Forbidden Mate: Sacred Fire

I stop running to catch my breath.

"I need to get away."

Heaviness descends on me. I fall with a weight on my back. A man. He turns me and weighs his body down on me, pinning me in place.

“GET OFF ME! GET OFF ME!” I shake my head, screaming. My skin begins to burn, and I feel heat rising from my body.

I was running, I'd been running for days, and now this man caught me.

He is going to kill me.

“Shit..” He whispers, watching me with beautiful green wide eyes.

He grabs me by the neck and holds my head in place. Where he touches me, it feels like it burns me. He moves my head to the side. I try to fight him, but he is so unnaturally strong. Then I see it. His teeth grow fangs, and his eyes glow.

No! What is he?!

With a growl, he disappears into my neck, and then there is just pain.

*******************************************

**********A few days earlier************

A car horn and the screeching of tires startle me, almost making me fall and eat gravel. “You stupid FUCK!” I shout.

“Watch where you’re going, BITCH!”

I might be on rollerskates, but it is obvious to everyone that it is my right of way. The walking stick figure is lit up and blinking on the pedestrian’s light signal.

I put my middle fingers up and as I skate past the rude man’s car; I slap the hood. He gets out and starts shouting, but I lift my middle fingers up higher and rush out of the pedestrian crossing. Approaching the sidewalk, I pick up my pace, dodging people and objects along the way, holding my bag and making sure that the box is still safely in there. I glance at my wrist where I can see the time as my hand comes forward, trying to gain more speed with the momentum.

“Three minutes! Come on, Nura, you need to make it in time!”

I’m not going to make it in time, I know it. My only option is to cut through Trolls Alley. I hate going through there. It smells, and all the homeless people barely give any way to go through with all their tents and shopping carts in the middle of the narrow street, but I have no other option.

I turn the corner and ready myself.

“Time to focus, Nura.”

Seeing the entrance to the alley, I immediately turn without slowing down. The wheels of my skates scrape on the pavement, but I continue straight ahead.

“Whoa!” A furry, hairy man immediately steps back, but his shopping cart is right in my way.

“Damn it!” I immediately jump and slide over it, perfectly landing on the cement. Ever since I was a little kid, I have had good reflexes... incredible reflexes, actually. I was always faster than the other kids, way more than normal. Mrs. Thomson—a good old woman who fostered me, always used to call me her little spitfire.

Gosh, how I miss her.

Now in front of me came a metal trashcan that the homeless use to light fires at night. Just the thought of fire makes me lose my cool, but remembering my breathing exercises, I manage to keep calm and land just fine.

I make it to the end of the street where it opens to the main road, and right in front of me is the end of my destination. Once inside, taking a deep breath of relief, I glide to the receptionist.

“Urgent package for John Welser,” I announce.

The familiar woman turns to me. “Cutting it close?”

I hand her the paper clipboard, and she starts to sign it.

“What do you care?” I mutter.

She looks up at me and then laughs. “You’re right, I don’t. The slime bag is not even here yet.”

“He’s not?! Damn! I almost died of a collapsed lung trying to get that shit here in time!”

She laughs. “Sorry, sweets, the old man had his period.”

“What?” I am so confused.

“Hemorrhoids, he popped one and was bleeding. Had to go home, said he’d come back soon.” She starts laughing.

I take the paper clipboard, shaking my head, and hand her the small package.

“You are going to get in so much trouble one of these days talking like this about your boss, Ari.”

She rolls her eyes. “He’s heard me so many times, but the guy is obsessed with my ass, so he is not letting me go anytime soon.”

“Eew.”

“So! What are you doing tonight?” She asks.

“Nothing.” I narrow my eyes at her. “Why?”

“Let’s go out.”

My eyes twist up. “Tsk.”

“Oh, come on, Nura. We haven’t been out in...”

I put three fingers up. “In three days! It hasn’t been that long.”

