Then I remembered…

And I could feel the flames. I could feel the flames under my skin. Flames I needed to get out.

I heard footsteps above me. Heavy footsteps. I could hear Mama crying, begging him not to do something. I could hear my baby brother crying. His loud screams hurt my head.

The footsteps stopped right above me. My body began to shake.  Suddenly, a hatch above me opened, the bright light shining in where I was laid, making me flinch. Then he jumped down beside me. He was holding a belt.

I looked into his eyes as he stepped forward. I remember the pain. Remember the pain, the number eleven… and the flames… the invisible flames pouring out with my blood…

A wooden ceiling came back into view and I was in the light. But I was tied down. My wrists and ankles were tied down. Men came in and out of a door to my left. Men that were going to hurt me.

Those same men…

They said things to me, but I couldn’t hear them over the screaming, over the sound of the flames in my blood. I thrashed, needing the ties to be broken, when the door to my left opened again. It was one of them. One of them that tied me down. One of the fuckers I wanted to kill.

The noises of screams, shouts and banging on doors were too much. Then I heard a voice call, “I will not let you hurt him. Please… just let me calm him. Let me calm his rage.”

I froze, my arching back flattening on whatever I was laid. The sound of rushing blood whooshed through my ears, but the person in the room with me now was new… the voice… their voice made the screaming in my head stop…

I panted hard, my eyes staring at the ceiling. Then I heard a cry and my head turned to the side. The floor. On the floor was a woman. A small woman, with her arms around her knees. My blurred eyes blinked fast and I fought to see, my stomach clenching at who she could be.

Black hair… small body… her hands, small hands…

Then I saw the eyes. Green eyes. The pulse in my wrist and neck raced on seeing those green eyes. And the flames calmed. The fire was still there, burning under my muscles.  Evil still infused my body, but I could breathe. I panted. I sweated. But I could breathe. When I looked at her, I could breathe.

But I was tired. And I couldn’t stand it anymore. I couldn’t fight anymore. I didn’t want to be like this anymore.

I stared at the woman. She stared right back. My heartbeat slowed in my burning, raw chest. A tear slipped down her face. I watched the tear trickle down her cheek, wondering why she was crying? Then, no sooner than the flames had calmed, that feeling of the fire beginning to rebuild—to torture me again—flooded back. The flames never stayed away for long.

I couldn’t do it anymore.

Fighting the threatening darkness, I took a deep breath.

Seeing the woman freeze as she watched me, I opened my mouth and whispered, “Kill me…”

Chapter Nine

Maddie

I could not believe what he looked like. Flame. My Flame. Broken, strapped by his ankles and wrists to the small bed in the center of the room. His torso was bare and it was covered in blood. His skin had been slashed. Everywhere. He had slash marks and scratch marks everywhere.

His legs were covered by his leather pants, but they were gashed, red bloodied skin peeking through.

But it was his eyes… his beautiful dark eyes that had my soul in pain.  His pupils were dilated so they looked completely black. The whites of his eyes were the brightest red, many veins having burst. And it was easy to see why. Heart-wrenching screams were pouring from his throat, his back arching off the bed, his limbs stiff as though he was being burned from the inside.

My legs had given way at the shock of seeing him in this tortured state. And I had ended up on the floor. The magnitude of what Viking and AK described was now glaring me in the face. Flame was in such pain. More than I had ever witnessed before.

His head then spun to stare at me. And all his frantic, thrashing ceased. I held my breath, afraid to make any sudden movements. And I waited for him to see me, to see it was really me, Maddie. The young woman he ceaselessly guarded, but his eyes seemed to stare straight through me. Emotion swelled up my throat. Without moving an inch, a tear fell down my cheek.

Catching a flicker of something in Flame’s haunted gaze, my heart leaped with hope. I edged forward as his dried bruised lips opened, then it shattered into a million pieces.

“Kill me…” His voice was rasped, like he had swallowed tiny shards of glass. But his request had sailed to my ears as loud as if it were a scream. The fingers on his hands became rigid and his back began to arch.

“Kill me,” he growled again, harsher this time. I could see that whatever held him in its thrall was regaining its strength. But there was no doubt about what Flame wanted. What he was begging me to do.

The veins in his blood-covered arms tensed, the ribbons of hard muscles protruding from his torso as his fists clenched. His body began to tremble.

Flame’s head began to twitch, his eyes glazing as his legs pulled on the ties strapping him down. A pained cry burst from his lips; and I jumped to my feet unable to stand his pain. My chest was cracking with every second that passed. This was not any way to live. But I could not kill him. I could not...

When his dark eyes did fall upon me, I could see his silent plea. He no longer wanted to live in this manner. He wanted to be free of his pain. Like I had, for so many years, he wanted to be free.

Choking down a sob, I stepped forward. Flame’s back arched and dropped, then arched and dropped down to the sweat-soaked mattress beneath him.  I wanted to touch him. I wanted more than anything to put my hand on his arm, and to tell him he would be okay. I wanted to release his ties and hold him in my arms.