Alara
There are some things easier said than done. And trying to manipulate the unruly force that was fire to escape from the clutches of murderous men after insipid wealth, wasn't anything near easy to do.
But with Cameron? I could conquer anything.
"Right, Darling, on my count you run that way, the flames are the lowest your dress won't catch if we run in opposing directions so will they, splitting them up, and we still have the advantage of the fire wall,"
I nodded in response, already collecting my skirts and ripping them apart to ensure I wasn't even more flammable than I already was.
This was pure insanity, but that was just my life at this point. There was no time to think, just act.
"And when we're at the corners of the fire? They will be forced to put it out won't they?" I could see the cogs whirring in his head, we were inexplicably on the same page, feeding off of each other. The perfect team.
"And we will have enough time to prepare."
"So when you said, 'watch them burn', you actually meant watch them put out flames?"
He shrugged that infectious grin I was addicted to breaking across his features, causing him to glow brighter than the flames that were roaring around him. There was no battle in what was the brightest, Cameron's expression would douse even the largest of flames, "It sounded cooler,"
I laughed the sound so out of place but so right, "On my count sweetheart,"
I took several deep breaths, watching each digit on Cameron's hand and counting down the seconds in silence so the enemy couldn't hear us. I watched intently, and the second the fifth finger lowered I was running, bolting across the smooth flooring, my shoes clicking in a rhythm that sounded awfully similar to the gunshots that rang out. They were moving, swarming to where I was running too, the dark figures silhouetted by the light of the flame so I could see them moving.
The shadows were mine to read.
I could hear heavy breathing and I could feel the lick of flame against my skin. The burn on my arm became a distant thought as the rest of my body felt unimaginable heat.
"GET HER OUT OF THERE," a voice roared and my heart stilled. I could know that voice anywhere, it was grunt full and harrowed. It was a voice that used to insight fear in me, anger that was unmatched when I did something wrong when I took one step out of line though over the years I had convinced myself that it was out of love.
It was the voice of Damon Mortello.
I held back the tears a new resolve wakening in me as I charged forward, "You're going to have to be quicker than that, or your map is going to burn," It was a bluff, I more than anyone didn't want to burn to a crisp.
There were shouts punctuated by the throwing of furniture, that splintered on the ground, and broken vases until there were splashes of water, feeble against the flame.
"It's quite toasty in here isn't it," I shouted over the flame and was returned a deep chuckle form across the hall.
"It is rather warm now isn't it darling?"
"What are you doing?" It was no longer Damon's voice that cut through the tension in the hall. It seemed both our so-called fathers were back for revenge, "Get them out of there, alive, or you'll all be dead."
"Threats, threats, threats, doesn't it get tiring? Don't you want this to end, Carlisle?"
I could see him now, the flames were weakening, allowing a small window into the world outside, beyond the barrage of flame, the heat-sickened air that moved when it shouldn't with the embers of light fighting for breath.
He was limping, a walking stick of pure silver at his side, clattering against the glass-ridden stairs, though Damon Mortello was nowhere to be seen. I was sure he was making the same ominous descent on the other side to Cameron. It seemed both of them had had enough of their own respective children and had decided to intimidate this way.
"This is over when I have the Blood Diamon on my hand, and you are nothing but a myth."
"Myth's have power Carlisle, something you will never truly have, to scared to face the girl that shot you," I lifted the gun in my hands, they refused to waver as I quirked my eyebrow, they were close to letting the flames go, "Afraid I'll shoot you straight in the heart?"
He laughed manically until it devolved into a shout of despair. I watched as his features contorted in anger, he looked desperate and unhinged unable to fathom what was before him.
A few more seconds and all the flames would be out.
It would be just me and Cameron trapped in a circle of soldiers thirsting for blood.
"You won't kill me Alara, you are too soft, too kind," he paused until he was right before me, the malice in his eyes as clear as the night sky, eyes I knew had witnessed so much death, but not just death, death by his hand, "You're too weak."
"Yeah, is this too weak," and I shot him again once in his shoulder, but he didn't move, he just laughed that demented sort of laugh that could run even the most monstrous of creatures away.
"If anything," he drawled, lowly, leaning comfortably against his cane, "I am proficient in learning from my mistakes. You will not fool me again Alara, you like books do you not?"
"I don't see how that's relevant."
"Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me?"
"I'm surprised you even know that saying because out of all of us, you are the biggest fool,"
He laughed again, and it crushed my ears, aching in my mind, I couldn't get over the sound, the timbre, the noise and hurt it incited.
Pure evil in a sound.
"Well, perhaps you don't know, after all your A Thousand Tomorrows were burnt down," he grinned like a Cheshire cate prepared to devour an unsuspecting mouse.
"How do you know about that?"
"Dane may have burnt it down, but let's just say I'm the one who gave him the match," his face twisted into glee that looked so wrong on his features, unnatural in every aspect and it made my stomach curl. Images of my bookstore, torn apart shattered and burnt, all those words lost in the fire.
My words would not be lost in the fire.
Rage pooled over me as I started to walk shooting once more.
Another grating laugh, "I told you, you can't fool me twice."
"Maybe not twice," I grinned and once more his face fell.
"I think I've fooled you three times," and now it was my turn to laugh.
"What-"
And there was a crack from behind him, a blunt force against his skull and he fell, revealing a rather ragged Cameron heaving behind him.
"Fool'd you thrice."