She giggles. “But it’s a full moon tonight. You always go out on full moons, don’t you? Aren’t you always saying how antsy you get on those nights? You are always pacing around your apartment and eventually always end up going for a walk, and then end up at one of the bars .”

“First of all…do you really think I’m that stupid? I know it is NOT a full moon tonight, you little liar.”

She grunts. “Come on, Nura. Pleaaaaase.”

I breathe out. “Fine, fine! But I will not be going out for the next month!”

“Awesome! I’ll come to sweep you up at nine!”

I put my empty backpack on my back and started heading out.

“Wait!” She calls out for me, but I don’t stop. “Can you grab me a quick coffee down the street?!”

I give a quick wave. “Sorry! I’m officially off.”

“Damn it Nura! Get a real job!”

I ignore her and start making my way back to the hovel of a building that I call home.

I don’t know why she criticizes my job so much. She lives in the same building that I do. An old, rundown, and riddled with graffiti building. I get that she is saving up for a nice place, but she should be able to afford a better place and still save up. I, on the other hand, am content. My building is horrible, but I have made my apartment into a home, my safe place. Sure, my package delivery business doesn’t pay much, but it’s enough, and I don’t need much either.

I come to a halt when I arrive at a broken-down park. It is overtaken by those feather grasses. The playground is rusted, and it is a death trap for anyone stupid enough to use it. At least there is a metal chain-link fence, though it does have many holes.

“There really should be a sign there that says DANGER.”

Loose pages of missing people fill the space where the sign should be on the fence. An overwhelming number of missing people. One of them is a kid who used to live in my apartment complex. The fence fills up every year, but it seems that every year, there are more and more missing people, and not just children. Actually, there seem to be more missing adults than children. The newest one is of a young man who went missing just two nights ago.

“Every year it gets worse, but no one does anything.”

I turn, leaving all the missing people behind, and cross the street, going inside the mahogany-brick building. I slide right into the elevator. Finally, on the last floor, I slide out and head through the hall. Shouting can be heard from the first closed door I pass by. The couple there is always arguing. Passing a few more doors, I find mine. I unlock it, and when I head inside, I immediately take my skates off and throw them on the floor. Then I jump on my sofa and turn on my TV and game console. For the next few hours, I game. It is only when my eyes feel tired that I decide to put the controller down. I look out of my window and realize that it is already night.

“SHIT!”

I jump off the couch and head to my closet, which is just a few feet away. I live in a studio apartment, so everything is in the same room except for the small ass bathroom. I quickly put on the first dress I find and then do my makeup as fast as possible. When I reach for my shoes, someone starts knocking at my door.

“You better be ready!” Ari shouts and knocks again.

I rush to the door and open it with a “TADA!”

With a serious expression, her eyes rake over my clothes. “Decent enough. That dress goes well with your dark brown long hair and hazel eyes.”

“Awesome, let’s go. I need to dance.”

We make our way to Catalyst, a club deep inside the city. When we head inside, I am surprised to find a few familiar faces.

“You guys?” Steven, Linnet, and Mathew are three of our mutual friends. They all have big smiles.

I look back at Ari, who now holds a present. “Surprise!”

“What?!”

“Oh! Did you think I had forgotten? It’s your birthday today!”

“Technically, it’s not my birthday until two in the morning, so...it’s tomorrow.”

“Oh, shut up! It’s your birthday and we are going to celebrate it.”

She knows I don’t like celebrating my birthday. It reminds me of a mother who didn’t want me. Who gave me away the moment I was born.

“Come on, sourpuss! You don’t turn twenty every day!”

“Uh! Fine. I’m here already.”

“Exactly!”

This girl is the first real friend I made after going out on my own. Mostly because she is relentless and would not stop bugging me to hang out with her when she would see me around the apartment building.

As I turn to the others, Linnet has a cupcake with a lit candle, and she almost shoves it at my face, though that was not her intention. The burning candle makes me coil back in a sudden panic, but I quickly force myself to hold my ground. I close my eyes and calm myself down. With a plastered smile, pretending that everything is okay, I blow out the candle.

