Page 7 of Hell's Storm

He smirks. “As long as you are safe, I don’t care where you are, Asura.”

“Asura…” my father’s voice comes. Something in my chest tightens as I open my eyes. I’m back in that dream world, where I first saw him after he died. The obsidian throne engulfs my father’s human form. He lifts his head, gray hair slicked back and his dark eyes on me. He looked how he did when he was alive: pink ivory skin, blazing red eyes, and a slight smile on his face. I step closer, wanting to feel his warmth and hear him speak to me again. But he holds up a hand to stop me. “I’m dead.”

A scoff escapes my throat. “Way to ruin the dream for me.” For a moment, I forget where I was supposed to be and with whom I was supposed to be with, but deep down, I know this isn’t real. I know that he is gone. But his ivory skin and the gray beard he was growing out look so real.

“Not a dream. A vision of sorts. I’m dead, but my consciousness still remains in the Flame.”

Stinging fills my eyes, and I have to blink it away. “Please stop saying you’re dead. Iknow. I saw—”

Sadness fills his eyes as he pushes up from the throne and starts toward me. “I’m so sorry you had to see Fenric—”

I swipe out my hand, feeling heat rushing through me with the onslaught of rage. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

But even without the Flame on his skin, my father ignores it, moving closer. It’s because he’s dead. I’m dreaming and wanting him to be real. I want nothing more than to go back to before they were killed by those masked people. But I can’t rewind time, and I can’t—

My father wraps his arms around me, and I feel nothing but peace for the moment. “I’m so sorry that this has been burdened onto you. I knew I was going to die, and I’m so sorry you had to witness it.”

Rage rushes through me, and I press my palm into his chest, pushing him away. My teeth grind as my fingers flex into a fist. “You knew? You knew?! I hate this. I hate life. I don’t want the fucking throne. I don’t—”

“You have to control it, Asura!” my father says in a pleading voice.

Part of me wants to stop and give him the comfort he needs, but I’m still not entirely sure that this isn’t my dream, just talking. There is probably some guilt in my subconscious.

“Asura! Asura!”

I fist my hair, confused and screaming out, “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”

We had barely been looking for Asura when Ryker finally returned her to the living room of Hades’ home. I am with Hades and Ledger, and we have been trying to figure out where she could have been. They had disappeared entirely from the radar.

Ryker drops to his knees as soon as he leaves his tornado of transport. Asura is in his hands, burning a bright red. All her clothes and most of his have been burned off.

“What didyoudo?” Ledger snaps protectively.

“We were sleeping, and she woke u-up screaming, and I-I—” Ryker finally can pull away from Asura once Ledger takes hold of her. She lays limp, sweat pouring from her body.

“It’s the Flame,” Hades explains, ushering Persephone to get all the stuff he had explained we would need when we found her.

Ledger hisses in pain. “She’s burning me! How?”

Ryker has moved to the kitchen without being noticed and is running his blistered arms under the cold water. “She burned me too, despite my magic.”

“Fuck!” Ledger says, about to drop her.

Instinctively, I reach out for my Soul Reaper and wrap my arms around her. Steam is rising from them, but not a single part of me burns.

Hades lets out a breath of air. “You got her? You’re not… burning?”

I shake my head.

“Of course not,” Ledger growls under his breath. “Let me take her.”

I lift her up higher against my body. “And burn yourself? You might have Hell’s fire embedded in your skin, but you won’t be able to handle The Flame.”

“And of course,youwill? You are just a glorified freezer.”

“Stop!” Ryker snaps, running his hands over his burned arms, and with a flash of pink light, his skin slowly gets rid of the white blisters that had formed. “Let’s focus on Asura!”

I glance at him, getting a whiff of her…juices… on his skin. A smirk curls on my lips when my icy dark eyes move to Ledger, who just noticed it too.

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