Derick's POV
It had been a long night. Once I had seen Jessica I had lost all reason for the rest of the day and had just sat in the funeral home next to her body for hours. Mathew had tried talking to me but I couldn't take my eyes off the sheet that had been repositioned over her. This was not the reunion I had been secretly hoping for. I had hoped she would return with that dazzling smile she always gave and give me some far-reaching explanation that would completely explain her absence, like winning a once in a lifetime trip to Europe or falling into a backpacking expedition to the Peruvian mountains. Anything would have been better than this, even if she told me she had found her mate, she could have been in Maggy's life.
Jessica and I had a whirlwind relationship, yet now as I sat here alone all I could do was think about how much I would miss her company. A thought crossed my mind and I sneered. Why was I not consoled that Lisa would be here with me? She was my mate after all and I had gone so far as to buy a ring, yet right when I needed her the most I felt nothing for her.
There was a sound by the door and my grandmother squeaked in. She looked from me to the bench and shook her head.
"Come on. with you here sitting like a guard over her body the staff can't get her ready." I nodded. "Mathew and Jenny have already made arrangements for you." She waved her hand. Reluctantly I got up and followed her to the front. Outside I stopped as the night had settled in around me. I hadn't realized I had been sitting for so long.
"I..." I couldn't say anything else and just hung my head as I walked back towards the pack house leaving my grandmother with the Omega that had brought her here.
Danica's POV
Fire danced around my vision and something seemed to creep near. I looked around into the darkness and waited.
"Where am I?" I asked and heard a little whine. I looked down and a little puppy looked up at me. Its eyes were big and sparkled like a stary night and its body was so small. I knelt down and patted its head. It sniffed at me for a few seconds then stood up and wagged its tail.
"Home…" It whispered, and I felt something like a tether snap around me as the little puppy curled on my lap.
"You want to go home?" It looked up.
"You... home..." It blinked its little eyes before lowering its head onto my lap and letting out a yawn and fire escaped its jaws.
"What are you?" It looked back up as its brows furrowed.
"Trapped… killed... essence... you… home." It sat up and its little tail began to wag. "Freed me." I nodded in confusion.
"I freed you, how?" It tilted its head in the way all puppy's did looking so adorable.
"Killed me." I dropped my jaw.
"I killed you?" It nodded. "Shouldn't you be angry about that?" It thought for a moment then shook it's head.
"You... my essence... reborn." It looked up. "Second... chance." I nodded slowly as it lowered it's head and it's tail began to slow. After a few moments it began to curl up on my lap.
"What are you going to do now?" It whined and closed its eyes.
"Sleep... rest... grow..." I blinked and rubbed the little head and down its back feeling little horns running down its spine. I picked the puppy up and it wagged its tail as its tongue began to flop out it's mouth. It looked like a normal fat fluffy German Shepard puppy except for the colour which was black on top and fiery red underneath, it also had strange horns on its head and down its back. As I looked at it closer I could feel that it was missing part of itself.
"Are you hurt?" It frowned as I replaced it to my lap.
"Not now."
"Missing something?" Its tail stopped.
"Gone." I nodded and looked around.
"How the hell do we get out of this." Suddenly a thought crept into my mind. "How are you able to talk?" The puppy looked at me and whined as it yawned with a sleepy blink.
Rodgers POV
I heard Bella calling for Danica and I pulled my way out of the feeling of power filling my body.
"Bella? What's wrong." I looked to where she knelt next to Danica and had a bottle of water in her hand. She looked up at me in panic.
"She somehow keeps catching fire!" Another fire erupted from Danica's shoulder and Bella tossed the water on it. My sofa was soaked through, and the clothes Danica was wearing was nearly all black but she didn't look hurt. In fact the last of the bruising seemed to be fading.
I grabbed Bella's hand as she tried to put out another fire. She began to panic and I pointed.
"Look…" The fire was burning over Danica's skin where her injuries were the worst and seemed to pulse with her heartbeat. "She's… healing…" I looked around as Enoch returned to normal and stretched then looked around and hissed at the fire.