“Hey! We were supposed to sing you happy birthday first!”

“Too late.” I grab the cupcake and shove it all in my mouth.

“You really know how to ruin plans!”

With chocolate cupcakes all over my teeth, I smile, making them laugh.

We all start dancing, order drinks, and then dance again, but this time on the table until we almost get kicked out for doing so. We settle down and talk, but boredom takes over, and so I start people-watching. I notice a couple in the corner about to give us an explicit make-out scene.

Get a damn motel... it makes me miss my ex but only for the sex.

I sigh. It’s been a long time since I have felt a man’s touch.

Then, three guys stumble into the bar and ask for more drinks, but the bartender cuts them off, and they start making a scene. I want to see if they are stupid and drunk enough to start a fight and get kicked out, but my line of sight is drawn to two people who walk past us. A man and a woman, tall, pale, and slender. The guy’s eyes find mine as he passes, and I am at first surprised, but then I am not, realizing that anyone can find red color contacts nowadays. What really gets to me is the smell.

“Eww, they smell like blood,” I mumble.

“And how can you smell that on them?” Asked Ari.

“I don’t know. I just do.”

“You are so weird... but I still love ya.” She giggles.

I turn and take a sip of my drink. People like that are not the first weirdos I have seen in the city. New York seems to attract weird people.

The hours pass. It is only one in the morning, but I am already tired. I long for my soft bed and the sweet serenity of sleep. I manage to convince Ari to leave, and we head home after saying goodbye to our friends. We get to our building giggling and talking nonsense, though I have been ignoring that feeling of being followed, like something or someone has been stalking us in the dark. When the elevator to her floor opens, she gives me a tight hug. “Happy birthday, and I wish that you have many more to come.”

I smile and hug her back. I am not the most affectionate of people, but I do love this girl like the sister that I never had. When we get to her floor, she gets off and I ride the elevator all the way up to my place. Once inside, I partake in the most amazing practice called sleep. But it doesn’t last long. My eyes open to bright orange dancing lights and the sound of a sharp, loud beeping.

Fire...FIRE! There is fire everywhere.

“Sir! We have news!”

Aurelius takes his attention from the stack of papers in front of him and looks at Matias. Matias’s face lit up and Aurelius immediately knew why. “Well, speak!”

“A fire! Just a few hours ago! In an apartment complex in New York. Only one survivor.”

Aurelius gets up, sliding the chair through the wooden floor with a screech. He slaps the desk with both hands as he eagerly waits for more information.

Matias smiles. “The flames spread faster than a normal fire should have. No one should have survived it.”

“Are you sure?!”

Matias's eyes flare. “Positive!”

As if a weight has come off his shoulders, Aurelius sinks back into his chair with a relief sigh. “Call it in immediately. I want our best on this case before the Takers sniff this one out.”

Matias nods and turns as he speaks, walking towards the door. “This one belongs to the werewolves. I'll let Felix know.”

“Don't!” Aurelius quickly says, and this makes Matias face him with confusion. “Not yet. Werewolves are brutes and they might get in the way or even make things worse.”

Matias tilts his head with uncertainty. “But... what if our men can't handle the situation? Aren't werewolves better at tracking?”

“If it comes to that—which I doubt it, our men are trained for anything—but if it comes to that, then we'll let Felix handle it.”

Matias bows. “Very well, Sir.”

Watching the door close, Aurelius opens one of the drawers of his desk. He takes a bottle of whisky out and a glass then fills it up to the brim.

“In two centuries we have not had four Primals together. Maybe this time... we can wipe the darkness out for good.” He leans back on his chair with a grin on his face and brings the glass to his lips, the smoky taste of the whisky filling his pallet.

“Ahh... if there was ever a time to drink, it is today.”

---

~Nura~

I shake. My body will not listen to me. My face is wet yet covered in ashes. Tears won't stop coming, smudging the dark ash everywhere.

