Enflame (Insight #6)(47)
“If we’ve disrupted a balance, I want to put it back.”
“So do I,” he assured me, wrapping his arms around me.
“What about home, Landen? Donalt...those damned people...are you sure that by being here we are still helping, not moving on to a new problem?”
“I need to drain the power going there. The night that you saw last night gave that dimension an immense amount of power, and the souls here are still grieving for the souls that are still feeding that dimension. It’s one of many portholes that I want to close; it will help. I think Donalt has been purposely distracting us from figuring that out with our little love triangle. He sent me to that Realm to twist my energy into Drake’s, which he succeeded in doing. But the time there exposed my past lives to me, making the opening of my eyes so much easier to comprehend. He couldn’t have stopped Phoenix or Skylynn from finding us because every bad thing we endure because of him causes a door to undo that hardship to appear...we have crossed through that door.”
“What is he now? A ghost, an Escort, or a phoenix?”
“According to Phoenix, a bit of all of them, which is not insane to believe. He is a powerful master Escort. He wants Drake’s body, your power, my power. If he can’t get that, he will find another way.”
“Are you worried about this Xavier guy?”
“I would be a fool not to be. Donalt has many enemies, ones I tried to find favor with at times – which was foolish.”
“You made a deal with him on that night,” I thought, letting him know I knew more about that night than he’d told me.
“Not really. He told me he found you, made me believe he was going to help us stop all of this then...when we got there.” His eyes fell deep into mine, causing my soul to tremble with anticipation. “I felt you. You were so intoxicating. Passion singed the air with your presence. I could barely focus because I was so consumed with you. As Madison’s image approached, your essence didn’t become stronger. It became weaker. I turned in time to see you fall to the ground.”
I knew he was trying to explain why he was fooled, but it only made me feel guilty.
He turned my head so I would have to look into his eyes. “You mistook what I said. That passion was for life. It was undoing all that was wrong, for sacrificing yourself to save innocents. It was the passion that pulled me to you the first time our souls met. I was feet away from you. I could have saved you. I was the fool, not you.”
“Saved me,” I repeated. “Thrown me into a fire to become like you. I saw myself last night. I would have killed anyone that would have stopped me from chasing after Drake. He consumed me then, and we destroyed each other, just like Phoenix said darkness and darkness do.”
A painful disdain filled his eyes. “You’re right. That is why I finally chose to die. Why I decided to trust fate. Why I’m holding you now. Let’s trust fate right now and slowly undo the damage I’ve done.”
“I don’t trust fate. I make it. I’ll go along with this ‘don’t path cross’ thing for as long as I can, but if my gut argues with yours, I will step in and save Dane or whoever else.”
“That is my plan, too. Promise.”
“You mean that? I have a say in all of this, too?”
He laid me down next to him across the tender blades of lush green grass. “You are me. I am you. You have more than a say. What you feel, I feel and together we are unstoppable.”
His hand, which was resting on my stomach, slowly eased into my soul, and a gasp of ecstasy escaped my lips, causing the atmosphere to become alive with static electricity. As he eased his soul into mine, the air around us vibrated, the sun beamed with my excitement, and the rain fell with the ache of wanting to be even closer. When we became one, the thunder vibrated the ground, and lightning cascaded around us as the sensation of power, unconditional love, and passion absorbed us.
Chapter Eleven
By the time we’d pulled ourselves out of that empowering dream, nightfall had come. Not wanting to come out of the safe haven of this room, we made our way to the bathroom attached to it and lingered in the oversized claw-foot tub until the hot water ran cold and our skin began to shrivel. After getting dressed and straightening the room up back to the way we found it, we answered a knock on the door. No one was there, but a tray of food was on the bottom step. I was sure Nana had placed it there.
After dinner I gathered everything on the tray to take it down to the kitchen and thank her for taking care of us, but Landen took it from my arms just as a plate began to tumble to the ground. At first I thought he caught it in mid-air somehow, but then I realized I was suspending it. Not with my energy, but with a gentle wind.
“Wow,” I muttered, picking it up from the current, noticing that the wind vanished the second I didn’t need it anymore.
“Looks like you are using that power like a hand now,” he said in a teasing manner.
In the bath, he’d made me make mini-waves and whirlpools with a thought. It was meant to be a lesson, but we spent more time laughing at the odd shapes I could create with the water. I’d managed to use the water as a canvas, but for the first time in a long time I didn’t paint anything that was dark or full of emotion. Instead, I sculpted anything I could think of to make him smile.
I wanted to relive our afternoon together and not go out into the harsh reality, but we had no choice. Too many souls and issues were waiting on our next move.