"Rodger? Why is she on fire?" I shrugged.
"After the match with the Gatekeeper I saw a fire in her wound on her shoulder..." I thought for a moment. "If the Gatekeeper has stolen the fire magic from another creature it could have jumped ship when he was dying and into Danica to keep itself alive." Bella's head snapped around.
"And you didn't think to say anything?" I winced as he hands twitched.
"I thought she might die; I had completely forgot about it until now." I looked back and sighed then heard a clink as something tapped against glass. Slowly I pulled my eyes away from Danica and to the jar as something inside tried to get out. With a stagger I got up and looked at it. A dark red blob was tapping against the glass and I felt the danger coming from the evil that it held. I went to my drawer and pulled out a thick glass jar used to hold dangerous bugs, sometimes some nasty things ended up in the plaza and not always by accident. I took the jar and opened it taking the strange mass out and locking it away securely. It looked like a large ameba.
"So you think she had managed to absorbed fire magic." I looked to Enoch as he watched the fire slowly fading.
"Hopefully. I'll go and talk to some people I know and make sure this is the end of it." I slipped the little jar into my pocket then took the large mason jar filled with the rest of the heart." I'll lock this stuff away safely and be back with answers shortly. A plate on the table caught my attention as it still held three pieces.
"Bella, are you going to take those?" She gave me a smirk.
"I'll keep them for my mate." I felt my jaw drop,
"My baby found a mate? So, Danica wasn't just teasing her friends…" She nodded.
"Well… not yet. He was in here watching the fight. Danica is going to take me to him tomorrow." I nodded and pulled a zip lock bag from my desk.
"Here." She slipped back from Danica as she took the bag and placed the cubes into it. "Would you want more? I mean you can still take those and he can have a few of these." She gave me a look then looked back to Danica.
"Ok… I'll take one more." She ate a cube, and I gave her three more pieces of heart before taking the rest of the jar with me.
"I have to store these safely." She nodded and watched as I vanished out the office. I slipped the jars into my coat and fled the mall. Getting into my car I drove to the far end of the city.
After an hour of driving, I approached a dirt road that looked long abandoned and turned down onto the muddy track. At the end by a long line of trees I approached an old boat house and parked by it's wall. A man looked at me and grinned as he pulled open my car door.
"Long time no see Rodger." He sniffed then pulled me to my feet and popped open my shirt then ran his fingers over my mark. "My… you're having fun. What do you want here?" I pulled my shirt closed as I escaped his grip.
"I need to see the three." The man shuddered and looked to the lake,
"Nimue will not be happy about that." I nodded and pulled the small jar out.
"If she can tell me what this is then by all means I'll ask her…" I saw the man recoil in fear.
"The evil of that…" He snarled and dragged me to the boat before tossing me onto the wood. I grunted as he began to row us to the island in the middle of the lake.
We were about halfway when the boat rocked violently and I gritted my teeth. The man stood and opened his arms.
"My love, Nimue, please let us pass." A serpent of water came to look at us and slowly it touched the bouw of the boat. I looked up as legs materialized in front of me and the lady of the lake was there, her gaze both beautiful and terrible at the same time.
"My love why bring this man out here again?" He stepped over me and caressed her face.
"He's found something evil that I can't bare to have you touch." She nodded and looked to me as I tried not to cower before her.
"Let me see." I whimpered involuntarily and pulled the little jar out again. The noise she emitted made my head hurt and she vanished from the boat.
"We need to go." The man said as he took the oars again and we made it over to the island with a strange speed that made me look to the water.
We landed on the little muddy beach and the man sat on the edge of the boat. He crossed his arms and grinned.
"Be careful, they haven't had visitors in years and might be… hungry." I nodded and licked my lips as Nimue rose out of the water.
"A word from the wise. Don't give them that. The power it contains will disrupt the balance of the three." I nodded and tucked the glass into my pocket as she sank back into the water and I ventured into the fog that hung around the overgrowth of the island.