Chapter 87

Flame's feet touched the rough ground. She could smell trees all around her. And she wondered whether that was truly where Phoenix was. Whether it was where she had taken Sheila. On looking around, she realized that her guess had been right, she was in a sort of forest, there was barely enough light to take in the details clearly but she didn't have to use her gifted sight. 

But the problem was that she saw no sigh of either Phoenix or Sheila, and she also didn't know her exact location so returning to The Triecan would be useless, they would all be as uninformed as before. 

She asked her wisps to take her exactly to the goddess, watched as they all danced around her but made no attempt to move. They were flying all over the place, the little flecks of fire actually seemed rather confused. 

She repeated the order but it got her nowhere. 

" So they're your little assistants, I've been wondering how you managed to find me last time, " 

Phoenix's voice spoke from behind her. Flame narrowed her eyes and turned around. She found the goddess seated on a log peacefully, playing with the long strands of her hair. Twisting her index around the red strands with a sick smile on her face and dark thoughts in her twisted mind. 

" Where is she?!" Flame commanded. Hoping that the goddess wouldn't play dumb because that would be a waste of time that they didn't have. She felt bad knowing that Sheila had only been targeted because of their newly formed friendship. 

" Somewhere tranquil....I think, " Phoenix responded with a smirk.Then she aced her palms on the log in either side of her and sat up straight. 

" It appears we've found ourselves in a bit of a dilemma here my dear fairy, " 

Phoenix looked at Flame, her dark eyes roaming over the other female's form from head to toe. Inwardly smiling on confirming that she was yet to be marked. 

" I'm sure you've realized that neither of us can delete the other from existence, "

Phoenix could probably do so, but only with the help of her mate, and Flame had still not yet learnt everything about fairy's to carry the task out. She was better,but not quite good enough.

" I'm willing to try, " Flame said as she summoned the fire once more, she hid the effects of it's burn a little better this time. If Phoenix discovered that she was also in pain then that would be another card for her to use. Shaking her head, the goddess stood. Then she proceeded to cross her arms swiftly and angled her head to the side. 

" Do you want us to go through this once more?" She raised her hair and Flame watched the swirl of darkness that started to wrap itself around her fingers, her wrist. 

" Tell me where she is!" She hoped that Sheila remained unharmed, if not then she wasn't going to be in control of her actions afterwards. 

Feeling refreshed and stringer than she had been before, Phoenix laughed. That was the benefit of completing her feeding, she was now capable of accessing some of her previously blocked off abilities. She pierced her eyes into Flame's and began to scramble through the fairy's mind. Flame let out a gush of sharp breath. Digging the heels of her palms into the sides of her head she squeezed and tried to chase away that feeling of being invaded. She felt another presence in her head, it was clawing at her mind and almost tearing her brain apart. 

" So much pain, " Phoenix whispered to herself. Walking two steps closer to Flame she kept on digging, rummaging through her mind in search of something she could use as leverage.

" Your friend is alive but she won't be for much longer, " She suddenly said and Flame turned to one of her wisps and silently instructed it to go to the Triecan and inform the others of where they were.She watched as it disappeared and would have sighed if she wasn't in agonizing torment. Phoenix was in her head and it physically hurt, but she summoned enough strength to attempt a defense. She squeezed her eyes shut and tried to block her thoughts, to lock her memories away but she could still feel that shadow in there. 

And then suddenly she heard Phoenix make a tsking sound with her tongue and chuckle to herself.

" Well this seems interesting, " she said. And then suddenly the thoughts and the memories came in a flooding wave to the forefront of Flames mind. 

She heard screams, cries for help. She knew what those sounds were. She was the one that had formed them in her own mind. Back when she had learnt that she had indeed been the one to put an end to those children's lives, she had imagined how they had screamed as the flames ate them up. She heard those sounds in her head and it was as if her strength vanished, she fell in her knees to the floor and tried to make them stop. She had tried so much to live past that experience and now she was reliving it all over again. She saw their faces, then she looked at their eyes as they stared at her and demanded answers for what she had done. They wanted to know why she had killed them yet she was the one that always made sure to protect them. 

They all looked at her with betrayal.

She fought the tears and did her best to brave on. 

" You have quite the history, don't you?" Phoenix asked as she savoured in the pain Flame was feeling. She flipped through her memories like they were the pages of an interesting book. Stopping when she found something she liked and forcing the fairy to relive it. The best part about it all was that she didn't even have to lift a finger. The next time Flame looked up, all she saw was darkness.

" Again!" She heard a voice instruct. She knew that cursed voice, she hated it with everything that made her whole. It was the director at the asylum where she had been locked up. And after he gave the command Flame screamed, those shocks of electricity that she had always dreaded coursed through her. She planted her palms to the forest ground and tried to sweep everything away from her subconscious. She was still glowing, and she forced herself to concentrate and she tried something she had discovered she could do while training. 

Grunting and breathing sharply, she watched as a stream of fire made its way from her hand and began to head towards where the goddess stood. There was no chance for Phoenix to react. It reached her within minutes and completely engulfed her. 

Her screamed echoed in the silence of the forest. It was worse than before. This time it felt as if the fire was eating through her skin, the pain so raw it was capable of driving her mad. And she stumbled back until she got to a tree and leaned against it. She looked down and realized that this time she was also wrapped up in the flames that refused to cease. They scorched her, and they managed to complete burn down the tree. She tried to wipe them off but that didn't help. 

Narrowing her dark eyes at Flame, she growled and made her regret the torture she was forcing her to endure. Flame was viciously attacked by both the darkness and the memories in one cruel blow. She felt it drain her until she couldn't handle it anymore.

And somehow, the memories were the worst part of it all. They wouldn't stop, she was unwillingly crying and everything she thought had managed to put past her was eating at her defences.

" You want it to end?" Phoenix asked in a strangled voice. Unlike Flame, that wasn't the first fight she had been it. She was used to the pain of battle,had been involved in a lot of them in her past. She took slow and trembling steps towards the fairy who was lying on the hard ground with a look of misery imprinted on her face. Haunted by her own memories.

Flame realized that she didn't have it in her to actually carry through with her plans.

" Your friend has about seven minutes left before she draws her last breath, " Phoenix said. It was a lie,but there was no way to prove that it was. 

" You can stop both her suffering and yours, " She got to where flame was and went down in her haunches. Her own pain reducing because Flame was too tired to keep it up. 

" Just offer me your blood and it'll end. I give you my word, " 

She moved a few strands of hair from Flame's face. Then she watched as the fairy silently sobbed. She was no longer in the present. She was trapped trapped in images of a boy that was supposed to be her brother but only wanted to take advantage of her,of a woman giving birth with no one to lend a hand around, of a dark cell where the voices of crazy individuals could be heard.

" All I need is a little of your blood, " Phoenix repeated. Her eyes on Flame's wrist.