asked him flabbergasted,
“Is that real? Is that me
…
.
”

Drake
stepped closer putting himself into the frame with her reflection, “Yes that is you.” He seemed a bit different than she thought he would be, perha
ps that was why she came here, s
ome how she knew that
he
would understand her change. She had seen his life and his was the only one that wa
s the truly like her own. A
life filled with sorro
w and disappointment, brought on
by fate. As a mortal
,
she had thought that Grayton would be the one, since he too had never truly been in love before.

But
Drake
had shown her how pain twists you in a different way. Love has the power of at least providing strength in the hope of its rapture. Autumn
’s
life filled with pain only had the power to toughen the skin in preparation for more pain. Sadly
,
Autumn
saw that it also
twisted the mind. Additionally, she
imagined, as she looked at the dark shadow that swayed behind
Drake
that i
t
also twisted the soul.

Autumn
declared
then
,
looking at the creature in the window, “No wonder Ivan was frightened.” Then another truth hit her and she began to weep, “
God,
I don’t
even
have a soul
now
.”

Drake
twisted then looking at her blinking, “You don’t?”

She
blustered, “No I don’t.”

He
asked still unemotional, “How do you know?”

She
wept unabashedly, “I can see them. They are freaking everywhere, and I don’t have one.”

He
nodded solemnly, “Perhaps it is there but you just do not see it.”

“
I wish. I am soulless; perhaps that is why Ivan was repulsed by me. Maybe he can feel it too.”

Drake
sniffed
her hair
jerking back before
smiling devilishly, “It was probably because you smell like death.”

Autumn
smiled and smacked him, fresh tears still in her eyes, “Where is the water?”

Twin
Waterfalls

Drake
flamed brighter and led her further into
the
cave. After a few
minutes,
the passage way opened into a large central room. In there
,
a two hundred foot sheer cliff stood, so enormous that she pinched herself thinking it a dream.

There were three different smaller waterfalls that all spilled over its side. They all pooled together into a larger waterfall in the center. It was dark water and steam rose up from it. Long ago formed stalactites and stalagmites lined the edges giving it an enclosed feeling.
She
smiled as she began taking her tattered clothing off absentmindedly completely absorbed in the view, “It is beautiful.”
Drake
nodded watching her undress, not saying a word.

As soon as
she
was naked
,
she jumped into the water
,
and sent water splashing on
to
Drake
. He smiled and jumped into the water only pausing long enough to take his boots off before jumping in.
Autumn
began scrubbing her skin in the water and
revealed
her beautiful pale
skin again. As she did she had a flash of her earlier vision of her and
Drake
’s first kiss together. Then she eyed him closely watching as he did the same. She watched as he sunk under the water scrubbing his face and notice then that his soul was not in the warm water with them. Instead it was on the shore line watching
them stretched thinly across its
surface.
It was connected
a
t the flame in his chest.
The flame had
a light red glow
,
in the chest of the shadow as well.

Then she smiled still scr
ubbing, and watched him continuing to scrub
himself, while she did the same absentmindedly. When he turned to look at her prying eyes, she let herself sink to the bottom. Then she scrubbed her face and hair until it felt clean. The warm water felt good on her skin and her body hummed in pleasure. Then her mind wondered back to
Drake
’s fiery soul again and thought sadly,
I wish I couldn’t see that
. It hurt her heart to see his core so much like her own.