“My dear, you must rest.” The nurse walks into the room with a syringe in hand.

“No! No, please! I can't! I can't go to sleep again!”

“Miss Thomson, you must rest.” She punctures the IV cord with the syringe. “It's for the best. Doctor's orders.”

I immediately pull at the IV but she quickly holds my hand and just in those few seconds, my eyes feel like lead. As much as I fight it, they close and then I drift into a nightmare.

I ran through flames out of the old house on Garland Drive, a small wooden white house that had seen better days but one that I had called home since I was six. When I look back, the house is completely up in flames and all I can hear besides the roaring of the flames is Mrs. Thomson's screams as the embers eat her alive. When I realize what the sound is, I make an attempt to run back inside, but a firefighter picks me up by the waist and holds me back.

“Let me go! She is still inside!” I scream, but he will not let me go.

The fire took us by surprise when we slept. This is how I lost Mrs. Thomson and how I ended up on my own. In the blink of an eye, I now stand in my own apartment.

“Am I... dreaming?” I almost realize, but then I am distracted by a knock on the door. Standing right in front of it, I open the door to find Ari smiling and waiting for me.

“You better be ready!” She says, and it reminds me that I have heard her say this before. Before I can ask, “Ready for what?” she opens her mouth as if she is screaming, but no sound comes out and then she goes up in flames. The scream drowns in my chest as I suddenly wake up in my bed in the middle of the night from that nightmare. I am sweating and when I look at the clock, it is two AM. I realize that it is my birthday. I blow out the candle on the cupcake that just appeared out of nowhere in my hand, and then my whole room is on fire. I scream, I scream and scream, but to my surprise, I can't feel any pain. I kneel in the corner of my room, covering my head and ears as the flames cover everything, including me, but I don't burn.

“AAAHH!” This time my eyes opened to the hospital room.

“Miss Thomson! Miss Thomson! It's okay! You are okay! You are safe!”

“Please! Don't make me go to sleep again! Please.” I plead while I whale.

With pity in her eyes, she slowly nods. “Okay...it's okay dear. you've slept enough.” She opens the curtains and I am grateful because now it feels like I can breathe.

“Now that you seem just a bit better, is there anyone that you would like me to call for you? Your landlord provided us with your name, but he did not mention any family members.”

The woman is kind but she seems oblivious. Better? I am not better.

I shake my head. “I have no one. I lost the only person I had left tonight.”

Ari...in a blink of an eye she is gone.

With sympathy, she slowly nods and then presses her hand on my arm as she lowers her voice. “My dear, you have some officers here who want to speak to you, but I can turn them away if you'd like.”

“Officers?”

Glancing behind her to the door, she nods.

“I guess...it's okay. Let's get this over with.” My voice cracks and I start wiping my face of the tears. I seem to be much cleaner now, probably thanks to the nurse.

The nurse steps back and motions to the men outside the room. They walk in as she leaves. They stand in front of my bed watching me, studying my face. The two men have black suits on, and one carries a file in his hands. “Nura Van Leer”

“Van... what?” I scrunch my face in confusion.

The man with the file opens it. He looks inside and then stares back at me. “Thomson. Nura Thomson.”

I slowly nod. “Yes.”

“You were in a fire tonight.” It is not a question, and it annoys me.

“If it wasn't obvious already, yes.”

“And you were the only survivor.”

He seems to know the answer to that because again; it is not a question. So I just nod.

“How did the fire start?”

My eyebrow lifts. “I assume you know that already?”

“The file only says that it originated from your floor. From your unit.”

“My unit?” If that is the case... then how the hell am I alive and everyone else is dead? I should have been the first one to go.

I shake my head. “Impossible.”

“It is in the file.”

“Then the file is wrong.”

