Grenadine Dreams

12. Grenadine Dreams

12. Grenadine Dreams

{Naya}

I had no idea where I was.

Shadows covered me on all sides and took on shapes that I could not place. Whenever I tried to lock onto one of them, they would twist and disperse just like smoke. The shadows constantly replaced themselves with darker, more foreboding shades.

I tried to walk forward, but I didn't know where forward was. Blindly, I stumbled through the unwelcoming shadows with weak legs and nausea clinging to my insides. Whatever had caused me to pass out had not left my body. I still felt faint and dizzy and it was only getting worse.

"Help," I wheezed as I collapsed to my knees. The shadows swarmed around me, feasting on me like shapeless vultures. I wasn't prepared to fight them off. In fact, I was perfectly content with letting them overwhelm me and take away the burden of my fatigue, even if that meant taking me along with it.

What's that?

I saw something make a tear in the fabric of one of the shadows. This new force seemed dark at first. It pulsed with color the closer it got. Warm, rich shades of garnet burned a line in the curtain of shadows.

I crawled toward the strange fire.

By the time I reached it, my lightheadedness had subsided. Unafraid of being burned, I reached out to touch the burgundy flame. My eyes rolled back in ecstasy while the heat licked my skin. It was hotter than I ever expected fire to be, but to my amazement, it felt so good.

I extended my arm, desperate to take in as much of it as I could. The peculiar fire embraced my arm, my shoulders, my torso and eventually my whole body. It gave me enough energy to tuck in my knees and sit up straight. I hugged myself and tilted my head back.

My body acted as oil, causing the grenadine flames to envelop me inside an inferno.

By now, I was completely energized, but I didn't want to walk away from this heat. I wanted to let it burn me for all eternity and bring life to my ashes indefinitely. I wanted to die in this fire. I wanted to be born in it.

"Don't let me go," I begged, hugging myself as tightly as I could.

+++

{Uriel}

Uriel didn't expect Naya to offer up her entire body. He started off the flame small enough to return some strength to her, but when she plunged in limb after limb, he could not deny her. Against his will, his fire grew to accommodate her growing demand.

Uriel should have pulled away long before Naya completely submerged herself. She wasn't aware, but her actions made her transparent to him – the equivalent to seeing her without clothes. There was no way she would be aware of that unless she was a mature djinni, but Uriel still felt ashamed by his decision to hold her. Now he could see her fire clearly. Its color was closer to that of water than fire, which wasn't uncommon for his kind.

The more Naya basked in his flame, the more it tempted Uriel to reach out and touch hers. But he knew better than that. To do that would be catastrophic. It could make her a djinni forever or worse, give away their position to every magi in the Western hemisphere. Bonding was strong magic and not to be handled lightly.

Uriel knew this, yet he could not bring himself to pull away.

The djinni remained in limbo. He did not caress Naya the way she desired, but he let her bathe in his life force until she was content.

He chuckled internally at Naya's reaction.

So she thinks this is an inferno, does she?

The girl had no idea what fire was truly capable of in the hands of a djinni.