The man looks at his partner and then he turns and walks out while the other one stays right where he still stands... just staring at me. My eyes dart to the man with the file who now speaks with four more strange-looking men. Strange because of what they wear. They all have these black long jackets on with a black dress shirt inside and black pants with straps on the thighs. If there is something held on those straps, it is covered by the long coat. The outfit is finished with black boots, but neck tattoos under their right ear make the four of them match. It is like a sun but the rays of the sun look more like strings or vines and there is a round eye in the middle of the sun. One of the men has more sun rays than the others and he looks older and more imposing, almost like he is in charge. The Men In Black here who just spoke to me have the same tattoos as well. Seriously, that is exactly what these two look like. Minus the sunglasses— these men look like the Men In Black, those alien conspiracy men that come to wipe your memory away... or maybe I just watch too many damn movies because the other four look to me like they came straight out of a Blade movie.

Suddenly, they all turn to me. I know I can't hide the wave of anxiety that starts to hit me, but they go back to speaking with each other.

What is this? Who are these men? The nurse said officers, but these two men look more like FBI, and the other four look more like... criminals from a gang or a cult.

My eyes widen.

Am I the loose end?! Did they plan the fire and intended for no survivors?! Are they Mafia?!

My head spins with all these movie scenarios.

I know it is ludicrous thinking of all of this because most likely there is a simple explanation, but something just doesn't feel right about these people. Instinct takes over. I press the button on the call cable. Immediately, the nurse walks in.

“What is it, dear?”

I put on my most miserable expression. “I am sooo tired right now. Can I just rest?”

“Of course!” She turns to the men and starts to usher them away. “She needs her rest now. You can come back later.

“We are not going anywhere.” One of the men in black says.

“Well then, you can wait outside, but you ARE leaving this room.” She crosses her arms and stands between me and them like a barrier.

The men look at each other and then walk out, but I can see them settle outside of the room, readying themselves to wait. She turns to me with a smile and starts putting blankets over me, tucking me in. “You must be hungry too. I'll send someone to bring you food.”

“Nurse?”

She stops, startled, and then smiles again. “Ritta. Nurse Ritta.”

“Nurse Ritta... thank you... for being kind,” I tell her.

“Of course. It's my job, but I do it mostly because I like to. Everyone deserves a little kindness.”

She quickly turns and leaves, closing the door behind her shut.

I am relieved but also I have no idea what I am going to do now. Those men looked determined to wait.

Half an hour passes with me worrying. A sudden knock makes me jump. I quickly lie my head on the pillow and close my eyes. The door opens and I hear someone walk in, but I also hear metal wheels gliding on the floor. After a few more scuffing noises, I hear nothing. The silence in the room stretches. I slowly open an eye, not a soul in the room, but there is a cart with a food tray left near the bed. My stomach grumbles as the sudden food smell hits me. I open the tray to find mashed potatoes with gravy, chicken on the side, peas, and a biscuit. On the side of the tray, there is also a cup of yogurt and one of orange juice. I sit up, pulling the cart closer and putting my feet under it. I then basically inhale the food, even the peas—which I do not like— but I don't want to waste any food since it is all I have. Feeling just a bit content, I dangle my legs with back-and-forth motions but end up stubbing my toe on a metal rod. Quickly holding my feet, I hiss and look under the cart.

“Dang, this thing is big enough to...” My eyes almost bulge out of my head. I have never attempted or even thought of running from the authorities, but these men don't seem legit. I probably should have asked for a badge, but too late now. I get up and move the food tray to the table next to the bed, then I take one of the white blankets and throw it over the cart, making it look like a tablecloth and making sure it covers the bottom. I put the food tray back and then carefully hide under the cart. Immediately I feel nervous and like I have to pee. My heart races so fast and when the door suddenly opens, I almost gasp. I manage to control my gasp but I did tinkle a little, which...I am not proud of.

“Miss. Thomson?!” The nurse calls for me. I can hear her walk into the bathroom and then she runs out. “She's gone!”

I hear a bunch of footsteps run into the room—who I can only assume are the strange men.

“Damn it!” One curses.

“How?!”

“We have to find her!”

I hear them all run out, and now... I wait for an opening.